After my first attempt at healing three trees at once had resulted in me instantly passing out, I was far more cautious as I proceeded. The second time around was another complete failure, but I at least managed to stay conscious despite the sharp pain that flared in my head throughout the usage of the technique.

It was a slow and steady process. Between each attempt I had to rest and cultivate for a while to recover my qi and ease the headaches I was suffering.

This was made even more tedious by the fact that cultivation refused to completely eliminate the pains. I had to actually rest and eat in order to alleviate them.

Clearly I was exerting myself in unseen ways. It was frustrating but also a positive side effect. The headaches became less regular and far easier to handle with time, which meant whatever energy or vitality I was tapping into was becoming more resilient as I experimented further.

Cultivation was satisfying in that sense. Every small step, no matter how insignificant it might seem at first, built up into something absurdly potent over time.

The analogy that likened cultivation to building a tower seemed extremely accurate to me now, more so than when my predecessor had heard it during a lecture. In order to build the tallest, most structurally sound tower, one had to ensure the foundations were powerful and sturdy.

Spending so much time in the Body Tempering and now Qi Gathering Realms might be frustrating, but it was certain to pay off in the long run. The same went for the techniques I was working on.

All of this effort was simply to solve a single puzzle, but the abundant improvements I was making to my healing techniques and qi control would pay dividends when I left the Gate of Spring and Autumn. I would have to thank that black dragon for sending me in here.

After what felt like endless tries I finally succeeded in healing three trees at once. Succeeding in my technique wasn't all I'd gained either. The three trees I'd chosen were fairly close to one another, which led to an interesting outcome when they were all healthy again.

Unlike the other trees I healed, which almost immediately returned to their sickly state after receiving my treatment, these three seemed to feed off one another, staying vibrant and healthy for almost ten breath's time before the heat overwhelmed them once more.

While it was disappointing my technique's effects hadn't stuck, it proved I was on the right track. The more of the forest I could heal at once, the more likely it was that the natural balance would be restored. At that point, my intervention would no longer be required.

It was with renewed vigour that I resumed my cultivation, now improving the range at which I could heal three targets and the differences and distances between said targets. It was a slow process, but satisfying at each step along the way.

****

Strangely, increasing from three to four targets added less of a strain on my mind than going from two to three did. I assumed that the pattern would continue as I went upwards.

I was correct. Once I had mastered four, I advanced to five, then six, and eventually after another long while I was able to heal twenty trees at the same time.

The difficulty had stopped becoming a huge leap between each number and I estimated I might be able to heal even more than twenty if I pushed myself. However, there was no need to go so far. I felt that the level my healing technique had reached was sufficient for this trial.

Another thing I had gained was a breakthrough in my approach. Once I had exceeded ten targets, I ran out of fingers to use as foci for the technique.

At that point I was forced to consider if it was even necessary to have such a focus for each target. After all, most techniques seem to rely on one's intent and willpower. In theory I only needed to visualise each target in order to heal them.

My first attempt at healing without using my hands to guide the technique was a complete failure, resulting in my qi cycling aimlessly. The second time one of my fingers exploded as my qi flow deviated.

After dozens of attempts I finally succeeded in using my healing technique while my physical body remained perfectly still. To me that breakthrough was worth even more than the ability to heal at a distance. The reason for that was the applications went beyond just this technique.

All of my techniques would benefit from it, as it was a building block of qi manipulation. Unfortunately there were no suitable targets to test my Grasping Demon Finger or poison qi techniques on, so further experimentation would have to wait. And that wasn't all.

The bottleneck preventing me from reaching the Foundation Building Realm seemed to have loosened even further during my cultivation. There was barely a single step separating me from it now.

It wasn't only in my qi cultivation. I felt that my level of insight into healing qi and my dao had advanced in leaps and bounds during my time in this forest. After all, the mark of a Foundation Building expert was the ability to project qi outside of one's body.

I was already able to do that, which meant my breakthrough was only a matter of time now. I looked forward to seeing the improvements in my techniques and possibly physique that would come with it.

First, it was finally time to end this. Where to begin? I decided that the edge of the forest closest to the base of the mountain was appropriate.

When I had initially climbed up the mountain, it was the area that was least affected by the overwhelming heat and therefore the balance would be easiest to restore. I would begin there and work my way up.

It didn't take me long to walk down, having spent what felt like a lifetime here I knew this place like the back of my own hand. I imagine it would feel strange to leave it, but it was time to move on.

Once I reached the edge of the forest, I stood still and closed my eyes, using my spiritual sense to observe my surroundings instead. To me, the entire forest was like one giant organism, living and breathing in sync.

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An organism that was sick and wounded, in dire need of healing. Healing that I was finally able to provide, thanks to my painstaking efforts.

The first thing I did was ensure that the flow of my qi was regular, a constant stream of spiritual energy from my surroundings entering my body and being refined into qi that filled my dantian. Once that was done, it was time to begin.

Focusing on the closest twenty trees to me, I allowed that qi to leave my dantian in twenty separate streams. Each one cycled through my spirit veins, transforming from base medicinal qi into my technique.

The dao fragment in my spiritual sea started to hum as I began, seemingly resonating with my intent. The streams of qi left my body through whichever orifice was closest to their target, maintaining a stable structure the entire way.

My cultivation had paid off, making this almost effortless for me now. All of the trees came to life at once. Leaves turned from pale yellow to vibrant, verdant green as the withered bark and roots swelled in size.

I saw with my spiritual senses as nutrients and water were drawn from the soil, but that was only the beginning. The mycelial network beneath the forest stirred as the trees returned to health, streams of impurities flowing upwards into all of the newly rejuvenated trees.

