The long night drags on, with sparse stars and a bright moon.
Jiang Yuebai sits cross-legged on the bed, her eyes lightly closed, breathing smoothly.
[You begin internal energy circulation, Gold Element Spiritual Energy leads out from the Dantian, you mistakenly enter the wrong acupoint, internal energy circulation fails]
[You begin practicing internal energy circulation... you mistakenly enter the wrong acupoint again, internal energy circulation fails]
[...internal energy circulation fails]
An hour passes in the blink of an eye, failed twenty-three times, Jiang Yuebai's whole body aches, her Dantian feels empty and contracted, a sense of defeat rises in her heart.
Thinking of Xie Jingshan, who is both talented and diligent, Jiang Yuebai takes a deep breath, perhaps he has already mastered Qi Circulation and started learning spells, let alone the even more skilled Lu Nanzhi above him.
Jiang Yuebai steadies her mind, takes out the Jade Scroll and places it against her brow.
In the darkness, she 'sees' a transparent person with five hearts facing the sky, sitting cross-legged, thumbs facing each other, hands overlapping on the lower abdomen.
A golden light emerges from the Dantian, lighting up the golden acupoints one by one, traveling inside and outside the lungs, merging into the inside of the right arm, exiting from the right thumb, entering the left thumb, traveling upward from the inner left arm, and finally returning to the Dantian to form a cycle.
Completing this cycle is considered one successful Qi Circulation.
Jiang Yuebai carefully compares the Cultivation Route in the Jade Scroll, familiarizing herself with the acupoints on her body, summarizing her failures.
The human body has 720 acupoints and 12 meridians. The reason for her repeated failures is her inability to accurately identify the acupoints and meridians.
After some contemplation, Jiang Yuebai finds the "Energy Introduction Technique," which contains detailed diagrams of acupoints and meridians.
Since her talent is not high and her comprehension insufficient, she would use the most foolish method!
Jiang Yuebai takes out an embroidery needle, lifts her sleeve, and, using the diagrams, presses on the acupoints. For each acupoint she accurately finds, she pricks a small blood point with the needle to remember the location through the pain.
After busily working, Jiang Yuebai's entire arm and chest are covered with blood points. She knits her brows, puts on her clothes, and begins Qi Circulation again.
Gold Element Spiritual Energy leads out from the Dantian, as fine as a strand of hair, with an extremely faint sensation. Jiang Yuebai is fully concentrated and cautious.
The long night wears on, with a faint and cool moonlight streaming through the window, casting over Jiang Yuebai's focused little face.
[You begin internal energy circulation, and since you can't accurately find the acupoints, you use a self-abusive method. You're a tough person, and stumble through, successfully circulating the energy, Metal Element Skill proficiency +1]
As one Circulation cycle ends, Jiang Yuebai's Dantian suddenly swells, and she 'sees' a tiny golden vortex abruptly appear in the dark void.
The golden light is very faint, shimmering intermittently, slowly rotating like twinkling stars, looking very beautiful.
Jiang Yuebai quickly glances at her Immortal Cultivation Panel.
[Realm] Qi Cultivation First Layer
[Cultivation Technique]
Metal Element Skill (Not yet entered: 1/10)
Seeing the proficiency behind it, Jiang Yuebai sets her goal, reassuring herself that as long as she completes the internal energy circulation ten times, she can reach Entry Level.
Once at Entry Level, she can start learning the Sharpness Technique spell, and it doesn't seem too difficult.
Jiang Yuebai laughs happily twice, turning her head to look outside the window, where the sky is turning pale.
Replacing sleep with meditation, she doesn't feel tired at all but instead feels energized. This Cultivation Technique is quite peculiar.
Based on time estimation, she could complete the internal energy circulation three times a night without failing, meaning she could reach Entry Level in just three to five days.
But now she needs to quickly follow her grandfather's advice to channel energy into her body at the first rise of the Golden Crow to replenish the spiritual energy consumed throughout the night.
Early the next morning.
Tao Fengnian is cooking in the kitchen, and Jiang Yuebai is following him around like a little tail, chirping about her experiences from practicing internal energy circulation the night before.
"Did you really complete a whole Circulation cycle?"
Tao Fengnian's hand pauses in the process of washing rice, looking astonished at Jiang Yuebai.
Jiang Yuebai nods with a smile, "Mm, I saw a tiny golden vortex. Isn't it in my Dantian?"
Jiang Yuebai presses her lower abdomen, unsure of where the small vortex she saw is located in her body.
Tao Fengnian's lips move slightly; having a vortex means it was successful.
Tao Fengnian, somewhat absent-minded, continues washing the rice. At this moment, he truly feels grateful to Hong Tao for bringing this child to him.
With her talent and comprehension, as long as she works hard, and with her complete Five Elements, cultivating the "Five Elements Returning to Truth Skill" should be more effective than his Four Spiritual Roots.
Early-Mid Stage Qi Cultivation is easy, requiring just three to five years of hard work. The first two layers of Spiritual Cultivation Magical Technique are also easy. Only the transition from the Third Layer to the Fourth Layer requires years of practice and comprehension, but it's not entirely hopeless.
If she becomes a Spiritual Cultivation Master in three years, this achievement might allow him to request a ten-year Lifespan Extension Pill from the Sect, with a high chance of success!
In ten years, with Foundation Establishment, she could take another fifty-year Lifespan Extension Pill, still leaving a slim chance to reach Core Formation.
In that instant, the extinguished flame in Tao Fengnian's heart reignites, perhaps he can fight once more, holding on for three years.
