Chapter 190: teach me cultivation

By 2:00 PM, Min-Soo had left the academy grounds completely, directing his chauffeur to drive toward the clean, wealthy suburban ridge of Pyeongchang-dong. He had no intention of staying inside a standard luxury apartment building anymore. High-rise buildings had security desks, shared elevators, and too many corporate eyes tracking his visitors. To house a growing network of elite leads and protect his mother, he needed absolute privacy. He needed an independent estate.

Using his Master-Level business logic, he skipped the standard real estate brokers and accessed a private, unlinked judicial auction board on his tablet. Within twenty minutes, he located a closed asset repository belonging to a disgraced political family.

It was a massive, modern detached estate hidden behind five-meter-high stone walls and thick pine trees. The property featured a reinforced subterranean basement, a private courtyard, a natural stone garden pool, and independent security grids that operated off a closed-circuit satellite loop.

Min Soo laid his matte-black system debit card onto the vehicle’s console scanner, executing an immediate, premium buyout of the land deed and property rights.

[Transaction Approved: 100% Purchase of Pyeongchang-dong Private Estate.]

[Deducting Funds: $4,000,000.]

[Current Balance: $2,691,000.]

The digits in his vision rolled back significantly, dropping past the six-million mark down to a tight two point six million. The heavy, four-million-dollar expenditure was a massive hit to his liquid capital, pulling him further away from the twenty-million-dollar verification required for the Star-Core Lotus auction. But as the iron security gates of his new estate slid open, allowing the Maybach to roll into the completely private, stone-paved driveway, Min-Soo knew the structural security was worth every cent.

He spent the next two hours moving his mother into the master wing of the main house. The mountain air here was crisp, completely free of the damp groundwater smell that had plagued their lives for ten years. Once his mother was safely resting inside her new suite, Min-Soo walked down into the heavy, soundproof concrete vault of the subterranean basement and locked the steel door from the inside.

The basement was cool and dark, the concrete walls dampening all sounds from the outside world. Min-Soo sat cross-legged at the center of the floor, the dull bronze band on his right index finger catching the dim light of the single overhead bulb.

He tapped the metal surface of the ring with his thumb. Lady Ling-Xian. Awake.

A soft, familiar rush of air that smelled of ancient peach blossoms filled the enclosed space. A trail of white amber smoke poured from the bronze band, pooling on the cold concrete before molding into her stunning, hundred-score figure. Lady Ling-Xian floated three inches above the floor, her long yellow and white silk sleeves drifting around her slender waist as she looked around the concrete vault with casual curiosity.

"A secure fortress built of crude stone and metal," Ling-Xian purred, her dark, starry eyes locking onto his face. "Your mortal liquid capital has shrunk significantly, Min-Soo. You spent four million dollars on a piece of dirt. The auction countdown is ticking."

"The house ensures my family’s isolation," Min-Soo said, his voice steady as he looked up at her flawless, transparent face. "More importantly, I need to bridge the power gap before the month ends. Money won’t block a spiritual blade. Teach me how to cultivate."

Ling-Xian’s smile faded, replaced by a serious, analytical expression. She floated down until her feet nearly touched the concrete, her long silks settling around her.

"Very well. If you have the resolve to endure the core reconstruction, I shall open your pathways. Sit straight, close your eyes, and draw the ambient breath of the world into your core."

Min-Soo closed his eyes, slowing his breathing to a deep, measured rhythm under her guidance.

"Focus your mind on the void between your ribs," Ling-Xian’s voice echoed softly inside his head, sounding like dropping crystal glass. "The world is filled with primordial spirit energy Qi. You must pull it through your skin, filter the impurities, and lock it inside your lower dantian to establish a baseline Level 1 core."

Min-Soo remained motionless for an hour, his mind fully extended, attempting to sense the invisible currents of the room. He strained his focus, opening his spiritual sensory gates exactly as she instructed, searching for the raw warmth of spiritual energy.

Nothing happened.

The air inside the concrete vault remained completely dead, cold, and heavy. He could feel his own pulse and the movement of his lungs, but the atmosphere felt entirely empty, devoid of any magical or spiritual resonance. It was like trying to breathe inside a vacuum.

Min-Soo opened his eyes, his brow furrowed slightly as a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "The air is completely flat. I can’t feel a single trace of Qi."

Lady Ling-Xian let out a soft, elegant sigh, her transparent fingers tracing a light circle through the empty air. Her expression was heavy with a deep, historical frustration. "The spiritual baseline of this modern era is catastrophically degraded, Min-Soo. The spirit veins of this continent have been choked by concrete, iron grids, and mortal pollution for centuries. The ambient energy here is so thin and low it is practically non-existent. Cultivating from scratch in this city is like trying to fill a reservoir with drops of morning dew."

"There has to be a loophole," Min-Soo said, his fingers clenching against his knees. He didn’t accept limitations. His system had rewritten the rules of wealth, and he refused to let a thin atmosphere stop his rise to absolute power.

"There is always a loophole for an entity with unlimited capital," Ling-Xian said, her long white sleeves sweeping through the air as she floated closer, her beautiful eyes holding a sharp, dangerous spark of intent. "The thin energy means we cannot rely on natural meditation. We must use artificial compression. We will keep trying to force your pathways open tonight using my soul residue to guide the flow, but tomorrow, you must use your system wealth to buy high-grade spiritual catalysts. If the world won’t give you energy, you will have to buy it out."

Min-Soo nodded, closing his eyes once more as her warm, invisible soul pressure enveloped his shoulders, restarting the grueling, painful process of forcing open his dormant pathways in a world empty of magic.