Heavenly Chengshi, Part I

Flames exploded around Huǒ Shuchang as he sat inside of his meditation chamber. Sweat poured down his back as heat rose from the surface. This room was his personal meditation chamber. The inside was lined floor to ceiling with a sealing array that gathered fire chi from deep within the earth and brought it out for him to absorb. There were underground volcanos far beneath the planet’s surface, below even the massive lake this city was built on. That was one of the reasons Heavenly Chengshi had been built here and not elsewhere.

He had been trying hard to reach the Third Subrealm of the Deva Realm for the past several months, but so far, he’d not had any success. Pills could increase a person’s chi, which helped them break through. However, gaining more chi was not everything. After reaching the Deva Realm, more was required to break through. It didn’t matter how much chi he gained if he lacked greater understanding of his cultivation method.