...It hadn’t snowed for over ten days since the last cataclysm. Qin Fang figured the great battle had probably disrupted the local weather patterns.

A single battle disrupting the weather... Such power was truly unimaginable.

The thought often left Qin Fang in a daze.

His progress with the Mental Pile was swift. He had grasped its essence—it wasn’t just about simple Contemplation, but also about creating a ’Simulated Enemy.’ Only by doing so could he make the experience feel as real as possible.

However, last time he’d had a real enemy in the Treasure Fish. Afterward, trying to return to that initial Heart Realm was truly difficult.

Fortunately, however, he had the ’Eternal Dao Fruit’ effect, so he could still easily enter a state similar to the ’Heart Eye.’

But... the improvement to his Mental Pile was nowhere near as good as the first time.

That first time, his proficiency had jumped by nearly two hundred points in just a short while. But now, even after training for four hours, it would only increase by about a hundred points, and the gains were constantly diminishing...

This made Qin Fang’s brow furrow, but he eventually identified the key factor.

’The Eternal Dao Fruit’s effect is still active, but it’s not a real combat situation... My focus feels a bit unsteady.’

Simulation and reality were, of course, vastly different.

Qin Fang could simulate facing an enemy and fool everyone else, but there was one person he couldn’t deceive: himself.

...Deep down, he knew it was fake.

After realizing this, Qin Fang tried to make a change...

He fixed his gaze on the leaves in the bamboo grove... He imagined them as his enemies while he held sharp bamboo shards. His goal was to pierce a leaf at the very instant it was dislodged by the wind...

He even raised the standard for himself: he wouldn’t shoot after the leaf had begun its descent, but at the exact instant it broke free!

This was to simulate the scenario of not knowing when the Treasure Fish would leap...

...And he had to admit, the results were excellent!

With a clear target, his will solidified, and the gains from his Mental Pile practice improved significantly...

It wasn’t as dramatic as gaining two hundred points in a short while, like that time with the Treasure Fish.

But over the course of a day, he could still gain 120 to 150 points.

Qin Fang also had an epiphany about the true nature of the Mental Pile.

’Gather your focus, temper your will...’

Contemplating the Spiritual Snake, comprehending Force—this was seeking inwardly.

Imagining an enemy, delivering a single fatal strike—this was reaching outwardly...

Huajin was the process of shattering this "seeking inwardly" and "reaching outwardly," then forging them together in a single furnace.

It wasn’t a simple matter of "having both an inner and outer aspect."

Rather, the inner and outer had to resonate, mutually generating and transforming one another!

...This was Huajin!

As this realization dawned on him, Qin Fang’s eyes shone with a new light.

The path forward had become clearer than ever before!

Time passed. After grasping the True Intent of Huajin, Qin Fang’s progress with the Spiritual Snake Listening Wave Pile improved by leaps and bounds.

In just three to five days, his Mental Pile proficiency had already reached 9,735 points.

He was about to break through!

Anticipation gleamed in Qin Fang’s eyes...

He could feel that as soon as his Mental Pile broke through, he would be able to immediately enter the Huajin realm...

Looking at his progress, he smiled, closed his eyes, and began his ’Standing Pile’ practice...

In truth, the ’form’ of the Pile was no longer important to him now; what mattered was the ’intent.’ Any posture could be a Pile!

But just as he was deep in his comprehension of the Mental Pile, he suddenly snapped his eyes open, his brow furrowing as he looked past the edge of the bamboo grove.

At the same moment, Xile also turned its head and looked past the bamboo grove.

Qin Fang’s brow tightened, and he stood up.

"Xile, watch the house."

With those words, he moved. His speed was incredible, and he vanished silently...

On the mountain path below Old Ox Back, several figures were walking.

"It’s been days. Even if we find the guy, the Treasure Fish has got to be long gone. What the hell is Master thinking, being so insistent on finding him?"

The figures glanced around as they followed the mountain path toward Li Family Ao.

"We were supposed to leave for the Prefecture City more than ten days ago, but we’ve been delayed all this time because of him..."

"Is this about getting revenge for Wang Cheng and the others?"

"Revenge, my ass. They were idiots. Master was already on his way, but they just had to run off and show off first. And what happened? They got themselves killed. Hmph. Serves them right, I say."

The men chatted idly out of boredom as they walked.

They wore matching winter clothes. Though meant for the cold, the garments were tailored and practical, more like martial arts uniforms than the bulky clothing of common folk, allowing for ease of movement in a fight.

Embroidered flamboyantly on their chests were the two words ’True Martial’... They were from the True Martial Boxing Hall!

’They’ve been looking for me all this time?’

Qin Fang spotted them from a great distance, his brow furrowed in thought.

They were two or three hundred meters away, speaking at a normal volume.

But Qin Fang’s five senses were now immeasurably sharper than before, and their idle chatter carried clearly to his ears.

"Out here in these desolate mountains, even with Master spreading us all out, how long is this gonna take? For all we know, the guy ate the Treasure Fish and took off ages ago."

One of them sighed.

"You’re telling me. We’ve been searching for days without a single lead... The True Martial region is full of mountains. He could just be holed up in some random cave, and we could search until we drop dead out here and still find nothing."

The man beside him lamented this and unconsciously glanced up.

As he did, he froze and blinked. "Huh? Hey, up there... looks like there’s a decent-sized cave..."

In the distance, Qin Fang’s brow instantly furrowed. He followed the man’s gaze upward...

And his heart skipped a beat!

The last cataclysmic gale had swept through, ripping countless trees and plants up into the sky.

At the time, he, his Master, and the others had taken shelter on the side of Old Ox Back and had been spared.

However, the vegetation on the front and sides of Old Ox Back looked as if it had been completely plowed over!

And that... included the vegetation around the very cave on the side of Old Ox Back!