With a mind free of distractions, Chuxuan entered his first state of cultivation. The Qi within his body was rapidly growing, increasing endlessly, and he was already able to control this internal stream of Qi entirely at will.
Chuxuan directed the Qi along the circulation path of the Golden Light Spell, moving it through the meridians within his body. Having just listened to the Old Celestial Master's explanation, he had committed all the key points of practicing the Golden Light Spell firmly to memory.
Now, Chuxuan began circulating the internal Qi, attempting to cast the Golden Light Spell.
The Golden Light Spell was a powerful defensive cultivation method, and its righteous, radiant nature made it exceptionally well-suited for Chuxuan to practice.
As he circulated the Qi through his meridians, infusing it into the acupoints along the way, Chuxuan finally completed a full cycle of the Qi along the Golden Light Spell's pathway, filling every acupoint to the brim with Qi.
He tried to urge this stream of Qi forward. Suddenly, a golden light slowly began to shimmer around Chuxuan's body, with brilliant radiance flowing within it—a sign that Chuxuan had successfully mastered the Golden Light Spell.
Seeing that Chuxuan had actually succeeded in mastering the Golden Light Spell, the Old Celestial Master was once again astounded by his speed of cultivation.
Calculating the time, the Old Celestial Master realized that from the moment Chuxuan sensed his own Qi to the successful cultivation of the Golden Light Spell, it had taken a total of three periods—six hours in modern time. This speed was simply too fast!
The Old Celestial Master couldn't help thinking of his other disciples. The fastest among them had taken five hours. True, one of his grand-disciples possessed extraordinary talent, but even that grand-disciple had taken three and a half hours. Back then, watching his grand-disciple successfully master the Golden Light Spell with his own eyes had kept the Old Celestial Master happy for a long time!
Yet now, Chuxuan had mastered the Golden Light Spell in a mere three hours, leaving the Old Celestial Master utterly at a loss for words to describe his excitement. Compared to Chuxuan, those others were simply worlds apart!
The Old Celestial Master looked at Chuxuan with unconcealed amazement, the smile on his face growing wider and wider as he regarded his new disciple with immense satisfaction.
If taking Chuxuan as a disciple earlier had been because he liked Chuxuan's unyielding yet respectful character and his unique background, the Old Celestial Master was now profoundly content with this newly accepted pupil. With such prodigious talent, taking this disciple out in the future would undoubtedly make others green with envy, and it would certainly bring great honor to the master.
Having successfully mastered the Golden Light Spell, Chuxuan did not stop his cultivation. Instead, he continued to circulate the internal Qi to consolidate the results he had just achieved.
Thus, for another hour or so, Chuxuan persisted until the golden light surrounding him gradually solidified, grew stable, and finally settled completely. The flowing golden light enveloped his entire body without leaving the slightest gap.
Chuxuan could feel the formidable defensive power of this Golden Light Spell. Once the spell was cultivated to an extremely high realm, it would allow one to remain forever undefeated in battle.
Chuxuan slowly brought his cultivation to a halt. The speed at which he absorbed external Qi had already slowed down long before; during the process, once the Qi inside his body reached a certain level, it felt as though a person had eaten their fill—a sensation of fullness where it could no longer absorb any more external Qi. Chuxuan felt puzzled in his heart, not understanding the reason behind it, and realized he would have to ask his master properly about the problems encountered during cultivation.
Taking a deep breath, Chuxuan slowly opened his eyes. He felt refreshed and radiant, his entire body brimming with vitality, and sensed that his current state was exceptionally good.
The Old Celestial Master looked at Chuxuan with a smile and asked, "Chuxuan, how was your cultivation?"
Chuxuan nodded slightly and respectfully said to the Old Celestial Master, "Master, following your guidance, I first sensed the Qi stored within my body, and then began to sense the flowing Qi of the outside world, drawing this Qi into myself to increase my own store. However, after cultivating for a while, I felt that the Qi inside me could no longer increase by much, and I could no longer absorb external Qi either. Master, what is the reason for this?"
Hearing Chuxuan's words, the Old Celestial Master could not help but be filled with astonishment. Looking at Chuxuan, he asked for confirmation once more, "Disciple, are you saying that you already feel your volume of Qi has reached a state of saturation, and you are now unable to absorb any more external Qi?"
Chuxuan nodded, looking somewhat nervously at the Old Celestial Master as he replied, "Yes, Master, that is how it is."
A smile immediately bloomed on the Old Celestial Master's face as he looked at Chuxuan and chuckled, "Haha, good, good, good! My good disciple, your talent is enough to make even your master admire you! Don't worry, there is nothing wrong.
Your master has witnessed countless favored sons of heaven, but not a single one of them can compare to you. You were able to sense Qi in less than half an hour, which already far surpasses other Outsiders; then you spent only three hours mastering the Golden Light Spell, completely overturning this old man's understanding! You have utterly shattered the historical record of our Celestial Master Mansion by mastering the Golden Light Spell in just three hours."
Realizing that his condition was fine, Chuxuan felt a mild sense of joy upon hearing the Old Celestial Master's words, though he did not get overly excited. Looking gratefully at the Old Celestial Master, he said, "This is all thanks to Master's brilliant guidance. Your disciple thanks Master for the grace of imparting the Dao—a grace your disciple will never forget in this lifetime!" With utmost reverence, Chuxuan bowed deeply to the Old Celestial Master.
Seeing Chuxuan's unarrogant, unperturbed, modest, and cautious character, the Old Celestial Master felt even more pleased with his newly accepted disciple.
The Old Celestial Master smiled and said, "Well, while your master deserves some credit, it still ultimately depends on you yourself. As the saying goes: the master leads you through the door, but cultivation is up to the individual. Chuxuan, the fact that you can remain calm and unhurried makes your master extremely gratified."
Chuxuan nodded slightly and said, "Thank you for your teachings, Master!"
The Old Celestial Master smiled and nodded, saying, "Indeed, Chuxuan, I hope you can always maintain this state of mind in the future—calm and free of arrogance.
"Alright, next, let me talk to you about the matters of cultivation!" the Old Celestial Master slowly began.
"Chuxuan, you just mentioned that the volume of Qi in your body has reached saturation and you can no longer absorb Qi from the outside world. This is a normal phenomenon. I knew your Qi volume would reach saturation very quickly, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon.
This is a normal situation: your cultivation has reached a bottleneck stage. You must break through this bottleneck before you can continue to increase your Qi volume, and the size of this Qi volume is precisely what represents a person's level of strength."
Hearing the Old Celestial Master's explanation, Chuxuan finally understood his situation.
He let out a slow breath and carefully felt the changes within himself at that moment. Not only was his body incomparably comfortable, but he also felt filled with strength, as if his entire being had undergone a heaven-shaking transformation, and the power of his body was slowly awakening.