Along the way, Fang Zhou saw many monks, all of whom were women. He felt that Lanruo Temple should not be called a monk temple, but a nunnery.
However, in this world where the feminine is prevalent and the masculine is rare, there were no nuns. The religious culivator were all called monks, differentiated only as female monks and male monks.
The meditation room arranged for the three of them was behind the side hall. There was a large courtyard here. There was a huge locust tree planted in front of the door, and there were rows of houses in the courtyard.
Just as the three of them entered the courtyard, a door suddenly opened and a young woman walked out.
The woman was dressed in a grey outfit and carried a long sword on her back. She had an indifferent expression and a long scar on her left cheek.
The woman in martial attire looked at Fang Zhou and the other two, her gaze glancing over Ling Xiaoyue and Han Li, but lingering on Fang Zhou's face for a few moments before she left the courtyard.
Fang Zhou asked the young monk guiding them, "Is she also here to search for the treasure?"
The little monk's cheeks turned slightly red, "Yes, there are many guests in the temple searching for the treasure. They don't come out during the day and only appear at dinner."
The three of them were arranged to have three meditation rooms connected together. The furnishings inside were simple and crude. There were only beds, bedding, tables, and a few stools. Other than that, there was nothing else.
The only good thing was that it was clean.
Such a room was considered a medium-level meditation room. Fang Zhou wondered if the ordinary ones simply have to sleep on the floor.
The young monk told them that the toilets and bathhouse were behind the courtyard, and they were free to wander around the temple. Dinner started at the evening hour, and they needed to go to the temple's dining hall themselves.
After the young monk left, Ling Xiaoyue jumped onto the top of the locust tree and lay down to bask in the sun.
After putting down her luggage, Han Li prepared to explore the Lanruo Temple and get to know the environment, asking Fang Zhou if he wanted to join.
Fang Zhou politely declined. After she left, he hid in his room to cultivate.
Recently, he felt that he was just a bit away from improving his realm but always seemed stuck, neither advancing nor retreating, which made him very uncomfortable.
The spiritual energy accumulated within him was not insignificant, and aside from nourishing his body, he could only let it naturally dissipate.
Fang Zhou didn't know if other cultivators at his level would feel the same, but he himself felt it was wasteful.
Time always flew by when cultivating. When he heard the sound of a door opening next door, he emerged from his cultivation state to find that the sky outside was already somewhat dark.
He stretched lazily and walked out into the courtyard.
Coincidentally, the martially dressed woman who had left earlier was returning at this moment.
Perhaps because Fang Zhou was alone, her gaze towards him became somewhat brazen, sizing him up as if wanting to strip him bare.
Fang Zhou's brows slightly furrowed, feeling that this woman's gaze was not merely possessive but also bore clear malice, making him quite uncomfortable.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, the woman's mouth curving into a soundless smile, then she went into her room, closing the door with a bang.
Fang Zhou stood in the courtyard for a while, he looked up at the top of the locust tree, but he didn't see Ling Xiaoyue's and wondered where she had gone.
"Mr. Fang."
Han Li's voice came from behind. Fang Zhou turned around and saw her coming out from the room next door.
Han Li had long realized that the expert who scared off the mountain demon at the Temple that night was not Fang Zhou. She had also guessed from Fang Zhou's daily cultivation that he might be at the same Qi refining stage as herself.
However, it was indeed Fang Zhou who had saved her life that night. Because of this, she had never changed her respectful address to him.
Fang Zhou, who was used to being called "Mr. Fang" in his previous life, didn't think there was anything wrong with the address and didn't correct her.
Seeing Han Li, Fang Zhou suddenly remembered the question he was pondering before his cultivation, and asked her, "After your regular cultivation, what do you do with the extra spiritual energy accumulated inside your body?"
Han Li looked at him strangely, "There's no extra energy. How can there be any extra spiritual energy?"
Fang Zhou thought she might not understand and patiently explained, "I mean the spiritual energy stored in the Dantian after cultivation, that big round bundle."
Han Li's eyes widened, and she looked even more puzzled. After thinking for a while, she seriously said, "Mr. Fang, during my half-day of cultivation, after refining spiritual energy and circulating it through my body, the amount of spiritual energy left in my Dantian is less than the size of a finger."
Fang Zhou blinked at her. What was she joking about? What about the big round bundle in my Dantian, which sometimes swells uncomfortably?
