Drilling Through the Wall with Forbidden Knowledge
Baek Cheong swiftly manipulated her divine sense to extract the core knowledge from this ancient expert who had pierced through every secret art and serendipitous encounter in the lower realms. She chose the most reliable method to stab at Dou's intellectual vanity and arrogance.
It was a vicious provocation, repaying kindness with enmity. After posting, she waited briefly, and a red notification blinked wildly before her eyes. Having perfectly bitten the bait, Dou (55.19) unleashed a barrage of lengthy replies brimming with fury.
Baek Cheong's eyes sparkled with excitement. The information Dou (55.19) had spat out in uncontrollable rage was a method beyond imagination. Clash mutually repelling, opposing energies to create a spiral. Ordinary Qi Refining cultivators in the lower realms handled only one attribute of spiritual roots. Drawing in heterogeneous energy from outside and clashing it inside the dantian was tantamount to suicide. It was a pie in the sky—even knowing the method, no one could attempt it.
But Baek Cheong's situation was entirely different. Her dantian already housed the five elements—water, wood, fire, earth, metal—perfectly intact. She just needed to slightly twist the trajectory of the smoothly circulating energies via mutual generation into a clash of mutual conquest.
"A custom breakthrough method made just for me."
With a satisfied smile, Baek Cheong withdrew her divine sense from the Nameless Board. No reason to delay now that she had the answer. She sat properly cross-legged on her bed, gently closing her eyes. Calming her excited mind, she exhaled a long breath. Peering into her dantian, she saw the lake of rippling spiritual energy. The five attributes chased each other's tails in peaceful circulation.
Baek Cheong concentrated her mind intensely, intervening in the cycle. Water extinguishes fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood pierces earth, earth dams water. The truth of the five elements' mutual conquest.
She selected the water attribute she handled most familiarly and the most ferocious fire attribute. Forcibly tearing away the peacefully flowing water energy, she slammed it head-on into the fire energy.
"Ugh!"
The instant the two energies collided, a massive explosion rocked her dantian interior. Her organs twisted entirely, blood vessels swelled, and a scream escaped involuntarily. She bit her lip hard, and the metallic taste of blood trickled down her chin.
Even amid the excruciating pain, Baek Cheong held onto her mental thread. The repulsive force of water conquering fire exceeded imagination. The compressed spiritual energy whirled fiercely, forming a massive spiral. The spiritual energy spiral, sharpened like an awl's tip, charged mercilessly at the sturdy wall toward Qi Refining 2-star.
A bizarre frictional sound like scraping metal echoed from within her dantian. The rotating spiral began grinding down the barrier bit by bit, widening cracks. Sweat beaded thickly on Baek Cheong's forehead as she accelerated the rotation further. Fine fissures appeared on the wall. A little more push, and it would fully crumble.
But the spiral's taut rotational force began to wane. A Qi Refining 1-star's shallow foundation couldn't sustain the opposing clash for long. Without hesitation, Baek Cheong reached out, opening the jade box on the table. She dumped two supreme-grade Qi Gathering Pills into her mouth at once.
The pills melted, flooding her depleting dantian with explosive spiritual energy.
"Break through!"
Pouring the fresh energy into the spiral, she unleashed the final strike. At last, the sturdy Qi Refining 2-star barrier shattered into pieces. Blocked meridians cleared refreshingly as a massive tidal wave of spiritual energy surged into the new realm. Her dantian expanded to over twice its previous size.
Before she could savor the joy of success, bizarre changes began in her body. As her realm advanced, the turbid impurities accumulated in her bones and muscles discharged through her pores. Black, sticky sludge covered her skin, reeking like a sewer. It was the natural molting process from mortal to immortal.
Though typically occurring at small or large realm boundaries, her thickened dantian wall had triggered it early.
"Eugh, the smell!"
Clutching her nose, Baek Cheong rose. Her body felt feather-light, vision clearer—pleasant sensations, but the stench was unbearable. Fortunately, a bathtub prepared by the maids stood in one corner of her residence. Confined indoors, the bathwater, infused with Fire Jade, stayed perfectly warm.
Baek Cheong hastily stripped and plunged into the warm water. Washing away the black sweat grime revealed dazzlingly pale skin. The mirror reflected a face free of its prior haggard pallor, brimming with vitality. Her eyes sparkled with starlight-like sharpness. The spiritual energy purification had elevated her innate beauty further.
After bathing and changing into fresh silk robes, Baek Cheong perched on her bed. The part she'd anticipated most was her divine sense's growth. Closing her eyes and focusing between her brows, she extended it outward. What had lingered at three zhang in her 1-star days now stretched unimpeded. Four zhang, five, six. It reached a full seven zhang.
Beyond the room, she stereoscopically perceived the faint trembling of flower petals in the front garden and insects crawling on leaves. A divine sense far transcending Qi Refining 2-star.
"This should let me flip through the Nameless Board pages freely without issue."
