Chapter 3: Breaking Through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining
At that moment, a young man walked over and plopped himself down beside Fang Yuan.
"Fang Blockhead, you actually came out?"
The newcomer had also brought a plate of food with him and was looking at Fang Yuan with curiosity.
Fang Yuan glanced at him and dug through his memories for some information. This was his fellow villager, Yu Jin — someone he was fairly acquainted with. The two had chatted occasionally before, though their relationship had never gone much deeper than that.
"I was hungry, so I came out to eat something," Fang Yuan replied casually.
Yu Jin was surprised. "Oh? You're talking more than usual. I half expected you not to answer me at all."
"I'm out and about now, so it's natural to relax a little," Fang Yuan said calmly.
Yu Jin nodded. "Fair enough. So, what are your plans going forward?"
"Plans? None," Fang Yuan said, shaking his head.
Yu Jin let out a sigh. "Honestly, having plans doesn't help much anyway. We're all at the Third Layer of Qi Refining — once we get to the branch, we'll just be doing odd jobs. And we don't even get to choose our own assignments. I'm just afraid I'll get sent to the mine tunnels. That would be absolutely terrible!"
Fang Yuan's heart stirred. "Do you know what the specific assignments are?"
"It's basically mining, herb gardens, the Market District, and places like that — pretty much the same across all the branches." Yu Jin shook his head. "If only we could break through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining before reaching the branch, we'd be able to choose our own duties and even become a minor supervisor — like a shop manager, a mine overseer, or a herb valley chief! What a shame."
Fang Yuan smiled. "If someone could break through, they would've done it before the assessment. Why wait until now?"
"True, but you never know." Yu Jin laughed. "Actually, I think those people are the unluckiest — just a few days short of passing the assessment. Ha!"
Fang Yuan smiled along, but inwardly he had already decided to break through his bottleneck before arriving at the branch.
Once an assignment was set, changing it would be difficult — and having no say in the matter was simply too unreliable.
Besides, breaking through at this point wouldn't draw too much attention. The true geniuses had already been kept within the main sect; he was merely a big fish in a small pond.
The two chatted for a short while longer.
He and Yu Jin actually grew a bit closer during that time. They were both being dispatched to the Red Dream Dynasty and were both from the same hometown — there was a natural sense of kinship between them.
After finishing his meal, Fang Yuan returned to his cabin on the merchant vessel and went straight to sleep.
* * *
The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.
The merchant vessel continued to race swiftly across the river.
When Fang Yuan woke up and gazed at the forest along the distant riverbank, he couldn't help but sigh with admiration. "The scenery here is truly beautiful. Even the air feels imbued with a kind of spiritual quality."
The merchant vessel moved at an extraordinary pace.
This was a special waterway that allowed travelers to avoid many of the dangers along the route.
Fang Yuan sat down cross-legged. The vessel rocked gently, but it did not disturb his cultivation in the slightest.
He had already reached the point where cultivation felt as natural as breathing. His Mingqi Art at the Completion Stage could even be circulated in the middle of combat.
"Time to break through!"
The Heavenly Cycle Circulation began.
After the first complete cycle, the newly generated Spiritual Power surged into his Dantian and filled it to the brim — it was already in a state of overflowing fullness.
Without hesitation, he took out the remaining two Supreme Qi-Nurturing Pills (small) and swallowed them, then continued circulating the Mingqi Art.
A massive surge of medicinal power was refined and converted into streams of Spiritual Power that flooded into his Dantian. The Dantian, already stretched to its limit, swelled even further!
His Spiritual Sense took full control of the Spiritual Power within the Dantian, mixing it with the medicinal energy, and began to assault the Dantian's barrier!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the relentless assault of Spiritual Power, cracks began to appear in the Dantian barrier — but the cracks were healing just as quickly as they formed!
Fang Yuan did not hesitate. He forced Spiritual Power into the cracks in a precise and skillful manner, spinning and striking to continuously widen them.
As the technique circulated, wave after wave of Spiritual Power poured into the Dantian and then slammed against the barrier again!
The entire process was orderly and controlled, without the slightest hint of chaos.
He had no fear of striking too hard and damaging his Dantian. His mastery over Spiritual Power was exceptional — every strand was perfectly controlled, pushing the Dantian to expand ever larger!
"This opportunity is rare. Expand it as much as possible!"
Breaking through a bottleneck was both a challenge and an opportunity. At the moment of breakthrough, the Dantian could be widened, but the window was brief. Many cultivators had Spiritual Power of such poor purity that they could barely expand their Dantian at all. But with Fang Yuan's Completion Stage Mingqi Art, expanding the Dantian further was effortless.
The cracks in the Dantian barrier tore open completely. Under the force of the Spiritual Power, the Dantian doubled in size, while the barrier rapidly absorbed Spiritual Power and began reshaping itself into a brand-new wall!
"Don't stop! Push! Keep pushing!"
