.


    Ethan, now in the stage of Soul Cultivation, had begun to umte sufficient Qi for this level, doing exactly what the name of this cultivation stage implied:


    cultivating the soul, more precisely, cultivating the acquired spiritual beast and making it increasinglypatible with his own.


    The process that Ethan underwent during his breakthrough served only to prepare his body for what was toe next.


    How this process urred and what effects it would have on the cultivator varied from person to person.


    People were different, and so were the spiritual beasts they acquired.


    When a spiritual beast was absorbed into one''s Dantian, the resulting process would differ for everyone.


    This was because the spiritual beast would have its own characteristics, to which the cultivator''s body had to adapt.


    Although these characteristics diminished as the cultivator''spatibility with the spiritual beast increased, they were still present, and the cultivator needed to prepare their body to host and sessfully cultivate with the spiritual beast.


    The adaptation process that Ethan''s body experienced was the electric sensation that coursed through his entire body, moving from his meridians to his nerves, reconstructing them and making them morepatible with the spiritual beast.


    This process was very delicate, and often cultivators preferred to have assistance from someone since the pain could cloud a person''s mind, and it was a challenge to maintain enough concentration to guide this adaptation process.


    For Ethan, this was not the case as he only had to assist while the system handled the rest of the work.


    Unfortunately for him, he would have to do it himself from now on;


    after all, he couldn''t expect to surpass this stage without learning more about the spiritual beast he had acquired.


    The amount of Qi required for level 2 was enormous, and it was not something he could umte in just one day of refinement.


    He had refined for only 5 hours a day, spending the rest of the time consolidating his expanded Dantian.


    Now he had to do something simr.


    He would first gather enough Qi, and only when he felt it was sufficient would he stop and begin the soul cultivation process.


    For the previous stage, it took him about five hours to umte a good amount of Qi, but now he would have to refine a bit more.


    After nearly 6 hours of refining, he finally sighed as he stored away his pill refinement materials.


    He had refined a batch of level 3 pills to obtain more Qi in less time.


    The refining time for a level 2 pill was about 20 minutes, while the refining time for a level 3 pill was almost half an hour.


    A low-grade level 3 pill provided him with 100 SP and 30 Qi.


    The amount of SP he received was nothing to take lightly.


    Compared to the 30 he received from a high-grade level 2 recipe, this was more than three times greater.


    But the extra time spent refining it was no small matter either.


    He could refine three level 2 pills in 20 minutes, while he was refining one level 3 pill in 30 minutes.


    He had to admit that the difference between these two stages was much greater than he had expected.


    The materials for refining three level 3 pills were far more than Ethan was used to using at one time.


    In the end, he brushed aside these thoughts and focused more on the refined Qi that was circting in his Dantian.


    He entered a meditation pose with crossed legs and proceeded.


    His method of soul cultivation would be identical to what he had perceived during the breakthrough, that is:


    He would have to manipte the pure Qi to fuel the bluish-green mist that would then be used to strengthen and expand the spiral light ring that was revolving around the sphere of light.


    From what he had observed, this ring was what was directly fueling Zhong Hei''s soul that resided within the sphere of light.


    Apparently, the sphere acted as a container that would aid in the cultivation process of the spiritual beast.


    Ethan proceeded to condense the Qi, ensuring that it didn''t condense too much and be liquid.


    What he had to do was create clouds of Qi, which, due to the properties of the environment, would take on the same form as the bluish-green cloud.


    The time it took just to make this step was by no means short.


    Indeed, it took him a full 3 hours to produce the first cloud of bluish-green color.


    He condensed it even more until he felt it was enough.


    At this point, the cloud was quite visible and charged with energy.


    Now, what he had to do was produce many more and direct them gradually towards the light spiral.


    This would require not hours, but days.


    Fortunately for Ethan, time was not an issue for him here.


    He followed the same routine he had established on the first day, then the second, the third, and the fourth, transforming this into his new routine.


    He would umte a certain amount of Qi, refine it, condense it, and then repeat the process all over again.


    Ethan would have to do this for about 100 days before reaching the peak of his level and finally advancing to level two.


    To confirm his earlier assumption about the increase in his statistics, Ethan opened his status screen and looked at how much they had increased this time.


    .


    [------------------------------


    Name: Ethan


    Cultivation: Soul Cultivation (Lvl.1 → Lvl.2)


    Qi: 1420/300,000


    Physique: Heavenly Body of the Sacred mes


    Strength: 361 → 381


    Agility: 355 → 375


    Intelligence: 324 → 344


    Soul Strength: 173 → 178


    [Shop]


    [Storage]


    [System points]: 1,205,170


    -------------------------------]


    .


    Seeing the updated values on his status screen, Ethan could confirm his assumption.


    ''Well, this exins why it''s said there is a great difference in strength after the third cultivation stage,'' he thought, also confirming some of the things he had learned about this stage of cultivation from the sect''s texts.


    It was said there that the difference between a third stage and a fourth stage was too great, and this was due to the significant improvement gained by assimting a spiritual beast''s soul into one''s Dantian.


    For Ethan, this was good news.


    Now what he had to do was take a few days to limate to his new cultivation base and then resume cultivating as he had done in thest 100 days.


    And so, Ethan spent the next 20 years cultivating with a certain consistency, never taking too many breaks.


    And in the blink of an eye, his long and tedious istion for cultivation had finallye to an end.