48: Chapter 48 Xu Ruyu proves that air cultivation is feasible

At first, he could not feel anything.

Only the cold air and the rising and falling of his chest.

But he did not give up.

He knew that any Breakthrough in new technology was difficult and long in the Early Stage.

He repeatedly adjusted his "visualization" method, from imagining molecular collisions to imagining the fine hairs on his skin becoming the most sensitive "kinetic energy sensing antennas," and then to imagining his breathing frequency attempting to resonate with a certain "statistical average frequency" of molecular motion in the air...

Time passed bit by bit, and the moonlight moved slowly outside the window.

He did not know how much time had passed, just as Xu Ruyu's Mental Energy was becoming somewhat exhausted and he was almost about to give up this attempt—

A trace of an extremely faint, extremely strange sensation suddenly came from the skin on his exposed wrist.

It was not heat, not cold, and not wind.

It was a kind of... extremely subtle, dense sensation, like countless extremely fine needle tips gently pricking at a very high frequency, yet without any actual pain; it was more like a "touch" on the energy level!

This sensation flashed and vanished, so fast that he thought it was an illusion.

But Xu Ruyu's heart suddenly began to beat wildly!

There was a reaction!

His method might have touched upon something!

He suppressed his excitement, held his breath, and focused his intent even more intently on that patch of skin, while trying his best to maintain the state of imagining himself as a "porous kinetic energy receiver."

It was coming! It was coming again!

This time, the sensation was clearer!

Not just his wrists, but his cheeks, neck, arms... all the skin exposed to the air seemed to start transmitting that extremely subtle, continuous "sensation of energy touch"!

It was as if he could truly "hear" the never-ending clamor and commotion of the microscopic world in the air!

"Is this... the kinetic energy of the thermal motion of air molecules?"

Xu Ruyu was incomparably shocked.

He had actually perceived it!

He had perceived it using this "crude method" that was almost self-hypnosis combined with scientific imagination!

Next was the second step: guiding it into his body.

According to the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art, one needed to use intent to guide the perceived "Spiritual Qi" from specific acupoints into the Meridians.

Xu Ruyu did not know where to guide the "air kinetic energy" from, so he decided to boldly try the most direct way—straight from the skin!

Since his skin could "feel" it, he would try to let his skin "absorb" it!

He imagined his skin pores were no longer simple excretory holes, but tiny vortexes, generating an inward suction force.

At the same time, he replaced the object of the "intent as a guide" Mind-Cultivation Technique from the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art, from the ethereal "Spiritual Qi" to these subtle "sensations of kinetic energy touch" he had perceived.

"Suck it in... follow the feeling... guide it..."

It was incomparably difficult.

The sensation was too faint, too scattered; his intent was like trying to grasp flowing sand, dissipating into nothingness at the slightest lapse in concentration.

Fine beads of sweat seeped out on Xu Ruyu's forehead, and his Mental Energy was rapidly depleting.

But he gritted his teeth and persisted.

If he failed once, he would just try again.

He adjusted the intensity and method of his intent, changing from "grasping" to "supporting" and "channeling."

Finally, after untold failures, a wisp of "coolness" or "strange sensation," thousands of times finer than a strand of hair and almost imperceptible, seeped into his body through the skin of his arm, extremely slowly and tremblingly!

It did not follow the "Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian" marked in the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art, but rather just penetrated inwards in a completely disorganized manner, following the gaps in the muscle fibers under the skin.

Xu Ruyu felt a surge of joy, but dared not relax in the slightest. He immediately proceeded to the third step: Meridian circulation.

He did not force this barely perceptible "strange energy" into a fixed Meridian route, but instead tried to use the gentlest intent to "wrap" it, and then guide it to "approach" the general area of the "Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian" described in the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art, which started at the chest and ran along the arm.

This process was even more like walking on thin ice.

That wisp of energy was so weak it felt like it could extinguish at any moment, and it was like an unruly fish, darting blindly through his flesh and blood, bringing with it traces of strange, faint tingling and numbness.

Xu Ruyu was fully focused, as if performing the most precise micro-surgery.

Guiding it bit by bit, correcting it bit by bit.

