Three days passed in a flash.

Su Yuan maintained a very regular routine.

During the day, he attended lectures by inner sect senior brothers and sisters. No matter what the subject was, he would always be present. Sometimes there were four lectures in a single day, and Su Yuan would attend them all.

In Su Yuan's view, resting was resting no matter where you did it, and the Lecture Hall was the best place to rest. Not only could he accumulate knowledge, but the senior brothers' and sisters' teaching voices were like the best lullabies in the world—Su Yuan slept very peacefully there.

Moreover, the safety there was top-notch, with no need to worry about anything happening, which was an additional advantage.

After lectures ended, he would go to the Scripture Pavilion to read. Some biographical accounts made Su Yuan linger forgetful of time, staying until late at night when the pavilion guard would chase him out before he reluctantly left.

Here, he gained much knowledge, including various methods for handling spirit beast meat and spirit vegetables. His theoretical knowledge became abundant, though unfortunately there was no place to practice—Immortal Seed Valley had no wild game, which was quite a pity.

On this day, Su Yuan returned unusually early.

He sat cross-legged in the cultivation chamber, looking at his system panel.

[Name]: Su Yuan 

[Region]: Green Vine Continent 

[Level]: Unknown (2/100) 

[Realm]: Qi Refining Stage - First Layer (0/100) 

[Effect 1]: Work Hard, Rest Hard: You excel at balancing work and rest. The longer you rest, the better your cultivation effects. Current rest time: 3 days 6.1 hours 

Unconsciously, his rest time had accumulated over three days!

With this much rest time, he could happily cultivate for 4.2 hours!

A full eight hours!

He had been restraining himself for so long—now he could cultivate to his heart's content!

"Activate [Work Hard, Rest Hard]!"

In an instant, the rest time was cleared!

Suddenly, Su Yuan's mind became several times clearer!

All the knowledge he had learned these days began to emerge one by one, quickly being memorized, understood, categorized, organized, and condensed by Su Yuan.

His understanding of cultivation improved rapidly.

In just one hour, he had fully comprehended everything he had seen and heard!

His eyes shone with brightness, and his lips unconsciously curled into a Zhang Wei-style smile.

"Just as I expected—understanding one method truly helps with all others. My comprehension of the 'Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique's' Meridian Rotation has deepened. Things I only vaguely understood before now make complete sense! This will definitely increase my cultivation speed!"

After organizing his theoretical gains, Su Yuan immediately began circulating his spiritual energy through his meridians!

In an instant, nine strands of spiritual energy in his Dantian were mobilized by Su Yuan and began forming into three-colored ribbons, moving through his meridians like swimming dragons.

As they circulated through his meridians, not only did they not cause any damage, but a warm sensation spread wherever the three-colored ribbons passed, actually nourishing his meridians!

The spiritual energy flowed through his meridians swiftly and steadily, agile and lively, passing through meridian after meridian in the span of a breath.

In less than half an hour, the spiritual energy returned to his Dantian, bringing back an additional 33 strands!

His spiritual energy reserves had doubled, increasing from 30 strands to 63!

Su Yuan pressed on, continuing his cultivation.

This time, the Meridian Rotation took even less time!

And the additional spiritual energy brought back increased again, reaching 36 strands!

This growth rate astonished even Su Yuan!

Continue!

The third cycle increased it to 39 strands!

The fourth cycle reached 40 strands!

The more he cultivated, the more Su Yuan's mastery of the technique improved!

But at this point, Su Yuan found it difficult to improve further—not due to any lack of technique proficiency, but because the ambient spiritual energy couldn't keep up with his efficiency!

Su Yuan didn't mind this and simply continued cultivating!

Fifth cycle, sixth cycle—by the time the seventh cycle ended, only one hour of the effect's duration remained.

Su Yuan finally stopped the Meridian Rotation. By now, the spiritual energy reserves in his Dantian had reached 298 strands!

Insane!

Absolutely insane!

This rate of improvement astonished even Su Yuan himself. The effects of the [Work Hard, Rest Hard] effect might even compare to those of a high-grade or top-grade spiritual root.

