Chapter 22: Qi Refining Level Three

One hour later!

Boom…

With a muffled sound inside his body, He Pingsheng finally broke through to Qi Refining Level One.

This…

Sweating profusely, He Pingsheng stared in shock and delight: This is too incredible!

He hadn’t moved an inch in a month of cultivation—yet after just one hour, he broke through?

The technique condensed by the Treasure Basin was indeed extraordinary, but not nearly as miraculous as He Pingsheng had imagined; his rapid breakthrough was due to a month of relentless effort drawing spiritual energy into his body.

Without that, even practicing the True Fire Scripture, it would take a full day just to draw spiritual energy in.

One hour was utterly impossible.

This is…

He Pingsheng suddenly froze in shock.

Having broken through to Qi Refining Level One, he suddenly felt he could “see” the inside of his body.

He saw his flesh and blood, his meridians, his dantian.

And within the dantian, a tiny, finger-thick crimson fire-shaped vortex spun slowly.

“Is this inner vision?” He Pingsheng was stunned.

Legends said that after reaching Qi Refining, a cultivator would develop spiritual sense.

This spiritual sense was extremely weak, yet sufficient to observe one’s own body, to see its interior.

This was perfect.

Previously, drawing spiritual energy in relied entirely on feeling; now he could watch his cultivation directly.

Wouldn’t that make it faster?

Though delighted, He Pingsheng did not forget the peril ahead.

The Dao is long—how far had he really come?

So… he must continue cultivating.

He opened the second chapter of the True Fire Scripture and studied it meticulously.

The second chapter described the method to advance from Qi Refining Level One to Level Two.

By nightfall, He Pingsheng had fully mastered the second chapter’s method.

After dinner, he sat cross-legged and began practicing the second chapter.

Cultivating Qi Refining Level Two differed from Level One.

Level One only required drawing spiritual energy in and gathering it in the dantian.

To advance to Level Two, however, it was a matter of accumulation—you must continuously absorb spiritual power from heaven and earth to fill yourself.

At the start of Level Two cultivation, He Pingsheng’s face darkened.

His spiritual root was too poor.

The problem was, his speed of absorbing external spiritual energy was not slow.

Vast amounts of fire-element spiritual energy entered through his skin into his flesh!

Then through flesh into his meridians and spiritual root.

But here, at the spiritual root, the problem arose.

Because his fire-element spiritual root was too thin, it could not accommodate much spiritual power at once.

So no matter how fast he absorbed, it was useless.

It simply couldn’t pass through!

And what of his meridians?

Spiritual power entering from the spiritual root began circulating and refining.

But the problem: his meridians circulated, yet the spiritual power within them remained perpetually scarce.

Same issue: the spiritual root was too thin.

It was like drawing water from a large reservoir into a small one.

Spiritual energy from heaven and earth was the large reservoir; his meridians were the small one.

Yet now, while the large reservoir had no shortage, the small one remained empty.

The reason? The pipe connecting them was too narrow, the flow too slow.

That was precisely He Pingsheng’s current cultivation.

No wonder single-element roots advanced quickly—now, through inner vision, he finally understood clearly.

Is a powerful technique enough?

No!

Even the most powerful technique only refines spiritual power faster!

But if spiritual energy enters too slowly—or not at all—what good is a great technique?

Then again, can someone with a five-element spiritual root truly not cultivate?

Not at all!

If spiritual energy could enter the meridians without passing through the spiritual root, refinement would still be swift.

What kind of spiritual energy enters meridians without passing through the spiritual root?

Elixirs!

Various heavenly treasures and earthly rarities.

When cultivators ingest these, unlike external spiritual energy that filters through skin, flesh, and spiritual root before entering meridians, they enter the meridians directly after digestion.

Thus, the drawback of a weak spiritual root is bypassed.

Then again, couldn’t cultivators with no spiritual root at all still cultivate using elixirs?

Answer: No!

Because meridians and dantian are not equivalent to human blood vessels—they are derivatives of the spiritual root.

No spiritual root, no meridians.

Thus, those born without any spiritual root cannot cultivate, even with elixirs.

He Pingsheng understood these basic cultivation truths.

So what now?

He Pingsheng stepped out of the courtyard and looked around.

Under cover of night, he sealed every crack and window with cloth, then smashed a bottle of sesame oil, before pulling two jade vials from under his bed and taking one supreme [Ji Qi Dan]!

An intense medicinal fragrance instantly filled the small room.

He Pingsheng quickly crushed the elixir, taking only one-tenth, and resealed the remaining nine-tenths back into the porcelain bottle.

That one-tenth he placed in a large porcelain bowl and filled with water.

Instantly, the powdered elixir dissolved into the water.

The surrounding medicinal scent vanished.

He Pingsheng reburied the jade vials, drank a mouthful of the water, and began cultivating.

Boom…

The water, saturated with pure energy, flooded into his abdomen, and vast power surged into his meridians from all directions.

At that moment, He Pingsheng felt his meridians might explode.

But they wouldn’t.

Because the spiritual energy in the Qi Gathering Elixir was the purest and gentlest.

Even swallowing a whole pill at once wouldn’t cause an explosion.

Only unrefined elixir energy would dissipate into the void, wasting precious resources.

He Pingsheng immediately activated the fire-element True Fire Scripture and frantically refined it.

Spiritual power circled once through his meridians, was refined, then gathered into the dantian vortex.

The excess energy refilled the meridians, so he refined it again, gathered it again.

Again and again, endlessly.

That bowl of water sustained He Pingsheng’s cultivation for three full days.

During those three days, though he did not break through to Qi Refining Level Two, his inner vision revealed the crimson fire vortex in his dantian had more than doubled in size.

Two months later!

After consuming roughly two supreme [Ji Qi Dan], He Pingsheng’s cultivation finally broke through.

From Qi Refining Level One to Level Two.

About half a year later, He Pingsheng consumed seven more supreme [Ji Qi Dan].

His cultivation finally reached Qi Refining Level Three.

From Level One to Level Three, it took eight months.

Nine supreme [Ji Qi Dan] consumed in total!

“Finally, Qi Refining Level Three!” He Pingsheng drew a deep breath: “My current cultivation has surpassed Hao Yun’s!”

He pushed open his door!

The world outside turned silver-white.

“It’s snowing… the New Year is near!”

It’s time to offer incense to my parents and Brother Hao and the others!