Chapter 23: Wang Miao’s Breakdown

With a single glance, Ouyang Changfeng could tell that Qingxi had brought back a hundred and ten ancient books. That was more than a hundred different martial techniques! Even a talented cultivator with a spiritual-grade root would need over a year to master them all. Moreover, even if one reached the initial proficiency in each, without regular practice, the corresponding meridian diagrams could easily be forgotten. So, after a year, being able to skillfully wield a dozen or so martial techniques would already be considered impressive.

"Has he gone mad?" Ouyang Changfeng suddenly realized that his hand holding the teacup was trembling ever so slightly. He refrained from disturbing Qingxi. Giving disciples room for self-learning and growth was a principle he had long believed in, though never actually practiced.

That night, the wind was gentle and the clouds light. Qingxi sat cross-legged beneath the ponytail pine, swallowed a Qi-Condensing Pill. He was not in a rush to train in martial techniques, but instead chose to first elevate his cultivation. As the vital energy within the pill was refined by the system and surged into his meridians, it circulated automatically, completing one cycle before merging into his dantian's energy sea, causing it to tremble and expand by a quarter.

This was the sign of a breakthrough. Now, Qingxi had stepped firmly into the eleventh level of Qi Refinement. "With a proper cultivation method, advancing in realm truly becomes less arduous." Qingxi drew a deep breath, feeling the surge of power and the thicker aura within him, then took out another Qi-Condensing Pill to refine.

After two consecutive first-grade pills, his cultivation barely reached the twelfth level of Qi Refinement. He then swallowed three more pills in succession, breaking through to the thirteenth level. Moving from the thirteenth to the fourteenth level took four more pills. Only after Qingxi had refined all the pills given to him by Ouyang Changfeng and Nie Yu from the library did his cultivation finally break through to the fifteenth level.

Staring at the empty medicine bottle, Qingxi sighed with longing, "What a pity, the pills are all gone. If I had six more first-grade Qi-Condensing Pills, I could step into the sixteenth level." Tilting his head up to the bright, full moon, Qingxi inhaled deeply and began to practice the dozens of martial techniques he had learned that day.

Earlier that day, he had only been at the peak of the tenth level of Qi Refinement, but now he stood at the fifteenth, the vital energy within him more than twice what it had been, unafraid of any consumption.

"Seven-Star Footwork!"

"Arrow Step!"

"Spirit Thread Formation!"

"Spirit Thread Blade!"

"Giant Rock Wall!"

And so on. Qingxi performed more than a dozen martial techniques in succession, each move fierce and vigorous, shaking the earth, sending sand and stones flying, drawing the attention of Ouyang Changfeng who was preparing to rest upstairs in the pavilion.

"What’s all this noise about, in the middle of the night… hmm! Fifteenth level of Qi Refinement? That little rascal must have taken more pills!" Ouyang Changfeng noted the aura Qingxi was emitting and immediately understood his true cultivation.

He knew Qingxi had opened all twelve principal meridians and, in the Qi Refinement stage, faced no bottlenecks. If he had enough pills, he could theoretically reach the thirty-third level of Qi Refinement, the great completion, within a month. Yet, advancing so quickly would make his foundation unstable, forever destroying his chance to ascend to the Innate stage.

Just as Ouyang Changfeng was about to admonish him, he suddenly realized that Qingxi's aura was remarkably rich and steady, nothing like a cultivation built solely on pills.

"Am I seeing things?" Ouyang Changfeng rubbed his eyes, stepped forward, and appeared behind Qingxi. "Good disciple, come here, let your master examine your pulse."

Qingxi hadn’t expected Ouyang Changfeng to be awake so late; just as he was about to ask something, he obediently stretched out his hand upon hearing the request.

As Ouyang Changfeng finished taking his pulse, his eyes filled with greater astonishment. As he observed, Qingxi's cultivation foundation was incredibly solid, the strength gathering in his body far surpassed that of a defective spiritual root, comparable even to the top among ordinary-grade spiritual roots.

"How strange!" Ouyang Changfeng had no doubt about Qingxi's spiritual root grade. After all, testing with the public stone monument was foolproof, impossible to fake.

"Master, you’re still awake?" Qingxi grinned, provoking Ouyang Changfeng to glare at him, thinking to himself, "If you weren't cultivating martial techniques like a madman in the middle of the night, would I be here?"

Yet, seeing Qingxi so diligent, Ouyang Changfeng couldn’t really scold him; otherwise, he’d be nothing but a stumbling block to his own disciple.

"Get some rest, cultivation requires both effort and relaxation. When it’s time to rest, you must do so." Ouyang Changfeng yawned, leapt back onto the pavilion, and soon, thunderous snoring echoed out.

Qingxi did not rest. Throughout the night, he familiarized himself with the meridian routes of the martial techniques, feeling invigorated.

Two days went by.

Qingxi lay beneath the ponytail pine, sporting dark circles under his eyes, yet his heart brimmed with joy. He had mastered all one hundred and ten martial techniques borrowed from the library!

Moreover, he had reached the initial proficiency stage in each. At this stage, as long as he reviewed them regularly, mastery was only a matter of time. Whether he could reach perfection depended on whether the system’s passive function—"enlightenment"—could be triggered.

"It’s time to return the ancient books." Carrying two thick stacks of ancient tomes, Qingxi happily made his way to the library.

…

On the stone path leading to the library, Wang Miao’s eyes were bleary, his hair somewhat disheveled. After being inspired by Qingxi, he had secluded himself for two days, relying on Qi-Condensing Pills, Foundation-Stabilizing Pills, and other spiritual medicines to break through several small bottlenecks, now possessing cultivation at the ninth level of Qi Refinement.

Had he not been blocked by the major bottleneck of his fourth principal meridian, he wouldn’t have ended his seclusion. Hearing that honing martial techniques could help advance cultivation, Wang Miao decided to take a walk, borrow a few martial techniques, study them for a while, and then return to seclusion to break through the bottleneck.

He arrived at the library.

"Have you heard? That ruthless fellow who mastered dozens of martial techniques in a day is back."

"Oh? I heard he took more than a hundred martial techniques and boasted he’d finish them in three days. I wonder if he succeeded."

"Right now, in the training ground in front of the library, Elder Lei Yao himself is testing him. They say his face doesn’t look too good!"

"Heh, if you’ve angered Elder Lei Yao, that ruthless guy’s probably going to get beaten into a beast."

…

Hearing the whispers among the disciples, Wang Miao was astonished.

"Mastered dozens of martial techniques in a day?"

"Are the library’s martial techniques really that easy?"

He muttered under his breath, then followed the crowd to the training ground.

"Make way, make way!" He pushed through, and the surrounding disciples glared at him, but when they saw the badge at his waist, marking him as the chief elder, they all acquiesced.

"I must see for myself who’s so audacious as to claim he can master more than a hundred martial techniques in three days… Wait, it’s him!"

When Wang Miao saw the figure at the center of the training ground, skillfully performing various martial techniques, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, his face filled with disbelief.