Just as Yun Long's consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by boundless agony.
Just as that violent medicinal power was about to tear his body apart—
Crack!
This was not the sound of shattering.
It was the sound of something breaking through, a sudden clarity after the clouds parted!
The invisible barrier that had troubled him for half a month, seemingly indestructible, shattered in response!
The long-accumulated, violent, surging medicinal power finally found its breakthrough point and crashed through that broken pass!
Hoo—!
An incomparably pure, incomparably condensed power rapidly gathered, compressed, and transformed within his Dantian Sea of Qi!
The faint golden true qi, once like smoke and mist, now spun wildly and solidified!
Its spinning force stirred everything around it!
Buzz, buzz, buzz—!
A deep, majestic tremor rang out from within Yun Long's body.
The sound echoed throughout the entire cave.
It was as though an ancient great bell had been struck violently, shaking the very soul!
At the center of that violently rotating golden vortex, a dazzling radiance suddenly blossomed!
Seven inches long!
As thick as a thumb!
Golden all over and condensed nearly into substance, it emanated an unmatched aura of fierce dominance, along with a trace of sacred majesty!
An incomparably condensed stream of golden qi, vaguely shaped like a demon-subduing vajra pestle, floated silently in the air, radiating palpitating fluctuations!
Vajra Primordial Qi!
The Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Classic finally revealed a glimpse of its true face at this moment!
The Vajra Primordial Qi in his dantian was like a tiny golden sun, radiating boundless power.
This power was pure!
Condensed!
Overbearing!
Yet it was perfectly under his control!
Qi Refining Stage!
He, Yun Long, had finally stepped into this legendary realm!
He was no longer a mere mortal martial artist!
He had truly crossed the threshold into cultivation!
The accumulated pill toxins and hidden ailments left in his body from past cultivation and medicinal pills rapidly dissolved beneath the cleansing force of this newborn power!
Like ice and snow meeting a blazing sun—silent, yet utterly complete.
The body that had nearly been torn apart by the violent medicinal power was restored in the blink of an eye.
Every cell in his body brimmed with unprecedented vitality and strength.
He felt that his body had never been so light.
It was filled with explosive power!
But this was not even the most astonishing change!
His senses!
The entire world instantly became incomparably clear within his perception!
He could "hear" the faint sound of an ant crawling beneath withered leaves a hundred paces away, every brush of its tiny limbs distinct and clear.
He could "smell" the faint fragrance of an unknown wildflower several hundred paces away, carried by the mountain wind, as though the scent lingered right beneath his nose.
He could "see" the intricate patterns on the wings of a night moth dozens of yards away, every line lifelike and vivid!
The range of his senses had expanded by more than tenfold!
Every rustle of wind and grass within several hundred yards of the entire mountain forest had nowhere to hide, all of it clearly presented in his mind!
Yet it was not over.
A golden card suddenly flashed through Yun Long's mind.
Immediately afterward, countless streams of information flooded into the depths of his mind.
Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Classic.
This cultivation technique, which Yun Long had believed he had already cultivated to great completion on the mortal level, had in truth only just reached its genuine first layer!
This was a supreme cultivation technique of the Qi Refining Stage!
The Qi Refining Stage had nine levels in total.
The Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Classic likewise had nine corresponding layers!
Furthermore, the Golden Bell Shield he had always cultivated was also a defensive spell of the Qi Refining Stage!
Only when activated with Vajra Primordial Qi could it truly unleash the real power of this defensive spell.
The more Vajra Primordial Qi he possessed, the more formidable the Golden Bell's defensive power would become.
Yun Long had previously felt that the Arhat Fist seemed less miraculous than the Golden Bell Shield.
Now, Yun Long understood.
That was because the inheritance he had received had been incomplete from the start.
The true advancement of the Arhat Fist was the Qi Refining Stage's "Great Arhat Fist"!
When this fist technique was used in conjunction with Vajra Primordial Qi, its power was great enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, unstoppable against all things!
Inside the Yun Clan ancestral hall, incense smoke curled upward.
Yun He and Li Lingyue prayed devoutly before Yun Jiang's memorial tablet, praying for the safety of those who had journeyed afar.
Suddenly, the Family Genealogy enshrined at the highest place on the incense altar began turning its pages on its own without warning!
