Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 23 Breaking Through to the Mid-Stage, Expanding the Universe Again

Lin Yan woke up naturally after a good night's sleep, feeling refreshed and invigorated. Recalling the various plans and arrangements he had made last night, the pressure he had felt due to the unknown and the immense responsibility seemed to have been lifted off his feet, leaving him feeling relaxed and confident.

He got up, walked to the quaint little wooden house in the corner, and pulled out Xiao Qi, who was sleeping sprawled out and even snoring softly. The little guy opened his eyes groggily, saw Lin Yan, and instinctively tried to snuggle into his arms.

Lin Yan smiled, and with a thought, he instantly entered the Qiankun Realm with it, appearing directly in the sandalwood cultivation pavilion by the spirit spring. He gently placed the still drowsy Xiao Qi back on the soft cushion in the small courtyard bedroom, letting it continue sleeping. Xiao Qi grumbled, turned over, and fell into a deep sleep again. This little guy, who never slept when commanding puppets in the space, always had boundless energy, had learned the human "hobby" of sleeping quite well since his trip with Lin Yan, becoming increasingly human-like.

After settling Xiao Qi in, Lin Yan returned to the pavilion. He placed the first-grade top-quality spirit-gathering array plate under the futon, and took out several top-quality spirit stones, embedding them into the grooves of the array plate.

Looking at these spirit stones, Lin Yan couldn't help but sigh again, "Our ancestor is too generous... giving a mere Qi Refining cultivator like me top-grade spirit stones as cultivation resources..." Little did he know that when the Lin family ancestor crafted the Qiankun Stabilizing World Plate, his cultivation and status had already reached the pinnacle of the God Realm. Ordinary spirit stones from the mortal realm were beneath his notice, deemed too impure in their spiritual energy. These top-grade spirit stones were collected by our ancestor during his travels through various mortal realms, extracting them from the finest spiritual veins, all to ensure the successor's foundation was incredibly stable. Such considerations were naturally beyond the comprehension of Lin Yan, this "little Karami."

Preparations were complete. Lin Yan sat cross-legged on the futon, feeling the faint, profound Daoist aura emanating from the Enlightenment Tea enveloping his body, quickly calming his mind. He once again carefully reviewed the cultivation path of the fourth level of Qi Refining in the "Qiankun Creation Technique" in his mind.

"I will not leave this seclusion until I break through the fourth level!" he vowed.

With a slight movement of his divine sense, he activated the array plate beneath him.

"Buzz—"

With a soft hum, the embedded top-grade spirit stone suddenly lit up, and the extremely pure spiritual energy exploded as if it had been detonated, instantly turning into a mist within the small cultivation pavilion, so dense that it almost became liquid! This spiritual energy did not require deliberate guidance; it spontaneously surged into Lin Yan's meridians through the pores of his entire body.

Lin Yan immediately focused his mind and circulated his cultivation technique with all his might, guiding the mighty yet gentle torrent along the predetermined route to circulate through his body, refining it into his own unique eight-attribute spiritual power, which then flowed into his dantian.

Time passed silently within the space. What might have been a fleeting moment outside was two and a half years within the space. Lin Yan finally refined his newly acquired spiritual power, and his cultivation naturally reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining.

He stopped circulating his cultivation technique, took out the jade slips containing common cultivation knowledge again, and carefully read through the key points recorded about breaking through from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

"I see... The leap from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining is called the transition from the early to the middle stage. Even in ancient times when spiritual energy was abundant, there was a small bottleneck." Lin Yan understood. This was why he prepared to double the amount of spirit stones.

He then took out the white jade bottle containing the Marrow Cleansing Pill, uncorked it, and poured out the fourth pill.

Taking a deep breath and adjusting his state to its best, Lin Yan's eyes flashed with determination as he opened his mouth and swallowed the top-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill!

The familiar, tearing pain swept through his body once more. The medicinal power of the Marrow Cleansing Pill forcefully cleansed every inch of his meridians, widening and strengthening them, and eliminating deeper impurities. At the same time, the massive amount of pure spiritual energy provided by the array plate beneath him surged into his dantian like a flood bursting its banks, following closely behind the medicinal power!

To advance from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining, an ordinary cultivator needs to expand their dantian space from a radius of three zhang to six zhang, doubling its size. However, Lin Yan cultivates the "Qiankun Creation Technique" and possesses eight spiritual roots, so his basic requirement is twelve zhang! Furthermore, it will slowly expand on its own after a breakthrough.

