1st Stage of Qi Expansion realm

Numerous thoughts swirled within Li Yu's mind as he went through everything that big sister 24 had said. Even though she said that everything was her own guess, he believed her guess to be true.

It was not because of some super instinct that he had. In fact, he was a common man through and through, while a bit more intelligent compared to the common crowd. He could only grasp the situations that were within his sight, and did not possess the foresight to see through the situations that eluded his sight. He also didn't have some super instincts that would warn him if he was in danger.

But it can't be blamed on him, as the beasts that he dealt with weren't exactly the intelligent sort, and the villagers around him were also simple folk. The fact that he could grasp the situations that were within his sight while living in such an environment was already good enough for him. It would take a large amount of life experience for him to build the foresight and instinct that were needed to survive.

However, trying to survive while raising his little brother by hunting the beasts had taught him one thing, to be cautious. His over cautiousness in everything, that somehow bordered on cowardice, resulted in him believing in every possibility that would harm him. Hence, he believed in big sister 24's guess, simply because the guess was a possibility that would lead to his doom. Thinking through everything once, he asked,

UserM78-' Big sister 24, thank you. I simply had no idea the mess I was in. You really saved my life. Please give some suggestions to your foolish little brother about how to proceed from now on.'

UserF24-' Little brother 78, I think that you are too nervous. What do you need a backing for? You don't have any enemy, do you?'

Li Yu thought for a bit. Yes, he had no enemy, except that green robed youth, who probably didn't even give him a glance after attacking him with his flying sword. Even the 'seller' didn't know about his existence yet, so he was safe for now.

UserM78-' Yes, I don't have anyone after my life.'

UserF24-' Then everything becomes simple, look for a backing if you find someone suitable to back you up, or just go about your everyday life. It's not as if someone will try to kill you for no reason within the sect. The most that may happen are a few small arguments between you and some low level sect disciples. As long as you are careful enough, your life at the sect will go smoothly.'

Li Yu's eyes lit up. Big sister 24 was right, he was too nervous as he was about to enter the cultivation world. He simply had no need to desperately seek any backing. He should join the sect first and observe the situation within the sect for a while. He also made a mental note to lookout for the 'seller' without arousing any attention.

UserM78-' Thank you, big sister 24. You are right, I was too nervous, and didn't need any backing for now. I am going offline to cultivate.'

Li Yu gave his like to every chat of big sister 24, and went offline. Quickly washing himself in the river, he wore his clothes, and entered the cave once again. Eating some of the leftover roasted meat from the day before for breakfast, he sat down cross legged, and kept cultivating, absorbing strands of the spiritual energy present in the low grade spirit stones.

Five days passed by quickly, during which Li Yu spent most of the time cultivating, except for occasional breaks to hunt beasts for food and performing everyday deeds like bathing, excretion etc.

He also read the cultivation technique given by manager Ma to him during his free time. It was a mid grade Human level cultivation technique of the wood element that manager Ma had bought at a market. Manager Ma had already said to him that the sect's cultivation techniques couldn't be passed to outsiders. Looking through it once and comprehending a bit, Li Yu quickly put it back, uninterested in the technique.

Uncle 96 had already explained him the difference in the Earth level and Human level cultivation techniques. The speed of cultivating with Earth level cultivation technique was ten times more than a Human level cultivation technique, the quality of spiritual energy generated using an Earth level cultivation technique was ten times better than a Human level cultivation technique, and even the speed of absorbing pills or cultivation resources using an Earth level cultivation technique was ten times more than a Human level cultivation technique.

Hence, Li Yu would have about ten times more speed of cultivation as compared to someone, having same spiritual roots and cultivating conditions as him, who uses a low grade Human level cultivation technique, and Li Yu would be about ten times as strong as the person mentioned at the same level of cultivation due to the high quality spiritual energy.

Of course, the cultivation technique Li Yu was using, Lesser Five Elements Circulation Part-I, was of better quality among the low grade Earth level cultivation techniques. Due to which, Li Yu not even bothered to remember the name of the cultivation technique given to him by manager Ma. He intended to sell the technique to GFCCG to earn some CGP if he ever needed.

