Han Li slowly drew the energy flow within his meridians back to his dantian, completing the seventh great circulation of the meridians today. He knew his body had reached its limit—should he attempt one more great circulation, his meridians would almost certainly rupture once again, plunging him back into the agonizing suffering he had endured before. Thinking of the painful, incremental tearing of his meridians, even the usually courageous Han Li found cold sweat beading on his back. Now, more than half a year had passed since he had entered the academy, and the formal assessment for his recorded disciples had concluded over two months ago. Only a small number of recorded disciples were officially admitted into the inner hall; the majority failed the examination and had to carry their belongings down to the outer hall to become outer hall disciples. These unsuccessful youths were mostly assigned to the Ju Bao Hall and Fei Niao Hall. Among those outstanding ones, it's estimated that further training would be required before they could be recruited into the more prestigious Wai Jian Hall. Of course, the Wai Men Hall with the best treatment is the Si Hai Hall, yet it only admits well-known figures from the martial world. For those without a solid repertoire of notable skills, even the thought of being considered is futile—let alone these young, inexperienced children. Han Li, recalling the evaluations of his other named disciples conducted two months ago, still felt a touch of nervousness. He had to run a full circuit around the colorful Xiaoyu Mountain range, then form teams and engage in sparring within a sparsely populated forest, and finally withstand a series of attacks from the relentless assaults of his more accomplished senior classmates. All these tests left Han Li with a growing sense of sympathy and even a touch of envy. Han Li and Zhang Tie had avoided these daunting assessments, as the Master Mu himself had mentioned—having merely evaluated the progress of their respective internal breath techniques. Yet this stage was not as easy as Han Li had anticipated. To this day, he could recall the details of his cultivation experience with remarkable clarity. According to Doctor Mo, this unnamed set of oral techniques consisted of several layers, and Han Li and his companion had only acquired the cultivation method of the first layer. Thus, as long as they achieved notable progress within six months on the first layer, Doctor Mo would consider them to have passed the test, thereby granting them the status of formal disciples with the same privileges as the other inner-door disciples. Since Han Li had learned from others about the difference in treatment between inner-door and outer-door disciples, he had completely abandoned the idea of merely making do for six months to remain an outer-door disciple and return home. To him at that time, everything else seemed far less important than simply receiving a bit more silver from the Seven-Immortal Sect and having someone send him home, because back at home he had been so poor that he knew every additional silver coin he earned meant a better life for his parents and siblings. After receiving the secret technique from Doctor Mo, Han Li stayed indoors and never left, dedicating every available moment to continuous practice. Since Doctor Mo offered no specific guidance on cultivation, Han Li had to rely on his own efforts, studying and drawing inspiration from the methods used by other young disciples to master the basic internal energy technique, "Zhengyang Qi," of the Seven-Immortal Sect, and gradually developing his own understanding of the practice. According to this practice method, after three months of tireless training, Han Li was astonished to find that his progress in mastering the technique was surprisingly slow. Despite his great efforts, he could only generate a faint, barely perceptible flow of cool energy within his body—so delicate that it was nearly invisible unless he carefully observed his internal state. This, he naturally assumed, was what the instructors referred to as "internal energy" or "true internal qi." However, when he heard from the young disciples practicing the "Zhengyang Qi" of the Qiuxuan Sect, they described their internal energy as a clearly noticeable, warm, flowing current, while his own energy was distinctly cool. The results of their respective practices also differed significantly. The other young disciples, using their "Zhengyang Qi," were already able to break small trees with a diameter of about a bowl's rim with a single punch and leap over a distance of more than ten feet. In contrast, after practicing his own peculiar internal energy, Han Li had hardly noticed any substantial improvement compared to before. The only difference was that his spirit seemed much more vigorous than before, and his appetite had improved significantly compared to when he first came up the mountain—yet what good did that do? Watching the other young disciples display their remarkable abilities before him, Han Li grew increasingly discouraged. This unexpected discovery had nearly caused him to abandon the months of hard work he had put in. He had always believed his own aptitude was too poor to pass Master Mo's examination in the remaining days, and had even made up his mind to descend the mountain. One day, by chance, Han Li learned from Zhang Tie, a fellow practitioner, that Zhang Tie had not experienced any change in his body since beginning to practice this technique—there had been no effect at all, not even the slightest stir of true qi, unlike Han Li himself. This fortunate discovery helped Han Li regain some of the confidence he had previously lost, and from then on, he resumed his rigorous training, more diligently and more passionately than ever before. Now, Han Li made every single minute count by sitting in meditation. Even at night, Han Li began to maintain his meditation posture, hoping to gain a little extra cultivation benefit. Of course, this enthusiastic approach only lasted a few days before it faded away. The reason was that he suffered from insufficient sleep, which prevented him from sustaining the cultivation efficiency he had achieved during the day. What puzzled Han Li was that, since Master Mo had taught the cultivation techniques to the two of them, he had completely ceased to pay any attention—neither inquiring about their progress nor addressing any issues they encountered, as if he had entirely forgotten their existence. Every day, Master Mo spent the entire day holding that book with a three-character cover, immersed in reading, as though the book truly contained Yan Ruyu and golden mansions. At first, Han Li and Zhang Tie even thought that Master Mo no longer intended to be a healer but was instead preparing to study hard and take the examination for a scholar. Later, after both of them learned to read, they recognized the three characters as "Changsheng Jing"—a book on cultivating one's body and mind, aimed at promoting longevity and well-being. At this point, they suddenly realized that Doctor Mo wasn't aiming to become a scholar, but rather to live like the turtle in the river—old yet never dying, living for thousands and thousands of years.