Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: A Dark Night for Murder
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Inside the cave residence, in a quiet room.
Lu Yang sat cross-legged and began to break through to the next realm.
With the spirit pills in his belly, coupled with the fact that he had been constantly drawing from Yun Miaoqing for the better part of the month, his cultivation quickly approached its limit.
"Boom!"
The next moment, as if ascending a step, Lu Yang felt a majestic surge of true qi roaring through his body, rushing like a great river, invigorating his spirit.
Second level of Qi Refining!
"There are no bottlenecks before the fourth level of Qi Refining. As long as you have enough resources, you can reach it just by grinding it out. But from the looks of it, I'm afraid I don't have that kind of time."
Fairy Qingchen's existence had stirred a sense of crisis in Lu Yang.
He wouldn't forget that in his previous life, Liu Xin had brazenly killed his way into his cave residence. If Liu Xin could do it, why couldn't Fairy Qingchen?
The cave residence wasn't safe either!
"The only thing truly reliable is one's own cultivation and strength!"
Thinking of this, Lu Yang gritted his teeth, took out all his remaining spirit pills, and swallowed them whole. Then, he called for Yun Miaoqing again.
Although doing so was a reckless waste, with at least thirty percent of the pills' medicinal efficacy being lost, it also allowed him to raise his cultivation at the fastest possible speed. And in Lu Yang's view, as long as he could break through to the third level of Qi Refining, the pills would have served their purpose and not been bought in vain.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three days and three nights had passed.
During this time, Lu Yang neither ate nor drank, and he nearly drained Yun Miaoqing until she was as limp as mud. Finally, he felt himself break through a thin barrier.
"...I did it!"
Lu Yang looked inward, feeling the vast, river-like true qi flowing through his meridians. It seemed immense, yet he could not make the slightest bit of further progress.
At first glance, it was as if his cultivation had reached its completion.
"So this is the bottleneck..."
One step further was the fourth level of Qi Refining, the leap from the initial stage to the middle stage. In the Primal Saint Sect, this would make him an outstanding disciple capable of holding a position.
Lu Yang didn't stop, nor did he dare to relax. He directly took out the strand of Innate Primal Qi.
"Continue!"
The Innate Primal Qi circulated, and Lu Yang then manipulated his own true qi to swallow it in one gulp. He watched as his true qi surged, flowing into his dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
As the Innate Primal Qi was continuously consumed, Lu Yang soon felt the bottleneck that had held him fast, a barrier as insurmountable as a mountain, slowly weakening. By the time the Innate Primal Qi was completely exhausted, the formless bottleneck melted away like ice and snow, crumbling in an instant!
In the dim, quiet room, Lu Yang's eyes snapped open.
His gaze was like a torch, illuminating the dark room.
He had closed and opened his eyes, and another day and night had passed. Yet, from this moment on, Lu Yang's strength was worlds apart from what it had been just a few days ago!
"The middle stage of Qi Refining... it's like a completely different realm from the initial stage." Lu Yang felt the changes within him, a look of joy on his face. "If the true qi of the initial stage was a small river, then the middle stage is a vast sea! It's more than ten times greater! Only at this step can one be considered a true cultivator..."
In the initial stage of Qi Refining, true qi was limited, and one had to be frugal with every spell and divine ability.
But after advancing to the middle stage, there was basically no need to worry about such things. Ordinary spells could be cast at will, and the consumed true qi could be replenished in just a few breaths.
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Lu Yang walked out of the quiet room and took out a white bone flying sword. With a thought, the flying sword instantly split into ten streaks of sword light, enveloping the entire cave residence.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, the sword light whistled sharply. Lu Yang executed the Divine Empyrean Sword Control True Art, his body merging with the light. For a moment, he felt an unparalleled sense of exhilaration.
"And I have Liu Xin to thank for this!"
"Without that strand of 'Innate Primal Qi' that was a perfect match for me, I would never have been able to break through. I would have been stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for years!"
"No wonder Liu Xin gave up the Yin-Yang Grand Pleasure Ode to cultivate that Innate Dao Scripture."
"A pity its principles are corrupt. It uses people as medicine. Who knows how much slaughter Liu Xin caused after obtaining it? It all started because of the Innate Dao Scripture."
"Such a wicked technique... it should be mine to use!"
A greedy thought suddenly arose in Lu Yang's heart.
