After a full five or six hours had passed, when the eastern sky began to lighten, Henry Carter finally finished absorbing all the medicinal power of the “Flaming Sun Body-Tempering Pill.”

“What powerful medicinal strength! The effect of this one ‘Flaming Sun Body-Tempering Pill’ is equal to three months of my hard training!” Sitting cross-legged on the wooden bed, Henry Carter slowly opened his eyes, an uncontrollable joy showing on his still somewhat youthful face.

“At this rate, I should be able to break through to Two-Star Apprentice very soon!”

Henry Carter clenched his fists tightly, feeling the surging power within his body, a satisfied smile curling at the corners of his mouth. He had been stuck at One-Star Apprentice for three years, building a solid foundation. Now, after taking a top-grade body-tempering pill, all the power within him erupted. Breaking through within three days was only natural.

Moreover, Henry Carter was surprised to discover that after last night’s dream, his physique had undergone a tremendous transformation.

“Before returning to the family, I’ll strive to become a Two-Star Apprentice and make my parents happy!” A startling brilliance flashed in Henry Carter’s dark, bright eyes.

In the past, with only a red-grade sea of consciousness talent, Henry Carter wouldn’t have dared to dream of cultivating so quickly. But now, with some changes in his talent and these “Flaming Sun Body-Tempering Pills,” Henry Carter felt he could give it his all.

Although Two-Star Apprentice wasn’t much, for Henry Carter with only red-grade sea of consciousness talent, this breakthrough was truly difficult!

“Without strength, no one will respect you. One day, I will become a powerful martial artist!” Thinking of the ridicule from Qiao Yin’er and the others, Henry Carter’s fists clenched suddenly, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

Many factors determine a martial artist’s strength, but the most basic and important are cultivation and divine abilities. Divine abilities aside for now—since only those who reach Seven-Star Apprentice have enough vital energy to use them—the main factors for cultivation are the grade of one’s sea of consciousness talent and the level of one’s cultivation technique!

Sea of consciousness talent is divided into seven grades: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. The weakest is red-grade, the strongest is purple-grade.

The stronger the sea of consciousness talent, the faster one can absorb vital energy!

Then there are cultivation techniques. The level of the technique determines the speed at which vital energy is refined. Vital energy is an extremely violent force; if not refined, it cannot nourish the body and may even cause harm.

Cultivation techniques and divine abilities are both divided into five ranks: Spirit, Profound, Earth, Heaven, and Supreme. Each rank is further divided into lower, middle, and upper levels.

Henry Carter’s sea of consciousness talent was the weakest red-grade, so his absorption of vital energy was extremely slow. While others could reach saturation in three to five hours, Henry Carter had to train bitterly for over a dozen hours, sometimes even longer.

The cultivation technique Henry Carter practiced wasn’t weak—the Ye family’s ancestral “Falling Star Art” was a mid-level Profound technique, and its refining speed wasn’t slow.

The reason Henry Carter lagged so far behind his peers was his sea of consciousness talent!

While others trained for a day, Henry Carter had to train for three to five days. Over the years, the gap naturally became enormous. Without enough vital energy and resources, his body couldn’t keep up, and without a strong body, his cultivation speed naturally lagged behind.

Chapter Twelve: The Perfected Falling Star Art

“These three days, I won’t go to class. I’ll focus on cultivation!”

Henry Carter got up, stepped down from the wooden bed, stretched lazily, moved his body a bit, washed up, and then began his arduous training again.

“Falling Star Art!”

A moment later, Henry Carter returned to the wooden bed, sat cross-legged once more, slowly closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and gradually entered a state of emptiness where he forgot both himself and the world.

His hands formed mysterious seals in front of his chest. As the technique operated, invisible waves of mental power quietly spread from his brow. Gradually, with Henry Carter at the center, an invisible vortex of mental power seemed to form around him, drawing strands of vital energy toward Henry Carter.

Mental power absorbed the vital energy. Once saturated, the Falling Star Art was used to refine it!

A full twelve hours passed before the vital energy in Henry Carter’s dantian finally reached saturation. The absorption speed was painfully slow. At the instant his dantian was saturated, Henry Carter, who had been sitting with eyes half-closed, suddenly opened them. A trace of silver light flashed in his eyes. He rapidly changed through thirty-six hand seals, and the violent vital energy in his dantian began to be slowly refined.

Boom!

As Henry Carter operated the Falling Star Art to refine the vital energy, a thunderous roar suddenly sounded in his mind. Deep within his sea of consciousness, the phantom of a towering green mountain quietly appeared. On the mountain, hundreds of thousands of divine patterns seemed to come alive, writhing nimbly. Gradually, a semi-transparent human figure suddenly walked out from the mountain.

This figure’s body was semi-transparent, with blue and red meridians clearly visible inside!

Under Henry Carter’s utterly astonished gaze, the figure sat cross-legged, as if practicing some technique. The blue and red meridians within its body trembled slightly, with faint silver vital energy flowing through them.

“This is... the Falling Star Art?!”

Henry Carter’s eyes widened instantly. The route of vital energy within that semi-transparent figure was actually very similar to the Falling Star Art! Only, it was much more complex than the version he practiced!