Condensing the Dantian

Lu Wangchuan was embarrassed for a moment, then cleared his throat and replied:

"This disciple has indeed broken through to the Bone Forging realm."

Lu Xianyuan rarely revealed a hint of smug satisfaction.

"You kid, always slick-tongued and glib. If I didn't put in some effort, I'd never know your cultivation level."

Lu Wangchuan gave a wry smile. After all, this was an old man who had lived for decades. Though he himself had lived two lives, his previous life's age was only a little over twenty. His experience was laid out right here, and he was still a bit lacking in maturity.

"Still, this is ultimately a good thing. In this world, only those cautious enough can live longer and achieve more."

Lu Xianyuan's tone carried a hint of obscurity. Lu Wangchuan guessed he might have some heavy past weighing on him.

"But this isn't enough. You need to speed up your cultivation. Relying solely on the Bone Forging realm and the first layer of the Limitless Sword Dao won't let you handle the chaos to come."

These inexplicable words made Lu Wangchuan's heart jolt.

"Instructor Lu, what do you mean by that?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the Black Lotus Society will make a comeback before long."

"Wasn't the Black Lotus Sect already scattered? And even their chief, Huang Tianlong, was killed."

"That's just the surface. Do you think ordinary people in this world can just rise up in rebellion? The Black Lotus Society was only thrown into chaos by other forces meddling. Once they reorganize, they'll return in a stronger form. When that happens, there's bound to be an even bigger storm.

Jianghai City isn't far from Qing Zhou. Sooner or later, it'll be dragged into it."

Hearing this, Lu Wangchuan suddenly understood. He had still been thinking with the mindset of his previous life, forgetting to factor in the most important element of this world.

This was a martial world where the strong preyed on the weak!

There really were supreme experts who could hold a pass against ten thousand foes!

In his past life, a bunch of commoners might have succeeded in rebellion. In this life, that was absolutely impossible. There had to be a sufficiently powerful martial artist leading the charge.

It seemed the Black Lotus Society indeed had an even greater force behind it.

While he was deep in thought, Lu Xianyuan spoke again.

"But even without the Black Lotus Society, you still need to train hard. If you want to achieve anything in this life, you must go to an Immortal Sect!

The Mortal World has thin spiritual energy, while Immortal Sects mostly reside on the world's spiritual veins, where spiritual energy is vast.

Moreover, the mortal world has no good techniques. Even the Limitless Sword Dao I gave you can't be considered top-tier. It's only at the Transcendent Tier. Naturally, it's ten times stronger than the Mountain Splitting Fist, but there are far more powerful techniques above it!

In the mortal world, once your cultivation reaches a certain level, progress becomes difficult. If you don't go to an Immortal Sect, given enough time, you'll waste your excellent talent.

But the dangers within Immortal Sects are no less than in the mortal world—perhaps even greater. Only by strengthening your own power will you have more chances to survive and more capital to climb higher."

"I see. This disciple has learned from your teachings."

After a brief exchange, Lu Xianyuan gave some more pointers on cultivating the Limitless Sword Dao, and then Lu Wangchuan took his leave.

He went to the Longtai Merchant House again to buy materials for brewing more Spirit Elixir.

Shopkeeper Tan immediately ordered a clerk to pack them up. While waiting, Tan smiled and said:

"Young Master Lu, I heard you have a good relationship with Instructor Lu Xianyuan from your Dragon Tiger Martial Hall?"

Lu Wangchuan nodded.

"That's right. What about it?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to ask if you could help me find out whether he'd be willing to serve as a guard for our Longtai Merchant House's Jianghai City branch. You know how unstable things are these days. Without an expert on hand, business is impossible.

If he's willing to come, our Longtai Merchant House will offer a monthly salary of five thousand taels of silver."

"That much."

Lu Wangchuan couldn't help but be startled. A monthly salary of five thousand taels of silver—that was an incredibly high price.

But Shopkeeper Tan smiled again.

