Having consumed quite a few cultivation novels and immortal-hero dramas in the modern world, Lixi inevitably imagined what she would look like flying on a sword, and now she was desperately eager to begin cultivating.
The moment Xiaocui finished tidying up, she immediately sat cross-legged and started trying hard to sense the spiritual energy in the air.
Yet after meditating for nearly an hour, she gained only a pair of legs that felt as though they no longer belonged to her.
Even dinner had to be brought in by Xiaocui.
While massaging Lixi's legs, Xiaocui gossiped away, "Miss, the master is planning to send the eldest young master and the second young master to an immortal mountain to become disciples, and right now he's asking around to see which immortal sect is the best."
Hmph, she knew it would be like that, but whatever; her most important task right now was figuring out how to control her thoughts, which kept running wild like untamed horses.
Quieting her mind and heart was so hard; her brain insisted on wandering off to think about all sorts of random things.
That night, Lixi didn't dare cross her legs to meditate; she tried lying down to sense the spiritual energy.
Striving to clear her mind... to empty it... repeatedly dragging back her thoughts that kept straying to the edge of the horizon, and just like that...
Just like that, with a blink of her eyes...
Dawn broke.
Ahhhhh!
This was definitely not a problem with her comprehension! It was simply that her mind was far too active, and at night she was far too sleepy.
She decided to find a spot with good geomancy to sense the spiritual energy.
Lixi looked around, her gaze finally settling under the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.
This osmanthus tree had grown exceptionally tall and sturdy. It was currently the golden season of autumn, and the entire tree was dotted with osmanthus flowers like stars across the sky, their sweet fragrance permeating the air with an exceptionally picturesque mood.
This was the place.
This mood, this beauty, this atmosphere—it was just far too suitable for her cultivation.
In the courtyard, Taowen was sitting on a small wooden stool, intently carving wood.
The tools in his hand danced flexibly, and wood shavings fluttered down to cover the ground; it really looked like he knew what he was doing.
It seemed Second Senior Brother was quite skilled at carpentry.
"Second Senior Brother, help me make a reclining chair. I want to lie under the tree to cultivate."
Taowen, who was actually in the middle of making a wooden sword: Huh?
Lyi... lie down to cultivate?
Although in his heart he felt this matter was rather unreliable, after all this was Junior Sister's first request, so no matter what, he had to satisfy it.
"What kind of reclining chair do you want?"
Lixi cheerfully gestured at length, and Taowen quickly caught on. With his hands moving at lightning speed, he finished the reclining chair in just a few brisk strokes.
Lixi tried it out and found that the reclining chair was extremely steady, and lying on it was exceptionally comfortable.
She immediately gave Second Senior Brother a thumbs-up: "Second Senior Brother, you are truly amazing!"
"Not at all, not at all. This is very simple," Taowen said modestly, waving his hand. It wasn't like forging a Dharma Artifact; it was just a reclining chair after all.
Lixi instructed Xiaocui to lay out a cushion and bring a blanket to cover her belly. Once everything was properly prepared, Lixi lay down comfortably, breathed in the refreshing floral fragrance, and slowly emptied her mind... emptied it... emptied it...
"Junior Sister, time for lunch." Second Senior Brother's voice drifted over gently.
Huh? Lunch? What lunch?
Lixi slowly opened her eyes with a dazed expression on her face.
...
She, wasn't she cultivating?!
How did she fall asleep again?
Absently poking at her rice, Lixi pondered as she ate: Could cultivation only be done while sitting?
Or should she absorb the Moon Essence and things like that at night?
She really wanted to ask: How on earth could someone manage to sit cross-legged with the five centers facing upward without their legs going numb?
The answer she got was: She didn't know; their legs didn't go numb.
Lixi was left momentarily speechless.
Fortunately, Elder Gao nearby offered a rather reliable remark: "Your posture is wrong, that's why your legs go numb."
