The Qi Refining Realm
Yesterday night, when Matthew was setting up a washing machine, he had to go down to the house's basement to turn off the water. However, to his shock, while he was down there, he sensed a Spiritual Qi Vein in the house's foundation!
After finding that out, Matthew wanted to remove it and absorb the Spiritual Qi within, but since he didn't know how deep it was or how to dig through a house's foundation without endangering himself, he stopped himself.
Anyway, since it was under his house now, it would only mean that it would help him in the long run. And it, being under his house originally, was much more convenient than his previous plan of searching for one himself and then installing it.
But now that Spiritual Qi had reemerged on Earth, the Spiritual Qi Vein under his house had started to revitalize itself and produce Spiritual Qi for Matthew to absorb.
The only downside of this was that since the Spiritual Qi Vein was still in the process of revitalizing itself, it needed Spiritual Qi to do so, which meant that the vein was taking most of the Spiritual Qi in the air.
However, Matthew wasn't even at the Qi Refining Realm yet. He didn't need much Spiritual Qi to advance his cultivation, so while there wasn't much in the air, it was enough.
Currently, Matthew was at the half-step Qi Refining Realm, meaning that he had opened up his dantian, but due to the lack of Spiritual Qi, he had yet to create a Qi Cyclone, which was the moniker for someone who was at the 1st stage of the Qi Refining Realm.
So, to advance his cultivation base to the true Qi Refining Realm, Matthew only needed to create one Qi Cyclone.
Making his way down to the basement, Matthew suddenly remembered that Senior Wudi was still modifying his Qi cultivation technique. And since Senior Wudi would obviously make his cultivation technique much better than it is currently, why use the worse version?
So, after making sure that Amanda and Eva hadn't snuck up behind him to spy, Matthew entered the Nine-Ringed Divine Throne.
"Senior Wudi! My Qi cultivation technique. Did you finally modify it? I want to break through to the Qi Refining Realm right now." Matthew asked as he entered the throne room.
Senior Wudi, long sensing Matthew's reason to visit, threw a jade slip at him without even bothering to open his eyes.
However, before kicking him out, Senior Wudi spoke, "Brat, give that to the twins, too. That cultivation technique you created was a real piece of art even before I modified it, but now that I have, it's almost as good as the one I used back in the day."
And after thanking the Universe Lord with a sincere bow, Matthew left. While he hadn't known the old man for long, Matthew knew he liked silence. So Matthew smartly left before bothering him.
Excited, Matthew ran down to the basement like a child who had been given candy. And to Matthew, this jade slip was just as attractive as candy was to a child.
After finding the Spiritual Qi Vein in the basement yesterday, Matthew set up a small meditation area directly above it.
The mediation area wasn't very large, but it still included a mat and other provisions he would need should he stay in the basement for long periods of time. This way, he would be closest to it and be able to absorb the most Spiritual Qi as quickly as possible while also being able to stay down there for as long as his seclusion needed.
After calming his mind, Matthew sat down on the mat he had set up and started to absorb the Spiritual Qi in the air to create his first cyclone.
The Qi Refining Realm was the true beginning of a cultivator, as the Meridian Opening Realm was fundamentally preparing the body for cultivation and not becoming a true cultivator.
In the Qi Refining Realm, one would have to create Qi Cyclones within their dantian to progress. And since there were 13 stages in the realm, it would mean to complete the Qi Refining Realm, one would have to create 13 Qi Cyclones.
However, it wasn't that simple, as while the Qi Refining Realm was the first stage, it was also the most important stage. Other than your innate talent, this stage determined how far you would be able to cultivate it.
Matthew, in his previous life, knew that the universe had a strict monopoly on cultivation techniques. Whether it was a plot by the Lord of Chaos to keep the Chaotic Universe weak or something else, Matthew didn't know.
But what he did know was that it had inadvertently destroyed the cultivation paths of countless geniuses, Matthew included.
Moreover, not only were cultivation techniques rare, but even after one would struggle their entire lives to get a hold of one, they would eventually learn that even amongst cultivation techniques, there was a hierarchy.
And if, at the beginning of your cultivation journey, you chose a low-ranked cultivation technique for whatever reason, that meant that even if you changed cultivation techniques and upgraded to a higher-ranking one, the horrible foundation you were forced to build from your low-ranking cultivation technique would stay.
Of course, there was the option to cripple yourself and restart a new one with your new cultivation technique, but besides supreme geniuses who were blessed by the heavens or second-generation tycoons with an unlimited supply of resources to their name who would willingly cripple themselves for a better foundation?
The targeted faction of this universe-wide rule was the poor bumpkins like Matthew. The ones who were forced to struggle through each and every realm, advancing by the skin of their teeth.
If they crippled themselves for a better foundation, they would most likely die of old age before they surpassed their previous cultivation base and were able to gain an increase in lifespan.
Because of the wide variety of cultivation ranks, different cultivation realms had very different power levels. But of them all, the Qi Refining Realm was the biggest offender.
In this realm, the difference between a good cultivation technique and a low-tier one was the difference between the sky and the mud.
For the Qi Refining Realm, each cultivation technique would have a limit on how big your Qi Cyclone could be if you followed its instructions.
So, a poor man with a low-tier cultivation technique would, at most, have a Qi Cyclone of 10 or 15 wisps of Spiritual Qi. But for a genius from a better region with a much better cultivation technique, he could have 50 or maybe even 70 wisps per Qi Cyclone.
This meant that the poor man at even the 4th or 5th stage of the Qi Refining Realm would be weaker than the rich genius at the 1st stage. And the difference would only get larger and larger as the two continued throughout the Qi Refining Realm.
At the 13th stage, the poor man would have at most 200 wisps of Spiritual Qi within his dantian, while the genius could have almost 1000! That was a five-fold difference in just the first realm of cultivation.
And the difference wouldn't let up during the succeeding cultivation realms but would only get wider and wider.
Matthew, in his previous life, was a poor man but, unlike most, was slightly luckier, being able to find a cultivation technique that could give him 40 wisps per Qi Cyclone. But still, compared to the geniuses in the Core Region with upwards of 90 wisps per Qi Cyclone, he was nothing.
But this cultivation technique that Senior Wudi gave him, which was modified from his own, allowed a mind-boggling 100 wisps of Spiritual Qi per cyclone!
That was the absolute limit of what a Qi Cyclone could be created with! And even then, a cultivation technique that advanced was only a part of rumors and legends.
So, receiving one from Senior Wudi, Matthew was filled with only gratitude. But he didn't show it.
He knew that Senior Wudi didn't want thanks but only to be avenged. And so Matthew diverted his gratitude into his cultivation session and cultivated madly.
Absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Qi like a black hole, Matthew began to cultivate the first chapter of his new cultivation technique, the Black Hole Genesis Art.
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