You adjusted yourself to the optimal state.

You sat cross-legged under a peach tree and quickly entered cultivation mode.

Although you had mentally prepared yourself, knowing that the ninth condensation would definitely not be easy,

it was only when you personally began cultivating that you realized just how damn difficult it truly was!

For a whole half year, you made no progress whatsoever.

You found that continuous cultivation had lost all meaning, no different from sitting idly.

You began to cultivate intermittently.

During the intervals of condensing true qi, you started practicing your body technique.

One year later,

in the fifty-third year,

your Phantom Phoenix Steps reached complete proficiency.

Your speed became absurdly fast.

Originally standing in front of the dog kennel without any visible movement, the next moment, you appeared beside the pigpen.

This teleportation covered more than two meters in distance.

Moreover, the afterimage in front of the dog kennel lingered for half a breath before slowly dissipating.

Phantom Phoenix Steps was just a top-tier body technique; you couldn’t imagine how powerful the sect’s signature body technique must be.

“Ninety-eight is already at this level; three-nine-eight has to be able to take off!”

Your eyes shone brightly, eagerly awaiting the chance to get your hands on the sect’s signature body technique for practice.

After mastering Phantom Phoenix Steps, you continued condensing true qi.

Half a year later,

your ninth attempt at condensing true qi still failed.

But another problem emerged.

Because you kept condensing true qi, your Wild Heaven Saber Technique cultivation at the Skin Refining Peak was barely under control.

It was already extremely close to breaking through to Bone Tempering.

You finally encountered the troublesome blessing of automatic cultivation level upgrade.

You gritted your teeth and persevered.

While suppressing the cultivation level that was about to break through, you worked hard to condense true qi.

You regretted having fully retrained up to the Skin Refining Peak; you should have stopped at the late stage instead.

But now it was too late; you could only passively face the inch-by-inch stopping challenge.

In the fifty-fourth year, you finally felt for the first time signs of true qi beginning to condense.

You knew this time you had finally taken the right path.

From then on, it was only a matter of time.

You worked even harder cultivating the Nine Condensations Profound Skill, condensing true qi.

In the fifty-fifth year,

you turned seventy years old.

Although you had passed your seventies, your appearance remained youthful, looking no older than in your twenties.

Your face was full of collagen, still that famous handsome young man known across miles of countryside.

This was the benefit brought by cultivating martial arts.

One day, while you were cultivating in the courtyard,

suddenly,

a movement stirred in your heart.

A bright light flared in your eyes.

The true qi inside your body suddenly compressed and condensed; its form began to change.

The free-floating true qi inside started to merge and gather.

The gaseous true qi began to transform into liquid.

Before long, all true qi transformed into liquid form.

You finally completed the ninth true qi condensation at the Skin Refining realm!

“Roar—”

You howled to the sky.

A wild, unrestrained aura surged upward.

The poultry in the yard and the wild birds and beasts outside all cowered trembling on the ground,

as if confronted by the absolute overlord of the forest.

The liquefied true qi caused your combat power to skyrocket.

The amount of true qi in your body was more than five hundred times that of an ordinary Skin Refining Peak martial artist!

Even if you crossed two realms, you were absolutely confident you could defeat a martial artist at Marrow Washing Peak using your Skin Refining Peak cultivation.

“True qi actually liquefied…”

You knew this was a change that only happened at the Essence Refining realm.

“Skin Refining, Bone Tempering, Marrow Washing, Organ Fortifying, Essence Refining…”

You had advanced four realms ahead to liquefy your true qi.

You found it utterly incredible.

After the shock, you began cultivating the Wild Heaven Saber Technique again.

But rather than cultivation, it was more like no longer suppressing your cultivation level.

Your true qi surged, and the Wild Heaven Saber Technique directly broke through to early-stage Bone Tempering.

Once the Wild Heaven Saber Technique reached Bone Tempering, your true qi surged tens of times again.

Moreover, your bones, which had already partially turned to jade, were tempered once more.

Just a bit more and they would reach the fully jade-like state of late-stage Bone Tempering.

Your combat power underwent a qualitative leap once again.

After retraining to early-stage Bone Tempering, you did not linger at all.

You directly began condensing true qi at the Bone Tempering realm.

The cultivation of Nine Condensations Profound Skill needed to start early, to avoid not having finished nine condensations after the major realm promotion.

In the fifty-seventh year,

with the experience of nine extreme condensations at the Skin Refining stage, you now condensed true qi much faster.

In less than two years, you had condensed true qi three times, a very impressive speed.

Moreover, you clearly felt Nine Condensations Profound Skill improving your martial talent.

To be honest, you were now a moderately sized martial arts prodigy.

Your martial talent was almost on par with Wang Yuanyi.

As a seventy-two-year-old prodigy, you were very happy.

Because martial talent could also be brought back to reality from the simulator.

The fifteen-year-old you in reality was truly a prodigy.

You had cultivated continuously for over ten years.

That day, you decided to go out fishing for a while.

You arrived at a wide river not far from your small courtyard.

The giant gorillas, hippos, elephants, and other wild beasts drinking around the river scattered immediately upon seeing you sit by the riverbank with a bucket.

They had been frightened by the breakthroughs occasionally emanating from your small courtyard over these years.

Their fear of you had long been etched into their subconscious.

The beast herd fled with a rumbling roar.

“Good, they ran off. Better not to disturb the nest.”

You cast your fishing line, leisurely enjoying your fishing.

This river had no human fishing activities, so there were many fish, all huge and plump.

Wild fish were not like those in fishing grounds.

Wild fish had never been caught before; they bit as soon as they saw bait, making them very easy to catch.

The fish in fishing grounds were very cunning, each with their own tricks.

The most basic skill was to only eat the bait without biting the hook.

A more advanced skill was eating the bait and then tugging on the fishing line to remind you to add bait quickly.

Those pesky fish in fishing grounds treated your carefully mixed bait like an all-you-can-eat buffet, extremely rude.

By contrast, these little wild fish outside were much cuter.

In less than an hour, your fish basket was almost full.

You couldn’t possibly eat that many.

You planned to hollow out a large blue stone to make a big water tank and keep the surplus fish alive.

You packed up and headed home.

Another day full of harvest.

“Big girl, grab a handful, grab a handful, some melon seeds~”

“Young man showing that black hair, that black hair, those black hair pants~”

You hummed a cheeky little song while walking back to the small courtyard.

Suddenly,

your figure vanished abruptly from where you stood.

The fishing rod and gear dropped to the ground.

When you reappeared, you were already on the opposite side of the river.

In your hands was a little girl about eight or nine years old.

The girl was dressed simply, her fair and tender face full of fear, with big round eyes brimming with tears.

“Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going?!”

You immediately fired off three ultimate questions.

The little girl was clearly scared, only able to whimper and pout, repeatedly murmuring through tears, “I... my name is Xiaoxuan... Xiaoxuan is my name... Xiaoxuan...”

“Xiaoxuan! Where are you?!”

“Xiaoxuan!”

“Come out quickly, Xiaoxuan!!”