Time flew, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.
As November approached, night spread across Inlaid Gold Mountain like spilled ink, and moonlight cast a faint silver sheen over the snow atop its peak.
Wind poured down from the heights, carrying pine needles and ice chips. It howled through cracks in the rocks and dead trees, shattering the mountain's stillness.
Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on a jutting boulder.
The boulder hung halfway up the mountain, shaped like an eagle's beak and extending more than ten feet beyond the cliff face. Beneath it lay a hundred-zhang abyss.
The rock surface had been weathered rough as sand and covered in a thin layer of frost. Cold seeped through his robes into his flesh and bones, yet he was wholly unaware of it.
That was because he had his head lowered, staring at the small wooden box before him.
One snow-white pill remained inside the box.
The pill was round as a pearl and gleaming white all over. Faint patterns seemed to flow across its surface, like wisps of cloud trapped within an inch of space, breathing out a flickering radiance.
Gathering Qi Pill.
Two months earlier, he had brought three of them back from East King's Palace on Inlaid Gold Mountain.
"Two months have passed. I have already taken two Gathering Qi Pills, and now only this last one remains."
The strand of Azure Qi within Chen Lingxi's dantian had now grown exceptionally strong.
It was like a dormant azure python coiled at the very center of his dantian, its color rich as jade marrow.
"Qi Circulation Third Floor has reached completion, and Silver Bone Perfection has long since been achieved. Whether I can ascend another floor today depends on this tiny pill."
He opened his eyes and took