Time flew like an arrow, and the days slipped by in silence. Before one could realize it, a year had already passed. Within the gentle warmth and stillness of a secluded cultivation chamber, Luo Chen sat in perfect silence, his entire focus locked on the vast expanse of his sea of qi. At its center, a vortex of spirit power spun with desperate intensity. As Luo Chen gradually withdrew his spirit consciousness, the vortex began to slow, its rotation becoming sluggish. He didn’t rush. Each movement was calculated, every fraction of spirit consciousness peeled away with extreme care. To reach minor mastery in the Clear Origin Mystical Pill Method, the pill force must circulate on its own, without any guidance from my spirit consciousness. Only then can it truly suppress the formation of pill toxins. A whole year’s effort... it all comes down to today. With that thought, Luo Chen didn’t hesitate and fully retracted his spirit consciousness. In that instant, the vortex that was already weakened and spinning to its limits paused for a moment. It looked as if it were about to dissolve. As though his sea of qi had grown accustomed to the vortex’s presence, just as it was about to vanish, a single drop of pure spirit solution fell into it. The stalled vortex slowly resumed spinning. It began to draw in the spirit energy into its flow. Seeing this, Luo Chen finally exhaled in relief. "It’s done. With the Clear Origin Mystical Pill Method at minor mastery, I can now cultivate with pills again!" He didn’t rush to test with a pill. It was too early for that. Though a success, the vortex was still in its early stage, fragile and unsteady, like a newborn flame vulnerable to the wind. He planned to give it some time to root itself deeper within his sea of qi before he dared to push it further. With time to spare, Luo Chen opened his status panel. Spirit Roots: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth Realm: Foundation Establishment Second Stage (24/100) Achievement Points: 10 Medicine King Codex of Yimu: Perfection (475/500) Divine Breaker of Malevolence: Grandmaster (501/1000) Myriad Beast Sutra: Beginner (10/100) Landslide: Skilled (150/200) Glazed Skyveil: Skilled (102/200) Heal: Grandmaster (700/1000) Earth Summit: Perfection (450/500) Wave Surge: Perfection (450/500) Sound Isolation: Perfection (351/500) Spirit Suppression: Proficiency (270/300) Perfected Mastery Spells (click to view details) Jade Fracture: Perfected Mastery Unadorned Heart: Grandmaster (513/1000) Flowing Creek: Skilled (170/200) Cloud Transformation: Skilled (141/200) Clear Origin Mystical Pill Method: Proficiency (201/300) Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm: Perfected Mastery Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers: Perfection (400/500) Wang Secret Manual: Beginner (89/100) Second-Tier Alchemist Fasting Concoction: Perfected Mastery Myriad Wonders Pill: Perfected Mastery Jade Essence Pill: Perfected Mastery Blood-Burning Pill: Proficiency (204/300) Spirit Passage Pill: Skilled (107/200) Imperial Nectar: Beginner (3/100) Luo Chen glanced at his lifespan. As expected, he was now thirty-six years old. Just as he was about to move on to the next section, his gaze froze. "One hundred and sixty to one hundred and sixty-five? My lifespan increased by five years? That’s odd. I didn’t even advance in cultivation." Amidst his confusion, realization suddenly struck. Of course, that had to be it. The sudden shift in his body and the subtle clarity coursing through his veins were all traced back to the Clear Origin Mystical Pill Method. After finally reaching the level of proficiency, or what was also referred to as minor mastery, it triggered a chain reaction within him. Purification comes not with haste nor delay, but its source lies in clarity. This alchemy technique was more than a means of neutralizing pill toxins. With persistent cultivation over time, it had begun to actively purge the hidden impurities from his body, subtly touching upon the principle of purity without defilement. And with a healthier body, it was only natural for his lifespan to increase. This technique was far from ordinary; it could both detoxify and provide beautifying effects. Over the past year, even his skin had undergone a marked change. In his earlier years, long hours over hot furnaces and blazing pill cauldrons had left his complexion ruddy and his skin uneven from the relentless heat. Now, those flaws had gradually faded. To say his face was fair as jade and his skin smooth as silk would be no exaggeration. Then again, as a man, Luo Chen didn’t much care about appearances. He chuckled softly and turned his attention to his cultivation. He was in the second stage of Foundation Establishment, yet his progress bar had advanced only twenty-two points over the course of an entire year, now sitting at twenty-four out of a hundred. To be honest, that progress was painfully slow. Even though he hadn’t taken any cultivation pills, he had cultivated the Medicine King of Yimu diligently every single day. As a result, his mastery of the Medicine King Codex of Yimu was now on the verge of reaching Grandmaster level. In other words, without pills, he would need at least four more years to break through to the third stage of Foundation Establishment, and that was with access to a second-tier cave residence! Luo Chen couldn’t help but wonder. This is still just the early phase of Foundation Establishment; it’s supposed to be the easiest and fastest stage of cultivation. If it’s already now, what about the late stages... Luo Chen remembered it vividly. Back in the Qi-Refining Realm, his progress through the early and middle stages had been measured in months. It had felt steady and manageable. But once he reached the late stages, everything changed. The rate slowed drastically, and progress was now measured in years, not months. And with Foundation Establishment, the spirit energy required had only multiplied further. This wasn’t just ten times harder. It would be a hundredfold, a thousandfold harder! He pressed his lips together, the joy from his recently extended lifespan quietly fading away. Still, everything was moving in the right direction. As for techniques, there wasn’t much else worth noting. He had already studied the Medicine King Codex of Yimu thoroughly and learned that it took twenty full cycles of the technique just to gain a single point of proficiency. He still needed twenty-five more points to reach Grandmaster level, five hundred cycles in total. At my current pace of five full runs per day, that would be one hundred days, huh? After that thought, Luo Chen shifted his attention to another technique. The Divine Breaker of Malevolence had reached Grandmaster level! The earth fire he had extracted from Xiaohuan Mountain had long since been exhausted. Later, to continue cultivating, he had sent people to Tianlan Immortal City to purchase another batch of Earth Fire Fiend Qi. Through steady effort, he had finally pushed the technique to Grandmaster level. At the Grandmaster level, Divine Breaker of Malevolence had brought him a tremendous surprise. With a flick of thought, his spirit consciousness extended outward, then abruptly retracted, forming a thin, membrane-like film that tightly encased his sea of consciousness. Faintly, it felt like a defensive mechanism had taken shape. He let go of his control and allowed his consciousness to slowly settle back into the sea. Luo Chen let out a deep breath. At the Grandmaster level, Divine Breaker of Malevolence did not evolve into a new attack. However, it manifested as a defensive technique. Beneath the golden membrane formed by his spirit consciousness, he could now sense a layer of protection against external mental assaults. Could these changes be linked to Wang Yuan's Physical-Refining technique? Luo Chen wondered.