After the storms, the Gu village held a few weddings.
It felt almost symbolic. The violent winds and endless rain had finally retreated, leaving the earth washed clean and the sky startlingly blue.
The walls of the village, repaired and reinforced, gleamed under sunlight.
Crops that had bent low beneath the storm now stood tall again, nourished by the excess rain.
And in the wake of destruction, life insisted on moving forward.
Red silk hung from doorframes. Lanterns were lit at night, their warm glow casting gentle halos over smiling faces.
Laughter echoed through the training grounds that had so recently been a place of tension and preparation. For a brief while, cultivation and survival gave way to celebration.
Gu Mian was having a rare rest after the past few busy weeks.
Now, at last, the village had entered a period of calm. The weddings were proof that everyone believed in tomorrow again.
Everyone now knew that she and Gu Ruisheng were a couple.
It had not been officially announced, but in a place as small and tight-knit as the Gu village, very little needed announcing. The way they stood together, the way their eyes met and lingered just a second too long—those things were louder than words.
He had been busy in the lab these few days though and was hardly coming home.
Gu Ruisheng had thrown himself into research after the storms, studying the changes in mana fluctuations and the strange energy surges that had followed the tempest.
He claimed it was temporary instability in the environment. Gu Mian suspected it was simply his way of making sure the village would never be caught off guard again.
Gu Mian picked out a novel from her space and was reading, nestled in the couch.
The living room was quiet, The house felt peaceful, warm, lived-in. She tucked her legs beneath her and turned the pages lazily, letting her mind drift with the story.
An hour later she sat up straight and re-read a paragraph carefully, and suddenly had an idea.
The paragraph recorded an imagined cultivation technique. It was simple and crude, clearly the product of some amateur's fantasy rather than a serious scholar's work—but she felt it was the best.
There were no long scriptures to be comprehended, let alone cryptic words that tied up one's brain.
No diagrams of meridian constellations. No poetic metaphors about dragons coiling around heavenly pillars. No endless commentary on "the Dao of Emptiness."
It was a simple instruction:
Refine a handful of Qi into a strand of hair.
That was all.
It was called the 100 Qi refinement technique.
The author had described compressing and purifying Qi repeatedly until its density changed entirely. No grand theory, just repetition and refinement.
She felt that if it was feasible, they would even make it a thousand-fold refinement.
How pure would their spiritual energy be by then?
She was now level 11 and half, yet not close to breaking through again. Her foundation was stable, but she could feel a certain looseness in her energy—like a room filled with mist instead of something solid.
She quickly put the book aside and sat down to refine her Qi the way she normally did, just that this time she didn't absorb any.
Instead, she kept circulating and refining it.
Over and over, she compressed the Qi within her dantian, forcing it through her meridians in tight, controlled loops. Each cycle shaved off impurities. Each rotation felt slightly heavier.
By the time she finished her first 50 refinement cycles, she dropped from intermediate level 11 to initial level 11—but her Qi was now denser.
She opened her inner perception and almost gasped. The volume had decreased, but the texture had changed. What had once felt like a drifting cloud now felt like flowing syrup.
She was excited and then calmed down and continued to do it cycle after cycle. Soon she dropped from initial level 11 to peak level 10.
The sensation of losing levels would have terrified anyone else. Cultivators clung desperately to their ranks. But Gu Mian could clearly feel the truth—she was not becoming weaker.
She felt it was not enough because her mental strength was still level 11 intermediate…
That's it.
Mental strength.
Why didn't she think of that?
They usually refined their mental strength for one or two cycles after advancing and then stopped. It was treated like polishing a surface lightly after building a wall—sufficient, but not thorough.
Now that she thought about it, absorbing mana was essentially the same as absorbing Qi.
Just two different types of energy—but they could probably be managed the same way.
So she tried.
And truthfully, she dropped from level 11 to level 10 in mental strength—but felt stronger.
The difference was astonishing. Her thoughts felt clearer. Her perception sharper. It was as if a layer of fog had been peeled away from her mind.
Gu Mian laughed out loud. She had finally found the perfect cultivation technique—and it was something even a baby could do.
Why did they never think of such a simple thing?
She continuously refined her mental strength till she dropped all the way to level four.
