What kind of magic? This is called cultivating immortality!

Without the slightest hesitation, Chika nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Zhong Hui was completely unaware of the underhanded tricks that Qiu Bi was secretly plotting.

Upon returning to his room, he immediately sat cross-legged, clearing his mind of all distractions, and devoted himself entirely to his nighttime meditation.

He focused his mind and circulated his cultivation technique, continuously absorbing the pure spiritual energy between heaven and earth, allowing the spiritual power to surge into his limbs and bones, gradually cleansing and opening up new meridian channels within his body.

The core practice of the so-called Qi Refining Realm is breathing exercises and meditation.

By using cultivation techniques to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body, opening up the meridians throughout the body, and storing spiritual power in the meridians, one can solidly hone the foundation of cultivation.

The human body has nine main meridians and one hundred and eight branch meridians.

Most cultivators of mediocre talent in the world can only open up two or three main meridians and forty or fifty branch meridians at most when they reach the Qi Refining stage.

Many people, having barely reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage, are eager to find an opportunity to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, only seeking to quickly advance their realm, and are unwilling to spend time and energy to hone their foundation.

But true top geniuses never care about the speed of their cultivation.

Even if one's cultivation level stagnates for several years, one must strive to expand one's meridians to the extreme and hone one's foundation to the pinnacle of one's cultivation level.

For cultivators, their foundation determines their potential, and their accumulated strength determines their combat power.

The more meridians one opens, the greater the spiritual energy storage capacity, resulting in combat endurance and the power of spiritual energy bursts that far surpass those of cultivators of the same level, giving one a natural overwhelming advantage in battles.

Both have reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage, but some have opened up all the meridians in their bodies and have a profound foundation, while others have only opened up more than forty meridians and have a weak foundation. The difference in strength between the two is like heaven and earth.

Of course, the difficulty of opening up the meridians increases with each level.

The later the process goes, the more the spiritual energy, mental strain, and perseverance required to open a new meridian will increase exponentially. The process is tedious and difficult, and very few people can persevere to the end and successfully complete it.

If one can endure the entire process and open up all the meridians in the body, one can step into the ultimate realm that countless cultivators dream of.

The more times a cultivator breaks through to the highest realm of each major realm, the deeper their foundation becomes, and the smoother their future path of cultivation will be.

Zhong Hui was determined to regain his status as an Immortal Emperor and eliminate all the strange phenomena in the world. Naturally, he would not be perfunctory in any realm. He would strive to perfect every major realm.

After days and nights of arduous training, his cultivation level had already stabilized at the ninth level of Qi Refining, and ninety-seven meridians had been opened throughout his body.

Tonight, he will attempt to push his limits and forge a flawless Qi Refining Ultimate Realm!

The night was quiet and deep, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the room became increasingly rich, rapidly flowing into Zhong Hui's body. The remaining meridians were being opened one by one at an extremely fast speed.

At the same time, the system was quietly operating in his mind, silently supplying him with the magic power transformed from the Seed of Sorrow.

……

The following morning, at the headquarters of Destiny.

On the spacious command deck, rows of young girls stood tall and straight, standing in neat rows, quietly watching a man and a woman on the high platform.

These young women were all selected from across the country to serve as garrison leaders, and all of them possessed five-star strength. Such a massive operation was solely for the purpose of searching for and rescuing the team members who had lost contact on the Antarctic ice sheet.

At the front of the column, a middle-aged cadre in a military overcoat cleared his throat, preparing to deliver his usual pre-battle mobilization speech.

But before he could finish speaking, the blonde woman beside him spoke first, her clear and powerful voice like a booming bell, instantly resounding throughout the entire deck: "Let's go, destination: Antarctic ice sheet!"

"Yes!"

Sixty magical girls responded in unison, their voices strong and clear, their eyes filled with fervent adoration.

Yao Ri, standing in the crowd, was equally excited and thrilled.

The woman who spoke was Cecilia, one of the legendary magical girls with top combat power in Schicksal and even the entire Central Continent.

She is not only incredibly powerful, but also an idol in the hearts of countless Chinese magical girls, and the goal that everyone pursues throughout their lives.

At Cecilia's command, everyone followed her without hesitation, soaring into the sky and disappearing together.

On the vast deck, only the minister, who had prepared a lengthy speech, stood awkwardly alone.

Minister Lin Guohui chuckled helplessly, consoling himself, "Never mind. It was so hard to persuade her; this little thing is nothing to worry about."

He sighed as he spoke; he had almost burned himself out trying to get Cecilia to agree to proceed with the operation…

Chapter 42 The Calm Two Days Ago

The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the known strongholds of the witch.

However, it was less of a stronghold and more of a trap carefully prepared by a witch.

Earlier, the Huaguo Tianming headquarters had dispatched an advance team to explore the ice fields.

However, just as the team discovered the witch's stronghold, they fell into a trap, lost all contact, and disappeared without a trace.

This disappearance has put immense pressure on Tianming.

Externally, Tianming faces accountability from government members of parliament; internally, many within the organization believe that the missing team members should not be abandoned.

It's important to know that every member of this advance team is at least a five-star magical girl, and in any city, each of them would be a core leader responsible for guarding that area.

In addition, the team also has two six-star and one seven-star magical girl.

Even China, with its numerous magical girls, would not be willing to suffer such a devastating loss due to such top-tier elite combat power.

