Capter 6

Divine decided to take teaching the goblings English into his future routine.

Reading the cultivation books for them out loud wouldn't only serve one benefit.

The only things he would censure were all about the system.

Divine wasn't worried that another being he taught cultivation could ever rise above him.

Not with his advantages, the Blood Demon Yin Spirit Roots, the Sacred Demon Yang Constitution and the whole Divine Demon System.

It would actually be great if the goblins could cultivate. Maybe they would become smarter.

Having a conversation with a goblin right now was very frustrating because Gobble didn't even have enough words to build an acceptable sentence.

A goblin's short life expectancy of ten winters could definitely be broken through by cultivating.

Divine read to the goblings from the first chapter of the Eternal Divine Demon Cultivation Scripture. He wanted to revise it and try qi sensing again.

Directing his focus outside of his body this time was what he wanted to try.

After a while he felt a few wisps of natural qi caressing his skin.

He kept at it and made some progress.

Later he changed to sensing the spirit qi inside of him again.

When he had enough of that he read from the Shining Blood Demon Body Cultivation Manual to the goblings. Additionally he tried to describe the illustrations in his own words.

Naturally he knew the goblings couldn't understand, but it helped him gauge and develop his understanding.

Divine practiced according to the manual. He took one pose, adjusted it by checking the manual until he was satisfied and went on to the next. That over and over until he felt hungry again.

He took a nutrition pill and distributed two between the goblings.

Divine wondered if he would ever see that goblin lackey again while sharing his water with the four goblings.

Next he read to the goblings from the giant book, The Demonic Path of Immortality, a Cultivation Journey.

His bladder called when he came to a passage about the uses of blood qi essence.

After finishing the page Divine went out of the cave to relieve himself.

A group of three goblins came up the tunnel from farther down.

Both parties didn't even acknowledge each other and the three goblins disappeared quickly in the direction of the main cavern.

Divine went a few steps up after them and stepped to the entrance of the other cave he considered his property.

Only he knew the cave belonged to him, but it counted anyway.

The goblin corpses laid in a heap before the cave's entrance.

If the corpses didn't get resurrected as zombies and walked there only to lie down again, what he wouldn't discount in this fantasy world, a goblin or goblins plural carried them there.

After a headcount he got even more vigilant because there were four and a half corpses. One more than he had left behind.

The corpse was even still fresh enough.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Divine went in carefully but stopped a few steps into the cave because the ground was covered in small pieces of rock that would make a noticeable sound when stepped on.

A simple and smart cave security system.

There were only two dim glowing mushrooms growing inside the cave and it was much darker than in Snarky's, but he could still make out a single goblin buried under a few old rags.

The goblin moved in its sleep and the mushrooms dim blue glow shined on its face.

A horrendous burn scar had disfigured its whole face. That looked like it had really hurt.

'Scared of fire or a pyromaniac? When someone has that close an encounter with fire they're definitely one of the two.'

Divine left without doing anything. He would keep an eye on that goblin, but only attack or kill if he was attacked first.

Or if he met a cannibal.

That goblin could stay in the cave until it misbehaved or Divine needed the space.

He pissed on the way back on the tunnel wall.

Pissing in this open tunnel made him feel nervous and exposed, but he counted on his superior hearing to alert him in time of any coming trouble.

Relieved, Divine went back to his cave, checked on the goblings and continued to cultivate or at least continued to try to get the hang of it.

Qi sensing was what he was most dedicated to.

To finally breath in natural qi and complete a cycle of cultivation was his next goal.

Hard work always paid off. Soon he felt the wisps of natural qi on his skin clearer and clearer.

He progressed in his qi sensing until he perceived the natural qi around him in the air at the distance of the width of a goblin hand.

That he only felt some wisps was because of his undeveloped qi sense and not because there wasn't natural qi literally everywhere.

The thing was, the wisps he could perceive were the highest concentration of natural qi around.

Developing sensitivity came in the future.

Divine took a few breaths to taste the air and finally managed to breathe in a wisp of natural qi.

The natural qi flowed into his lungs where he started to guide it through his meridians.

It took a lot of concentration and self control to guide the qi the right way.

It felt like if he relaxed for one second that wisp of qi would just disperse.

Luckily he had been prepared and had the illustration of the circulation lying before him.

It took some time time but in the end the wisp of qi was brought into his dantian and became part of his spirit qi. The wisp was smaller than in the beginning but refined and really a part of him now.

