The window revealed the first light of dawn.
The sky was already showing a glimmer of white at the horizon.
Yulan seemed extremely exhausted, hugging her quilt and snoring loudly in an indecent sleeping posture.
Meanwhile, Yu Xian, physically and mentally drained, was sitting bare-chested on the floor with a streak of spirit light emerging from his head.
Mana churned within his body, interacting oddly with the surrounding air, giving the appearance of a faint white light shield enveloping him.
Although the spiritual energy in the mortal world was thin and not suitable for cultivation, it was evident that this situation did not apply to those with cheats.
The newborn mana growing within Yu Xian seemed to originate from another dimension, unaffected by the present environment.
He finally broke through to the realm of late-stage Qi Cultivation.
[Name: Yu Xian]
[Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Level 7 (1/210)]
[Cultivation Partner: Yulan (1/1)]
Besides having thicker, higher-quality mana in the late-stage Qi Cultivation, the most notable feature is the Departure of Spiritual Sense.
In the early stage of Qi cultivation, mana condenses, and spiritual sense is born.
However, at this point, the spiritual sense is still weak, enabling the cultivator to have sharper hearing and vision and heightened perceptions.
As their cultivation deepens, their spiritual sense grows and strengthens.
By the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, spiritual sense can control itself, monitoring the cultivator's condition at any time and place, which is the Method of Inward Vision.
If it's a bit stronger, it may even extend beyond the body to achieve a perspective effect.
Just like when Yu Xian was gambling on stones.
At this stage, if one wants to practice martial arts, everyone can be a martial arts genius.
It is because their control of their essence and blood enables them to make great progress in the path of Qi and blood, advancing rapidly.
However, not many cultivators wish to practice martial arts anymore.
After all, when mana is activated, it automatically tempers the body, making it stronger without the need for martial arts. The presence of various powerful spiritual techniques renders martial arts an unappealing option.
Only in the mortal realms with scarce spiritual energy and difficult cultivation does the path of martial arts find its place.
By the late-stage Qi Cultivation, spiritual sense is no longer just an auxiliary power but one of the core elements alongside the mana within the body.
Initially constrained spiritual sense successfully breaks through the physical limitations and can wander freely outside the body, like a third hand for cultivators.
Furthermore, it's a third hand with a 360-degree panoramic map.
Projection of spiritual sense is also the basis for controlling magic artifacts.
Controlling magic artifacts sounds grand.
However, it is essentially no different than a warrior wielding a sword, except that the hand holding the sword is now the intangible spiritual sense.
The range of spiritual sense projection also implies the range of magic artifact control.
Upon reaching the late-stage Qi Cultivation, Yu Xian's spiritual sense could project less than ten meters. Within ten meters, he could control his magic artifact as he wished, and nothing could be hidden from him.
If he is willing, he can see the actions of an ant in the corner behind him without turning around.
Intending but unable to fully do it, a tea cup on a table about three or four meters away wobbled, as if an invisible hand was trying to lift it.
However, when it was two centimeters off the table, the force weakened, and the tea cup landed back on the table securely.
"It seems that it's still too difficult for the pure spiritual sense to directly influence reality. No wonder a magic artifact is required instead of any random weapon," Yu Xian pondered.
He would recall that when he was in the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, he could control mana to lift hundreds of pounds of wooden boxes.
But now, just by using spiritual sense, he couldn't even lift a cup of tea.
Of course, one is a big and bold method, while the other is a delicate process. The difficulty of the two is incomparable.
He had previously thought that if his spiritual sense could be projected, manipulating swords freely in the air would resemble the effect of having a magic artifact.
But after a few tests, he realized that there was still a long way to go for his spiritual sense to influence reality.
Without guidance from experienced predecessors, he could only explore his cultivation path independently.
However, Yu Xian did not think this was a bad thing.
Once he has mentors and sects, it would mean being entangled in a web of relationships and troubles.
To help the mentors or not? To aid the sect or not?
Once assisting and helping, all sorts of miscellaneous tasks would arise, possibly leading to combat or fatal danger.
Although his current life as a lone cultivator was tough and frugal to the point that he couldn't even spare a single spirit stone, it was peaceful and carefree.
Of course, the main reason was that he had a cultivation partner, making steady progress in his cultivation without the troubles of ordinary cultivators, naturally making it worry-free.
Usually, only when cultivators have the support of sect elders can they go further.
Having made a breakthrough, Yu Xian reflected on his current life and found it satisfactory, deciding to maintain it.
"I need 210 cultivation points to reach the seventh level of Qi Cultivation, following the average of two points per day, it will take a little over three months. Not too long."
"It seems that each level of cultivation requires the sum of the points from the previous two levels. By this calculation, the eighth level will require half a year, and the ninth level a little over a year."
"Who would have believed that I could go from being a small character at level 3 to a near-Foundation Establishment expert at level 9 in Qi Cultivation in just over three years before coming to the mortal world?
A hacked life indeed needs no explanation."
"Time is on my side, so there's no need to rush for the moment. I must continue to keep a low profile."
Yu Xian withdrew his mana, the agitated aura slowly calming down, and a strong sense of exhaustion and drowsiness followed.
He couldn't help but tap on his lower back.
That's right; it was a clean, completely drained feeling.
Although he had reached the late-stage Qi Cultivation, he was still born of flesh and blood, having not yet transcended the physical realm, and his "kidneys" had their limits like ordinary people.
In order to achieve this breakthrough, he had greatly exhausted his future happiness.
"Damn, I've almost worn myself out."
Yu Xian looked down at a certain something, deep in thought.
Then he yawned, climbed out of bed, put on his clothes, put on his clogs, and went downstairs. He saw Yulan talking anxiously to Chen Yi in the courtyard.
\nAs he heard the footsteps, Yulan turned her head immediately and called out, "Master." She happily ran towards him and jumped into Yu Xian's arms.
"What's wrong?"
Yu Xian hugged Yulan, still a bit confused.
"Master, did you know? Treasure Tower was robbed, many people died. Fortunately, we didn't go today," said Yulan, looking both scared and relieved.