Chapter 269 - 191: Advancing to Inner Qi

Chapter 269: Chapter 191: Advancing to Inner Qi

Yu Fei was jolted awake by the cold. It was already the middle of the night. It was as if he’d had a long dream, one where he first fell into scorching magma, burning to the point of death. But for some reason, he gradually adapted to the magma and eventually became a part of it.

He was happily reveling in it when the magma suddenly cooled. A cold wind blew past, and he woke from the dream, feeling incredibly cold.

Yu Fei instinctively circulated his Qi Blood. The foot-thick layer of ice abruptly shattered, scattering everywhere. The warm late-summer breeze blew in through the open window, dispersing the lingering chill.

"Whoa~ That was intense!"

Yu Fei had held on until the very end, maximizing the effects of the Ice Spirit Flame. He could vaguely perceive changes within himself, but since it was nighttime, he had no way to verify them.

"GRUMBLE~"

Yu Fei glanced at the time. He had been encased in ice for about ten hours and was getting hungry!

Among the food Xiaohai had delivered today was a fruit jam that tasted exceptionally delicious. Ninety percent of the ingredients here came from the Boundary Region. It had to be said, the school’s care for its S-rank prodigies was meticulous, sparing no expense.

Yu Fei took the rare opportunity to enjoy a good meal, then browsed the school forums for a while before preparing to cultivate the Star Soul Forging Scripture. Mr. Ye had recommended several potions to calm the mind and protect the soul. Yu Fei ordered a month’s supply from the "Under Heaven" internal platform to use for spiritual recovery after his cultivation sessions.

He chose the Spirit Platform Jade Purification Elixir, which cost 2,000 merit points per bottle and contained 36 pills.

After finishing his cultivation of the Star Soul Forging Scripture, he groggily took out a pill. It looked a bit like a chocolate bean and had a slightly astringent taste. Yu Fei chewed it a few times and swallowed, then collapsed onto his bed without even taking off his martial arts uniform, falling into a deep sleep.

He had a night full of dreams. The Spirit Platform Jade Purification Elixir did nothing to improve his dreams; this was an auxiliary effect of the cultivation technique, a form of training in itself. The only difference was that he no longer felt drowsy when he woke up in the morning. This type of elixir was meant to nourish the soul, focusing on maintaining one’s condition.

「Three days later」

Yu Fei woke up early as usual but didn’t practice any Cultivation Techniques. He was in a rare mood to cook a meal for himself with Xiaohai’s help. Afterward, he chatted with his parents and older sister, sharing details of his ordinary life in Shenhan. Then, he sunbathed until noon, changed into a loose-fitting martial arts uniform, and went to the quiet room on the fifth floor.

Today was the day he would break through to the Inner Qi Realm.

His Qi Blood, a full twelve times stronger than normal, had allowed him to complete the strengthening of all known acupoints and meridians, with some to spare. Thus, he had performed a second round of strengthening on his main meridians and Qi Sea.

With the help of Ye Shuping’s Vermilion Fruit, even though his main cultivation talent had not yet reached the gold level, his Qi Blood amplification was unprecedented.

This was also strange. Logically, his Qi Blood and strength had reached an unprecedented level, yet his Xuanxiao Spirit Body talent was still not at the gold level. It was truly difficult to understand.

’Or perhaps gold-level talents are different in some special way?’

He was unwilling to wait any longer. There were still twelve days until his replication ability would recover, and there was no guarantee he could even snatch a master’s silver-level talent. In any case, his cultivation of the three realms was complete. There was no need to wait.

The reason prodigious Martial Artists were called prodigies was because they could absorb the world’s primordial energy to temper their bodies as early as the first realm. This was an ability they acquired far ahead of schedule, something normally only available to Inner Qi Martial Artists.

When he had perfected the Ox Subduing Pile Skill, Yu Fei had sensed that he seemed to have broken through some kind of shackle. In reality, that moment was when he pushed open a crack in the ’Gate of Heaven and Earth.’ Such an opportunity could only be obtained in the first realm.

This step meant breaking through the bottleneck to the Inner Qi Realm ahead of time. Furthermore, absorbing primordial energy to temper the body in advance could raise a Martial Artist’s potential ceiling and lay a solid martial foundation. During the Body Tempering stages of the first three realms, primordial energy was more effective than any elixir for replenishing Qi Blood and left no hidden dangers.

In the second realm, high-grade and peerless Cultivation Techniques further enhanced a prodigy’s ability to absorb primordial energy. The Gate of Heaven and Earth was opened again, unable to be closed. Since Yu Fei cultivated the peerless technique, the Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar, it was as if he had already opened half the gate. With just a slight push, he could enter without any resistance.

The third realm involved strengthening and tempering the acupoints and meridians in preparation for circulating Inner Qi. Every strengthened acupoint and meridian would become an aid in opening the Gate of Heaven and Earth.

That was why they were called prodigious Martial Artists—they faced no obstacles when breaking through to the Inner Qi realm.

Ordinary Martial Artists missed this opportunity. They had to spend vast resources cultivating through the first three realms, and while it was expensive, the effects were not nearly as potent.

But the charm of the martial path was that when a Martial Artist broke through to the Inner Qi realm, they would undergo a one-time Body Tempering with Innate Qi. This gave ordinary Martial Artists a sliver of a chance to catch up to the prodigies in terms of major realm breakthroughs.

In the cultivation beyond the Inner Qi realm, there were no more shortcuts. It placed a greater emphasis on willpower, and for the Grandmaster realm, there was also the threshold of one’s mental state.

The path to becoming a Martial Saint was even more profound. At the very least, in the current Martial Arts Extraordinary World, half of the Martial Saints did not come from prodigious backgrounds. This meant the efforts of non-prodigious Martial Artists still held meaning. Some lucky few could always make it to the end.

That being said, the gap between ordinary Martial Artists and prodigious ones always existed, and some of these differences were impossible to bridge.

Their internal organs, extraordinary senses, Inner Qi reserves, and so on—an ordinary Martial Artist could never surpass a prodigy in these aspects, even in their entire lifetime.

When a Martial Artist broke through the Gate of Heaven and Earth and underwent Body Tempering with Innate Qi, the effects varied based on their own foundation. It was equivalent to a multiplier effect on their existing base—the strong only grew stronger.

During this process, the Innate Qi would solidify the acupoints and meridians that the Martial Artist had strengthened with their Qi Blood, turning them into extraordinary circuits. This was how the foundation of the Qi Sea was established.