Seventh Layer Mid Stage Peak

In less than half an hour,

the medicinal power and spiritual energy of the Spirit Peach in his stomach began to be refined, spreading from his stomach in all directions.

Zhang Qingyuan only felt warmth suffuse his whole body. His meridians were like they were being warmed by a fire, indescribably comfortable.

Whoosh!

As the Spirit Peach's spiritual power was refined, the Spirit Essence within Zhang Qingyuan's body surged like rushing water, repeatedly striking the surroundings of his meridians.

He hurriedly cultivated according to the cultivation method and hand seals of the Water Origin Art,

circulating his spiritual power.

The amount of Spirit Essence his dantian could contain increased bit by bit, while the richness of the Spirit Essence within his body also slowly rose little by little.

Two hours later,

light bloomed outside, and the morning sun had quietly risen.

At this moment,

Zhang Qingyuan sat cross-legged on a cushion within the room.

His eyes suddenly opened.

In an instant,

Swish!

It was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed in the void. Lightning sprang forth in the empty room, illuminating the entire dim house.

A trace of irrepressible delight appeared on Zhang Qingyuan's face.

"Seventh Layer Mid Stage Peak!"

In merely two short hours,

his cultivation realm

had improved once more!

Zhang Qingyuan could already sense the bottleneck stretching before the peak of the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level, Mid Stage. He had touched upon the realm of the late stage.

As long as he returned and cultivated diligently for ten days to half a month,

thoroughly refining the remaining medicinal power of the Spirit Peach,

then advancing to the Seventh Level Late Stage would be just around the corner!

"Not bad. A single Spirit Peach actually allowed my cultivation realm to advance so much, steadily raising me by a minor realm!"

His heart was filled with boundless joy.

It had only been a mere ten-odd days since his last breakthrough to the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level, Mid Stage.

At such a rate of improvement,

if he was fortunate enough, he might even break through to the Eighth Layer of Spirit Essence Realm before the Outer Sect Grand Competition arrived!

Only then would he truly possess the strength to fight for entry into the Inner Sect!

In more than half a year,

he had hopes of breaking through from newly entering the seventh level to the eighth level.

This rate of improvement

would rank among the best even among the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect's hundred thousand disciples.

At least, according to what Zhang Qingyuan understood,

it took Outer Sect Disciples of the Cloud Water Sect an average of no less than three years to advance from the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level to the Eighth Layer of Spirit Essence Realm. This was because Outer Sect Disciples who could enter the Late Spirit Essence Realm during their time in the Outer Sect were already considered part of the Outer Sect elite.

If it were in the outside world,

it would not be impossible for someone in the Late Spirit Essence Realm to spend ten or twenty years breaking through a single realm.

"Since I accepted their things, I should take their money and avert their disaster! In any case, this mission has already been a huge profit. I only hope nothing unexpected happens on the mountain, and that the harvest brings me a pleasant surprise as well!"

Stretching his tendons and bones,

Zhang Qingyuan opened the door.

After cultivating for an entire night,

not only was he not the slightest bit tired, but thanks to the Spirit Peach's effects and his minor breakthrough, he was still brimming with energy.

Within the vast square,

the Zheng Family and several other small Cultivation Powers had already gathered a sufficiently large force.

There were hundreds of people, a dark mass of sturdy men.

Every one of them carried sabers, spears, swords, and halberds, all fully prepared.

The cultivators from several Cultivation Families were arranging the ranks in the square.

The noise was clamorous and chaotic.

When Zhang Qingyuan leaped eight or nine zhang through the air and landed atop the high platform, he stirred up an even greater commotion among the people below.

Hundreds of gazes converged upon him.

Low murmurs buzzed to life.

"Is that the Esteemed Immortal from the Cloud Water Sect? He's so young!"

"I heard that when the Yao Monkey King led the monkey pack in an attack last night, that Esteemed Immortal cut off the Yao Monkey King's right arm with one sword strike, forcing it to flee in a miserable state. Afterward, he charged alone with a single sword into a Demon Monkey Pack of over a hundred, slaughtering until blood flowed like a river near the Spirit Fruit Grove. He nearly wiped out the entire Demon Monkey Pack!"

"That's right. More than a hundred monkey demon corpses were carried out of the Spirit Fruit Grove. That sight was truly horrifying!"

