Chapter 32 – True Cultivation
The instant the barrier shattered, Hao Tian's body went completely rigid.
There was no thunder.
No violent explosion of power.
No heaven-shaking phenomenon.
What he felt was something far simpler.
Release.
It was as if an invisible shell that had wrapped around his entire existence had finally split open. Something that had blocked him for years—something he had pressed against again and again without success—had finally given way.
His mind went blank for a heartbeat.
Then—
He felt it.
Qi.
Not just circulating inside his flesh.
But leaving it.
A faint stream of pale, formless Qi seeped out through his skin and dispersed into the air before he even consciously guided it.
That single sensation made his breath hitch.
"…I did it."
The words were hoarse.
Almost disbelieving.
Inside his body, everything changed.
The Qi that had once been thick and oppressive inside his meridians suddenly found a new path. It no longer felt like mist trapped in a sealed jar—it was like a river that had finally found an outlet.
It flowed.
It circulated.
It obeyed.
His meridians, which had been stretched to their limit for more than a day, trembled violently and then slowly, gradually, began to relax.
Pain still existed.
But it was no longer the suffocating, crushing pressure of before.
Now it was more like the deep soreness that came after surviving something extreme.
Hao Tian's breathing was heavy.
His entire body was drenched in sweat.
His clothes were soaked through and clung uncomfortably to his skin.
He sat there for several seconds without moving, afraid that if he moved, this fragile new state might collapse.
But it didn't.
The Qi kept circulating.
Smooth.
Stable.
Real.
His chest rose and fell.
Then, slowly…
His lips began to curve upward.
Just a little.
Then more.
Then—
He laughed.
Not loudly at first.
Just a short, rough, breathless sound that escaped his throat.
Then it grew.
"Hah… hahaha…"
He leaned back against the wall, still sitting, still unable to fully stand, and laughed like someone who had just crawled back from the edge of a cliff.
It wasn't a proud laugh.
It wasn't a triumphant laugh.
It was a relieved one.
A laugh from someone who had been under unbearable pressure for too long and had finally survived.
"I really… made it…"
His voice was quiet.
But it was steady.
His hands were trembling.
Not from fear.
Not from pain.
From the aftershock.
From exhaustion.
From the simple fact that for the first time in this world—
He had truly stepped onto the path of cultivation.
He closed his eyes.
And for a moment, images flashed through his mind.
The forest.
The blood.
The times he had nearly died.
The hunger.
The cold.
The endless, silent grinding effort.
All of it had led to this.
Slowly, he calmed himself.
The laughter faded.
The excitement was pressed back down.
Not because he didn't feel it—
But because this was who he was.
He had learned long ago not to let emotions run free.
Still, the corners of his lips refused to fully straighten.
He took a deep breath and began to stabilize his realm.
Now that the barrier was gone, the Qi inside his body began to change in nature. It was no longer just strengthening flesh and bone—it was beginning to form a true Qi circulation system.
His meridians expanded slightly.
His dantian felt… different.
Before, it had been more like a container.
Now, it felt like a core.
A center.
A place where Qi naturally gathered and revolved.
He guided the Qi carefully, following instinct more than technique, letting it circulate in broad, gentle cycles.
One cycle.
Two cycles.
Ten cycles.
The turbulent feeling inside him gradually settled.
The soreness remained.
The fatigue remained.
But the danger passed.
Only then did Hao Tian finally open his eyes again.
The room looked the same.
The walls were still old.
The table still crooked.
The window still slightly broken.
But to him—
The world felt different.
He raised his hand.
Just slightly.
And willed it.
A thin, pale stream of Qi emerged from his palm.
Weak.
Unstable.
But unmistakably real.
He stared at it for several breaths.
Then slowly clenched his fist, dispersing it.
"…Qi Refining."
He said the words softly.
This was only the beginning.
The lowest step.
The shallowest part of the real cultivation world.
And yet…
Compared to yesterday—
He was no longer the same person.
He leaned back again, closing his eyes.
Exhaustion finally surged up like a tide.
His body had been pushed far beyond its limits.
"Just… a little rest…"
For the first time in a long while—
He allowed himself to truly relax.
...
When Hao Tian woke up, sunlight was already spilling through the small window and falling across the floor in slanted полосы of gold.
For a moment, he didn't move.
His body felt heavy.
