A month later, deep within Crouching Dragon Cave.
Fire qi circulated through the cave dwelling as Chen Sheng sat cross-legged on a Green Stone Cushion.
Before him lay a palm-sized Second-grade mid-tier formation disk. The Spirit Patterns engraved upon its surface flickered in and out of sight, flowing with faint spiritual light.
Chen Sheng kept his eyes shut, his spiritual sense turned inward.
Inch by inch, it swept across his meridians, bones, flesh... illuminating every minute detail within and without.
Within his meridians, crimson mana slowly circulated along a specific Heavenly Cycle. With every rotation, it made his essence, qi, and spirit ever more condensed.
At last.
Chen Sheng brought himself to his peak condition.
"Phew..."
He opened his eyes, his gaze as sharp as lightning.
"Go!"
With a low shout, he flicked his wrist, and over a dozen palm-length formation flags engraved with crimson runes flew from his hand.
The formation flags traced precise arcs through the air, as though possessed by spirit, plunging accurately into the hidden Spiritual Vein nodes surrounding Crouching Dragon Cave.
In an instant, the runes on the flags flared to life, dazzling spiritual light weaving into a net.
Accompanied by a deep hum, the entire cave dwelling seemed to tremble faintly.
A second-grade Spirit Gathering Formation of spiritual light took shape at a visible speed.
At the edges of the formation, countless tiny points of light converged wildly like iron filings drawn to a magnet, forming a visible vortex of spiritual qi.
At the heart of the spiritual qi vortex, Chen Sheng felt the countless pores across his body open comfortably, greedily absorbing this unprecedentedly pure spiritual energy.
The abundant spiritual qi nourished every meridian, bringing incomparable satisfaction.
An expression of enjoyment appeared on his face as he thought to himself:
*"Breaking through to