Bamboo Mound

"It's truly amazing. Just by drawing patterns on the legs, one can cover a distance that would otherwise be dozens of steps in one step."

However, as soon as he took that step, the spiritual patterns on his legs dissipated and flowed back into his dantian.

"Sigh, although I've learned it in one go, I still need to practice more on how to concentrate and maintain the consistency."

He calculated that it now takes him about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea to draw a spirit rune, and he can only take one step, which is far from meeting the requirements for the beginner level.

He discovered that although some spiritual energy was consumed during the process, it was only a drop in the ocean compared to the total amount of spiritual energy, and was even automatically absorbed and replenished by his body during the condensation process.

"Let's start with startup speed."

Having made up his mind, Ning Chang slowed down to observe the process of condensing spirit patterns.

"Draw spiritual energy from the dantian and channel it along the meridians into the legs..."

"Although the meridians naturally flow with spiritual energy that has not yet been refined, the amount is too small and it is not as easy to control as the refined spiritual energy."

Ning Chang noticed a question: "Why must spiritual energy be stored in the dantian after it has been refined?"

"Battery? But spiritual energy is in the body. If you use the dantian as a battery, you still need a circuit to supply the whole. So why can't you abandon the circuit and use the whole as a battery to expand capacity and reduce delay?"

Without hesitation, Ning Chang immediately sat down cross-legged, cleared his mind, and felt the spiritual energy within his body.

After calculating the total amount, he guided the spiritual energy in his dantian to circulate through his meridians in strands, following the pathways of the Azure Cloud Technique.

As the first wisp of spiritual energy returned to the dantian, the last wisp had just flowed out of the dantian, completely and evenly distributed throughout the meridians of the body.

Thus, even though the meridians are much thinner than the upper dantian, spiritual energy only occupies less than half of the overall space.

"Although it's difficult to feel the changes in minor realms in this way, at least the total amount of spiritual energy is much higher than that of the same realm."

Ning Chang felt the spiritual energy throughout his body and decided to try condensing it again.

Before long, he showed a look of surprise.

"It's more than twice as fast!"

At the same time, it draws in the spiritual energy throughout the leg meridians, and with the double enhancement of speed and efficiency, the speed of condensing spiritual patterns is greatly increased!

At this moment, Ning Chang discovered the key to the problem: most of the time in the condensation process was spent drawing spiritual energy from other parts of the meridians into the legs.

The spiritual energy that was originally in the meridians of the legs was successfully condensed in just a few breaths.

"I see. It's because my cultivation level is too low. If I increase the total amount of spiritual energy and the width of my meridians, then I won't have to worry about the speed, and even the sustainability issue can be resolved!"

He sighed, "It all comes down to cultivation level!"

"However, with a timely supply of spiritual energy, I can now condense spiritual patterns immediately, so I should be considered a beginner, right?"

I looked up at the sky; the sun was slightly slanted, just entering the afternoon.

"Let's make another Spirit Gathering Pill."

Having made up his mind, he swallowed the Spirit Gathering Pill and took out the spirit stones to begin cultivating.

Ning Chang thought that since it was impossible to distinguish the specific level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, as long as there was no sign of the spiritual energy liquefying, it was still a Spirit Gathering Realm.

Although his current spiritual energy exhibits liquid characteristics due to its water attribute, it is still essentially gaseous.

He is currently at the fifth level of the Spirit Gathering stage, and that spirit stone has only been used up to 40%.

He believed that even if the difference in advancement was large, absorbing this spirit stone would be enough for him to advance to the eighth level of the Spirit Gathering stage, even taking into account the expansion of his meridian capacity.

After a long while, the effects of the medicine dissipated, and Ning Chang opened his eyes again. At this time, the spiritual energy in his meridians was saturated, and he felt a slight sense of expansion. However, his spirit stones had decreased by another 20%.

Looking at the remaining spirit stone, he estimated that he could use it all up after another day of repairs.

Looking at the darkening sky, he realized that today was his fifth day at the Qingyun Sect.

"I didn't even notice. Perhaps this is what they mean by 'time flies like an arrow.' With nothing to do all day, I focused on cultivation, and the years passed by like fleeting clouds."

He got up and stretched, paused for a minute, and then took a step out and appeared in the room.

His face immediately lit up with uncontrollable joy.

"That's compressed to one minute! If we reach the Spirit Fusion Realm, the same volume of spiritual power contains more spiritual energy, wouldn't it be possible to cast it instantly!"

"It's settled then. Anyway, I have nothing else to do. I'm going to be fixing this all day tomorrow!"

After washing up, I poured myself a glass of water, drank it, and went to bed early, drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, accompanied by the ticklish morning light, he groggily opened his eyes.

After spacing out in bed for a while, I finally got out of bed to wash up.

He plans to cultivate all day today, and then go to see his master tomorrow.

After entering the pavilion and swallowing a Spirit Gathering Pill, he began his day's cultivation.

Ning was so engrossed in his cultivation that he lost track of time. When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already setting.

During that time, he swallowed another Spirit Gathering Pill at noon.

He felt the abundant spiritual energy within his body and nodded in satisfaction.

As the effects of the second Spirit Gathering Pill were about to wear off, the spirit stone in his hand also completely disappeared.

As a result, the width of his meridians more than doubled!

After a few breaths, his figure vanished from the spot in an instant.

"Not bad, you can cast it instantly now. The next step is just a matter of practice."

That step just now only consumed seven or eight tenths of the spiritual energy in Ning Chang's leg meridians; the main time was spent fixing the patterns.

Given time, once his proficiency improves, he will be able to truly achieve instantaneous Qingyun Step!

Feeling the spiritual energy flowing slowly within his meridians, Ning Chang noticed that it was showing signs of liquefaction.

"Wait, I've already reached the ninth level of Spirit Gathering? How come it felt so easy?"

He immediately realized that he had taken the Spirit Gathering Pill at the first level and absorbed the spirit stones at a 100% rate, so it would be strange if he wasn't fast!

It was almost evening, but Ning Chang didn't feel tired or sleepy. He hesitated whether he should go to sleep or not.

"Let's go to sleep. There's nothing to do if we don't sleep. We can't just cultivate to advance to the Spirit Fusion Realm, can we? There might be some things we need to pay attention to. Let's ask Master about it tomorrow."

Having made up his mind, Ning Chang took another walk around the yard. The bamboo shoots that had sprouted when it rained the day before yesterday had grown to the height of two people, and a new batch of bamboo shoots had sprouted below them.

He couldn't resist such temptation, so he picked up the longest one, peeled off the skin, and ate it layer by layer.

As he was eating, he noticed something amiss. He couldn't find any trace of other food, neither in his own residence nor when he visited the sect yesterday; there was no kitchen there!

"The entire sect can't just eat fasting pills, can it? Doesn't anyone have a sweet tooth?"

He called over Xiao Li and asked him about his doubts.