Chương 74: 1.74 Time Management~

Collapsing from exhaustion was normal, but it was strange that it had already happened twice in this very hall. This was Ning's first thought upon seeing the familiar white ceiling. The second was that the bed was quite comfy. Third was his master's head looked quite big in close range.

"Congratulations, the pill was successful, you are a girl now." Ling Xin spoke seriously. Hm? Hmm? Ning felt he must have heard something wrong just now. It seemed his head was still foggy. Then he heard Ling Xin being scolded by Ling Yinran.

"Aunt, Junior Brother is still a patient. Please don't try to joke with him."

"Haha. But did you see the look on his face? It's rare to see such panic from him." Her previously stern persona was nowhere to be seen. As someone who took joy in making all kinds of strange pills, it was no surprise she had a mischievous streak.

"So… that was just a joke, right?" Ning finally asked. Don't ask him why he was so worried hearing that. There was a gender-changing pill in this world called Yin-Yang Rotation. It was only natural for him to be concerned about his "second brother."

"Yes, yes. Anyway, do you feel the qi in your acupoint? Any pain or discomfort?" Ling Xin asked seriously.

"No, I feel fine." Ning could sense the newly opened acupoint in his body, along with the faint trace of alchemy qi residing within it. [Medicine King Technique: Starting (Acupoint Opening)]"That's good. We were able to succeed in a single attempt." Ling Xin smiled upon hearing that.

"Also, Master, I do have a question. Why didn't you tell me beforehand about doing this? I could have been more mentally prepared." Ning couldn't help but complain. It had hurt like hell, and he would have taken a pain-suppressing pill if he had known.

"T-this…" Ling Xin blinked.

"I just wanted to give you a surprise." Surprise? Yes, that was certainly a surprise. A very memorable one.

"She just procrastinated until the end, and only remembered this morning about your first alchemy session. That's why I had to go out and get the Opening Acupoint Pill from Grandmaster," Ling Yinran said, naturally exposing her aunt.

"No wonder it all felt so sudden." Ning glanced at Ling Xin, who seemed to visibly wilt.

"Enough of that, let's talk about the Medicine King Sutra." Ling Xin forcefully changed the topic.

"You have now completed the acupoint opening stage. Now you need to nourish the acupoint with danyuan qi every day." Ning knew Ling Xin was avoiding responsibility, but he didn't really care.

"So, I have to perform alchemy every day?"

"Yes. The amount of danyuan qi you obtain is proportional to the quality and rank of the pill you refine. Your Fasting Pill is very basic, so you'll only get a trace each time," Ling Xin nodded.

"Don't worry too much, Junior Brother. It may seem burdensome, but the benefits are amazing," Ling Yinran encouraged, ever the reliable senior. Ning nodded.

"In the nourishing stage, you can use this qi to enhance the effects of pills slightly, meaning you can absorb them more efficiently and thoroughly. In the next stage, you can use danyuan qi to assist in breakthroughs. These are just the most basic effects of the Medicine King Technique; everything else builds upon these two," Ling Xin explained eloquently.

"This sounds amazing." Ning could immediately see the value of this technique. His cultivation was about to go brr…

"Of course it is. This is one of the four major techniques brought by our founder. You know the founder came from another region, right? These techniques originate from there, and as a Nascent Soul patriarch, his methods naturally carry great merit," Ling Xin said. As someone raised within the sect, she clearly had a strong sense of belonging.

"Master, since the Medicine King Technique is so amazing, what are the other three techniques?" Ning asked curiously.

"Well, normally such things aren't discussed openly, but since you've learned this technique, you can be considered a true member of our lineage," Ling Xin said.

"The other three are the Beast King Technique, which synchronizes the cultivation of a beast master and their beast; the Talisman King Technique, where one can absorb a natal talisman into their body; and the Weapon King Technique, where one synchronizes with a weapon and nourishes it with their qi to improve its quality. Of course, the last one is often called the Sword King Technique, since it's used by our current sect leader."

"Damn!" That was the only word Ning could say after hearing this. All of them sounded like cheats. But considering the founder's cultivation level, only techniques of this caliber would catch his attention.

"Aunt, wasn't there a rumor about a secret fifth technique?" Ling Yinran asked curiously.

