Another week went by, another person broke through to the Qi Refining Realm. It was another woman, a young one at that. She was a Harmony Realm martial artist and was in her early twenties, pretty talented just like the two-meter tall burly man.
When he heard about it, Ji-Yoon remained calm and waited until he ended his duties for the day. It was already dusking when he finally ended his arduous task of cleaning a public latrine along with others' disciples. Fortunately, he could use his internal energy to avoid dirtying himself with shit, but not everyone could do it...
"Tsk, those guys sure are unlucky. Did they offend a deacon or something like that? Otherwise, why would they send non-internal energy users to do this job?" Ji-Yoon clicked his tongue in wonder and looked at the disciples who are bathing in the river. It was near the sect and he went there with them to wash his clothes with water and soap.
After doing it and bidding farewell to the others, he went back to his cave.
"I can finally start my heroic journey," he muttered to himself.
[Ding! Dong!]
Ignoring the pop-up, he sat on a cushion and closed his eyes. He already memorized the first level of the Qi Refining manual he received with the system's help.
His mystical root was slowly rotating in his Dantian, just like a small vortex. But to enter the Qi Refining Realm he needs to make it start producing True Qi.
For others, it's complicated to order an organ to do something, it has no intelligence after all. But for experienced martial artists, who know and control their bodies very well and are at least at the Harmony Realm, it's not too difficult, it only requires some practice.
And who is Ji-Yoon if not a peak Martial Artist? It's even easier for him, who sublimated his body and mind several times, reaching the peak of mortality.
Having inherited the state of mind and body union of the Sage and also polished it to the limit, he quickly found the way to produce True Qi by sensing the peculiarities of the mystical root.
After a few hours, his first bit of True Qi was formed, but it didn't stop there. As if finally understanding what it needed to do, the mystical root started to produce True Qi by itself, faster and faster.
Soon, the bits became a strand, several strands became a creek, several creeks became a river, and all rivers flowed into the sea, the True Qi Sea! His Dantian wasn't filled with just internal energy anymore, but also the more ethereal, powerful, and versatile True Qi.
Ji-Yoon felt like something was washing his whole body and mind, bringing them to a new plane. It was such a relaxing sensation that he thought about his mother's embrace.
His whole body started to undergo a metamorphosis. His blood, bones, muscles, and organs. All started to evolve and adapt to the True Qi circulating through his meridians. All impurities are simply mystically obliterated and expelled by his body through his pores and breathing. But because he was already a peak martial artist and a child, he had almost no impurities, so the legendary "black fluid" wasn't expelled, and he didn't start to stink but just sweated a little and released some turbid air from his mouth and nose.
"Haa... nice... this is really good..."
[Ding! Dong! Congratulations host on becoming an official cultivator. Now the world is doomed to be at your feet and all women shall obey you.]
"Shut up! Don't foul the moment with your words!" Ji-Yoon shouted, clearly enraged.
[Ding! Dong! Host, I'm saying this for your good. Don't get too cocky just because you became a cultivator. Otherwise, others will surely ridicule you!]
"Alright, I know, leave me in peace to check up on my changes."
After calming down, the first thing he noticed was that he can't use his 'Ethereal Mind'.
'Should be cuz' I'm still too weak. Perhaps, only after reaching the Foundation Establishment I will be able to use it.'
The second thing was that his mind was simply seemingly reborn. It was much brighter, faster, and sharper. His IQ should have soared to the sky. He also could sense his meridians and Dantian much more clearly now.
'Who is Einstein? Who is Stephen Hawking?'
The third thing was that his body was greatly strengthened, surpassing the limits of mortality. Even his internal organs were transformed.
'Now that I think about it, we martial artists have a great advantage against those 'innate' guys, at least at the lower cultivation Realms. The heavens really reward the hard workers.'
[Ding! Dong! Host, don't rob all the credit.]
Directly ignoring the pop-up, he continued to happily inspect himself again and again. Suddenly, he stupidly thought he was more handsome, and that his immature features seemed to be colder and calculative, like a hero who from the shadows saves people and hides his name for fear of fame.
[Ding! Dong! Host, stop! It's affecting me too!]
His face turned red when he realized his embarrassing thoughts. "Cough, it's just the child within me acting up again. Sorry."
After ending his check-up, he continued to cultivate. He wanted to directly reach the peak of the first stage, and then wait for the "second woman" to breakthrough again, the first was too fast...
Unfortunately, his progress slowed down. It would take some time to reach the peak of the minor realm, which required him to refine his True Qi and turn it one time denser. Only after doing this would he be qualified to breakthrough to the next layer.
'Wait, I almost forgot about those pills!' he thought and looked at the system's storage, there is a small pile of Qi Condensing pills there.
He suddenly wondered if he could use it to directly reach the peak of the Qi Refining Realm...
[Ding! Dong!]
'I know, I know! But can't I dream a little? The Qi Refining Trial disciples receive just one to five of those each week, but I have a pile of those!'
After exhaling some turbid air, he took a pill and swallowed it. The pill almost instantly melted in his mouth, and he felt that it was much easy to condense his True Qi.
Some strands of his already formed True Qi returned to the mystical root and were nurtured by it using more mystical energy, turning denser.
