"What about the heavenly realm?"

  "Sorry, the sect I'm in, although it has a long history, but our Sect Master has only just reached the peak of his cultivation. I've never seen a strong deity from the Heavenly Man Realm."

  "Nothing?"

  Qin Tianyi had some regrets about this answer.

  "However, the kung fu passed down by the sect, for some of the magical powers of those in the Tian Ren realm, I also roughly browsed through some. It's said that the biggest difference between those in the Tian Ren realm and those in the Gan Ying realm is that they truly possess the power to resist or even suppress qigong practitioners! Although practitioners in the Gan Ying realm have some methods that can intimidate those with weak willpower, when encountering those with strong determination, they have no counterattack..."

  Qin Tianji knew that he was referring to a spiritual secret technique.

  "As for the strong ones in the realm of heaven and man... their divine souls have already become powerful enough to formally interfere with the operation of the material world, from virtual to real, mysterious and unpredictable, with power that is too great to be conceived."

  "Turning the false into the true!?"

  Qin Tianji was shocked in his heart: "Spiritual substance materialization!"

  Spiritual materialization!

  This is the characteristic of spiritual masters!

  "Materialization of spirit? Materialization of soul? It's not wrong to say that."

  The man in black nodded after a moment of deliberation.

  "It seems that the spiritual cultivation and divine power are of the same origin, but with different destinations. The spiritual condensation method I cultivate is the Ice Clear Divine Method passed down from Starlight University, which can only support me in cultivating up to the Spiritual Master realm. After reaching the Spiritual Master realm, there's no way to further cultivate. I was originally still pondering, thinking that at that time, I could only rely on myself to create a new cultivation method after becoming a Spiritual Master. Now, this problem seems to have a solution."

  "Is there anything else you'd like to ask, consider it as payment for treating me. Besides, you saved my life and I don't like owing people favors, so I hope you can make a request, allowing me to repay this favor."

  "Request..."

  Qin Tianyi glanced at the black-clad man, about to shake his head, but at this moment, he suddenly thought of something. This black-clad man, since he knew the mysteries of the Heavenly Man Realm, did his cultivation method record the practice methods after the Spiritual Master?

  It's just...

  This approach is somewhat taking advantage of others' misfortune.

  Qin Tianyi hesitated for a moment and slightly shook his head.

  Seeing the fatigue on the black-clad man's face, he said, "You just stay here and recover from your injuries. When you're healed, if you want to stay with our Yunlai Sword Sect, we'll naturally welcome you. If not, you can leave."

  "Yunlai Jianzong?"

  The man in black apparently had never heard of this sect.

  "It's just a small sect."

  Qin Tianyi finished speaking and said: "It's getting late, I'll take my leave first. I'm just in this courtyard, if there's anything, just shout loudly."

  After finishing speaking, he stood up and walked out of this room towards his bedroom.

  The man in black looked deeply at Qin Tianyi's departing figure, and didn't relax his spirit until he was sure Qin Tianyi had really left.

  To avoid the pursuit of Tian Hua Lou, he had spent nearly three months in the Daybreak Mountains with bated breath. He not only had to guard against those masterminds who were after his secrets but also worry about the ferocious beasts that might rush out at any time...

  In Yunlai Jianzong, although he didn't dare to rest thoroughly, at least he no longer had to worry about the crisis of ferocious beasts and could relax a little.

  ……

  "Number two, my current mental state."

  "Drip! Host's spiritual energy level 1.6!"

  "It seems I was right."

  Qin Tianji nodded silently.

  When being hunted by that quasi-Duke level giant rhino war beast, Qin Tianyi's spirit entered a peculiar state, transforming from the extreme limit, activating a large amount of potential, and his spiritual degree naturally rose with the tide.

  Similarly, there are also physical strength and true energy intensity in addition to rising with the tide.

  Its physical strength barely increased to 2.3, but its true energy strength suddenly increased to level 3, a qualitative breakthrough compared to the time in the Undying Mountains.

  "Originally, the strength of my true energy was the weakest. At this point, I have already formed a comprehensive reversal and reached the highest level. And if I can break through to the Great Swordsman level, my true energy will increase to 4, which shouldn't be too difficult."

  Qin Tianyi hesitated for a moment and said: "Number Two, set up an optimization task, Ling Hou Bai Bian Shen Fa."

  "Drip! Task creation in progress, estimated optimization time: 33 hours and 43 minutes."

  Seeing this, Qin Tianyi was not in a hurry. He manipulated the Cloud Sea Tide Birth Secret Art, gradually refining the life essence of the remaining inner dan of the Dominant-level ferocious beast in his body, steadily increasing his own strength.

  ……

  The next morning, Qin Tianyi arrived at Qi Lingyun's courtyard early in the morning.

  "Tiān Jī?"

  Watching Qin Tianyi walk over, Qi Lingyun's eyebrows moved slightly, with a hint of surprise.

  Qin Tianyi had left Yunlai Sword Sect to cultivate in the Sun Never Sets Mountains, and he had heard about it. Now, after six days, he came back, and Qi Lingyun somehow felt that there was something obscure and hard to see through about him.

  "How was your training in the Mountains of No Sunset?"

  "Very smooth."

  Qin Tianyi looked at Qi Lingyun after finishing speaking: "Elder Qi, I don't know if you've encountered the bottleneck of advancing from a 9th-level Sword Master to a Great Sword Master?"

  "Heh heh, with the Refining Qi Pill almost uninterrupted and the Gathering Thunder Pond to help refine the remaining medicinal power, after four or five months, if I still can't touch the barrier of the Great Swordsman realm, it would be a joke to spread the word."

