Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 283: Polishing the Qi Sea

Back in the bamboo forest, on the cliff just beneath the summit, the Golden Ring Bees’ nest had grown to nearly twice the size it was three years ago. Liu Xiaolou took a closer look and counted more than fifty full-grown wasps. Each one about the size of a clenched fist.Climbing up the cliff, he peered into the hive. There were about seventeen or eighteen pupae there. The colony was already starting to take shape.

If the whole swarm moved at once, they probably wouldn’t have any trouble dealing with a few cultivators at or below the mid Qi-refinement stage.

Another benefit of raising those Golden Ring Bees: they make for good alarms. If some sneaking, no-good bastard thinks he could slink up the mountain the wrong way, peering at Ganzhu Ridge from some goat-less cliffside... well, those bees had a talent for delivering the kind of trouble a man didn't see coming.

Scooping a gourd full of Golden Ring Honey, Liu Xiaolou headed down the cliff feeling completely satisfied, then made his way back to his little courtyard.

Looking at the rundown courtyard, he hesitated for a moment and decided not to repair it just yet. He didn’t want to reveal that he had come back to the mountain. Judging from the looks of things, it seemed no one had been here in the past three years, but to play it safe, it was better not to stir up any activity.

Back at the summit, Liu Xiaolou put the formation disk away. The spiritual energy that had been spilling out in all directions began to fade. And after waiting for over an hour it had almost completely disappeared. Beneath the crack in the rock, everything looked just as before, with nothing unusual at all.

This showed that what the formation disk had opened up really wasn’t any physical space under the rock, but the void that Peak Lord He had mentioned. The problem was that this opened void left no trace to follow, making it impossible to explore further.

Even so, the fact that the spiritual energy could be opened or sealed at will made Liu Xiaolou more than satisfied with the formation disk.

He set up a simple little lean-to beside the crack, covering it with dry grass and vines. At first glance it looked like a clump of bushes, which meant he could cultivate here without worry.

He linked his mind to the twvo seeds, and the views from the mountain paths in front and behind appeared in his mind’s eye. Everything was normal, so he withdrew his attention and began absorbing the spiritual energy that seeped from the rock crack, continuing to build and thicken his true qi as he polished his peak Qi Refinement stage again and again.

After reaching the peak of the Qi Refinement stage, you couldn't really cultivate your meridians and acupoints anymore. At this point, the goal is to keep packing in more true qi, so it starts flowing non-stop from all those meridians and acupoints. It then overflows and heads to the Qi Sea, where it finally gathers, condenses, and tempers that acupoint. The very second that "inner world" within the Qi Sea takes shape, you move beyond just cultivating the physical body and its meridians. You enter the phase of cultivating with your spiritual sense, a stage known as Foundation Establishment.

In the major righteous sects, this is considered the true beginning of cultivation.

According to the cultivation manuals, some exceptionally gifted prodigies can break through into Foundation Establishment without taking a Foundation Establishment Pill. What they rely on is directly opening up the Qi Sea and expanding its inner world.

This step demands an enormous amount of spiritual energy. How much is needed varies from person to person. Many cultivators reach this point only to find themselves stuck for years if they don’t have a steady source of spiritual energy. And with the difficulty of obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill, it’s no exaggeration to say that among rogue cultivators, those who manage to reach the Foundation Establishment stage are as rare as phoenix feathers.

There was no doubt that the crack had opened up a Spirit Spring. The spiritual energy leaking out wasn’t enough to call it a true spring yet, and its potency was only about thirty percent of what you'd get from a spirit stone. But the great thing was that it's a permanent source, and it belonged to him alone.

With this spirit spring, he no longer needed to run around hunting for spirit stones.

Suddenly, he remembered the five Sect Leader tokens of Lord He. If he added two more to his formation disk, would the spiritual energy it produced be even stronger?

From that day on, Liu Xiaolou settled himself at the spirit spring and entered seclusion, constantly absorbing the spiritual energy that drifted out and converting it into true qi within his meridians.