If each level was a room, then previously she had filled the room with gas and gone to the next room to fill it with gas again. But now she filled the rooms with water, which she continuously compressed and compressed to make glacias. Now each room contained strong glacias.
Isn't this amazing?
When she happily opened her eyes, she found Gu Ruisheng staring at her in shock.
He came back two hours ago, as it was now evening. He had almost wrapped up his work in the lab and wanted to take a break, but after entering the house he found that her level was dropping.
He was scared at first, thinking something happened to her.
His heart had nearly leapt out of his chest when he sensed her cultivation falling rapidly. But as he watched, his expression slowly changed.
Her aura was actually getting stronger.
Even more amazing was how much mana her body began to absorb—yet there was no change in level.
After one and a half hours, he saw her stabilizing at level four.
A level four that was stronger than his level 10.
Can anyone tell him what sorcery was going on here?
She told him to wait till after dinner before she would tell him.
He opened his mouth to protest but closed it again when he saw the mischievous light in her eyes.
So she drove him upstairs to bathe. After dinner, they talked in his room.
She explained what happened and had him try it.
At first, he was reluctant. Dropping levels voluntarily went against every instinct. But he trusted her.
An hour later he opened his eyes in shock.
He had fallen from level 10 to level 8—and yet his perception had expanded dramatically. His Qi felt like molten metal compared to before.
She had him continue, as she also wanted to keep refining her spiritual Qi since it was her mental power she had refined through the afternoon.
They both spent the night refining the energies in their bodies.
The house was silent except for the faint hum of circulating energy. Moonlight spilled across the floor, pale and silver, while two figures sat cross-legged facing each other.
By morning, both their spiritual Qi and mental power had stabilized at level 3 intermediate.
The sun shone in through the window and cast a gentle ray on two figures sitting face-to-face on the bed.
Both figures opened their eyes and smiled at each other as they wallowed in the feeling of genuine strength.
There was no panic. No regret. Only certainty.
They freshened up, ate breakfast, and were ready to go out and show off.
Gu Mian and Gu Ruisheng walked hand in hand and strolled around the village greeting everyone. The others all looked at them puzzled, because it was a very weird thing for this reticent duo to do.
But soon they noticed that their levels had dropped.
Then there was an uproar.
People gathered around immediately, faces pale with concern. Had something gone wrong in the lab? Had they been injured?
The couple were still smiling, saying nothing.
When everyone arrived, they led everyone to the training ground and had everyone sit and instructed them on what to do.
Although puzzled, no one asked any questions and did what they were told.
After 100 refinements they all dropped two minor levels—yet they didn't feel any less stronger.
Murmurs spread through the field.
The duo had them continue till they couldn't drop anymore. By noon everyone's mental strength was back at level two or one.
For young ones like Qi Chu and Leng Rui, they went even below level one—but yet felt stronger because their mana was denser and purer.
Everyone was amazed and happy.
Some laughed. Some cried. Some simply sat in stunned silence, feeling the new solidity within themselves.
While they were busy cultivating, Gu Mian and Gu Ruisheng prepared lunch.
They moved easily together in the kitchen, quiet understanding flowing between them. Pots simmered. Rice steamed. The smell of stir-fried vegetables drifted across the yard.
After everyone ate, they continued to cultivate.
This time they cultivated spiritual Qi and all dropped to be at the same level with their mental strength.
What a happy thing.
For the first time, their village stood on a foundation that was not inflated—but solid.
They finished the cultivation sessions by 9:00 p.m., ate dinner, and said goodbye, ready to go increase their cultivation levels with the same method.
The night sky was filled with stars. It felt like the beginning of something new.
By the next morning, everyone—including little Leng Rui—went up a minor level in both mana and Qi.
The joy that spread through the village was indescribable.
By calculation, they were sure it would take at least two months before they got back their former strength—one for magic and the second month for spiritual Qi.
But this time, when they returned to their former levels, they would not be the same.
Everything went back to normal after a week. They now cultivated only at night.
Everyone went back to training and studying, while Gu Mian provided food from her space once a month.
The weddings resumed. The fields flourished. The lab lights burned late into the night.
And beneath the calm rhythm of daily life, a quiet revolution had taken root—
A simple refinement.
A strand of hair's worth of Qi.
And a foundation stronger than ever before.