Gathering Qi

Wu Youren instinctively wanted to pull back the jade jue—if he ended up undergoing Guizu mutation, it would be too late for regrets! Yet at this moment, his body was completely rigid. He even felt as though his very thoughts were frozen stiff, his brain struggling to turn over. Damn it, I was careless after all... he mused in a daze. I put a little too much faith in the biguijue. He had no idea how much time passed before he felt his internal breath begin to surge violently, swelling until the muscles all over his body ached. The temples on both sides of his head began to throb intensely. His heart sank: Damn it, I'm about to break through! When it came to the signs of an apprentice knight breaking through to knight, far too many martial artists knew them by heart. Especially with the battle qi of the Wild Gale series, there were only a handful of telltale omens during a breakthrough! But right now... how could he break through? Wu Youren dreamed of breaking through, yet it could not be under these circumstances. In his plans, the ideal approach was to build up his strength in secret. Even if he could break through, he would forcibly suppress it. Once he held out until after turning eighteen, breaking through wouldn't draw so much attention. What kind of attitude Liang took toward prodigies from enemy states was completely beyond doubt—not to mention that he was a hostage! Even more lethal: if Keli found out he had broken through, what would the instructor think? The instructor had already laid down ugly words beforehand—he had paid a hefty price and was dead set on obtaining any Guizu relics. Whether this round protrusion counted as a Guizu relic was hard to say, but if he broke through overnight, it would be almost impossible for people not to draw connections! Would Keli reason with him? Absolutely not. If he struck him down in a fit of rage, the consequences wouldn't amount to much anyway. If his death were pinned on the Guizu, it would be even more seamless. Just like the deaths of Aoliwen or He Wenhao earlier, an explanation from the leading instructor was all it took. Yet even if he didn't want to break through, his body couldn't move right now, and experience points were still pouring relentlessly into him! It's over! Wu Youren was truly frantic. He wasn't even sure if, after breaking through like this and having his anomalies discovered, he might be sliced up for research by Liang! In other worlds, being sliced up might be an exaggerated figure of speech, but in Liang, these people were completely capable of doing it! Guizu relics were clearly meant for ability masters to use, yet if he succeeded in breaking through to knight, even he wouldn't know the mechanism behind it! Wait... ability masters? Wu Youren only knew that ability masters existed in this world, but as for how one advanced or how awakening worked, he was completely in the dark. According to others, his predecessor's late father had become a builder and had been quite close to awakening! However, he had been brought to Liang as a child and had never been exposed to any theories, nor had anyone in his group taught him. It had always been a blind spot in his knowledge. Fortunately, as a transmigrated soul, he had some exposure to another system of theory: Daoist cultivation! Back in his previous life, he could practically have been considered an ancient ascetic of sorts; he had always paid decent attention to fitness and health preservation. He had even practiced the Baduanjin, trained in Tai Chi, and studied classical texts like the Cantong Qi and Wuzhen Pian. After transmigrating, having the ready-made Wild Gale Cultivation Method at hand, he naturally had no need to practice those things. As a hostage, his cultivation was watched by the Liang people. He had occasionally tried the Baduanjin once, but only behind closed doors in secret. At a moment like this, however, he truly had no room to be picky. At the very least, he could try focusing his mind on his dantian. The Wild Gale Cultivation Method didn't mention the dantian at all; it focused entirely on tempering the body. Internal breath such as battle qi also originated from muscle and mental intent—unlike the Daoist system, it felt somewhat like water without a source. In any case, he had no other choice. If he let the experience points continue washing through him, breaking through to knight was guaranteed! And knowing nothing about the ability master system, he could only plunge in headfirst and give it a shot. Right after that, a miracle occurred. The instant he focused his mind on his dantian, he suddenly felt a wave of warmth spread through his lower abdomen... Wu Youren didn't know how long he cultivated before he felt his body gradually warm up. Moving slightly—wait, it was no longer stiff! He felt the biguijue. It was still faintly hot, but no longer burning intensely. The round little protrusion in front of the jade jue... What the hell? Where did it go? Wu Youren looked down at the dropped glowstick. Its light had already grown extremely faint. At its brightest, a glowstick could last roughly half an hour, after which its illumination would steadily decline. Judging purely by the intensity of the light, he must have held out for over an hour. He took out another glowstick, snapped it to light it up, and looked toward the stone ahead, only to discover in shock that the round protrusion was gone! In its place was a small hole. It wasn't very deep, but the space inside was somewhat wider. In other words, the treasure had originally been embedded within the giant boulder, and the exposed little bump had only been a small part of it. Could I have absorbed the entire treasure? Wu Youren wondered, unable to resist sensing his surroundings