Ringing the Bell for a Hundred Years, I Became the Sect’s Ancestor – Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Qi Sensation

Li Qian fought back his excitement and focused his attention on the Qi sensation. He didn’t stop his movements, continuing to slowly practice.

The burning sensation grew more and more intense.

Once, twice, three times.

He only stopped when the Qi sensation peaked and then subsided, finally fading to just a faint feeling.

As long as he closed his eyes and carefully felt the area below his navel, he could sense a slight warmth.

That was the Qi seed.

It meant that he had not only sensed Qi, but also stabilized the Qi seed.

According to Old Song, many odd-job disciples had to try repeatedly before they could stabilize the Qi seed.

It was very rare for him to be able to stabilize his Qi sensation on the first try.

This meant that he had taken another step towards the path of a martial artist.

For the next period of time, Li Qian rang the bell every day, refining the Time Bell. After ringing the bell, he would practice Sword-Piercing Fist to cultivate his Qi sensation.

He could feel the warm current below his navel gradually growing stronger.

If he could use his breathing to circulate this Qi sensation throughout his body, it would mean that he had entered the Internal Breath stage.

Qi Sensation and Internal Breath both belonged to the Foundation Building level of martial arts.

When the Internal Breath grew strong enough, he could try to refine breath into strength.

This would mean that Internal Breath had offensive power.

That was the Internal Strength stage.

Even though someone who had cultivated Internal Strength was not a formal martial artist, they could be called a Martial Apprentice, which was considered a preparatory martial artist.

Internal Strength could not leave the body, but it could enhance the strength of all parts of the body. Even so, it completely surpassed the physical limits of ordinary people.

If it was a true martial artist, they could gather strength into Qi and release it for attacks. They could even unleash Hundred Steps Divine Fist, with extremely exaggerated and astonishing attack power. That was true extraordinary power.

Noon.

Li Qian ate with Old Song.

The dishes were quite rich, and they were mainly medicinal cuisine. For odd-job disciples, this was already a very rare diet.

Ever since Li Qian sensed Qi, he had felt his appetite increase, and his food intake had been growing day by day.

After finishing one bowl, Li Qian went to fill another large bowl.

“Li Qian, have you already sensed Qi?”

Old Song suddenly asked.

He had been observing Li Qian for many days.

Li Qian’s appetite had obviously increased a lot during this time.

Normal martial arts training, before sensing Qi, although the appetite would increase somewhat, it wouldn’t be so obvious.

“Old Song, I sensed Qi a few days ago.”

Li Qian said as he ate.

He knew he couldn’t hide it from Old Song’s experienced eyes, so he didn’t deny it.

Moreover, it was just sensing Qi.

“It seems that your talent is much better than I imagined. What a pity.”

Old Song showed a trace of regret.

Being able to sense Qi so quickly meant that Li Qian’s talent was not bad. It was very likely that he was unlucky. There were too many talented people among the same batch of examinees, which led to him not being selected for the formal disciple list.

It could only be said that it was fate.

Si Hour.

On the bell tower.

Li Qian, who had just finished ringing the bell, was practicing Sword-Piercing Fist. He felt the warm current below his navel had grown a lot, as if it was about to take shape.

Once this Qi sensation took shape, it could completely transform into a mouthful of Internal Breath, which could then be circulated to all parts of the body according to his breathing.

As Internal Breath circulated, it would have a strengthening effect on all parts of the body.

Over time, the body would gradually become stronger, thus reaching and even breaking through the limits of the human body.

Hu!

After a few rounds, Li Qian’s whole body was hot. As he withdrew his fist momentum and exhaled a mouthful of white air, the boiling Qi sensation in his abdomen gradually subsided.

“Just a little bit more, and this Qi sensation should be able to take shape, transform into Internal Breath, and be controlled by me.”

Li Qian’s eyes flashed with light.

It felt great to make progress every day.

Moreover, the connection between him and the Time Bell was becoming closer and stronger.

Originally, he could only maintain this connection when he was next to the Time Bell.

But now, even if he was under the bell tower, he could still sense the existence of the Time Bell.

Suddenly, he had a thought and summoned the system interface.

Host: Li Qian.

Cultivation Level: Foundation Building （Qi Sensation）.

