His return was slower than the first attempt, but not because of any new obstacle. The Impurity he had taken on from all the consumption needed more time to be cleared.

Other than that, the methodical wading into the depths of the mini-lake was unchanged, besides the fact that he was far more alert to any sudden health decrease. Even though William was no longer dangerously low on health, the ridiculous rate he was losing the points that quantified the amount of life he had left meant that several seconds of inaction would be enough to kill him.

William stopped when he felt the water prickle his skin. Of course, that wasn’t what was happening. It was likely the dense Qi that was creating the feeling. However, he didn’t care too much about that. He was frozen in place because this was where he quickly started to lose his health.

A few seconds passed with William waiting for something to happen, but other than the feeling of needles poking him everywhere, it seemed like he was safe.

Without the danger of death weighing on his mind, he was actually able to take in the sights under the water. Come to think of it, the first time he was down here, the greed for the possibility of more experience points was so high that as long as something didn’t register as dangerous in William’s mind, he shut it out as unimportant.

It made him miss something that could be considered a feat not to notice. The crystal clear water had the same oddity of lighting as the forest in this dimension. Everything seemed to be perfectly lit, no matter where William looked.

Then again, this body of water could no longer be called a mini lake unless one was blind. While on the surface, William could see the entire thing and estimated that it would take him no more than five minutes to complete a full lap around the mini-lake... which was why he called it a mini-lake.

That certainly didn’t apply when looking underneath the surface. What it lacked in width, it more than made up in depth. Or at least, William assumed so.

While it was shallow enough that he could stand on his feet near the edge, the depth exponentially increased to a point where he couldn’t see the bottom from where he was. The light wasn’t the problem. It was simply too steep, almost like a cliff, so all he could see was the sandy walls. For anything more, he would need to move closer.

William wasn’t too keen on doing that. Everything had been going to his liking so far, disregarding the part where he almost died because he had forgotten to heal himself. Still, there was no reason to push his luck and do something silly like peering over the edge because of curiosity.

William shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself. Even if there was something dangerous in the depths, he could never get there, since the concentration of Qi in the water would kill him long before that. He needed to focus on increasing his Spirit before dreaming about doing something stupid.

He sank slowly to the floor and glanced up, seeing that the water's surface was only several meters away. Being a cultivator meant he could go without oxygen for much longer than a mortal could ever hope to, but like all things with cultivation, the realm mattered the most.

William estimated that he could hold his breath for thirty minutes at most, and he had already spent a few minutes gaping at the surprising depth of the lake. However, the time remaining was more than enough to figure out if the cultivation rate was accelerated.

Not that it would be an easy time. William was a human and not a fish, so he couldn’t quite get into the trance-like state needed to cultivate as quickly as on the surface. Again, understandable since he was sitting cross-legged on the lake floor, completely submerged underwater.

It was hard to ignore something entirely encompassing you.

Still, William tried. He tried for an extremely long time, at least relative to the number of minutes he had left until it was needed to go up for air. It was a boon that he only had to worry about the feeling of being submerged in water. There were no currents to fear, and so far, no random fish swimming about.

In fact, there was nothing underwater except for the sediment making up the floor.

Eventually, William was successful.

His entire being was focused on circulating his Qi, drawing in the energy from his surroundings to boost himself. It didn’t take long for him to figure out if the rate of cultivation was different.

William sensed his Qi pathways quickly pulse, signifying the gain of an experience point. He was beyond happy to see that he would once again go through a rapid increase, but when another reset followed shortly after, it made him pause.

The last time this happened, the Qi in his pathways didn’t become dense enough for approximately four seconds before resetting. It seemed to be cut in half this time.

William kept a close watch, metaphorically speaking, on the pulses, trying to get a better idea of what he was sensing.

It didn’t take long for him to confirm that it was indeed cut in half. After that, the only thing in William’s mind was the number two thousand.

Two thousand experience points per hour.

[Cultivate in Qi-rich environment for 4 minutes: +133 XP]

The trance was broken, with William’s eyes snapping open. He almost gasped before remembering that he was surrounded by water. Although it didn't feel like he would run out of air soon, the confirmation of the increased cultivation rate gave him every reason to ensure he could continuously cultivate to the maximum extent possible.

William pushed off the floor to make himself float before using his legs to do the rest. A light jump was all that was needed to make himself rocket toward the surface. His head popped out of the water, letting him take a deep breath before he immediately returned to the lake floor.

Being surrounded by water wasn’t as much of a distraction this time. Perhaps it was the knowledge of what awaited William when he cultivated, but he was able to fall into the trance almost immediately after taking a seat.

The time flew by with William watching the show his pathways put on for him as he circulated his Qi. The pulsing was like a hyper-accurate clock, letting him know exactly how much time had passed.

It was in the back of his mind, but William always paid attention to it. There would be no point in cultivating while he downed in an avoidable death.

When the thirty-minute mark passed, he was prepared to stop his harvest of experience points and return to the surface for air.

And William was still prepared when the hour mark passed. Even though everything seemed fine, he couldn’t find it in himself to take the risk and continue cultivating.

[Cultivate in Qi-rich environment for 1 hour: +2000 XP]

William’s eyes glanced over the alert before taking stock of the state of his body.

It seemed to him that everything was fine, making a theory form in his mind. What if the heavily Qi-infused water gave him the ability of a higher realm cultivator?

There was no way he could test that since any abilities needing Qi were ineffective with the water's suppressing effect. Still, one of the many passive abilities cultivators in the higher realm possessed was to take a breath a few times a day. And that was just cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm.

Of course, the cultivators in that realm would never choose to do it since that would mean their Qi was being used to substitute for oxygen instead of something more important, but it could be done in emergencies.

It wasn’t too far of a stretch for William to think of such a theory with that in mind.

With some hesitation, he returned to the trance and continued cultivating. He would still keep watch on how desperately his body asked for oxygen, but until that happened, he could focus on his new favorite activity.

Harvesting experience points at a rate that should be forbidden.

William wondered what Elder Yu would think the next time she saw him. He imagined that he could reach the fourth level of Qi Gathering at this speed of improvement.

Maybe she would gift something with a greater value than the spatial stone.