With a determined gaze, Huang Yulang tucked the Jade Pendant securely away.
Ignoring the Martial Arts Manual, he sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and began to sense the Spiritual Qi gathering within the cave.
A few days later, Huang Yulang opened his bloodshot eyes, his face etched with exhaustion.
‘According to his master, anyone with a Spiritual Root should naturally be able to sense the existence of Spiritual Qi.’
And yet, while the Spirit Gathering Array in his cave had clearly amassed a great deal of Spiritual Qi, his perception of it was frustratingly vague.
Especially since the various types of Spiritual Qi were all jumbled and tangled together, making it nearly impossible to distinguish their different Attributes.
Whenever he finally managed to isolate a pure strand and tried to guide it into his body, his other Attribute Spiritual Roots would invariably grow restless, generating a repulsive force that scattered the Spiritual Qi.
Only then did Huang Yulang realize just how terrible his aptitude for cultivation was.
‘It’s almost impossible to achieve Energy Introduction.
How am I supposed to cultivate at all?’
Huang Yulang sat there despondently, overwhelmed by helplessness and confusion.
“Young Master!
Young Master!
The master and madam are here!
Young Master, you have to come out, quick!”
It was Fu, who was responsible for bringing him his meals.
He ran back and forth several times a day and was now shouting from outside, panting for breath.
Hearing that his parents had arrived, and with no cultivation progress to show for his efforts, Huang Yulang could only step out of the cave with a sigh of resignation.
His father, dressed like a wealthy merchant with a broad, thick-waisted frame, stared at him with a look of bitter disappointment.
But when the beautiful woman at his side saw Huang Yulang’s exhausted face and bloodshot eyes, her own heart ached, and she burst into tears.
“Oh, my son!
Why must you be so hard on yourself?
You’re making your mother worry sick.” His mother rushed forward and pulled Huang Yulang into her embrace, tears of heartache streaming down her face.
“You unfilial son!
Are you trying to anger your parents to death?
Look at you!
Do you look like a cultivator?
Take him back!
Without my express command, he is not to take a single step out of the manor.”
“Yes, sir.” Several sturdy guards stepped forward, surrounding the mother and son.
Huang Yulang gave his father a resigned look and remained silent.
His mother pulled him onto the carriage, and they returned home under the escort of the guards.
Back at the manor, he was inevitably subjected to another lecture.
But it went in one of Huang Yulang’s ears and out the other, which so infuriated his father that he wanted to take a whip to him.
Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, and in the end, just had him confined to his room.
Huang Yulang returned to his room and collapsed into bed.
He slept for a solid two days before he finally began to think things over.
‘I’ve tried all the methods my master taught me.
So why are my other Spiritual Roots still causing trouble?
This shouldn’t be happening.
What exactly is the problem?’
Still unwilling to give up, Huang Yulang sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and continued his cultivation.
But to Huang Yulang’s dismay, there didn’t seem to be even a trace of Spiritual Qi in the manor.
No matter how desperately he tried to sense it, his efforts were futile.
His only option was to get to the cave outside the city.
But with his father still fuming, none of the servants would dare let him sneak out.
Huang Yulang was at his wit’s end.
Then, he recalled his master’s words and thought he might find some inspiration in that Martial Arts Manual.
After having Fu fetch his belongings from the cave, Huang Yulang eagerly began to study the One Qi Primordial Skill manual.
In a small courtyard, Huang Yulang, dressed in fine silks and a jade belt, moved like a blur, his figure darting left and right.
A flurry of punches and palm strikes cut through the air, creating a faint whistling sound.
“The Young Master is so amazing!” Fu would occasionally shout in excitement from the sidelines.
Huang Yulang immersed himself in martial arts training every day, and each night he would soak in a medicinal bath prepared from his master’s prescription.
After a few months, Huang Yulang’s physique had grown much more robust, and his vitality was several times greater than before.
He was like a completely different person.
His already handsome features now possessed a more dashing, youthful air.
