With the trait helping you gain enlightenment, when you went back to study the Dao texts left by the Shen Family Founding Ancestor, you immediately found them much easier to understand.

Studying the same thing all the time can get quite monotonous, and learning efficiency actually drops.

Therefore.

Artifact forging, alchemy, and sword dao—with the trait boosting your comprehension, you tackled all three at once, and mastered all three!

As your alchemy skills advanced, you began refining pills yourself.

Previously, when using the Nine Provinces Cauldron to refine pills, you just randomly tossed raw materials in and left it to Da Chun to freely improvise.

Da Chun was just... too free.

Now that you also knew alchemy, you understood which materials to add, how much, and in what order, and the entire methodology was clear in your mind.

Da Chun only needed to play the role of the pill furnace.

And this was no ordinary pill furnace—this was a Great Dao Immortal Artifact!

Pill refinement never failed, the pill quality was top-tier, the medicinal efficacy was superb, and the Pill Toxin content was extremely low.

Refining pills every day, where would you get so many raw materials?

The first source was your Storage Ring.

Some were collected during your time in the Five Regions, others were obtained from the Shen Family.

The second source was this small world.

This place was utterly miraculous.

Not only was the concentration of the Essence of Heaven and Earth astonishingly high, but the weeds that seemed to cover the ground were actually all spiritual plants!

Their spiritual nature was so potent, it was almost approaching the level of heavenly treasures.

It wasn't just the grass.

Flowers, trees, butterflies, bees, insects...

Every living creature you could see possessed spiritual nature and could be used for alchemy!

Every non-living inorganic substance was also spiritual material, suitable for artifact forging!

"This Star Force Mystic Realm is truly a treasure land. No wonder the Shen Family monopolizes the Starry Domains. With this small world, the Shen Family can indeed prosper for ten thousand generations without decline."

You specifically refined pills to increase cultivation at the Spirit Sea Realm.

The pills that assisted cultivation were different for each realm, and the materials used naturally differed as well.

Higher realms required rarer spiritual plants with longer growth periods to refine.

The Shen Family Founding Ancestor's alchemy Dao texts contained extremely detailed records on this aspect.

Some pills couldn't be refined due to a lack of materials, but there were plenty that could.

You ate a different variety every day, testing which one had the best effect.

You also attempted to refine life-extending pills.

To be honest, it wasn't very meaningful.

The investment was high, the return was low. The same medicine was effective the first time, but not the second time.

Gaining an extra two or three years of lifespan was already considered a treasure-grade medicine.

—In the world of pills, Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, and High-Grade pills are called 'pills'. Earth-Grade ones are called 'spiritual medicines'. Treasure-Grade is the term for Heaven-Grade. Those with quality higher than Treasure-Grade are 'immortal pills'.

Although the spiritual plants in the small world grew rapidly, with one year's growth equivalent to several years outside, their quantity was ultimately limited.

It was better to invest the spiritual plants into increasing cultivation. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

While reviewing the various Dao texts left by the Shen Family Founding Ancestor, you also discovered his soul possession secret art.

He called this secret art the "Myriad Stars Embrace the Moon Art".

"Damn, the name is quite fitting."

This secret art was extremely complex, with such intricate required procedures and preparatory work that it was difficult for one person to complete.

You read it once; basically, your eyes understood it, but your brain completely failed to grasp it.

There was a key point within it.

The target the Shen Family Founding Ancestor wanted to possess could not have a realm higher than the Spirit Sea Realm.

In other words, if someone was at the Spirit Condensation Realm, even if they were a perfect match for his main body, he could not possess them unless the target was willing.

Because the Spirit Condensation Realm corresponded to the Soul Tempering Realm, which was the second enhancement of a martial artist's soul strength.

The Myriad Stars Embrace the Moon Art was already mediocre to begin with. Against a martial artist whose soul had been strengthened twice, if the target's will to resist was strong, the Shen Family Founding Ancestor would most likely fail in the possession.

It was precisely because of early failures that the Shen Family Founding Ancestor specifically recorded this lesson.

"So, if I reach the Spirit Condensation Realm, coming here to freeload would be pointless."

The Shen Family's "Mirror Wielder" selection process provided various cultivation resources during the period.

If you were at the Golden Body Realm, they would give you resources for the Golden Body Realm.

If you were at the Spirit Sea Realm, they would give you resources for the Spirit Sea Realm.

From the Shen Family Founding Ancestor's words, one could understand that providing resources was the surface appearance; the real purpose was to make the selectee's physique closer to the Founding Ancestor's.

But at the same time, this was actually a sugar-coated bullet, lulling people into peacefully cultivating those three Earth-Grade techniques essential for possession.

Of course, most people selected by the Shen Family hadn't even reached the Golden Body Realm. Breaking through to the Spirit Condensation Realm during the selection period was pretty much impossible.

Chen Yi could use "Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger" to adjust his realm aura, preventing others from knowing his actual realm.

Thus, he could infiltrate the Shen Family in every simulation.

Now, after seeing the complete secret art, it was clear that the Shen Family would only provide resources up to what was needed for the Spirit Sea Realm.

Similarly, pills used to increase cultivation that would cause a huge boost for someone at the Golden Body Realm might have no effect for someone at the Spirit Condensation Realm.

Because the underlying cultivation logic changed.

Pills for the Golden Body Realm increased Vitality Energy, while pills for the Spirit Condensation Realm needed to be able to strengthen the soul. They were fundamentally different things.

So, if he was still at the Spirit Sea Realm in the next simulation, he could continue freeloading. If he reached the Spirit Condensation Realm, he would have to assess the situation.

If there was a better sucker, he would switch to freeloading from another family. If not, he would come back and test the effectiveness.

【Year 31, age 49.】

【Trapped in the Star Force Mystic Realm, you immersed yourself in the ocean of knowledge daily, unable to extricate yourself.】

【After your alchemy reached a sufficient level, you temporarily set it aside, spending more time learning artifact forging.】

【The Star Force Mystic Realm had zero entertainment options. At this point, you couldn't *not* focus on studying even if you wanted to.】

【Coupled with the pressure of the ten-year deadline, you pushed yourself every day to gain a deeper mastery.】

【The Shen Family Founding Ancestor had been silent recently.】

【The Ten Thousand Souls Banner said he had sealed himself off.】

【This wasn't self-sealing, but a protective measure.】

【Previously, the evil aura within the Ten Thousand Souls Banner could still affect the Shen Family Founding Ancestor's soul, harassing him occasionally. Now it couldn't reach him at all.】

【You guessed that the Shen Family Founding Ancestor had begun repairing his soul.】

【Time was running out for you!】

【Year 32, age 50.】

【Study!】

【Research!】

【Experiment!】

【Artifact forging advanced by leaps and bounds.】

【Year 33, age 51.】

【Forged your first High-Grade Spirit Artifact!】

【Also refined a pile of pills to increase Spirit Sea Realm cultivation.】

【After taking them regularly.】

【Through the efficacy boost from 「Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles」 and the non-accumulation of Pill Toxins.】

【Your martial realm also grew rapidly, already reaching the third level of the Spirit Sea Realm!】

【Year 34, age 52.】

【Attempted to forge an Earth-Grade Spirit Artifact—failed!】

【Year 35, age 53.】

【Martial realm broke through to the fourth level of the Spirit Sea Realm!】

【Earth-Grade Spirit Artifact—forging successful!】

【The Ten Thousand Souls Banner exclaimed: "Holy crap! What kind of monstrous talent are you?! Going from knowing jack shit to forging an Earth-Grade Spirit Artifact in just five years?!"】