Shattering the Minor Barrier: Yeon-gi-gi 4-Star
Yeon-gi-gi 4-star! Baek Cheong's daily routine had become a relentless cycle of cultivation and logging into Moomyeongbang.
For nearly a month, she endured the agonizing process of expelling impurities every single day, dedicating two hours to it without fail. At first, the waste poured out in a stench like a sewer, but as time passed, the amount gradually dwindled. Lately, only faint traces emerged in tiny wisps, and the pain from cleansing her meridians had transformed into a pleasant, satisfying ache.
"Huuuuh! Looks like I've squeezed out every last bit of impurity."
Baek Cheong stretched lightly, loosening her body. Her flesh, purged of impurities from bones and muscles, had become unrecognizably firm and supple. The purity of the spiritual energy accumulating in her dantian was incomparably clearer than before. Her body was the first to prove that the tedious work of solidifying her foundation had succeeded.
"Finally, level-up time."
With her foundation firmly laid, it was time to pour spiritual energy into her dantian and leap to Yeon-gi-gi 4-star. This time, she didn't need to deceive her father and sneak into a cultivation chamber. For his genius daughter who had touched the threshold of Five Elements Unity, her father had spared no family resources.
On the table sat a jade bottle and jade box personally prepared by her father. The bottle brimmed with supreme-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan pills to fill her dantian, while the box held the ultimate weapon for smashing small-realm barriers—a supreme-grade Pa-gyeong-dan pill, shimmering with iridescent light.
"With a Pa-gyeong-dan, breaking a small-realm barrier is a piece of cake."
Gathering her reliable reinforcements, Baek Cheong headed confidently to the back mountain. The officially permitted cultivation chamber was the same C-grade one as before. As family head, her father judged that the spiritual energy density in A- or B-grade chambers would overwhelm a Yeon-gi-gi cultivator, risking damage to the meridians.
"Elder Jin!"
Baek Cheong greeted the elder at the entrance brightly and presented her jade plaque. Elder Jin chuckled heartily and opened the chamber's barrier.
"Alright, don't push yourself too hard."
Entering the C-grade cultivation chamber for the second time, Baek Cheong settled on the jade platform. The dense spiritual energy swirling around her refreshed her lungs as it passed through. Without delay, she uncorked the jade bottle and tossed a supreme-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan into her mouth.
As the pill slid down her throat, it unleashed a massive vortex of spiritual energy. At the same time, the Chwi-ryeong-jin formation activated fiercely, drawing in external spiritual energy and injecting it into her dantian.
"Huuup."
Her meridians swelled from the abnormal surge, sending prickling waves of pain. But thanks to a month of steadily expelling impurities and building meridian resilience, she didn't feel the vessel-tearing crisis from last time.
I need to control the five elements.
Baek Cheong unfurled eleven massive hand seals, gently reining in the rampaging spiritual energy along the five elements' generative cycle. Water, wood, fire, earth, metal. The five energies circulated in harmony, compressing the influx into pure spiritual energy and stacking it steadily in her dantian.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Baek Cheong's vast dantian was finally filled to the brim with spiritual energy, without a single gap. The rippling level lapped at her chin, bringing a profound sense of psychological fullness.
"Just gotta smash the barrier for 4-star..."
Closing her eyes, Baek Cheong examined her dantian. The 4-star barrier marking the shift from early to mid Yeon-gi-gi was far sturdier than the ones at 2-star or 3-star—so-called small-realm barriers. The orthodox method for ordinary cultivators was to swallow a Pa-gyeong-dan here and crack the sealed wall.
But Baek Cheong hesitated to reach for the pill in the jade box.
"They say relying on Pa-gyeong-dan builds up impurities and dooms you later."
Knowledge from countless xianxia novels she'd devoured in her past life held her back. Only those who shattered barriers on their own could reach higher realms—a romantic yet brutal tale.
"Should I just smash it myself?"