When Li Yu had asked uncle 96 about Star level cultivation techniques and above, uncle 96 just told him to acquire a Star level cultivation technique first, before asking the question again.

On the sixth day, when the sun was high in the sky, Li Yu, who was sitting cross legged in the cave, had accumulated enough strands of spiritual energy. The strands were swirling around very rapidly within his Dantian, slowly gravitating towards the center of the Dantian. Suddenly, a strong suction came from within the center of the Dantian, that led to numerous strands of spiritual energy to be sucked from the low grade spirit stone. The low grade spirit stone gradually turned dim as the spiritual energy within it diminished, and broke down, shattering into powder. Fortunately, the suction stopped, or Li Yu's cultivation may be interrupted, resulting in his failure to reach the 1st stage of Qi Expansion realm.

All the strands quickly gravitated towards the center. A loud bang was heard inside the Dantian which was audible only to Li Yu, as all the spiritual energy strands in his Dantian exploded and moved outwards, unblocking many meridians and removing many impurities along the way. Just as the spiritual energy strands were about to get out of his body, a suction force many times larger than before erupted from the center of his Dantian, and the spiritual energy strands started moving inwards, and quickly formed a small spiritual energy pool in the center of the Dantian. The pool was known as Qi pool, signifying Li Yu's success in reaching the 1st stage of Qi Expansion realm.

Li Yu opened his eyes, sighing as he saw the powder formed by the shattered spirit stone, and making a mental note to always keep enough spirit stones around him during cultivation. Feeling a source of power within his Dantian, he was just about to toss back his head to laugh out loud for reaching the 1st stage of Qi Expansion realm, when a very horrible smell assaulted his nose, as if some poop that had rotted for many days, and he looked around to check the source. Suddenly remembering the description of forming the Qi pool that was written in Lesser Five Elements Circulation Part-I, he realised something, and saw that he was covered in a black mud like substance from head to toe.

Realising that he was covered in impurities that were excreted from his body through the pores due to the process of Qi pool formation, he quickly stood up, and tried to run towards the river to wash away the impurities, only to fall down due to using too much strength.

Almost slapping himself for forgetting his increased strength due to the formation of Qi pool, he held himself back, fearing that he will break his own teeth if he lost control of his strength once again. He slowly stood up, and carefully made his way to the river. Tearing up his impurity covered clothes and throwing them away, he carefully entered the river, and started cleaning himself.

After an hour of washing to clean himself from the awful smell, Li Yu finally started checking his body. Noticing that his skin was a bit smoother and fairer than before, he started checking his reflection in the water. Noticing his slightly smooth and glowing face, he said in a bit narcissistic manner, " Yes, with this handsome looking face of mine, I would definitely be targeted by hoards of jealous people if I work under Qing Mei."

Humming some folk song in good mood, he went towards the cave. After he cleaned the cave, he unpacked the package full of clothes given by manager Ma, and quickly wore a set.

Hurriedly eating something to fill his stomach, he sat down crossed legged and took out the six spatial rings he owned.

Trying to control the spiritual energy in the Qi pool, he circulated it through the meridians in his body, then his arms, and finally into the ring he got when he first joined the GFCCG. Suddenly, he felt his mind coming in contact with a separate space the size of a room, about ten feet in length, height and width. He saw ten low grade spirit stones within the space. He injected more spiritual energy from the Qi pool to withdraw a spirit stone from the ring. Marvelling at the usage of spatial ring, he tried putting the spirit stone and withdrawing it a few times.

Quickly putting everything present in the cave that he owned into the spatial ring, he then began checking the five spatial rings he got from manager Ma. He started with manager Ma's ring, as he was curious about the things that manager Ma had obtained from his expedition.

He had heard from manager Ma that the map showed a cave of some dead expert. Unfortunately for the group, a monstrous beast had occupied the cave, resulting in a disaster. Li Yu was curious about the things the dead expert had left.

The size of the spatial ring was about the same as Li Yu's spatial ring, but it had many things compared to his ring. There were many clothes, a pile of low grade spirit stones, a big box, three glass bottles that contained a total of nine small marble like objects, two flashy looking swords, a flashy rope, a sturdy and crude looking hammer, a huge broadsword, and a small narrow strip like object made of jade.