Breakthrough at One Hundred, Leaving the Old Year Behind; A Family Reunion Welcomes the New

On the last day of winter break, with less than thirty hours until New Year's Eve, Chen Mo sat cross-legged in the empty Spirit Energy Cultivation Room. Soft simulated sunlight fell evenly across the warm, special stone tiles, enveloping him. His palms faced upward, resting lightly on his knees. His breathing was long and rhythmic as he followed the Silk Weaving Qi Guiding Method Instructor Xu had taught him, guiding the Qi and Blood that had built up to its limit through its daily nourishment and meridian-expanding routine.

As the Qi and Blood flowed along its prescribed route, it brought waves of warmth and tingling that penetrated to his bones—a sign that his meridians had been repeatedly nourished and were growing more resilient and spacious. But today, the process seemed a little different from usual. The technique had only reached its third minor cycle when Chen Mo keenly sensed that the Qi and Blood surging through him like a river was showing signs of boiling and agitation. It no longer fully obeyed his calm guidance. Instead, it was like a long-restrained beast, beginning to batter restlessly at some invisible barrier.

This is... Chen Mo's heart tightened. Then a barely containable sense of anticipation welled up within him. Has the bottleneck loosened?

He immediately focused his mind, sinking his entire awareness into his body. He stopped pursuing the nourishing effect and instead guided that restless yet vast torrent of Qi and Blood, deliberately and consciously, to crash against the invisible barrier between 99.9 and 100 points!

His awareness seemed to issue the command to open the floodgates, and the Qi and Blood responded at once. He could "see" the number representing his Qi and Blood Value on the System Panel begin to climb with agonizing slowness, yet unwaveringly: 99.8... 99.85... 99.9...