The fifth layer of Qi Refining

The keen gleam in the shopkeeper's murky eyes and his declaration that "the Zheng Household's days are numbered" pressed against Lu Zhao's heart like a heavy lump of cold iron, painfully hard, yet bringing a trace of icy reassurance.

That assurance was a protective talisman, but also an invisible shackle. What the Zhou Household valued was his pair of hands that could craft "eyes," not Lu Zhao himself.

The Zheng Household might no longer have the strength to pursue revenge across commandery borders for now, but were they the only wolves, jackals, tigers, and leopards in this world?

The crowds outside the Nine Abyss Pavilion remained noisy, yet Lu Zhao felt as though every step landed on thin ice, cold creeping up from the soles of his feet.

He tightened his blue-gray cloak and turned to join the Market District's crowds, his retreating figure soon swallowed up.

The road back to Green Vine Ravine seemed even deeper and more secluded than on his outward journey. The Flowing Cloud Sparrow circled silently a hundred zhang overhead, its compound eyes projecting every inch of mountain forest and every patch of shadow below into his Sea of Consciousness.

Lu Zhao's Divine Sense was taut as a bowstring, two invisible "Divine Threads" wrapped around the core of the Frost Rat Puppet in his sleeve, ready to activate it at any moment.

Every rustle of wind through grass, every snap of a dead branch, made his muscles tense slightly.

Only when a gap opened in the familiar mist at the ravine entrance and the faint light of his waist token resonating with the protective formation spilled down did his suspended heart settle a little.

The ravine's cold air struck his face, carrying the fishy smell of water, yet it gave him a strangely familiar feeling.

"You're back, Fellow Daoist Lu? You don't look well." Chen Moyang, who was on duty, walked out of the Stone House, spiritual light flowing across the Formation Plate in his hand. His gaze lingered briefly on Lu Zhao's somewhat pale face.

"It's nothing. I ran into a little trouble on the road. It's already resolved." Lu Zhao's voice was even; he did not wish to say more.

Chen Moyang tactfully nodded and asked no further questions. Here in Green Vine Ravine, who didn't have a few secrets?

He pointed toward the medicinal field in the southeastern corner. "Elder Zhou has a batch of Azure-Grain Wood of fairly good quality. If you need any, you can take a look."

"Thank you for letting me know."

Lu Zhao cupped his fist and walked straight toward his stone chamber. The stone door closed heavily behind him, shutting out the world outside.

He leaned against the icy stone door and exhaled a long, stale breath. His taut nerves finally relaxed, and exhaustion surged over him like a tide. This trip to the Market District had drained his mind even more than a fierce battle.

In the days that followed, Lu Zhao immersed himself completely in Green Vine Ravine's rhythm, like a drop of water merging into the Cold Pool.

Patrols and snake slaying: when his turn came to patrol the marked points, he was more cautious than before.

The Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield's deep-blue water curtain flowed around him constantly, thin as a cicada's wing yet radiating a dense, heavy chill.

When a swarm of Ink-Scaled Snakes used the Underground River's rising tide as cover and shot out of a narrow waterway like black arrows, Lu Zhao's gaze turned cold.

No longer seeking a flashy display, he sent three Ice Cones shooting out precisely in a triangular formation. Their cold instantly burst into icy mist ahead of the snakes, slowing their advance.

At the same time, a figure darted from his sleeve. Extreme cold erupted, and the Snake King instantly stiffened.

His movements were clean and decisive, without the slightest trace of fuss. The entire process took no more than three breaths. Cowed by the icy mist and their companion's death, the remaining Ink-Scaled Snakes hissed and retreated into the depths of the Underground River.

The stone chamber on the left became his true fortress. His newly acquired Azure-Sink Iron Carving Knife moved over the puppets, producing a soft scraping sound.

He no longer rushed for results. Instead, he treated every carving session as a study of the Hundred Refinements Art and a meticulous honing of his own spiritual power and Divine Sense.

The wind patterns on the Flowing Cloud Sparrow's wing bones grew increasingly smooth and natural, while the Ice-Explosion Rune Patterns on the Frost Rat Puppet's claw tips also became more stable.

In a corner lay several heavy Black Iron ingots and pieces of Ironwood giving off a fresh woody fragrance, quietly awaiting use as the Ironwood Guard's frame.

Whenever he gazed at them, a trace of gravity and anticipation flashed through Lu Zhao's eyes.

At the Xu hour, spiritual energy rose through Green Vine Ravine like a giant beast's breath. Lu Zhao sat cross-legged in his stone chamber, circulating the Little Spirit Rain Art to its utmost.

The Ice Jade Pill's cold current dissolved within him, mingling with the Spirit Spring's rich water spiritual energy and becoming a surging river of ice that scoured his meridians.

Within his Dantian, four pale-blue streams of True Qi resembled four bound flood dragons. Nourished by increasingly vast spiritual power, they grew ever more solid and powerful, coiling around and pressing against one another, faintly emitting a low hum.

Every circulation loosened the invisible barrier leading to the fifth layer a little more.

The Meridian-Guarding Pill's medicinal power became a warm current that protected his meridians. The interweaving of ice and fire brought slight pain and a clear sense of progress. His eyes remained closed, thin frost gathering between his brows, while only his breathing remained long and steady.

Within his Dantian, the four pale-blue streams of True Qi had condensed until they were almost tangible. They spun and collided at high speed at the center of the spiritual power vortex, every brush producing tiny yet distinct flashes of spiritual light that illuminated his entire Dantian.