However, Su Yuan quickly composed himself and moved on to his third cultivation goal.

He immediately began the Spiritual Node construction portion of the "Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique."

A full 90 strands of spiritual energy were mobilized by Su Yuan.

Thirty strands of fire-attribute spiritual energy enveloped thirty strands of wood-attribute energy, forming a swirling vortex that shot into his meridians to impact the first node!

Thirty strands of metal-attribute spiritual energy followed closely behind, waiting for their moment.

The first node was closest to the Dantian and the easiest to break through.

When the fire-attribute spiritual energy arrived, it struck the node's entrance like a volcanic eruption.

The space within the node was rapidly expanded by the fire-attribute energy, which was also quickly being consumed.

Fortunately, the wood-attribute spiritual energy burned itself to both "add fuel to the fire" and replenish the fire-attribute energy's consumption.

When the node had been expanded to a certain size, a squeezing sensation emerged—the node showed signs of automatically recovering.

At this moment, the metal-attribute spiritual energy made its move, rushing to the node's perimeter to form a framework that supported the node's space and prevented it from shrinking back!

The fire-attribute energy shone upon the metal-attribute energy, reducing its sharpness and causing it to melt like liquid into the node's walls, gradually stabilizing it.

With the three attributes of spiritual energy cooperating, the node gradually expanded to a qualified size, then further to an excellent level. By the time the spiritual energy was fully consumed, the Spiritual Node remained perfectly stable, with no signs of rebounding.

Thus, the Spiritual Node was successfully formed!

The node would automatically refine ambient spiritual energy into spiritual power while also serving as additional storage, expanding his reserves—the benefits were numerous!

Su Yuan was exhilarated. When he checked the time, he found that less than half an hour had been consumed, leaving him with plenty of time to immediately start working on a second node.

180 strands of spiritual energy were mobilized this time. Controlling them was somewhat more difficult, but thanks to the effect's power, Su Yuan felt divinely assisted as he mentally guided the energy for his first attempt at breaking through another node!

Fire-attribute energy wrapped around wood-attribute energy for the initial impact, while metal-attribute energy followed to stabilize the node. After more than half an hour of arduous expansion, the second Spiritual Node was finally completed!

This time, not all the spiritual energy had been consumed.

The newly formed second node trembled slightly, showing signs of instability. It had an inexplicable connection with the first node, as if they could link together.

Su Yuan, already well aware of this, channeled the remaining energy into breaking the membrane between them. Once all the energy was expended, the two nodes became interconnected.

Only then was the second Spiritual Node fully completed.

"Constructing Spiritual Nodes isn't easy either!" Su Yuan sighed. "The path of cultivation is truly arduous at every step!"

With only ten minutes of the effect remaining, Su Yuan simply let it go unused, closing his eyes to rest.

When the [Work Hard, Rest Hard] effect disappeared,

Su Yuan rested for another ten minutes before opening his eyes again. He immediately noticed that his senses had sharpened slightly and his body felt refreshed.

Most importantly, the Spiritual Nodes had already begun automatically recovering spiritual energy. Though the rate was slow, the fact that it happened automatically was a victory!

Su Yuan glanced at his system panel, confirming that he wasn't in a cultivation state and could still accumulate rest time—this was very comfortable!

[Name]: Su Yuan 

[Region]: Green Vine Continent 

[Level]: Unknown (2/100) 

[Realm]: Qi Refining Stage - First Layer (66/100) 

[Effect 1]: Work Hard, Rest Hard: You excel at balancing work and rest. The longer you rest, the better your cultivation effects. Current rest time: 0.1 hours 

At this moment, Su Yuan suddenly wondered if he had overdone his cultivation.

"Constructing two Spiritual Nodes already—isn't this progress too fast?"

Su Yuan couldn't help but overthink.

Thus, he got up, left his room, and went next door to knock on Zhang Wei's door.

Before long,

Zhang Wei opened the door, looking at Su Yuan in surprise.

"This is your first time visiting me! What an honor! What brings you here?" Zhang Wei laughed.