They accepted it happily, greedily absorbing the impurities from the mycelium as if it were a heavenly elixir. In my previous attempts, it was at this point that the sickness would return, overwhelming my efforts to heal the trees.

However, I was elated when this time the trees remained in their healed state. Not only that, but the natural balance between them began to restore itself. Once the impurities had been completely absorbed, I was fortunate enough to witness a miracle of nature.

On Earth, trees absorbed carbon dioxide and released oxygen during their natural lifecycle. It was for that reason that the Earth had an atmosphere oxygenated enough to sustain life.

Here, the process was similar but on a far more… magical scale. After absorbing the impurities, the trees began to exhale, releasing a cloud of spiritual energy through every leaf, branch, and root.

The dense spiritual energy filled the air, the earth, and a great deal of it was absorbed by the mycelium. I waited a little longer, hoping that this was a permanent state of affairs.

About twenty seconds later, another stream of impurities was released into one of the trees. At that point I knew I had succeeded, at least on this small scale.

Now that I had confirmation my method worked, all that was left to do was repeat the process for the entire forest and hope that the trial would be completed when my work was done.

I moved around the outside of the forest, healing the trees in groups of twenty. The same process repeated itself as the natural balance of the ecosystem was gradually restored.

Once I had healed the entire outside edge, I started to move inwards. When I had healed half of the entire forest, something miraculous happened.

Without my intervention, the trees closest to the healed part of the forest started to return to life of their own accord. With my eyes it seemed spontaneous, but my spiritual senses told another story.

It was the mycelial network working at full force. What I had seen of it before was a shadow of its true self.

With the balance restored in a large section of the forest, it had been able to purge the impurities that had built up within it and absorb massive quantities of spiritual energy. That had given it a breath of life, which it was now using to restore the balance without my help.

At first the process was slow, a single tree taking almost a minute to go from sick to vibrant and healthy. However, as time went on it sped up rapidly until I had to sprint to keep up with the wave of life.

If one was to watch the forest from the mountain's summit, they would see the sickly yellow inner ring of the forest being transformed to a bright, healthy green in a circular wave. Ten breaths later, I found myself standing in front of the smooth cliff face once more, but this time the situation was far different.

I had succeeded in my endeavour and the entire forest had been restored to its true state. A marvel of nature.

It wasn't only the physical health of the trees and the earth that had returned, but the environment itself had transformed. The spiritual energy in the air was so thick that it was almost viscous, as though I had to exert myself to move through it.

As I inhaled and drew spiritual energy into my refined lungs, I felt a sudden pang from my navel. It wasn't painful, in fact the opposite was true.

It felt absolutely effortless. This was an extremely crude analogy, but it was as though I'd been suffering from spiritual constipation for days and suddenly the blockage loosened.

I'd tried so hard to find a solution. Spent months cultivating and struggling to figure out how I could advance, but when the time came it was the easiest thing in the world.

As though it was natural, a blockage in my dantian vanished and my qi started to flow through all of my meridians, building in momentum before flooding my entire spirit vein network. It was as though my qi was singing.

With every cycle, my spirit veins and body were refined, gradually becoming less mortal and more… spiritual? I wasn't sure that was the right word, but it was the closest approximation I could make with my current comprehension.

Every refinement allowed my body to process qi better. It flowed faster, smoother, and seemed to condense. The qi in my dantian also compressed. Unlike my previous breakthroughs which had been quite painful and difficult, requiring all my focus, this almost seemed to happen on its own.

When it ended, each drop of my qi was equivalent to five drops of qi before the breakthrough. The quantity hadn't changed, but the potency of my qi was far greater.

My elation at having reached one-star Foundation Building Realm was soon dampened. A hideous scent assaulted my senses in a wave, making me stagger.

Sticky, black impurities coated every inch of my body. Somehow, these ones were even more potent than those I'd expelled in previous breakthroughs. The scent not only assaulted my physical senses, but even managed to make my spiritual senses burn in disgust.

"Why am I always miles away from a damn bath whenever I break through. This is torture," I complained out loud, thinking back to that awful time in the Jagged Sword Mountains.

At that moment I suddenly remembered the waterfall that thundered down the smooth cliffs. I wasted no time in racing there, frantically diving into the ice cold waters without a second thought the moment I reached it.

I breached the surface, standing under the falls themselves. My shoulders struggled under the weight of the waterfall, but I held on. The bliss of the impurities being wiped away outstripped the exertion by far.

Once I felt clean I left the water, realising that in my rush to bathe I had forgotten to remove my robes. Thankfully I had kept a few spares in my spatial bag ever since that last nightmare with impurities.

Freshly bathed and clothed, I stood on the ground, staring up the cliffs. I had healed the forest, so the trial should be over now. I had succeeded.

Hadn't I?

The seconds passed, stretching into minutes and hours. When two hours went by with nothing happening—save for the constant breathing of the healthy forest—I grew frustrated.

The thick spiritual energy allowed me to stabilise my new cultivation realm, but I was tired of being stuck at this first stage. The frustration gave way to rage aimed at the annoying old bastard who built this place.

"Damn self righteous sages, where do they get off on throwing us into these confusing trials to earn their approval without a word of warning or advice," I roared at the stone.

My voice echoed down the mountain. Listening back to my own words as the world roared at me, I grew embarrassed and then calmed down.

I had expected nothing to come of my outburst, but suddenly a voice rang out from within the mountain itself.

"Alright, alright. Calm down, brat. I was only thinking about how to judge you, no need to go screaming like a toddler," it said as an apparition of a seemingly youthful man appeared in front of me.

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