Cultivator!

Jing Ling was sitting on her bed deep in thought. She was feeling much better now that she has rested for a few days. Her mind was filled with thoughts about Song Xuegang's memories and the words he had said to her.

'Take my inheritance, become strong. You don't need to become the strongest but grow so that you can protect yourself.'

"He's right," thought Jing Ling. "I don't want to find myself in a hopeless situation where I can't protect myself. Most importantly I don't want to get killed..."

"Alight! Let's do this!" shouted Jing Ling as she got up from her bed and changed into more flexible clothes. She opted for a light blue tunic suit. Though it is improper for a female to wear trousers, it is easier to move in so Jing Ling chose this rather than her usual hanfu.

She was still staying in Fuyuan Hall so as she relocated herself to the courtyards and looked for a place where she could sit and cultivate. The courtyard she was staying in had a rock garden so Jing Ling found the largest rock she could climb and sat down with her legs crossed.

From Song Xuegang's memories, Jing Ling learned that the purpose of the seven levels of the mortal realm is to clean the body of its impurities and build a strong foundation for the rest of the realms. One shouldn't rush or rely on pills or elixirs during this process because it will backfire on them later on.

Following his memories, Jing Ling closes her eyes and reaches out to the Qi around her. She took uniform breaths as she tries to circulate the Qi in her body like she saw happen while she was in the jade crystal. However, since it was Jing Ling's first time, it took her an hour just to circulate the Qi one full cycle. This didn't discourage Jing Ling any bit. Instead, she looked at this from a positive perspective and was excited that she was able to cultivate.

Four hours later, Jing Ling found a rhythm that she was comfortable with so she continued to circulate her Qi until the sun was about to set.

"Grrrr..." Jing Ling's stomach grumbles as she gets down from the rock. She wanted to continue to cultivate but her stomach wouldn't stop making weird noises. "I should eat some food before I continue cultivating."

When Jing Ling pushed the door to her room open, she saw that the table in her room was filled with steamed glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, scallion pancakes, and tofu pudding for dessert. Jing Ling rushed over to the table and grabbed a pair of chopstick. The glutinous rice was filled with an egg yolk, fatty pork, and chestnuts. The scallion pancakes were served with a vinegar sauce to cut some of the oiliness and the tofu pudding was served with some ginger and brown sugar syrup.

After eating, Jing Ling felt drowsy so she gave up on the idea of continuing her training and took a bath before heading off to bed.

The next day, as the sun was rising Jing Ling had already woken up and changed into her tunic. However, instead of heading to the rock garden to cultivate she started by running laps around her courtyard. It wasn't long before she started to sweat and pant but she didn't stop. Her body was too weak since "Jing Ling" was sick and never did any exercise since young. Now she needs to work extra hard to build up strength in her body.

However, no matter how determined Jing Ling was, her body couldn't keep up with her enthusiasm so every five minutes or so she would need to stop and rest before continuing.

After an hour or so, Jing Ling reached her limit and decided she had run enough for the day but she didn't waste any time before dragging her weary body to sit on top of the rock she sat on yesterday to absorb Qi.

Day after day, Jing Ling repeated the same process and gradually she could feel her body become stronger. By the fifth day, Jing Ling didn't have to stop every five minutes anymore. She can now run the whole hour. Of course, she would be dead tired afterward but it was a huge step for her.

Even her cultivation was improving. Jing Ling felt like she was close to breaking through into red mortal realm. Once that happens she can officially call herself a cultivator.

By the seventh morning, since Jing Ling started cultivating, she had her first breakthrough.

She was sitting with her legs crossed as usual when all of a sudden all the Qi in the courtyard rushed over towards Jing Ling and the area near her dantian appeared a small vortex. The vortex greedily sucked in all the Qi but no matter how much Qi entered the vortex, it never stopped spinning as if there wasn't enough Qi available.

Eventually, the vortex came to a halt and Jing Ling opened her eyes.

"YES~! I am officially a cultivator now!"

However, before Jing Ling could fully examine her advancement, she noticed a really bad odor.

"What is that smell?! It's so stinky I think I might faint."

Glancing around her, Jing Ling realizes that her entire body was covered in a black slimy substance.

"Ugh. How man am I going to wash this off? If I head back to my room now I'm going to leave a trail of this smelly slime behind me! Sigh. I guess there's no other choice."

After taking a bath and cleaning up the trail had she made, Jing Ling finally got a good look at the benefits she got from her breakthrough. Her body no longer felt sickly and she had plenty of energy even after running for an hour again. Most importantly, she could now feel a faint stream of energy being released from her dantian and circulating through her body.

"I feel so much lighter. I can't wait till I break through again!" Jing Ling mused before resting for the rest of the day.