Commotion within the outer sect
I stop the analysis and search around the courtyard and the various rooms, appraising every item that looks important. If the analysis is correct, there should be some spirit stones that Song Xuan stashed away around here. In a couple of minutes I manage to get my hands on a wooden box that contains three low grade spirit stones, one of which is half depleted. Since this was all I needed and nothing else caught my fancy, I sit down and start meditating, drawing out the energy from the spirit stones. Song Xuan managed to get a spirit stone every month, and it would last him for about two months with his weak meditation technique. The three spirit stones in my hand lasted only about three minutes. I managed to congeal four clouds of spiritual energy in my dantian with the help of the spirit stones, thus reaching the power at the peak of Beginner Spirit Gathering - Spirit Cloud Gathering. If I manage to fill up my dantian with spiritual energy clouds, I'll reach the Intermediate Spirit Gathering realm, but that is not my immediate goal.
I start analysis of 'basic spatial powers' with all the spiritual clouds' energy. The spiritual clouds disappear in an alarmingly fast rate, but all sorts of information about spatial manipulation starts filling my head. By the time the last wisp of spiritual energy is depleted, again, I have a grasp of 'Basic Spatial Detection' and 'Basic Portal'. The first is the ability to scan a far away area with my spiritual senses, while the second is the ability to rip a hole in the fabric of space, connecting two points to each other. I can currently use 'Spatial Detection' in a 500 km radius without spiritual energy, and about 2000 km if I also burned energy for it. 'Portal' is much more limited, since I can only rip a hole about the size of a pea, and connect it to another location 100 km away at most. But this should be more than enough for now.
I use 'Spatial Detection' on several locations in the inner sect, trying to map out its layout. I am sure a medium-sized sect like this would have at least a medium grade spirit stone mine, and I am doing my best to find it. Following the concentrations of spiritual energy, I manage to map out most of the inner sect, with the sect master's, the elders' and the inner disciples housing, the treasury, the combat arenas, and some other special areas, but no sign of the spirit stone mine. Well, it would be logical if it would be underground, and only accessible through a teleport formation.
I use a quick analysis to analyse the 'lingering spirit energy in the inner sect unrelated to local landmarks, cultivators or treasures'. This gives me the location of the highest natural spiritual energy concentration, which is only barely discernible, but it still means that it is at the spot right above the spirit mine. I start scanning below that spot, kilometer by kilometer, until I find the mine in the depth of 4 kilometers. I map it all out, searching for the richest veins, meaning the highest concentration of lingering spiritual energy. When I find it...
-'Portal'.
I rip a tear in space from a nearby spot to the depths of the mine. Overwhelming amounts spiritual energy starts flowing out of the spatial tear, instantly filling up the air around me with spiritual energy, several times more concentrated and pure than what I absorbed previously. With that done, I start meditating again. I also redirect a portion of the incoming spiritual energy toward analysing 'direct combat abilities that can be used with low cultivation levels'.
The area within a kilometer starts to fill up with highly concentrated spiritual energy. If this doesn't raise a commotion, then I don't know what would. Hopefully, I'll get some good loot out of it. As I madly absorb the spiritual energy around me, more and more spiritual clouds form in my dantian, while my mind fills up with the methods to use sword and saber techniques, especially those covering intent, will, heart and domain. In just a few seconds I can already burst forward with the power of blade and sword will, condensing saber or sword qi out of thin air without a weapon, and soon enough I will be able to use saber and sword heart, freely controlling saber and sword qi in a wide area around me to attack and defend. I also learn some movement techniques, with more and more impressive ones popping up in my head, as time goes by and my cultivation level rises. Currently my dantian is filled up with spiritual clouds to the brim, and the clouds start to merge together in a spiritual energy mist - this is the peak of the Intermediate Spirit Gathering realm - Spirit Mist Gathering stage.
I continue cultivating, not paying any attention to the people gathering outside the courtyard. Time is short, since the spatial tear could close at any moment, and I need to make the most of the spiritual energy flowing out of it. My absorption radius steadily increases to 500 meters, and I reach the peak of the Spirit Mist Gathering stage. Tiny droplets of spiritual energy form and evaporate instantly in my dantian, meaning that I broke through to the Advanced Spirit Gathering realm - Spiritual Condense Gathering stage. At this stage all I have to do is saturate my dantian to the brim and start condensing the mist into liquid spiritual energy. Once I start this process, I'll be at the peak of the Spirit Gathering realm, at the Spirit Condensation stage. And once I manage to condense all the spiritual mist into a concentrated drop of liquid spiritual energy, I'd have broken through to the next major realm of cultivation - Spirit Hardening.
But unfortunately the spatial tear closes up at this moment, and I sap out all the spiritual energy in a 500 meter radius in just a couple of seconds. I am stuck at the peak of the Spiritual Condense Gathering stage, but when I do a quick analysis, I realise that I'd need at least two more spatial tears to break through to the Spirit Hardening realm. Now is the most optimal time to deal with the people outside.