Meng Lin woke up early the next morning, feeling refreshed and excited.

After breakfast, she quickly headed to the sect exchange building, excited to see what she could get with her easily-earned flowers.

As she entered the building, on the counter she was greeted by the same man. "Hello there! What can I help you with today?" the man asked with a smile.

Meng Lin replied, "I would like to exchange these orchid spring flowers for some spirit stones, please." She handed the man the storage with only the flowers inside.

The man nodded and took the storage bag, looking inside it his eyes widened as he looked back up to Meng Lin.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get all this”

Meng Lin smiled, giving a vague answer while involving the Golden Fang Bandits.

The man nodded, coming up with some thoughts by Meng Lin's words. "Well, you certainly have a lot of flowers here. Let me count them for you," he said as he began to count.

After a few minutes, he looked back up at Meng Lin. "You have a total of 422 orchid spring flowers. That totals to 6330 low grade spirit stones."

Meng Lin face beamed with a smile as she stood not even a little bit surprised, she had obviously counted and calculated before coming here.

"Wow, that's a lot more than I expected," she said, feeling somewhat relieved.

The man nodded. "Yes, it is a significant amount. You can exchange them for other items in the exchange building or keep them for yourself."

Meng Lin thought for a moment before deciding to exchange some of the spirit stones for some better quality materials for her blacksmithing.

She thanked the man and left the building, feeling excited about her money.

As she walked out she didn’t head back home but rather towards the training grounds where the pagodas are located.

Meng Lin was going for the pagodas as she was allowed to use one particular pagoda up to two hours free of cost every day.

It was called the Pagoda of Five Elements, and it was said to be one of the least challenging but more rewarding training grounds in the sect.

Meng Lin arrived at the pagoda with little difficulty, she was greeted by an empty place with three or four diciples.

Unlike the Ancient Spirit beast pagoda which gave off an imposing aura, the pagoda of 5 elements gave of the feeling of tranquility and balance.

The challenges were not meant to test one's strength or battle prowess, but rather their ability to control and manipulate the elements as well as help cultivate in seclusion.

Sitting at the door of the pagoda was an old man who upon seeing someone approach the pagoda asked for sect points before letting the diciple enter.

After waiting in the line of 3, Meng Lin approached the old man who looked at her weirdly.

Without even confirming with Meng Lin he said, “2 hours is your limit, stay for more and you’ll pay”

Meng Lin was taken aback by the old man's laidback attitude. She had never encountered someone with such an abrupt attitude in the sect before.

"I understand," she said with a polite nod. "I will make sure to finish my training within the two-hour limit."

The old man merely grunted and gestured for her to enter the pagoda.

Meng Lin took a deep breath and stepped inside, feeling her surroundings change as she saw herself in a completely different place.

She was surrounded by over a hundred orbs of different colors with each radiating different elements.

She was floating in space and she could feel the energy and power of the elements surrounding her.

She knew that she had to act fast if she was going to make the most of her two hours.

Spreading her spiritual consciousness, she realized that there were a total of 130 orbs of qi and she realized that she was able to move the floating orbs, the more orbs she moved, the more tasking it becomes for her.

She started with the water elements, even though there was no floor she still crossed legged in space and closed her eyes.

With her abnormally powerful spiritual consciousness, she was able to move 13 blue orbs to surround her, letting the qi inside chunk before flowing around her.

She began to practice the Black Tortoise Essence Art while the surrounding qi began to slowly become incorporated into her body’s flesh and bone.

She could feel the power of the water element flowing through her, and it was a feeling of tranquility and calmness.

After an hour of practicing with the first layer, she thought to see if she could understand the next layer.

She continued to practice the Black Tortoise Essence Art, this time instead of absorbing spiritual qi.

She choosed to circulate her qi throughout her spiritual vains, with each spin being faster, sharper and more dangerous to her veins.

She knew that this was a risky move, but she was determined to push her limits and see how far she could go.

The second layer of the Black Tortoise Essence Art was much more challenging than the first one.

It required a higher level of control over her qi so she would be able to stop when the pressure was too much, but Meng Lin was always having trouble with qi control making it more dangerous for her.

She knew that she would not be able to master the second layer until the pressure within her spiritual vains were strong enough to reach outside her body.

She focused her mind to the outmost as with each spin of her qi, she could feel death looming over, but she persisted and continued to circulate.

Rumble!

Suddenly, she was brought back to reality by the sound of a booming voice.

"Time's up”

Meng Lin abruptly woke up, quickly calming down her qi circulation before stopping her cultivation.

Her face was drenched in sweat as she only then realized that she had completely lost track of time.

She suddenly felt a force surround her before finding herself in front of the old man, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You seem to have pushed yourself quite hard," he said, his voice laced with a hint of concern.

Meng Lin nodded, feeling a little embarrassed. "Yes, I did. I'm sorry I lost track of time."

The old man shook his head. "No need to apologize. It's good to push yourself, but you must also know your limits, never dance with death for more than an instant, remember that."

Meng Lin nooded, "Thank you," she said, bowing to the old man before leaving the pagoda feeling a bit ashamed.

As she walked back home, she thought about what the old man had said. She knew that she needed to push herself, but she also needed to be careful not to overdo it.

She made a mental note to work on her qi control and to be more mindful of her limits in the future.

“System”

[Meng Lin]

[special physique: Brute Qi physique]

[Foundation Establishment Stage(Late)]

[Experience points: 15%]

System coin:570

Taoist Gacha wheel: available

Spiritual Roots: [Water>Fire>Gold>Wood>Earth]

Variant Elemental Qi : [Mud] [ Erosion]

Main Cultivation Method: [Black Tortoise Essence Art, 1st Layer]

Techniques: [Focused Qi control] [Waterfall slash] [Refine Yin Qi] [Surge] [Thunderbolt Flash]

Side Cultivation Methods: : [Basic Qi Gathering] [Formless Cultivation method]

[Market] [Blacksmith] [Alchemy]

Meng Lin’s eyes flashed with joy as she realized that she had made quiet a bit of progress in her cultivation, she had gained 5 percent.

Despite her exhaustion, she felt happy and fulfilled, knowing that she had found a new source of cultivation.

She suddenly looked forward to the next day, so that she could train in the Pagoda of Five Elements again.