The second form, "Add Firewood to the Fire," took about 14 seconds per repetition.

One thousand repetitions took 22 hours.

The third form, "Masterful"...

The fourth form, "Heart Fire Inner Illumination"...

One form after another.

Each form took nearly a full day to complete.

Xu Wuyi was like the most patient miner, chipping away piece by piece, searching for the deep meaning that might be hidden within these basic movements.

The results varied.

After achieving Great Enlightenment with some forms, he could clearly feel a slight benefit to his overall cultivation of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace.

Others yielded minimal returns, merely making that single movement more perfect and efficient.

When he completed the thousand-repetition Great Enlightenment for the tenth form, "Foundation Established," a full ten days had passed.

Xu Wuyi stood in the center of the Cultivation Room, visible white steam rising from his entire body. His skin’s surface glowed with a faint metallic luster.

He slowly relaxed his posture and exhaled a long, turbid breath. The breath shot out like an arrow for more than three meters before slowly dissipating into the air.

His consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness.

On the Martial Arts Diligence Record’s panel, the entry for the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace had been silently updated:

[Martial Arts: Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace]

[Current Realm: Minor Achievement (11.2%)]

[Martial Arts Traits: Heart Fire (Burn)]

[Evaluation: Masterful and deeply rooted.]

Minor Achievement, 11.2%.

Xu Wuyi stared at the number with a complicated expression in his eyes.

Ten days ago, this number was Minor Achievement, 3.8%.

In other words, over these ten days, he had relied on performing "Great Enlightenment" on each of the Ten Beginner Forms to forcibly raise his proficiency in the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace by 7.4 percentage points.

That was an average daily progress of nearly 0.75%.

This speed even surpassed his progress with the Basic Body Refining Technique back when he had just obtained the Martial Arts Diligence Record.

One had to remember that the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace was a B-Level Body Refining Technique, its difficulty far beyond that of a Basic Cultivation Technique.

’But the price...’

Xu Wuyi shook his head, walked to the wall to pick up a vial of Nutrient Liquid, and tilted his head back to drink it.

The thousand-repetition sessions for ten consecutive days were an immense burden on both his body and Spirit.

Even with Deep Recovery Liquid and High-Energy Supplies, he could still feel a bone-deep exhaustion.

It wasn’t physical, but a weariness of his Heart and Spirit.

Ten consecutive days of high-intensity, focused cultivation for nearly twenty-four hours a day had almost wrung him dry.

Fortunately, the rewards were equally immense.

It wasn’t just about the increase in proficiency.

More importantly, during these ten "Great Enlightenment" processes, Xu Wuyi had gained a deeper understanding of the "Great Enlightenment" mechanism itself.

It wasn’t just an enhanced version of "Enlightenment."

If "Enlightenment" was about synthesizing scattered points of knowledge from a learner’s perspective to form one’s own system...

...then "Great Enlightenment" was about directly ascending to the level of the Cultivation Technique’s Creator.

In those torrents of insight, Xu Wuyi had more than once "seen" the thought process of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace’s Creator—or rather, its refiner, Grandmaster Yue Lianshan—as he designed these basic movements.

Why guide the Qi and Blood this way?

Why does this movement need to be paired with this breathing rhythm?

Why must there be a tiny gap in the transition for this form?

Every detail had a profound purpose.

Some were to maximize the training effect, some were to avoid potential risks, and others were to lay the groundwork for more advanced cultivation later on.

’From a learner to an observer... and even a participant.’

Xu Wuyi muttered to himself.

When he examined these basic movements from the "Creator’s" perspective, many designs he had previously taken for granted became imbued with profound meaning.

And once he understood the design philosophy, the efficiency of his cultivation was naturally on a completely different level.

This was also why merely deepening his understanding of the Ten Beginner Forms could cause his overall proficiency in the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace to soar.

Because these ten forms were the "foundation" of the entire Cultivation Technique.

The more solid the foundation, the faster you can build the floors above.

’Unfortunately, this perspective shift only works for Martial Arts that I’ve already practiced to a certain level of proficiency.’

Xu Wuyi quickly realized the limitations of "Great Enlightenment."

If he hadn’t even mastered the basic framework of a Martial Art, he wouldn’t be able to understand the design philosophy even from the Creator’s level.

It was like showing advanced calculus formulas to someone who had never studied math; they would be completely lost, not even knowing what the symbols meant.

’Time to return to a normal cultivation rhythm.’

Xu Wuyi made his decision.

’Great Enlightenment’ can be used as an occasional accelerator, but not as the primary method for daily cultivation.

The former was a top-down breakthrough, while daily cultivation was about laying a solid foundation. The two weren’t contradictory.

...

「The next morning, at five o’clock.」

Xu Wuyi woke up right on time.

He didn’t immediately begin cultivating, but first spent an hour on the Heart Fire Refining Spirit Visualization.

’I’ve recovered well.’

Compared to his state of spiritual exhaustion ten days ago, he was much better now.

It seemed that although "Great Enlightenment" was immensely draining, repeatedly pushing his limits had the benefit of improving his spiritual resilience.

After a simple breakfast, Xu Wuyi walked into the Cultivation Room.

He didn’t plan on doing any thousand-repetition sessions today. Instead, he returned to the most basic daily cultivation.

He practiced the eighteen movements of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace’s Entry Level section, one by one.

His movements were fluid, his Qi and Blood surging.

The Heart Fire burned quietly in his Dantian, flaring up and then retracting with the changes in his movements.

Once, twice, three times...

When he completed the eighteenth repetition, a notification popped up in his sea of consciousness:

[Standard Cultivation Completed for Today: 18 times]

[Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace Current Realm: Minor Achievement (11.3%)]

It had only increased by 0.1%.

But Xu Wuyi wasn’t disappointed.

This was the normal speed.

Cultivating a B-Level Cultivation Technique at the Minor Achievement stage was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. To make this much progress was already a testament to his deep foundation.

Any other Martial Artist would be lucky to advance 0.1% in a month.

’Continue.’

Xu Wuyi didn’t pause, beginning the second round of cultivation.

This time, he wasn’t pursuing speed, but instead tried to integrate some of the insights gained from "Great Enlightenment" into his movements.

Adjusting a minute angle, changing the flow rate of Qi and Blood in a certain spot, holding a transition for half a second longer...

These were all "optimization plans" brought about by the Creator’s perspective.

After all, everyone’s physical condition is different. What was suitable for the Creator wasn’t necessarily suitable for everyone.

This was one reason why many Martial Artists from prominent families often progressed faster than others when cultivating the same technique, even without relying on resources.

They had elders in their families who were familiar with the Cultivation Technique and could "tailor-make" it for them, correcting certain details for extraordinary results.

When he completed the second round, his proficiency jumped another 0.1%.

11.4%.

A trace of satisfaction flashed in Xu Wuyi’s eyes.

Just like that, the entire morning slipped away in cultivation.

At twelve noon, Xu Wuyi stopped right on time.

He walked to the control console, ready to have Anna prepare lunch.