Late at night, outside it was drizzling gently.
A gentle breeze signified that autumn had already arrived.
Lying on the bed, Chen Yun, calculated the time and woke up before the last half an hour of the midnight hour.
He first washed and combed himself, then lit a common piece of agarwood incense in the tranquil room.
After doing all of this, Chen Yun returned to the bed, sitting cross-legged and waiting for the drug's effects to appear.
Sure enough, as soon as the midnight hour reached its peak, the energy of the third "refine essence and transform into qi" pill that Chen Yun had previously taken began to slowly ascend.
"It should be almost time to accumulate enough true qi to reach the lower mage's realm."
This thought flashed through Chen Yun's mind.
At the same time, he was somewhat worried inwardly, "I'm not sure if I have broken the affectional tribulation by killing Lady Yun. I hope there won't be another blood surge tonight."
Just as he was thinking, a surge of heat circulated to the spleen.
Soon, clusters of spiritual energy were emitted from the spleen.
The spiritual energies were divided into two streams, rising along the left and right sun meridians, from the bottom of the canine tooth through the sun acupoint to the top of the head, and flowing into the Muliann Gong.
According to normal cultivation practices, at this point, one should open their eyes and then close them to concentrate for a long time.
Just that Chen Yun had not actively cultivated, so there was no need for such inconvenience.
After the energy reached the Muliann Gong, it gradually flowed into the brain, and then down through the Twelve Loops and across the spine to the tail bone, up through it to the upper part, and into the heart, piercing through the gallbladder.
Chen Yun felt a warmth in his heart. Initially, there was a slight bitterness in his mouth, and then the golden and jade-like liquid formed.
He slowly swallowed the ambrosia, and the true qi slowly flowed into the lower dantian.
The situation of magnified spirit appears again.
Chen Yun subtly felt that with each cultivation session, that "soul" was growing stronger.
"Is this what the Daoist refers to as the yang spirit?"
He pondered inwardly, "I remember that after completing the construction of the foundation for a hundred days and the refinement of grains into essence, one would enter the stage of nurturing holy fetus. This holy fetus is precisely the inner pill made by refining spirit, essence, and life energy. With the inner pill present, the spirit soul will continuously grow stronger until all impurities are purged and a yang spirit can be born."
Chen Yun had a realization in his heart; even if this "soul" was not the yang spirit, it should be the spirit soul that had not yet refined all the impurities.
It is just that my cultivation is still weak, so the spirit only appears when refining true qi to "breathe fresh air."
Of course, the specific truth of this is not known to him at this moment.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Yun continued to sense the refining of true qi.
As the refining of the drug's power continued, time passed by one drop at a time.
A small cycle of the cosmos.
Three small cycles of the cosmos.
A midnight hour swiftly passed, with nine small cycles of the cosmos completed.
The true qi in the lower dantian swelled, giving an almost tangible sensation of breaking through the body.
Chen Yun opened his eyes with great joy, "As expected, after breaking the affectional tribulation by killing Lady Yun, there has been no more blood surging!"
As Wang Laozhi had said, he was indeed ensnared by the affectional tribulation, which was why his previous cultivation had gone awry.
Now that the mental block has been resolved, not only is his mind clear and bright, but his physical condition is better than expected, and the refining of the drug's power has also returned to its original speed.
Chen Yun used the Qi-viewing technique to survey his true qi condition.
"I am already very close to becoming a lower mage. I estimate it will not exceed ten days to reach the lower mage's realm."
He felt relatively satisfied in his heart. If he hadn't gone to resolve the mental knot today, not only would he not have reached the lower mage's realm in the best-case scenario within ten days, but there was a risk that tonight's refinement of the drug's power would have issues, leading to blood and Qi surges, or even running amok and falling into peril.
"No wonder Daoism emphasizes cultivating the heart. It is indeed very important."
Thoughts in mind, Chen Yun fell asleep peacefully, without any excitement about the imminent cultivation into a seventh-order mage.
