He had mastered the pattern of his hunger. Eating a single rabbit could sustain him for four hours. Over the course of a day, he needed three rabbits to keep thoughts of food at bay. Practicing seated meditation to sense the spiritual qi of heaven and earth required consistency; without a month or so, it was hard to achieve any results. Therefore, he needed to prepare a full month's worth of provisions.
Calculated this way, he needed to hunt ninety rabbits.
"What breed is this red rabbit anyway? Can it actually be eaten? Is a burning sensation in the body after eating it a sign of poisoning? Will the accumulated toxins eventually cause death by poisoning? I'll still need to ask Senior Sister to clarify the next time I see her. But surely eating them for a month won't kill me."
Zhou Chuan dug numerous hunting traps, making three or four round trips every day to bring his hunted rabbits back to his cave dwelling. The other disciples of Heiwu Mountain, except for Zhou Chuan, had all gone to the Hall of Affairs to accept sect missions. They had begun to busy themselves, basically only riding their cranes back when it was time to sleep.
The missions issued by the sect had cultivation base restrictions; for example, Tier 4 missions could only be accepted by those at the 4th Layer of Qi Condensation or above. The higher the grade of the mission, the less time it consumed, which gave disciples more time for cultivation. As for cultivators at the 1st and 2nd Layers of Qi Condensation, they could only accept Tier 1 and Tier 2 missions, and these tasks took a very long time, occupying the major part of the year. It would be considered fortunate if they could secure a month or two for cultivation.
Zhou Chuan spent seven days hunting enough ninety rabbits, and he filled in all his traps. Although rabbits had decent reproductive capabilities, they could not withstand such consumption.
In an immortal sect dense with spiritual qi, how could there be any ordinary wild grass or hares? Whatever survived had already undergone spiritual transformation.
"Alright, everything is ready. This month I must succeed in condensing my qi. Success or nothing!"
Starting today, he went into seclusion.
Zhong Xiu had constantly kept Zhou Chuan in her thoughts, but unfortunately, the mountain gate mission she had accepted was planting spiritual rice. She had gone to the Hall of Affairs a day late, and the better mountain gate missions had already been picked by her fellow disciples. If she didn't choose to plant spiritual rice, her only alternative was to guard the gates of the secret realm.
Guarding the secret realm wasn't very dangerous, but it required eating, drinking, and sleeping right there, continuously for eight months. That kind of mission offered even less freedom.
"Zhou Chuan, are you doing well right now?"
The preliminary work for planting spiritual rice was overwhelming; she didn't even have enough time to sleep, leaving her no leisure to visit him.
The outer sect wasn't actually as desolate as one might imagine. Inner sect disciples frequently came to the outer sect to impart teachings, answer various questions encountered during cultivation, and even demonstrate pill-refining, artifact-forging, and talisman-making on the spot. However, Zhou Chuan lacked spiritual power and couldn't cross the high mountains, so he couldn't go anywhere.
Among this batch of newcomers, Zhou Chuan was definitely a figure of considerable notoriety. Through word of mouth, everyone knew that the outer sect had taken in a disciple who hadn't even condensed his qi, whose cultivation base was guaranteed to be at the very bottom. Those disciples at the 1st and 2nd Layers of Qi Condensation instantly found a sense of superiority, but this kind of excitement was like the wind—once it blew past, people forgot about it.
"After guiding qi into the body comes the formation of pulse channels. Once the pulse channels condense, they form the spiritual embryo. The spiritual embryo is closely connected to the spiritual veins, nourishing and transforming them."
"The key terms are spiritual qi, pulse channels, and the spiritual embryo. Take them out one by one to study them, then piece them together, connect them in series, and finally make them a whole. Is it difficult? Actually, it's not as hard as imagined."
Zhou Chuan had completely thoroughly understood the Righteousness Art. As a liberal arts top scorer who had read tens of thousands of books, many principles were interlinked. Previously, lacking spiritual veins and unable to encounter spiritual qi, he naturally couldn't decipher what spiritual qi was. Now, living amidst the dense spiritual qi, with it present the moment he opened his mouth or his eyes, he naturally came to thoroughly understand its physical properties, characteristics, and functions.
For the first ten days, Zhou Chuan didn't rush to guide qi into the body. Instead, he visualized the entire Qi Condensation process over and over again.
