Chapter 26: Drawing Qi into the Body

As the dust finally settled, Qin Xi rummaged through the embrace of the courtesan to retrieve the seal of the Great Thousand Sect.

"This tiny seal really put me through a lot of trouble," Qin Xi remarked, fiddling with the crystalline, translucent glass seal. The words "Great Thousand" were engraved on its stamping face.

"There’s no inkpad here, though..."

Just as Qin Xi was puzzled, Jiang Baiqiu snatched the seal away and pressed it firmly onto Qin Xi's scroll. With a flash of light, the two golden characters for "Great Thousand" shimmered onto the parchment.

"This is a seventh-grade magical artifact; how could it possibly need something as low-tier as an inkpad?" Jiang Baiqiu waved the seal in front of Qin Xi’s face before stamping her own scroll as well.

Bu Weiwei walked over, coughing as she stepped, her eyes fixed on the flour scattered across the floor. "Cough, cough... dozens of pounds of flour, just wasted like that... Should I sweep it up? Maybe I can still make a meal of noodles."

"Since we’ve made it into the Great Thousand Sect, we don't need to worry about a bit of flour." Qin Xi snatched the seal back from Jiang Baiqiu and tossed it to Bu Weiwei.

Seeing such a precious artifact being thrown her way, Bu Weiwei caught it gingerly with both hands. She stared at the exquisite little trinket for a long time before finally stamping her own scroll. Once finished, she looked up and shouted, "A-Ling, it's done!"

No sooner had she spoken than a figure leaped down from the large hole in the ceiling.

*Thud.*

It wasn't the sound of a boulder hitting the ground like before, but a soft, gentle landing. Without the heavy stone stele on her back, A-Ling’s body felt as light as a butterfly’s wing.

Bu Weiwei handed the seal to A-Ling. Staring at the girl’s arms, which looked even more delicate than her own, she couldn't fathom how such terrifying power could be compressed into such a small frame.

When they were planning, Qin Xi had intended to buy a custom steel pipe and had to pre-drill a hole in the roof of the Bliss Pavilion... but A-Ling had simply said it was unnecessary, then proceeded to twist the iron pipe into a pretzel with her bare hands.

Bu Weiwei had been stunned. Is this what a body cultivator is capable of?

And that massive dragon-bone waterwheel—Qin Xi had originally transported it back by carriage, yet A-Ling had managed to strap it to her back and carry it, all while scaling walls and leaping across rooftops.

What exactly was her identity? And just how heavy was that object she carried on her back?

While Bu Weiwei pondered, A-Ling finished stamping her scroll and spoke up. "Thank you, everyone... But will the Great Thousand Sect allow such underhanded tactics?"

"Well, their rules didn't explicitly forbid brute force, did they? I believe the Great Thousand Sect isn't that petty."

Qin Xi took back the seal and sighed after a moment of thought. He had originally planned to use this seal to sell qualifications for passing the first round—one hundred spirit stones per stamp. Those wealthy folks would surely pay any price to pass. But then, he reconsidered: if he did that, wouldn't everyone who made it to the second round be nothing but royals and the rich? That would effectively cut off the path for commoners to enter the immortal gates... He couldn't burn the bridge after crossing it.

He returned the seal to the courtesan’s pocket. He couldn't just pocket it either; it belonged to the Great Thousand Sect, and stealing it would be a major lack of social awareness.

"Eh? Something is appearing on the scroll!" Bu Weiwei suddenly exclaimed.

They all looked down to see that the text detailing the first round's task had vanished from their scrolls, replaced by a brilliant, glowing golden orb.

"This is..."

Before they could react, each golden orb darted into the center of its owner’s brow, and a wave of warmth spread from their foreheads throughout their bodies. A wealth of text emerged within their consciousness; a single glance was enough to know this was a unique cultivation technique. It had been imprinted directly into their minds, requiring no memorization to recall.

"So this is..." Qin Xi, being unfamiliar with such things, prepared to ask the locals what this was for.

Jiang Baiqiu chimed in from the side, "It’s a technique for drawing Qi into the body."

"Oh? So, if I practice this, I can draw Qi into my body and become a practitioner at the Qi Refining stage?" Qin Xi felt a sudden spark of excitement. This meant he was about to experience what it felt like to be a cultivator!

"That’s right... but..."

Before Jiang Baiqiu could finish, Qin Xi took a deep breath, sat cross-legged on the floor in the posture described in the technique, and settled into meditation. The other three exchanged glances and followed suit, experiencing the method for drawing in Qi provided by the Great Thousand Sect.

"Taking the spiritual root as the foundation, seizing the essence of heaven and earth, invading the mysteries of the sun and moon; spiritual energy is formless, and its entry into the body is the aid to immortality..."

Qin Xi roughly understood: one must use the spiritual root to sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, then, much like photosynthesis in plants, absorb that energy into the body to form a flow of spiritual power. This flow is known as spiritual power...

But just as Qin Xi prepared to use his spiritual root to sense the energy, he discovered something strange. His spiritual root seemed to be outside of him. Did he need to swallow Jiang Baiqiu again like last time before he could continue drawing in Qi?

Wait.

Qin Xi suddenly felt his spiritual root. The Confucian Saint spiritual root was inside him, looking like a small sapling. But he could clearly sense that this sapling was a mere projection—a phantom of the actual Confucian Saint spiritual root residing outside his body. It was like a holographic projection of a world leader appearing at a summit while the person themselves was elsewhere.

Moreover, this little sapling seemed a bit too automated. Before Qin Xi could even attempt to control it to absorb energy, the root had already begun to seize the essence of heaven and earth, acting like a vacuum cleaner, swirling the surrounding spiritual energy into a vortex and swallowing it all into his body.

What kind of sorcery is this!

Qin Xi could certainly reclaim control of the spiritual root, but he had a premonition that the root’s automated absorption was faster than anything he could manage himself. If it’s working... then I’ll just leave it alone.

And so, Qin Xi watched silently as the Confucian Saint spiritual root automatically absorbed the spiritual energy.

"...Jiang Baiqiu?" Qin Xi suddenly spoke. The speed of the root's absorption stuttered for a moment.

"...So that’s how it is."

Qin Xi roughly guessed what was happening. It was a nested logic, like a Russian nesting doll. First, Jiang Baiqiu was performing the Qi-drawing technique, and when her spiritual root began to absorb energy, her physical form was also absorbing energy from the outside world. Since Jiang Baiqiu’s physical form was currently inside Qin Xi’s body, her absorption was effectively his absorption. This created a logic chain: "Jiang Baiqiu’s spiritual root -> Jiang Baiqiu (Qin Xi’s spiritual root) -> Qin Xi."

How absurd! That means... her cultivation is my cultivation?

Before he could finish his thought, he suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness. In that instant, he seemed to perceive the existence of the entire world. His senses became sharp and clear; he could hear the wind brushing against the leaves and see the golden light of the sun hitting the ground. He felt as if he had become a part of nature, resonating with all things between heaven and earth.

And to resonate with the world meant that his meridians had become accustomed to the presence of spiritual energy.

Qin Xi, Qi Refining stage!