Thinking of this, Ning Fa couldn't help but feel a bit discouraged. He frowned and began to sort through his predecessor's cultivation experiences.
After his predecessor confirmed he possessed a Lightning Spiritual Root, the Ning Family spent a great deal of resources to obtain a lightning-attribute cultivation technique.
However, his predecessor's cultivation progress was exceptionally slow afterward. Even when cultivating on Ningchang Island, a clan territory with a second-tier high-rank Spirit Vein, and consuming numerous precious elixirs, the effects were minimal.
Initially, the Ning Family's higher-ups suspected the cultivation technique was unsuitable for Ning Fa. Thus, they painstakingly found another lightning-attribute technique, but the situation remained the same with no improvement.
Later, Ning Zhongyuan, the Ning Family's Great Elder, traveled thousands of miles to Black Marsh Immortal City. At an auction, he spent a fortune to acquire another lightning-attribute cultivation technique.
This technique was named the [Primordial Thunder Art], a Mystic Grade High Rank cultivation technique, considered quite high-tier for lightning-attribute arts.
The cultivation world had a customary standard for classifying cultivation techniques, generally divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Each tier was further divided into low, mid, and high grades.
Common cultivation techniques in the cultivation world were typically Yellow Grade, and even Mystic Grade techniques were very rare.
As for Earth Grade, or even Heaven Grade techniques, they were beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators. These were legacies of major immortal cultivation sects and were never circulated externally.
Therefore, this Mystic Grade High Rank [Primordial Thunder Art] was considered very precious. It was rumored to have been derived from an ancient lightning-attribute cultivation technique.
The Ning Family's Great Elder had paid an astonishing price of over ten thousand Spirit Stones to acquire this technique.
This was even considering that the technique could only cultivate up to the late Foundation Establishment stage, as the subsequent cultivation method for Golden Core stage had long vanished into history. Otherwise, the price would likely have been several times higher.
However, for the Ning Family, cultivating up to the late Foundation Establishment stage was sufficient.
A late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator with a Lightning Spiritual Root could basically wreak havoc among Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even when encountering ordinary Golden Core cultivators, they would have a high chance of escaping.
Yet, even after Ning Fa's predecessor switched to cultivating this renowned Primordial Thunder Art, it still yielded no results. In fact, his cultivation progress became even slower.
The Ning Family's higher-ups were dumbfounded. They finally realized that the problem wasn't with the cultivation technique but with Ning Fa himself.
This led them to find a capable expert to examine Ning Fa, who concluded that he had an Incomplete Lightning Spiritual Root.
Later, seeing that Ning Fa was consistently unable to break through the mid-Qi Condensation realm, the family finally gave up on him, leaving him to fend for himself.
Ning Fa shook his head, a self-deprecating smile appearing on his face. However, his eyes then showed determination. No matter how difficult it was, he had to give it a try.
With this thought, Ning Fa closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and began to circulate the cultivation technique according to the Primordial Thunder Art's Heavenly Cycle.
His body began to flash with blue and white light. Wisps of blue and white arcs occasionally appeared on his body, accompanied by crisp crackling sounds, making Ning Fa appear extremely mysterious at this moment.
Inside Ning Fa's body, a stream of pure lightning spiritual power was circulating along fixed meridians.
Simultaneously, the spiritual energy in his room, imperceptible to the naked eye, seemed to be drawn in, flowing into his body. Some of it dissipated, while some merged with the spiritual power already circulating in his meridians, becoming a part of it.
As Ning Fa completed forty-nine cycles of the Heavenly Cycle, this stream of spiritual power had grown slightly stronger than before.
Ning Fa raised his eyebrows and began to guide this spiritual power towards his dantian.
He intended to attempt breaking through the bottleneck of the mid-Qi Condensation realm.
This stream of spiritual power surged into his dantian, but an invisible barrier blocked it.
Ning Fa knew this was likely the bottleneck of the mid-Qi Condensation realm, the very thing that had driven his predecessor to despair.
Ning Fa carefully controlled the stream of spiritual power to impact the bottleneck.
A sound like crashing waves seemed to echo in the void, low yet deafening.
Each impact brought immense pain to Ning Fa, as if every inch of his skin was tearing, but the stubbornness in his heart made him grit his teeth and endure.
After ten consecutive impacts on the barrier, Ning Fa was covered in cold sweat, blood trickling from his lips, and his eyes were bloodshot.
However, the invisible barrier within his dantian remained as solid as a rock, showing no signs of being broken.
"Hmph! I don't believe it!"
A fierce glint flashed in Ning Fa's eyes. He stopped impacting the bottleneck and instead controlled the spiritual power to continue circulating through the Heavenly Cycle, while desperately absorbing surrounding spiritual energy.
He intended to increase the total amount of spiritual power used to break through the bottleneck, thereby increasing the chances of success.
However, the price for this approach was that, at his current realm, the overloaded circulation of the Heavenly Cycle would place an immense burden on his body.
Blood began to seep from his skin, staining his robes a dark red.
But Ning Fa acted like a madman, enduring the intense pain, and gritted his teeth to complete another twenty cycles. At this point, he had reached the limit of his control.
Ning Fa guided the slightly strengthened spiritual power to his dantian and attempted to break through again.
"Break for me!"
Ning Fa roared hoarsely!
This time, there was finally a change.
A silent, colossal sound seemed to erupt, and then a strange, circular pattern appeared out of thin air within Ning Fa's dantian.
This circular pattern appeared to be formed by countless tiny runes. Upon closer inspection, these numerous small runes were actually threads of lightning of various forms, flashing with white, cyan, black, crimson, and yellow colors. They flickered unceasingly, interweaving and intertwining in profoundly mysterious trajectories, forming this mysterious pattern shimmering with multicolored radiance, possessing an indescribable sense of perfect flawlessness.
Unfortunately, this mysterious circular pattern seemed to be missing more than half of its parts. Only a small portion was clear, while the rest was vague and illusory, seeming as if it could disappear at any moment.
Ning Fa, who discovered this mysterious pattern through his internal vision, was shocked. This mysterious and unfathomable pattern had never appeared in his predecessor's memories.
Ning Fa instinctively felt that this mysterious pattern might be the reason his predecessor had been unable to break through.
Just as Ning Fa was filled with surprise and uncertainty, he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his right arm. Before he could react, a white light flashed before his eyes, and the mysterious scroll appeared.
This scroll automatically unfurled, and countless white runes reappeared on it, flashing incessantly. Moreover, the intensity of the runes' flashing was far greater than before, the dazzling white light almost blinding Ning Fa.
Gradually, amidst the flashing white runes, a circular pattern began to appear on the scroll, looking exactly like the one within Ning Fa's dantian.
Furthermore, as the mysterious runes on the scroll flashed wildly, the missing larger portion of this circular pattern began to be filled in, bit by bit.
Ning Fa stared at the mysterious scroll in shock; this mysterious scene before him made it difficult for him to think for a moment.
At this time, the spiritual power he was using to break through the barrier in his dantian had lost its momentum and finally dissipated. The spiritual power, far exceeding his previous levels, immediately spread throughout his limbs and bones. Ning Fa, who had been impacted, let out a muffled groan and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
Immediately, the mysterious circular pattern that had appeared in his dantian vanished.
The white runes on the mysterious scroll also gradually stopped flashing, and the evolving circular pattern on the scroll disappeared along with them.