A Moonless Night for Murder

Inside the cave dwelling was a quiet chamber.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged and began his breakthrough.

With the spiritual pills in his stomach, coupled with his constant Plunder of Yun Miaoqing over the past half month, his cultivation quickly reached a state nearing its limit.

"Rumble!"

The next moment, it felt as though he had stepped onto another stair. Lu Yang felt an immense surge of true qi roaring through his body, rushing like rivers, and his spirits soared.

Qi Refining Second Layer!

"There are no bottlenecks before Qi Refining Fourth Layer. As long as one has sufficient resources, one can reach it simply by grinding away with time. But from the looks of it, I probably do not have that much time."

Fairy Qingchen's existence had stirred Lu Yang's sense of crisis.

He would not forget that in his previous life, Liu Xin had openly charged into his cave dwelling and killed him. If Liu Xin could do it, why could Fairy Qingchen not?

The cave dwelling was not reliable either!

"Only my own cultivation and strength are truly reliable!"

With that thought, Lu Yang gritted his teeth and took out all his remaining spiritual pills, swallowing them whole like a ravenous beast, before summoning Yun Miaoqing again.

Although doing this was somewhat like throwing pearls before swine, wasting at least thirty percent of the pills' medicinal effects, it would also allow him to raise his cultivation at the fastest possible speed. In Lu Yang's eyes, as long as he could break through to Qi Refining Third Layer, these spiritual pills would have been put to good use and not bought in vain.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three days and three nights had passed.

During that time, Lu Yang neither ate nor drank, and he Plundered Yun Miaoqing until she was nearly limp as mud. At last, he felt himself break through a thin barrier.

"...Success!"

Lu Yang examined his body inwardly and felt immense true qi, like rivers, flowing through his strange sinews and eight meridians. It seemed vast and boundless, yet there was no longer any room for even the slightest improvement.

At first glance, it was as though his cultivation had reached perfection.

"So this is a bottleneck."

One step further would be Qi Refining Fourth Layer, crossing from the Early Qi Refining Stage into the Middle Qi Refining Stage. Even in the Sacred Sect, such a disciple could hold a certain position.

Lu Yang did not stop, nor did he dare relax. He directly took out the Primordial Breath.

"Continue!"

The Primordial Breath began circulating. Lu Yang then controlled his true qi and swallowed it in one gulp, watching as his true qi surged and poured into his dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

As the Primordial Breath was continuously consumed, Lu Yang soon felt the bottleneck that had trapped him completely, as impossible to cross as a mountain range, gradually weaken. When the Primordial Breath was utterly exhausted, that invisible bottleneck melted away like ice and snow, collapsing in an instant!

In the dim quiet chamber, Lu Yang suddenly opened his eyes.

His gaze blazed like torches, bringing white light into the empty room.

With one closing and opening of his eyes, another day and night had passed. Yet from this moment onward, Lu Yang's strength was worlds apart from what it had been a few days ago!

"The Middle Qi Refining Stage and the early stage practically aren't even the same realm." Feeling the changes within his body, Lu Yang revealed a delighted expression. "If early-stage true qi is a small river, then middle-stage true qi is an ocean! It has increased by more than tenfold! Only upon reaching this step can one truly be called a cultivator."

During the Early Qi Refining Stage, true qi was limited, and every Spell or divine ability had to be used sparingly.

After advancing into the Middle Qi Refining Stage, there was basically no need to worry about such things. Ordinary Spells came at one's fingertips, and the true qi they consumed could be replenished in just a few breaths.

"Not bad! Not bad!"

Lu Yang walked out of the quiet chamber and took out a White Bone Flying Sword. With a thought, the Flying Sword instantly split into ten Sword Lights, shrouding the entire cave dwelling.

Whoosh—!

In an instant, Sword Light howled with fierce sharpness. Lu Yang used the Divine Firmament Sword Control Art, merging his body with the Sword Light, and felt incomparably refreshed.

"I really have Liu Xin to thank for this!"

"If not for this Primordial Breath that perfectly matched me, I could never have broken through. At the very least, I would have been stuck at Qi Refining Third Layer for years!"

"No wonder Liu Xin abandoned the Yin-Yang Great Joy Ode to cultivate that Primordial Dao Scripture."

"Unfortunately, its intent is crooked, treating people as medicine. After Liu Xin obtained it, who knew how much slaughter he caused? Everything began with the Primordial Dao Scripture."

