The next morning, several days later.
The sun had not yet risen, but Lu Haotian could be seen in the courtyard practicing. His feet wide apart with his waist crouched...with his waist crouched and his arms punching forward while using various stances and moving swiftly, punching. After a while, he stopped.
The sun steadily started to rise, and light shone onto the courtyard. Then he sat down, letting the morning rays bathe him as he circulated his Qi.
"Ah, that was such a refreshing morning practice."
For several days after leaving the library, his routine had basically been about stabilizing his Qi and practicing his combat techniques more so as to be able to effectively use his Qi better. He casually threw a punch, and a trace of Qi less flowed out of his fist through the air. At the 7th layer upward, the Qi accumulated in the dantian can be released externally for use, especially when fighting. They can now project the Qi to attack their opponents. For him at the Qi Condensation 8th layer, he could feel that he could breakthrough at any moment.
He stopped practicing, then took his breakfast. He went into his room, closed the door, and took out a low-grade spirit stone from the veiled ring. This had become one of his routines. Previously, he had to use the Qi in his surroundings to refill his dantian after practice, but now he used a spirit stone as it was faster and easier.
As he took out the spirit stone, he began absorbing the Qi, then started circulating the Qi Condensation section of the Five Element Scripture. The Qi flowed from his hands into his meridians, then to his spirit roots, which refined and condensed the Qi into dew-like drops. These drops moved into his dantian. After a while, the first spirit stone finished and cracked. He took out a second one and continued.
When the condensed Qi looked like it was about to fill his dantian, as he completed another circulation, pressure suddenly surged inward. His dantian trembled as the condensed Qi compressed, and the inner space crumbled under the strain. Then, with a muted shock, the resistance shattered and the dantian expanded, the internal space becoming much wider.
9th layer of Qi Condensation.
He opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was how light he felt compared to before, and he clenched his fingers, feeling the strength flowing through his body, muscles, and limbs without resistance.
Then he used his qi sense to visualize and check his dantian. Now it had grown to about 65 li, while for others at the 9th layer, their dantian was about 53 li. This meant he could store more qi and condense more stable ones, which made him stronger than normal 9th layer cultivators.
Then he circulated his qi. He could feel his meridians were sturdier than before. He could now feel the qi no longer flowing like before in his dantian; now it was more condensed, viscous like a stream. When he drew the qi, it easily flowed through his body.
"So this is the 9th layer," he could feel that he would easily beat his previous self. The main reason his dantian could be 65 li was mainly because of the spirit roots and the balance they create between themselves.
"Now, breaking through to Foundation Establishment is the next step."
But he was not in a hurry.