These pills were not for accumulation, but for refinement, for stabilizing what was already within.

Han Yu knew his body well, and he knew his limits. He was already pressing against the boundary of the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

What he needed now was to strengthen his base, to prepare his dantian for the surge that would come with a true breakthrough.

"Here I go," He swallowed the Spirit Essence pill, and within moments he felt the change.

A whirlpool stirred in his dantian, the spirit Qi within him roiling as though caught in a storm. His spirit sea lit up before his inner vision, and within that sea two kinds of Qi swirled.

The first was the most abundant, an almost silvery, attribute-less spirit Qi that made up the bulk of his cultivation. The second was tinged with faint green, the Wood Element spirit Qi. Han Yu's affinity to wood had always shown itself, even though his techniques for its use were limited to alchemy.

Still, it was present, quietly woven into the layers of his cultivation.

As for darkness, his second affinity, there was nothing yet. He had no technique to draw it, no pill to cultivate it. For now, he pushed aside the thought. His focus was the present task.

His spirit sea churned more violently as the condensation process began.

It felt, at first, like he was losing energy. The vast sea seemed to shrink, the waves growing lower. But Han Yu knew this was only an illusion. His energy was not vanishing, it was compressing, condensing into something denser, stronger.

For many cultivators, the sea would shrink nearly in half during this process.

Weak foundations always revealed themselves here. But Han Yu found that his sea diminished only slightly, barely a tenth of its original volume. He did not panic. In fact, he felt a surge of quiet pride. His Qi had been cultivated with care, his foundation refined carefully.

What others lost, he retained.

With more space opening in his dantian, Han Yu once again reached for the bottle of Refined Qi Accumulation pills. One after another, he consumed them, guiding the rush of energy with the Twin Peak Qi Refinement Manual.

His meridians glowed faintly in his inner vision, bright lines across the map of his body. Each cycle was smooth, his spirit sea filling with ever more compressed Qi.

Tremble

By the time he finished the sixth pill, he could feel the pressure mounting. His dantian pulsed, swelling to the brim. His spirit sea was already ninety percent full, the refined Qi tightly compacted, pressing against the walls of his dantian as if seeking release.

Then it came.

Rumble

A tremor shook through his core, and a wave of fluctuations burst outward from his body. The isolating formation of the tent flickered briefly, containing the surge within.

HUALA

Han Yu's breath quickened as the air around him grew dense. The heavens and earth responded, strands of ambient spirit Qi flooding into him unhindered.

SHUA SHUA SHUA

The flow was like a river crashing into his sea. His dantian swelled, the last ten percent filling rapidly. With a final push, it reached its limit. The walls of his dantian shook, quivered, and then solidified as the condensation took place.

Han Yu's body shivered as the breakthrough completed. The vast spirit sea within him had become denser, richer, no longer a loose gathering of Qi but a refined pool brimming with potential.

He had reached the Peak of the Qi Refining Realm.

HUALA

Opening his eyes, Han Yu's gaze gleamed with light. His breathing was steady, but each breath carried a faint resonance of spirit Qi. He could feel it in every part of his body, a strength waiting to be tapped.

"So easy..." For a moment, he simply sat there, savoring the sensation.

He had known he was capable of this, but to experience it was different. His body felt lighter yet stronger, his senses sharper. The air around him felt alive, as though it could be drawn into his dantian with a thought.

This was only the first step. The Core Condensation realm lay just beyond this threshold, waiting for him to take that final leap.

But for now, he allowed himself a rare moment of satisfaction.

Han Yu opened his eyes slowly, a faint light glimmering within them as his senses returned to the quiet tent.

The isolating formation continued to hum faintly in the background, but within his body there was a completely different atmosphere. His dantian was full to the brim, the liquid spirit Qi swirling in a concentrated pool, denser and richer than anything he had ever felt before.

A smile crept across his lips, unbidden and genuine.

"HAHA!" He had done it.

In less than a single day, he had reached the very peak of the Qi Refining realm. The process had seemed almost too easy, but Han Yu knew better than to think it was truly so. It was not because the heavens had favored him without cause.

No, it was the combination of factors that had carried him to this point. His solid foundation laid through tireless effort, his careful cultivation without shortcuts, and most of all, the potent pills they had obtained from the ancient repository.

He thought back to the Refined Qi Accumulation Pills.

If he had taken the same type of pills issued by the sect, he knew he would have needed nearly twice as many to achieve the same breakthrough. The difference in potency was undeniable. The pills from the repository were not only stronger but purer, their refinement reaching a level that most modern alchemists would struggle to replicate.

That thought alone sent a thrill through his heart.

'These pills had recipes. The repository's books contained them...'

Once he studied them and mastered their preparation, the possibilities were endless.

"If I manage to learn and replicate them, then..." He could see it already.

The wealth he could amass from selling such pills would be unimaginable. Not only would his cultivation benefit, but his position within the sect could change entirely. An alchemist with exclusive access to ancient high-quality recipes could command respect from even elders.

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