Late Qi Refining Stage

At this moment, deep beneath the desert in the Dawnsource Secret Realm, a castle piled from yellow sand stood towering in the underground space.

In the great hall deep within the castle, upon the desert throne,

a skeleton wearing a brass-colored crown tapped the armrest of the throne with its broken bone fingers.

"Mission failed. Did your Earth-Element Clan truly give this operation your all?

Did I not tell you that Shi Xiang of the Stone Beast Clan was important, that you had to bring him back?"

Half-crouching beneath the throne were two demonic beasts. One was Shi Li, chieftain of the Stone Beast Clan, and the other was Tu Yi, chieftain of the Earth-Element Armored Beast Clan.

Both were great demons who had fully developed intelligence.

"Your Majesty, our clan sent out all our elites in this operation. We lost no fewer than five fine lads at the peak of the first rank."

"What kind of damned Hunting Tournament was this? There were people like that? Someone in the Qi Refining Realm had such combat power?"

"There were many of them, Your Majesty. Shi Xiang was beaten to death by a crowd."

"Mm, Shi Li... investigate it properly.

This past month has truly been stifling. Heaven Sect actually dispatched five Golden Core cultivators to patrol the skies.

I do not even dare step out of the sand castle for a breath of fresh air now. We still have to endure another twenty days."

"Yes, Your Majesty. It will not be long. The esteemed figures of Heaven Sect are merely acting on a passing whim.

Shi Xiang's situation this time was rather strange as well. It seemed that all the demon power in his body had inexplicably dissipated. Could a Golden Core cultivator have acted?"

"It was not a Golden Core cultivator. Have someone retrieve Shi Xiang's corpse.

Endure a little longer. For now, we still cannot escape Heaven Sect's control. It will not be much longer before I completely fuse.

At that time, we will truly become the masters of this secret realm and possess the power of the entire small world.

The immortal sects stand high above all others, far too arrogant. Fortunately, those people did not discover the secret on Shi Xiang's body.

If that trace of Secret Realm Origin on Shi Xiang's body were extracted, it would be troublesome."

This hunt had yielded quite a lot, and it had also verified the true might of the Heavenly Stellar Lightning Arts.

With the formidable traits of Heavenly Stellar Earth-Thunder, Dong Lin now even had the confidence to fight a second-rank demonic beast.

After ten days of tempering, Dong Lin's Dantian had finished being nurtured, and he was ready to officially begin his breakthrough.

For this breakthrough, Dong Lin intended to borrow the wisp of purple qi naturally born between heaven and earth when the rising sun emerged in the east.

Dong Lin no longer needed the Breath-and-Spirit Absorption Art to cultivate.

The Eight-Nine Mystical Art had its own cultivation method.

However, unlike Tao Yan, who had needed to start over after changing cultivation methods, Dong Lin's switch to the Eight-Nine Mystical Art

did not require him to disperse his spiritual energy and start from scratch. It connected seamlessly.

Early the next morning, with everything prepared, Dong Lin came to the roof of the thatched hut atop that mountain.

A meditation cushion Dong Lin had placed there long ago rested on the roof. Every dawn, Dong Lin came here to cultivate,

so he had left a cushion here for convenience. This place was remote, and generally no one paid it any mind.

During the ten days he had spent in the secret realm, Dong Lin had also tried cultivating the Purple-Qi Dust-Cleansing Formula, but regrettably,

that small secret realm did not produce purple qi. The rising and setting of the sun and moon within the secret realm did not seem entirely real.

They seemed to be merely projections.

"Ten days of cultivation delayed," Dong Lin thought regretfully. "I hope the tournament rewards are generous enough."

Although the progress of Dust-Cleansing Body Purification had not yet reached completion,

Dong Lin could already clearly sense every minute detail of the spiritual energy flowing through the meridians in his body.

Dong Lin still could not fully inspect his body inwardly, but there had already been some improvement. The benefits of having his body cleansed by purple qi were gradually revealing themselves.

The hour of the tiger had arrived, and the great sun slowly revealed its majestic form.

Dong Lin focused his mind on his Dantian and threw himself wholeheartedly into this breakthrough.

With the power of purple qi, the process of expanding his Dantian went exceedingly smoothly.

Circulating the Mystical Art, Dong Lin felt spiritual power flowing endlessly through his body,

entering his Dantian and gradually opening it outward.

