Wujin Ji looked at his reflection in his mirror with a darkened expression.
"Of course, why haven't I thought of this?! The body! The body is the foundation for the qi, it is its container! Foundation is useless if the vessel collapses under pressure!"
He frowned, he felt disdain towards himself.
"I was too caught up with the excitement of cultivating and all of the new knowledge that I neglected the basics! I have truly put our transmigration brothers to shame.." He hit his fist against the mirror.
He jumped and landed in a lotus position and began to ponder to himself.
"The sect doesn't have any body cultivation techniques, which is strange.. I truly will have to come up with one on my own.."
"It needs to be profound, firm, and shape my body into a vessel that is perfect for foundation.." Wujin Ji sighed as he felt the requirements were hard to fill.
"It seems I will have to borrow some ideas from my seniors.. hmm what would they do in those novels.." Wujin Ji furrowed his brows.
He got up and began to pace around his room.
"If I combine breathing, qi circulation, muscle tension, tendon twisting, and gravity manipulation– no, thats too advanced.."
By the time Wujin Ji finished mumbling, others have already finished multiple cycles of cultivation, gathering a few wisps of Qi in their dantian.
While a minority have decided to ignore Lu Changsheng and began practicing with their swordsmanship outside once more.
Zhao Xuan was one such person who felt that any further training in qi was pointless without finding the crux of the problem, and as he was swinging his sword he couldn't help but see Wujin Ji through his window pacing back and forth.
"Maybe he has a problem like I do and this foundation nonsense is his way of coping.." Zhao Xuan suddenly felt pity and a sense of comraderie in Wujin Ji.
His eyes then met with several blue stones in the bushes outside of Wujin Ji's window and his jaw dropped.
"Spirit stones!" He shouted and then looked around to see if anybody was nearby.
Zhao Xuan slowly began to inch his way closer to Wujin Ji's window, attempting to be as quiet as possible.
Zhao Xuan could see the beautiful spirit stones right before his eyes, they were covered in dirt but still shined with brilliance.
He reached down to grab them..
Unbeknownst to what was happening outside, Wujin Ji shouted at the top of his lungs
"I GOT IT!"
Outside of Wujin Ji's window a loud rustling from bushes were heard followed by quick footsteps.
Wujin Ji, confused, looked outside and shook his head. "I thought this sect was protected from wild animals.."
Zhao Xuan began to sweat as he sprinted while carrying the spirit stones.
"Did he notice me? Did he say he got it, like this is his possession? No, there's no way. Why would they be outside otherwise?"
Zhao Xuan immediately began to ponder the meaning behind Wujin Ji's words and quickly closed his door behind him.
He sighed in relief and smiled as he looked at the stones before him.
"Now I won't fall behind!"
Wujin Ji on the other hand, shrugged his shoulders and contemplated the method he had just come up with.
"Instead of having the dantian as the sole vessel for qi, why not make every part of my body a mini vessel? Every muscle, every tendon, every organ.. a container for qi!" Wujin Ji grinned at his 'genius' idea.
"No… I'm thinking too small. I'll not only put wisps in every part of my body, but in my blood cells! That will speed up qi circulation throughout my body." He paused, then a fire lit in his eyes.
"To truly be worthy of a modern-era protagonist… I must refine qi into my very atoms!" Wujin Ji's grin stretched from ear to ear. This, he decided, was the pinnacle of body cultivation ingenuity.
"Of course… my body isn't yet strong enough to handle condensed qi in every part, so I'll start with regular wisps. But eventually… I should be able to." He exctiedly entered meditation.
Wujin Ji then began to gather qi wisps with surprising speed, but instead of storing them into his dantian, focused them into every fiber of his being, spreading the wisps to extremely small particles.
Only when he could not longer see the qi, but still feel the presence of it, did he allow them to seep into his body.
Every muscle, every organ, even his blood and atoms were being absorbed with qi.
The small micro organisms that were all over his body enjoying their lives were vaporized out of no where.
"Agh!" Wujin Ji yelled as he coughed up dark blood but ignored it and continued on.
