*Bang*
Smashing his fist against the dense qi, he had only managed to break apart a small chunk of the qi off.
One incense stick of time later.
"First compression finished!" said Tang Lin happily as he looked at the crystallised qi that had only shrunk in size by a bit more than a tenth; his fists now bloodied with flesh starting to peel off.
Next, it took only ten minutes before the second compression succeeded. Abruptly, just as he was about to finish the third compression, a large physical layer of qi literally shed off the crystallised qi, which was now the size of his head.
"Third compression! I've made it past the physical barrier of the qi", Tang Lin thought as he looked at the crystallised qi, which was now less than half of its original size.
After recovering his meridians, the latent potential within his body coupled with his profound talent had now really started to shine. It wasn't until he reached a bottleneck at the energy boundary of the sixth compression that he started to struggle.
With a desperate expression, he started concentrating all of the qi into a massive sphere in front of him as he waved his hand, commanding it to revolve. The sphere of qi was the size of his head as he started refining it over and over as the temperature started to rise. He had used more than half of his energy maintaining the constant revolution of the sphere, while increasing its heat. It took more than two incense sticks worth of time before the energy boundary started to finally succumb to Tang Lin's efforts. Slowly, but surely, the energy boundary melted away like magma leaving behind qi that was the size of a fist.
*Pant, pant*
"I'm not going to make it", he said, discouraged.
"NO! What am I saying? I HAVE to make it! For my mother, myself and my aspirations. I swear that I won't give up", vowed Tang Lin fiercely as he tackled the seventh compression.
"Ugh, purifying the remaining qi has drained me of all of my energy, but I've only finished the seventh compression. There's still the eighth and ninth compression left to complete, what should I do?", he thought, troubled by his dilemma.
Now, he couldn't stop the refining process halfway or he would lose control over his principle qi and suffer a backlash that could possibly even lead to qi deviation.
*Inhale, exhale*
"Even if it kills me, I will refine you!" he said, while looking at the fist-sized qi, determined to overcome this adversity.
Without any other resource to use, all Tang Lin had left was his willpower and his blood essence, his very lifeforce. It was his only chance to be able to have even the slightest chance of completing the ninth compression.
Punching himself in the chest he spat out a mouthful of blood essence, almost fainting from the impact. Lightheaded, his blood started coiling around the formless qi. While holding his hands out, blood dripped down his mouth and bloodshot eyes as his formless principle qi started emitting light, signalling the completion of the eight compression. After the eighth compression, he fell to the floor by his knees before completely collapsing.
"No, not like this. I-I promised myself that I would get stronger!" Tang Lin yelled hoarsely as a crimson aura started to flow out from his back, slowly pulling him back to his feet.
"W-What is this?" he asked, looking at the overwhelming aura coming from the mysterious energy that enveloped his whole body in crimson flames.
"Shit, there's no time to lose, the formation of the principle qi is going to collapse without anyone supporting it", he thought as he watched the fist-sized qi shudder intensely in the air.
Throwing his right hand out towards the principle qi, the crimson energy quickly followed his movements and intentions as it extended in a frenzied state.
"Please... make it! It's so close, but I NEED TO MAKE IT!" Tang Lin thought frantically.
*Boom*
In that instance, time seemed to stop as he watched his principle qi rupture, sending out a slight shockwave.
"NOOOO!!" screamed Tang Lin as crimson energy engulfed the whole room, turning the room dark.
Everything seemed to be devoured by the crimson energy, regardless of whether it was the shockwave, fragments of his principle qi, sound or light, nothing could escape its clutches.
Slowly, the crimson energy compressed itself over and over until Tang Lin could finally see that it was restoring his principle qi, piece by piece. By the time his principle qi reached its previous state, the crimson energy started helping Tang Lin refine the fist-sized qi. Finally, the fist-sized qi disintegrated under the overwhelming aura of the crimson energy leaving behind his droplet of heaven and earth qi that shined radiantly. Although his droplet had taken on a unique crimson colour that he had never heard of before.
"Ninth compression completed! I've finally reached the first stage of the Qi Condensation realm with principle qi of the highest degree of purity", said Tang Lin excitedly, yet extremely fatigued as he absorbed his first droplet of heaven and earth qi into his dantian.
It had taken him the whole morning before he could finally refine his principle qi.
"What is this crimson energy? Is this because I merged with the condensed blood crystal?" he asked pensively, wondering what their true origin was.
"Regardless, it seems to be very destructive and follows my will. This is going to be an important asset and my biggest trump card for now", Tang Lin observed as he started getting better at controlling it before making it recede back into his body.
"I wonder how strong I am now?" Tang Lin thought to himself as he clenched his fists tightly.