The ice blades sliced into his skin, causing unbearable pain. Cold sweat broke out on Wei's forehead, quickly freezing. Enduring pain that most people couldn't withstand, Wei focused on his cultivation.

In the sky, there were floating specks of light – these were spiritual energy, invisible under normal circumstances, only perceptible when they were exceptionally pure. Wei’s task was to absorb these specks of spiritual energy into his body, as purer spiritual energy could be more easily converted into magical power.

Absorbing the energy was straightforward, thanks to its visibility, but it required enduring the pain of the ice blades cutting into him. One by one, the specks of spiritual energy were drawn into his body, gathered in the dantian (energy center), and formed into a ball of energy.

The next step was refinement. The ball of energy in his dantian spun continuously, shrinking in size but growing denser in color. Finally, it transformed into a stream of spiritual power and dispersed throughout the dantian.

Wei’s endurance reached its limit, and he hurriedly left the range of the illusion. Collapsing on the ground, he gasped for air, too exhausted to move a finger.

...

The process repeated for several hours until nightfall, when Wei finally headed towards the exit of the Path of Heart Refinement.

'Did you hear? The disciple without a spiritual root has gone to cultivate on the Path of Heart Refinement.'

'Yeah, I heard Uncle Ma saw it with his own eyes.'

'Hmph, what good is determination? A mere mortal is destined to achieve nothing on the path of immortality. A waste is always a waste!'

...

On his way back, Wei overheard these comments about himself. Though they noticed him, they didn't care and continued their mocking tone. Wei frowned but didn't get angry; in the world of cultivation, respect is earned through strength, not through getting upset over such trivialities.

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Back in his room, Wei pulled out papers filled with cultivation techniques. Among them was the Object Control Technique, using spiritual power to manipulate objects remotely – a basic yet crucial spell in the cultivation world, fundamental for using magical artifacts. Though magical artifacts were still beyond Wei's reach, he could practice this technique.

Concentrating his mind, he focused his consciousness on an object to move it. That afternoon, Wei practiced repeatedly. He had tried this before and failed, but after several days of cultivation on the Path of Heart Refinement, his spiritual power had strengthened, prompting a new attempt.

After hours of concentrated effort, staring at a cup in front of him until his eyes ached and his head throbbed, the cup finally moved slightly. Though it was a minor movement, it was indeed movement. Without stopping, Wei continued to practice the Object Control Technique late into the night before finally going to bed.

The next day, Wei returned to the Path of Heart Refinement. This time, the illusion was a ghostly underworld, with countless spirits rushing at him, but the young man remained unfazed.

This period of arduous cultivation not only enhanced his strength but also his mental resilience and stamina. Initially, Wei could only withstand a few minutes in the terrifying illusion; now, even as the illusions grew more terrifying, he could endure for an hour.

Ghosts and terrifying scenes flooded his mind, bringing waves of negative emotions, but Wei gritted his teeth and persevered, absorbing spiritual energy.

...

Leaving the illusion's influence, Wei sat cross-legged on the ground, refining the absorbed spiritual energy, then circulating it through his meridians in a complete cycle – a process he repeated nine times. While this was a tremendous strain on his body, Wei was determined, enduring pain that felt like being sliced by knives.

After completing the large circulation practice, Wei re-entered the illusion.

Thus, he continued his relentless cultivation on the Path of Heart Refinement, enduring pains that only foundation-building cultivators could typically withstand, driven by his indomitable will.

Sitting cross-legged, Wei was like a meditating monk. Inside his dantian, a faint blue sphere, formed of gathered spiritual energy, constantly twisted and changed. After a month of cultivating on the Path of Heart Refinement, Wei felt his cultivation had significantly improved, and he was close to breaking through to the second level of the Lingdong period.

Just a little more!

Expanding his consciousness to cover the entire dantian, Wei searched for residual spiritual energy to infuse into the sphere, feeling like a wrung-out sponge, still trying to squeeze out a little more water.

Suddenly, the energy ball changed, crackling with lightning as spiritual energy began to overflow, on the brink of collapse. Wei struggled to maintain it, but he had reached his limit. With a soft pop, the blue sphere burst, the gathered spiritual energy dispersing into hair-thin strands, evenly distributed throughout the dantian.