Sacrificial Instrument: Time Bell （Mortal 49/100）.

◈◈◈

Martial Art: Sword-Piercing Fist （Mastery）.

Now the refining progress of the Time Bell had reached forty-nine, which meant that as long as he refined it for another fifty-one days, he could upgrade this Sacrificial Instrument.

In addition, he had also mastered Sword-Piercing Fist.

The mastery of fist techniques was closely related to the progress of cultivation.

The mastery of martial arts was mainly divided into Entry Level, Mastery, Minor Completion, Major Completion, and Perfection.

The reason why he was able to master Sword-Piercing Fist so quickly was not because of his high comprehension or talent, but because the sound of the Time Bell had a natural enlightenment effect on him.

It was also because he had mastered Sword-Piercing Fist that he was able to sense Qi so quickly.

“Old Song said that after formal disciples enter the sect, they don’t practice popular fist techniques like Sword-Piercing Fist, but true Internal Skills. Although Sword-Piercing Fist also belongs to internal fist techniques and can eventually cultivate Internal Qi to become a formal martial artist, that’s the limit.”

Li Qian sighed inwardly.

If he didn’t have the system, he had no doubt that he would be able to cultivate Internal Qi in this life and become a Ranked Martial Artist, which would already be the limit.

As for wanting to go further, it was almost a luxury.

He touched the Time Bell, enjoying the wonderful feeling of connection.

Suddenly, his gaze landed in the distance. A staggering figure appeared on the hillside.

It was Old Song.

Today was the day Divine Sword Sect distributed monthly stipends and cultivation resources.

Old Song had gone down the mountain early in the morning.

Whoosh!

Li Qian jumped directly from the bell tower.

A height of less than four meters was no problem for him with his current agility and strength.

After more than a minute, Li Qian came to Old Song and took two bags from him.

When Old Song went down the mountain, he not only took the monthly stipend and cultivation resources, but also daily food.

The things Old Song brought back this time, if not two hundred catties, were probably over one hundred catties.

Back in the bell tower.

“Li Qian, this is your monthly stipend and contribution token.”

Old Song tossed a small bag and a wooden token to Li Qian.

The small bag contained the monthly stipend.

Ten taels per month.

Ten taels of silver could cover all the living expenses of an ordinary family of three for a year.

For a martial artist, ten taels of silver was a drop in the bucket.

It was only in a large sect like Divine Sword Sect, which was wealthy and powerful, that odd-job disciples could eat medicinal cuisine, which could save them expenses in this area.

Some odd-job disciples from poor families often sent their stipends home to improve their families’ lives.

Li Qian didn’t have this kind of worry.

He just needed to save the monthly stipend.

As for the wooden token, it recorded Li Qian’s contribution points.

Very few.

Only one point per month.

Within Divine Sword Sect, contribution points were more valuable than gold and silver.

Whether it was exchanging for cultivation resources or martial arts manuals, contribution points were needed.

Many odd-job disciples, after realizing they had no hope of becoming formal disciples, tried to stay in Divine Sword Sect as long as possible to accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for a suitable martial arts manual before leaving.

Li Qian shook his head when he saw the one contribution point recorded on the wooden token. Without several years of accumulation, it was estimated that these contribution points wouldn’t be of much use.

He was a little curious. He wondered how many contribution points Old Song had saved at such an old age?

“Li Qian, I was lucky this time. I got some Exotic Beast Dried Meat. This is good stuff. It’s rare to see it even once in a few years. I’ve only eaten it a few times.”

Old Song said with a smile.

He took a wooden box out of a cloth bag. After opening it, he revealed a small piece of dark dried meat, only two fingers wide and one finger long.

“This is Exotic Beast Dried Meat?”

Li Qian was very surprised.

He had heard Old Song say that they usually ate Medicinal Beast meat.

Medicinal Beasts were mainly pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and the like, raised on special medicinal feed. They were more nutritious and had richer Qi and blood than ordinary beast meat, making them more suitable for martial artists to eat.

As for Exotic Beast meat, it came from Exotic Beasts.

Any creature that could be called an Exotic Beast was definitely not an ordinary beast. Instead, it was equivalent to a martial artist, possessing strength far exceeding that of ordinary beasts.