The technique rewarded to Ian Song by the System was called the Solar Divine Art. Cultivating it would naturally produce fire‑attribute inner qi with fierce offensive power. At its peak, the energy within the body could be refined into true solar fire, capable of melting anything.
Although martial techniques in this world are divided into Mortal‑Grade, King‑Grade, Emperor‑Grade, Sovereign‑Grade, Immortal‑Grade, and Divine‑Grade, even Emperor‑Grade techniques are extremely rare and only possessed by the top powers.
Take the Scarlet Flame Sect, for example—they have several Sun‑Soul experts, but their strongest technique is only King‑Grade.
At the same time, the quality of one’s technique directly affects future achievements.
As mentioned before, the higher the grade of a technique, the more heaven and earth qi it can absorb, and the purer the energy it refines.
For example, the Profound Heaven Manual Ian practiced before would refine inner qi roughly as pure as five‑percent alcohol, while Solar Divine Art produces qi with a purity like fifty‑percent alcohol or higher.
Even though he had formations and the Xuanhuang Pagoda to rely on, true strength still came from within. So right now, Ian Song couldn’t wait to improve his own power.
Still, this was someone else’s territory, so he first told the veiled girl and Chloe Snow that he was going into seclusion, then returned to his room and set up a formation to conceal his aura and block others from investigating.
He set up the array because he was about to enter the Divine Temple to cultivate.
With a thought, Ian appeared in the training room inside the Divine Temple, then adjusted the timeflow to a thousandfold rate. Previously he always changed the entire Temple’s time, but now he only altered it locally to save spirit crystals.
He’d long since memorized the Solar Divine Art. Sitting cross‑legged, Ian began circulating his dantian’s inner qi along the new meridian paths.
The process felt awkward at first, but after one full circulation, his inner qi’s attribute changed noticeably and many impurities were stripped away, causing his realm to drop to mid Divine Sea.
He didn’t mind at all and kept running the new technique. After ten full circulations, his inner qi’s attribute was completely transformed, but his realm had fallen to early Divine Sea.
Yet the drastically reduced inner qi in his dantian was now incredibly pure, faintly radiating a scorching heat.
Next, Ian once again circulated his inner qi, deliberately tempering his bones, muscles, and even his internal organs—partly to help his body adapt to the energy, and partly to strengthen his physique.
Ten days passed in a flash.
Ian’s inner qi hadn’t grown at all—in fact, it shrank by another two‑thirds. But his physical body was now five or six times stronger.
First he ate some food and rested, then practiced a set of palm techniques to loosen up. After that, Ian dove back into cultivation.
He sat cross‑legged, gripping top‑grade spirit crystals in both hands.
Vast, pure spiritual energy flowed endlessly into his body, then was converted by his technique into blazing, pure inner qi.
His realm began to climb rapidly.
Peak early Divine Sea.
Mid Divine Sea.
Peak mid Divine Sea.
Late Divine Sea.
In less than half an hour, Ian’s cultivation returned to its original realm, but his strength had grown several times over. Previously, he’d only been unrivaled within the Divine Sea Stage, but now he could probably shake the Core Formation Stage. That’s the power of an Emperor‑Grade technique.
But at this point, his meridians were starting to feel strained.
Ian had plenty of ways to deal with that.
He immediately took out several spirit medicines and started refining pills.
With Pill Condensation Technique, alchemy was almost too easy for him.
In just a few dozen breaths, he’d produced ten pills specifically for strengthening meridians. He swallowed all ten at once, and as the medicinal power spread, his meridians expanded, their walls thickened, and their resilience increased, able to withstand high‑intensity qi circulation.
The faster energy flows inside the body, the greater the destructive power. That’s why all true experts have incredibly tough meridians.
Feeling the changes in his meridians, Ian refined more pills.
This time, he made pills to nourish his internal organs.
He swallowed ten pills for nourishing his organs, then refined pills to strengthen his bones, followed by pills for reinforcing his dantian.
This round of strengthening took a full three days.
And during those three days, he wasn’t idle—he kept refining his inner qi, raising its purity even further.
"That’s about enough!"
After another half month of tempering, Ian felt his inner qi was now extremely pure and could hardly be refined further. So, he decided to attempt breaking through to the Core Formation Stage.
The first step to breaking through to Core Formation was to clear every meridian in the body.
This was a painstaking process. Normally, it would take years to complete this step, since meridians are fragile and being too aggressive could cause cracks or even rupture.
But Ian wasn’t worried. First, his meridians had already been strengthened—broad, thick, and highly resilient. Second, he possessed the Radiance of Life.
Even if his meridians shattered completely, he could repair them in a matter of moments.
With no worries, Ian forcefully cleared every meridian in his body using an extremely rough method.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
Explosions rang out inside his body as segment after segment of meridian was forced open, causing considerable damage—even a trickle of blood seeped from his pores.
He didn’t care and kept pushing forward.
Ignoring the waves of pain from within, Ian clenched his teeth.
"Go, go, go!"
Half an hour later, Ian seemed to hear a boom—his meridians were all cleared. But because his method was so rough, even with their strength, many cracks had formed.
"Radiance of Life!"
Light blossomed, and in just a few breaths, every cracked meridian was completely healed.
All his meridians were now open.
Next came the second step: compressing his inner qi.
Under his control, the inner qi in his dantian was squeezed tighter and tighter. What once filled his dantian was now only two-thirds as much, and at this point, Ian felt mentally exhausted.
So, he took a Frost Spirit Pill. Instantly, a cool sensation swept through him and his mind was fully restored.
But when his inner qi was compressed down to just one-third, Ian felt a strong backlash from the energy. He knew he had to endure it—if he couldn’t suppress it, the resulting explosion would be disastrous.
Though he had Radiance of Life, he didn’t want to waste days of effort.
So he took another Frost Spirit Pill.
With the pill’s help, his inner qi was compressed to the size of an egg and fully liquefied.
But it still wasn’t enough.
So he kept compressing.
Finally, after several more days, his inner qi was compressed to the size of a pigeon egg and was nearly solidified.
Now came the most critical step.
Holding his breath and focusing his mind, Ian began forming hand seals. As the seals took shape, mysterious power poured from the void to reinforce his core.
This process lasted three days.
Three days later, Ian sensed that his core was completely stable, so he gradually relaxed his mind.
When he fully let go, his core remained intact. He knew he’d succeeded—he had reached the Core Formation Stage.