The former debauchery of his predecessor reaching this point was not entirely his own fault. The guy was merely idle and wasted his youth, but he never strayed onto a truly evil path—his nature was already quite decent.

At this time, it was still early, but Henry Thompson nevertheless returned to his own residence, took out the secret manual of the "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique" from his bookshelf, and began to study it with focused attention.

It’s worth mentioning that this secret manual contained only images, no text. This was the Li family’s way of preventing their family martial arts from leaking out; all their techniques and formulas could only be passed down orally. Although his predecessor was lazy, Benjamin Thompson had, when he was still a child, forced him to memorize every key point of the "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique" by heart.

Henry Thompson’s learning ability was also quite impressive. Back in high school, after wasting several years, he picked up his books again and got into a top-tier university the following year, even winning a scholarship. This showed that his intelligence and memory were definitely close to top-notch.

In fact, on the very first day after his transmigration, Henry Thompson had already fully grasped the cultivation method of the "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique."

Yet in the days that followed, before each cultivation session, Henry Thompson would still browse through the secret manual several times, striving to memorize every tiny detail in the images and deepen his memory as much as possible.

This was because some of the visualization diagrams were also very important—they were an indispensable part of the "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique." Strangely, every other day, Henry Thompson would forget part of the content in the visualization diagrams, even though just the day before he could reproduce them perfectly from memory.

It was said that this was because certain elements in the diagrams subtly aligned with the "Heavenly Dao." If a cultivator hadn’t reached a certain level, it was absolutely impossible to keep these images in mind for long.

Henry Thompson found this quite mysterious, and what amazed him even more was the cultivation method itself.

It was simply too unscientific. By following the diagrams and methods in the manual and formulas, visualizing and circulating energy, one could cultivate true essence, then overturn rivers and seas, soar to the heavens, and do the impossible—Henry Thompson had never dared to dream of such things before.

But facts spoke louder than words. In these ten days, Henry Thompson had already achieved significant growth in the "true essence" within his body.

After reviewing the secret manual several times and confirming he had memorized the diagrams completely, Henry Thompson sat cross-legged, assumed the "five hearts facing the sky" posture, and began to circulate the "Zhoutian" as instructed—using a special visualization method to imagine a stream of energy flowing through his meridians.

The size, shape, and nature of this energy varied greatly depending on one’s cultivation and personal condition, and the effects of cultivation were also completely different.

His predecessor could only imagine a cold energy the size of a melon seed kernel flowing through his meridians; any larger, and he would feel a stabbing pain in his head.

After transmigrating, Henry Thompson did not stick to the old ways, simply because he was never one to follow rules blindly. On the very first day, he began to try imagining a stream of "energy" the size of a soybean circulating inside his body.

Fortunately, he succeeded, and nothing unusual happened to his body.

On the second day, Henry Thompson was already able to visualize a cold energy the size of a finger flowing within him. There were even faint traces of lightning entwined with the cold, manifesting various strange phenomena.

The "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique" was a top-tier cultivation method obtained by the first Earl of Chengyi from the Daoist sects. The energy cultivated was not only powerful and solid, but also allowed the practitioner to visualize natural phenomena and objects, giving rise to all sorts of supernatural abilities. Since it was a family martial art, most descendants of the Earl of Chengyi’s household practiced the cold element, though a few also practiced others.

For example, his elder brother William Thompson practiced both ice and fire. Not content with just the family martial art, he also obtained a top-tier fire-element saber technique as a dowry from Henry Thompson’s sister-in-law.

On the third day, he tried to imagine a cold energy the size of a walnut inside himself.

It was only at this point that Henry Thompson felt his body couldn’t take it anymore—mainly because his meridians felt swollen and there was a faint pain from tearing. Henry Thompson guessed this was due to a lack of development and that he needed to adapt gradually, expanding bit by bit.

But it didn’t matter; Henry Thompson then shifted his focus to improving the quality of the energy.

On the fourth day, he imagined that the energy was not a vague mist, but a piece of cold ice. However, this attempt went badly—he felt as if the back of his head had been struck, his consciousness dizzy, and it took a long time to recover.

That piece of cold ice nearly drained him completely, and his meridians hurt even more, as if scraped by the sharp edges of the ice.

But this also confirmed Henry Thompson’s theory: the essence of the "Hunyuan Celestial Phenomena Technique" was to use one’s own mental power to cultivate true essence, strengthen the body, and even temper the mind itself.

And perhaps because he was a transmigrator, his mental power had undergone some kind of change, becoming extremely strong—much stronger than his predecessor’s.

Others might have stopped at this point, but after careful consideration, Henry Thompson began new experiments on the fifth day: he started to imagine the energy as "dichlorodifluoromethane" circulating within his body.