"No rush, I'll endure for now... I'll think about it in the next life. There's plenty of time..."
Just as Lu Yang was pondering, his eyebrows suddenly shot up. He looked toward the entrance of his cave residence, for one of the streaks of sword light he had sent out had just been disturbed.
"Someone's here?"
A cold glint flashed in Lu Yang's eyes. He also felt a sliver of relief; it was a good thing he had acted decisively, choosing to waste resources for a swift breakthrough.
If he hadn't, he would still be in seclusion right now, completely unaware of the outside world. Wouldn't that have been a certain death?
"I must take this as a lesson."
Thinking this, Lu Yang quickly concealed the aura of his recent breakthrough. The killing intent in his heart, however, grew stronger, like a hunter patiently waiting for his prey.
"Click."
With a soft sound, the door to the cave residence was silently pried open. Immediately after, three figures slipped in one after another from outside.
The three were dressed in black and wore masks, their true qi completely concealed. Hiding in the shadows, Lu Yang clicked his tongue in amazement. If he hadn't broken through and reached a higher cultivation level, he probably wouldn't have been able to see through their disguise and would have mistaken them for three ordinary people. Their skill at concealing their presence was truly exquisite.
". . ."
The leader of the three made a hand gesture without speaking. The others understood immediately and quickly spread out to search the cave residence.
"Whoosh!"
The next moment, the world blurred before the eyes of the black-robed man in the lead. A brilliant streak of sword light, accompanied by a piercing whistle, appeared right before him!
"Not good!"
The black-robed man's expression changed drastically. He had no time to defend himself and could only roll to the side in an attempt to dodge. But no matter how fast a person was, how could they outpace a flying sword?
Swish—!
The sword light flashed, and a pillar of blood shot into the air!
"Middle stage of Qi Refining!?"
The leader of the black-robed men was clearly sharp-eyed. He instantly discerned Lu Yang's cultivation level from the power and quality of the sword light and cried out in alarm.
At the same time, he cursed furiously in his heart.
Damn you, Qingchen!
Is this a newly initiated disciple? An easy target?
And this Lu Yang! He's clearly in the middle stage of Qi Refining and could have crushed the three of them, all in the initial stage, head-on. But he still chose to deceive them, to launch a sneak attack?
What a dog!
Seeing the sword light flying toward him, the black-robed man formed a hand seal, releasing a protective profound light around himself, while hastily shouting, "A misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding..."
"Boom!"
Lu Yang turned a deaf ear. The sword light slashed horizontally, instantly striking the black-robed man's protective light until it was on the verge of shattering. At the same time, a mass of true qi roared out from the darkness, spreading like a tidal wave before forming into a giant hand several meters in size, with clear palm lines, that directly seized another of the black-robed men.
Splat!
The next second, the giant hand squeezed with sudden force, crushing the second black-robed man until he burst apart. Tendons snapped and bones broke, splattering red and white matter everywhere.
Witnessing such a brutal scene, the leading black-robed man's eyes nearly split from their sockets.
Lu Yang, on the other hand, looked satisfied.
"This Innate Primal Qi Grand Hand Seal is really not bad. Although it doesn't show much power against those at the same level, it's incredibly effective for crushing those at lower realms."
Even as he pondered, his sword light did not stop.
More than ten streaks of sword light whistled through the cave residence, while the white bone flying sword teleported and weaved between them, giving the leader no chance to catch his breath.
After a few breaths, the leading black-robed man was already exhausted. Lu Yang found an opening and, with a slash of his sword, sent another pillar of blood soaring into the sky.
"Whew! That was dangerous..."
Only after finishing all this did Lu Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the corpses and chunks of flesh on the ground, he even felt a lingering fear as he recalled the fight.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time he had killed someone.
Although he had practiced that smooth combo of hiding and sneak-attacking countless times in private, this was, after all, the first time he had used it in actual combat.
"To be honest, my combat experience is far inferior to these three. At the same realm, forget three of them, I might not even be able to beat one. But as long as I manage to launch a sneak attack, seize the initiative, and force them into a contest of pure power, I can still easily suppress them with my higher realm."
"This just goes to show... raw power is no match for divine abilities, and divine abilities are no match for one's cultivation realm."
Lu Yang reviewed and summarized the precious experience from this challenging battle, considering areas for improvement, confident that it would be applicable in his next life.