Fang Yuan commanded all of his Spiritual Power to continue assaulting the newly forming barrier, forcing it to keep expanding and stretching.
The reformation of the Dantian barrier was swift. This brief window was the critical moment during which the Dantian could continue to expand — as long as it hadn't solidified yet, it could still be made larger!
But the more Spiritual Power was poured in, the faster the new barrier reformed, which meant the window for expansion was shrinking!
He had to act fast!
"Keep pushing!"
Fang Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment, throwing even more Spiritual Power into the assault!
The newly forming Dantian barrier kept widening, but it was also growing tougher and more resilient with every passing moment.
The Completion Stage Mingqi Art freed Fang Yuan from worrying about technique. With vast amounts of Spiritual Power guided by precise Spiritual Sense manipulation, the Dantian was expanded to its maximum possible extent.
When everything finally settled down.
The Spiritual Power within him had been reduced to a thin, shallow layer — less than one percent of its peak capacity.
But the results were nothing short of extraordinary!
His Dantian's capacity was five times what it had been at the Third Layer!
Not the mere double that an ordinary Fourth Layer cultivator would achieve!
This meant his total Spiritual Power would be 2.5 times that of an ordinary disciple, giving him a far more solid foundation and a significantly higher chance of achieving Foundation Establishment in the future!
At the same time, his Spiritual Power had undergone a qualitative transformation — its quality had improved by fifty percent. An ordinary disciple breaking through would only see a twenty-percent increase in purity!
In the instant of his successful breakthrough, his Dantian erupted with a powerful suction force, drawing in the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth.
Fang Yuan had prepared for this. He had placed two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones around him beforehand.
He grabbed a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone in each hand and began absorbing them — this was precisely why he had exchanged for Mid-Grade Spirit Stones in the first place. Everything had been leading to this moment.
Vast amounts of Spiritual Energy flowed through his Meridians and poured into his Dantian, where they were instantly converted into his own Spiritual Power in a matter of moments.
This was one of the great benefits of a breakthrough. The force fed back by the reformed Dantian barrier could directly convert Spiritual Energy into Spiritual Power!
The Spiritual Energy from the Spirit Stones, combined with the Spiritual Energy gathering from heaven and earth, was absorbed by Fang Yuan in a frenzy.
Fifteen minutes later, the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones in Fang Yuan's hands crumbled to dust, and his advancement was complete.
The Spiritual Power within his Dantian, which had been reduced to almost nothing, had recovered to twenty percent — but the total volume was already comparable to what it had been before the breakthrough.
Fang Yuan opened his eyes and turned toward the cabin door. Although a Formation was muffling the sound, he could already sense that quite a few people had gathered outside.
The rapid absorption of Spiritual Energy just now was a very obvious sign of a breakthrough — it was perfectly natural for people to come and watch the spectacle.
Fang Yuan calmly opened the cabin door.
Pairs of eyes all fell upon him, each carrying a different emotion — admiration, surprise, envy, jealousy, regret, and more. There were so many expressions that Fang Yuan could barely take them all in.
In the crowd, Yu Jin gave Fang Yuan an awkward smile.
Fang Yuan gave him a nod.
Then Fang Yuan cupped his hands toward the crowd. "Fellow Senior and Junior Brothers, I was fortunate enough to break through my bottleneck. I'll need to consolidate my realm shortly, so I'm afraid I won't be able to continue chatting with everyone. My apologies!"
"Congratulations, Senior Brother Fang, on breaking through your bottleneck!" Yu Jin called out.
"Congratulations! Congratulations!" The others quickly chimed in.
Fang Yuan cupped his hands again. "Thank you all!"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Fang Yuan closed the cabin door.
In the few breaths before the sound-dampening Formation activated, he could faintly hear the muffled voices outside, all marveling at his breakthrough.
As the Formation activated, the sounds were cut off entirely.
Fang Yuan shook his head, sat back down cross-legged, and resumed circulating the Mingqi Art to consolidate his realm.
He cultivated for a full four hours before his aura gradually stabilized.
After breaking through to the Fourth Layer, his cultivation sessions could last longer — that was welcome news.
"The Dantian has expanded considerably. It'll take more time to break through now."
Fang Yuan estimated that at his current cultivation efficiency, it would take roughly eight months to break through to the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining.
That pace was already quite fast.
His predecessor had taken two and a half years to advance from the early stage of the Third Layer of Qi Refining to its peak.
Yet now, he would only need eight months to reach the peak of the Fourth Layer — and that was with a Dantian five times larger than normal.
The Completion Stage Mingqi Art was terrifyingly powerful.
And if he had Pills to assist him, that timeframe could be compressed even further!
"Resources aren't really the issue for me — safety is what matters most."
Fang Yuan's thinking was clear. What he lacked most right now was not resources, but a stable cultivation environment. As long as he could grow steadily and safely, breaking through to higher realms was all but guaranteed.
Therefore, when he arrived at the branch, he absolutely had to choose a relatively safe and stable assignment.