The insect was not killed, but instead deeply hidden within William Carter's body. No matter how hard William Carter searched, he could not find its trace. It seemed to know William Carter's ruthlessness and dared not reveal itself too obviously.

After resting for a while, William Carter, ignoring the pain, once again assumed the posture of the first diagram. After 20 seconds, although his whole body was numb and stiff, the intense pain caused by the insect no longer appeared.

This time, William Carter held on for 40 seconds. After a brief rest, William Carter continued to practice the first diagram, and the night slowly passed.

That night, William Carter's wounds bled several times, and more than half of the hemostatic herbs were used up. Through his extraordinary perseverance, he finally managed to extend the time to one minute and twenty seconds before dawn.

Although he had not slept all night, William Carter found that apart from the pain of his wounds, he did not feel the slightest bit tired. On the contrary, he felt energetic, his body warm and comfortable, and he couldn't help but gain more confidence in this internal Ascension Technique.

In the morning, Lillian Carter brought breakfast, but William Carter hesitated slightly and did not eat it. Instead, after she left, he took a qi- and blood-replenishing medicinal fruit from his purchased medicines and stuffed it into his mouth to fill his stomach.

He decided never to eat any food from the residence again. If he was hungry, he would use these medicinal fruits to stave off hunger, and if that wasn't enough, he would go out and buy food himself, to guard against the Third Miss's poison schemes.

He originally intended to instruct Lillian Carter not to bring food anymore, but after a moment's thought, William Carter gave up on this idea. Instead, every time after Lillian Carter left, he would secretly throw the food away.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, William Carter was unwilling to waste any more time and continued to assume the posture of the first diagram. He set a goal for himself: today, he would surpass two minutes.

Previously, every time William Carter reached his limit and relaxed his whole body, he needed to rest for ten minutes to recover some strength. But as he persisted, the rest time grew shorter and his recovery speed increased.

Now he only needed nine minutes of rest before he could continue practicing. With his persistence, the time increased bit by bit: one minute thirty seconds, one minute forty seconds, one minute fifty seconds.

Finally, at dusk, he managed to hold on for one minute and fifty-eight seconds!

Seeing that he was about to reach today's goal, William Carter got up and moved his body, discovering that his wounds had already scabbed over, so he applied more herbal medicine.

After finishing all this, he pushed open the door and took a deep breath. Looking at the gradually setting sun, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. The feeling of constantly making progress gave him a sense of joy, as if he held his fate in his own hands.

On the stone table in the courtyard outside the door, there were two food trays and some brand-new clothes. The trays were the lunch and dinner that Lillian Carter had brought. After throwing away the food, William Carter took the clothes back to his room and continued to practice.

As he continued his cultivation, he found his senses becoming increasingly sharp. Often, during the day when Lillian Carter brought food, he could clearly sense her arrival.

At the same time, the soreness and numbness that appeared in his body during practice gradually lessened as the duration increased.

Neglecting sleep and food, practicing day and night without pause, finally on the fourth day, William Carter extended the time to ten minutes, with a rest time of five minutes.

At the very moment he persisted for ten minutes, there was a booming shock in William Carter's mind. Every inch of his skin, every muscle, every bone, every meridian erupted with countless warm currents, which immediately circulated throughout his body. A tingling itch, as if ants were crawling inside him, surged through his entire body.

Droplets of black liquid were expelled from every pore of William Carter's body, soon soaking his clothes.

The numbness gradually faded. William Carter exhaled a turbid breath and opened his eyes. At this moment, his eyes were as clear as the bright moon.

"The first diagram of the Internal Ascension Technique is finally at minor completion!" William Carter muttered to himself, then was startled to find his whole body sticky. When he sniffed, a pungent stench assaulted his nose.

William Carter immediately got up, took off his clothes, and carefully washed himself in the bath. At this moment, he was in an extremely good mood. The surging feeling of power from within his body gave him confidence!

"It took four days to reach minor completion of the first diagram of the Internal Ascension Technique. That's still too slow. I originally planned to achieve minor completion in three days. It seems I need to intensify my training and strive to reach major completion in ten days, holding on for an hour. Then I can start practicing the second diagram." As William Carter washed himself, he pondered in his mind.

It should be known that according to the records of the Internal Ascension Technique, the fastest record for minor completion of the first diagram so far was three days. However, William Carter did not know that the person who achieved minor completion in three days had been soaking in precious medicinal baths since childhood, with almost no impurities in his body, so naturally his time for the first diagram was much faster.

Aside from this person, everyone else who practiced the Internal Ascension Technique usually took several months just to reach minor completion of the first diagram.

Chapter Five: The Emergence of Yuan Power

After washing up, William Carter once again sat on the bed to cultivate.

Time flew by. On the ninth day after William Carter reached minor completion, he was pushing for sixty minutes, sweat pouring down from his forehead like rain. By this time, William Carter's body had already reached its limit three days earlier.

For three consecutive days, the time he needed to rest and recover after training had shortened to just ten seconds. He kept digging into his own potential. Without extraordinary willpower, anyone else would have collapsed long ago.