The Capital!

Ezio and Abbot arrived at the capital after a long journey. Ezio was really worn out in these six months. He wasn't able to peek at a naked woman, nor was he able to see any bountiful peak. He was frustrated. One has to know that he had never ever spent a day without seeing a naked woman. In his previous life, it was easier, thanks to the internet. And in this life, since he was a baby, he was fed by a lot of them, and when he grew up he simply walked to their bath and feasted his eyes on them.

"I need to, no I must see a woman." He thought as he tried to pass through giant city gates. In normal cases, he would be marveled at the giant gate and walls surrounding the city, but now he just tried to walk through it.

But this uneventful journey wasn't without good news. In the first part of the six-month journey Ezio broke through to Qi Force Opening Realm, Pinnacle. Ezio worked hard to break through because he had to spend much more time than others because of his bigger than normal Qi and Mana Deposits. Now that he was in the peak of the Qi Force Opening Realm, he would be prepared to break through to the Qi Solidification Realm.

Solidifying his Qi, and of course, solidifying his Mana would be a big roadstep for him. This stage was important because the amount of Qi and Mana body could hold was limited. And condensing Qi and Mana into other forms would allow cultivators to have more amount of Qi and Mana in their bodies.

The perk of the Solidify gas Qi was to collect them on meridians so it would condense more, and one could accommodate more Qi in their bodies. And when it got crystalized it would carry 10 times more than regular solidified Qi.

It could be imagined as putting containers on a river bed, instead of the river. The containers could hold more water than the river bed itself. And Ezio had a perfect Seamless Body and opened up 12 meridians, thus could hold at least a dozen times more Qi inside his body compared to the regular cultivators. And of course, he needed to work harder than the others to solidify that much of the Qi.

Mana Ocean, on the other hand, was more troublesome. To solidify the gas Mana was normally harder than solidifying Qi, and because Ezio had not a pool but an ocean, he had to work 100 times harder than a normal cultivator to turn gas Mana into Solid form then to Crystalized form.

The Solidified Mana was almost twice denser than the gas mana. It could be imagined as the ice cubes instead of gas, as the Mana pool was in the shape of a heart on the right side of the chest, and when a mage was executing a spell, mana would pump from this heart to body. The more mana one had, the faster mana would run through the body, and the more mana one could put in the spell, so the same spell could be a match flame or a devastating fireball in the hands of two different mages.

Because he had a Seamless Body and Mana Ocean, he had to spend much more time in these initial stages of cultivation, because unlike others he had much more Qi and Mana in his body that had to be worked on. But after doing exactly that, his cultivation would soar, and his power would be unrivaled on the same stage.

And in the second part of the half a year when he was traveling to the capital, he studied acupoints. There were 361 acupoints in all beings' bodies. And in 3 plus 3 stages of Qi Solidification Realm and Qi Crystallization Realm, or its counterpart Mana Cultivation, Mana Solidification Realm, and Mana Crystallization Realm, cultivators must open up their acupoints.

3 plus 3 stages correspond to Three Layers of Solidification Realm and 3 divisions of Crystallization Realm. Unlike previous Realms, starting from Crystallization Realms, each Realm would have 9 layers instead.

In each of these 3 plus 3 stages, one had to open up 59 acupoints, but unlike the first three stages, in Qi and Mana Crystallization Realms, there were extra two acupoints that could be opened if one was willing to do so for each of three divisions

Qi Gathering and Qi Vortex Creation Realms had no Layer while Qi Force Opening Realms had four, and Qi Solidification Realm had 3 Layers. That is why cultivators would usually call these stages the Preparation Realm. In total, Preparation Realm had 9 little layers as well, hence the name.

But despite Crystallization Realms having 9 layers, the acupoint distribution was still separated into 3 divisions. In the first three Layers, one had to open 59 acupoints. Then if the cultivator could or wanted to, they could search for 2 more acupoints but it wasn't a must. The first division also corresponded to Duke III Tier power. In the second Division from 4th to 6th Layers, another 59 acupoints must be opened, again there were plus 2 acupoints that could be opened. The second division corresponded to Duke II Tier power. And the last division was from 7th to 9th Layers. 59+2 rule applied here as well and it corresponded to Duke I Tier power.

Not many cultivators would search for "plus" acupoints as it was hard to detect the sequence and these extra acupoints were harder to find. Usually average cultivators would just skip this hurdle to further their cultivations swiftly. But there were some hopeful cultivators who wasted their prime years in search of extra acupoints and died in regret.

After all, spotting the acupoints was much harder than opening them. There were some techniques that could help with spotting the acupoints but it was still an arduous and time-consuming task.

