Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

Shen Mo was not surprised to hear this. Shi Tie and Zhang Daniu followed the path of body cultivation and had a rough personality, so they were naturally weaker in techniques that required fine control.

This new version of the Qi Refining Technique places greater emphasis on the subtle aspects of spiritual energy circulation, aiming to lay the most solid foundation.

"Call everyone over here," Shen Mo instructed.

Soon, all the disciples gathered in front of Shen Mo, their eyes filled with respect and expectation as they looked at him.

"Today," Shen Mo began, his voice calm yet clear to everyone, "I will not preach profound doctrines, nor will I teach new spells. We will only do one thing—to rediscover the spiritual power within you."

Upon hearing this, everyone showed a hint of doubt. Spiritual power? What's so special about that? Aren't we cultivating every day?

Shen Mo took in everyone's expressions, smiled slightly, and extended his right index finger.

A wisp of cyan spiritual energy, as thin as a hair, slowly emerged from his fingertips, swaying gently as if it were alive.

"Can anyone tell me what this is?" Shen Mo asked.

"It's...it's spiritual power!" Zhang Daniu blurted out.

"That's right, it's spiritual energy." Shen Mo nodded. "But have you ever truly 'seen' it? Do you know why we can control it? And why there are differences in strength and purity?"

A series of questions stumped everyone. In their daily cultivation, they mostly followed the steps of the technique, absorbing spiritual energy and converting it into spiritual power. When had they ever thought about these most basic questions in such detail?

"The path of cultivation is like building a house." The spiritual power at Shen Mo's fingertips began to change, sometimes condensing into a grain of rice-sized point of light, and sometimes spreading out like a hazy mist.

"The stronger the foundation, the taller and more stable the house can be built. And our foundation is constructed from these drops of spiritual energy."

"Do you know," his tone turned serious, "why is it that some people, even at the third level of Qi Refining, can fight against those at the fourth level without defeat, while others struggle to even defeat someone of the same level?"

"Is it...is it a different cultivation method? Or...is the magic more powerful?" Zhao Qingyan whispered, guessing.

"Cultivation techniques and spells are certainly important," Shen Mo shook his head, "but the most fundamental difference often lies in... the control one has over one's own spiritual power! In the... quality of the spiritual power itself!"

"Control? Quality?" Shi Tie scratched his head, looking puzzled.

"Watch closely." Shen Mo said no more, and the wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips suddenly accelerated its rotation, turning into a tiny vortex in the blink of an eye.

At the center of the vortex, spiritual energy was compressed to its limit, emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation! But strangely, this fluctuation was confined to the small area at his fingertips, without leaking out in the slightest!

"This..." Su Xiaomei's eyes widened suddenly. Her senses were sharp, and she could clearly feel the terrifying power contained in that tiny vortex!

If it were to erupt, it would easily pierce through metal and stone! But the sect leader has managed to control it so exquisitely; this level of control is simply astonishing!

"Now, each of you, circulate your spiritual power and try to concentrate it at your fingertips. Don't seek power, just... stability." Shen Mo dispersed the spiritual power at his fingertips and said to everyone.

The disciples all did as instructed. However, the results were varied.

The spiritual energy at Shi Tie's fingertips was a blurry, pulsating mass, as if it were about to explode at any moment; Zhang Daniu was even more strained, his face turning red and his neck bulging, finally managing to gather a mass of energy, but it was of varying sizes and extremely unstable.

Even the spiritual energy orbs that Su Xiao and Zhao Qingyan condensed were far less refined and stable than those of Shen Mo, with spiritual light constantly escaping from their edges.

"Do you see that?" Shen Mo said calmly. "That's the difference. It's not that your cultivation is insufficient, but that your control over your own power is still at a very superficial level."

"From today onwards," he said, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, "a new item will be added to the daily morning lessons—'Spiritual Power Control' training."

"The content is simple: First, spiritual energy is condensed into a fixed shape, such as a needle, thread, or ball, and then kept stable."

"Second, micro-management of spiritual energy. Controlling a wisp of spiritual energy to perform delicate actions such as threading a needle or carving patterns."

"Huh? Threading a needle?" Zhang Daniu's face immediately fell upon hearing this. "Sect Leader, this... isn't this something only women do? I'm a rough man..."

"A boorish fellow?" Shen Mo glanced at him. "Then do you know why, when you use your axe techniques, although they are powerful, you often waste more than 30% of your spiritual energy?"

"If you can use every ounce of your spiritual energy precisely where it matters most, your strength can increase by at least 30%!"

Zhang Daniu opened his mouth, but couldn't speak. He recalled the scene from his battle, and it seemed... that was indeed the case...

"The sect leader is right!" Shi Tie slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing, "I knew it! Sometimes I felt like I couldn't muster any strength! It turns out my control of spiritual energy was too rough! Practice! I must practice! I want to see just how difficult threading a needle really is!"

With Shi Tie taking the lead, the other disciples also put aside their contempt and began to take this seemingly "childish" training seriously.

Thus, in the days that followed, a peculiar scene appeared in the square of Qingyun Sect:

A group of cultivators were not wielding swords or practicing meditation, but rather, with focused expressions, they were using their spiritual power to manipulate embroidery needles and threads, or carefully "carving" stones.

At first, naturally, there were many laughable mistakes. The spiritual energy was either too strong and snapped the thread, or too weak and couldn't pass through the eye of the needle. The carving was even more appalling, with perfectly good stone being chiseled into pits and bumps.

But with Shen Mo's patient guidance and demonstration, everyone gradually got the hang of it.

Su Xiao and Zhao Qingyan, in particular, were the most meticulous and made the fastest progress. In just a few days, Su Xiao was already able to use spiritual energy threads to embroider a lifelike orchid on a handkerchief!

Zhao Qingyan went even further, attempting to use her spiritual power to inscribe simple array runes on the jade blank!

Even Shi Tie and Zhang Daniu, although their progress was slower, could clearly feel that their perception and control of spiritual power had become more adept.

When performing the technique, the spiritual energy flows more smoothly, and its power is also enhanced.