8 Breakthrough!

The rest of the month passed much the same. Every morning Hong Wu would head into the forest to the confusion of many of the other girls. Still, no one investigated the behavior. Though everyone hid it well, save Cang Rong, they were put-off by Hong Wu's appearance. If the weirdo wanted to waste her time not cultivating then that was her right.

It was not as if Hong Wu wanted to spend all her time foraging in the woods. Truth be told, she was not happy about wasting time when she could be cultivating, but survival was most important, and Hong Wu needed to eat. Hong Wu had a few more run-ins with some wild animals of the forest; though, she now kept a wide berth whenever encountering them. Even with her efforts, she still had a few incidents of being chased through the woods, including a close call with a rather large, violent boar.

If there was a silver lining to the daily treks around the undomesticated areas of the mountain, it was that Hong Wu found plenty of Lush Meadow Grass. Hong Wu had already amassed two hundred and fifty stalks of the herb.

By the end of the month four more girls had broken through to Qi Condensation, leaving Hong Wu even further behind. At this point there were only two other girls who had yet to reach a breakthrough, three if you counted Yan. No one had seen her since arriving at the Black Mountain Sect, so her progress was left a mystery.

Hong Wu tried to spend what little free time she had cultivating the Coldmist Breathing Technique. The more time she spent practicing, the longer she was able to maintain the awkward positions for the breathing technique. She even felt that she was making some progress coming closer and closer to reaching Qi Condensation, but trapping spiritual qi into her body was more difficult that it seemed.

Dejected, Hong Wu headed to the Ascending Clouds Pavilion to collect her monthly cultivation resources. Handing her sect token to the blue robed cultivator, Hong Wu collected her pills and incense.

On her way back to the Drifting Clouds Quarter, Hong Wu ran into a familiar face. "Good morning Sister Hong! Are you on your way to collect your monthly allowance of resources?"

It was the Cloud District Exchange clerk, Hu Huan. "Good morning Brother Hu," Hong Wu replied, "I just picked up my items and was on my way back."

Hu Huan and Hong Wu exchanged mild pleasantries, but Hong Wu was unable to maintain a lively discussion. She was too worried about her current predicament. If Hong Wu was unable to break through to the first layer of Qi Condensation she would not be able to take on missions, and would be unable to buy the resources she needed to continue cultivation. No matter which direction she went a wall would materialize in-front of her, boxing her in.

Noticing Hong Wu's distracted appearance, Hu Huan bade her farewell and began to make his way towards one of the blue robed disciples. However, before he could leave Hong Wu was suddenly struck with an idea. "Brother Hu wait a moment!"

***

A few minutes later Hong Wu and Hu Huan stood off to the side of the pavilion discussing what appeared to be an important matter. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Hong Wu's eyes shined with determination. "Yes Brother Hu, I will not regret it."

"It's just that … you know that the Qi Drawing Pill is just as valuable as the Meridian Opening Incense. Do you really want to trade two pills for a single stick of incense?"

"Would you trade if I only offered one?"

Hu Huan smiled wryly at this. Hu Huan was a trained salesman; he would only do business if he was able to make a profit. "Please Brother Hu, I cannot explain why, but I need the incense more than the pills."

Hu Huan feigned indecision, but eventually agreed to the trade in the end. "Do not blame me later for taking advantage," he said while greedily eyeing his gains.

"Of course Brother Hu, thank you again!"

Hong Wu made arrangements with Hu Huan to meet outside the Ascending Clouds Pavilion every month to make the trade before turning to quickly rush back home and begin her attempt to break through. "Sister Hong," Hu Huan called out before she had a chance to leave.

"Is there something else Brother Hu?"

"I just … there is a large black rock in the center of your courtyard correct?"

Confused by Hu Huan's words, Hong Wu paused for a moment. "Yes there is. Why does senior brother bring it up?"

"Try cultivating in the early morning, before the sun comes up. After burning the incense, move to the rock and sit on top of it. You will understand once you do."

Still a little befuddled by Hu Huan's words, Hong Wu was at least able to realize that Hu Huan was trying to give her advice on her cultivation. "I will, thank you for your guidance Brother Hu."

"Don't mention it. I would feel bad if I took your pills each month in exchange for a single stick of incense. Consider this as making us even."

"Yes, senior brother; thank you."

With a renewed vigor, Hong Wu headed back to her cultivation room and immediately began to practice the Coldmist Breathing Technique. Hong Wu could now go half of a day practicing her breathing technique without stopping, and even felt refreshed after doing so. Lan Cixi had once told the girls that she had heard higher level cultivators could even replace things like sleeping and eating with meditation. 'It would be great if I never had to dig up sweet potatoes just to survive anymore.'