Under this dual pressure from both inside and outside, Tianming had no choice but to draw on elites from major cities across the country to temporarily assemble a rescue team.

Furthermore, this team is personally led by Cecilia, the most powerful magical girl in China, who is fully responsible for this search and rescue mission.

At this moment, all sixty magical girls were gathered on this desolate and lifeless ice field.

A biting wind howled incessantly, but a thick golden shield steadily enveloped everyone, shielding them from the bone-chilling cold and allowing them to fully concentrate on the search and find the advance team's whereabouts.

However, no one could have imagined that the location was not actually in the present world, but hidden in the void outside of it.

In the dark and desolate alternate dimension, graceful yet dangerous figures stood silently.

They are all witches who reside in various regions of Central Continent, wandering within the territories of various countries, and are the source of disasters and the source of destruction.

But these witches, who are usually lawless, rampant, and cause unrest in various countries, are now unusually quiet.

The entire space was completely silent; not a single person made a sound.

All the witches fell silent, quietly awaiting the appearance of a certain person.

A deathly silence seemed to define the atmosphere of this place.

This oppressive atmosphere did not last long. Suddenly, the dark and gloomy void was forcibly opened, and a spatial portal appeared abruptly, instantly breaking the silence of the entire place.

The arrogant witch Peredard strode through the light barrier, her haughty demeanor radiating an aura of royalty as she calmly entered the area where numerous witches had gathered.

With her arrival, all the witches awoke at once, and waves of magical power, mixed with negative auras such as violence, coldness, death, and sorrow, surged forth, intertwining and converging in layers.

The once solid and stable crevice, which had never been disturbed, began to tremble and shake violently under this immense and terrifying pressure.

The spatial barrier quickly became overwhelmed, and like a shattered mirror, it revealed countless cracks.

Standing at the center of the storm, Polid remained calm, showing no sign of panic; instead, a defiant smile played on his lips.

She spoke slowly, her tone carrying an extreme arrogance: "I know that many of you still hold a grudge against me for the failure of the last operation. If you have any complaints, feel free to challenge me directly. If you can win, I'd be happy to relinquish my position as Commander of Central Continent. If you don't dare to challenge me, then you should stop with this pointless little game."

As soon as she finished speaking, a dark red aura emanated from her body, and she single-handedly stood up to the overwhelming pressure from all the witches present.

However, despite her immense strength, she was ultimately overwhelmed by the sheer number of witches she faced and gradually found herself at a disadvantage.

"elder sister!"

A gasp suddenly rang out from the doorway.

Several figures emerged one after another; they were all witches of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Seeing that their sister was being targeted by a group of witches, they immediately released their auras and rushed to her aid.

Only one deep black shadow silently walked to a corner, coldly observing the entire struggle without any reaction.

She is a death witch from the Western Continent.

It should be noted that the witch faction is not monolithic; there is still various forms of competition within it.

Right now, the witches who are at odds with her are from the Central Continent faction, and they have nothing to do with her. If this confrontation leads to a fight and there are injuries or deaths, she will be even happier.

"You guys have a lot of free time?"

Just as the standoff was escalating, a faint and indifferent voice suddenly resounded throughout the entire space.

In an instant, all the witches were imprisoned by the oppressive aura, their magical power completely sealed off, leaving them frozen in place, unable to move.

That person has arrived...

This thought echoed in the minds of all the witches.

And the ethereal voice that had subdued the entire scene with just one sentence rang out again, carrying an undeniable authority: "The failure of the Crimson Cherry City operation is not entirely the fault of Arrogance. If you are not satisfied, you are welcome to challenge her. Whoever can defeat her will be the commander of Central Continent."

"But before this, arrogance is still the commander, your leader. Are you trying to rebel by joining forces to target him like this?!"

An even more terrifying pressure poured down, and all the witches who had attacked earlier were forced to their knees, powerless to resist.

Even the Death Witch, who had been watching the whole thing from the sidelines, was caught up in this unexpected disaster and forced to kneel down.

She gritted her teeth, her eyes unfathomable, but her mind was perfectly clear: this witch, the true supreme commander of the Central Continent, was not only standing up for arrogance and warning those witches with ill intentions, but also subtly warning her not to cause trouble.

The oppressive aura subsided slightly, and the voice ignored the kneeling witches, asking only to Polid, "Arrogance, what's the situation?"

Facing this supreme being, Polide showed no arrogance and respectfully reported quickly: "My lord, the Destiny Organization's rescue team has entered the Antarctic ice field in its entirety, including forty-five five-star magical girls and fifteen six-star girls. The leader of the team is Cecilia, the strongest combat force in China."

The space fell into a brief silence once again.

After a long pause, the ethereal voice finally rang out with surprise: "Why are there so many people?"

No witch can answer this question.

After all, no one could have imagined that one of the trapped advance team members was the daughter of a government member.

It is for this reason that Destiny mobilized so many people for the rescue.

After a brief silence, the ethereal voice rang out again: "Enough. The more fish that are hung up, the greater the final harvest will be."

"Arrogance, immediately arrange for men to infiltrate those cities lacking their leaders. Launch a full-scale attack two days later. In this battle, I will cripple the entire nation of China!"

"All the witches present must obey the orders of Arrogance. If anyone dares to disobey and causes the plan to fail... I do not recommend using your bodies to create a new witch."

The witches shuddered.

"Arrogance, go and carry out your mission."

"Yes!"