Chapter 4

In the midst of Xiaoban and Diaosi's terrified gazes, Fang Xing chewed the Essence-Transforming Grass a few times and swallowed it with a strained neck.

"Don't bother me unless it's something important!"

Fang Xing's eyes were slightly red as he fiercely gave the order, wiped his mouth, and then dived into the wooden house. Xiaoban and Diaosi were quite frightened by him. They exchanged a glance, both feeling that Fang Xing had gone mad. That was a treasure for the bedroom; even a grown, strong man could only eat a small leaf at a time, which was enough to last a whole night. And here was this ten-year-old kid, who had just eaten three plants...

Was this guy trying to challenge the heavens?

Fang Xing entered the wooden house and immediately sat cross-legged, palms facing the sky, as described in the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual.

The Essence-Transforming Grass took effect very quickly. Before long, Fang Xing felt a violent heat rising from his lower abdomen, making his crotch feel swollen. He took a deep breath and began to recite the incantations from the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual, circulating the mystic techniques and moving his blood and qi. At this point, the circulation of the mystic techniques was just a state of mental emptiness, as there was no spiritual energy in his body to circulate.

The drug's effect was very intense, and Fang Xing's eyes were even bloodshot, his lips dry and cracked.

The violent heat surged through his body, making him feel extremely uncomfortable and swollen.

"It must work..."

Fang Xing endured the discomfort, maintaining a state of mental emptiness, not exerting any force.

Gradually, a quarter of an hour passed, then half an hour.

Even his delicate skin began to turn purple from the swelling. Suddenly, something unusual happened in Fang Xing's body.

As he continuously visualized a stream of qi moving according to his will, a thread of the almost violent heat suddenly separated, transforming into a gentle, cool stream, faintly following his mental command. At the same time, the violent heat in his body subsided, but his meridians were in excruciating pain.

"It worked..."

Fang Xing was overjoyed, but he immediately focused his mind, enduring the intense pain in his meridians and carefully maintaining that thread of qi.

It was a small adventure, but he never expected it to succeed, and Fang Xing was naturally extremely excited.

When he saw the Essence-Transforming Grass, he inadvertently recalled a description from the Yin-Yang Demon Mirror about the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual: "This technique gathers the essence of heaven and earth to cultivate oneself, storing it in one's innate talent. Only a few are suitable, but it can transform essence into qi, making up for deficiencies."

Combining this with the insights he had gained from studying the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual over the past few days, Fang Xing understood that the first step in cultivation was to regulate one's breathing and cultivate one's own spiritual energy.

However, not everyone in the world could achieve this. Some people's constitutions were naturally attuned to the essence of heaven and earth, making cultivation much easier, while others, like himself and Wang Zhi, were considered ordinary mortals in Daoist terms, finding it extremely difficult to sense the existence of spiritual energy.

Wang Zhi had been cultivating for seven years and still hadn't sensed the existence of spiritual energy, which was not uncommon. In fact, most people, even after a lifetime of cultivation, never sensed the existence of spiritual energy.

But was regulating one's breathing the only way to gather spiritual energy?

Clearly not. Even ordinary mortals had a chance to enter the path of cultivation, and that was through transforming essence into qi.

Essence is the fundamental energy of the human body, which is not hard to understand. Just think about how you came to be.

Transforming essence into qi means converting one's own essence into spiritual energy for cultivation, breaking through the first barrier.

Fang Xing thought of this and saw a glimmer of hope. However, ordinary people could hardly sense the existence of their own essence, which required years of cultivation to perceive. Fang Xing, however, was different. He was bold and much more intelligent than others. When he saw the Essence-Transforming Grass, he thought of a method and decided to try it after only a moment's consideration.

If he couldn't sense it normally, he would make the essence more abundant!

After eating three plants of Essence-Transforming Grass, Fang Xing truly sensed the abundant essence.

The violent heat was a direct manifestation of the essence. At this moment, Fang Xing used the method from the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual to move the violent essence, and indeed, he extracted a faint thread of spiritual energy from it.

Although it was minimal, almost negligible, it was a significant step forward.

Now, it seems like a long story, but in Fang Xing's mind, it was just a fleeting thought that he immediately put into action.

Fang Xing himself didn't realize how dangerous it was.

Using this method to gather spiritual energy was a risky approach, akin to playing with fire. A slight mistake could lead to a raging desire, losing all reason, which in cultivation terms is called "losing control."

