7 Ch. 7: Start Cultivating
Chen Fan made his way down to the lake. He would be lying if he said he was not bothered at all by the unpleasant encounter with the father and daughter pair, but he did not let it affect him.
They meant nothing to him…well, Jiang Haishan meant nothing to him, but Jiang Churan was different. He was waiting for her to change before seducing her. In the meantime, his focus was on Tang Hongyu and getting stronger.
Even though his initial plan was to get home immediately, he changed his mind on the way. He was searching the spot with a high concentration of Qi where Chen Bei Xuan restarted his cultivation in the original story.
Chen Fan has to find that place if he wants his plans for the Wei family to run smoothly.
In any case, Chen Fan could find the place. He was confident with his chance.
He might be a vanilla mortal without experience of Immortal Cultivation in his old life, but he could sense the concentration of Qi in the air. This was because he could sense the trickle of Qi that his artifact supplied for his body.
Unfortunately, not only was the output limited but he couldn't summon it for some reason. However, he assumed he could summon and use it after he entered the Initial Stage of the Dao Body.
As Chen Fan walked along the path that hugged the lakeshore, he faintly sensed the thin Qi around him. Although he considered the concentration of the Qi to be thin, it was the thickest concentration he could find.
He finally stopped, looked around, and found out he was in a patch of willow trees. Despite it being a hot summer afternoon, he felt the cool breezes against his bare skin, and it was quite comfortable.
"This is it. I think this is where Chen Bei Xuan started cultivating again after returning to the past."
Chen Fan pondered for a moment and then made up his mind.
"Let's go home. Unlike Chen Bei Xuan, I am not worried about the thin Qi on this planet. I have my artifact supplying me with a virtually endless refined Qi. Moreover, I will get dirty when entering the Initial Stage of the Dao Body. I can immediately go to the bathroom to clean myself if I'm at home. No, it's better if I cultivate inside the bathtub so I can clean up myself immediately."
And so, Chen Fan returned to his apartment. He arrived when the sky turned dark.
After entering his apartment, he locked the door and turned on the light. Then, he headed for the bathroom.
He stripped himself bare before entering the bathroom. He entered the bathtub and sat cross-legged there.
Finally, he closed his eyes and began focusing on the Qi generated by the Cosmic Brick.
'Since I woke up on the bus, the Qi kept trickling into my body and dissipated into the air. What a real waste,' he lamented.
Afterward, he emptied his mind and focused on the cultivation method he'd created.
He started breathing in a unique pattern according to this method, after which he coaxed the Qi to nourish his lower dantian and circulate in his meridians.
When he tried to control his Qi, he was surprised to find how easy it was. The Qi followed his will obediently as if he was controlling his own limbs.
Then again, the artifact that produced this Qi was a part of him, so the energy it generated should be a part of him as well.
Chen Fan circulated his Qi through the meridians, pushing through all impurities. After that, he stored the refined Qi in his lower dantian.
He continued cleansing his channels and opening his other dantian. Deep in meditation, he was cut off from the outside world.
Time passed. Chen Fan was not aware that something happened to him.
Thick, oily black gunk came out of all pores in his skin. What's more, black smoke came out of his nose with each exhalation.
And soon, Chen Fan completed the Initial Stage of the Dao Body.
In this universe, he was equal to all Divine Realm Martial Artists and Cultivators at the peak of the Qi Refinement Stage!
Many martial artists spent years and decades to reach this stage, but not everyone could reach it. However, Chen Fan reached this stage in a couple of hours!
If those old martial arts found out, they would start questioning if their entire life is meaningless…
Putting the achievement that could make martial arts have an existential crisis aside, Chen Fan continued maintaining his unique breathing pattern and circulating his Qi according to his cultivation method.
As an aside, after entering the Initial Stage of the Dao Body and opening his three dantian, his physical condition had improved a lot.
The Qi passively improved his bones, tissues, and organs. He could live with one regular serving of food for twenty-one days, survive with only a glass of mineral water for three days, and neglect sleep for a while.
Finally, Chen Fan ended his cultivation. He returned to his senses.
He suddenly smelled a putrid smell that almost made him vomit in disgust. His face twisted into a grimace when he noticed the disgusting gunk clinging to his skin.
"Fuck! This is disgusting!" Chen Fan shouted. He was glad that he'd taken off his clothes, so it was not ruined.
After that, he washed off the disgusting filth clinging to his skin. In his hurry, he forgot the water heater, so he bathed in cold water.
Despite the cold temperature of the water, Chen Fan was not bothered. The water felt lukewarm to him.
After washing away the filth, Chen Fan went to his room. He inspected his improved appearance in the mirror.
If he was previously 7/10, he was 10/10 right then; his improved appearance was at the level of a supermodel!
"Hello, handsome," Chen Fan greeted his reflection while checking his improved body, touching his hard, chiseled muscles.
He also lacked fat and had six-packs. Although he wished to have eight-packs, it was a genetic lottery, so he accepted what he got.
Several inches were added to his height, increasing his height to six feet.
He also felt his body lighter and had more power. When he tested the limit of his strength, each one of his punches and kicks made the air tremble.
When he used Qi to enhance his strength, his physical condition momentarily reached the peak human level, meaning that he was as strong as Captain America!
But, he didn't only gain physical improvement. He also gained some mind-based abilities. He got eidetic memory with nigh limitless storage, instant recall, easy indexing, extrasensory perception—or Divine Sense as it was called in Xianxia stories, telekinesis, telepathy, psychometry, sixth sense, and so on.
After satisfying his vanity and checking his improved strength, he turned towards the clock on the wall and then thought, 'Including scrubbing my body off the filth and time used to check out my improvements, it was only around two hours and thirty minutes!'
Of course, Chen Fan knew that his speed of advancement could not be used as a standard.
Ordinary martial artists and cultivators did not have his advantages. Even the so-called genius needed, at least, several months without rest to reach his current level if they cultivated on this planet where Qi was scarce.
On the other hand, the so-called monstrous genius needed one or two months without rest. In the end, these so-called geniuses were still human and needed to rest, eat, and do other things, so their time to complete the Initial Stage of the Dao Body would be longer.
'In addition, the output of my artifact became higher. If before it was like a trickle, now it is like a small stream in a creek,' Chen Fan surmised after checking out the steady supply of Qi in his lower dantian.
Although the output was limited, he still had a virtually limitless Qi as long as the artifact refilled his lower dantian.
He was a cheat character!
After checking out the new output of Qi, he decided to check out his artifact.
Once he opened his upper dantian, he finally sensed his connection with that thing!
He summoned his artifact, which immediately appeared on his palm. Its form is of perfection, and its shape is exquisite…even though it's only a black brick as wide as his palm.
When he examined the brick closely, he saw twinkling white dots on the pitch-black surface. It looks like a starry night sky.
"Alright, I will call you Cosmic Brick!"
After naming his brick, he continued his examination. When he inspected the universe inside the bead, his mind was blown away.
The universe inside the Cosmic Brick was so vast!
