Wei Shi Lan entered Chang'e's room after making sure the mother and daughter had both left the vicinity.
He was first greeted by an overwhelming saltwater fish smell that was initially revolting, but beneath it lay something anyone who wasn't Shi Lan would have missed. It was that sensual scent wafting through the air.
Wei Shi Lan's eyes flew wide open, fireworks lighting within them.
'I was right!'
The flow of yin Qi was very strong in this room, but it had mixed with the spiritual Qi of the lake and a small amount of the fishes' vital Qi, which was why the smell was somewhat strong.
Wei Shi Lan looked around the house, checking the bags of clothes scattered about. He took each garment and sniffed it before putting it down, maintaining a calm expression. Eventually, he found another wooden basket of clothes where several garments had been roughly placed.
He took the soft linen lower-body undercloth and brought it to his nose. His eyes widened, and a nasty smile spread across his face.
'This is it!'
The earthy, sweet scent drifted into his nostrils and flowed straight into his bowels. The yin Qi flowed ceaselessly, and Shi Lan felt the Primordial Dark Sea move slightly within him, forming a small ripple as if a drop had fallen into it and sunk.
The moment Shi Lan felt this, his eyes widened. This was the first time the Primordial Dark Sea had responded since he reincarnated and it was a very good sign.
He quickly grabbed Chang'e's laundry basket, poured its contents onto her bed, and then sat down cross-legged. He closed his eyes, staring at the pile of underclothes with bright, happy fireworks dancing in his gaze.
'With this much yin Qi, I should be able to open my meridians and form a dantian!'
Qi sensing and Qi circulation were the necessary beginnings of a cultivator, and the technique used to sense and circulate Qi was equally important, as these laid the foundation for cultivation.
In his former life, Wei Shi Lan had relied on the Six Axis Storm Technique. It was merely a mortal-grade technique and incomplete. Of course, in the future he refined that technique, improving the quality of his meridians and turning them into vital gates.
But that journey had taken nearly eighty years.
Shi Lan intended to achieve the same result in mere minutes… perhaps hours, depending on the amount of yin Qi.
'I'm going to use the Thirty-six Vital Pillar Circulation Art. With its malleability, I'll be able to adapt it in the future depending on the nature of the Dark Sea.'
The Thirty-six Vital Pillar Circulation Art was a Heaven-grade cultivation script he had created after studying the flaws of several Heaven-grade cultivation techniques.
It wasn't rigid. Instead, it was a foundational circulation technique that stabilized the body by erecting thirty-six invisible pillars of vital Qi inside the meridian network. These pillars supported the body like the beams of a great temple and slowly merged with the meridians, turning them into vital gates capable of passively assimilating Qi even when Shi Lan wasn't consciously cultivating.
He moved the underclothes onto his lap and sniffed them one by one, the drums of his heart beating with excitement.
The yin Qi from the underclothes drifted toward him and flowed into his body. Wei Shi Lan closed his eyes and calmed the excited storm in his heart. Sensing Qi was like breathing to him; he didn't even need to consciously cultivate the skill, since it was something he could easily do even though he was now in a body that had never cultivated.
He felt the flowery scent enter him and settle into a current of pink wind. But Wei Shi Lan did not allow it to drift aimlessly. Instead, he directed it, condensing the yin Qi into twelve pillars along his torso and spine.
Then he guided the Qi through the rest of his body, circulating it throughout before directing it to his lower abdomen, where he could see the vast, calm surface of the Primordial Dark Sea.
He intended to form a dantian above the dark sea—like pale moonlight overlooking the ocean beneath an endlessly dark sky.
He would still extend the twelve pillars, but he first needed to create a core before turning the pillars into nodes of Qi that could help the meridians purify Qi while simultaneously cleansing his meridians and expelling impurities from his body.
He guided the process so delicately that he lost track of time.
He began forming the dantian, which required a massive amount of yin Qi. The yin Qi that had accumulated in the room over many years, along with that contained in the underclothes, was quickly being depleted. At this point, Wei Shi Lan suspected he might not even have enough yin Qi to finish creating the dantian, let alone extend the pillars.
It filled him with regret that he might not be able to finish the process. When would he ever get another opportunity like this?
Still, he focused on what truly mattered and continued condensing the Qi to shape his dantian.
After some time, he finally succeeded in creating it.
But the yin Qi around him had been completely depleted.
Although there was still wild vital Qi and the lake's spiritual Qi mixed with that of the fishes — and he could cultivate those — it would be a bad idea, especially since he was still forming the foundation of his cultivation base.
Shi Lan wasn't looking for just any kind of Qi.
He needed the type of Qi that would serve as the foundation for all the divine yin Qi he intended to cultivate from goddesses in his pursuit of immortality.
Which was why he could not simply cultivate any type of Qi except yin Qi.
He opened his eyes and let out a regretful sigh.
However, as he stood up to return the underclothes, Wei Shi Lan suddenly felt something strange.
The surface of the Primordial Dark Sea had been silent, still, and calm.
But as the dantian floated above it like a distant moon, it began to move.
Slowly at first…
Then the slight disturbance turned into violent waves that surged across the sea, thrashing and rising like a tsunami before crashing against the dantian he had formed.
A turmoil erupted inside him, making him feel lightheaded. He tried to stand, but his vision blurred and dizziness overtook him.
He collapsed to the ground at the foot of the bed, the underclothes spilling over him.
Meanwhile, several hours had passed since Xia Xia and her mother left the house, and the two were finally returning.