There was no day or night inside the mountain cave.
Li Tui sat cross-legged at the bottom of the cave, cradling the dark-red Yin Corpse Core in his palm. The fine patterns across its surface had dimmed into lifelessness, and the surging Killing Intent that had once coursed within it had now dwindled to only a thin layer.
Li Tui closed his eyes and circulated the Yin Baleful Qi Refinement Method. His spiritual sense spread like a fine net into the deepest part of the core, stripping away and refining the last wisps of pure Killing Intent layer by layer before drawing them into his meridians and gathering them in his dantian.
"Crack."
A barely audible crisp sound rang out.
Li Tui opened his eyes. A tiny fissure had appeared on the surface of the high-grade Yin Corpse Core in his palm. It then spread outward, and the entire core shattered into several pieces. The final trace of dark-red radiance within it went utterly dark.
He had succeeded.
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. It condensed into a gray-black stream in the cave's frigid air, only gradually dispersing after several breaths.
Qi Refinement, fourth level.
The Yin Baleful spiritual energy in his dantian was nearly twice as abundant as before. As it circulated, it flowed like the deep current of a cold pool—heavy, condensed, and powerful. The range of his spiritual sense had also expanded to over three zhang; he could clearly catch every faint movement within the cave.
Yet there was little joy on Li Tui's face.
He lowered his head and looked at the shattered remnants in his palm. A single high-grade Yin Corpse Core had only supported his breakthrough from the third level of Qi Refinement to the fourth before being completely drained.
He was