Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Mansion Number One, District Four of Qingxi Villa District in Qingshui City of Jiangnan Province.

At eight in the evening, lights were lit in every part of the household.

“Tie Xiaohu, get me more dog blood this time. Use these remaining healing talismans on them when you are done!”

Ling Yun and Tie Xiaohu were busy making the ink necessary for talisman charms after dinner. The intention was to create as many talisman charms as possible tonight.

Ling Yun had been creating amulet paper since this afternoon, stopping only for lunch. Mountainous heaps of the prepared amulet paper were temporarily stored on the sofa in the living room.

There was so much that the living room could be mistaken as a Daoist place of wors.h.i.+p.

Tie Xiaohu continued his work on the dog blood while Ling Yun broiled medicinal herbs. The ink was ready after half an hour. Ling Yun then retrieved the Emperor Brush from his spatial ring to create the talisman charms.

“Tie Xiaohu, I won't need your help for a while. You can practice your martial arts in the courtyard now. I believe you will break through the third minor realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique tonight.”

Tie Xiaohu responded with joy. He sprinted to the courtyard without a second thought. Ling Yun grabbed a piece of amulet paper. With intense focus, he dipped his Emperor Brush into the ink and began creating talisman charms.

Ling Yun started off with Fire Talismans. The usage of spiritual energy was no longer a concern of Ling Yun's. He could now replenish his spiritual energy at will since the mansion was bursting with spiritual energy.

Tie Xiaohu was a martial arts maniac who wanted to improve as quickly as possible. He practiced Shaolin Sect's Dragon Claw Hand diligently for an hour. Tie Xiaohu then sat in the lotus pose[1.lotus pose is sitting cross-legged on the floor with each foot on top of the opposite thigh and the soles facing upwards.] in front of the s.h.i.+chiyou herb to practice the Stellar Condensation Technique.

Ling Yun would stop whatever he was doing and absorb spiritual energy whenever his spiritual energy was depleted. Then, he would immediately continue drawing Fire Talisman. Ling Yun managed to draw a few thousand Fire Talismans in an hour after repeating this process three times.

Ling Yun could have absorbed spiritual energy while it was being depleted, but his current method also allowed him to rapidly cultivate.

It was the same as when he had first started. He drained all the spiritual energy in his body with the extreme exercise before absorbing the spiritual energy from the s.h.i.+chiyou herb. It had the same effect on cultivation.

This method not only expanded the capacity of his energy center but also strengthened his meridians. These improvements were perhaps almost undetectable when viewed in isolation, but the effect would naturally be felt when the frequency increased.

Ling Yun's objective was to cultivate his energy center and meridians. The only drawback was that it didn't help with weight loss.

It seemed exceedingly simple, but that was where Ling Yun's genius lay.

Ling Yun could have taken a shortcut by absorbing the various essences between heaven and earth to supplement his body. The effect would be no different if he had trained his spiritual energy and true qi himself.

Unlike Ning Lingyu who was a pa.s.sive absorber of spiritual energy, Ling Yun was consciously controlling which spiritual energy to absorb and when to absorb.

Ling Yun absorbed spiritual energy happily once again before working on the Spirit Forming Talisman.

Ling Yun could only create the Spirit Forming Talisman of the lowest level even with the help of the Emperor Brush. One such talisman could only store about one percent of the spiritual energy required for Physique Tempering Stage Level Three.

That meant that Ling Yun had to use a hundred of the Spirit Forming Talisman to replenish spiritual energy from his depleted body.

Spiritual energy was paramount to Ling Yun, it was better to have more on hand than not. He only stopped when there was no more ink. He had completed one thousand and five hundred Spirit Forming Talismans.

I should be able to break through to Physique Tempering Stage Four once I absorb enough Dark Yin Qi in the Crater. A thousand and five hundred Spirit Forming Talismans are equivalent to fifteen lives. This should be sufficient.

Ling Yun then bundled all of the completed talismans into twenty five wads of a hundred talismans each. All of them were stored into the spatial ring.

I better make a few hundred Healing Talismans as well in case I meet some monster.

