Henry Clark struggled to endure the discomfort in his body, maintaining a state of spiritual clarity—leaving no trace, exerting no effort.

Gradually, the time it takes for an incense stick to burn passed, then half an hour went by.

Even the delicate skin on his face began to swell, turning red and purple, when suddenly, an unusual sensation arose within Henry Clark.

As he continuously visualized a stream of energy circulating according to his will in his mind, the nearly raging heat inside his body suddenly split off a wisp, transforming into a cool, gentle trickle. Faint and subtle, it began to flow with his consciousness. At the same time, the violent heat within Henry Clark eased somewhat, though his meridians ached intensely.

“It worked…”

Henry Clark was overjoyed, but immediately steadied his mind, gritting his teeth against the pain in his meridians, and carefully maintained that thread of energy.

It had been a small gamble to begin with, and he hadn’t expected it to actually succeed. Naturally, Henry Clark was extremely excited.

He had thought of this when he saw the Essence-Refining Grass, recalling a note from the Azure Cloud Qi-Refining Chapter revealed in the Yin-Yang Divine Demon Tome: This technique absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate oneself, storing it in one’s aptitude. Only a rare few are suited for this, able to refine essence into qi and make up for deficiencies.

Combining the commentary in this book with the insights he’d gained from studying the Azure Cloud Qi-Refining Chapter over the past few days, Henry Clark had come to understand one thing: the first step in cultivation is breath regulation—cultivating one’s own spiritual energy.

But this step isn’t something just anyone in the world can achieve. Some people’s constitutions are naturally attuned to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, making cultivation twice as effective with half the effort. But others, like himself—and even including a few Daoist acolytes such as David Parker—are what Daoists call “mortal bodies,” fundamentally unable to sense the existence of spiritual energy.

For example, David Parker had been cultivating for seven years without sensing spiritual energy at all. This isn’t uncommon; in fact, most people—let alone after seven years, even after a lifetime of cultivation—never sense the existence of spiritual energy.

But is breath regulation truly the only method to gather spiritual energy?

Clearly, that’s not entirely the case. Even with a mortal body, there is still hope of stepping onto the path of cultivation—and that is by refining essence into qi.

Essence is the original vital energy of the human body. This isn’t hard to understand—just think about how one comes into being.

Refining essence into qi means transforming one’s own vital essence into spiritual energy for cultivation, breaking through the barrier of the first step.

It was this realization that gave Henry Clark a glimmer of hope. However, ordinary people can’t even sense their own vital essence; it takes years of experience to perceive it. But Henry Clark was different—he was bold by nature, with a mind far more agile than others. When he saw the Essence-Refining Grass, he immediately thought of a method, and after only two breaths’ consideration, decided to act.

If you can’t sense it normally, then make your vital essence flourish!

After swallowing three stalks of Essence-Refining Grass, Henry Clark truly sensed the surge of vital essence.

That violent heat was the most direct manifestation of vital essence. At that moment, Henry Clark used the method from the Azure Cloud Qi-Refining Chapter to guide that violent essence, and sure enough, managed to extract a faint wisp of spiritual energy from it.

Though it wasn’t much—barely better than nothing—it was still a huge step forward.

It sounds long in the telling, but in Henry Clark’s mind, it was just a fleeting thought, immediately put into action.

Even Henry Clark himself didn’t know how much danger he had just gone through.

Using this method to gather spiritual energy is actually a perilous path—like playing with fire. The slightest misstep could lead to being consumed by desire, losing all reason. In cultivation, this is called: going astray.

Fortunately, though Henry Clark was young, his willpower was astonishing. He was ruthless to others and to himself, and managed to endure by sheer force.

“Gurgle…”

Once that thread of spiritual energy stabilized and dispersed into his meridians, the violent heat gradually faded.

At this moment, Henry Clark felt a strong wave of hunger, even a bit dizzy and lightheaded, as if he hadn’t eaten for three days. This was only natural—Henry Clark had used Essence-Refining Grass to stimulate his vital essence, then refined it into spiritual energy. And where did that essence come from? Naturally, it was converted from his own blood and energy. Even though he had only cultivated a tiny bit, his body was already severely depleted.

The most direct result was dizziness and hunger—he urgently needed nourishment.

“Damn it, gotta get something to eat…”

Henry Clark forced his weak body to stand up, his hand just happening to rest on the Yin-Yang Divine Demon Tome. At that moment, a strange scene occurred: as soon as the book touched Henry Clark’s palm, the faint thread of spiritual energy in his meridians suddenly stirred, and then a mysterious force appeared from the book, resonating with Henry Clark’s spiritual energy.

“Huh?”

Henry Clark instinctively looked down, and was immediately shocked—the book had vanished.

At the same time, he felt a cool sensation in his mind, as if something had entered it.

“Where did the book go?”

Henry Clark was startled. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of a book entering his mind, and frantically searched around. Just as he picked up the Azure Cloud Qi-Refining Chapter, ready to toss it aside, a message suddenly appeared in his mind.

“Azure Cloud Qi-Refining Chapter, Qi Condensation Realm cultivation method, through breath regulation and absorption, one can attain supernatural powers…”

“This…”