Existence: Cultivating Through Enlightenment

After an incense stick of time, Ling Xu's breakthrough to the third stage of Qi Refining ended, having the last bit of formless qi used to refine the last acupoint. What was left of his qi afterwards was so small that it could barely move the next acupoint.

Still with the eyes closed, he begun recovering his formless qi. Every breath he took was profound and steady, taking him a dozen minutes before he could open his eyes again.

"Amazing!" Feeling the new badge of acupoints he had opened, he was excited as he counted and felt that he had opened 25 new acupoints. "I now have 56 opened acupoints within my body! If I only compare my strength against others based on acupoints I should rival someone between the seventh and eight stage of Qi Refining."

Having reached this point, his strength had truly undergone another transformation since the qi he could now store within his body was several times that of someone in his current level.

"Opening a hundred acupoints should be more than possible with the current pace that I am opening them at." Being in the third stage of Qi Refining and having opened more than half a hundred acupoints, Ling Xu begun thinking which number would be his limit once he entered the ninth stage.

He thought that reaching the three digits was a possibility and even wondered if he would be able to surpass the two hundreds.

Up until now, Ling Xu had never heard of an outer disciple opening a hundred acupoints since it was an extremely difficult task, so he was more than eager to try and see for himself which was his limit and how much his strength would increase afterwards.

If one wanted to open more acupoints after advancing a stage, not only did they have to have a great mastery over their cultivation technique but they would need to have previously built a strong foundation in the Blood Qi Realm.

"Only those that have undergone two blood exchanges may have a chance of opening more than a hundred acupoints. But even then, if their cultivation techniques haven't been mastered high enough they won't be able to do so."

It was also because of this that he was very confident in achieving such a feat, since he had previously undergone three blood exchanges and even had his blood qi completely transformed. And now that he is in the Qi Refining Realm, Ling Xu has reached perfection in his cultivation technique, the Formless Qi Breathing.

[Name]: Ling Xu

[Realm]: 3rd stage of Qi Refining (0%)

[Cultivation]: Formless Qi Breathing (perfection), Existence Shadow Will (58%)

[Techniques]: Gale Wind (small success 53%), Flowing Stream Sword (perfection), Three Purities Sword (perfection), Blood Thread Transformation (completed)

[Avenue]: Sword Intent (24%)

After seeing his new realm in his status panel he begun circulating his formless qi once again, refining qi through every profound breath and increasing the capacity of his dantian.

It took him almost an hour before he felt a slight progress as he observed the panel once again and saw the progress change to 1%.

"My speed of refining qi has halved now." He sighed since he realized that with every advancement his progress would slow down a lot. "With this refining speed it will take around two weeks before I can advance once again."

Ling Xu planned on continuing refining qi into the body while strengthening his dantian and acupoints to advance to the fourth stage as soon as possible when…

[You are now qualified to enter the next mission.]

"A mission!" His mind took in the information from the message pretty fast as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I didn't expect for there to be more missions after having no news ever since I came to this world a month and a half ago."

He heard another sound from the system and a following message appeared.

After reading it, Ling Xu realized that this mission would be very difficult since it described that he would be thrown to a place where beasts in all the stages of Qi Refining could be found. It even suggested the possibility of having one or more that have surpassed his realm.

"Hisss!" The thought of entering right now came to a halt as he realized what he would have to deal with there. "If there are beasts that even surpass Qi Refining they should be in the Foundation Building Realm, right?"

Pondering where his current strength laid within his realm, Ling Xu thought that right now he would be able to win against someone in the eight stage of Qi Refining in a fair fight. Since the senior he had killed previously was surprised from behind so it couldn't count since he was unable to exert any strength to defend himself.

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"I need to increase my strength enough so that I can win without a doubt against any Qi Refining beast and may be able to even kill one at Foundation Building." He thought, already making plans in his mind and thinking deeply which course of action would be the best to take right now.

"If I want to increase my strength as fast as possible I can only use the enlightenment energy to improve the Gale Wind technique or my sword intent." Observing the only two things that weren't completed in his panel, he begun choosing which to improve first once the week ended.

Currently, Ling Xu had three more days before the path between his eyes opened once again and he could have another enlightenment.

As he was deciding which to choose, his eyes turned towards his status panel where the rest of the techniques and his cultivation technique were presented with the word perfection on them.

