***
"Good! Now is the time!"
Lee An-jeong focused his mind on the massive Spiritual Qi felt from the floor, breathing deeply as he closed his eyes.
He brought the phrases of Stage 1 (1-seong) of the Qi Condensation Stage to the forefront of his mind.
Once again, those phrases appeared in the dark, pitch-black space.
At that moment, a colossal amount of Spiritual Qi surged into his body from the floor.
*Hwa-ak—*
"Ugh!"
Lee An-jeong’s body was sent floating upward by that massive Spiritual Qi, flying into the ceiling before crashing back down.
*Ku-ung—*
"Ugh... this is too strong. Let's take out half! No, let's leave only about ten and take out all the rest!"
Lee An-jeong caressed his throbbing head and peeled off about forty of the Attraction Talismans.
After that, he sat back down on the floor, maintaining a cautious and wary expression.
"This time... it should be okay, right?"
He slowly closed his eyes and performed the Qi Condensation breathing method.
Then, the Spiritual Qi surged up from the floor once again, and his blood vessels began to tingle.
However, his body did not fly away like before, and it was quite bearable.
He felt that the Spiritual Qi was several times greater than what had come from the three lower-grade Spirit Stones the very first time.
It seemed to be about ten times stronger than when he had used a single Attraction Talisman.
'Then just how much Spiritual Qi was there a moment ago?'
He shuddered as he recalled the situation from just a while ago when he had attached forty-nine Attraction Talismans.
As he was thinking those thoughts, Lee An-jeong’s expression changed abruptly.
A substantial stream of Spiritual Qi was pushing up from the floor. Hot energies entered ruthlessly through his feet and legs, traveling along his blood vessels.
It felt as if his feet and legs would burst if he just sat there reciting the Stage 1 formulas.
To allow more Spiritual Qi to flow into his body, he had to move to the next step.
'Oh no! I must memorize the Stage 2 formulas quickly!'
Lee An-jeong hurriedly brought the formulas for Stage 2 (2-seong) to mind.
Just like Stage 1, it consisted of sixteen formulas. He felt that a disaster would occur if he did not quickly let the energy flow into his body according to those formulas.
The hot energies swept through his entire body without mercy, flowing like a tidal wave and tickling him as if ants were crawling over him.
Stage 2 required opening a total of twenty new blood vessels (meridians), including parts of the Conception Vessel (Im-maek) as well as the blood vessels around the Dantian, such as the Gi-hae and Gwan-won points.
Those blood vessels were densely spread around the Dantian and were thin and narrow; every time the energy passed through them, the pain was felt as much greater.
Lee An-jeong barely managed to endure that pain and held his ground.
Then, the familiar foul stench was felt in Lee An-jeong’s nose once again.
'Ugh! Is the turbid Qi (Tak-gi) coming out of my body again?'
Lee An-jeong had learned later that the black soot-like substance that came out back then was the turbid Qi accumulated inside his body.
To think that soot was coming out again even though he had emitted so much turbid Qi last time.
It seemed there was still more turbid Qi remaining inside his body. As the stream of Spiritual Qi swept through his lower Dantian, the stench grew increasingly severe.
However, the pain gradually decreased, and a sense of ecstasy began to be felt in a total of forty blood vessels, including the twenty from Stage 1.
Subsequently, the Spiritual Qi that had circulated through his surroundings surged into his Dantian like a tidal wave. After about one shijin had passed—
*Pa-seuseuseu—*
Along with the sound of something crumbling, about ten Attraction Talismans shattered and scattered into the air.
The Spiritual Qi that had been felt from the floor also disappeared without a trace. In the midst of that, Lee An-jeong opened his eyes.
*Beon-ddeuk—* (Flash)
In an instant, the interior of the cave became brightly lit.
On the back of Lee An-jeong’s right hand, the bizarre seed pattern increased to two and appeared even more vividly.
However, not even a moment passed before it vanished as if it had never been there.
The massive Spiritual Qis that had been circulating through Lee An-jeong’s entire body also disappeared into his body and vanished at the same time.
"Ugh! The smell!"
