Two giant forces, one internal and one external, formed an invisible millstone.

It repeatedly crushed, forged, and purified his unrefined Spiritual Power!

Ten minutes.

As the cool energy of the Potion permeated his entire body, Han Feng took off the helmet.

He opened his eyes.

The entire world was impossibly clear.

His Divine Sense was no longer an ethereal mist, but had transformed into a rushing current.

It was formless, yet it possessed astonishing resilience and weight.

[Spiritual Strength: 535]

Han Feng returned to the Shield and began a new round of hunting.

Time slipped by amid the slaughter.

Outside the great hall, the gray mist grew increasingly viscous, almost congealing into tangible darkness.

Han Feng’s figure stood at the center of the storm.

With every flick of his finger, an invisible blade slashed forth.

The movements were so effortless they didn’t resemble a life-or-death struggle, but rather someone casually brushing dust from his shoulder.

Only he knew that beneath this tedious repetition, a drastic transformation was brewing.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the Three-Inch Heart Sword Observation Method was operating at an unprecedented speed.

All his Spiritual Power was madly collapsing inward, condensing, attempting to form that first, world-creating "singularity."

’Just a little more.’

Han Feng’s gaze fell upon the Spirit Bodies trying to penetrate the Shield.

They were no longer a threat.

They were kindling, nutrients, walking bundles of Skill Proficiency.

An octopus-like Spirit Body silently attached itself to the Shield, its body liquefying into a shadow as it squeezed through the weakest gap between the Runes.

Han Feng didn’t even use a sliver of Sword Essence.

He just stood there, his eyes partially closed.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the transparent, inch-long Heart Sword that hovered between illusion and reality suddenly trembled.

’Go.’

A single, pure thought echoed in his soul.

There was no physical movement, no whistling Energy.

The octopus Spirit Body that had just squeezed through the Shield suddenly went rigid, as if viciously pierced by an invisible steel needle.

The next instant, it disintegrated inch by inch in mid-air, turning into primordial Energy Particles before vanishing without a trace.

[Ding! Three-Inch Heart Sword Observation Method - Uninitiated (100/100) Skill Proficiency is now full.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have learned the Skill: Three-Inch Heart Sword (Entry Level). Triggering Skill Implantation.]

In an instant, a torrent of crisp information exploded out of thin air in his mind, washing over every one of his nerves.

How to use intent as a sword.

How to lock onto the "core" of a spirit.

How to unleash the full might of his Divine Sense in a single thought.

Countless profound techniques were now ingrained as his instincts.

Han Feng opened his eyes.

Deep within his pupils, two glints of sword light seemed to flash and vanish, cleaving through the chaos before him.

’So... that’s how it works.’

He looked at a faceless Spirit Body brandishing its claws three meters away, and a thought flickered in his mind.

PFFT.

A muffled sound, so faint it was almost nonexistent.

The Spirit Body’s menacing posture froze. A fist-sized dent appeared on its head out of thin air, and then its entire form exploded into a cloud of ash.

There was no Sword Qi, no flash of light.

A pure Divine Sense kill.

’The range is too short.’

’The effective kill range is only three meters. I have to wait for enemies to get right in my face, which isn’t satisfying.’

’But the upside is that the cost is extremely low, it’s invisible and formless, and it kills in silence.’

"Brother Feng, water!"

Wang Meng’s booming voice from behind interrupted his thoughts.

Han Feng took the water bottle and chugged a large mouthful.

"These bastards outside are dead set on wearing us down to the death."

Wang Meng cursed resentfully, watching the endless horde of beasts outside the Shield. "My ammo box is almost empty!"

"Then stop holding them off."

Han Feng crushed the alloy water bottle with one hand, his voice calm.

"Kill them all, and it will be quiet."

Wang Meng looked at Han Feng’s terrifyingly calm profile and shivered for no reason.

He felt that in this moment, Han Feng was no longer human.

That restrained, sharp aura made his skin prickle.

Wang Meng, knowing what was good for him, ducked his head and slipped away.

Han Feng’s gaze returned to his attribute panel.

[Passive Traits: Heart Clarity and Nature Seeing (Basic Level) Skill Proficiency: 985/1000]

This was the main event of the day.

’If I’m going to grind, I might as well go all out.’

He took a step forward, his body nearly pressing against the inner wall of the Energy Shield.

The countless malicious whispers from the gray mist instantly felt like thousands of steel needles stabbing viciously into his mind.

He was fishing.

Using his own exquisitely "delicious" soul as bait.

Instantly, the gray mist before him roiled violently.

Seven or eight Spirit Bodies of various forms scented the fatal temptation and, as if driven mad, scrambled over one another to pounce from all directions!

Three meters.

Two meters.

One and a half meters.

’Die.’

Han Feng didn’t even lift an eyelid.

Within the reach of his Divine Sense, the formless Heart Sword instantly produced a thousand afterimages!

In that moment, he was like a thousand-armed god-fiend, simultaneously locking onto the spiritual pressure points of all his prey!

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

A series of muffled pops, as dense as raindrops on leather.

The seven or eight Spirit Bodies exploded simultaneously in mid-air, transforming into torrents of incomparably pure energy that were drawn by an invisible gravitational force and surged madly into Han Feng’s body!

[Spiritual Strength +0.5]

[Spiritual Strength +0.6]

...

[Heart Clarity and Nature Seeing Skill Proficiency +5]

[Heart Clarity and Nature Seeing Skill Proficiency +5]

’There!’

The numbers on the panel steadily jumped to [1000/1000]!

BOOM—!

A silent clap of thunder exploded in the deepest recesses of his soul!

The babbling brook of his Spiritual Power instantly transformed into a world-ending deluge, tearing through dams and devouring the heavens and the earth!

This wasn’t an accumulation of quantity.

It was a qualitative leap!

Han Feng felt as if the top of his skull was being brazenly pried open by an incomparably tyrannical force.