After dealing with Gougou, I focused inward and spent the next three months in near seclusion. While I did walk around the Pavilion a bit to talk with Mei, SuYin, YuLin, and others, my focus was on cultivation.


    My original plan had been to spend three or four months at each level, slowly comprehend the dual-element technique, and then advance to the next. However, every day I became more and more dissatisfied with this dual-element technique. For all that it was labeled Mid-Profound, it was a piece of garbage.


    The qi purity generated when cultivating it was terrible. At the level I was used to working at, the slightest burr in my qi could cause significant damage to my ingredients. I was used to a nice, smooth, laminar flow of qi that I could use to delicately cleanse each herb. With this cultivation technique, I was taking purifying pills daily to maintain a bare semblance of pure qi. While I had concocted countless pills for the Pavilion, my bank account was rather barren because of all the purifying pills I had to take.


    The second problem was also something I expected but still hated. I couldn’t store nearly as much qi of a single type when using this technique. My total storage capacity remained the same, but now it was divided in two, so I was having to return to my apartment and cultivate to restore my qi far more often than I liked. This wouldn’t have been too much of a problem, though, if it weren’t for the last problem.


    The way the qi filter and whirlpool affected cultivating to restore spent qi was atrocious. When I needed both fire and wood qi, I could cultivate at what I deemed a normal rate, but if my wood qi was full and I only needed fire qi, my cultivation speed plummeted. It wasn’t just a matter of only pulling in half the total possible. No, the wood qi would clog up the filter, only allowing trickles of fire qi through.


    Overall, this cultivation technique was shockingly bad. Yes, it allowed for two types of qi to be cultivated, but the final effect was far worse than the Peak-Yellow technique I had been using. Before I moved on, I had to do something about this rotten technique.


    The first problem was straightforward. Upgrade the qi filter. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I had plenty of references to work from.


    The second problem was trickier. I essentially needed to increase my total qi reserves, but how? Remembering the effects of some of the other Profound rank techniques I had read, I began studying them more closely. That is where I found my solution to all three problems at once.


    I had three techniques that all claimed to improve ‘qi density.’ They were all slightly different, but they seemed to function on the same basic premise. Open more acupoints, pull in qi from more places, and use the additional forces to compress the qi. The total benefit was minor, so they were only considered Low-Profound techniques, but the theory behind them was far more powerful.


    Combining these techniques, I identified dozens of additional acupoints around my body that I had never used before. There were potentially even more, but I could wait to study that later. I needed to take one step at a time.


    “System, if I create a temporary reset point here but never use it, will that affect the price or doubling effect if I move it forward in the future?” I asked before beginning.


    No, however, all credits spent to create a point here will be lost.


    “Great. Make me a temporary point right here.”


    Confirmed. Cost 18,675 credits. 53,325 credits remaining


    That was potentially a waste of credits, but it made sure that I wouldn’t be wasting everything I spent on temporary upgrades if this all went completely sideways.


    I began cultivating in my lower left arm. Instead of one large qi whirlpool, I made a dozen of them with half the normal diameter at each of the acupoints I had identified. Then, I didn’t create a single complex qi filter to handle both elements. Instead, I copied the single element Peak-Yellow filters and placed the appropriate one at each point. After that, it was a matter of directing the qi from each acupoint into the right muscle groups.


    As I cultivated, the qi drawn from the various acupoints began to interfere with each other. I scaled down the whirlpools to a third of their normal size, and that problem disappeared. I wasn’t too happy with the size limitation. Twelve whirlpools with a third of the normal diameter only had slightly more surface area than one large one. It was significantly more workload for a marginal improvement in cultivation speed.


    This, I realized, was likely a big reason these techniques were only Low-Profound. The huge increase in complexity for marginal improvements was a tradeoff few would be willing to make, but it had untold benefits for multi-element cultivation. My fire and wood affinities were both high enough that I could handle directly cultivating in this way, and once I advanced in rank, these changes would be locked in through automatic cultivation.


    I examined my energy body with qi vision. The qi filters were working perfectly, and my body was only absorbing perfectly pure fire or wood qi. I stopped cultivating wood qi, and because of the reduced interference, the speed I was cultivating fire qi increased.


