Where Is the Pause Button?

Upon hearing Venerable White's words and realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, Song Shuhang breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt a sense of 'dreamlike illusion'.

Second-Stage True Master realm? I'm about to enter the Second-Grade Realm??

The five major acupoints in the body are connected with the Blood Qi, and the Dantian is opened to transform into true Qi, which is the cultivation level of Second-Stage True Master true master. The first great enemy in Song Shuhang's memory, the 'Altar Master', was Second-Stage True Master.

At that time, Shuhang still clearly remembered that even though the Altar Master was poisoned by the senior Medicine Master, the foreign monk, who was at the First-Grade Dragon-Gate Leap Realm Foreign Monk realm, was still powerless against the Altar Master. The Altar Master simply struck out with a palm, gathering true energy in his palm, which shattered the Foreign Monk's defenses in an instant, forcing the foreign Foreign Monk to flee all over the train.

Despite having the Talisman Treasure given to him by the Seven Lives Talisman senior, Song Shuhang still needed two 'Sword Talisman' and one 'Evil-Repelling Talisman' to defeat the Altar Master. There is a qualitative difference between Second-Grade Cultivator and First-Grade.

So, he's actually about to reach the Second-Grade Realm?

As he pondered, the Blood Qi and blood from the five major acupoints in Song Shuhang's body continuously flowed into his lower abdomen, forcefully forming the rudimentary shape of a 'Dantian'. Next, all that remained was for all the Blood Qi and blood in his body to flow into the 'Dantian,' transforming the Blood Qi into true Qi, at which point Song Shuhang would officially step into the realm of Second-Stage True Master!

There is no Heavenly Tribulation when advancing from the First-Grade Realm to the Second-Grade.

Or rather, the Dragon Gate, manifested by the Blood Qi power of the five major acupoints, is the Heavenly Tribulation.

After reaching the First-Grade, each time a cultivator advances to a higher realm, they will undergo Heavenly Tribulation of different attributes based on their individual attributes. The Heavenly Tribulation is not only a test, but also a refinement of the cultivator's body. Furthermore, the power contained within the Heavenly Tribulation can also be an aid for the cultivator as they step into a higher realm.

Just as Song Shuhang was immersed in the exhilarating feeling of advancing in his cultivation level, Venerable White spoke up again, "Shuhang, since you haven't fully advanced to the Second-Stage True Master level yet, why don't you consider pausing your advancement and postponing the process a little?"

"Suspend and postpone the advancement?" Song Shuhang looked at Senior White with a puzzled expression.

However, he knew in his heart that if Senior White made such a suggestion, it must be for his benefit. So he asked, "Senior White, is it because my recent advancement speed has been too fast, and my 'Dao Heart' and such are not yet perfect, so my mental state cannot keep up with my level? Therefore, I need to hone my mental state for a period of time before advancing to the Second-Grade?"

Venerable White: "..."

After a moment, the Venerable said with a wry smile, "Shuhang... Xianxia and cultivation novels and movies are fine to read for fun, just laugh it off. Don't take the content seriously."

"..." Song Shuhang.

"Pfft~~" Yu Jiaojiao let out a melodious laugh. If her upper body were also transformed into a human body, the cuteness factor of this laugh would definitely increase by 100 points.

"Ahem." Venerable White coughed and explained, "Didn't I mention the 'Thirty-Three Beast God Sect' and their sect's ultimate technique, the <Thirty-Three Beasts Innate Unity Qi Technique>, to you before?"

Song Shuhang's eyes lit up immediately. "That cultivation technique that allows one to generate a [Pseudo-Innate True Qi] within the body even after missing the golden time for cultivation?"

Venerable White smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "Shuhang, you have missed the golden age of cultivation and lost the 'Innate True Qi' you brought from your mother's womb. In the future, before you advance to the 'Fourth-Grade Xiantian' realm, you will be several times slower than cultivators who possess 'Innate True Qi,' and you will have to consume far more resources. However, if you can find a way to condense this 'Pseudo-Innate True Qi,' the gap between you and those cultivators who possess a single 'Innate True Qi' will be infinitely narrowed. Sharpening your axe won't delay your work. What is your choice?"

"I choose to pause my advancement!" Song Shuhang shouted without hesitation. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't be greedy for this momentary pleasure; they would definitely choose a brighter future. "But Senior White, I don't know how to pause my advancement. Where is the pause button?"

"No rush," Venerable White chuckled. "Besides, you don't need to worry. I can get that ultimate technique from the 'Thirty-Three Beast God Sect' within ten days at most. You won't have to wait too long."

The Venerable White is so confident; it seems he's already made progress on this 'Thirty-Three Beast God Sect' technique? That's the terrifying thing about Seventh-Grade Venerable!

Yu Jiaojiao glanced at Song Shuhang and sighed inwardly at his good fortune—this was the benefit of establishing a relationship with a Venerable.

"That's about enough." With that, Venerable White stretched out his palm, a layer of hazy earthy aura covering it. Then, the Venerable slapped Song Shuhang's abdomen with his palm.

In an instant, the connection between the Blood Qi and blood in Song Shuhang's five major acupoints and his 'embryonic Dantian's was severed, and the process of advancing to the Second-Grade was abruptly cut off by Venerable White. However, this Sealing Method was very special; it cut off the advancement without causing any harm to Song Shuhang's body.