That was why most of the cultivators would usually be stuck at these stages of cultivation, and never progress further. And most of those that could cultivate further ignored the +2 acupoints that could be opened at the Crystallization Realms, because spotting them was much, much harder than normal ones.

The reason why others were surprised that Adam was able to break through to the Qi Crystallization Realm when he was still in his thirties was precisely because of this. Finding all 177 acupoints and strengthening them was easier said than done.

————

"HALT!" came a voice stopping them. Ezio was pulled out of his stupor.

"How rude." He was about to lash out as the voice was directed at him with force, but a hand stopped him from seeking his own death.

"Please forgive this monk and his disciple from barging into the city without seeking permission," Abbot said as he clasped his fist. "This disciple is untutored, didn't know better."

"Ah, an eminent monk," Guard said. He had a respectful voice but Ezio could sense a hidden mockery in that voice.

"I thought all of you would be bald." he continued and laughed like it was the best joke in the world. The other guards joined him in his howling.

A frown started to appear on Ezio's face. He was really mad at this point and would attack if there wasn't a hand pressing on his shoulder.

"No, we don't all have to shave. Those who shave their hair are mostly congenital balds." Abbot said with a smile.

"Ahaha. He answered seriously. This is the best." The first guard started to roll on the ground. "I will let you go for free. Ahaha, probably a pitiful monk like you doesn't have a dime on you, right?"

"Heh, just look at their clothes. How can they have any money on them?" One other guard joined the mockery. Ezio was fuming with anger, but he didn't do anything rash. If Abbot didn't say anything, there must be a reason. After all, no matter how strong this country was, a mere guard would not even be an exercise to Abbot.

"I thank you for your generosity. My disciple and I are indeed pitiful monks, even a dime is precious to us." Abbot said as he walked through guards with a smile. Ezio could see it was not a fake one. Abbot was having fun?

After they passed through the giant gate, Ezio lashed at Abbot, he was so mad he didn't even feel the concentrated Qi and Mana in the city was ten times better than what they had in the Sect.

"Abbot, why did you let them mock us like that? Those lowly guards were mere Qi Force Opening Realm, Third Layer. I could beat them all." Ezio gnashed his teeth.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Those are just pitiful mortals, never able to advance far in life. What reason is there to bully them with my strength? Just let them be. Remember Ezio, a king would not crush bugs with his own hands." Abbot said with his pristine smile. But his face became solemn in the next second. "And remember this, before you kick a dog, you have to learn its master."

Ezio understood what Abbot meant, of course, he knew it as well, but Abbot was one of the leading names in the kingdom. Who could dare to antagonize him, even the King himself would think to fight against a Sect as strong as the Cleansing Buddhist Sect.

After cooling down a little, Ezio started to feel the Mana and the Qi in the surrounding area. "Such a thick energy. If I cultivate here, I can break through twice faster than the sect."

"Azure Kingdom is Duke II Tier Kingdom. Of course, the capital is one of the best of the best places in the Kingdom with a dense Mana and Qi. Of course, we can't feel Mana, but it is also bountiful." Abbot said as he saw how Ezio reacted to the density of Qi. But there was a sinister glint in his eyes as if he was suspecting something and checking Ezio's every move. He was always doubtful that Ezio could use Mana, but even with the constant eye on him, he didn't catch anything indicating him using it. But his hunch was telling him otherwise.

Ezio noticed the piercing look Abbot threw at him, but feigned oblivious to it, "Mana, I wonder how it would feel to create spells. Would it be like martial arts, or is it entirely different?" Ezio was really wondering how the spells felt. Because even though he had Mana Force, and he was loved by mana, he didn't have any spell manuals to try it before. After all, the Sect he was residing in was Qi Cultivation Sect and didn't have a single manual about Mana Cultivation or Spells.

The Mana Cultivation manual he won from the Trade Room, Myriad Element's Roaring, wasn't covering any spell, and only had the Mana Circulation method and how to increase elemental affinity when one reached the Mana Force Opening realm.

Abbot sighed helplessly and started to walk to the workshop of his friend from his memories of this place. The place was mostly the same as he remembered. To Ezio however, the scene was a lot different from what he was seeing in the last 12 years.

The city was big. As big as the city he was living in his previous life. The crowd had a similar feeling as well. He never thought he would miss this noise, this disgusting smell, and touch or hit of a passerby.

After 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at another door smaller than the first, but the guards standing in front of it were much keener and stronger. They didn't have the tomfool attitude the previous guards had. Abbot also didn't play around and flashed a token, Ezio failed to notice the former's action. The guard at the front nodded and they walked through the gate just like that.

"Hey, big brother? Did you miss the monk over there because of how eyesore he is and you didn't want to look at him? Otherwise, how can a worthless monk go to the inner city?" came a voice behind Ezio and Abbot.

***

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