Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 36 The King of Volumes' Self-Cultivation

As excited Chang Ping'an was, Xu Ying was equally disappointed.

It wasn't because Zhang Chengdao treated him differently—he wasn't Zhang Xianren's disciple to begin with, so what difference could there be!

He was disappointed that even after trying for half a month, he still couldn't draw qi into his body!

Privately, Chang Ping'an had told him that Chang Ping'an himself was very poor in aptitude. He was only able to be accepted as a disciple by Zhang Xianren by his own insistence. Even so, Chang Ping'an was still able to break through to the first level of Qi Refining in just two days!
I have been meditating for half a month, and I can only barely "sense the qi". I am still far from drawing qi into my body!
How terrible must my aptitude be!
For a moment, Xu Ying felt that God was very unfair. Why could some of the chosen ones of heaven be so talented that they could easily break through to the Venerable realm, while he himself had failed in his pursuit of martial arts and could not even draw Qi into his body to cultivate immortality?

But then he thought about it again. With such poor aptitude, it was a great favor that Zhang Xianren was willing to hire him as the head of the sect. Based on this alone, he couldn't say that he was unlucky. Didn't you see how many people wanted to become Zhang Xianren's disciples when he was in the Wuzhishi Division? He didn't agree to them or hire them!

It was just revealed that even those recruited as nominal outer disciples but actually as menial laborers must be personally inspected by Zhang Xianren, suggesting that Zhang Xianren is extremely picky about aptitude...

I've clearly hit the jackpot!
I am so grateful for your recognition and support; I must work even harder!

Xu Ying, still agonizing over this, handed Zhang Chengdao a book after working on it all night, yawning.

The room was filled with names and divisions of properties according to Zhang Chengdao's plan from yesterday.

Zhang Chengdao took the book in a daze, barely managing to maintain his dignity as the sect leader.

Are all the people in this martial arts and cultivation world so career-driven and work so intensely?!

"Let me take a look first, and we can discuss it again at noon!"

Zhang Chengdao took the book, flipped through a few pages, and then comforted Xu Ying, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, Manager Xu. I'll come back and read it later."

He still needs to hurry up and finish learning all the magical arts and supernatural powers in the [Book House]!

Xu Ying was greatly surprised upon hearing this: "I am not worthy of being called 'Manager Xu' by the sect leader! The sect leader should just call me Zhong Ping!"

Zhang Chengdao waved his hand: "Hey, since you are the head of the White Stone Immortal Sect, you should naturally address me by my title. Don't you call me Sect Leader too? There's no need to be so formal, just follow the title!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly walked out of the courtyard, without even giving Xu Ying a chance to say anything more!
The study was built right next to the courtyard. As soon as Zhang Chengdao entered the outer gate, he saw a figure sitting on the ground next to the bookshelf, his head leaning against the wall, snoring soundly as he slept.

"Safety?"

Zhang Chengdao was filled with doubt.

What's going on with all of them?!

"Master! Master!"

Chang Ping'an seemed to be a light sleeper. Startled awake by Zhang Chengdao's gentle call, he awkwardly explained, "Yesterday you mentioned there were secret manuals of magical arts here, so..."

Zhang Chengdao asked incredulously, "You didn't stay up all night, did you?"

Chang Ping'an lowered his head instinctively, somewhat frightened, and replied evasively, "This disciple has already learned twenty kinds of magical techniques, but their power is very weak, probably... probably because this disciple's aptitude is too poor and his cultivation level is too low..."

"Alas, cultivating immortality is not something that can be accomplished overnight; there's no use in being impatient."

Zhang Chengdao earnestly explained, "Besides, the spiritual energy here is scarce, making cultivation extremely difficult. It's not that you have poor aptitude!"

Chang Ping'an thought his master was comforting him, and his eyes welled up with tears. He then answered loudly, "Disciple understands. Disciple will definitely cultivate diligently from now on!"

"No, you..." Zhang Chengdao felt a little numb looking at Chang Ping'an's serious face.

What do you mean you understand?
He tried to reason with his disciple, the Scroll King: "Cultivating immortality begins with cultivating the mind. If the mind cannot be calmed, cultivation will naturally be difficult. The more urgent, the slower, and the more steady you are, the simpler it will be. Do you understand?"

Chang Ping'an nodded: "Disciple understands!"

He could tell that his master disapproved of him staying up late, but he was already of poor aptitude. If he didn't work hard in his cultivation, he was afraid that the junior brothers and sisters who would join him in the future would all be more advanced than him!

This is unacceptable!

So he secretly challenged himself and decided to practice alone in his room at night.

Whether it was due to Chang Ping'an's hard work or not, that night he finally broke through his cultivation level and became a second-level Qi Refining cultivator. Even his appetite increased significantly. He devoured four baskets of meat buns, finished three bowls of lean meat soup, and cleaned a whole plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat!

Chang Ping'an's breakthrough further spurred Xu Ying on.

Xu Ying, who hadn't slept for most of the night, simply stayed up all night again, until dawn broke and the spiritual energy once again cleansed his meridians, stopping there.

He finally managed to draw qi into his body!

For a moment, Xu Ying almost cried tears of joy—he was about to think that he was also destined to be without immortality!
Of course, Zhang Chengdao was the happiest, because he was pleasantly surprised to find that the time he spent breaking through his realm had suddenly decreased by three hours with Chang Ping'an's breakthrough and Xu Ying's Qi induction!

The disciple's cultivation has improved so much that it has even reduced the time it takes for me to advance my cultivation level!

He immediately stopped his work digging limestone, rushed back to his house, closed his eyes and meditated, making the most of the remaining hour or so, and broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

In this cultivation system, all major realms have only nine levels. Once you break through to the ninth level, the next breakthrough is a major realm breakthrough. The way to break through is no longer by spending a lot of time cultivating, but by undergoing a heavenly tribulation.

At least that's how it's explained in the "Advanced Qi Refining Book".

To undergo the Heavenly Tribulation is to be struck by lightning.

Of course, there's no fixed number of levels of lightning strikes one will receive.

Some had to endure forty-nine bolts of heavenly lightning, some didn't get struck by any and were just frightened, while others were surrounded by dark clouds and didn't even get frightened, and inexplicably "transcended the tribulation".

No one knows the specific reasons, at least not in the "Advanced Qi Refining Book".

However, the tribulation between the Qi Refining stage and the Foundation Establishment stage is not terrible. At worst, one will suffer some injuries. With the physical body of a normal Qi Refining stage cultivator, there is no danger to one's life, so Zhang Chengdao is not very afraid.

Besides, he also had a lot of Ge Gen Tang and Die Da San that he had drawn from the members' red envelopes recently. With these two "miracle drugs", no matter if it was an internal or external injury, as long as he didn't die, he could be saved, so he had even less to worry about.

So he eagerly awaited the arrival of the "heavenly tribulation," and would occasionally run outside to look at the bright sunshine and cloudless sky.

There's not a single sign of clouds gathering!

Zhang Chengdao found it very strange.

My eyelids are drooping, and I don't have time to fix the typos. I'm going to take a nap; I haven't slept much in three days.
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(End of this chapter)