2 Eat Flowers To Cultivate
After saving the boy, Xu An was in a critical state. His mind was chaotic and sluggish. The original Xu An recalled what he had been through until his dying moment. He was whining about how fate had played him.
In his reverie, the boy said with delight, "Thank you, benefactor. Please, accept my gratitude. It's a flower that allows you to pass through difficult times. Eat the colored petal. You will understand. Once again, thank you for saving me. I have no time left, benefactor.
If fate permits us, we may meet again."
Unfortunately, the original Xu An didn't catch what the boy said as he focused all his attention on his whining. After that, Xu An lost consciousness.
Back at the current moment, Xu An plucked the moonlight petal.
Upon a closer look, the petal was otherwordly beautiful. Xu An felt guilty and hesitant to eat it.
After a short while, he ate it with hesitation. The taste was sweet and slightly sour akin to a candy-flavored apple and lemon.k
He gulped down, and in this instant, he felt his stomach was burning. He collapsed to the ground, and he curved like a shrimp.
His face was distorted in sharp pain, wrinkles were formed.
His pupils dilated, and he groaned. Once in a while, he thumped the floor with his right hand.
Tears began to flow from the edge of his eyelids.
What is this pain?! It felt like highly corrosive acid corroding my stomach!
His throat tasted like acid as it slowly became hot.
But that wasn't all. It was as though electric currents went havoc in the body; it felt like countless needles stabbed your internal organs.
His body twitched convulsively, and after a time that seemed like forever, all the tormenting pain vanished as it quickly came.
Xu An breathed heavily with sweat beads flowing across his cheek.
"Huff… huff…"
He slowly got up but couldn't move any more than that. He was stopped in a kneeling posture.
His heartbeat had increased, and he tried to calm himself down by taking a deep breath. It worked, and he guided his qi to his mind. The latter regained its clarity. When he controlled his qi, it was very smooth akin to walking.
As expected of the cultivation world, he thought to himself.
After calming himself, he inspected his body. His meridian that had many impurities before and particularly narrow had gone to who knew where! His meridians were all clean and increased in width.
Xu An was confused, but he was rather excited as a bright smile plastered on his face when he saw this. He then coughed twice to control his emotions.
As a cultivator with average talent and not a genius, a former. To say the least. Xu An didn't know what had happened. His clean meridians and slightly expanded were a good sign! According to his memories, meridians were where qi flowed.
His qi was like a clean river. It was pure and clear.
If earlier his qi like a dirty river with many substances on it. Right now, it was so clean and pure that the bottom could be seen.
Because his impurities had been cleansed, his flow of qi increased. It allowed his cultivation progress to be faster.
What a heaven-defying flower. Xu An looked at the flower from beneath the desk. He was so delighted and shocked.
He was in a state of wondering if he was dreaming. He pinched his cheek with his fingers, the pain transmitted to his mind.
He was sure he wasn't dreaming and began to accept reality. A smile crept upon his lips. He was rather anticipated and excited!
After a short time of calming his emotions, he stood up and blinked.
But when he blinked, he saw something within his mind for a brief moment; he was perplexed. He closed his eyes again and found himself in a world with no end.
What the... What is this place? Is this the so-called mind scape? He pondered as he swept his gaze over his surrounding.
Flat ground spans hundreds of miles with no end, seemingly infinite. The blue sky with thick cotton of cloud slowly traversed in the air.
Although there was no sun here, the place was exceptionally bright and warm.
Just as Xu An about to explore, an immaterial book was formed in front of him. It floated before him, and Xu An observed it with his fingers pinching his chin.
The title carried an ancient feeling to it. The cover was from an animal hide and quite worn out.
"Phoenix Phantasm of Eternity," he read the title, and his heart thumped. His body subconsciously shook, and his eyes lit up.
He reached out his right hand to the book, but as if it had no physical form. His hand went through it.
What? He frowned as he was surprised, but he pondered shortly.
How should I open it? He softly muttered. Like this?
He willed it, and the book opened!
Nice! He exclaimed in his mind with his fist clenched tight.
As the book was floated in front of him, he didn't use his hand and read the first few pages intently.
Even though he was standing when reading it, he wasn't tired as this was in his mindscape. His body was incorporeal and simply an avatar so as to enter the mindscape.
If he did so in the real world, his legs might go numb already.
Each page he read, his eyes roved slowly from the left to right, and after finishing one page, he flipped to the next page. Shortly after, one hour to be exact.
Exiting his mindscape. He opened his eyes as he said to himself, this book will cause wars between different factions if it surfaced in the world.
The book had many contents. Starting from weapon combat techniques, martial arts techniques, cultivation techniques, pill refining, and a lot more. Sadly, Xu An didn't have the time to check all of it.
Most unfortunate of all... most of its content went missing, and it was the most core part of it, some even only revealing a blank page.
Thankfully, the main technique this book covered were readable and could be practiced.
