[Conjectures, nine limit-breakings, and increases in essence]

[Year 130]: [You successfully broke through to the [fourth limit-breaking].]

[Your cultivation speed underwent another qualitative leap, soaring straight to 3,200 times its original rate (one year of cultivation equaled 3,200 years of arduous effort).]

[Your [rank] rose further as well, bringing a deeper attunement to Heaven and Earth.]

[Although the growth of your [fortune] was not exponential like your speed, it still significantly increased how often you encountered various spiritual materials and medicinal herbs in the secret realm.]

[The [fifth limit-breaking] required accumulating a thousand years of [Dao attainment].]

[At the terrifying efficiency of 3,200 times your original rate, time was compressed to an extreme, and you successfully broke through in just three months.]

[Your cultivation speed surged again, reaching 12,400 times its original rate!]

[Even you could not help crying out at such a horrifying increase: "This rate of improvement is utterly absurd!"]

[As the number of your [limit-breakings] increased, you gained a clearer understanding of the source of the improvement in your own [Essence]:]

[The core of the [Qi Refining realm] was refining [primordial qi], a process of gradually transforming the fundamental nature of your life from a [postnatal being] into an [innate being].]

[For [Qi Cultivators] who broke through through ordinary means (human grade or earth grade),]

[Upon reaching perfection, the wisp of [primordial qi] within them was far too thin, leaving the transformation extremely incomplete,]

[Like clear water dripping into a pool of ink, it would quickly be diluted and assimilated by their vast postnatal foundation, leaving the path ahead uncertain.]

[The core function of the [Heaven and Earth wonder] used to achieve [heaven-grade Qi Refining] was not merely to provide energy, but to obtain "the recognition of Heaven and Earth,"]

[The equivalent of receiving a precious "green card."]

[This "green card" granted you special permission to continue condensing [primordial qi] more deeply without suffering backlash or rejection from your own postnatal foundation.]

[Thus, each limit-breaking was not simply an accumulation of magical power or an advancement in realm,]

[But rather the use of your "green card" privileges to independently condense an entirely new strand of purer, more powerful [primordial qi] from scratch!]

[The [first limit-breaking] successfully condensed the first entirely new strand of [primordial qi].]

[The [second limit-breaking]: building upon the previous level, you condensed two more strands.]

[The third limit-breaking]: you condensed another three strands of [primordial qi].

...

[And so on, until the [ninth limit-breaking], when you condensed a total of nine entirely new strands of [primordial qi].]

[When the nine strands of [primordial qi] reached perfection and finally merged into one, they could thoroughly cleanse all postnatal impurities and forge a flawless [innate Great Dao foundation],]

[Completing the ultimate transformation of your level of existence and laying an unimaginably solid foundation for subsequent cultivation.]

[When that time came, whether you were breaking through to [Foundation Establishment] or seeking to advance further in the [Future], everything would be easier.]

[You did not know whether the core disciples of those [Golden Core Sects] or [Nascent Soul Holy Lands] were all like you, but you reckoned they would all establish the strongest foundations they possibly could!]

[After all, in this [Cultivation World], breaking through to another [realm] was difficult in the extreme,]

[Even having the saying "[heavenly timing, favorable terrain, and human harmony]" come true would not necessarily allow a cultivator with an unstable foundation to advance another step!]

[You realized that the "rewards of the Heavenly Dao" you received after each limit-breaking—the soaring cultivation speed, [rank], and [fortune]—]

[Were precisely Heaven and Earth's recognition and gifts for successfully condensing another new strand of [primordial qi].]

[At your current [fifth limit-breaking], your baseline cultivation speed was already several hundred times its original rate, indeed far surpassing ordinary [limit-breakers] recorded in ancient texts,]

[But this was a positive and beneficial anomaly, so you temporarily set aside your deeper doubts and focused on using this advantage to continue your ascent.]

[At the same time, you had roughly discerned the pattern of the [Dao attainment required] for limit-breaking: it did not increase linearly; instead, approximately every two levels,]

[The required [Dao attainment] underwent a distinct, stepped increase, while the improvements to your [Essence] brought by those two limit-breakings were also more pronounced and profound.]

[The sixth limit-breaking required a thousand years of Dao attainment.]

[Before an efficiency of 12,400 times your original rate, those thousand years of Dao attainment were like thin paper,]

[And in less than a month, you successfully reached the [sixth limit-breaking], your life's [Essence] undergoing another drastic leap.]

...

[Year 131]: [Driven by this utterly unreasonable cultivation efficiency, you advanced like a blade splitting bamboo, pressing forward without hesitation, and finally broke through to [Qi Refining perfection, ninth limit-breaking]!]

[At this moment, your [Essence] had risen to a terrifying level that words could scarcely describe.]

[A sense of power originating from the very source of your life filled your entire body.]

[You were completely certain that your current [rank] had already firmly surpassed that of the [Chen Family Ancestor] (Foundation Establishment late stage), who had merged with his [lineage fortune] and whose might awed the entire region!]

[Even you felt dazed and shocked by this realization.]

[[Foundation Establishment late stage]—that was an existence who had truly crossed the threshold of the Immortal path, whose lifespan was measured in tens of thousands of years, and who could serve as a heaven-supporting pillar for an entire clan!]

[The height of such an existence's [rank] was far beyond anything the [Qi Refining realm] could reach.]

[Yet through [nine limit-breakings] in the [Qi Refining realm], you had actually overtaken him on the [Essence] level of "[rank]"?]

[Just where did the upper limit of the potential contained in this path of [limit-breaking] lie?]

[As for cultivation speed, it finally stabilized at 100,000 times your initial efficiency.]

[You keenly sensed that this seemed to have touched some invisible ceiling within your current realm, as though a solid barrier prevented your efficiency from increasing any further at its frenzied pace.]

[Although it was lower than your theoretical calculations, a hundred-thousandfold increase was already a miracle enough to drive any cultivator mad.]

[As for [fortune], its improvement was tangible and undeniable.]

[To you, the secret realm now could almost be described as having "opportunities strewn across the ground."]

[Although the various spiritual treasures of Heaven and Earth that would spark fierce struggles in the outside world were not everywhere here, the difficulty of obtaining them had greatly decreased.]

[You even acquired another intact [Heaven and Earth wonder]! ]

[While the secret realm's unique nature certainly played a part, the explosive growth of your own [fortune] was unquestionably the main reason.]

[Through your exploration over these years, you had also fully identified the categories of items that could recharge the [Damaged Spacetime Token],]

[They all seemed to contain some kind of [special Essence] related to "time" or "existence":]

[[Ancient Relics] (bearing the passage of years), [the jade bones of Foundation Establishment cultivators] (holding a portion of the cultivators' life essence and Dao traces), and [Heaven and Earth wonders] (containing a trace of Heavenly Dao origin or fragments of laws).]