"Wait! Could it be that I can also…" A small sparkle was born withing his mind, shining brighter than any of his previous ideas of how to increase his strength the most. He continued, "Is it possible for me to also keep improving the techniques in which I have already reached perfection?"

This idea had just appeared for the first time since Ling Xu never doubted the word perfection, making him think that there wasn't anything else beside the perfection level of mastery.

"If this guess is right, I should be able to become much stronger by surpassing this level instead of just reaching perfection in my sword intent or Gale Wind movement technique."

Pondering for a while, he made his decision. "That's it! I will wait for the week to end and use my enlightenment chance to surpass the perfection level from one of my current techniques."

Suddenly, Ling Xu felt that something was amiss. "I must increase my mastery in my movement technique! Although my current attack is able to rival those in the eight and ninth stages of Qi Refining, what if I don't have a chance to surprise them like previously and my speed isn't fast enough. I must wait another more week so I can also improve my Gale Wind technique."

After making up his mind of waiting for this week and the next to end so he can enter enlightenment twice, he took another middle grade qi refining pill and continued advancing in his realm.

The pill dissolved in his stomach and the medicinal effect from the energy allowed him to refine qi much faster. While increasing the qi he had he would also continue expanding the capacity from his dantian and strengthening his acupoints through the continuous refinement from his formless qi.

In this way, three days passed pretty fast as Ling Xu kept on improving in every aspect he could. After the sun rose he would be awake and begin training in his movement technique while using his sword technique with the sword intent imbued in the blade.

In this way, he started to feel that he could also improve his mastery over his sword intent since he had already begun comprehending it, not like before when he struggled to relive the feeling after perfecting his Three Purities Sword technique.

Afterwards he would continue advancing in his cultivation technique once he ended eating at the dining hall to restore his energy and recover from the previous exhaustion of his qi.

Currently Ling Xu is entering the dining hall to have a meal before returning to his room.

While he is there, in a dimly lit room in the sect a young man who looks a little more mature than Ling Xu opens his eyes. His face doesn't look anything out of the ordinary but the aura emitted from his body is something else.

The room also shows that his status is much higher than Ling Xu's since it not only is around two times bigger but the materials used for it look much more refined and there are several items decorating the room.

A white bead is embedded in the ceiling as it is the source of the light and it can be freely manipulated to gradually increase the illumination in the room. The desk in the room also looks to be made out of a special wood and there are even carvings of clouds and a mountain on it.

While he being in the lotus position, he used a meditative mattress that helps the person who uses it to calm the mind and smooth cultivation.

"I haven't heard from my junior brother for a while, how dare he not come when I clearly summoned him two days ago." A little bit of anger was fueling within him as he felt that he wasn't treated with the level of courtesy he deserved.

The mattress suddenly took effect as a cooling sensation helped him relax his mind a little. "After all the help I gave him, I even kept my bond with him even though he is still a mere outer disciple." Still, he wasn't able to take his mind off the matter as he ignored the effect from it.

A small vein protruded from his forehead when his ear twitched as he heard something that caught his attention. He moved his hand slightly and although it seemed like he was only making a hand sign the window in the room opened up.

A small bird with a blue beak and grey feathers was flying towards his room as the man inside noticed it dozens of meters before it arrived. Seeing the window open it arrived in a second as the speed from its wings begun decreasing until it laid in the window entrance.

Two orange feathers protruding from its head stood out as it moved a little, making them flutter through the wind.

The person inside the room didn't look at them but moved his finger and a letter that was saved in a small pouch attached to its short leg begun flying towards him. Once in his hands, he opened it and read its content as his eyes widened in surprise.

The hand that gripped the letter opened and a transparent energy came out from it as it cut it down until there was nothing left. "The letter says that junior brother is nowhere to be seen after he left the sect to go on a mission."

A bit of remorse invaded him as he realized that he had felt anger at his junior brother even though it is not even certain whether he is dead or alive.

"From the group that went with him only two came back and they were the weakest of them." he remembered the first name that appeared, which sounded pretty familiar to him. "One of them being Sun Qinglan, his fiancée."

His mind moved very fast and a conclusion was made rapidly. "Unfortunately, my junior brother is most likely dead." He then thought about his fiancée. "She must have something to do with it, after all I heard from him that she wasn't very excited about their arranged marriage."

Knowing his junior brother's personality, it was more than clear that he most have done something behind the scenes to arrange the marriage.