His parents were greatly relieved and pleased.
In their eyes, it was infinitely better for their son to practice martial arts to strengthen his body than to wear himself out chasing the ethereal dream of cultivation.
The highly skilled guards in the manor were also unstinting in their praise for Huang Yulang’s rapid progress, which made the old couple beam with gratification.
A few days prior, while practicing his martial arts, Huang Yulang had finally felt a current of energy form in his lower abdomen.
It circulated through his body as he executed his forms, a truly wondrous sensation.
At the end of his routine, instead of coming to a stop, Huang Yulang leaped onto a nearby rockery and slammed his palm down on a massive boulder.
THUD.
The massive boulder didn’t even budge.
“AARGH!” Huang Yulang cried out, collapsing to the ground in pain.
He clutched his right hand, sucking in a sharp breath.
“Young Master!” Fu jumped in alarm and rushed over.
Seeing the bright red palm of Huang Yulang’s right hand, he grew extremely anxious.
Though his hand throbbed with pain, Huang Yulang was inwardly ecstatic.
Ever since that current of energy had appeared in his body, he had made a habit of testing its power like this after finishing his routine.
Each time, he would strike the boulder with his full strength, and each time the recoil would make him yelp in pain.
But in his heart, he was overjoyed.
Through these experiments, Huang Yulang could clearly feel the energy inside him growing stronger, and the power of his palm strikes increasing in turn.
‘Shattering mountains might be an exaggeration,’ he thought, ‘but at this rate, I’m confident I can break this boulder with a single palm strike in three to five years.’
“Young Master, are you all right?” Fu asked.
Huang Yulang’s right hand was still trembling as Fu helped him to his feet.
He forced a smile.
“I’m fine.
It’ll stop hurting in a moment,” he said.
“Has my father left?”
Fu’s face fell, and he nodded.
“Young Master, it seems the master had some urgent business to attend to.
He left in a great hurry, but not before ordering the guards not to let you leave the city.
You’re only allowed to wander around within the walls.”
“Heh heh, perfect.
As long as he’s not home.
You know the drill.
Quick, take off your clothes.”
Huang Yulang stripped off his outer robes in a flash.
Fu’s face went pale.
The last time he’d been caught impersonating the Young Master, he had received a vicious beating.
“Young Master, I can’t!
If I’m discovered again, the master will beat me to death!”
“One hundred taels.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Young Master!
If I’m dead, what good will your silver be to me?”
“Two hundred taels.”
“Oh, Young Master, please don’t make things so difficult for me!”
“Five hundred taels.”
“Just this once!
This is the absolute last time!
But Young Master, you have to come back early.” Fu gritted his teeth and went for it, quickly shrugging off his own outer clothes.
Huang Yulang gave a faint smile, changed into Fu’s clothes, and hurried away, mimicking Fu’s trotting gait.
He left behind a very nervous Fu, whose eyes darted about as he tried to figure out how to avoid being discovered.
Inside the mountain cave, the Spiritual Qi was far denser than it had been months ago.
It swirled so thickly that it felt like being immersed in a sea of clouds.
He could only ever sneak here to cultivate when his father was away.
Huang Yulang was filled with anticipation.
Now that he had developed that internal energy, he wondered if he could finally achieve Energy Introduction.
Sitting cross-legged, Huang Yulang formed hand seals.
The Spiritual Qi was so dense that the moment he settled into meditation, he was able to lock onto a strand of Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi and guide it into his body.
To Huang Yulang’s frustration, the moment the strand of Spiritual Qi entered him, his other Spiritual Roots began acting up again.
He had experienced this many times, however, and was not discouraged.
He focused his mind, doing his best to ignore the turmoil from the other Spiritual Roots and concentrating all his attention on his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root.
After dozens of consecutive failures, a strand of Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi finally surged into his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root.
Before Huang Yulang could even get excited, the newly entered Spiritual Qi seemed to be pulled by some unseen force.
