Silence filled the cave after the old skull finished speaking.
I remained where I was, staring blankly at the ground as his words replayed over and over in my mind.
Learn to control your body.
The words echoed through my mind again and again.
It sounded simple, but the more I thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.
Where was I even supposed to begin? I didn't know the first thing about cultivation.
Everything I knew came from the novels I'd read in my previous life, but reading about cultivation and actually cultivating were two completely different things.
My body had already gone through Qi Assimilation twice, and I had even witnessed the Qi flowing through it. But seeing it and understanding it were two entirely different matters. The Qi already moved through my body on its own. I didn't have to force it or guide it. The problem wasn't the flow—it was me. I could observe it, but I still didn't understand why my body could do it so naturally.
Even he hadn't been able to explain everything about my core, and that alone was enough to make me cautious.
As that thought crossed my mind, another memory surfaced.
Qi Assimilation State...
That was the name the old skull had given the condition I had entered twice. Until now, I had never seriously thought about it. The first time, I had barely survived.
The second time, everything happened so suddenly that I woke up five years later before I could understand anything. Between trying to stay alive and answering the old skull's questions, I had never stopped to think about what had actually happened.
If I wanted to solve this problem, then avoiding it wasn't going to help.
My thoughts naturally drifted toward the system, or more specifically, the trait responsible for all of this.
Primal Repose.
I still remembered part of its description. It didn't stop cultivation. Instead, it placed me into a dormant state while my body continued cultivating on its own.
That part was clear enough, but the more I recalled it, the less everything else made sense. If the skill merely allowed my body to cultivate while I slept, then why had such an overwhelming amount of Qi suddenly flooded into my body?
The old skull had said countless beasts had lost their lives after entering the Qi Assimilation State because their bodies couldn't endure the enormous influx of Qi, yet both times I had survived.
That alone didn't make sense.
Either I was overlooking something... or there was still another piece of the puzzle I hadn't found.
I closed my eyes and carefully recalled everything that had happened.
The first time was easy enough to understand. Back then, I was already on the verge of collapsing. The dormant Qi inside my body had begun leaking out uncontrollably, my core was showing signs of cracking, and on top of that, the old skull's pressure had descended upon me. My body simply couldn't endure it any longer.
If Primal Repose was truly meant to preserve my life, then activating under those circumstances wasn't unreasonable.
The second time, however, was completely different. There hadn't been any life-threatening danger, no enemies, or fatal injuries. I had only been trying to understand my own body—more specifically, my core.
As I replayed that moment in my mind, every small detail gradually became clearer.
Back then, I had followed the flow of Qi until I found my core. Everything had been normal up to that point, but just as I was about to stop, I noticed something else.
Something was there.It wasn't my core. At least... I didn't think it was.
I couldn't describe it. I hadn't even managed to see it clearly before everything changed.
The moment my attention shifted toward it, the Qi inside my body suddenly became restless. Before I could react, it began pouring into me from every direction, and the next thing I knew...
Five years had passed.
I slowly opened my eyes, a complicated expression forming on my face.
Was that really the trigger... or had it simply been a coincidence? I couldn't be certain.
The first Qi Assimilation had been triggered because my life was in danger. The second had happened while I was trying to look inside my own body. The circumstances were completely different, yet both ended the same way.
No matter how many times I thought about it, there was one thing I couldn't ignore.That strange presence I had sensed near my core.
I still didn't know what it was, but I wasn't foolish enough to try looking for it again.
If I accidentally triggered another Qi Assimilation State now, I didn't think the old skull would simply allow me to remain in this cave. He had already made his conditions clear. If I wanted to stay here, I had to prove that I could control myself. Falling into another years-long sleep before taking even a single step forward would only prove the exact opposite.
I let out a slow breath and shook my head.
No.
The core could wait.
The old skull hadn't only mentioned my core. He had also told me to understand my own body and the Qi flowing through it.
Compared to that unknown thing hidden near my core, they were things I could actually begin to understand.
If I couldn't solve the mystery yet... then I'd start from the foundation. Just as I organized my thoughts, another memory surfaced.
The last time I had focused on the Qi within my body, several of my skills had naturally responded.
Primal Core Circulation had begun guiding the Qi through my body, maintaining the same natural flow I had observed before, even though I wasn't consciously doing anything.
Stillwater Longevity Method had unconsciously steadied my breathing, calming both my body and mind until even my restless thoughts gradually settled.
Even Earth-Sense Domain had quietly activated, suppressing unnecessary distractions and sharpening my concentration, making it far easier to focus on what was happening inside my body.
Back then, I had been too overwhelmed to think about any of it. Before I could understand what those skills were actually doing, my attention had drifted toward my core, where I sensed that strange presence. Everything after that happened so quickly that I never had the chance to piece it together.
I slowly frowned.
Maybe... I had skipped the most important step. Those skills weren't trying to lead me to my core. They were helping me understand my own body and the Qi flowing through it. I was the one who let my curiosity get the better of me and rushed ahead. This time, I wasn't going to make the same mistake.
But then... what now?
The old skull wasn't going to teach me. That much was already clear. So where was I supposed to even begin?
I searched through my memories, trying to find anything that might help.
But there was nothing useful.
Only fragments from cultivation novels I had read in my previous life. Different worlds, different systems, different explanations. Some called it sensing Qi, some called it breathing the heavens, some required complicated techniques that made no sense at all.
It was all different, yet one thing always stayed the same: calm the mind, steady the breathing, and let the body relax.
"...Wait..."
Wasn't that just meditation?
The realization came so suddenly that I almost laughed.
No matter how different the cultivation systems were, nearly every novel began the same way. Before anyone sensed Qi or cultivated, they first calmed their minds, regulated their breathing, and entered a meditative state.
Then another memory surfaced.
Those mandatory International Yoga Day sessions my company forced everyone to attend.
Back then, I thought they were nothing more than another pointless corporate activity. I barely paid attention, but there was one thing the instructor repeated often enough that it had somehow stuck with me.
Before meditation came the breath.
A practitioner first regulated their breathing until it became slow and natural before allowing the mind to settle.
I couldn't remember much beyond that, and I certainly wasn't about to claim I knew what I was doing.
Still...
It was the closest thing I had to a starting point.
A faint breath escaped me.
Who would've thought those boring sessions would actually matter here?
Maybe... this could work.
If cultivation truly began with calming the mind and regulating the breath...
Then that would be my starting point.
Everything else could wait.