Qi Refining Layer One

By the time he returned home, it was already a moonlit and starry night. Chen Mo directly took off his outer clothes and began to cultivate. Today might be the day he advanced.

According to the explanation on the Transmission Jade Talisman, he was currently at the bottleneck stage of Qi Induction entering Qi Refining Layer One. This process required him to continuously increase his True Essence and then charge through the bottleneck in one go. Of course, if his True Essence lacked staying power, charging the bottleneck would be in vain. Therefore, to break through the bottleneck, he needed to make his True Essence more substantial and have sufficient staying power before attempting the breakthrough, so that he could successfully enter Qi Refining Layer One.

The aura came from the Little White Bead, still just a wisp, but it had already gathered in his Dantian, now as thick as a little finger. This True Essence circulated through his entire body again and again, constantly expanding his meridians, strengthening his bones and muscles, and then returning to his Dantian. Each circulation was a Lesser Circulation, and it made Chen Mo feel very comfortable, as if he were soaking in warm water.

Gradually, the feeling of the bottleneck became clearer. It also made him cultivate harder, and he slowly felt that bottleneck. However, the bottleneck was like a thin film, preventing the True Essence from moving forward. He could only guide his True Essence to charge repeatedly, increasing his strength considerably with each charge. This was because the aura drawn from the Little White Bead, after merging with his True Essence, made his True Essence stronger each time.

Finally, during one charge, with a "boom!" sound, a thunderous roar echoed in his mind. Immediately after, he felt a sense of ease, as if he had entered a new world. The bottleneck had been broken. His entire body felt refreshed, as if he were floating in a warm liquid. Every cell was cheering, and his spirit felt elevated, making him unable to stop.

Chen Mo knew that he had entered the realm of Qi Refining Layer One. Four years of hard work had finally paid off, and the sense of satisfaction and happiness in his heart was overwhelming.

His physical fitness seemed to have increased significantly at this moment. He clenched his fists with force, and with a "puff!" sound, he felt as if he could crush the air. Although this was a false sensation, the seemingly inexhaustible strength from his body was definitely much higher than the 200 kilograms of force during Qi Induction. Moreover, his agility and constitution also felt significantly improved, but he had no testing tools, so he could only rely on his feelings. However, the most intuitive thing was that if he cut his skin with a knife, it felt like cutting through a hard shell, requiring effort to cut through, and the blood would quickly congeal. It was truly remarkable!

Furthermore, after entering the Qi Refining layer, a person's spirit was also strengthened, producing Divine Sense. He could feel everything in his room through his Divine Sense, knowing clearly without opening his eyes, as if he were seeing with another pair of eyes, very clearly in his mind. This feeling could not be explained by science; it felt like a third eye watching his surroundings, and it was a 360-degree, no-dead-angle sensation.

This was Divine Sense, but currently, he could only see within a range of 3 meters around him. Beyond that, it was like a misty expanse, and he couldn't see anything. Moreover, his spirit would feel fatigued. This feeling of his surroundings was like carrying a panoramic camera with him, but Divine Sense was much clearer than a camera, and he could even sense the dust floating in the air. There was also Internal Vision, which allowed him to directly see the situation inside his body. This was the first time Chen Mo could use his Divine Sense to perceive himself.

Chen Mo maintained his cultivation posture and slowly extended his Divine Sense to the Little White Bead in his palm. It was time to explore this Little White Bead and confirm what it was. Otherwise, the four years of doubt were unbearable.

Using his Divine Sense to envelop the Little White Bead, he slowly infiltrated it. Instantly, his Divine Sense felt like it had entered a viscous mud, making it very difficult to advance an inch. Fortunately, there was no danger, so Chen Mo could only try his best to deepen his Divine Sense. This was something only a cultivation newbie like Chen Mo would do. In the cultivation world, such behavior would be considered foolish. Without understanding, using one's Divine Sense to probe unknown objects was absolutely dangerous. If something went wrong and the Divine Sense couldn't be withdrawn, it would cause soul damage at best, and turn one into an idiot at worst. It was only a small newbie like Chen Mo, who, in his ignorance and fearlessness, dared to try, completely unaware of what death meant.

After a long time, he suddenly felt an emptiness, as if he had entered a space. Immediately after, his Divine Sense trembled, and an aura directly shot into his mind along with his Divine Sense. Before he could even retract his Divine Sense in fear, he felt a deafening roar, followed by an excruciating headache. Fortunately, his Divine Sense had been withdrawn and was not harmed. It was a blessing in disguise.

Moreover, his headache was caused by information being transmitted into his mind, which led to the consequence of a headache. Fortunately, it wasn't anything else. However, this still made Chen Mo break out in a cold sweat. This time, it was fortunate that he was only probing the Little White Bead, and he had likely performed a blood sacrifice, so it should not have any adverse effects on him. He needed to be more careful with some things in the future, otherwise, getting injured would be the least of his worries.

