49: Chapter 49 New Energy Cultivation: Entering Qi Refining in One Night

In the small room of the side hall, the moonlight had gradually set, and the deepest darkness before dawn shrouded the mountains of the Hehuan Sect.

But for Xu Ruyu inside the room, this darkness seemed to have been quietly dispelled by a layer of nascent glimmer.

Sitting cross-legged on the hard bed, his body trembled slightly, and his forehead, neck, and even his exposed arms were covered in fine beads of sweat, reflecting a cold luster under the bleak moonlight filtering through the window lattice.

His breathing was heavy and long, his chest heaving violently as if he had just experienced a long trek, but beneath his tightly closed eyelids, his eyeballs were moving rapidly, showing his extreme concentration and excitement.

"Success!"

That path, unprecedented and unrepeatable, he, Xu Ruyu, had truly succeeded in walking!

Although only a wisp of "Taixu True Qi," weak to the point of being almost imperceptible, had settled in his Dantian, the condensation and faint aura of "Origin" contained within that wisp of True Qi were like the strongest stimulant, injected into Xu Ruyu's nearly exhausted Mental Energy.

The fatigue remained, but an unprecedented desire for and sense of control over "power," stemming from the depths of his life's instincts, burned fiercely, supporting him and driving him to immediately begin the second round of attempts.

This time, he had experience.

He did not, like the first time, clumsily and aimlessly use his entire skin to "perceive" that ethereal kinetic energy of the air.

He concentrated his mind highly, like a laser beam, focusing on the tip of his right index finger—the Shangyang Acupoint.

The "Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art" mentioned that the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian starts at the Shangyang Acupoint.

He chose this place as his "experimental field" and "Breakthrough point."

"Microscopic internal vision, resonance induction..."

Xu Ruyu silently recited the "crude method" essentials he had summarized. He sank all his attention into that point at his fingertip, imagining every cell in his fingertip transforming into the most precise sensor, and every hair becoming an antenna capturing the vibrations of the microscopic world.

He no longer tried to "grab," but instead attempted to "merge."

He let his own mental frequency approach and simulate the average velocity and collision frequency of nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the air during thermal motion at room temperature.

This was an extremely delicate process, requiring immense imagination and control.

Time passed second by second.

Outside the house, everything was silent, with only the faint whimpering of the mountain wind blowing past the eaves.

From Xu Ruyu's fingertip, a strange tingling sensation began to emerge, as if countless extremely tiny electric currents were scurrying under his skin.

This feeling was much clearer and more concentrated than the "touch sensation" he had felt on his entire skin earlier!

His heart surged with joy, knowing that "resonance" had been initially established.

He immediately proceeded to the next step—"pore vortex, directional absorption."

He imagined the pores at his fingertip where the Shangyang Acupoint was located as miniature, high-speed rotating "vortex generators," creating a "suction field" directed inward, downward, and along the route of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian.

At the same time, he refined and strengthened the method of "guiding Qi with thought" from the "Qi Induction and Return to Origin Art," transforming it into invisible "traction threads" that precisely wrapped around the active molecular kinetic energy attracted by his "resonance."

This time, it was no longer a "try-your-luck" type of infiltration.

A "cool current," though still tiny, was several times clearer and more coherent than before; it seemed to be pulled by an invisible hand, smoothly "flowing in" from the Shangyang Acupoint!

"Meridians as channels, circulate the Heavenly Circuit!"

Xu Ruyu's spirits soared, and he guided this "cool current of air kinetic energy" to advance rapidly along the route of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian!

Erjian, Sanjian, Hegu, Yangxi, Quchi, Jianyu... the route was clear, and the speed of circulation far exceeded the stumbling of the first time!

He could "feel" that as this energy flow traveled through his Meridians, it constantly experienced a subtle "friction" and "transformation" with the inner walls of his Meridians. Its disordered, microscopic kinetic energy characteristics, guided by the specific structure of his Meridians and his own intent, were little by little being "tamed," "combed," and imbued with a trace of orderly energy properties.

When this energy flow moved along the Meridians, passed through the neck, crossed the cheek, and finally completed a full cycle of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian from the Yingxiang Acupoint on the opposite side, and was guided by him to sink into his Dantian, its "quality" and "quantity" were more than a notch stronger than that first wisp!

"Boom!"

When this "air kinetic energy," which had grown significantly larger, touched the "deep sea" of Saint Realm Power in the depths of his Dantian, the "ripples" it triggered were also much more obvious than before.

