"Hnngh~!"
Uriel couldn’t hold back her voice as a wave of heat swept through her body, starting from her lower back and radiating outward. She felt it flow into her—ravaging her from within, burning everything in its path with scorching intensity.
"Focus, or you could die!" Xu Tao barked with all seriousness imdiately from right behind her. "Circulate your Qi properly!"
"Y-Yesh...!"
Uriel tried to gather her senses, slowly circulating her Qi as instructed.
As she did, the intense Yang Qi that Xu Tao had poured in without rcy began to mix with her Yin Qi, and the sensation started to beco more bearable.
"Haah~! Ah!"
But she couldn’t let her guard down. If she slipped in her control for even a mont, she would be consud by the blistering heat and overwhelming pain.
After a prolonged internal tug-of-war, Uriel finally regained enough clarity to form idle thoughts.
’Master Xu is... pouring his Qi directly into my Dantian!’
She finally realized the truth behind the hot energy rampaging within her.
Technically, Xu Tao could have done the Qi injection from the front.
But that would have required him to place his hand near her navel—not exactly ideal, considering the subject was a woman. Of course, that wasn’t his real reason for choosing the rear-side approach.
The main reason was simple: the back was harder to defend reflexively than the front. Her arms could barely reach it without twisting awkwardly, and her legs couldn’t help at all unless she was a top-tier contortionist.
She had almost no way to resist Xu Tao’s actions, making it the ideal point of access—regardless of gender.
Uriel gritted her teeth, desperately maintaining a stable Qi circulation. But after a while, she began to notice sothing... strange.
"So you’re starting to feel it, huh?" Xu Tao smiled, clearly noticing her realization.
"Y-Yes, Master..." she replied in a breathless voice. "There are... new ridians opening... and... a third... Dantian~!"
By common understanding, only two Dantians existed—the one at the navel, known as the Lower Dantian, and the one at the chest, near the heart, called the Central Dantian. However, Xu Tao’s unrestrained Qi injection stirred her ridians so thoroughly that she noticed a path previously untouched—completely undiscovered.
A path leading to the center of her head: the Upper Dantian.
"Since you’re aware of it now, I’ll move on to the next step," Xu Tao warned her with a calm smile. "Again—do not stop circulating your Qi, and keep a firm hold on your consciousness. Here I go...!"
"W-Wai—!" Uriel tried to ask for a short break, but she was too late. "...Kuh~!"
Xu Tao’s scalding-hot Yang Qi surged forward, pushing through her blocked ridians and forcefully opening them. It was a violent act that brought not just pain... but also overwhelming pleasure for so reason.
Uriel’s vision flashed white as the heat gathered at the center of her forehead. It felt as though her brain would burst, her limbs rapidly going numb.
She could barely stay upright, forced to lean her weight against Xu Tao’s body just to keep standing. But the man didn’t seem fazed at all—his eyes remained calm, observing her every change with precision.
"Hngh~! Ahn~!"
Her face turned redder than a tomato, making the whole thing look utterly disastrous. In fact, Henrietta—who stood nearby—instinctively covered her eyes with her hands, though she peeked eagerly through her fingers, watching things progress.
She had no idea what was happening, but one thing was clear: Uriel was suffering... in a lot of ways.
’Just a bit more...’ Xu Tao didn’t stop.
He had already opened the ridians leading "toward" the Upper Dantian. Now he only needed to force open the ridians "leading away" from it. "Hang on, my Disciple. We’re almost done," he whispered, partly to himself.
He crafted fine threads of Qi, following Uriel’s uniquely twisted channels, then began to guide them into the tightly closed ridians. One thread. Two. Five. Ten. A hundred. He didn’t stop increasing the count until the entire pathway was forcibly pried open.
"Hiiik~!"
And when the "return trip" was completely opened, the full circuit across all three Dantians was connected at last.
It felt like lightning had struck Uriel’s body. Her legs trembled as she struggled to maintain her Qi circulation. She knew that if she lost control for even a second, she’d fall unconscious on the spot.
...But that wasn’t all.
At the sa ti, her internal energy surged.
Xu Tao’s scorching Yang Qi, after passing once through all three of her Dantians, began to transform—changing into cold Yin Qi.
It was a mysterious conversion, one that could only occur because of Uriel’s rare body constitution. A physique mixed with the properties of an Evil Spirit—a Dual-Soul Wraith. A special trait that allowed her to convert Yin to Yang and vice versa.
Her legs felt like jelly. She remained standing only by pressing herself against Xu Tao’s chest.
She continued to circulate her Qi throughout her body, including the newly awakened pathways, a dozen tis—until at last, the flow began to stabilize.
"We’re done," Xu Tao finally said, gazing down at her red face. "You did well, my Disciple. You’ve successfully reached the 1st Stage of Qi Gathering."
"Qi... Gathering...?" Uriel echoed, dazed.
But after a few more circulations, her mind cleared. Her senses returned. She could feel the Qi within her body—it had undergone a monuntal transformation.
"I..." she whispered in disbelief. "I’ve reached Silver Level 1!"
Among Henrietta’s group, Uriel had held the highest cultivation from the beginning. But now, she was the first among them to break into Silver Level.
"Uriel!" Henrietta ran up and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Congrats! This is a huge step forward for our faction! We should totally celebrate~!"
"R-Ritta..." Uriel gave her an exhausted smile. She raised her shaky hands and returned the hug, whispering softly, "...Let rest in my room for now."
Though Xu Tao’s thod was undeniably effective—raising her cultivation by two full levels, just like Henrietta in a much shorter ti—it was "unbearable" in many ways.
"O-Oh, right." Henrietta nodded, finally noticing Uriel’s trembling body, like she’d collapse at any second. "Then, Master, I’ll escort Uriel to her room first." She bowed to Xu Tao before walking away with Uriel in tow.
Xu Tao just nodded and didn’t stop them. His goals for the day had already been t, so he could excuse them already.
Left alone, his eyes scanned the training ground—located underground of Henrietta’s mansion—and identified the traces the two girls left. He studied all of them, down to the smallest trace, with great interest.
"A Dual-Soul Wraith... and a Blazing Wrath Fiend..." Xu Tao murmured under his breath, a faint smile forming on his lips. "This is getting interesting."
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