For Bai Yiyi, spiritual energy was like the mist surrounding ordinary people—something she could see everywhere, yet could not physically grasp.
Perhaps because she had been too familiar with spiritual energy from the very beginning, her greatest obstacle when she first stepped onto the path of cultivation was drawing qi into her body.
In her perception, spiritual energy was everywhere. It even existed within her own body. As a result, she could not understand what the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden meant by "drawing qi into the body."
She simply had no idea how to guide spiritual energy to circulate within herself and eventually return to the dantian.
It was like being too close to a friend of the opposite sex. When you're that familiar, it becomes harder to make a move. What's needed is a shift in roles.
Because of this, during her three months in the Qi Cultivation stage, Bai Yiyi spent a full two and a half months stuck at the step of drawing qi into the body.
However, once she finally grasped the trick, her cultivation soared almost immediately. After all, the Qi Cultivation stage was, at its core, just about accumulating energy. There was nothing particularly profound about it. What mattered were talent and effort. The stage that truly required thought and comprehension was the Foundation Establishment stage.
In fact, Bai Yiyi had already planned out how she would teach Ye Ling to draw qi into his body. When she said Ye Ling could pass through the Qi Cultivation stage in a month, she wasn't exaggerating.
In her eyes, as long as Ye Ling grasped the key point, accumulating energy would be effortless.
After all, none of her junior sisters had ever stalled at the qi-drawing stage. Otherwise, she wouldn't be so anxiously teaching Ye Ling now.
And so, looking at the current outcome, a strong sense of frustration welled up in her heart.
Her adorable little face struggled to maintain a smile, but she still muttered softly under her breath, "So my aptitude really is the worst…"
On the other side, Ye Ling didn't hear her clearly. Partly because Bai Yiyi's voice was too soft, but more importantly because another line of small text had popped up in front of his eyes—
[Bai Yiyi's frustration toward Host +142]
???
What was this number supposed to mean?
A string of question marks immediately filled Ye Ling's mind. But then he suddenly remembered that when the System had officially activated, a shop system had appeared as well.
With a single thought, a marketplace interface instantly appeared before his eyes. At the very front, a banner was even advertising discounts.
Nine Heavens Ten Earths Supreme Dominance Art: 88% off!
Eternal Sword Dao: 78% off!
Three Days and Three Nights Powder: 98% off!
...
Not only were there secret manuals listed, there also seemed to be some strange items mixed in. But when Ye Ling checked the prices more closely, he found that even the cheapest ones started at five digits. With his pitiful balance of 142, he couldn't even afford a bottle of healing medicine, let alone something like Three Days and Three Nights Powder.
Wait, why would I even buy that?
Ye Ling quickly snapped out of it and closed the System Shop, then turned his attention back to Bai Yiyi.
Fortunately, Bai Yiyi was still lost in her own frustration and hadn't noticed anything unusual about Ye Ling.
"Master, could you gather a bit more spiritual energy for me?"
Ye Ling asked softly again.
As he spoke, he was already forcibly drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy on his own, but the effect was extremely limited.
That was because the System was the System, but the mental power he could actually use still belonged to him alone. If the System hadn't twisted reality and given him the ability to directly seize spiritual energy, he wouldn't even be able to absorb the energy around him at all.
That was why he needed Bai Yiyi to supply him with more spiritual energy.
"Oh… oh."
Bai Yiyi snapped out of her daze. After giving Ye Ling an embarrassed glance, she moved with a single thought, crudely yanking over the spiritual energy from the entire peak of Heavenly Peak.
???
Ye Ling was instantly dumbfounded.
He knew Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were powerful, but he never imagined they could be this terrifying. The surrounding air had practically been replaced by spiritual energy, and he was on the verge of suffocating.
Fortunately, he snapped out of it quickly and hurriedly said, "M-Master, that's too much… I—I can't breathe…"
Let alone someone like Bai Yiyi at the Nascent Soul Stage, even a cultivator at the first level of the Qi Cultivation stage could hold their breath. But Ye Ling had no cultivation at all. Without air, he really would die.
"Ah!"
Seeing a bluish tinge appear on Ye Ling's handsome face, Bai Yiyi hurriedly dispersed the spiritual energy around them, which had grown so dense it was almost turning liquid.
She quickly supported his back and said in a fluster, "I was too hasty."
"…"
To be honest, Ye Ling really wanted to say, "Are you trying to make me liberate my body?" But seeing the panic on Bai Yiyi's face, he suppressed the thought.
Still—
"I didn't expect my good disciple to be this weak. That was my oversight."
Bai Yiyi looked genuinely apologetic and added, "Good disciple, this time I'll go slowly."
I…
For a moment, Ye Ling's emotions were incredibly complicated. If he could absorb his own emotions, he felt like he could already exchange them for items in the shop.
After calming himself down, he gritted his teeth and said, "Master, just condense the spiritual energy in your hand."
What she said wasn't wrong, but it was really hurtful.
It seemed the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden wasn't just worried that this girl would be tricked after going down the mountain. More than that, she was probably afraid Bai Yiyi would offend countless people.
With Bai Yiyi's habit of speaking bluntly and her talent for irritating others, even if the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden were still at the Heavenly Gate, she probably wouldn't be able to take it.
"Mm."
Bai Yiyi nodded obediently, looking more like the disciple than the master.
This time, she was much more careful. She slowly gathered the surrounding spiritual energy into her hand. Within her fair, delicate palm, the spiritual energy actually showed signs of condensing into liquid.
Unfortunately, Ye Ling had no idea what this scene represented. The System had only fed him the most basic knowledge. Anything obscure or advanced was something he would have to learn on his own.
So Bai Yiyi's display was essentially wasted on him.
What Ye Ling didn't know was that the real reason the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden forbade Bai Yiyi from descending the mountain was Bai Yiyi's excessively intimate affinity with spiritual energy.
Even cultivators at the Great Ascension Stage couldn't casually condense the surrounding spiritual energy into a liquid state. That required an extraordinarily high level of compatibility with spiritual energy. It wasn't something just anyone could do.
When spiritual energy transformed from gaseous to liquid form, it was essentially creating spirit liquid out of thin air. One step further, and it could even become a spirit pill, and one without pill toxicity at that.
Bai Yiyi's value was exceedingly rare in this world. She was an absolute treasure in the eyes of every major sect.
If Bai Yiyi were a bit smarter and didn't irritate people so easily, the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden might have let her go down the mountain to get some fresh air.
But with Bai Yiyi as she was now, not letting her descend until she reached the Great Ascension Stage was truly the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden's slow and careful kind of love.
None of this was known to Ye Ling.
All he knew was that the amount of spiritual energy in front of him was more than enough for him to break through to the third level of the Qi Cultivation stage.
As expected of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. With a casual gesture, she could gather such an enormous amount of spiritual energy.