Not painful.
Not weak.
Just… deeply, thoroughly tired.
Then he remembered.
The barrier.
The shattering.
Qi leaving his body.
His eyes opened fully.
He sat up slowly.
The first thing he noticed was clarity.
His mind felt cleaner than it ever had before. His thoughts were sharp, steady, unclouded by fatigue or dullness. Even the faint aches in his muscles felt distant, like echoes of something already passed.
He took a slow breath.
And felt it.
Qi.
It moved.
Not just inside his flesh and bones—but through his meridians in a smooth, natural cycle, returning again and again to the center of his abdomen.
His dantian.
He closed his eyes and focused.
The Qi there was not large in quantity.
Not yet.
But it was real Qi.
No longer the crude energy that only reinforced the body.
This was the beginning of something different.
He got out of bed and stood.
His legs were steady.
No dizziness.
No weakness.
Instead, he felt… light.
Not physically weightless—but like something heavy had been taken off his existence.
He walked a few steps.
Then stopped.
Raised his hand.
And willed Qi into it.
A faint, pale stream emerged again.
Still thin.
Still unstable.
But compared to yesterday, it was far easier to call forth.
He frowned slightly in concentration and tried to move it.
The Qi trembled.
Wavered.
And dispersed.
"…So that's how it is."
He didn't feel disappointed.
Just thoughtful.
He had stepped into Qi Refining.
But he was still at the very beginning.
A newborn compared to real cultivators.
He sat down and took out the cultivation manual he had bought.
The Clear Heart Manual.
He opened it carefully.
The text inside was simple.
Direct.
No grand promises.
No exaggerated descriptions.
It focused on one thing only:
Stability. Clarity. Purity.
It described how to draw Qi from the world, how to guide it into the body, how to circulate it through specific meridian paths, and how to refine it into something that truly belonged to oneself.
Hao Tian read slowly.
Carefully.
Several times.
Then he closed his eyes.
And began.
This time, his Qi circulation was no longer purely internal.
He followed the method described in the manual.
He relaxed his breathing.
Relaxed his body.
And opened his perception.
At first, he felt nothing.
Then—
A faint, cool sensation.
Like mist brushing against his skin.
Worldly Qi.
Thin.
Dispersed.
But present.
He guided it.
Slowly.
Carefully.
It entered his body through his pores and breath, mixed with his own Qi, and was drawn into his meridians.
The moment it entered—
He felt the difference.
Foreign Qi was chaotic.
Unrefined.
Like muddy water.
The Clear Heart Manual guided his Qi to wash it.
Refine it.
Remove impurities.
Cycle after cycle.
Slow.
Gentle.
Stable.
Time passed quietly.
When he opened his eyes again, the sun had already climbed high.
He exhaled slowly.
"…So this is real cultivation."
Before, Body Refining had been about grinding.
Endurance.
Pain.
Now—
This felt like nurturing something.
Building something.
He stood up again and picked up his sword.
Not to fight.
Just to test.
He poured Qi into his arm.
Then into the sword.
The blade hummed faintly.
A thin, pale-white sheen appeared on its surface.
It was weak.
Uneven.
But it was there.
He swung.
Not fast.
Not hard.
But the air split with a faint, sharp sound.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Even this much…"
He swung again.
And again.
Carefully.
Feeling how Qi flowed from his dantian, through his meridians, into his arm, and into the sword.
The flow was not smooth yet.
Sometimes it stuttered.
Sometimes it dispersed too early.
Sometimes it didn't reach the blade at all.
But each time—
It got a little better.
After that, he tried the movement technique.
Just the basics.
Just the footwork.
He circulated Qi into his legs and took a step.
The first step was awkward.
The second nearly made him stumble.
By the fifth—
His body began to adjust.
"…So that's why people say Qi Refining is the real beginning."
Body Refining warriors were strong.
But they were still bound by flesh.
Qi Refining cultivators…
Were beginning to touch something beyond that.
By evening, he was exhausted again.
But this time—
It was a good exhaustion.
The kind that came from moving forward.
He sat down and looked at his hands.
Quietly.
For a long time.
Then, very softly, he smiled again.
Not wide.
Not dramatic.
But real.
"Next…"
He whispered.
"…I'll walk this properly."
Outside, the sky darkened.
Inside, a new path had truly begun.