To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

The white jade altar shimmered with starlight.

Xuanji Zhenren sat suspended in mid-air, her eyes lowered, quietly awaiting Gu Fan's reply.

Zhou Furui remained silent, recalling Gu Fan's past choices, and looked at Gu Fan with curiosity.

The atmosphere fell silent instantly, as if time had frozen, with only starlight streaking across the night sky, leaving behind mysterious streaks of light.

Gu Fan lowered his head in deep thought, his mind racing with a thousand thoughts.

"The opportunity to receive rewards from a Golden Core cultivator is rare. We should first exclude magical artifacts and pills that can be exchanged with spirit stones and merits. Although they can be used immediately in the final battle, it would be a pity to waste the opportunity for them."

"What I seek should be something that can make up for my shortcomings, and preferably something that will benefit my long-term spiritual practice."

With a single thought, Gu Fan began to recall the places where he had been most restricted in his cultivation in the past, and a flash of inspiration suddenly arose in his heart.

"Reporting to Master, this disciple desires a secret method for cultivating divine consciousness," Gu Fan said, bowing.

Due to the angle, Gu Fan didn't see it. When Xuanji Zhenren and Zhou Furui heard this, they immediately raised their eyebrows and had the same expression. Then they looked at each other.

"The secret method of forging divine consciousness... are you sure?" Master Xuanji asked in a cryptic tone.

"This disciple is certain." Gu Fan nodded firmly.

As his cultivation deepened, Gu Fan increasingly felt the importance of divine sense.

Drawing talismans requires expending divine sense to restrain magical power; refining weapons requires using divine sense as a brush to carve restrictions; and even practicing formations and controlling flames all require the blessing of divine sense.

Ordinary cultivators only experience a physical body's magical power replenishing their divine consciousness when they break through in their cultivation level.

However, there are also secret methods for tempering one's divine sense in the cultivation world, but they are all extremely precious and can be used as a family's foundation.

At least among the jade slips on the first floor of the Star Pavilion, there were no related cultivation techniques.

"I do indeed possess the secret method for forging one's divine sense."

As Master Xuanji spoke, he took out a jade slip from his sleeve: "In principle, this jade slip can only be given to you after you have established your foundation and truly become one of my disciples. But since I have promised to let you choose, it is not unreasonable to pass it on to you ahead of time."

After speaking, the jade slip in Xuanji Zhenren's hand flew up and floated towards Gu Fan.

Gu Fan was surprised.

If one can obtain the secret cultivation method simply by establishing a foundation, wouldn't that be a waste of an opportunity?

But the next second, he dismissed the thought.

The difference between early and late is significant. Being able to hone one's spiritual sense during the Qi Refining stage will greatly benefit one's Foundation Establishment.

"Thank you, Master!" Gu Fan accepted the jade slip and bowed in gratitude.

After putting away the jade slip, Gu Fan's mind stirred slightly, and he said in a low voice, "This disciple has something else he wishes to report to Master."

"Oh?" A hint of curiosity flashed in Xuanji Zhenren's eyes as she calmly said, "Tell me about it."

"In a few months, I will be engaged in a decisive battle with a disciple of a powerful family, and I would like to ask Senior Brother Zhou... to be my witness."

"A complete stalemate?" Xuanji frowned upon hearing this and looked at Zhou Furui: "Is this true?"

"Uh... I've been studying magic lately, so I haven't heard anything about it," Zhou Furui replied awkwardly.

Therefore, Gu Fan recounted the whole story of his decisive battle with Bai Ziming.

Xuanji snorted softly after hearing this.

"Are you trying to use my name to make the Bai family back down and rescue your friend?"

"That's not the case." Gu Fan shook his head and said, "This disciple is not afraid of a decisive battle, nor is he afraid of being retaliated against by the Bai family. But my friend is different. He asked Senior Brother Zhou to be a witness, hoping that the Bai family would keep their promise and not retaliate against him."

