Chapter 10

Chapter 10: I Am a Proper, Upright Cultivator

Her inner qi was nearly exhausted, and since no good solution came to mind for the moment, Rong Shu took out her meditation mat and sat in the backyard to draw in qi.

She split off a thread of attention, continuing to dwell on the same question: [Why can’t I do it?]

Why can a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator mobilize “wild,” ambient qi?

Why is it that for me, a second-layer Qi Refining cultivator, even externalizing my own qi to form a Wind Blade is so difficult?

[Is it because their cultivation is higher? Because they absorb more qi? Because their control over qi is better?]

In a moment of inattention, Rong Shu’s cultivation had once again floated up to the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

She suddenly noticed a blind spot and thought: [Wait, I’m at the fifth layer right now. Why not try to condense a Wind Blade off-hand and see if it works?]

Before her realm dropped again, Rong Shu lifted her hand, fixed a point one meter away, and attempted to condense a Wind Blade.

It was still strenuous, but a small vortex gradually took shape in midair a meter away.

Seeing this, her eyes brightened slightly.

Just then her cultivation slipped to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, and the Wind Blade had yet to form.

Rong Shu had to give up on forming the blade and instead flicked the tiny vortex outward.

The little vortex sliced through three weeds in succession before dispersing into the air.

She relaxed and said: “This method works.”

Once she stabilized at the third layer of Qi Refining, she would be able to use an “Improved Wind Blade.” At that realm cultivators were basically rookies pecking at each other; if she used an Improved Wind Blade, she would definitely catch her opponent off guard.

Rong Shu rubbed her fists, eager to train, and plunged back into cultivation.

At present, condensing a Wind Blade took the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, which was far too slow. In a real fight, an opponent would never wait around that long.

So next, Rong Shu kept condensing Wind Blades again and again to improve her speed and familiarity.

If the qi in her body ran dry, she simply sat down to meditate and drew in more.

Day turned to night and back again; a month passed.

By then Rong Shu had basically mastered both Wind Blade and Fireball. She could condense a Wind Blade in five seconds and a Fireball in ten. To go any further, she would have to raise her cultivation before she could “play with flowers” and get fancy.

So Rong Shu began cultivating Gale Step.

Gale Step was not merely the application of wind qi in the legs. At great achievement, the entire body would form a sheath of airflow that aligned with the wind to shed resistance.

In actual combat, gathering wind qi in the legs not only helped with running away; it also worked like wrapping the legs in a sheet of iron for kicking people.

The backyard of the little courtyard was a bit cramped, so Rong Shu could only make do and practice Gale Step there for now.

By day, Rong Shu trained Gale Step.

By night, Rong Shu returned to the practice room to sit in meditation.

Her realm stayed the same as ever—constantly rising, then falling—and the result was that her meridians were tempered over and over, which in turn improved every aspect of her body’s function.

The effect showed up in her Gale Step. What had once worked only in bits and pieces became ever more fluid and practiced.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Rong Shu decided to slow down her training of the primary wind attribute and switch to other attributes instead, repeatedly flushing her meridians with qi of different types.

During this period she kept a close eye on her body; at the first sign of anything amiss, she would stop immediately.

Another month passed.

On Limitless Peak, in a small courtyard perched by a cliff, a delicate figure was swinging a hoe, turning the soil. After loosening the ground, Rong Shu sowed vegetable seeds, then watered them.

When she finished, she stretched out on a reclining chair and looked up at a sky as blue and polished as wash. Gazing a long while at the pure, clean blue and white, it felt as if an invisible force were washing away inner turmoil and irritation, leaving nothing but calm and ease.

“So nice,” Rong Shu couldn’t help but sigh.

For the past two months, she had trained tirelessly.

At present, her true cultivation was as follows:

Primary wind attribute: third layer of Qi Refining.

Secondary dark attribute: second layer of Qi Refining.

Tertiary fire and wood attributes: first layer of Qi Refining.

Her fire attribute could have broken through to the second layer long ago, but Rong Shu deliberately suppressed it at the first layer. This would also be the cultivation she displayed to the outside world in her capacity as Immortal Venerable Ze Yu’s personal disciple.

A breakthrough in the wood attribute was part of Rong Shu’s plan. With both fire and wood, she could try her hand at being an alchemist, which was a popular trade in the cultivation world.

Even though she publicly had only a Fire Spiritual Root, she could still aboveboard be a “half-baked” alchemist.

What left Rong Shu a little depressed was the dark attribute’s breakthrough.

Originally she hadn’t paid attention to the dark attribute. Among the righteous sects, very few cultivators had dark roots; most cases were demonic cultivators who had forcibly created artificial dark roots. Mention the dark attribute and it easily aroused bad suspicions.

Yet for reasons unknown even to Rong Shu, dark qi fit her extremely well. That sense of fit—from body to heart—was mysterious, and even surpassed the fire qi affinity of someone who actually possessed a Fire Spiritual Root.

[But I’m positive, sunny, bright, cheerful, kind, and honest! I’m not some villain with a gloomy mind, vicious thoughts, crafty temperament, and shameless demeanor—so why is dark qi the one that favors me?]

Heaven only knew.

When she decided to push the dark attribute up to the second layer of Qi Refining, Rong Shu silently chanted many times in her heart—[I am a good person, I am a proper, upright cultivator]—before she had the courage to break through.

Besides that, her metal and earth attributes were faintly on the verge of breaking through to the first layer of Qi Refining as well, but Rong Shu held them back. Too many breakthroughs at once and she worried she might get “indigestion.”

As for ice and water—no change. Rong Shu suspected she simply had no talent for those two. No matter how much icy or watery qi she inhaled, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, without the slightest ripple.

After lying there a while, Rong Shu stood.

She had been in closed-door cultivation for two months and was ready to come out.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to continue, but she still had to collect her cultivation manuals from her master. Besides, shutting herself away endlessly would be counterproductive. Heaven’s Evolution Sect offered various training classes for Qi Refining Stage disciples, and Rong Shu planned to have a look and see what she could learn.