The source of most of the magical properties of qi was movement. To be more accurate, certain methods of movement.

When kept still, qi acts the same as any other matter, susceptible to heat, magnetic fields, telekinesis, and forces like gravity; of course, the parameters differed wildly from normal matters. But this was still within the boundaries of ordinary matter.

But once qi is made to move, the properties of qi shift fast. Much like electric charges creating magnetic fields, a controlled flow of qi could construct the gateways to the power of manipulating matter, force, laws, order, space, dimensions, totalities, energy, and information.

Most cultivation techniques cannot solely depend on one of those aspects to develop a pursuit-worthy, comprehensive set of abilities. Because all of these aspects are connected and correlated. If one wishes to construct a technique that focuses on only one aspect, one'd require extensive knowledge of these interrelations, which isn't really possible for any single cultivator unless they devote millennia after millennia to just studying and experimenting.

At least, to Han Xuhan's knowledge, no such technique existed on this planet. All the techniques he had seen so far relied heavily on one or two aspects while borrowing a shallow ground from other aspects and concepts. None of these concepts were utilized to their highest potential in order to keep things simple and understandable, in other words- jack of many trades, master of none. The core of this type of learning cannot be labeled as 'pursuit'; a more appropriate label would be 'reliance'.

This was somewhat contradictory to the famous, grand, elegant phrase all cultivators use to describe their aspirations- 'pursuing the dao'. But few had the ability to practice the other route, the cultivation of a pure, conceptually singular aspect.

As long as one had a basic understanding of these shallow complementary aspects, one could focus fully on mastering the main objective and comprehending its principles.

Kong Ye's astral cultivation technique had four forms, and each of these forms could be called a separate technique due to their vastly dissimilar nature and aspects of power.

The principles behind Mu Ran's Fifth Limb technique were related to transitioning between the Astral Totality and their Macrocosm. Mu Ran's Astral form would sprout these tentacle-no-tails upon cultivation, becoming deadly weapons in the Astral realm themselves; more importantly, through the origin point on his tailbone, the limbs could come out into this world to help him in ordinary physical combat. The damage done to his opponents' physical bodies could even be transferred to their Astral form and vice verse. However, Mu Ran would need to reach a very high level of cultivation to become so terrifying in combat.

Han Xuhan could not help but be jealous. His only consolation was the fact that Tun Shi Tian would learn this one day. He hadn't yet made the deal with Mu Ran to let his minion share the technique with him.

Yuen Zhou's Tenacious Tentacles worked on the basis of similar principles, but the ability of her tentacles was more...pervasive. These tentacles could invade the functional core of a world, rather than transitioning into physical objects. They could sense the changes in the world happening around them and predict the outcomes of these changes, much like the power of clairvoyance. These tentacles could invade the flow of information in both the Astral Totality and their Macrocosm.

All in all, her technique was cool as hell, and Hai Yin Zhe, a minion useless in battle, could learn it and be of some use to Han Xuhan.

His own Astral cultivation technique, the Astral Columns, was the vaguest and most complicated of the four. To affect a dao tower is as simple as it is complicated. In principle, any technique can change a dao tower, but only registered techniques may lay foundations. With his foundation having been laid already, it was hard to predict what changes the Astral Columns could bring to it.

The objective was of course to strengthen the dao tower and improve his influence over it. But unlike typical totalities and macrocosms, the dao tower was not situated in any specific place, in any area of the universe. It was a half-imaginary 'object', with many unresolved mysteries surrounding its state of existence.

Whereas the tentacles sprouted from Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou's Astral form would have some influence in the physical world, directly and indirectly, the tentacles produced by Han Xuhan would be incapable of either. Rather, the origin points in his meridians would become the gateways to his formless consciousness inside the dao tower, through which the tentacles, in his case, the Astral Columns would germinate therein.

Sitting inside Kong Ye's house, Han Xuhan did his best to accomplish this objective and remove one of the most complex obstacles in his path.

