"Su Mei's quite talented," Wei Wuyin commented. This young woman was about his age, slightly younger in fact. Yet, she reached the Fourth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. For women who had lost their primal yin, it was just as difficult to reach for men.

Without using their already powerful yin to refine their Hearts of Qi, it left them requiring a myriad of other ways to do so. For example, Yan Zhu had used yang to enhance yin.

This was even more difficult as a former harem member, it's unlikely her partner had used true dual cultivation methods, but a mostly one-sided plundering of her primal yin to further his own strength. Therefore, he had an appreciation towards her achievements.

He knew that she couldn't achieve this with just talent however; It required ample determination and a fierce work ethic as well. Even now, she quietly cultivated by absorbing an essence stone into her Heart of Qi. She was definitely using a conversion method, transforming essence into yang.

He could feel a vitality within her body rise from time to time. While it wasn't incredibly strong, it was there.

Seeing Su Mei work so hard towards her cultivation made him want to work on his. He inspected himself as he felt his cultivation base.

He had a unique cultivation base that exceeded common standards. There were two Divine Spirits of Qi and one Heart of Qi, the latter resided in his sea of consciousness.

The two Divine Spirits were a true manifestation of his Eighth Phase Qi Condensation Realm cultivation, possessing inherent spiritual energies and enhanced energies within. At the moment, they were working to replace his old, non-sublime qi with sublime qi with spiritual energy.

The conversion time, however, was quite slow. He did some calculations and realized that it would take about a few weeks before his cultivation base had completed, fully becoming a true Godlord-level figure.

"This was a period of consolidation. At the moment, less than one percent of my body contains my newly refined qi. Not only that, the inherent energies hadn't tempered my body completely. When it does, my physique will take another step forward. If that happens, I'll probably be able to face Godlords with just my body alone!" He marveled at the miraculous aspects of a 'Divine' spirit or heart.

According to the method, the 'Divine' aspect is related to its ability to transform one's meridians, fleshy body, spiritual sense, and mental abilities into one refined by the respective energy it possesses. For example, with elemental origin energy, he could absorb pure elemental energy without any stress placed on his meridians.

His spiritual sense was unable to be hindered by elemental forces and possessed their inherent qualities, allowing it to be flexible and tougher than normal. These benefits were only scratching the surface, as he discovered when he immediately ascended to the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

His powerful physical body and spiritual sense was greatly attributed by the 'Divine' aspect of his cultivation base.

He held an essence stone in his hand and started to absorb it through his meridians. A subtle aura of a domineering saber and worldly elements emerged, drawing the essence within. With a thought, he converted the essence into pure elemental and saber energy. It flowed into his Divine Spirits where it was thoroughly refined and sent outwards as a strand of sublime qi infused with spiritual energy.

He sighed. Before an hour had passed, the stone had turned dull and grey. It crumbled in his hands as it turned into dust that flew away with the passing wind current.

"A single essence stone converts into a single strand of qi. How powerful is my qi exactly?!" He started to wonder if it was worth it to use high-level elemental origin energy to form his Divine Spirit. At this rate, he was a money guzzler and consolidating his cultivation would be harder.

"Furthermore, my cultivation base is at the Eighth Phase, but the Ninth Phase is the true money drainer! Alas!" He deeply sighed with emotion. The Ninth Phase, Qi Essence, was about using qi to refine Qi Essence. This was motes of personified world force.

It was a preparatory phase meant to lead to the next realm. However, even a single mote of refined world force was enough to establish oneself as a Mortal Godking, and creating one would likely take thousands of essence stones to replenish his qi to refine world force. Otherwise, how long would it take if he relied solely on the ambient Essence of Heaven and Earth?

"According to the records in the Scarlet Dao Temple, the Qi Essence Phase required you to use our own qi and drawing in external world force. You refine that world force until it becomes solidified and intermixed with your inherent qi qualities and spiritual energy." As he recalled this, he pondered on the truths of the next phase.