"Hm. There was such a rumor, but I don't think it's true. Founder Li Changsou, aside from being a cultivation genius, was also highly accomplished in all the arts corresponding to the technique. If there were a fifth technique of the same series, we would have known about it." Ling Xin explained.

"I see." Ling Yinran and Ning nodded.

"Of course, it's also possible that even the genius founder couldn't practice the fifth technique, so no record exists. But that's obviously impossible, right?" Ling Xin added jokingly.

"… Right." Ning could recognize a flag when he saw one. And this was definitely a flag.... For the next few hours, Ning first memorized the technique manual. At this point, he was a pro on this kind of stuff. After reading the Medicine King Technique manual, Ning could only say he was lucky to have such a good master. The main requirement for cultivating this technique was to open an acupoint early enough so that one could nourish it with the "primordial" alchemy qi.

Only now did he realize that the pill his master had given him was a top-grade second-tier pill, something he wouldn't be able to obtain even if he sold himself. Its sole function was to open an acupoint without harming the body while allowing it to adapt. But oh boy, was that a difficult process. From what he had read, Ning knew that the bodies of cultivators were said to possess "infinite" possibilities.

By following specific techniques, one could transform the body or open things like the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the one hundred and twenty-eight star-shaped acupoints, or whatever else the method required. Since the ultimate goal of these kinds of cultivation paths seemed to be replacing the universe with one's own body, Ning had already grown used to the strangeness of this human body of his. But all this transformation required fuel and high grade one at that.

Acupoint opening pill was just that, and seeing Ling Xin didn't say anything about compensation or payment, he knew it was his master taking care of him.

"Now, my main task is to accumulate as much alchemy qi as possible." Ning understood that his cultivation path had broadened even further with this technique. He now had the possibility of reaching the eighth stage of Qi Condensation, and perhaps even going beyond that, within the given deadline. So Ning had to admit that having someone like Ling Xin as his master was something to be grateful for. At the very least, he knew he should take better care of his master now.

That was the only thing he could do for the time being. After cleaning up, Ning walked toward his hut, greeting the occasional spiritual farmer along the way. His reputation had improved quite a bit ever since he attended that last gathering. It would have been awkward to promote himself as an alchemist, but with the unwitting help of Lao San, he had managed to establish himself properly.

"Is this what they call doing a good thing with bad intentions? Or a reward after surviving a tribulation?" Ning's mind, as always, wandered to strange places. Fenghuang was perched on a tree in Ning's field. Hearing someone approach, it swiftly moved forward, only to stop upon recognizing Ning. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Thank you for looking after the field," Ning said, petting the raven. He had gradually come to realize the benefits of having a beast companion. Now that his field had reached the first grade, the accompanying troubles had also increased. With Fenghuang around, weeds and pests could be burned away, allowing Ning to focus on other tasks. Plus, it was good to have a companion by his side for daily life, no matter how stoic the raven was.

"We should try to obtain the Beast King Technique in the future," Ning thought as he absentmindedly stroked the raven's feathers. With the Beast King Technique, he could synchronize with Fenghuang, accelerating both of their cultivation speeds. Of course, that was a long-term goal. Given his current identity and position, he had no leverage to obtain a technique from another lineage.

If he hadn't gained a Foundation Building master like Ling Xin, someone clearly connected to a Purple Mansion elder, he wouldn't have even caught a glimpse of the Medicine King Sutra.... It was bright and early when Ning began his daily work tending to the farm. With the growing demands of alchemy, he had already planted a large batch of basic spiritual grain. With his current skills, he could reliably produce high-quality plants at this tier.

The time required for the grain to grow, however, was still three months. Fortunately, Ning had a solution. The Spring Breeze Seedling Technique. He had already read through the technique thoroughly. The description was, as with most spiritual farming techniques, written in the aggressively poetic style that seemed to be a mandatory requirement for anyone transcribing cultivation manuals.

"As spring wind stirs the sleeping earth, so does this technique rouse the vital essence within the seed. The practitioner becomes the season itself, determining growth and prosperity." Ning translated this internally. It makes plants grow faster. He filed the poetry away and focused on the mechanics. The Spring Breeze Seedling Technique worked by supplementing a plant's natural growth cycle with external spiritual qi, delivered in precise, rhythmic pulses timed to the plant's own vital fluctuations.

