The Two Make Gains
The Golden Eagle Token beneath the North King's feet trembled suddenly, and more than twenty Heavenly River Crystal shot into the sky. The Crystal Stone converged into beams of light above his head, enveloping his entire body.
Fine Spiritual Runes slowly flowed across the surface of the beam of light, forming a vortex. As the vortex spun, the river water reversed, and the light compressed and converged at the center of the vortex. After a moment, it exploded with a bang, turning into a sky full of raindrops that rained down.
The North King looked up at the rain pouring down from the sky, his tiger-like eyes flashing with a sharp light.
He suddenly activated his Supreme Dharma Body, Dharma Body rose from the ground behind him.
He spread his arms, letting the raindrops wash over his Dharma Body. Each raindrop emitted a very faint hum the moment it merged into his Dharma Body, like a weapon that had been re-tempered being struck on an anvil.
Thousands upon thousands of raindrops fell upon the Dharma Body, gradually filling in, deepening, and solidifying the originally blurred lines on Dharma Body.
The seams of the armor were filled with raindrops, making them fit together perfectly. The joints were polished smooth and flexible by the raindrops. The entire Dharma Body of the statue was like a sword that had been repeatedly forged, becoming sharper and more resilient.
At the same time, the raindrops also seeped into the North King's body through his Dharma Body. He was shaken all over as he felt countless scalding streams rushing into his meridians at the same time. These streams contained extremely rich Spiritual Energy and vitality, rushing and crashing through his meridians like a flock of sheep being driven.
The impurities that had accumulated deep in his meridians over the years were washed out one by one, expelled from his pores, and formed a layer of grayish-black grime on his skin.
His bones crackled and popped, like an old tree sprouting new branches in the spring rain. His previously stiff joints became flexible again, and his Spiritual Energy, which had not increased for many years, suddenly surged as if a window had been pierced.
The North King clenched his fists, feeling the immense power surging within him like a volcanic eruption. A twisted, ecstatic joy appeared on his bronze face.
He had been stuck at the Peak Tier 8 Supreme for a long time. He had tried every possible method and all kinds of Yao Ling materials, but the bottleneck remained as solid as Copper Wall and Iron Bastion.
Now, under the Heavenly River Baptism, that bottleneck has finally shattered.
"Tier 9 Supreme!" The North King looked up at the sky and let out a long-suppressed roar, a sound filled with the exhilaration of a caged beast being released.
The Spiritual Energy fluctuations around him surged dramatically at that moment, leaping directly from the Tier 8 Peak to the Early Stage Tier 9 Supreme. Moreover, the increase continued, climbing all the way to the middle stage of the Early Stage Tier 9 Supreme realm before gradually slowing down.
The Supreme Dharma Body behind him also underwent a transformation along with the breakthrough of his main body, suddenly growing a third taller. The Dragon Pattern on his armor became clearer and more ferocious. The originally blurry light in the eyes of the Dharma Body became sharp as a knife. A calm and fierce pressure spread outwards from the Dharma Body in all directions, causing the surrounding river water to surge outwards.
At the same time, Xia Jia's side also lit up with light. Her baptism began almost simultaneously with the North King's, and more than twenty Heavenly River Crystal shot into the sky, converging into a beam of light.
The beam of light was thinner than the beam of light from the North King, but the Spiritual Energy it contained was just as pure.
The raindrops fell, landing on the Supreme Dharma Body she was activating.
Her Dharma Body was entirely silver-white, and her armor was more agile and exquisite than that of the North King. The armor was covered with dense feather patterns, resembling a Silver Eagle spreading its wings.
The moment the raindrops merged into the Dharma Body, the feather patterns on the surface of the Dharma Body lit up with a silver light. As thousands of raindrops fell, the feather patterns lit up from head to toe, like a Silver Eagle preening its feathers.
The Dharma Body became lighter and sharper, the edges of its armor as thin as cicada wings yet as hard as High-Grade Steel, and each feather as sharp as a polished blade.
Xia Jia's true form also underwent a baptism of fire in the rain. Her face was slightly flushed, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but her bright eyes were filled with joy.
Under the scouring of the raindrops, the bottleneck in her cultivation finally loosened, shattered, and burst open.
Her aura rose steadily, eventually settling at the peak of the Peak Tier 8 Supreme, just one step away from the threshold of the Tier 9 Supreme level.
The silver-white Dharma Body behind her became more refined and agile as her physical body broke through. With a flap of Dharma Body wings, the silver-white light spread out in all directions like a drawn sword, turning the surrounding river water into a silvery white.
The two were baptized almost simultaneously.
The North King slowly retracted his Dharma Body, stretched his limbs, and stood upright on the river with his towering body. His aura was calm and profound, much stronger than before the baptism.
He turned his head to look at Xia Jia and saw that her complexion was rosy and her breathing was refined, so he knew that she had also successfully broken through.
The two exchanged a glance, both seeing undisguised joy in each other's eyes.
"Congratulations, North King, on reaching the Tier 9 Supreme." Xia Jia said with a smile, her bright eyes curving into two crescent moons.
King Bei grinned, with a rare and honest smile on his bronze face, "I am very happy that you have reached the peak of the eighth level, and you will reach the ninth level after one step further."
Following the baptism of the two, many others also underwent baptism in the same manner.