Fortunately, although young, Fang Xing had remarkable self-control, being tough on both others and himself, and he persevered.

"Grumble..."

As the thread of spiritual energy stabilized and dispersed into his meridians, the violent heat gradually subsided.

At this moment, Fang Xing felt a strong hunger, even dizziness, as if he hadn't eaten for three days. This was inevitable. Fang Xing had used the Essence-Transforming Grass to stimulate his essence and then transformed it into spiritual energy. Where did this essence come from? Naturally, it came from his own blood and qi. Although he had only cultivated a tiny bit, his body was already severely depleted.

The most direct manifestation was extreme hunger and dizziness, requiring immediate nourishment.

"Damn, I need to find something to eat..."

Fang Xing struggled to stand, his hand landing on the Yin-Yang Demon Mirror. At this moment, something strange happened. As his hand touched the book, the faint thread of spiritual energy in his meridians moved, and a mysterious force appeared in the book, resonating with Fang Xing's spiritual energy.

"Huh?"

Fang Xing instinctively looked and was shocked to see that the book had disappeared.

At the same time, he felt a slight coolness in his mind, as if something had entered it.

"Where did the book go?"

Fang Xing was greatly alarmed, not yet considering the possibility that the book had entered his mind. He frantically searched around, and just as he was about to put the Qingyun Forging Qi Manual aside, a piece of information appeared in his mind.

"Qingyun Forging Qi Manual, cultivation technique for the Qi Condensation Realm, regulating breathing can lead to supernatural abilities..."

"This..."

Fang Xing was stunned. After a while, he confirmed that the book had indeed entered his mind.

He stood there in a daze for a long time until his stomach growled again, bringing him back to his senses.

"What the hell? A big book stuffed into my head, won't it crush my brain?"

Muttering to himself, he rubbed his stomach and walked out.

By now, night had fallen, and outside the door, Wang Zhi and the others were drinking and eating meat, cautiously watching the wooden house.

They were afraid that Fang Xing might go mad and suddenly burst out to attack them, so they kept their distance from the wooden house.

"Did he really eat all three plants of Essence-Transforming Grass?"

Wang Zhi took a sip of wine and asked in a low voice. He had asked this three times, still finding it hard to believe.

"Of course, he chewed and swallowed them like a cow eating grass..."

Xiaoban replied in fear, glancing at the wooden house, as if afraid Fang Xing might come out.

"Oh my, even one plant is too much for a person to handle. I wonder if this guy has a thing for that. He ate so much, he'll definitely need to find someone to release his heat. Diaosi, it's up to you..."

Wang Zhi looked at Diaosi, still shaken by the thought.

Diaosi, the palest of the group, was so scared that the half-eaten piece of pork head fell from his mouth. He said with a mournful face, "I can't do it, I'm afraid of pain. How about... how about Xiaoban does it..."

"How can that be?"

Xiaoban jumped up in fear. "You have the palest face, you're the classic 'white face.' You have to do it..."

"What do you mean by 'white face'?"

Suddenly, a slightly hoarse voice sounded, and the five boys were so scared that they all jumped.

Fang Xing had somehow walked over. In the firelight, his face was very pale, but his spirit was good. He came to the fire, asked casually, and without waiting for a response, sat down cross-legged, grabbed a large piece of pork head, and started eating, tearing off big chunks with his white teeth, his mouth full of oil, as if he were starving.

In fact, Fang Xing was really starving.

His body was severely depleted, and he felt he couldn't eat enough.

After a frenzy of eating, he finished all the meat, drank a few sips of wine to moisten his throat, and then stopped, rubbing his stomach. He still felt unsatisfied, but his stomach was too full.

"I have an announcement. From now on, bring me one plant... no, one plant is enough. Bring me one plant of Essence-Transforming Grass every day. I don't care where you get it from, but you must bring it every day. Whoever brings it to me first doesn't have to work that day... Oh, and we need to improve our living conditions. This amount of pork head is not enough. From now on, triple it, no, quadruple it!"

Hearing Fang Xing's words, the boys were stunned, not understanding what he was up to.

After a while, Wang Zhi stammered, "This... this is five pounds of pork head... and you want to quadruple it?"

"Yes!" Fang Xing nodded. "Start with this. If it's not enough, we'll add more!"

"But we don't have enough money..." Wang Zhi said with a bitter face.

"Then sell your butts..."

Fang Xing said casually, "You were all fighting to be the 'white face' just now!"