It flowed directly into his lower abdomen and merged with the internal energy he had cultivated, strengthening it by a sliver.
‘Huh?
What’s going on?’
Huang Yulang was baffled.
‘What I’ve cultivated should be True Qi, formed through the process of Refining Essence and Qi.
How can it possibly merge with Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi?’
Unable to figure it out, he decided not to dwell on it and quickly began to circulate his Qi Refining technique.
To his surprise, the technique could actually mobilize this new energy, but it didn’t travel along the meridian pathways used for the One Qi Primordial Palm.
It was as if this energy had its own specific path, but the meridian it followed seemed to be blocked, making passage difficult and slow.
The energy advanced by tiny increments before being completely exhausted.
Huang Yulang recalled his master’s words: after achieving Energy Introduction, one must accumulate sufficient Spiritual Qi within the body.
Once a certain amount was gathered, one had to circulate the Spiritual Qi to break through the shackles of the meridians, allowing it to diffuse throughout the body and bring about a total transformation—a breakthrough.
Huang Yulang was overjoyed.
‘It wasn’t easy, but I finally managed to achieve Energy Introduction!’ He formed the hand seals again, sensing the various types of Spiritual Qi around him.
Perhaps due to his initial success, his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root seemed much more active than the others.
After just a few attempts, he managed to capture and absorb another strand of matching Spiritual Qi.
As Huang Yulang felt another faint wisp of Spiritual Qi appear in his lower abdomen, his body couldn’t help but tremble.
However, his other Spiritual Roots would still act up intermittently, drastically slowing down his rate of Energy Introduction.
But it didn’t matter.
Huang Yulang didn’t care.
As long as he could cultivate, nothing else was important.
Huang Yulang eagerly continued the process of Energy Introduction.
But after several hours, for some unknown reason, his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root seemed to have had its fill, refusing to absorb any more of the corresponding Spiritual Qi.
At a loss, Huang Yulang tried to draw in other types of Spiritual Qi, but that familiar, rebellious feeling returned.
His “sated” Wood Attribute Spiritual Root was especially active, seemingly unwilling to let the other Spiritual Roots have their fill as well.
After trying for a long time to no avail, Huang Yulang finally understood what his master had meant.
Cultivating secondary Spiritual Roots required immense time and effort.
‘If that’s true even for geniuses,’ he thought, ‘what hope is there for a good-for-nothing like me?’
Huang Yulang gave a bitter smile.
‘Since that’s the case, I’ll shelve the other Spiritual Roots for now and focus on the Wood Attribute Spiritual Root.’
‘Once I break through to the first level of Qi Refining, I’ll develop Divine Sense.
I can research this again then and decide whether or not to cultivate the other Spiritual Roots.’
He glanced at the sky.
It was already getting dark, and his stomach was growling fiercely.
With an awkward laugh, Huang Yulang rushed out of the cave and sprinted toward Huaiyin City.
Huaiyin City bustled with people, as lively as ever.
This was especially true down at the docks, where dozens, even hundreds, of large cargo ships were moored, with laborers working nonstop to load and unload goods.
Inside a luxurious restaurant, the other patrons were all chatting and laughing gracefully.
In stark contrast, one person was eating and drinking with wild abandon, drawing more than a few disdainful glances.
It was none other than Huang Yulang, who had been starving all day.
Ever since he began practicing martial arts, his strength had increased daily, and his appetite had grown enormously along with it.
He paid no mind whatsoever to the stares of others.
‘I need to hurry home after I’m done eating,’ he thought.
‘I hope Father isn’t back yet.
Otherwise, this “pitiful Scholar’s Attendant” is going to be in trouble.’
“Utterly disgraceful.
What kind of business is this restaurant running?
They just let anyone into the Immortal Guest House to eat?”
“Heh, he’s just a servant, probably the reincarnation of a starving ghost.
Don’t mind him, Xu.
Shall we continue drinking?”
Several young men, dressed like the sons of prominent families, sat together, looking at Huang Yulang with undisguised disgust.