Chapter 5: Transformation

When the spiritual energy was refined into the vital energy unique to Qingxi, it reached his dantian and sea of qi. Guided by his intention, the vital energy began to rotate, but it showed signs of dispersing. This was a symptom of having too little vital energy.

Qingxi made a split-second decision, biting open the condensation pill in his mouth. Cool spiritual liquid surged along his twelve meridians, and after being refined, crashed into his dantian like a tidal wave.

A thunderous boom echoed—Qingxi’s entire body trembled violently, and he fainted.

When he awoke, he discovered a thumb-sized white vortex in his dantian, spinning counterclockwise. The vortex was stable, evoking the sensation of a gentle breeze.

“A vital energy whirlpool!”

“Did I succeed?” Qingxi opened his eyes wide, incredulous. Cultivation seemed not so difficult!

“Host has entered the first stage of Qi Refinement. System automatically activates the second function.”

“Ding!”

“Auxiliary function ‘Transformation’ activated.”

Hearing that celestial voice, Qingxi quickly inquired, “Assistant, what exactly does this ‘Transformation’ function do?”

The assistant explained, “It transforms all convertible material energy into pure primal force, which can temper the body, strengthen it, and refine the organs. Its greatest purpose is to help the host improve the grade of his spiritual root.”

“Improve the grade of the spiritual root!” Qingxi felt as if he were dreaming. He had been waiting for this function for so long.

From Elder Tu Yongsheng’s introduction, he already knew more about the wonders of spiritual roots. The most immediate benefit of raising their grade was the acceleration of absorbing the world’s spiritual energy. There were many other accompanying advantages: improved comprehension, enhanced reaction, speed, and strength. In truth, the grade of the spiritual root represented an all-encompassing difference, with the absorption speed being only the most obvious aspect.

Today, the system’s newly unlocked function could improve the grade of his spiritual root—how could Qingxi not be excited?

“Can the power transformed directly enhance cultivation?” Qingxi calmed himself and considered another possibility.

The assistant replied, “It depends on what is transformed. If it’s spiritual energy, it can naturally be absorbed and converted into vital energy, thus improving cultivation.”

“However, the system defaults to transforming into the five elemental primal forces, since for the host at this stage, improving the spiritual root grade is most important.”

“In that case, I’ll prioritize upgrading my spiritual root, then focus on cultivation next,” Qingxi nodded.

As long as the grade of his spiritual root kept rising, his cultivation speed would accelerate, and with all twelve meridians open, he wouldn’t face bottlenecks within the Qi Refinement stage, meaning breakthroughs would come swiftly. For now, there was no need to forcibly enhance his cultivation with external power.

Suddenly, Qingxi noticed his body was covered in sticky black residue and almost vomited. He hurriedly grabbed clean clothes and dashed out.

Half an hour later, Qingxi emerged from the lake.

“So this is the process of cleansing the marrow—it really smells terrible,” he murmured as he dressed.

When a mortal successfully forms a vortex and enters the first stage of Qi Refinement, their body is washed by their personal vital energy; the less gifted they are, the more impurities are expelled. In future cultivation, practitioners can slowly expel residual impurities through their pores, gradually strengthening their constitution.

Soon, he arrived at the lakeside, beside the dragon-marked green stone.

“Detected a thread of spiritual energy within the green stone. Would you like to transform it?” The assistant’s voice sounded in Qingxi’s mind.

Qingxi nodded, “Transform!”

Following the assistant’s guidance, he pressed his hand onto the green stone.

“Ding, transformation successful. Acquired a thread of earth elemental primal force, stored in system space.”

“The system has space?” Qingxi asked in surprise. “Can it store other things?”

The assistant replied, “System space is an attribute attached to the system. Currently, living things cannot be stored. Initial capacity is one cubic meter and can expand as the host’s cultivation increases.”

Qingxi’s mind entered the system space, and sure enough, he saw a thread of earth-yellow filament, thin as a hair. That was the earth elemental primal force.

Aside from earth, there were also gold, wood, water, and fire elemental forces. According to the assistant, once enough of the five elemental primal forces were gathered, the grade of the spiritual root could be raised.

“Detected many materials nearby containing spiritual energy. Transform them?”

“Of course,” Qingxi opened his eyes, continuously reading the information of surrounding materials and transforming their contained spiritual energy.

“Ding! Acquired a thread of wood elemental primal force.”
“Ding! Acquired a thread of earth elemental primal force.”
“Ding! Acquired a thread of water elemental primal force.”
…

Spiritual energy of heaven and earth is inherently attribute-less, but after merging with certain materials, over time it takes on those attributes.

Qingxi spent an hour traversing the lakeshore, collecting a total of one hundred and fifty threads of five elemental primal forces. Most were water, followed by wood and earth; only one thread of gold, and none of fire.

“It seems I’ll need to visit different places to obtain different elemental forces,” Qingxi mused.

He lifted his head, gazing at the star-filled night sky, breathing the fresh air, feeling quite content.

The next morning.

Before the Outer Disciple Hall.

Tu Yongsheng was checking the cultivation progress of the dozen new outer disciples, one by one. Most had successfully entered the first stage of Qi Refinement. The others, fearing waste, had not taken the condensation pill last night and thus failed to establish their foundation.

Tu Yongsheng did not dwell on it.

When his gaze fell on Qingxi, he nodded in satisfaction. “First stage of Qi Refinement—not bad. You are now truly a Qi Refining practitioner.”

“Well then, since most of you are practitioners now, today I will teach you how to use the energy within your body.”

Tu Yongsheng walked to the front of the hall. His eyes flashed sharply as he thrust his palm forward.

A fierce wind swept out, blasting the upper half of a wooden stake ten meters away into splinters.

“Wow!” The gathered disciples exclaimed.

Qingxi was stunned. “So this is the power of Qi Refinement’s perfection? It seems quite formidable.”

To shatter a stake as hard as refined iron from ten meters away, just with a palm wind, was indeed impressive. In Qingxi’s view, this palm could probably pulverize a boulder.

Unconsciously, his desire to grow stronger intensified.

“No need to be surprised. That was merely the perfected basic martial technique, ‘Gale Palm.’ I only used a tenth of my power,” Tu Yongsheng explained, ignoring their shock. “Having vital energy means you are a practitioner, but to wield its power, you must use martial techniques.”

“Cultivation method ‘Condensation Formula’ draws energy into the body—it’s a process of storage. Martial techniques unleash the vital energy, producing tremendous force—that’s the process of output.”

“Cultivation method is input.”

“Martial technique is output.”

“Do you understand?”

Tu Yongsheng’s resonant voice echoed through the hall.

Qingxi stood frozen, his mind replaying Tu Yongsheng’s words.

“Input?”

“Output?”

“Isn’t this just charging and discharging?”

“Every practitioner’s dantian can be seen as an expandable battery.”

“So, cultivation is not an empty fantasy.”

“It can be explained by theory!”

Qingxi took a deep breath, his eyes shining as if he had discovered a new world.