Breakthrough

Wang Daoyuan sparred with Wang Shouye every day. After exhausting his spiritual power two or three times and then replenishing it, he felt his spiritual power grow more robust. As his cultivation gradually stabilized, his combat abilities also became stronger.

Wang Shouye went from standing still initially, to being forced to dodge, and then to standing up to spar with Wang Daoyuan.

After being dominated for three months, he could finally hold his ground against Wang Shouye without losing when Wang Shouye was unarmed. Of course, this was under the condition that Wang Shouye only used his Sixth Layer of Qi Condensation cultivation and did not use any spells.

At this point, Wang Daoyuan's foundation was extremely stable. Even if he broke through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation quickly, his foundation would not be unstable. However, for the sake of his future, it was best to proceed steadily.

The goal of solidifying his foundation had been achieved, and it was time to break through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation.

After thanking Wang Shouye, Wang Daoyuan returned to his cave dwelling and began to enter seclusion for his breakthrough.

He sat cross-legged on the stone bed in his cave dwelling, took out five jars of Crimson Blood Brew aged for thirty years from the Spirit Pearl Space, and thought, My foundation is stable, my spiritual power is abundant, and with this Spirit Wine, the breakthrough should be secure.

He first drank a jar of Crimson Blood Brew. Without needing to refine it, the spiritual energy quickly entered his meridians.

Wang Daoyuan circulated his cultivation technique, guiding the spiritual energy into his Dantian. His Dantian was already filled with spiritual energy, so for the external spiritual power to enter, he could only continuously compress the spiritual energy in his Dantian, making it denser.

After half an hour of effort, he finally guided all the spiritual energy from one jar of Crimson Blood Brew into his Dantian. The spiritual energy in his Dantian had reached its limit, and not a single bit more could be added.

At this moment, he finally felt the sensation of an impending breakthrough. He hurriedly circulated his cultivation technique, guiding the spiritual energy to flow through all the meridians in his body.

The spiritual energy from the outside was drawn in and converged into Wang Daoyuan's body. With each cycle of his cultivation technique, his internal spiritual power grew stronger.

Outside the cave dwelling, spiritual energy continuously gathered into Wang Daoyuan's body. The spiritual energy within the entire Pill Talisman Pavilion decreased, and the spiritual energy from outside continuously replenished it, creating a Spiritual Qi Wind within the Pill Talisman Pavilion.

Wang Shouye, who had been dozing off, sensed the commotion and opened his eyes to check the situation. Upon confirming that spiritual energy was surging towards Wang Daoyuan's cave dwelling, he smiled with satisfaction and said, "These three months weren't wasted. Daoyuan is finally about to break through. With the worst Five-element Spiritual Root aptitude and the most basic water-element cultivation technique, Kan Shui Jue, he can still trigger a Spiritual Qi Wind during his breakthrough. This kid has a solid foundation!"

Of course, this Spiritual Qi Wind was very weak; it could only blow away some catkins and dust. Without a keen Spiritual Sense, one could not detect the change in spiritual energy at all.

Wang Shouye, as a cultivator with a Two-element Spiritual Root, was rumored to have an extremely high affinity for the water element. He also practiced the Fu Hai Jue, a Golden Core cultivation technique left by Wang Chengzhu. When he broke through to the Late Stage of Qi Condensation back then, it triggered a Spiritual Qi Vortex with a diameter of ten feet, stirring up fallen leaves and dust, which even mortals could see.

Inside the cave dwelling, Wang Daoyuan was enveloped by azure spiritual energy. The spiritual power within his body accumulated more and more until his meridians and Dantian were completely filled with spiritual energy, and he could no longer absorb any more. It was as if he heard a "crack" sound, and his Dantian and meridians expanded slightly, while the spiritual energy within him became denser.

A slight fluctuation occurred in the Spirit Pearl within his Sea of Consciousness.

The spiritual energy circulated in his meridians and gradually merged into his blood. Blood infused with spiritual energy became Essence Blood. The Essence Blood flowed through his entire body via the blood vessels, nourishing his internal organs, bones, and muscles, making them stronger.

Until the Essence Blood stopped increasing and the strengthening of all parts of his body ceased, his cultivation at the Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation was consolidated.

Wang Daoyuan guided the spiritual energy back to his Dantian, stopped circulating his cultivation technique, opened his eyes, and stood up, feeling completely weak.

Three days had passed since he entered seclusion. In reality, the actual breakthrough only took half a day; the rest of the time was spent consolidating his realm.

He hadn't eaten or drunk for three days and three nights, and he had also been strengthening his body. He was almost starving to death. He intended to get a couple of Pseudo Spirit Fish from the Spirit Pearl Space, but when his Spiritual Sense entered the Spirit Pearl Space, he couldn't help but be surprised.

The space had doubled in size, now covering twenty mu. The quality of the Spirit Fields had greatly improved, barely qualifying as second-tier Spirit Fields.

The spiritual energy concentration throughout the space had doubled, comparable to the vicinity of a first-tier high-grade spirit vein.