Lee An-jeong felt a stench several times more toxic than last time and ran outside into the darkness that had already fallen.
His cultivation robes had turned even blacker than before, looking like black clothing.
"This is unbelievable! I've reached Stage 2? Why is it so easy?"
Lee An-jeong, who had returned after washing and putting his dirty cultivation robes back on, was startled as he looked back at the state of his internal body.
It was because he realized his stage had reached Stage 2 of the Qi Condensation Stage in an instant.
It was truly a shocking event that would amaze anyone who knew.
Rising to Stage 1 in a single day and then reaching Stage 2 only fifteen days later was something possible only for geniuses with at least a Double Spiritual Root (I-yeong-geun).
For Lee An-jeong, who possessed the lowest-grade Mixed Spiritual Root, to achieve such a miraculous accomplishment was truly a rare event, the precedent for which was hard to find.
However, as expected, the vast amount of Spiritual Qi that had been circulating through his body had once again disappeared without a trace.
"What a strange body. Where on earth did all that Spiritual Qi disappear to?"
As Lee An-jeong was examining his own body, he suddenly saw something shining on the back of his right hand.
It looked like a pattern with two seeds drawn on it, but it vanished quickly the moment he looked at it.
"Uh? What was that just now?"
He examined the back of his right hand this way and that, but there was no trace of anything.
"It couldn't be related to the disappearance of the Spiritual Qi, right?"
Such a suspicion suddenly occurred to him, and he examined it for a long time, but it did not appear again.
"Hmm... I should examine it more closely next time. Now, shall I try the Stage 3 formulas?"
Lee An-jeong opened the Stage 2 chapter of the Qi Condensation Method.
Just as he was trying to focus and examine the phrases of the Stage 3 formulas written there, he suddenly felt dizzy.
"Ugh, why is my head so dizzy?"
He shook his head vigorously and tried to concentrate his mind, but it was the same.
"What? Is it because I was too immersed in Spiritual Qi cultivation just now? Or is it because of the side effects of the medicine again?"
It felt like it might be due to the side effects of the two drugs, but in reality, Spiritual Qi cultivation required a substantial amount of mental focus.
Furthermore, the Spiritual Qi gathered through more than ten talismans was incomparable to when he used the lower-grade Spirit Stones last time.
The consumption of mental power was that much greater.
"Agh, it can't be helped. Let's just sleep for now. There's no rush, right?"
Lee An-jeong spread his bedding on the floor, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Because he had consumed a significant amount of mental power, he fell into a deep sleep the moment he lay down.
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In a deep place that required descending dozens of jang beneath the ground of Little Green Mountain (So-cheong-san). An old man sat in a lotus position in the middle of hot lava.
The appearance of that old man was very unique. Thin ice was formed on his naked, bluish-purple skin, and a chill continuously leaked from his mouth.
It was as if he alone felt the cold even within this hot lava.
At that moment, the old man’s eyes snapped open.
"Who is it? Who is stealing the Spiritual Qi from my spirit vein?"
A mad light flashed in the old man’s eyes as his gaze turned toward the surface.
Then, he scanned in all directions as if searching for something. At a certain moment, the old man’s gaze stopped at one spot and narrowed.
"It is that place! Hehe. I shall see just what kind of fellow on this Dong-cheon Continent dared to steal the spirit vein of this Jin Wi-dong and check his face!"
*Beon-jjeo-eok— Pa-a-at—*
Even before the cold voice had completely vanished, the old man turned into light and surged upward from deep underground toward the surface.
<><><>
In less than a few breaths, the old man arrived inside a shabby and narrow cultivation cave.
Beneath the naked old man was a young boy who had fallen asleep.
*Deureong—* (Snore)
The boy was snoring and sleeping, knowing nothing. That boy was none other than Lee An-jeong.
"Sniff, sniff— it is definitely this place. This is Little Green Mountain? I believe I heard there was a small sect here. Could it be that this little brat, who seems to be a disciple of that sect, stole my spirit vein?"
The old man’s nostrils flared as he scanned the surroundings of the sleeping Lee An-jeong with a look of doubt.
