Chapter 56

That night, Tang Jie continued to practice the Shaohai Cave Gold Technique, constantly checking his body with the Inner Breath Technique to prevent the impact on his body from being too great and difficult to bear.

To his delight, he found that things were indeed as he had anticipated. The physique brought about by the Zangxiang Classic greatly enhanced his ability to withstand the impact of damaged meridians.

According to the answers given by Kudao Ren during the day, students usually had to rest and recuperate after just one mistake. However, he could practice repeatedly and only feel the meridian tremors after two or three failures. As for the "blood surging and spirit breath scattered" mentioned by Kudao Ren, he would only feel a slight surge of blood after six or seven mistakes, while his spirit breath remained stable.

Even when using the Inner Breath Technique to check, he confirmed there were no lingering effects.

Not only that, after a brief rest, the previous impact would disappear, and he could continue practicing.

This made his practice time equivalent to more than twice that of others, finally successfully pushing the qi to the Shaohai point, dispersing it throughout the body, and completing the first small cycle, which was the most important, complex, and difficult cycle of the Hand Shaoyin main meridian.

Although he was still far from completing the entire Grand Cycle, his progress was extremely fast.

Through this, Tang Jie also realized how difficult cultivation truly was. Just creating a spiritual air vortex required a lot of practice, and using this vortex to continuously open and expand the spiritual space would require even more effort.

It should be noted that the initial formation of the spiritual space could only hold ten drops of spiritual liquid, a hundred drops of spiritual spring, a thousand drops of spiritual lake, and ten thousand drops of spiritual sea, each time increasing by ten times. The amount of spiritual liquid represented the amount of stored spiritual power, which fundamentally was the magic power needed for casting spells.

After another session of practice, Tang Jie found himself extremely sore all over. He finally stopped practicing and realized it was already close to dawn, and it was almost time for class. Indeed, in the world of cultivation, time passed very quickly.

Fortunately, he wasn't tired. Cultivation itself was the best form of rest. If one remained in the circulation of spiritual energy, they could go without sleep for months without any issues.

Stepping out of the room, Tang Jie looked at the pond and saw that the other fish were fine, but the two golden carps had grown significantly.

Seeing this, Tang Jie laughed heartily three times.

He finally understood the role of the golden scales.

They contained the blood and flesh essence of the great demon Li Yu.

Tang Jie himself could not directly absorb this essence, but his kind could.

This was a great blessing.

For a fish to truly grow, it required a considerable amount of time. To make its flesh rich in spirituality, various drugs were needed, which also incurred costs. For example, the spiritual fish sold by Qianwei轩 (Qianwei Pavilion) would cost five to ten spiritual coins, and these were still small fish.

With the fish scales, it only took a few days to grow large golden carps. The effect of one fish was not much different from a bottle of qi-replenishing spiritual elixir, and it could also nourish the flesh and strengthen the body.

If used to assist in cultivation, it was equivalent to taking a spiritual elixir.

Li Yu was a great demon that had transformed into a human form. The blood and flesh essence contained in this fish scale could likely produce over a dozen large spiritual fish.

This was the true value of this treasure!

That night, Tang Jie cooked and ate a golden-scaled fish. When practicing qi, he found that the qi was indeed powerful, and he completed four small cycles in one night.

Two days later, Tang Jie, who had gradually become proficient in controlling spiritual energy, finally completed the Grand Cycle in five days.

This was still without fully utilizing the benefits of the Zangxiang Classic, and his speed was already quite fast.

Later, Tang Jie learned that fifty people had already completed the first Grand Cycle before him. This surprised him. With the help of the golden carps and the foundation of the Zangxiang Classic, how could he not even make it into the top fifty?

However, he later understood that this was related to the cultivation techniques and other factors. The Shaohai Cave Gold Technique itself was the most complex and difficult to practice. The same Grand Cycle required much more effort compared to others.

Moreover, many of those fifty people came from families with good backgrounds and had the support of spiritual medicines, which might not be much worse than the golden carps. Compared to him, they only lacked the foundation of the Zangxiang Classic, and some had higher talent, which evened out the gap. Additionally, their techniques were easier to practice, so it wasn't surprising that they were faster.

Even so, out of 1,500 students, only fifty were slightly faster than him.

