Upon feeling the massive amount of energy in his body, he clenched his fist in the darkness before declaring to himself.

“Now I need to ready myself to enter the tan’tien saturation realm!”

****

A few days had passed since Lu Pei’s advancement to the peak of the vessel qi gathering realm.

He had applied a copious amount of ointment and medical paste to the wounds he had suffered at the abrupt expansion of his body and for the internal injuries he had suffered from it as well.

After all, he had not reached a point where he could direct spiritual qi to heal his injuries. As of now, all the spiritual qi he had gathered were in his vessels waiting to be poured into his tan’tien.

Normally, one would have to spend an immense amount of funds to purchase the magical herbs needed to heal such extensive injuries. This was especially the case for cultivators.

Of course, Lu Pei had neither the foundation nor resources necessary to do so. Because of this, he was forced to and effectively learned to live off the land. As of now, he was extremely far away from Thunder Cloud City due to the path he knew he needed to walk.

The encounter he experienced a few weeks ago also blessed him with a direction. This particular forest didn’t have a name, but it was part of a region known as Bai Lei Mountain.

The forest was like a green carpet that covered a small part of the massive mountain. Though it boasted a perimeter several thousand of li large, compared to the size of the mountain, it could only count for nothing. However, it was here that saw the most traffic from cultivators within the Eastern Wasteland.

It was an area filled with hundreds of different types of magical beasts and magical medicinal herbs and plants.

The vast variety gave rise to a myriad of opportunities for Lu Pei to grow. Whether it be stealing from other cultivators who probably deserved it, or just hunting down specific medicinal herbs that could allow him to experience an explosive rise in power upon their use.

Though extensive usage of medicinal herbs could result in one or more unwanted sequelae in the future, the creature that set him upon this path made sure to stress the urgency of his immediate improvement. Plus, it would be a lie if he said he didn’t feel some invisible blade hanging over his neck, held aloft by the thinnest of strings.

Regardless, this was not a region that just anyone could enter. The deeper one went into the forest that covered this mountain, the more powerful and dangerous the magical beasts that one could encounter would be.

So why was Lu Pei able to safely venture so deep into a forest where few cultivators, even those above his realm, dared to tread?

The answer was quite simple.

He fished around in his robe for a brief moment before taking out a bundle of cloth. Opening it up revealed a smidgen of black dust that revealed a pungent and strange odour.

It caused a prickling feeling all over his body the second he was assaulted by the scent.

“It’s almost done. I won’t be able to stay here much longer,” sighed Lu Pei.

This black dust was the reason why Lu Pei was able to safely enter this forest. The aroma wafting from it warded off some of the most vicious magical beasts.

This was how Lu Pei was able to bypass the violet-armoured serpent king. He had taken out a small amount applied to his body which caused the serpent king to stay its assault and allow his passage.

This was the only physical thing that the Di Ming gave him that day. Once this was finished, he would need to leave here and find other ways to increase his strength.

Judging by the amount he had left, that day wasn’t far off.

“Whatever. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

After putting these distracting thoughts to the back of his head, Lu Pei assumed the lotus position and went into a state of deep focus.

Sshhhaaa!

A gentle energy swirled around Lu Pei following the process that would allow him to become an official cultivator.

Inside his body, in a special space, there was a round black mass surrounded by nine large, shining, basin-shaped objects.

These were the vessels that were practically bursting at the seams with spiritual qi. Lu Pei was now accessing these massive reserves of energy to bring to life his tan’tien, turning it into something he could draw energy from.

Whoosh!

The first vessel released its hold on the pure concentrated energy within and Lu Pei used his will to drive this energy towards his tan’tien.

The spiritual qi was like the waters of a river, crystal-clear yet blessed with a glow that escaped mortal constraints. It was this energy that allowed earthly men to become ever closer to the realm of gods.

Yet, despite the surging spiritual qi that gushed into the Blackhole-like tan’tien, there were no changes.

Thus, before the first vessel was finished, Lu Pei let loose the second vessel upon his tan’tien.

Whoosh!

The sudden influx of spiritual qi roared along like the unforgiving charges of a wave-filled sea, but even with this, no changes could be seen.

However, Lu Pei was not flustered, he knew that the only reason his tan’tien was so unresponsive was due to the copper destiny he was born with. But with the forceful upgrading of his destiny, he was able to reach a level that would have otherwise taken a regular mortal’s lifetime.

Whoosh!

The third vessel’s content was set free adding even more spiritual qi to the torrential flow the tan’tien was assaulted with.

