Coming to the Door

"Heh, my mental energy reached the threshold, so I broke through naturally!" Zhang Tao said with a curl of his lip.

Li Zhen snorted. He didn't believe for a second that Zhang Tao's mental energy could have broken through so suddenly, and in just one day—one single day! If you told him that someone could increase their mental energy by this much in a single day, he, Li Zhen, would refuse to believe it even if he died. If there wasn't some kind of cheat involved, he would write his name backward.

"Did you hog all the good stuff for yourself?" Li Zhen huffed. This was the only explanation he could come up with.

Zhang Tao chuckled. If he didn't have the Kongtong Seal, he really would have kept it all to himself. He thought that since he hadn't used the Heavenly Gold Lotus, he might as well give it to Li Hanhan. After all, he couldn't let Li Hanhan fall too far behind; he would still need Li Hanhan to block blades for him in the future.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tao went back and took out the remaining half of the Heavenly Gold Lotus, saying, "Here, take this. After eating this, you should be close too."

Seeing the Heavenly Gold Lotus, Li Zhen's eyes bulged. He knew it! How could this dead rascal break through in a single day? Damn it, he had eaten a heaven-sent treasure! A Heavenly Gold Lotus! Even Zhenxing City didn't have many of those.

"Where did you get this?" Li Zhen asked suspiciously.

"Where else? The Chief Overseer gave it to me. Do you want it or not? If not, give it back!" Zhang Tao said immediately, making a move as if to snatch it back.

Li Zhen immediately retreated several steps. What a joke! How could he possibly return something that had already been given to him? Besides, since that guy Zhang Tao had already broken through, he naturally had to break through as soon as possible. Otherwise, wouldn't he be letting Zhang Tao hog all the glory?

Zhang Tao was just putting on a show. He also hoped that Li Zhen would break through quickly; once they were both Rank 7, it would be easier to head into the Catacombs together.

After Li Zhen tucked the Heavenly Gold Lotus away, he said, "I'm leaving then!"

He couldn't wait to go back and break through.

But just as he rushed out, he collided head-on with Nan Yunyue. Nan Yunyue was knocked flat on her back, and she immediately raged, "Li Hanhan, are you blind or what?"

Li Zhen was speechless. He couldn't be bothered to argue with this woman, Nan Yunyue, and simply walked away. Nan Yunyue was furious—didn't he know how to apologize after bumping into someone? So rude!

Watching this, Zhang Tao sighed and felt speechless as well. Why was this woman, Nan Yunyue, here again?

"Zhang Tao, you bastard, you definitely have a secret. How are you cultivating? How can you be this fast?" Nan Yunyue stopped worrying about Li Zhen and latched onto Zhang Tao. She had no choice; she hadn't wanted to get too close to Zhang Tao before, as most people who got close to him ended up dead.

She didn't think her life was that tough. Just think back to when they went to Magic City—good grief, they were ambushed immediately. This wasn't even the Catacombs! But look at Zhang Tao: just a few days ago, he was still a Rank 5, just like her—no, to be precise, he was a severely injured Rank 5, even worse off than her. Yet, in just these few days, not only had he sealed the three gates in one day, but he had also become a Grandmaster.

Heaven knows how shocked she was when she heard the news yesterday. Can you imagine? A guy who was just like you a few days ago suddenly becomes a Grandmaster?

This made Nan Yunyue so jealous she could have fallen apart.

Moreover, since this guy Zhang Tao was cultivating so fast, he must be hiding something. That was why Nan Yunyue was being so thick-skinned. She really didn't want to fall too far behind Li Zhen and Zhang Tao. As a female martial artist, she wanted to be a leader among them; she wanted to tell everyone that women were no weaker than men.

But seeing the gap widening, Nan Yunyue had no choice but to pester him. Even if it was dangerous, she couldn't care less anymore.

Listening to Nan Yunyue, Zhang Tao couldn't help but roll his eyes. A secret? Sure, there was one. But did she really think he would tell her? In her dreams!

Seeing Zhang Tao's eye-roll, Nan Yunyue realized her previous words might have been a bit much. Her eyes darted around, and she cooed, "Zhang Tao, take me with you!"

Zhang Tao felt goosebumps break out all over his body. Good grief, can you imagine how terrifying it was for a tough woman like Nan Yunyue to act coquettish?

"Ew..." Zhang Tao brushed her hand away in disgust.

Nan Yunyue's anger meter hit the ceiling, but she had to bow her head while under someone else's roof. She decided that once her cultivation improved, she would definitely make this dead rascal pay.

"Your current Rank 5 cultivation is just about tempering the body. Unless you eat heaven-sent treasures, there's nothing I can do. For Rank 6, I do have some ideas. Come find me again once you're Rank 6!" Zhang Tao said.

Nan Yunyue was overjoyed. To be honest, if she worked hard, she could reach Rank 6 soon. But Rank 6 gate-sealing and the manifestation of mental energy were not that easy; many people got stuck at this step. That was why she wanted to see if Zhang Tao could help her. Now that she had a concrete answer, Nan Yunyue left happily.

Watching Nan Yunyue leave, Zhang Tao rubbed his chin. One had to realize that, at present, humanity had no method for cultivating mental energy. Most importantly, they hadn't even located the Brain Core.

Rank 7 cultivation was the cultivation of mental energy. Once you reached 3000 Hz, you were a high-stage Rank 7. After that, once you finished tempering the skull, you were Rank 8.

Currently, mental energy cultivation was all done by grinding away with blood-qi.

This resulted in the Indestructible Substance of Rank 8 Golden Body powerhouses being extremely precious. Some Rank 8 powerhouses, after having their Indestructible Substance ground away, couldn't recover and were unable to advance any further for the rest of their lives.

The root of all this lay in mental energy.

The Culture Building wasn't without research, but they had no direction. Humans currently relied only on tempering techniques. Those who could reach Rank 9 using only tempering techniques were all geniuses among geniuses.

Zhang Tao recalled that the original work had mentioned that the method for cultivating mental energy was to locate the Brain Core. Once the Brain Core was located, everything else would be easy.

To locate the Brain Core, one had to return the Bridge of Heaven and Earth to a circular shape. In Rank 5 cultivation, the Bridge of Heaven and Earth was circular. It was only later that everyone assumed the Bridge of Heaven and Earth was an extension of power, so it became a straight line, and the Three Burner Gates were also situated in a straight line along the Bridge of Heaven and Earth.

It couldn't truly form a closure. After all, only a circle was a true closure.

The Brain Core was actually a projection of the Three Burner Gates combined with the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. At first, it was incredibly illusory.

The true Brain Core was located within the Three Burner Gates. It required returning to the origin, restoring the extended Bridge of Heaven and Earth back into the circular ring it was at the Rank 5 stage.

Once the Bridge of Heaven and Earth was in a circular ring shape, the Three Burner Gates would be arranged in a triangle. The flow of power would pass through the circular Bridge of Heaven and Earth, piercing through the Three Burner Gates in a continuous cycle...

At this point, unleashing one's full power to trigger the vibration of the Three Burner Gates and releasing that energy would reveal the location of the Brain Core.