The only one who could truly surpass him in the same technique was one person.

His name was Qi Shaoming.

Qi Shaoming of the Yumen Nine Transformations!

——

In the following days, Tang Jie attended classes during the day. Apart from occasionally taking care of Wei Tianchong, he spent the rest of his time practicing at Tao Ran Residence.

Actually, apart from having many rules and strict enforcement, Xiyue Academy was quite free in many aspects. After all, cultivation was a highly personal matter, and the academy had to give everyone enough time to explore.

Due to the novelty of the new cultivation techniques, everyone was very diligent at the beginning, even Wei Tianchong, who practiced diligently every day and studied wood carving in his free time. He even voluntarily gave up his monthly holiday, which greatly pleased Tang Jie.

This was the most peaceful period for each batch of Xiyue Academy students—the authority of the rules was still in place, and the competitive edge was not yet sufficient.

With the help of the fish scales and the foundation of the Zangxiang Classic, Tang Jie made rapid progress and finally completed the opening of the spiritual space and achieved the spiritual eye on the 21st day of entering the academy.

As for the fish scales, Tang Jie used them to generate twelve large carps full of spirituality. He ate three and kept nine to sell, to buy a genuine high-quality spiritual medicine for the two elders of the Wu family.

Unfortunately, the blood and flesh essence contained in the fish scales was now completely depleted, turning it into a useless item.

Even so, Tang Jie felt he had benefited greatly. After all, the value of just one fish scale was at least 1,400 spiritual coins.

He had worked hard, selling seats and spiritual food, and only earned 40 spiritual coins. Someone else could casually give him over a thousand, "A great person's hair is a decade of effort for an ordinary person," indeed, life required finding a powerful mentor to have a future.

At this time, only about fifty people had completed the opening of the spiritual eye, and most had not even completed half of the progress. A small number had just completed the Grand Cycle not long ago.

As for those who had not completed a Grand Cycle yet... it would be wise to drop out early.

Strictly speaking, only those who had opened the spiritual eye were considered to have officially entered the Lingtai Realm. Before that, they only had the qualifications to cultivate and were not considered true cultivators.

After opening the spiritual eye, Tang Jie could finally begin to try to condense qi into liquid.

Condensing qi into liquid was different from opening the spiritual space.

Similarly, it required the circulation of spiritual energy within the body, but the main purpose was to condense qi into liquid.

The spiritual energy entered through the Yumen and returned to the heart meridian. It then originated from the heart, traveled to the Shaohai point to gather qi, and was transformed into liquid through cultivation techniques, dripping into the spiritual eye and stored in the spiritual space, known as the Small Cycle.

Unlike the Grand Cycle, which required the circulation through twelve meridians and was time-consuming, the Small Cycle was a single cycle but was extremely complex and required cultivators to become proficient.

The Grand and Small Cycles can be considered the most basic requirements for cultivators.

To put it simply, the Grand Cycle is like leveling up and increasing the maximum MP, while the Small Cycle is like increasing the MP recovery speed.

Under equal conditions, when two cultivators are in combat, the one with the faster Small Cycle has a stronger ability to recover spiritual energy.

Why did Wei Tianchong's Shaohai Xuan Yuan Technique have "endless vitality and continuous strength"?

Simply put, it was because its Small Cycle was the simplest.

A simpler cycle meant a faster speed, and thus a stronger recovery ability.

Of course, when introducing the technique, they wouldn't say "this technique is very simple," but rather "this technique has endless vitality and continuous strength," just like when selling goods, you wouldn't say "our product is of poor quality," but rather "our product is very cheap."

Therefore, "endless vitality and continuous strength" in the cultivation world almost became a synonym for simple techniques, similar to "I bought a watch last year" and "hehe."

Of course, there were also some good techniques that had both strong endurance and power, but just like "I bought a watch last year" and "hehe" having their original meanings, the bad driving out the good made it difficult to distinguish.

Cultivators had very high requirements for the speed of the Small Cycle. For a truly powerful cultivator, completing a Small Cycle should take only one breath. Only with such a strong recovery ability could they ensure sustained combat power in long battles.

Therefore, the Lingtai Realm, also known as the Zhou Tian Realm, the Breathing Realm, and the Qi Practice Realm, referred to the two types of cycles of spiritual energy.

