Minutes passed and as Ling Xu's mind was floating calmly his cultivation technique only seemed to increase more and more in its current level of mastery. From the originally formless qi which followed its own flow, coming out from his dantian and circulating through his meridians without a set path, a colorless mist came out from his mouth.
It may have appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary breath escaping his lips, but in truth, it was a subtle sign that something deep within his body had begun to stir.
The formless qi that previously moved smoothly through his meridians started to change as their appearance became every time more difficult to perceive. The mist coming out from his mouth started to become invisible as Ling Xu's qi was undergoing a change.
With the advancement from his cultivation technique to great success, reaching the last level of mastery before perfection, the meridians that were carrying the flow of his qi started to become stronger as the formless qi that circulated through them became softer.
This softness didn't come from his qi weakening but right the opposite since it started integrating itself into the meridians, strengthening them and making them rougher with every moment that happened as his level of mastery continued increasing and his qi was becoming even softer.
Taking in the air from his surroundings, Ling Xu's breathing became calmer every time a portion entered his lungs as it would take a longer time to come out. With every breath taking longer, more and more invisible mist seemed to come out.
With the last threads of golden energy in his body thinning out before disappearing, his body shook once more as the Formless Qi Breathing cultivation technique was reaching perfection, truly transforming his qi into a genuine formless qi.
His breathing seemed to become more profound as he could take in more air, taking it in for a very long period of time before exhaling it all out.
A change occurred and Ling Xu's aura pressed his surroundings, distorting the air with his formless qi that was being exhaled through every pore in his body. Now, it didn't come out from his mouth since his qi had undergone its last step of transformation.
After a few minutes, his mind returned to normal since the golden energy that made him enter enlightenment had been completely used up and he would need to wait several days before having the path between his eyes open once again.
Still, Ling Xu didn't open his eyes since he hadn't ended the process, breathing in and out the air he absorbed as his qi continued exerting pressure while pouring out from his pores.
An incense stick of time later, the pressure that had slowly decreased finally disappeared since he managed to restrain his qi from being exhaled out, having gained complete control over it after it transformed when he reached perfection in his cultivation technique.
Opening his eyes, he remained silent for a while as he was absorbed in the calmness of every profound breath taken during the enlightenment.
"The changes brought by perfecting the Formless Qi Breathing cultivation technique are more than expected. I didn't expect that a cultivation technique from the Qi Refining Realm could have such depth." he expressed sincerely.
Feeling the changes that were currently undergoing inside his body, Ling Xu couldn't help but feel this way as it hadn't stopped and he felt that it would take a few hours before it did.
"The formless qi within my body has undergone two great transformations in what is just the time that it takes me to walk to the Books Pavilion." feeling once again how extraordinary this ability from his unique cultivation technique was, he was perplexed at his fast progress.
What takes any outer disciple that is in the Qi Refining Realm a lifetime to comprehend took him the short span of an incense stick of time. If this wasn't something to be grateful for he didn't know what it was.
Normally, a normal person with an average talent and level of comprehension would take from two weeks to a month to start using their cultivation technique after completing the entry level.
The entry level of the cultivation technique was very important since it was the moment where any cultivator's qi would transform permanently based on the characteristics of the breathing method.
The time it took depended a lot on what kind of breathing method they choose and how hard it was for them to understand and transform their energy into their respective characteristics. Afterwards, to complete the small success level and reach proficient they would take several months or even an year.
Even talented geniuses would take between one and two weeks to permanently transform their qi and three to six months before reaching proficient.
This was normal since cultivation was extremely hard and every step on the road came with difficulty, having to dedicate your whole life to it.
Since cultivation was extremely hard and it depended a lot on one's talent, those disciples in the sect that weren't very talented and didn't work hard enough would only remain in the Qi Refining Realm, struggling all their life to breakthrough the Foundation Building Realm.
But there is a problem with this and that was time, every outer disciple has five years before losing their status as a disciple if they don't breakthrough the Foundation Building Realm and become an inner disciple.
Afterwards, those who wanted to stay as members of the sect and make use of its status would be given a job and they would have to leave the sect and go to the subsidiary town or city that they were assigned based on their merits.
This was the natural route for those disciples who hadn't even managed to reach the Foundation Building Realm, since their strength wasn't high enough and all they could do was to work in one of the Treasure Shops managed by the sect.
This shop was the same where Ling Xu bought the blood condensing pills when he was at Lesser Crimson Town, a place subsidiary to the Formless Sword Sect.
"With my qi now truly formless, it has become purer than before and it is more condensed than any of the outer disciples I have met so far. Also, once my cultivation technique reached great success, my qi had started to integrate into my meridians making them rougher and increasing the amount of qi that they are able to store. This includes the amount of qi my acupoints are able to store now." he thought with excitement.
Now, with each stage he advanced, the gap between him and the other disciples would only widen. Not only had he opened more acupoints than the others, but each one also possessed a greater capacity.