"A little pain is nothing! If it was easy to build a foundation as sturdy as Mount Tai, everyone would do it!" He shouted internally as he focused.
Blood began to pour out of every orifice of his body. But this did not stop him from continuing.
Hours passed with him in agony.
Wujin Ji heard his bones crackling and popping, contorting and changing shapes and positions within his body.
His organs grew, then shrank. This process repeated countless times until finally..
There was an explosion of Qi that erupted from his body as the epicenter.
"Body foundation stage 1.." He smiled as he decided to call his stage. He was the author of this method, so why couldn't he?
He got up and exited his room to clean himself.
Unbeknownst to him, the elders of the sect immediately grew suspicious and organized a meeting.
"That surge of qi. It was similar to those demonic beasts in the Crimson Forest! Is there a demonic sect nearby?" An elderly man with a long grey beard shouted as he opened his eyes abruptly.
"Demonic beasts? Elder Hang don't be ridiculous, such thoughts are single minded! To me it felt similar to a great cultivator of the nascent soul realm's inheritance being released upon the world!" An elder replied with excitement, slamming his fist on the table.
"Elder Fu, surely you're mistaken, such acts are rare. But this does call for the need to send some disciples out. This is important but also dangerous, as such I believe it is appropriate to send out a few new inner sect disciples." A clean shaven elder with the plaque Elder Dong hanging by his waist concluded.
"Very well. Very well.. we will do as such!" A man in the corner with the long flowing robes with golden lining shouted. Their plaque simply said "Endless Sea, sect leader"!
Without knowing it, Wujin Ji had been the reason an emergency meeting was called in the sect.
After having a refreshing bath in the outer sect River, Wujin Ji spent the rest of the night focusing on cultivating more condensed wisps of Qi.
Upon seeing the sun rise, Wujin Ji opened his eyes with pride.
"50 strands of qi. Body cultivation only served to speed up the process instead of slowing it down!"
Wujin Ji pondered over his body cultivation and realized that his physique looked very different.
He now possessed a refined look with muscle showing all over his body!
He was satisfied but knew that he couldn't reach the next body cultivation step any time soon as that would require him to absorb condensed qi wisps, something he could not bear to handle at his current realm. He barely survived with regular wisps!
Soon, the inspection happened and Lu Changsheng began to speak once more.
"The competition is being brought forward. We will be competing in a week."
The recruits stood stunned.
"Senior Lu? What brought this forward so fast?" Liuyan Xue asked, perplexed.
"Well, the elders of the sect are planning to send newly advanced senior inner sect brothers on a sudden mission. To be transparent, this competition was also a mission and the winner's instructor would be promoted." Lu Changsheng explained.
"As such, whoever team wins this tournament will be going on this mission." He finished.
Wujin Ji felt that Lu Changsheng's actions in giving him his spirit stones made much more sense.
It directly had to do with his mission's success.
"Wujin Ji. Did you absorb the spirit stones I handed you?" Lu Changsheng asked directly, not concealing the fact.
"Uh.. About that.. Someone stole them!" Wujin Ji said quickly, remembering himself throwing them out the window.
Zhao Xuan's heart began to quicken as sweat poured down his back.
"How does he know?! Did he see me after all?" Zhao Xuan thought internally as he heard this. He darted his eyes between the two of them.
"Senior Lu, why did you not give any resources to Zhao Xuan? He's in need too is he not? And surely he would not lose them and make such a lame excuse as Wujin did!" Chen Long asked as he looked at Zhao Xuan, putting a thumbs up behind his back and winking.
Lu Chengshang then looked at Zhao Xuan who was shaking his head profusely.
"While I do have troubles it's not to the point to make senior Lu personally act like Wujin!" Zhao attempted to refuse.
"No, your critique does hold some truth. It's simply due to the fact that their problems are different. Wujin Ji is having trouble with qi wisps it seems, while Zhao Xuan's problem is more complex and has a problem with absorption." Lu Chengshang said as he explained his reasoning.
Chen Long originally felt unfairness but this point did make sense.
Su Yan however didn't buy it.
