The second I initiated healing the elderly man on the table, the whirlpool of qi swirling around me suddenly became a hurricane. The hairs raise on every part of my body, with the qi in the air being so thick that it feels like water is wrapping and twisting around me.

My body is optimizing and speeding up every action of cultivation that I am doing. Not only that, but I’m receiving a boost to my healing from the increased qi flow. While the quantity has not changed, the refresh rate and flow rate of it to the patient has.

Sister Nuan stands frozen in place.

I may have told her about my abilities and that I would get an increase in cultivation speed, but neither of us expected this.

I can’t help but shiver at this feeling.

This ability of mine isn’t just pulling the qi from this area… but from the qi sub-dimension itself. Amongst specific body types, I was aware that some were capable of doing so… however, experiencing it firsthand is a completely different story.

… so, this is why my scan warned me to not cultivate carelessly while healing.

I can see Sister Nuan’s mouth open and close before she takes a breath.

Right away, she focuses her attention on the other room. I’m almost done healing the patient, but she is already making the changes to the panel to bring in the next person. Her spiritual sense is washing over the other room. A flagrant violation of patient privacy, but I suppose a somewhat forgivable one, as she is diving into the details about the person. Just the status in the room.

And as we had agreed, I raise a hand when I’ve completed healing, prompting her to change the symbol to have the previous person removed from the room. With the goal of having a minimal amount of time between these appointments.

As the older man gets off the table and is being escorted out of the room, I can see him attempting to stay and thank me directly. Luckily, the healers are able to convince him to leave to do so later.

Since the other patient was already laid down the moment that he got up, I’ve already started to work on them. It is in this pattern that I continue to heal person after person.

Though right into healing the second person, I soon discover that I already reached the minimum amount of qi and cultivation to move into the next rank.

Qi Condensation Rank 2.

…

Of course, it’s only the ‘minimum’ needed for me. An average or even genius cultivator would typically consider this as the normal amount.

If I aspire to be exceptional and actually leverage all the struggles that I went through earlier with my dantians and meridians… then I need to keep going.

Which all ties back into how qi is calculated for these first two ranks. The most important ones in a cultivator’s journey.

I may have four units’ worth of qi, but the baseline at rank 1 Qi Condensation is 1 unit of qi.

That is the average cultivator’s amount at rank 1.

To go above the average and get 3 units requires getting all three dantians, an improved body constitution, or meridian upgrades.

Anyone who achieves any or all of that is considered a genius. But even a combination of all those methods doesn’t allow a person to go above 3 units. It just means they are significantly better within that level.

The gap between 3 units and 4 is massive.

3 represents going beyond the average and all the way up to the fullest potential of the body. 4 units represent going beyond even that.

In order to get four units, like myself, requires constant healing on top of having the perfect combination of things to be at the top of that 3-unit barrier. All of which strains the body, cultivator soul, among other things.

Even the strongest demonic techniques and normal healing cultivation methods can’t touch this level while keeping the person alive and having ‘sustainable’ growth.

It is possible to reach this with unsustainable methods, but the person would probably die or lose everything they collected. The latter becoming more likely the further you cultivate and, if you attempt to move into rank 2, making that choice useless, unless it is a life-or-death battle.

Of course, my healing constitution and aura take care of all that naturally. No strain or issues at all.

For now.

However, as I continue to rise in rank, I will push those boundaries more and more.

While these numbers may seem small now, it is only because these numbers are just a baseline, representing the volume of available qi space in the cultivator.

This baseline will be increased exponentially with density or quality in ranks 2 and up.

Another difference between reaching Rank 1 vs Rank 2, is that the volume you had in Rank 1 is doubled for Rank 2. Sadly, after that big jump, Rank 3+ only increases by 1 unit of volume each.

As an example, if the average Rank 1 cultivator has 1 unit of qi as their baseline, it would turn into 2 for Rank 2. However, their actual qi would be exponential; raised to the power of 2, equaling 4 units of total qi.

Alternatively, a genius Rank 1 cultivator would have 3 units as their baseline, turning into 6 units in Rank 2… with their total qi (after being raised to the power of 2) equaling 36.

…

With that in mind, it’s easy to see that with my 4 units, it would become doubled to become 8 units in the Rank 2 baseline qi, equaling 64 once squared for actual qi.

But that’s only if I had followed the same path as the geniuses. With my other stacking benefits, the final exponent number should be much, much higher.

Either way, in order to maintain the doubled 4 -> 8 and keep those stacking benefits, I still need to build out my cultivation base to the maximum amount. Which means I’ll still need to heal everyone here, while cultivating.

Having found my short-term goal, I continuously pump my healing technique out, following the pattern of switching patient after patient in and out.

It all seems like a blur, as I go through at least a hundred people in a matter of hours. Regardless of their ailments, whether they are a curse, old age, or any number of issues. Obviously, some took longer than others, but all could be resolved.

Despite the healer’s insistence to wait, some of the healed people remain in the hallways waiting for me to emerge to give their thanks.

I’m not happy to heal all of these people, though.

Just as I’m feeling close to filling up to capacity with my cultivation base… a dreaded, but necessary patient has been brought to the table.

Someone I had sensed was here, but I have mixed feelings about helping.

The father of the person keeping Ao Jin, the demonic cultivator’s wife and daughter, as flesh slaves.

Long Du.

The time has come to make good on my promise to him.

… Even if it sickens me to my core.