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Join the Server‘You have reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement. The external disciples’ body-tempering methods are no longer effective for you. As your master, I shall now teach you the Buried Qi Rebirth Method.’
‘When cultivating this technique, you must begin climbing the steps half an hour after sunlight has fully covered the land. Remember — you are not to use any external force. You may only operate the Buried Qi Rebirth Method.’
Late at night, Lian Yueying was wrapped in three layers of quilts, holding the cultivation manual in her hands as Yue Yixuan’s words echoed through her mind.
Mount Song stretched a thousand zhang high, with sixteen thousand six hundred stone steps carved along its side.
On normal days, even with a Light Body Talisman attached, climbing it still felt exhausting — one often had to use the Wind-Following Art at the same time just to ease the strain.
Without any aid, it might take several hours to reach the top.
Yet compared to those sixteen thousand six hundred steps, what Lian Yueying feared more… was losing her path to immortality.
‘Feel the spiritual energy flowing within your body — but do not allow it to return to your dantian. One strand of buried qi forms one layer, two strands two layers, and so on — only when you’ve buried nine strands at once will your body-tempering reach its greatest speed.’
Recalling her master’s instructions, Lian Yueying opened the first page of the manual and followed the method described.
She guided the spiritual energy through her meridians, yet every time it reached her abdomen, it naturally flowed into her dantian and returned to the sea of qi.
She tried dozens of times, but even after failing repeatedly, Lian Yueying did not lose heart.
She focused harder, chasing after that faint sensation again and again, trying nearly a hundred times — yet still she failed.
“The last few times, I could almost feel success… so why can’t I stop the qi from being drawn into the dantian? Can I really not control it?”
In the quiet of the night, inside her small room, Lian Yueying finally relaxed a little.
Having circulated her qi through fixed pathways for years, she had never actually tried controlling her dantian directly.
In truth, most cultivators probably never had.
“Hmm… no, I really can’t control it. When drawing in spiritual energy, the dantian naturally absorbs it — it’s as instinctive as moving your limbs when walking. No one ever consciously controls it.”
Again and again she circulated her qi, and again and again she failed.
After rereading the manual several times, Lian Yueying still couldn’t find what she was doing wrong.
“Bury the qi… bury the qi…”
Unfazed, Lian Yueying put on her shoes and stepped into the courtyard.
Picking up a shovel, she dug at a stone, watching as the soil covered it.
[To bury something, it has to be completely covered. Maybe this ‘buried qi’ doesn’t mean letting the energy roam openly through the meridians.]
Returning inside, a spark of realization flashed in her eyes.
She quickly sat cross-legged on the bed, inhaled a strand of spiritual energy, and drew out another from her dantian, wrapping the two together.
This time, it truly passed through the dantian — the qi successfully buried itself within her body.
Two strands.
Three strands.
Just as she was about to bury the fourth, she lost control of the first three — and all the qi was drawn back into her sea of qi.
“Master said that once nine strands flow simultaneously, I’ll be able to exert my full strength. Maybe I’m just not practiced enough yet. I’ll try again tomorrow morning while climbing the steps.”
With that thought, Lian Yueying put away the manual and took out the ancient jade slip.
“Zhao Qianqian might take a while to gather the money. I should learn this spell first.”
Injecting spiritual power into the jade slip, a flood of information rushed into her mind, confirming that this spell was no ordinary technique.
Yet after reading it through, she frowned deeply.
“If the Three-Foot Mirror requires spiritual energy equal to the incoming spell just to absorb and rebound it, then the consumption is too great. It’s less practical than the Mountain-Bearing Shield. But since this spell was recorded on a jade slip, it shouldn’t be so useless.”
Muttering to herself, Lian Yueying practiced the Three-Foot Mirror a few times barehanded, but it felt too strenuous.
Following Zhao Qianqian’s example, she drew her sword — and within three tries, she succeeded.
After a dozen repetitions, she could summon the technique at will.
Holding a Golden Arrow Talisman, she activated it and moved to the target area herself.
At the same instant she triggered the talisman, she used the Three-Foot Mirror to block.
The golden arrow struck the sword — but didn’t necessarily rebound.
That gave her another idea.
This time, Lian Yueying released seven golden arrows in succession, each one fusing into her sword until the spiritual energy within became wildly unstable.
Sensing danger, she quickly summoned eight golden arrows from the Three-Foot Mirror and blocked them with the Mountain-Bearing Shield, avoiding disaster.
“How interesting. If this works with true talismans… what would happen then?”
For now, she couldn’t yet draw talismans herself, so she tried a few more times with the sword.
After testing the sensation several times, she attempted it barehanded again — still no success.
With no choice, she decided to stop for the night.
Her bedroom was too fragile for spell practice.
Normally, Lian Yueying would go to the Earthfire Chamber — a place used for alchemy and artifact refinement.
To prevent explosions from damaging the surroundings, its walls were forged entirely from black iron — sturdy and affordable, costing only one spirit stone for two hours of use.
Once back under her quilt, she finally felt the warmth returning to her body, realizing just how cold she’d been earlier.
Those born under the Great Yin constitution possessed a chill beyond common understanding.
When Lian Yueying had been gravely ill, her body temperature was like the autumn wind at night — freezing cold.
After stepping onto the path of cultivation, the chill had eased, but a few days each month, it would return.
Lian Yueying had long since grown used to it.
She didn’t pay it any mind, instead taking out the Azure Wind Shuttle to review the method of use.
