Qi Gathering

"2 Years?! Then if I just took this wouldn't it be like stealing? Whoever put this here even set up many precautions, if they found out that I stole it wouldn't they come get revenge?" Tie Zhu asked as he felt somewhat guilty if he stole some ones priceless treasure.

"What stealing? If they let their treasures be stolen so easily they don't deserve them in the first place. In the world of cultivation there is no room for sympathy, they can only blame themselves that they were not careful enough! Besides with the amount of Essence stored up in that bottle you should have no trouble breaking into the Qi Gathering Stage, in fact there should be enough left over so that you can directly break through to the 4th step!" Wang Yazhu snorted.

"4th step! From just the Essence inside that bottle?! Tie Zhu exclaimed, staring at the bottle as if it were his own baby. "... Wait a minute, aren't you the God of Righteousness? What part of being righteous is telling me to steal?" Tie Zhu asked suspiciously.

'$#%@@!' Wang Yazhu swore in his mind as he had forgot about his façade. "... In the world of cultivation almost everyone is at each others throats. The chances are that whoever hid this bottle here is a cold blooded murderer. Taking the bottle would be doing the world a favor... Plus you are far too weak now, once you see the contents inside the black stone you will realize how insignificant that bottle is anyways and you can easily replace it." Wang Yazhu responded, once again praising his own ability to think quickly.

".. I guess what you say does make sense. Then how to I use this Spirit bottle?" Tie Zhu asked, deciding to 'borrow' the bottle for the time being.

"That's easy, all you have to do is to drink the liquid inside the bottle and immediately begin the breathing exercises that I taught you earlier. Once you drink the liquid though you have to continue cultivating until all the Essence has been absorbed otherwise it will just be wasted. I recommend you to take a small amount at a time though as it will probably take you at least a month to absorb the entire bottle." Wang Yazhu explained.

"Only one month!!" Tie Zhu exclaimed, as before Wang Yazhu said that it would take him around two years of cultivation back in the city. It was only then did he realize the true value of this Spirit bottle, and to think that his master had called this bottle insignificant!

After listening to his Wang Yazhu's instructions Tie Zhu nervously unsealed the bottle careful not to let any of its contents spill. As he did so a mellow fragrance leaked out as incomparably fresh air drifted into his nasal cavity. Without wasting any more time he brought the bottle to his lips and took a tiny sip, draining the bottle around 2% of its contents. Immediately as the liquid made its way to his stomach, strands of Spiritual energy immediately bounced around chaotically as if trying to escape his body and back into the environment. Realizing this, Tie Zhu immediately began running his breathing exercises, attempting to stabilize and control the rampant strands of Qi.

Stabilizing the rampant strands of Qi however was only the first stage, as he had to then try channeling it into a stream to batter against the barrier between his first acupoint and the Dantian.

Calming his breath down, he immediately began to visualize the Qi strands slowing down making it easier for him to control. As these rampant strands began to slowly decelerate he used his mental energy to attempt to slowly direct a small portion of these strands into a stream to batter against the barrier. Focusing his mind entirely on the process, sweat beads formed on his face as he continued to maintain a steady breath. Just as the small stream was about to batter against the barrier, he unfortunately lost control of around half of the strands reducing the impact against the barrier.

"Thud!"

Despite this though, Tie Zhu still felt a sense of accomplishment as it was only his first attempt at controlling the Spiritual essence, and although it was not completely effective it showed that he still had some success. Not willing to give up Tie Zhu continued to try controlling the rampant strands of Qi, constantly hammering away at the barrier.

"Thud, thud, thud, thud!" It had only been 30 minutes since Tie Zhu began that he felt that he could comfortably control a small cluster of Spirit essence into a stream to hammer against the barrier, ever so slowly wearing it down.

"Thud!" Was the sound, as the last of the rampant essence inside his body had all been used up in the attempt to break down the barrier. "Hey, I've used up all that spirit essence, how come it feels like I've made no progress at breaking down the barrier." Tie Zhu suddenly asked.

"WHAT! Already?! It hasn't even been an hour yet! Did you let the essence escape back in to the environment or something?" What Yazhu exclaimed in shock. He knew that Tie Zhu roughly consumed around 2% of the liquid, going by that he should have taken at least 14 hours to consume, however he did that in only 1 hour, not to mention it was only his first time! This level of talent was rare even in his world and even he was not sure if he mastered cultivation that fast! 'How much of a genius is he?' He secretly thought to himself, wondering if his talent all came from his Pure Yang body or something else.

"No, I just tried to control the essence in small groups like you told me, Although in the first attempt I was only able to control half of the bundle it was not long before I managed to get the hang of it." He honestly replied.

'$@#$%@ Only half on the first try?' He thought to himself recalling that it took him at least 5 attempts to do so. "Well then, since you made light work on that continue to use up the rest of the bottle at your own pace, instead of taking a month like I previously expected it might only take you a few days. Your talent is indeed unexpected, good job." Wang Yazhu said sincerely, however with hints of jealousy.

Hearing his masters praise, Tie Zhu felt a burst of confidence as he took another sip from the bottle, however this time he took a bigger one. A cool refreshing feeling spread through his entire body as he consumed 5% in one go! Once again repeating his breathing exercises he hammered away at the barrier becoming more proficient after each attempt.

"Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud!" As he continued to beat down against the barrier the streams of Qi he was directing gradually became larger, and it was not long before he found his stomach once again empty with Essence, so he continued to repeat this process.

* * *

3 Hours later | 5 pm

'Why haven't I broken the barrier yet? I've almost used up the entire bottle and there's only 20% left! I can feel that the barrier is weakening but what if I don't break the barrier and there is not enough essence left. Didn't master say that I would be able to reach the 4th stage of Qi refining? I've used up 80% and haven't even reached the 1st!' He thought to himself and he dejectedly looked at the contents of the bottle. Taking a deep breath he emptied the remaining 20% of the rich liquid into his mouth!

'Lets get this over and done with!' he said to himself as he was about to form the abundant rampant Essence into groups of small streams to batter against the barrier. 'Huh that's strange! All this time I thought that the Essence was rampaging around rampantly however if I pay closer attention it actually follows a certain flow! He said to himself.' Realizing this he slowed down his breath, decelerating the strands of Qi so it was easier for him to observe. Once he determined its chaotic flow, he tried something different. He attempted to control the entirety of the essence into one large stream!

Visualizing the chaotic flow, Tie Zhu directed the entirely of the abundant Qi in his stomach guiding it in a massive stream along his meridian. Surprisingly as he directed the Qi along as a stream there was no struggle, rather it was rather effortless! Confidence grew in Tie Zhu as he accelerated the stream to finally smash into the barrier that refused to break down!

"BOOM!!!"