“One is free to have a strange encounter. If he can retain it and becomes a talent, that is also his luck. If he can't protect it and loses his life in the end, that is also what he deserves.”

Qai was still a very inexperienced cultivator.

After he took the remains of the winged Lion, he had his fill of its rich meat.

Of course, it was acceptable that Qai didn't know a lot of things. In fact, when he woke up from this world, he had put a premium on getting pieces of information.

But even then, his decision to eat the Spirit Beast—despite cultivators able to fast from mortal food—was not totally a wasted effort.

Spirit Beast meat was still Spirit Beast meat. Its body still contained spiritual Qi energy.

And even if cultivators should no longer feel hungry, Qai was but a mere level 1 Qi Condensation stage cultivator—just a shade above mortals.

So when he had a bite, it still tasted good.

While digging in though, when he felt he could in fact eat it whole, he just gave in to his desires.

And right after finishing the entire Spirit Beast, he could feel that the Qi energy strand in his body became slightly thicker.

‘So whenever an ordinary mortal eats Spirit Beasts, the spiritual Qi energy was not totally wasted. It is perhaps diverted into some kind of energy that strengthens the physical body because it has nowhere else to go.’

Qai’s conjecture was spot on in this. Although of course, in his case as a ‘knight,’ the effects of the meat were more like catalysts for further enhancement.

‘But now that I have a cultivation method that can help me store spiritual Qi energy within me, the strands of Qi that I have can get slightly thicker with a bite.’

Qai believed that as ‘cultivator,’ the effect of Spirit Beast meat was huge. In reality, such development would amount to a trivial thing.

One could only imagine how an entire level 6 Spirit Beast only afforded him a measly spiritual Qi energy.

How many Spirit Beasts then would a cultivator need to slay for one to advance. A hundred? A thousand?

In truth, 99% of the spirtual Qi energy in a Spirit Beast was condensed in its core.

And if only Qai knew this fact, he would surely die from vomiting blood. It was no wonder why Old Bu only asked for beast cores for most of the time and why he never cared to explain the reason why.

However, for a novice cultivator like Qai, the little change that occurred in him was more than enough to be satisfied.

And since he had a task to deliver a hundred beast cores weekly, he was already feeling excited with eating more, to benefit ‘more.’

Of course, he kept the winged Lion’s skins to bring it to his father—they were from a level 6 Spirit Beast after all.

Booom.

’Raging Beast!’

Baam.

Apparently, Qai was still used to using his old Guandao skills—they were still much reliable and powerful than the basic attack acquired from the ‘Transcending Autumn Arts.’

But from time to time, he would cast it nonetheless and saw it for himself if he could train with it and develop it further.

For now, it was still nameless and he used his fist mostly to perform it.

Qai went back to his old routine—hunting in the morning, and cultivation at night.

During fights, he did not attempt to summon to his side any from the giant Ant colony fearing that Old Bu might notice it.

However, he was letting the Ant Soldiers hunt Spirit Beasts in his stead at nighttime. And with the advantage of their shadow ability, the giant Ants were able to bring him around 10 Spirit Beast carcasses nightly.

This, eventually, made his weekly task way easier.

Qai, of course, did not fail to ask few questions from Old Bu who, in turn, stingily responded to every question as usual.

Even then, he learned that his Spirit Roots was that of Wood element based on the color of the spiritual Qi energy that he produced.

He also got an idea from the old immortal that he could try to combine his Guandao moves with the attack from the cultivation method and top it with his Intent.

Qai of course very much liked the idea but didn't know how to go about it.

Old Bu explained that the key was that instead of using the sharpness of the blade—and cut enemies down—his Guandao should instead unleash a blade-form force formed from spiritual Qi energy itself.

“Transform the physical to spiritual. That way, you can attack from a certain distance.”

Of course, the old cultivator wasn't sure himself—since he never cultivated the same cultivation technique. It was his own theory and, in reality, he only wanted to observe if it would be possible.

It was as if Qai was his lab rat.

“Boy, I’m telling you, it's all about comprehension. Immortal Dao is all about comprehension. And it appears to me that the skills found in the cultivation method I gave you are too simple. I can only make speculation. But I think they can be transformed.”

Old Bu explained enigmatically with his hands behind his back acting like he truly belonged to the senior generation.

“Physical strength is all good but it is best that you find a way to use the spiritual Qi energy inside your body to good use. Use it to your advantage.”

Old Bu’s words seemed to impress Qai much. And he committed them into his memory like an old age doctrine.

As the days went by, Qai decided to move his abode way a bit deeper into the mountains—as he noticed that spiritual Qi energy became denser the more he neared the core ring—but definitely towards the other side from the direction where Old Bu always came from.

He obviously didn't want the old cultivator to find out any of his secrets.

Qai also decided not to hunt anymore and let the Ant Soldiers do it themselves.

Instead, he cultivated daily and tried comprehend how to integrate all of his 3 knight skills into that one basic move from the ‘Transcending Autumn Arts.’

‘The basic attack from the cultivation method should have 3 varying moves then. As I perform the incantation of the skill, I must also perform the actual swings from my Guandao.'

Qai only used more than just imagination.

He spent night and day in seclusion and only emerged from his abode just before Old Bu came to collect the beast cores.

‘I believe the right way to do it is to integrate Intent with spiritual Qi energy. But how come every time I attack, it always ended up the same as before. Shouldn't the force that comes out of the weapon must have some kind of an image?’

Apparently, whenever he tried his moves, they always appeared like plain thrust or hacks with just a glow of spiritual Qi energy.

This was not the kind of attack he imagined.

He never saw Old Bu fight so he can only use the Spirit Beasts’ attacks as his example.

He remembered them using spiritual Qi energy forming like a fireball, wind blades, water spheres, ice spears, and many others. So he thought, his 3 moves should have the same look.

‘Comprehension, the key is comprehension!’

He gritted as he repeated Old Bu’s words in his mind.

He recalled the first-ever Spirit Beast he fought against—the Bison. It had definitely made a deep impression in his mind.

He thought of it not because he wanted to copy its skill, he just tried imagine the Spirt Beast as it was—its very being.

He continued to imagine it for an entire day.

Then another day until he appeared to be in a trance.

Finally after 3 days, Qai opened his eyes.

He immediately went outside his abode.

Once outside, he focused his gaze on a nearby tree standing some meters away. He chanted an incantation on his mind while he simultaneously thrust his Guandao.

Suddenly, a viridescent bronze-colored spiritual Qi energy emanated from his body which eventually moved toward his hand then to his Guandao.

All these happened in an instant.

‘Raging Bison!’