Chapter 097: Third Level of Qi Cultivation

Thinking about this, Li Wenjun had a vague idea. He returned to the cave and took out all the remaining Qi Gathering Powder. Over this period, he had to take at least one pill of Qi Gathering Powder every day for cultivation. After a month, the more than thirty pills of Qi Gathering Powder he received from Liu Zhiyun were almost gone.

Now, only four pills of Qi Gathering Powder were left, lined up in front of him. Li Wenjun looked at them as if they were priceless treasures.

Through over a month of cultivation, Li Wenjun could confirm one thing—Qi Gathering Powder was a good thing. After taking one pill of Qi Gathering Powder, the effect of his cultivation was equivalent to taking three doses of medicinal baths simultaneously. This was also the reason why, despite taking only one pill of Qi Gathering Powder each day, his cultivation realm still increased at a relatively fast pace.

These four pills were the last four. Once they were used up, there would be none left. Due to the disappearance of the green light, once all the Qi Gathering Powder was consumed, Li Wenjun would no longer be able to use the original method and continue to cultivate using medicinal baths. In a place like Wufeng Mountain, where the天地灵气 (heavenly and earthly qi) was extremely scarce, without the support of Qi Gathering Powder or medicinal baths, it was highly likely that his cultivation realm would stagnate, with no further progress.

Li Wenjun sighed. One cannot have both fish and bear's paw. He would consider future matters later; the pressing issue now was to first enhance his cultivation realm. As long as he could advance to the third level of Qi Cultivation, he believed that many difficulties would be resolved.

Li Wenjun held all four pills of Qi Gathering Powder in his hand, about to put them in his mouth, but he hesitated, took one out, and then put the remaining three deep inside.

The Qi Gathering Powder dissolved upon entering his mouth, transforming into countless strands of qi that flowed down his throat, directly into his lungs, and then into his meridians and acupoints. However, Li Wenjun felt as if there were countless surging currents inside his body, the roaring of rivers and streams continuously shaking his ears.

The qi from the three pills of Qi Gathering Powder was extremely powerful. Each pill was equivalent to three doses of the medicinal soup Li Wenjun had prepared, so three pills were equivalent to nine doses. Liu Zhiyun had never experienced such a surging and overwhelming qi impact. If it weren't for the fact that during his previous cultivation, impure qi had continuously cut, scraped, and collided with his meridians, making his meridians more resilient than most cultivators, his meridians would have likely been unable to withstand the impact and would have burst.

Even so, Li Wenjun still felt his meridians were uncomfortably swollen, as if his entire body had been filled with air and was about to float away at any moment.

Instinctively, Li Wenjun activated the Eternal Spring Technique, guiding the excessive qi in his meridians through the heavenly cycle with his divine sense, once, twice... ten times... twenty times...

With each cycle, a small portion of the qi would be tamed and converted into Li Wenjun's magical power, becoming part of his magical power. As the number of cycles increased, the amount of converted magical power grew, and the amount and speed of qi conversion in each cycle also increased.

When more than half of the qi from the three pills of Qi Gathering Powder had been consumed, a sound like breaking glass echoed in Li Wenjun's mind. The thin layer of paper that had been troubling Li Wenjun between the second and third levels of Qi Cultivation was finally broken through at this moment.

In an instant, Li Wenjun's meridians seemed to widen slightly, and at the same time, more previously undiscovered fine meridians were also excavated and joined the heavenly cycle.

The undigested qi, as if finding a new world, quickly merged into Li Wenjun's magical power under the effect of the heavenly cycle.

Li Wenjun suddenly opened his eyes, a piercing light flashing in the depths of his eyes. Feeling the unceasing flow of magical power in his meridians, Li Wenjun's face broke into a satisfied smile.

According to the records in the Eternal Spring Technique, once one reaches the third level of Qi Cultivation, one can project their divine sense outward, though the distance is limited. At this stage, the primary purpose of projecting the divine sense is for a spell—Object Control. To put it more simply, if Li Wenjun had a flying sword or similar treasure, he could take a stroll in the sky.

Li Wenjun was happy for a while, but then he shook his head. His entire body only had one magical weapon, the Dragon-Headed Goose Feather Saber, which he had seized from Wang Yonggui. Apart from that, he had no other magical weapons. Even when he killed the genuine cultivator Liu Zhiyun, he did not seize any magical weapons, indicating the preciousness of magical weapons.

The matter of the flying sword could only be considered later.

Having reached the third level of Qi Cultivation, he decided to first see what changes it had brought him.

It took Li Wenjun a few days to familiarize himself with the third level of Qi Cultivation. The changes in various aspects were very obvious. Spells like Fireball and Ice Spike, which he could basically trigger in about one breath, were now almost instantaneous. More importantly, the number of times he could trigger spells like Fireball and Ice Spike had more than doubled, reaching about seventeen to eighteen times.

Li Wenjun felt that spells like Fireball and Ice Spike were no longer suitable for him, so he turned his attention to the book of Common Talismans and Spells, which contained over thirty spells.

Apart from introducing first-level spells like Fireball, Ice Spike, and Falling Rock, there were also several first-level spells that Li Wenjun found appealing, as well as a few second-level spells.

Among the first-level spells, Wind Bind and Wind Blade were particularly appealing to Li Wenjun. Among the second-level spells, the upgraded version of Light Body, Wind Control, the upgraded version of Fireball, Fire Flame, and the upgraded version of Falling Rock, Stone Rain, were all very practical spells.

Li Wenjun spent a lot of time on these spells and found that second-level spells were much more powerful than first-level spells, but the demand for magical power also increased by two to three times. The magical power he used to trigger seventeen to eighteen Fireballs could only trigger about three Fire Flames. The same issue existed with other second-level spells.

Additionally, the duration of low-altitude flight when triggering Wind Control was closely related to his magical power. As long as he had magical power, he could continue flying, but once his magical power was exhausted, he would fall from the sky. His current magical power could only support him for about one-third of an incense stick's time, or about eight hundred breaths.

If he used the same magical power for Light Body, he would hardly feel tired and could almost use it continuously.

Li Wenjun did not know whether his situation was good or bad among cultivators, but based on his estimation, it would be difficult to rank in the upper echelons, and even the middle ranks would be challenging.

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