How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?-Chapter 52 - 51: The Five Qi Converge to the Origin
After eating, Li Jun still had to go to class.
Lin Ye, however, had been given special permission and was now mostly free to manage his own time.
’Leveling in the Ruined City is definitely out of the question.’
But he could still choose to cultivate a Cultivation Technique directly and gain experience points.
Lin Ye headed straight for the general training room and unlocked his exclusive Gravity Chamber.
The heavy alloy door slowly closed behind him, shutting out all the noise from the outside world.
Lin Ye sat cross-legged in the center of the Gravity Chamber, spreading the *Five Qi Guiding Formulas*—a book that carried all of Chen Meng’s hopes and hard work—out in front of him.
He didn’t rush to begin.
Instead, he closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the Cultivation Technique’s general principles and Chen Meng’s annotations, word by word.
This was not the first time he had studied the technique, but every time he did, he gained new insights.
The complexity and subtlety of this technique were far beyond comparison to the *Basic Body Refining Skill*.
The *Basic Body Refining Skill* was a purely internal pursuit. It achieved strengthening by pushing one’s physical stamina to its absolute limit, taxing one’s Qi and Blood to force the body into a state of hyper-recovery.
The *Five Qi Guiding Formulas*, however, was a completely different path.
It emphasized cultivating both the inside and the outside, with its core principles being "to guide" and "to nurture."
It involved guiding the source energy of the world into the body, using this external force to temper the internal organs.
And it involved nurturing the Qi of the internal organs, which in turn nourished the Qi and Blood throughout the body.
This was a complete, continuous, and even constantly evolving energy circulation system.
Having understood the core principles, Lin Ye took a deep breath and began his first official cultivation session.
Following the technique’s instructions, he cleared his mind and tried to sense the omnipresent "source energy" in the world around him.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
All around him, there was still only silent darkness.
There was nothing.
He couldn’t feel anything.
Lin Ye’s brow furrowed slightly.
’This is wrong.’
’My approach is wrong.’
’I’m still thinking in terms of the *Basic Body Refining Skill*, trying to sense it with brute force.’
’But source energy is subtle, like a spring rain nourishing the earth. It must be sensed with the Spirit, not sought through force.’
Chen Meng’s annotation was clear on this: ’If the heart is clear as ice, not even the falling sky will cause alarm.’
Lin Ye adjusted his breathing, forcing himself to forget the anxiety in his heart, forget his father’s right leg, and forget the three-month deadline.
His consciousness gradually sank into a boundless void.
An unknown amount of time passed.
He "saw" it.
In his world of perception, the originally empty space began to fill with countless tiny particles emitting light of various colors.
They were like fireflies on a summer night; though sparse, they were undeniably drifting slowly in the darkness.
’This is source energy!’
’The first step is a success!’
Lin Ye felt a surge of joy, but he immediately forced himself to calm down.
He began to follow the technique’s instructions, trying to distinguish the properties of these points of light.
Soon, he discovered a pattern among them.
Those that emitted a white light, carrying a sense of sharpness and piercing, were the Sharp Metal Qi.
Those that emitted a cyan light, filled with a sense of life and rhythm, were the Green Wood Qi.
Those that emitted a black light, giving off a gentle and enduring coolness, were the Gui Water Qi.
Those that emitted a crimson light, violent and scorching, were the Li Fire Qi.
And those that emitted a yellow light, heavy and dense, were the Wu Earth Qi.
The Qi of the five elements were distinct, yet they also intermingled, forming the most fundamental laws of energy in this world.
Lin Ye’s consciousness cautiously reached out, like an invisible hand, trying to draw in the nearest wisp of crimson Li Fire Qi.
That wisp of Li Fire Qi was exceptionally compliant, drawn over by him and flowing towards his body.
However, the moment this wisp of Li Fire Qi entered his body, the surrounding Green Wood, Gui Water, Wu Earth, and Sharp Metal Qi, which had been calm, suddenly became as frenzied and chaotic as a disturbed swarm of bees!
They collided with and repelled each other, forming a chaotic torrent of energy.
Lin Ye felt a tightness in his chest, as if he had been brutally struck by a great, invisible hammer!
’Guiding the Qi... a failure!’
And he suffered a backlash.
Lin Ye felt his Qi and Blood reverse course, his eyes bulged, and his head felt like it was about to explode.
As expected, when cultivating a technique to a profound level, one had to be even more careful, because one misstep could lead to the legendary Qi deviation.
An ordinary person, upon reaching this point, would probably have to stop training for the day.
But the "Healing out of combat" mechanic gave Lin Ye the courage to try again.
Lin Ye didn’t rush into a second attempt.
Instead, he fell into thought.
Before long, Lin Ye’s eyes lit up.
’The five elements, with their cycles of creation and destruction, form a single whole.’
’Pulling one thread affects the entire system.’
’Drawing a single type of Qi into the body will only break the original balance, causing all the energies to run rampant.’
’I must... draw in all five Qi simultaneously, and at the moment they enter my body, maintain the delicate balance between them!’
Lin Ye closed his eyes again. This time, he was even more cautious.
His consciousness split into five strands, like five of the finest spider silks, simultaneously reaching for the five different types of Source Energy Particles.
He was like an apprentice juggler trying to toss five balls of completely different materials, weights, and properties at the same time. The difficulty was immense.
Failure.
Failure.
And another failure.
In these three attempts, either there was too much Metal Qi or not enough Water Qi.
The five streams of energy were like five untamable wild horses that simply couldn’t be controlled at once.
Every failure brought a small backlash, sending sharp pains through his internal organs.
Half an hour slipped away amidst the repeated failures and attempts.
Inside the Gravity Chamber, fine beads of sweat had formed on Lin Ye’s temples, but beneath his tightly closed eyelids, his Spirit was more focused than ever before.
In his world of perception, five wisps of different-colored Qi, all of identical thickness, were finally drawn in perfect, synchronized rhythm, slowly merging into his body!
BOOM!
The moment the five Qi entered his body, they didn’t run rampant as before. Instead, under his guidance, they formed a tiny, interconnected ring.
Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, and Earth, in turn, generates Metal!
A perfect five-element cycle had been quietly established within his body!
Immediately after, this cycle began to operate on its own, following the pathways outlined in the *Five Qi Guiding Formulas*. It flowed through his limbs and bones, tempering every drop of his Qi and Blood.
An indescribable feeling of comfort emanated from within him.
[Ding! You practiced the Five Qi Guiding Formulas and gained 3 experience points!]
[Ding! You practiced the Five Qi Guiding Formulas and gained 3 experience points!]
Every ten seconds or so, the system’s notification sound would arrive right on cue.
Lin Ye’s every breath became long and deep. A faint, visible wisp of white air even escaped his nostrils with each exhalation.
He did a quick calculation.
As long as he could maintain this state of cultivation, the experience he gained in an hour would be almost as fast as when he was slaughtering those mutated beasts in the outer ring of the Ruined City!
But this was only in theory.
The true difficulty of cultivation lay in persistence.
Just as he was trying to assume a contorted posture according to the technique’s diagrams for more efficient circulation, an accident occurred.
By dividing his attention, his already taut Spirit slackened for an instant.
His control over the balance of the five Qi inside him instantly faltered.
The fragile cycle he had just established collapsed with a rumble!
Lin Ye grunted again and was forced out of his cultivation state.
Lin Ye immediately realized his new shortcoming.
’My Spiritual Power... isn’t enough!’