Dum! Dum!

Suddenly, a faint thumping sound came from it, akin to the faint beating of a heart before it went silent once more.

Lu Pei’s own heart was beating wildly in his chest upon sensing this. He knew what this phenomenon meant. His tan’tien was extremely close to coming to life. This was much earlier than he had thought, and since it only took place at around the third vessel, he didn’t need to act in reserve any longer!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The fourth, fifth, and sixth vessels broke the hold on their seals one after the other in quick succession emancipating a tsunamic swell of spiritual qi that washed over the tan’tien!

Dum! Dum! Dum!

As each wave beleaguered the thing, intent on setting it drunk on their power, the beat of a heart rose after every hit.

C-crack!

There was no change from the round obsidian-like mass until a white shining hairline crack appeared on its surface.

Before this, the tan’tien was like a gaping maw that revelled in the concept of unrivalled greed. The consequence of such a monstrous glutton brought about its undoing.

CrACK!

The rimation spread all over the tan’tien like an ever-encroaching plague. Its purpose, however, was far from being a detriment to Lu Pei in any way.

When the tan’tien was finally bereft of its previously smooth plane, a startling reaction went off.

D-Dum Boom!

An explosion of light erupted from the round black mass like a sun reaching the end of its life!

The explosion encompassed the vessels, turning the space into a spectacle that a cultivator could only see once in their life.

It took a while for the explosion to die down, but once it did, a stunning sight greeted Lu Pei, who was watching everything through his mind’s eye.

Hong!

There, where once stood his lifeless a tan’tien, was a glowing orb with pulsating spiritual qi within. It was like the embryo of a world that needed much nourishment before anything else.

The minute Lu Pei saw this, a feeling of strength welled up within.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

“Ngh…”

His bones popped as the spiritual qi calmly ran through his meridians throughout his body, drawing a euphoric groan from him.

“W-Wait, I need to do ‘that’ before it’s too late!”

A thought made its way to him before he forgot. As of now, he had only used a mere seven vessels to bring his tan’tien to life.

There were two whole vessels that were still unused.

Usually, a person would not experience such an issue. Most cultivators more or less usually only care about rising through the realms and will jump to the next level at the first opportunity to experience the immediate increase in strength.

So having a vessel that was practically bursting at the seams with spiritual qi was extremely rare, as it would take way more time for someone to inundate the vessel that much qi. Logically, it became even more unheard for ALL the vessels to be like this.

There were even times when cultivators who had all nine vessels ‘filled’ weren’t able to bring their tan’tien to life. This was simply due to them only having reached the bare minimum of their vessels being considered full before they moved on to the next vessel.

In addition, some tan’tien may need more spiritual qi than others before it can be brought to life.

Since Lu Pei had two more vessels bursting with spiritual qi at the moment, he could use them to immediately advance in the tan’tien saturation realm. Only true geniuses of cultivation would have vessels leftover to immediately nourish their tan’tien, geniuses on the level of the ice fairy Qin Ling. One doesn’t even need to ask if a freak like Long Di was able to do so.

With this knowledge, Lu Pei quickly channelled the spiritual qi from his two vessels to get the jump start he needed.

Normally, one would need time to consolidate their foundations when entering an entirely new realm. However, the first few starting realms were practically the foundation for the later realms by themselves. So they could count as the foundation realms if we were to categorize them. Once one didn’t take shortcuts in these early stages, there would be no troubles later on.

Vrrrmm!

The spiritual qi gently poured into the newly awakened tan’tien giving it the nourishment it desperately needed.

The tan’tien saturation realm was a level of doing exactly what it was called. It was a realm where one cultivated by saturating the tan’tien with spiritual qi.

Due to the tan’tien still being extremely fragile on account of it being newly awakened, Lu Pei has to be very careful in controlling his spiritual qi. Its fragility meant that raising its level was easier, but at the same time, it also meant that the chances of it being damaged were ridiculously high.

However, Lu Pei was someone who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice speed when it was necessary for a long trek on the path of cultivation.

It took a whole week for him to fully and safely empty the eighth and ninth vessel into the tan’tien, fully making him a middle stage initial immersion level martial apprentice.

When he was finished, he slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a turbid breath of qi.

He opened and clenched his fists, feeling the changes in his body. When he felt it, he smirked to himself.

He thought to himself for a moment before he decided his next path since it wouldn’t be feasible for him to stay here that much longer.

“Good, now that I’m at the tan’tien saturation realm, I’ll make my way to that Soaring Cloud Immortal Sect.”