Chapter 4: The Ancient Zither Abode

He was led to a spacious room, with a decorated stone table in the center. On the stone table there were placed two impeccably carved crystals, each with a unique color.

"Luo these are the stones of testing different attributes of your cultivation. The green crystal tests your quality and quantity of your Qi. We check based on the level of cultivation as well so there's no need to worry. Just go ahead and circulate your Qi through it."

Luo nodded and closed his eyes. He sensed the Qi in his Dantian that remained after his body had been reforged and it had not grown at all as he had not cultivated since. He still circulated his Qi through the crystal as asked. The green crystal glowed a little bit and slowly started to change its color from bright green to colorless in moments. After it became colorless it stopped glowing altogether.

He looked at Fu Lin and she had a perplexed expression. "Pan, is the crystal not functioning properly?"

Pan Hua looked at Fu Lin and said "No master. It's the same one that we have tested the other applicants with as well. We tested the last applicant just yesterday and it was working fine."

"Luo this is not how it's supposed to respond to your Qi. It should turn yellow if you had Yang Qi and purple if you had Yin Qi and the degree of coloration marked its quality. Here, the crystal clearly sensed your Qi but turned colorless and lost its property to sense the nature of Qi. What method do you use to cultivate Luo?"

Luo was about to open his mouth to answer when suddenly Yin's voice resounded in his head. "Kid, do not reveal the cultivation method to anyone. Ask her for another crystal and I'll tell you a method to only channel Yang Qi."

A method for separating his primordial Qi into Yang Qi and Yin Qi and using them separately, called 'Layers of Chaos'. The knowledge of this method flowed into his mind immediately. He comprehended the first layer of the technique immediately and he understood the trick of how to separate his Qi in his Dantian before circulating it. Since the origin of the Yin and the Yang Qi was from his Primordial Chaos Qi, their quality would be at its purest state as well.

"Master, as far as I know, I have a Yang Qi cultivation method. Perhaps the time for the crystal to fail had reached when I used it. Could I request a retest?"

"Oh. That's fine I guess. Pan Hua please set up another crystal." Luo waited for the crystal to be set up again and used the Layers of Chaos to circulate pure Yang Qi through the crystal. The crystal this time started glowing and then the color changed from green to bright yellow until it seemed like a golden sun in brightness.

He stopped circulating his Qi and looked at Fu Lin who now had a flabbergasted expression, her eyes bulging at the purity of his Yang Qi.

"That...That is the purest Yang Qi I have ever seen. Even the sect master does not have Yang Qi that is this pure."

"So I've passed the first test?"

"Yes. Absolutely yes!!. Ahahahaaa." Fu Lin steadied her excitement and guided Luo to the next crystal.

"This flat, white crystal tests your body refinement. You have to punch it with your strongest attack. This crystal has self healing runes on it and is layered with different tiers of the same crystal till the upper rank of Legend tier. Based on how many layers are impacted by your attack, we can deduce the level of your body's refinement. Now give it a go Luo."

Fu Lin stood aside as Luo assumed a posture, squatted down and along with the exhalation of a breath let go a punch onto the white crystal's surface. The crystal had 12 layers in total (3 layers each , i.e lower, middle and upper of Mysterious, Soul, Immortal and Legend tiers)[1].

Luo's punch cracked layer after layer until his attack force was dissipated after the fifth layer.

"Excellent Luo. Your body refinement level has already reached the middle layer of Soul tier. Body cultivation is a path that not many follow, you know? As most cultivators just use their Qi to block any attacks and breakthroughs to different realms naturally strengthens the body. But I think that a cultivator who practices body cultivation and Qi cultivation can gain extraordinary merits in his future. This was an optional test as not all practice body cultivation but you passed with flying colors. Onto the next one."

Luo looked pleased with himself after hearing her praise and ran his finger under his nose in a smug way. 'Such praise for me. The techniques of master Yin must be infinitely profound if just a 2nd Layer of Gathering Qi has this much strength. I wonder what kind of monstrous strength awaits me as I progress. MUHAHAHAHA.'

"Stop that and focus you idiot. Next test is for the level of perception, looks like. You might have become my disciple but I can't help at all in how your mind perceives things or absorbs insights. So focus!" Yin shouted in his mind.

"Yesss master."

" Luo...LUO! What are you thinking so deeply? Congratulations. You've passed. I will now issue a jade slip on behalf of Ancient Zither Abode to you. If you qualify in the Summer competition then you can choose to join our sect by using this jade slip."

Fu Lin took out a jade slip and inserted her Qi in it to form the symbol of a zither in the slip and handed it to Luo.

"Thank you master. But there are still 2 months before the competition. What do you suggest I do in the meantime?"

Fu Lin thought for a while and then addressed his question " You're currently in the 2nd layer of gathering Qi, am I right?"

"Yes master."

"You're pretty strong so I think you will qualify easily but a lot of people participate and it isn't odd for some applicants to have a cultivation level of half step to Qi condensation in the Summer competition. That's the peak of the 9th layer of Gathering Qi. Do you know why the Summer competition is conducted, Luo?"

"Isn't it so that applicants can join sects freely if they qualify?"

"Yes that's part of it but there is another reason. The top 3 of the qualifiers will get a chance to visit the Royal library and can pick one skill from there, once they reach the Qi Condensation realm. There are also extra rewards, an upper layer Soul tier defense artifact for 1st prize, an interdimensional storage ring for 2nd prize and a bottle of Middle grade Soul tier grade Qi pills for the 3rd prize. These were the prizes last year, so this year might do even better."

"That's great, but I still want advice on what to do next."

"You idiot. You're this strong with just a 2nd layer cultivation. Use your time to cultivate to higher layers these two months and you just might make it to the top three."

"That makes sense, master. I shall try not to let you down. I will take my leave now." Luo bowed to Fu Lin and pocketed his jade slip and exited the building.

Fu Lin had a mysterious smile on her face as she watched him exit the room. She again looked at the perception scores of Luo and thought to herself "A monster is about to bloom in our Qing province." She giggled to herself and watched the third crystal's glow fade away.

'Kid, among the extra prizes, you should get the storage ring. The defense artifact will be useless to you by then.'

'My thoughts exactly, master. Now where do you think we should go for cultivating? I could sense before that cultivating the Primordial Chaos Qi is not going to be a piece of cake'

'HAHAHA, you caught on quickly. Yes, cultivating this method to high levels will take a stab at your luck kid. But don't worry, I'm here. Find out where the nearest forest with demon beasts is and we'll head there. I'll tell you more as necessary.'

'But, master, I don't have any money for buying the supplies.'

'We're headed to a forest. You'll have everything you need there.'

Luo headed to a pill store and inquired about the nearest forest where demon beasts could be found. He found directions to the Dai Shan forest near the border of the Qing province nearly 200 miles west of Xian town. The shopkeeper warned him not to wander too far as it was near the border and it would be inhabited by all sorts of dangerous demon beasts, lawless people on the run and other dangers as well. Luo thanked him for his advice and bade him farewell.

He went to his shack and packed a set of clothes and a few necessary supplies into a bag and set off for the Dai Shan forest as the sun was about to set.