Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Just as Yang Heng had expected, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had already filled with energy.
Yang Heng closed his eyes and began meditating.
To his surprise, he discovered that after filling with energy this time, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl's appearance had changed completely from before.
The last time it had filled with energy, it had resembled a divine pearl of white jade, with milky-white jade marrow flowing within.
This time, however, before Yang Heng's eyes, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl resembled a deep-blue gemstone, blue currents of air winding around it as they spun without end.
Within it was a pool of blue liquid, crystalline and translucent like sapphire, radiating dazzling light.
At the sight, Yang Heng knitted his brows tightly, unable to make sense of it.
Could it be that the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had evolved?
Or had it been damaged before and was now slowly recovering?
After pondering for a while without finding any answer, Yang Heng stopped thinking about it. He would understand it one day anyway.
As long as the Marrow Cleansing Pearl did him no harm, that was enough.
Although the Marrow Cleansing Pearl was already full of energy, Yang Heng did not act rashly. He still followed his original plan.
When he had thoroughly tempered his foundation and was ready to break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm, he would release this blue liquid and use it to smash through the gates of the Blood Strengthening Realm in one stroke.
Since he had already made his plan, Yang Heng would not easily alter it unless some major unforeseen change arose.
Once the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had filled with energy, it could no longer absorb more until its stored energy was emptied.
In other words, all the energy contained in the food he ate would be absorbed by him alone.
At a daily intake of thirty jin of beef jerky, without the Marrow Cleansing Pearl shouldering half of it, Yang Heng simply could not absorb the immense amount of energy it contained by himself.
Even so, Yang Heng had no intention of cutting down his rations.
The portion of energy his body could not absorb would be used by the Marrow Cleansing Pearl to temper his internal organs and every part of his body, broaden his meridians, and unearth his physical potential.
Therefore, Yang Heng was not worried about having too much energy at all. The more, the better.
If his body could endure it and had no limits, Yang Heng would have wanted to keep doing this forever.
Yet at any given stage, if one's realm did not break through, everyone's body had limits. It was impossible to rise without end; only the capacity and upper limit differed from person to person.
But there would always be a bottleneck.
Pierce through that bottleneck, and one would enter a whole new world—the next realm.
This bottleneck was different from the barrier of the Blood Strengthening Realm.
To "see" this bottleneck, every aspect of one's body had to reach the limit of the current stage. Strength, speed, vitality, and everything else could no longer improve even the slightest bit—they had reached the summit.
But sensing one's own bodily bottleneck was extraordinarily difficult!
Not one such monster would emerge from among ten million martial artists.
Yes, a monster!
The word genius was no longer enough to describe such brilliance.
Only the word monster could be used.
For every aspect of the body to reach the limit of its current stage was simply far too difficult.
There were no scanners in this world that could precisely measure the values of every part of the body to determine whether one had met the standard or reached the limit.
Ordinary martial artists could not accurately sense the detailed condition of every part and organ in their own bodies.
Only descendants of powerful families and core disciples of great sects had a chance of accomplishing this.
Though this world had no scanners, it had Spiritual Sense!
Spiritual Sense could penetrate to the smallest detail and inspect the human body, its results even clearer and more accurate than a scanner's.
The descendants of great families and core disciples of sects were of noble status and enjoyed exceptionally generous cultivation resources. While they were in the Blood Brave Realm, experts who had cultivated Spiritual Sense would naturally examine them and guide them on how to cultivate next, which parts to improve, and so on.
Some people were born in Rome, while the vast majority could spend their whole lives striving and still never set foot on the road to Rome.
Fortunately, Yang Heng possessed the supreme treasure known as the Marrow Cleansing Pearl, which could use excess energy to temper every part of his body.
When the energy he absorbed into his body no longer brought any change, it would mean that his body could no longer improve and had reached its limit.
At that point, it would be the best time to break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm.
After sensing his body's bottleneck, if he attempted a breakthrough without outside interference, he could break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm with absolute certainty.