Rustle—
The crisp sound of pages turning was especially clear in the silent ancestral hall.
The genealogy stopped on the first page, a page bearing only the names of a few people.
At the very top, above the originally ink-black characters "Yun Long," specks of dazzling golden light slowly emerged like stars!
Those golden points of light were tiny at first, but in an instant they joined together, illuminating the name "Yun Long" with extraordinary sanctity!
"Brother Yun Long!"
Li Lingyue let out a soft cry. Her jade-like hand unconsciously covered her lips, while her beautiful eyes instantly filled with mist.
Excitement, worry, and bone-deep longing all surged into her heart at once.
She stared unblinkingly at the name glowing with golden light, as if she wanted to see through the genealogy and glimpse the figure who haunted her dreams.
Yun He glanced at the beside-herself Li Lingyue, and the great stone hanging over his heart quietly fell to the ground.
He secretly rejoiced that the one witnessing such a secret of the Lineage today was his eldest brother's beloved.
Miss Lingyue would sooner or later become one of the Yun Clan. There was no need to conceal too much from her.
Still, this small ancestral hall would have to be guarded more heavily in the future and designated as a forbidden ground of the Lineage.
At the same time, a profound message appeared clearly upon the genealogy like a heavenly revelation, entering both their minds as well.
[The Yun Clan has given birth to its first Qi Refining cultivator. The Lineage has officially entered the cultivation era. Congratulations, Player, on obtaining one Card Draw Opportunity.] [The Yun Clan has produced its first Qi Refining Stage cultivator. The Lineage has officially entered the cultivation era. Player has obtained one Card Draw Opportunity.]
At last, new cards could be drawn!
Within the genealogy, Yun Jiang was extremely delighted.
This Family Card-Drawing Cultivation Simulation Game made obtaining cards far too difficult.
He hoped that this time, he could draw a good card.
The Yun Clan had only just been established. Its members were few, and its foundation was shallow; every step was like treading on thin ice.
He hoped this fourth card would bring greater changes to the Yun Clan, preferably a functional card that could help the Yun Clan branch out and flourish.
Outside Wind Tiger's cave in the Jingyang Mountain Range.
Yun Ji, Li Pinghu, and Shi Tie had kept their hearts lodged in their throats.
They sat as though on needles and pins, every breath seeming endlessly long.
Suddenly!
The three of them changed expression almost simultaneously and snapped their gazes toward the depths of the cave!
The torrent of energy that had been ravaging the cave moments ago, so violent that it made their entire bodies turn cold and seemed ready to burst from the cave at any moment, vanished without a trace in an instant!
As though it had never existed at all.
Immediately afterward, an entirely different aura spread out from the cave.
That aura was vast, distant, and profound, like gazing up at towering mountains, like an abyss still and mountains standing firm!
It carried a majesty and power that made even their souls tremble!
"This... this is..." Li Pinghu's voice shook, his face filled with disbelief.
Shi Tie was likewise dumbfounded, unable to speak for a long while.
Yun Ji's body began trembling uncontrollably.
Delight!
An indescribable ecstasy instantly swept through the minds of all three!
They had thought that Yun Long's secluded breakthrough would take at least several days, perhaps even longer.
They had already prepared to stand guard here to the death, even to fight Ninth Prince's possible pursuing experts to the bitter end.
Who could have imagined that less than half a day had passed!
Yun Long had actually succeeded!
Yun Ji recalled the wondrous aspects of the cultivation techniques that Yun Long and his two siblings had once mentioned.
He himself cultivated the Wudang Xiantian Gong and knew full well what this fundamental transformation meant!
This was no longer the pinnacle of mortal martial arts.
This was... an entirely new world!
The Yun Clan had produced a true immortal!
A Qi Refining Stage cultivator!
In the eyes of mortal martial artists like them, such a person was an unattainable terrestrial immortal, capable of moving mountains, overturning seas, and doing anything!
A scorching tear slid from the corner of Yun Ji's aged eye.
Then came a second, and a third...
Tears streamed down his weathered face!
This old man, who had toiled for the Yun Clan for half his life, could no longer suppress the excitement and joy in his heart.
The Yun Clan was going to rise!
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