Breakthrough

"If your strength improves, that might be even more effective!" Ke Fei's face lit up with delight.

He predicted that at this rate, it would probably take less than a month to break through the Barrier.

Ke Fei let out an excited roar. After being trapped for more than ten years, he could finally see daylight again!

Mu Qing was happy for him, too, and eager to get out.

After his Mental Power was exhausted, he had fallen unconscious for a day. The mock exams outside had ended by now, and he didn't know what had happened or how Ling Fei and the others were doing.

Ke Fei came back to his senses, still brimming with excitement, and hurriedly pulled Mu Qing aside to make some plans.

"You're only at Blood Qi Sixth Rank, and your Origin Force is still scarce. I'm going to help you break through!" Ke Fei said.

He was barefoot and extremely disheveled, his body smeared with grime.

Ke Fei ran back and forth through the cemetery until he reached a clump of weeds. A terrifying force surged from his body as he reached out, and a gale roared.

A fearsome seal appeared over the weeds, its densely packed symbols flashing with the power of the Barrier.

But Ke Fei wasn't afraid. Only the Barrier and the tombstones could stop him; he could break through any other seal.

Ke Fei's stooped body straightened. His white hair danced in the wind, and his aged face became incomparably imposing.

"Break!"

He bellowed, countless storms gathering in his palm. The seal over the weeds shattered.

A gale howled around Mu Qing in the distance. He struggled to open his eyes and saw that the weeds were crystalline all over, glowing with a faint light.

Grinning with his mouthful of yellow teeth, Ke Fei uprooted all the weeds. One foxtail grass in particular was unusual, its brilliance dazzling and starlight shimmering across it.

He took the handful of weeds over to Mu Qing and said, "Eat them."

Mu Qing froze and stared at the weeds.

Although they were crystal-clear and seemed extraordinary, he couldn't sense any energy from them.

More importantly, Ke Fei was holding them in his filthy hand. Mu Qing couldn't bring himself to eat them.

Seeing the hesitation on Mu Qing's face, Ke Fei grew displeased. He grabbed Mu Qing, then used his Mental Power to immobilize him again.

The familiar mental restraint left Mu Qing on the verge of tears. He couldn't move.

"Brat, I'm doing this for your own good. Eat every last bit!" Ke Fei laughed heartily and stuffed all the weeds into Mu Qing's mouth.

The restraint vanished, and Mu Qing struggled to swallow the mouthful of weeds. They tasted bitter beyond belief, nothing like the Vermilion Fruit, which had melted in his mouth.

"Old geezer, what did you make me eat?" Mu Qing was furious. The weeds were bitter and awful, and they didn't seem to have any effect.

Ke Fei chuckled. "They won't work unless you combine them with a few other things."

Mu Qing had a bad feeling. He watched Ke Fei walk over to a withered tree.

Ke Fei grinned and reached out. Countless storms poured from his palm.

A string of mysterious symbols flashed into view as the seal appeared, crystal-clear as it desperately compressed the violent energy in Ke Fei's palm.

Boom!

The space erupted in a tremendous explosion. Ke Fei unleashed a force that swept all before it, forcibly breaking the seal. The storm surged, yet not a single branch of the withered tree was harmed.

Ke Fei grabbed a branch and snapped it off with a crisp crack.

Like the weeds before it, the withered branch was crystal-clear and somewhat translucent, glittering like a piece of quartz.

Before Mu Qing could react, Ke Fei shoved the branch into his mouth and forced him to eat it.

Unexpectedly, the branch was crisp and crunchy. Mu Qing chewed it a few times, as if eating potato chips, and swallowed it all.

Another bitter taste spread across his tongue. Mu Qing furrowed his brow, but he could already feel an inexplicable force beginning to brew inside him.

The energy had come from nowhere, but it was still gathering and had yet to fully take shape.

At that moment, Ke Fei moved again. He turned into a gust of wind and reached an unmarked tombstone in an instant. It was covered in densely packed seals.

Ke Fei gave a sharp shout. Countless gales gathered in his palm, and his body glowed as terrifying energy burst forth in an instant.

The seals on the Nameless Tombstone were destroyed in the blink of an eye.

From a distance, Mu Qing stared in astonishment. There was actually a crow in front of the Nameless Tombstone!

The crow was pitch-black all over, like a piece of black jade, with a shadowy sheen glimmering faintly across it.

Ke Fei struck, just as he had the previous two times. A storm gathered in his palm, then burst forth with astonishing force in an instant.

Energy erupted throughout the space. Dense symbols covered the crow, too—the Barrier's seal.

With a crack, the seal shattered.

Ke Fei grabbed the crow and squeezed hard.

The crow wasn't alive at all. Its body shattered outright, turning into a pool of black blood.

Ke Fei returned to Mu Qing and held out his hand. The black liquid floated in midair, wrapped in his Origin Force.

Mu Qing's mouth twitched violently. That familiar immobilizing force took hold of him again.

