After finishing a pot of Spirit Tea, Chu Lingguang finally understood. The key to giving his Spiritual Sense Attack Power and defensive capabilities lay in the Qi Vortex within his Sea of Consciousness.

The defensive and Attack Power of his Spiritual Sense, as well as the size of its coverage area, were all related to his Dantian Qi Vortex. The more power his Dantian could supply, the stronger his Spiritual Sense would become.

However, the power supplied by his Dantian couldn’t be forced. The network of Qi was like a dense and intricate system of blood vessels.

Chu Lingguang had to ensure this network could handle the power from his Dantian, converting it into fluctuations to strengthen his Spiritual Power.

As for forming a defense or an attack, that had to be controlled through the Sea of Consciousness.

The method of control was to make the Qi Vortex in his Sea of Consciousness resonate with the Spiritual Sense Fluctuations. Once he could control those fluctuations with his consciousness, Chu Lingguang would be able to generate an attack or defense with his Spiritual Sense at will. He could even use the Spiritual Sense Fluctuations to probe a person’s cultivation level or uncover any hidden issues with their body, just like Xu Zhongguo and Yun Hong.

In short, coming to see Yun Hong had been the right decision.

Chu Lingguang stayed in Yun Hong’s small courtyard until late at night.

In the end, he took the notes with him.

In the days that followed, Chu Lingguang focused single-mindedly on trying to enhance his Spiritual Power and find the resonance point between his Sea of Consciousness and his Spiritual Sense Fluctuations.

The key to enhancing his Spiritual Sense, as he now understood, was through the Dantian Qi Vortex. The strength of the Dantian Qi Vortex, in turn, was closely related to his Inner Power Heart Method.

Therefore, Chu Lingguang divided his time clearly into two parts: one for cultivating the Zhenyuan Technique, and the other for cultivating his Spiritual Sense.

Cultivating the Zhenyuan Technique was mainly to make his Qi Vortex thicker and more powerful. Ideally, it would gain the ability to evolve on its own, allowing him to focus all his attention on forming his Spiritual Defense.

A while ago, Chu Lingguang had already enabled his Dantian Qi Vortex to evolve, thereby establishing his Dantian Foundation. Now, he was just one step away from making the vortex capable of self-evolution.

Through his diligent cultivation and by helping other students, which allowed him to seek guidance from Xu Zhongguo or Yun Hong on cultivation problems and intermittently earn batches of Favor Points, he made significant progress.

「Five days later.」

The information on his panel changed.

Zhenyuan Technique (1009/7000)

(Remaining Lifespan: 125 years)

The value for his Zhenyuan Technique broke past one thousand. At that moment, the Qi Vortex in Chu Lingguang’s Dantian gained the ability to evolve on its own. It could now automatically absorb Bloodline and Qi Blood Power, making the vortex more refined and robust. When Chu Lingguang activated the Zhenyuan Technique, this self-evolutionary ability would strengthen further, allowing it to rapidly refine externally absorbed power and foster the vortex’s growth.

With this, Chu Lingguang could finally spend more time focusing on his Spiritual Sense.

Five days ago, after leaving Yun Hong’s courtyard, he had replied to Guo Wei the very next morning. The letter’s content was very simple, consisting of just one sentence.

Master, your disciple now knows how to follow his own heart. Please rest assured!

In the small town, Guo Wei sighed heavily upon reading Chu Lingguang’s letter. He unfolded a crumpled ball of paper from his desk, revealing densely packed writing.

It was all his response to Chu Lingguang.

The very first sentence strictly forbade Chu Lingguang from going near the Dragon Claw Tree again. It told him not to feel burdened and that he should focus on his cultivation to compete for the top spot.

If Du Wushuang wanted to atone, she should go to the Trial Ground and chop down the Dragon Claw Tree herself. What kind of logic was it to have him do it for her?

He even cursed Chu Lingguang for being a blockhead, not even realizing he was being used.

However, after finishing the letter, just as he was about to put it in an envelope, Guo Wei crumpled it into a ball. As Chu Lingguang’s master, having personally taught him for over two years, he completely understood how his student’s personality had gradually transformed. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He knew it would be easy to make Chu Lingguang back down, but difficult to prevent a shadow from being left on his heart.

