Xu Wuyi sat cross-legged and sank his consciousness into his Dantian.

The dark golden Heart Fire burned quietly, stable and restrained.

Following the technique, Xu Wuyi began to guide his Spiritual Power into the Heart Fire for refinement.

Unlike before, this time he could clearly feel that the interaction between his Spiritual Power and the Heart Fire was much more "in sync."

As he probed the Heart Fire with a separated thread of Spiritual Power, it still brought searing pain. But amidst the agony, Xu Wuyi could more clearly perceive the process of impurities being eliminated and every subtle change as his Spiritual Power was tempered and condensed.

He even began to try and infuse his understanding of "mountain" and "immolation," along with the sharp intention of the "pierce" from his Spear Technique, into his Spiritual Power as it was being refined by the Heart Fire.

This was not a simple Visualization, but a much deeper level of refinement, using his spirit as a medium to merge his Martial Arts Will with his Heart Fire.

It didn’t go smoothly at first.

The infusion of his Martial Arts Will made the structure of his Spiritual Power more complex, and the difficulty of the refinement increased sharply.

Several times, the thread of Spiritual Power disintegrated within the Heart Fire, unable to withstand this composite refinement, causing a backlash of pain even more intense than usual.

But Xu Wuyi didn’t give up.

He adjusted his method, gradually feeling his way toward the right proportion and rhythm.

When he failed, he started over. When it hurt, he endured.

After an unknown amount of time, a thread of Spiritual Power—infused with the weight of "mountain," the ferocity of "immolation," and the sharpness of "pierce"—finally completed a full cycle of refinement within the Heart Fire.

When this thread of Spiritual Power was withdrawn from the Heart Fire, Xu Wuyi felt an unprecedented "texture" to it.

It was more condensed and resilient, as if it had been imbued with a unique "personality"—a blazing intensity within its stability, a sharp edge hidden within its blaze.

And as this special thread of Spiritual Power returned to him, Xu Wuyi clearly felt his perception of his surroundings, his control over the Qi and Blood in his body, and even his understanding of the Shocking God Spear all increase by a small degree.

The efficiency of Heart Fire Refining Spirit had increased by at least thirty percent!

’As expected, Spiritual Cultivation and Martial Arts Will complement each other,’ Xu Wuyi realized.

The deeper his understanding of Martial Arts, the more resilient and distinctive his Spiritual Will became. In turn, the enhancement of his Spiritual Will promoted his comprehension and execution of Martial Arts.

It was a virtuous cycle.

But what puzzled Xu Wuyi was that even so, Heart Fire Refining Spirit had not appeared as a separate cultivation technique in the Martial Arts Diligence Record, nor did it show a number of effective daily uses.

’If that’s the case, how am I supposed to achieve Enlightenment?’

He hadn’t paid it much mind before, but after receiving guidance from Teacher Han, Xu Wuyi became more and more determined to investigate the issue.

After pondering it deeply, he came up with a theory.

’Back when I was cultivating the Mountain Shifting Technique, a number of effective uses did appear. But that was on the condition that it was recorded in the Martial Arts Diligence Record as an independent cultivation technique.’

’But Heart Fire Refining Spirit is different. It’s essentially just a part of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace, one of its Chapters, not an independent cultivation technique...’

’No, that’s not right either.’

’After all, when I was cultivating the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace, even a single stance from the Beginner Stage could generate "effective cultivation." There’s no reason Heart Fire Refining Spirit shouldn’t be able to.’

’Unless... this Visualization Method is incomplete?!’ A thought suddenly struck Xu Wuyi, making his heart skip a beat.

This was actually the most common reason for cultivation not being considered "effective"—the set of movements was incomplete.

’For example, with the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace, once I reached the Entry Level, it was a set of eighteen movements as a whole that was considered effective cultivation.’

’This suggests that the Martial Arts Diligence Record’s judgment is based more on whether a set of movements is complete, not whether it’s an independent cultivation technique.’

’The only difference is that a non-independent technique just isn’t listed separately.’

Once this idea appeared, it took root in his mind like a seed.

Xu Wuyi stood up and walked over to the control panel in the Cultivation Room.

A soft white light turned on automatically, and Anna’s virtual avatar materialized in mid-air.

"Anna, pull up the cultivation technique database for the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace and check if it contains any other Spiritual Cultivation Techniques besides Heart Fire Refining Spirit," Xu Wuyi ordered directly.

"Detecting that you have already redeemed this cultivation technique. Permission verified. Now searching..." Anna’s voice was steady, and a stream of data flickered rapidly in her eyes.

A few seconds later, she looked up. "Search complete. According to the records in the Star Martial University cultivation technique library, the complete B-level version of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace contains two Spiritual Cultivation Techniques." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Xu Wuyi’s pupils contracted.

"Two?"

"Yes." Anna nodded and waved her hand, unfurling a light screen in the air. Dense text and meridian circulation diagrams appeared on it.

"The Heart Fire Refining Spirit that you are currently cultivating is the first volume. Its main function is to refine Spiritual Power, separating the wheat from the chaff, to enhance Spiritual Strength and resilience."

"The second volume is called Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit."

The text on the light screen automatically scrolled and focused on the latter half.

Xu Wuyi focused his gaze on it.

The text was even more obscure and profound than that of the first volume. The involved meridian pathways were also more complex, and many nodes were marked with a red warning: "Attempt only with Spiritual Strength of level 37 or higher."

"Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit..." Xu Wuyi muttered the name, a sharp glint in his eyes. "What does it do?"

"According to the cultivation technique’s description, the core function of Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit is to use the Heart Fire as a catalyst to condense and shape Spiritual Power that has been refined to a certain strength, ultimately forming a ’Heart Image Prototype’."

Anna explained, "This is a critical step for a Martial Artist to advance from the Martial Master Realm to the Innate Martial Artist Realm."

A Heart Image Prototype!

Xu Wuyi was shaken.

He remembered his teacher, Han Mo, mentioning that the reason Innate Martial Artists were so powerful was their ability to condense a "Heart Image" in their sea of consciousness.

It was a tangible manifestation formed from a high-level fusion of one’s Martial Arts Will, Spiritual Power, and Life Energy.

Once the Heart Image appeared, a Martial Artist’s combat prowess would undergo a qualitative transformation.

"The normal cultivation process is for a Martial Artist to first raise their Spiritual Strength to level 37 or higher, and only then begin cultivating Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit to use this technique to condense a Heart Image Prototype."

Anna continued.

"The cultivation technique library has permission restrictions. The content of the second volume is only unlocked when the cultivator’s Spiritual Strength is detected to have met the requirement."

Xu Wuyi fell silent for a moment.

He finally understood.

’The reason Heart Fire Refining Spirit wasn’t listed separately in the Martial Arts Diligence Record was because it was incomplete.’

’It was only the first half of the Spiritual Cultivation Chapter of the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace.’

’The core function of the first half was "refinement"—it was about building a foundation, a quantitative accumulation.’

’The key to the qualitative transformation lay in the second volume, Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit.’

’Only when the two parts were combined did they form a complete Spiritual Cultivation technique.’

Xu Wuyi looked at the red warning labels on the light screen, his thoughts racing.

His Spiritual Strength was currently just over level 30, a considerable gap from level 37.

If he followed the normal process, he would need at least several months, maybe even longer, to reach the threshold for cultivating Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit.

"Anna," Xu Wuyi began, his voice steady, "what would be the consequences if I were to cultivate Heart Fire Concentrating Spirit ahead of schedule?"

The data stream in Anna’s eyes flickered again as she appeared to be calling up a massive database for analysis.