Deep into the night, a light rain was falling outside.

    A gentle breeze was blowing, signaling that the early autumn has arrived.

    Chen Yun, lying in bed, had calculated the time accurately. In the first half of the sub-hour before midnight, he woke up.

    He first bathed and combed himself, then lit a common Nagcham (a type of incense) in the tranquil room.

    After all this, Chen Yun returned to his bed, sat cross-legged, and waited for the birth of the medicinal force.

    As expected, the moment the midnight hour struck, the medicinal power of the third batch of medicine he had taken, which was refined essence into Qi, slowly rose.

    "It seems that the true qi accumulated over the past few days should be almost reaching the level of a mediocre cultivator."

    The thought flashed through Chen Yun's mind in an instant.

    At the same time, he had a secret worry, "I'm not sure if killing Lin Feiyun counts as breaking through the desire tribulation. I hope there won't be a surge of Qi and blood tonight."

    As he was thinking, a warm Qi flowed to his spleen.

    Soon, a cluster of essence Qi burst out from his spleen.

    These essences split into two streams, rising along the left and right Taiyang meridians, descending from the roots of the molars to the Taiyang acupoints, and finally arriving at the vertex, flowing into the Sushumna Palace.

    According to normal cultivation methods, one should open their eyes at this time and close them again to cultivate spiritually for a long time.

    But Chen Yun had not engaged in active cultivation, so he did not need to go through such trouble.

    After the Qi reached the brain palace, it slowly flowed backward into the brain, passed through the twelve layers of heavy hall, crossed the Jiaji (the vertebrae along the spine), linked with the tailbone to ascend, entered the heart, and penetrated through the gallbladder.

    Chen Yun felt a warm sensation in his heart. At first, there was a slight bitterness in his mouth, and then the golden and jadeous liquid was born.

    He slowly swallowed the ambrosia, and the true qi flowed into his lower Dantian slowly.

    The phenomenon of spiritual amplification occurred again.

    Chen Yun faintly felt that with every time he practiced, the "Deity" within him was becoming stronger.

    "Is this what my Daoist school refers to as the Yangshen (Divine Spirit)?"

    He pondered silently, "I remember that after completing the 100-day Zhiji (initial stage of cultivating spiritual energy), and refining essence into true Qi (a stage of cultivating spirit energy), I would enter the phase of growing the Holy Fetus. And this Holy Fetus is precisely the Inner Dan that has been refined by Essence, True Qi, and Spirit. With the Inner Dan in hand, one's soul will continuously grow stronger until all impurities are eliminated, at which point the Yangshen (Divine Spirit) can emerge."

    Chen Yun had a realization in his heart: Even if this "Divinity" was not the Yangshen, it should be the Yuan Shen (Primordial Spirit) that had not refined all the Yin essence.

    However, since his current cultivation is still weak, only when refining True Qi does his Yuan Shen (Primordial Spirit) emerge to "breathe" for a moment.

    Of course, whether it is true or not, he has not figured it out yet.

    After a brief moment of thought, Chen Yun continued to feel the refining of True Qi.

    As the refining of medicinal power continued, time went by one drop at a time.

    A complete circuit of the Little Week.

    Three circuits of the Little Week.

    An hour passed quickly, and nine circuits of the Little Week were completed.

    The true qi in the lower Dantian was sprouting, and there was a faint feeling of bursting out of the body.

    Chen Yun opened his eyes with joy, "Indeed, after breaking through the desire tribulation by killing Lin Feiyun, there was no surge of Qi and blood!"

    As Wang Laozhi had said, he indeed had been trapped by the desire tribulation, which was why there had been problems with his previous cultivation.

    Now that the heart knot has been untied, not only the mind is clear, but also the physical condition is surprisingly good. The refining of medicinal power has returned to its original speed.

    Chen Yun used the Qi Observation Technique to examine his own true qi condition.

    "I am already extremely close to the level of a mediocre cultivator. I estimate that I will be able to reach that level within ten days at most."

    He was quite satisfied in his heart. If he had not gone to untie the heart knot today, let alone reaching the level of a mediocre cultivator within ten days at most, he probably would have problems refining the medicinal power tonight, causing a surge of Qi and blood, and even going astray and falling into danger.