All kinds of gazes gathered upon him.

Envy, admiration.

To them, Zhang Qingyuan was a genuine important figure.

Perhaps Zhang Qingyuan was only a sixteen-year-old youth,

but he himself

already stood at a height that mortals could only look up to throughout their lives, a level they could never reach no matter how hard they struggled.

"Hmm? Patriarch Zheng, what is going on with these people?"

After landing in the square,

Zhang Qingyuan was somewhat puzzled. His gaze swept over the people below as he asked Patriarch Zheng at his side.

The people in the square

wore different clothing.

Aside from the neatly arranged formations at the center, who belonged to the alliance of several small Lineages, the rest were scattered about. There were solitary hunters as well as Jianghu Rangers carrying swords and dressed like wandering martial artists.

They appeared to be outsiders.

"Esteemed Immortal, you do not know—this is all thanks to your benevolence."

"Many demon monkeys died in last night's battle. Esteemed Immortal, you had no use for those things and allowed us to deal with them ourselves, so I took it upon myself to distribute them according to merit among everyone who participated in the battle last night."

"Although those low-level monkey demons are of little use to cultivators above the Spirit Essence Realm Mid Stage, they are Demonic Beasts after all. Their flesh not only aids mortals in cultivation, but can also greatly help children in their households cultivate Qi Sense and embark upon the path of cultivation."

"Thus, after word spread, quite a few sturdy hunters and Jianghu Rangers from River Pond Town came forward, wishing to ascend the mountain with us and fight those demon monkeys, if only to earn a future for the children in their homes."

"Since strength lies in numbers, and the momentum would be greater as well, I incorporated them all into the force and prepared to campaign against those demon monkeys on the mountain."

Upon hearing Patriarch Zheng's words,

Zhang Qingyuan fell silent.

Why those Outer Sect Disciples disregarded life and death to follow along and ascend the mountain to hunt demon monkeys—

he understood the reason.

In this world,

the barrier between Immortals and mortals was no ordinary high wall!

Mortals were born with muddy, impure bodies.

Unless they possessed an inborn Spirit-Affinity Physique or some Innate Dao Body,

otherwise, it was fundamentally impossible for them to cross the limits of the flesh on their own, draw in the spiritual energy in the air for their own use, cultivate Qi Sense, and enter the path of cultivation by themselves.

Those former physiques, legends that nearly led straight to the Great Dao, appeared with odds of scarcely one in hundreds of millions. They were simply not something ordinary people could hope for.

For all beings,

if they wished to enter the path of cultivation,

they could only rely on external aid—consuming Spirit Items containing spiritual energy, then exploring amid ignorance and chaos, repeatedly attempting to use their bodily awareness to sense that wisp of spiritual energy within their dantian.

Only when their consciousness sensed spiritual energy and produced Qi Sense

could they circulate spiritual power according to cultivation methods, refine themselves, and from then on truly step into the Cultivation World.

In this process,

Spirit Items that opened the path of cultivation were indispensable.

Whether Spirit Grain, Spirit Peaches, or the flesh of Demonic Beasts, anything containing spiritual power could serve as a Spirit Item for awakening Qi Sense.

Yet,

while such Spirit Items were already nothing much to Zhang Qingyuan, how difficult was it for the vast multitude of ordinary mortals to obtain their first Spirit Item?

Those who had never experienced this could never imagine the gap between Immortals and mortals.

For this reason,

even if there was only a sliver of opportunity, even if life and death were at stake, they were willing to take the risk.

But still,

how could successfully sensing Qi Sense be so easy?

Even after obtaining a Spirit Item,

the chance of using it to awaken Qi Sense depended entirely on luck!

Some geniuses whose cultivation progress advanced with astonishing speed might need to expend dozens or even hundreds of Spirit Items merely to cultivate Qi Sense in their very first step.

Meanwhile, some worthless cultivators whose cultivation progress was difficult to improve and whose cultivation speed was arduous and slow might successfully sense Qi Sense when swallowing their very first Spirit Item.

There was simply no pattern to be found.

For the vast number of mortals, the only thing they could do was gather as many Spirit Items related to the Cultivation World as possible, hoping to succeed on their first attempt

and become true cultivators!

P.S.

There should be another update tonight. In the future, all updates will be posted at six in the evening.