Lixi didn't know why a small sect with only a dozen people and a mere five formal disciples needed to create the position of an elder, but since he was an elder and a Medical Cultivator at that, he certainly must have had some skills.
Elder Gao carefully explained the key points of meditation to Lixi.
This time, she was certain she really, truly had learned it!
If it still didn't work, she would just endure a bit of hardship tonight, crawl out of bed, and try absorbing the Moon Essence.
During the afternoon meditation, Lixi felt as though she actually, vaguely sensed the presence of spiritual energy.
That spiritual energy was brightly colored, floating and drifting lightly around her like lively little spirits.
"Miss, it's time for dinner." Looking at her young miss sleeping while cross-legged, Xiaocui figured she would probably need a massage.
"Ah—ah—ahhhhh!" Lixi's scream was nothing short of tragic.
Xiaocui's massage technique was extremely practiced, kneading Lixi until her whole body twisted like a dough twist.
She only felt that her legs were both numb and aching, as though tens of thousands of ants were gnawing at them.
Meditation—she truly wasn't cut out for it!
So, were the spiritual energy she felt earlier just illusions in a dream?
She wasn't going out to dinner anymore; she had Xiaocui bring her food inside.
Going out was simply too shameful to bear.
Guarding the doorway quietly, Lin Ruo asked the second junior brother, "How long did it take you to draw spiritual energy into your body back then?"
"A month."
Oh, her second junior brother had four spiritual roots, so it took him a bit longer.
She herself had three spiritual roots, and probably succeeded in about fifteen days.
Only Third Senior Brother had strong comprehension; although he only had five spiritual roots, he succeeded in drawing spiritual energy into his body in just a single day.
"Come to think of it, Third Senior Brother has been out on experiential training for a very long time this time, hasn't he? Why hasn't he returned yet?" Lin Ruo turned her head to look at her second junior brother.
"Right, it's been over half a year. By rights, he should have returned long ago. Nothing could have happened to him, could it?" Taowen frowned, carrying this worry in his heart all along.
The senior sister and junior brother looked at each other in silence, both terribly worried in their hearts yet utterly helpless.
Lin Shanlai walked over at that moment. He had come to check on his youngest disciple's cultivation, and upon hearing Lin Ruo and Taowen's conversation, he spoke up: "Some time ago when I went to Xuancheng, I heard the purchasing clerk say that the Sanglin Secret Realm outside the city has been open for nearly half a year now. Jiuzhi should have gone inside. If he still hasn't come out by the time the secret realm closes in a couple of months, we'll go out and look for him."
What Master said certainly made sense. Lin Ruo and Taowen could only press down the worry in their hearts; Third Senior Brother most likely really did enter the secret realm, otherwise he wouldn't have failed to send back even a single piece of news. The Sanglin Secret Realm was just an ordinary small secret realm with low danger, and with Third Senior Brother's intelligence, he surely wouldn't run into any major problems.
Right now, Junior Sister's cultivation was still the more important matter. Tomorrow they would have to talk properly with Junior Sister about this matter of drawing spiritual energy into the body—it couldn't be rushed.
The place where their sect was located had thin spiritual energy, falling far short of those major sects, so slower progress was normal.
However, Lixi did not feel it was normal.
In novels, which protagonist didn't succeed in drawing spiritual energy into their body on the spot?
Her method must have been wrong.
As a transmigrator, according to the heroine's law, there was absolutely no way her aptitude and comprehension were problematic.
Even if she had dual spiritual roots, they were definitely the best dual spiritual roots.
That's right, this was that inexplicable confidence belonging to a transmigrator.
Therefore, in the dead of night when the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, Lixi leaned against the window, quietly gazing at that full moon and attempting to absorb the Moon Essence.
It was pitch black outside, and she truly didn't dare go out; it seemed she would have to place a soft couch by the window tomorrow.
She tried hard to adjust her breathing, quieting her mind and heart as much as possible, and attempted to stretch her thoughts out infinitely.
