To cultivate the "Soft Water Technique", sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is only the first step. To formally enter the first layer of the Qi Refining stage, one needs to guide the Qi into the body, then open up the first set of meridian channels. Only then can it be considered a success for the first layer. The second layer requires opening up another set of meridian channels, and the difficulty will increase with each layer.

  Qin Lingyun had already sensed the existence of spiritual energy, and what she needed to do next was to guide it into her body. The "Soft Water Technique" had its own method for guiding spiritual energy, and Qin Lingyuns memory was excellent, having long ago imprinted the entire cultivation method in her mind. Now she recalled the guiding method and began to follow it accordingly.

  Before long, she felt the blue light spots being absorbed into her skin, and her body had a slight coolness. Many light spots naturally gathered into thread-like shapes and gradually entered the position of the dantian.

  The lower abdomen feels cool and refreshing, with many thread-like spiritual energies gathering into a small cluster of cool energy, this feeling is very obvious.

  "I didnt expect that the introduction of air into the body was completed so smoothly. First, warm up the spiritual energy in the dantian, and when the spiritual energy accumulates to a certain amount, you can guide the spiritual energy to open up the meridians."

  Qin Lingyuns heart was naturally filled with excitement, her long-awaited dream of cultivating immortality could finally take the most important first step.

  In the following half month, Qin Lingyun would absorb the free-roaming spiritual energy between heaven and earth every night, enter his dantian and warm it up. Because absorbing into the dantian does not mean that he already possesses that much spiritual energy, after absorbing a lot of spiritual energy into the dantian, he must warm it up to make some of the spiritual energy truly become his own.

  After half a month of tempering, Qin Lingyun finally had her own spiritual energy. On this evening, she began to try guiding the spiritual energy to open up her meridians.

  "The connection points between the meridians are the acupoints, and the key to unblocking the meridians lies in unblocking those most critical acupoints." Qin Lingyun silently recited the locations of the major acupoints of the first layer of heart method, beginning to attempt to manipulate her spiritual energy.

  At first, the spiritual energy was almost out of control. It should have been moved by intention, but now, even though the intention moves, the spiritual energy does not listen to commands. This is naturally due to it being the first attempt.

  After trying several times, Qin Lingyun found that she could barely manipulate the movement of her spiritual energy. As her thoughts flowed, the spiritual energy slowly flowed along with her intentions. In ordinary people without cultivation, the meridians in their bodies are closed. Spiritual energy is needed to break through the closure of the meridians, allowing the flow of qi and blood, and thus transforming the entire body.

  Qin Lingyun guided the spiritual energy into the dry meridians, like a clear spring pouring in, and the meridians gradually expanded, filled with spiritual energy. Soon, the spiritual energy opened up this small section of meridian and arrived at the first acupoint. Qin Lingyun continued to guide the spiritual energy towards the acupoint.

  Qin Lingyun felt the meridians twist, a wave of pain came, it was a kind of heart-wrenching pain inside the body, almost unbearable, she bit her teeth and endured gradually.

  Time slowly passed, and when the acupoint was finally opened by the spiritual energy, Qin Lingyun let out a long sigh. She could no longer guide the spiritual energy and had to let it return to her dantian. Opening her eyes, she found that the sky was already slightly bright. It took an entire nights time to break through one acupoint, and she had to endure immense pain. If Qin Lingyuns willpower wasnt strong enough, she might have given up halfway.

  "Cultivating immortality is much more difficult than I imagined, this path is not easy to walk, but I will not back down."

  This unexpected opportunity in Qin Lingyuns heart was a special blessing from heaven, so she wanted to seize this chance and strive to go further on the path of immortality.

  One night, Qin Lingyun broke through one of the acupoints. This first acupoint was naturally also the easiest to break through, and it became increasingly difficult as he progressed. However, after breaking through the acupoint, Qin Lingyun felt his energy surge, despite not having slept all night, he didnt feel a bit tired, but his body felt sticky and uncomfortable.

  Upon closer inspection, I found that there were black dirt spots all over my skin.

  "Is this the transformation of the body by refining Qi?" The Soft Water Technique clearly states that when you first start refining Qi, the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy will gradually expel various impurities from within the body, making it even more pure. In the end, it will be immune to all evils, and can even gradually start to abstain from food, able to survive without eating grains or other staple foods.

  Qin Lingyun took a good bath, washing off the black stuff on her skin, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, with a different spirit than usual, even her dark skin looked whiter.

  The entire process of refining the air was actually a process of rebirth, and from then on, every night, Qin Lingyun would sit in meditation to refine her air, constantly using her spiritual energy to open up her meridians. More than half a year passed quickly.

  In the past six months, Qin Lingyuns appearance has changed a lot. Her skin has gradually become whiter and more translucent, as if covered with a layer of fluorescence. This change was almost imperceptible under her deliberate concealment.

  Qin Lingyun also increasingly felt that she was different from ordinary mortals, she walked with a light and airy feeling, as if she had no weight, but her strength was very great, her appetite was getting smaller and smaller, but she wouldnt feel hungry.

