Jun Xie walked steadily back to his room, and upon seeing his state, **almost burst into tears. |//| His trembling hands helped him remove his garments, then carefully cleansed him with clear water. Jun Xie remained standing; he knew that the moment his body lost balance and collapsed, given his current exhaustion, he would immediately fall into a dead sleep! But if he could just endure this final hurdle, to regain his strength while still conscious, it meant he had pushed past another physical limit!

After wiping himself clean, he dismissed ** and, standing bare, Jun Xie entered a deep state of breath regulation. Focusing his mind on the Lingtai (Spirit Platform), the circulation path of the first layer of the Kai Tian Zao Hua Gong (Heaven-Opening Creation Skill) began to flow slowly.

Jun Xie startlingly noticed that the seven-colored exquisite pagoda within his mind was rotating significantly faster than before, and the spiritual energy it emitted was much denser. This energy slowly flowed into Jun Xie’s meridians, following the prescribed route. With every point it reached, Jun Xie felt a cool, soothing sensation, much like a parched, almost smoking throat suddenly receiving a draught of crisp, mountain spring water—the relief at that moment was indescribable.

The mist entered Jun Xie’s meridians with increasing urgency, slowly mending his body, which was pushed to the absolute brink of exhaustion. His entire body gradually began to tingle and itch, especially the injured areas, which felt as if a hundred claws were scratching his heart. Jun Xie fiercely suppressed the urge to scratch, pouring all his effort into controlling his mind and sinking into the cultivation state, slowly… slipping into a state where self and world dissolved...

Time slipped by unnoticed. All the fractured points on Jun Xie’s body slowly ceased their clear fluid seepage, gradually congealed, and slowly began to scar over...

Gradually, the scabs on Jun Xie’s body wrinkled, hardened, and then, bit by bit, flaked away like fine powder...

At the base of Jun Xie’s feet, a thin layer of shed skin fragments slowly accumulated, while the skin on his body returned to the snow-white smoothness of before, the only difference being a greater suppleness. The muscles, tightly strung from a day of extremely high-intensity training, slowly exuded tiny droplets of crystalline moisture through unconscious yet rhythmic, gentle tremors. After the trembling subsided, the muscles slowly relaxed, gradually returning to the state of complete ease they held before training began. After another wave of surging, sour numbness and tingling, they finally achieved complete relaxation...

Jun Xie, deep in his cultivation, remained utterly unaware of these changes. Having forcibly pushed past the state of extreme fatigue, what followed was a wave of ecstatic comfort. His entire consciousness entered an ethereal realm, akin to floating freely in the boundless, tranquil ocean—incredibly pleasant; the feeling was like the ocean’s tides, washing over him wave after wave...

The seven-colored pagoda in his mind began to overflow with increasingly dense mist. Waves of pure, ultimate Heaven and Earth spiritual energy surged into Jun Xie’s body, washing over every meridian, every inch of muscle, every fiber of his sinews...

Jun Xie clearly felt that the slender thread of vital energy circulating within his meridians was slowly strengthening under the fierce scouring of the spiritual energy. Though the increase wasn't drastic, it was undeniable. Moreover, his sense of thought was incomparably clear; he felt absolutely no fatigue, as if all his spirit had, in that instant, harmoniously merged with the peculiar little pagoda in his mind. That subtle, profound pleasure was so intoxicating that even Jun Xie’s iron-willed nerves couldn't help but become intoxicated by it.

Suddenly, the seven-colored light of the Hongjun Pagoda paused, ceasing its rotation. A shock resonated through Jun Xie’s consciousness, instantly pulling him out of that supremely wonderful state. His spiritual state instantly returned from the Sea of Consciousness to the real world, and the white mist of spiritual energy within his meridians receded like the tide. Jun Xie felt strength surging through his entire body. He slowly opened his eyes, and two sharp beams of divine light immediately shot out!

He moved his body gently; joints cracked with crisp sounds—"pa," "pa"—before settling immediately into smooth alignment. His mental state was surprisingly excellent. The faint moonlight gently spilled down as Jun Xie walked to the window; the sky held a full, plate-like moon, the clear expanse vast and pristine.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival in his original world was the fifteenth day of the eighth month, but the Golden Autumn Festival here was on the twentieth.

