Cultivating can burn

Damian circulated his cultivation technique [Beyond Heaven manual]. He took a strand of Qi from the surroundings. As he led the Qi into his body, he felt how truly hot it was. But Damian noted the Qi was so pure that it would barely require any refining before he added it to his own.

Before pulling the Qi into his body. He sent some of his own Qi to the pathway where the strand of Qi would enter, in case it began to wreak havoc. He then used the Qi to create a thin layer of Qi protecting his Qi pathways.

As the Qi entered Damian's body, he felt how the heat that came with the Qi began to burn his pathway slightly. If he had not created the protective layer, he would have sustained some nasty burns. The Qi tried to escape outside his body, but Damian Swiftly used his own Qi to envelop the strand of Qi. It tried to resist, but because of the sheer quantity of Qi Damian had prepared; it was swiftly overwhelmed.

He then continued to circulate the strand of Qi through his pathways and meridians according to the [Beyond Heaven manual]. He felt how, ever so slightly, the strand of Qi cleansed his Qi, pathways, and meridians of impurities he didn't even know were there.

Once Damian completed the circulation of his technique and he added the Qi to his own, he sighed in relief.

Phew... "That could have been dangerous" muttered Damian to himself.

Damian turned to see the rest of the party members and surely enough similar scenes were playing out with the other team members. But most of them only had surprised expressions, except for Agnes, who had a pained face. It seemed she had not prepared as well as the others.

Ugh! "This is insane. You guys are insane. How will we cultivate if the Qi as soon as it enters our body tries to burn us to escape," said Agnes.

Adrian was the first to answer, "It seems you cultivate without using your brain, it's obvious the Qi would wreak havoc inside. That's why you should insulate it."

Tch, "How was I supposed to know that ambient Qi could harm us? So far, Qi has always been cooperative." replied Agnes.

They exchanged a few more bickering. The rest of the party had grown used to the bickering of Adrian and Agnes by now. Their fighting was almost like a hobby to them.

Cedric sighed as he raised his hand towards Agnes and Adrian, motioning for them to stop. Once they saw Cedric, the pair composed and turned to Cedric.

Once Cedric had their attention, he spoke: "Agnes, remember never to assume opportunities come without danger," Cedric then looked towards the other members and continued, "This goes for all of you."

Damian gave Cedric a grateful look. After all, they didn't want Adrian and Agnes disturbing the Qi inside the cave. As it could turn chaotic and it would be much harder for them to refine and absorb.

Agnes, on her part, simply took out a healing pill and swallowed it. Then she sat and let the pill heal her damaged pathway. After a few minutes, she once again cultivated, now properly protecting her pathways.

The rest of the team continued slowly cultivating. Inside the cave, they had no real sense of time. Even if cultivators had far better senses than mortals.

Damian found himself immersed in the process of cultivating. He couldn't help pondering how his life had changed. Before the arrival of Tian long, he had spent every free moment either reading some light novels or playing video games. Now he spent every free moment cultivating, and he truly enjoyed the sensation of ever so slowly getting stronger.

He truly enjoyed cultivating in this cave. To Damian's estimation, it had only passed a few hours since they arrived in the cave. Yet he had achieved the progress of two days of cultivation. Furthermore, the Qi not only cleansed his meridians and pathways. His own Qi, foundation pillars, golden core, and his Dantian overall were ever so slightly cleansed of impurities.

The lake he formed while in the Qi condensation realm was purer. The ten pillars he had erected from his lake now looked a little more solid without impurities, Damian hadn't even noticed were there. His Golden Core now was a tad smoother.

When he read Xianxia novels in his past life, he always wondered why the protagonists were so adamant about having impurities inside his Dantian. Now Damian knew they made weak foundations, but also made it impossible for the Dantian to store more Qi, as impurities would use that space.

Damian stopped his thoughts from further drifting. He needed his attention in the process of cultivating the Qi, as he didn't want to end up messing up and causing himself harm.

Time continued to pass and before long, an explosion sounded beside Damian, along with a familiar disgusting odor. Cedric had sat to his right, which meant he had broken through to the fourth layer of the Golden Core realm.

Damian finished circulating his cultivation technique, and immediately spoke to Cedric: "Congratulations on your breakthrough, Elder Cedric, I'm sure you will become the soaring dragon of the Lambert clan."

Cedric blushed a little, likely he was self-conscious of the smell more than anything else. Cedric swiftly replied, "You are too kind, Elder Damian. I'm sure you will break through in some more time, now if you would please excuse me. "

Damian was a little disappointed his compliment was not taken seriously. But he also understood that when one broke through, you only want to get rid of the smell and the sticky gunk.

Cedric then stood and walked towards the entrance, where he cast some sort of cleaning spell, throwing the black gunk outside the cave, where he then proceeded to burn it.

After a few moments, Cedric returned, gunk free and without smelling like a decaying corpse. The other team members had concluded circulating his cultivation technique. They all congratulated Cedric.

"Congratulations Elder Cedric," said Adrian and Agnes.

"Congratulations Elder Cedric of the Lambert clan," said Nathan and Christine.

"nn.., thanks for your congratulations, please don't mind me, I'm sure we will break through quite regularly, no need to be so formal," replied Cedric, as he said that he gave Damian a meaningful look.

"Alright, I won't be so formal next time," said Damian as he smiled at Cedric.

Cedric simply smiled and returned to his cultivation.