「One month later.」

After returning from Battle Peak, Fang Yun had already collected his reward for placing first on the Inner Sect Ranking—five hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

No one on the Inner Sect Ranking had challenged him all year.

After he took first place in the Four-Sect Trial at the start of the year, the senior disciples ranked below him on the Inner Sect Ranking had come to better understand his true strength.

Furthermore, as time went on, everyone became aware that his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Body meant the number of Upper Grade Magical Artifacts he could control would only grow, widening the power gap even further.

This power disparity made challenging him for his rank meaningless. If anyone truly wanted to test their mettle against him, they could simply request a Magical Combat spar.

After hanging up his ranking plaque, Fang Yun returned to his house.

He immediately consumed an Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill.

He was now extremely close to the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

「Two hours later.」

Fang Yun expelled the excess medicinal power from the Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill.

At this very moment, he was at the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer!

After reaching this Realm, Fang Yun first took a moment to regulate his condition.

"I can begin the breakthrough now."

With that, Fang Yun laid out three Qi Condensing Pills before him.

All three were Upper Grade, costing him four hundred eighty Lower Grade Spirit Stones—roughly the annual reward for first place on the Inner Sect Ranking.

The breakthrough from the Qi Refining Ninth Layer to the Tenth Layer was the most difficult hurdle in the Qi Refining Stage. For a Cultivator with Five Spirit Roots, three Upper Grade Qi Condensing Pills should be just about enough.

Unlike previous breakthroughs, Fang Yun wasn’t a hundred percent certain he would succeed this time, even with the aid of pills. He only had about a ninety-eight percent chance.

For a Cultivator with Dual Spirit Roots, this hurdle could be overcome even without the aid of pills.

Song Qiaoqiao, for instance, had only started using supplementary aids when she attempted her breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Having entered a breakthrough state, Fang Yun began circulating the final Mental Method of the Ninth Layer of the Cyan Wood Technique and started his assault on the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

By the afternoon of the next day,

Fang Yun had reached the most critical moment of his breakthrough to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

Without the slightest hesitation, upon reaching this moment, he immediately consumed an Upper Grade Qi Condensing Pill. Its medicinal power quickly spread through his body, helping him continue his assault on the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

When the first pill’s power proved insufficient, he took another...

The third Upper Grade Qi Condensing Pill went down as well.

Only when seventy percent of the final Upper Grade Qi Condensing Pill’s power was consumed did Fang Yun’s aura finally begin to change.

His aura, at first unstable, gradually stabilized.

"Qi Refining Tenth Layer!"

His breakthrough complete, Fang Yun expelled the last of the Upper Grade Qi Condensing Pill’s medicinal power before quickly examining the changes within himself.

The Qi Refining Tenth Layer is also known as the Peak of Qi Refining. In this Realm, the Qi Sea expands to its absolute limit, unable to grow any further, and the quality of one’s Spiritual Power is greatly enhanced.

This improvement in Spiritual Power quality also made it much easier for a Cultivator to control supreme-grade magical artifacts, unlike during the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

’How well can I control a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact now?’

At this thought, Fang Yun immediately retrieved the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Earth Yellow Sword, from his Storage Pouch. He infused it with Spiritual Power and began to manipulate it.

Thanks to the boost from his three-star Sword-Type Talent, Fang Yun found it very easy to control the Earth Yellow Sword.

’Perhaps it’s even easier for me to control certain Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts than it is for an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator...’

Fang Yun didn’t know what it felt like for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to control a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, so he could only make a rough guess.

’...The Spiritual Power consumption is much lower than when I was at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, but in terms of endurance, there’s probably still a large gap compared to a true Foundation Establishment Cultivator.’

Foundation Establishment Cultivators have liquefied Spiritual Power.

The difference between Gaseous Spiritual Power and Liquid Spiritual Power is simply too vast. Even with the boost from his three-star Combat Talent greatly reducing the Spiritual Power cost of controlling a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, he still couldn’t compare to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Having reached this conclusion, Fang Yun put away the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Earth Yellow Sword.

Being able to easily control a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact and fight with it for a sustained period was proof of the very clear increase in his strength from breaking through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

Now, a weaker early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would truly be no match for him. If one were to let their guard down, he would definitely be able to defeat them soundly.

With this newfound assurance, Fang Yun knew he was now capable of much more.

His self-assessment wasn’t over yet.

After putting away the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact and drawing his conclusions, Fang Yun immediately began testing his control over Upper Grade Magical Artifacts.

He already used very little Spiritual Power to control a single Upper Grade Magical Artifact, so after breaking through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, the reduction in this area wasn’t particularly noticeable.

Yellow Iron Swords and Profound Iron Shields flew out of Fang Yun’s Storage Pouch one after another.

’Eighteen... A huge improvement in the number of Upper Grade Magical Artifacts I can control. A true Cultivator with a Seven-Aperture Exquisite Body might not be able to control eighteen Upper Grade Magical Artifacts at once, even if they remained at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer for a hundred years.’

As the number of controlled Upper Grade Magical Artifacts increased, the difficulty of adding each new one also grew, but not at a constant rate.

Of course, Fang Yun’s thoughts were purely theoretical. In reality, a Cultivator with a Seven-Aperture Exquisite Body would find their Spiritual Power draining rapidly if they tried to control ten Upper Grade Magical Artifacts at once.

The massive consumption of Spiritual Power over a long period, and the constant strain on the meridians, would make the Cultivator very uncomfortable, thus affecting their performance in battle.

For Fang Yun, controlling eighteen Upper Grade Magical Artifacts at once consumed less Spiritual Power than controlling a single Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact.

’The nineteenth...’

Fang Yun controlled it for just a moment before immediately recalling it.

Unlike before, after adding this one more Upper Grade Magical Artifact, he could only control it with great difficulty.

Back at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he could precisely control fourteen Upper Grade Magical Artifacts. He could manage fifteen with some difficulty, and it took sixteen to reach the point of "great difficulty."