In the next moment, driven by curiosity, she looked up at the sky.
"Indeed." She agreed with Fang Yichi.
The two of them gazed at the sky for a while, until Fang Yichi got up from the ground and looked at her with a strange expression.
"Master, why did you knock me down?" Fang Yichi raised an eyebrow, wanting to know the reason.
Mei Lie just gave him a cold look. "You still ask? You make this master worry about you, and then dismiss my concerns with a single smile. Are you bipolar, disciple?"
"..."
Fang Yichi fell silent, his eyes darting around, trying to grasp the situation. "Can you explain? What do you mean by that?"
"Idiot." Mei Lie was starting to get angry. "Disciple, your eyes just now showed a deep thirst for power. The kind that would do anything to become stronger—even commit crimes. How could I not be concerned?"
Mei Lie calmed her anger, taking a deep breath before continuing, "But when you smiled, my perception of you changed. You don't seem like such a bad person after all."
"I see." Fang Yichi felt the pieces fall into place.
'My desire to revive my parents clouded my master's view... Or did it? Would I really have the courage to become a demon just to reach my goals?' He pondered it for a while and came to a conclusion.
He would. But in the end, it would be meaningless. Even if he succeeded, his parents wouldn't see him the same way. They would only feel guilty for watching their son stray from his humanity.
And that's not what Fang Yichi wanted.
He would do anything to become stronger—but in a way that wasn't too evil. Nor too kind. He would walk the middle path.
He had always been that way: a social person, but also capable of becoming your greatest enemy.
'That's how my mother raised me: be like a flower, but don't hesitate to turn into a carnivorous plant to deal with those who wish you harm.'
"Golden map... could that be a treasure? Something that could help me with cultivation?"
He wanted to find out the truth as soon as possible, and he felt that once he began cultivating, the answers would come.
"Master! Now that I know what cultivation is, how do I practice?"
"To start the human stage of refinement, you must practice internal breathing—absorbing the world's essence through your pores and merging it with your human body. The first refinement is of the skin," Mei Lie explained calmly.
"This sub-realm has three phases. The initial phase occurs when your skin can withstand the prick of a needle. The intermediate phase, knife cuts. The final phase of skin refinement allows you to endure the impact of a hundred-kilo strike without damaging the skin."
'Amazing.' Fang Yichi was in awe. 'If the first sub-realm is like this... what about the others?'
His interest in cultivation only grew stronger. His heart beat with anticipation.
"Well, that's the basic explanation. Now I'll show you something, and I hope you'll make an honest decision afterward."
The next second, she looked at the sky again. This time, her gaze was fixed on the sun.
"Haa." Letting out a warm sigh, she began adjusting her breathing.
Fang Yichi watched her closely, not missing a single move. He saw her figure bathed in sunlight. The sun seemed to belong solely to her.
'Beautiful.' This time, it wasn't the sky—but the stunning woman etched into his mind.
Suddenly, she stopped her practice and turned her gaze to him. "Did you see what I did?"
Fang Yichi shook his head, indicating that he hadn't—he'd been too focused on her.
"I'll repeat it." Mei Lie went through the movements again.
This time, Fang Yichi didn't focus on her, but on what she was actually doing.
Before his eyes, he saw her begin to breathe. With each breath, golden particles descended onto her body, bathing her in the sun's essence.
"Did you see it this time?"
"Yes! Perfectly! Master, how did you breathe like that?"
"You just need to find a rhythm—not too fast, not too slow. The perfect breathing pattern for you—and it's different for everyone.
You know what else is different? Essence and Spiritual Qi.
Essence is the origin of something. For example, what just fell on me was solar essence—the sunlight. It can be used to improve the body, hence the name 'internal breathing.'
Now, Spiritual Qi is the formation of all things, including origin and beyond. There are places where it's abundant, and others where it's scarce—like our region.
But that can be reversed, if we find a spiritual vein—the essence of heaven and earth—which holds vast reserves of Spiritual Qi. Just like cultivation, it too has many levels. But even a low-grade spiritual vein is hard to find. Only great powers possess one!
Disciple, cultivation requires more than talent—it needs luck. Luck to be born into a good family, luck to find treasures, luck to meet good people, luck to survive misfortunes. Without that, it's hard to go far."
To Fang Yichi, these words were a true foundation of knowledge.
'It seems that cultivation doesn't make you superhuman overnight... but rather, it's a struggle to transcend the ordinary.' He understood the core of Mei Lie's words.
"Now that you understand everything... do you still want to cultivate? From the moment you begin, there's no turning back." Mei Lie stared at him with those red pupils that seemed to hold a sea of blood.
"I do! My decision remains the same." Fang Yichi wasn't afraid. He was ready to enter this world.
"Good decision. My disciple is no coward." She smiled.
Then she began teaching Fang Yichi how to find his rhythm. It took him a while to find his perfect breathing.
After breathing deeply, inhaling slowly and quickly several times, he found it. His breathing became like waves—perfectly harmonious.
"Disciple, now visualize the sun... and try to become one with it."
Fang Yichi obeyed and looked up. In his eyes, there was only the sun. Thanks to his breathing and the act of forgetting everything around him, he saw it differently than usual.
Before, he thought it was beautiful. But now, he felt its heat—how hot it really was. His body felt submerged in fire.
But it wasn't fatal. This was just a visualization created by his brain, analyzing the solar star.
'Merging with that, huh?' He felt it would be painful, but he didn't hesitate and took a step forward physically. But in his mind, his body plunged into hell.
He felt burning. His entire being was on fire. The pain his brain projected was immense. Clenching his teeth, he kept walking.
Above his body, golden particles began to descend. His body was becoming one with the sun.
At the same time, deep within him, a golden map began to tremble.