The information transmitted by the Little White Bead was much less than that from the Transmission Jade Talisman. However, the Transmission Jade Talisman had restrictions. If the recipient could not receive it or exceeded their mental capacity, it would slow down or be interrupted, which was a relatively gentle method. This was what a Transmission Jade Talisman was. Unlike the information from the Little White Bead, which was thrown into his Spiritual Sea regardless of whether he could accept it or not, it was no wonder Chen Mo's head hurt.

This also made him realize the dangers of cultivation. Just this item that had been in his body day and night had almost caused his spirit to crash. If it had been even slightly more, wouldn't he have become an idiot as predicted! Cultivation is dangerous, cherish every moment!

The Little White Bead was called the Universe Cave Profound Bead. The name was a bit rustic, but its functions surprised Chen Mo.

As the name suggests, the Universe Cave Profound Bead was created by an ancient powerful being. It had restrictions to adjust the flow of time, obtaining precious medicinal materials that had matured for many years. It utilized fragments of an ancient Innate Spiritual Treasure, combined with other rare treasures to refine it. "Cave" referred to the space within it, specifically for growing medicinal herbs, serving as the powerful being's medicinal garden.

"Universe" was because it had the function of converting time. Some precious medicinal materials required years of maturity, and some even needed to be older than the cultivator's age to be used in medicine and alchemy. Therefore, its internal "Universe" function could be used to designate different time acceleration functions in different areas.

However, the currently unlocked time acceleration function was only 10x acceleration. It could be used to designate time acceleration multiples in different areas according to the Restriction Technique transmitted by the Universe Bead. These areas could be divided into sections or be the entire space.

This differential time acceleration was intended for different spiritual plants. But in the early stages, when there weren't many precious spiritual plants, a constant time acceleration multiplier could be applied to all of them.

Furthermore, because it contained fragments of an Innate Spiritual Treasure, it could aid in cultivation and speed up the cultivation process. It also had a special function: it could autonomously absorb Spiritual Energy from a thousand-mile radius and supply it to the cultivator. Moreover, the Spiritual Energy it provided was attribute-less and very gentle. Whoever obtained it and used it for cultivation would have the provided Spiritual Energy integrated into their Dantian without any side effects, becoming their own True Essence.

It also had a special function: when cultivating with it, it could slowly increase Soul Power. This function was extraordinary. Although slow, Soul Power was extremely important for cultivators.

Soul Power not only determined the size of a cultivator's Divine Sense but also reduced the chance of Qi deviation. The stronger the soul, the lower the chance of Qi deviation, and the smoother the cultivation advancement, making it easier to break through. There were also other benefits, but they would not be elaborated here, as Chen Mo's cultivation was too low to utilize them. This function was simply a boon for cultivators!

There was another function, which was somewhat dark but also very useful. It could absorb any object, whether plant or animal, into its interior and convert it into nourishment and Spiritual Energy for the Universe Bead. In other words, both living and dead flora and fauna could be converted into Spiritual Energy and nourishment. The land within the Universe Bead was obtained from the conversion of all things in the world.

There were other functions, but Chen Mo could not access them yet. He would have to cultivate to the Golden Core Realm to unlock them.

The Little White Bead's name was a bit long, so Chen Mo simply called it the Universe Bead. The information it transmitted stated that to become its master, he needed to refine it according to its internal restrictions. There were a total of 11 layers of restrictions. Excluding the first layer, each subsequent layer contained 36 nodes, and each node required 108 hand gestures to unlock. After unlocking the restrictions, he had to record his Spiritual Sense information. The difficulty of each layer would increase significantly. Once he recorded his information 11 times, the Universe Bead would fully recognize him as its master.

Fortunately, the first layer of restriction only had one node. After unlocking it, he could utilize some of the functions within the Universe Bead. There were still 10 more layers, each with 10 nodes, and each node requiring 108 hand gestures. This meant the first layer of restriction only required 3,888 hand gestures to unlock. By the time he reached the second layer of restriction, it would be 38,880 hand gestures. Chen Mo felt only three words in his heart: "What the heck!"

The Universe Bead was able to transmit so much information to him thanks to his several blood sacrifices, which had already made the Universe Bead recognize him, allowing for this. Furthermore, as long as he unlocked the first layer of restriction, meaning after performing its 3,888 hand gestures, he could store it Inside the Body.

Fortunately, the hand gestures for the first layer of restriction were relatively simple, and he could unlock these restrictions by spending some time.

Therefore, Chen Mo eagerly began the refinement process. However, the rumbling of his stomach startled him. He hadn't expected that even at Qi Refining Layer One, he would still get hungry. Did cultivators still need to eat?