Qi Refining Realm, Success!

Seeing Ran Hua's shock, Chen Changqing smiled faintly. "Just a minor breakthrough."

Ran Hua froze, squinting as he took a few extra looks at Chen Changqing, muttering to himself, Senior Brother Chen's breakthrough speed seems a bit fast. Could it be that he's finally reaping the rewards of long-term accumulation?

After a moment of thought, he didn't dwell on it. Even if Chen Changqing had broken through again, he was only in the middle stage of Body Refining, whereas he had already advanced to the late stage of Body Refining some time ago. At present, he was working hard to break through to the Qi Refining realm.

"Senior Brother Chen, I shall take my leave!" Ran Hua cupped his hands in a salute and, without another thought, stood up and walked away.

After Ran Hua departed, Chen Changqing continued his watch at the mountain gate. When the time reached 6:00 PM, he closed the gate punctually and headed back to his living quarters.

Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.

At this moment, Chen Changqing sat cross-legged inside his small wooden hut, his mind sinking into the system space. "System!"

Soon, the system's notification chime arrived:

[Ding!]

[AFK time: 10 days.]

[Practiced Primordial Posture Technique × 350 times!]

[Extract the AFK cultivation results?]

"Extract!" Chen Changqing didn't hesitate and chose to claim the rewards immediately.

Boom! Boom!

In an instant, wisps of golden light drifted from the Little Golden Man and submerged into Chen Changqing's body. He felt the blood and energy within him churning like an angry dragon, his muscles and bones resonating in unison. His muscles were tempered and strengthened once more; every inch of his flesh felt as if it had undergone a thousand hammerings.

Before long, a vast, surging power erupted from within him. The space inside the small wooden hut rippled under the impact of the invisible shockwaves. The next moment, Chen Changqing opened his eyes abruptly, a flash of golden light flickering through his pupils.

He clenched his fist and threw a punch in front of him. As the punch landed, the surging force rippled like a river, causing the very air to vibrate with a loud thud. After retracting his fist, Chen Changqing felt the surging power within his body and the corners of his mouth curled up. "Over two thousand pounds of force! The late stage of Body Refining is complete!"

Chen Changqing was incredibly excited. He discovered that as his cultivation level rose, the effectiveness of the AFK cultivation increased as well. Previously, ten days of AFK would only result in three hundred repetitions of the Primordial Posture Technique, but now, ten days yielded three hundred and fifty.

With this AFK Cultivation System, my cultivation speed is rising like a rocket! Next up is the push for the Qi Refining realm! But...

At this point, Chen Changqing narrowed his eyes, looking thoughtful. When he first entered the early stage of Body Refining, his strength broke three hundred pounds. By the time he reached the middle stage, he could break a thousand pounds. As for the late stage of Body Refining, he could reach over two thousand pounds of force!

Generally speaking, by this point in time, many cultivators would begin preparing to break through to the Qi Refining Realm.

However, Chen Changqing was not in any rush to break through.

This was because he knew that a physical strength of two thousand catties was not yet the limit of the Body Refining Realm!

In the common knowledge of ordinary disciples, two thousand catties was the absolute limit for the Body Refining Realm.

Yet, through his research into the Little Golden Man, Chen Changqing discovered that the Little Golden Man was still AFK cultivating, which indicated that there was still room for improvement within the Body Refining Realm.

Since I have the AFK System, why not attempt to reach the ultimate limit of body refining?

Having made up his mind, Chen Changqing continued his AFK cultivation.

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside his room.

Immediately following, a voice spoke up:

"Senior Brother Chen, it is time to collect this month's cultivation resources."

Hearing this, Chen Changqing quickly gathered his focus, rose, and went outside to receive a small bag from the hands of an outer sect disciple.

"Many thanks, Junior Brother!"

After offering his thanks, Chen Changqing returned to his room and opened the bag to find two low-grade spirit stones inside.

Back when he was still in the Qi Nourishing stage, his monthly cultivation resources had only consisted of one low-grade spirit stone.

Earlier, Chen Changqing had gone to see Elder Liu Mu to update his cultivation records.

As a result, his cultivation resources for this month had increased to two low-grade spirit stones.

Now that I can cultivate while AFK, there is no need to rush into using these spirit stones.

I will save them for when I eventually push to break through to the Qi Refining Realm.

Chen Changqing muttered to himself before tucking the two low-grade spirit stones away.

Time slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, another ten days passed.

"System, extract AFK results!"

Boom!

From within the Little Golden Man, rays of golden light emerged, flowing directly into Chen Changqing's body.

Following this, Chen Changqing's strength reached the level of three thousand catties.

Even so, he realized that he had still not reached the limit of body refining.

Chen Changqing did not mind and continued his AFK cultivation.

Without realizing it, another month passed.

"System!"

As Chen Changqing sent out his thought, the system responded:

[Ding!]
[AFK time: 30 days.]
[Practiced Primordial Posture Technique × 1200 times!]
[Extract AFK results?]

"Extract!"

Chen Changqing did not hesitate and chose to extract the AFK rewards immediately.

Boom!

Rays of golden light erupted from the Little Golden Man, surging violently into Chen Changqing's body.

In an instant, Chen Changqing felt the blood and Qi within him erupt like a volcano; his bones trembled, and his flesh and blood felt as if they were being reconstructed.

Golden light shone brilliantly from his entire body, as radiant as the scorching sun!

"Strength exceeding four thousand catties!"

At this moment, Chen Changqing clearly sensed that his physical strength had reached an ultimate limit.

At the same time, the Little Golden Man before him ceased its AFK cultivation.

"Finally reached the ultimate limit of body refining!"

"An average late-stage Body Refining cultivator only possesses the strength of two thousand catties."

"And I, at the ultimate limit of body refining, have surpassed four thousand catties—exactly double."

"It was not in vain, this month-plus of AFK cultivation."

Chen Changqing murmured to himself.

Over a month ago, he had already reached the late stage of Body Refining and could have begun his push toward the Qi Refining Realm.

But he had chosen to walk the path of the ultimate limit.

After a brief pause, Chen Changqing took a deep breath and sighed with emotion:

"Next, it is time to break through to the Qi Refining Stage!"

Chen Changqing took out the few low-grade spirit stones he had saved up and placed them in front of him.

After closing his eyes, he began to draw spiritual energy from the spirit stones to initiate his breakthrough.

Streams of spiritual energy flowed out from the stones, surging into Chen Changqing's body and circulating through his limbs and bones.

Accompanied by the continuous influx of spiritual energy.

It felt as though thunder was exploding within Chen Changqing's body, and his dantian was a blur of chaos.

"Hum!"

For a moment, a wisp of pure energy was born within his dantian.

Like a newborn morning sun, it was faint yet brimming with vitality!

Refining essence into Qi meant refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into one's own vital energy and storing it in the dantian!

Chen Changqing kept his mind calm, guiding the spiritual energy to circulate within his body and continuously condense it.

Soon, the first strand of vital energy was successfully condensed!

Following that, the second, the third...

When the tenth strand of vital energy hung in his dantian like a star, Chen Changqing's tightly shut eyes snapped open.

The brilliance in his eyes shone with a radiant glow!

"The Qi Refining Stage, it is done!"