A Qi-Harmonizing Pill went down his throat.
Lu Qingfeng suddenly felt an extremely powerful medicinal force appear inside his body.
The Azure Origin Sword Art circulated. His compressed and condensed Internal Breath moved slowly, continuously refining the vast medicinal force as it gradually grew. Once most of the medicinal force had been expended, Lu Qingfeng already sensed that indescribable bottleneck, which was obstructing the further growth of his Internal Breath.
It was as if he had been shackled!
Only by breaking through this shackle could he undergo sublimation and soar into the heavens!
Lu Qingfeng attempted the breakthrough.
However, even after the remaining medicinal force was completely exhausted, Lu Qingfeng was still stuck at the Ninth Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm. His Internal Breath had even begun to recede.
When the moon was full, it began to wane!
The same was true of Internal Breath.
"Looks like one Qi-Harmonizing Pill isn't enough!"
Lu Qingfeng rose to his feet, personally experiencing the difficulty of advancing to the True Qi Realm. Although he had failed, he was not discouraged. He stood and adjusted his mindset, then opened the furnace to refine pills a short while later.
Over the next five days,
Lu Qingfeng attempted to break through the True Qi Realm bottleneck once or twice every day.
Finally, on the fifth day, after Lu Qingfeng refined the eighth Qi-Harmonizing Pill he had consumed during these days, the breakthrough arrived!
It was like a mountain collapsing!
It was like a tsunami!
His vast Internal Breath swept forth, converging into great rivers and mighty streams that surged downward with tremendous force. As it surged, his Internal Breath gradually condensed into a single current and charged toward the invisible bottleneck.
Crack!
The bottleneck shattered at the sound!
His Internal Breath was like a carp leaping through the Dragon-Leaping Gate. After breaking through the bottleneck, it rapidly condensed. In his perception, the Internal Breath that had been like rivers and streams suddenly gave off a sizzling sound. Amidst the billowing smoke, it became only as thick as a strand of hair.
Yet this single strand of hair contained energy far beyond Lu Qingfeng's imagination—far more powerful than the river-like Internal Breath he had possessed moments earlier!
"Boom!"
As this strand of hair appeared, a roar rang through Lu Qingfeng's mind. After the dizziness came boundless clarity! Somewhere in his body, it was as if a floodgate had been opened. The strand of hair plunged directly inside and coiled there.
Within his meridians, streams of energy circulated. They constantly passed through the strand of hair, then continued circulating anew.
"True Qi!"
"Dantian!"
Lu Qingfeng suddenly understood.
This hair-thin energy was the True Qi transformed from his extremely condensed Internal Breath!
The mysterious place where the True Qi resided was the location of a person's Dantian!
True Qi had formed! The Dantian had opened!
"The True Qi Realm... I've made it!"
"Old Lu, congratulations!"
Lu Qingfeng was pondering matters in the Seven Mysteries Artifact Workshop when Zhang Zong walked over with an exhausted look, forcing a smile as he offered his congratulations.
"It's only the True Qi Realm."
Lu Qingfeng shook his head and looked at Zhang Zong.
Two months had already passed since Lu Qingfeng broke through to the True Qi Realm.
A little over two months ago, Mu Yuanyi had led the battle team out on a mission.
Zhang Zong had gone with them.
He was the only Master Artifact Refining Apprentice in the Yuanyi Guild, while the constructs used by Mu Yuanyi and the others required frequent repairs. If any damage occurred, Zhang Zong had to repair them on the spot.
Therefore, whenever an important mission arose, Zhang Zong had to accompany the team.
He did not need to take the field in battle, so overall, things were fairly relaxed.
But judging from Zhang Zong's exhausted appearance this time, the mission had evidently not been simple.
"Big Brother Zhang, how are things?" Seeing him like this, Lu Qingfeng stopped what he was doing and asked.
A little over two months ago—during the time Lu Qingfeng had logged off before breaking through to the True Qi Realm—
Beast tides had begun appearing frequently throughout Yue.
The Spirit Mechanisms Institute guarded the region. The nine cities under its protection, including Dusk Mountain City, all fell under its jurisdiction. Whenever a beast tide appeared, the Spirit Mechanisms Institute had to send people to resolve it at once.
The Yuanyi Guild was an outer force affiliated with the Spirit Mechanisms Institute, so it naturally could not escape.
This trip had lasted two months. Since Zhang Zong had returned safely, they should have won, but Lu Qingfeng did not know what the specific battle situation had been.
"Not optimistic!"
