pjbooks Chapter 111 The Growth of Partners
Chapter 111 The Growth of Partners
The morning light pierced through the ruins of the abandoned factory, casting jagged shadows on the cracked concrete floor. The air was thick with the metallic smell of concrete dust and rusted steel bars, mingled with the wisps of cooking oil wafting from the distant breakfast stalls.
Wang Kai sat cross-legged in the center of the open space, his eyes closed. Deep within his dantian, a miniature sun-like vortex of true energy was spinning at a visible speed. Pale golden light shone through his skin, gleaming warmly in the morning light. His bare upper body was covered with fine beads of sweat, each drop evaporating into a faint white mist under the heat of his circulating true energy.
Seven days have passed since Jiang Chen planted the seed of true essence in him.
For seven days, he followed the spiritual energy circulation route taught by Jiang Chen, circulating that true essence within his body thirty-six times each day. With each circulation, a portion of the true essence was converted into his own spiritual power, simultaneously tempering his meridians, bones, and flesh. After completing the thirty-six circulations on the first day, he collapsed on the ground, unable to get up for half an hour. After completing it on the third day, he was able to stand and walk home. After completing it on the fifth day, he punched through a concrete slab that he had previously only been able to shatter from the back—leaving no mark on the front, but turning the back to dust.
Today is the seventh day.
Wang Kai's internal energy circulated for the final cycle of the thirty-sixth time. The warm energy flowed from his dantian, traveling along his meridians through his limbs and bones, finally returning to his dantian, completing a full cycle. The moment the last wisp of internal energy returned to his dantian, he felt something inside his body being pried open.
It's like a door that's always been closed, which someone has kicked open from the inside.
The pale golden true essence vortex deep within his dantian suddenly expanded more than tenfold, its rotation speed soaring to its limit before abruptly contracting and compressing into a tiny, extremely solid light core the size of a grain of rice. Countless fine golden lines flowed across the surface of the light core, each line pulsating slowly, resonating in sync with his heartbeat.
One layer of Qi.
Wang Kai opened his eyes. A faint golden light flashed deep within his pupils, gone in an instant. He could feel his five senses amplified several times over in that instant—he could hear the flapping of a sparrow's wings fifty meters away, see the direction of every crack in the factory wall, and smell the sweet aroma of soy milk and the greasy scent of fried dough sticks mingling in the air. He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists tightly.
His knuckles cracked crisply. The bandages that had been wrapped around his fist for seven days loosened automatically, revealing perfectly intact skin underneath—not even a scar. The tiny wounds left by overtraining had all been repaired by his true energy in the instant of his breakthrough.
"I did it..." Wang Kai's voice trembled, not from exhaustion, but from excitement. "Brother Chen! I did it! I've broken through to the first level of Qi Refining!"
Jiang Chen leaned against a wall that hadn't completely collapsed not far away, holding a cup of hot coffee he'd bought from the convenience store at the entrance of the residential area, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth. The coffee was no longer hot, but he still held it, occasionally taking a sip, his expression exactly the same as when he taught Wang Kai his first spiritual energy circulation route seven days ago.
"You entered Qi Refining in seven days. That's three days faster than I expected," Jiang Chen said, his tone as calm as if he were commenting on the weather. "The fact that your Five Elements Spiritual Roots were able to enter Qi Refining so quickly in this world with its scarce spiritual energy shows that your physique is quite compatible with the spiritual energy of the cultivation civilization."
Wang Kai jumped up from the ground, his excitement barely concealed. "So, can I fly now? Can I unleash sword energy? Yes—"
"You can take a beating now," Jiang Chen interrupted him. "First level of Qi Refining is just the beginning in the cultivation world. Even ten-year-old junior brothers in the sect are stronger than you." He placed his coffee cup on a cement platform next to him, straightened his body, and pulled his right hand out of his school uniform pocket. "Come on, I'll give you a handicap. If you can last ten breaths, you'll pass today."
Wang Kai's smile vanished instantly. He took a deep breath and assumed the basic boxing stance Jiang Chen had taught him—feet shoulder-width apart, center of gravity lowered, left fist forward, right fist back, knuckles facing forward. True energy accelerated within his body, channeling power to every limb and bone. He stared into Jiang Chen's eyes, trying to find any flaw in those deep, unfathomable eyes.
Then he made his move.
The right fist, carrying the force of wind and thunder, slammed towards Jiang Chen's chest, but was caught by two fingers three inches away from Jiang Chen's chest.
What caught his full-force strike was Jiang Chen's casually raised index and middle fingers. Those two fingers didn't even exert any force—Wang Kai could feel that Brother Chen simply placed his fingers there, and his fist stopped.
"The first breath," Jiang Chen said. "You're too slow."
He flicked Wang Kai's fist lightly with his finger.
Wang Kai was sent flying backward, tumbling twice in the air before barely regaining his balance. His right arm, from fist to shoulder, was numb—the blow, though seemingly light, had pierced through his flesh, the vibrations making the veins in his arm throb. He gritted his teeth and charged again. This time, he didn't use his fists, but his legs—a sweeping left leg aimed at Jiang Chen's lower body. At the same time, he gathered power in his right fist, preparing a combination punch after his left leg was blocked.
