### Chapter 40: The Fifth Level of Qi Refinement
"Your dishes, honored guests!"
The waiter's voice cut through the charged silence like a blade, dousing Lin Yi's sudden warmth. He coughed, forcing a smile. "Let's eat. You ordered all your favorites, right? Don't hold back."
"Mmm," Xiao Bei murmured, still flustered. Her voice was so soft it barely reached his ears, her cheeks flushed a deeper pink.
Lin Yi plopped a piece of twice-cooked pork into her bowl. "Try this."
Xiao Bei's heart skipped a beat. No man had ever served her food before. She ducked her head, shoveling rice into her mouth to hide her embarrassment, too flustered to speak.
Lin Yi fell silent, unsure what to say next. The table lapsed into a awkward quiet, broken only by the clink of chopsticks and bowls.
But moments later, Xiao Bei's shyness vanished. She attacked the food with gusto—twice-cooked pork vanished in two bites, braised fish bones piled up beside her bowl. Lin Yi gaped, forgetting to eat. *She can really put it away.*
Xiao Bei didn't seem to notice his stare. Gone was any pretense of ladylike decorum; this was raw, unapologetic hunger, a side of her he'd never seen. Perhaps this was the real her—unfiltered, unguarded.
Nearby diners gaped, too. Their eyes flickered from Xiao Bei's voracious appetite to Lin Yi, softening into pity. In their minds, the pair must be lovers—and what a fate, to be tied to someone so… *ferocious* at the table.
Lin Yi met their stares with a苦笑.
After paying the bill—gritting his teeth at the cost—he practically dragged Xiao Bei out of the pavilion. *Never again*, he vowed. If he had to treat her, they'd sit at separate tables. Sharing a meal was too humiliating.
Only once they'd left did the third floor erupt into murmurs.
…
That afternoon, Lin Yi returned to the sect. He told Pan Yu to turn away all visitors, then locked himself in his cottage, eyeing the storage bag of 700-odd Great Replenishing Pills. His goal: break through to the Fifth Level of Qi Refinement.
In a few days, the outer sect's top eight would be decided, and he'd have to join the finals. But his sights were set higher—challenging the core disciples. He wanted to dispatch the outer sect matches quickly, without wasting energy.
Cross-legged on his bed, he closed his eyes, slipping into a meditative trance. One pill, then another, vanished into his mouth. Their pure spiritual energy flooded his meridians, merging with his own as he directed it into his dantian.
Night fell, cloaking the room in darkness, but Lin Yi barely noticed. Years of practicing Iron Sand Palm had sharpened his night vision; now, with Fourth Level Qi Refinement and the *Five Spirits Body Tempering Technique* coursing through him, darkness was as clear as day.
After炼化 over a hundred pills, he paused. "Finally, peak Fourth Level," he breathed. "Six hundred left—enough to hit Fifth Level, I hope."
He rested briefly, then dived back into cultivation. Outside, a crescent moon rose, casting silvery light through the window onto his serene face.
Pan Yu meditated nearby, equally focused, his cultivation inching upward.
Elsewhere, the sect buzzed with tournament fever. Lingwu Mountain's peaks and slopes blazed with lantern light, echoing with laughter, drinking games, and boasts. For most disciples, the tournament was a rare狂欢—a chance to cast aside the austerity of cultivation and live like mortals, if only for a few days. They'd earned it, after years of grueling discipline.
A few, though, clung to their routines. These were the ones who'd likely claim the top spots.
The moon arced across the sky, and dawn broke. The tournament resumed; drunk disciples sobered up, purging alcohol from their systems to watch the day's matches.
Lin Yi's cottage remained unchanged. The door stayed shut, Pan Yu meditated on, and inside, Lin Yi kept swallowing pills. By morning, he'd burned through nearly 300, leaving 300 more. He could feel it—the threshold to the Fifth Level, faint but tangible, drawing closer.
*Soon*, he thought, doubling his efforts.
No one guessed the outer sect's rising star was on the cusp of another breakthrough. Even Pan Yu, devoted as he was, knew only to fetch food when Lin Yi called.
A Fifth Level in three months? From First Level? For a Five Spiritual Roots cultivator? It was unheard of. Even Single Spiritual Roots disciples, without a mountain of pills, couldn't match that pace. Inner sect disciples would gape—if they knew.
Pill after pill vanished. As the sun dipped low, Lin Yi froze, hands flying through incantations. Sweat beaded on his forehead, rolling down his face as he strained against the bottleneck.
"Almost…" he muttered, frustration edging his voice. He'd fallen just short.
Undeterred, he popped more pills. Eighty left… then forty-six.
*Boom!*
A thunderous roar echoed in his dantian. His aura surged, exploding with the power of Fifth Level Qi Refinement. He didn't stop, cycling the *Eternal Life Art* to stabilize the newfound strength.
Two hours later, he exhaled, grinning. "Fifth Level at last."
With this, he stood a chance against the core disciples.
"Forty pills left," he mused. "Useless to me now—Pan Yu can use them."
He rose, stretching stiff muscles, and opened the door. Pan Yu still meditated, his focus unshakable. Lin Yi smiled—this loyalty would serve them both well.
"Pan Yu, take this," he said, pressing a storage bag into his hand.
Pan Yu glanced inside, then gaped. Forty Great Replenishing Pills—enough to catapult him to Second Level. By the time he looked up, Lin Yi was gone, wandering Lingwu Mountain.
Gratitude swelled in Pan Yu's chest. He bowed deeply toward Lin Yi's retreating figure, silently vowing to repay this kindness tenfold.