Rise of the Alchemy God

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He was ready to feel a sensation similar to what he had experienced when he couldn't break through to the first stage, but instead, he felt that a new path, even broader than the previous one, had opened up before him.

Ethan had no idea what it felt like to cross the threshold separating one cultivation stage from another, but he assumed it was probably something like the sensation he was feeling at that moment.

However, it had to be impossible, especially for people like him with a special physique.

They would have to work a bit harder because they not only had to transition from one stage to another, but also ensure their physique was ready for it, or risk damaging their cultivation base.

After all, the physique was the foundation that would support future breakthroughs, and if it had weaknesses, the foundation would eventually collapse.

Ethan was a bit confused, so he wasted no time and checked his status screen to see what was happening.

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[------------------------------

Name: Ethan

Cultivation: Body Refining (Lvl. 9--> Lvl. 10) MAX

QI: 1000/1000 (+20)

Physique: Heavenly Body of the Sacred Flames

Strength: 90 --> 100 (+1)

Agility: 82 --> 96

Intelligence: 91 --> 100 (+2)

Soul Strength: 128 --> 130

[Shop]

[Storage]

[System points]: 102

-------------------------------]

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Seeing the changes in his statistics, Ethan was momentarily confused.

His stats had clearly increased, but nothing here seemed to justify the sensation he had just experienced.

And there was another thing that seemed a bit strange.

'Why are there statistics in parentheses?'

Ethan knew that if there was a number in parentheses, it probably meant that it was meant to be attributed to him but was being withheld due to some limitations.

For example, when he was still blocked in his cultivation and couldn't enter the first stage, no matter how hard he tried, the extra Qi seemed to be stored somewhere, ready to be collected.

A bit like what was happening now, where 20 Qi seemed to be there but hadn't been given to him yet.

What he didn't expect to see was that even points from his physical attributes had been withheld.

'Wait a minute'

Ethan noticed something strange.

'All attributes, except spiritual strength, didn't seem to be able to surpass the threshold of 100 points.'

Ethan hadn't noticed this before, but seeing that only the attributes that had reached 100 points seemed to present this anomaly.

Doing the math, Ethan concluded that there might also be a maximum limit of attribute points that each attribute could have for each cultivation stage.

This made sense, given that this problem was only occurring now that he had reached the peak of this stage.

But that didn't explain the sensation of having no restrictions that seemed to be present at this moment.

Then his attention was caught by a familiar sound.

DING!

[Congratulations to the host for reaching the peak of Body Refining.]

Seeing this notification, Ethan had a premonition.

'Maybe…'

And to answer his doubts, the next moment, another notification appeared before him.

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[----------------------------------

It is possible to break through to the next stage.

[Cost: 100 Sp]

Do you want to proceed?

Yes/No

----------------------------------]

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"..."

For a moment, the faint breath of air entering the room through the window seemed to stop.

And Ethan, with a face devoid of any expression, seemed to look blankly at what was in front of him.

If Ethan had been drinking something at that moment, he would have likely spat it out all at once.

And why wouldn't he have done so?

At this moment, the system, his cheat code, his golden finger, his manna from heaven, had given him the chance to enter the next stage out of nowhere, without undergoing a trial or any other difficulty one might expect.

Ethan didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that moment.

On one hand, he was happy that the system was only asking for a mere 100 system points to break through. On the other hand, he was a bit unhappy.

It was because he had spent the last month worrying about what kind of trial or requirements he would have to face to advance to the Qi Refining stage.

Bai Yu had previously mentioned that although he wouldn't face many major problems in the lower stages, there would still be some challenges.

But it seemed he wouldn't have to face them, because the system had practically paved the way for him.

Ethan didn't know what was happening, but one thing was certain.

He definitely wouldn't miss this opportunity to make another step forward in his cultivation.

[Yes]

As soon as he pressed the option to proceed, he felt a change occurring in his body.

"Hm? It seems to be coming from my dantian."

Ethan calmed down and focused his attention on the flow of Qi circulating through his body.

He could see that its speed had clearly increased.

By concentrating a bit more, he could see what was happening in his core.

'The Qi is condensing?'

Indeed, in his core, the Qi that had been stored began to become denser and denser.

The Qi present in his body continued to condense until a subtle, almost imperceptible glimmer emerged from it and fell onto the inner surface of his core.

Tip!

'A drop?'

Exactly, a drop,

a drop of condensed Qi.

Just as Ethan wondered what was happening, another drop fell, and then another.

Little by little, all the Qi that had condensed in the core vanished, leaving behind a small amount of liquid that Ethan realized was condensed Qi.

It didn't take Ethan long to understand what was happening.

Over the past year, aside from exploring various methods to aid his cultivation, Ethan had also learned more about the cultivation process itself.

With knowledge of the various stages of cultivation, Ethan had come to understand what happened in the first three stages.

From what he recalled, the first stage of cultivation was to lay the foundation upon which the rest of the cultivation would be built.

In the second stage of cultivation, the focus shifted from the body to the Qi that was accumulated in the dantian.

This Qi, still in gaseous form, would be accumulated several times and refined into what appeared to be liquid Qi.

The process was very similar to how the air high up in the sky condenses into clouds, which then condense further to become water.

The same process was happening at this stage of cultivation.

Here, the Qi was not only being refined but any impurities in it were being removed, rendering it pure Qi, ready to be used by the body for future breakthroughs.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, you know where to do it.

See you tomorrow.