"This isn't even all, since after it reached perfection the effects became even more shocking." he felt the formless qi inside his body travelling through his meridians now rougher than before as it not only integrated with his meridians and acupoints but it even continued expanding as it bathed through his whole body, fully refining his muscles and organs.
"Now that my body has been further refined, its raw strength alone is enough to withstand attacks from someone at the fourth stage of Qi Refining." he estimated since he had already felt the strength from someone that was one stage above and below.
Having felt his new strength, Ling Xu felt more confident about his own safety since he knew that in the future there would be trouble coming at him. Although he wouldn't ask for it, he already had a grievance with Lu Wenjie who had tried to cripple him in the middle of the outer sect.
He had even lied to his brother Xie Jian, making him misunderstand his relationship with Sun Qinglan since he desired for him to be injured while in the mission of hunting the snake and retrieving the venom gland.
"The only thing that bothers me is the senior brother from the inner sect that Xie Jian told me about." he had a sense of danger as he thought of someone in the Foundation Building Realm becoming his enemy.
"Fortunately there is the rule about not harming fellow disciples within the sect territory, else I would have a hard time sleeping knowing that he could find and kill me anytime."
On careful thought, he recalled when Lu Wenjie attacked him and changed his mind. "Now that I think about it, Lu Wenjie didn't seem to care about it at all. Is it possible that this senior brother of his won't care either and will come at me whenever he likes?"
After thinking about this matter for a while, he decided to forget it since he couldn't do anything about it and it would only hinder his progress.
"Well, I still didn't do anything against Lu Wenjie so I have time to become stronger before he comes."
…
A few hours had already passed and Ling Xu was practicing diligently in the Gale Wind movement technique since it was harder than the Flowing Stream Sword and it would take him longer to reach small success.
"Fortunately, with my current mastery in the Formless Qi Breathing being at perfection, the control over my qi has increased a lot. Because the most difficult part from the Gale Wind is the flow of energy, I am already getting accustomed to it." he observed that the current progress from his movement technique had doubled compared to yesterday.
After a few more hours of training, the time used for training in Gale Wind had ended since he used the remaining time in the day to train in his sword technique. Having used the energy contained in the path between his eyes, he wouldn't wait until it recovered as he continued doing his best.
Although the speed of progress had decreased with the increased level in mastery, after a long day and using the last three hours to train in it he increased its percentage by one.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: 1st stage of Qi Refining (100%)
[Cultivation]: Formless Qi Breathing (perfection), Existence Shadow Will (45%)
[Techniques]: Gale Wind (entry 48%), Flowing Stream Sword (great success 3%), Three Purities Sword (perfection), Blood Thread Transformation (completed)
In the status panel, the progress from his Existence Shadow Will cultivation technique had also increased with the Formless Qi Breathing reaching perfection.
"With the current speed of training I will be able to reach small success in Gale Wind in two days. I didn't expect the progress of learning a technique to become this fast, am I actually becoming a genius?" he doubted himself since he previously thought that his talent was average, but this idea was slowly coming out of his mind as he realized that even his normal self without the enlightenment progressed this fast.
"I shouldn't get carried away by this feeling, after all I was also benefited by the effect from the cultivation technique reaching perfection, which increased a lot my control over my qi. This is considering that it was because of the enlightenment helping me reach perfection or else I would have never enjoyed such improvement."
…
Two days passed in the blink of an eye and Ling Xu had been using every hour he had to train in his sword and movement technique, maintaining the same level of effort he had done so far since his mother died and he was left alone to survive on his own.
He didn't do anything else since he had the chance to improve his strength so he wouldn't waste it in socializing or visiting the different sceneries that the sect had.
This was something that many disciples did since the Formless Sword Sect was located in a mountain range and there was a wide variety of places that had beautiful scenery.
Ignoring the rest of the sect and staying in his own world, Ling Xu was getting stronger with each passing day.
Right now, he seemed to be almost dancing as he was moving very fast through the forest, following an elegant pattern.
With the progress made from practicing several hours for the last two days, he had almost completed the entry level from the Gale Wind movement technique. Not only was he moving elegantly but his feet barely touched the ground, since his body felt very light, allowing him to move faster than before.
A few drops of sweat poured down from his face since he had been training nonstop for the last few hours, without taking any time to rest and recover his energy. This was only possible after he had reached perfection in his cultivation technique and his breath had become profound, taking the air in and out in very long intervals.
Even now that he was moving his body extremely fast it barely seem to affect him since the sweat had just started to appear.
Suddenly, a feeling invaded his body as he sensed a strange sensation coming from his feet. This sensation was kind of familiar as he realized something.
"This is the same ability I had when I had my high grade skill Gale Steps. Now that I have successfully achieved small success I will be able to run with the aid of the wind just like in the mission!" a feeling of joy invaded him as he realized that he would be able to feel again the sensation from the skill.