"The name 'Huang Tian' doesn't just refer to a person named Huang Tian—it's become a concept!"
"My superpower really has evolved again!"
A smile spread across Huang Tian's face, but his expression quickly turned solemn. He hurried to turn on the room's light and pulled pen and paper from his nightstand drawer.
"Szz, szz..."
The sound from the world where the Thick Earth Sect was located crackled for a few more seconds, then turned exceptionally clear.
"...Next, I will explain the cultivation essentials for the first three layers of the Qi Refinement Chapter of the Huang Tian Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture.
"If there is anything you do not understand, keep it in mind for now. Once I have finished speaking, you may ask your questions. Do you understand?"
"Understood!"
"Good. Silence, focus your minds, and listen closely!
"...Cultivation begins with Yellow Heaven and Thick Earth, holding to the origin and guarding the One. The mountain spirit opens the apertures, qi pierces the purple court; the stars turn their heavenly circuit, the river chariot moves of itself; jade is planted in the yellow court, true breath brings longevity...
"The so-called 'Yellow Heaven and Thick Earth, holding to the origin and guarding the One, the mountain spirit opens the apertures, qi pierces the purple court' means keeping your intent anchored in the yellow court, breathing deeply and slowly, gradually setting aside all stray thoughts, and purifying the mind.
"Next, use your intent to guide the spiritual qi from the yellow court upward along the Governing Vessel, passing through the three gates of the Coccyx, the Spine-Clamp, and the Jade Pillow, straight to the Baihui aperture, completing a minor heavenly circuit of spiritual power..."
As the Thick Earth Sect instructor Mo Qiu spoke, Huang Tian took notes.
Fortunately, Mo Qiu did not speak quickly; in fact, he went quite slowly, sometimes repeating a single sentence three or four times. Huang Tian had plenty of time to write everything down.
Half an hour passed before Mo Qiu finally stopped. By then, the sheets of paper on Huang Tian's desk were filled to the brim.
Among them, the actual cultivation method consisted of only a little over three hundred words; the rest were practical cultivation tips and various cryptic terms.
"If you have any doubts, ask them now. Do not hesitate," Mo Qiu's voice sounded.
However, hardly anyone asked questions. Clearly, Mo Qiu's explanation had been so thorough that nearly everyone understood.
Seeing this, Mo Qiu said, "Since there are no questions, I shall explain the cultivation essentials of two basic spells: the Earth Puppet Technique and the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique.
"The Earth Puppet Technique shapes soil into human form. It is the most common self-defense spell used by low-ranking cultivators of our sect, divided into four key principles: sensing the earth, gathering form, infusing spirit, and directing movement...
"The Minor Cloud and Rain Technique turns mist into clouds and clouds into rain. Naturally, if the sky is clear and bright, this spell's effectiveness is greatly reduced. But if it is already about to rain, casting this spell can make the thunderstorm even more violent.
"However, once you learn this technique, you will mostly use it to irrigate spiritual fields and herb gardens; its combat power is merely secondary..."
As Mo Qiu delved deeper into his explanation, Huang Tian tirelessly wrote down every word.
When another half hour had passed, Mo Qiu's voice came to an abrupt halt, and Huang Tian's ears suddenly fell quiet.
"Is this... my time's up?!"
Understanding dawned on Huang Tian.
Looking down at the ink-filled pages, both the Earth Puppet Technique and the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique had been recorded in full!
"Not bad, not bad at all. Tonight I not only got a cultivation method, but I also jotted down two spells.
"I just wonder if this Huang Tian Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture can actually be cultivated on Blue Star."
Huang Tian took a soft breath and carefully read through the method transcribed on the white paper several times.
Once he was sure he fully understood it, Huang Tian switched off the light. The room instantly grew dim, with only a few cool rays of light filtering through the curtains, adding a touch of quiet serenity to the room.
Huang Tian sat cross-legged, his mind gradually growing calm. A wisp of his consciousness seemed to drift out from his body, coming into contact with the various types of qi between heaven and earth.
Suddenly.
Huang Tian felt a cool stream of qi surge into his yellow court, then slowly travel along his meridians, straight to the Baihui aperture, and loop back from Baihui to the yellow court.
As one minor heavenly circuit concluded, Huang Tian snapped his eyes open, his gaze exceptionally bright and clear in the darkness.
"There really is spiritual qi on Blue Star?!"
He did not rush to continue cultivating. Instead, he fell into deep thought.
"If there's spiritual qi, could there be other cultivators? But in over twenty years, I've never heard of any... Could it be that my social standing was too low to ever come into contact with them?
"Still, the chances of there being cultivators are rather slim. Otherwise, society wouldn't be this quiet. After all, if cultivators really existed, could there truly not be a single one who threw their weight around and did whatever they pleased?
"It can't be that before I started cultivating, the world was completely peaceful, and the moment I begin, Dragon Groups, psychic associations, superhumans, and immortals will all pop out of nowhere, right?
"I'm not the main character of a novel."
Huang Tian pondered: "Regardless of whether cultivators exist or not, with my current cultivation level, it's best to stay low-key and play it safe."
If you wanted to do whatever you pleased without consequence, you would at least have to be able to survive a nuclear blast, right?
If he couldn't survive a nuclear blast, caution was the way to go.
"Back to cultivating!"
Huang Tian cast all his wandering thoughts aside and focused his mind once more to draw in qi.
...
...
The next morning, golden sunlight illuminated the world. Huang Tian slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath.
"According to Mo Qiu, condensing a cloud of yellow qi within the body signifies becoming a cultivator at the first layer of Qi Refinement."
He quietly sensed the yellow court inside him, where a golden-yellow vortex of qi was hovering.
"Most people need at least three months to condense a qi cloud, yet I managed it in a single night. Could I be a cultivation genius?"
He blinked, finding the idea entirely plausible.
Since his superpower was already this miraculous, it was only natural that it might have modified his constitution as well.
With a smile, Huang Tian got out of bed, walked to the window, drew the curtains, and opened the window. Dazzling yet gentle sunlight washed over him.
He looked down at the street. Vehicles flowed past, horns honked from time to time, and pedestrians walked in hurried strides, presumably rushing to work or school.
"Huh?"
Huang Tian's gaze sharpened, settling on a young girl walking along the sidewalk with a backpack.
They were separated by roughly fifty or sixty meters, yet at such a distance, Huang Tian could clearly make out the tiny characters printed on her backpack!
"Genius Scientist."
Evidently the brand of the backpack.
"My eyesight has improved this much?!"
As a hardworking test-taker from a small town, Huang Tian had been nearsighted since middle school. By graduation, his prescription had stayed around negative three diopters.
He rarely wore glasses in daily life, so anything at a distance was usually a blur. But right now, across such a wide gap, he could see the writing on the girl's backpack with absolute clarity.
"It's not just my vision—my hearing and smell too."
With just a slight effort of concentration, he could clearly hear pedestrians by the roadside ordering breakfast, and with a gentle breath through his nose, he could pick up the aroma of all sorts of morning fare.
"Cultivation really produces immediate changes in the human body."
Huang Tian couldn't help but marvel.
This was only the first layer of Qi Refinement—the very first step on the cultivation path—and it already produced such remarkable results.
Once he reached higher realms in the future, what kind of spectacle would that be?
Huang Tian felt a surge of great anticipation.
Still...
"I'd better head downstairs for breakfast first. After all, I spent the whole night cultivating. My mind might not feel tired, but my stomach is definitely protesting."
Chapter 4