    "No wonder it's said that the path to cultivation is a matter of the heart; it's truly of great importance."

    Thinking about it, Chen Yun settled down to sleep, without getting excited because he was about to cultivate to the level of a seventh-order cultivator.

    ……

    The next day, daytime.

    Chen Yun studied the Purple Star Inscription for a while, and it was relatively easy to perform with the help of a magical artifact.

    However, he faintly felt that this force would impose a heavy burden on his body.

    If someone with a weak physical body used it, they might need two to three months to recover after just one use.

    "I have already accomplished the initial stage of accumulating and refining essence to strengthen my physical body, and my physical strength is relatively decent. If I use the Purple Star Inscription, perhaps I can recover in about a week or so."

    Chen Yun speculated about how his body would react if he used the Purple Star Inscription.

    Although this was just a guess, he felt it was about 90% accurate.

    Only when he actually performs it will he know whether his guess is correct.

    Practice some martial arts.

    Read some Taoist classics.

    Study the magical arts.

    A day passed quickly.

    As midnight approached.

    Chen Yun, as always, refined the medicinal power again.

    The true qi was increasing in large quantities.

    The feeling of the true qi bursting out of the body became increasingly intense, but it seemed like it was just a little bit short, and it always failed to break through the body willingly.

    ……

    The third day was much like the first two.

    After refining the true qi during the midnight hour of the third day, Chen Yun found that the amount had increased quite a bit, but he was still a little bit short of becoming a seventh-order cultivator. The true qi still had not been able to break through the body willingly.

    ……

    The fourth day...

    The fifth day...

    The sixth day...

    Days passed by one after another.

    It quickly arrived at the ninth day.

    That night, Chen Yun, as usual, began to refine the medicinal power after finishing his bath and lighting incense.

    Perhaps because he had always been just a little bit short in the past few days, his expectations were repeatedly dashed.

    Tonight, he had no expectations at all.

    Chen Yun felt unimaginable peace of mind, with no impurities at all.

    The medicinal power rose again and was slowly refined into true qi.

    A complete circuit of the Little Week was over, and there was still no significant difference from usual.

    The second circuit of the Little Week was over in the same way.

    The third circuit of the Little Week...

    The fifth circuit of the Little Week...

    As Chen Yun was fully absorbed in feeling the medicinal power actively wander and refine the true qi, he was in the eighth circuit of the Little Week.

    Suddenly, the true qi within him was restless, as if it had accumulated enough power and was urgently eager to leave the body.

    "Huh?"

    Chen Yun was slightly stunned and did not bother to pay attention to the medicinal power within him. Instead, he instinctively "allowed" the true qi to leave his body.

    Chen Yun's index finger flexed slightly, and a stream of true qi erupted from the tip.

    In a flash, the true qi shot out about four or five meters, striking the bench in the distance.

    Zhāng!

    A sound of burning echoed.

    Immediately, a smell of burnt wood seemed to come from the wooden stool.

    Because there was only one more circuit of the Little Week left.

    Chen Yun was temporarily unable to stop to observe the condition of the wooden stool.

    However, the fact that the true qi had not dissipated after shooting out about four or five meters made him secretly marvel inwardly.

    "Ordinarily, the true qi would quickly dissipate upon leaving the body. Why isn't that happening this time?"

    Chen Yun felt an incredible curiosity.

    He tried to use his mind to "internally observe".

    Although true qi is an intangible and formless substance, the spirit can sense it.

    Therefore, he uses his spirit to observe the true qi.

    Soon, Chen Yun saw that the amount of true qi in the lower Dantian seemed to have decreased significantly.

    He was startled for a moment, "How did my amount of true qi suddenly decrease so much?"

    Just as he felt a bit uneasy, he suddenly realized that the true qi seemed to be somewhat different from before.

    The true qi used to be relatively "thin", but now it has become more condensed.

    To put it in a metaphor, the true qi used to be scattered like fireflies in a summer night, but now it is as dense as steam rising from boiling water.

    Chen Yun suddenly understood!

    "Oh, it turns out that there has been a slight qualitative change in the true qi. That's why the amount of true qi has decreased, but after it leaves the body, it doesn't dissipate quickly."

