"Phew, I must focus, I can't afford to be distracted anymore."
"Sigh, the martial path is truly not easy."
The youngsters quickly collected their thoughts and started cultivating again.
"Sigh, there are only four of them left now, but this number is already high enough. The sect's prestige must be passed down. Even if these youths fail, I still have…hmm?"
Just as Elder Feng Ming was thinking, his eyes widened as his thoughts were interrupted by one of the youngsters who was cultivating.
"He's almost there."
Elder Feng Ming looked at the young man, who was carefully manipulating the earth qi and pouring it into his abdomen.
"Huff, huff," the young man clenched his teeth hard as he breathed heavily. His jade green robes were drenched in sweat, his long black hair was messy, and there were dark circles under his eyes. But Elder Feng Ming could see more and more earth qi going into the young man's abdomen. In the young man's abdomen, a small illusory blue sea was slowly forming, little by little, as he kept pouring in more earth qi.
"Boom,"
After about the time it takes to crack open three eggs, inside the young man's lower body, a loud explosion occurred, but only the boy heard the explosion. None of the people in the martial hall seemed to have heard it, as they all continued their cultivation.
"Is this it? I can feel the earth qi settling in my abdomen, but..." the young man's eyebrows twitched as he pondered. Even though he felt the earth qi settling, he still felt something was missing.
"Elder Feng Ming mentioned we will need to construct our shrine once the earth qi we absorb settles in our abdomen. Does that mean we have to use the earth qi to construct our shrines?"
After the first stage of the martial master's ritual, living beings can feel earth qi and absorb it. Once the earth qi settles in the body, it's easier to refine it and build a shrine in their abdomen using that same earth qi.
"Even though the earth qi has settled in my abdomen, I feel like it would leak out of my body if I just leave it be. He also mentioned living beings refine and use earth qi. Let's try refining this earth qi first." Under the young man's careful manipulation, multiple waves erupted in the blue illusory sea.
"Seems like refining the earth qi in my body is a little easier than absorbing it when it's outside. Is it because the earth qi has settled in my abdomen?" After a few moments, the blue illusory sea let out a blue mist and slowly transformed into a white liquid, like milk.
"Phew, done. Now I need to construct my shrine."
In the young man's abdomen, the refined earth qi quickly started coming together, and the white liquid, like milk, became a round, delicate-looking glass ball. The glass ball had some white liquid in it.
"Thud."
The young man fell to the ground unconscious immediately afterward.
"Good. Now, how about them?" Elder Feng Ming nodded his head after seeing the young man completely construct his shrine and looked toward the other youngsters.
They too had completed their cultivation and fallen unconscious seconds after the young man.
"Three days and three nights. These youngsters have spent three days and three nights absorbing the earth qi and building their shrine," Feng Jing, who was standing not far from Elder Feng Ming, said in a low voice.
"Yes, not to mention not even a week has passed since they climbed the mountain." Elder Feng Ming nodded his head as if acknowledging them.
...
The sun was now high up in the clear blue sky.
At the top of the mountain, winds came and brushed off the trees once in a while, creating a cool breeze as leaves fell. The birds could be heard among the countless trees at the top of the mountain.
Inside one of the rooms in the courtyard, a young man slowly woke up from sleep. His eyes and mouth still had rheum.
The young man had long black hair and looked ordinary. If people saw him, they would immediately forget about him the next moment. There was nothing striking about his looks. Upon closer look, the young man appeared to be about 15 years old, and his eyes still had some light in them.
"Hmm? This is not the shrine room where is this?" He looked around confused as he started stretching his body.
The room he was in now was more spacious and luxurious than the shrine room. The wooden bed he slept on was intricately carved with jade-green dragons, peacefully curled in slumber.
"But there's something more important" but the young man wasn't impressed by all that and instead quickly sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
"There it is, haha, I can see it. My shrine," the young man chuckled and looked excited.
After martial masters build their shrines, they are able to see their shrine just by thinking and focusing on their abdomen.
Inside the young man's abdomen was a clear glass ball that had white liquid, like milk, in it. The white liquid could be seen moving inside the glass ball like water in a cup.
"After martial masters absorb and refine earth qi, it becomes theirs and can use it however they like, let's see what i can do with it." The young man muttered to himself as he focused on his right hand palm.
In the palm of his right hand, a white liquid appeared and began taking the shape of a small bluish butterfly. The palm-sized butterfly had intricate black patterns on its wings. It weakly fluttered around the room, emitting a faint blue glow.
"so martial masters can create whatever they want using the refined earth qi in their shrine?, ah I've also lost some of the refined earth qi in my shrine, i guess this makes sense." Inside the young man's shrine the white liquid was depleted and only a small amount remained.
"Hmm, It seems once the refined earth qi leaves my shrine it can't return, the only way to get back my lost refined earth qi is by absorbing the outside earth qi, but still this butterfly is under my control"
"Sigh there's so much for me learn"
Even though he formed his shrine and became a martial master he still lacked knowledge. Martial masters were known to possess great strength, effortlessly scaling walls, and flying over eaves.
"For now, I should stay jade wind sect and learn everything i can about martial masters, it's not like I can leave anyways"