Li Hao sat on the bed, his expression remaining calm.
With those Dao Eyes, he had taken a leap in combat effectiveness. The Dao Eyes were effective in enhancing his sense of time and space.
His sense of direction, self-awareness, and combat instincts had increased. Now, it was impossible for someone to sneak up on him.
He couldn't sense direction in the normal way, but he could feel the fluctuations in space and time.
"It seems that I have reached the peak of my realm. I can no longer continue on the road forward unless I break through," Li Hao thought.
To step into the Second Turn, one must sense spiritual energy and use it to open the core dantian. Once filled with spirit power, the body would be strengthened and refined.
For those practicing mortal techniques, there was only one type of spiritual power. Sensing it would be enough to step into the Second Turn.
However, higher-level techniques revealed the truth: there were three distinct types of spiritual energy in the Mortal Realm.
Blue spiritual power had the highest consumption.
The second kind, earth red spiritual power, had a 15% reduced consumption, meaning it wouldn't be consumed as quickly.
The third was the profound white spiritual power, with a 35% reduction in spiritual power consumption.
The consumption of spiritual power was one of the most important things to focus on. With high-level spiritual Qi, one could outlast 10 cubic cm of spirit usage.
With a 35% reduction, one of the opponent's peak moves could allow you to perform one and a half moves in the same amount of energy.
This efficiency determined how long a cultivator could last in battle.
Even Saints were vulnerable if they ran out of spiritual power.
However, Li Hao's knowledge surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.
He knew that beyond the three types of mortal spirit energy, there were five supreme ranks of spiritual power:
The fourth was nature green spiritual power, which reduced consumption by 55%, making anyone in this realm extremely hard to kill.
The true limit was heavenly yellow spiritual power, with an 85% reduction in consumption. That meant the same move that used blue spirit would only consume 15% of the cost.
Common Spiritual Energy – Easily sensed by the weakest. Used by techniques up to the Fourth Turn.
Red Spiritual Qi – Harder to perceive, accessible to techniques of the Fifth to Seventh Turn.
Profound Spiritual Energy – The hardest to sense, reserved for techniques of the Eighth and Ninth Turn.
While most cultivators had to accept what they could access, those with great talent could summon and refine superior spiritual energy.
To an ordinary person, this knowledge would be useless. But to Li Hao, it was a challenge. Why settle for anything less than the peak?
Seated in a lotus position, he expanded his senses, searching for Heavenly Yellow Spiritual Power.
At first, he detected countless spiritual energy clusters, even the elusive Natural Green Spiritual Power. Yet he wasn't satisfied.
Focusing deeper, he finally sensed a faint wisp of Heavenly Yellow Spiritual Power. With his will, he pulled it into his dantian.
The moment it entered, his mind exploded with newfound perception. Countless traces of Heavenly Yellow Spiritual Power appeared around him.
Until now, they had been hidden from his senses—this was a test. Only those who reached for the highest peak could see the path ahead.
With waves of pure spiritual power flooding into his core, Li Hao refined his body. His dantian expanded, solidifying his foundation.
Li Hao felt the size of his inner core—it seemed to be 1.3 jade marks in diameter, larger than normal.
A normal Second Turn core had a diameter of 1 jade mark, increasing by 0.5 jade marks per breakthrough. But Li Hao's was already larger.
A faint smile appeared on Li Hao's face. The core size determined the amount of spiritual Qi one could take in, but that wasn't absolute.
Even though it was just 1.3 jade marks, that small difference was a huge gap.
The volume of spiritual power he could hold was significantly more.
Just then, a ding was heard.
Li Hao was surprised. He thought he could only hear the system bell after reaching a certain age, but it seemed he was mistaken.
[Ding]
You have taken your first step in cultivation, reaching the Second Turn.
Reward: Cosmic Celestial Race Bloodline
"Mm, this time I didn't get a technique like the last time. It seems this system is more versatile than I thought," Li Hao thought.
[Name: Cosmic Celestial Bloodline]
Quality: Mythical
Purity: High
Description:Cosmic Celestial Bloodline, the bloodline of a race of Cosmic Celestial Humans of an Immortal Realm.
"This description…" Li Hao thought.
This bloodline was of one of the strongest races. It seemed that with this change, his body would also change.
Li Hao didn't wait a second before accepting the reward. Pain was inevitable—even if he didn't like it, it was something that couldn't be avoided.
It's better to be quick and painful than delayed. But to Li Hao's surprise, as soon as he accepted the technique, for a short while nothing happened.
"Is there something wrong with this bloodline? This should be a painful process," Li Hao thought, his brows narrowing.
But his thoughts were not without basis, because in the next moment, Li Hao felt his blood boil.
He gritted his teeth as he grunted loudly. His eyes turned red as veins stretched from all sides. It was like his blood was being pushed out and replaced with new blood.
Li Hao felt his skin pour out black liquid, but he paid no attention to it—his attention was on the excruciating pain.
As his veins and muscles reached their peak, they began to contract slowly, his body returning to its peak state.
"It seems the process is over," he thought.
But the next moment, he smelled a stench—like rotting eggs that had been trapped in the room for years.
Li Hao felt the poop-like substance and quickly realized it was his impurities—all of them being released from his body.
Li Hao stood up and gazed at his body in amazement. His body was now several times stronger than before.
"It seems that I'm twice as strong as a normal cultivator," Li Hao thought. "But what is this mark on my head?"
"An X with two angel wings attached to the middle… it seems to be a mark of this race," Li Hao was amused.
He didn't expect such a thing to happen.
"It seems this body is not fully unlocked. This bloodline is not accepted by the Mortal Realm."
"So some of the abilities are sealed. But the higher I go, the more I can unlock. For now, I can only use Cosmic Void Qi," Li Hao thought.
"Even though it's smaller than the spiritual Qi I could use, it is more destructive than spiritual energy. And I can turn my spiritual Qi into Cosmic Void Qi," Li Hao faintly smiled.
He stood up as he went to bathe.
[To be continued]