An azure blue substance that was half way between tangible and intangible, half way between solid and gaseous, flowed through his body. At the first margin of a river, the water tends to flow slowly, smoothly, in resonance with the cycle of nature. Xander emulated that motion with Qi, slowly exerting his will at the immediate environment around him, trying to sense the Spiritual Qi within the air.

It ended up taking him a day without results, and exerting his will over the environment delivered no results. Thankfully, once one detect their dantian, sensing spiritual qi was hardly a difficult task. Finally, he could feel, but not see, the fairly sparse spiritual qi in the environment.

So, he commanded his spiritual roots to gently absorb the surrounding qi, and then cycle it throughout his body in the rhythm of the soothing flow of river water flowing downstream. The process was slow, but step by step, he slowly absorbed spiritual qi from the environment, coalesced it within his dantian, and spread it out using the small branching connections that spread throughout his body. When one cycle was completed, those small branches would strengthen, their ability to circulate spiritual qi increase, and the capacity of his spiritual qi would also increase, making him stronger.

The first step succeeded, so he moved on to the next stage. The middle of the river, where the flow of the water was fast, powerful and intimidating, for all that stood in its way would be grinded away by its eternal cycle. He strained his spiritual root, and the pores in his body fully opened up, greedily absorbing the sparse spiritual qi in the environment without restraint. His dantian almost ended up in a state of overflow, though the energy was dispersed through the branching connections as soon as it reached that stage, in accordance with the manual. He could feel his nigh depleted stores of spiritual qi getting completely restored, and he had reached near peak potential.

It seemed that the effect of the spirit coins Wen Jie had absorbed before his death and the impurities that should have hindered his cultivation had magically disappeared, though he could guess at the cause with little difficulty.

Xander lasted in this state for a full ten minutes, until his dantian started to protest under the pressure. Thus, he transitioned into the final stage of the flowing river manual, the meandering river’s end, the spiritual qi that had covered the majority of the branching connections in his body slowing down to a trickle. For the river would soon meet with the ocean. Finally, every single inch of his body had received nourishment from the environments spiritual qi, and Xander felt both exhilarated and exhausted at the same time.

One cycle. Complete.

Time taken: Two and a half days.

When he was half way through the process, Xander had cheekily tried to upgrade the state of his spiritual roots and reach the next level. However, he had met with the equivalent of a iron gate, that nonchalantly rebuffed his advancement to the next level. He was not disappointed, for it was just a probe. But it seemed that the spiritual qi in his environment was not good enough, and his determination and resolve also seemed to be lacking. Once one left a crack, even a slight one, on that iron gate, they would have to go through the ascension process as soon as possible, for even a day’s delay could result in Qi Deviation.

Well, all and all, it was not a bad start.

There was only one problem.

Wen Jie used to do 10 cycles a day.

============================================

Xander’s remaining days before his return passed in relative peace, for no one came looking for him and his life faced no threats. He mainly focused on cultivating, though as a human from Earth it was an extremely monotonous and boring endeavour. He had gotten much, much better at the Flowing River Technique, and had learned the basics of Qi Reinforcement. He could now channel his qi into any body part that he desired, flowing qi through specific branches and strengthening those body parts.

However, weapon reinforcement, which was projecting Qi outwards, on the weapon, as an extra sharp layer, was quite simply beyond him. Thankfully, Wen Jie also had the same shortcomings. It was a technique beyond most outer disciples.

As for his combat style and stance…. Well, that was a problem. The sword technique that Wen Jie used, well, to be quite honest it was the most basic technique that you could find: The Five Elements Sword Technique. Not to say that was Wen Jie’s fault, just that almost all the footwork and swordplay techniques in the sect were designed for superhumans, and Wen Jie had barely transcended mortality. Only when he crossed the third stage of Qi refinement, would he be qualified to select a technique from the Hundred Swords Pavilion.

And Xander… he was not very good at it. Inheriting memories could not replace practise. However, he had to return to the sect tomorrow.

Well, there was nothing more to be done in that aspect.

He had only one agenda left on his practice list.

============================================

Xander walked with his back ramrod straight, like an arrow. Chin upturned, eyes sharp, chest puffed out.

“Hmph,” he snorted out. “You there!” He pointed at the wooden wall. “Yes, you. Go and cut hundred logs of spirit wood.”

“What did you just say? Unfair? Junior, there is no fairness under the heavens. Make those one hundred and twenty logs of spirit wood.”

He paused, and then changed stances.

Back slightly hunched to indicate his station, fingers locked with fingers, eyes lowered humbly, and a genuine, almost touching smile on his face.

“Young master Xia, to reach the fourth stage of Qi refinement at just seventeen years, you are truly unrivalled under the heavens! It is this one’s pleasure to make an acquaintance of one destined to be a legend in the future,” He humbly said with a light bow at the end.

“Hmm, maybe I laid it a bit thick there near the end," he muttered to himself with a light chuckle.

The time to return neared.

From now on, he would be Wen Jie.