Grinning to himself, Hao plopped down on the living room sofa and crossed his legs.
’System, open the shop.’
A new screen appeared.
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[Personal Shop]
Cultivation Techniques
Martial Techniques
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He tapped on Cultivation Techniques, and instantly, the list expanded into a wall of names. Dozens – no, hundreds of techniques, each with a crystal value listed beside it.
Some cost fifty. Some cost hundred. One even asked for thousand crystals.
Hao felt his brain begin to fizz.
’System, can you filter these out and just show the ones that fit my constitution… and that I can afford?’
[Yes, host. But filtering will cost 1 crystal.]
Hao waved it off. Compared to getting a top-tier constitution for free, a little crystal fee was nothing. He was feeling too good to complain.
’Proceed on it, system.’
[Understood, host. Filtering Cultivation Techniques…]
The screen shimmered again. The long list collapsed into a much shorter one – still about fifty options, but far more manageable.
Still… fifty was not exactly easy.
Just looking at the titles made his eyes twitch. Qi of the Morning Radiance… Solar Pulse Meridian Art… Golden Flare Lotus Scripture…
A headache crept up on him.
In the end, he picked the one that sounded the most solid and royal: Pride of the Sunborne Emperor Scripture.
Its name alone had weight.
And the description did not disappoint.
A powerful cultivation method that gathers solar qi into the body through breathing and skin. It refines the qi by running it through the spine and heart meridians, matching the body’s energy flow with the movement of the sun.
The process starts slowly at dawn, picks up speed during the morning, and reaches its strongest point at noon. That’s when the cultivator’s body and qi grow the fastest, allowing them to make breakthroughs in hours instead of weeks.
After noon, the energy flow starts to slow down, encouraging rest or quiet meditation until the next day.
This scripture focuses on absorbing light, turning it into golden qi, and using it to strengthen the body, cleanse the organs, and grow the dantian.
At higher levels, the cultivator’s body holds a radiant glow of refined solar qi – but that glow is only the surface. They gain full control over the powerful presence the scripture builds.
If they choose to release it, a wave of solar pressure floods the area, making it hard for anyone below them in cultivation to stay standing.
Weaker beings feel as if the sun itself is bearing down on them – many fall to one knee, or bow without thinking, overwhelmed by instinct and the sheer weight of qi.
At noon, when this scripture is at full power, releasing that presence feels like calling down the sun itself.
Controlled. Dominant. Divine.
Hao read it twice.
Then a third time.
And smiled.
’That’s the one.’
Hao confirmed the purchase.
The moment he did, his crystal balance dropped to zero.
All the savings he had scraped together from instant noodles and drinks sales were gone.
But he didn’t feel even a shred of regret.
Not when the Pride of the Sunborne Emperor Scripture burst into his mind like a sunrise behind the eyes.
Lines of ancient text etched themselves into his memory. Breathing techniques, posture corrections, qi circulation routes.
It all flowed in like a forgotten language he somehow still understood. Not all of it made sense right away. Some terms felt vague.
Some diagrams were too abstract. But he got the structure.
He could feel the meaning. And most importantly, his body could feel it too.
It was strange.
Foreign, but familiar.
Like reading a manual for a machine his hands already knew how to build.
’Is this how it feels to be a chosen one? ’Cause I’m kinda into it.’
Hao sat up straighter on the couch and pulled his legs beneath him. He settled into a half-lotus position, the kind he had seen cultivation protagonists use in manhua since high school.
Technically, the scripture didn’t require it.
But it just felt right.
He was showing the technique little respect. Giving the moment the ceremony it deserved.
’I mean, if I’m gonna be a cultivator, I might as well pose like one.’
He took a slow breath in.
And began.
He followed the memories now embedded in his mind, adjusting his breathing tempo. Inhale for four counts, hold for two, exhale for four.
It wasn’t smooth at first. Too fast, then too slow. But after a few tries, something clicked.
Hao’s chest moved in rhythm, and the room responded.
The light overhead didn’t grow brighter, but it felt warmer. Clearer.
Bro… did the air just get HD?
As if the solar qi in the room had noticed him. Not because of his constitution, but because of the technique itself.
The way he breathed. The way he circulated qi.
It felt like he was tuning himself into a frequency only the sun could hear.
And then something changed.
A distant pulse echoed through his body. Like a heartbeat he hadn’t known he shared with the sky.
What the – was that the sun pinging me back?!
Hao’s eyes opened slightly, just a crack. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but he felt it.
A connection.
Faint. So faint he might have missed it if he wasn’t this still.
It wasn’t Earth’s sun. It was something else. Bigger. Wilder.
He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he knew. This cultivation world didn’t have one sun.
It had nine.
And one of them had just glanced his way.
Out of all the suns in the sky, only one responded to him.
The closest one. The weakest one.
But even that was enough to make the qi in the room stir.
Right now, that sun was still rising. Its energy was faint, barely seeping into the world.
But even at sunrise, sitting inside a building, on the third floor of a convenience store.
It was working.
He was drawing in solar qi.
Slowly. Weakly. But steadily.
If this was just sunrise.
Then what would happen when it was noon?
What would happen when he stepped outside, under the full, blazing sun?