Something like a tiny burp rose inside of him that he breathed out with his next breath. Turbid air came out.

'That was good. Cultivation feels really good.'

His body was empowered and totally comfortable.

'After I have more experience with the qi circulation I can take a qi condensation pill to raise my cultivation stage.'

Divine did three circulations more before the goblings destroyed his concentration by crying for food.

Together with the four goblings Divine ate the last three nutrition pills and emptied his water gourd.

Now he would have to go out to stock up or buy from the system shop.

Divine had to make a decision.

Blood qi essence and money were the same in the way that he couldn't take them with him to the grave.

'Safety first. So shopping first. I'm preparing for my next outing by spending the blood qi essences. If I survive I can collect more wealth.'

He opened the system shop and checked his wallet.

[Blood Qi Essence: 20]

Divine scrolled through the system shop, used the search function and consulted the Demonic Path of Immortality.

After what felt like roughly an hour he finished his shopping.

[+1 Qi Condensation Pill] [-1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Healing Pill] [-1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+6 Nutrition Pills] [-6 Blood Qi Essence]

[+2 Cups of Spirit Water] [-4 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Dancing Feather Sword] [-2 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Spider Silk Robe] [-3 Blood Qi Essence]

The Dancing Feather Sword was a short sword. It was a spirit weapon of the qi condensation realm and had the inscriptions for durability and sharpness. It was the cheapest weapon in the system shop besides a spirit dagger.

The Spider Silk Robe was a spirit artifact of the qi condensation realm and had the inscriptions for durability and cleanliness.

After he spent all his blood qi essences except for three, Divine read to the goblings in preparation for his next bout of cultivation. From the Eternal Divine Demon Cultivation Scripture and the Shining Blood Demon Body Cultivation Manual he read the first chapters again.

From the Demonic Path of Immortality he read the basics about the stages of the Qi Condensation Realm out loud.

Divine read until all five of them were hungry again.

Already were three of the newly bought nutrition pills gone.

He took out a cup of spirit water from the system inventory. There were two sips of spirit water in a nice wooden cup.

He fed the goblings only drops but could see the positive effect it had on them immediately.

Their last signs of malnourishment vanished and their green skin took on a healthy tone.

The hair of the two goblings that even noticeably had any got a dash of vitality.

Divine drank the rest of the spirit water, put the cup down and started cultivating the Eternal Divine Demon Cultivation Scripture.

The spirit water gave his cultivation a boost.

After he squeezed every gain he could from the spirit water he cultivated a few cycles normally to reach his equilibrium.

He let the Qi condensation pill spawn in his hand. It had a delicious herbal smell.

He put it in his mouth and it dissolved on his tongue. A concentrated warmth rushed into his body and Divine concentrated on refining as much of the energy as he could.

Except for the qi in his body and the way of the circulation, nothing else existed for him anymore.

The qi condensation pill supplied much qi and Divine kept on refining it.

Suddenly his dantian experienced a change. The spirit qi concentration was high enough to raise his dantian a stage.

The sensations Divine experienced felt completely euphoric.

He felt better and more at home in this body than ever before.

All his senses strengthened. Most noticeably his qi sense.

Divine sweated a lot and every time he breathed out he expelled turbid air.

It was already clear that his cultivation rose a stage but he double checked it anyway.

'Divine Demon System. Show me my status.'

[Spirit Qi Cultivation: Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm]

[Body Cultivation: First Stage of the Body Tempering Realm]

[Blood Qi Essence: 3]

Divine was very happy. After he congratulated himself profously in his own mind he calmed himself, controlling his breath and sinking into meditation again.

He felt and experienced his own spirit qi and it was much better than before. Better quality, more quantity and more responsive to his intentions.

With some difficulties he circled the spirit qi through his body.

He managed it, even if it went unsteady and slow.

When it flowed into his hand he held it at his fingertips.

The tips emitted a dim glow. Suddenly the glow got brighter for a second.

He lost control over his spirit qi and it dissipated. Some of it outside into the air.

Luckily Divine knew that he hadn't lost anything permanently.

It was very easy to fill the spirit qi again to the point the dantian and the rest of the body were already cultivated to.

Simplified was the point of cultivation getting one's body or being used to a specific quantity and quality of qi and then break through these limits to condition themselves for more and more qi.

Especially in the first realms of cultivation played that the central role.

But if he hadn't read about that and really thought he had wasted or lost his breaktrough, he would have flipped out.

'Thank the system for the book Demonic Path of Immortality. All hail the System.'