Rise of the Alchemy God

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While what was happening in his core, a faint white aura began to surround Ethan's body.

It was subtle, almost transparent.

If someone hadn't looked at it closely, they wouldn't have noticed this aura.

That said, it didn't go unnoticed.

Bai Yu, who was resting in Ethan's sea of consciousness, sensing a familiar fluctuation, woke up.

"Hmm? What's happening?"

She appeared in her human form on the mirror of water and looked up, where in the distance, she could see the figure of the Seven Sages' Amphora beginning to glow.

At this sight, Bai Yu's eyebrows furrowed, and a thought crossed her mind.

"No, it's not possible."

She focused her mental strength and sent a fluctuation outward to see what was happening.

In that moment, a transparent figure of a young man appeared in her mind.

"Is that him...?"

Around the abdomen area of the young man, particles were accumulating, and a faint white light was beginning to form.

"He's entering the Qi refining stage?! But, how is it possible? He should have just reached the peak of body refining. It's impossible for him to be entering Qi refining already."

While she was contemplating the issue, the amphora of the Seven Sages did not stop.

Just like last time, a series of runes began to glow on it.

One of them was dimming, and another close to it was starting to lose its brilliance.

As this rune lost its glow, strange yellow particles flew out from it and headed downward, right where Bai Yu was.

In the blink of an eye, these particles reached her, and before she could react, they surrounded her and began to swirl around her.

Unaware of what was happening in his sea of consciousness, Ethan, immersed in the process of breaking through to the next stage, began to regain his senses and gradually opened his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the dirty walls of his room, which hadn't been cleaned since he reached level 10 of the previous stage.

But he didn't pay them much attention. At the moment, he was focused on his body and the strange, somewhat otherworldly aura he was sensing.

"Is this the manifestation of spiritual energy?"

Manifestation of spiritual energy.

When a cultivator reaches the Qi refining stage, their affinity with the surrounding Qi increases, allowing them to have some control over it.

It is at this stage that cultivators begin to show their true capabilities.

The manifestation of spiritual energy varies from cultivator to cultivator.

Each can manifest it with the element they are most attuned to.

For example, if a cultivator manifests Qi and the aura they are able to harness is a precious color, it means their affinity with the element associated with that color is higher than with any other.

Essentially, everyone has a slight influence over the four main elements present in nature, but each person shines more in only one of them.

This is true for most people.

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, individuals who awaken not just one but two affinities with elements.

These individuals are rare, but they are not hard to find in the three ruling sects of the Long Empire.

As far as Ethan remembered, the colors of the elements were:

Red for fire.

Blue for water.

Brown for earth.

And gray for air.

There were also some color shades that were essentially a mix of the above colors, and depending on the mix, one could determine the element.

These elements were somewhat rarer compared to the primary four and were highly regarded, as their bearers could unleash a power that often overshadowed the basic elements.

The problem was that Ethan didn't recall anyone having a white hue like his.

"Continuing to stumble upon one mystery after another,"

Ethan thought, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

He had no grand plan for when he would break through to the Qi refining stage, which was why he didn't expect to enter it so soon.

He was sure it would take him at least another month or more, depending on the requirements he might face, but who would have thought the system would throw all that out the window, and he would enter the next stage so quickly.

Not that he was complaining; the sooner he entered, the sooner he would reach the next stage.

Thinking about this, Ethan decided to check his status screen to see what had changed this time.

He didn't expect any changes in his physical stats; he was more interested in seeing how much Qi it would take to level up in this stage.

So, with a mental command, he opened the transparent blue status screen.

.

[------------------------------

Name: Ethan

Cultivation: Qi Refining (Lvl. 1)

QI: 20/2000

Physique: Heavenly Body of the Sacred Flames

Strength: 101

Agility: 96

Intelligence: 102

Soul Strength: 130

[Shop]

[Storage]

[System points]: 2

-------------------------------]

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Seeing his body's stats as he expected, he nodded.

"Just as I expected."

But as soon as he saw the number on his experience bar, his expression changed.

"F*ck."

Ethan expected the amount of Qi required to level up in the next stage to be a bit higher than before, but this exceeded his expectations.

If just for level 2 he needed to earn 2000 Qi, and considering how the Qi requirement had increased in the levels of the previous stage, Ethan didn't know how to feel.

Ethan wasn't sure if this was what normal cultivators without a system had to face, but he knew he would have his fair share of cultivation/refinement to do.

Lost in the excitement of the moment, Ethan forgot to check the other system messages he had received after his breakthrough.

Just as he was closing his system screen and raising his head to look at the mess he needed to clean up, a voice reached his ears.

"Well, this is unexpected."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ethan responded but then stopped.

'Wait a minute...'

It wasn't that the voice was unfamiliar; in fact, he knew it quite well.

But because the voice belonged to someone he knew, hearing it coming not from his head but from directly in front of him made him pause.

Slowly, as if his neck were rusty, Ethan lifted his head to look in front of him.

There, half a meter away, the figure of a woman stood before him, observing her surroundings.

Ethan immediately felt sweat cover his back as he wondered if what he was witnessing was real or not.

'No, it's just an illusion, just an illusion. How is it possible that she is here?'

Ethan was quick to deny what he was seeing at that moment.

The slightly transparent figure of the woman, having finally noticed Ethan's presence, gave him a curious look.

Then, to confirm that she wasn't a product of Ethan's mind, she said:

"It seems I might not have to wait too long before I can fully free myself."

.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, you know where to do it.

See you tomorrow.

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