Martial Arts World Qi Refining Guide: XP and Stage Walls

Gain Qi Refining progress by completing quests and defeating enemies. When you reach the early stage bottleneck, open Cultivation and choose Advance to Middle Stage before turning in more quests. A stage bottleneck prevents further leveling, so continuing to claim cultivation XP at that wall wastes progress.

Qi Refining is the starting realm, covering levels 1–10 and the Early, Middle, Late and Peak stages. Press M, then choose Cultivation to see your current progression.

To clear the Early-to-Middle Stage wall:

1. Reach the early-stage bottleneck through quests or enemy fights.
2. Open M → Cultivation and select Advance to Middle Stage.
3. Press E or click as the timing ring meets the center circle. Time each input to the ring.
4. Check that Cultivation now displays Middle Stage. This advancement also awards two attribute points.

Once you have advanced, return to earning cultivation XP. Open Journey to follow the main story and check its next objective. If the story asks you to reach a higher level, complete available quests or defeat enemies until you meet that requirement. An early story objective asks for level five; reaching Middle Stage clears the stage wall, but you still need enough cultivation progress to reach the requested level.

Enemy fights give you a way to keep gaining progress between quest objectives. Keep checking Cultivation as you level so you can deal with a stage wall before claiming more quest XP. For help following story objectives, see the Martial Arts World quests guide.

When Pill Master Yao offers Fire and Patience, its alchemy objective provides another early source of cultivation XP. Accept the quest and gather two Mountain Ginseng to make Golden Wound Salve at an Alchemy Cauldron. Select the two ingredients—or the Golden Wound Salve recipe if you have already discovered it—then choose Refine. Press E or click as each timing ring meets the center circle.

Successfully refining the salve completes the pill objective and provides cultivation XP. Clear any active cultivation bottleneck before doing this quest for progress. The two-ginseng recipe is specifically for Golden Wound Salve; use the pill recipes guide when you need to make a different pill.