The Grand Sacrifice, Breaking Through Two Realms

The Iron Saber Society's three hundred and five corpses had not been thrown into the Corpse Incineration Furnace by Li Ye all at once, because it could not hold them all.

They had been fed in batch by batch.

The Corpse Incineration Furnace's Artifact Spirit burned faster now. Great numbers of Iron Saber Society corpses were reduced to ash one after another beneath its terrifying flames.

Bzzz!

Strands of Light Mist shot out and entered Li Ye's body.

The energy within these strands of Light Mist varied in strength, but there were plenty of them.

Li Ye's body instantly erupted with crackling explosions. His bones, muscles, Five Viscera, meridians, and more seemed to have undergone years of arduous cultivation in an instant, rapidly growing stronger.

Li Ye's physique seemed to be shedding its mortal shell and exchanging its bones, new strength constantly arising within him.

Seven thousand one hundred jin, seven thousand two hundred jin, seven thousand three hundred jin, seven thousand five hundred jin...

The Breathing Technique of the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art also began to circulate, converting the Light Mist's energy into physical cultivation from the Cultivation Method.

"Looks like today is a good day."

"Then let me break through to the Qi Gathering Stage today."

Li Ye thought excitedly.

Seeing that the corpses in the Corpse Incineration Furnace had nearly finished burning, he used his palm force to blast another batch of corpses into it.

Before long, the flames swallowed those corpses, and their Life Imprints broke apart.

Countless Images blossomed forth.

But how could Li Ye be in the mood to watch these people's tedious lives? He had no interest in them. All his attention was on himself.

Bzzz!

Another strand of Light Mist shot out and entered Li Ye's body.

One after another, they caused his cultivation to rise without pause.

There were simply too many.

At this moment, Li Ye's strength had reached eight thousand three hundred jin.

Suddenly, he was moved. "A Divine Ability!"

Yes, Li Ye had realized that he had gained a Divine Ability skill.

But because he had burned too many corpses, he did not know whose corpse this Divine Ability had been extracted from.

The next moment, Li Ye knew.

A piece of information appeared out of nowhere in his mind: Exquisite Sword Heart—you possess absolute mastery over the sword path.

Sword Heart? Before Li Ye could react, he felt that his soul had changed.

He now possessed a natural affinity for swords, along with terrifying insight into the sword path.

Li Ye subconsciously recalled Shen Heng's Cage Sword Qi and immediately found numerous flaws in it.

With a little thought, he actually filled in all those shortcomings.

Thus, the Cage Sword Qi entered the ranks—Yellow Tier Low Grade.

Li Ye was slightly Lost in Thought. A flawed sword art had been evolved into a ranked technique with just a few thoughts from him?

Why had the Corpse Incineration Furnace given him such a heaven-defying ability as the Exquisite Sword Heart?

Could it have been extracted from Shen Heng's corpse?

Was it because of the other party's creativity in creating the Cage Sword Qi?

A string of guesses arose in Li Ye's heart.

It felt highly likely.

Everything the Corpse Incineration Furnace gave him could be traced back to something.

Shen Heng had spent decades painstakingly studying the Cage Sword Qi, creating something close to a ranked technique. Thus, the Corpse Incineration Furnace had given him the terrifying ability of the Exquisite Sword Heart.

Suddenly, Li Ye felt that his body had been tempered to its limit, his inner strength incomparably abundant.

He was instantly thrilled and shouted in his heart, "Break through, Qi Gathering Stage!"

Boom!

The next moment, an aura far more powerful than before erupted from within Li Ye. He had truly broken through.

The realm of Body Tempering Layer 12!

Damn!

Li Ye only felt his vision go dark, his chest tighten, and blood rise in his throat.

Wasn't it supposed to be the Qi Gathering Stage?

There were already no impurities left in his body.

How had he reached Body Tempering Layer 12 again?

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

"My physique is already flawless, and my body tempering has reached the pinnacle."

"There's no reason I shouldn't break through to the Qi Gathering Realm."

"Hmm, this should be the final realm of my Body Tempering Realm. The next breakthrough will definitely be the Qi Gathering Stage."

"Fortunately, there are still plenty of corpses—enough to support me through another breakthrough."

Li Ye's heart brimmed with anticipation.