But the task was growing increasingly difficult. He could sense how much his meridians had deteriorated by now. Had Kong Ye not personally provided the best possible atmosphere for cultivation by letting them practice inside this special room, his progress would be so slow that he'd have to forget about reaching the first layer of this technique within this year.

In the time he completed one qi cycle through the fragile meridians, his marital siblings completed three. The amount of qi that reached the endpoint of the cycle, the origin point of the first tentacle, was so small that he needed to run three to four cycles to have the same amount of productivity as them.

The sun had reached the middle of the sky, signaling the advent of noon by the time Kong Ye concluded the session.

"Go have your lunch and return immediately," he ordered.

"Our lesson isn't finished yet?" Mu Ran asked.

"What you've done since the morning was just the theoretical aspect and ordinary cultivation. Following this, you have a separate curriculum to attend to. Remember what I said about our sect master designing one for all the disciples here? It will begin today. You should be in your peak shape, mentally and physically. So, do NOT overeat."

Han Xuhan and co. exchanged half-curious, half-excited looks among themselves.

What was this new curriculum going to be like?

At that moment, Han Xuhan recalled Xuan Zi's expression back when the man had revealed this information to him personally.

Chills went down his spine.

* * * * *

"How did your visit go? Did Luo Yi have anything important to say?" He asked Xiao Wu as they feasted upon the pot of meat the kitchen had provided for each mountain peak. When enquired about its origin, the elder in charge of the kitchen had laughed mysteriously and replied, "you'll find out soon enough, hahaha! Hope you make most of that discovery."

They hadn't. The meat tasted too unfamiliar, with an exotic texture. But most of them guessed that it was probably the meat of some large fish from the ocean.

"Well, first, she made us set up her tent. Someone must've brought her things here already. The amount of stuff we moved into the tent has to weigh over two tons." Xiao Wu's expression looked pained recalling the memories.

Han Xuhan silently thanked his past self for not taking up the position of the leader of this mountain peak. He had dodged a bullet...no, a mountain there.

"Just two tons? That's not even as heavy as the aura of that beast I faced in the forests last month." Mu Ran's valuable input was ignored by Xiao Wu, while Han Xuhan widened his eyes and looked at Mu Ran in 'awe'.

"After we set the tent up, she informed us that due to some reasons that she herself isn't aware of, the arrangers of the tournament have decided to implement some changes in the first round."

Mu Ran and Han Xuhan's posture turned ramrod straight instantly.

"Why did you not say that till now?"

"What changes?"

"Oh, she wasn't very explicit, or I'd have told you by now. She only talked about the changes she was certain of.

Apparently, some parameters have been changed in ascertaining the progress made by the sects here. Several loopholes have been fixed. The point system, which seems to be something everybody except me knew about, has been updated to perfection.

But these are minor changes. The major change is that the first round of the tournament will have an additional event from now on, aside from these 'natural disasters' we're facing every few hours. It'll be the key factor in deciding which sects get eliminated and which sects reach round two. The reason there have been no disasters since last night is that the overseers of the tournament have been occupied with arranging this new event."

"What will this new event be about?" Mu Ran asked, excited.

"No idea." Xiao Wu shrugged. "And by the way, which one of you wrote on the notice board of our mountain peak?" Xiao Wu sent a searing look at Han Xuhan, probably having guessed the answer already.

"What notice board?" Mu Ran said.

Han Xuhan admitted it without any hesitation.

"I did. I just wrote my findings during my little venture outside, and some instructions based on those. Why? Did someone say anything about that?"

Xiao Wu nodded. "Luo Yi guessed it right. She says you're in the position to become this year's champion on behalf of our sect by virtue of the information provided there. She is apparently keeping a tally of disciples with high contributions to our sect's progress, and some of the mountain peaks have already begun to use your information and instructions. You'll find out more if you visit the central meeting area."

"....fuck." Han Xuhan could not stop the curse from rushing out loud.

The champion of their sect in the last edition of this tournament had been crippled.