Qi Casting Realm Second Layer

Time passed quickly.

The setting sun slowly sank behind the western hills, and the clouds at the horizon were dyed gold and crimson, like richly colored ink splashed across the heavens.

[Zhaoxi Value +1]

The prompt before his eyes flashed past, and the translucent panel gave off a faint glow in the twilight.

Host: Chen Xuan

Fate: Zhaoxi Bizheng

Bone Aptitude: Above-Average

Realm: First Layer of Qi Casting (Early Meridian Opening)

Martial Arts: Giant Whale Body Refining Technique / Ninth Layer, Mountain Crushing Fist / Mastery, Vajra Technique / Fifth Layer (Opened Qi Meridians: 36/72), Nine Shadow Killing Sword / Second Layer (Proficient)

Zhaoxi Value: 1

"Let's see what Above-Average Bone Aptitude can do."

With a thought from Chen Xuan,

he used the point of Zhaoxi Value he had just obtained to accelerate his cultivation of the Vajra Technique.

Bzzz—

Chen Xuan's sea of consciousness trembled.

Memories of practicing the Vajra Technique flooded into his mind one scene after another.

Unlike before, his cultivation this time went far more smoothly, as though an invisible hand were guiding his awareness and swiftly bringing him into a meditative state. The changes brought by his Above-Average Bone Aptitude showed themselves at once.

More than a month.

It took him only a little over a month to open one qi meridian.

A year had twelve months.

After cultivating bitterly for a year,

Chen Xuan had directly opened ten qi meridians.

Vajra Technique / Fifth Layer (Opened Qi Meridians: 46/72)

As the Vajra Technique's information changed, Chen Xuan immediately sensed the changes in his body. Looking down at his hands, he saw that the pale golden sheen on his skin seemed to have deepened. His palms had become broader and more powerful, his knuckles distinct, every finger containing explosive strength.

He lightly clenched his fist, and his bones rang with a crisp, lingering clatter like clashing gold and iron. The strength of his flesh alone had already surpassed ten thousand jin in a single arm.

He circulated his true qi.

Within his dantian, pale golden true qi surged forth like spring water, rushing through forty-eight qi meridians at nearly twice its previous speed.

Both the quantity and quality of his true qi had improved considerably.

"Now that my Bone Aptitude has risen to Above-Average, my cultivation speed has indeed increased greatly."

Chen Xuan was delighted inwardly.

At this pace, he could open ten qi meridians a day. By the day after tomorrow, he would be able to open all seventy-two qi meridians and break through to the Qi Casting Realm Second Layer.

There truly was a considerable gap between different levels of Bone Aptitude.

In a major sect like the Guiyuan Sect, those with Medium Bone Aptitude who devoted themselves solely to cultivation for five years could generally reach the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering.

Those with Above-Average Aptitude, if they spent five years without engaging in any other work and cultivated bitterly day and night using an ordinary Qi Casting Realm technique, could break through to the Qi Casting Realm within five years and become inner sect disciples.

Those with Superior Bone Aptitude were the geniuses people often spoke of. Those with Transcendent Bone Aptitude were peerless talents seen only once every few decades, with the potential to surpass the Qi Casting Realm.

As for Spirit Bodies with all one hundred meridians open,

they were supreme geniuses rarely seen even once in a century.

"No, I still have two Pulse Breaking Pills." Chen Xuan took out the porcelain bottle containing the Pulse Breaking Pills. "If I refine these two Pulse Breaking Pills and can open six qi meridians, then by sunset the day after tomorrow, I can open all seventy-two qi meridians and break through to the Qi Casting Realm Second Layer."

The effects of the Pulse Breaking Pill differed from those of the Marrow Cleansing Pill.

The Marrow Cleansing Pill improved Bone Aptitude, altering one's cultivation talent at its root. The Pulse Breaking Pill, on the other hand, assisted in opening qi meridians. It could protect the qi meridians, allowing martial artists to open them without being so excessively cautious.

