Profound Vein!

Before Zeng Fan could react, a scorching torrent suddenly erupted in his abdomen! Like a surging flood, it swiftly swept through his entire body. Zeng Fan's face instantly flushed crimson. The searing heat spread through him as though it would burn him to ashes, followed by tearing agony from every corner of his body. It converged into an unbearable impulse and burst from Zeng Fan's mouth as a scream.

"Aah!!! Why does it hurt so much?" Zeng Fan collapsed painfully onto the ground, his fingernails digging viciously into the floor. He could feel the torrent rampaging through his body. Though the agony relentlessly battered his mind, he could clearly sense the clogged Spirit Veins within him gradually loosening beneath those impacts.

"This pill works!" The surprise brought by the pill and the pain ravaging his body were like ice and fire, endlessly tormenting his mind. I have to endure it. If I let this chance slip by, I'll be trash for the rest of my life. A low roar escaped Zeng Fan's throat. His body trembled without pause, sweat streaming down his forehead and leaving trails across the ground.

Under the pill's unceasing assault, some of the clogged Spirit Veins within his body slowly loosened, then opened up! Forty percent!!! The instant he reached forty percent, Zeng Fan felt as though something inside him had been unlocked. His entire body suddenly became lighter, and in his perception, faint invisible wisps seemed to float through the stone chamber. This was spiritual energy! Zeng Fan was overjoyed, excitement shining in his eyes. He could finally cultivate!

Yet the Pulse-Breaking Pill's effects were far from over. The tearing pain continued to course through his body. The joy of being able to cultivate, coupled with his growing numbness toward the pain, let him endure even longer. Fifty percent—sixty percent—seventy percent!!!

Zeng Fan's mind buzzed. He felt his perception of spiritual energy multiply several times over in an instant. Streams of foul-smelling, sticky filth seeped from the pores across his body—the impurities that had clogged his Spirit Veins.

The pill's effects gradually faded away. Profound Vein!!! Zeng Fan lay on the ground, overwhelmed with excitement. He wanted to stand, but the pain inflicted by the pill had tortured every last bit of strength from him.

"With this Profound Vein, I can finally begin cultivating! I can also see just how high I can rise in this world!" Zeng Fan was delirious with joy. Then exhaustion welled up from within his body, and a heavy drowsiness descended upon him. I'll rest for a while first. The youth who had entered the Dao from mortality that day soon let out faint snores, yet a trace of a smile remained on his lips.

No one knew how much time had passed before Zeng Fan slowly opened his eyes and abruptly flipped himself upright. "This is bad! I have no idea how long it's been. Now that I'm done here, I need to hurry back. But activating the formation requires spiritual energy—I need to cultivate first!" Zeng Fan thought.

He immediately sat down to meditate, having no time to deal with the impurities on his body for now. Closing his eyes and sinking his mind into contemplation, Zeng Fan instantly sensed faint wisps of air drifting around him. Though he had seen them before, he was still intensely curious. With a thought, a thread of spiritual energy slowly approached at his command before being absorbed into his body. This meant spiritual energy had entered his body. Zeng Fan could now cultivate in the First Realm, the Body Tempering Realm.

The Body Tempering Realm drew spiritual energy into the body, using it to transform the flesh into a vessel suited to retaining spiritual energy. It was divided into four stages: skin, tendons, bones, and blood. Once all four stages were complete, one would reach the Spirit Gathering Realm!

But this was not the time for cultivation. Zeng Fan's most urgent task was to absorb and refine spiritual energy, then activate the formation and leave the stone chamber. After refining the thread of spiritual energy he had absorbed, Zeng Fan followed the instructions left in the Jade Slip and poured spiritual energy into it. With a flash of light, he reappeared beside the pool. Guo Ren's remains had also been temporarily carried out, wrapped in clothing. Once the Storage Ring was activated, he would store them inside.

"I should wash up first. I stink too badly," Zeng Fan said with a bitter smile as he smelled himself. Beside the pool, the youth quietly washed the grime from his body. His seemingly ordinary physique faintly emitted a subtle sheen. This was the improvement in his constitution brought by the Profound Grade Spiritual Vein and the Pulse-Breaking Pill. His physique was now utterly different from before.

After washing himself clean, a hint of fish-belly white gradually appeared in the gloomy sky. Zeng Fan set off toward Jiuyuan City. As he walked, the smile on the youth's face grew wider and wider, until bright laughter finally echoed between heaven and earth. Having entered the Dao from mortality in a single day, the sparrow now harbored the ambitions of a great roc.