Chapter 17

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Chapter 17: Self-Created Secret Qi Cultivation Technique: Imagination Method

Two months quickly passed.

After the assessment divided the range, the school that Yun Ye needed to attend changed completely.

He moved to a larger Qi Hall, and the number of students increased to more than fifty.

This time, he was fortunate enough to be in the same Qi Hall as Wang Yao, which was the Qi Hall (Ping Class), but with the prefix of the Second Exam.

With their proximity, Yun Ye and Wang Yao could do more together, often comparing their Tiger Fist skills and discussing the Qi Cultivation Technique, hoping to speed up their cultivation through such methods.

Unfortunately, relying solely on themselves yielded little success, far less than what guidance from a renowned teacher could provide.

However, with more students in the Qi Hall, the teachers had their own biases and did not pay extra attention to Yun Ye and Wang Yao, so their guidance was very lackluster and not very meaningful.

Meanwhile, the true geniuses, as well as those with money, received focused guidance, making rapid progress and widening the gap even further.

This was still under the condition that Yun Ye and Wang Yao were not being targeted. For those unyielding geniuses, those with vested interests simply wouldn’t offer guidance or would even deliberately provide incorrect advice, which was truly frightening…

After two months, Yun Ye made significant progress in the Qi Cultivation Technique, advancing from the early foundation phase to the mid-foundation phase. At this rate, he could probably achieve Minor Achievement in Qi Cultivation within a year or two and have the chance to awaken his Spiritual Roots.

But he also discovered a problem.

In his main classes, he focused on the Qi Cultivation Technique.

In his secondary classes, he practiced Tiger Fist.

In his elective classes, he learned about demons and cultivations.

The study load during the Second Exam stage at the Academy was very heavy, surpassing Yun Ye’s capacity to manage.

As the time spent on practicing the Qi Cultivation Technique increased, other areas suffered.

With three meals a day of D-level Superior Food, he had to practice the Qi Cultivation Technique at least fifteen times.

This was no small number; Yun Ye needed three hours for this.

In reality, he not only consumed D-level Superior Food for all three meals but also had an additional serving of C-level Superior Food.

Each day, he spent at least four hours practicing the Qi Cultivation Technique.

Adding to that the practice of Tiger Fist and various knowledge areas, Yun Ye’s time began to run short.

“Is there a way to improve the efficiency of the Qi Cultivation Technique…?”

Yun Ye pondered.

The Qi Hall specifically taught the Qi Cultivation Technique.

The higher the level of mastery, the better the effects. In general, mastery is divided into five levels: beginner, proficient, Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, and perfection.

Currently, he was only at the proficient level; theoretically, there was still a lot of room for improvement.

But this was only on the theoretical side.

Anyone who has focused on a particular skill for over ten years knows that the early stages of learning have the fastest gains, but as time goes on, improvements slow down, becoming a drawn-out process that can even lead to stagnation.

Although the Qi Cultivation Technique was not particularly complex, Yun Ye still took a month to reach basic proficiency and a year to become proficient.

To enter the Minor Achievement stage, it would probably take at least five years of gradual improvement to engrave this skill into his very bones.

But such a long time clearly could not resolve Yun Ye’s current dilemma.

The Qi Cultivation Technique, without a doubt, also has levels.

Just like the internal skills in martial arts novels, the effects of extraordinary skills and ordinary martial arts are vastly different.

As a teacher of the Qi Cultivation Technique, Yu Yu has mentioned other Qi Cultivation Techniques.

If the Qi Cultivation Technique taught by the government is the foundation, then the stronger techniques are the secret teachings.

All family secret Qi Cultivation Techniques developed gradually based on the foundation of the Qi Cultivation Technique.

Essentially, they are still the same kind of technique, but they are easier to learn and allow for reaching higher realms more easily.

It’s comparable to organizing the originally scattered knowledge into a tree of knowledge, enhancing learning efficiency.

In other words, regardless of the proficiency level of any Qi Cultivation Technique, they are generally applicable.

As long as one obtains it, they can likely start practicing it right away.

This universality gives secret teachings immense value; hardly anyone would share them.

As a teacher of the Qi Cultivation Technique, Yu Yu actually mastered secret teachings, which is why he was chosen as the instructor.

In theory, if he held nothing back, his students could rapidly advance even if they didn’t learn the secret Qi Cultivation Technique.

However, Yu Yu came from a prestigious family and couldn’t devote all his energy to teaching a commoner. By the end of the year, Yun Ye had only just grasped the "proficient" level of the Qi Cultivation Technique.

Yun Ye felt that the path at the Academy was not viable; to get secret teachings, he had to find other methods.

Either he could study them himself, which seemed almost impossible.

In a world as conservative as this one regarding secret techniques, Yun Ye could not buy secret teachings with money; he could only forcibly take them or earn merit for a prestigious family or the government to grant them to him.

Yun Ye lacked the strength, and he was just starting his cultivation, making it impossible to earn merit.

And the second path, studying on his own, seemed even harder.

Baishi Town had existed for at least a few hundred years, going through many generations, yet there were still only a few well-known families.

It was evident that this was something that couldn’t be accomplished in just a few generations; even with high talent, it was rare.