Ling Yun got up. There was no ink left. He couldn't make anymore talisman charms even if he wanted to.

I am going to break through! Ling Yun had been so immersed in the creation of talisman charms that he had failed to notice the signs of it.

An ecstatic Ling Yun came to the courtyard and looked up at the starry sky. The stars felt particularly dazzling tonight.

Ling Yun stole a glance at Tie Xiaohu and nodded in approval. Tie Xiaohu was completely engrossed in cultivation and could probably break through to the third minor realm in another hour or so.

Using the Dragon Fish Phantom Ability, Ling Yun came within reach of the s.h.i.+chiyou herb. He started absorbing the spiritual energy from it while standing. With his head lifted up towards the starry sky, Ling Yun used all his might to break through to the second major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique!

The Stellar Condensation Technique was the supreme martial arts in the Cultivation World. It consisted of seven major realms and forty nine minor realms.

The body would undergo three major changes after clearing the first three major realms. The body would be impregnable by physical weapons, immune to poison and be unaffected by the effects of fire and water.

The effects of these changes strengthened with the breakthrough of every minor realm.

That was why Ling Yun had emerged unscathed when the old man from Xiangxi had tried to poison him with his fingernails. Ling Yun had been at the fifth minor realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique. The old man's fingernails had been unable to pierce through Ling Yun's skin. Even if he had pierced through, his poison had been too weak to do any harm to Ling Yun.

Ling Yun would not need to be wary of Xiao Jin's poison if he attained the third major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique!

His body would become like the stellar forces when he completed all seven major realms of the Stellar Condensation Technique. What would he be afraid of then?

Ling Yun had only been at the fifth major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique when he had undergone the Tribulation Stage in the Cultivation World. He would have overcome the Tribulation Stage if he had been at the seventh major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique!

The Stellar Condensation Technique was easy to pick up. The difficulty was in its continuation. Every minor realm of the second major realm was akin to a whole first major realm. It was extremely difficult to break through.

That was precisely why this martial arts was supreme.

Ling Yun was at the seventh minor realm. He was madly consuming the spiritual energy in his body with the Stellar Condensation Technique and replenis.h.i.+ng it with the s.h.i.+chiyou herb at the same time!

The ma.s.sive amount of spiritual energy released during the day was sucked dry by Ling Yun. Ling Yun felt an explosion coming and gus.h.i.+ng within his body at the stroke of midnight!

It was as though every cell in his body was crushed and then reconst.i.tuted. It was an astonis.h.i.+ng sensation, though it lasted only for a moment.

Ling Yun truly felt it.

His senses sharpened. Ling Yun could feel the light breeze gently touching the surface of his body. Every living thing inside a dozen meters from him, including the growth of the gra.s.s tips and the buds from the trees, were within the scope of his perception.

Most importantly, Ling Yun felt his energy center expand more than ten percent and his meridians strengthen!

Hehe, I have achieved the second major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique! It feels like the effect is much better this time than the last time I practiced the Stellar Condensation Technique…

How could the effect be bad? Ling Yun had help from the spiritual energy originating from the s.h.i.+chiyou herb, the psychic jade box and Ning Lingyu's innate spiritual body.

More importantly, he also had remnants of the Immortal Spiritual Energy from his Tribulation stage, Dragon Spiritual Energy from the Tiger Cliff and the Immortal Spiritual Energy from the Emperor Brush last night.

This is f*cking awesome! Ling Yun flashed a smile and jumped out of the Spirit Gathering Formation devoid of spiritual energy. He had to replenish more than double his usual amount of spiritual energy now that his meridians had expanded.

Ling Yun resisted the urge to use the Immortal Spiritual Energy he had secretly stashed away in the jade box.

That was his trump card. He couldn't be sure that the Emperor Brush would support him with as much spiritual energy as last night if something similar were to happen again.

Ling Yun had absorbed all the spiritual energy he needed in no time and smiled gleefully.

I am now better prepared for the Crater with the second major realm of the Stellar Condensation Technique!