"Would it not make more sense to invest in individuals like me or Liuyan Xue? Those idiots will just waste those resources!" She shouted and then quickly regretted it.
"Oh, so you think you are powerful enough to hold me at fault now? Very well. I was just about to announce our new training plan in light of this news. You will all be dueling me together." Lu Changsheng said with a smile as Su Yan gulped.
"Hopefully he won't take my transgression too seriously.." Su Yan thought nervously.
Lu Changsheng left and came back with a bunch of training swords and tossed them onto the ground.
"Everyone, pick up a sword and we shall begin. We will not stop until sunset!" Lu Changsheng shouted with qi enhancing his voice.
Everyone grabbed a sword, except for Wujin Ji. He stood in place and felt upset.
"Senior Lu.. can I skip this training?"
Wujin Ji's question froze everyone in place as Lu Changsheng started to walk towards Wujin Ji.
"What did you just say?" He asked.
"Well.. this training will interrupt my foundation establishment and I'd like to skip it!" Wujin Ji blurted out and explained.
"Foundation establishment? Again with this nonsense? Hah. Alright. Junior Wujin." Lu Changsheng didn't have a hint of emotion on his face.
"Yes, senior?" Wujin Ji said, hoping Lu Changsheng would adhere to his request.
"Block one of my attacks and I will allow you to skip training." Lu Changsheng said as he quickly entered a combative stance.
"Senior? Are you sure?" Wujin Ji scratched his cheek.
"No more words." Lu Changsheng said as he moved his right leg on the ground and pulling his fist back, then burst forth, sending a Qi orb rushing directly at Wujin Ji!
Wujin Ji saw the attack and then quickly began to mobilize his qi.
His body began to emit a blue glow and his eyes became an otherworldly Azure..
Liuyan Xue looked at Wujin Ji with wide eyes. "Surely he's not this powerful?" She thought with confusion, remembering Wujin Ji's current state.
Zhao Xuan looked on with worry in his heart, while Chen Long was instead amazed.
Wujin Ji then took both of his hands and put them behind himself.
He then directly shot out a blue beam of qi that had much more radiance and light than Lu Changsheng's qi orb!
The two attacks met and dust began to build up, the qi blast continue to go forward, pushing the orb back!
"No way.." Zhao Xuan said as he grit his teeth. He could not handle the fact that he truly was the waste of the recruits after all!
Lu Changsheng was even more perplexed as he began to pour more of his Qi into the orb, hoping to push Wuji Ji's attack back!
"Who taught you such a technique!" He yelled out into surprise.
In his thoughts he was more so curious on how he could mobilize such qi with so little practice. He was in the peak of Qi Refining, how could he lose to someone who hadn't even entered the realm? It was nonsense!
"Let's just say before entering the sect, I had a great teacher!" Wujin Ji shouted as he remembered seeing this attack countless times on his television.
This sentence drew gasps in the crowd of recruits.
"This kid! He has such a powerful backer?" Su Yan said with confusion in her eyes.
The powerful qi radiating swept across the area and soon many of the recruits present were pushed to the ground.
And just as the qi blast was beginning to overpower the qi beam, Wujin Ji began to transport more qi throughout his entire body.
He mobilized every trace of qi in his body!
"Foundation.. is the path.. to go EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!" Wujin Ji screamed and poured all of his power into his attack.
Lu Changsheng looked on as his Qi orb was being pushed back into him at an extreme pace and his face turned pale.
"Shit!" He said as he grabbed a talisman out of his ring and quickly employed it.
The talisman then lit up and disappeared and shortly after, an old man appeared and collapsed both the Qi beam and Qi orb, extinguishing them completely.
"What exactly is going on here?" The man with the plaque that said Elder Fu asked.
And then he met his eyes with Wujin Ji and immediately widened them when he looked at his dantian.
"You.. what is that?" He said with great confusion.
Before Wujin Ji could respond, he collapsed unconscious.
Wujin Ji awoke as a alchemist pushed a pill into his mouth and he instantly spit it out.
"Patew!" The pill flew out and bounced on the ground and broke.
