He Pingsheng returned from Yu Ning Palace to his own little courtyard.
He disturbed no one, simply closing his gate and hanging the sign reading [In Seclusion] outside.
The sign was already rather worn.
It had been hanging there for many years.
Hmm... I should make a new one when I have time.
He Pingsheng activated his formation, then entered the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the floor.
First, he meditated for one full circulation, calming his mind and clearing away distracting thoughts.
Only then did he consider the matter of cultivation.
A very real problem now lay before He Pingsheng.
He had encountered a bottleneck. Swallowing pills alone would never allow him to break through.
Absorbing the spiritual power between heaven and earth would not allow him to break through either.
There were only two ways to do so.
The first was to consume various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
The Water Essence Spirit Apricot, for example.
Of course, the Water Essence Spirit Apricot was certainly not the only Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures capable of breaking through a Qi Refining Stage bottleneck. Apparently, there were more than a dozen varieties!
The second method was to break through the bottleneck through a fortuitous opportunity, without any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
Such as sudden enlightenment!
A sudden breakthrough when finding a way out of certain death in battle!
Encountering something momentous that brought clarity to the mind and led to a breakthrough.
Or grasping some profound truth about cultivation.
And so on.
All of these could be called enlightenment, or fortuitous opportunities.
But such opportunities could only be encountered, never sought.
Most people had only the first option: searching for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
If they found none, they simply would not break through. After all, Heaven's purpose