The same process occurred again: the external energy was instantly absorbed and annihilated by the "deep sea," and at the edge of the "deep sea," a corresponding proportion of pure and condensed "Taixu True Qi" was "displaced" or "stimulated," settling into Xu Ruyu's Dantian.

Two wisps of "Taixu True Qi" converged, and although the total amount was still negligible, it made Xu Ruyu clearly feel that at the location of his Dantian Qi Sea, there was now a real, tangible "energy core" that belonged to him!

This core was cold and stable, carrying a strange rhythm like a resonance with heaven and earth.

"It works! The efficiency is increasing!"

Xu Ruyu's confidence multiplied.

He did not hesitate, and without stopping, he began the third round, the fourth round, the fifth round...

He was like a tireless, precision instrument, repeatedly performing the cycle of "perception resonance—acupoint absorption—meridian circulation—sea return transformation."

With each cycle, his perception of "air kinetic energy" became a bit clearer, the absorption efficiency increased a bit, and the meridian circulation became a degree smoother.

And the "Taixu True Qi" in his Dantian was accumulating bit by bit, wisp by wisp, at a speed visible to the naked eye (via internal vision).

He began to try opening multiple "intake ports" simultaneously.

From the single Shangyang Acupoint, he expanded to multiple fingertip well points such as Shaoshang, Shaochong, and Guanchong on both hands, and even attempted to open the Baihui Acupoint on the top of his head, directly absorbing the kinetic energy of more macroscopic air currents.

His Cultivation was gradually entering a state of perfection.

Xu Ruyu was completely immersed in this mysterious feeling of "creating energy" and "controlling himself."

He forgot time, forgot danger, and forgot the treacherous Revered Master outside the hall.

On the surface of his body, a layer of extremely faint, almost imperceptible glimmer began to emerge, as if rippling water; this was the leakage of a weak energy field generated when a large amount of air molecular kinetic energy was orderly guided and transformed.

His breathing became long and rhythmic; with each inhalation and exhalation, faint, anomalous air vortices were subtly generated near his mouth and nose, as if his very breathing was performing some kind of energy intake and exchange.

Inside his Dantian, "Taixu True Qi" accumulated more and more, gradually gathering from the few hair-thin wisps at the beginning into a pale, slowly rotating silver Qi vortex.

Although this Qi vortex was small, it was exceptionally solid, with tiny starlike glimmers faintly flickering at its core, emitting a strange aura that was upright and peaceful, yet all-encompassing.

Who knows how much time had passed, perhaps one hour, perhaps two.

When the first touch of fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon, and the faint morning light began to try to dispel the curtain of night.

Xu Ruyu, sitting cross-legged on the bed, shuddered violently!

Inside his Dantian, that rotating silver Qi vortex seemed to reach a certain critical point, suddenly shrinking inward, becoming more condensed, and its rotation speed suddenly accelerated!

A silver radiance, several times clearer and brighter than before, shone through his body from below his navel; although it flashed and vanished, it instantly illuminated his entire small room for a moment!

Immediately following, a cool yet vibrant and lively flow of Qi surged out from the Dantian Qi vortex, without needing guidance, automatically circulating rapidly along the few Meridians he had initially cleared (mainly the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian), nourishing the Meridians and flesh along the way, and finally returning to the Dantian, completing a perfect, spontaneous Lesser Heavenly Circuit!

The moment the circulation was completed, Xu Ruyu felt his ears and eyes suddenly sharpen, and his five senses became much keener in an instant!

He could even clearly "hear" the subtle gnawing of woodworms in the beams of the adjacent hall, "smell" the fresh scent of dew evaporating from the soil outside the window, and "feel" the richer, more delicate layers of energy flow in the air!

His body felt as if it had been washed clean, light and full of power.

The fatigue from last night's Cultivation was swept away, his Mental Energy had mostly recovered, and had even slightly improved.

He slowly opened his eyes, and in his pitch-black pupils, a trace of silver light quietly faded away.

Qi Refinement Stage, First Level!

He, Xu Ruyu, a piece of trash judged as having "no Spiritual Root" during the Hehuan Sect Outer Sect Disciple entrance examination, had, without guidance, without Spirit Stones, and in an environment with thin Spiritual Qi, relying on his self-modified "Air Kinetic Energy Cultivation Method," overnight, fiercely stepped through the gate of Cultivation!