After Wang Yuan left, Luo Chen didn’t head into the thatched hut but instead he stood still atop the mountain, eyes closed as the wind swept through his hair and robes.0

In the next moment, his consciousness turned inward toward his dantian.0

The newly rebuilt dantain after his breakthrough was now ten times larger than it had once been, layer upon layer, it resembled distinct cultivation stages. In truth, calling it a “dantian” no longer felt accurate. Based on the ancient records he’d read, this was something else entirely.1

This… was the sea of qi.0

The dantian had transformed into a sea, capable of holding a hundred rivers, his spirit energy swirled within like the tides of a vast ocean. And above that sea hung nine layers, suspended like heavenly strata. The "Nine Heavens of the Sea of Qi," as the texts had described them, each layer a milestone, each breakthrough a gateway.0

If one could ascend through all nine, it was said the golden core would naturally form. Hence, the path to the Golden Core Realm.0

In structure, the Foundation Establishment Realm mirrored the Qi-Refining Realm: nine stages, divided into early, middle, and late stages, three, six, and nine.0

But Luo Chen wasn’t thinking about that yet.0

What mattered to Luo Chen was his current condition.0

After succeeding in his Foundation Establishment,...2