Chapter 656: Bitterness Ends

Chapter 656: Chapter 656: Bitterness Ends

After Qi Refinement comes Gathering Spirit, and after Gathering Spirit comes entry into the Primordial Pill Realm.

The Primordial Pill Realm, as the third Great Realm for a cultivator, is also the second tribulation one must face on the road of cultivation.

You only get one chance. If you succeed, you enter the Primordial Pill Realm and gain a greatly extended lifespan, reaching a higher level of life. If you fail, there is no longer any path forward—you can only spend the rest of your days stuck at Gathering Spirit, and your path of cultivation abruptly ends.

If you’re unlucky enough to encounter an accident, at best your cultivation regresses, at worst your soul is wounded and you become crippled.

Shen Hao had done a lot of preparation beforehand, and the "Great Five Elements Technique" that Nie Yun had helped him obtain also contained descriptions related to the Primordial Pill Realm.

The two characters "Primordial Pill" already reveal the two most important key points of this realm.

"Primordial"—True Essence! A new type of energy—a qualitative transformation that comes from condensing True Qi. This is also the primary focus of what cultivators in the Primordial Pill Realm "cultivate."

"Pill"—formed from Qi, attained by opening the Dantian. It serves as both a container and a Life Gate, used to store and mobilize the condensed True Essence.

Primordial and Pill are born together, journey together, existing in mutual dependence and affecting one another.

These are the basic concepts of the Primordial Pill Realm, and Shen Hao was about to begin slowly brewing and then attempting his breakthrough according to the well-memorized technique in the "Great Five Elements Technique."

Shen Hao sat cross-legged on a puduan inside his tent. The puduan was something he’d brought from home—whenever he meditated to cultivate, he preferred to sit on it; it gave him peace of mind.

In addition to the puduan, he also activated the Defense Disc he’d bought earlier.

Several bottles of Great Nourishing Pills were placed conveniently at hand. Shen Hao had also prepared some elixir food, since he didn’t know how long this bout of seclusion would last.

He first quieted his mind and practiced True Qi according to his usual routine to warm up, letting himself enter the best state as quickly as possible. These were Shen Hao’s habits—his experience.

Although he didn’t feel in great danger, Shen Hao still felt a trace of nervousness at this critical moment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The process of breaking through from Gathering Spirit to Primordial Pill is vastly different from breakthroughs to lesser realms. There is no so-called realm bottleneck or barrier to serve as a breakthrough target. Even in your perception, there is nothing to reference. It is arcane and mysterious—finding a sliver of opportunity depends entirely on oneself.

Fortunately, with the help of a cultivation technique, following the proper steps will always let you find the greatest possibility.

It was only after obtaining and comprehending the "Great Five Elements Technique" that Shen Hao truly felt that the quality of a technique isn’t just about cultivation speed for a cultivator. For example, the "Great Five Elements True Qi Talisman" he’d practiced before wasn’t bad, but it lacked descriptions of many key points—everything depended on one’s own comprehension, offering negligible assistance.

But the "Great Five Elements Technique" was different. From it, Shen Hao learned that finding that fleeting opportunity for a breakthrough could be enhanced by using a certain technique.

By exerting all his effort to circulate True Qi, then repeatedly impacting the area three inches below the navel—the lower Dantian—and condensing and compressing True Qi there as much as possible, he would widen the originally cramped "space" of the lower Dantian. In the midst of this process, there might be a chance to grasp an opportunity from the unknown.

The "Great Five Elements Technique" didn’t describe in detail what the sensation of such an opportunity in the Primordial Pill Realm was like; it simply stated: "It can only be comprehended, not put into words."

Later, whether he asked Nie Yun or the three guards who followed him daily—even though they were all cultivators in the Primordial Pill Realm—none could clearly explain what that opportunity was. They only said that after seizing the opportunity, one would "see the Pill."

Don’t ask—no one can explain it clearly.

Faced with this mysterious explanation, Shen Hao had no means or ability to delve deeper; he could only try his luck like everyone else.

"Let’s hope it’s as they say—since I’ve already had an enlightenment before, the Primordial Pill Realm won’t hinder me."

Soon, Shen Hao adjusted his state, quieted his mind, and began gathering the True Qi packed tightly in his meridians toward the position of his lower Dantian.

The lower Dantian was simply too small—almost no space at all. It wasn’t a great acupoint; there was no room for True Qi to circulate, and very little could even be retained—merely a term for a spot in the body.

"This..." Shen Hao was a little troubled at first. But he quickly found a solution.

No space for True Qi to stay? Then compress it with all your might. He began to twist strands of True Qi together into a spiral, merging them bit by bit, and forcibly expanding the lower Dantian—which was originally without the slightest gap.

The process, to be honest, was agonizing. Even with Shen Hao’s endurance, his forehead was soon covered in cold sweat and his molars clenched so hard they creaked.

Shen Hao didn’t know if everyone opened up their Dantian in this way, but it was his intuition—and even though it was excruciating, it was consistent with the direction described in the Great Five Elements Technique.

All that was left to do was wait.

Pain draws out one’s perception of time infinitely, while afterwards, it contracts it. So a day feels like a year in pain—which means you’re in agony and time drags. Afterwards, you don’t want to look back because you don’t want to remember, so you deliberately compress the suffering.

Shen Hao felt as though he were enduring torture. On the first day, he could still accurately split his attention to track the passing of time. By the second day, he’d lost the heart for it.

Stop and rest for a while? Shen Hao would never do such a foolish thing—unless he was utterly exhausted, he absolutely wouldn’t stop.

On the third day, the fourth day...

The sharp pain didn’t lessen as the lower Dantian was expanded little by little, because the space inside was still minuscule—just enough was opened before it was immediately filled by incoming True Qi, and the True Qi within the meridians kept pouring in...

He couldn’t tell if it was from the pain or from his consciousness blurring, but Shen Hao seemed, in the depths of his lower Dantian, to see a black shadow, and within that shadow was a streak of dazzling golden light... this scene felt oddly familiar to Shen Hao...

It was as if a pair of eyes had "opened"—though the black shadow and golden light flashed by in an instant, they revived Shen Hao’s spirit. He realized then that he’d found that sliver of opportunity...

In the next instant, the True Qi, compressed to the utmost in his lower Dantian, underwent a change Shen Hao had never seen before—as if thick fog was gradually settling, collapsing into countless particles far smaller than dust...

Then these particles, under relentless pressure from all sides, continued to squeeze ever closer together.

The pain intensified. Because now, those particles in the lower Dantian were multiplying. Unlike True Qi, they seemed to possess an unthinkable substance!

"I, too, see the Pill..."

To open the Dantian and use True Qi as the root is like sowing seeds. Now, the harvest had come: those tiny particles, less than half the size of a sesame seed, clustered together—was this what’s called the Pill?