Little Ape was incredibly fast, returning in less than two hours. When Lin Yun saw the two Space Rings Little Ape placed before him, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

He extended his Divine Thought into the Space Rings, and his expression instantly changed. He’d struck it rich! These two rings contained not only countless Elixirs but even Spirit Soldiers.

Tang Wushuang’s master’s ring, in particular, held tens of thousands of Low Grade Primordial Stones. He had truly struck it rich.

Because Little Ape had left in a hurry, the paper slips on the Space Rings hadn’t been torn off, so Lin Yun knew they belonged to Tang Wushuang and his master.

"Haha, heaven is truly on my side! Tang Wushuang, I, Lin Yun, will gladly accept your belongings." With a laugh, Lin Yun immediately began to erase their Divine Thoughts from the Space Rings.

Tang Wushuang’s was easy; Lin Yun completely erased his Divine Thought in just a quarter of an hour. His master’s, however, was a different story. Since he was a Primordial Ocean Realm expert, it posed a significant challenge for Lin Yun.

It took a Herculean effort, and only with the support of his two major Cultivation Techniques, but after a full two hours, Lin Yun finally claimed Tang Wushuang’s master’s Space Ring as his own. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Overjoyed with his two new Space Rings and the vast resources they contained, Lin Yun’s heart swelled with a sweetness like honey. He hugged Little Ape, gave it a couple of happy kisses, and praised it repeatedly, "Little Ape, you did a great job! Excellent, excellent."

In stark contrast to Lin Yun’s jubilation, Tang Wushuang and his master were letting out furious roars—especially the master.

The master had been sitting in quiet meditation when he suddenly sensed his connection to the Space Ring being forcibly severed, which made him cough up a mouthful of blood in a fit of rage.

"Who is it?! Who stole my Space Ring?! I will hunt you down!" Continuous roars echoed from the summit of Celestial Net Peak.

Lin Yun wasn’t worried about being discovered. No one would ever suspect him of stealing the rings, since he was supposedly in quiet reflection on Celestial Net Peak himself.

Having inexplicably lost a lifetime of savings, both Tang Wushuang and his master fainted from rage after their furious roaring. This loss was great enough to fill the pair with a lifetime of regret.

The contents of their Space Rings represented years of accumulation, and now they had vanished without a trace. The most infuriating part was that there was nothing they could do about it; they were trapped here and couldn’t even go out to investigate.

For the next few days, Lin Yun cultivated nonstop. He seized every single moment, trying to restore his depleted Elemental Power as quickly as possible.

’The Heaven and Earth Primordial Power here is too thin,’ Lin Yun sighed. ’At this rate, even after I recover my Elemental Power, it’ll be impossible to make even the slightest bit of progress in the next six months.’

Celestial Net Peak was completely unsuitable for cultivation. Besides sitting cross-legged and sensing the sparse Elemental Power, there was nothing else to do here.

He racked his brain, wondering if there was another way to break through that didn’t rely on the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Power.

After a long time, he could only think of one thing: the Qi Essence Pill. It was the only method that came with no side effects.

The problem, however, was that Qi Essence Pills could only be used by Qi Sea Realm Martial Artists. If an Opening Realm Martial Artist consumed one, their body would, without a doubt, explode.

’There’s no other way.’ He was unwilling to waste these six months. Who knew what the situation would be by then? He was in a hurry to rescue his parents; he couldn’t just let them remain under house arrest in the Capital City for the rest of their lives, could he?

After thinking it over and over, Lin Yun finally gritted his teeth and decided to risk it. He couldn’t resign himself to wasting six months for nothing.

He took out a Qi Essence Pill and split it in two. He didn’t dare swallow a whole one, so he would start with half.

He had some confidence in this gamble. First, he possessed a Flawless Flesh Body, which could withstand tens, or even hundreds, of times more Energy than an ordinary person.

Furthermore, his two Unparalleled Techniques, the War God Technique and the Demon Emperor Technique, would be a huge help in refining the Energy from the Qi Essence Pill.

It was because of these trump cards that he dared to take such a risk.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun tossed the half Qi Essence Pill into his mouth. As the Elixir entered his stomach, it instantly dissolved, transforming into streams of pure Energy within his body.

"So rich, so pure..." Lin Yun couldn’t help but exclaim as he felt the Elemental Power from the Qi Essence Pill.

However, as the Elemental Power from the pill flooded his system, his meridians began to throb with a painful, bloating sensation, as if they were about to burst.

Not daring to be careless, he held his breath and focused his mind, beginning to refine the Elemental Power with all his might. His two major Cultivation Techniques activated, and soon, the pill’s Elemental Power split into two streams, which began circulating along different pathways under their guidance.

As it circulated, the bloating pain in his meridians slowly subsided. This was a great sign, and Lin Yun was overjoyed. ’It’s working!’

With the support of this Elemental Power, his cultivation speed was now no slower than it had been in the outside world. After all, even among the Qi Sea Realm students at the Academy, not many could afford to use Qi Essence Pills for their training.

It took him three days to refine half a Qi Essence Pill, but it had a tremendous effect. The Elemental Power in his body, once completely depleted, was now fully restored.

’Incredible. With enough Qi Essence Pills, breaking through to the Ninth Layer of Opening within six months might not be impossible,’ Lin Yun mused with a smile.

With a clear goal in sight, he was naturally filled with motivation. Lin Yun cultivated like a madman every day, and as his body gradually adapted to the Qi Essence Pills, his refining speed grew faster and faster.

Where it had once taken him three days to refine half a pill, after a week, he only needed one. Not even a Qi Sea Realm expert could match such a speed.

If anyone were to find out that Lin Yun, a mere Sixth Layer of Opening Realm cultivator, could not only consume Qi Essence Pills but also completely refine them, the Qi Sea Realm students at the Academy would probably beat their heads against a wall in despair. The comparison was simply infuriating.

「Half a month later.」

In his cave, streams of Elemental Power began to stir restlessly around Lin Yun as he sat in meditation. It was the sign of an impending breakthrough.

’Seventh Layer of Opening, break!’ Lin Yun roared in his mind, mobilizing the Elemental Power in his body to charge the barrier to the next layer.

He had already been assaulting the barrier to the Seventh Layer of Opening for the past three days. Now, with this final charge, a loud BOOM reverberated within his body as the barrier shattered.

As the barrier shattered, Lin Yun immediately tossed another half of a Qi Essence Pill into his mouth. The moment the Elixir entered his stomach, he began to frantically absorb its vast and pure Elemental Power, and his own aura started to surge violently.

Lin Yun was unable to control this violent aura; it was a natural consequence of his breakthrough. The other prisoners confined near his cave felt the disturbance and stared at his location in shock.

"Someone’s actually breaking through here?"

"My god, am I mistaken? It’s possible to break through on Celestial Net Peak? What kind of monster is this?" Shocked voices rose one after another.