Chu Qi laughed heartily and helped Qin Feng to his feet.
Just then, the heavy alloy door of the Cultivation Quiet Chamber was gently pushed open from the outside.
The familiar figures of Dragon Jade, Nissan, and Ning Jing appeared in the doorway.
They had finished their cultivation for the day and, as was their habit, came over to check on Qin Feng’s progress.
When they saw the chamber door open and Qin Feng already on his feet, Nissan was the first to yell out boisterously.
"Haha, Qin Feng, what are you doing out here? It’s only been a month. Don’t tell me you got restless and had to come out for a breather?"
Ning Jing’s gaze swept over Qin Feng. The corner of his mouth curved into the faintest of smiles as he spoke in his characteristically flat, challenging tone, "Out of seclusion after only a month?"
Dragon Jade, however, was smiling with a knowing look in his eyes. "My guess is this monster has already reached the initial stage. Anyone who can comprehend a finishing move on the level of Qian Yuan can’t possibly have weak Mental Power."
"What? He couldn’t have actually reached the initial stage!"
Nissan’s wide, round eyes bulged, his face a perfect picture of disbelief.
Chu Qi looked at the three of them, his smile broadening.
"Qin Feng has reached the initial stage."
"It took him exactly one month. You were right, Qin Feng’s talent with Mental Power is exceptionally high!"
Inside the Cultivation Quiet Chamber, the air seemed to freeze for an instant.
The expressions on the faces of Dragon Jade, Nissan, and Ning Jing were a sight to behold.
From their casual visit, to teasing Qin Feng for being out of seclusion, to hearing Chu Qi’s definitive declaration that he had "reached the initial stage"—their emotions had been on a rollercoaster.
"I... I was just making a wild guess, trying to liven things up a bit."
A rare look of astonishment crossed Dragon Jade’s refined, handsome face. He looked at Qin Feng, then at the confident expression on Chu Qi’s face, and finally gave a wry, helpless smile. "I can’t believe you actually did it."
"That’s just ridiculous!"
Nissan’s huge eyes were practically bulging out of his head. He stomped over to Qin Feng, looking him up and down as if trying to see what made him tick. "One month! A single month! It took me four months, with Chu Qi chewing me out every single day, and you..."
For a moment, he was at a complete loss for words.
"That’s just like you, Qin Feng."
It was Ning Jing, surprisingly, who was the first to regain his composure after the initial shock.
He just gave Qin Feng a long, hard look with his piercing eyes, his tone filled with an almost matter-of-fact admiration.
’It was as if he were thinking, a miracle like this only seems normal when it happens to you.’
After the brief shock, a tide of sincere joy and congratulations washed over them.
"Congratulations, Qin Feng! You’ve officially stepped through the gateway to the sixth level!"
Dragon Jade said with a heartfelt smile.
"Hahaha! Awesome! Our squad has four sixth-level powerhouses now!"
Nissan slapped Qin Feng hard on the shoulder with a loud THUMP, THUMP.
Faced with his close friends’ congratulations, Qin Feng just smiled humbly. "It was just a stroke of luck."
But no one took his claim of "luck" seriously.
On the path of the Martial Dao, there is no such thing as luck.
Behind every seemingly effortless breakthrough lay a profound and fundamental cause.
"Don’t be so modest!"
A cunning glint flashed in Ning Jing’s eyes, and a rare, wicked grin spread across his usually stern face. "Talk is cheap. Come on, give it a try! See if you can fly now!"
He urged, "Theoretically, as long as you’ve reached the initial stage with the Spiritual Manipulation Technique, you’ve met the most basic requirement for the sixth-level Soaring Realm."
"Yeah, yeah! Give it a shot!"
Nissan chimed in, his face full of eager expectation.
At their goading, a fire of excitement ignited in Qin Feng’s heart.
To fly through the heavens and move through the earth—this was a desire etched into the very core of human DNA.
Since embarking on the Martial Dao, he had witnessed countless powerhouses ride the air with their Mental Power, soaring through the skies like gods. How could he not yearn for the same?
He took a deep breath and, following the technique he had just mastered, sank his consciousness into his mind’s sea.
The silvery stream, formed from countless Spiritual Power Drops, stirred at his command.
It extended out from his mind’s sea like an invisible tentacle, coiling around his body and naturally intertwining with the vast, golden Spiritual Energy within him.
An intangible, formless, yet incredibly powerful lifting force slowly emanated from beneath him.
Qin Feng felt his body grow light as his feet left the cold floor forged from Void Stone.
One meter, two meters, three meters...
He did it!
An unprecedented sense of freedom, of being unshackled from the earth, flooded his senses.
He could clearly "see" the smiling faces of Dragon Jade and the others below, and he could feel the subtle currents of the air around him.
’This is the perspective of a Sixth-level Martial Artist!’
However, the joy didn’t last long. When he had risen to a height of about seven or eight meters, the lifting force became extremely unstable.
His body swayed in mid-air like a candle flame flickering in the wind. In the next instant, the lifting force created by the convergence of his Mental Power and Spiritual Energy completely collapsed.
"Ah—"
Under the gloating gazes of Dragon Jade and the others, Qin Feng plummeted from seven or eight meters up like a kite with a snapped string. After a short cry of alarm, he crashed heavily onto the hard floor with a loud THUD.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA—"
The next moment, Ning Jing’s unbridled laughter echoed throughout the entire Cultivation Quiet Chamber.