Su Qingyue lifted her foot gracefully, stepping one pace at a time across the wooden bridge that connected the lakeside pavilion to the neatly paved stone path in the front courtyard.
Mu Chen swallowed slowly. The woman's gaze never left him, and with every step she took, a faint pulse of energy thudded against the ground.
"How are you feeling, Mu Chen?"
He cupped his hands and lowered his head. "Better. Thank you for taking care of me, Master Su."
"In truth, I did nothing other than bring you here."
"Where is this?" Mu Chen asked.
"My residence, the only house on Mount Jiuxiao."
Mu Chen narrowed his eyes, curiosity stirring as he recalled what Bai Han had said the other day. "I heard Mount Jiuxiao is where the ancestors lived. If this is the only house, then where do they stay?"
"They each formed their own cultivation caves and secluded themselves from all worldly affairs in closed-door cultivation."
He turned to look toward the hillside, unable to pinpoint the exact location of the sect's ancestors. Still, since Su Qingyue said so, it was certain that the ancestors truly resided on this mountain.
Su Qingyue raised two fingers, activated her qi, and pressed several meridian points on Mu Chen's body. He flinched slightly, but there was no pain at all when she did it.
"It seems I should be thanking Wang Wei. His whipping indirectly forced your meridians to open and activate," Su Qingyue said.
"Really?"
"With your meridians already channeling qi, you should be ready to begin cultivating," Su Qingyue added.
Mu Chen's heart pounded.
This was the crucial moment, the very purpose of power in the world of cultivation: meditation and cultivation itself.
A trace of nervousness rose in his heart. Could he really do this right?
But Su Qingyue once again reassured him that she would help guide his cultivation.
She tapped her bag of holding, summoning a white technique scroll that floated above her palm.
"This is a cultivation technique, the Initial Qi Condensation Art."
Mu Chen accepted the scroll and opened it with both hands. Strangely, his eyes and mind could read the writing inside as though it were his native language.
Simply put, the technique Su Qingyue gave him was used to absorb spiritual qi from heaven and earth.
The first step was to sit in meditation, clear the mind, calm the heart, and allow nature itself to touch the body.
The explanation was highly abstract rather than technical. Still, Su Qingyue told him that he would be able to feel the technique for himself.
The basics were enough for Mu Chen to understand.
He turned and looked at Su Qingyue while still holding the scroll.
"I'm ready."
"Good," Su Qingyue said, sweeping her hand as her qi wrapped around Mu Chen.
The two of them left the Jiuxiao Lotus Residence and arrived at a place located just below the hill where the house stood. There, Mu Chen saw a beautiful waterfall.
They landed gently below.
"You will cultivate there. Focus and calm your mind."
Mu Chen looked ahead. A pavilion stood in the middle of the waterfall pool, right at its center. Su Qingyue remained standing beside him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Alright."
He knew what he had to do.
He stepped across the river stones until he fully reached the pavilion.
Sitting cross-legged, he placed his hands before his lower abdomen, both palms facing upward.
Following the instructions from the technique, Mu Chen began calming his mind and regulating his breathing until it became steady, neither weak nor rushed.
Su Qingyue's dark violet eyes lit up with golden light, even without using any technique.
Through her cultivation vision, she saw the abundant spiritual qi in the area begin flowing into Mu Chen's body.
"He succeeded on the first attempt. Impressive," Su Qingyue praised softly.
Not wanting to simply stand by and do nothing, she took out a high-level spirit stone and tossed it onto the peak of the pavilion roof.
Immediately, the spiritual qi energy within the spirit stone was also drawn into Mu Chen, increasing the amount of qi available to him.
"All I can do is increase the amount of spiritual qi around him. I cannot affect how much Mu Chen himself is able to absorb."
For the first time, Su Qingyue began counting the days.
Previously, she had never cared what day it was, which week of the month it might be, and sometimes she even forgot the year.
But time was precious for Mu Chen, and Su Qingyue had no choice but to begin adapting, counting the days until he could break through to the next stage.
Five hours passed since Mu Chen began cultivating.
Su Qingyue looked up at the sky, now painted orange as night was about to fall.
It has been so long since I last cooked for a mortal. What should I even do?
THUMP!
Just as Su Qingyue was about to return to her residence, her steps halted when she witnessed a burst of golden qi erupt from Mu Chen's body.
The color of that qi was different from the spiritual qi he had been absorbing earlier.
The woman's eyes once again glowed gold as her cultivation vision examined his condition.
His twelve meridians were still functioning properly, continuously absorbing spiritual qi.
However, what shocked Su Qingyue was the earlier burst.
Eight extra meridians had opened and were now also absorbing spiritual qi.
Twenty meridian points... all functioning? But how is that possible?
Su Qingyue was stunned because twelve meridians were the standard for cultivators. Even she herself had only activated twelve meridians.
However, in certain rare cases, especially among once-in-a-thousand-years geniuses, it was possible to cultivate with all twenty meridians fully opened.
"This is truly astonishing. Opening twenty meridian pathways at once on his very first cultivation attempt. That alone is enough to prove that Mu Chen is no ordinary cultivator."
The woman was neither afraid nor confused.
Instead, she became even more interested in Mu Chen, this mysterious man dressed in strange clothing who had appeared from ancient ruins.
Perhaps... there is something far greater connected to Mu Chen.
Su Qingyue's interest rose even higher.
The obsession rooted in her heart toward Mu Chen deepened to the point where no one would be allowed to take him away from her.
"To fully maximize this potential, the Initial Qi Condensation Art is clearly not suitable for him."
THUMP!
Another burst of qi shook the area.
Dense golden qi began enveloping Mu Chen's body.
He let out a loud shout, not from pain, but from relief, as though his entire body had suddenly become light.
The fluctuations of golden qi spread throughout the area, shaking the pool, rustling the leaves, and sending dust into the air.
Su Qingyue was once again stunned, her eyes wide as she stared at Mu Chen.
"He broke through directly to 2nd Qi Condensation?" Su Qingyue whispered.
Mu Chen's eyes opened as he looked down at his body, especially his hands.
He could faintly see the golden qi aura surrounding himself, completely different from before.
So this is the power of cultivation?
He glanced over, somewhat startled to see Su Qingyue's expression so different from usual, as though she had witnessed something beyond her imagination.
He stood and stepped out of the pavilion in the middle of the pool, arriving directly before Su Qingyue.
The woman tried to remain calm.
The joy and excitement in her heart could not be shown too openly in front of Mu Chen.
She still had to maintain her image as his master.
"Congratulations. You are officially a cultivator now. Your current cultivation level is 2nd Qi Condensation," Su Qingyue praised.
"Thank you, Master Su."
"May I ask you something, Mu Chen?" Su Qingyue asked, narrowing her eyes.
Her attitude changed. Did she notice something strange about me just now?
Mu Chen fell silent for a moment, then looked firmly at the woman before him.
"What is it?"
"Is there anything you are hiding from me?"