Breaking Through Again

Ye Zhen remembered Tu Fangye because of the Sect Forbidden Ground.

That day, while he was beside the Sect Forbidden Ground with Fairy Caiyi, Ye Zhen had heard a faintly unusual sound and felt that the Sect Forbidden Ground might truly be concealing some great secret.

After returning, Ye Zhen had subconsciously begun asking around about the Sect Forbidden Ground.

The only circle Ye Zhen could inquire within was that of the Outer Disciples, but the Outer Disciple circle was simply too low-level to uncover any useful information.

Many Outer Disciples, let alone offering Ye Zhen useful information, had never even heard of the "Sect Forbidden Ground." Only Jin Yuanbao, who had been knocking about the sect for a long time, knew a little more and barely knew of its existence.

As for the Sect Forbidden Ground being the place where the sect's former True Disciple, Tu Fangye, had fallen, no one knew that at all. They knew even less than Ye Zhen.

Ye Zhen had never expected to discover the handwritten notes of the fallen True Disciple Tu Fangye within the interleaved pages of the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist.

"To those who come after: the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist is exceedingly swift and possesses powerful explosive force. However, if one's True Essence is not pure enough, its explosive power will become insufficient, making it impossible to effectively defeat one's enemies. I attained success in cultivating the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist, yet suffered from the impurity of my True Essence. After painstaking study, I discovered that the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist could be perfectly fused with the Inch Step Collapse Fist.

"If the two are fused, their power will multiply, compensating for the weakness of impure True Essence. Its might can rival a Human-tier Mid Grade martial skill. Later, after I painstakingly tempered my True Essence until it became pure, the power of this fused skill came close to that of a Human-tier High Grade martial skill.

"Those who see these words are fated. If you are interested, cultivate according to the following method..."

After reading Tu Fangye's notes, the shock in Ye Zhen's heart was beyond description.

Fusion!

That fallen Tu Fangye had actually been able to fuse two Human-tier Low Grade martial skills together, and their power could even approach that of a Human-tier High Grade martial skill. This was simply divine.

Even Inner Disciples could only cultivate Human-tier Low Grade martial skills. Only the elite among Inner Disciples might have the chance to cultivate Human-tier Mid Grade martial skills.

As for Human-tier High Grade cultivation arts and martial skills, in Instructor Liao Feibai's words, fewer than one Inner Disciple in a hundred could obtain them.

In other words, Ye Zhen had struck gold.

As long as Ye Zhen followed the method Tu Fangye had left behind and fused the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist with the Inch Step Collapse Fist, then with the purity of Ye Zhen's True Essence, he would gain a fist technique of astonishing power.

It would allow Ye Zhen, as an Outer Disciple, to obtain a fist technique that only the most outstanding Inner Disciples might possibly acquire.

After carefully putting away this True Disciple's notes, Ye Zhen could not help feeling somewhat regretful. When Tu Fangye had cultivated the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist, he must also have been an Inner Disciple, and his cultivation should not have been high. Yet he had been able to fuse two fist techniques with utterly different characteristics so creatively, increasing their power severalfold.

If Tu Fangye had not fallen and had lived until now, what a peerlessly gifted figure he would have become.

Without realizing it, Ye Zhen's curiosity toward that fallen True Disciple Tu Fangye deepened.

Just what kind of person had Tu Fangye been?

As a mighty True Disciple, how had he fallen in the back mountain not far from the sect?

Not only had he fallen, but even the place of his fall had been designated a Sect Forbidden Ground. What secret was hidden there?

Without another word, Ye Zhen went to the Scripture Depository again and brought back the Human-tier Low Grade martial skill, the Inch Step Collapse Fist.

Fortunately, Ye Zhen had made a killing before this. Otherwise, even if he had obtained the True Disciple's notes from the Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist, he would not have been able to acquire the Inch Step Collapse Fist anytime soon.