This is indeed Gu Fan's true thought.

When Gu Fan heard that the plague that killed his parents was spread by demonic cultivators to absorb qi, his gaze shifted away from Jue Zheng.

If we can't even defeat Bai Ziming, who is in the late stage of Qi Refining, how can we talk about revenge!

"Very well, I grant your permission!" Master Xuanji nodded slightly.

"Master!" Zhou Furui suddenly spoke up, "Junior Brother is obsessed with array formations and weapon crafting, and has not yet exchanged for any decent spells. Participating in the final battle is too dangerous. Why don't I step in and ask the Bai family to release him? Junior Brother can then focus on his cultivation."

Xuanji Zhenren glanced at Zhou Furui: "No."

"Master!" Zhou Furui stepped forward to try to persuade him again, but Xuanji Zhenren waved his whisk, and a beam of starlight shot down from the dome, trapping Zhou Furui in place and rendering him unable to move. He naturally swallowed his words.

"Master, please calm down. Senior Brother Zhou is just worried about his disciple."

"Of course I know." Master Xuanji turned to Gu Fan and asked, "Was your opponent in the late stage of Qi Refining?"

"That's true," Gu Fan nodded in reply.

Upon hearing this, Xuanji Zhenren took out a blue jade pot and a three-inch jade cup from his sleeve.

Amber-colored wine was poured from the jade pot and into the cup, which then floated toward Gu Fan.

"Drink this cup," Xuanji Zhenren instructed.

"Disciple obeys." Gu Fan did not hesitate and picked up the jade cup to drink it all in one gulp.

The moment it entered the mouth, the wine turned into a hot stream and fell into the stomach. Then it rose up like a ball of flame, and the violent spiritual energy spread to the limbs and bones, causing a sharp pain in the meridians.

Gu Fan's expression changed drastically, and the veins on his face bulged, but he gritted his teeth and endured it without making a sound. He quickly sat down cross-legged and began to circulate his cultivation technique to refine the spiritual energy.

Fortunately, he practiced both methods simultaneously, and the morning glow and purple energy opened up and nourished his meridians; otherwise, the pain would have been even more intense.

Looking at Gu Fan's resolute face, Xuanji Zhenren nodded in admiration, then summoned the jade cup and poured out another cup of wine.

After guiding the spiritual energy through his meridians for nine cycles, Gu Fan finally refined it into magical power.

Strangely, although the spiritual energy transformed from the wine was as violent as a raging fire, it was almost perfectly integrated into the original magic power after being refined, and did not form "poison" like when refining elixirs.

When Gu Fan opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of scorching heat, the jade cup floated back to him once more.

"Drink again!" Master Xuanji ordered in a deep voice.

Gu Fan remained silent and downed his drink in one gulp.

The familiar excruciating pain returned, but Gu Fan was prepared. After drinking it, he immediately channeled his spiritual energy into magical power, remaining expressionless throughout.

"Drink again," came Xuanji Zhenren's voice again.

And so, Gu Fan drank three cups of spiritual wine.

When the last wisp of spiritual energy was refined, the magical power in the dantian also reached its limit, and the magical power vortex spun faster and faster.

"Boom!"

A thunderous sound seemed to emanate from Gu Fan's dantian. His magical power continuously expanded the meridians of his dantian, like an iron plow clearing barren land. A pain far greater than before made him tremble.

Large beads of sweat streamed down his forehead. Gu Fan seemed to have lost all sense of time, focusing intently on guiding his magical power. When he came to his senses, an even more powerful vortex was slowly rotating in his dantian, and his meridians were forcibly widened by 30%!

Gu Fan was astonished to discover that his cultivation level had risen to the seventh level of Qi Refining, and the three cups of spiritual wine had actually saved him three years of arduous cultivation!

On the other side, Xuanji Zhenren had already freed Zhou Furui from his restraints, and the two of them were staring at Gu Fan together.