Of course, the Grand Elder couldn't possibly recommend a Genius like An Chen to the Fire Phoenix Sect.
How could he just give away his own family's promising talent for free!
If he wasn't so surprised, the Grand Elder would definitely be holding An Chen and laughing wildly right now.
“Damn it, when I was in the Fire Phoenix Sect, I saw those guys with good Spiritual Roots Cultivate so fast, and I was curious how they did it, and now I’ve seen it!”
Among those who joined the Fire Phoenix Sect with him, his Medium Grade Spiritual Root was the lowest, which was also the minimum standard.
That group of guys with Superior Spiritual Root Cultivated much faster than them, by an unknown amount.
He was considered a very diligent Cultivator, and also the strongest among the ordinary Disciples. He finally managed to Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage, but when he looked back, that group of guys had already reached the Late Stage of Nascent Soul Stage.
It was at that time that he realized that no matter how hard he tried in the Fire Phoenix Sect, he couldn't compare to those true Geniuses, so he resigned from his managerial position and came here to be the Grand Elder.
“Uh… let me think, what should I teach you next.”
The Grand Elder’s mind was a bit muddled now. All the teaching tasks he had originally arranged were learned by An Chen through self-study, making him, the master, feel very unneeded.
“According to the book, next you should teach me how to release and use Spiritual Qi.”
“Oh, right, right, right.”
The Grand Elder suddenly understood.
“Ah, no, no!”
The Grand Elder was about to explain how to properly release Spiritual Qi, but then he realized something and quickly stopped himself.
“Releasing Spiritual Qi is actually about your control over Spiritual Qi. It’s the same as controlling it to flow through the correct Meridians within your body, it’s just a little harder once it’s outside the body… But before that, you should first improve your Realm.”
The Grand Elder stretched his body and pressed An Chen to sit in the middle of the Gathering Spirit Array.
“Your Dantian is now filled with Spiritual Qi. Do you feel like you can’t absorb any more Spiritual Qi?”
“Mm.”
An Chen nodded.
Being able to transform Spiritual Qi into Spiritual Qi and fill the Dantian is already the standard for Qi Refining First Stage. So, how to improve the Realm next?
An Chen didn't understand.
If he continued to absorb Spiritual Qi, it would only make his Dantian more full. There was no way to improve his Realm strength, and eventually, if he absorbed too much, he wouldn't be able to absorb any more.
“Qi Refining, Qi Refining, what is refined is Spiritual Qi. When performing Alchemy, Alchemists also need to purify Spirit Medicine, condensing the Spirit Medicine into a highly pure Medicinal Liquid, and then fusing the Medicinal Liquid to form a Medicinal Pill. The higher the purity of the Medicinal Liquid, the better the quality of the final Medicinal Pill.”
An Chen thought for a moment and quickly understood what the Grand Elder meant.
“So, Qi Refining is like Alchemy? The higher the purity of the Spiritual Qi in my body, the higher my Realm will be?”
He didn't expect that the Grand Elder could even make analogies.
Unbelievable.
“Exactly! You kid are indeed smart, you grasp it instantly!”
The Grand Elder was overjoyed. Back when his master taught him this, he hadn't fully understood the relationship between Alchemy and Qi Refining.
“What you need to do now is continuously compress the Spiritual Qi in your Dantian, then guide it into your Spiritual Root for purification. When the density and purity of your Spiritual Qi reach a certain level, you will naturally Breakthrough.”
“Will there be any special feeling when I Breakthrough? How do I determine this Realm?”
He had already transformed from a Mortal to Qi Refining First Stage, but this process was relatively smooth, with almost no special feeling.
This time, the Grand Elder didn't know how to explain it. He gestured for a long time but couldn't make it clear.
“You’ll understand when you Breakthrough.”
An Chen was speechless for a moment, but he was too lazy to care about that much.
Anyway, he now had a Senior at the Soul Transformation Stage by his side, and he was in such a Spiritual Qi-rich place. It would be a real pity not to Cultivate properly.
An Chen closed his eyes and entered a meditative state, beginning to introspect his body.
The Spiritual Qi in his Meridians was still circulating. He gathered all of it into his Dantian. His Dantian was already very full, and it was becoming difficult to gather more Spiritual Qi.
An Chen had to concentrate to slowly “press” this Spiritual Qi in.
Then, he tried to compress the Spiritual Qi within his Dantian.
This was a rather difficult task. When he was young, he once blocked the opening of a needleless syringe he found and pushed the plunger. After pushing it a little, he couldn't push it anymore due to the high internal pressure.
This was how he felt now.
However, no matter what, before the internal pressure became too great to push, he could still push the syringe a little.
An Chen was still able to compress a portion of the Spiritual Qi, but he couldn't compress it any further.
An Chen suddenly remembered what the Grand Elder said, that after compression, it also needed to be purified. So, he guided the compressed Spiritual Qi into his Spiritual Root, relying on the Spiritual Root to purify his Spiritual Qi.
Before embarking on the Cultivation path, he always thought that a Spiritual Root was merely a standard for assessing Cultivation talent. He never expected that this thing was actually an “organ” within the body.
This thing is invisible to the naked eye; only through introspection can it be seen.
Compared to Alchemy, An Chen felt this was more like blacksmithing, where Impurities are removed from iron through repeated forging, and the hardness and strength of the iron are increased.
What he was doing now was the same.
The more Spiritual Qi he compressed, the stronger his control over Spiritual Qi became. Although he couldn't directly compress all the Spiritual Qi in his body to a sufficient degree at once, he could do it little by little, just like hammering iron, compressing the Spiritual Qi to an appropriate level.
Having understood what to do next, An Chen gained motivation. In the Grand Elder’s Immortal Cave, with the Gathering Spirit Array, he naturally had to Cultivate diligently.
His first priority now was to establish himself here.
The Transmigration relationship between Earth and Jiuzhou was “Physical Body Transmigration.” After a day and a half, when he returned to Earth, his Realm would definitely be retained, and the items on him could also be brought back.
If that were the case, then in the future, he wouldn't even need Su Xiaojiu; he could be the “mule” himself, traveling between the two places to sell goods.
He still had the Qingxin Grass Leaf at home.
An Chen quickly entered the zone, repeating the previous actions again and again: compressing Spiritual Qi until it could no longer be compressed, then purifying it, then compressing and purifying again.
With each repetition, the Spiritual Qi within his body was visibly compressed, and more space opened up in his Dantian.
Once compressed to a certain extent, An Chen would absorb Spiritual Qi to replenish the Spiritual Qi in his Dantian. This externally absorbed Spiritual Qi would not dilute the Spiritual Qi, because after his Spiritual Qi was compressed, his control over Spiritual Qi would also become stronger, allowing him to directly compress the newly absorbed Spiritual Qi to a state similar to the Spiritual Qi in his Dantian.
The Grand Elder watched An Chen Cultivate, a smile appearing on his face.
“Not bad, not bad, he really is a rare talent…”