Satisfied, Baek Cheong clenched her fist with a smile. With expanded divine sense, she could delve into the information board's depths, scouring every trace of Dou (718.44). Just as she connected to the Nameless Board with eager anticipation—
The residence door shook violently as if about to shatter, an urgent voice resounding.
"Cheong-ah! Are you safe?!"
Before Baek Cheong could reply, the door burst open, and Baek Mujin rushed in. His face was ashen, eyes filled with extreme terror and worry. While handling family affairs, he'd sensed an ominous spiritual energy fluctuation from his youngest daughter's residence and come running in a panic.
Baek Cheong rose politely, bowing her head.
"Father? Why so urgent...?"
Seeing his daughter's calm, serene demeanor, Baek Mujin looked dazed. The room held a faint bloody scent and sweat, but Baek Cheong appeared perfectly fine. Rather, the spiritual energy aura emanating from her body was incomparably sharper and denser than before.
In disbelief, Baek Mujin approached and gripped her wrist. Infusing pure energy, he meticulously examined her meridians and dantian.
"Th-this...!"
His eyes bulged, lips trembling. The shallow Qi Refining 1-star energy had vanished; her now twice-enlarged dantian throbbed vigorously with five energies. Undeniable Qi Refining 2-star realm.
"Qi Refining 2-star... You broke through the 2-star wall in a mere fortnight?!"
Baek Mujin's voice shook the residence ceiling. Grasping qi sense and reaching 1-star in ten days with trash five-element roots was astonishing enough. Yet she'd self-shattered the sturdy 2-star wall in half a month.
'Oh no.'
Baek Cheong inwardly clicked her tongue, quickly devising an excuse. Revealing the opposing clash method might make her father faint.
"It's thanks to the supreme-grade Qi Gathering Pills Grandpa gave me. I cultivated while taking them, felt my dantian full, and naturally followed the flow—breaking through just now."
Dismissing the arduous trial as casual happenstance, Baek Mujin let out a hollow laugh. Faced with his daughter's genius that treated realm breakthroughs like meals, he raised both hands in surrender. Overwhelmed with emotion, he tightly hugged her small shoulders.
"Hahaha! Splendid, truly splendid! A true dragon has been born to the Baek family!"
Baek Mujin stroked her hair lavishly, lavishing praise. Suddenly sobering, he gazed at her with serious eyes.
"I never expected you'd breakthrough so swiftly—even Father couldn't predict it. Now at Qi Refining 2-star, you need means to protect yourself. Follow me at once. I'll open the family treasury and let you choose a fitting protective treasure and spell manual yourself."
Baek Cheong's eyes twinkled with joy. A chance to acquire essential protective treasures and spells for a cultivator.
"Thank you, Father!"
Trailing Baek Mujin with quick steps, she left the residence. Her footsteps toward the family's most secretive treasury were exceedingly light.
The treasury brimmed with glorious artifacts: swords forged from millennium cold iron, armor from demon beast hides, talismans pulsing with mystic energy filling display cases. Baek Mujin retrieved a small, exquisite silver bracelet from deep within a case and handed it to Baek Cheong.
"This is the Hyeon-eun Bracelet. An excellent protective treasure that can deflect three full-power strikes from a late Core Formation cultivator. It suits your slender wrist perfectly."
Baek Cheong slipped it on. A cool metallic touch enveloped her, followed by a subtle protective aura.
Next, Baek Mujin led her to Baekgyeonggak. Ascending to the second floor together, he scanned the shelves and pulled out a jade slip.
"Since you wield all five elements, I pondered long. This jade slip contains the Five Elements Shield spell. It deploys defenses suited to situations by blending the five energies. With your low realm, focus on protection over offense."
Baek Cheong clutched the jade slip preciously. Treasure and spell in hand, her beaming smile wouldn't fade.
"Cheong-ah, no need to push so hard from the shock of your trash roots. Even Elder Gok worried that five elements mutual generation is a perilous path. For now, rest instead of raising your realm—or if truly bored, practice spells."
But seeing her father's grave expression sobered her smile. It was all for gallery trolling, after all. Unable to explain, Baek Cheong merely nodded vigorously.
Back in her residence, Baek Cheong firmly shut the door. She fiddled with her new Hyeon-eun Bracelet and placed the Five Elements Shield jade slip on the table. But examining the treasure and spell took a backseat. Her gaze fixed on empty air.
Time to test her expanded divine sense. Above all, she itched to brag her success to Dou (55.19) and provoke the Nameless Board users. Baek Cheong extended her now seven-zhang colossal divine sense to access the Nameless Board.
Opening the chat board, she unhesitatingly brought up the posting window. Without moving a finger, thoughts etched sentences brilliantly.
Concealing her ordeal, she mocked the grueling cultivation trials of the lower realms as trivial. Soon, the board erupted, notifications pouring in.
"Puhuhu."
Confirming Dou (55.19)'s astounded reply, Baek Cheong burst into laughter. Watching the lower realm cultivators' reactions on the Nameless Board was addictively thrilling—enough to momentarily forget why she'd even aimed for Qi Refining 2-star.