After reaching Body Tempering Layer 12, Li Ye's strength had reached ten thousand jin.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Inside the Corpse Incineration Furnace, streams of Light Mist shot out like arrows, continuously boring into Li Ye's body and being absorbed by him.

This kind of improvement was simply too outrageous.

One second was equivalent to several months of bitter cultivation for an ordinary person.

Eleven thousand jin, twelve thousand jin, thirteen thousand jin...

After a long while, all the corpses of the Iron Saber Society had been burned away.

The Light Mist produced within the Corpse Incineration Furnace was also nearing its end.

A familiar sensation surfaced in Li Ye's heart.

He sensed that he was about to break through again.

"Qi Gathering Stage, break through for me!"

"Hahahaha..."

Li Ye shouted, unable to contain the wild joy in his heart.

His current strength was already equivalent to that of the Qi Gathering Stage, yet a Qi Gathering Stage cultivator breaking through two minor realms in a single day—

That was almost impossible.

Boom!

Sure enough, Li Ye's body violently trembled the next instant, erupting with a thunderous boom. Then, electric arc energy surged from within him like a flood, while crimson radiance enveloped him.

He had broken through.

He had reached... the Body Tempering Thirteenth Layer.

Strength—twenty thousand jin.

The increase in strength was secondary. Li Ye could feel that his physique had undergone earth-shaking changes.

His Five Viscera were crystalline and translucent, their resilience greatly enhanced. A thin membrane of light seemed to cover the surface of his organs, flowing with Divine Radiance, while his Life Force flourished, Comparable to that of a Demonic Beast.

Even his blood had been Tempered to an exceptionally dazzling state by this breakthrough.

His bone density, muscle strength, skin resilience, and more had all risen tremendously.

Li Ye seemed to have undergone a grand metamorphosis. His Life Level was already different from that of an ordinary person.

"Hmm, is this what the Qi Gathering Stage feels like? Brimming with life, an unparalleled treasure body, like a newborn infant..."

"Damn it, why am I still in the Body Tempering Realm?"

Li Ye was still immersed in the profound wonder brought by his breakthrough when he suddenly realized that his Dantian had not been opened. Only then did he understand that he was still in the Body Tempering Realm.

He felt utterly miserable.

Goddamn it, was there no end to this Body Tempering Realm? I'm already at the thirteenth layer.

Li Ye wanted to cry.

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

Although the Body Tempering Thirteenth Layer was also very powerful, it was nowhere near as impressive as the Qi Gathering Stage.

Moreover, without entering the Qi Gathering Realm, he would be unable to comprehend the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

Many peerless Daoist Arts would be impossible to cultivate.

Li Ye quickly calmed down and began searching for the source of the problem.

His physical body was already flawless, as pure as a newborn infant. By all reason, upon reaching this point, the Body Tempering Realm should have been complete, and he should have been able to break through to the Qi Gathering Stage.

Yet he had stubbornly wandered farther and farther down a fork in the road within the Body Tempering Realm. These experiences were practically making Li Ye

lose confidence.

He suspected that even if he broke through again, he still would not be able to step into the Qi Gathering Stage.

Perhaps there would be some absurd situation involving a Body Tempering Fourteenth Layer, Fifteenth Layer, and so on.

"Origins mysterious. Cultivate carefully!"

Li Ye recalled the information the Corpse Incineration Furnace had given him when it granted him the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art: When you cultivate it to the utmost extreme, nothing will be unbreakable. But its origins are mysterious. Cultivate carefully.

Cultivate carefully?

Damn it, it was a problem with the Cultivation Method.

Li Ye instantly concluded that the Corpse Incineration Furnace had screwed him over.

There was something wrong with this Cultivation Method, causing him to charge down the path of the Body Tempering Realm without ever turning back.

Li Ye wanted to switch Cultivation Methods.

But after thinking it over carefully, he realized that the things the Corpse Incineration Furnace gave him had always been fairly reliable.

There was no reason for it to screw him over.

"The Corpse Incineration Furnace never mentioned the grade of the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art. Could it be that its grade is simply too high, which is why it made me pass through several extra stages in the Body Tempering Realm?"

"That's very possible."

Li Ye guessed.

With that thought, he immediately dismissed the idea of changing Cultivation Methods and decided to keep going.

The stronger his foundation, the greater his strength would be when he broke through into the Qi Gathering Realm, the Object Manipulation Realm, and beyond.

Li Ye was already looking forward to the day his Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art reached great mastery.