Chapter 68 - 55 : Cultivating Qi (1)

Chapter 68: Chapter 55 : Cultivating Qi (1)

Ethan did not sleep that night.

Not because he was incapable of sleeping. Because there was too much to think about. He sat alone in his lodging, the lamp beside him burning quietly while the sounds of the city drifted through the wooden window. Along the street outside, a carriage rolled over uneven stones. Voices rose from the street, followed by laughter and the clatter of dishes from a nearby establishment.

Ethan remained seated at the edge of the bed. His attention was turned inward. The question that had occupied his mind after gaining basic control over his new sense, had not changed.

What more can this new body of mine do?

Blood Perception had been the first answer. It had surprised him. Excited him, then it had overwhelmed him. Then, with enough practice, he had learned to control it.

But that was only one ability.

His body had changed far more fundamentally than that. The Blood Seed was still there. The Vampire Template had changed his entire existence. His blood no longer behaved exactly as it had before.

And yet he was still a cultivator.

That was the part Ethan could not ignore.

He had spent months building his Body Tempering foundation through the Evergreen Breath Method. He had learned how Qi moved through his meridians and how his body responded to it. But the Evergreen Breath Method had never been meant to carry him through the next stage.

It had served its purpose.

It had helped him build the foundation required to reach Qi Refining. Beyond that, he needed something else. A proper Qi Refining cultivation manual. Ethan slowly opened his eyes.

"Then that’s where I start."

He stood. There was no excitement on his face now. Only curiosity. He had no intention of rushing into cultivation simply because he had a breakthrough to Qi Refining stage while becoming something new.

If anything, his transformation had given him more reason to be careful. A cultivation method was not something to experiment with blindly. He knew that much from everything he had learned about the cultivation world.

A flawed technique could damage the meridians. A wrong circulation route could cause Qi to become unstable. And attempting to force a method beyond what the body could safely handle could result in something cultivators feared deeply, Qi deviation.

Improper cultivation was not merely a failed meditation session. In webnovel cultivation stories he had read , disrupted circulation is often portrayed as capable of causing serious physical harm. Ethan had no intention of discovering how accurate that warning was through personal experience.

He needed a manual.

A real one.

The several days passed without anything unusual happening. Ethan continued living normally. He kept on Refining his control of blood perception as he went about with his daily life through the city. He occasionally tested his Blood Perception when he found a quiet moment, but he did not allow himself to become obsessed with it. The ability was already becoming easier to control.

That alone was encouraging.

What interested him more was something else. Every time he turned his attention toward the Blood Seed, he could feel that it was there.

Quiet.

Deep.

Almost impossible to understand. It felt different, changed, transformed or maybe improved after his transformation. It wasn’t like when it had formed. He could not look inside it as though it were an ordinary object.

It felt closer like a part of him.

An organ.

A part of the body that had not existed before his transformation. The thought reminded him of the dantian. Ordinary cultivators gathered and refined Qi through their cultivation methods, eventually storing their cultivated power within their dantian. Ethan had read enough to understand the basic principle. The dantian was not merely a pouch of energy; cultivation methods determined how energy was gathered, circulated, refined, and stored.

His Blood Seed seemed to now operate in a similar way. But similar did not mean identical. That distinction mattered. He need to be sure of it ,he needed evidence.

On the sixth day, he found it.

Not the answer.

An opportunity.

He was sitting inside a small teahouse when an acquaintance from the city approached his table.The man placed a cup of tea down for himself before sitting.

"Long time my friend."

"Been occupied with life these days."

"I got news about something I think you will be interested in."

"I heard you have been looking for cultivation materials recently, haven’t you?"

Ethan glanced at him.

"Sometimes."

" something more specific."

"Qi Refining?"

The man’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

"So you really are." He said this time with a tone less casual. You can almost feel the shift in his attitude.

Ethan said nothing.

The man smiled.

"There’s an auction in three days."

Ethan waited.

"It’s not one of the large ones. Mostly local cultivators. Some merchants. A few people from outside the city."

"What’s being sold?"

"Materials, pills, weapons, manuals or whatever people are willing to put forward."

"Qi Refining manuals?"

"Possibly."

Ethan took a slow sip of tea.

"Where?"

The man gave him the location. Then he added, "You’ll need an entry token."

He placed a small wooden token on the table. Ethan looked at it.

"How much?"

"Consider it a favor."

Ethan pushed a few silver coins across the table anyway. The man stared at them.

"You don’t have to." He knew favor were often more difficult to pay than a price.

"I know."

The man laughed and accepted them. Ethan picked up the token.

"Three days?"

"Three days."

