Time flew by, and four weeks passed like a breeze. The temperature dropped sharply, and winter's breath could already be felt everywhere. Su Wen had set up a snow-proof formation and a heat-isolation formation around the house… something he would have done for his grandparents, knowing all too well how harsh winter could be on aging mortal bodies.
Du Yue had already finished refining her organs and blood two weeks ago, leaving Su Wen completely astonished. He could only sigh, though pride swelled in his chest. She had tempered her body every single day without pause, pushing herself forward with unwavering determination.
She would let her body become a battlefield between Su Wen's sword intent and the Heavenly Tribulation Law. Apart from that, her Yin Qi acted as a natural healing agent, allowing her body to recover without any pills.
With the added boost of two Grade 3 Frost Lotuses and four Grade 2 Sunfire Orchids that Su Wen had purchased from the Treasure Tower, she successfully completed the refinement of her blood and organs.
Only the Heart and the Brain remained. For these two, Su Wen absolutely forbade the use of the Heavenly Tribulation Law. They were far too delicate… any slight misstep could result in irreversible damage. Instead, he allowed her to rely solely on Yin Qi and her own spiritual qi to refine them.
By then, he had already dispersed the remaining traces of Tribulation Law from her body, and all her scars had fully healed, leaving behind a girl who looked more like a celestial maiden than a mortal cultivator.
Judging by her pace, Su Wen estimated that she would finish refining her heart and brain within a few days. However, despite her astonishing progress in body cultivation, Du Yue's soul realm remained stubbornly stuck at the Instinct Realm.
Su Wen had already concocted countless soul-nurturing pills… medicines so potent that even a cultivator with mediocre talent could break through several soul realms in one go. Yet every single pill Du Yue consumed disappeared into her consciousness like a drop of water poured into a bottomless abyss, leaving behind not even the faintest ripple.
Neither of them could understand the reason behind it. Su Wen could only sigh inwardly, but he was far from willing to give up. If ordinary methods failed, then he would simply push things further.
Since standard soul-nurturing pills were ineffective, he decided to raise the level instead.
Su Wen resolved to refine a peak Grade-3 soul-nurturing pill… a medicinal pill so powerful that, under normal circumstances, even the most stubborn bottleneck would be forcibly shattered. It was the kind of pill that could propel a cultivator across realms in a single step.
He wanted to see whether such overwhelming medicinal potency could finally stir Du Yue's soul… and push her to the other side of that invisible barrier.
Her spiritual cultivation, on the other hand, was already just a single step away from the Golden Core Realm. Originally, Su Wen had wanted her soul and body cultivation to reach a level comparable to her spiritual cultivation, maintaining a perfect balance.
Yet he had never expected her soul to stagnate in this way.
Instead, what completely surpassed all expectations was the terrifying speed of her body refinement.
For spiritual cultivation, the spiritual ocean in her dantian had turned a dark black blue, a clear sign of extremely condensed liquid spiritual qi.
Its volume was nearly three times that of an ordinary cultivator, a benefit granted partly by her powerful physique. With her soul realm stuck, she redirected her focus to refining her heart and brain so that she could achieve Sevenfold Body Refinement as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Su Wen himself had completed the refinement of his blood and organs with the help of four Grade 2 Sunfire Orchids. For some reason, every herb he encountered for body cultivation seemed to be rich in Yang Qi. First, his bones had transformed into yellow jade suffused with Yang energy, and now his blood and organs had likewise become saturated with intense Yang Qi.
His blood had transformed into Yang Blood… still red, but with a faint golden-yellow hue… radiating warmth, vitality, and power.
His soul cultivation remained at the peak of the Mid-Stage Soul Awakening Realm, just shy of breaking through to the Peak Stage, yet his spiritual cultivation had progressed far more smoothly.
The Spirit-Nurturing Grape wine he and Du Yue had shared had already elevated him to the peak of Early-Stage Foundation Establishment that night. Now, through relentless effort, he had transformed the pond of spiritual qi in his dantian into a True Liquid Qi Sea, fully consolidating his breakthrough into the Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm.
The reason it had taken him so long to reach the Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm was mainly due to his cultivation technique… the Dao of the Nine Heavens.
According to the method, he had to refine his liquid spiritual qi nine times, with three refinements required for each minor realm within Foundation Establishment. This approach guaranteed one of the strongest possible foundations… but it also meant an immense headache whenever he considered the amount of resources required.
He had already completed the first three refinements, transforming his liquid qi pond three times, a process that alone had taken four full weeks. Fortunately, each subsequent refinement would become slightly easier. As the quality of his spiritual qi increased, the refining process naturally became more efficient, and the quantity would rise as well. His body cultivation played a crucial role in this… his physique was already strong enough to withstand the immense pressure of high-quality spiritual qi, much like Du Yue's.
Soon, it would be time to gather more resources. He planned to make a trip to Yellow Town, to search for a suitable Grade 3 Soul-Nurturing Herb for Du Yue and to restock the cultivation supplies he needed for his next round of qi refinement.