"Put simply, spiritual qi is a kind of energy that can be absorbed and released. The human body is just a filter—only a high-grade one."
"Starting today, I will attempt to condense qi! This time, I believe there will be no deviations!"
Confidence stemmed from knowledge.
Five days later, Zhou Chuan's spiritual sea was clear as a starry sky. Through repeated inhalation and exhalation, he finally unblocked his spiritual sea.
Another five days passed, and condensation droplets resembling rainwater appeared in his spiritual sea. The number of these droplets increased with each of his Qi Condensation sessions.
Five days after that, his spiritual sea condensed its very first pulse channel. Once the pulse channel formed, the condensation droplets were thoroughly stored, becoming the embryonic form of spiritual power.
Striking while the iron was hot, Zhou Chuan continued his step-by-step cultivation for another five days. As many as five pulse channels appeared in his spiritual sea, and they underwent fusion to form the spiritual embryo.
"This spiritual embryo is akin to a storage device. The filtered spiritual qi, after being further refined and reaching my spiritual sea, actually transforms into something akin to vital essence. This vital essence circulates to supply power, and that power is what is known as spiritual power."
It took Zhou Chuan only a month to successfully condense his qi, breaking through to the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation, with quite a lot of droplet-transformed spiritual power accumulated in his spiritual sea. This speed could certainly be considered fast. Without any guidance, he had relied entirely on his own comprehension to reach this step.
Zhou Chuan made a hand incantation gesture, and a wisp of light blue vapor appeared in his palm—that was spiritual power manifested as gas.
"It seems I'm quite suited for cultivating immortality; it's not that difficult. Others might take three to five years to condense their qi, but I completed it smoothly in a month."
Zhou Chuan couldn't help feeling somewhat pleased with himself. His previous experiences had been utterly depressing; his life had felt as though it had plummeted to rock bottom, where he was last in everything he did. Once his cultivation base broke through, he was a true cultivator in the genuine sense—he had taken his first step toward longevity.
"The path of cultivation, your lord is here!"
The rabbits were finished, so he went down the mountain to hunt ten more.
He spent ten days consolidating his cultivation base and stabilizing the spiritual embryo. Once he was able to absorb spiritual qi, his appetite plummeted drastically; eating a single rabbit a day was sufficient. Therefore, those ten rabbits sustained him for a full ten days.
Suspended at the entrance of the cave dwelling were twenty jade slips. The sect's territory was vast, and all notices were transmitted via jade slips.
"I can finally read the jade slips! Dammit, bullying me for so long."
Zhou Chuan casually picked up a jade slip and infused spiritual power into it. His smile gradually faded. He tried repeatedly, but still couldn't open it or view its contents.
"Why won't it open? I clearly have spiritual power!" Zhou Chuan was depressed beyond measure.
No one had told him that opening a jade slip also required divine sense.
He desperately wanted to find someone to ask right away, but who could he look for? The newly arrived fellow disciples couldn't care less about him. Being unable to read the jade slips meant being cut off from all information within the immortal sect.
"Could it be that my cultivation base is too low to open it?"
He recalled that among the newly advanced disciples, aside from him, everyone else's cultivation base had reached at least the 2nd Layer of Qi Condensation. His suspicion was justified. Consequently, he went out to hunt another batch of rabbits.
Everyone else was busy completing sect missions, and no one had the time to bother with Zhou Chuan.
Zhou Chuan plunged back into frantic cultivation. He continuously inhaled spiritual qi, constantly refined it, ran a full circulation cycle, formed pulse channels, and converged them into the spiritual embryo. The spiritual qi within his body was continuously purified, and the benefit brought by this was a rapid elevation in his spiritual power.
He waved his hand to cast an incantation, and a wisp of light blue vapor appeared in his palm. This light blue was much deeper in color than it had been ten days ago. His cultivation base had reached the peak of the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation.
Continue! Zhou Chuan went through another round of seclusion-like cultivation until the rabbit meat was completely gone, not a single one left.
Filled with soaring expectations, he infused spiritual power into a jade slip. After the very first try, he threw the jade slip away: Dammit!
It still didn't work; the jade slip wouldn't open. He was lacking in divine sense; dealing with the contents of a jade slip didn't rely on the eyes. If he had been born in a cultivation nation, he would have understood this principle from birth, but alas, no one had ever taught him.
"This won't do, I have to find someone to ask!"