Moreover, this would be the most perfect breakthrough, laying a foundation for ascending to the pinnacle of Martial Arts Cultivation.
Time trickled away second by second.
Over the days that followed, Yang Heng devoted all his time wholeheartedly to Martial Arts Cultivation.
The Vajra Fist and Levitation Technique improved tremendously, but there was still a long road ahead before they could break through to Major Accomplishment.
Cultivating a martial art to Major Accomplishment was exceptionally difficult. It depended not only on the cultivator's talent, but also on long years of bitter training. Neither could be lacking.
Generally speaking, a martial artist with superior talent would need at least five years to cultivate an Intermediate Martial Art from scratch to Major Accomplishment.
If one's talent was poor, then even after ten, twenty years, or even a lifetime, there would not be the slightest hope of attaining Major Accomplishment in that martial art.
Yang Heng had cultivated for less than three months, yet both martial arts had reached Minor Accomplishment. He had truly been blessed by heaven, benefiting from two moments of enlightenment.
Otherwise, his martial arts would not have progressed so quickly.
He turned a deaf ear to matters beyond the window and devoted his whole heart to cultivation.
His cultivation advanced with astonishing speed as well, changing almost every day.
By now, the vitality within Yang Heng's body was as thick as his little finger and five cun long. It hovered above his dantian, giving off a dazzling red glow. He was not far from meeting the minimum requirement for breaking through to the Blood Strengthening Realm.
Time flew by.
Half a month had passed since the group from the medicine shop had returned to Qingyang Town after gathering herbs outside. Yang Heng's accumulated vitality had already met the requirements for breaking through to the Blood Strengthening Realm.
Yang Heng closed his eyes and meditated.
Through the perception of his mind, he clearly saw a red little finger floating above his navel.
All around it was darkness, yet it was like a burning candle, emitting dazzling red light that shattered the boundless blackness. It was striking and resplendent, like a crystalline pillar of red agate that drew in one's mind and made one sink into it, unable to pull free.
Yang Heng took a glance, then withdrew his mind and stopped looking.
At this moment, he vaguely sensed the opportunity to break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm. It seemed that a single poke would pierce it; the barrier was as thin as paper. Yet he still forcibly resisted the temptation and did not attempt to break through.
Time flowed on, and before he knew it, another three days had passed.
That day, Yang Heng came to his training ground in the wilderness.
He stood in the center of the open ground, his eyes tightly shut as he carefully experienced the sensations within himself.
A gentle breeze brushed over Yang Heng's cheeks. His black hair drifted in the wind, while his broad white robe billowed faintly. At this moment, Yang Heng stood there like a towering mountain, radiating a powerful majesty. The air around him seemed to have frozen, while the sand and stones on the ground trembled endlessly.
Gradually, the expression on Yang Heng's face changed. He was no longer as calm as drifting clouds and a gentle breeze.
The corners of his mouth slowly rose, a smile appearing on his face. His eyes suddenly flew open, excitement and exhilaration nearly spilling out of them.
Suddenly, Yang Heng threw back his head and laughed. Divine light blazed in his eyes, and his laughter grew louder and louder, shaking the mountains and wilderness and startling countless birds into spreading their wings and flying into the distance.
He was so happy because after three days of feeding himself, every aspect of his body had reached its absolute peak and most perfect state.
He had just truly sensed his bodily bottleneck!
Now, at last, he could launch his charge toward the Blood Strengthening Realm!
Thinking back on the more than twenty days of cultivation since returning from the camp to Qingyang Town, Yang Heng could not help but smile bitterly.
During these days, he had cultivated martial arts to the point of forgetting food and sleep. He had been single-minded and utterly focused, working far harder and enduring far more hardship than during the hundred-day sprint before the college entrance examinations.
Fortunately, today was the season of harvest.
Yang Heng's gaze sharpened, and his expression turned solemn. Without the slightest hesitation, he launched his charge toward the Blood Strengthening Realm!
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