Xu Wuyi slowly exited his Visualization state and opened his eyes.

The world before him was slightly blurry—a normal reaction after intense concentration of his Heart and Spirit.

He got up, walked over to the coffee table, drank half a glass of warm water, and ate an energy cookie.

He chewed slowly, allowing his mind a moment of relaxation.

During his 10-minute break, he didn’t do anything mentally taxing. He just sat quietly, occasionally stretching his stiff neck and shoulders.

The moment the time was up, he immediately returned to his spot and sat down cross-legged.

The second cycle began.

The one hundredth time, the two hundredth, the three hundredth...

Outside the window, the pitch-black sky slowly gave way to a deep blue, then turned the pale white of dawn.

At six in the morning, Xu Wuyi completed his three hundred and thirtieth Visualization.

He rested again, eating and rehydrating.

Then, he continued.

The morning sun seeped through the cracks in the curtains, casting thin slivers of light on the floor.

Xu Wuyi was completely unaware.

His entire world had been reduced to the mountain in his sea of consciousness, constantly materializing and dissipating.

The four hundredth time, the five hundredth, the six hundredth...

Mental fatigue began to accumulate.

Despite the regular breaks, performing hundreds of highly focused Visualizations in a row took a real toll on his mind.

A throbbing pain pulsed at his temples, and deep within his consciousness, he felt a sense of being hollowed out.

But Xu Wuyi’s gaze remained calm.

He was long accustomed to this level of exhaustion.

The seven hundredth time, the eight hundredth...

Time ticked by to five in the afternoon.

Xu Wuyi’s face was somewhat pale, and a fine sheen of cold sweat beaded his forehead.

The speed of his Visualization had inevitably slowed, extending from 65 seconds to 70, and even 75 seconds.

But he still adhered to the standard for every single detail.

’I can’t make a mistake.’

If his form wasn’t perfect, this Visualization wouldn’t count as "effective training," meaning all his effort would be for nothing.

The eight hundred and fiftieth time.

The nine hundredth time.

The nine hundred and fiftieth time...

Ten-twenty at night.

Xu Wuyi could feel his Spirit on the verge of depletion.

Every Visualization felt like squeezing the last drop of water from a dry well.

His consciousness began to drift, and the outline of the mountain would occasionally blur for an instant.

He clenched his jaw, using his formidable Willpower to forcibly rein in his mind.

The nine hundred and ninety-eighth time.

The nine hundred and ninety-ninth time.

Xu Wuyi took a deep breath. It was an extremely difficult inhale, as if a stone were pressing down on his chest.

He closed his eyes, mustering the last of his Spiritual Power.

The one-thousandth Visualization began.

The mountain formed with difficulty in his sea of consciousness, slower than any time before, its outline even wavering slightly.

Xu Wuyi forced it to stabilize as his Spiritual Power seeped in like a gossamer thread and began to dismantle it.

The process became exceptionally arduous. Mobilizing every shred of Spiritual Power brought a needle-like sting.

But he didn’t give up, pushing forward, bit by painstaking bit.

The instant the final "boulder" dissipated within his consciousness—

[Effective training sessions today have reached one thousand. You have obtained one "Great Enlightenment".]

’It’s here!’

Xu Wuyi’s spirits lifted, but he immediately felt a flicker of confusion. The notification was missing the four words "Thick Accumulation and Thin Emission" at the beginning.

But before he had time to dwell on it, a vast torrent of comprehension came crashing in!

However...

Unlike the Great Enlightenment he had received for the Basic Body Refining Technique, with its surging, roaring sense of sublimation that pointed directly to its essence, this Great Enlightenment for the Mountain Shifting Technique felt... much more muted.

The torrent was still immense, but the "information" and "comprehension" it contained were relatively simple.

After all, the Mountain Shifting Technique was the most basic of Visualization Methods. It didn’t involve complex circulation of Qi and Blood, contained no exquisite variations in its Techniques, and didn’t even have a true concept of "offense" or "defense."

Its entire core was "Visualization" and "Moving Mountains," a process for the Refinement of one’s control and resilience over Spiritual Power.

What the Great Enlightenment brought was a finer grasp of the Visualization process, a more economical understanding of how to use Spiritual Power, and a deeper appreciation for the imagery of the "mountain"—but that was all.

There was no breakthrough Enlightenment, no leap in his Realm.

When the torrent of Great Enlightenment slowly receded, Xu Wuyi looked at his status panel.

His Realm hadn’t changed much, because the Realm of the Mountain Shifting Technique was not a measure of proficiency, but a reflection of Spiritual Strength.

Xu Wuyi carefully assessed himself.

His Spiritual Power seemed a tiny bit more condensed, its recovery rate felt slightly faster, and his control over it was more refined and subtle... but these improvements were not significant.

The increase in his total amount of Spirit was minimal, and the Mountain Shifting Technique itself had no real skill to speak of. It was like trying to find profound new patterns in "1+1"—no matter how much you studied it, you wouldn’t suddenly learn advanced mathematics.

’This was a bit of a losing deal.’

Xu Wuyi sat where he was, shaking his head in resignation.

Although he had some understanding of the Mountain Shifting Technique’s nature and had anticipated this, he still felt a little disappointed.

This attempt was more of a test, a verification of how the "Thousand-Rep Great Enlightenment" had different effects on different Martial Arts.

Xu Wuyi propped himself up from the floor, staggering to his feet.

A powerful wave of dizziness hit him, and he had to grab the wall to steady himself.

"Anna, Deep Recovery Liquid. Now," he said, his voice a little hoarse.

An hour later, Xu Wuyi stepped out of the Recovery Pod.

The mental fatigue had mostly subsided, but the feeling of emptiness would take time to fill.

He walked to the dining area and silently ate the dinner Anna had prepared.

His mind, however, was racing.

’The path of the Mountain Shifting Technique is a dead end for now. It’s not worth investing a full day and neglecting my training in other Martial Arts.’

’Next, I’ll try the Ten Beginner Forms of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace.’

Those ten movements were the foundation of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace. They were simple, basic, and each repetition was short.

Although each form would require a separate accumulation of a thousand repetitions, at least it was feasible in terms of time.

Moreover, the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace was of a much higher tier than the Mountain Shifting Technique and was one of his current core Cultivation Techniques.

Even if it was just the Ten Beginner Forms, if he could gain some deeper understanding through a Great Enlightenment, it might help push his progress in the Minor Success Realm.

At this thought, Xu Wuyi quickened his pace of eating.

He needed to recover as quickly as possible to begin his new attempt tomorrow.

Over the next few days, Xu Wuyi’s life fell into a mechanical cycle.

Every day at midnight, he would begin, targeting one of the Ten Beginner Forms of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace and pushing for a thousand repetitions.

The first form, [Furnace Initial Burning], took about 12 seconds per repetition, but practicing it repeatedly placed a greater load on his body and required more time to recover.

It took him 21 hours to complete one thousand standard training repetitions and trigger the Great Enlightenment.

The rewards were quite a bit better than what he’d gotten from the Mountain Shifting Technique.

He gained a more fundamental understanding of the subtle nodes that guided the Qi and Blood within this form’s movements.

He even gained some peripheral insights, developing a new feel for the "ignition" phase of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace as a whole.

But it still didn’t bring about a breakthrough in his Realm.