Under the ceaseless scouring of spiritual power, that invisible membrane had become as thin as a cicada's wing, within reach.

The time had come. After finishing his duty that day, Lu Zhao found Zhou Qixing carefully removing impurities from Ink Orchid roots with a jade knife at the edge of the main medicinal field, along with Chen Moyang, who had just returned from inspecting the Underground River's mouth. "Elder Zhou, Fellow Daoist Chen."

Lu Zhao's voice was calm, carrying an almost imperceptible edge. "I need to enter seclusion for the next three days. Sorry for the trouble, but I'll have to ask you both to shoulder more of the patrol duties."

Zhou Qixing lifted his murky eyes from the Ink Orchid and glanced at Lu Zhao. His fingers, like withered twigs, unconsciously rolled a root, and a vague "Mm" sounded through his nose, serving as his agreement.

Chen Moyang put down the Jade Slip in which he was recording the Formation Plate's fluctuations. "Enter seclusion without worry, Fellow Daoist Lu. With us here, there should be no serious problems." He cupped his hands, his tone sincere.

Lu Zhao nodded slightly, said nothing more, and turned toward his stone chamber.

The stone door shut heavily behind him, separating inside from outside. He immediately formed a hand seal and activated the unranked Sense-Avoidance Warning Formation set up in the left-hand stone chamber to its fullest strength. The dim light in the compound eyes of the two Puppet Guards in the corner flared as they entered their highest state of alert.

Inside the central cultivation chamber, the Mind-Clearing Meditation Cushion gave off a slightly cool, calming aura. Lu Zhao sat cross-legged and took a deep breath. The ravine's icy, pure spiritual energy poured into his lungs, instantly stilling his mind.

Without the slightest hesitation, he first took a jade bottle from his Storage Bag and tipped out a pill the size of a longan, icy blue all over, its fine pill markings resembling cracks in ice-an Ice Jade Pill.

The instant the pill appeared, the room's temperature dropped several degrees. He opened his mouth and swallowed it. The pill melted on his tongue, and a vast, pure surge, like meltwater from a glacier, instantly flooded his limbs and bones, joining the surging river of spiritual power.

Immediately afterward, he took out a brown pill, a faint, warm luster flowing across its surface-a first-tier middle-grade Meridian-Guarding Pill.

Swallowed immediately after the Ice Jade Pill, it became a warm current that swiftly wrapped around all his meridians like a resilient silken net, especially near his Dantian's sea of Qi.

Spiritual energy rampaged and expanded within him, flowing through every inch of his meridians, while the Meridian-Guarding Pill's warm current protected them firmly, preventing them from being torn apart by this suddenly swollen torrent of spiritual power.

A swelling pain arose. Lu Zhao's brows drew tight, and fine beads of sweat instantly covered his forehead, only to be evaporated by the spiritual power at his skin.

He held his mind firmly steady and circulated the Little Spirit Rain Art at full strength. He already knew its circulation route by heart, and now drove it to its utmost.

Within his Dantian, infused with the Ice Jade Pill's medicinal power, the four condensed streams of True Qi spun, swelled, and pressed against one another wildly, like flood dragons injected with violent energy!

Boom-!

A muffled thunderclap seemed to sound within his Sea of Consciousness. Before the torrent of spiritual power amassed to its peak, that resilient membrane shattered like glass struck by a giant hammer!

The instant the obstruction vanished, the surging spiritual power rushed into a broader "world" like a flood bursting through a dike!

His Dantian's sea of Qi abruptly expanded under an invisible force. The previous sensation of fullness and swelling vanished, replaced by an unprecedented "emptiness" and "hunger."

The rich spiritual energy outside, especially the pure water spiritual energy unique to Green Vine Ravine's Spirit Spring, seemed drawn by an immense invisible force. It surged wildly through gaps in the stone door and cracks in the walls, even penetrating the simple sense-avoidance formation, gathering around Lu Zhao!

Above his head, it formed a visible, rapidly spinning pale-blue vortex of spiritual energy!

The vortex spun faster and faster. The Little Spirit Rain Art greedily devoured and refined the pure spiritual energy, pouring it into the newly opened space within his Dantian.

A fifth pale-blue stream of True Qi, like a newborn brook, slowly gathered and took shape at the bottom of his spacious Dantian, passing from insubstantial to solid. At last, it joined the other four streams, forming a more stable circulating system with a more powerful aura.

Surging spiritual power flowed through his widened meridians without any further obstruction.

The spiritual pressure of a cultivator at the fifth layer of Qi Refining slowly spread from Lu Zhao, filling the entire stone chamber.

He slowly opened his eyes. A keen gleam flashed through them and vanished; they were deep as the Cold Pool.

There were no earth-shaking phenomena, only the calm of water flowing into a channel once it was ready. There had never been a bottleneck between the fourth and fifth layers of Qi Refinement.

A blink later, the panel changed.

Name: Lu Zhao

Cultivation: fifth layer of Qi Refining (middle-grade water spirit root)

Lifespan: twenty-four/one hundred and twenty

Primary cultivation method: Little Spirit Rain Art

Spells: all others at major mastery, Wind-Riding Art (minor mastery), Thousand Threads Technique (two Divine Threads)

Secondary arts:

Puppet Art (first-tier low-grade):

Flowing Cloud Sparrow (success rate: 30%)

Frost Rat Puppet (success rate: 40%)

Ironwood Guard (not yet initiated)