Before he could ascend, the vessel had to be forged.

Chen Ping spent a full day resting. With the aid of Spirit Stones and the Spirit Gathering Array, he repaired the deficits caused by his marathon alchemy sessions.

His Qi and Divine Sense returned to their absolute peak.

He sat cross-legged on the rush cushion in the center of the stone hut. Before him lay an open jade vial containing ten Origin Nourishing Pills.

He plucked one out. Under the dim light, the milky-green pill looked plain, unadorned.

He swallowed it.

Instantly, the pill dissolved into a warm, massive torrent of heat. It was like a river surging from its source in early spring—powerful, yet not violent.

The medicinal potency rushed down his throat, rapidly dispersing into the meridians throughout his body.

Chen Ping’s mind automatically engaged the Evergreen Art. The circulation pathways were etched into his soul.

As a cultivation technique, the Evergreen Art was mediocre at best. Its only real benefits were strengthening a cultivator’s foundation and increasing the speed of Qi circulation.

Chen Ping focused inward. He guided the abundant, pure medicinal potency to merge with his own stream of Qi, forcing it into a grand Circulation Cycle.

Because of his Five Elements Waste Spirit Root, his body was terribly inefficient. He could retain less than ten percent of the medicinal potency he absorbed.

An ordinary cultivator with a standard Five Elements Spirit Root could retain at least twenty percent. This was why the Waste Spirit Root was considered trash. It was a leaky bucket, a bottomless pit that wasted precious resources.

But Chen Ping didn’t care. He had resources to burn.

Under the operation of the Evergreen Art, the azure Qi flowing through his meridians suddenly accelerated.

The parched riverbed of his body welcomed the bountiful spring rain. It drank greedily.

Visibly, the Qi thickened. It became heavy and dense.

Chen Ping paused, surprised.

As the potency of the Origin Nourishing Pill surged through him, it produced a faint, rhythmic gurgling sound—like a clear stream washing over smooth pebbles.

It was an intoxicating sensation.

Deep within his Dantian—his Sea of Qi—the vortex representing the Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation spun slowly. It glowed with a rich azure light.

Under the continuous infusion of power, the vortex began to expand.

At its core, the azure color deepened. The edges stretched outward, devouring the new power. Each surge of medicinal energy made the vortex larger, heavier, and more refined.

The moment the potency of the first pill was exhausted, Chen Ping didn’t hesitate.

He immediately swallowed the next one.

In the silence of the cultivation chamber, time lost its meaning.

The continuous stream of pure power washed over him, strengthening the vortex in his Dantian. It was an addictive feeling, enough to make him forget all worldly troubles.

He had already arranged everything for his parents.

Yuan Jingtian—the man formerly known as Scarred Bear—was handling their daily needs. That thug had been scared witless. He had no courage left to rebel against a monster like Chen Ping.

Chen Ping could cultivate in peace.

Two months passed in a blur of pills, circulation, and refinement.

On this day, Chen Ping was nearing the end of an Origin Nourishing Pill’s potency.

Inside his Dantian, the azure-green vortex was filled to the brim. Its rotation speed accelerated, faster and faster, until it became a blur.

The edges of the vortex brushed against the walls of his Dantian. A clear sensation of distension—of being dangerously overfull—transmitted to his mind.

With a thought, Chen Ping stopped absorbing the medicinal energy.

Instead, he focused entirely on the Evergreen Art, driving the Circulation Cycle to its limit. He began the assault on the new Spirit Nodes.

His Qi was pure. Breaking through the bottleneck of the Spirit Nodes required no effort at all.

But Chen Ping was a cautious predator. He wanted absolute certainty.

He condensed his Divine Sense, using it to forcibly guide and compress the massive, active vortex of Qi.

Three days later.

Under the crushing pressure of his Divine Sense, the rapidly spinning vortex suddenly contracted inward.

Its volume shrank by nearly one-third instantly.