The keyword being timed. Raw spiritual qi dumped into a plant without rhythm was roughly equivalent to force-feeding someone an entire week's worth of food in a single sitting. The results, as Ning had learned firsthand, were not pretty.

"This is why it requires Great Accomplishment in Withering and Flourishing," he noted.

"You need to feel the plant's natural rhythm before you can supplement it." He had, as it happened, already developed exactly that sensitivity over two years of managing Dragon Qi Grass, Frozen Breath Grain, and Serpent Vine simultaneously. Each had its own rhythm. Each resisted interference at different points in its cycle. Learning when not to push had taken longer than learning how to push at all. He crouched beside the basic spiritual grain and focused.

The first thing the technique required was establishing what the manual called the Breath Reading, a baseline attunement to the plant's current growth phase. In theory, it was straightforward. In practice, the manual's description of how to achieve it was approximately as helpful as a cooking instruction that read "add seasoning to taste." Ning set the jade slip aside, placed both hands flat against the soil, and closed his eyes. Plants grew in cycles: push phase, consolidation phase, and dormancy.

The Withering and Flourishing Technique had already trained him to distinguish between the three, not through spiritual sense, but through direct feedback from the plant itself. A plant in the push phase gave off a subtle outward resistance when he guided qi into it, like pressing against something that was already expanding. There was a steady responsiveness to input; the plant accepted qi readily, and its internal flow felt active, almost like a current moving in one direction. Consolidation felt different.

The plant no longer responded with outward expansion. Instead, it felt denser and more contained. When Ning introduced qi, the response was slower, as if the plant was busy stabilizing what it had already grown rather than trying to expand further. The feedback was absorbed without momentum. Dormancy was the most difficult to identify at first. It did not respond much at all. The plant neither resisted nor actively accepted qi; it simply remained still.

To an untrained cultivator, this felt almost identical to a plant in decline. The difference, Ning had learned the hard way, was that a dormant plant retained structural stability, while a dying one did not. He crouched beside the basic spiritual grain and focused. The basic spiritual grain was firmly in the push phase, the familiar outward pressure of active growth and the subtle warmth of qi moving steadily through its root system.

The manual specified that the technique was most effective when introduced during the push phase. Attempting it during consolidation was like trying to add lanes to a road while construction was already underway, possible, but needlessly complicated for everyone involved. Ning opened his eyes slowly.

"… Hm." Something had felt different just now. The push phase of the grain, he had felt it clearly, yes. But what surprised him was how clearly. The quiet, almost imperceptible pulse that marked the grain's internal cycle. It was as if he hadn't just felt that the plant was growing, but had sensed where within its cycle it currently was. He knew the exact reason why this change had occurred. His talent, Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity, had always operated quietly in the background.

The spatial side had shown its value early. Distances, trajectories, and the geometry of movement in combat, his perception of these had always been sharper than it should have been at his stage. But the time component had been subtler. More like a persistent background awareness, an uncanny sense of exactly how much time had passed, a tendency toward hyperfocus on duration, and difficulty ignoring the passage of time even during meditation. His talent was clearly growth-type.

Until now, his extreme time sensitivity had not reached the point of providing any noticeable benefits, but it seemed that this talent was finally beginning to manifest.

"So feeling the rhythm of a living thing's growth cycle… that falls under time sensitivity," Ning thought.

"The push phase isn't just a state. It has a beat, a rate. And I can sense where, within that beat, the plant currently is." He filed this away as something worth investigating further and moved on. Ning formed the first seal. The Spring Breeze Seedling Technique's opening gesture was deceptively simple: two fingers pressed together, a slow outward breath, and a deliberate release of spiritual qi from the palm in a flat, spreading pattern.

The manual called this the "open hand," as opposed to focused techniques that delivered qi in a concentrated stream. The image Ning had settled on for himself was less poetic and considerably more accurate; it was the difference between watering a plant with a hose and with a sprinkler. A hose hit one spot hard, while a sprinkler distributed evenly across the whole. Uneven qi delivery was how people killed their crops while technically using a growth technique.