At this moment, his dantian was like a battlefield, with eight different types of uncontrolled spiritual energy running rampant like wild horses, causing chaos and upheaval!

Lin Yan, enduring immense pain from both internal and external troubles, concentrated all his divine sense and began the arduous process of sorting through the secret techniques recorded in the cultivation method:

First, guide the spiritual power of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—in a generating sequence (wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood) to slowly swirl, eventually forming a stable and enormous five-colored radiant ring.

Next, he condensed and compressed the three different elemental spiritual energies of ice, wind, and lightning, transforming them into three solid "spiritual cables" that shimmered with purple, cyan, and white light.

The most crucial step has arrived! Using his divine sense as a guide, he carefully and forcefully "welded" one end of the three "spiritual cables" together, forming a stable three-way node. Then, manipulating this node, he gently placed it at the center of the Five Elements Aura, and evenly "welded" the ends of the three "spiritual cables" to the inner circle of the Five Elements Aura, dividing it precisely into three equal parts!

From a distance, the scene within his dantian became extremely strange—a huge five-colored halo slowly rotated, with a stable three-colored node at the center, from which three optical cables extended and connected to the halo. The overall structure subtly revealed a sense of precision from modern industry, somewhat resembling the logo of a famous car brand, yet it also contained profound Daoist charm.

"Now!" Lin Yan shouted in his heart, abruptly withdrawing the divine sense power that was maintaining the structure!

"boom--!!!"

It was as if a miniature atomic bomb had been detonated in the center of his dantian! Three distinct yet complementary energies—ice, wind, and lightning—exploded at that moment! The terrifying energy shockwave instantly traveled along the three "spiritual cables" to the entire Five Elements Aura!

Rumble!

The entire dantian trembled violently! Under this violent thrust, the Five Elements Aura spun and expanded wildly at an unprecedented speed! It was like a strange engine that had been ignited, with the Minor Three Wonders Conflict as a "nuclear reactor," the Major Three Wonders Spiritual Cable as an "energy transmission channel," and the Major Five Elements Aura as a "kinetic energy output unit"!

This is an extremely "hardcore" way to expand storage!

Lin Yan clenched his teeth, his whole body convulsing uncontrollably, veins bulging on his forehead, cold sweat pouring down his face, enduring the inhuman pain of his dantian being forcibly torn and expanded.

I don't know how much time has passed, maybe a year, maybe longer.

As the excruciating pain subsided like the tide, the violent rotation within his dantian gradually calmed down, eventually stabilizing at a size far exceeding expectations—approximately fourteen zhang in radius! This was two zhang more than the basic twelve zhang required by the cultivation technique!

At the same time, he felt as if his brain had been unlocked, a cool and soothing sensation nourishing his consciousness. He subconsciously extended his consciousness outward—a radius of sixty meters! The range had almost doubled, and his perception was much clearer and sharper!

"Success! Fourth level of Qi Refining!" The immense joy dispelled all fatigue.

He sat cross-legged on the spot, spending half an hour carefully reviewing and consolidating the gains from this breakthrough, especially the peculiar structure of his dantian. Only when he could no longer bear the thick layer of filth and stench emanating from his body did he impatiently rush out of the cultivation pavilion and head straight for the bathroom in the courtyard.

After taking a refreshing bath and changing into clean clothes, Lin Yan felt completely transformed and radiant.

At this moment, he officially entered the mid-stage of Qi Refining! The area of ​​the Qiankun Realm instantly expanded tenfold! The flow of time also increased thirtyfold, reaching an astonishing ratio of one day outside to one hundred and fifty days inside!

After exiting the pass, he immediately found Xiao Qi, who was busy directing the puppets.

"Xiao Qi, arrange for replanting on the newly added land immediately, especially potatoes and sweet potatoes! If we don't have enough manpower, summon more puppets. Let's hurry!" Lin Yan spoke quickly, with the high spirits of someone who had just broken through.

"Don't worry, brother! Leave it to Xiaoqi!" Xiaoqi felt Lin Yan's stronger aura and became excited. It responded in a childish voice and immediately jumped up to urge its "little brothers" to speed up their work.

Looking at the space that had become bustling with activity again, Lin Yan nodded in satisfaction. His strength had increased once more, giving him even more confidence to face the future.