In a daze, something really, seemingly did emit a faint light around her.
Brilliantly colored, it was indeed the spiritual energy she had "seen" that afternoon.
She tried pulling at the blue and green light specks in the radiance toward which she felt the greatest affinity, guiding them to circulate through her body according to the cultivation technique.
One cycle, two cycles... Gradually, the spiritual energy she absorbed became more and more abundant, and the blockages in her meridians were continuously scoured, expelled, expanded, and repaired.
Lixi gritted her teeth to endure the intense pain of her body being remade, continuously operating the *Xiaoyao Formula* to guide the spiritual energy in further scouring her body and meridians.
The impurities within her body were expelled one by one. I don't know how much time passed before the spiritual energy finally formed a perfect circulation inside her body, and a warm current began to gather at her Dantian, forming a tiny spiritual energy vortex.
The next day, Lixi woke up from her meditative trance and opened her eyes. Why did her head feel dizzy and bloated, as if she had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage?
Early in the morning, Xiaocui saw her young miss hanging out the window like laundry to sleep, and thinking this must be some novel, exotic cultivation posture, she didn't dare wake her up rashly.
Lixi laboriously propped up her body to crawl up, collapsing limply onto a chair for a long while before finally shaking off that dizzy, bloated feeling.
She needed a soft couch! Immediately!
Falling asleep just like that without paying attention was practically going to be the death of her.
Having finally recovered her wits, Lixi had the presence of mind to begin inspecting her Dantian.
She was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had already reached the Qi Condensation 1st Layer.
Hahahahaha, she really was a genius!
Suddenly she felt that the world's sky was bluer, the trees greener, and the flowers more fragrant.
She took a deep breath—blech!
So stinky! Heavens, why did she smell so foul?
"Xiaocui, hurry and fetch some water; I want to take a bath." Heavens, what were all these years-old layers of grime on her body? They had even formed crusts.
So stinky, good lord, she couldn't take it anymore; a generation of Qi Condensation stage cultivators was about to be dirtied and stunk to death by themselves.
"Alright, Miss." Xiaocui was an extremely reliable maid; knowing her young miss loved cleanliness, she always kept hot water prepared in the kitchen.
After thoroughly scrubbing herself several times, she discovered that the daylight was now quite bright, with sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves and casting mottled spots of light and shadow on the ground.
Lixi stood beneath the tree and spread her hands to "catch" a small patch of light filtering through the leaves. After drawing spiritual energy into her body, she felt as though the entire world had become different. She could now clearly perceive the vibrant life contained within the trees, as well as the pure vitality within the sunlight.
This feeling was truly magical. Was this what made cultivators different from mortals?
The pure, delicate, and lovely young girl stood there beneath the tree, seemingly merging into one with nature, greatly astonishing the senior sister and others who had intended to come comfort Junior Sister well today.
Only a single night had passed, and Junior Sister had already successfully drawn spiritual energy into her body?!
"Junior Sister is simply too amazing! This aptitude is truly wonderful." Lin Ruo was pleasantly surprised.
Taowen was also filled with emotion. "Yeah, back then it took me a full month. Junior Sister is still the amazing one."
"As amazing as Third Senior Brother."
Lin Shanlai was smiling so broadly his mouth wouldn't close. "Good disciple, our sect has produced yet another genius."
Lixi was also very happy. Although the Yunxiao Sect was a bit small and a bit poor, the people in it were truly wonderful.
She was very curious now: What was Third Senior Brother Yan Jiuzhi—the "sect's shining light and celestial demeanor" in everyone's eyes—actually like?
Up and down the entire sect, even Granny Wu who cooked the meals spoke of him with unceasing praise, yet she still hadn't had the fortune to meet him.
Meanwhile, in the Sanglin Secret Realm outside Xuancheng, a youth in azure robes was slowly opening his eyes.