There were many secret methods for additionally expanding one's Dantian in the Late Qi Refining Stage, but Dong Lin no longer needed them.

Through the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, Dong Lin learned that his Dantian did not need further expansion during the Qi Refining stage.

That was because once this cultivation method broke through to Foundation Establishment, it would directly open a Dantian. At that time, its capacity for spiritual energy would increase greatly.

All of this was related to the quality of the Dao Foundation Dong Lin would ultimately forge.

When Dong Lin reached the Qi Refining Peak Stage, compared to all the other monstrous geniuses,

he would be spared the step of using heavenly treasures and earthly materials to assist in nurturing his Dantian's True Intent. He would have ample time to cultivate the Five Elements Divine Art,

thereby forging the Innate Yin-Yang Primal Chaos Dao Foundation described in the cultivation method.

Just hearing its name made it clear that this Dao Foundation was certainly extraordinary, though Dong Lin did not yet know exactly what was special about it.

He could only cultivate patiently, step by step, and wait quietly for the flowers to bloom.

This breakthrough into the Late Qi Refining Stage took Dong Lin a total of five hours, greatly shortened compared to the three days it had taken last time.

"This wisp of Innate Purple Qi is already this useful. If I could obtain a wisp of the legendary Primordial Purple Qi, just how outrageous would my cultivation progress with this art become?"

Dong Lin began fantasizing again about what he would do if he had a million of them.

This breakthrough increased Dong Lin's Dantian capacity by one hundred and ten units, bringing its total capacity to three hundred and twenty units.

Thanks to breaking through with purple qi, the intensity of spiritual power in Dong Lin's Dantian had reached two hundred and twenty units,

adding ten units of spiritual power out of thin air. The progress was utterly terrifying.

"So this is what being a genius feels like?"

With the help of a top-tier mental cultivation method, Dong Lin had also experienced the terrifying speed that only true monstrous geniuses possessed while cultivating.

Over the next twenty days, realizing the importance of cultivation realm, Dong Lin began throwing himself fully into raising his cultivation.

After twenty days of tedious cultivation, the spiritual power intensity in Dong Lin's Dantian reached two hundred and seventy units.

He could increase his spiritual power by at least three units every day, a full three times greater than before.

Dong Lin now clearly realized the uniqueness of his body. Throughout the entire Qi Refining Realm,

he had not encountered a single bottleneck. The growth of his cultivation was as effortless as eating and drinking.

As long as he cultivated, his cultivation would rise. It was like a game: effort brought rewards, like gaining experience while idling,

which gave Dong Lin a strong sense of unreality. Yet he did not know why.

"Could it be that I have some special physique too? But the examination at Xinyan Hall did not discover anything before."

Dong Lin shook his head in puzzlement and stopped dwelling on it.

The Hunting Tournament ended on schedule. Dong Lin also arrived at the venue in time for the final announcement of rankings and rewards.

"Over here, Brother Dong!"

Baili Tianming and the others seated in the stands waved at Dong Lin.

The results of this hunting competition had already been announced.

Baili Tianming had personally hammered three first-rank peak demonic beasts to death,

along with several late first-rank exotic beasts, earning a total of one hundred and thirty-three points.

Working together with Baili Tianming, Zhao Shuheng also earned one hundred and twenty-nine points, slightly surpassing Tao Yan.

As the captain of the Star Eternity Squad and the strongest member of the entire team, Gu Chen had also lived up to expectations.

Without forming a team, he had nearly slaughtered his way through the entire trial ground of the Dawnsource Secret Realm with one man and one sword.

Though he had not killed a second-rank exotic beast across realms, Gu Chen had slaughtered a full ten first-rank peak exotic beasts,

averaging one per day. Terrifying indeed.

Gu Chen earned the frightening total of two hundred and ninety-three points, ranking first in the entire sect among Qi Refining Realm cultivators.

"So this is Brother Chen's strength? He has a full twice as many points as I do."

Dong Lin sighed. "Could the gap between people truly be this great?"

Even though Dong Lin had gained so much from this hunt, he had only barely reached half of Gu Chen's score.

However, that was also because Dong Lin had not continued participating in the hunt over the final few days.

After all, Tao Yan was not in good condition. As her teammate, Dong Lin could not very well abandon her and go hunting alone.