Qi Refining Stage, Mid-Stage
Qi Refining Stage, Mid-Stage
The days of cultivation were smooth.
Eating sensory arts like daily meals, getting beaten up every day by Jeokryeon, and replenishing spiritual energy from her—it was a repeating daily cycle.
The effort, which seemed like it would be boring, was surprisingly manageable.
Seeing myself change day by day, how could I be lazy? I simply pressed forward with boundless delight!
"Stop daydreaming and fix your stance. Your foot placement is wrong."
"Ye~p."
However, unlike me, Jeokryeon's complexion was worsening from time to time.
Rather than being sick, she seemed weighed down by some unspoken anxiety.
Perhaps because of that, whenever she returned from leaving somewhere briefly, her nerves were completely on edge, and she would push me even harder.
On the day marking the third year of living in Jeokryeon's cave abode like a freeloading kept man.
I detonated my dantian for the next stage.
Kung!
"Keuk!"
With the shock of an internal explosion, a groan leaked from my lips, but having done this repeatedly, I had gotten the hang of it.
Of course, my limbs didn't blow off like during the breakthrough to the 2nd layer, but my internal organs turning into mush and wandering on the verge of death remained the same.
"Eat this."
"Hwup!"
I swallowed the recovery pill Jeokryeon had prepared in advance.
My ruined organs gradually restored themselves.
"It's slowly getting slower."
"That is natural, as pill poison has accumulated inside you."
Pill poison—the toxic qi that accumulates in the body the more pills one consumes.
If a cultivator ingests a massive amount of pills in a short period, they cannot overcome the pill poison and die.
The number of pills I had stuffed into my mouth over the past three years alone was over a hundred.
Had I not taken detoxifying pills in between, I would have died long ago.
"Still, you have finally reached the 5th layer of Qi Condensation. Congratulations. Cultivators who raise their realm as fast as you in the history of Mangnyeonggye must be exceedingly rare."
Indeed. After three years of cultivation, I had entered the Middle Qi Condensation Stage.
Furthermore, as a bonus, thanks to the Dantian Explosion breakthrough method I attempted at every stage, I possessed several times more spiritual energy than those in Donggyeong Region.
"Sharing my spiritual energy with you is slowly becoming a burden now. The amount of spiritual energy you possess almost rivals the Foundation Establishment Stage."
"It increased that much?"
"Of course. That is why it worries me instead. With that much spiritual energy, you are a spiritual medicine any cultivator would covet."
Goosebumps broke out at her audacity to nonchalantly refer to a person as spiritual medicine.
Could it be... she raised me until now just for this moment?!
"Not that I really mind."
"...What?"
"I mean, I think I'd be fine even if you decocted me into a pill and ate me."
Jeokryeon clamped her mouth shut and fell silent.
Her mouth covered by her sleeve and her slender eyes exposed above made it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
I conveyed my sincerity in my own way.
Although it would be a shame to lose this body I had nurtured until now, since I wouldn't actually die for real nor part with her forever, I could give it up once.
"......Would you truly lay down your life for my sake?"
"Wouldn't it be ungrateful if I didn't?"
Frankly, without her devotion, I would have definitely died a lonely death and moved on to another world.
And even if I restarted, there was no guarantee it would be as convenient as it is now.
Maybe I would suffer all the hardship only to gain nothing.
Since she saved me from that annoying, dull time, giving up something like my life was a cheap price to pay.
Because if that happened, I was confident I could do even better by remembering the present.
"........."
At my answer, Jeokryeon's pupils shook.
Her unintentionally parted lips opened and closed repeatedly.
Soon, she turned around without a word and walked outside, ttubuk-ttubuk.
I shrugged my shoulders and cleaned up the messy training ground.
However, she never returned.
Even after a day passed, even after a month passed.
Jeokryeon did not come back.
It was the sixth month of training alone.
I couldn't even fill 10% of the spiritual energy in my dantian.
Even gathering spiritual energy with the Spirit Gathering Formation in the cave abode, the natural spiritual energy of heaven and earth was so lacking that I barely managed to sustain my breath.
Excluding minimal energy circulation and breathing, I mainly practiced sensory arts and body refinement arts.
Throwing punches lonely without her, who used to be by my side every day.
"Secluded cultivation sucks."
Should I say you only realize value after it's gone?
It seemed I had been unconsciously aware of her a lot.
It wasn't that cultivation was fun.
It was the moments I spent with her that were fun.
"I wonder if Jeokryeon felt the same."
I don't know. I only know her name and nothing else about her.
What she likes, what she dislikes, what her realm is...
Looking back like this, I realize I was really indifferent.
Then again, she never asked for my name either, always calling me a servant.
"I should head outside."
Jeokryeon had warned me strictly not to go outside unless necessary.
Although we spoke casually to each other, I was ultimately her possession.
A slave, not a person to be treated with human dignity.
Still, sitting idly by was suffocating.
No, isn't disappearing suddenly without a word plain strange?
Even when she stepped out far, three or four days at most was the limit.
Disappearing like this was a first.
"Phew."
I've waited long enough.
Staying any longer will leave me stuck doing nothing and rotting away.
I rummaged through the room, gathered necessary items, and put them into the Storage Bag, the Xianxia version of an inventory.
"Even if I go out, I'm just taking a quick look around."
Jeokryeon's sect, the Blood Lotus Palace, was indisputably a demonic sect.
It was an inhumane hellscape where seeing someone full of spiritual energy like me—a Qi Condensation cultivator—as a mere pill was a daily occurrence.
