A New Way Of Cultivating

"Is that... a waterfall?" Azmond asked in astonishment.

He was staring at a 20000-meter-high waterfall with water splashing down in huge amounts on the water surface below as spiritual Qi in large amounts surrounded the water.

Azmond was a few dozen miles away from the waterfall, and yet he could still see it in clear view.

"That thing is absolutely humongous!" He exclaimed.

Following his exclamation, he approached the water surface below the waterfall.

A few seconds passed as he practically teleported over there.

....

"I haven't had a proper bath in what feels like forever!" He spoke excitedly as he hurriedly undressed his long black leather jacket and boots.

After getting them off, he jumped straight into the water with a huge smile on his face.

*Splash!*

He was so excited that he completely overlooked the fact that there was an abundant amount of spiritual energy swirling around the water.

"This is absolutely divine!" Azmond spoke to himself with a look of satisfaction at getting his long overdue break.

Although he would never admit that he was taking a break... He thought of it as just another form of training...

******

He was seen swimming around the large, almost lake-sized water surface while swimming in all sorts of unusual ways.

Azmond hadn't touched water for nearly two years, so it wasn't a surprise that he completely forgot how to properly swim... 

It was honestly a complete mystery why he didn't smell like complete garbage by now.

........

One of the main reasons why this was the case was because of the three body transformations that he went through for each Body Refinement cycle milestone during the Body Refinement Realm.

And the other reason was that he had reached the Qi condensation realm, so things like body stench and the amount of food and water that needed to be consumed had been reduced by quite a large margin.

Furthermore, that reduction was made even larger with Azmond's unique Quantum Qi Condensation Realm.

On a side note, another thing that was improved with Azmond's advancement into the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm with 1000 complete refinement cycles was his lifespan.

A Body Refinement Cultivator's lifespan was usually between 80 and 120 years, depending on which minor realm you were in.

And the lifespan of a Qi condensation realm cultivator was usually between 200 and 300 years of age.

Azmond's lifespan, however, had over 300 years of life expectancy during the Body Refinement Realm when he had 1000 refinement cycles completed, and his life expectancy in the 1st stage of Quantum Qi Condensation Realm was already at an astounding 1000 years, with a max lifespan of 1500 at the peak of Quantum Qi Condensation.

.......

"I didn't notice it before, but the amount of Qi surrounding this place is absolutely insane! It's at least ten times higher in quantity and quality than the cavern I was dragged into by the Giant White Wolf."

Azmond's voice sounded out with a large smile on his face as he started swimming for a moment before he got out of the water to get a better feel for the Qi while sitting down in a lotus position completely buck naked.

.....

"The effect is even greater when I'm actively cultivating! It feels like the Qi here has no end; it just keeps being absorbed into my Dantian!" He exclaimed with a wide smile as he continued to absorb the Qi in the air and refine it within his Dantian.

.....

Azmond's 1000 Qi cyclones slowly started to grow in size as they went from 1 inch in diameter to 2 inches in diameter.

And they didn't stop there, as they continued to increase in size until they reached nearly half a foot in diameter!

He now had 1000 Qi cyclones, half a foot in diameter, swirling around his Dantian like small gas-type planets.

A gorgeous sight beyond words would be the only way to describe it if anyone were inside his Dantian, staring at the view before them. 

.....

When they reached a foot in diameter, Azmond stopped increasing the size of his Qi Cyclones.

It was a size that would normally only be possible if a Core Formation Realm cultivator focused purely on increasing the size of their Qi cyclones for years and used up all the wealth they possessed, and yet Azmond accomplished this feat in the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm with 1000 Qi cyclones within 45 days!

Such a feat would be something that no one would believe, even if he tried to convince them with all his heart.

....

'After all my Qi cyclones reached a foot in diameter, they just stopped increasing in size...' Azmond thought.

'I eventually reached a point where I felt like I could break past that limit with enough effort, but I felt that if I were to break through that limit prematurely, then it would affect my future growth negatively, so I held off on increasing the size any further. I need to lay off them until my realm and physical body increase enough to handle an increase in size.'

His thoughts swirled around while he was still in a lotus position, as he hadn't moved an inch for an entire month and a half since he had been at the waterfall!

He became so absorbed in cultivating and, subsequently, getting stronger, that he couldn't stop himself.

Even the enticing and beautiful view of the glistening lake-like waterfall before him was not enough to make him stop cultivating to go and take a dip!

....

After brooding over his current cultivation for a while, Azmond focused on increasing his realm, as he had already achieved a perfect foundation within the first stage of Quantum Qi Condensation.

If everything went right, then he was going to reach the peak of his current stage and then attempt to breakthrough to the second stage of Quantum Qi Condensation!

....

