Qi Refinement

A cube shimmered with a subtle golden light.

It measured roughly six centimeters on each side—just large enough for Nain’s small hands to cup and hold.

She brushed her fingers across its surface.

The outside of the Golden Slip was as smooth and cold as a mirror. Its translucent gleam reflected her face, and the face looking back at her seemed genuinely happy.

“Ugh, so if I do it like this…”

After the advent of the Immortal Dao, humanity had long abandoned paper books. In a highly advanced society where everything was digitized, the information a book could hold was plainly limited.

Two hundred pages held a mere hundred and twenty thousand characters. Even by the standards of the web novels that had once been popular in the distant past, that amounted to only about twenty-five chapters—and text alone, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at that.

Books were needlessly bulky yet pitifully sparse in content. In the end their role dwindled to mere collectibles, and they gradually vanished.

But total digitization brought its own risk: data loss. Data itself aged with time and slowly sank into the depths of the network.

So humanity developed the Golden Slip.

One cubic centimeter could store a full gigabyte. Beyond mere text, it could hold images, video, and even the user’s own memories—an innovative leap.

Now, humanity stored its memories in cold metal.

Drip.

A drop of Nain’s blood, rich with spiritual power, fell onto the Golden Slip. The golden cube drank the blood and the power within it with greedy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little sips, then flared with radiance.

Fwaaah!

It works!

Thrilled, Nain looked up at the hologram that rose before her. A license for the cultivation method and a certificate confirming her official purchase of the Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method unfurled. The hardships of the past weeks rose in her mind and made her nose sting.

“Whoa…!”

For a moment she and Pou simply stared at the certificate in a daze. Pou fluttered curiously around the hologram as well.

“All right. Now it really begins.”

She steadied her breathing and moved quickly. She scrubbed the floor of the cultivation chamber until not a speck of dust remained, then vacuumed up two weeks’ worth of ink residue and paper scraps.

She washed her body thoroughly for a full hour and took out the new robe she had ordered through the network—a woman’s robe in a careful mix of black, blue, and white.

Nain gazed down at it in silence.

“…….”

It looked baggy and strangely thin. Suppressing a ticklish flutter in her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut and moved.

“Ugh.”

She forced the robe closed even though the chest was too tight, then sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation chamber, which now sparkled as if newly born. Soft darkness settled over the room; the Spirit-Gathering Formation on the floor glowed faintly.

“Pou, come here.”

Nain patted the floor. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Pou drifted down from midair and unfurled beside her.

The past two weeks had brought enormous progress. Her Five Spirit Roots proficiency had passed the halfway mark at six thousand, and the Talisman Dao Sacred Body was on the verge of the same. Refining spiritual power had made the Severing Longevity Art’s proficiency soar, while the Talisman Dao Introductory Art had leapt from seven-star to ten-star Peak in almost no time.

Yet the most striking line was another.

I have more than enough spiritual power to break through to Qi Refinement. And yet…

She could feel the jet-black Talisman Dao spiritual power that completely filled her dantian. Even so, the power continued to accumulate past the critical point.

“The spiritual power is compressing on its own.”

The Talisman Dao spiritual power was compacting itself. What had once been pure black sank deeper into the dantian as absolute black—spiritual power of the purest kind, free of every impurity.

So there was this advantage too.

No matter how thoroughly one refined spiritual power, turbid qi inevitably built up. The spiritual energy scattered through nature itself carried faint impurities. Yet the power now settled heavily in Nain’s dantian was utterly free of them—utterly pure.

Nain smiled.

Of course, the purer the spiritual power, the better. On top of that, the density after repeated compression was unmatched. Compared to ordinary Pre-Qi Refinement spiritual power, it was roughly ten times heavier and denser.

“A shame. I wish I could accumulate even more here.”

Naturally she had tested whether she could compress past three thousand percent. No matter how hard she tried to pile on more Talisman Dao spiritual power, nothing more would gather. Even the spiritual power her heart had been producing on its own had long since stopped.

It seemed her dantian had reached its limit.

“Still… whatever.”

Nain’s white lashes trembled as she gently closed her eyes. She exhaled a long breath and straightened her slightly slumped spine.

She sank her consciousness inward and stimulated the spiritual power resting deep in her dantian. The pure-black Talisman Dao spiritual power that had undergone repeated compression—lying heavy as a great serpent—stirred at her will and began to thrash violently.

Drrrrrrr!

The thirty low-grade spirit stones arrayed in a circle around her vibrated as one. Moments later they cracked like glass, shattered into the air, and flooded the room with blinding light. In answer, the Spirit-Gathering Formation carved into the floor blazed with ferocious white radiance and ran at its absolute limit.

The dense spiritual energy the stones themselves had held mixed with the energy drawn in by the formation, driving the chamber’s spiritual density ever higher.

Nain chewed and swallowed a first-grade extreme-quality pill—the Body Washing Pill.

It widened the body’s meridians, cleared the mind, and purified spiritual power another degree. It was a pill that could be taken only when breaking through from Pre-Qi Refinement to Qi Refinement. She sent it down her throat.

A single extreme-quality Body Washing Pill cost a full two hundred thousand credits.

“Haaaah…….”

