Wu Guang returned to the residence, where he encountered Yuan Taotu, who after nodding in greeting handed him a package - which turned out to be the battle attire. Wu Guang thanked him and after storing it without opening proceeded to the center of the sanded arena that occupied half of the yard.

He had been analyzing both qi techniques while walking and decided that the most important thing, for now, would be to at least get accustomed to them. And so he proceeded to practice them for the rest of this day and most of the following one. When he got to a level of mastery acceptable to him, which would actually shock any instructor, as it was the Advanced level of mastery, Wu Guang stopped training the techniques as no more improvement could be reached without actual battle experience.

He had another three days left, and so he decided to spend them on familiarizing, training, and mastering all the manuals he memorized.

On the 6th day since they ascended, which was also the last day before the preparatory week they had decided to on before taking a mission Wu Guang concluded that he is ready. In any case, he could not improve more at the moment.

At the moment he had mastered two qi techniques at an advanced level. The 'Rock Shield' was mainly used as a barrier and it was activated by a simple pair of seals while infusing qi into the ground via the 'Stomping the hill' technique. Actually, it was more complicated, but as mastery grew all techniques became more simple and Wu Guang knew that any technique would require absolutely no preparation to be cast after surpassing advanced mastery. Right now at his level, a stone slab about 10 feet tall and wide could be called normally in exchange for a tenth of his total qi, but he could decrease the size by spending less qi, or if going over the limit he should be able to double it, although he would spend most of his qi. He knew that this was an extremely good result, as from the technique information this size would require half the qi in the dantian of a Spirit realm. Still to make sure he proceeded to test it several times and only after confirming this, concluded that it was indeed good.

The "Flaming Fist" was a bit different, as it would not actually spend qi to activate and would not require a mantra or seals, being activated by a special circulation technique. This technique only used his upper body meridians and was centered to carry qi from the dantian via the Yang meridians towards his hands. Arriving there, the qi would be expelled via the pores to form a kind of gloves, which ignited in flames on his command. Qi from the dantian would be spent for every moment of burning, but the preparation could be maintained with no drainage.

While confirming the technique itself, Wu Guang also analyzed that with his current level of mastery the flames were not in a shade of red as before, but were almost white - which meant not only that the flames were of a higher grade, but also that their temperature was far over the normal fire. With his current dantian capacity, he could maintain the flames for over an hour, but when used in combat the flames would be spent and the cover would need to replenish, so he calculated the maximum time to be a quarter of an hour.

Stopping the flames, Wu Guang remembered an extract from the explanation about qi, one of the treatises he wrote and was lauded for. "Qi, although neutral and non-elemental is still at the same time formed of equal parts, with each except the last one being of elemental nature". The continuation of the extract actually described the different elements present, as well the fact that elemental or special qi that some cultivators would create or could be found in special areas was simply normal qi with the relevant elemental part being bigger, or the dominant one.

Actually, he had recalled this because of his thoughts on how to reach the real full mastery for this technique, which not only required combat usage but also to be practiced in a fire qi environment. The first part would be solved easily, at least in his plans, but for the latter part, he had no idea where to find an area as such, so he added a mental note to investigate this along with the other things he needed to.

After testing the qi techniques, Wu Guang analyzed the available non-qi combat methods he had, which actually were many, but only a few could be used versus a cultivator of the same level. "I have mastered at least one manual of movements for each of the melee weapons that I have in my possession, but only 'Hurricane Sword' can be considered a full school. 'Sandstorm' is not fully complete judging from what I have sensed, but it should be useful in combat, and when combined with the 'Flaming Fist' it should be my strongest combat method.

The spear can be used in combat as well thanks to Instructor Ge sharing 'Stinging Bee' with me, but it's not complete and I can only rely on it as a backup. For the ranged weapons I have the bow and the throwing daggers, but both of them are simply based on common training, and to be effective in an equal fight will require me to use my consciousness, which is not ideal - so they will have to be used only versus non-spirit level opponents. As for unarmed martial arts, I have mastered all the basic movements in the library, but only a few will be useful in combat. Excluding the ones meant to be used with qi, punch ones will be the best to use as they can be combined with the 'Flaming Fist'".

With everything analyzed, Wu Guang concluded that his current fighting strength was enough to fight anyone below the intermediate Spirit realm in close quarters and if he fully used or overtaxed his strengthened consciousness and soul, he could defend himself from any cultivator below the Soul realm. Regretfully he had no movement technique, so except for the speed he could reach thanks to the strengthened muscles, evading combat would be extremely hard.

After analyzing the qi stored inside the dantian and the natural speed of recovery he had thanks to the 20 meridians, he found out that he could maintain all his body infused without any decrease, so both his basic strength, defense, and speed would always remain at their peak - which gave him an enormous advantage against an equal level opponent. Plus as he would to not stop the infusion process at all, protect him or at least help him react quicker in case of ambush or other sudden dangers.

He then proceeded to decide on the weapons he would carry for now. Judging that his most powerful state would be a combination of 'Sandstorm' and 'Flame Fist', Wu Guang decided to carry a saber as his main weapon. The bow will serve as a ranged weapon. The concealed throwing daggers may be useful for him now that he could cover them with qi so after a brief thought, he decided to keep them on himself.

The hunting knives were basically tools now, but as they did not occupy space and could be concealed, Wu Guang decided to carry them anyway.

Thinking of a backup weapon made him store the sword he bought for training in his holding pouch as well, although he would even need it. Still, carrying a backup weapon was wise as the saber was a simple medium quality one, so it could break or get dull after a few fights.

Completing this revision of his strength, arsenal, and techniques, Wu Guang took the rest of the day off, to rest before the day they had decided to undertake their first sect mission. He did not try to advance his cultivation yet, as the Forming or 1st level of the Spirit realm would naturally advance as the dantian was emptied and replenished. It could be advanced forcefully, by spending all the qi and recovering via meditation or pills, but this could affect its stability in the future. Actually, he had already felt that the process was going fine. To the point that his dantian was slightly tangible after his training. Judging that fights and training would be enough, Wu Guang decided to cultivate this level the natural way.