If Chu Lingguang had never confronted the Dragon Claw Tree and had just tried to fool Du Wushuang with words, it would have been a simple matter of breaking a promise at worst.

But Chu Lingguang had already faced the Dragon Claw Tree and clearly felt its Consciousness Attack. If he were to be defeated by this, it would be easy for him to get stuck at other hurdles on his future path of cultivation.

A promising sapling might be ruined just like that.

Guo Wei knew in his heart that while talent was crucial in Martial Arts Cultivation, one also needed a heart that could face difficulties head-on with unwavering tenacity. Otherwise, no amount of talent would take you far.

And Chu Lingguang’s talent was not outstanding to begin with.

In Guo Wei’s eyes, a large part of the reason he had come this far was his reliance on the Heart Guarding Skill and his diligent training. If Chu Lingguang’s heart fell into disarray, what would become of his future?

So, in the end, Guo Wei didn’t send the letter. He crumpled it up, tossed it in a corner, and sent back only three words to Chu Lingguang: "Follow your heart!"

Now, upon seeing Chu Lingguang’s reply,

Guo Wei was worried that Chu Lingguang, out of fear, had created a mental block for himself. He was also afraid that Chu Lingguang would charge forward recklessly and pay a terrible price.

For the past few days, he had lost his appetite.

After seeing Chu Lingguang’s reply, he grew even more anxious, unable to eat or sleep. He spent several sleepless nights wondering how to respond. He was afraid of unsettling Chu Lingguang’s heart, but also afraid that he had misjudged him.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was time for the seventh assessment.

Chu Lingguang had been in the Trial Ground for seventy days now.

Recently, besides enabling his Dantian Qi Vortex to evolve on its own, Chu Lingguang’s focus had been on enhancing his Spiritual Power and creating a Spiritual Defense.

Fortunately, he had Yun Hong’s notes to guide him.

Coupled with five days of focused cultivation, Chu Lingguang had vaguely found the resonance point between the Qi Vortex in his Sea of Consciousness and his Spiritual Sense Fluctuations.

As long as he could create that resonance, he would be able to control his Spiritual Power to a higher degree, giving it defensive and even offensive capabilities.

In the afternoon, the results of the seventh assessment were released.

Chu Lingguang was at the Qi Sea Realm, his Qi Vortex could self-evolve, his Dharma Aspect was at the fourth layer, he wielded True Dragon Power, and he even possessed a small Sea of Consciousness. With these strengths, he still ranked among the top students.

However, Xia Tianzhong and the other two were progressing at lightning speed.

All three had already unlocked their fourth-layer Dharma Aspect, mastered True Dragon Power, and their cultivation speed with the Zhenyuan Technique had soared. Their Qi Vortexes could self-evolve, and the vortexes in their Dantians were already showing signs of expanding into a small Qi Sea.

In addition, their Bloodline Levels had all reached high-tier intermediate. In an intangible way, each of them was now significantly stronger than Chu Lingguang.

The assessment ended.

Chu Lingguang walked back toward his small courtyard.

His every step was steady and powerful. The resonance between the Qi Vortex in his Sea of Consciousness and his Spiritual Sense Fluctuations was growing stronger and stronger, and the resonance point was becoming clearer.

Finally, he successfully found the resonance point.

With a single thought, his Spiritual Sense radiated outward. The fluctuations, in his perception, formed a screen of light made of diamond-shaped ripples that completely enveloped him.

This was Spiritual Defense.

As long as he strengthened this defense, he could approach the Dragon Claw Tree again and cut off a branch for Du Wushuang. This would be both fulfilling his promise and crossing that shadow in his heart, allowing his will and Mental Realm to undergo another transformation.

It was a win-win situation.

Others might not understand, but Chu Lingguang knew he had to overcome that shadow.

Fortunately, all his efforts had not been in vain. He could see the hope of overcoming that shadow.

(This is a part of Chu Lingguang’s journey of mental transformation, not some mindless self-pity or convoluted redemption arc.)

(Please trust in my story and watch with me as Chu Lingguang grows, step by step, and becomes stronger, bit by bit.)

(Thank you all, please consider donating!)

(Thank you to Chunhua Qiuyue Bubugao, thank you to reader ...24359, and thank you to every friend! This author’s note is less than 200 characters long, so it won’t be part of the Chapter’s paid word count. Don’t worry!)