Surprisingly Enough(NOT), Common Sense Is Overpowered in Cliché Cultivation World

1.32 Extreme Space Time Sensitivity

It was late at night. The yin spiritual energy was at its peak, while the yang spiritual energy was declining.

Perfect for what Ning needed.

He stood alone in the clearing behind his hut, exhaling a long, steady breath. 

Ning then flowed into motion.

After some experimentation, Ning discovered that the Jade Skin and Icy Meridian Techniques were most effective at this hour. He was already aware that some technique improvements vary depending on the time it was practiced.

For this body-refining art, it was in the dead of night. 

Made perfect sense.

Didn’t make it any less miserable.

“Is this how shounen protagonists feel during those ice-bath training arcs? Truly, they had balls of steel,” Ning muttered, feeling the chilling breeze.

The Jade Skin and Icy Meridian Techniques had five levels:

Level One: Cold Adaptation.
Level Two: Skin Refinement.
Level Three: Meridian Strengthening.
Level Four: Marrow and Bone Tempering.
Level Five: Internal Organ Fortification.

The first level was the foundation, adapting to the cold. Before circulating cold qi, strengthening meridians, or refining frost resistance, he first had to let his body accept the cold rather than fight it.

Easier said than done.

Compared to qi refining, body refining was far more painful. It involved breaking and rebuilding, pushing the body toward a state where it would eventually become impervious to all things.

In ancient times, body cultivation flourished both due to the abundance of spiritual materials and because those who pursued it simply had the will to endure pain.

It was masochistic, but then again, this was the cultivation world, where people trained in lava, shattered boulders with their foreheads, and other nonsense. 

Compared to that, Ning’s training was mild.

He sank into the first stance, Frost-Settling Frame, arms extended, breathing steady as taught by the scroll.

Inhale for three counts.
Hold.
Exhale for six.

He transitioned into the second form, Jade Drip Shift, rotating his torso, fingers tracing the mentioned path.

Thirty-six movements in total.

Each paired with a precise breathing pattern.

At first, his movements were stiff, his breath ragged. The cold stabbed into his muscles, joints, and even his bones.

But Ning gritted his teeth and pressed on.

He circulated the rudimentary cold qi through his meridians, guiding it slowly, carefully.

The Icy Meridian Technique’s first stage was simple in concept yet brutal in execution:

Guide the cold. Don’t resist it.

Fight it, and the meridians cracked.
Accept it, and they expanded.

Basically, hydraulic stress-testing, except for the qi channels.

His breath misted steadily as he continued the routine. Inhale. Accept the chill. Exhale. Spread it. Again and again.

Y’know, Ning would have questioned this training if his numbers hadn’t been rising.

[Jade Skin & Icy Meridians (Level One): 32/100]

After finishing the set, Ning walked toward the field. There, one could see the Frozen Breath Plant in its budding stage.

[Hidden Ice Mist Technique]

This was the spell Ning had acquired through the Spiritual Plant Hall. It wasn’t free, but the price was essentially halved; he only paid seventy-six spirit stones.

Ning had been a bit bummed out about not getting a freebie, but it was fine. After all, he wasn’t Gilgamesh born with the Golden Rule.

At once, Ning exhaled a stream of icy mist. After his body-refining practice, the spell seemed stronger, radiating a deeper chill. That was another thing he had discovered through experimentation.

The qi generated using Jade Skin and the Icy Meridian Technique was the most suitable to use in this spell.

“Just one month left,” Ning murmured, glancing at the plant. With this grain, he could speedrun the body-refining technique.

After releasing the spell, he walked back to his house.

Training with yin techniques required balance.

Too much cold could damage his muscles, stunt his qi, or worse, freeze his meridians from the inside.

Which was why he had prepared something special.

He returned to his hut and lifted the lid of a clay pot simmering over a low flame.

A rich, fragrant warmth enveloped him immediately. Inside was bone broth made with small cuts of meat from a Fire Chicken, a low-grade yang-attribute spiritual beast known for its warming qi.

He filled a bowl and drank.

Heat flowed down his throat and bloomed through his chest, melting the lingering frost within him. Warmth spread throughout his body.

This food was almost on par with drinking water at 3 a.m. The warm broth cleared away the faint chill surrounding his body. It was so good.

If this were a food show, Ning’s shirt would have burst. Truly a healing dish.

Cold training at the most yin hour.
Warm nourishment afterward.
Yin and yang in equal measure.

'Kung Fu Panda didn't lie to me, truly balance is the essence of all things.' Ning mused.

...

Archery.

The execution seemed simple; it really was just shooting a pointed stick from far away.

But that was far from true.

Precision, breath control, balance, awareness, timing, and a calm mind that did not tremble even in the most intense situation were required.

Fortunately, 'Ji Ning' came from a martial family where archery was drilled alongside basic forms. Now that Ning had inherited that foundation, it felt less like learning something new and more like rediscovering muscles that had simply been asleep.

As a cultivator, his control over his body surpassed any mundane archer. Especially after his body-refining training, his senses were sharper, his muscles steadier, and his meridians more responsive.

He stepped into the clearing behind his hut, bow in hand. His fingers curled around the bowstring, drawing it back in a smooth, unbroken line.

Thrum.

The arrow shot forth, slicing through the air and embedding into a tree trunk with a crisp thwack.

Ning lowered the bow slightly, feeling the vibration humming along the wood.

“Mm. Not bad,” he murmured.

While it wasn’t exactly what he’d aimed at, the direction and form were on point.

He nocked another arrow. The target was closer.

The improvement was steep, but the reason was simple:

Spatial Awareness.

Ning had a faint grasp, an innate intuition, about space and distance.

At once, Ning understood why.

Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity.

That was the talent shown on the panel. Until now, it hadn’t seemed useful.

But after reaching the fourth stage of Qi Condensation, Ning had begun sensing faint spatial changes. For example, when someone approached, even quietly, he would have a vague sense of it.

This was his sensitivity to space.

From the name of the talent alone, it was clearly a late-game talent. In this world, there was a saying: Space and time are king, while destiny reigns supreme.

Ning had once assumed the talent came from his transmigration. But now that supernatural powers were in play, he wasn’t so sure anymore. The catalog even said that twin supernatural powers were practically unheard of. 

So, Ning was quite curious about the origin of this talent. Especially since this was so dormant, if it weren't for Know Thyself, he would not even realize he had such a talent.

Ning continued shooting without pause. Another arrow flew.

It hit the branch he aimed at, snapping it cleanly.

Simply put, in DnD terms, when Ning rolled for awareness, he was hitting 10+ most of the time by default.

This was clearly some kind of prototype “mind’s eye” ability. As his senses grew stronger, the effectiveness of the talent would presumably grow as well.

“Still… time sensitivity feels even vaguer,” Ning muttered. His talent’s full name was Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity.

He had a faint sense of space, but time? Almost nothing. Still, judging from the spatial side, the temporal side would probably awaken eventually.

Maybe he’d end up telling crop maturation times down to the hour.

Either way, the future looked promising.

...

Thanks for reading~