    When I looked at the rest of my body, I was shocked by the changes. The regular flow of qi throughout my body had become turbulent. The small but clean streams that naturally circulated around my body were instead a swampy morass.


    I had come to realize that these energy flows were what caused the mental changes in cultivators, and one of the big reasons people who rushed their cultivation had problems was that these flows became unstable. I had no idea what kind of mental effect this technique I had created would have, but it was clearly in conflict with the one I had chosen for myself earlier.


    I stopped cultivating and expelled all the qi from my left arm. After a solid day, the energy flows in my body slowly returned to normal.


    I began a laborious process of adjusting the cultivation technique. I had to individually tweak the size, angle, and speed of each separate whirlpool. I started with a very low cultivation speed to cause as little disruption as possible in my qi flow, but even still, after less than an hour of work, my body would be completely disordered, and I would have to stop for the day.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It took me an entire year to perfect the cultivation in my left arm. When I was satisfied, I locked it into place and broke through to Martial Disciple 3. After that, I purged all the impurities in my right arm, dispersed my qi, and crippled my cultivation. Using a mirror image of my left arm, I then implemented the same cultivation technique in my right, fully stepping into Disciple 3 with my new technique.


    At that moment, an alarm sounded in my mind.


    System Alert: A novel cultivation technique has been created. Please name your technique.


    “The Focused Hearth Fire Mantra,” I said. I hadn’t been prepared for this, so I had to come up with a name on the spot. I did my best to combine the effects with wood and fire, but well…


    The Focused Hearth Fire Mantra. Rating beyond Peak-Profound Rank 1 Wood-Fire Cultivation Technique. Would you like to submit this technique to the Dao?


    What was happening? I had no idea, but I would play it out.


    “Yes.”


    Submission Successful. Contribution Confirmed. Calculating… Reward: 50% discount for the next purchase below 20,000 credits.


    Note: Profound Rank 1 techniques will no longer qualify you for further discounts.


    That was… surprising. It wasn’t much, but it was essentially ten thousand free credits, and it was the first time I had found a way to earn them besides dying. Creating higher ranked techniques should reward exponentially more credits, too.


    As I was thinking about credit gains, my mind suddenly felt like it had been struck by lightning. Information poured into me. Various abstractions about how to further refine my technique culminated in a complete, detailed cultivation technique with all the positions and adjustments for each acupoint at every stage of Martial Disciple. My reward, it seemed, was far more than a few credits. While I could have deduced this all myself, what would have taken me years was provided by the Dao in an instant.


    Comparing my implanted knowledge to my previous efforts, the acupoints in my arms looked all wrong. There were dozens of small details I hadn’t hit exactly right. I dispersed my cultivation and began once more.


    <hr>


    When I finally ended my seclusion, I was still only Martial Disciple 3. I had been locked away for nearly a year and a half, but my gains had been worth it. From here, I could slowly increase my cultivation by one step every other month. I was confident in my new technique, but I wanted to slowly adapt to it.


    I walked through the Pavilion in high spirits. My new technique and improved cultivation base promised a bright future ahead. From the second level, I looked down on the shop floor and just smiled as I watched the masses shopping. After a while, I headed toward the commissary where Pavilion employees could eat during the day. As I was walking, a somewhat haggard WuJing approached me.


    “Fang!” he said in relief, before studying me, “Martial Disciple 3? You’ve only advanced to Disciple 3 in over a year!?”


    “Hello, WuJing,” I said with a steady voice. “Yes, however, I completed what I needed. I’m ready to begin advancing further and faster now.”


    WuJing shook his head, crestfallen. “Even if you can, it may be too late. We just received an urgent request from the Su Clan. The patriarch has placed an order for several pills, and it’s unlikely we will be able to meet his request without ordering them from another branch. This is normal and shouldn’t be a problem, but one of the deputy managers is claiming that if Zhong were still here, we could have fulfilled it immediately. He’s stirring up trouble.”


    “Could Zhong have completed the order?” I asked, interested.