However, its color deepened, transforming from bright azure to a dark, heavy jade-green. The rotation didn’t stop; it became stable, heavy, and terrifyingly dense.

Pop!

Pop!

Pop!

Three consecutive sounds echoed in his body.

The bottlenecks of the Spirit Nodes shattered without offering the slightest resistance.

Qi Condensation Eighth Layer.

It happened as naturally as water flowing downhill.

Chen Ping slowly opened his eyes. A cold flash of pride shone within them. He exhaled a long breath, expelling a stream of turbid air from his lungs.

He felt the surging power within him. It was far denser than before.

“Eighth Layer,” he whispered.

With this cultivation base, joining the Inner Sect should be trivial.

He had gone from Drawing Qi into the Body to the Eighth Layer in only three years. This speed would likely leave even the sect’s top geniuses eating his dust.

Chen Ping ruthlessly suppressed the pride rising in his chest.

In the sect, I might be top-notch. But in the vast world of cultivation, I am still dust.

Arrogance was a death sentence.

He didn’t stop. His gaze fell upon the jade vial of Origin Nourishing Pills.

Twenty pills had barely pushed him to the Eighth Layer. To break through to the Ninth Layer, he estimated a baseline of at least fifty pills.

Fifty pills.

Before the endless supply of ingredients from the Black Earth space, that number would have been despairing. Now? It was a trivial expense.

Time continued to flow in the silent stone hut.

Pills vanished one by one. They were refined, transformed, and stacked as the foundation of his rising power.

Chen Ping was completely immersed. He was a machine of cultivation.

Half a year passed.

By this stage, Chen Ping was swallowing three Origin Nourishing Pills at once. It was a luxurious, wasteful method that only he could afford.

In his Dantian, the jade-green vortex had reached the peak of the Eighth Layer.

The center of the vortex shone with a brilliant light. He was separated from the Ninth Layer by only a thin veil.

But Chen Ping did not rush.

Facing the bottleneck of the Ninth Layer—the final step before the peak—he would not attempt a breakthrough without absolute certainty.

He calmed his mind. He operated the Evergreen Art over and over, compressing his Qi, increasing the density of the vortex until it felt like liquid metal.

Another month passed.

His Qi flowed through his meridians without the slightest stagnation. It was perfect.

Chen Ping took out a fresh vial.

This time, he swallowed five pills at once.

It was a new record.

A massive explosion of medicinal potency erupted in his stomach.

The jade-green vortex, already poised at the edge, saw its rotation speed skyrocket past the critical threshold.

“Break!”

Chen Ping roared inwardly.

The accumulated Qi transformed into a torrential flood. It crashed against the barrier between the Eighth and Ninth Layer Spirit Nodes with the force of a battering ram.

Crack!

The sound of shattering ice echoed in his mind.

In just a few breaths, three more Spirit Nodes broke open.

The number of open Spirit Nodes within Chen Ping’s body reached twenty-four.

The Sea of Qi in his Dantian slammed outward, expanding violently.

The jade-green vortex dispersed, filling the new space, transforming into a broader, deeper, and darker ocean of power.

Qi Condensation Ninth Layer!

Success.

Chen Ping slowly concluded his circulation and opened his eyes.

His pitch-black pupils held a restrained divine light, steady as a mountain.

He released his Divine Sense, pushing it to its absolute limit.

Four thousand feet.

His range was significantly stronger than that of an ordinary Ninth Layer cultivator.

“Not bad.” Chen Ping nodded in satisfaction.

This distance was the hard limit for the Qi Condensation stage.

He spread his palm. A strand of deep azure Qi danced at his fingertips, condensed like a heavy mist.

He casually formed a Fireball Art. The heat and pressure it emitted were several times greater than when he was at the Seventh Layer.

Feeling the unprecedented fullness of power within his body, the corner of Chen Ping’s mouth hooked into a rare, cold smile.

Four and a half years.

From a mortal to Qi Condensation Ninth Layer.

This speed was enough to make the Inner Sect geniuses green with envy.