3. Cultivating

Ji Hao and Ji Yuling literally misunderstood Ji Long's state of mind. In their minds, Ji Long was understandably afraid of being alone since he was only 5 years old. Although Ji Luoxing, his grandfather, didn't avoid Ji Long, Ji Luoxing was still disappointed by Ji Long's talent. Meanwhile, the other clan members mocked him for being useless.

It can't be helped. In the present world, strength is above everything. Even if Ji Long is smart, his intelligence can't help him to go against stronger people. That was what they thought.

The Ji Clan is one of the forces that reside in the city of Jiaxing. As far as Ji Long knew, the Golden Core realm was the highest cultivator realm in the Ji clan. The other clans that existed in Jiaxing also had Golden Core realm cultivators. And that realm was considered immortal by the citizens of Jiaxing.

Ji Long didn't think that the Ji clan was a powerful clan. Although he had never seen how powerful a Golden Core realm cultivator was, he believed that the Golden Core realm wasn't a limit to achieving the so-called immortality.

First of all, Ji Long needed to learn how to cultivate even though his limit was probably a Life Energy realm. And then, he would find an alternative to unblock his meridians by himself.

Ji Long looked at his father.

"Father, teach me how to cultivate!" Although his voice sounded childish, it carried a firm and unbreakable confidence.

Ji Hao glanced at Ji Yuling while smiling bitterly. But then, he turned to Ji Long. He took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Long'er, are you sure you want to cultivate?" Ji Hao's voice was so deep and carried out a little bit of pressure to intimidate his son. He did that because he didn't want his son to regret it since his son's talent was limited.

Ji Long frowned as he took a step back due to his father's pressure. He calmed himself before he replied.

"Can't I?"

Ji Hao and Ji Yuling couldn't help but be amazed. It was clear that Ji Hao's pressure should make Ji Long curl in fear knowing how old Ji Long was. But, Ji Hao could see the determination in Ji Long's eyes. It was as if the little kid wouldn't be affected if his cultivation would be stuck in the future.

Honestly, Ji Hao didn't want Ji Long to be frustrated which might cause a mental breakdown. But, after seeing his eyes, he decided.

"Alright. But, you must know. Your meridians are blocked. And you may have no chance to improve your cultivation realm in the future. Even so, do you still want to cultivate?"

"Yes!" With a short reply, Ji Long confirmed his decision to cultivate. And then, Ji Hao walked away while waving his hand, gesturing to Ji Long to come along.

"Come!"

A short time after, Ji Hao and Ji Long arrived at the training ground. Ji Hao let out a breath. Previously, he saw people from the clan trying to avoid Ji Hao and Ji Long as if they were pests.

Truthfully, Ji Hao was hurt because all of them scorned his son. But, looking at his son, he knew that his son was fine as if that kid didn't care about his surroundings. Thus, Ji Hao held back.

Standing on the training ground, Ji Long looked at his father.

"So, what should I do?"

"Sit with your legs crossed!" Ji Hao pointed Ji Long down while saying that.

Ji Long followed his father's words. Then, he sat cross-legged.

Ji Hao carried on.

"First of all, take a deep breath! Calm your mind, then focus your subconscious to feel the spiritual energy at your navel."

Ji Long furrowed his brows. In the first place, he didn't understand how or what spiritual energy felt like.

"Is it something like Qi within the body? But then again, I also don't know what… Hmmm, wait a minute…!" Ji Long secretly said.

He should be able to do it. In his previous life, he was able to erase presence when concentrating which he finally mastered completely after 2 years. That was why he could reach the top rank within his organization.

Ji Long closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He took deep even-paced breathing using the diaphragm muscle to expand his lungs. Then he focused his attention and dismissed the jumbled stream of thoughts that might be swarming in his mind. Once his mind cleared, his attention went to his navel to draw out the spiritual energy from the energy vessel.

A minute…

5 minutes…

10 minutes…

30 minutes…

An hour…

Even though an hour had passed during the meditation, Ji Long remained patient with it and didn't try to think about anything outside of his meditation. At that moment, he suddenly felt warmth around his navel.

In that instance, he was startled by his mind which started to get a little chaotic that disturbed his meditation.

"Ugh…" Ji Long opened his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ji Hao saw his son's meditation stop and started to say.

"You don't need to force yourself, Long'er! It will be difficult on the first try. But, if you're diligent enough, you will be able to cultivate and break through the Qi Condensation realm not long after."

"Father, the warmth thing I felt around my navel, is it the so-called spiritual energy?"

Ji Hao suddenly turned to Ji Long after he heard that. He almost couldn't believe that his son did sense the spiritual energy on the first try. Even he couldn't do that.

In Ji Hao's thought, perhaps Ji Long would be the most gifted child in the clan if his meridians weren't blocked.

"Sigh… He should be a genius, be it in talent or intelligence. Too bad, he… Well, I'll try to find some money to buy a Gold rank pill. Perhaps, his future will be limitless if his meridians aren't blocked." Ji Hao said inwardly. He was determined to unblock Ji Long's meridians after seeing his potential. But, Ji Hao needed time.

Ji Hao ruffled Ji Long's hair.

"That is spiritual energy. Alright, before you go further, I'll explain something to you."

According to his father, the Qi Condensation realm is to use the spiritual energy to refine the body by absorbing the energy of heaven and earth and making it a part of his power stored in his lower dantian.

Ji Long understood the gist of it and wanted to continue. But…

"Let's go back home first! I'll tell you the next step. I thought you're gonna struggle to feel the spiritual energy. I didn't think it would be this fast."

Ji Long just nodded and followed his father to go back home.

Arriving at home, Ji Hao went to his room. After he came out, he brought a book with him. He gave it to Ji Long.

"This is the basics of the cultivation method manual. Read it, learn by yourself, then cultivate!"

Ji Long looked at the old book in his hand and turned page after page after understanding the contents within.

When Ji Long looked around, he didn't see his father's figure.

"Where is that old man going? I have a lot of questions in my head."

He actually wanted to know the difference between the vital energy/essence and the lower dantian since the locations were the same. And then, their differences with chakra points.

Ji Long scratched his head in puzzlement.

"Damn it. I'll find out myself then…"

Ji Long sat down cross-legged. He started to concentrate and focus his attention to control his spiritual energy. Following the manual, he directed his spiritual energy to circulate the spiritual energy within the body and allowed him to open pores that would act as gateways for the energy of heaven and earth to be absorbed. Then, fusing his spiritual energy and the energy of heaven and earth into one, which was then stored in his lower dantian.

By then, he started to understand that the lower dantian was used as the energy storage as well as the energy vessel. Meanwhile, the chakra points acted as regulators of spiritual energy.

All of a sudden, he felt the burst of energy within his body.

"First level of the Qi Condensation realm." Ji Long muttered.