Whenever he got hungry or thirsty, he’d take a break and go down the mountain. He’d grab some honey, catch a few fish for soup, or cook up some porridge. After a good meal, he’d just chill under the stars, feel the wind, and then head back up to the summit to continue his cultivation.

True qi gradually filled the primordial pools in each acupoint, and once they overflowed, it streamed along the meridians on its own, flowing like water toward the Qi Sea.

The Qi Sea is called the Qi Sea because, during Foundation Establishment, it becomes a real sea of true qi. It is not just a sea but a world unto itself. At this stage, though, the Qi Sea did not live up to its name. It was no different from any other acupoint, just another acupoint along the body.

Its primordial pool was small and had long since been filled. More and more true qi poured into it, creating a noticeable pressure as it all squeezed together.

That pressure was relentless and only went one way. The pool, which had already been packed tight with true qi, suddenly opened up because of the squeezing, making room for even more to gather inside.

Summer faded and autumn arrived. Cold winds swept across the mountain, and before long winter was here. Overnight, countless peaks were draped in white. Morning mist mingling with drifting snow…

Liu Xiaolou was so absorbed in his cultivation that he lost track of time and the changing seasons.

One day in the depths of winter, his mind suddenly jolted. A vision appeared in his head -- it was the viewpoint from the Ghost Banyan seed by the mountain path

In the vision, a woman was walking slowly up the trail, passing by the Ghost Banyan.

Six months had passed, and the Ghost Banyan seeds he’d planted had taken root and sprouted, growing into little banyan saplings about a foot tall. They looked no different from ordinary weeds or wild vines.

The sapling turned its head and kept watching the woman’s back as she climbed. Liu Xiaolou recognized her. It was Fairy Huang Ye.

He reached out and flicked his hand. The formation disk shut down and flew into his grasp, and the spirit spring closed with it.

Moving swiftly, he quietly ghosted up to a spot overlooking the courtyard. He peered down and saw Fairy Huang Ye standing outside the fence. She lingered there for a long, looking at the run-down place.

Before coming up the mountain, Liu Xiaolou had already heard that she had joined Tianmu Mountain and become an inner disciple. He still didn’t know what had really happened that day in Yellow Wind Ravine, but it was clear enough that he could no longer trust her. So he didn’t show himself and kept watching from the shadows.

She stood outside for a long time. Then let out a quiet sigh and walked into the bamboo grove to visit his master’s grave. She offered a jug of wine in tribute, then turned and left.

Liu Xiaolou followed her at a distance, watching as she walked off the Ganzhu Ridge. She didn’t stop anywhere else and went straight out of Wulong Mountain.

Thinking back on all the small moments he'd shared with this senior, Liu Xiaolou felt a knot in his chest, a wave of melancholy washing over him.

From down the mountain came the crackle and pop of firecrackers. The village outside the mountain was still lit up bright in the night. Liu Xiaolou counted the days and figured it must be the New Year.

He lingered a moment, listening to the night, then turned and trudged back. Under the still, silent sky, he climbed once more to the summit of Ganzhu Ridge, reactivated the formation disk, opened the spirit spring, and sank again into his cultivation.

Winter passed, and everything came back to life. Spring brought blooming flowers, followed by the warm sun of summer. And then the cycle turned again to autumn and winter…

Liu Xiaolou devoted himself wholly to his cultivation, tirelessly tempering the Qi Sea acupoint. He worked at it for two full years. When the moment finally came that not a single thread of true qi could be forced in anymore, and the Qi Sea still showed no change, Liu Xiaolou accepted the reality...

He wasn’t a prodigy. Trying to form the inner world-within-the-Qi Sea directly was unlikely to succeed.

Still, the past two years weren’t a waste. By tempering his Qi Sea with true qi, he was building a solid foundation. If he could actually achieve Foundation Establishment, it would allow him to reach his absolute peak potential.

His tempering of the Qi Sea was now complete, and his accumulation of true qi had reached its limit. It was time to think about a Foundation Establishment Pill.