This time, fusing the talents left Yu Fei feeling no sense of depletion. On the contrary, he was in excellent physical condition. The Senluo Jade Fruit had worked so well that he grew suspicious of its origins—it didn’t seem like something worth a mere 500 merit points.

The person who had come to his room last night was, with over ninety percent certainty, Martial Saint Honglian. Yet, he had slept soundly and nothing had happened, so there was no need to be anxious for now.

If a Martial Saint, one of humanity’s peak combatants, bore him any ill will—especially while he was on her home turf—then there was nothing he could do. ’I might as well just lie down and wait for death!’

The key was to find an opportunity to get close to Martial Saint Honglian and use [Insight] to determine what she thought of him. If her intentions were malicious, he would have to find another backer later. Hiding would be pointless.

Martial Saint Honglian was the commander of the Shenxiao Corps, with countless experts at her disposal. If she wanted to target a second-realm nobody like him, she wouldn’t have to lift a finger herself. A single look would suffice.

Suppressing his hidden worries, Yu Fei put on the Holographic Mirror Helmet provided in his room to check his point ranking.

In the first stage, he had ranked 192nd, earning 4,502 points.

In the second stage, Yu Fei finished 17th, earning an additional 4,000 points on top of the 5,000-point reward for clearing it.

This brought Yu Fei’s total points to 13,520, raising his rank to 37th.

According to the rules, the Celestial Pride Positioning Competition offered a total of 42 S-rank positions, 210 A-rank positions, and B-rank positions for all the rest.

These ranks determined a Martial Artist’s initial resource allocation upon entering one of the seven major academies.

While the number of S-rank and A-rank positions seemed high, when distributed among the seven major academies, it meant each top institution would only take in six S-rank and thirty A-rank students.

Yu Fei glanced at the rankings. Among the top 42, there were 29 Inner Qi Martial Artists and 12 third-realm Martial Artists. He was the only one from the second realm.

Next, Yu Fei opened the basic information file on the prodigies. Of the prodigies from the year 838, there were a total of 52 in the Inner Qi Realm and 425 in the third realm—a staggering number. Judged by realm alone, Yu Fei would have ranked somewhere beyond 500th, yet his current point total placed him at 37th.

This meant that in the upcoming point challenge matches, he would be a tempting target for everyone.

According to the rules of the point challenge matches, only those with fewer points could challenge those with more. The winner would claim 20% of the loser’s points. Each person could initiate three challenges a day and was also required to accept three challenges from others.

After the third challenge, the defender gained the right to refuse any further challenges for the day.

The challenge matches would last for five days, meaning Yu Fei would have to endure at least fifteen bouts.

If he lost all fifteen matches, Yu Fei’s point total would drop below 500. Converted to merit points, that wouldn’t even be enough to pay off his debt.

An S-rank position was what every Inner Qi Martial Artist coveted. After all, there were more of them than there were S-rank slots. Worse, there were currently twenty-three Inner Qi Martial Artists who hadn’t secured an S-rank position yet.

Take the show-off king, Zhang Xunyi, for example. The guy hadn’t scored many points in the first stage, and in the second, he’d been hung up to dry for three days. His current point total wasn’t even enough to qualify for A-rank.

But was he weak? An Inner Qi Martial Artist who had grasped Sword Intent... In terms of raw combat power, he could probably rank in the top ten.

A sense of urgency washed over Yu Fei.

However, there was a silver lining. After the second stage, a preliminary rank was assigned based on the current standings. Yu Fei had received an S-rank, and according to the rules, the most his rank could fall was one tier—down to A-rank.

But Yu Fei was determined to keep his S-rank. From what he had observed, some Inner Qi Martial Artists had reached the realm but hadn’t yet learned martial techniques to match their level. He had a chance to win.

Yu Fei decided to test the effects of the Xuanxiao Spirit Body.

The sun had already been up for a while, so he headed directly to the Celestial Star Martial Arts Hall to practice the Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar.

Before his talent upgrade, Yu Fei had faced two major hurdles when practicing the pillar technique.

First, the duration for which he could keep his five viscera "open" was too short. Initially, it was only three hours. Later, with the help of his Pure Yang True Body, he could extend it by another half hour. This was a limitation of his innate aptitude.

Second, the amount of worldly primordial qi he could absorb at once was limited. To put it simply, absorbing this qi was like pumping water from a pond into a bucket. His aptitude was the pipe, and his proficiency with the cultivation technique was the water pressure.

