Liam had little to no opportunities to face the effects of the rumors about him and Lucy. He had grown quite numb to fame, or infamy, due to his experience in Krosstoen village, but his main task also led to a secluded period.
Lucy had her own business to handle, so she left Liam alone after her quite comprehensive introduction to the cultivation world and the Pale Moon Sect.
Instead, Liam had the Disciplinary Elder's assignment to focus on. According to Lucy, every aspect of the cultivation world was founded on Qi, be it mere strength or more advanced practices, so Liam had to master the circulation technique.
That training was dull and highly time-consuming. It also demanded long periods of absolute concentration, making Lucy's presence superfluous.
Liam basically spent all his time in his cave, only opening its entrance during his breaks to retrieve the food left at his door. Still, except for some mental exhaustion, the training never grew boring, and for good reasons.
First, Liam always lost track of the passage of time, needing to rely on his cave's candles to check how long he spent in each training session.
It was actually staggering how quickly time could pass while immersed in those practices. A whole day might go by in a blink, but that apparently was the norm in the cultivation world.
The astonishment was a leftover of Liam's mortal mindset, something that he was bound to lose soon enough.
Second, and most importantly, Liam couldn't feel bored when he was learning actual magic. His still-mortal mindset made that dull practice immensely exciting, reinforcing his desire to immerse himself deeper in it whenever he achieved the slightest success.
And those slight successes accumulated until a major one happened only a week after the beginning of Liam's isolated training.
Liam opened his eyes, his gaze reflecting the drowsiness in his mind. He felt tired, sleepy, and drained, as if someone had sucked away his brain's ability to function.
However, Liam's excitement triumphed over his exhaustion, keeping him awake while he broke his sitting stance, carefully stretching his limbs and standing up.
The care in Liam's moves wasn't out of pain or soreness. It had the same source as his excitement, found in the mystical energy now circulating through his body.
After a week of training, Liam had succeeded in summoning and circulating his Qi through his body without leaking any of it, and he didn't want his standing up to ruin that hard-earned achievement.
Moreover, that wasn't the end of the circulation technique. More Qi was rising from Liam's core in the meantime, ready to be refined by his heart.
The complete version of the circulation technique wanted the flow of Qi to be continuous, refilling Liam's body whenever he used some of it, and he had finally succeeded in establishing that balance.
Of course, the balance was still frail. Proper mastery implied completely automating those overlapping processes, and Liam wasn't quite there yet.
Liam also still needed the peculiar breathing pace to sense and interact with his Qi at times. He had some way to go before claiming mastery over the circulation technique, but his current achievement allowed for something he couldn't wait to test.
'I should start with something simple but undeniable,' Liam considered. 'I can't really see the difference if I just run around.'
Liam's pondering eventually brought his black, tired eyes to the rocky ceiling. His cave was small but tall, or at least tall enough to serve the purpose.
'That's about four meters,' Liam calculated. 'Can I touch it without run-ups?'
Trying was the only way to be certain, so Liam bent his legs and half-squatted down, spending longer than he had ever done in his entire life concentrating on a simple jump.
And, as Liam unleashed the accumulated strength, the Qi circulating through his body also released its power, depleting itself to aid that basic move.
Still, Liam suddenly realized that the matter wasn't about whether he could reach the cave's ceiling. It was about how violently he could slam into it since he basically teleported there.
Before Liam had any chance to react, rocks filled his vision, followed by a sharp pain from the top of his head. His body quickly fell, crashing on the praying mat, only for him to roll on the floor while holding his hair.
'Ouch, ouch, ouch,' Liam cursed in his mind, stopping on his back, lying on the floor until his pain finally started to subside.
Liam gradually reopened his eyes, checking the apparently not-distant-enough ceiling before looking inward. A significant amount of the Qi in his body had vanished, but the rest was still circulating inside him, meaning he hadn't lost control.
However, no more Qi was being drawn from Liam's core. The crash into the ceiling and the following pain had interrupted part of the circulation technique, preventing his body from being refilled.
'This isn't good,' Liam thought. 'If this happens during a fight, I risk running out of Qi earlier than others, vast foundation or not.'
Cultivators could only use their Qi after it was refined, which also happened to be the longest phase of the circulation technique.
Liam's nine, probably ten, spiritual roots meant that he could store more Qi than basically everyone else.
However, that advantage was useless if Liam stopped refining his energy mid-battle. He would be left with what one circle the circulation technique had provided, which he could see wasn't much now.
And the Qi was clearly everything. That superhuman jump had confirmed as much, and Liam could even find more examples in his memories.
Liam would have never beaten the jailer if he had started using Qi from the very beginning.
Lucy was far weaker than Liam was when it came to raw strength, but she had still deployed a speed he had been unable to match thanks to that mystical energy.
It had been the same with Kyle, too. Liam had won because Kyle had used his Qi to set his fists aflame, forsaking any physical empowerment. However, if he had used both, Liam would have probably been done for.
'Qi beats muscles every time,' Liam concluded, 'And the gap will only widen since the Qi's quality increases alongside the cultivation level.'
In short, Liam wasn't ready for a proper battle between cultivators, but his morale didn't falter. He had spent years honing his hunting skills. He had lost count of how many shots he had missed before his aim became accurate.
The circulation technique was no different. Liam only had to continue training until it became as natural as breathing.
The two even shared the same drive. Liam had trained with his bow like a madman after his father's death to make him proud. Obtaining the strength to avenge his family fell in the same category.
'I miss my bow,' Liam whined in his mind, checking his head while sitting up. 'I wonder if there are martial arts that include firing arrows.'
Liam found the spot on his head where a bump was bound to form, but lowering his hands revealed the almost complete lack of blood.
'So the Qi also works as passive defense,' Liam realized. 'That's why I depleted so much in a single jump.'
Liam considered resuming his training before his tiredness won him over. He had learned to recognize those symptoms during that week. His mind and core need rest, so he began to crawl toward the praying mat to take a nap.
Nevertheless, the most unlikely voice in the world ended up resounding from outside the cave's entrance, ruining Liam's plans.
"Junior Brother Liam!" Kyle's voice echoed inside the cave. "Apothecary Elder summoned you to the Outer Hall for your first alchemy lesson!"