Ke Fei grinned broadly, looking at Mu Qing with a touch of schadenfreude. Then he poured the black blood from his hand into Mu Qing's mouth.

Mu Qing's expression changed at once, his face twisting. The taste was unbelievably vile. The flavor of all three things combined was beyond description.

The crow's black blood was the worst of all, bitter and foul-smelling.

Mu Qing felt like the stench would pour out of his mouth if he opened it.

"Hahaha, brat, don't underestimate these three things!" Ke Fei roared with laughter.

He explained that these three things were extremely precious medicinal ingredients from Lake Heart Island. The Barrier's power had seeped into them and altered them.

Ke Fei wasn't particularly knowledgeable about medicinal ingredients, but as a Top-tier Martial Venerable, he knew a fair amount about common ones.

Eating any one of the three ingredients by itself would have no effect.

But when all three were combined, they would brew a surging energy that was exceptionally mild and easy to absorb.

As soon as Ke Fei finished speaking, Mu Qing's body shuddered. The energy that had been gathering inside him erupted, forming a terrifying torrent.

It was like a river bursting its banks, surging without end.

Mu Qing immediately sat cross-legged and shut his eyes. He knew the energy inside him was enormous, and absorbing it would bring him tremendous benefits.

The Blood Refining Technique within Mu Qing surged into motion. He entered the Heaven and Earth Fusion State once more, intending to absorb all the energy inside him as quickly as possible.

After Ke Fei's instruction, Mu Qing had gained a profound understanding of his current realm.

He even had the feeling that as long as he had enough energy, he could break through at once and reach Blood Qi Seventh Rank!

And the surging energy inside him now was exactly what he needed.

In the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, Mu Qing's energy absorption reached its limit. He could feel his cultivation rising steadily as he absorbed the immense energy within him.

Ke Fei watched with interest. Mu Qing sat cross-legged on the ground, and a wisp of Dawn Light shone from every pore on his body.

The energy was simply too dense for him to absorb all at once, so it was seeping out through the pores all over his body.

About ten minutes later, Mu Qing abruptly stood up. The aura around him had grown stronger—that was the aura of Blood Qi Seventh Rank.

With Ke Fei's help, Mu Qing's breakthrough was progressing at a speed beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

He had completely absorbed the energy within him, and the realm he had just broken through to had advanced again. It was also extremely stable, with no side effects whatsoever.

A hint of joy appeared on Mu Qing's face. He knew Ke Fei hadn't been bluffing when he said Mu Qing could reach First Order Bloodline and become a low-level Martial Practitioner before the College Entrance Exam.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he broke through again and reached Blood Qi Eighth Stage.

At that moment, Mu Qing's body was filled with incomparably rich Origin Force.

He returned to an unmarked tombstone. Origin Force poured wildly from within him, and wisps of light gathered in his palm. Rippling like a wave, the energy formed a drop of water in his hand.

The drop looked unremarkable, but a closer look revealed a symbol at its very center.

It was the core of the Myriad Water Barrier!

Mu Qing reached out and let the drop fall onto the Nameless Tombstone.

Sss!

Just like before, the drop landed on the Nameless Tombstone, immediately raising billowing clouds of smoke.

The seal and Barrier energy on the Nameless Tombstone were instantly corroded away by the drop.

Several dozen seconds later, the Nameless Tombstone had become an ordinary stone. A breeze passed, and it shattered at once.

Condensing one drop of water from the Myriad Water Barrier had greatly depleted the Origin Force within Mu Qing.

He carefully assessed his condition and found that he still couldn't condense two drops at once.

"Maybe I'll be able to condense two drops at once only when I reach Blood Qi Eighth Stage," Mu Qing murmured.

The mysteries of the Myriad Water Barrier were beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Even though Mu Qing had comprehended the Profound Meaning of Water, using it still consumed a tremendous amount of energy.

Mu Qing sat down again and began restoring his Origin Force.

He entered the Heaven and Earth Fusion State. In this state, his Origin Force recovered extremely quickly.

At the same time, he immersed his mind in the fifth level of Thunderstorm Fist.

Ever since he had cultivated the Myriad Water Barrier, Mu Qing had unexpectedly found Thunderstorm Fist easy to practice.

With the help of the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, mastering the fifth level of Thunderstorm Fist was almost effortless for him.

He stood up and began practicing the fifth level of Thunderstorm Fist.

A series of gusts from his punches began to howl as he moved. Blazing white arcs of electricity flickered and danced across his body.

The dancing arcs of electricity condensed into four blazing white bolts of lightning. As Mu Qing moved, they exploded in midair.

With his current strength at Blood Qi Seventh Rank, his Thunderstorm Fist was awe-inspiring. He was confident he could defeat Liu Tianyu and Wang Haixuan outright.

Zzzzt.

The lightning grew brighter and brighter. Then, right above Mu Qing's fist, a fifth bolt of lightning condensed.