Zhang Zong's eyes were weary, and his expression was somewhat solemn. "This beast tide erupted without the slightest warning. It wasn't just the nine major cities under the Spirit Mechanisms Institute's jurisdiction—even the entire southern border of Yue suffered disturbances of varying degrees. There seem to be traces of the Ghost Spirit Sect behind it."
"The Ghost Spirit Sect?!"
Lu Qingfeng raised his brows.
Although he had never encountered this sect, he had heard plenty of rumors about it.
The Eastern Victory Continent was divided into the three kingdoms of Yue, Qian, and Jin. The Dao declined while the Demonic path flourished!
Yue had four sects, all of them built upon Cloud Dream Mountain. For example, the Hundred Crafts Sect, to which the Spirit Mechanisms Institute belonged, had its headquarters on Soaring Immortal Peak of Cloud Dream Mountain's western range.
Thus, Yue's four sects were also known as the Cloud Dream Four Sects, and all belonged to the righteous path!
Qian had three sects, and Jin had three sects. They belonged to the Demonic path, and together they were known as the Six Demon Sects.
The Ghost Spirit Sect was one of the Six Demon Sects, a major Demon Sect located in southeastern Qian.
Its overall strength was no weaker than that of the Hundred Crafts Sect.
The Hundred Crafts Sect and the Ghost Spirit Sect bordered each other and had always clashed, though most of their conflicts had been minor. This time, however, the Ghost Spirit Sect seemed to have come with hostile intent. It had even mixed itself up with the demonic beasts, and no one knew what it was plotting!
"The Hundred Crafts Sect will deal with the Ghost Spirit Sect. We only need to purge the beast tide. However, Old Lu, you may have to work hard during this period. The Spirit Mechanisms Institute has assigned us pill-refining tasks. Our Yuanyi Guild is best at refining pills, so our task is the heaviest."
Zhang Zong looked toward Lu Qingfeng.
Lu Qingfeng nodded slightly.
Within the Yuanyi Guild, Mu Yuanyi was a First-Order Alchemist. Beneath him were Wang Tao and Yue Ran, the two Master Alchemy Apprentices, as well as Lu Qingfeng, a special Alchemy Apprentice. Naturally, the pill-refining tasks distributed by the Spirit Mechanisms Institute were more likely to be assigned to the Yuanyi Guild.
As an elder independently in charge of an alchemy room within the Yuanyi Guild, Lu Qingfeng also carried no small burden.
However, the Yuanyi Guild had treated him generously over the past few years, so Lu Qingfeng had no complaints.
"Let's not talk about that for now."
"Advancing to the True Qi Realm is a wonderful thing. As far as I know, Old Lu, you've basically never left Mount Yuanyi all these years. This time, the major guilds in Sishui Town have organized a small auction. Would you like to go take a look?"
Zhang Zong smiled at Lu Qingfeng. "Our Yuanyi Guild is the one where you have the deepest pockets, Old Lu. This auction is being held after the beast tide. With another beast tide or battle likely to arrive at any time, there are bound to be plenty of good things."
The major guilds had just withdrawn from the beast-tide front lines and needed several days of recuperation. The auction was scheduled for three days later, when the Yuanyi Guild would organize a group to descend the mountain and head to Sishui Town.
The Yuanyi Guild was also one of the auction's organizers!
Of course Lu Qingfeng had to go to such a fine opportunity!
With three days remaining until the auction, Lu Qingfeng completed the pill-refining tasks assigned to him by the Yuanyi Guild and the Black Sand Alchemy Room, while also setting aside time to cultivate and study construct refinement.
During these two months, he had already begun attempting it.
The refining of constructs was far more complex than that of ordinary Dharma Artifacts.
Take the giant construct controlled by Mu Yuanyi, for example. Leaving aside the construct itself, the equipment on its body alone was already a combination of several Dharma Artifacts.
The Second-Rank Dharma Artifact, Serrated Sword!
The Second-Rank Dharma Artifact, Mystic Origin Heavy Shield!
The First-Rank Dharma Artifact, White Bone Mourning-Gate Arrow!
There were also some auxiliary Dharma Artifacts.
Apart from these Dharma Artifacts, there was the construct itself.
From its overall structure to the internal and external arrays, then to the Thousand Mechanisms Stone...
The threads were innumerable.
For an ordinary artifact refiner, mastering the refinement of a single Dharma Artifact was already no easy feat. Refining a construct required dozens of times the effort and mental energy of refining an ordinary Dharma Artifact!
Thanks to "Jindan Egg O Little Jin" for the 500-tip reward; thanks to "Bu Zun Gei Dan," "Serious Means Losing," and "Utterly Casual" for the 100-tip rewards.
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