"Grandpa? Grandpa! The rice is spilling out!!"
Jiang Yuebai shouted from the side and quickly snatched the bowl of spirit rice from Tao Fengnian's hands, pushing him aside, and painstakingly picked up the fallen grains one by one.
Tao Fengnian wiped his hand on his clothes, looking at the little girl who wasn't even as tall as the table, and smiled knowingly, taking out a piece of beast meat he had kept hidden for a long time from his storage bag.
"Today we'll stew some meat to eat. After we're full, Grandpa will teach you the horse stance and sword method."
"Meat! I like it!"
Jiang Yuebai exclaimed with delight, her eyes shining brightly, unable to stop swallowing her saliva.
The morning sun rose, its rays scattering in all directions.
Jiang Yuebai noticed that Tao Fengnian suddenly became strict with her, talking incessantly even during breakfast.
Sit with good posture, chew slowly when eating, no shaking legs, no clattering dishes, no picking through the food.
After the meal, he tested her character recognition and recitation, teaching her the "Cangjie's Four Chapters" and "Young Scholar's Pearl Forest," and took out the Four Treasures of the Study to let her practice the Ancient Cloud Seal and Turtle Shell Script.
Then it was balancing a book while in the horse stance, practicing magical hand techniques amidst the stance.
After lunch, Tao Fengnian set up wooden stakes of varying heights in the courtyard, arranged like constellations.
He taught Jiang Yuebai the "Chasing Star Step," followed by a set of "Wood Cutting Blade Method."
By nightfall, Jiang Yuebai looked at her aromatic bowl of rice, her stomach growling with hunger, but her arms were too sore to lift her chopsticks.
Tao Fengnian gently massaged Jiang Yuebai's muscles.
"Are you tired?"
"Tired, but I am at peace in my heart."
Jiang Yuebai spoke truthfully, more afraid of not being allowed to learn than of fatigue, much like in front of the mountain gate where she was given no chance at all.
Tao Fengnian nodded in approval and took out a packet of medicinal herbs.
"After dinner, boil some water to bathe with these medicinal herbs to invigorate your blood, and the pain will be gone by tomorrow. Cultivation may seem difficult, but it isn't really; the trick lies in repeating simple tasks until they become second nature."
"Hmm, I'll remember that."
The next day, after teaching, Tao Fengnian went out to work. Jiang Yuebai was eager to absorb everything about the cultivation realm. Even when Tao Fengnian was absent, she practiced writing, the horse stance, and her step and sword techniques, as well as hand seals, earnestly.
Step by step, without arrogance or impetuosity, neither slow nor rushed.
*
The fragrance of autumn orchids filled the air, and the spiritual grains grew increasingly ripe.
In the spiritual fields, spiritual cultivators and their apprentices labored diligently, harvesting and bundling the weighty spiritual grain, piling it at the edge of the fields.
At such times, everyone was full and happy.
After handing over what was required by the sect, the remainder could always be exchanged for some spirit stones and elixirs, signaling the improvement of one's cultivation and the hope of Foundation Establishment coming a step closer.
Tao Fengnian had finished harvesting his spiritually enriched grain several days earlier; early in the morning, he used the Spirit-Shocking Hoe to loosen the soil, sowing the winter crops cultivated with the Red Flame Technique, as clouds dispelled and rain followed.
After a spell of fine rain, tender seedlings broke through the soil, vibrant and full of life.
"Elder Tao, you really work quickly. We're still in the midst of our autumn harvest, and you've already finished your winter planting. Care to try some of this freshly brewed Red Cherry Fruit Wine?"
Song Pei'er removed her conical hat, lifted a wine jug, poured a bowl of cherry pink fruit wine, and handed it to Tao Fengnian.
Tao Fengnian reached out to take the bowl, and Song Pei'er raised an eyebrow with some surprise.
"You seem to be in a good mood lately, willing to drink even my flavorless fruit wine?"
Tao Fengnian took a sip and said, "It quenches thirst, that's all."
Song Pei'er giggled, looking around, "Where's that sweet-mouthed little girl? Didn't you bring her out to help?"
"She's at home cultivating. Didn't you leave your apprentice behind too?" Tao Fengnian replied courteously.
"Lv Ying, just broke through to Qi Cultivation First Layer yesterday. I let her rest today to consolidate, and from tomorrow she'll be starting with cultivation techniques. Nineteen days to breakthrough, the first among this batch of apprentices in Huaxi Valley, and about average level in the Outer Sect. I reckon she'll learn a basic technique in less than three months, allowing her to help me with some of the fieldwork."
Tao Fengnian stayed silent. Three days ago, little Yuebai had already grasped the basics of "Metal Element Skill," officially entering the first layer, and began learning the "Sharpness Technique."
Song Pei'er's eyes shifted subtly, leaning closer to ask, "How's that little girl of yours? No movement yet?"
Tao Fengnian finished his drink in one go and handed back the bowl.
"Almost there."
The "Sharpness Technique" was almost learned.
Finishing his words, Tao Fengnian hoisted his hoe and left, and Song Pei'er pursed her lips behind him, "Knowing your lifespan is nearing its end, and still they don't give you a better apprentice to earn contribution points. What good are Five Spirit Roots!"
Back at the courtyard, Tao Fengnian opened the gate to see Jiang Yuebai balancing on one leg on a wooden stake like a golden rooster, a vase steady on her head like a rock, her hair disheveled but eyes focused.
When her ten fingers moved, a streak of golden light suddenly burst forth.
The "Sharpness Technique," mastered!