Breakthrough (Please Read On! Please Bookmark! Please Invest!)

In the afternoon, Huo Yutong woke up.

After forcing herself to suppress her grief and paying respects to the Old Butler, she cultivated far more diligently than before.

This time, she did not cry. Instead, she grew stronger, turning her grief into motivation and greatly increasing her Spiritual Power.

Inside the room, Qian Chaoguang held a Golden Spirit Fruit the size of a lychee in his hand. Without any hesitation, he swallowed it whole.

If any other Soul Master had seen this, their jaws would have dropped on the spot.

Like Whale Rubber, the Golden Spirit Fruit was a Heavenly Treasure capable of tempering a Soul Master's body. The energy it contained was exceptionally violent, so it was generally combined with various supplementary ingredients into a medicinal solution for a Medicinal Bath.

While consuming it directly produced better results, there was a ninety percent chance of exploding to death.

Qian Chaoguang, with his robust physique, had No Need to Worry about that. He pushed the Golden Body Art to its limit, his surging blood and qi forming a furnace within his body that squeezed every last bit of energy from the Golden Spirit Fruit.

Under the effects of the Golden Body Art, that violent energy became like countless steel needles, piercing every major acupoint throughout his body.

A savage expression appeared on Qian Chaoguang's face. For Many Years, this was the first time he had pushed the Golden Body Art completely to its limit.

That energy stimulated his body as though ten thousand blades were piercing his heart, constantly strengthening every inch of his flesh.

His blood and qi circulated at their utmost limit, forcing the temperature of his body to rise sharply.

From the outside, Qian Chaoguang's skin had turned an alarming shade of red, and his entire body had swollen by a full size.

The limited Soul Power within his Dantian was swept along by the violent blood and qi and energy, charging toward flesh and Bones that had yet to be tempered.

He could clearly sense his body gradually growing stronger, sealing all the energy within him and forming an extraordinarily powerful shackle.

Blackish blood seeped from Qian Chaoguang's skin, gradually staining the clothes on his body red.

When his Bloodline Power reached its limit, Qian Chaoguang could no longer suppress the pain within his body and suddenly let out a roar.

A sound came from within him, like a tiger's roar and muffled thunder, releasing a rumbling boom.

Boom!

Just as Qian Chaoguang felt as if his body were about to explode, he suddenly sensed some invisible restriction being shattered. Every part of his body felt incomparably free and refreshed.

Before the astonished eyes of Huo Yutong, who had rushed over after hearing the noise, wisps of red steam gradually rose from his body.

Qian Chaoguang rose to his feet and roared toward the sky.

This time, it was no longer a pained howl, but an exuberant release.

With the aid of this Golden Spirit Fruit, he had finally completed the cultivation of the Flawless Body after six long years of training.

Once the first stage of all three Cultivation Methods was complete, he could naturally break through into the second level of the Golden Body Art—the realm of Blood Qi Wolf Smoke.

At the same time, completing the Flawless Body also signified something else.

Qian Chaoguang could finally begin cultivating the Qi Refining Art, increasing the Soul Power within his body and soaring to level ten at an astonishing speed.

From that day onward, Qian Chaoguang became much more silent than before, and there were far fewer smiles on his face.

At least, that was how Huo Yutong saw it.

What she Did Not Know was that Qian Chaoguang had already possessed this cold and detached personality in his previous life on Blue Star, to the point where he could even be called somewhat heartless.

From childhood to adulthood, he had seen all the warmth and coldness of the world and tasted every facet of life.

Staying aloof from anything that did not concern him had become second nature.

Huo Yun'er's death had sounded another warning bell for him, making him unwilling—and afraid—to casually interfere in matters unrelated to himself.

It was only after crossing over to Douluo Continent that the Old Butler's kindness and Huo Yutong's dependence had torn open a crack in the ice around his heart.

Now, that crack had sealed shut once more.

Other than burying himself in forging and cultivation every day, almost nothing else could draw his attention.

Whenever Huo Yutong spoke to him, Qian Chaoguang would return to his previous smiling demeanor.

But Huo Yutong, who understood him extremely well, knew in her heart that it was only an outward appearance. He had merely buried that grief deep within his heart.

Half a year had passed. Under Qian Chaoguang's near-mad cultivation, he had successfully raised his cultivation to level ten.

This was one characteristic of the Three Refining Stages.

Once a cultivator completed the Flawless Body, their cultivation would surge during the Three Refining Stages, rapidly reaching the peak of their current level.

After bitterness came sweetness. That was precisely the nature of this set of Cultivation Methods.

What awaited him next was the even more difficult cultivation of Spiritual Power—the Spirit Communication Art.

This was also why he had not hurried to obtain his First Soul Ring.

Qian Chaoguang had an inexplicable premonition that if he rushed to break through before cultivating the first level of the Spirit Communication Art, Mortal Transcendence, to completion, only death would await him.

Unlike the simple and accessible Golden Body Art and Qi Cultivation Art, the Spirit Communication Art was far more difficult to cultivate.

During the Mortal Transcendence stage, a cultivator needed to continuously visualize a diagram provided by the art in their mind through a special method, thereby increasing their Spiritual Power.

Once their Spiritual Power had reached a certain level, they would compress it as much as possible until it became a single point. Only then would the Mortal Transcendence stage be considered complete.

Once Qian Chaoguang obtained his first Soul Ring and officially advanced to become a Soul Master, the three arts would merge together seamlessly, erupting with effects even more powerful than before.

Perhaps because Qian Chaoguang had lived two lives, his soul was far stronger than that of an ordinary person.

As a result, the Spiritual Power he possessed from birth was also far greater than that of ordinary Soul Masters.

Even Huo Yutong, immediately after awakening her martial soul, was far inferior to him.

That was also why Qian Chaoguang had not been overly affected by the Blood Tiger's Confusion Skill when facing it several years ago.

However, even with innate Spiritual Power far greater than that of others, Qian Chaoguang still spent a full week before officially entering the cultivation of Spiritual Power.

This showed just how difficult the Spirit Communication Art was to cultivate.

This did not cause Qian Chaoguang to slow his cultivation speed.

By all reason, such a high threshold for cultivation would surely bring exceedingly generous rewards once he succeeded.

The sooner he gained powerful strength, the sooner he could avenge the Old Butler!

Half a year later, Qian Chaoguang and Huo Yutong were both over ten years old, and only one final year remained until the main storyline of the Original Work was Activated.

As his Spiritual Power continued to grow, he began recalling details that had once been forgotten in the corners of his mind.

Qian Chaoguang went over the Original Work again, writing down every detail before encountering Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in Chinese and placing it in his Storage Bracelet to prevent himself from forgetting.

At the same time, over these past six months, he had been cultivating the Spirit Refining Art almost day and night without rest.

The basketball-sized mass of Spiritual Power in his mind had already been compressed to the size of a longan, though it was still some distance from becoming a single point.

Compared with other Soul Masters, his Spiritual Power was already no weaker than that of a Spirit System Soul Master at the Soul Elder level.

Even at such a formidable level, he was still one step away from completing Mortal Transcendence.

At most, within another month, he would complete the final stage of cultivation and meet the requirements to advance to the next stage.

The path of cultivation required a balance between exertion and rest.

No matter how eager Qian Chaoguang was to break through, he still needed to relax appropriately.

Forging and blade practice thus became his means of relaxation.