Mark Sutton calmed his mind, connecting his spirit to his martial soul, sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The pitch-black vortex martial soul slowly rotated, and a powerful suction emanated from within the vortex.

Strands of spiritual energy from between heaven and earth gathered toward Mark Sutton, entering his body.

Mark Sutton quickly sank into cultivation, urging on his martial soul, continuously absorbing spiritual energy.

After a long while, Mark Sutton stopped cultivating.

Mark Sutton opened his eyes, a trace of delight flashing through them.

“Although my martial soul is only at the first rank of the human level, its cultivation speed rivals that of others with a second-rank human-level martial soul.”

Mark Sutton had witnessed martial artists with second-rank human-level martial souls cultivate, and their martial souls were not much stronger than his.

This was an unexpected surprise, bringing him considerable comfort.

After a brief moment of thought, Mark Sutton understood that this was likely related to the characteristics of his martial soul.

This martial soul was in the form of a vortex, and a vortex naturally possessed the property of devouring and absorbing.

Therefore, it was not strange that the speed at which it absorbed spiritual energy could rival a second-rank human-level martial soul.

Next, Mark Sutton took out the Qi Condensation Pill his father had given him, preparing to advance to the Qi Refining Realm.

On the path of martial arts, the first step is body tempering. After completing the nine stages of body tempering, one can awaken their martial soul, absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, condense true qi, and step into the Qi Refining Realm.

Only by entering the Qi Refining Realm can one be considered a true martial artist.

Mark Sutton swallowed the Qi Condensation Pill, and its surging medicinal power instantly erupted within his body.

Mark Sutton hurriedly guided the medicinal power into his dantian, beginning to condense true qi.

Time passed slowly. Two hours later, Mark Sutton's eyes suddenly snapped open, a sharp gleam flashing and disappearing in his gaze.

At this moment, a mass of mist-like true qi had already condensed in his dantian.

As expected of a Qi Condensation Pill worth a thousand gold, it had successfully allowed him to step into the first level of the Qi Refining Realm.

Chapter 3: Ninefold Sea Wave Fist

Early the next morning.

Mark Sutton got up early. After washing up, he headed toward the family’s library pavilion.

The library pavilion was a four-story tower, the place where the Su family stored their martial arts manuals.

Previously, Mark Sutton had not awakened his martial soul and could only study the most basic martial arts on the first floor of the library pavilion. Now that he had awakened his martial soul and reached the first level of the Qi Refining Realm, he naturally needed to select cultivation methods and martial techniques suitable for the Qi Refining stage.

In this world, cultivation methods and martial techniques are divided into nine levels.

Each level is further divided into three grades: lower, middle, and upper.

The higher the grade of the cultivation method a martial artist practices, the stronger their power.

“Elder, I want to go to the second floor to select a manual.”

Entering the library pavilion, Mark Sutton bowed to the elder guarding the pavilion and spoke.

“The second floor?”

The elder was a fat old man. Upon hearing Mark Sutton's words, he replied indifferently, “Mark Sutton, only those who have reached the Qi Refining Realm may enter the second floor of the library pavilion. There are no exceptions.”

“I know, Elder. I have already reached the first level of the Qi Refining Realm,” Mark Sutton nodded and said.

“Already reached the first level of the Qi Refining Realm?” The elder was stunned, then his expression turned cold as he said sharply, “Mark Sutton, you only awakened your martial soul yesterday, and it was just a trashy first-rank human-level martial soul. How could you possibly reach the Qi Refining Realm so quickly? Even with a third-rank human-level martial soul, it wouldn’t necessarily be this fast. Are you trying to deceive me?”

“Hmph! Whether I’m deceiving you or not, you’ll know at a glance!”

Mark Sutton's face darkened. He circulated his cultivation, instantly releasing the aura of the first level of the Qi Refining Realm.

Without paying any further attention to the elder, Mark Sutton turned and walked toward the second floor of the library pavilion.

“This... he really broke through!”

The elder was stunned, then sneered disdainfully, muttering to himself, “The family head must have given you some precious pill. But with your trashy first-rank human-level martial soul, even if you break through to the Qi Refining Realm, you won’t make much progress in the future.”

Mark Sutton walked up to the second floor, where rows of antique bookshelves came into view, each holding numerous manuals.

The Su family was one of the two great families in Linyang City and possessed a considerable number of cultivation methods and martial techniques. On the entire second floor of the library pavilion, there were nearly a hundred manuals.

On the second floor, there was also a tall young man selecting manuals.

“Mark Sutton!”

The young man was surprised to see Mark Sutton, then his eyes filled with contempt.

“Harold Sutton!” Mark Sutton glanced at him.

This Harold Sutton had also awakened his martial soul yesterday. Although the level of his martial soul was not as high as Eric Sutton's, it was still a fourth-rank human-level martial soul—a high grade.

Harold Sutton being able to come to the second floor meant he had also broken through to the Qi Refining Realm.

“Mark Sutton, I didn’t expect you to advance to the first level of the Qi Refining Realm as well. I heard that yesterday, the family head bought a ‘Qi Condensation Pill’ from the Hundred Herbs Pavilion. I suppose it was thanks to that pill that you broke through!”

Harold Sutton looked at Mark Sutton with disdain and said, “Otherwise, with your trashy first-rank human-level martial soul, even a month wouldn’t be enough for you to break through.”

“How I broke through has nothing to do with you,” Mark Sutton replied coldly, then ignored him and began selecting manuals.

Mark Sutton was very familiar with Harold Sutton.

Back when he was in the Su family, Mark Sutton was known as the number one genius. At that time, Harold Sutton always tried to curry favor with him, and Mark Sutton treated Harold Sutton quite well—the two had a very good relationship.