Grace Bennett nodded repeatedly. Any mother would feel genuinely happy upon hearing that her son had a bright future ahead of him.

Henry Carter pondered for a moment and said, “William, go back now and focus on consolidating your true qi. In three days, I’ll take you back to the main family so you can undergo the true qi assessment. Once you pass, you’ll become a member of the inner hall disciples.”

William Carter nodded heavily, his eyes filled with joy.

Once true qi is successfully refined, it will not disappear unless one suffers from qi deviation or a severe injury such as damage to the dantian.

However, right after it is first refined, true qi will go through a rather unstable fluctuation period. That’s why several days of cultivation are needed to stabilize it.

After bidding farewell to his parents, William Carter returned to his own room. However, that night, none of the three family members could sleep out of excitement.

Back in his room, William Carter once again recalled the various scenes from his battle with the fierce tiger, and he seemed to gain some new insight.

In fact, he really wanted to go into the mountains to see what had become of that strange body.

But unfortunately, no matter how he tried to shift his consciousness, he couldn’t sense the state of that body at all. It was as if that peculiar body had already vanished from the world.

Letting out a gentle sigh, William Carter closed his eyes and quietly sensed the strange energy within his dantian.

After cultivating true qi, he could use secret techniques to continuously temper and accumulate it, gradually making it stronger.

However, the methods for cultivating true qi are closely guarded secrets in any sect. Although Henry Carter was a direct descendant of the Rong family, because he never possessed true qi, he was never able to access such secrets.

Although William Carter had cultivated true qi, at this moment he could only sense and play with that wisp of strange energy in his dantian, unable to use any secret techniques to nurture it.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

The reason he was able to refine true qi was because of his battle with the king of the tigers in the mountains. In that life-and-death moment, the results of his years of hard martial arts training erupted completely, triggering his potential and leading to success in one fell swoop.

However, if it hadn’t been for that strange body, even if he had managed to condense true qi, he would surely have been killed.

All the credit for this belonged to that body—or rather, to the mysterious stream of energy in his glabella.

If it weren’t for that stream of energy, he wouldn’t have achieved what he had now.

With a slight movement in his heart, he focused his mind on his glabella.

To his surprise, he found that the stream of energy he had completely used up yesterday was now full again. What’s more, to his delight, he discovered that the amount of this energy seemed to have increased by a tiny bit.

Although it was just a tiny, almost negligible amount, this result was enough to make him ecstatic.

He smacked his lips and tilted his head, thinking for a long time.

Finally, he decided not to tell anyone about this secret. Not even his parents could know.

※※※※

Three days later, the true qi within William Carter was fully stabilized.

Moreover, he was surprised to find that, although he had not yet mastered the method of cultivating true qi, the true qi in his dantian could still slowly increase. However, this rate of increase seemed even slower than that of the energy in his glabella—almost negligible.

Still, this discovery made him quite satisfied.

By this time, Henry Carter was also ready. He took his son, mounted a tall horse, and, under the envious gazes of all the servants in the manor, set off for the main family estate dozens of miles away.

The Rong family was the most prominent clan within a hundred miles.

There were many martial arts experts in the family, and even in the entire Yuntan region, it was considered a powerful clan.

The main Rong family estate was located in a scenic area of the Yuntan region. The vast, continuous plains stretched out under the sky, calm like the rising tide on a windless, waveless day.

The disciples and servants of the Rong family living here numbered at least over a hundred thousand.

With such a scale, it would not be an exaggeration to call it a town.

Surrounding the entire settlement was a tall city wall. This wall firmly protected the Rong family; if enemies tried to invade, they would have to pay a heavy price to even think of entering the town.

However, although Henry Carter’s family had fallen on hard times, he was still one of the direct descendants of the Rong family.

So, when he presented his identity token, he was able to enter the town with ease.

It was William Carter’s first time entering such a so-called town. Looking at the crowded people all around, his eyes were filled with intense curiosity.

Henry Carter glanced at his son, who was interested in everything, and shook his head with a wry smile, feeling a pang of guilt in his heart.

For more than ten years, he had forced his son to practice every day without a single day of rest, but he had never taken him out to play or relax.

He really wasn’t a qualified father.

After letting William Carter wander around the town for nearly half an hour, Henry Carter finally led him into the real main family estate.