    “By himself, no, but he could pull in connections to do it. He wouldn’t have if he was still here, but since he isn’t, some people are saying he could have.”


    “I see. What pills are needed, and what is the time frame?”


    WuJing handed me a sheet of paper and I looked at it. Nothing was higher than Rank 2, but the purity and efficacy requirements were intense. Also, there were several pills I hadn’t seen before that required rare ingredients, meaning they were potential money pits for an alchemist.


    “He wants them by the end of the week,” said WuJing, shaking his head. “We have two Masters in the city, but they can’t do this quality, so we either have to order from outside the Wastes or try to source them from the Twin Mountains Sect. Neither option is good. Going outside means huge expenses, and going to the sect for this devalues the Pavilion. Again, either would be normal in this situation—”


    “But people are causing trouble,” I said, cutting him off. “I got it. Send me the ingredients and I’ll get started right away. End of the week is a tight timeline, but I’ll do my best.”


    WuJing eyes widened. “Are you serious? You’re only a Disciple…”


    “Deadly,” I smiled wolfishly. “Just get me the ingredients and I’ll make sure you have your pills. Though, it would be best if you included a substantial number of herbs for Rank 1 Qi Recovery Pills. I’ll probably need them to meet this deadline.”


    <hr>


    The list WuJing provided me contained a combination of Rank 1 and 2 pills. Beyond the quality of pills required, the quantity was also substantial.


    I began by knocking out all the low-hanging fruit. The Rank 1 pills were almost all easily dealt with. For the herbs with wood, water, or metal energy, I quickly and efficiently burned out the toxins and formed the pills. All were Perfect with around 102% of standard efficacy. There weren’t many pills that required earth or fire herbs, but I was able to use fire or wood qi with the techniques I knew to boost those all the way to at least 121% of standard efficacy as Perfect pills.


    The only Rank 1 pill that tripped me up required an extremely rare herb with energy I hadn’t seen before. Comparing it to my memories from the attack on the Twin Mountain Sect, I realized it must be lightning energy. I didn’t have any lightning affinity, so I couldn’t improve or perfect the pill, but I was still able to concoct it as a High-Purity pill with 99% of standard efficacy.


    Staring at the completed pill, I tapped my fingers. “I’m going to have to move beyond the basic elements,” I told myself. It wasn’t vital yet, and it would cost, but it would need to be done.


    With the Rank 1 pills completed, I moved on to the Rank 2 ones. These would be significantly more challenging with my low qi levels, but with my fire seed mastery, I knew it should be possible. Instead of focusing on herb type, I paid more attention to the prevailing energy in the toxins. Targeting the herbs with mostly water toxins first, I got to work.


    With peak seven-star earth and water affinities, the Cold Mountain Fire was a joy to work with. I didn’t have to use any qi at all. I just opened my soul, and it poured out exactly when and where I wanted. My qi vision had advanced enough to see through Rank 2 herbs, and with my higher affinities, I gently opened up the medicinal energy to eradicate all the small traces of toxins.


    Where I could, I used my fire or wood qi to enhance a pill, but I couldn’t inject enough qi to push them past 105% of standard efficacy. Instead, I was much more successful using the energy from the spirit fire to boost pills.


    The Cold Mountain Fire was more than 90% earth energy with the rest being water energy. I used my affinities to separate the two, then I sent the earth energy to enhance metal herbs and the water energy to enhance wood herbs. Where I used earth, the pills were raised to around 115% efficacy, and where I used water, they were raised to around 104%. The water boost wasn’t amazing, but it was far better than nothing.


    With this new experience, I wanted to go back and redo the Rank 1 pills, but unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.


    Where the Cold Mountain Fire was less effective, such as metal toxins, I had to use copious amounts of qi, and I burned through several qi recovery pills to get everything done in time, but by the end of the week, the order was complete.


    While the order had stated minimums, there was no maximum acceptable quality. The Su Clan implicitly agreed to buy the highest quality pills produced with the provided ingredients. Normally, they would be overjoyed to receive such high-quality pills, but I hoped WuJing would take advantage of the situation to milk them for as much as he could.