Chapter 03

"Senior brother, what is that?" A boy's voice broke Xue Yang out of his thought.

"Zhang Hao, you are early," said Xue Yang. "This is, uhm… A spring, a spiritual water spring."

The thing in front of Xue Yang is the other reward that he got from the system. It looks like an ordinary pile of rocks but with bamboo stuck in it. From that bamboo, water flows out at a steady rate.

Because of that appearance, Xue Yang put this on the wall of the mountain. It now looks like the bamboo penetrates deep into the mountain and brings the water from inside the mountain outside. In actuality, the bamboo didn't penetrate the mountain and the water magically come from thin air. Xue Yang can't talk about it though.

Zhang Hao comes closer to inspect the thing. His face is full of confusion, he didn't know why his senior brother suddenly build an outlet for a spring from the mountain. Especially since the well inside the dormitory courtyard has no problem whatsoever.

"It's cold," said Zhang Hao. His hand touched the water, and he then washes his face with the water. "Senior brother, this water feels so refreshing."

Zhang Hao then tried to hold the water in his hand before bringing it to his mouth.

"Wait!" said Xue Yang. "Don't drink that water."

"Why?"

"Just don't, you can't drink it now," said Xue Yang giving no explanation.

The reason that Xue Yang forbids Zhang Hao is because the spring water has a high content of spiritual energy. And people that have never tempered their bodies might not be able to withstand the big energy inside.

Xue Yang tried the water right after he put the thing. He felt that even though it is a grade 1 Spiritual Water, the amount of spiritual energy diluted in the water is too high. It is even higher than the amount of Qi in the Qi and Blood Pill.

"Right, are the other two still asleep?"

"I don't know, I didn't go to the girl dormitory… Should I wake them up?"

Right now, Xue Yang and the three children are living in the dormitory. The dormitory is actually an enclosed area that has two buildings with a yard separating both of them. Each building has around forty rooms that can be used by disciples.

"No, it is okay. Let them rest more, today will be a long day. You can also rest more if you need."

With that, Zhang Hao goes back to the dormitory.

Xue Yang then brought a big wooden tub and a few wooden panels. With that, he makes a small room enough for a person to go inside.

Xue Yang wanted to make a room for people to bathe or clean themselves using the spiritual water from the spring. While normal humans can't drink the water, touching the water is not a problem. The water will be felt more refreshing than other water.

"This is so crude…" complained Xue Yang to his own creation.

He decided that he will upgrade it later and make it a real room. Maybe even making a spiritual water distribution system so that the water can be distributed and used throughout the sect.

An hour later at the dormitory courtyard. The sun has risen a bit more.

***

"You two have woken up," said Xue Yang. In front of him are the three children. All of them have changed their clothes to something easier to move. "Let's start? We will run in a circle around this courtyard.

"Hold this pill before we run. Eat this pill when you feel you can't run anymore. It is bitter but holds it and then keeps running."

Xue Yang distributes a Qi and Blood pill to the children. They then started running around with Xue Yang following the children from behind.

One lap finished and Xue Yang can see that the three children are a bit tired. But none of them still haven't eaten the pill.

The first one to eat the pill is Liu Mei. She had run for one and a half circles before throwing the pill inside her mouth. Yu Guanyu followed shortly after that. Meanwhile, Zhang Hao is able to run for two and a half laps before ingesting his pills.

"Keep running, don't stop, feel the energy flowing from the pill!"

Xue Yang keeps giving instructions to the children. He follows the instruction stated in the jade slip.

The first step in cultivation is to open the first acupoint, the spirit sense acupoint. Some people also call that acupoint, the heart acupoint.

After the process of opening this acupoint, one can start to sense the qi. Only from there, the body can start accumulating qi, and at a later stage, accumulating pure qi or spiritual energy.

But the process of opening the acupoint is not instantaneous. The acupoint needs to be filled with qi. The collected qi will then reside in a place near the heart, that is why the acupoint is also called the heart acupoint.

The process of opening the acupoint can only be said to be completed when it has been filled with qi.

How long the process lasts differs for each person, but it is not weird to see someone doing it for 5 to 6 months. Geniuses that only need a month to finish opening the first acupoint also exist.

"Senior brother! My body is overflowing with energy!" shouted Yu Guanyu. Her tired face has been replaced with a face full of energy. She still run and her speed rose gradually as time passes.

"That means the Qi and Blood Pill worked, run faster if it is still possible," said Xue Yang. He followed the children with ease. Not even a drop of sweat can be found on his face. "Come on Liu Mei, faster! Faster!"

Cultivator needs to move big amount of energy inside their body. That is why they also need a strong body to support the movement of energy.

One way to temper the body for someone that only started cultivating is by running. Running is a good way to move the entire body. That means a big portion of the body can be developed just by running.

But training the body in a short amount of time is not ideal. A huge amount of body cells needs to get regenerated at a very fast rate. And this is where the Qi and Blood Pill comes in handy.

When ingested, Qi and Blood Pill replenish energy in the form of qi. The energy will be used to rebuild the 'old' cells.

Not only that, Qi and Blood Pills stimulate the body to produce more blood. The blood is used to transport energy, so more blood means more energy to transport.

Of course, to transport more blood it is also needed to temper the heart. The process of tempering the heart is also done through all of this.

Well, all of that was written in the 'Manual of Body Refining and Qi Condensation'.

***

Around two hours later

The three children are all laying on the ground. Their clothes are dirty and full of sweat.

There is also some black liquid that sticks to some parts of the clothes. Those black liquids come from impurities inside the body that have been purged out in the process of tempering the body.

"If you can move again, wash your body on the spiritual water spring," said Xue Yang.

"When cleaning your body, try to feel the qi inside the water. You should be able to feel it. If you can't feel it, tell me.

"Remember to not drink it though, else you will need to run again for hmm, I don't know… Maybe three days?

"After that, you can go back to your room and rest for the day. We will train again tomorrow morning."