After the talent upgrade, the pipe had gotten thicker, naturally increasing his efficiency.

Now, his absorption speed for primordial qi could increase by at least fivefold.

As he cultivated, Yu Fei gradually began to understand the meaning of true enlightenment—where a single thought could pierce the profound and all techniques seemed to form on their own.

Insights regarding the Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar flooded his mind without pause. His comprehension hadn’t been poor before; he always gained new insights with every practice session, constantly refining his understanding. But now, knowledge was being crammed into his head in an almost violent, illogical fashion.

His mastery of the Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar rocketed toward the level of perfection. If there were a progress bar to show it, Yu Fei’s rate of improvement would be more than ten times what it was before.

As for the effects of the Spirit Body, the description mentioned "a return to primordial creation, unparalleled in its divine wonder." The external manifestation of this was that the activity of his five viscera and their corresponding "mansions" far surpassed their previous levels. The resulting speed at which his supernatural abilities developed was frankly terrifying.

He could previously hear extremely faint sounds, but only within a ten-foot radius. Now, that range was rapidly expanding past thirty feet, and it was still growing.

And it wasn’t just his hearing. His sense of smell, his vision—all the senses linked to his five viscera—were undergoing a heaven-and-earth-shattering transformation.

These abilities didn’t directly enhance a Martial Artist’s attack or defense, but they broadened his foundation, allowing him to handle more complex environments.

But the effects of the Spirit Body went far beyond that. Strengthening his internal organs was just a small fraction of the benefits. The fusion of four red-grade talents had resulted in a comprehensive improvement to Yu Fei’s foundational aptitude, covering enhancements in every conceivable area.

As evening approached, Yu Fei stopped practicing the Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar. His five viscera slowly fell dormant, but he could now "open" them at will.

Now, he too could smugly ask the question, "Is there a time limit for keeping your five viscera open?"

The gap between one prodigy and another could be immense.

Afterwards, he did some basic training drills. A quick comparison revealed his Qi Blood amplification was now at sixfold—slightly stronger than the Chixiao Battle Body. Yu Fei recalled Yan Sea once saying that the prodigy with the most abundant Qi Blood in history had achieved a tenfold amplification, whereas ordinary prodigies ranged between two- and fourfold.

Although he couldn’t compare to the top prodigies in history, he was by no means weak.

His strength was amplified by about threefold, a direct boost to his combat power that he would need some time to adapt to.

As a red-grade talent, the Chixiao Battle Body focused all its amplification effects on Qi Blood and strength, offering no benefit to cultivation. Now, this power had been inherited by the silver-grade Xuanxiao Spirit Body.

Back in his room that night, Yu Fei considered how to further enhance his talents.

He had 208 stardust. It had cost 30 points to open two talent slots, into which he had loaded the Silent Night Hunter and Divine Que Longevity Body.

Fusing the talents had also cost 30 stardust.

He now had 148 stardust left and three unequipped talents.

The two blue-grade talents, [Quick Hands] and [Super Strong Cervical Spine], and the orange-grade talent, Illusory Cicada Star Pupil.

Upgrading a blue-grade talent required 100 stardust.

Yu Fei was faced with a choice.

He looked at the descriptions of the two talents and made his decision.

He had no interest in the ridiculous [Super Strong Cervical Spine] talent at the moment.

In his mental space, Yu Fei opened another talent slot, spending 30 stardust.

Yu Fei breathed a sigh of relief. ’Looks like the cost to open slots is additive, not multiplicative.’

Although the Illusory Cicada Star Pupil was a higher grade, it offered no direct boost to his combat power.

After a moment of consideration, he equipped [Quick Hands]. The increase in hand speed would create a synergy with his Super Speed Reaction talent, providing a more significant boost to his combat power.

A tingling numbness instantly shot through his hands, as if he’d been plugged into a 220-volt socket. Yu Fei’s hands began to shake uncontrollably.

After about ten minutes, the process was complete.

He picked up a pen and twirled it in his fingers. It immediately began spinning like a propeller.

With his neural reaction speed boosted sevenfold by Super Speed Reaction, his hand movements no longer seemed to be in super slow-motion from his perspective.

Reveling in the unprecedented feeling of fluid control, he decided to upgrade [Quick Hands] even further. With it, his swordplay would have a crushing offensive advantage in close quarters.