Familiar steps, familiar place.
In this cramped cave, Luo Chen once again activated the Longevity Technique.
The scent of the Calming Incense, pure and elegant, calmed his excited anticipation to the tranquility of an ancient well.
A massive amount of Spirit Qi entered his body, absorbed, devoured, refined, and eventually became a part of his spirit power.
But, it was still not enough!
The Qi Nurturing Pill that Luo Chen held in his mouth, with a mumble, was swallowed into his stomach.
The even more massive medicinal power washed over his meridians, finally converging at the Dantian.
Suddenly, it was as if a silver bottle had burst, a feeling that was fleeting.
Luo Chen’s heart slightly fluctuated and he had missed that feeling.
But he wasn’t angry. According to the book "Thoughts on Qi Refinement" by Mi Shuhua, the Late Stage of Qi Refinement and the Initial and Middle stage, are two entirely different realms.
The former’s limit of internal spirit power is almost the total sum of the first to the sixth layer, perhaps even more.
Early and Middle Stage Qi Refinement cultivators have very scarce internal spirit power, resulting in their combat methods being extremely limited.
Even if they have plenty of magic tools in their hands, they can’t actually use them.
However, once they reach the Late-stage realm and their spirit power increases, they can break free from these shackles.
Just like on the Dao Debate Platform, Zeng Wen’s means were frequently displayed, Talisman, Techniques, and Magic Tools — nearly perfectly showing off all the methods a Qi Refinement realm cultivator can implement.
The reason for such changes lies in the principle that quantity leads to quality.
Late Stage Qi Refinement cultivators have almost completely opened up all the meridians they can open.
The capacity of the Dantian has also reached a certain level and cannot expand any further.
Therefore, Late Stage Qi Refinement cultivators focus more on the purification of spirit qi.
With the same Dantian volume, they refined several times the spirit power than the previous state.
It is said that if they can purify the floating spirit power into a liquid state, cultivators would have the opportunity to break through the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Luo Chen didn’t know the reason, but he was now following what was stated in Mi Shuhua’s "Thoughts on Qi Refinement" guide, attempting to repeatedly cycle the Longevity Technique, and purify the spirit power in his body with the cyclical characteristics of the cultivation technique, while using this massive spirit power to break through the Dantian barrier.
Again, a Qi Nurturing Pill descended into his stomach. Luo Chen’s mind once again became tranquil as an ancient well.
After a long time, that sudden sensation reappeared.
This time, Luo Chen caught it perfectly.
The silver bottle burst, and his spirit power exploded.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Sounds of cracking echoed within his body, like the breaking of bamboo joints.
Suddenly, Luo Chen turned pale, and opened his eyes instantly.
A contradictory breath of weakness and power emerged from his body at the same time.
Seventh Level Qi Refinement!
"After over two months, I’ve finally broken through!"
Looking at the Attribute Panel, he smiled contentedly.
However, before he could celebrate, his attention was all centered on those meridians within his body.
"Late-stage Qi Refinement focuses mainly on purifying the spirit power while solidifying the Dantian and opening up the meridians."
"But, to break through to the Late Stage Qi Refinement, the focus should be on expanding the limit of Dantian and opening up more meridians."
"My situation is different from others. The Grandmaster-Level Longevity Technique has already opened up all my meridians. I never thought that this innate advantage would almost ruin things."
"But, I was successful in the end."
After breaking through to the Late-stage realm, there should be more meridians opened up.
But Luo Chen’s meridians were completely open, which led to the rushing out of that massive spirit power from his fully expanded Dantian all at once.
Without the natural blockage of the meridians to ease it, this flood-like spirit power ran wild within his body.
Now, he had collected the spirit power back into his Dantian.
But those ravaged meridians were now shattered and split.
"It’s a small matter that the meridians are damaged. There are plenty of ways to make up for it. I don’t need to worry about it."
"What’s surprising is that after expanding the Dantian, it can now hold twice the amount of spirit power of the Sixth Level Qi Refinement."
After some observation, Luo Chen finally relaxed.
He packed away the Pill Furnace and packed up the dust on the ground to throw away later.
The time used for the breakthrough wasn’t long.
If it were the old times, Luo Chen would definitely continue to cultivate.
But today, he couldn’t. His meridians were damaged, and he had to rest and recover before proceeding.
It was still early, Luo Chen didn’t feel sleepy yet.
After all, he just broke through and he was still somewhat excited and jubilant.
Walking around the cramped cave, Luo Chen finally sat down next to the Spirit Stone Ore.
Crack!
A transparent Spirit Stone Ore was gently pulled off by him.
Under the enhancement of the Spirit Vision Technique, he could easily sense the fine strands of pure spirit qi remaining in the transparent ore.
"Huh?"
Luo Chen was stunned.
He originally thought that the reason why the spirit qi in the mines could be directly absorbed was because it was filtered layer by layer when it dissipated.
But looking at it now, it seemed not to be the case.
Obviously, the spirit qi inside the ore was so pure that it was clearly directly absorbable!
"So why is the spirit qi in our Spirit Stones so full of impurities? Once it enters the body, it runs rampant and goes berserk?"
Luo Chen took out a standard Lower Grade Spirit Stone.
He tried to break it, but couldn’t.
Thinking about it, he tried it with the Jade Sword, which also failed.
"It’s surprisingly tough!"
Luo Chen got the mood and directly took out the Soul Breaking Nail.
An Ascendant Grade Magic Tool, not inscribed with any First Order Array but a Second Order Armor Breaking Array instead.
Go!
With a flick of his finger, the Soul Breaking Nail scraped the crystal stone.
A crack opened.