If one cultivated with this technique, the more injuries one got, the faster one's cultivation became.
If Xu An reached death's door, perhaps his cultivation progress increased by leaps and bounds!
The combat techniques this book covered were exceptional too. Focusing on speed and strength imbued with qi. One could launch a lethal attack for a short moment.
Suitable for a former assassin like him who excelled in agility and preciseness to injure the enemy's vital spots within a few seconds.
To move less yet could end the battle gracefully and quickly.
After reading all the combat techniques in the book, he found one suitable for him.
It was called Tranquil Insanity, it had three stages, and currently, Xu An was learning the beginner stage.
After memorizing the contents of the cultivation technique and the combat technique, he was delighted to find his starting point was good.
He then said in a self-deprecating manner, isn't this the same as a newbie starter pack?
Anyway, he could memorize all the contents, but if a great deal of information flew into his mind.
His head might puff and pop like a balloon!
Besides these two. For some reason, Xu An knew a lot about flowers and a general idea on increasing his cultivation.
Different from any other techniques he knew. The source of qi he had to absorb was one of a kind. He couldn't absorb it from other sources.
Other sources here were qi from medicinal pills, spirit qi stones, and items with a high concentration of qi.
He couldn't absorb qi from all the above. He only had one source to increase his cultivation.
Save for one thing. The air always lingered with raw qi from heavens and earth. The body absorbed this qi to become stronger. The consumable items that were just stated were a quicker way to increase one's advancement in cultivation.
Simply relying on the raw qi to progress one's cultivation was simply too slow!
While others absorb qi from different items, I get it from eating flowers… What's the difference between an animal and me, then? He joked silently and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Either way, he was satisfied. Who would have thought his beginning would be so smooth?
I guess my starting point is easy. Unlike some main characters in most novels, Xu An silently thought and was relieved.
If he got reincarnated as the body got involved in a scheme, or maybe his social status was beneath average. A sore loser that his peers mocked and underestimated, he would curse the heavens for not being fair. Then again, since when were they being one? His life experiment, if anything, taught him that.
Without much thought, he left the hut to pluck some random flowers near his tiny yet comforting shack.
These flowers were needed to cultivate his body.
He went back and observed the flower he picked in his hands.
Information soon appeared in his mind.
The flower he picked up was called Osmus flower. It had four white petals and two leaves. It grew up to five centimeters.
The flower had a tiny amount of qi. Xu An didn't understand why eating this flower would grant him qi.
Xu An entered his mindscape and read the book. According to the book manual, he had to put one Osmus flower into the soil where the black flower was planted.
Looking at the pot, he felt pity towards the black flower. Its home was small.
I need to find a bigger pot, he mentally noted. He put the rest of the flower on the desk.
After he planted one flower, the white petals of the Osmus flower changed to rosy pink. The transformation was quick, too. Xu An didn't have to wait.
Seeing it transformed into a completely different flower.
It was stunning and oddly satisfying.
After it was done, he plucked it out and put it into his mouth without hesitation. He swallowed it down.
Not long enough, a cool sensation spread across his body. A high-quality qi flowed in his body. It was dense. Had no impurities at all. Xu An directed the qi to his main dantian.
It was quickly filled, and he smiled. Shortly after, the qi in his dantian gradually changed in quality and became much pure.
This process lasted for ten seconds, and then, the refined qi flowed throughout his meridians.
The refined qi tempered his blood and qi. The effects? His body was more durable and tougher. A kitchen knife couldn't injure him. He could sense his surroundings much better, even he could sense the ants living under the wooden floor, but he couldn't tell how much was there.
This is the first stage of cultivation.
First Mortal Stage; has three tiny stages, first, second and third stages.
The first stage was tempering one's blood and qi.
The second stage was tempering one's mind and heart.
The third stage was tempering one's body and soul.
His eyes lit up as he saw 80% of his blood had been tempered. His qi was only 50%, though. It was good already.
To cultivators with no talent. Average ones, basically. Passing through the First Mortal Stage was their biggest concern. It was a transition when one began to change from an ordinary mortal to a completely different being.
Many shackles had to be broken. These were what prevent one's body from growing any further.
Usually, one could take fifteen years to pass the First Mortal Stage, and that person had to be from a wealthy family.
Being a cultivator, one had to spend a lot of money. Even so, if the cultivator died prematurely. Everything would be all for naught.
Resources were expensive, after all. This was why not many mortals wanted to be a cultivator. Most of them were from clans or wealthy families.
Anyway, seeing how much progress he made from eating one flower. Xu An concluded that one flower was equivalent to high-grade spirit qi stones! The latter's value could buy him a vast manor! Xu An hit it big!
However, he wasn't that excited as soon as he considered the price for this, and here's the thing. He didn't know what it was, and that was the terrifying part!
What Xu An talking about was:
A flower with the same value as high-grade spirit qi stones. What is taken as an exchange? He mused silently with a solemn expression.