For those with good talent, this was the most obvious place to show the difference in talent.

When practicing the Grand Cycle, those with high talent could more easily feel the qi vortex and grasp it.

When using the Small Cycle, the same cycle might only allow others to condense two or three drops of spiritual liquid, while the Yumen Nine Transformations could condense ten or more drops in one cycle—there was no way around it, the water tap was just bigger.

At this moment, Tang Jie followed the technique's energy flow, still encountering the same difficulties as before.

Fortunately, this was just a single cycle. After spending most of the night, he finally completed the first Small Cycle, condensing the spiritual energy into liquid, which dripped into the spiritual eye and was stored in the spiritual space.

After carefully feeling it, Tang Jie knew that his first attempt at condensing qi into liquid only produced two drops of spiritual liquid. This was not due to his poor talent but because he was too focused on speed and completion, leading to excessive loss. However, once he became truly proficient, the effect should be much stronger. With his talent, he should be able to condense about five drops in one attempt, corresponding to the Yumen.

The newly opened spiritual eye could only store ten drops of spiritual liquid, but it finally had the power to cast some minor spells.

Considering that expanding the spiritual eye to the level of a spiritual spring would take a long time, Tang Jie thought it would be better to find a minor spell to learn first.

In fact, most students at this stage would consider learning spells. After all, techniques like the Shaohai Cave Gold Technique were only for self-cultivation and had no external effects. To truly possess various abilities, they needed to learn corresponding spells.

Of course, some students pursued higher realms and did not seek combat, giving up any spell practice, the proficiency of the Small Cycle, and focusing on expanding the spiritual space and enhancing their realm.

However, as the masters said, cultivation could not be rushed. Even if all the time was spent on enhancing the realm, the speed might not be much faster than those practicing spells.

After all, the Grand Cycle must complete a full cycle to be effective.

Therefore, running three and a half cycles in one night was no different from running three cycles. If there wasn't enough time, continuing to practice was a waste of time, and it would be better to practice spells.

Moreover, practicing spells could also enhance the understanding of cultivation. Even low-level spells were often the foundation of high-level spells, and learning them now would lay the groundwork for the future, so it was necessary to learn them.

For Tang Jie, there was a very important reason for him to master some combat spells as soon as possible.

Another twenty days passed.

That day, after class, Tang Jie went to the Tianyi Pavilion.

The Tianyi Pavilion was the scripture hall of Xiyue Academy, with nine floors. The lower four floors were for spell books, the upper four floors for cultivation techniques, and the divine techniques were not available—those were for the peak of the Tianxin realm, and Xiyue Academy did not need them.

The top floor of the Tianyi Pavilion contained the basic part of the Ziyu Heart Technique and the spell part of the Shenxiao Sword Classic.

After students opened their spiritual eyes, they could go to the Tianyi Pavilion to collect spell books, corresponding to their realm and stage, up to the eighth floor, which was the peak of the Transcendent Realm, the highest theoretical level that Xiyue Academy students could reach in ten years of cultivation, though it had not appeared for hundreds of years.

Each student could only collect one book per stage. To get more, they had to buy them, but learning similar high-level techniques was still free.

As for the ninth floor, only students who were valued by Xiyue Academy could enter.

This level of importance can be summarized as:

"Being a disciple does not necessarily mean you can enter the ninth floor, but entering the ninth floor will definitely make you a disciple."

Initially, Gu Changqing said they would not learn the Ziyu Heart Technique and the Shenxiao Sword Classic, only the ordinary ones, which was just a nice way of saying it. Even if he really wanted to learn them, it would be extremely difficult.

At this moment, coming to the Tianyi Pavilion, Tang Jie looked at the top nine floors for a while before approaching the entrance.

The student guarding the pavilion saw Tang Jie and raised an eyebrow: "Opened the spiritual eye?"

After one and a half months of enrollment, over three hundred students had already opened their spiritual eyes. Tang Jie coming at this time was still among the front, but not particularly outstanding.

"Yes, Senior Brother, I just completed the breakthrough yesterday and came today to see if there are any suitable spiritual spells." Tang Jie said, handing over his积分牌 (积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,积分牌,