Good Bye, For Now

While it was true that Qing Shan had proven to be different from other people, that did not mean that he could somehow make the impossible possible. If he could do that he would have already killed the Huo Clan before even cultivating. Most of the reason that Qing Shan was so powerful was because he was put into dangerous situations time after time, and tried to learn all he could from each and every one of those situations. Qing Shan had achieved what he had so far in terms of cultivating due to his creativity and his stubbornness. Qing Shan really did not know when to quit. Because of this, he would keep trying to control the Qi inside and outside his spiritual level.

Qing Shan continued to train, choosing to convince himself that he was making progress, even though it was apparent that he was not. After one whole week of just sitting and meditating, Qing Shan had not really made any breakthroughs. He had figured out how to control the Qi inside his spiritual level even more, but that did not have any meaning to Qing Shan. He wanted to control the Qi inside of his normal level, a space that was not prepared to have Qi running through it.

Over and over, Qing Shan tried different things, stubbornly hoping that one new way would work. By the end of one week, Qing Shan had exhausted all of his options.

'Is this really the limit of the Formation Soul realm?'

As Qing Shan pondered this question, he restarted his body tempering, going through multiple physical exercises and resuming his attempts to get closer to the Primal Fire.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Qing Shan was not doing this long. He soon felt himself forcefully yanked out of the pocket dimension, something that had never happened to him before.

Qing Shan subconsciously prepared for an attack, but quickly relaxed when he saw the culprit.

"Master Liu! You have finished already?"

"Oh what gave me away? Was it the smile on my face or the two scrolls in my hands?"

Qing Shan and Master Liu laughed, before Qing Shan asked the question that had been plaguing him for a while now.

"Master, can someone in the Formation Soul realm learn Elemental Enhancement?"

Master Liu arched an eyebrow, a look of confusion apparent on his face.

"Who gave you that idea?"

"You did! You said that I my current level I could learn most weaker Martial Origin Techniques."

"Hmm. I did, didn't I. Well, I had been in a rush at that time, so I may have just given you a random answer…"

Master Liu looked to the side awkwardly, before continuing.

"Elemental Enhancement is a skill that is exclusive to Origin Realm and above cultivators. No matter what I might have said, it is not possible for anyone below the Origin Soul realm to comprehend. Now, are you sure I did not say 'Most weaker Cultivation Techniques,' because I figure that there are quite a few that do not require you to be able to control Qi on the normal level of your body, like this one, for example."

Master Liu lifted up one of the scrolls in his arms, handing it to Qing Shan.

"This is the Chimera Cultivation Technique. It will help you gain control over both your fire and wind attributes, and will give you some cool benefits in the future. Best part is, you can start cultivating it now if you want to!"

Master Liu gave the Cultivation Technique scroll to Qing Shan, before lifting up the other one.

"This is the Thunder Dragon Martial Technique. It has multiple stages, and I only put the ones that are for the next few cultivation realms in there. I can make more, but I really doubt you will go up that many realms in a small amount of time. It is an attack based technique, based solely on your Lighting attribute. It has many different moves and styles, so it may take a bit longer than most Martial Techniques to learn. This technique will require you to be at the Origin Soul realm before you can start to cultivate it."

Qing Shan listened carefully, his eyes flashing when Master Liu doubted his growth speed. Once his Master was done talking, Qing Shan nodded his head and asked if he could leave.

"Sure, you can go back to your training. But before you go, I just wanted to tell you to focus on raising your physical capabilities first and foremost. Do not get to absorbed in that new Cultivation Technique."

Qing Shan nodded his understanding, then grabbed at his locket, disappearing back into his pocket dimension.

Once he was gone, Liu Tiansheng sighed.

'Oh yeah, I need to tell him about that too…'

Inside his pocket dimension, Qing Shan was following his Master's instructions to the letter. An actual god was giving him advice, so he damn well follow it.

Because of his Master's words, Qing Shan flow into physical exercise. He did not use his Qi loops at all, and just used pure physical ability for all of his exercises. Qing Shan trained and trained, wanting to make a large improvement fast.

By the end of the week, Qing Shan saw a large increase in the Qi inside his Life Core. It was about eighty percent full now! This should not have been surprising, considering that physical exercise was the only thing Qing Shan had been doing, but this increase was much more than he thought. He was getting closer to the Origin Soul realm every minute!

Qing Shan worked hard for another half a week, before his Life Core was completely full. Now that he had finished the boring repetition of physical exercise, he could finally begin working on the Cultivation Technique.

Qing Shan opened it up, and watched as the unintelligible runes changed into words and pictures that he could understand. It seemed as though Master Liu had made the scroll so that it was already bonded to Qing Shan, as a scroll that was not bonded would show up blank unless someone was so strong that they could see through the illusion.

