Chapter 23 Breakthrough Failure

Within the Shaman's Legacy, the Heavenly Mystic Abyss Sutra was the main cultivation technique. The first realm written in the sutra was Qi Absorption, which Jiang Han had already managed to achieve and thus was considered half a step into the ranks of cultivators.

The Qi Absorption realm was further divided into 3 levels. Right now, Jiang Han's cultivation was at the first level and he was only able to touch upon the cultivation method for the Qi Absorption stage thus far. With this closed-door training session, he had planned to breakthrough into the second level. At the second level, he would then be able to master some additional magical techniques and touch upon the powers of the five elements.

The significance of this was pretty big, as Jiang Han who was currently in the first level of Qi Absorption could not utilise any five element techniques. The minor techniques that he currently had, did not visibly increased his combat strength and although his body's toughness and flexibility received a major upgrade, his personal body strength did not increase much.

When he eventually breakthrough into the second level, then he would receive an overall upgrade to his physical body and magical techniques. More importantly, he would receive a sort of shaman medical technique that he was prepared to use to cure Jiang Peiqi's diabetes. Such miraculous medical technique did exist but he currently was not able to utilise it until he manage to breakthrough into the second level.

As a doctor, it would be a huge achievement if he was able to cure diabetes. Moreover, Jiang Han currently needed to increase his money-making capabilities. Speaking of which, if he did indeed manage to cure diabetes then he should be able to solve most of this problems.

After Qi Absorption was Qi Refining but Jiang Han still pretty far from this realm. Furthermore, the old Taoist had told him that cultivating tothis realm was really difficult. If he solely depended on himself, then the chance of success would be low while the danger and risk to himself would increase substantially. In the end, the old Taoist disappeared before he could tell him the solution.

Fortunately, Jiang Han currently did not need to think about these issues. Jiang Han was already very familiar with the method to feel and sense the natural spiritual energy between heaven and earth. Right now, Qi Absorption had already became a repetitious routine action that he was very familiar with and it did not take much effort at all.

Jiang Han originally thought that because the environment around the small room he rented was really bad that the concentration of spiritual energy here was thin, but in truth, this was not the case. Jiang Han noticed that when he cultivated back at the hospital's dormitory, there weren't much difference comparatively, the concentration of spiritual energy was equally rather thin.

After which, Jiang Han tried to switch up his cultivating location, but as expected, everywhere he went, the concentration of spiritual energy was similarly weak. Finally, Jiang Han came to a conclusion, that it was the same situation within the whole Jiangsu city, and thus it was pointless to change cultivation locations here in the city.

The lease on the small room was not up just yet, although it would be soon. Once the National Day Golden Week was over then Jiang Han had planned to extend the lease on this small room. The tenants here are usually those without any social status or standings who tend to be very busy with very little free time. These people would usually leave for work early in the morning, only to return late at night in order to make ends meet. Therefore they are unlikely to notice or bother with anything unusual around them.

There may be unexpected disturbance while Jiang Han cultivated and in this inconspicuous location, if anything were to happen, he could reduce the risk of exposure. When all was said and done, this small room of his was a pretty good location for his cultivation.

Jiang Han was immersed in his cultivation and four days passed by in the blink of an eye. When Jiang Han arouse from his cultivation, the golden week was already coming to an end. He opened his eyes, and it was obvious to see that it was filled with fatigue, this wasn't a sign of a smooth cultivation.

Jiang Han had substitute meditation and cultivation for normal sleep, and every time he woke up, his spirits would be in an excellent state. In contrast, his current state meant that something must have gone awry. Jiang Han slowly stretch his legs and then got up and off his bed.

When his feet touch the ground, he noticed his legs were weak and he couldn't steadily stand up. After sitting cross-legged for such a long period of time, this sort of occurrence was not uncommon. This was because blood flow to the legs was obstructed in that lotus position and when it was suddenly relaxed, the rush of blood created a numbing sensation.

However, that was only the case under normal circumstances. Jiang Han normally cultivated in that sitting position, and one session would usually last the entire night, but he would wake up the next day well-rested without any numbing sensation at all. This time however, he could not even stand properly, and the reason for this was because Jiang Han had failed in his attempt to breakthrough to the second level and had received a backlash effect.

This was too difficult. According to the method inscribe in the Heavenly Mystic Abyss Sutra, when the spiritual energy within the body's dantian condense into the size of a soybean then he could begin his breakthrough into the second level of Qi Absorption. Jiang Han had always been absorbing the spiritual energy between heaven and earth into his body and then compressing it into spiritual power.

Jiang Han was already proficient with this process, and his progress had been smooth sailing thus far. He had spent three days' worth of time to condense a soybean size spiritual power before following the directions in the sutra to breakthrough. Unfortunately, the following steps were not quite as easy.

On his first attempt, he had completely failed right off the bat. The second level of Qi Absorption required the cultivator to condense a second soybean size spiritual power. On the surface, it seemed like an easy task, but when Jiang Han eventually started working towards it, he realise that thinking about it was one thing, actually doing it was another, and shouldn't be mentioned together in the same breath.

After his first failure, he continuously made a couple more attempts which similarly all ended up in failure. No matter how hard he tried, he could only assimilate the condensed spiritual power into the existing spiritual power pellet, in the end he never manage to create a second condensed spiritual power soybean size pellet.

His multiple attempts was quite a strain on his mental fortitude. After a couple of days, Jiang Han was mentally and physically worn out. However, a fail was still a fail and without any solution, he could only give up helplessly.

When he opened his eyes, Jiang Han felt a pang of weakness and he felt a little light-headed. His whole body felt feeble and after much effort with no progress, furthermore he hasn't reach the Bigu(1) state, thus this sort of symptoms was normal. He was immersed in his cultivation until now, therefore he hadn't notice it yet, but now that he was awake and relax, he felt a sudden rush of thirst, hunger and exhaustion of the last few days hit him all at once.

Only after Jiang Han stabilise his spirit did he realise that he hasn't eaten anything for a couple of days. When he reached for his phone to check the time, he noticed that the phone wouldn't lit up no matter what button he pressed. It didn't take him long to realised that he hadn't turn his phone off for a few days now, of course it's battery was dry.

Jiang Han plugged his phone onto the charger and then opened the door and walked out right away. It was still bright outside, and regardless of what time it is, the most important thing right now was to grab something to eat. At this moment, he was so hungry that he felt that he could eat a whole cow.

As he walked, because his legs were still a little numb, in addition to him feeling weak from hunger, he felt like he was floating. It was a vastly different feel from the previous action movie like dramatic moves down the stairs, this time he could only slowly climb down with the support of the railings.

After moving about for a bit, the numbness in his legs began to diminish, despite this, the floating sensation wasn't something that would go away with time. Jiang Han found a buffet restaurant and paid his fee. Without being health conscious and picky, he grabbed a giant pile of food, found a table and starting eating.

Two hours later, Jiang Han rub his stomach as he walked out of the restaurant. Under the restaurant staff's astonished gaze, he returned to his rented room. After this big feast, his stomach was finally reimbursed for the last couple of days lacked of substance.

Every time Jiang Han finished eating at a buffet restaurant, he would feel like he could go on without eating for the next three days. However, when it was meal time the very next day, he would feel like he hasn't eaten in three days. But with his feast this time, he felt that he could go on for at least the next 10 days without eating.

There was a saying that one shouldn't overeat even if one was starving. However, this saying was meaningless to Jiang Han. This was because his body complete consumes anything he eats, he merely had to supply it with fuel.

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