A year later, in a quiet room of the Spirit Hall's library.
Sunlight streamed in from the window, its gentle rays spilling across the boy's cheek—warm and bright.
In the glow of the sunlight, the boy's profile appeared righteous and solemn.
His eyes were calm and profound as he looked at the book before him. A trace of confusion lay between his brows. One hand rubbed his chin, as if deep in thought.
A young girl sat quietly nearby, resting her face on her hand, simply watching the boy as he pondered.
Not sure what crossed her mind, Qian Renxue let out a soft chuckle.
"I've got it!"
Lin Feng clapped his hands, an enlightened look flashing across his face.
"Xiaofeng, what did you figure out? Come on, tell me, tell me!"
Qian Renxue's eyes sparkled as she leaned in closer.
"I was thinking... what if the key lies in the spirit ring itself? The spirit ring serves as the foundation for spirit power and abilities—so why does it manifest externally, on the martial spirit?
The martial spirit is part of our body. By that logic, shouldn't the spirit ring also exist within the body?
Both the meridians and the spirit ring serve as channels for storing and circulating spirit power. There should be similarities between them.
Maybe those legendary techniques—like ring explosion or ring fusion—are somehow related to this!"
Lin Feng's eyes grew brighter. His intuition told him he had found a viable path.
Now, he had already absorbed his first hundred-year spirit ring and reached level 11.
But when it came to the route of cultivating spirit power, he still couldn't break through. Reconstructing the meridians within his body to form the right paths remained a major hurdle.
Though he had rebuilt a new foundation within himself and chosen to cultivate through the Spirit Vein Method, removing the bottleneck of innate level 1 spirit power that made advancing past Spirit Elder impossible...
...this still wasn't the end goal for Lin Feng. The current technique he relied on, the Innate Spirit Codex, wasn't enough to match the speed of those born with full innate spirit power.
And more importantly, the method lacked universality. Drawing usable conclusions from his own case would still take a long time.
The Innate Spirit Pearl played a crucial role in his research on cultivation methods—something with no known replacement in the entire continent.
"If spirit rings are the condensation of spirit power, and meridians are the riverbeds it flows through, then combining the two—absorbing the spirit ring into the body—should help find the most fitting path.
After all, spirit rings are just additions to the martial spirit, and the martial spirit is part of the body. So if we just relocate the ring..."
Listening to Lin Feng's murmur, Qian Renxue began to panic.
"Xiaofeng! What are you thinking?! How could a spirit ring manifest inside the body?! Do you even realize how terrifying the energy in a ring is?! Our bodies can't withstand that kind of pressure!
Snap out of it! Don't go chasing dangerous ideas!"
Qian Renxue shook Lin Feng's head furiously, leaving him a little dizzy.
"Stop, stop, Xiaoxue—I'm getting nauseous. You're way too strong!"
"Ah—sorry!"
Qian Renxue sheepishly pulled her hands back. In her panic, she had used spirit power. As a Spirit Elder, that really could've hurt Lin Feng.
Lin Feng rubbed his temples and teased her:
"What, are you worried I'll die?"
"Hmph, as if. I just don't want to see my friend being a dumbass with a death wish."
Qian Renxue looked away, avoiding eye contact.
Lin Feng smiled faintly. This girl's personality was still the same. He wondered when it might change.
"Relax, I wouldn't do something I'm not confident in. A river may rush wildly, but it always flows into the sea.
Spirit power is like water. Even if the power within a spirit ring is massive, as long as I find the right way, I might be able to absorb it into the body.
If it's a flood, then I'll build dams, split the current, widen the meridians.
As long as I set my mind to it, I can succeed. Don't forget—my martial spirit was practically made for this."
Qian Renxue stared at Lin Feng in a daze, recalling his first spirit ability—Breath of Life.
It was a healing-type ability, but incredibly potent. Its restorative effect on the physical body was almost comparable to the legendary Nine-Heart Begonia.
Especially when it came to repairing meridians, this skill had near-miraculous effects. As long as it wasn't a fatal meridian, it could be healed—only a matter of time.
That meant Lin Feng could freely experiment with his meridians. As long as the damage wasn't severe, a short rest would fix it.
On top of that, his martial spirit could naturally purify spirit power and nurture the meridians. It was as if this martial spirit was born to create a new cultivation path.
Qian Renxue pursed her lips. After a year together, she knew Lin Feng well—once he set his mind to something, it was nearly impossible to change it.
Especially something he had long been striving for.
"…Fine. But, I want to make a deal with you. From now on, whenever you do dangerous cultivation experiments, you do them during the day—and you have to let me be there. Deal?"
Her voice carried a hint of pleading.
Lin Feng understood exactly what she meant—she was planning to arrange backup secretly, just in case something went wrong and he injured himself.
His gaze softened.
"Alright. No problem. I promise you."
"Mm! I believe in you—I know you'll succeed."
Qian Renxue let out a breath of relief and changed the topic.
Just then, a calm, dignified voice echoed through the room:
"Young man, you don't mind if this old man joins you for a bit, do you?"
Qian Renxue's pupils shrank. She quickly stepped away from Lin Feng and turned nervously toward the door.
"G-Grandfather?! What are you doing here…"
Qian Daoliu let out a helpless sigh:
"I came to meet the so-called genius boy you keep talking about non-stop. What, not happy to see me?"
"Aiya, Grandpa~" Qian Renxue rushed over and shook Qian Daoliu's arm.
"Of course I'm happy! You just didn't say anything ahead of time, so I was surprised, that's all!"
Qian Daoliu instantly grinned, goofy and warm:
"Alright, alright. It's Grandpa's fault—I should've told you first."
Qian Renxue winked at Lin Feng.
"Lin Feng greets the Grand Worshipper."
Seeing Lin Feng bow formally, Qian Daoliu raised his brows and glanced at Qian Renxue, who simply shook her head.
Qian Daoliu nodded. "You're quite smart—figured out her identity, did you?"
"You flatter me, Grand Worshipper. Xiaoxue never once revealed her martial spirit over the past year. Yet her spirit power is noble and divine, clearly someone from Spirit Hall's high ranks.
She could easily produce a library access token too. Combine that with her speech and behavior… it really wasn't that hard to guess."
Qian Renxue pouted.
"Ugh, stupid Lin Feng—so you knew the whole time and still played along with me? You thought that was fun?"
Lin Feng looked apologetic.
"My bad. But didn't you hide your identity first? I didn't dare expose you until the time was right."
"You… hmph! I'm still mad. You figure it out."
Qian Renxue crossed her arms and turned away.
Qian Daoliu watched the scene with amusement. For a brief moment, he felt—was it just an illusion?—like he might be the third wheel here?