Familiar steps echoed in the narrow cavern. Surrounded by silent stone walls and veiled in shadows, Luo Chen once again settled into a familiar cross-legged posture. The scent of the calming incense, faint and elegant, soothed his excitement and anticipation, calming him to a state of serene stillness.2

With practiced ease, he began circulating the Long Spring Art. A large influx of spirit energy entered his body, absorbed, refined, and ultimately became part of his spirit power. But it still wasn't enough.0

The qi-nourishing pill in Luo Chen's mouth made a soft sound as he swallowed it down. An even greater medicinal force surged through his meridians, eventually settling in his dantian. As the energy reached his dantian, a subtle yet unmistakable sensation flickered through his consciousness—like the shattering of a thin silver vessel.0

Luo Chen's heart skipped, but the sensation had already vanished.0

Still, he didn't panic.0

Mi Shuhua's Qi-Refining Insights had already prepared him for this. According to the manual, the late stage of Qi-Refining was fundamentally different from the early and middle stages. A cultivator at this level possessed spirit power that could rival or even surpass the combined total of all six prior stages.0

Before this point, a cultivator's spirit power was meager—hardly enough to fuel a handful of techniques, let alone wield enchanted artifacts to their full potential. But once one reached the late stage, everything changed. Spirit power capacity expanded dramatically, and new possibilities unfolded.0

Luo Chen recalled how Zeng Wen had once dazzled the Debate Platform with talismans, artifacts, and spells in seamless succession. That overwhelming performance...0