Another 16 days passed, and Mingwei finally reached 10,000 Qi gathered. This time, he made pillars and at the top of those pillars he created thick beams that connected the pillars to each other. They intersected together, and now truly resembled a sphere. It’s only missing the layer of Qi itself.

This time, it worked.

The layer sat on the beams and columns and didn’t collapse. The layer sat on the beams, and then he felt energy surge through his body. He had finally broken through to 2-stars!

Qi Cultivated

0/100,000

Qi Output Limit

110

Qi Storage

550/550

Core Toughness

1,100/1,100

Ah. It’s good to have a little more toughness and strength than before! Now, he had to sit and digest how and what he could now do as a 2-star cultivator!

He sat down in his room and took some time to look at his new core. It’s bigger now, and there’s one layer around it. This meant it could store more Qi. Back home, 2-star was when a cultivator properly formed a link with their soul-bound item. This would naturally boost Qi gathering and strength.

With the pillars now occupied a bit more space inside his soul, he wondered how many soul-bound items he could have. Back home, he had space for 3, each floating in a little ‘bubble’ in the thick Qi in the space between his core and first layer.

Again, he noted that although his core looks ‘stronger’ and ‘tougher’, his core toughness and Qi storage were all lower. Only Qi Output. Such strangeness.

Elder Qing, apparently, already sensed his breakthrough. How? Did they have some kind of high tier sensing ability at 5-6 stars? She stood outside.

“Ah, I see you’ve done it.”

“How did you know, Elder Qing?” He asked. He really was curious.

She smiled. “We have a technique called [Longbow Elder Sight]. Allows us to roughly see your cultivation, but it doesn’t work on those with cultivation higher than us. Which is useful in many ways.”

“Ah.” Mingwei internally thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t try something funny. At the same time, he wanted that technique.

“So, how is it, being a 2-star cultivator?”

Mingwei nodded. “It feels... normal.” It wasn’t impressive for someone who tasted the insane heights of 9-stars.

Elder Qing smiled. “Great. Tomorrow we can practice the associated Longbow Junior Defense Style Moves. It’s a style with 2 defense moves, 1 utility move and 1 offense move.”

The next day, Mingwei and Elder Qing met in a quiet courtyard next to Elder Qing’s workshop. She wore a practice robe, something she rarely did.

“Alright. Let’s get started.”

Elder Qing first began by demonstrating the 4 moves of the Longbow Junior Defense Style. And then repeated it again, and then she spoke about the Qi usage, of where to channel it, and how to channel it.

A punch is not just a punch, if it’s accompanied by a set of moves before it.

Longbow Junior Defense Style

Move Name

Minimum Qi Cost / Max Qi Limit

Effects

Longbow - Blocking Stance

50/5,000

Blocks 1.6 damage per Qi

Longbow - Holding Stance

100/100

Doubles effect of next 5 Longbow Style moves (not affected by cultivation method)

Longbow - Ranged attack

50/5,000

Attacks for 1.4 damage per Qi

Longbow - Heavy Block

100/2,000

Blocks 2 damage per Qi

“These 4 moves are part of the Longbow Junior Defense Style, and these moves are it’s base effects, but they stack with your cultivation method.”

These are decent moves for a 2-star cultivator. The heavy block in particular was a good skill to learn for someone who’s afraid of death.

“Alright, you seem to have understood it. Shall we have a small practice?” Elder Qing nodded after the two hour long demonstration. It was honestly relatively easy to understand, being lower level techniques.

Elder Qing got into a stance, and nodded. “Alright, young Mingwei. You start. Come.”

Mingwei nodded.

[Holding Stance! 100 Qi!]

[Ranged attack with 100 Qi.]

A condensed Qi bolt was released via his left hand. The ranged attack needed him to enter into a kind of punching motion, where the Qi concentrated in his body and released via a left punch.

With the effects of his cultivation method, which increases the effects of his moves by 50%, that single ranged attack should deal 420 damage!

Elder Qing nodded. “Good.” She deftly used her hands and smacked the bolt aside. A good deflection. No damage.

She got into position.

“Alright, your turn to defend.” Elder Qing moved at a speed that defied her age, and she punched with a Qi punch. It’s an upgraded Qi punch at about 200 Qi!

Mingwei paused, and he mentally calculated how much QI he needed. He took a breath.

[Blocking stance with 83 Qi!]

The attack landed, and Mingwei felt his core take 2 damage. Indeed, his calculations were right. He had 3 moves left with the Holding Stance’s moves.

Qi Storage

267/550

Core Toughness

1,098/1,100

Elder Qing clapped. “Very good estimation of the QI spent. How did you know I used about 200 Qi?”

Elder Qing had already stepped backwards, and was now three steps away.

Mingwei nodded. “Ah... I thought the color looked abit like that.”

“Very observant, and you have good mental calculation speed, taking in the effects of your cultivation methods and the holding stance. I believe most disciples would have used their [Heavy Block] instead of [Blocking Stance], which would have wasted their Qi.”

Mingwei bowed. “Thank you.”

“Good. Please keep practicing. You may be able to upgrade the moves to their superior forms.”

Mingwei nodded. “Thank you for your advice, Elder Qing. I will practice diligently.”

Elder Qing nodded. “So, at 2-stars is when cultivators can start cultivating a soul bound item. Do you have something in mind? A sword, a spear?”

Mingwei shook his head. “I am afraid I am not so martially inclined.”

“Oh.” Elder Qing looked quite pleased. “Come, let’s choose.”

The warehouse that stored the low-tier soul bound items were all unsatisfactory. They were all weapons! Not a single-utility or crafting item!

“I’m afraid I can’t choose any of them.”

“Hmm. In that case, perhaps you should buy one for yourself from the Northstar City’s market. Redmaw’s market is... basic.”

“That... would be good.”