8 Cultivating

Li Jing took the items given by his father and sat cross-legged in the middle of his bedroom. He was finally ready to start cultivating.

He opened the Cultivation method of his clan and started reading it.

Thanks to his perk Appraisal, he was able to determine that this method was a Middle-grade Mortal Cultivation method.

Li Jing sighed, in this continent, it was enough for a clan to possess a weak Mortal-grade Cultivation method to be considered as one of the most powerful clans of a kingdom…

The Li clan's Cultivation method didn't have many pages. It contained the breathing method that the cultivator had to follow to gather the Qi from heaven and earth, as well as notes, advice, and recommendations from the ancestors of the clan.

Since it was a Mortal-grade method, it was rather easy to understand, and it only took Li Jing a few minutes to memorize it.

[Host has learned a new Cultivation method: Li clan's method.]

Li Jing nodded, he had anticipated that such a message would appear.

Now everything was ready, but before starting to cultivate, he first wanted to see his status.

'Status' He thought.

[----------STATUS---------

Experience Points (XP): 0

XP / hour: 16

Strength: 175 Jin

Qi cultivation realm: Mortal (XP: 0/3000)

Body cultivation realm: Mortal (XP: 0/5000)

Talent: B-grade

Bloodlines: [Iron Boar]

Perks: [Appraisal], [Full Recovery]

Cultivation methods: [Li clan's method]

Martial techniques: [Elusive Smoke Steps]

--------------------------]

After examining his status, Li Jing took out and ate a Food Replacement pill, this way he will not need to eat or drink for the next three days.

In his previous life, he always wondered what was the taste of a pill when he read xianxia web novels.

After he ate it, he was disappointed to discover that it only had a bitter taste. However, he could feel that his feeling of hunger and thirst had now disappeared.

Li Jing then took out his Body Strengthening Pill and used his perk Appraisal on it.

[

Name: Body Strengthening Pill

Type: Pill

Grade: Rank-3

Description: Increases the cultivation, removes the impurities in the body, and strengthen the body.

Effect: XP +3000. Strength +25 Jin. Removal of a part of the impurities in the body.

Time needed to absorb the pill: 20 hours

]

'This pill is amazing. If only I could have more than one…' He thought.

Li Jing ate the Body Strengthening Pill. He then closed his eyes and entered a meditative state. Finally, he started to absorb the energy from heaven and earth by following the breathing method described in his Cultivation method.

It was his first step as a cultivator!

The first cultivation realm was known as the Qi Gathering realm. Each cultivation realm was divided into ten levels, from level one to level ten. Each level was divided into four stages: Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.

After the Qi Gathering realm, there was the Foundation Establishment realm.

In the whole Sky Jade Kingdom, very few cultivators have reached the realm above: the Golden Core realm. And no one for more than a thousand years had reached the Nascent Soul realm.

…

While Li Jing was peacefully cultivating inside his bedroom, the news of the result of this year's Awakening Ceremony started to spread across the kingdom. Especially in the White Jade city, since it was the capital of the kingdom, everyone talked excitedly about it.

The result of the ceremony was like this:

Wang Qing Yue, the princess of the kingdom, was a legendary genius and the first one in a thousand years with an A-grade talent!

Zhao Yimou, the heir of the first Great Clan, was a genius of his generation with a B-grade talent.

Hong Mei, the heiress of the second Great Clan, was a genius of her generation with a B-grade talent.

Teng Fen, the heir of the third Great Clan, was a trash with an E-grade talent.

Li Jing, the heir of the fourth Great Clan, was a genius of his generation with a B-grade talent.

"I can't believe that princess Qing Yue has an A-grade talent, I always thought it was a legend!" Exclaimed someone in the city.

"It's the first time that so many geniuses appear at the same time. Our kingdom is truly blessed!" Exclaimed someone else.

"I can't wait to see which Great Clan will win the Inter-Clan Tournament. With so many geniuses it will definitely be interesting!"

"Fairy Mei is not only gifted with great beauty but also with great talent!"

"This trash, Teng Fen, got what he deserves. Now, let's see if he still acts arrogantly!"

Comments like these continued for a long moment…

…

One day later in the Li clan.

The sun shone brightly today, bringing with it a warm light.

Inside his room, Li Jing slowly opened his eyes. A smile could be seen on his face.

During the last twenty hours, he had totally refined the Body Strengthening Pill inside his body and continuously absorbed the spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

From this short cultivation session, he has been able to make two observations.

His first observation was about the way he absorbed the Qi. For a normal cultivator, once the Qi was absorbed inside their body, it circulated through the meridians and was then stored inside the dantian. However, for Li Jing it was different. The Qi he absorbed was not stored inside his dantian but inside something else. Probably inside his system. That way, no matter how long he cultivated, the Qi would never reached and filled his dantian. It meant that if he wanted to breakthrough the different cultivation realms, he really needed to use his system, he couldn't do it like the other cultivators.

His second observation was more practical. It seemed that while cultivating, he didn't need to sleep. Indeed, he just cultivated for twenty hours straight but didn't feel tired at all. On the contrary, he felt refreshed!

'Now, let's see my progress. Status.' He thought.

[----------STATUS---------

Experience Points (XP): 3320

XP / hour: 16

Strength: 200 Jin

Qi cultivation realm: Mortal (XP: 0/3000)

Body cultivation realm: Mortal (XP: 0/5000)

Talent: B-grade

Bloodlines: [Iron Boar]

Perks: [Appraisal], [Full Recovery]

Cultivation methods: [Li clan's method]

Martial techniques: [Elusive Smoke Steps]

--------------------------]

Now that he had some Experience Points, Li Jing had the choice to spend them between two paths: the Qi cultivation path and the Body cultivation path.

Although cultivators that followed the Body cultivation path cultivated slower than those that followed the Qi path, they were also stronger than the Qi path cultivators.

In this world, no one followed the Body cultivation path for the simple reason that Body Cultivation methods were almost non-existent here. Even in the Immortal World were these methods were more common, this path was mostly ignored because it was extremely painful and also needed a huge amount of resources.

However, for Li Jing, all of this was not a problem. With his system, he just needed to accumulate Experience Points and spent them to increase his cultivation realm. He didn't even need a Body Cultivation method!

'I don't want to choose between the two paths. I will just walk the two paths and become the strongest!'

But first, he decided to follow the Qi cultivation path. Once he will get a powerful Cultivation method to increase his cultivation speed, he will invest his XP in the Body cultivation path.

'Use 3000 XP to increase my Qi cultivation realm'

[3000 XP has been used. Remaining XP: 320.]

Suddenly, Li Jing felt a warm sensation in his dantian and his whole body was traversed by a strong power.

[Congratulations! Host has reached the first level of the Qi Gathering realm.]

*