Now that Hong Wu was alone, she started to reflect on Hu Huan's words of advice. 'His intention seemed to actually try and be helpful, but there are a few things that just don't add up. I have read the Coldmist Breathing Technique multiple times now. Its intention is to accumulate the spiritual qi present in the clouds, so cultivating in the early morning when the fog is at its thickest is probably a good idea. But the manual also says that the Coldmist Breathing Technique can only be cultivated by women. How did he know what time would be best for my cultivation? And just how did he know about the layout of my house? That man seems innocent, but there are just too many mysteries about him.'

Putting Hu Huan in the back of her mind, Hong Wu decided to take his advice and wait for the early morning to continue her cultivation. That night Hong Wu climbed her roof to gaze up into the night sky like she used to do at the Red Veil. 'This time it will work; it has to! Wish me luck mother.'

When the night became its darkest, right before the sun began to rise, Hong Wu returned to the cultivation room and brought the incense burner out into the courtyard. Placing the burner in front of the flat, black rock and sat down to begin. Hong Wu immediately noticed a cool sensation the second she touched the rock. The rock gave off an unnaturally chilling aura that bored through Hong Wu. Testing out the Coldmist Breathing Technique, Hong Wu was shocked to find that its efficiency had doubled! 'Damn it! If I had known I had something this useful from the beginning I would have long broken through to Qi Condensation. I wonder if the others know about the uses these rocks have?'

After a brief moment of self-pity, Hong Wu shook off superfluous emotions and cleared her mind. Lighting the incense Hong Wu began to inhale the smoke with her breathing technique.

Minutes later a cold chill ran through Hong Wu's spine. Her body was wracked with pain similar to frostbite as if exposed to a brutal arctic wind. She struggled to maintain her posture and breathing, her entire body shivering. Her mind was mere moments from shattering, when suddenly Hong Wu let out and explosive roar, "Rraaaaaah!"

Filth charged out of Hong Wu's pores as if the spiritual qi circulating throughout her body was pushing out any impurities within her to make room for itself. The spiritual qi then rushed into her lower dantian and coalesced into a thin strand of spiritual qi. Hong Wu immediately felt awash with immense pleasure, followed by exhaustion. As tired as she was Hong Wu couldn't help but chuckle to herself. 'I did it! I am finally a cultivator!'

Using the method described in the Coldmist Breathing Technique, Hong Wu examined her body with her new sixth sense that all Qi Condensation cultivators developed. This 'divine sense' was the thing all cultivators used to monitor their own development. With it, they could monitor their dantians and the movement of their spiritual qi throughout the meridians of their body. When Hong Wu drew her attention to her dantian she noticed the thin strand of spiritual qi. The spiritual qi seemed to be made of a grayish-white cloud that slowly twirled within her.

Ignoring the offensive smell coming off of the grime covering her body, Hong Wu resumed her breathing technique to stabilize her cultivation technique. The Coldmist Breathing Technique manual warned that after each breakthrough, one needed to stabilize the spiritual qi, otherwise their base level of cultivation could fluctuate and even drop back down a grade. Cultivators could put forth great effort to raise their level of cultivation, only to lose the fruits of their hard work due to negligence. Hong Wu would not allow herself such disappointment.

In addition to the danger of not stabilizing one's cultivation, one also needed to worry about the purity of your cultivation. Those that recklessly charged ahead by relying on supplementary resources and having breakthrough after breakthrough would find the strength of their cultivation lacking in comparison to those at the same level of them. Plus, the impurities in the medicines and other such cultivation resources would remain in the body, making each successive breakthrough all the more difficult. It was best that one used things like pills, incense, and other helpful resources sparingly. In addition, one should always try to take things slowly, removing any residual toxins one possibly could before moving towards the next level of cultivation.

While cultivating, Hong Wu used her divine sense to observe how her body reacted. As Hong Wu breathed in, the spiritual qi in the fog and smoke she inhaled would travel down to her lower dantian and merge with the strand of spiritual qi. As this happened, the same strand would leave the dantian and slowly creep throughout the meridians of her body. Hong Wu watched as the spiritual qi circled through her returning once again to her lower dantian. This process of circulating spiritual qi helped refine it, slowly removing any impurities that she exhaled with each breath.

Hong Wu continued to refine her strand of spiritual qi until the sun slowly made its way over the horizon. Using her divine sense, Hong Wu saw that the color of the strand of spiritual qi had become slightly less gray.

Elated with last night's performance Hong Wu went to clean herself of the filth excreted from her body during her breakthrough. 'I have finally taken my first real step in cultivation. Do you see mother? Your daughter has become a cultivator!'