For ordinary martial artists, especially those with inferior aptitude, the Pulse Breaking Pill was a precious medicine for breaking through bottlenecks.

One Pulse Breaking Pill could often save several years of bitter cultivation.

"Let's test its effects first."

Chen Xuan placed a Pulse Breaking Pill into his mouth.

The pill dissolved upon entering his mouth, turning into a cool current that flowed down his throat into his abdomen before spreading through his limbs and bones.

Unlike the warmth of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, the medicinal power of the Pulse Breaking Pill was gentler, like a trickling stream that nourished all things without a sound.

Chen Xuan immediately circulated the Vajra Technique, guiding his true qi to strike the forty-seventh qi meridian. That meridian had originally been clogged as solidly as iron, requiring the slow grinding work of water wearing through stone to open bit by bit. The slightest carelessness could damage the meridians and make all previous efforts come to nothing.

But now, wrapped in the Pulse Breaking Pill's medicinal power, the meridian walls became soft and elastic, and the impact of his true qi was no longer so difficult.

Bzzz—

True qi surged in like the tide, washing over the blocked meridian again and again. Under the protection of the Pulse Breaking Pill, the meridian walls trembled continuously, gradually loosening until they were finally opened completely.

The forty-seventh qi meridian, opened.

The process took roughly half a shichen.

Chen Xuan did not stop and continued to assault the forty-eighth qi meridian.

Another half a shichen passed, and the forty-eighth qi meridian was opened. An hour later, the forty-ninth qi meridian was opened.

Only then was the Pulse Breaking Pill's medicinal power completely exhausted. One Pulse Breaking Pill had allowed Chen Xuan to open three qi meridians.

The improvement in Bone Aptitude was comprehensive. It did not merely increase cultivation speed; it also greatly improved the efficiency and conversion rate of refining medicinal pills.

With inferior Bone Aptitude, one Pulse Breaking Pill could open at most one qi meridian. But Chen Xuan now possessed Above-Average Bone Aptitude, allowing him to absorb the pill's medicinal power more effectively and thus open three qi meridians.

Chen Xuan struck while the iron was hot and refined the other Pulse Breaking Pill as well.

Vajra Technique / Fifth Layer (Opened Qi Meridians: 52/72)

The qi meridians he had opened had reached fifty-two, like fifty-two rivers interweaving into a net within his body, allowing true qi to circulate even more smoothly through them.

Evening, April 22.

The sun set in the west, staining the horizon gold and crimson.

[Zhaoxi Value +1]

Without hesitation, Chen Xuan invested this point of Zhaoxi Value into improving the Vajra Technique.

Before this, he had already opened sixty-two qi meridians.

Now, after another year of bitter cultivation, he successively opened ten more qi meridians, bringing the number of opened qi meridians in his body to seventy-two.

Boom—

When the seventy-second qi meridian was opened, it was as though a gate had been thrown open inside Chen Xuan. All seventy-two qi meridians trembled at once, and his true qi surged madly through his meridians like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam.

Chen Xuan felt as though his body were undergoing some sort of qualitative transformation. His bones, muscles, and internal organs were all continuously strengthened beneath the scouring of true qi.

A pale golden radiance bloomed from the surface of his body like a small sun, illuminating the entire room.

Qi Casting Realm Second Layer, Middle Pimai Stage!

Chen Xuan slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of golden light vanished from his gaze.

Feeling the surging power within him, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Three days.

It had taken only three days.

To break through from the First Layer of Qi Casting to the second.

With his Bone Aptitude raised to Above-Average, Chen Xuan's cultivation in the Qi Casting Realm was now much like it had been in the Body Tempering Realm. He could advance one minor realm in just a few days.

At this pace, it would not take long for him to reach the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting.

Chen Xuan's current goal was simple.

That was to first break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting.

Then, he would find a way to obtain higher-grade ultimate arts, perhaps even divine techniques, while acquiring heavenly treasures capable of improving his Bone Aptitude.