Regardless of which world the moon belonged to, its light remained gentle as water, bathing everything in clear radiance. Jun Xie let out a soft sigh, surprisingly realizing that the feelings of deep melancholy and loneliness had vanished; it was as if all past events had become commonplace. The moon remained, the heavens remained! He was still beneath the same sky; consider it merely... a change of workplace...

Inspecting his body thoroughly once more, Jun Xie discovered that not only had the considerable number of wounds healed, but miraculously, even the scars had vanished without a trace overnight. Furthermore, his skin was now exceptionally supple and smooth. Jun Xie couldn't help but stare in amazement: he hadn't realized the restorative power of the Kai Tian Zao Hua Gong was so formidable!

He had intended to train so brutally that in a few days he would turn the bronze-colored skin of his past life into a dark tan. Unexpectedly, while his physical fitness improved rapidly, his skin became smoother with more training. What a disappointment! The silver lining in this misfortune was that his skin was developing toward suppleness; if it had become overly tender, how would he face others!

Gathering his breath to circulate his energy again, Jun Xie was instantly overjoyed! After the crazy training of the day, this evening’s circulation session proved the effectiveness of the training exponentially. The thread-like vital energy within his body had nearly doubled in thickness. Ah, if the original energy flow was as thick as a strand of hair, it was now the thickness of hog bristle... Jun Xie broke out in a cold sweat, realizing that comparing himself this way was rather self-abusive...

And the flow speed of the vital energy was even faster; suddenly, an understanding dawned: he had advanced another significant step in the first layer of the Kai Tian Zao Hua Gong!

The other major surprise was that he could now achieve Neishi (Internal Vision)! This was something only achievable once martial cultivation reached the Innate Realm. It seemed the Kai Tian Zao Hua Gong was truly miraculous; although his current power was still far from the standard of an Innate Martial Artist from his previous life, he could now perform internal vision!

It appeared that this kind of extreme training, completely draining all physical strength, followed by circulating the Kai Tian Zao Hua Gong, yielded unexpected benefits.

Tracing along the meridians, Jun Xie finally grasped the mystery of this world's Profound Energy (Xuan Qi). Cultivating Xuan Qi was, in fact, not significantly different from cultivating internal energy; it could almost be considered a special method of internal energy cultivation. While Xuan Qi might lack the stamina of internal force, its explosive power was far greater. Because of this extreme burst capability, its concealment was relatively insufficient, and naturally, its staying power was also weaker. The more profound the Xuan Qi cultivation, the more pronounced the external effects—this was the primary reason for the various colorful glows associated with it!

The cultivation method for Xuan Qi, however, was almost identical to internal arts; it also involved circulating energy along a fixed meridian route. For example, below the Ninth Grade, there was only one accessible meridian, whether among the Extraordinary Meridians and Eight Conduits or the Twelve Primary Meridians, forming a single internal circulation of channels and collaterals. Upon breaking through to the Silver Grade, another meridian could be opened, essentially adding a tributary, though the internal circulation remained the same, just covering a much larger area.

Perhaps this was due to the special constitution of the people in this world. No wonder every advancement in Xuan Qi was excruciatingly painful, like a venomous snake shedding its skin. Forcibly breaking open a meridian—that feeling couldn't be pleasant!

Continuing this pattern, when all Twelve Primary Meridians were clear, and half of the Extraordinary Meridians and Eight Conduits were cleared, one would reach the Supreme Divine Profound Realm. However, there was a prerequisite: among the cleared half of the Extraordinary Meridians, the Ren and Du vessels must be opened to achieve the true Supreme Divine Profound Realm. If one cleared four Extraordinary Meridians but excluded the Ren and Du vessels, they would only be considered a pseudo-Supreme Divine Profound Realm expert!

The only thing that surprised Jun Xie was that upon reaching the Supreme Divine Profound Realm, while all twelve primary meridians were opened, forming the main cultivation ground for Xuan Qi, and the Dantian remained the warehouse for Xuan Qi, only four of the Extraordinary Meridians needed to be cleared. The most difficult part was merely clearing the Ren and Du vessels, yet this achieved the highest level of existence in this world. But in terms of martial arts, this so-called pinnacle achievement, the Supreme Divine Profound, still left four internal meridians sealed.

Then, above the Supreme Divine Profound, was there perhaps an even higher existence?!