In this Cultivation World, realms were not divided arbitrarily.
Take the Qi Refining Realm. When breaking through a minor realm, one could easily expand the Dantian. This was destruction followed by reshaping, with the power of heaven and earth aiding the cultivator.
But once one broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm, that assistance vanished. The Dantian could no longer be expanded so easily, and cultivators had to find their own way. Foundation Establishment was primarily about stabilizing the Dantian and condensing True Essence.
Thus, the more breakthroughs one made during the Qi Refining stage, the larger one's Dantian would become and the greater one's advantage. However, if it grew too large, cultivation time would also lengthen. There were pros and cons, and cultivators had to weigh them for themselves.
Han Yuan's current realm was rather strange. Calling it the Foundation Establishment realm was not wrong—he truly possessed liquid True Essence and Spiritual Sense—but because he cultivated the second path of the "Jianmu Immortal Codex," the determination of his realm had shifted to the Jianmu Seed. Until the Jianmu Seed absorbed sufficient energy, he would not be considered to have reached Foundation Establishment.
"It's simple enough to find out. I'll try expanding my Dantian. If it's relatively easy, that proves I still belong to the Qi Refining Realm!"
Thinking this, Han Yuan controlled his spirit power—True Essence?—and launched an assault against the barrier of his Dantian.
Even though his Dantian had become ten times more stable, its barrier still rapidly collapsed beneath the impact of his spirit power, then formed an even larger Dantian!
During the expansion, his spirit power unexpectedly became somewhat more condensed. The spirit power that had only partially liquefied began liquefying at an even faster rate!
With that, the situation became clear.
As far as heaven