Mingwei had heard of a brief duel between Ma Yuehao and Zhen Jimeng. Apparently Yuehao won fantastically. Mingwei just nodded, and continued practicing runes.

He had been practicing runes for a good 20 days now, and his Qi was still capped at 99,999/100,000. It’s intentional, and he could break through at any time. But he didn’t, and he kept waiting. He hoped to be the 7th person to break through to the 3rd star, and only after the first full year had passed. Part of this is optics, because well, his brother took about the same time to break through to the 3rd star.

He didn’t want to be seen as more talented than his brother.

Indeed, it was around this period of time that the Sect conducted another round of disciple-hiring, and the 389th batch was admitted. At about the same time, Ma Yuehao, Zhen Jimeng, Shi Ruiyi and Yue Huadao were all made Outer Disciples about a week later, and with that, all 4 of them moved out to live in the Outer Disciple’s block. They wouldn’t have to share a room anymore.

Still, Mingwei focused on Runes.

And about a good 40 days after he started learning runes from Elder Qing, he had mastered the Lesser and Normal Monster-Hunter Runes, and the Lesser and Normal Super-extraction runes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to break through? You could learn the body-strengthening technique and then use the cauldron! 3-star also unlocked your 3rd soul-bound item slot!” Elder Qing would ask every now and then.

Mingwei nodded. “I’m still visualising the next star, Elder.”

Breaking through a new layer isn’t exactly hard, especially if one had already planned it properly. He spent time reading history, and other general cultivation books. Elder Qing had helped to obtain some of the higher-floor general books for his reading, and he loved it.

“Don’t take too long, you may end up being branded as the weakest and get targeted.” Elder Qing smirked.

Mingwei froze. That.... was a good point. Being in the middle is exactly what he wanted to do, but what if the others don’t have it in them to break through to the 3rd star? Already, just one more junior disciple from his batch broke through to the 3rd star.

“Ah it seems only 1 young lady broke through to 3rd star so far.”

Ah, that’s because his candle was only in his building! It wasn’t right to sneak into the girl’s block!

Mingwei was suddenly overwhelmed by the visions of his past lives. Many of them were ladies, and he shivered. It’s like he could remember both what the men and women remembered. He’s still a 11-year old boy and he didn’t have sexual urges! Not yet!

Mingwei pulled his focus back to himself, and considered his option. There’s already 5 3-star ahead of him. He’d be the sixth, and no one remembers the sixth.

But it’s not one year yet.

Ah well, he’d have to figure out a way to lie to his family. He’d go with the ‘lucky encounter’ with the ‘spirit-in-the-brush’.

So, he focused, and it took a good two hours to mold the Qi into the layers.

Instantly, once the structure was complete, he felt power rush through his veins. He broke through to the 3rd star. The 2nd layer was successfully constructed!

Qi Gathered

0/1,800,000

Qi Storage

5,800

Core Toughness

11,100/11,100

Qi Output

1,160

This is where things get harder. Even with the pill’s effect, and the cultivation candle, at a total of 1,475 QI per day, he would still need 4 years to gather sufficient Qi to even attempt to breakthrough. What if he failed? Each failure would cost 1 year’s cultivation!

But there are other things to do at the 3rd star as well!

Things like Body-enhancements and Physiques, or Upgrading Meridians all cost Qi.

“So, that makes you the 6th to make it to 3-star.” Elder Qing was obviously pleased. After all, Mingwei was her only junior disciple, and if she couldn’t get her ONLY junior disciple to 3-star then it looked really bad on her.

She paused and then started to give a lecture.

“4th star is when you’ll be able to develop a focused perk, so that’s the next stage you need to think about. From here on, cultivating Qi is often measured in years, and sometimes decades.”

MIngwei nodded.

“Once you create your 3rd layer, you will receive a special Red Qi, and you can then assign that red Qi to a part of your soul. If you assign it to a pillar, you will gain an extra soul-bound slot. If you assign it to the layer itself, you’ll get 10% Qi output. If you assign it to your central core, you’ll gain 20% core toughness. If you pull it into the space between your core and layers, and add it to one of the floating Qi, it’ll add 20% to your Qi storage.”

Ah, it’s very similar to his old world. Naturally, he’d pick a Soul-Bound slot. It’s the best choice for a crafter like himself, since he needs the slot for crafting tools! He was relieved of course, that some things are the same.

“Most people choose QI output, so that they can use higher-tier abilities.”

“Ah.”

“Here’s the Cauldron.” Elder Qing smiled, and she easily passed the Cauldron to him. “And it’s time for you to learn the Soulbound-storage.”

Soulbound storage is essentially a special spatial space for soul-bound items, essentially allowing anyone to take massive soul-bound items anywhere without having to lift or carry it. It costs 500 Qi every time an item is taken out or withdrawn, and takes a bit of time, so it’s not something to use while in battle. There are upgraded versions which are much faster, but they consume more Qi.

“And basic Qi-body reinforcement techniques.”