"All right. My goal is to reach the peak before dawn!" Ji-Yoon swallowed more two pills without hesitation. He has nothing to fear since his body is technically as strong as that of a common Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
[Ding! Dong! Host, be careful to no blow yourself up. Don't eat more than a hundred pills at once.]
'I couldn't even if I wanted to...'
.
.
Time passes fast for cultivators, this is something only they can understand. The sun rose and fell on the sky several times and without Ji-Yoon noticing it, three months passed by.
Because he was now a cultivator, he could use most of the items he gets from the daily check-in. Though most of them are at the same level as the Qi Condensing pills, mortal-grade.
After three months, his cultivation rose to the peak of the fourth layer. His True Qi was eight times denser than when he was at the first layer and his dantian expanded three times. He wondered if he could fight against a Golden Core realm cultivator now, with both his mortal martial arts and cultivation, but concluded that he would still die easily. He probably needs to breakthrough into the next major cultivation Realm to be able to do this, or at least not die in a breath.
After reaching the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, all Trial Disciples could get a weapon for free at the 'Iron Blood Pavilion' and a Dao Art at the 'Human Dao Pavilion' as well.
Because he inherited the Sage's palm and fist martial arts, he choose a gauntlet appropriate to it. The Dao Art he choose was called "Human Myriad Forms," which focuses on palm and fist as well.
Of course, those things didn't become his, even the gauntlet. He will need to return them at the end of the trial period. In any case, they will probably be useless after he breakthroughs to the next major Realm.
On a normal dusking day under a normal sky, without any need.
"Hahaha, what a bunch of trash. So what if you have an innate mystical root? You are as weak as a chicken now!"
"Look, the infamous bully, the Hundred Palms Snake, is bullying another innate. Does he have nothing to do? I almost have no time to cultivate because of my duties."
"It's quite simple actually, don't you know that his brother an outer disciple that..."
"How can a snake have palms? This is..."
The sound of the talk was getting lower and lower, more and more distant...
'What a joke, I definitely won't involve myself with such clichéd beings. After I become invincible, I will think about slapping some faces, but right now I'm just a weakling without any background. What if his ancestor is this world's master? Won't I have to destroy this world to end the feud?' Ji-Yoon silently moved away from trouble.
This wasn't the first time he saw such scenes. He was once a target too, probably because he had the body of a child. But he simplified things by showing his great strength before the bully even began to talk, by gracefully flying away. Only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators or Life and Death Realm martial artists can obtain this skill, running away by borrowing the sky. "Borrow-the-Sky Dao Art."
So what if he looked like a coward when giving his back to the bullies?
"Cultivators shouldn't be affected by the mortals' morals..." Ji-Yoon muttered, "After being invincible, who will dare to call me a coward? I will smack his head until it pops a new one."
Of course, only after making sure he was truly invincible and that there were no higher worlds, dimensions, timelines, or whatever. Until then he has to be careful about hidden powerful ancestors behind arrogant stupid young masters.
'Nothing is more important than being alive. Although, one could also live a life worse than death...' he thought, 'Anyway, I should get going and breakthrough into the next layer. That Miss Mu sure is fast...'
When the sun had completely set, he already was sitting on his favorite cushion, made of some cheap silk but very comfortable.
After swallowing a lot of pills, he started to breakthrough. After a few moments, a low rumbling sound came from his body.
His True Qi Sea was much denser than before, making Ji-Yoon suddenly think that it will eventually become solid... and then he understood the meaning of the Realm.
A rumble came from his body, shaking the air and the objects in the cave. He officially reached the middle of the Qi Refining Realm. The pleasure that the increase in cultivation gave him was strange and indescribable, different from anything he felt in his original world. His body and mind rejoiced without end.
Feeling good, he opened a jar of silver-grade Ethereal Wine he got a few days before to celebrate. After not seeing his family for so long, he thought that immaterial things like wine could ease his loneliness, forgetting for a moment that he was once an alcohol addict. The result was predictable, even if he changed his body and mind several times, he still got drunk just for the pleasure he finds in it.
In the morning, he used his internal energy, which was still way more massive in amount than his True Qi, to ease his hangover. The ethereal wine was no joke, he couldn't escape from it immediately. An ordinary mortal would have died after a single sip of it.
Regardless, he opened another bottle and started to drink again. This time it was an ordinary wine he bought in Moonlight city.
He thought about the lot of gold he got after getting out of the forest. All thanks to some benevolent mountain bandits. They are indeed very generous to him. He could use this gold to buy lots of all kinds of wine the mortal world has to offer. And it would be even better if there were something like beer and vodka too.
'In any case... I can't die from it like before,' he thought while holding a hiccup.
[Ding! Dong! Host, it might ruin your image. And it might worsen because you look like a child.]
"I don't care. I already died once, do you think I care about something like reputation? At most, I will start to use a mask."
[Ding! Dong! Host, you need to care and used to. Remember your determination! Do you think you won't attract attention by doing your duties while drunk?]
After he heard it, Ji-Yoon immediately sobered while covered in a cold sweat.
'Shit, I was being careless. Thanks for reminding me.'
[Ding! Dong! Go out before you are late, host.]