It was time to learn his first Cultivation Technique!

Qing Shan started reading the technique, and found that it was much more straight forward than that Martial Origin Technique. Qing Shan already had more than enough control over his Qi to execute this Cultivation Technique.

Unfortunately, this technique would take a large amount of time before it had any effect. Cultivation Techniques were mostly different circulation techniques, which meant that they only had an effect while circulating Qi. As the technique did change the structure of your body, or different parts of your body, it took a large amount of time to see noticeable effects.

The Circulation outlined in the Cultivation Technique was not that difficult. Qing Shan had to forge a new pathway in his Energy Channels, going along the centerline of his body. This was the line that served as the divider between fire attribute Qi and wind attribute Qi. This center line held the purest form of Qing Shan's lightning Qi. Qing Shan had to circulate his Qi in two different directions.

In this circulation, Qi pulsed from Qing Shan's Dantian up to his Third Eye, before going back down to his Fifth Meridian and splitting to his Fourth and Sixth Meridians, then going from those to his First and Seventh Meridians, before coming back together at his Second Meridian.

'Actually, that is way more than one new pathway…'

After a week of moving the pathways inside of his Energy Channels, Qing Shan had finished preparing for the Circulation. After absorbing a bit of Qi, Qing Shan found that there were no problems. It did feel weird to have his Qi splitting into two different directions, but he got used to it.

After only one week, Qing Shan had already completely learned the Chimera Cultivation Technique. While Qing Shan was unsure how changing the direction of his Circulation would cause the huge changes specified by Master Liu, Qing Shan knew that he would only find out as he kept using the technique.

Qing Shan quickly reflected on how much he had accomplished since coming back to see his master. He had gained at least five times his original amount of Qi control, filled both his Life Core and his Third Eye, and even learned a new Cultivation Technique!

Finished inside of his pocket dimension, Qing Shan touched his locket and reappeared inside of his Master's cave.

"Master, I have finished learning the Cultivation Technique. I was also wondering if I should fill my Dantian."

Master Liu stepped out of his statue.

"Good, good. As for your Dantian, You can choose whether or not to fill it now. You will not break through yet. In order for you to break through, something will have to happen to you. I do not know what it would be for you, as it is different for everyone."

Qing Shan nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't pass up a chance to use my new Cultivation Technique…"

Master Liu watched with a small smile on his face as Qing Shan quickly disappeared into his pocket dimension. He remained sitting there, a serene look on his face, for about three hours, before Qing Shan returned.

"Ah, you were right. I was hoping I'd breakthrough, but I guess not."

Master Liu looked at Qing Shan, as if prompting him to speak.

"Well, I think I am prepared to descend to the third layer now… "

Master Liu nodded.

"Yes. You are definitely prepared to descend now. However, there is something that I want to tell you before you go. It is about that pocket dimension on you neck."

Qing Shan looked at his master intently, now intrigued. He had always been curious about this pocket dimension, and now he was finally going to get some information on it.

"It is really something, isn't it?"

Qing Shan stumbled.

Master Liu laughed.

"Haha! You should have seen the look on your face… Anyways, I wanted to tell you that what you see is currently not the entire Primal Pocket Dimension. You see, I was a god. Don't you think it is weird for those Primal Elements to be so weak? The truth is, That place scales in difficulty the higher the user's cultivation is. It also shows the attributes that they possess. For instance, If I entered that place at the same cultivation as you, I would only see the Primal Wind. It was only once I got stronger that I saw the other elements. Fair warning, do not touch any of the Primal Elements, unless I explicitly tell you that you are ready. Inside each of them is the full power of each Primal Element, which I was unable to seal away completely. Think about this. I, a god, am only able to withstand so much time inside any of the Primal Elements other than the Primal Wind. At your current level, If you touch, say, the Primal Fire, your hand would burn off, and not even the Spring of Time would be able to heal you. You got that?"

Qing Shan nodded. He had been carefully hanging onto his master's every word. That was why he had a question.

"What is the Spring of Time?"

Master Liu looked away.

"Whoops. I forgot that I told you that was the Primal Water. *Sigh* Well, I was going to have to say this at some point. What you call the Primal Water, is actually the Spring of Time in its complete essence. It is the only one of its kind in existence. Many powerful figures are still looking for that too this day, and have no clue that I have it. You are not allowed to, under any circumstances, bring any of the Spring of Time out of the Primal Pocket Dimension, or, heaven forbid, bring anyone else into it. That is all. Good luck in the third layer."

Right as Qing Shan was about to show his understanding and wish his master farewell, he suddenly felt his stomach drop. Opening his eyes, Qing Shan found himself standing at the base of the 2nd Layer Wall.

'Good bye, Master Liu.'