again. It really was so. The sensation that had drawn him here was completely gone! Looking down at the biguijue again, he was even more astonished. The jade jue had become more translucent and more lustrous. Before, the jue had looked more like stone than jade, giving off a strong street-stall vibe. Even though it had improved a bit later on, it could hardly be called much better. Even so, Keli had thought it was quite good. And now... it was different still, carrying a genuine touch of real jade. It didn't have any treasure glow yet, the material was still somewhat inferior, and it hadn't been ground or polished. This was good! Wu Youren resolved to himself that in the days ahead, he must firmly resist fiddling with the jade jue. If he ended up handling it like prayer beads until it developed a rich patina or a treasure sheen, it would be far too conspicuous! Steadying his mind, he sensed the area once more to confirm there was nothing left drawing him, then turned and began feeling his way out. Before leaving, he didn't forget to take the broken dagger tip with him, firmly erasing all traces. Still, he needed to ponder carefully what had actually happened to his body during that hour or so. What was certain was that his breakthrough to knight had been forcefully halted by him. Except for his temples still twitching faintly—likely with veins throbbing—his cultivation remained solidly within the apprentice knight range. He had just stumbled his way out of the cave when he suddenly froze. Ahead stood a dark figure, standing quietly in place as the mountain wind blew, rustling her short hair. Wu Youren steadied himself before speaking up: "Gave me a scare... It's not time for the shift change yet. What are you doing?" The dark figure was indeed Cynthia. She sighed softly. "I wanted to relieve you early, but do you know what you're doing?" "I came to look for Guizu relics," Wu Youren answered without hesitation. He even sounded somewhat righteous. "The instructor didn't find anything, and he even kept the two of us from coming near." "Now that he and Qigeli have left, anyone can come here. I came to try my luck. Is there a problem with that?" Cynthia stepped closer, her features becoming visible. She raised a hand to unhook her own biguijue from her waist, shook it lightly, and examined it under the starlight. Only then did she let out a long breath. "You're far too reckless! Why didn't you talk to me first?" Wu Youren answered seriously, "You fought hard yesterday too. I wanted you to get more sleep." "Is that so?" Cynthia clearly didn't quite believe him. "I also worried it would put you in a tough spot," Wu Youren answered slowly. "If I found something, should you tell the instructor or not?" He couldn't possibly admit that he wanted to keep everything for himself—and now that he had already consumed it, there was no spitting it back out anyway. "He gave up on his own," Cynthia answered instinctively. Immediately after, she asked curiously, "Did you find anything?" "Found nothing at all," Wu Youren said, spreading his hands. "If you don't believe me, you can go in and look for yourself." "Still..." Cynthia looked him up and down before speaking again. "Why do you feel a little different?" Of course he was different! Wu Youren knew full well that this instance of gathering qi had been a massive success. "Experience points entering the body" was just a figure of speech; strictly speaking, he considered it a successful gathering of qi. Furthermore, the qi he had drawn hadn't been fully refined yet; he was currently still in a state of being "stuffed." He reckoned it would take some time to digest tonight's harvest. In particular, he needed to ponder whether to take the Daoist path or continue along the path of a knight. If he could freely choose a path... could it be that this world lacked a Daoist system because its spiritual qi was severed? Those considerations, however, were for later. For now, dispelling Cynthia's suspicion was what mattered. He took off all the gear in his hands and on his person and placed it on the ground. The gear alone wasn't small in quantity: to say nothing of the small shovel, there was his backpack, small dagger, pistol, and ammunition clips. Then, he even took off his jacket, shaking the dirt off it. "See? Really nothing." While Cynthia was dazed, he brushed the dirt from his hair and put his clothes back on. The female martial artist stamped her foot in annoyance. "I didn't say I didn't believe you!" "Then take it that I'm tired," Wu Youren waved a hand. "Mind helping me out and carrying these things back to our quarters?" "Who wants to carry these for you? They stink," Cynthia huffed, then paused before asking, "You're really tired?" "Never mind, I'll carry them myself." Wu Youren re-equipped his ammunition and dagger, then scooped up the small shovel. "Just help me carry the backpack." The backpack held a lot of miscellaneous items, including glowsticks and the like, making it the easiest place to conceal something. Cynthia bent down, picked up the backpack, and walked alongside him. She didn't inspect the backpack, asking instead, "Aren't you going to fill the hole back in?" "What does it matter if the instructor sees it?" Wu Youren replied casually. "He already searched it." "Sigh," the female martial artist sighed. "When dawn comes, we should fill it back in a bit... Your situation doesn't seem very good." Hearing this, Wu Youren glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe worse than you think. Luckily, Red Pine is a place with rules after all." "Oh?" Cynthia showed some interest in the topic. "In what way is it worse?" "Who doesn't have a few troubles of their own?" the Jin youth answered calmly, offering no further explanation.