Xu Qingtong planned to cultivate in seclusion for a while, raising his Netherworld cultivation as quickly as possible so he could leave this damned place sooner.
He summoned You Chen, gave him several instructions, then handed him a rabbit and sent him away.
Xu Qingtong shut the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began circulating the Nether God Canon.
As he circulated the cultivation technique, wisps and strands of yin energy surged toward him from all around, strengthening his soul.
After cultivating for a while, Xu Qingtong discovered that he could go no further. His body had ample yin energy but no yang energy, leaving him unable to make yin and yang balance and complement each other.
After a moment's thought, Xu Qingtong took a pheasant from the Seven-Star Bracelet. He gripped its head with his right hand and placed his left hand atop its head, circulating the Nether God Canon to absorb and refine the yang energy within the pheasant, drawing it into his body to slowly merge with his yin energy.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Qingtong had spent half a year in the Netherworld. Over those six months, he had progressed rapidly in the Nether God Canon, reaching the fourth tier of the Soul-Congealing Stage, with strength equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
The Nether God Canon seemed practically tailor-made for Xu Qingtong. Others who practiced it struggled with a lack of yang energy and cultivated slowly, so few were willing to practice this technique. Xu Qingtong, however, had no such concern. He had the Seven-Star Bracelet, and there were plenty of living creatures inside it!
Over those six months and more, You Chen finally learned something about a node connected to the Human Realm. A node had appeared ten thousand li north