"Then I’ll see."

The conversation moved to other matters. Ethan didn’t mention why he wanted the manual.

He didn’t need to. The man might had already knew when he asked about a Qi Refining manuals. The moment the man left, Ethan turned the wooden token between his fingers.

An auction.

A place where cultivation manuals changed hands. It was exactly what he needed.

Three days later, Ethan arrived before the auction began. The building stood on a quieter street away from the busiest part of the city. It wasn’t impressive. That was probably intentional. There were no towering gates or elaborate statues announcing the presence of some great organization. Just a dark wooden building with a few guards standing outside.

Cultivators entered in small groups. Some wore ordinary robes. Others covered their faces. Ethan noticed several masks among them. He didn’t find that strange. Anonymity was necessary in a world where owing or buying a treasure without enough power can bring you doom.

He presented the wooden token. One of the guards checked it before stepping aside. Inside, the atmosphere changed. The street noise disappeared behind the thick walls. The hall smelled faintly of incense, old wood, and the metallic scent of several cultivation materials stored, and the increasing number of people nearby. Rows of seats filled the main chamber. A raised platform stood at the front. Behind it hung a simple black curtain.

Nothing extravagant.

Ethan found his seat and settled down. His eyes moved through the room. There were perhaps a hundred people. Maybe more. Most were ordinary cultivators. Some spoke quietly. Others remained silent. A few examined the people around them.

Ethan did the same. His Blood Perception remained quiet beneath his awareness. He didn’t activate it deliberately. He didn’t need to. He could still sense the faint presence of blood around him.

Dozens of living bodies.

Different strengths.

Different rhythms.

Different intensities.

The sensation was interesting. But Ethan deliberately kept it in the background. He was here for something else. The auction began.

The first item was a medicinal herb.

The second was a low-grade weapon.

The third was a collection of spirit stones.

The prices rose and fell.

Ethan watched with his current financial situation in mind.

A cultivation pill appeared.

He didn’t bid.

A piece of beast material appeared.

He considered it for a moment.

Then ignored it.

He didn’t need it.

One item after another changed hands.

Ethan remained patient.

Then the auctioneer announced a collection of cultivation manuals. Ethan straightened slightly. Several thin books were brought forward. None were particularly impressive.

A Body Tempering method.

A movement technique.

A basic sword technique.

A breathing technique.

Ethan listened to the descriptions. Then the final manual was presented.

"Low-grade Qi Refining Method."

The auctioneer briefly explained its contents. It was a beginner-level manual. Nothing extraordinary. Its value came from being complete and suitable for cultivators attempting to enter Qi Refining.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

This was what he needed. The bidding began. The price rose slowly. Ethan waited. When the room became quieter, he made his offer. Another person responded.

Ethan waited again. The price rose once more. He considered the amount. A little bit heavy on his pocket but still affordable.

Not cheap.

But affordable.

He made another offer. The other bidder stopped. The auctioneer struck the wooden hammer. The manual belonged to him.

Ethan paid.

A servant brought it to him after the transaction. The manual was placed inside a simple wooden case. Ethan didn’t open it immediately. He simply rested his hand on the case.

For something so ordinary, it represented a significant change. His next step had begun.

He didn’t wait for the auction to end before he left. He already got what he came for and no need sticking around to stir greed in others heart towards him.

When he got back to his lodging. He waited until night before studying it.

Not inside the city.

Ethan had already decided that anything involving serious experimentation would be done away from other people.

He left the city quietly. This time around to avoid being followed as a result of buying the manual earlier he was extra careful, always checking with his blood perception if he had a tail. But as he left the city behind, still with nobody following him. He smiled, seems he was overthinking. But it never hurts to be cautious.

The road became darker as the buildings thinned. After traveling far enough, he found a secluded area among the hills. There were no nearby houses. No travelers. No obvious signs of other cultivators. Only wind moving through the grass.

Ethan entered a small natural depression between several rocks and sat down. He opened the wooden case. The manual rested inside.

He read.

Then read it again.

Then a third time.

He didn’t begin cultivating. Instead, he studied the logic behind it. The method was straightforward. Gather spiritual energy. Guide it through the meridians. Refine it. Continue the circulation. Direct the refined Qi toward the dantian.

Store it.

Repeat the cycle. Ethan closed the manual. His gaze lowered.

"It seems the problem is here."

His finger rested against his abdomen. The dantian. That was where the method expected the cultivated Qi to go. But Ethan found out his vampire is different from his human body, it didn’t possess an ordinary dantian as his central cultivation foundation anymore.

He had the Blood Seed.

He closed his eyes. As his awareness moved inward.