Depending on Pa-gyeong-dan accumulated impurities in the meridians and lowered true essence purity, capping growth. This aligned with common sense in the cultivation world. Even supreme-grade pills had unavoidable side effects from trace accumulation. With her trash five-element spiritual roots barely overcome through five elements generation and root growth, there was no reason to invite impurity embers herself.
"Screw it, let's force it through."
Baek Cheong boldly resolved to breakthrough unaided. Like her 3-star push: center an earth-attributed orb, coil water, wood, fire, and metal energies spirally around it, then squeeze eleven hand seals to the limit for maximum density.
"Huuuup!"
The five energies coalesced, slamming tremendous repulsion through her body. Veins bulging on her forehead, she drove the compressed orb hard against the 4-star barrier.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Deafening roars echoed inside her dantian. But the small-realm barrier merely quivered faintly, unscratched. It was like an egg against a rock.
"Why won't it break!"
Fired up, Baek Cheong repeated compression and strikes. Her lips split and bled, meridians screamed on the verge of tearing, but the barrier stood firm. After dozens of tries, the condensed orb hit its limit and shattered. Backlash inner injuries struck, and she spat a mouthful of blood.
"Hoo... This is ridiculous."
Gasping raggedly, Baek Cheong collapsed onto the jade platform. Her dream of self-breakthrough ended in a crushing defeat. Novel protagonists punched through walls with a shout, but real cultivation barriers weren't so forgiving.
"No wonder everyone buys Pa-gyeong-dan."
Baek Cheong accepted reality cleanly. Romance be damned—if she didn't break it now, she'd be stuck at Yeon-gi-gi 3-star forever. Without hesitation, she opened the jade box and grabbed a supreme-grade Pa-gyeong-dan.
"All for the gallery grind...!"
She tossed the iridescent pill into her mouth and swallowed. As it descended her throat, her dantian erupted like a blaze. The pill's energy sharpened into a spear, charging mercilessly at the 4-star barrier.
Kagagang!
A chilling friction like metal scraping filled her dantian. Yet even the supreme-grade Pa-gyeong-dan's onslaught left the barrier intact—just spiderweb cracks on the surface, lacking power for total collapse.
Even a supreme-grade Pa-gyeong-dan can't break it?
Baek Cheong reeled at the monstrous barrier. Her abnormally expanded dantian from five elements generation had made the wall dozens of times thicker than normal. As the pill's energy faded, breakthrough teetered on failure.
Can't let it end like this.
Thinking frantically, an idea flashed. The five elements unity sensation from Grandpa's insights at the elder selection. Though she'd failed from insufficient realm, that instant of fusing the five energies lingered vividly.
Full unity's impossible, but I can fake it.
Baek Cheong scraped together all eleven hand seals, forcibly intertwining her dantian's five energies. The reluctant strands formed an unstable colorless orb—a quasi-unity far from perfect five elements unity.
Before it scatters...!
She hurled the quasi-unity orb at the cracks gouged by the Pa-gyeong-dan. On impact, the five energies triggered a chain reaction. Bolstered by the pill's remnants, the small-realm barrier finally shattered into fragments.
Like a burst dam, a tidal wave of spiritual energy flooded into the new Yeon-gi-gi 4-star realm. Her meridians expanded, euphoric marrow-cleansing bliss washing over her.
"I did it!"
Baek Cheong cheered through blood-smeared lips. But joy faded as she sensed her dantian. Reaching 4-star had doubled its size—but it was utterly empty. She'd poured everything into the breakthrough; not a drop remained.
"When am I gonna fill this monster again..."
She let out a hollow laugh at the daunting reality. Worse, a foul stench assaulted her nose. Despite expelling heaps during foundation work, deep-seated wastes hidden in her body gushed out from shattering the small realm.
Waste soaked the jade platform and her silk robes, dripping onto the chamber floor.
"Urk, the smell..."
Suppressing nausea, Baek Cheong leaped up. Facing anyone like this would be mortifying. She bolted from the chamber door, fleeing the back mountain like a shot.