Within a majestic palace complex spanning several li in Hidden Spirit's Inner City.
In a quiet Cultivation Room, Pan Yuelian sat upright on a meditation cushion.
Her face was taut, her expression grave.
She was trying with all her strength to break through the difficult bottleneck of the late Qi Refining stage.
The wind and frost of passing years had quietly left traces on her face.
She was already over sixty.
The captivating charm and beauty of her younger days had long since ebbed away like flowing water, leaving only a somewhat haggard face.
Yet, at the critical moment when a breakthrough was about to come!
The bottleneck remained extremely stubborn, and the medicinal power always fell just a thread short of piercing through.
Her heart burning with anxiety, Pan Yuelian forcibly accelerated the circulation of her spiritual power.
"Bang!"
An unusual sound suddenly came from within her body. Her face instantly turned deathly pale, and she violently spat out a mouthful of blood...
Half an hour later.
"Alas, I failed again."
Pan Yuelian's heart was filled with helplessness and bitterness. Why is this bottleneck so unyielding? Perhaps, as Master said, my resolve still isn't firm enough!
During this breakthrough attempt, her excessive haste in circulating her cultivation had prevented her from properly guiding the powerful medicinal energy contained in the Spirit Awakening Pill.
Instead, it had rampaged through her meridians, causing them some damage.
As a result, she would need to spend another year or so meditating and regulating her breathing.
Her Immortal Path had now grown dim.
Pan Yuelian possessed only a low-grade spiritual root, which had already limited her path of cultivation.
Now, as she looked at her cultivation's complete lack of progress, her face was desolate, like a withered blossom struck by frost.
"Spiritual roots... spiritual