At that moment, the traces of about ten shattered and scattered Attraction Talismans entered the old man’s eyes.
"Could it be? With those common-grade (Beom-geup) talismans...? This makes no sense! To think a little brat like that could pull Spiritual Qi from a spirit vein dozens of jang underground using the power of common-grade talismans—especially when it was hidden by an ancient formation that even I barely found!"
The old man examined the floor with an expression of disbelief.
Then, he discovered traces of strong Spiritual Qi that had inhabited the floor where Lee An-jeong lay.
"It’s true? How can such a thing be possible? Is he some kind of special fellow?"
Greed inhabited the old man’s eyes as he lifted Lee An-jeong’s blanket and examined his body.
However, a light of doubt soon dwelled in the old man’s gaze.
"What? He’s just a lowest-grade Mixed Spiritual Root? And one who has only just passed Stage 1 of the Qi Condensation Stage at that. How did such a young fellow pull off such a thing?"
The old man simply could not believe it.
The ability to feel Spiritual Qi tended to be greater the more outstanding one's spiritual root was and the higher one's stage was. The spirit vein he had discovered was in a deep place over dozens of jang underground from here.
To detect Spiritual Qi from such a long distance, especially when hidden by an ancient formation, one would need to possess a top-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root (Cheon-yeong-geun), of which there were few in the Byeok-guk region, or be a cultivator who had at least reached the Late Stage of the Nascent Soul Stage (Won-yeong-gi).
As far as he knew, there was not a single cultivator on this barren Dong-cheon Continent who had reached such a level.
That was why, after discovering this spirit vein by chance, he had taken up residence here and was currently treating his injuries.
The boy did not fall into either of those two categories. It was truly a bizarre event.
"How strange. Just what secret does this fellow have? Does he perhaps possess some special spiritual treasure?"
Greed shone in his eyes at that thought which suddenly occurred to him, and the old man reached his hand toward the boy’s storage bag (Jeo-mul-dae).
And just as he was about to rummage through the storage bag—suddenly, the sound of a human presence was heard from outside.
"Oho... what kind of rat is this?"
The old man narrowed his eyes and, with a sinister expression, jumped up to the ceiling of the cave and instantly merged with the darkness.
At that moment, a masked person entered inside, bathed in the moonlight.
That masked person, who had a rather small frame, had a significant glint in their eyes the moment they saw the sleeping Lee An-jeong.
"Hehe. He happens to be sleeping!"
The masked person’s voice was younger than expected.
It was a male voice that sounded as if his voice had not yet changed.
As soon as he entered the cultivation cave, the masked person’s gaze, which had been scanning the room, turned toward the storage bag next to Lee An-jeong.
"It’s over there! Let's see just what kind of spiritual treasure this fellow has!"
The masked person’s eyes sparkled as he quickly reached his hand toward the storage bag.
However, at that moment, something suddenly dropped down from the ceiling.
"You damned thief! How dare you try to steal the prey of this Jin Wi-dong?!"
Surprisingly, it was some naked old man.
"Uh?"
Even in the midst of his shock, the masked person urgently launched his flying sword (Bi-geom).
*Chi-i-ing— Syu-a-a-a—*
The flying sword, inhabited by a substantial amount of Spiritual Qi, flew from his fingertips and shot toward the old man.
Seeing that flying sword, the old man snorted.
"Hmph! A fellow like a day-old puppy!"
The old man quietly raised his hand. Then, the flying sword that had been flying toward him came to a sudden halt in mid-air.
"Uh? This is impossible! How could you stop my flying sword, which has reached Stage 5 of the Qi Condensation Stage!"
Looking at the startled masked person, the old man opened his mouth wide with a fishy smile.
Then, he swallowed the flying sword that was stopped in mid-air exactly as it was.
*Ggulkkeok—* (Gulp)
The old man, who sent the flying sword down his esophagus, furrowed his brow.
"As expected, it’s a low grade, so the taste is also terrible! Dammit! I've only ruined my appetite!"
The old man spoke roughly like that and then stood tall on the floor with a cruel expression.
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