Breakthrough, Qi Refining Third Layer

Han Yuan returned to his Small Courtyard.

Wangcai came to greet him, tail wagging.

Han Yuan rubbed the dog's head and said, "Wangcai, I'm going into seclusion to cultivate. If anyone tries to break into the Small Courtyard, remember to alert me!"

"Woof! Woof!" Wangcai wagged his tail and held his head high, as if saying: Leave everything to me!

Han Yuan smiled in satisfaction, hung a sign at the door stating that he was cultivating in seclusion, then entered the room to cultivate.

He sat by the window, directly facing that Old Apricot Tree. At this moment, he also guessed the reason he had entered that profound state this morning.

This Old Apricot Tree had accompanied many Outer Sect Disciples. There had always been disciples who chose the Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art living here. When they cultivated and drew in spiritual energy, some of its essence would rub off on the Old Apricot Tree. His accidental resonance with it had actually been a Dislocated Time-Space Exchange with the many past disciples who had cultivated the Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art, which was why his cultivation art had broken through this morning.

As the saying went, the predecessors planted the trees so the descendants could enjoy the shade. Now, facing the Old Apricot Tree, he drew in and expelled spiritual energy while circulating the Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art at a level equivalent to Major Accomplishment. He also hoped that future residents could likewise gain breakthroughs in their comprehension of the cultivation art because of this.

The Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art, with its cultivation speed enhanced fourfold, had an astonishing effect on refining Pill Toxin. It was four or five times faster than before. Furthermore, seventy percent of the Pill Toxin from the Spirit Gathering Pill he had swallowed that morning had already been removed. It would not take long to completely clear out the remaining thirty percent.

In less than an hour, he had finished clearing the remaining Pill Toxin.

If other disciples learned of such speed, they would definitely curse that he was using cheats!

Han Yuan took out a Spirit Gathering Pill and swallowed it again.

Random Buff Multiplier: 3

Spirit Gathering Pill efficacy *300%, Pill Toxin -30%

The refining speed was extremely fast. In just half an hour, he had digested the Spirit Gathering Pill, which would originally have taken two or three hours to refine. The spiritual energy within his body rose another notch, leaving only one-tenth of the progress before the third layer.

The corner of Han Yuan's mouth curled up.

The cultivation effects after raising his Cultivation Realm were truly astounding.

He suddenly recalled that after a normal cultivation art reached Major Accomplishment, one could circulate it while walking, sitting, lying down—at any time. Though his cultivation art was currently only at Minor Accomplishment, under the enhancement, it was no worse than Major Accomplishment. Could he achieve the same effect?

He acted as soon as the thought arose. He stood up and circulated his cultivation art in small increments, ready to stop immediately if anything went wrong.

To his delight, he truly could circulate his cultivation art while standing. He moved his feet, and the circulation was not interrupted even as he walked. After trying several more times, he finally confirmed that although his Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art was only at Minor Accomplishment Realm, its effects were no different from those of genuine Major Accomplishment.

This way, he no longer had to sit in his room refining Pill Toxin. He could refine it while harvesting straw. He had not forgotten his agreement with Senior Sister Liu.

Thus, beneath Wangcai's puzzled gaze, Han Yuan picked up the Sickle and went to the rice fields to harvest straw.

"Woof? Woof?" Wangcai barked twice, seemingly saying: Didn't you say you were going into seclusion?

Han Yuan roughly understood what Wangcai meant and laughed. "Plans can't keep up with changes!"

Wangcai tilted his head, unable to understand Han Yuan's words. He ran to Han Yuan's side and used his skinny little legs to paw at the scattered straw around the edge of the pile. The well-behaved sight made Han Yuan smile faintly.

One man and one dog busied themselves like this for three hours, harvesting nearly half the area.

At the same time, the Pill Toxin in Han Yuan's body was refined clean again while he worked.

Only then did Han Yuan stop and return to his room to swallow another pill.

This time, the dice came through. The Random Buff Multiplier reached 4!

The Spirit Gathering Pill's efficacy immediately increased fourfold.

The Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art easily controlled the medicinal power, rapidly circulating it through his Meridian Circulation and refining it.

The spiritual energy in his body gradually filled his Dantian, with quite a bit even overflowing into his meridians.

His cultivation had already reached the peak of Qi Refining Second Layer!

He sensed the restraints surrounding his Dantian.

With a movement of his Spiritual Sense, he immediately controlled his spiritual energy and shattered that restraint.

"Break through!"

His spiritual energy surged. After his Dantian gave a slight tremor, its boundaries abruptly expanded. The surging spiritual energy widened the entire Dantian by more than four times!

As it broke through the bottleneck, his spiritual energy underwent a slight transformation and became much purer. The spiritual energy rushed out of his Dantian, rapidly washing through his meridians once before returning to the Dantian.

The spiritual energy that had originally filled his Dantian was now only a small layer at the bottom.

"Eh? Four times? Shouldn't it be two?"

Han Yuan suddenly realized the problem.

Normally, a cultivator's Dantian should grow to twice its original size. At that point, their original total amount of spiritual energy would occupy only half of the new realm, and once they filled the other half, they could break through again.

Yet now, his Dantian was four times its pre-breakthrough size. His original spiritual energy only occupied one-quarter of it.

Others went from 1 to 1+1, while he had gone from 1 to 1+1*3. All in all, it was equivalent to twice as much as others.

Han Yuan immediately formed a guess. Opening his eyes, he looked ahead and, sure enough, saw a line of text fading away.

Random Buff Multiplier: 3

Realm breakthrough effect *300%

"Wait, it's the breakthrough effect? Not merely the effect of expanding the Dantian."

Han Yuan sensed his Spiritual Sense again. Its strength had indeed increased considerably. Its range could extend a little over twelve meters, whereas before the breakthrough, it had only reached at most four meters.

Han Yuan was very satisfied with the breakthrough's effects. Though the requirements for cultivation had increased, his strength at the same realm had also risen. That was a tremendous advantage. A towering building rose from level ground; a deep foundation was absolutely beneficial.

After spending an hour consolidating his cultivation realm, he continued harvesting straw. By sunset, he had finished harvesting all of it and bundled it neatly. Tomorrow, he could borrow a cart and transport the straw to Senior Sister Liu.

At night.

Han Yuan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, staring at the pill bottle in his hand in deep thought. Only six pills remained in the bottle.

If the amount of spiritual energy at Qi Refining Second Layer was set at 10, then the spiritual energy limit at Qi Refining Third Layer would be 40. A pill with a threefold enhancement could raise his spiritual energy by 1 point. Six pills would only bring him to 16 points.

Even if his luck was a little better, he could at most reach 20 points—half of his Dantian's capacity. Proportionally, that was exactly equivalent to the level of other cultivators who had just broken through to Qi Refining Third Layer.

"Doesn't that mean that after I refine all these pills, I'll still only be at Qi Refining Third Layer Early Stage?"

Han Yuan's eyes lit up. This was just right. He knew well that the world of cultivation was extremely dangerous. Once one became the nail that stuck out, it was easy to draw the jealousy or even secret attacks of fellow sect members, assassinations by hostile forces, assignments to high-level dangerous missions, the coveting of unfounded opportunities by the sect's higher-ups, getting embroiled in struggles between factions and clans, and so on.

Therefore, reaching Qi Refining Third Layer Early Stage would not only show that his talent was decent enough to earn rewards, but also let him conceal some of his abilities. He could advance or retreat as needed.

Perfect.

As for the Spirit Stones still in his possession, together with the fifty-four Spirit Stones left over from last time, he barely had one hundred remaining. He planned to exchange them for another spell to cultivate.