There was no other reason. Although Ye Zhen had entered the top three of the Earth Ranking, and the sect had rewarded him with the qualification to enter the second floor of the Scripture Depository ahead of time, allowing him to select Human-tier Low Grade Cultivation Manuals that only Inner Disciples could choose,

what he had gained was only the qualification. To select manuals from within for cultivation, he still had to pay Sect Contribution Points.

The Sect Contribution Points required for Human-tier Low Grade Cultivation Manuals were nearly double those required for Mortal-tier High Grade Cultivation Manuals.

The Thunder Leopard Lightning Fist required five hundred Sect Contribution Points to exchange for, the Wind God Steps required four hundred, and the Inch Step Collapse Fist also cost as many as five hundred Sect Contribution Points.

The three Cultivation Manuals had cost one thousand four hundred Sect Contribution Points. Of the two thousand Sect Contribution Points Ye Zhen had earned earlier, more than half had been spent.

No wonder the Old Deacon had been extremely shocked when Ye Zhen selected sect manuals again. Even some veteran Inner Disciples could not produce so many Sect Contribution Points at once.

Ye Zhen had obtained the new movement martial skill, but he was in no hurry to cultivate it. His most urgent task was to refine the final trace of Blood Qi Vortex within his body and completely step into the True Essence Realm.

Once he entered the True Essence Realm, a Human-tier High Grade cultivation art, one that only the top Inner Disciples could possibly obtain, would be waiting for him.

Ye Zhen still had three days left!

Within three days, Ye Zhen had to break through to the True Essence Realm. Otherwise, he would not be able to obtain the reward Instructor Liao had promised.

After swallowing a Condensing True Pill, Ye Zhen sat cross-legged once more, activated the medicinal power, and began cultivating with all his might. He now had two bottles of Condensing True Pills. With such abundant resources, Ye Zhen was confident that breaking through from the peak of the Blood Refining Fifth Level to the True Essence Realm was merely a matter of time.

But things went against his wishes.

Day after day passed. Ye Zhen consumed one Condensing True Pill after another, and the True Essence accumulated in his body from continuously taking the pills made his meridians ache with sharp pain. Yet the bottleneck of the True Essence Realm did not budge in the slightest.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. During those three days, Ye Zhen swallowed ten Condensing True Pills in succession, yet still failed to break through to the True Essence Realm.

"Still unable to break through?" Ye Zhen gave a bitter smile as he opened his eyes. After a life-and-death battle and three days of taking ten Condensing True Pills in a row, he had already tried every breakthrough method he could think of. Yet he remained trapped at the bottleneck of the True Essence Realm, unable to advance.

"The three-month deadline has passed. It seems the Human-tier High Grade cultivation art Instructor Liao promised is not fated to be mine. I just wonder how Instructor Liao will deal with me. Chop me down every time she sees me?"

Seeing that the time agreed upon with Instructor Liao had passed, Ye Zhi let out a soft sigh amid his disappointment. Some things could not be forced. It seemed he could only use the slow grinding of water against stone and gradually wear through this bottleneck.

Just as Ye Zhen completely gave up on Instructor Liao's reward, the final trace of Blood Qi Vortex in his dantian trembled. The Blood Qi instantly collapsed, and the surging Blood Qi condensed into droplets of True Essence. In an instant, a True Essence Vortex appeared within Ye Zhen's dantian.

"I broke through just like that?"

"The moment I let go of that obsession, I broke through?"

Amid his surprise, Ye Zhen suddenly recalled a saying: "In all things, let nature take its course. Do not force what cannot be forced!"

The instant the True Essence Vortex formed, it began madly absorbing the medicinal power filling his meridians. Ye Zhen's cultivation began soaring wildly.

PS: Sorry for updating only at two in the morning.

Perhaps it was new-book syndrome. There had been a branching detail in the plot that left me terribly conflicted. I thought about it for ages without being able to decide, deleted and rewrote, rewrote and deleted, and only now barely made up my mind.

Good night, brothers. Pig Three needs to hurry and rest too. He has to get up at seven in the morning to take his daughter to school!