The lights on the surface of the Heavenly River Way flickered and shimmered, like a grand fireworks display nearing its end, with various kinds of baptismal light reflecting on the river.
Some of those who had completed the baptism were overjoyed, some closed their eyes to feel the surging power within them, while others had already begun to retreat towards the riverbank, clearly intending to stop while they were ahead.
Just then, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Look! High-Tier Baptism is happening!"
In an instant, countless gazes suddenly sharpened, turning towards the distance.
Suddenly, a huge beam of light shot into the sky. The beam was several meters thick and had an extremely pure cyan color, like a giant jade sword standing upright and piercing the sky.
The energy contained in that beam of light was so strong that it almost swept away all other baptismal lights.
The Low-Tier Baptism light that was still shimmering on the river was like fireflies compared to the bright moon, dimmed and lost in the face of that azure beam.
This attracted countless astonished glances, filled with shock, envy, and a sense of inferiority.
Many people squinted as they gazed at the figure in the baptismal light. The figure was not unfamiliar; it was tall and slender, its green robe fluttering in the beam of light, a sheathless longsword hanging at its waist, and its face cold and indifferent, with eyebrows like knives.
Someone recognized him and whispered, "That's Qing Jianyi, a figure on the Young Powerhouses Ranking of the Sky Luo Continent, and the most outstanding disciple of the Sword Immortal Sect in this generation."
Those around him looked enlightened upon hearing this. The Sword Immortal Sect was founded on the sword path, and all its disciples cultivated the sword path of killing and fierceness. This Qing Jianyi was the most outstanding genius of the Sword Immortal Sect in the past thousand years. His Jingzhe Sword Technique was said to be able to draw upon the power of spring thunder. When the sword was drawn, it was like thunder breaking through the earth, with astonishing power.
The number of Heavenly River Crystal that flew out from the token beneath his feet reached a staggering sixty-three, surpassing the number of everyone present.
The Crystal Stone swirled and converged above his head, connected by cyan-colored threads of light, like a sword that had been disassembled into sixty-three pieces being reassembled.
The sheer scale and impact it generated were truly spectacular.
The magnificent light gathered above it and transformed into a clear stream.
The stream was about a few feet wide, crystal clear, and looked like a spring of water compressed into a line and suspended in mid-air.
Fine Spiritual Runes flowed slowly through the stream, each Spiritual Runes resembling a miniature sword that darted and weaved, radiating a sharp and pure sword intent.
The stream, with its crisp sound, cascaded down from the sky, its tinkling waters resembling a symphony composed of countless sword cries.
The stream flowed directly into his crown chakra, like a clear spring pouring into his body from the top of his head, cleansing his meridians, bones, and Divine Soul.
However, Qing Jianyi did not summon his Supreme Dharma Body. But anyone could clearly sense the increasingly fierce sword intent emanating from his body.
The sword intent emanated from every pore of his body, like a sharp sword that had been repeatedly honed and was gradually revealing its edge.
Eventually, even the space around it was cut off.
The sword intent formed an invisible yet real sharp field around him, cutting countless hair-thin black cracks in the air. The Spatial Turbulence from the cracks was shredded into nothingness by the sword intent before it could spread.
The feeling was as if the sword intent nurtured within him had become even sharper under the scouring of the stream, like an ancient, rusty sword being re-sharpened, every inch of the blade regaining its original cold gleam under the flow of the stream.
As the last drop of that stream disappeared into the top of Qing Jianyi's head, he opened his eyes.
Sword energy burst forth from his eyes, and the two sword energies shot out from his pupils like a pair of materialized sword beams, directly tearing a thousand-foot sword mark in the Heavenly River below.
The sword mark stretched from the surface of the river all the way to the bottom, splitting the entire Heavenly River into a bottomless crack. The water on both sides surged outward like two walls of water, and only slowly closed up after a few breaths.
The Spiritual Energy emanating from his body surged to an astonishing level.
The surge of energy erupted from his body, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, slashing fiercely across the heavens and earth, causing the surrounding air to vibrate and buzz.
That's the Tier 9 Peak!
"He actually broke through!" Countless powerful figures on the surface of the Heavenly River Way were shocked and exclaimed.
Qing Jianyi was previously only at the peak of the Tier 9, but now he has stepped into the level of the Tier 9 Peak rank!
Those who had been gloating over their breakthrough to a higher level now put away their smiles, their gazes turning serious as they looked at the figure in the blue robe.
Although there is only a two-word difference between the peak of the Tier 9 and the Tier 9 Peak, the gap between them is as vast as Natural Chasm.
Reaching the Tier 9 Peak means that a cultivator's Spiritual Energy, physical body, Divine Soul have all been honed to their limits, and they are just waiting for an opportunity to break through the threshold of the Earth Sovereign.
Countless powerful figures looked on with envy. Reaching the Tier 9 Peak qualified one to touch the Earth Sovereign. Once one stepped into that realm, it was truly a meteoric rise to power, making one a super strong individual who would intimidate all directions.
The Supreme Realm and the Earth Sovereign Realm are clearly two worlds apart. Reaching the Supreme Realm makes one a powerful figure in the Great Thousand World, capable of venturing out into the world, while reaching the Earth Sovereign Realm is enough to become a regional overlord.
Even on a supercontinent like Sky Luo Continent, they have the qualifications to establish sects and build their own power.