Fire Elemental Hall

After leaving the World Scenery building, Wang Yu and Liu Fu went to the Fire Elemental Hall. Entering the building Wang Yu felt an increase in temperature, he also felt that Spirit Energy was denser and purer than the outside.

Looking at the surroundings, he saw a huge red boulder in the middle of the hall. The boulder was circled by 9 circles, the closer the circle to the boulder the hotter and denser's the Spirit Energy.

According to what Liu Fu had told him on the way, each circle represented a level of Qi Condensation, so as cultivator at the first level of Qi Condensation, he should stay at the outermost circle with Liu Fu at the one next to it since he was at the second level.

At the first circle, there were about seven cultivators mostly newbies. As for the second circle, it has the most cultivators. As stated by Liu Fu, the third level was a bottleneck that stopped more than the half of cultivators from advancing.

Sitting cross-legged, Wang Yu started to cultivate according to the Qi Gathering Manual. The speed of absorption which was usually slow, become faster and faster. Today Wang Yu learned a lesson about how big the difference is between those who have resources and those who do not.

If two people with the same talents and dedication were to cultivate, it was clear who would be faster. But the problem is that most of the people who have resources lack dedication, they are used to having things easily which will have a big impact on them as they advanced. The reason is that the more one advance the lesser the resources that are helpful to cultivation. And not only in terms of resources but also the time spent on seclusion, something that needs a lot of patience.

While cultivating, Wang Yu was searching for his meridian, he know the general position but he didn't know the exact one. To open a meridian, one needs to first find the meridian, then use the Spirit Qi to break the obstruction and open the meridian.

But to break through the second level of Qi Condensation, one not only needed to open his meridian but to also accumulate enough spirit energy inside his dantian, so Wang Yu diverted most of his attention to absorbing the Spirit Qi into his dantian, yet he could still continue the search.

After continuously drinking tea from the Spirit Pot, Wang Yu's spirit improved tremendously, now he could do two simple tasks at the same time. So unlike new cultivators who first finish accumulating the spirit Qi and refining it before attempting to search for the meridian, he can do them simultaneously.

Wang Yu continued to absorb the Spirit Qi, he knew that this was an important opportunity. a while later, Wang Yu finally understood why talent was important in cultivating. While he could attract and absorb more Spirit Qi than usual, in the same circle as him, which meant with the same level of concentration, a fourteen years old youth was attracting at least seven times as much spirit qi.

Wang Yu remembered that youth, he was called Min Du and was the only one from the newbies who possessed a twin spirit root, fire, and wood. Originally, he was from a simple family in Orochi city, but on the day of examination he was found to be very talented, and Elder Tang Yu from the alchemist department took him as a disciple. It is worth noting that Elder Tang Yu is the disciple of the Grand Elder Green Hand.

Wang Yu hasn't interacted with Min Du, partly because he hadn't been in the sect for a long time, but also because Min Du didn't consider the first-year disciples as his peers, with his talent and background as elder Tang Yu's disciple, he was sure to leave them way behind.

What disheartened Wang Yu wasn't Min Du, but that most disciples absorbed more spirit energy inside their dantian than him. If he cultivates the Everlasting Turtle Technique, he was sure to absorb more spirit energy, but the problem is that it won't go to his dantian but to his heart.

Moments later, Wang Yu decided to bury that in his mind, so what if he has a bad talent. With the inheritance he had got, he should never feel jealous of anyone.

After five hours Wang Yu felt full from absorbing the Spirit Qi, his dantian was filled to the brim, he needed to release this energy, before accumulating it again. This is how one can increase the capacity of his dantian.

Nonetheless the payment is per day. Also when Wang Yu looked around, he saw that most people were still cultivating meaning that they have larger dantian, which is understandable since he had only entered the Qi Condensation days ago.

Wang Yu continued sitting but instead of directing the Qi toward his dantian, he directed it to his heart. He was going to transform as much Spirit Qi as he can into vitality, so when he get back, he would break through the Viscera Training.

He didn't increase the speed of absorption, but kept it the same, he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention towards him.

The spirit qi that entered his heart was transformed into life force, some of it went through his body nurturing it, especially his skin. But he made sure to store most of it inside his heart, he was afraid of a breakthrough in front of everybody, he will wait until he returned to his room.

Three hours later, Liu Fu was done absorbing Spirit Qi, so he stood up. And when Wang Yu felt that, he also stopped training, Leaving the hall with Liu Fu.

"Dude, it really hurts to pay for something and not use it fully, anyway what about you? How do you feel after training inside an elemental Hall." Asked Liu Fu right after leaving the hall.

"Well it's at least three times faster than the usual, if I can cultivate inside it every day, I'm sure that I will break through in less than a month."

"Hahaha, unfortunately, we are neither inner sect disciples nor are we related to someone with influence." Laughed Liu Fu self-deprecating.

"Does it matter, there are missions anyway and I heard that they are paid handsomely, so it won't be a problem to get enough resources." Said Wang Yu.

"That is true, but you should be careful before choosing a mission, sometimes a simple mission holds great danger, if the sect were to know about the situation you will get more reward, but you may lose your life before that."

Wang Yu and Liu Fu then separated with Wang Yu heading to his room to cultivate, while Liu Fu said he was going to get the rewards for the tournament. From what Wang Yu heard the secret realm had some herbs that only grow there, so the disciples from different sects will sell what they have to their respective sects.

....

Meanwhile, in a small village which was situated in Yihua County, life carried on much as it had for generations. Most of the villagers were farmers, waking up early in the morning to tend to their crops and livestock. However, one young man at the age of sixteen had different aspirations.

His name was Liu Wei, and he wanted to become a scholar and go to the imperial city with his fiancée, a beautiful and sweet girl named Zhang Mei. Unlike many of the other people in the village, Liu Wei was not crude but rather smart and studious. His father had been a hunter who died while hunting, and his mother had passed away from grief soon after. He was currently being taken care of by his uncle, a man named Zhuang Long, who had been a scholar himself but had chosen to return back to his village.

Thanks to his uncle's savings, Liu Wei led a stable life. He didn't need to go to fields and could focus on his studies, and because of his motivation, he usually spend his days pouring over books and practicing calligraphy. He dreamed of one day becoming a successful scholar and making his family proud. Meanwhile, Zhang Mei's mother died early, hence she was living only with her father since she has no siblings.

Today, as the sun was setting over the village, Liu Wei was standing with Zhang Mei by the river that ran through the village. They held hands as they looked out at the tranquil water and the orange sky above.

"Zhang Mei, my sweet and beautiful fiancée," Liu Wei said, turning to look at her. "I know that our dreams of going to the imperial city and making a new life together won't be easy, but I am determined to make them come true. With your love and support, I believe we can overcome any obstacle."

Zhang Mei smiled at him, her eyes shining with affection. "I have faith in you, Liu Wei. You are the smartest and most hardworking person I know, and I know that you will achieve great things one day."

Lui Wei and Zang Mei were known as a couple since their childhood. Seeing this love, their parents decided to make the engagement even though they were still young.

"Have you heard that Lord Wu will be coming next week," Zhang Mei said, clearly unhappy with his arrival"People work hard, and he takes the most profits as if nothing."

Lui Wei sighed, "This is how the world works, there will always be people who benefit from the suffering of others, beside Lord Wu is not very bad, I heard that some other villages will pay more taxes. Anyway let's return, it's getting late."