Once Xiao entered the place, he rested for an hour to prepare for his workout. He needed to complete his daily tasks for the day.
Xiao then began his daily challenge, which he hadn't done yet. He was stronger than before, so he checked if the system had adjusted to match his current body. The results didn't surprise him.
Quests/Mission Log
Main Quest:
Reach Qi Condensation
Reward: Infinity Edge
Side Quest:
Defeat a Qi Condensation Cultivator
Reward: 10 Low-Grade Spirit Stones
Dailies:
300 push-ups, 300 squats, 300 sit-ups, 20km run (modifiable at the system's discretion)
Reward: +2 to Strength, Agility, Endurance, Vitality, and 40 system points.
Xiao wasn't surprised by the increase in the daily challenges but was caught off guard by the changes in the main and side quests. He hadn't expected the system to reward him for tasks he was already planning to do. Still, he wasn't too surprised, as the system seemed to want the best for him.
After an hour of working out, Xiao was sweating. It was still challenging, but he wasn't nearly as exhausted as when he first started. He then prepared to leave for his run.
When he exited the infinite hallway the same way he came in, Xiao started running, looking for an open spot close to both the sun and the moon. The sun was still up, so he passed by the occasional person on his route.
Once he finished his run, which lasted around an hour and a half, the sun was nearly set, and darkness began to fall. He hurried to the nearest open spot bathed in sunlight, which turned out to be near the Village Head's house.
Xiao approached the outer edges of the house, trusting his instincts that warned him not to get closer. There, he sat down and pulled out the Qi Condensing Pill. He stared at it for a few moments before swallowing it.
'I can finally use the Void Star Sovereign Technique,' he thought with a smile.
Focusing, Xiao began using the Titans Meridian Breath, which sped up the process slightly.
From an outside perspective, you would see qi slowly descending from the sky and entering Xiao's body.
From within, the Qi Condensing Pill was fighting to open his meridians. With the help of the exceptionally pure external qi, the meridians began to open one by one.
Xiao started breathing rapidly, using both the Titans Meridian Breath and the Emerald Lotus Rebirth Breath. The process was painful, but compared to when he inserted the Time Spirit Root, this was much more bearable. He didn't even scream.
After about 40 minutes, he had unlocked all of his meridians, having used almost the entire Qi Condensing Pill in the process. But now that they were open, it became easier to gather qi from the stars.
Xiao's knowledge of the body from his past life proved invaluable. Without it, unlocking his meridians could have taken days or weeks instead of mere minutes.
With his meridians open, Xiao directed the qi from the stars to flow toward his lower abdomen and into his dantian. As it filled up, he compressed it completely, leaving only a small amount of extremely pure qi inside.
Xiao was surprised by how little qi was left inside. He had expected his dantian to be filled with qi when he compressed his qi, given how overpowered the technique was. But the purity of the qi shocked him—it was the purest he had ever seen, so pure he questioned if he was imagining it.
"Huhhhhh," Xiao exclaimed aloud.
He began to ponder the reason for this. 'Could it be because the stars aren't fully out yet?' he thought. But Xiao quickly dismissed that idea, knowing the technique wasn't reliant on the visible presence of stars. Although it would help a beginner, he was far from one.
He knew how to visualize the stars in his mind and draw qi from them no matter the time or place. As long as the stars existed, nothing could stop him from collecting qi.
'So what is it?' Xiao wondered, before a thought occurred to him.
'My Spirit Root.' A realization dawned on him. 'That's why my qi is so pure but so limited.' But he quickly frowned. 'Then I won't be able to collect more qi today.'
But then, he remembered, 'Who said I had to return to the infinite hallway? Let's just leave the village and go outside. There's something sketchy about that place anyway.'
With that thought, Xiao began walking toward the forest. As he wandered, he noticed that no one was around—the villagers had either gone into their homes or the infinite hallway.
Xiao didn't know if the homes were safe and honestly didn't care, as he would soon be leaving this place. The only reason he was staying inside the village was that riding in a carriage was far more appealing to him than walking the entire time, which was not only more dangerous but also more time-consuming.
When he reached the entrance, there was no one there once again.
'This village is so eerie,' Xiao thought, understanding why Meilin had been so eager to leave. 'Only two more days of this torture, and then I'm never coming back here.' He resolved.
Xiao climbed the tallest tree just outside the village, preparing to cultivate, when he heard a young girl's scream.
"Hel—" The cry came from far away and was cut off abruptly, as if the girl had been killed immediately after.
Xiao, who had been about to rush toward the sound, stopped. He realized it was most likely the murderer, and at that moment, he had no power to defend himself. He ignored the scream, his face calm.
'People die every day. One more won't change anything. But I'll definitely kill that murderer if he ever comes near me once I'm strong enough,' Xiao thought, frustration evident as he recognized his current powerlessness.
With renewed determination, Xiao began cultivating fiercely. He knew that one day he might find himself in the same situation, and when that day came, he wanted the tables to be turned—where the prey kills the predator.