Su Yuan said, "I heard bird calls from your courtyard and thought you might have good news, so I came to see!"

Zhang Wei couldn't contain his joy any longer and burst into laughter. "You guessed right! I successfully constructed a Spiritual Node! Haha, I almost failed at first, but fortunately, inspiration struck! I recalled insights from previous lectures and solved the problem! This progress is quite remarkable!"

"Congratulations! How long until you construct your second Spiritual Node?" Su Yuan asked further.

"With the first node's help, another seven or eight days," Zhang Wei said.

Su Yuan frowned slightly. "Then you won't make it for the first cultivation assessment—there are only five days left!"

Zhang Wei waved his hand. "I'm actually fast compared to Zhou Wuyou—that guy won't even attempt it for another two days, and to ensure success, he'll need two more days of preparation before daring his first node construction. I'm way ahead of him!"

That's not fast at all!

Su Yuan immediately said, "This won't do, Zhang Wei!"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Wei asked, puzzled.

"Why do you keep comparing yourself to Zhou Wuyou? You should be comparing yourself to those with mid-grade spiritual roots! Do you know their progress? Can they construct two Spiritual Nodes before the first assessment? Why compare yourself to the weak? Isn't that lowering your own standing?"

Zhang Wei fell into thought upon hearing this.

"True, I've gathered some information on this. There's a disciple who ranked 170th during the Qi Attraction phase—based on his progress, he'll just barely manage two nodes before the assessment. I'm still slightly behind."

Su Yuan sighed in relief. "In that case, push yourself and try two days earlier. If you can reach two nodes before the assessment, that would be ideal."

Zhang Wei looked suspicious. "Why are you so eager for me to form two nodes?"

"We're friends, aren't I? I'm worried you'll have a breakdown later!" Su Yuan said with a bitter smile.

"How could that happen? My mentality is rock-solid!" Zhang Wei's lips curled into another self-satisfied smile. "Among those with low-grade spiritual roots, I'm number one!"

"Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!"

Su Yuan turned to leave. "I'm off to attend lectures—catch you later!"

"Wait!"

"What?" Su Yuan looked back.

"This... this isn't right! Even lecture attendance shouldn't be like this—you're wasting time!" Zhang Wei said bluntly, wanting to advise Su Yuan.

Su Yuan looked at him seriously. "You're a good person! Focus on your cultivation—time is running out!"

With that, Su Yuan left!

Zhang Wei frowned, sensing hidden meaning in Su Yuan's words.

"What's he thinking? Doesn't he cultivate? I'll have a breakdown? I'm more worried he'll be the one breaking down when he drops from 299th to 700th or 800th!"

Zhang Wei muttered quietly.

For some reason, he felt a sudden sense of urgency. His previously relaxed state of mind immediately tensed up, and he hurriedly resumed cultivation.

He cursed inwardly, "I wish he hadn't come to congratulate me!"

Days passed as usual.

Su Yuan continued lingering between the Lecture Hall and Scripture Pavilion—never missing a lecture and getting chased out of the pavilion every night.

Su Yuan actually felt quite fulfilled.

His behavior unexpectedly drew the attention of some disciples, until the ninth day arrived.

The inner sect senior brother who gave the most lectures finally took notice of Su Yuan.

Having given seven lectures, Su Yuan was the only disciple who attended every single one—yet seemed mentally absent each time. Finding this interesting, the senior brother asked a servant disciple about Su Yuan's situation.

"What? He has a triple spiritual root of metal, wood, and fire? And he attended all seven of my lectures on water-attribute cultivation essentials? What was he thinking?"

The inner sect senior brother was deeply shocked, imprinting Su Yuan's name firmly in his mind.

Meanwhile, while reading, Su Yuan heard a system notification.

[Ding! Fame Value +1]

"What? What did I do?" Su Yuan asked the system in confusion.

The system didn't respond.

Su Yuan could only swallow his doubts.

Was the system bugging out?

He shook his head and continued reading.

In the blink of an eye, the tenth day arrived.

One thousand Immortal Seed disciples gathered once more in the plaza—the first cultivation assessment was about to begin!