Light snow fluttered through the air.

The world was draped in a blanket of silver.

Lingxi.

Chen Li sat cross-legged and quiet in his study.

Before him on a low table, lined up in a row, were a bottle of Elixirs and two bowls of a thick, amber-colored medicinal liquid.

His trip to the Luoyan Collection had been immensely fruitful.

Besides the twelve thousand taels of silver from the Unpredictable Three Fierce, there were also ten thousand taels of silver in the rosewood box from the casino.

With a vast fortune of twenty-two thousand taels, Chen Li was suddenly brimming with confidence.

After returning from the Luoyan Collection, Chen Li first went to his sister, Chen Yao, and used two thousand taels of silver to purchase all the remaining medicinal herbs useful to him that the Bai Family had. Afterward, he went to the pharmacies in the county town and bought a full three thousand four hundred taels’ worth of medicinal herbs.

These herbs would be enough for him, his father, and his son to use without restraint for two or three years.

Back home, Chen Li began preparing for his breakthrough.

He adjusted his condition, and everything was ready.

He took a deep breath and, without hesitation, drank the thick medicinal liquid brewed from ten portions of Secret Medicine in one gulp.

The liquid was scalding, turning into a violent torrent the moment it entered his throat and surging into his limbs and bones.

Chen Li dared not be negligent. He immediately circulated the Five Grains Qi Storage Technique Heart Method, using all his power to guide the immense medicinal energy.

The Inner Qi that had already filled his Dantian Qi Sea to the brim was like a deep pool into which a giant boulder had been thrown, instantly beginning to boil and roar.

It no longer contented itself with the small space of his Dantian, instead roaring as it charged toward the meridians throughout his body.

BOOM!

Chen Li’s body trembled violently. Veins bulged on his temples, and beads of sweat the size of beans instantly soaked through his clothes.

As the powerful Inner Qi surged, Chen Li felt as if a dozen drills were boring into him, launching one fierce assault after another against the formless shackles within his body.

Once, twice... Each impact brought a tearing agony, as if his body would be burst open from the inside.

Chen Li gritted his teeth, holding fast to the sliver of clarity in his Spirit Platform. He continuously guided the Inner Qi from his Dantian to assault his meridians while periodically tossing a Nine-Turns Essence Rejuvenation Marrow Heart Pill into his mouth.

After an unknown amount of time, just as Chen Li felt a hint of exhaustion...

CRACK!

A crisp shattering sound, seeming to emanate from the depths of his soul, rang out.

In that instant, it was as if a great river had broken its dam, or as if chaos had given way to creation.

The Inner Qi that had been battering his Eight Extraordinary Meridians suddenly converged into one point.

Immediately after, his Twelve Main Meridians offered no more resistance. They were blasted open by the incomparably powerful force, like thoroughly dredged riverbeds, now completely clear and connected.

The ceaselessly flowing Inner Qi encountered no further obstacles. Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, or a galaxy of stars turning in the heavens, it formed a self-sustaining, flawless Inner Qi Circulation.

An indescribable feeling of euphoria replaced the agony, sweeping over his entire body.

Chen Li felt as if he had cast off invisible shackles. His body felt so light he could ascend to immortality. His five senses were magnified infinitely in that moment.

He could clearly hear the faint snap of a withered branch breaking under the snow outside his window, see the trajectory of dust motes falling in the room, and smell the scent of hibernating insects deep within the earth...

Spiritual Sense!

A perception that transcended the mundane had quietly sprouted, like a newborn bud.

Chen Li understood in his heart.

’The first gate of the Spirit Realm, the Meridian Passage, is complete!’

"Fifteen years!"

Chen Li slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long, turbid breath.

Feeling the endlessly flowing, perfectly harmonious Inner Qi within him, as well as the nascent Spiritual Sense that could perceive the most minute details, he couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.

Turning his gaze inward with Introspection, he saw that although his Dantian Qi Sea was somewhat empty from the breakthrough, the very nature of his Inner Qi had undergone a world-altering change. It was purer, more condensed, and carried a trace of spiritual vitality.

Just as his Heart Spirit was immersed in the profound Realm of this breakthrough...

The system that had long been silent in his mind suddenly appeared.

[Congratulations, Host, for breaking through to the Spirit Realm. Reward Issued: Qiankun Qi Wandering Dragon Staff True Intent Map, 20 years of lifespan.]

An indescribable warm current of life force poured into his body out of thin air, nourishing every cell and making him feel light enough to float.

’A True Intent Map?’

Chen Li tried to retrieve the True Intent Map from the system but found that it couldn’t be extracted at all. Instead, it transformed into a stream of light and branded itself deep within his mind.

