Time slipped silently into night.

The private Martial Arts Room was brightly lit, spacious and silent.

Li Wen stood in the center of the mirror-smooth floor and took a deep breath.

This space, encased in soundproof material, belonged to him alone for the moment.

He recalled the suffocating feeling of being crammed into the public Martial Arts Rooms, where he constantly had to watch his space and even hold back his power. A flicker of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

Finally, he could go all out and sweat to his heart’s content without holding back.

His goal for tonight was still to practice the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill, but his mindset was completely different.

This was the first time in the real world that he would be circulating a basic cultivation technique he had already mastered to the Perfection Realm.

With a hint of curiosity and anticipation, Li Wen assumed the opening stance.

With a mere thought, his pure qi and blood surged in an instant, as if drawn by the power of an unseen river.

A warm current—harmonious, smooth, and immense—began to flow naturally along the complex pathways described in the Cultivation Technique.

The qi and blood that he previously had to consciously guide and tame at the start of his cultivation now seemed to have a life of its own. It galloped along the most efficient paths at an astonishing speed.

The circulation through every acupoint, the channeling through every minor tributary, was as precise as if calibrated by a sophisticated instrument.

Li Wen didn’t even need to consciously ’think’ about it as he had before; his body’s instincts seemed to have completely memorized this perfect rhythm.

In this state, his perception of his own body was magnified to the extreme.

He could even vaguely ’see’ that the roaring torrent of qi and blood was no longer crashing about brutishly, but instead possessed a unique vitality.

It wasn’t surging chaotically, but was instead spinning, accelerating, and refining itself within a vast and harmonious ’field’.

The agonizing feeling of torn muscles and aching bones from his previous cultivation sessions was now replaced by a gentle yet persistent tingling numbness, as if he were being nurtured in the very spring of life.

He practiced the Cultivation Technique’s static stances and dynamic movements. His body felt as if it were being guided by invisible threads, each posture achieving a theoretically perfect angle and form.

His center of gravity, the points where his qi and blood exerted force, and the trajectory of his power’s transmission—these three elements formed a perfect, harmonious resonance, like the inner workings of the most precise clock.

Power rose from the ground, coursed through his body, and reached his fingers and palms. The entire process was silky smooth, without a hint of sluggishness or waste.

Over an hour later, when he finished the final Grand Circulation and concluded his practice, an indescribable feeling of clarity and satisfaction filled his entire being.

His bones and muscles felt relaxed, his qi and blood were abundant, and his spirit was exceptionally full thanks to this efficient, painless circulation.

The whole cultivation process was no longer a torturous ordeal, but an enjoyable experience of mastering his body, unlocking his potential, and climbing toward a higher realm.

Li Wen opened his eyes, sensing the changes within his body.

Beneath his skin, qi and blood surged violently. His muscle fibers felt denser and tougher, and a subtle but solid sense of reinforcement emanated from deep within his bones.

Although he hadn’t broken through to a new physical level, the solid progress he made was definitely no less than the improvements he’d gained while training with his [Absolute Focus] state active.

’The Perfection Realm truly is endlessly profound!’

It not only freed up his precious [Absolute Focus] time but also turned basic cultivation itself into an effective means of solidifying his foundation and steadily improving.

However, the price of such efficient circulation was a much faster rate of qi and blood consumption.

The moment he completely stopped the Cultivation Technique, an intense feeling of emptiness and exhaustion washed over him, as if all the vital energy in his body had been drained.

Li Wen’s face instantly turned as pale as a sheet. A fine sheen of cold sweat covered his forehead, and his body swayed uncontrollably. He had to brace himself to keep from collapsing.

He panted, letting the wave of fatigue wash over him as he quietly recovered for a few minutes.

Once his heart rate had settled a bit, he slowly walked over to the low table in the corner where his things were placed.

On it sat the Level 1 Qi and Blood Potion he had just received that afternoon, radiating an enticing energy fluctuation.

Li Wen picked up a vial, skillfully bit off the rubber stopper with his teeth, tilted his head back, and GULP, downed the cool liquid in one go.

A familiar, immense heat instantly exploded in his stomach, rapidly spreading to his limbs and torso.

Like a dry riverbed receiving welcome rain, his body greedily absorbed every bit of energy, and the pallor of his face returned to a healthy, rosy color at a visible rate.

Feeling strength refilling his body, a determined light shone in Li Wen’s eyes.

’There’s still a long way to go to reach the top.’

...

Time flowed like water, passing quietly.

In the blink of an eye, it was March 1st.

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 18]

[Realm: Unranked (Level 7.1 → 7.5)]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 6 (216 → 1716/3200)]

[Skill: Blademanship - Pinnacle (Great Success 99/100)]

[Cultivation Technique: Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill (Perfection)]

Half a month flew by in a flash amidst Li Wen’s day after day of arduous training.

The top-tier resources of the Shooting Star Class—the free Qi and Blood Potions, Fang Chengwu’s profound Martial Dao guidance, and the high-intensity combat in the private virtual pods—acted like three powerful boosters, propelling him forward with both speed and stability.

His physical body, continuously nourished by the Qi and Blood Potions and refined by the Perfection-level Cultivation Technique, steadily rose to Level 7.5.

The rate of improvement might seem much slower than before, but one must remember that the higher the physical level, the harder it is to advance.

Even with a supplement of just one Level 1 Qi and Blood Potion every two days, he had still managed to raise his physical level by 0.4 in half a month.

Such a speed was terrifying!

Furthermore, his Scholar class steadily accumulated experience through two weekend quizzes and by snatching every spare moment for daily study. His EXP bar was now well past the halfway mark, and leveling up was no longer a distant prospect.

However, the biggest change—or lack thereof—concerned the line item that had stagnated at [Pinnacle Blademanship - Great Success (99/100)].

For the past half a month, he had pushed himself to the absolute limit.

He spent two hours every afternoon training with [Absolute Focus], dedicating his entire being to dissecting his blademanship, striving to perfect every movement and every exertion of force.

He also made the most of his precious half-hour of daily combat in the virtual pod, consistently choosing opponents at the peak of the Perfection level.

Every battle was a walk on the razor’s edge of life and death as he sought to grasp that fleeting spark of insight amidst immense pressure.

His blade grew faster, his angles more deceptive, his combinations smoother, and his control over his own power deeper... He could clearly feel himself improving.

But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he pushed himself, the number "99," which symbolized the peak of the Great Success Realm, was like a door welded shut.

He could batter it countless times with lightning-fast strikes, leaving nothing but innumerable deep scratches on its surface, but he could never truly push it open.

No matter how brutal the life-or-death battles in the virtual world were, nor how focused and diligent his practice in reality was, that final sliver of enlightenment—the one that would pierce the last paper window and lead him to a new world—remained just out of reach.

This final bottleneck was unimaginably tough, holding him firmly back from the threshold of Pinnacle Perfection.

But once he broke through, it would mean the Unity Realm was just a stone’s throw away!