"Let's cultivate, shall we?" I said.
Gu Xue nodded, her expression calm as always.
We moved to a flat patch of ground where the air felt still. I picked up a stick and began to draw the symbols of the Ancient Cultivation Path — a compressed version of the fundamental rules.
"Energy is drawn within to bring harmony.
Energy is shared without bringing balance.
When both fuse and share balance and harmony, it becomes the Ancient Cultivation Path."
Gu Xue looked puzzled. "I didn't understand a word of that."
I smiled slightly but didn't answer.
The symbols shimmered faintly and rearranged themselves, forming new words.
"Without breaking balance and harmony,
Being both the source and receiver of energy,
Doing that at the same time removes restrictions."
The glow faded, leaving faint marks on the soil.
"So that's what it meant…" I murmured.
The Ancient Path wasn't about taking or sharing separately — it was about being both at once.
It didn't bind or limit; it allowed you to exist freely within one celestial body.
Once you left, the resonance would fade until you stepped onto another.
"It's a path of freedom," I said.
Gu Xue nodded slowly, beginning to understand.
---
I sat down and pressed my palm against the earth.
No effort, no control — I simply breathed.
The Qi around me stirred naturally, flowing through my body in rhythm with my heartbeat.
There was no resistance, no struggle — only calm movement.
Within moments, the energy inside me began to build.
The one thousand Qi I had slowly refined, expanding beyond anything I'd expected.
Ten thousand. Twenty. Fifty.
By the time it reached eighty-five thousand, the barrier shattered quietly.
I exhaled. "Qi Condensing Perfection."
It felt smooth and natural — no force, no imbalance.
The Ancient Path was truly freedom in motion.
---
Gu Xue sat beside me, silent, her body surrounded by faint traces of Qi.
But unlike mine, it wasn't drawn from the world around us — it was already within her.
That same ocean of Qi she carried since the day I met her.
Ten million raw Qi.
I'd calculated it before, and even now, thinking about it made my chest tighten.
She hadn't cultivated intentionally.
She hadn't tried to refine or control it.
It was just… there. Subconsciously gathered through years of existence under that man's planet.
I looked at my hands — eighty-five thousand refined Qi born from a thousand raw Qi — and then back at her.
Ten million raw Qi, unrefined, sitting quietly inside her body as if it were nothing.
The difference was beyond comparison.
If someone like her, who called herself talentless, could accumulate that much by merely existing there… then what about the man who controlled fifty percent of that planet's Qi?
Before, I thought he was strong — just another cultivator at a higher realm.
But now… I realized how foolish that thought was.
That planet must have an unimaginable Qi density for someone like Gu Xue to absorb so much without trying.
And he — the one who owned half its total energy — was far beyond what I could even measure.
I leaned back slightly, staring at the faint traces of Qi still hovering around her.
If ten million raw Qi could form in a single person naturally, then how much power did he hold?
It wasn't cultivation anymore — it was dominance.
I sighed quietly. "I really did misjudge him."
Gu Xue turned her head. "Did you say something?"
"Nothing," I said, forcing a small smile. "Just thinking."
She nodded, closing her eyes again. The air around her rippled faintly with that overwhelming energy, calm and untamed.
I stared at the ground, feeling the faint pulse of the planet beneath my hand.
Eighty-five thousand Qi refined through effort.
Ten million Qi gathered without intent.
And a being who ruled half a planet's power.
For the first time, I understood just how small I was.
And strangely, that didn't discourage me — it only made me want to see how far I could go.