After experimenting several times, she condensed a wooden shuttle identical to the one she’d seen before, then dispelled it, deciding to resume practice tomorrow.
Next, she retrieved the Eighty-One Formations of Creation and opened to the first page.
“Formations commune with heaven and earth. The formation lines mark the eyes; the eyes connect to the core — each supporting the other…”
The introductory passages were familiar knowledge, and she read them with ease.
But once she reached the main text, she felt a rare sense of helplessness.
Rising from bed, she followed the book’s instructions to sketch formation lines and place spirit stones.
It took her a full hour to complete a beginner-level formation — the Suspension Array.
Yet the moment she activated it, the formation merely flickered, and the eight spirit stones she’d placed dimmed instantly before the array dissipated.
Failure didn’t bother Lian Yueying much, but after another dozen tries and the loss of over a hundred spirit stones, she had made no progress whatsoever.
“This is supposed to be the simplest beginner array?”
The Suspension Array was common and widely used across the cultivation world.
There was no way she could have no idea how it worked.
So she tried several other beginner formations, one by one — yet without exception, each failed repeatedly.
[I can’t keep going. I’ve already lost over three hundred spirit stones. These formations really burn through money.]
Lian Yueying admitted that she lacked talent in formations.
In truth, aside from talismans, she had stumbled endlessly through every discipline — cultivation, spells, alchemy, all the same.
[It seems the librarian really was guiding me. I shouldn’t have gotten smug over a little progress and ignored his advice. These three hundred spirit stones… I’ll take them as a lesson. I’ll ask him for guidance another day.]
Tidying up the messy floor, Lian Yueying sat back on her bed, warming her body as she sighed in thought.
[I’ll start with what I can actually understand. It’s already rare enough that I have some talent with talismans.]
After a while, warmth returned to her body — and with it, her determination.
Just as she took out the Qinglin Sect manual to cultivate, the warding talisman on her door pulsed faintly.
Sensing who it was, she didn’t react, and simply turned another page.
A few breaths later, a small, sneaky figure appeared at the door.
Its back fur was brownish-grey, with snow-white fur along its belly and paws.
Anyone who loved cats would recognize the pattern — dark clouds covering snow, and its golden-yellow eyes gleamed like molten metal in the moonlight.
“Meow~”
The Tabby Cat mewed softly, as if asking for permission.
Its charming little face drew a faint smile from Lian Yueying.
She patted the space beside her, signaling it to come over.
The Tabby Cat seemed to understand her perfectly.
Seeing her gesture, it trotted over, leapt onto the bed, and the bell on its chest jingled pleasantly.
It rubbed against Lian Yueying’s hand, then curled up by her knee.
It was midsummer, and the night still carried a hint of heat — cats usually sought cool spots.
But beside Lian Yueying, it was cooler than even by a lakeshore.
“You always know the right time to visit — coming when my illness flares up.”
Their first meeting had been on a night much like this.
Back then, Lian Yueying had only just joined the sect.
When the cat triggered her warding talisman, she had panicked — this was a cultivation sect, after all.
But after probing its aura and finding it ordinary, she relaxed.
Gently stroking its smooth fur, Lian Yueying picked up her manual again.
After half an hour of reading, she finally set the book aside.
“As expected, this New Wood Art aids in healing and recovery — similar to the Mountain-Bearing Sect’s Fortification Method. It’s likely just a standard inner-sect technique. I’ll focus on mastering the healing aspect.”
Cultivation methods were countless, and their operation varied endlessly.
Feeling the flow of spiritual energy once more, Lian Yueying found no abnormalities and began to circulate it.
[I’ll keep practicing the New Wood Art for at least five days.]
The Tabby Cat watched her quietly, then shifted into a more comfortable position, purring softly.
Amid the night insects’ songs and the cat’s soothing rumble, Lian Yueying sank into meditation — and soon, dawn arrived.
When she opened her eyes, the Tabby Cat was gone.
She knew exactly when it had left, and didn’t mind.
After stretching her limbs, washing up, and eating some dried rations with water, she stepped outside to breathe in the morning air.
[Master didn’t say how many times I have to climb. I’ll just follow my own pace — as many trips as I can before noon. Then I’ll head to the Earthfire Chamber for spell practice, and afterward to the library to study formations.]
The main reason she wanted to learn formations was her longing for the Spirit Gathering Array.
If she could master it, she wouldn’t need to spend spirit stones renting a meditation room anymore.
Thinking over last night’s gains, Lian Yueying passed by the quiet lake and headed straight for the mountain trail within the sect.
[No external aid… only the body itself. How long has it been since I’ve done this?]
The first time she’d climbed the outer mountain to join the sect, she’d used a movement technique to fly up effortlessly.
For mortals, scaling this thousand-zhang mountain was nearly impossible — but now, Lian Yueying wanted to feel that mortal struggle once again.
Activating the Buried Qi Rebirth Method, she attempted to circulate four strands of spiritual energy at once — and failed.
So she settled for three, taking her first step onto the stone staircase.
At first, her confidence was high, her mood bright.
But by the time she reached the hundredth step, her smile had vanished.
At two hundred, her legs were sore and her breath ragged.
At five hundred, she was drenched in sweat, her breathing heavy.
[Has my body really become this weak?]
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Oh No, The Girl I Possessed Has Come Knocking On my Door! is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Oh No, The Girl I Possessed Has Come Knocking On my Door!
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