  At this point, Qi Lingyun couldn't help but let out a soft sigh: "However, the gap between a 9th-level swordsman and a great swordsman is not much easier to overcome than that of a mid-level swordsman advancing to a high-level swordsman. To advance from a mid-level swordsman to a high-level swordsman, one needs to cultivate their inner energy to become true energy, whereas advancing from a 9th-level swordsman to a great swordsman requires cultivating energy into a sword aura, with three steps: sword aura, outer aura, and inner aura. Each step requires a considerable amount of time to refine the true energy, and only when the true energy is refined to its purest form can it be compressed into a true aura. This is an extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive process that consumes one's heart, blood, and spirit. Even with our Cloud Ridge Sword Sect's endless supply of energy-refining pills, I fear that cultivating a sword aura would still take over ten years. If any problems arise during this period, damaging one's vital energy or blood, it could very well lead to failure, making it impossible to become a great swordsman."

  "Refine the air into a canopy."

  Qin Tianji had enough confidence that after his true energy reached the ninth level peak, he could borrow the help of a quasi-Da Lingzhu-level fierce beast's inner elixir to impact the Great Swordsman realm. This was because his spirit was strong, and he had a good grasp of his own true energy and essence blood. It could be said that as long as the energy was sufficient, he could refine the aura and cultivate it to the Great Swordsman realm.

  This is also the reason why the man in black said that he would not encounter any bottlenecks before reaching the Sky Sword Master stage.

  Ke Zilingyun was just an ordinary cultivator, not cultivating his divine soul. He could only rely on constantly polishing his true energy, constantly transporting his blood and qi, and constantly accumulating his essence. When the three were refined to the extreme, he attempted to refine them in one go, transforming his energy into a halo.

  "Qī Lǎo Láng, I have something precious in my hand that might be helpful for you to advance as a great swordsman."

  Qin Tianji said, and a jade box appeared in his hand. Inside the jade box was an inner elixir of a Marquis-level fierce beast, stored within.

  Seeing what was inside the jade box, Qi Lingyun's face changed, as if he had thought of something, and his face was shocked: "This...this is..."

  Qin Tianyi nodded: "Fierce beast inner dan."

  "Internal Elixir! The internal elixir of a Lord-level ferocious beast!"

  Zi Lingyun took a deep breath and turned to Qin Tianyi with a serious face: "Where did this ferocious beast's inner elixir come from?"

  "Qī Lǎo, you only need to tell me, with this Lord-level fierce beast's inner dan, can you break through to the Great Swordsman realm?"

  Zi Lingyun stared at the inner elixir in Qin Tianyi's hand, his eyes unblinking, his heart struggling, hesitating, and weighing.

  Just as Zilingyun gritted his teeth and was about to make a decision, a voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard: "If you don't want him to die, just give him this Marquis-level fierce beast's inner dan."

  "Huh?"

  Qilingyun's gaze shifted and fell on the owner of the voice.

  "Dead?"

  Qin Tianyi took a look and it was indeed the black-clad man he had saved yesterday.

  However, at this moment, the man in black had apparently removed the mask that could be fake and real, revealing his true face. The eighteen or nineteen-year-old who revealed his true face looked like he was only eighteen or nineteen years old.

  "I didn't expect you to be so young."

  The man in black nodded.

  After a night of recuperation, his complexion still looked somewhat pale, but his spirits were much better.

  "This is..."

  Zi Lingyun looked at Qin Tianyi with some confusion.

  "He is..."

  Qin Tianji was about to introduce him, but when he got to the point of saying his name, he suddenly realized that he had no idea what this man's name was.

  "I am Midnight."

  "Midnight? You just said that if Elder Qi takes this Lord-level pill, he'll die?"

  Jian Ye glanced at Qin Tianyi and didn't respond to his words, instead turning to Qi Lingyun: "If I'm not mistaken, this Elder Qi should have contracted a serious illness within the year, one that would bring him to the brink of death."

  "Not bad."

  He nodded: "If you take this inner elixir like this, it's no different from taking poison. You're not old, probably under sixty, but the years of cultivation have left many hidden diseases that haven't been properly treated. Recently, you suffered a severe illness and your vital energy was severely damaged, already harming your foundation. Even if you've recovered now, in reality, your body's potential has been almost completely depleted. You're not yet sixty, but your body is like that of someone in their seventies or eighties. If you take this high-level beast inner elixir at this time and try to break through to the Great Swordsman realm, it will be like a weak and frail person taking a thousand-year-old ginseng - if not done carefully, you might die on the spot."

  At this moment, Qin Tianyi suddenly realized that Qi Lingyun's body had indeed been completely hollowed out.

  "Sorry, Elder Qi, this is my mistake, almost made a big mistake."

  "Hehe, never mind, actually if I really felt that it was impossible to succeed, I would also stop, you don't need to feel guilty."

  The guest glanced at Qi Lingyun and then said to Qin Tianyi, "You should know that cultivators like us have an advantage over others when it comes to alchemy, array formation, talisman crafting, and artifact refinement. Among these auxiliary skills, I am particularly skilled in alchemy and array formation. If you trust me, you can give me the inner dan of this ferocious beast, and with some additional materials, I can refine four Beast King Zhudao Dan pills. Although the effect of a single pill may be slightly inferior to that of an ordinary Lord-level ferocious beast's inner dan, the medicinal properties are mild, and the energy of the inner dan is utilized more efficiently. Two pills will have the same effect as swallowing an ordinary pill. However, after refining them, I'll need one."

  "Good."

  Qin Tianji thought for a moment and agreed: "I'll let you refine it, but I hope to observe from the side."

  "Okay."

  "When does it start?"

  "Now."