“I’m not that weak, am I?”
“Besides, I’ve already caught up with you and reached Second-Layer Qi Refinement.”
Ye Yu scratched his head, replying a bit awkwardly.
“Keep working hard. It won’t be long before I break through to Third-Layer Qi Refinement.”
“I hope you can catch up.”
Ye Hao told a white lie against his conscience, solely to motivate Ye Yu.
Sure enough, upon hearing that Ye Hao was about to break through to Third-Layer Qi Refinement, Ye Yu immediately grew anxious.
He had only just broken through to Second-Layer Qi Refinement, yet Ye Hao was already on the verge of breaking through to Third-Layer Qi Refinement.
One step behind, every step behind.
Wouldn’t that mean the gap between them would only grow wider and wider in the future?
“Wait, didn’t you just break through to Second-Layer Qi Refinement not long ago? How are you about to break through again?”
But soon, Ye Yu came back to his senses.
He couldn’t help but look at Ye Hao.
Reasonably speaking, his spirit root was even a bit better than Ye Hao’s.
Earlier, it made sense that the other had been a bit faster from consuming white spirit rice and spirit fruit.
How could he still be this much faster now?
“I seem to have awakened a special physique. Even with only a low-grade spirit root, my cultivation speed isn’t slower than those with high-grade spirit roots.”
“It’s only natural that I break through a bit faster.”
Ye Hao responded nonchalantly.
Having the system’s cheats could be considered his own ability.
Naturally, it counted as a special physique.
Hearing Ye Hao explain it like this, Ye Yu immediately nodded. “So that’s why! I was wondering why your breakthrough speed was so fast.”
“Take this too. I have no use for it.”
“All right, I’m heading back.”
Ye Hao took out the Burning Wind Sword manual, handed it to him, and then left the wooden cabin without looking back.
“Ye Hao truly is my good brother, giving me such precious things, and even a sword technique.”
Looking at the Dew Condensation Fruit and that Burning Wind Sword manual in his hands, Ye Yu was moved to tears.
Truly worthy of being his good brother who had grown up playing alongside him since childhood.
Whenever he had good things, he would think of him.
...
“Time to continue cultivating.”
After digesting the medicinal efficacy of that Dew Condensation Fruit, Ye Hao took out another Dew Condensation Fruit, popped it into his mouth, and began refining it.
The next second, majestic spiritual energy instantly shattered his Third-Layer Qi Refinement bottleneck, reaching Fourth-Layer Qi Refinement.
Right after came the third Dew Condensation Fruit.
“As expected, the medicinal efficacy has halved.”
After Ye Hao swallowed the third Dew Condensation Fruit into his stomach, he sensed that the medicinal efficacy brought by this third Dew Condensation Fruit was far less than half of the second one.
Moreover, after stepping into Fourth-Layer Qi Refinement, the speed at which Ye Hao digested Dew Condensation Fruits surged drastically.
Right after, the fourth fruit, the fifth fruit.
“It has completely lost all effect.”
When the fifth Dew Condensation Fruit was swallowed into Ye Hao’s stomach, his brow furrowed slightly.
Then, Ye Hao opened his eyes, sighed softly, and said helplessly:
“There are twenty-one fruits left.”
Ye Hao looked down at the only four Dew Condensation Fruits left on the wooden table, then stowed them away.
Midnight arrived.
The system notification sounded, but because Ye Hao had successfully advanced to Fourth-Layer Qi Refinement, the yield multiplier shifted directly from the previous thirtyfold to fortyfold.
A wave of extremely gentle, pure spiritual energy that required no effort to refine appeared out of thin air within his body, saturating his limbs and bones.
In just the blink of an eye, it propelled him to a breakthrough into Fifth-Layer Qi Refinement.
Just as that spiritual energy was about to surge toward Sixth-Layer Qi Refinement, Ye Hao furrowed his brow and promptly redirected it, using it to temper his physical body instead.
“It actually works.”
Seeing that the pure spiritual energy truly obeyed his will and began tempering his body, Ye Hao felt a surge of joy.
Originally, he had only wanted to give it a try.
Yet he suddenly discovered that doing this was truly feasible.
Because what the system returned was merely the spiritual energy he had cultivated over the course of that day.
But as for the specific use of this spiritual energy—whether it was used to break through realms...
...or to do something else...
...it seemed entirely subject to his will.
Forcibly breaking through two minor realms in a short time had left his foundation unstable.
Using the surplus spiritual energy to temper his physical body was the best choice instead.
This way, both his Qi Refinement and physical body could develop in tandem.
The only pity was that things returned by the system—even spiritual energy—could not be returned a second time.
Otherwise, he would have long since become invincible.
“Once this season’s white spirit rice is harvested, I can reveal my cultivation progress of Third-Layer Qi Refinement.”
“That way, while fast, it won’t seem extraordinarily fast.”
“Even if someone asks, I can blame it on the Dew Condensation Fruit.”
Using spiritual energy to temper his body, Ye Hao felt only tingling soreness all over.
As his thoughts drifted, Ye Hao sank into a deep slumber.
...
The next day.
Ye Hao stretched lazily, pushed open his door and walked out, freshening up briefly.
“Going out so early... could it be that he went to show off?”
Ye Hao sensed slightly and discovered there was no one in Ye Yu’s wooden cabin.
Clearly, that fellow had left early.
Furthermore, having broken through to Second-Layer Qi Refinement, he definitely wanted to show off a bit.
That completely matched his personality.
“I should also go check on my spirit fields.”
Thinking this, Ye Hao stood up and walked in the direction of his spirit fields.
As Ye Hao walked along, when he caught sight of his third spirit field, he discovered Wan Bao was there as well.
“Where on earth is the difference?”
“They’re clearly the exact same techniques.”
“And I even have a great perfection Spirit Rain Technique, so how could the difference still be so vast?”
At this moment, Wan Bao stood by the spirit field scratching his ears and cheeks, completely unaware of Ye Hao’s arrival.
Filled with helplessness, he gazed at the white spirit rice in Ye Hao’s spirit field; the white spirit rice in Ye Hao’s third mu of spirit field had clearly been fully sown a week later than his.
Yet its current growth speed had astonishingly caught up to the fastest among his own three spirit fields.
This terrifying growth speed was truly beyond his comprehension.
Could it be that Ye Hao still had some hidden methods he hadn’t used?
“What are you thinking about?”
Looking at Wan Bao crouching there, Ye Hao couldn’t help leaning down and gently tapping his shoulder, asking in bewilderment.
He also found it strange—why was this old man staring at his spirit field? Could he be trying to steal his white spirit rice?
Yet given the relationship between the two of them, that shouldn’t be the case.
“Ah!”
Deep in thought, Wan Bao was startled by Ye Hao’s gentle tap on the back accompanied by the sound of his voice; flustered in that instant, he actually fell straight toward the field.
“Watch out.”
Ye Hao hurriedly grabbed him.
“Thank you, Junior Brother Ye.”
Wan Bao hastily steadied himself, straightening up as he responded.
He had nearly tumbled into the spirit field and lost face.
“It’s fine. I was also worried you’d fall in and crush my white spirit rice.”
Rate on N.U.
