The full moon hung high in the sky. When most of the people here soundly sleeping, a young man was sitting cross legged, quietly meditating in the dead of the night.

  He had been sitting in the same position for quite a few hours. Sweat beads were rapidly forming on his back and he was breathing rather heavily. The young man was heavily concentrating on patiently guiding the strands of the spiritual Qi he had accumulated into his dantian.

  One mistake could disrupt the whole process and he would have to start again.

  Just a little bit more... and success!!

  He circulated the spiritual Qi through his body for ten cycles stabilising his realm. The whirlpool in his dantian was finally formed and was stable.

  "Congratulations on finally breaking into the middle stage of Qi refining realm. It took you far too long." Even though he was alone in this small room, he could hear a sarcastic voice echoing in his head.

  Ling Yun ignored Brahma's jibe and relished in the excitement of breaking into the 4th realm of Qi refining. It had been two months since he left his village.

  He could've broken through much earlier but under the guidance of Brahma he had to switch his clan's cultivation technique to Brahma's 'The Nourishment of Soul & Qi' cultivation technique.

  Her technique was better by a huge margin increasing the rate of Qi circulation but according to her the brilliance of this technique was not in its speed but this technique simultaneously refined Qi and soul.

  Soul refining and nourishing techniques were scarce so this technique must be as rare as a pheonix feather.

  Now he had finally broken into the fourth realm. In the first three realms, the initial stages of Qi refining, the practitioners absorb Qi from the surroundings and use it form a stable whirlpool in their dantian. They cannot store the spiritual Qi and refine it into their true Qi to use for their martial arts and other cultivation techniques.

  From the fourth realm, the practitioner now has a stable whirlpool and now can smoothly absorb the spiritual Qi and can refine it into their own true Qi.

  In the middle stages, from fourth to seventh, now they must cultivate to enlarge their Qi ocean in their dantian to increase the amount of Qi they can store.

  The later stages are for solidifying their foundation to charge for Foundation Establishment realm.

  Ling Yun opened his eyes, got up and plopped onto his bed. He was mentally exhausted after breaking through.

  Ah I have to wake up early for the morning shift.

  ****

  "Three orders for jasmine tea!"

  "Got it!"

  It was evening in the Gingko village as the Jasmine Dragon was bustling with activity. Ling Yun was in the kitchen frantically preparing the orders.

  The owner of this tea shop Jasmine Dragon was old man Ping. He was the son of Granny Sha. On Granny Sha's advice Ling Yun had come to Gingko village after leaving the clan.

  Gingko village was a second grade spiritual land but what prevented anyone from claiming it was that it bordered Myriad Beast Forest. There were frequent attacks from demonic beasts making this place unsuitable to form a clan base or a city.

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  Even in the past twenty years, this village was destroyed and rebuilt three times due to beast tides. The last beast tide was nine years ago.

  But with chaos comes opportunities. Many lone cultivators use this village as a base to foray into the Myriad Beast Forest. Some merchants from the Blue Moon city also buy materials from these lone cultivators further incentivising them to hunt in the forest. There were also rumours of merchant associations recruiting exceptional talents into their fold from here.

  Ling Yun had also come here for such opportunity. He had shown his introduction letter to old man Ping and after passing a test where he brewed tea for old man Ping to taste, he was successfully hired. For working shifts in the tea shop, he was given living accomodations and a small salary.

  Ling Yun gave a sigh as the tea shop closed for the day. The shop was only open during morning and evening. He started cleaning the dirty utensils when someone gave him a light playful shove.

  "Ease on the frown Big Brother Yun. Father is not angry anymore."

  The daughter of the owner was grinning at him. She was little Hua, a thirteen year old. She was the daughter of old man Ping. While old man Ping was a fatty with a burly moustache, the girl was slim. Her hair was tied in twin tails and her lips were streched in a wide grin accentuating the freckles on her cheek.

  Her eyes were shining with mischief. She was somewhat pretty, having the beauty of a simple cheerful village girl.

  On the mention of her father, Ling Yun froze. He had been heavily scolded by old man Ping today. The morning shift was supposed to be his today but due to exhaustion from yesterday, he had woken up after noon. To appease old man Ping, Ling Yun worked the night shift and solemnly vowed to never do this again.

  At least there was no pay cut.

  This girl had been teasing him the entire evening. Fed up from all this Ling Yun pulled her hair.

  "Ow owww.!"

  "Little girl, let me teach you how to respect your elders."

  "Big brother, please let go. Sorry, sorry"

  Ofcourse Ling Yun wasn't pulling too hard to cause damage. It was just enough to punish this mischievous girl. In the past month, they had form such a dynamic between them where little Hua would tease and sometimes prank him while he would punish her like this when she was caught.

  There were no hard feelings between them, it was just their way of bonding. After giving it another tug, Ling Yun released her hair.

  "Big brother Yun, you're so mean. I hate you. Big brother Chensha is so much better than you." Little Hua angrily glared at Ling Yun. She stuck out her tongue then ran away.

  Chensha was another employee of the Jasmine Dragon. He was an eighteen year old youth. He was also a cultivator like Ling Yun, unlike old man Ping and his daughter who were mortals. Together they run the tea shop with Ling Yun and Chensha taking morning and evening shifts.

  Today since Ling Yun was unavailable Chensha had to cover his shift.

  Next time I see him I should apologise to Chensha.

  After cleaning the remaining utensils his work was done. He once apologised used to old man Ping who silently accepted and went back into his room.

  "Now Brahma I have broken into the fourth realm. Teach me something new."

  Ling Yun had mastered the Serene Ocean sutra in the past two months. Even though he recognised its value, in his heart he yearned for a cool technique.

  Brahma had promised him to teach a new technique after he breaks into the fourth realm.

  "Okay, don't be too impatient little bo- Ling Yun. Here try to comprehend this technique." Again, golden symbols started floating in his mind imbuing the technique.

  After he had comprehended it a little bit to get a gist of it, Ling Yun gave Brahma a sullen look.

  "Are you doing this on purpose? Another dull technique. Is your Brahma Soul God Canon only full of trash techniques like this?"

  Ling Yun had been looking for this for two months so he couldn't help but let resentment leak into his speech.

  The technique she had imparted was a soul sensing technique. Although it was quite complex unlike Serene Ocean sutra, ultimately it's purpose was to only sense souls.

  Another dud technique. Should I look for a different master?

  Brahma's eyes twitched in annoyance as she heard Ling Yun insulting her divine art.

  "You stupid brat must have a brain of a monkey. Don't you know most cultivators are not killed in straight duels but are sneakily ambushed and assassinated.

  "With this soul sensing technique no soul could hide from your eyes. You would never be caught in a surprise and have a huge advantage over others.

  "As you progress you will soon realise it's utility. Then you would profusely thank me for teaching this. Mark my words you brat."

  Sigh. I just wanted to learn something cool.

  Ling Yun closed his eyes and started to comprehend this technique.

  The road of cultivation is very long indeed.