Firstly, he needed to consolidate his cultivation base. When that was done, he could draw in the world's force and refine it using his qi. It was different than merging yin and yang, but a process of true fusion and creating a new substance belonging solely to him.

Secondly, he would need to decide if he will make a breakthrough with one mote of Qi Essence or more.

The Qi Essence was a realm defined by its difficulties, and even creating a singular mote could take a lifetime. However, that single mote of qi essence wouldn't be within your Divine Spirit's core when created, but in your body.

Only when absorbing that mote and integrating it into one's Divine Spirit could one be considered a Godking, but much like comparing him to an ordinary Mortal Godlord, there was a vast difference between using one mote of qi essence and more.

"A person's maximum qi essence number isn't defined. In fact, it says that it's dependent on the foundation of one's cultivation base. While any cultivator can ascend easily as long as they had one mote of qi essence, those who wish to segregate themselves from the lowest of the low would attempt to refine multiple.

"The only issue is that qi essence that isn't connected to your Divine Spirit is unable to be tapped into or controlled. Meaning, even if one had one or a hundred motes of qi essence, if they didn't merge it with their Divine Spirits, there is no difference in your cultivation base from a normal Eighth Phase expert." Wei Wuyin had read this before, but now that he faced this decision, he was fraught with indecision.

The Divine Spirits would undergo a transformation which would make any further qi essence useless to merge into it, so one only had one shot.

He had less than four decades before a calamity he had no confidence in overcoming would arrive. Should he refine one mote of qi essence and immediately make his breakthrough or try to maximize his cultivation base?

After ruminating over this for quite a while, he shook his head. "Is this even a question? I'll maximize my cultivation base, if by some miracle I survive, I'll have no regrets. After all, I know the next Realm of Cultivation is not the Realm of Sages. It is the Realm of Stars."

The name for the next stage was actually called the Astral Core Realm. He didn't know the intricacies, but he knew those at this realm could ascend, traveling amongst the stars, flying across the skies, and dominating creation.

There were existences at this level in the Myriad Yore Continent, such as the Elven Race man who had appeared before him in the Scarlet Solaris Sect. He could meld the world force, extract the purest of energies, and create Yin-Yang God Spheres. It was a stage of cultivation that could topple the Scarlet Solaris Sect with a wave of their hand.

Because of the Yin-Yang Holy Land in the Wu Central Lands, its known that the Wu Imperial Clan also has at least one person in this legendary realm.

He softly sighed to himself, "For now, cultivation is secondary to living life to the fullest."

That's right. Wei Wuyin had a clock, and he knew many of his dreams couldn't be enacted. For one, he wouldn't be able to establish a city like Golden Milk City without a force. He would need decades to develop such powers and connections.

Creating a sect wasn't appropriate either unless he plundered every sect's legacy and declared continuous wars for conquest and resources. He had no land, no force, nor any legacy to propagate to his disciples. If he did establish a sect, it would only be lacking. Not to mention its inevitable collapse due to any lack of foundation.

Therefore, he decided that rather than focus on his long-term life goals, he'd pursue only short-term ones.

"For now, let's plot out our route to the Wu Central Lands! The Jade Lotus Domain and Hidden Shadow Domain are two locations I need to go to, but they are a little awkward…" Wei Wuyin planned to travel to these two domains for their notable landmarks, the Jade Pearl Lake and Warring States Pagoda.

Unfortunately, the Hidden Shadow Domain was near the Sky Sword Domain, which was somewhat behind him, but also nearer to the Wu Central Lands than the Jade Lotus Domain. However, he was closer to the Hidden Shadow Domain, so if he traveled there, he'd have to travel far to the Jade Lotus Domain and then return…

Ruffling his dark hair, he had an expression of slight frustration. "Forget it, I'll just do this."

Deciding on his new plan, he communicated with Bai Lin. She let out a crane cry filled with acknowledgement. She shifted her body and sped up.