He continued to cultivate underneath the huge waterfall as the sun went down and came back up multiple times.

Azmond had reached the peak of the first stage of the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm after another three days of strenuous cultivation.

It was strenuous because he was not cultivating like a normal, sane cultivator would.

Although he was cultivating by absorbing the Qi in the air just like anyone else does, he was also stimulating the Qi that he absorbed from the atmosphere to make it more violent before he absorbed it.

It was an insane thing that no normal cultivator would ever think about doing...

But Azmond's thirst for power was just that great!

.......

What Azmond was doing was similar to creating more energy from less energy through a stimulus, a stimulus that was essentially making his own Qi attack the Qi he was about to absorb from the atmosphere to create something greater.

He was trying to make the Qi he absorbed from the atmosphere 'explode' in on itself to create more energy that he could then proceed to absorb.

It was a suicidal and extremely painful way of cultivating, and yet Azmond did it without a second thought!

He was willing to do anything required of him to acquire more power!

Incidentally, what Azmond was doing was a very complicated process that he started to experiment with a couple of days ago because he thought his already insane cultivation was too 'slow'...

......

'This new way of cultivating is so painful!! But it's at least twice as fast as cultivating normally, which is all the incentive I need to continue cultivating in this way!' Azmond thought to himself with an insane-looking smile plastered on his face as sweat was dripping from every part of his body.

If one looked close enough, or through a microscope, then they would see something absolutely horrifying: every cell of his body was being slowly destroyed from the inside out, as it healed just as fast as it was destroyed.

Azmond's body was constantly on the verge of breaking down... until it was again rebuilt with his fast healing speed, another boon he acquired from going through three entire body transformations.

Coincidentally, his healing speed was at least 20 times faster than a normal Qi Condensation Cultivator!

.....

Azmond's determination to acquire more power, his insanity, his insane healing speed...

Only with all three of these factors combined would one be able to cultivate in the same way that Azmond was, and even if they did have all these things, would they be willing to go through all the pain involved for a mere two times as fast cultivating speed?

The answer was no!

Only Azmond was stupid—or insane enough—to go through all this for barely anything in return.

.......

Azmond continued to cultivate for another day in this ludicrous way.

Coincidentally, it was also the day he reached a point where he couldn't cultivate anymore without being forced to break through into the second stage of the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm.

Normally, when someone reached the absolute peak of their current minor realm, they would choose to break through immediately if they had the opportunity, but Azmond was no normal man...

.....

'The Divine Devil Arts scripture mentions a way to breakthrough each minor realm of Qi Condensation after condensing their accumulated foundation base in each stage down to the beginning of whichever minor realm you're currently on,' Azmond thought with eagerness in his expression.

.......

For example, you're in the Heavenly Qi Condensation Realm 1st stage.

Your way of cultivating would be like this: Heavenly Qi Condensation early-1st stage -->

Heavenly Qi Condensation peak-1st stage -->

Condense your cultivation base down -->

Heavenly Qi Condensation early-1st stage -->

Heavenly Qi Cultivation peak-1st stage -->

Heavenly Qi Condensation early-2nd stage...

So on and so forth for the rest of the 13 minor realms of the Heavenly Qi Condensation Realm. (normally 12 minor realms for ordinary Qi Condensation Realm cultivators who only went through 1 refinement cycle)

This way of cultivating also applied to people who had achieved 100 refinement cycles before breaking through to the |Divine Qi Condensation Realm|.

The 'Divine Qi Condensation Realm' was another better variation of the Heavenly Qi Condensation realm that only the most talented Heavenly geniuses out there could accomplish, far more talented geniuses than any so-called 'genius' on Asterion.

However, these were only geniuses who existed beyond the stars...

.....

Divine Qi Condensation Realm Cultivators condensed their cultivation bases down 5 times instead of the 1 time that Heavenly Qi Condensation Cultivators do to advance to the next minor realm.

To extend on that point, each realm condensation was not as simple as 1+1; it's not additive, it's multiplicative.

A Divine Qi Condensation Cultivator was far stronger than 5 times that of Heavenly Qi Condensation Cultivators in the same minor stage.

However, Azmond, on the other hand, was in the Quantum Qi Condensation realm!

It was a realm far superior and harder to achieve than both the Heavenly and Divine Qi Condensation Realms combined. A realm that was also far harder to advance in than the other two.

....

'I went through 1000 refinement cycles in the Body Refinement Realm. I wonder how many times I can condense my cultivation base in the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm before I reach a perfect foundation?' Azmond thought to himself as he was thinking about accomplishing yet another impossible feat. 

Nevertheless, nothing comes without a price, and Azmond's price for trying to go against the balance of the universe will be a large one...

He will need to experience pain that no sane man would be willing to live through to achieve the power that he so desires...