Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, eight months had passed.
The misty waters of Dingbo Lake quietly slipped away as the seasons turned from early summer to early spring.
Inside the Quiet Room, Chen Qing sat cross-legged, his aura deep and still as an ancient well or bottomless pool.
Deep within his dantian, the martial seed ignited by the Qingmu Everlasting Spring Art had now grown into a lush, jade-green bean, brimming with vitality.
With every pulse, it drew the Qi and Blood within his body into a riverlike surge, battering again and again against that invisible barrier.
He seemed separated from a breakthrough by only a windowpane as thin as a cicada's wing, within reach of his hand.
[Heaven Rewards Diligence, Success Is Inevitable] [Qingmu Everlasting Spring Art, First Layer (969/1000)] [Mountain Suppressing Prison Spear, Mastery (588/2000)] [Floating Light Fleeting Shadow Hand, Mastery (865/2000)] [Eight Extremes Vajra Body, Bedrock (2/3000)] [Nine Revolutions Golden Art, First Layer (526/1000)]
For these eight months, he had shut out all distractions and poured virtually all his energy into cultivation.
The three Qi-Boosting Pills each month had never been interrupted. Whenever they were not enough, he supplemented them with costly pills purchased from the sect's steward. The Qingmu Everlasting Spring Art was only one final step away from its second layer.
Both the Mountain Suppressing Prison Spear and the Floating Light Fleeting Shadow Hand had entered the realm of Mastery, their power multiplying.
The greatest improvement had come from the Eight Extremes Vajra Body. It had advanced from Steel Bone to the deeper, more mysterious realm of Bedrock, elevating the strength of his body another level.
The Nine Revolutions Golden Art, which he cultivated in secret, had also