Two months flew by. By the end of December in Yuntai City, the weather had turned completely cold.

Light snow occasionally drifted past the window, landing on the Energy Shield of the Hidden Dragon Garden villa complex. It melted into damp spots that were quickly evaporated by the temperature control system.

Xu Wuyi hadn’t left Villa No. 7 in a long time.

He hadn’t bothered to keep track of exactly how long it had been.

Time in the Cultivation Room seemed to flow differently from the outside world. The rising and setting of the sun and moon were only glimpsed during occasional breaks in his meditation.

For the past two months, he had hardly stepped outside.

No extra resources were exchanged, no missions were undertaken.

Aside from replenishing his depleted stock of Earth Fire Marrow through the campus logistics system, he rarely even opened the points exchange interface.

All external pursuits were temporarily set aside.

What he needed to do was fully digest and internalize everything he had accumulated: the life-and-death battles in Red River City, the extreme confrontation with Hong Nianyi’s Illusion, the insights gained from sparring with Chu Shanhe, and the new perspective brought by the initial fusion of his "Mountain" and "Burn" True Intentions.

The process took longer than expected, but the rewards were substantial.

Within his sea of consciousness, the Nine-Turn Heart Fire burned quietly. The domain of his Spirit steadily expanded under constant Visualization.

He could clearly feel that his Spiritual Strength had decisively crossed a certain threshold, now comparable to that of an ordinary Level 35 Martial Master.

This was the huge advantage granted by *Heart Fire Refining Spirit*, and it was the source of his confidence in slowing the rate of his Life Energy Level’s growth.

In contrast, the growth of his Life Energy Level had indeed slowed significantly.

The time it took to go from Level 32.5 to 33.0 was longer than any previous breakthrough.

The refinement requirements for his Qi and Blood were getting higher and higher. Even with the aid of Earth Fire Marrow, operating the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* felt like pushing an increasingly heavy millstone.

But Xu Wuyi wasn’t anxious.

Teacher Han Mo had reminded him early on that cultivation in the Martial Master Realm was a completely different concept from the Martial Artist Stage.

The Martial Artist Stage was for laying a foundation, opening meridians, and accumulating Qi and Blood. Every increase in Energy Level was accompanied by a significant leap in physical fitness.

But upon reaching the Martial Master Realm, the focus shifted more toward refining, controlling, and deepening one’s existing power.

Many people found their progress slowing abruptly after entering the Martial Master Realm, some even stagnating at a certain Energy Level for long periods to repeatedly polish their foundation.

Worse, some who rushed for quick results with an unstable foundation would find their Qi and Blood becoming superficial and their Energy Level dropping instead of rising.

Xu Wuyi’s foundation was extremely solid, and with the backing of his dual True Intent Fusion, there was naturally no risk of regression.

But this "slowdown" was precisely an indication that his cultivation had entered a deeper stage—every wisp of growth in his Qi and Blood was accompanied by a more profound understanding of the essence of his power.

He planned to advance steadily like this until he neared Level 35.

Level 35 was a minor watershed in the Martial Master Realm.

The qualifications for many special missions and mystic realm explorations with Energy Level restrictions were set at the Level 35 threshold.

At the same time, it was a key node where Spiritual Power and Qi and Blood would further intertwine, allowing one to begin making initial contact with the embryonic form of a "Heart Image."

At that point, he could go out and take on a large number of missions, efficiently earning points with his superior Spiritual Perception and combat ability to exchange for the key resources needed for the latter half of the Martial Master cultivation.

The snow outside grew a little heavier.

Xu Wuyi opened his eyes, ending his morning’s practice of the *Shocking God Spear*.

The tip of his spear drooped to the floor as the faint, circulating aura of stability and scorching heat around him slowly receded.

After two months of consolidation, his Mountain Peak Great Sun Realm was close to being able to manifest. It was also stably integrated into his Spear Techniques, imbuing his every move with a heavy, oppressive feeling and an internally contained explosiveness.

He walked to the control console, took the warm water Anna handed him, and casually turned on his communicator.

A few unread messages blinked on the screen.

Most were updates from the six-person squad’s group chat.

Xu Wuyi glanced at them, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

’As expected, they’ve all broken through.’

The threshold to the Martial Master Realm was quite difficult for ordinary Martial Artists, but for the geniuses of the six-person squad, it was only a minor hurdle.

They might get stuck for a while, but they wouldn’t be stopped completely.

He simply sent congratulatory messages to each of them, but his focus remained on his own cultivation.

"Anna, bring up a comparison of my training data from the last two months."

A light screen unfolded before him, displaying a dense array of data curves.

The curve for his Spiritual Strength showed a steady rise, now stable at around Level 35.2. Its growth had slowed slightly but was still considerable.

The Life Energy Level curve, however, showed a distinct step-like pattern, climbing slowly but firmly from Level 32.5 to 33.0.

At his current pace, he estimated it would take about two months to reach Level 34, and he probably wouldn’t touch the Level 35 threshold until March or April of next year.

Qi and Blood Refinement Level, Nerve Reaction Speed, True Intent Fusion Stability... all the detailed metrics showed varying degrees of improvement.

The most significant was his Practical Combat Score.

In the Red Star challenge space, his win rate against the Nine Stars Stele Illusion had clearly improved.

Facing Hong Nianyi’s Illusion again, he had gone from an initial win rate of less than 50% to now being able to secure victory consistently.

This meant that, excluding factors like the explosive power of his [Undying Flame] and Mountain Peak Great Sun Realm, his regular combat strength was already firmly in the upper-middle tier of geniuses below Level 35 in Red Star’s history.

’It’s not enough.’

Xu Wuyi closed the light screen.

He wasn’t aiming for a high evaluation in "history," but to be at the pinnacle in the "present" and to surpass it in the "future."

His break was over.

He walked back to the center of the Cultivation Room, but instead of immediately picking up his spear, he sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began Concentrating his Spirit.

His consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness.

At the point where his "Mountain" and "Burn" True Intentions merged, a speck of golden-red light floated quietly like a seed. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Two months of nurturing and organizing had stabilized this nascent fused True Intention, making it no longer as turbulent and erratic as it had been at first.

He tried to gently immerse his thoughts into that speck of light.

In an instant, a peculiar sensation spread out.

It was no longer the simple weight of the mountain, nor the pure intensity of the fire, but a vast Mental Realm of "bearing light and heat, gestating life."

It was as if he had become an ancient mountain, enduring the turn of the sun and moon, the wind, frost, rain, and snow, while deep inside, an undying earth fire was constantly gestating, waiting for the moment to erupt.

In this state, his control over his own Qi and Blood reached an unprecedented level of precision.

The flow of every strand of Qi and Blood, every beat of his heart, and even the subtle energy metabolism at the cellular level were all clearly rendered in his perception.

The operational pathways of the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* appeared exceptionally clear under this Introspection, and some previously vague key points suddenly became apparent.

With a slight shift of his will, he adjusted the speed and pressure of his Qi and Blood circulation in several places.

The next moment, a low hum echoed from within his body.

His originally stable Qi and Blood suddenly accelerated, like a river changing its course, and surged into several minor meridians that had been underutilized before.

What followed was a distinct burning sensation and a faint, swelling pain.

But Xu Wuyi’s expression remained unchanged. His Spiritual Power, like the most precise controller, firmly governed the force and scope of the Qi and Blood’s impact.

Ten minutes later, the impact gradually subsided.