Breakthrough Begins, It Might Hurt a Little!

[The situation took a sharp turn for the worse!]

[You had exhausted all the martial arts you had learned in your life, yet you still could not gain the upper hand against the Tiger Demon.]

[You could not kill him, nor could he kill you, but he kept you entangled and refused to let you leave.]

[If you competed with him in stamina, you would probably lose.]

["Does the Myriad Souls Banner not have any tricks left?!"]

["Don't panic! I've already prepared a premium suite for you. Move in with your bags after you die!"]

["Damn it!!"]

[At the critical moment, a golden staff descended from the heavens!]

["Rumble!!"]

[One strike settled the world; the earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the clear skies for thousands of miles changed color!]

[The mere Tiger Demon, even with his Golden Body activated, was smashed into a puddle of pulp on the spot!]

[The golden staff standing upon the earth gave off an inexplicable sense of security.]

[A nimble figure leaped onto it.]

["Hey! Good friend, we meet again! We really are fated!"]

[It was the Fire-Eyed Golden Monkey.]

[You awkwardly scratched your cheek.]

["Are you sure you haven't been following me?"]

["Hahaha! Then please forgive us. My brother and I have to protect our master and the people of Shenbing Commandery. We truly had no choice."]

[You knew that the Fire-Eyed Golden Monkey had seen through the Myriad Souls Banner's existence.]

[But these days, only he and that Four-Eyed Monkey had been following you. You had not seen anyone else.]

[That meant they had not revealed this matter to others.]

["Even so, my brother and I did offend you. To show our apologies, I can help you with a small favor."]

[The Fire-Eyed Golden Monkey knew that you had been studying the Heart Method but had never found the way in. He said he could offer you some guidance and help you get started.]

[With someone willing to guide you, you gladly and humbly sought his instruction.]

[A few hours later, the Heart Method entry-level problem that had troubled you for days was resolved as easily as a knife cutting through bamboo!]

[It was just that you had not yet reached the Soul Tempering Realm. Even though you had mastered the method of circulating the Heart Method, you could not condense Essence Qi.]

[After observing you, the two great spirit monkeys realized that you were not using the Myriad Souls Banner to slaughter innocents, but rather to subdue demons and eliminate evil. They stopped keeping an eye on you.]

Time in the simulation flew by in the blink of an eye.

Another five years passed in an instant.

Over those five years, Chen Yi continued traveling everywhere to eliminate demons, collect Demon Souls, and earn crystals from Demon Race materials.

Although his realm remained stuck at the Twelfth Layer of Spirit Gathering, the Proficiency levels of his various Cultivation Methods continued to rise.

Once he had accumulated enough resources, he could finally break through into Soul Tempering!

[Twenty-eighth year, age forty-five.]

[Drawing trait...]

[Draw successful!]

["Sudden Inspiration" (Purple): Flashes of insight will occasionally appear in your mind. They may bring you a brilliant idea, or cause your comprehension to erupt in an instant. Let's hope it isn't a terrible idea.]

[Adjust trait?]

[Yes/No]

"Oh? A low-tier trait that boosts comprehension. Useful, but not by much. My slots are tight for now—maybe later."

[You chose No.]

[You collected several sets of materials for making low-tier Myriad Souls Banners and had enough crystals as well.]

[You returned to Divine Soldier City and asked the Artifact Refiner of Cangbing Pavilion to forge the Spiritual Artifact body for the Myriad Souls Banner.]

[Your luck was not bad. After one failure, that highly skilled old master forged you a high-tier Spiritual Artifact version of the Myriad Souls Banner.]

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[Upon seeing the black banner emerge from the forge, coolly belching black smoke, he fell into deep thought.]

[But you told him that these were all normal phenomena.]

[The Myriad Souls Banner was fairly satisfied with its new body and arrogantly declared.]

["Oh, not-so-young warrior, through your diligence and courage, you have given me a new body. Do not worry about the wealth lost for this purpose. With my new body, I shall seize back everything you have lost!"]

["Stop adding drama to yourself..."]

[You had now left Shenbing Commandery and arrived in Nanyang Commandery, one commandery away.]

[A Rogue Cultivator Martial Artist skilled in formations lived here.]

[You had met him while traveling everywhere in search of the Demon Race.]

["Brother Mo Ye, I need you to set up a formation for me. It concerns whether I can break through into Soul Tempering. Please! Whether it succeeds or fails, I have prepared crystals as payment."]

[Mo Ye was about your age. Though he understood formations, his Martial Dao realm was not high either, and he too was stuck at the Twelfth Layer of Spirit Gathering.]

[In fact, Mo Ye did not have a Low-Grade Bone Structure. He had a Mid-Grade Bone Structure.]

[But that did not stop him from getting stuck at his realm.]

[Everyone had their own bottlenecks. Some could break through, while others could never find the key and remained stuck there forever.]

[It was like some people getting into a Project 211 university and others attending an ordinary first-tier university. The former might fail their postgraduate entrance exams, while the latter might succeed.]

["Hahaha! Brother Chen, why speak of payment? Setting up a formation is merely a lift of the hand. Do you have the formation blueprint? Let me see it, and I'll set it up at once!"]

[You handed him the blueprint for the Myriad Souls Infusion Formation provided by the Myriad Souls Banner. It included detailed setup methods and all the resources required.]

[Of course, you had prepared all those resources.]

[The formation looked extremely complicated. To an outsider like you, the blueprint was no different from a heavenly tome.]

[After taking one look, Mo Ye raised his head and said.]

["Brother Chen, let's discuss the payment after all..."]

[Apparently, it was not merely a lift of the hand.]

[You carefully selected an empty plot with no demonic aura and few people around, planning to set up the formation here and make your breakthrough.]

[A few days later.]

[After multiple attempts and failures, Mo Ye, covered in dust and looking like an auto mechanic, jumped out of the trench for formation lines that you had dug for him.]

["All right, all right! It's running! Startup successful! Every circuit is lit, crystals are being consumed normally, no explosions, no shutdowns, and the functionality test is normal!"]

[You felt that he was a little like your old profession from your previous life—a programmer.]

[You had no idea whether the formation he set up had any bugs.]

[Mo Ye was, after all, a Rogue Cultivator who had taught himself.]

[But he was quite talented. Without the guidance of a professional Formation Master, he had relied on a formation textbook he had obtained by chance, along with using all kinds of clients for practice, to become somewhat accomplished in the path of formations.]

[The key was that he was cheap.]

[After the formation was successfully set up, you gave him his payment.]

[Mo Ye tactfully took the initiative to leave. He had no interest in peering into your secrets.]

[Those who often drifted through the martial world knew that a lack of boundaries could easily get one killed.]

["Time to break through! Myriad Souls Banner! It's your time to perform!"]

[Now possessing the body of a high-tier Spiritual Artifact, the Myriad Souls Banner was imposing in every direction.]

[When its banner unfurled, it blotted out the clouds and obscured the sun. Like dense fog from hell, it directly enveloped half the mountaintop.]

["Awoo—"]

[The Demon Souls you had collected over the years had no longer been "refined," and all had been preserved until now, accumulating to more than three hundred.]

[The Myriad Souls Banner released them all in one breath.]

[When they tried to flee, the Myriad Souls Infusion Formation forced them back.]

[Large quantities of crystals burned within the formation. Every second this formation operated was powered by those crystals.]

["Chen Yi! Are you ready? It might hurt a little, you know?"]

[Your gaze was resolute, and your Dao Heart was as hard as iron!]

["Come on! I'm not even afraid of death, so why would I fear this?!"]

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