The tempering Luo Chen spoke of was not as simple as sitting in meditation and continuing to cultivate. Before anything else, he needed to resolve the problem of his mana's purity.

His Nascent Core had been destroyed, yet he had long since grown used to possessing far more mana than ordinary cultivators. With his five spirit roots, his natural reserves were already several times greater than those of his peers, and that advantage had been even wider during the time he still had the Nascent Core. It was the foundation that allowed him to cast large-scale spells freely, defeat opponents above his realm, and even challenge Sages. Now that he had lost it, the sudden emptiness left him deeply unaccustomed.

Still, one eventually had to adapt to what they had lost. Since he could no longer rely on overwhelming quantity to make up the difference, he would have to seek a breakthrough in quality instead. In the past, his mana had seemed purer than that of ordinary Adepts; in truth, however, it had never been refined to the absolute limit. Now, he intended...