Could it be... fart?
Han Li patiently explained to Fang Zhou that unless one possessed top-tier techniques, the amount of spiritual energy refined in the Qi refining stage would not be much. After circulating it through the body, there would be almost none left. Even the best Qi refining techniques couldn't leave a bundle of energy after each culivation session.
Only when one reaches the perfect state of Qi refining can they store more spiritual energy in their body to prepare for breaking through to the foundation-building stage.
After listening to Han Li's explanation, Fang Zhou remained silent, but he was extremely shocked.
He realized that if Han Li wasn't lying, then the New Moon Qi technique taught to him by Ling Xiaoyue was definitely not an ordinary technique.
He was just at the entry level of the Qi refining stage, and every time he cultivated, the energy stored in his Dantian was uncomfortable and too much to use. According to Han Li, this was something even top-tier Qi refining techniques couldn't achieve.
Fang Zhou suddenly remembered that when Ling Xiaoyue taught him New Moon Qi, she said that this was a heaven-blessed divine art. Was she not bragging?
Fang Zhou found it hard to believe. The main reason was that Ling Xiaoyue often gave him the impression that she was unreliable and did not have the image of a master at all.
He was eager to find Ling Xiaoyue and ask her clearly, but he didn't know where she had gone.
Even without asking, Fang Zhou could guess her reaction. She would surely put her hands on her hips and laugh uproariously, "Ha! Sit down, don't be ridiculous!"
"But wait, without spiritual energy, how do you enhance yourself when fighting?"
Fang Zhou thought of another contradiction. He had witnessed Han Li's battle with the two fierce fighters from Lingnan, and their strength and speed were far beyond ordinary people. Weren't they using spiritual energy to enhance themselves in combat?
Fang Zhou had felt at that time that these three people must have learned the Qi Gathering Technique like him. Otherwise, how could their skills be so good without the assistance of spiritual energy?
When Fang Zhou asked this question, Han Li did not show any surprise.
Fang Zhou was asking beginner's questions, and Han Li could see that he hadn't been practicing for long. She just wondered why Ling Xiaoyue didn't teach him these basic things.
"Mr. Fang, I didn't use spiritual energy to assist myself, and the Lingnan Twin Fiends didn't either," Han Li told Fang Zhou.
She explained that their skills were obtained through years of nourishing their bodies with spiritual energy. The small amount of energy accumulated during regular practice could hardly be used to enhance themselves in battle, or it would run out instantly.
Fang Zhou pondered, "You really haven't learned how to channel and guide spiritual energy? Like filling your entire body with it in an instant?"
Han Li helplessly shook her head, "No, even if we had, there wouldn't be enough spiritual energy for such a lavish method. I've heard that large sects may have the techniques you're talking about, to use spiritual energy to assist in battle at the Qi Refining stage. But that could only temporarily guide it to hands and feet, not instantly spread throughout the body."
Fang Zhou fell silent again. He wanted to tell Han Li that he was learning just that technique.
However, he was not stupid enough to tell others about this.
His impression of Ling Xiaoyue was shattered once more. What exactly was her background? Everything she taught him seemed to be extraordinary.
"May I ask," Fang Zhou said to Han Li, "what is your current cultivation realm? How long have you been cultivating? If it's inconvenient to say, never mind."
Han Li hesitated for a moment, then answered, "I have reached a high level of Qi Refining Realm, just shy of perfection, and I have been cultivating for five years."
Fang Zhou didn't know whether to be happy or not. He had been cultivating for just over a month, and if Han Li's fighting ability was only as she had shown at the Earth Temple, he felt he could easily defeat her.
Am I really that awesome?
But that was just a moment of self-exultation. Fang Zhou knew he wasn't particularly intelligent or mature.
He had become stronger than Han Li's five years of cultivation in just a month, mainly thanks to the system, Ling Xiaoyue's techniques, and the aptitude of his body that even a senior elder of Xuan Ji sect wanted to take him as a disciple.
If the conditions were equal, and it was a fair competition, Fang Zhou didn't think he could win over Han Li.
But the world is unfair, and real fairness never existed. Fang Zhou could only feel it in his heart and remind himself not to become arrogant. He would still rely on his advantages, knowing that as an ordinary person, he needed them to thrive.
After the two finished talking, the sky had completely darkened, and the bell for dinner rang from the temple's dining hall.
But Ling Xiaoyue had not yet returned.