My Martial Arts Level Never Drops

Chapter 318: Chapter 162: Breaking the Gate

Time passed quietly.

In the blink of an eye, it had been nearly two months since Qin Fang arrived in Lanyang City.

The season had changed from early spring, and summer was approaching.

The weather was growing warmer.

...Of course, for a Huajin Martial Artist like Qin Fang, unless it was an Extraordinary, extreme temperature like that of the Old Ox Back Cold Cave... the changing of the seasons made little difference to him.

At this moment, Qin Fang was sitting cross-legged with his eyes tightly closed, his Divine Sense blanketing the entire room...

In his state of Seeing God, above the head of his spiritual self, an ’Iron Awl’ shimmering with a dark light had already quietly taken form!

This was a hexagonal awl, about the length of a palm, its entire body a deep, absolute black.

The body of the awl was a perfect hexagonal prism, its edges straight and sharp.

Its surface, however, was not smooth. If one looked closely, one could see fine, forged patterns... These were the marks hammered out by his Spiritual Power during the ’Forging Iron into Awl’ process...

That’s right, the current Qin Fang had already reached the ’Iron Formation’ stage... also known as the Great Success stage.

On his status panel, the proficiency of his Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl had reached a high of 9,428 points.

With just over five hundred proficiency points left, he could reach Perfection!

’I never expected... Forging Iron into Awl is a time-consuming process... It requires constant, relentless hammering with Spiritual Power, a thousand tempers and a hundred refinements...’

’The first time I used the Soul Condensing Crystal Ointment, I only gained five hundred proficiency points after breaking through to Great Success... It took another five days to fully and perfectly absorb it...’

Qin Fang thought to himself, a glint in his eyes...

After reaching Great Success, using the Soul Condensing Crystal Ointment did indeed increase the size of the ’Thought Iron’.

This meant his Spiritual Power had indeed been enhanced.

However, because it had not yet been forged, his proficiency hadn’t increased by much.

Only after the ’enlarged’ ’Thought Iron’ was completely hammered with Spiritual Power until it ’possessed fine, forged patterns’ did his proficiency rise...

And this process couldn’t be skipped...

It was rather frustrating.

But fortunately, although it took some time, because his total Spiritual Power was sufficient, the ’forging’ process itself was actually quite fast.

Because of this, for the Soul Condensing Ointment he later obtained from Huichun Hall, Qin Fang could only consume one dose every five to eight days.

Now, after nearly two months... he was finally just one step away from Perfection.

And having reached this stage with the ’Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl’, it had brought him enormous improvements.

The most significant of these was that his Spiritual Power had grown increasingly formidable, and the area covered by his Divine Sense had reached an astonishing nine meters, approaching ten.

...With his eyes closed, he could ’see’ everything within a nine-meter radius with perfect clarity in 360 degrees, even through walls and obstacles.

’...If I went back to Old Ox Back now, I wonder if I could ’see’ what’s inside that blue mist sixty meters away?’

Qin Fang couldn’t help but wonder.

He was eager to try.

But with a shift of his will, the stray thoughts quickly vanished...

...This was another effect of the Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl...

After the Thought Sand was condensed into Iron, as long as he willed it and entered a state of Contemplation, all distracting thoughts in his mind would seemingly vanish, allowing him to maintain a state of absolute, ’Unflappable’ calm!

...Qin Fang knew all too well the benefit of this!

A mind that could remain perfectly calm under any circumstances was a huge advantage at all times.

...Qin Fang himself was already a ’Big Heart’, and now with the ’Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl’... it was like giving a tiger wings!

In the blink of an eye, Qin Fang finished forging the last bit of ’Thought Iron’ for the day.

The entire awl pulsed with a dark light, looking incomparably mysterious.

He let out a light breath and opened his eyes.

A hint of anticipation appeared in their depths...

’Good. Tomorrow I can take a new dose of Soul Condensing Crystal Ointment... The Perfection of the Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl is just within reach!’

’Reaching Perfection with the Profound Nether Realm-Breaking Awl also means... I can push open my Divine Gate.’

’I’m about to truly set foot into... the ’Divine Domain’!’

His eyes glinted.

After a long moment, he let out a deep breath.

He got up, stretched a bit, and walked out of the room.

It was still early, and Qin Fang’s eyes flickered.

’Contemplation is great for many things, but it’s just too time-consuming.’

’Just a short session of Meditation, and several hours have passed...’

’I don’t even feel the passage of time...’

’Qian Ruhai said that experts in the Divine Domain often go into seclusion for months, even years or decades... I haven’t even officially set foot in the Divine Domain, and my Contemplation sessions already last for hours so easily... It seems understandable now why those Divine Domain masters go into seclusion for so long...’

During this period, he had become quite familiar with Qian Ruhai, and they often chatted about all sorts of things.

Among their topics, Qin Fang was most curious about matters concerning experts of the Divine Domain.

As a Steward of the ’Wan Tong Commerce Association’, Qian Ruhai’s own Cultivation might not be high, but he was incredibly well-informed, knowing far more than Qin Fang. This was especially true when it came to legends about experts of the Divine Domain...

Qian Ruhai had said that the more powerful an expert was, the longer their periods of Meditation and seclusion would be.

For example, the old Sect Leader of the Heavenly Gang Wuji Sect was said to have been in seclusion for over a hundred years and had yet to emerge!

This deeply shocked Qin Fang.

’A single seclusion, for over a hundred years?’

’That’s the entire lifespan of Ordinary People!’

’The birth, aging, sickness, and death of an ordinary person, their love, hate, and everything in between... to a Great Power like that, is it all just the blink of an eye?’

...The contrast was too shocking.

It made Qin Fang involuntarily recall the giant hand from that day...

’For an existence like that, whose single palm strike was like a natural disaster... a single period of seclusion for him... would probably last for centuries, wouldn’t it?’