The dantian inside of her slowly started to fill up with fire qi, as she felt the s.p.a.ce of that she could store fire qi in expand. Meaning a breakthrough to the 6 stage of the qi gathering realm.

But things did not end with that, as Sofie continued to absorb the fire qi until she couldn't fit anymore inside of her dantian.

She could only watch the fire qi swirling around her, trying to get into her dantian, but unable to enter.

With a heavy heart and a saddened expression, Sofie opened her eyes and let go of her control over the fire qi.

This in turn made the new and senior disciples let out a breath of relief, as they could now absorb fire qi once again.

They really had no idea what just happened for the last 5 minutes, as no matter how hard they tried, they were simply unable to absorb even a tiny wisp of fire qi.

…

Looking around, Sofie tried to feel her dantian again, where a giant "cloud" made out of fire qi was present, filling up the entire dantian.

Turning her attention away from her dantian, Sofie looked over the "Fire Lord Qi" cultivation manual and looked at what see needed to do, to reach the 1 stage of the qi condensation realm.

To reach the qi condensation realm, Sofie needed to create a permanent vessel in the middle of her dantian. The vessel would also be needed, if you wanted to reach the meridian opening realm in the future.

The vessel itself could have any form, it did not really matter what it looked like, as long as it could store the qi and stay inside the dantian without dispersing.

The unique thing about the "Fire Lord Qi" cultivation manual, was that it wanted the qi vessel inside of the dantian to look like a flame.

In the start, Sofie really wanted to form her qi vessel to look like sir Fluffyinton, one of her favourite plus.h.i.+es, but according to what the cultivation manual said that the strength of the qi vessel would increase with a more natural form.

A good qi vessel for fire, was a flame. For nature, a tree. For earth, a rock. For wind, a skirt… And so on.

Reading through it, Sofie was a little doubtful about a skirt being the most natural qi vessel for wind. The comments on the side of the cultivation manual also talked a little about the skirt being the best qi vessel for wind.

Something about a light breeze pa.s.sing through town lifting up a few skirts… And as wind did not have a form, the elder who created the "Fire Lord Qi" decided that a skirt must be the best qi vessel for the wind qi.

Lucky that the elder was someone who cultivated fire qi and not wind qi…

Throwing the thoughts about the one who made the "Fire Lord Qi" cultivation manual to the back of her mind, Sofie started to condense her qi into the form of a flame.

…

Slow… That was all Sofie could think of, as the fire qi condensed together at a speed even Sofie couldn't see.

Sofie had opened her eyes and looked towards elder Mei Yue coming closer and closer, it looked like the 4 hours were already up.

It took her 2 hours to reach the 6 stage of qi gathering by absorbing the fire qi inside the fire hall, while even after spending 2 hours trying to condense the fire qi into a flame, it had not even moved a tiny bit… Maybe a little, but not more than a few millimetres at most!

Thinking about this, Sofie could not help but lament at how long it would take for her to condense her fire qi into a flame.

Maybe this was reason cultivators spend most of their time cultivating?

Sofie sighed to herself in grief, as she imagined how long she was going to spend at cultivating.

The only good thing she could think of was how energetic she felt all of a sudden, it was like she was filled to the brim with energy. Sofie even felt like her body was a little stronger than it was before.

Well, it was only a little stronger, as the body could not be nourished before opening the meridians, letting the fire qi freely flow through the body.

"Kids who just entered the sect! The 4 hours of cultivating inside the fire hall is up, get up and follow me outside." As Sofie was lost in thought, elder Mei Yue finally made her way over the bridge connecting to the platform and quickly called out to the new disciples.

The new disciples, Sofie included, quickly stood up and followed after elder Mei Yue. Leaving behind the fire hall.

…

Elder Mei Yue had walked back to the fire hall after having a nice 3-hour break after she dropped off the last new disciples in one of the elemental halls of the sect.

The main function of the elemental halls was to help the disciples quickly get through the qi gathering realm and sometimes a.s.sist them in opening their meridians.

This time around, she had to deal with the sect leaders annoying son, who had a face like he was asking for a beating every time she saw him.

Thinking back to the disrespectful little brat, Mei Yue smiled sinisterly to herself, while thinking of how she could punish him.

Looking ahead, she had arrived at the fire hall and soon made her way to the centre of the fire hall, where she called out to the new disciples and quickly made her way to the next elemental hall. Now with a few kids following behind her.

Having nothing better to do, Mei Yue inspected the 30 or so kids following behind her. Mainly inspecting what progress, they managed to have in cultivation. The fire hall was after all a great opportunity for them to progress through the qi gathering realm at breakneck speed.

Most of them were at stage 4 or 3 of the qi gathering realm, with 5 having reached the 5 stage. There was even a little girl who had managed to reach the 6 stage!

Gaining a little interest, Mei Yue inspected the little girl at the 6 stage of the qi gathering realm.

The little girl was around 120 – 130 centimetres high with a pair of deep blue eyes reminding Mei Yue of the ocean. The only thing that was a little more unique about the little girl was her bright red.

Maybe she is from somewhere else? The west maybe? It was said that the people from the west had hair in all sorts of colours, often corresponding to the qi they are best at cultivating. This girl has red hair… So, fire qi? I guess that is why she reached the 6 stage of qi gathering… How nice, our sect will get a new talented disciple.

As elder Mei Yue was lost in thought, she suddenly remembered something.

W-wait! That d.a.m.nable brat was talking to her! I can not let him badly influence a talented disciple of the sect. Guess I will have to "educate" him later today…

…

Somewhere inside the earth hall, Yang Meng started s.h.i.+vering all over for no reason. Not knowing his new friend Sofie had somehow caused him to be in for a world of pain in the close future.