He did not know how much time had passed, but that wisp of energy was finally "driven" by him, barely "nudging" into the starting end of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian—near the Zhongfu acupoint.

Although it only grazed the edge, once it entered this Meridian path that seemed to naturally have a certain "constraining" and "conducting" effect on energy, that wisp of energy immediately became slightly more "tame," and its flow speed and direction also became a bit clearer.

Xu Ruyu felt greatly reassured and immediately followed the subsequent route of the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art, guiding this pitifully weak "air kinetic energy" along the inner side of his arm, passing through the Chize, Kongzui, Lieque, and Yuji acupoints, and finally reaching the Shaoshang acupoint at the tip of his thumb.

He had completed an extremely tiny, extremely slow "Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian" circulation.

When this wisp of energy completed the cycle and was guided by his intent to return to the Dantian below his navel, Xu Ruyu felt as if he were about to collapse from exhaustion.

The consumption of his Mental Energy was far beyond his imagination.

However, the moment this wisp of weak energy fell into the Dantian Qi Sea position—

A sudden change occurred!

Deep in his Dantian, which was originally silent and like stagnant water, that vast and inert Saint Realm Power belonging to Xiao Nianyin seemed to have been extremely slightly "touched" by this outsider.

There was no violent reaction, no rampage of energy.

There was only a barely perceptible, strange "ripple" that radiated from the surface of that "deep sea" of Saint Realm Power.

At the same time, the moment that extremely weak "air kinetic energy" he had worked so hard to introduce touched the edge of that "deep sea," it was like a drop of water falling into a sponge; it was instantly absorbed and disappeared without a trace.

But Xu Ruyu clearly felt that, at the same time the "air kinetic energy" disappeared, from the edge of that "deep sea," it seemed that a one-in-a-billionth, almost imperceptible "tiny bit" of something was "displaced" or "stimulated" out, turning into a wisp of "Qi" that was ten million times finer than a strand of hair, yet incredibly pure and condensed, quietly merging into his Dantian and settling down.

This wisp of "Qi" was too weak, so weak it could be ignored.

But its "quality" made Xu Ruyu tremble all over!

It was not ordinary "True Qi"; it was a kind of strange energy that he could not describe, seemingly containing a trace of the supreme truths of heaven and earth, carrying a breath of "Origin"!

Although the amount was minuscule, its "level" seemed far higher than the True Qi a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator should have according to the description in the Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art!

Moreover, this wisp of energy seemed... completely under his control? It had a natural, close connection with him? Unlike that vast Saint Realm Power inside his body, which was like a resident foreign object.

"Success...?"

Xu Ruyu slowly opened his eyes, his dark pupils filled with incredible ecstasy, as well as the shock of discovering a new world.

Although the process was difficult, the efficiency was appallingly low, the introduced energy was almost negligible, and what finally settled down was pitifully little.

But he had truly, in an environment without Spiritual Roots, without Spirit Stones, and with thin Spiritual Qi, used his self-modified "crude method" to capture a trace of energy from the omnipresent air, and through some kind of "transformation" or "stimulation" by the strange Saint Realm Power within his body, obtained a wisp of high-level Origin Qi that belonged to him!

He named this wisp of Qi— "Taixu True Qi."

The meaning derived from "Heaven and earth are Taixu; where there is no Qi, nothing exists."

The Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art had been modified by him beyond recognition, but that was not important.

What was important was that he had verified an unprecedented path!

Air Cultivation was theoretically feasible!

Although he was currently just taking his first stumbling steps and the efficiency was ridiculously low, this meant that he, Xu Ruyu, this transmigrator who was regarded as trash by the Sect and as a tool and hidden danger by his Revered Master, had finally found a path of cultivation that did not rely on Spiritual Qi, did not rely on others' handouts, and truly belonged to himself!

At the end of this path, perhaps it was that book that only existed in his imagination—the True Explanation of Taixu Source Energy!

The moonlight shifted, and the darkest moment before dawn was about to pass.

Xu Ruyu wiped the sweat from his forehead, and on his weary face, he bloomed with the first truly hopeful and spirited smile since his Transmigration.

Three months? The Martial Arts Arena? Leng Ningshuang? Xiao Nianyin's schemes?

Just you wait...