Mortal Cultivation: Starting from Hiding in the Cultivation Techniques Pavilion

The candles on the table were about to burn out, but Su Xiaoyuan showed no signs of fatigue; her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

The book "Basic Qi Induction Techniques" was spread out in front of him, and the scrap paper next to it was covered with densely packed tiny characters.

From subtle adjustments to posture to in-depth descriptions, from specific counting of breathing rhythms to practical methods for calming the mind.

He scrutinized, deliberated, and revised every single word.

The semi-transparent entry appeared before his eyes from time to time, jumping around with each modification he made.

[Current version optimization assessment: 23%...45%...67%...]

Thanks to these intuitive optimization values, Su Xiaoyuan's modification speed is incredibly fast!

When he changed "Persistence pays off" to "Each step forward is worth a thousand pieces of gold" at the end of the last page, the text in front of him suddenly changed!

[Basic Qi-inducing Technique Optimization Completed]

[Current version optimization level assessment: 99%]

[In-depth analysis complete... currently tracing back to the source...]

What is going back to the origin?

Su Xiaoyuan was stunned, then suddenly everything went black before her eyes, and her consciousness was pulled away!

He felt like he had become a different person.

No! To be precise, his consciousness was stuffed into a memory from a distant time and space.

This is a young man with a sallow complexion and prominent cheekbones, huddled in a simple cave.

His hemp clothes were tattered and his belly was shriveled.

The young man stared into the void, but his spirit was slowly extending. Su Xiaoyuan could feel the yearning overflowing in his heart, a yearning for the mysterious power flowing between heaven and earth outside the cave.

He tried to grasp that power, but could never quite get a foothold.

Until a certain moment!

Su Xiaoyuan seemed to hear a resonance, a resonance produced by some kind of rhythm in the entire universe.

A cool, warm breath seeped in from the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head, flowing slowly down the spine. Wherever it passed, hunger, cold, and fatigue melted away like ice and snow.

That was in the early days of cultivation civilization, the moment when a mortal touched the most primordial spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

Her consciousness returned abruptly! Su Xiaoyuan sprang up from the futon, panting heavily.

His inner shirt was soaked with cold sweat!

He then felt the meager spiritual energy within his body, which had been as thin as a spider's thread for over a decade, slowly flowing along a new and clear path.

That path is simple, direct, and efficient, completely bypassing the original convoluted and cumbersome steps of the basic Qi-inducing technique.

A full cycle was completed in only one-tenth of the usual time.

The invisible barrier that had held him back for over a decade at the second level of Qi Refining was silently broken through in this tracing back to the most primal understanding of spiritual Qi!

Refinement level three!

Su Xiaoyuan raised her hand with trembling hands and looked at her palm.

He bit his lip hard to keep himself from making a sound, telling himself to stay calm! This was just the beginning!

For more than a decade, I have struggled to survive in this world for more than a decade, and for more than a decade that I have been told that this path is blocked.

Today, he finally managed to pry open a crack in this road!

He took a few deep breaths and looked at the already proofread copy of "Qingfeng Jue" next to him.

This is a slightly more complex wind-based spell among low-level cultivation techniques, specifically designed for training movement skills.

The system automatically displays subtitles.

[Optimizable target detected: Qingfeng Jue]

[Current version optimization level assessment: 0%]

With her previous experience, Su Xiaoyuan wrote with great speed and ease.

Each time a change is made, the displayed value appears again: 5%...12%...25%...

He was completely immersed in the pleasure of this optimization.

With the help of this mysterious system, he can see through the surface of the text and discern the biases caused by limited expressive abilities.

He was completely unaware that it was already broad daylight outside.

Is anyone home?

A crisp female voice came from outside the door, accompanied by light footsteps.

Su Xiaoyuan didn't hear it at all; his pen was on the line "The winds of change collide and converge at Laogong."

There's a problem here!

The word "激" (jī) easily leads to a clash of spiritual energies; it should be changed to "风气相融，聚于劳宫" (fēng qì xiāng róng, jù yú láo gōng)...

Oh, right! The value jumped from 31% to 33%!

Why did he write it this way? Was he deliberately trying to make others think in circles?

Until two figures appeared before them.

Su Xiaoyuan raised her head blankly and looked at the two girls in front of her.

The girl in front of me was wearing a moon-white long dress. She was about the age of fifteen, with a round and cute baby face, big and bright eyes, and her hair was styled in two buns with a light blue silk flower pinned in her hair.

She was curiously looking at the desk piled with books and Su Xiaoyuan.

The girl behind her was a little older, probably around the age of 18, wearing a pale yellow dress, tall and slender, with a touch of heroism in her eyes and brows.

"Are you Junior Brother Su, who's in charge of proofreading the cultivation techniques?" the girl in the white dress asked, her voice clear and crisp.

"I commissioned the department to proofread a copy of 'The Clear Wind Manual' a few days ago. I wonder if it's finished yet?"

Su Xiaoyuan stared at her without saying a word; his mind was still a little fuzzy.

"How utterly rude of you!" The woman in yellow stepped forward, shielding the girl in white behind her, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you staring at Yiyi? Don't you know that one should not look at what is improper?"

Su Xiaoyuan realized he had lost his composure and quickly stood up.

But because her legs were numb from sitting all night, she stumbled and almost fell.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, bowing repeatedly. In the Nine Profound Sect, he was considered a low-level figure, someone he couldn't afford to offend any cultivator.

Moreover, the waist tags on the belts of these two young women are symbols of inner disciples.

"Are you two senior sisters here to retrieve the 'Clear Wind Manual'?"

"Yes." The girl in the white dress pointed to the table and said, "Is this the book?"

"Uh, yes, but..." Su Xiaoyuan didn't know where to begin.

"But what?" The woman in yellow had already stepped to the table and grabbed the book "Qingfeng Jue" and the scrap paper next to it without saying a word.

Su Xiaoyuan was horrified!

"Yiyi, I see that the pages have been proofread with vermilion ink, so it should be finished."

She glanced again at the scrap of paper covered in writing and scoffed, "What are these scribbles? Could they be your own random cultivation notes? A mere outer disciple at the second level of Qi Refining dares to spout such nonsense?"

Liu Yiyi reached out and took it, casually flipping through it.

She then simply nodded, and suddenly took something out of her sleeve and gently placed it on the table.

It was a translucent stone, about the size of a fingernail, with a pale blue hue. It gleamed with a warm luster in the morning light, and wisps of spiritual energy emanated from it.

A low-grade spirit stone!

"Thank you for your careful proofreading, Junior Brother. I'll take this Qingfeng Manual with me." Liu Yiyi bowed slightly, then pulled the woman in yellow out of the door.

The voice of the woman in yellow could be faintly heard from outside the door: "Yiyi! Why are you giving him spirit stones? He's only at the second level of Qi Refining, what a waste..."

Su Xiaoyuan stared at the small piece of low-grade spirit stone, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.

I received a tip?

When he came to his senses, he discovered that she had also taken the scrap paper that he had optimized.

Su Xiaoyuan hurriedly chased after him, but there was no one to be seen.