"Not high, not high at all. To tell you the truth, I've already had someone look into Instructor Lu's background. It turns out he was once a Peak Master of the Divine Water Sect! He only ended up in Jianghai City because a disciple betrayed him, challenged him at the Sect Grand Ceremony, defeated him, and took his peak.

If we could hire someone like that for five thousand taels, it would be an absolute steal."

Lu Wangchuan was shocked. He hadn't expected Lu Xianyuan to have such a past. No wonder he had sighed like that today, and no wonder he had always been aloof and distant, unwilling to let others get too close.

Even a wolf, after being betrayed, would grow cold-hearted and walk alone from then on.

"I'll try to put in a word for you, but I can't guarantee he'll agree."

"Then I'm very grateful. How about this—today's material costs are on me. If you can make this happen, I'll have an extra reward for you."

"We're old friends. No need to be polite."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lu Wangchuan took the materials and left quickly.

Of course, it wouldn't work out. Someone as proud as Lu Xianyuan might accept a generous offer once in a while, but making him guard a merchant house day in and day out was absolutely impossible.

An eagle can perch wherever it pleases, but it will never enter a cage just for a bit of meat.

Over the next few months, Lu Wangchuan trained relentlessly. Ever since Lu Xianyuan had mentioned joining an Immortal Sect, he was even more driven.

As for the Black Lotus Society, he no longer needed to worry too much.

With his current strength, even if he couldn't win a fight, he could at least escape!

What he cared about was the Immortal Sect, was becoming stronger!

Strong enough to completely control his own destiny!

Finally, through his unremitting efforts, on this day, the blood and qi within his body surged wildly, and he opened a vortex of qi three inches below his navel!

He broke through again, reaching the final stage of the Physical Body Realm—the Dantian Realm!

As for the Dantian, it meant a qi vortex formed within the body, capable of storing spiritual energy, allowing for sustained endurance in battle!

At this moment, the sea of qi in his Dantian was fully formed. From now on, the spiritual energy absorbed into his body no longer had to lie dormant in the meridians; it could converge into the Dantian, achieving a much larger storage capacity.

"This breakthrough took me a full eleven months!"

Previously, breaking through from Bone Forging to Open Source had taken him half a year. By normal reasoning, breaking through from Open Source to the Dantian Realm should have taken at least a year, if not more.

The reason he could improve so quickly was not only due to the higher-level Dao Embryo Breathing Method but also because the Spirit Elixir was far superior to the Body Strengthening Soup.

Although cultivation became harder to advance at higher levels, if the nourishment increased exponentially, the difficulty would be reduced considerably, and correspondingly, the time required would also shrink considerably.

"Breaking through to Open Source only put me in the upper tier of Jianghai City, far from the top. But breaking through to the Dantian Realm, my strength should rank among the top ten in all of Jianghai City! I can already be counted among that small group at the tip of the pyramid."

He opened his personal Light Screen.

Name: Lu Wangchuan.

Cultivation: Dantian Realm.

Blood Qi: 2043.

Techniques: Dao Embryo Breathing Method (Sixth Layer), Heavenly Dipper Eight Steps (First Layer), Limitless Sword Dao (Third Layer).

Lu Wangchuan consumed blood qi to raise the Dao Embryo Breathing Method from the sixth layer to the seventh, and the Limitless Sword Dao from the third layer to the fourth.

One was to improve cultivation, the other to enhance practical combat strength. As for the Heavenly Dipper Eight Steps, since he didn't have enough blood qi, he had to set it aside for now.

"I still need to find a way to get more blood qi!"

Lu Wangchuan let out a long breath, and Xiao Yue's voice sounded from the courtyard.

"Young Master, the Eldest Miss has sent a letter."

A year had passed, and his sister was probably starting to support her brother again. Well, sending him a red envelope.

Lu Wangchuan walked out, took the envelope, and opened it. It was just as he had thought.

This time, his sister had given him six silver notes, totaling over two thousand taels, quite a bit more than before.