Using hunting as an excuse, he walked past the main road in front of his door, moving very slowly. He peered into each cave dwelling one by one. He knew who lived on Heiwu Mountain, and had roughly figured out their personalities.
He suddenly stopped because the cave dwelling he was passing belonged to Zhang Yuan. Zhang Yuan was notoriously cowardly and afraid of trouble on Heiwu Mountain, and Xiao Shengke frequently ordered him around.
"Hey! Zhang Yuan, come out for a moment!" Zhou Chuan acted like a changed man, turning overbearing.
"What is it?" Zhang Yuan couldn't muster any imposing presence at all.
"Let me ask you a question: how do you open this jade slip to read it?"
Zhang Yuan fell silent instantly, remembering Xiao Shengke's warning not to answer any cultivation-related questions for Zhou Chuan, leaving him to fend for himself.
"If you dare not answer, believe me, I'll beat you up!"
Zhou Chuan raised his hand. With a thought, his spiritual embryo circulated, and spiritual power gathered in his hand, causing his entire palm to instantly light up and become covered with a layer of blue light.
"You... you've succeeded in condensing your qi!" Zhang Yuan stammered, too shocked to speak properly.
"Are you going to talk or not? If not, let's have a fight!" Zhou Chuan knew Zhang Yuan was not only afraid of trouble, but also afraid of fighting.
"You use your divine sense!"
"Divine sense? Explain that a bit more clearly."
"Five low-grade spiritual stones." He extended his palm.
The reason Zhang Yuan was cowardly and afraid of trouble was because his family was poor and he lacked any backing. Upon learning that Zhou Chuan had successfully condensed his qi, he knew this person was not to be underestimated. He could refuse to answer now, but Zhou Chuan could ask someone else. The answer would eventually become known. Therefore, he might as well earn a little extra money.
Zhou Chuan's financial situation was truly hard to estimate because no one had ever communicated with him. However, he figured that since he could become a cultivator, he must have at least some spiritual stones on him. Spiritual stones were not only the circulating currency, but also essential supplies for recovering spiritual power.
"No problem, but I'll owe it to you first. I didn't bring my storage bag with me." Zhou Chuan turned crafty for once.
"The method for using a jade slip is to first infuse it with spiritual power, and then open your divine sense. Sweep your divine sense across it, and you can see its contents."
"How do you use divine sense?"
"That's the second question, five low-grade spiritual stones."
"I..." Zhou Chuan instantly wanted to curse and hit someone.
Wasn't this taking advantage of someone's predicament? But since it was rare to find someone to answer his doubts, he endured it.
"No problem, your big brother here is least lacking in spiritual stones." For the sake of being able to cultivate, Zhou Chuan went all out.
"Divine sense comes from our sea of consciousness. Close your eyes, use your mind to search all around, and wherever you find the most expansive place is your sea of consciousness. Since you are at the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation, you'll have at least a bit of divine sense. The initial form of divine sense is phosphorescence. Everyone's phosphorescence is a different color. The sea of consciousness will become a glowing pattern, such as having sun, moon, and stars, or a vast river under the setting sun. When using divine sense, you just guide the phosphorescence out of the sea of consciousness." Zhang Yuan's description was quite detailed.
Zhou Chuan nodded. He felt this money was well spent; such an important thing as divine sense was explained by Zhang Yuan in a way that was easy to understand.
Inwardly, Zhang Yuan was roaring with laughter. Such a simple question was actually worth five low-grade spiritual stones. He was willing to do this kind of business a hundred times over.
"How do you usually cultivate your divine sense?" Zhou Chuan asked.
"Five spiritual stones!" Zhang Yuan opened his palm once more, revealing his trademark crafty smile.
"You're a miser!"
"When a person is poor, their ambitions shrink. I have no choice."
"I said, I'm least lacking in spiritual stones. I'll owe it to you. Speak."
"Alright, you owe me a total of fifteen low-grade spiritual stones. To cultivate divine sense, it's best to find a specialized technique to practice it. If you really have no technique, you can stimulate your mind, pushing it to a state on the verge of collapse, which can also grow it. This method is limited to preliminary cultivation of divine sense; it won't work in the future."
"What you just said is as good as saying nothing. I want you to give me an example."
"The suffocation method. When you can't breathe, isn't your mind on the verge of collapse? The longer you hold your breath, the more your divine sense grows."
"Got it!"