The spiritual eye gazed into the deepest part of the true qi.

So that’s how it is!

James Carter finally made a discovery.

There were still some impurities within the spiritual energy; true qi was simply a further refinement of spiritual energy. After refining, a natural barrier was formed around the purified true qi, compressing it further.

With this discovery, what James Carter needed to do became simple: he began to simulate the method of compressing spiritual energy within his dantian, continuously compressing the influx of spiritual energy.

The pressure on his body lessened somewhat.

Still not enough!

After a while, James Carter realized that the spiritual energy pouring in was too dense; his method of compression simply wasn’t enough, and he still couldn’t contain so much spiritual energy.

Fortunately, James Carter possessed powerful mental strength and forcibly suppressed it with sheer willpower.

The formation had already been activated; even if James Carter wanted to stop, he couldn’t. All he could do was absorb all the incoming spiritual energy.

Everyone could hear the cracking of bones coming from within James Carter’s body.

“Will he be alright?” Seeing blood constantly seeping from James Carter’s body as he sat there, Lucy Clark asked Evelyn Green in a worried whisper.

Evelyn Green’s hands were clenched tightly, her chest heaving with anxiety; she was equally worried.

The two women could now fully sense the changes in His Highness. Looking at him now, they realized he had changed—becoming so wise, so deep.

Seeing the pain on James Carter’s face, William Harper also grew concerned and quietly asked Samuel Cooper, “Will something go wrong?” He couldn’t explain the situation either.

Samuel Cooper watched for a while before saying, “With spiritual energy flooding into the body, it all depends on how much the body can withstand. We must trust His Highness!” He now had some confidence in James Carter. What he spoke of was limited to ordinary spiritual energy absorption; how could he know that James Carter was now absorbing all the spiritual energy from the entire spiritual node?

A muffled sound came from James Carter’s body.

“His Highness has broken through!” Samuel Cooper, the most advanced cultivator among them, heard the sound and saw James Carter’s body tremble, exclaiming in astonishment.

William Harper was equally shocked.

The two looked at each other, fully aware of James Carter’s situation. He had been stuck at the second level of Qingyun for years without progress. Who would have thought that after doing some strange things and just sitting here, he would gather spiritual energy—and even more unexpectedly, break through to the third level of Qingyun right before their eyes!

“Another breakthrough!” This time it was Evelyn Green who cried out in disbelief.

Looking again, James Carter’s body was still trembling. From the perspective of those at the Lin Guan level, James Carter was now at the fourth level of Qingyun.

Two consecutive breakthroughs!

This completely shattered everyone’s understanding. Even those so-called geniuses couldn’t achieve consecutive breakthroughs like this.

Chapter 004: Primal Chaos Vital Energy

Dense spiritual energy began to fill the mountains. After a round of regulated breathing, the guards stood quietly under the blazing sun, keeping watch.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on James Carter, who sat there enveloped in spiritual energy.

His mental strength was rapidly increasing, and the true qi in his dantian surged more and more violently.

The outside world had faded away; all that remained in his mind was the raging current within his dantian.

The continuous influx of spiritual energy made him feel as if he was about to burst, with waves of intense pain crashing over him.

This wasn’t true “storing of spiritual energy” in the strict sense—this was just a method of compression!

James Carter felt that this method was not the true meaning of cultivation. Cultivation should grant the body the power to destroy heaven and earth. To possess such power, merely compressing spiritual energy into true qi was far from enough.

While compressing spiritual energy, James Carter pondered this matter, feeling that he might have touched upon the true path of cultivation.

This time, James Carter didn’t examine the true qi, but instead began to study the composition of spiritual energy.

James Carter felt that everyone had taken a wrong path; no one had truly tried to understand the nature of the spiritual energy they needed to absorb.

Why must cultivators absorb spiritual energy? What exactly was within spiritual energy?

It was only because James Carter had crossed over and possessed such powerful mental strength that he could continuously examine a single strand of spiritual energy.

As he peeled back layer after layer, James Carter’s mental strength suddenly sensed a powerful aura rushing toward him, so strong it threatened to shatter his mind.

Vast and majestic, the aura made the void tremble!

This was the true meaning of absorbing spiritual energy!

James Carter suddenly understood why one must absorb spiritual energy. If the human body could master such a powerful force, what could not be overcome?

He kept deducing how to obtain this aura.

For the first time, James Carter experienced the joy of cultivation.

James Carter knew that what he was doing was purely an experiment—something no one had ever done before, and no one else had the means to attempt.

Another breakthrough!

William Harper looked at James Carter sitting cross-legged and could no longer find words to describe his current state.

In just a short time, James Carter had broken through consecutively from the second to the fifth level of Qingyun.

“Look!” Lucy Clark exclaimed in astonishment, gazing at the towering mountain peak.