As Zhou Fan stopped producing Qi, everyone woke up from their stupor.
When they opened their eyes, everyone but Cao Lin and the beasts were confused since they didn't feel any different.
As for Cao Lin, he was feeling excited by the increase of strength.
"I'm sorry I got your hopes up." Zhou Fan said, silencing Cao Lin's celebration. "Besides Cao Lin, it seems none of you have the talent for cultivation."
As soon as his words sounded out, he could see the confusion on their faces change to that of sadness.
"After my seclusion, I will further investigate cultivation, and see if there is a better way for you all. Until then, continue with the assumption that you won't be able to cultivate." He continued.
Although there was a chance that he could discover better ways to cultivate, Zhou Fan didn't want to get their hopes up.
While they were cultivating, Zhou Fan could see how much Qi they were absorbing, and Cao Lin was the only one going at a fair pace.
Besides their cultivation speeds, Zhou Fan discovered that they cultivated differently from him.
When he was in Qi gathering, he individually absorbed specks of dust and it was instant, but they had to first absorb the Qi, then circulate it around their body until it was absorbed before they repeated. Also, they didn't absorb specks, but streams, much like he did in foundation establishment.
Perhaps he had to absorb it one speck at a time at first because Chaos Qi was too powerful. Or perhaps he was just different because he didn't have meridians and his whole body was what absorbed the Qi.
After he had finished speaking, everyone besides Cao Lin and the beasts started to leave. When only they were left behind, Zhou Fan spoke towards Cao Lin
"Congratulations, you are now a cultivator. I'm not sure how talented you are or how far you'll go, but I have high hopes for you." He said.
"Thank you sir. I feel 50 years younger already." Cao Lin said with a smiling face.
"That's good. Don't die on me too soon. After my seclusion, I'll see if I can find a way to naturally produce Fire Qi and Demon Qi."
"Thank you again. I'll take my leave now." He said with a bow before walking in the same direction as the others.
With just the beasts left, Zhou Fan put a smile on his face.
"Good job guy's. You did just as good as I expected." Zhou Fan said while petting them.
In fact, the only thing that could be improved was Xuanwu and Hanglu's ability to absorb space Qi. During the session, they didn't absorb a single speck of it. However, some of the fault lay with Zhou Fan since he didn't have much control over it and could only barely bring it out to be absorbed.
After playing around with them a little bit, they too went back to their habitats.
Finally, Zhou Fan was alone. Instead of cultivating in the cave, Zhou Fan flew out of the tunnels and headed to a nearby mountain.
Although 'nearby', it was a couple kingdoms away and it took about a minute for Zhou Fan to arrive.
When he got there, he saw a mountain that pierced through the clouds. Zhou Fan had specifically chosen it because it was one of the biggest mountains in the empire and was relatively nearby.
At the foot of the mountain stood a couple of villages and even a city. Even so, they weren't anything impressive. Especially compared to the kingdoms in the Mortaniel empire.
Without wasting too much time looking at the scenery, Zhou Fan flew to the peak of the mountain, just 20 feet below the tip, and made himself a makeshift cave.
This would be where he cultivated for now. Although he didn't know how long this would be his cultivation spot, he knew that he didn't mind it being destroyed instead of the cave.
He imitated the previous procedure of shaping a place to sit and making a small pool of lava on the side.
Finally, Zhou Fan began to cultivate. The first thing he noticed was the speed at which he absorbed Qi. Compared to before, it was multiple times faster.
If his cultivation speed before he comprehended the Dao could be compared to a snail's crawl, his new cultivation speed would be a cat sprinting.
As the day passed, Zhou Fan felt that the effect was equivalent to 3 months of cultivation before he comprehended the Dao.
That was a 90x increase. It was like going from struggling to pay bills to living in a mansion without worries.
Without a doubt, Zhou Fan felt that the 60 year journey was worth it. With just a single year of cultivating, he would be able to make up for the 60 years spent understanding the Dao and then some.
Zhou Fan continued to cultivate and after a total of 2 days passed, Zhou Fan broke into the 3rd level of nascent soul.
By now, his soul was 100x stronger than it was when he first broke through.
As he cultivated and felt the immense increase of his strength, Zhou Fan couldn't help but wonder why he felt the need to cultivate.
When he first started to cultivate, his motivation was to rule over the world, but now, such a thing felt pointless and without merit.
Looking outside the cave, Zhou Fan saw the stars.
'Good. My next goal is to literally reach the stars.' He thought, deciding to make himself a goal.
With a new motivation, Zhou Fan continued to cultivate through the night.
As 4 more days passed, Zhou Fan broke through again, reaching the 4th level of nascent soul.
Even so, he didn't stop there. With a goal such as reaching the stars, he needed to be much stronger. Perhaps 4 or 5 big realms further. Maybe even more.
He had heard theories of space and what it was. The common idea was that there is no air up there and it is an unsurvivable and infinite darkness, besides the stars and the sun.
However, he could test it in the future.
Once again, Zhou Fan continued to cultivate.