If I accidentally run into a high-level cultivator, not even my bones will remain intact.
But if I don't go out, I'll die first anyway.
"Alright~ let me at 'em!"
Puffing my chest out with proud, confident strides, I walk out of the cave abode.
The moonlight—not seen for who knows how many years—and people gathered in groups of twos and threes welcomed me.
"......?"
"""......?"""
Why are these people, every single one of them with red hair and an aura similar to my Qi Condensation level, gathered in front of Jeokryeon-nim's cave abode?
"...Who are you guys?"
"Who are you then? Who are you to come out of Jeokryeon-nim's cave abode?"
A punk who looks like the ringleader asks arrogantly.
Since I had nothing special to brag about, I stated my current identity.
"I am Jeokryeon-nim's servant?"
"A servant? Was there any word about Jeokryeon-nim keeping a servant?"
They whispered among themselves, talking.
Whether they were using voice transmission or not, I couldn't hear a single word.
"Ahem, servant, listen up. I am Gong Yeom. The Third Elder of the Blood Lotus Palace, Gong Muyeon, is my father. I would like you to send word to Jeokryeon-nim that I have arrived."
"That's going to be difficult. Jeokryeon-nim is—"
"How dare a mere servant utter words of refusal?"
The punk named Gong Yeom shot a fierce glare at me and attacked without warning.
Crossing my arms, I blocked the fist he threw.
A dull pain transmitted down my forearms, and the soles of my feet were pushed back from the impact.
A body cultivator. And one who trained quite a bit.
"There's no way an insolent bastard like this could be Jeokryeon-nim's servant! In the first place, his appearance is utterly suspicious, and the aura emanating from him is far from our sect's cultivation arts. He must be a spy sent by the righteous path!"
"Hey, you bastard, listen to people until they finish—"
"Even his voice is sickening. Kill that bastard. You lot may devour his corpse."
At Gong Yeom's arrogant remark uttered with his hands behind his back, the crowd behind him rushed at me.
What dwelt in their eyes was gluttony. At their despicable desire to consume me and fill their spiritual energy, I let out a hollow laugh.
"Is this the average cultivator?"
Various sensible comments flashed through my mind, but it didn't seem like they would listen.
What hungry beasts need isn't a hug, but a beating.
"This is my first real combat though."
Muttering briefly, I extended my arm toward the guy rushing at me first.
Following the mysteries of the body refinement art Jeokryeon taught me, the Profound Wood Body-Tempering Art, I dented the short-haired punk's head inward.
Kwang!
At the cannonball sound that shocked even me, the short-haired punk's head snapped back violently.
His forehead, exposed for a split second, was fractured in the shape of my fist.
"He's an orthodox body cultivator! Pressure him with spiritual sense from afar!"
Alerted by Gong Yeom's words, the punks glared at me wide-eyed.
Then, faint waves radiated from the crowns of their heads, pressing down on me.
"......?"
However, a faint poking sensation in my head was all there was to it—it didn't hurt as much as expected.
'What's this?'
Just because I got one-on-one tutoring from Jeokryeon, could I really be stronger than sect disciples?
'I suppose I could be.'
Recalling the support I received, it was more than theirs, definitely not worse.
If I couldn't even do this much, I'd be smearing mud on Jeokryeon's face.
I focused my mind.
I chanted the formula for the spiritual sense art, the Clear Heart Divine-Refining Art.
My spiritual sense swelled rapidly in size.
The spiritual sense they pressurized shattered, unable to withstand its authority.
"Keuaaaak!"
"Keul-leok!"
"Aaak! My head!!!"
The backlash of spiritual sense shattered their minds to pieces.
Leaving them behind as they collapsed in frenzy, I walked over to Gong Yeom, whose legs were trembling uncontrollably.
"S-Sorry! P-Please forgive me! I failed to recognize a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master-nim! I will offer everything I have, so please spare this single life!"
Mistaking my realm upon seeing the size of my spiritual sense, Gong Yeom kowtowed and politely presented his Storage Bag on his palm.
That rapid shift in attitude was quite hilarious.
"Weren't you strutting around as the Third Elder's son until just a moment ago?"
"Y-Yes! So if you spare me, I will never forget this grace!"
In other words, if I kill him, the Third Elder will come to take revenge.
Is this Xianxia-style backing disputes?
Kill one guy, the guy behind him comes.
Kill that guy, an even bigger guy comes.
"But even if I spare you, there's no guarantee you won't come back for revenge, is there?"
"That..."
Gong Yeom rolled his eyes and tried to play petty tricks, but I struck his head down mercilessly.
Leaving his head behind as it burst like a tomato, I clicked my tongue.
"Big words for a bastard who tried to kill someone right off the bat."
What now? I've gone and created a grudge right from the start.
If he's an elder, he must be at least in the Core Formation Stage...
"I'll think about it when the time comes."
Calculating this and that before moving isn't any fun.
If I pursued safety, I could have just holed up in the cave abode and never come out, but I left because I hated that.
Pushing future matters aside, I looted the corpses.
For the guys whose minds were destroyed, I even bestowed the mercy of ending their lives.
"Ooh, heavy."
Just as I finished looting while feeling the satisfying heft of the Storage Bags,
Two lights were flying down from the sky.
One was a familiar face, and the other had a face contorted like a ferocious deity.
"They sure come fast."
I rallied my spiritual energy, preparing for the impact that would follow.
Kung!