Seventh Layer Mid Stage Peak

In less than half an hour,

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

Zhang Qingyuan only felt warmth spread through 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 churning water, crashing wave after wave against the surrounding meridians.

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

circulating his spiritual power.

The amount of Spirit Essence his Dantian could contain was increasing bit by bit, while the abundance of Spirit Essence inside his body slowly rose little by little as well.

Two hours later,

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

At this moment,

Zhang Qingyuan, seated cross-legged on a cushion within the room,

suddenly opened his eyes.

In that instant,

Flash!

It was as though a bolt of lightning had streaked through the void. Electricity flared in the empty room, illuminating the entire dim house.

An uncontrollable trace of delight appeared on Zhang Qingyuan's face.

"I've reached the Seventh Layer Mid Stage Peak!"

In just two short hours,

his cultivation

had advanced once more!

Zhang Qingyuan could already sense the bottleneck before the Seventh Layer Mid Stage Peak. He had touched upon the Late Stage realm.

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

fully refining the Spirit Peach's remaining medicinal power,

his advancement to the Seventh Layer Late Stage would be just around the corner!

"Not bad. A single Spirit Peach actually allowed my Cultivation Realm to advance so greatly, steadily raising me by an entire minor realm!"

His heart was brimming with joy.

It had only been a little over ten days since his last breakthrough to the Seventh Layer Mid Stage.

At this rate of improvement,

if he was lucky 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 hope of breaking through from the initial Seventh Layer to the Eighth Layer.

Such a 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 knew,

it took Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect Disciples an average of at least three years to advance from the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level to the Eighth Layer. That was because Outer Sect Disciples capable of entering the Late Spirit Essence Realm during their time in the Outer Sect were already considered Outer Sect elites.

If it were in the outside world,

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

"Since I've accepted their things, I should take their money and rid them of their troubles! In any case, this mission has been a huge profit. I only hope nothing unexpected happens on the mountain, and that the harvest brings me a few pleasant surprises as well!"

Stretching his tendons and bones,

Zhang Qingyuan opened the door.

After cultivating through the night,

not only was he not tired in the slightest, but thanks to the Spirit Peach and his minor breakthrough, he remained full of vigor.

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, or halberds, having made all kinds of preparations.

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

The noise was loud and chaotic.

When Zhang Qingyuan leaped eight or nine zhang through the air and landed upon the high platform, it stirred up another commotion among the crowd below.

Hundreds of gazes converged upon him,

and a buzzing wave of hushed conversations rose.

"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 severed the Yao Monkey King's right arm with a single sword strike, forcing it to flee in a sorry state. Afterward, he charged alone with sword in hand into the 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 pack!"

"That's right. Over a hundred monkey demon corpses were carried out of the Spirit Fruit Grove. The sight was terrifying!"

All kinds of gazes gathered upon him,

filled with envy and reverence.

To them, Zhang Qingyuan was a true Important Figure.

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

but he himself

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

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

After landing in the square,

Zhang Qingyuan was somewhat puzzled. He swept his gaze over the people below the platform and asked Patriarch Zheng beside him.

The people in the square

were dressed in all manner of clothes.

Apart from the orderly groups at the center, who belonged to the alliance of several small families, the rest were scattered about. There were lone hunters, as well as Jianghu Rangers dressed with swords at their waists.

They appeared to be outsiders.

"Esteemed Immortal, you are unaware of this, but it is all thanks to your benevolence."

"Many monkey demons died in last night's battle. Esteemed Immortal, you had no use for those things and allowed us to handle them ourselves, so I took it upon myself to distribute them according to merit among everyone who fought last night."

"Although those low-grade monkey demons are of little use to cultivators at the Spirit Essence Realm Mid Stage and above, they are demonic beasts after all. Their flesh and blood not only aid ordinary people in cultivation, but can also greatly help the children of a household cultivate Qi Sense and embark upon the path of cultivation."

"So after the news spread, quite a few strong hunters and Jianghu Rangers from River Pond Town gathered here. They wanted to go up the mountain together and fight those monkey demons, at the very least earning a future for their children."

"Since strength lies in numbers, and greater numbers make for greater momentum, I brought them all into the ranks and prepared to launch an expedition against the monkey demons on the mountain."

Upon hearing Patriarch Zheng's words,

Zhang Qingyuan fell silent.

He understood why these people disregarded life and death to follow them up the mountain and hunt the monkey demons.

In this world,

the threshold dividing Immortals from mortals was extraordinarily high.

Mortals were born with turbid innate bodies.

Unless they possessed a naturally spirit-affined body or some innate Dao body,

it was simply impossible for them to cross the limits of the flesh on their own, absorb the spiritual energy in the air for their own use, cultivate Qi Sense, and independently embark upon the path of cultivation.

The former were legendary constitutions that almost led directly to the Great Dao. Their odds of appearing were scarcely one in a hundred million, far beyond what ordinary people could ever 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, amid ignorance and chaos, they would explore and repeatedly attempt to use their bodily awareness to sense that wisp of spiritual energy within their Dantian.

Only once their awareness sensed spiritual energy and produced Qi Sense

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

Throughout this process,

Spirit Items that opened the path of cultivation were indispensable.

Whether Spirit Grain, Spirit Peaches, or the flesh and blood of demonic beasts, anything containing spiritual power could serve as a Spirit Item for awakening Qi Sense.

Yet,

while such Spirit Items no longer amounted to much for Zhang Qingyuan, how difficult was it for the vast multitude of ordinary mortals to obtain their first Spirit Item?

Those who had never gone through such things could never imagine the gulf between Immortals and mortals.

And thus,

even if there was only the slightest chance, even if their lives were at risk, they were willing to take the gamble.

But,

how could successfully sensing Qi Sense be so easy?

Even after obtaining a Spirit Item,

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

Some geniuses whose Cultivation Progress advanced at incredible speed might have to spend dozens or even hundreds of Spirit Items merely to cultivate Qi Sense in the first step.

Meanwhile, some useless people whose cultivation progress was difficult to advance, whose Cultivation Speed was arduous and slow, might successfully sense Qi Sense upon consuming their very first Spirit Item.

There was simply no pattern to it.

For the great masses of ordinary people, 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. From now on, updates will be posted at six in the evening.