In the following days, Chen Yang barely left his house, fully immersing himself in the practice of the Yimu Longevity Technique. However, the progress was far from the rapid advancement of the first day. After initially using the copied strands of Yimu Essence Qi to complete thirteen major cycles in one go, his cultivation speed suddenly slowed down in the subsequent days.

The reason was simple: spirit stones. His once ample storage bag had become empty after that intense copying session, leaving only a few scattered low-grade spirit stones lying pitifully in the corner. Without spirit stones, he couldn't replicate large amounts of Yimu Essence Qi. He had to settle for using a clay bowl to convert clear water into spiritual fluid each day, attempting to use it as a catalyst to replicate Yimu Essence Qi. Unfortunately, the efficiency was greatly reduced.

Although the spiritual fluid contained spiritual energy, it wasn't as pure or fast as directly burning spirit stones. The spiritual fluid he painstakingly accumulated each day could only support three or four cycles of Yimu Essence Qi at most. Without relying on Yimu Essence Qi, using only the absorption of heaven and earth's spiritual energy to drive this profound technique was unbearably slow. He could barely complete even one full cycle.

This left him quite frustrated. The technique's main text clearly stated that after initially using three strands of Yimu Essence Qi to get started, a cultivator's body would gradually adapt to the technique's characteristics, allowing them to operate two or three cycles daily without external aid. But for him, it seemed ineffective.