Jiang Chen didn't even move. He simply turned slightly to the side, swept his left leg past Wang Kai's original position, and continued forward. Wang Kai lost his balance and, like a kicked top, staggered several steps to the side before barely managing to regain his footing.
"Fourth breath. The angle of your kick was off, and your center of gravity shifted too quickly. You can't get it back." Jiang Chen's voice came from behind him.
Wang Kai whirled around. He stopped probing. He squeezed his inner energy to its limit, channeling every ounce of power into his legs. He stared intently into Jiang Chen's eyes—and then attacked again.
Jiang Chen's right fist hurtled straight at his face. Jiang Chen raised his hand again, blocking the fist's path with two fingers. But when the fist was less than an inch away from his fingers, Wang Kai abruptly stopped his punch—his left leg swept horizontally from the side at the same instant, attacking Jiang Chen's knee and forcing Jiang Chen to shift his weight.
Jiang Chen finally took a step back. At the same time, Wang Kai's other fist grazed Jiang Chen's shoulder, the surface of his fist touching the dark blue fabric of the school uniform—it only touched it for a moment before Jiang Chen dodged it by turning to the side.
Before Wang Kai could finish his hand gesture, he was flicked away by Jiang Chen's finger.
But this time, when he fell to the ground, the expression on his face wasn't one of frustration, but rather one of uncontrollable elation. "I beat you!"
Jiang Chen glanced down at the left shoulder of his school uniform. There was a very shallow, almost invisible crease there—a mark left by Wang Kai's punch. For a thousand years, in this world, in the cultivation world, only a handful of people could leave a crease on his school uniform. Now there was one more.
"Not bad, you ran into me." Jiang Chen reached out and pulled Wang Kai up from the ground. Looking at his face covered in sweat and dust, and those frighteningly bright eyes, he picked up his coffee cup from the cement table, took a sip of the now completely cold coffee, and said, "Level 1 Qi Refining, you managed to last ten breaths against me and even touched my clothes. You barely pass."
Wang Kai's grin stretched all the way to his ears.
"We'll continue tomorrow, starting the second level of Qi Refining cultivation." Jiang Chen casually flicked his empty coffee cup, which landed precisely in a trash can ten meters away. "I'll rest today. After breaking through, my meridians need to adapt to the new spiritual energy capacity; overtraining will damage my foundation."
"Understood!" Wang Kai straightened up, then suddenly remembered something and glanced at the other side of the factory. "Brother Chen, how's Shen Qingxue doing?"
Jiang Chen's gaze passed over Wang Kai's shoulder and landed on the white figure sitting cross-legged with eyes closed on the other side of the open space.
Shen Qingxue sat cross-legged on a solid cement slab, her long, silvery-white hair swaying gently in the morning breeze. Today, she wore a plain white tracksuit, the neckline slightly open, revealing a thin layer of icy-blue markings above her collarbone—a spiritual tattoo naturally formed on her skin after the fusion of ice-type spiritual energy and the power of her physical cultivation. Her breathing was very slow, more than ten times slower than normal, each inhale feeling like she was peeling away, absorbing, and integrating the finest ice elements from the air into her bloodstream.
Seven days have passed. Seven days ago, Jiang Chen implanted a body cultivation qi and blood circulation diagram into her body.
Shen Qingxue's talent is S-level ice-type.
Shen Qingxue opened her eyes.
The morning light was reflected in her clear, cold eyes, along with the man standing not far away, holding a coffee. She took a deep breath, and the ice-type spiritual energy and blood energy within her body completed their final fusion. The icy blue patterns on her skin slowly faded beneath, and the tattoo above her collarbone also disappeared.
She stood up and walked towards Jiang Chen. After a few steps, she looked down at her right hand. Her five fingers slowly clenched, and icy blue spiritual energy flowed between them, no longer the sharp and cold form of the past—the spiritual energy was now heavier and more solid, like steel that had been hammered.
"The Ice Tempering stage is complete," Jiang Chen said. "Four days earlier than I predicted. Your punch power should now reach the explosive power of an A-level body cultivator within the Awakener system. However, the upper limit of body cultivation is not limited to this. Ice Tempering is only the first step; there's also Fire Refining, Lightning Forging, and Wind Meridian Activation. Once all of these are completed, your body will reach a strength that even SSS-level body cultivators within the Awakener system might not be able to achieve."
Shen Qingxue nodded, then asked, "How does it compare to cultivators?"
"Body cultivation and immortal cultivation are two different paths. Immortal cultivators cultivate true essence, while body cultivators cultivate the physical body. At the same level, if a body cultivator gets close, an immortal cultivator will surely die. However, in the early stages of cultivation, realm determines speed—immortal cultivators above the Golden Core stage can fly on swords, while body cultivators need to cultivate to a deeper stage to break through the void." He poured the last sip of coffee into his mouth. "But in this world, body cultivation is enough."
"Understood," Shen Qingxue said. Just two words, nothing more. She didn't even ask, "Can I reach the Golden Core stage?" or "How much longer do I need to train to be like you?" From the moment she stood in front of Jiang Chen without hesitation during the incident of the Imperial Capital's Apostles' arrival, she no longer needed any promises. She only needed a path.
"You two come together tonight." Jiang Chen turned and walked out of the factory. "Tonight I'm going to start teaching you the most basic things—how to use the power of cultivation and body cultivation in actual combat."