    He knew what was happening.

    If we compare air to a frying pan, and true qi to water, a drop of water dropped into a frying pan will naturally be quickly evaporated. However, if a whole bowl of water is poured in, it will be harder to evaporate.

    Now, his true qi situation was just like this.

    The true qi had become more condensed, just like changing from a drop of water to a bowl of water.

    That's why, after the true qi is released outside, it hasn't been "evaporated" by the air, which is like a "big frying pan."

    "So in this way, I can use the true qi to perform magic even without relying on the Divine Sword!"

    Chen Yun couldn't help but feel elated in his heart.

    After the ninth circuit of the Little Week was completed.

    He gradually gathered his spirit, calmed his four limbs, and felt that his hands and feet had recovered. Only then did he get up, light the oil lamp, and slowly walk over to examine the stool carefully.

    He saw that on the seat surface, which was about four or five centimeters thick, there was a small hole as thick as his finger.

    This wasn't what surprised Chen Yun the most.

    The thing that surprised him the most was that the edges of the small hole were burnt black, as if it had been heated by a high temperature.

    This discovery made Chen Yun's eyes widen instantly!

    "If the release of true qi can directly harm enemies, even if I don't know any magical arts, it seems that I would have decent combat power."

    Unconsciously, Chen Yun's mind recalled the L sixth-order sword technique in the novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" by Jin Yong.

    The true qi that had burst from his fingertips was incredibly similar to the six meridian swords.

    The difference is that the true qi released by himself is much stronger and accompanied by the effect of burning!

    In addition, Chen Yun could not only expel true qi from his fingers, but also from any part of his body if he wanted to. Even letting the true qi explode all at once from the three-six thousand pores on his body was not too difficult.

    With this in mind, if he were to unleash his true qi with all his might, it would create a powerful energy shock around him, and the power would certainly be tremendous.

    However, Chen Yun noticed that the true qi still had some defects. That is, it would dissipate about four or five meters when released.

    In other words, even if he unleashed his true qi with all his might, he could only form a powerful energy explosion within a radius of about four or five meters around him. It was not enough to harm anything beyond that distance.

    "Perhaps my true qi is not yet sufficiently condensed. If it were, the range might be even greater."

    Chen Yun pondered thoughtfully.

    "Oh, right! Since my true qi has undergone a certain qualitative change, does that mean I have successfully entered the seventh-order cultivator realm?"

    Thinking of this, he felt an irresistible itching and immediately activated the gas perception technique to investigate his cultivation level.

    As soon as he activated the observation of Qi technique, he saw that his whole body was as bright as a furnace, emitting a fiery glow!

    It's worth noting that the aura around his body on the previous two days was merely like a fire pot, which couldn't compare to what it is now.

    Clearly, he had cultivated to become a seventh-grade magician!

    "A mediocre magician?"

    Chen Yun felt a bit dazed.

    "I finally broke through to become a lower-grade magician!"

    He couldn't help but feel joyful inside, and his whole body was particularly energetic.

    After all the hardships and perseverance, he finally achieved the first small goal in his cultivation journey!

    In that moment, Chen Yun's joy grew increasingly intense.

    He was even too excited to fall asleep, and the feeling of joy was indescribable.

    Without any doubt, the sign of successfully breaking through to become a lower-grade magician was that his true qi had undergone a certain qualitative change, and it would not dissipate immediately when released.

    "No wonder I was always just a little bit short before; it turns out that it was because my true qi hadn't undergone a qualitative change."

    Chen Yun finally understood what was going on.

    At the same time, he also knew why his master said to wait until he became a lower-grade magician before teaching him magical arts.

    Because when the true qi had not undergone a qualitative change, once it was released outside the body, it would immediately dissipate in the air and be insufficient to perform magic.

    And only when the true qi undergoes a qualitative change, that is, when one becomes a lower-grade magician, will it not dissipate immediately in the air and can therefore logically use magic.

    "Finally, I've become a lower-grade magician. Once my master returns, I will be able to learn the magical arts that he has described in detail!"

    Chen Yun couldn't wait for his master to return. It was about time, and he should be back in the next couple of days.

    He really wanted to know just how powerful the magical arts that his master described were.

    (The end of this chapter)