He had made that mistake exactly once, with a test patch of basic spiritual grain back in the outer sect. He had not made it again. After all, learning from mistakes was the basic thing to do. The qi spread from his palm and met the grain's root network. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the pressure he had been feeling from the plant, the push phase momentum, shifted slightly. It became more pronounced, like a current that had been moving at a steady pace, suddenly encountering a favorable wind at its back.

'There it is.' Ning narrowed his eyes. This was the part the manual had been trying to describe with the spring wind metaphor. And Ning, grudgingly, had to admit it was fairly accurate. He wasn't pushing the plant; he was supplementing what was already happening, becoming an additional favorable condition rather than a force acting on it from outside. The difference mattered enormously. Forcing qi into a plant overrode its natural regulatory mechanisms.

The plant couldn't refuse the input, so it absorbed it whether or not it was ready. The result was uneven growth, certain sections of the root network expanding faster than others, structural imbalances that showed up later as weak stalks, irregular qi distribution, and heightened susceptibility to disease.

"You don't force the process. You give it a favorable wind and let it move faster on its own." That was as xianxia as it got. He held the technique steady. [Spring Breeze Seedling Technique: Starting (1/100)] He had officially reached the starting point of this technique. Over the next two hours, he practiced on three different plots: the basic spiritual grain, a section of Dragon Qi Grass running slightly behind the rest of its batch, and the Serpent Vine. Each plant responded differently.

The Dragon Qi Grass was the most cooperative. Its qi signature was dense and even, and the supplementary input integrated smoothly. Ning had expected this. Dragon Qi Grass was a stable plant. The Serpent Vine was another matter. Its aggressive growth nature meant it tried to use the supplementary qi faster than Ning was providing it, creating a pull that kept disrupting his spread pattern.

Maintaining the correct rhythm against the vine's own momentum required considerably more active attention than the manual's breezy description had implied. He adjusted his approach. Instead of a steady, consistent spread, he began delivering the qi in slightly irregular intervals, deliberately desynchronizing from the vine's pull rhythm. The plant's momentum couldn't lock onto an irregular pattern the way it could with a predictable one. The vine settled into a more cooperative response.

After two hours, his progress was quite good. [Spring Breeze Seedling Technique: Starting (5/100)] Slower progress than the Withering and Flourishing Technique at the same stage. But the Withering and Flourishing Technique had also killed two plants during his early practice, so he was willing to accept a slower learning curve in exchange for not destroying his crops mid-experiment. Ning leaned back against the courtyard wall and looked over his plots.

At mastery, the Spring Breeze Seedling Technique was said to accelerate the growth of first-tier plants by roughly thirty percent. Combined with his existing farming skill set, which already reliably produced above-average quality harvests, everything was moving in the right direction. The chain connected cleanly, the same way it always did when he thought through the full picture. Better ingredient cultivation meant better ingredient quality. Better ingredient quality meant cleaner refinement.

Cleaner refinement meant more danyuan qi produced per session. More danyuan qi meant faster acupoint nourishment, which in turn meant faster cultivation progress. Every technique fed into the others. The compounding effect was real.

"It's all coming together," Ning thought with a small smile. Being optimistic was also part of maintaining a healthy cultivation mindset. Then Ning turned his attention to what remained. In terms of farming techniques, his current skill set was sufficient for the Qi Condensation stage. The Spring Breeze Seedling Technique filled the last gap he had identified.

Further upgrades, such as developing the Small Cloud Rain Technique into the more advanced Large Cloud Rain Technique, were Foundation Building territory and not relevant for years yet. Which meant his farming schedule finally had some breathing room. That breathing room needed to be used wisely. He had been putting off the spear. His combat repertoire had developed reasonably well: the bow, the arrows, the Flame Spiral Arrow combination with Fenghuang, and the storage bag emergency defense.

It was a solid foundation for a mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivator, but it leaned heavily on range. The moment an opponent closed the distance, his options became limited. A spear technique would address that. The Falling Spear Technique was too basic, it was essentially a beginner's guide to handling a spear. Now, he needed something more substantial. Something with weight behind it, suited to his physical cultivation, and compatible with his qi circulation style.

He made a mental note to visit the Scripture Pavilion soon. Alas, there was still much work to be done.... Thanks for reading~