With every preparation complete, Nain opened her eyes a fraction. Everything she had done until now rose before her.

She had purchased a Guiding-grade, Law-grade cultivation method. She had obtained the second-spirit-root-grade constitution, the Talisman Dao Sacred Body. She had stored the absolute maximum spiritual power a Pre-Qi Refinement cultivator could accumulate. That power was so pure and dense it could already rival Qi Refinement itself.

This was the best she could do. Even with more time she could not improve the result further. Only the geniuses of the great sects or the scions of Golden Core clans ever received such lavish treatment.

Nain felt she could be just a little satisfied. Yet her craving for the Immortal Path had not lessened in the slightest. If anything, it burned fiercer than before.

“Mere Qi Refinement isn’t the end. Qi Refinement True Cultivator, Foundation Establishment Demigod, Golden Core Quasi-Immortal… and beyond.”

She intended to cultivate. Through cultivation she would transcend and stand above everyone. Fearing the death that inevitably approached, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wanted to attain longevity and roam free forever above the clouds.

It had once been a dream crushed by despair over her worthless talent—a realm that mere Five Spirit Roots could never even look upon.

“Not anymore.”

She could challenge it now. She possessed a talent that grew without knowing limits. She had obtained an opportunity of immeasurable worth.

With all of this in her hands, how could she call herself a cultivator if she did not challenge the path?

Flutter~

Nain glanced once at Pou swaying beside her, then lifted the Golden Slip and pressed it firmly against her forehead.

Shaaaaa—!

A torrent of information flooded along her spirit. Its density was of an entirely different order from the basic and formula-grade methods she had learned so far. Information thousands of times denser—far beyond mere hundreds—slammed into her mind.

Six gigabytes. Roughly three billion characters in text, or some twenty-five thousand volumes if measured in books. The data rushed past like a panorama: diagrams, video, even the developer’s annotations all tangled together.

The core formulas of the Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method. The methods of refining the body and refining the spirit. The pathways spiritual power traveled and the trajectories of its circulation.

A certain will resonated inside Nain’s mind.

It seemed both close at hand and a sound that had barely reached her from an unimaginable distance. Yet the profound qi contained in that will was so deep it branded itself into her brain at once.

That is the method of reaching Qi Refinement.

That is the method of gathering spiritual power.

That is the method of tempering the spirit.

A single insight blossomed and spread in a chain reaction. The formulas that had remained mere information inside her head suddenly blazed with light. Unintelligible verses resolved themselves and pointed the way she must go.

It was the method of refining Law-power through the Five Elements and opening the divine consciousness. Thereby it laid the foundation for Foundation Establishment. This was the Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method.

Fwaaah!

Pou, hovering beside Nain, erupted in pure white radiance.

Dark characters like shadows rapidly inscribed themselves across the auspicious scroll.

Nain’s body trembled. The Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method newly branded into her flesh bared its fangs and roared. The shabby Severing Longevity Art stepped aside of its own accord; the new method claimed its place.

Woooom…!

The meridian pathways that had operated under the Severing Longevity Art were rewritten. The simple, clear routes became complex and branched, racing through the meridians and drinking in spiritual energy.

Nain’s body shone pure white.

December 30th.

K-Sector. Future Special City.

Central District.

At an altitude of fifty-six thousand meters, amid the spiritual energy-rich Penglai Immortal Mountain, the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator Yuryong Daesu opened his eyes a fraction while seated in meditation.

“Hmm?”

He sensed the aura of tribulation. Tribulation qi that appeared only when a cultivator broke through a realm filled the sky. The will of the Heavenly Dao—ominous yet sacred—pressed upon him.

“So even these days there are still those who attempt unauthorized, illegal Foundation Establishment.”

Yuryong Daesu’s role was that of judge. Earth’s resources were forever insufficient. That was why the seats of Foundation Establishment were restricted and only outstanding talents were lifted upward…

Those who failed to grasp the greater cause and sought to raise their realm out of personal greed deserved judgment.

Yuryong Daesu turned his head toward the source of the tribulation qi. The entire Korean Peninsula lay beneath his palm. There was no chance he would fail to find it.

There should not have been.

“What?”

He stroked his bearded chin. In the blink of an eye the tribulation qi had vanished, slipping out of his sight. It had not been an illusion.

How could tribulation qi disappear so instantly? Judging by its purity, it had definitely been a Foundation Establishment tribulation. It was absolutely not the tribulation of the Qi Refinement Stage.

“Ah, yes. It’s me.”

After stroking his chin for a long while, Yuryong Daesu contacted a junior who worked at the Ascension Management Bureau.

“What? No signs of a Heavenly Tribulation? None of the other tribulations either? Hmmm….”

He had clearly felt it. An illusion was impossible. Puzzled, Yuryong Daesu finally shook his head.

“Well, understood. Since I definitely sensed it, make sure you investigate.”

The world was always full of things one could not understand. Yet to those who stood high, the world was nearly an answer key.

And if, even while standing in a high place, things one could not understand still existed in the world…

It was better for one’s health not to dig too deep.

Yuryong Daesu ended the call and closed his eyes once more.

“The will of Heaven can never be known….”

The spiritual energy of the Immortal Mountain remained cool and refreshing.