[Huh, is this the 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' seal?] Yu Jiaojiao thought to herself as she saw the palm technique that Venerable White had just used.

The method by which Venerable White chose to pause Song Shuhang's advancement process was precisely the 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' used by some ancient cultivation sects when promoting their exceptionally talented core disciples to the Second-Grade.

Using a special method, the disciples' process of advancing to the Second-Grade was interrupted. Then... before the seal of the 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' disappeared, the disciples could replenish the Blood Qi and blood in their 'Five Great Acupoints' to full.

Afterwards, once the seal of the 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' disappears, the disciple can once again infuse the newly generated Blood Qi and blood from the five major acupoints into the 'prototype Dantian '.

As a result, the initial Dantian capacity of a disciple who has mastered the "Qi Storage and True Essence Protection Method" is larger than Dantian of a disciple who completes the advancement in one breath.

Unfortunately, this Sealing Method can only be used once, because when the second batch of 'Blood Qi and qi power' is poured into the Dantian, it will immediately begin to transform into true qi, completing the advancement.

However, speaking of which... it seems that this 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' requires a full day of preparation time before it can be used, right? In other words, Venerable White prepared the seal for this 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' well in advance, just waiting for the moment Song Shuhang advanced to apply the seal to him?

Isn't Song Shuhang being treated way too well?

Is he a true disciple of Venerable White? Why would Venerable White treat him like this? With the 'Qi Storage and Essence Expansion Method' and 'Pseudo-Innate True Qi'... could he be a direct descendant?

Just as Yu Jiaojiao was lost in thought, Venerable White snapped his fingers lightly. The Real Illusion dissipated.

The three of them returned to the deserted island.

The three returned to the island. Doudou turned to look at them, and then it saw Yu Jiaojiao, who had a fish head and a human Yu Jiaojiao: "..."

Then Doudou silently turned her head back— Doudou has two kinds of aesthetic sense; she possesses both a healthy human aesthetic sense and a dog's aesthetic sense.

But regardless of one's aesthetic standards, at this moment, Yu Jiaojiao had absolutely no connection with being a 'beautiful Mermaid girl' in its eyes.

[Is this the legendary half-fish, half-human? My fantasy has been completely shattered.]

The little monk stood beside Doudou, intently watching the 'Wolf One,' as if afraid they might escape. He was diligently carrying out the task assigned by Venerable White.

Beside the young monk stood a woman with shoulder-length short hair. She was petite, and her beautiful eyes occasionally flashed with a red light. Despite her small stature, she possessed the imposing presence of a tiger patrolling the mountains.

"Oh? Miss Jiang Ziyan?" Song Shuhang exclaimed when he saw the newcomer.

The newcomer was none other than Jiang Ziyan, the disciple of the Medicine Master —although she had always wanted to become the Medicine Master's Daoist partner.

Jiang Ziyan also stared at Song Shuhang. At first, she kept her face tightly taut... but when her gaze fell on Song Shuhang's bald head, her taut face immediately broke down.

"Pfft~~ Shuhang, have you become a monk?" Jiang Ziyan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"I'm not becoming a monk!" Song Shuhang shouted. "I just changed my hairstyle to something cool for some reason!"

"Hmm, nice hairstyle. Especially in the sweltering summer." Jiang Ziyan covered her mouth, her red eyes blinking slightly—perhaps she could shave the Medicine Master's head when she got back? If the Medicine Master became a monk, the chances of him being noticed by other female cultivators would be even lower. Oh right, she could also change the Medicine Master's everyday clothes into monk's robes, which would also eliminate any thoughts from other female cultivators.

Song Shuhang had no idea what Jiang Ziyan was thinking during their eye contact. He asked, "Miss Ziyan, what brings you here?"

"I've come to deliver new medicine to that young lady from the 'Chu Aristocratic Clan.' Here you are, the instructions for use are inside. Although it won't shorten the recovery time, it will eliminate all the potential risks to her injury. Also, on my way back, I'll take some experimental samples that the Medicine Master needs—I heard from Senior White that Fellow Daoist Copper Trigram Gua has to go act as a matchmaker for some reason, so the task of taking the experimental samples has been transferred to me." Jiang Ziyan smiled charmingly.

As she spoke, she recalled the text message the Medicine Master had received.

[Venerable White: Medicine Master, Fellow Copper Trigram Gua has already 'piu~~' sent someone else to receive the experimental subject.]

Medicine Master: Received!

Jiang Ziyan was curious about what "piu~~" meant.

Song Shuhang reached out and took the new medicine.

"By the way, this new potion needs to be activated before use. Just find a male cultivator and let him bleed a little to activate it," Jiang Ziyan casually instructed.

Male monk's blood?

Song Shuhang immediately turned his gaze to the little monk, but quickly shook his head. The little monk was still too young; how could he be allowed to bleed?

Then he turned his attention to the 'Wolf One' members who were lying on the ground, all lying dead.

"Hmm, plenty of blood. Should I just find any gang member and bleed them a little? "Song Shuhang thought to himself.

"Shuhang, come and draw some blood." At this moment, Venerable White spoke up, "These guys on the ground have health problems, don't use their blood."