"What is this?"

In his daze, a profoundly mysterious and complex pattern, seemingly composed of countless flowing starlights, suddenly appeared in his mind.

It was the True Intent inheritance of the Qiankun Qi Wandering Dragon Staff.

He closed his eyes, and his Heart Spirit sank into it.

Instantly, his consciousness seemed to be pulled into a vast, starry sky.

A blurry yet supremely majestic staff shadow flickered in and out of existence amidst the starlight. It was like a Wandering Dragon, soaring through the cosmos, unrestrained and boundlessly agile.

Looking closely, there were no specific forms or routines, only a vast, agile, domineering, and carefree "intent."

But like a living thing, it continuously assaulted Chen Li’s perception.

Immersed in it, time slipped by unnoticed. Chen Li felt his Heart Spirit become unprecedentedly clear and focused, as if it were being repeatedly cleansed by this vast "Wandering Dragon True Intent."

...

「Early morning.」

The snow had begun to melt, and though the air carried a biting chill, it also held a hint of the vitality of the coming spring.

Chen Li stood in the front yard, practicing with his staff.

At this moment, the aura around him was harmonious and restrained, without a trace of sharpness, yet possessed a deep, unshakeable gravity, like a still abyss or a towering mountain.

"Dad, you seem... different somehow?"

Chen Shouheng blinked, having keenly sensed a change in his father, though he couldn’t say exactly what it was.

Over the years, Chen Li had often practiced his Staff Technique in the yard.

Though he had no real form, mostly just fumbling around and practicing randomly.

His family had seen him do it more than once. His eldest son, Chen Shouheng, had even used the stances of the Tiger Subduing Fist to guide Chen Li’s staff practice.

But seeing him at a glance today, he immediately sensed something was off.

"I acquired a Staff Technique on my trip. Watch this."

Chen Li smiled faintly and immediately began to perform the Staff Technique.

The core principle of the Qiankun Qi Wandering Dragon Staff is to guide the staff with Qi and transform the staff into a dragon. It emphasizes the fusion of Inner Strength and technique, using the agile momentum of a Wandering Dragon to generate the might of heaven and earth, of Qiankun.

The Staff Technique had eighteen forms in total. Each one was like a coiling Wandering Dragon, possessing both ferocity and dexterity. On the offense, it was like a dragon’s roar of thunder; on defense, like a dragon hiding in a sea of clouds.

Chen Li suddenly let out a breathy shout, the tip of his staff cutting through the dense fog.

Before the staff arrived, its Qi had already invaded; a pine branch thirty feet away snapped and broke. When he spun around, twirling the staff, he stirred up a vortex of air, and all the fallen blossoms within three feet of him were shredded by the gale.

Suddenly, he leaped into the air, the staff’s shadow splitting into nine streams of Qi Strength, a mix of real and illusory. The sound of it tearing through the air was like a chain of thunderclaps. The nine staff shadows then merged into one in mid-air, and as it slammed down with a crash, the Qi Strength sent a spray of water flying.

As he concluded the form, the tip of his staff tapped lightly, and an invisible domain of Qi formed in the ten-foot area around him.

With that, the Staff Technique demonstration was complete.

"What an amazing Staff Technique!" Shouheng was dumbfounded. He sidled up to Chen Li with a grin and said, "Father, how about you teach me that Staff Technique?"

"Don’t get distracted. Focus on your fist." Chen Li asked, "How far have you progressed in your Tiger Subduing Fist?"

Chen Shouheng replied, "I’ve just reached Perfection, but I haven’t grasped the threshold of Fist Intent yet."

"Fist Intent?"

Chen Li paused. He recalled spending the previous night immersed in learning the True Intent Map for the Qiankun Qi Wandering Dragon Staff and couldn’t help but ask, "How does one cultivate Fist Intent?"

"I don’t know either." Chen Shouheng smacked his lips. "Master said that the fist is born from the heart, and power arises from intent. The forms are dead, but the person is alive. To cultivate Fist Intent, you have to rely on your own understanding of the Fist Technique."

"Then what about True Martial Dao?"

Hearing his eldest son’s explanation, Chen Li felt it was quite different from the True Intent Map, so he pressed further.

"True Martial Dao?" Chen Shouheng scratched his head and thought for a moment. "Wait, I think I heard Master mention it once. He said that after you cultivate Fist Intent, you no longer need to train tangible things, but instead must temper intangible things like your ’spirit.’ But it seems you need to comprehend it through a True Intent Map. I wonder if that’s the True Martial Dao you’re talking about, Father?"