10: Chapter 10 [Qi Refiner]

The third night.

A young man with delicate features, slightly slanted bangs, and a posture as straight as a pine tree.

He sat cross-legged on the carpet, his expression natural and tranquil, blending seamlessly with his surroundings without appearing out of place.

As he slowly opened his eyes, a faint glow glimmered in their depths.

"Finally achieved," Wang An said expectantly. He mentally summoned the panel:

[ Name: Wang An; Essence: 1.70; Qi: 1.53; Spirit: 2.35; Talent: Incarnation, the more precise the control, the greater the mental energy consumed. Profession: Intelligent Life, Student, Martial Artist, Archer. Skills: Basic Taijiquan (Proficient, 450/1000), Fitness Qigong Baduanjin (Proficient, 300/1000), Mindfulness Meditation (Proficient, 150/1000), Refining Essence into Qi (Novice, 36/100), Compound Archery (Proficient, 70/1000) ]

Wang An was quite satisfied when he saw the growth rate of his three-dimensional attributes.

However, for things like attributes, the difficulty of improvement increases as they get higher. It might be necessary to combine them with some medicinal supplements, as ordinary cultivation methods would no longer be very effective.

He dismissed the various speculations in his mind; he didn't want to think about those now, as the current matter was urgent.

He took out three meteorites with mysterious patterns from his space.

Seeing these patterns, they seemed to carry some kind of mysterious power.

Wang An speculated that it was actually these patterns that were truly effective; once the job change was used, these patterns would dissipate, and the meteorite would become ordinary. "Perhaps I can try to comprehend these patterns in the future," Wang An thought to himself.

Following the guide's instructions, he took the job of [ Qi Refiner ].

With a thunderous "Boom," a loud noise echoed deep within Wang An's consciousness.

At this moment, his mind was clear, observing his own body; the blood inside his body was like a rushing river, surging and flowing.

The True Qi in his Lower Dantian was like mist over a lake, slowly rising and falling.

His mental energy traveled throughout his body, through the organs and systems of his internal organs, and the meridians of his limbs.

It returned to the Upper Dantian in the Niwan Palace, where a faint glimmer bloomed in the dark world.

This moment was a qualitative change in spirit, the realization of his own self.

Wang An brought up the information for the [ Qi Refiner ] profession.

Talent: Qi Observation, all Qi of heaven and earth is in his eyes.

Function: Improves Qi Refining efficiency; when refining Qi, one can always find the most suitable method for oneself.

Skills: Qi Gathering, gathering the Qi of heaven and earth. Qi Refining, refining the Qi of heaven and earth into the Primordial One Qi, which possesses various incredible mysteries.

Seeing this information, Wang An felt very surprised; he had previously thought that the [ Qi Refiner ] profession would only provide some skills to increase the growth rate of physical attributes.

He didn't expect that one talent and two skills would appear.

Although the information about these two skills and the talent was very sparse, as the saying goes, the fewer the words, the bigger the matter.

From Qi Observation to Qi Gathering, and finally to Qi Refining, this expanded Wang An's understanding of the [ Qi Refiner ] profession significantly. One must know that this was a Qi Refiner in a reality without magic, not those Qi Refining stage cultivators in cultivation novels.

Wang An began to examine his surrounding environment; what exactly was the so-called Qi of heaven and earth?

He saw that in this rental apartment, fiery red air currents were circulating in the room. Looking out the window, the floors in other buildings that were frequently occupied by people also had fiery red colors circulating, while those rooms that were rarely occupied were dim, empty, and cold.

At this moment, the moon began to appear, and as the moonlight shone, a faint, silvery-white Qi drifted down from the moon.

Wang An used the [ Qi Gathering ] skill to contact the silvery-white Qi, gradually guiding it into his Dantian. Upon entering his body, he felt a cool sensation flow through, slowly suspending above the Dantian and forming a nascent moon with a faint glimmer. Afterward, his mental energy decreased by 0.1; he figured both these skills consumed mental energy to achieve their effects.

At this moment, the panel provided feedback: [ Lunar Qi: 1 ]

He tried to use his mental energy and will to drive the Lunar Qi. As soon as he touched the Lunar Qi, he felt his thinking become stiff, and his thoughts could not function.

It wasn't until this strand of mental energy was exhausted that Wang An came back to his senses, his back drenched in cold sweat. Wang An's mental energy was simply too weak; he could only perform internal observation and could not project it out of his body, let alone withstand this kind of heaven and earth energy.

Helpless, he could only use the [ Qi Refining ] skill, driving the Lunar Qi to contact and merge with the True Qi swirling in his Dantian. In the end, the Lunar Qi disappeared, leaving only this strand of True Qi with a silvery-white glow, floating above the other True Qi.

Wang An named this strand of True Qi [ Lunar True Qi ]. Subsequently, he drove this [ Lunar True Qi ] to circulate through his body. His body felt waves of cool comfort; the waves in his blood gradually stabilized, the flow became more natural and smooth, and the conflicts gradually dissipated.

Finally, the [ Lunar True Qi ] that returned to the Dantian had a very dim light, almost imperceptible. Wang An drove other True Qi to replenish it, but it only made this strand of Qi larger; its light did not recover, and when he tried to circulate it again, it no longer possessed the same ability it had just had.

Wang An could only re-gather and refine the Lunar Qi. Gradually, he also summarized how to maintain this strand of [ Lunar True Qi ].

Moreover, as the gathering and refining of Lunar Qi gradually increased and its ability gradually strengthened, Wang An speculated that if he wanted to refine Lunar Qi into the Primordial One Qi, besides needing a large amount of Lunar Qi, he would need True Qi to act as an intermediary for combined refining. After reaching a certain quantity, a quantitative change would cause a qualitative change, forming the [ Primordial Lunar Wondrous Qi ] which possesses certain mysteries.

Therefore, the fiery red Qi in the room should belong to a type of human Qi. However, Wang An did not intend to gather and refine this type of Qi for the time being.

He guessed that the formation of this Qi required people to live for a long time to sustain it for so long. If all this Qi were gathered, the room would become like those houses that had been unoccupied for a long time, becoming cold and deteriorating very quickly.

The comfort level would be greatly reduced, so he should first finish refining this [ Primordial Lunar Wondrous Qi ] before doing anything else; trying to do too much would only lead to failure.

Looking at this level, to refine one strand, it would take at least 108 wisps. He could only gather and refine Lunar Qi from 10 PM to 2 AM every day; 2 AM to 6 AM was the Extreme Yin time when the sun had not yet risen and the moon was about to set; 6 AM to 10 AM was the Lesser Yin time when the Yang Qi was gradually dissipating and the moon had just appeared.

Theoretically, if the weather was good during the day and there were no clouds blocking the moon, one could separately gather and refine three types of Yin Qi: Lesser Yin, Lunar, and Extreme Yin.

In reality, to gather and refine a complete strand of Primordial Qi, based on his current speed, it would take at least about 7 days. Moreover, considering the consumption of using the skills, he could only first achieve the Lunar Qi among the three Yin.

Wang An started gathering and refining Lunar Qi from 10 PM until it gradually disappeared after 2 AM. A grayish-white Qi appeared, and as soon as it appeared, he felt the outside temperature drop slightly; this was precisely the Extreme Yin Qi.

Today, he gathered a total of 18 wisps of Lunar Qi, and his mental energy had almost reached its lowest point. It was getting late, so Wang An prepared to meditate to recover some mental energy before continuing with Qi Refining.

Moreover, he had to start collecting job-change stones tomorrow; he only had 7 usable job-change stones left, his reserves were bottoming out!

Hopefully, he would have some gains this time.