Level 1

After the night he almost died trying “Knowledge Pursues Man” and was saved by Mu Li, all the spiritual meridians in Lin Shao’s body were completely opened. At the same time, a massive amount of his own True Qi had gathered, giving him the ability to open his mind’s eye and enter Level 1.

But Mu Li said that every step of cultivation must be taken firmly. What he needed to do now was not to advance to the next level, but to stay where he was and familiarize himself well with the suddenly opened spiritual meridians. Therefore, over these past two days, whenever he had nothing to do, he would close his eyes and operate his True Qi, making cycle after cycle along the spiritual meridians in his body.

And precisely within these two days, Hou Xingyue successfully opened his mind’s eye and became Level 1. Moreover, his cultivation speed did not decrease but instead increased, and he had already begun advancing toward Level 2.

“I think the current momentum is just right and cannot be wasted. Although the capital is prosperous, in the end, the concentration of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi is not as dense as in the Wan Jian Pavilion,” Hou Xingyue explained at the dining table. “Most importantly, after the Eldest Young Miss learned about my situation, she said she could apply for a ‘Golden Leaf’ for me.”

In the Wan Jian Pavilion, there was a section where Heaven and Earth Origin Qi gathered, specifically provided for people to cultivate. The cultivation seats here closely resembled large leaves, so the people of Wan Jian Pavilion called this place the Leaf Area. The Leaf Area was divided into three places—Golden Leaf, Silver Leaf, and Bronze Leaf—based on the flow of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi. Among them, there were only twenty Golden Leaves, which were the locations with the highest cultivation efficiency in the entire Wan Jian Pavilion, a sect that possessed several mountain ranges.

Lin Shao was somewhat envious. He was also in a crucial period of cultivation, but no one was applying for a “Golden Leaf” for him. Even if there was no Golden Leaf, a Silver Leaf or even a Bronze Leaf would do; as long as it could increase his cultivation speed, he would not reject it.

I wonder if Li Zhuwen can apply for a leaf for me, considering that I brought Hou Xingyue along in his cultivation?

He would certainly agree to Hou Xingyue’s invitation. Even if there were no leaves, the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi inside the Wan Jian Pavilion was several times purer and denser than in the capital. Furthermore, in just over twenty days, the grand assembly between the Wan Jian Pavilion and the Sword Sect would be held, and during this period, the Wan Jian Pavilion would also hold a selection tournament. He wanted to go join the fun.

Since coming to this world, he had not yet seen a scene of cultivators fighting, and he was truly very curious.

Seeing that Hou Xingyue’s eyes were somewhat evasive, Lin Shao guessed that he still had something he wanted to say in his heart, so he smiled and said, “If you have something to say, just say it directly. Keeping it bottled up in your heart must feel quite uncomfortable.”

Hou Xingyue smiled awkwardly. “As expected, I can’t hide it from Boss Lin. It’s like this: according to my current cultivation speed, combined with the assistance of the Golden Leaf, I might be able to break through to Level 3 before the selection tournament.”

Reaching Level 3 within ten days—this could be considered creating a record for cultivation breakthroughs, right? Lin Shao remembered that ordinary cultivators had to spend nearly twenty-odd years to reach Level 3, and even Li Zhuwen, whose innate spiritual meridians were fully open and was one in ten thousand, took more than five years.

Terrifying, it was truly too terrifying.

Hou Xingyue smiled simplemindedly. “Then, I wanted to try participating in the selection tournament to show the Eldest Young Miss the success of my recent cultivation.”

“Moreover, according to Senior Mu’s words, Level 3 is already the peak of my cultivation, and I cannot cultivate any further after that. This should be the closest I will ever be to the Eldest Young Miss in this lifetime, and I don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

Lin Shao nodded. “That’s fine. You can also use participating in the selection tournament as an excuse to discuss things with your Eldest Young Miss, analyze the opponents’ weaknesses together, and so on.”

Receiving Boss Lin’s affirmation, Hou Xingyue felt as if he had taken a reassuring pill, and emotions like doubt instantly vanished into thin air. He finished his meal blissfully and went to organize and wash up.

