Cultivation begins with ice harvesters

Chapter 20: Qi Refining Level 4

The third and fourth levels of Qi Refining may seem like only a step apart, but they represent the difference between the middle and early stages of Qi Refining, and their statuses are incomparable.

Not to mention the simple increase in combat power, once you advance to the fourth level of Qi Refining and step into the threshold of the middle stage of Qi Refining, it means that you will have no worries about the sixth level of Qi Refining. The only thing that needs to be consumed is the time cost and the resource cost.

In the future, as long as they can pay the rent on time, they will be eligible to live a long-term and stable life on Ice Spirit Island, a relatively safe second-tier spirit island.

Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators naturally have a wide variety of channels and methods to earn spirit stones. The shops in the Ice Sea Market recruit long-term and stable partners based on and with mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators as the minimum requirement.

"Um?"

While unconscious, Tong Bingfeng seemed to have noticed the pain coming from his dantian. A low groan came out, and his brows furrowed involuntarily. It felt as if an uncontrollable little mouse was thrashing about in his abdomen, causing bulges in different locations and with different patterns.

Most of the patches caused by snake venom on the left arm have disappeared, and the remaining small amount of venom has been suppressed in the wrist area.

The small wound left by the white snake, which had initially healed, has now torn open again, and drops of blood with a dark blue, foul odor are dripping down, which is a sign that the snake venom is being expelled from the body.

The Ice Flower is a genuine first-grade superior spiritual flower, and the entire flower is mainly composed of attribute-free spiritual power. Therefore, in terms of spiritual power content alone, it far exceeds what Tong Bingfeng needs to advance to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

From this perspective, the presence of the white snake's venom consumed more than half of the spiritual energy, effectively reducing the pressure on the dantian. Otherwise, without a cultivator to provide effective guidance while unconscious, the dantian might have already suffered irreversible erosion and damage.

As the sun sets and night falls, the temperature drops.

The howling wind brought a direct and unobstructed drop in temperature. Tong Bingfeng, who was unconscious on the island, was exposed, and the area and thickness of the ice crystals covering his body increased at a visible rate.

White ice crystals appeared on his nose, eyebrows, and hair, and his own color began to turn pale white. Tong Bingfeng's vital signs, which had been stable, became unstable again.

Even on Tong Bingfeng's forehead, nose, and cheeks, drops of sweat appeared, and his face turned an unusual, abnormal red, which was a precursor to hypothermia, one of the fatal diseases among cultivators in the Northern Frontier Ice Domain.

Logically speaking, when a cultivator draws qi into their body and uses the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to nourish their physical body, their overall physical quality will be significantly improved with each advancement in cultivation.

Under normal circumstances, their resistance to both low and high temperatures far exceeds that of ordinary mortals. However, in the icy northern frontier, without the necessary protection, the corrosive effects of the low nighttime temperatures still pose a fatal threat to cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, especially those in the early stages.

The operation of the Water Spirit Technique's Great Circulation did not stop. Instead, when the cultivator's life was threatened, and self-preservation was the priority, the operation was accelerated at a higher frequency to try to refine more mana in the shortest possible time and ensure the most basic vital signs.

Under normal circumstances, on this remote island without any spiritual veins, even the most skilled cook cannot cook without rice; no matter how hard it tries, it will be in vain.

Just then, the first-grade high-quality ice flower that Tong Bingfeng's body had absorbed had not yet been completely consumed. Under such high-speed operation, this high-quality spiritual flower provided a large amount of pure mana.

Despite the erosion of the low temperatures in the icy northern frontier, the cultivator's internal organs still retain their most basic functions thanks to the basic protective layer formed by these magical powers.

With the snake venom nearly depleted and completely losing its destructive power, more than three-quarters of the pure magical power refined from the Ice Flower was channeled into the dantian.

After a full day of replenishment, Tong Bingfeng fell into a coma, but the magical power in his dantian was already at its limit.

With each infusion of pure mana, the cultivator's dantian felt like a very full stomach, ready to snap at any moment.

The entire cultivation process of a Qi Refining stage cultivator is essentially nothing more than the overall expansion of the dantian. Each advancement in cultivation level will expand the scope of the dantian, repeating this cycle until the limit of the dantian's expansion is reached.

Normally, during a cultivator's breakthrough, they would use their divine sense as a guide to focus on breaking through one part of the body in order to achieve a breakthrough from one point to the whole. Although the dantian has a high tolerance, it is still within a controllable range.

At this moment, Tong Bingfeng was facing a completely different and more dangerous situation. It was a matter of success or death. Once he exceeded the limit of his third-level Qi Refining Dantian, and this flooding method failed to break through the bottleneck in time, he would become nothing more than a pile of bones in the process.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz"

With the replenishment of the Ice Flower's spiritual power, the dantian was like a round balloon, and the thinnest part of the surface had become faintly transparent, even revealing the pulse of the internal organs.

At this moment, Tong Bingfeng's dantian had become a piece of paper, which could be easily broken with a gentle puncture. Moreover, the magical power contained within would flow uncontrollably into his weak body, completely taking away his already unstable vital signs.

Although the unconscious cultivator had lost control of the Great Circulation and his dantian, he was still subconsciously aware of this critical moment concerning his life. His brows furrowed involuntarily, and his hands clenched into fists, as if he wanted to lend a helping hand.

"Click"

Just then, the sound of an eggshell cracking rang out. Tong Bingfeng's dantian rapidly expanded, and the originally abundant magical power transformed into a trickle, merging into the new dantian. By chance, under the immense pressure of being on the verge of death, Tong Bingfeng finally took a crucial step, successfully advancing to the fourth level of Qi Refining and stepping into the threshold of the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

As one's cultivation level advances, the area of ​​one's dantian expands, and the quality of one's mana is improved. The same amount of mana will not be a burden for a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

The ocean is vast because it embraces all rivers; the advancement of a Qi Refining cultivator's cultivation is a series of similar cycles and increases. However, the transition from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining is a relatively important milestone in the entire Qi Refining cultivation process, and the expansion of the dantian area is also extremely significant.

The pure mana that originally brought extreme pressure to the entire third level of the Qi Refining stage is now, after being purified and pressured by the advancement of cultivation, obediently filling the dantian, and there are still some blank areas that need to be filled.

The entire dantian has returned to its normal size, and some minor injuries caused by the pressure will take some time to heal.