"Such an evil art ought to be used by me!"

A surge of greed suddenly rose in Lu Yang's heart.

"No rush. Endure a little longer. We can talk about it in the next life; the days ahead are long."

Just as Lu Yang was pondering, his brows suddenly rose as he looked toward the cave dwelling's entrance. One of the Sword Lights he had sent out had just been disturbed.

"Someone?"

A cold glint immediately flashed through Lu Yang's eyes, along with a measure of relief. Fortunately, he had acted decisively, preferring waste in order to break through his cultivation as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, while he was in seclusion and completely unaware of the outside world, would he not have been doomed to die?

"I must take this as a warning."

With that thought, Lu Yang swiftly concealed the Aura of his recent breakthrough, while the killing intent in his heart grew fiercer and fiercer, like a hunter quietly waiting for prey to come to his door.

"Crack."

With a soft sound, the cave dwelling's door was silently pried open. Immediately afterward, three figures slipped in stealthily from outside, one after another.

The three wore black clothing and masks, their true qi not leaking in the slightest. Hidden in the shadows, Lu Yang clicked his tongue in amazement. If he had not already broken through and possessed higher cultivation, he likely would not have seen through them at all and would have taken them for three ordinary people. Their ability to conceal their breath was truly exquisite.

"..."

The leading man in black made a hand gesture without speaking. The others immediately understood and swiftly spread out, preparing to search the cave dwelling.

Whoosh!

The next moment, the man in black walking in front only saw a blur before his eyes. Then a dazzling Sword Light arrived before him amid a howling sword cry!

"Not good!"

The man in black'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 he possibly outrun a Flying Sword?

Slash—!

The Sword Light flashed, and a pillar of blood shot into the sky!

"Middle Qi Refining Stage?!"

The leading man in black clearly had a discerning eye. From the might and quality of the Sword Light, he immediately saw through Lu Yang's cultivation and cried out in shock.

At the same time, he cursed furiously in his heart.

Qingchen, damn you!

This was supposed to be a newly initiated disciple? A soft persimmon waiting to be squeezed?

And Lu Yang was clearly at the Middle Qi Refining Stage and could have crushed the three early-stage cultivators head-on, yet he still resorted to deception and launched a sneak attack on them?

What a damn dog!

Seeing the Sword Light flying toward him, the man in black formed a Hand Seal and released a mysterious radiance to protect himself, while hurriedly shouting, "Misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"

"Rumble!"

Lu Yang turned a deaf ear. The Sword Light swept horizontally, instantly cleaving the man in black's protective mysterious radiance to the verge of shattering. At the same time, a mass of true qi spread out through the darkness with a roar, like stormy waves, before finally forming into a several-zhang-wide hand with clear palm lines that directly seized another man in black.

Splurt!

The next moment, the great hand suddenly exerted force, crushing the second man in black until he exploded. Tendons snapped, bones broke, and red and white splattered everywhere.

That savage scene made the leading man in black's eyes split wide with rage.

Meanwhile, Lu Yang wore an expression of satisfaction.

"This Primordial Breath Great Hand Seal really is not bad. It may not show much power against those in the same realm, but against lower realms, it catches them every time."

Even as he thought, the Sword Lights did not cease.

More than ten Sword Lights howled through the cave dwelling, while the White Bone Flying Sword blinked and darted among them, giving the leading man in black no chance to catch his breath.

After only a few breaths, the leading man in black had exhausted his strength. Lu Yang caught an opening and controlled his sword in a slash. Another pillar of blood immediately shot skyward.

"Whew! That was truly dangerous."

Only after finishing all this did Lu Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the corpses and chunks of flesh scattered across the ground, he still felt lingering fear when he recalled the battle just now.

Strictly speaking, this was his first time killing someone.

Although he had privately rehearsed that smooth chain of sneak attacks from the shadows countless times, this was ultimately the first time he had used it in actual combat.

"Fairly speaking, my combat experience is far inferior to these three. At the same realm, let alone three opponents, I might not even be able to defeat one. But as long as I find a way to ambush them, seize the initiative, and force them to compete with me in raw power, I can still easily suppress them with my higher realm."

"This is why competing in Dharma Power is inferior to competing in divine abilities, and competing in divine abilities is inferior to competing in Dao cultivation."

As Lu Yang reviewed and summarized the precious experience of this challenge across realms, he also considered where he could improve. He believed he could surely put it to use in his next life.