"According to the records in the upper volume of *Hua Guang*, breaking through to the fifth level is a difficult hurdle faced by countless humans on countless planets." Xu Jingming's expression became a bit more solemn. According to Xuan's description, the difficulty of levels one through four was relatively low.

Breaking through to the fifth level, however, was much more difficult.

This step...

Was also a qualitative change in the evolution of humanity in the vast universe. Success meant becoming a cosmic lifeform!

"The first step in breaking through is to be able to clearly sense all the cells in your body!" Xu Jingming tried to sense them. "My body's evolution to the super-tier 99% has indeed made my senses clearer. But I'm still far from being able to clearly sense all the cells."

Some cells in the body were large, some small. He could sense the larger cells, but the smaller ones were vague.

"According to the inheritance records, the mind and consciousness must be made stronger to sense clearly." Xu Jingming was extremely solemn. "The method to strengthen the mind and consciousness is the Five Methods of Mind Refinement."

"Among the Five Methods of Mind Refinement, I insist on practicing the Twelve Styles of Refining Orifices and the Star Observation Method every day! Now I'll add 'Thousand Temperings, Refining the Mind and Will', and reading." Xu Jingming thought.

As for the practice in the five methods, it needed to be carried out after reading to understand the mind, and it took a long time, so it was obviously not suitable for the time being.

"I'll read for three hours every day, and the rest of the time, I'll use thousand temperings to hone my mind and will."

"There are twelve methods of honing the mind and will."

Xu Jingming hadn't trained his will before because it took too long. Once he did, his spearmanship, shield techniques, and other training would be greatly reduced.

...

"The first item for honing the will: Hunger."

In the personal training ground, Xu Jingming set his personal state.

"Hunger to a certain degree can drive people crazy and cause pain! And as time goes on, the degree of hunger will become higher and higher. In this item of honing, you have to overcome hunger and also continuously practice spearmanship! The longer you persevere, the better. You can place your favorite food and drinks next to you, but you must not eat or drink." Xu Jingming remembered the description of this method and completely set up the scene.

On a stone table next to him, many of his favorite foods appeared, all kinds of pastries, water, meat, and so on.

"The level of hunger starts at level 8!"

Xu Jingming set everything up, and his body immediately fell into a state of extreme hunger.

"Oh!"

Involuntarily, his body shuddered. Xu Jingming only felt his stomach trembling. The feeling of hunger spread throughout his body through every neural network. So hungry, so hungry. When he saw the food on the stone table, his favorite food in the past, Xu Jingming's eyes couldn't help but light up, and his desire soared tenfold or a hundredfold. He really wanted to eat!

"Persist, this is just the beginning." Xu Jingming picked up his spear and practiced the Rainbow Transformation Spear Technique. The Rainbow Transformation Spear Technique was pure and simple, with only one thrust! Now that he was suffering from hunger, he didn't have the energy to think about too complex moves. Instead, the most focused Rainbow Transformation Spear Technique could distract him from the torment of hunger.

Persist!

Persist!

As long as he clicked 'Restore body state to its peak', he could get rid of the state of hunger.

The delicacies on the stone table next to him, if he ate them, he would feel happy.

But he couldn't click to restore his state, he couldn't eat or drink.

Every minute and every second was torture, and it became more and more difficult as time went on.

"It's too difficult. The hunger in the virtual world is 100% virtual, and the degree of hunger can continue to soar, level 10, level 11... With a body that has evolved to the fourth level 99%, I can resist a very high degree of hunger, but can my mental will withstand it?"

"It's too difficult."

"It's too hard for me."

Xu Jingming's spearmanship was becoming inaccurate.

"Am I crazy? Why am I torturing myself like this?"

"There are twelve methods of honing the will, why do I have to torture myself with this method?"

"Exercising the brain and the Star Observation Method can slowly improve the effect of mind refinement. Why do I have to rely on honing the will?"

"Give up..."

"Give up..."

Every second became more and more unbearable.

The feeling of hunger blurred Xu Jingming's vision, and his whole will began to blur. Without even thinking, purely out of the instinct of life, he finally reached out and gently clicked on the panel that had been floating beside him, restoring his state.

Restored to its peak!

"I, I..." Xu Jingming woke up and found himself lying on the ground. At this moment, his whole body was extremely comfortable, and the feeling of comfort made him intoxicated.

After experiencing such terrifying hunger, he realized how wonderful it was to not be hungry.

"I persisted for 32 minutes and 17 seconds?" Xu Jingming looked at the record. "When I finally collapsed, the level of hunger had reached level 10?" As time went on, especially while practicing spearmanship, the level of hunger slowly increased.

"Level 10 hunger is so terrible?" Xu Jingming thought to himself.

"According to Xuan's records, there are three realms of honing the will."

"The first realm is persistence. It is also the most common realm. The longer you persist in resisting, the stronger your mental resilience and willpower."

"The second realm is calmness. Being able to calmly face all pain and torment, you will feel that pain and torment are only a part of physiology. It will not affect the fluctuations of the mind." Xu Jingming found this realm difficult to understand. "Even such hunger can not affect the fluctuations of the mind? Just treat it as a part of physiology? Is that a human?"

Having experienced hunger, he knew how unbearable it was.

"The third realm is fiery heat! No matter how great the suffering, it will only make the mind and will more fiery and more condensed. The mind and will are condensed like a blade! Suffering will only make the blade sharper."

"Three realms. More and more outrageous."

Xu Jingming shook his head.

"Next, the second method of honing the will." Xu Jingming continued.

...

"The second item: The small dark room."

"Locked in a small dark room slightly larger than a person, the hands cannot be straightened, and you cannot stand up straight, you must stand bent over. The pitch-black small dark room is forbidden to have any sound. The virtual world will detect 'brain waves'. If brain waves exceed the normal range, the training fails."

Xu Jingming was currently in the small dark room.

The small dark room was very small.

He had to stand bent over, with his hands on his knees, which was the most comfortable position relatively speaking.

"No sound, such a small space? It's really depressing." Xu Jingming found it difficult to turn around. The four walls of the small dark room were all black, all the same. A sense of oppression enveloped him, making Xu Jingming quite uncomfortable.

Only three minutes.

"Brain waves exceed the normal range, training failed." A prompt appeared, and the small dark room disappeared.

"What? I just felt a little depressed and uncomfortable, and I failed?" Xu Jingming frowned. "Does that mean that in this situation, I have to make myself relaxed and happy enough?"

...

"The third item: Being scolded by everyone."

"The stronger you are, the more you care about your self-esteem. In the scolding of everyone, can you remain calm? Once the brain waves exceed the normal range, the training will fail."

Xu Jingming thought about the setting content.

"Being spat on and scolded by countless people? And I can't resist? And I have to keep my brain waves within the normal range?" Xu Jingming thought about this item and shook his head. "I'm not a masochist!"

Enduring hunger and other torments, Xu Jingming could still comfort himself with the words of the ancients: When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, frustrates his plans. In this way his will is stimulated, his endurance is strengthened and his abilities are increased.

But self-esteem, Xu Jingming still cared about it very much. Even if he forced himself to endure the saliva and scolding of the crowd, his brain's emotions would fluctuate just thinking about it, and he couldn't face it calmly at all.

...

Xu Jingming tried each of the twelve methods of honing the will.

Some of them changed color just thinking about them, for example, three of them were types of torture.

"More terrible than the tortures recorded in history books, am I crazy to torture myself like this?" Xu Jingming shook his head. "Xuan himself said that these methods are suitable for some people, but not for everyone."