But after thinking it through, Yun Ye felt that studying on his own was likely his only option. His time was the least valuable; even if this lifetime didn’t work out, there would be a second life, and any small accumulation would be worthwhile.

With this thought in mind, Yun Ye completely let go, no longer pondering how to score more points on exams, and instead focused on learning various knowledge.

At this moment, Yun Ye discovered the value of the elective classes at the Academy.

Elective classes were where practical skills were directly taught.

They covered herbal classifications, mineral refining, even medical skills and musical instruments. However, these subjects were not aimed at revival of Spiritual Roots, so no one paid attention to them.

Yun Ye noticed that the students in the elective classes were mostly around fifteen or sixteen years old, which surprised him. Wasn’t this age the time for a sprint? Why were they still here?

But then he thought, perhaps at this final stage, they knew they had no hope of awakening their Spiritual Roots, so they came to learn these practical skills to earn a living, not wanting to waste their time.

After quietly inquiring, Yun Ye quickly understood the actual situation.

It turned out that the students in the elective classes were not just cultivators; in fact, the vast majority of learners were ordinary people without qualifications—they were apprentices from the government’s logistics department…

They could also be seen as generations of inherited servants.

Their lives revolve around learning skills, serving the government or cultivators, and eventually having children in a continuous cycle.

Yun Ye was no longer surprised; he silently blended in and absorbed the various knowledge he needed.

…

To study the Qi Cultivation Technique, one must first understand its operating principles.

In this world, almost everyone knows what happens but lacks understanding of why it happens, and they do not specifically study it, relying instead on flashes of genius for improvements.

However, for Yun Ye, the situation was clearly different; his creativity was lacking, making it impossible for him to forge a new path.

Yet, through systematic analysis of existing knowledge, he discovered things that most people overlooked.

That was the importance of the incantation.

The Qi Cultivation Technique must be accompanied by an incantation; although it can be silently recited, it cannot be absent at all.

The content of the incantation generally describes how Qi is refined from the whole body, gathers in the chest, lingers for a long time, and ultimately preserves life energy, allowing the body to gradually become stronger.

This sounded somewhat like… hypnosis? Self-suggestion?

Intrigued, Yun Ye immediately began experimenting.

First, he practiced the Qi Cultivation Technique without thinking about the incantation.

Unlike the Qi Cultivation Technique practiced with the incantation, simply performing the motions made Yun Ye sweat profusely, and he extracted almost no Qi.

This was a practice that didn’t even reach the beginner level; like his past experiences, it was ineffective.

Next, Yun Ye practiced the normal Qi Cultivation Technique again.

However, unlike a complete practice, this time, he carefully noticed his body’s changes while silently reciting the incantation.

The result was that due to distraction, the effectiveness of the Qi Cultivation Technique greatly diminished, yielding only about 40% of the Qi that would normally be produced.

Finally, Yun Ye did not chant the incantation but directly imagined the Qi being refined while performing the movements.

The result was quite interesting; during this practice, the Qi Cultivation Technique had some effect, but the effectiveness was greatly reduced to about 10%, even lower than when he was distracted while reciting the incantation.

Afterward, Yun Ye practiced the Qi Cultivation Technique through imagination multiple times, and to his astonishment, as his proficiency increased, the efficiency of his practice rose sharply, quickly reaching 80% of the normal practice efficiency, with even more room for improvement.

This situation further enriched Yun Ye’s understanding of "cultivation."

From Yun Ye’s perspective, practicing the Qi Cultivation Technique through imagination was actually harder than silently reciting the incantation.

Moreover, directly speaking the incantation was even easier than silently reciting it.

The reason he was able to quickly reach the level of normal incantation practice through the imaginative method was that he had already memorized the movements perfectly and could focus all his attention on the imagination.

However, for a beginner, even imagining a real object in their mind would be quite difficult, even without any other movements.

The imaginative method also required a very clear understanding of the sensation of Qi and the feeling of Qi being refined, which necessitated long-term practice for improvement.

Once mastered, the benefits far exceeded Yun Ye’s expectations.

The 100% threshold was swiftly crossed.

After just a month of Yun Ye’s modifications, the effectiveness unexpectedly reached 150%!

Yun Ye had a vague sense that the so-called secret Qi Cultivation Technique was actually about progressing from simple to complex, building a more comprehensive and clear cultivation process, rather than relying on the same set of auxiliary incantations.

Without understanding this point, the Qi Cultivation Technique might remain at a low level, making it difficult to achieve Major Achievement, let alone perfection.

In contrast to the imaginative method’s exploration, Yun Ye found no way to improve the body-refining movements; his experience was insufficient for that.

Any arbitrary change would cause the entire efficiency of the Qi Cultivation Technique to plummet, and simple trial-and-error would be a complete waste of time.

Modifying the movements would have to wait until he had enough understanding of this world’s cultivation system.

The teachers at the Academy all had the ability to modify the movements of Qi Cultivation Technique; they would guide and tailor the movements based on individual circumstances. If just one or two could do it, it could be attributed to extraordinary talent.

But if everyone could do it, it probably indicated some common knowledge; it was just that Yun Ye was not at the level to understand.