  That night, the first layer of Heart Method finally had only one last acupoint left, and Qin Lingyun was confident that she could break through.

  Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Qin Lingyun closed her eyes and felt the spiritual energy around her. Her mind stirred, and the cool spiritual energy flowed like a small snake through many meridians, finally stopping at the back of her neck - the Jade Pillow Acupoint.

  The spiritual energy surged forward under Qin Lingyuns urging, flushing towards the acupoint, and the acupoint gradually loosened. By the time the sky was about to brighten, the acupoint burst open with a loud noise, and the meridians connected into one piece. The spiritual energy began to move freely within the meridians without any obstruction. Before long, a cycle of circulation was completed, and Qin Lingyun let out a mouthful of turbid air.

  "Finally broke through the first layer of the Refining Qi period, now I am no longer an ordinary person, but a Refining Qi cultivator."

  It took more than half a year to break through the first layer of the Refining Qi period, which shows that Qin Lingyuns qualifications are not good. Even so, Qin Lingyun is still very happy. The Refining Qi period has a total of twelve layers, and only when it reaches the twelfth layer can there be a possibility of entering the Foundation Establishment period. Qin Lingyun cant think about that much now, she is immersed in the joy of becoming a cultivator.

  At dawn, Qin Lingyun and Qin Lingsu arrived at Qinghe Town together. For more than half a year, Qin Lingyun often came to Qinghe Town, mainly to sell the blue mushrooms picked from the mountain.

  The vendors are concentrated on East Street. Except for a part that has fixed stalls of their own, many others come from nearby villages to do temporary business.

  Among a group of vendors, Qin Lingyun and Qin Lingsu spread out a burlap sack on the ground and sat on it. In front of them were three small baskets of bright blue mushrooms. Qin Lingsu shouted: "Fresh bright blue mushrooms, dont miss out if youre passing by!"

  Xuanlan mushroom is selling well in Qinghe Town, and soon someone comes to chat, Qin Lingsu hurriedly smiles to welcome, while Qin Lingyun sits quietly on the side.

  Just as Qin Lingshu was haggling with someone, the crisp sound of horseshoes echoed, and a carriage with a pale blue body, which looked expensive at first glance, turned from the street corner. The chestnut horse pulling the carriage walked slowly under the control of a middle-aged coachman on the bustling East Street crowded with people.

  The horse-drawn carriage stopped from time to time, and a 15- or 16-year-old girl came out of it, wearing silk clothes of a wealthy family, with her hair styled in a bun, walking up to those peddlers to buy something.

  When the horse carriage came in front of Qin Lingyun and Qin Lingsu, it stopped again. The little girl got off the horse carriage, her bright eyes scanned the blue mushrooms, and then said: "This blue mushroom, my young master wants them all." After that, she didnt even haggle over the price, and casually threw down a small piece of silver.

  Qin Lingsu was overjoyed, and just then, the curtain on the side of the carriage was suddenly lifted. A young man in a white robe with a handsome face and a warm smile scanned the surroundings before his eyes landed on Qin Lingyuns body.

  Qin Lingyun was shocked in her heart, she actually felt a faint spiritual energy fluctuation from the young mans body, and the intensity of this spiritual energy fluctuation was above hers, at least it seemed to be around the third or fourth layer of the Refining Qi stage.

  As soon as they saw this man, several others who wanted to buy the blue mushrooms retreated to one side, seemingly all recognizing the man and not daring to compete with him.

  The little girl successfully bought all the blue mushrooms, she didnt stay, got back on the horse carriage, and when the horse carriage left, the young man looked at Qin Lingyun one last time, his eyes with a hint of deep meaning, then put down the curtain.

  This time, Qin Lingyun didnt stay in Qinghe Town for long and instead hurriedly asked Qin Lingsu to go back with her. Qin Lingsu had no choice but to return home with her.

  Qin Lingyun thought of the strangers gaze, and her heart felt an inexplicable sense of panic. Before her eyes appeared the scene of Li Haoze and his senior brother fighting that day. In the world of cultivators, strength was everything, and she only had a cultivation base of Qi Refining stage, but she possessed many treasures, including a low-grade artifact. If discovered, she would have no ability to resist at all.

  The man looked at her eyes, obviously had already seen through her nuns identity, in this way, it was very likely to be unfavorable to her, so Qin Lingyun was so flustered.

  Qin Lingyun stayed at home for several days and didnt wait for any danger to arrive.

  "Its possible that he didnt take me seriously from the start, a small cultivator at the Qi Refining stage, and I was just being paranoid. However, its still best to avoid Qinghe Town in the future, at least until I have some self-defense capabilities."

  The identity of the man was easy to find out, and at that time many of the vendors knew that the man was Huang Yucheng, the third son of the powerful Huang family in Qinghe Town. He was usually polite to people, and his reputation in Qinghe Town was not bad.

  Qin Lingyun believed that you can know a persons face but not their heart. She knew that being able to communicate with other cultivators would definitely be beneficial for her cultivation, but compared to her own safety, those were secondary considerations.