"What are you doing! That great healing pill was worth a fortune!" The alchemist screamed, wanting to strangle Wujin Ji.
"Hah. You waste money on pills that can bring toxins into my body and ruin my foundation? Nonsense!" Wujin Ji seemed even more angry than the alchemist!
"What nonsense are you speaking! The toxins are so negligible they would be purified after a few seconds of meditation! I demand you refund me!" The alchemist screamed at Wujin.
"To you it may seem that way. But energies don't simply just purify and disappear? Have you ever considered that? Surely it will bring toxins to my soul, my qi, even the blood in my body!" Wujin said as if he had absolute certainty.
The alchemist coughed blood and began to ring Wujin Ji's neck.
"Cough.. Cough.. enough." Elder Fu who was sitting suddenly said.
The alchemist immediately stopped and remembered the presence of the elder, his face went pale and he exited the room.
"Disciple Wujin Ji, I am Elder Fu. I have a few questions for you if that's okay." Elder Fu said with a smile.
"Sure, that's fine." Wujin Ji nodded.
"Where exactly did you learn such a technique? We don't have anything similar in the scripture pavilion.." The elder spat out.
"Oh that? I learned it from Goku."
..
Silence.
"Goku? You said you learned this technique from Goku?" Elder Fu said with surprise in his eyes.
"Uh yeah? I sort of learned it by watching." Wujin Ji said.
Wujin Ji immediately thought that perhaps this world had its own form of the show that they had access to?
Elder Fu immediately got up and shot daggers from his eyes at Wujin.
"Learned by watching? Are you serious? Such talent is unheard of!" Elder Fu said in shock.
"Well it was easy because I recalled the way that it was explained!" Wujin Ji said with a matter as fact attitude.
"I see. It all makes sense!" Elder Fu said as he sat back down in realization.
"This kid is a direct disciple of Ancestor Goku Yomi! He must have descended from the heavens upon sensing this kid's talent and taught him!" A smile began to creep onto Elder Fu's face.
"But wait a second. Let me ask the main question I had. Your body and your Qi. It seems as if you've entered the foundation establishment based on your physique but you haven't even created a vortex yet?" Elder Fu said questioning.
"Ah yeah I am establishing my foundation, but my progress is simply slow!" Wujin Ji replied with a smile as if he had nothing to hide.
"Ah it makes sense! This kid is a crippled foundation establishment realm, he must have been injured in a battle on the way to the sect!" Elder Fu thought, piecing the puzzle together.
"I understand. Do you accept being repositioned within the sect?"
"Repositioned?" Wujin Ji asked curiously.
"Ah yes, a promotion to an inner sect disciple, and the new instructor of your group!" Elder Fu said with a smile.
"Promotion.." Wujin Ji was shocked!
The talk was ended there as the door to the room opened and medicinal scents wafted out of the room.
Zhao Xuan entered and closed the door behind himself.
"Uh, Wujin Ji.. I came to talk." Zhao Xuan said and then realized the presence of the elder.
"Ah elder! My apologies, I shall leave immediately!" Zhao Xuan said as he bowed and was about to leave.
"Its fine, say what you need to say." Elder Fu instructed with his hand.
"Ah.. about that. Wujin Ji, I found these outside of your window and wanted to return them to you.. I apologize for snooping around!" Zhao Xuan admitted and held out a sack of spirit stones towards Wujin Ji.
"Spirit stones? I don't need such garbage!" Wujin Ji said turning his head and crossing his arms.
"Disciple! Spirit stones are precious and can he used as currency or to improve your cultivation! Why are you declining such a good thing?" Elder Fu couldn't help but interject into their conversation.
"Anything I want, I have. As for my cultivation, it only serves to harm me!" Wujin Ji said and directly refused Zhao Xuan.
Elder Fu was surprised but summed it up to Wujin Ji having a good personality and being frugal, resistant to hand outs.
"I see. Thank you Wujin Ji!" Zhao Xuan said as he left.
"He must have left these for my cultivation knowing how desperate I am!" Zhao Xuan smiled as he thought to himself. Maybe Wujin Ji wasn't as bad as he thought?