Later, he continued to cultivate on the first floor under Mu Li’s gaze. Since undergoing that heart-to-heart talk in the bathhouse, Lin Shao knew that Mu Li only cared about the phenomenon of Hou Xingyue leveling up too fast and did not care about Hou Xingyue himself. Therefore, he no longer had any petty emotions. Instead, he frequently advised Mu Li to care slightly more about Hou Xingyue and, if she had the ability, to try and manage matters regarding his life or death.

At these times, Mu Li would usually respond with silence.

Returning to his room on the second floor, Lin Shao sat cross-legged. Today, he intended to formally impact Level 1.

Level 1 is also called Foundation Opening. It begins by bursting through the Qi stagnation points in the meridians and opening the spiritual meridians, converting Heaven and Earth Origin Qi into one’s own True Qi, and then washing with True Qi to make the mind’s eye open. Those with an open mind’s eye can see things that ordinary people cannot see. Reaching this stage counts as entering Level 1 and formally stepping into the ranks of immortal cultivation.

Calming his mind and concentrating his spirit, Lin Shao could feel the endlessly circulating Nine Songs True Qi inside his body. Originally, the greatest difficulty of the Nine Songs cultivation technique was that Nine Songs True Qi was hard to condense, but the accident two days ago had not only opened all the spiritual meridians in his body but had additionally condensed his Nine Songs True Qi to the full.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward indeed.

Deploying his True Qi to circulate along a fixed route, the inside of his body seemed to gradually become clear, and many places he usually wouldn’t pay attention to were revealed. They were hazy, similar to an accumulation of spirit. Lin Shao hurriedly mobilized his Nine Songs True Qi, cautiously washing these locations.

With the passage of time, washing over and over again, at a certain instant, the inside of his body became completely clear, with no more obstructing shadows. As long as he concentrated his spirit, he could “see” the situation inside his body, including the flow of blood, the tightness of muscles, the connection of bones, and so on.

Reaching this step, Lin Shao was considered to have completely seen through himself. If he were injured in the future, he would be able to find the internal injury immediately, judge the situation from the position and severity, and then alter the blood flow and muscle state around the injury by guiding True Qi. These operations had a simple description: healing through True Qi.

This was only the first step. Seeing through the body was for the purpose of finding the location of the mind. Moving his spirit to the location of the Dantian and concentrating on diving down, he gradually could see a closed black dot. Lin Shao mobilized the spiritual energy inside his body, and the twenty spiritual meridians operated simultaneously, inputting True Qi into this black dot from different directions. The black dot was like a bottomless pit; after the True Qi entered, it disappeared without a trace. Seeing this, he did not panic, and still maintained a rhythm at a certain speed, delivering True Qi into the black dot.

When the True Qi inside his body was almost exhausted, the black dot finally underwent a change, opening up a sliver of a gap. The instant the gap appeared, a huge gravitational force was generated, sucking Lin Shao’s spirit into it.

His spirit squeezed through the narrow gap, and then things suddenly opened up, as if entering a brand-new world. This world was composed of countless amounts of pure True Qi, which was precisely the Nine Songs True Qi that had been transported in previously. This space was the mind. At this moment, the mind’s eye opened.

Lin Shao’s spirit returned to the real world. He opened his eyes and felt that he could see more things. With just a slight concentration of his spirit, he could see the originally invisible Heaven and Earth Origin Qi. He looked around curiously; it was still the familiar room, but the scenery he saw carried a sense of brand-newness within the familiarity.

This was Level 1. He had succeeded in Foundation Opening and entered the large army of immortal cultivators.

Going down to report the good news to Mu Li, he opened the door and was just about to go downstairs when his expression suddenly changed. Through the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, he saw something huge hovering on the first floor—a red body, dense scales, it was a red dragon!

Why was there a dragon hiding here?

While he was observing the red dragon, the red dragon’s body twisted, and a huge dragon head passed through the wooden floorboards, appearing right in front of him. Majestic and ferocious, Lin Shao was startled in his heart and was about to shout out, but discovered that this dragon lowered its head, as if submitting to him.

Lowered its head…