The time flow within the space had also accelerated. After testing with incense sticks both inside and outside the space, the time flow inside the space was twenty times that of the outside.

He specifically set aside two mu of Spirit Fields and dug a large pond to expand the scale of his Spirit Fish farming and cultivate aquatic spirit plants.

He also planted two mu of Spirit Grain. The number of Pseudo Spirit Fish was increasing, and their consumption of Spirit Grain was also growing. Furthermore, he had begun experimenting with brewing low-grade Spirit Wine using Spirit Grain. The original less than one mu of Spirit Grain was becoming insufficient.

He planted three mu of Crimson Blood Ginseng. When refining Talismans, his spiritual power consumption was too high. To avoid affecting his talisman crafting efficiency, he relied entirely on Crimson Blood Brew for rapid spiritual power recovery, and the consumption volume was indeed considerable.

The remaining three mu of Spirit Fields were planted with the spiritual herbs needed for refining Spirit Gathering Pills.

In four years, forty years had passed within the space. The ten Clear River Carp had also grown to about a foot long and had reached the first-tier low-grade cultivation. They should be able to reproduce soon.

The Pseudo Spirit Fish in the space that had been exposed to spiritual energy had multiplied to over three hundred, but not a single one had evolved into a first-tier low-grade Demonic Beast, becoming a true Spirit Fish.

The Clear River Carp were already strong enough to crush the Pseudo Spirit Fish, so they no longer needed to be kept separately and were all placed together. The Clear River Carp would also prey on these Pseudo Spirit Fish.

The Long-tailed Bees in the space had not disappointed Wang Daoyuan's expectations; they had successfully bred a new Bee King, and the bee colony had survived.

The Bee King looked similar to the worker bees, except its size was more than double that of a worker bee.

The ordinary worker bees were still first-tier low-grade spirit insects, while the Bee King was a first-tier mid-grade spirit insect.

The space contained spirit plants like Spirit Grain and spiritual herbs, providing a stable nectar source for the bee colony. Over forty years, the Long-tailed Bee colony had grown from a few dozen to over five hundred.

The beehive had also undergone significant changes. It was originally only the size of a fist, but now it was a large beehive with a diameter of over a foot.

The Spirit Bees had only increased by about five hundred. This was not due to the Bee King's slow reproduction, but rather because the nectar source in the space could only support over five hundred Spirit Bees.

Starting from a year ago, Wang Daoyuan could harvest some honey, although the quantity was small. Calculated by the time outside the Spirit Pearl Space, he could only harvest one jin of honey per month.

The primary nectar source in the space was Spirit Grain. The growth cycles of other spirit plants were too long, and their flowering periods were relatively short.

Now that he had added two mu of Spirit Fields for planting Spirit Grain and staggered the planting times, he could ensure that there was always Spirit Grain flowering in the space.

With more than three times the nectar source, the number of Spirit Bees would definitely exceed one thousand five hundred in the future. Coupled with the twenty-fold time flow, he would be able to harvest over six jin of Spirit Honey per month.

Consuming Spirit Pills and Spirit Honey together could reduce the absorption of pill toxins. He had been taking Spirit Pills and Spirit Honey to accelerate his cultivation, requiring only about half a jin of Spirit Honey per month. This left at least five and a half jin of Spirit Honey available for sale.

Moreover, as the bee colony expanded, it could produce more royal jelly, which was much better than Spirit Honey. Unfortunately, the royal jelly produced previously was only enough for the Bee King itself, with no surplus.

Just from the breakthrough from the mid-stage to the late stage of Qi Refining, the Spirit Pearl Space had undergone such significant changes. Wang Daoyuan wished he could immediately break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Of course, he could only think about it. Even with such abundant resources, reaching the Qi Refining Peak would take seven to eight years. Adding the accumulation before the breakthrough and the search for a Foundation Establishment Pill, it might not even be possible to reach Foundation Establishment in twenty years.

When his Spiritual Sense entered the Spirit Pearl Space, he couldn't feel hunger. However, upon exiting the space, his body felt like it was about to collapse from starvation.

He found cooking utensils in his cave dwelling and used a fire-attribute Talisman to cook rice directly within the Spirit Pearl Space.

After a hearty meal, Wang Daoyuan carried two jars of wine and swaggered out of his cave dwelling.

Wang Shouye saw his smug look and mocked, "It's just a small breakthrough. Look at you acting so pleased with yourself, you don't even know your own name."

Wang Daoyuan smiled and said, "How could that be? I came to thank you, Uncle Twelve. Without your guidance these past three months, how could I have broken through so early?"

After speaking, he handed Wang Shouye a jar of wine. The two looked at each other and smiled, then tilted their heads back and drank it down in one gulp.

Wang Shouye roared with laughter, "You brat, you finally broke through! I don't have to stay in this dump of a courtyard anymore. These four years have been so stifling for me. I couldn't go out and explore, and I had to watch you, this little clever imp. It's been exhausting, you know? Do you know how hard it's been for me?"

Before his words had even finished, Wang Shouye had already run out of the Pill Talisman Pavilion, heading off to experience life in the bustling mortal world.