Breakthrough to the Houtian Realm!

"System, consume 200 Yuan Crystals and convert them all into cultivation!"

Rumble!!~~

The moment the thought fell, two hundred Yuan Crystals vanished into thin air, transforming into a vast surge of true qi several times more majestic than before and crashing into his body.

If the true qi that had appeared earlier had been a babbling brook, then this wave of true qi was like a heaven-shaking tsunami.

The violent yet incomparably condensed true qi instantly flooded the meridians throughout his body. Like a great river surging forward, it swept through every blocked acupoint with the force of rotten wood being crushed.

The once-stagnant barriers within his meridians shattered one after another, and blocked acupoints opened in succession. His qi and blood boiled throughout his body, while his flesh body was simultaneously tempered and strengthened by the true qi.

The shackles of the Qi Condensation Sixth Stage crumbled layer by layer, and the realm barrier shattered inch by inch.

Qi Condensation Sixth Stage!

Qi Condensation Seventh Stage!!

Qi Condensation Eighth Stage!!!

The reserves of true qi within him soared wildly, circulating ever more richly and endlessly. Coupled with the fully mastered Essence-Absorbing Qi-Gathering Art, the efficiency of spiritual qi absorption and true essence conversion stacked and surged, sending his aura rocketing upward without pause.

The true qi in his body became ever more condensed and substantial. His meridians were continuously broadened and reinforced, while his muscles and bones grew increasingly tough under the repeated tempering of true qi.

Qi Condensation Ninth Stage!

Qi Condensation Tenth Stage!!

Qi Condensation Eleventh Stage!!!

The airflow around him faintly swelled. Spiritual qi in the little room twisted and spiraled, all of it converging into Chen An's body.

He shut his eyes tightly and examined himself with his divine sense, watching helplessly as his cultivation pushed forward all the way, unstoppable.

Qi Condensation Twelfth Stage!!!

In merely a few breaths, he had steadily stepped into the peak of the Qi Condensation Twelfth Stage, standing at the very summit of the Qi Condensation Realm.

The true qi around his body was full and complete. Every inch of his meridians and every acupoint had been fully opened. There was no longer the slightest room for advancement along the path of Qi Condensation.

But the charge did not stop.

The ultimate barrier of the Qi Condensation Twelfth Stage stood firmly across the road ahead—the heavenly chasm between Qi Condensation and the Houtian Realm. Ordinary martial artists could spend their entire lives cultivating bitterly and still fail to take this step.

"Not good!!!"

Just as Chen An joyfully watched himself open the twelve regular meridians and advance to the complete Qi Condensation Realm, he suddenly discovered a fatal problem.

The Essence-Absorbing Qi-Gathering Art was merely a Low-Grade Profound Rank cultivation method. It only covered the Qi Condensation Realm and did not involve the locations of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within the body, nor the methods for circulating qi through them!

Without knowing the locations of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians or the distribution of acupoints within them, and without a corresponding cultivation method to circulate his qi, how could he break through the shackles of the Qi Condensation Realm?!

Worst of all, he could feel that the immense true qi surging within him had not stagnated even after he reached the complete Qi Condensation Realm. Instead, more and more true qi was gathering inside him, causing the qi and blood throughout his body to churn violently and waves of dull pain to pulse through his meridians.

Chen An knew that if this continued, the excess true qi would be unable to circulate, refine, store, and settle. It would only continue swelling the extraordinary meridians until they burst, leaving him to explode and die.

However, just as Chen An was gripped by terror, memories suddenly appeared in his mind—memories of attempts to locate the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

In the first year, failure. His meridians ruptured, and he became crippled!

In the second year, failure. His body exploded, and he died!

In the fifth year, failure!

In the seventh year, he finally found the first of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

In the twelfth year, he confirmed the second of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

In the fifty-third year, he confirmed the eighth of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

Immediately afterward, he saw the surging true qi in his body rush toward the soles of his feet as though it had found an outlet.

Boom!!

A dull explosion erupted from the small square depression directly beneath the tip of his inner ankle. The raging true qi poured into a broad meridian near the Shining Sea Acupoint, then surged along his calf, thigh, and lower abdomen with unstoppable force.

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"The Yin Heel Meridian among the Eight Extraordinary Meridians!"

Suddenly, information about that meridian flooded into his mind.

"What?!"

"This is actually one of the eight meridians that must be opened in the Houtian Realm—the Yin Heel Meridian?!"

"Doesn't that mean I've broken through the shackles of the Qi Condensation Realm and reached the Houtian Realm already?!"

After receiving the prompt from the system, extreme shock instantly flooded Chen An's face. His pupils contracted sharply, and his mind reeled.

Just moments ago, he had fallen into a desperate situation because he lacked a Houtian Realm cultivation method and did not understand how to circulate qi through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. The chaotic, violent true qi had rampaged through his meridians, making them ache unbearably. He had been certain that his qi had gone out of control, that his true qi had run wild, and that sooner or later his meridians would collapse, his cultivation would backlash, and he would either be reduced to a cripple or suffer the miserable fate of his flesh body exploding.

Never had he imagined that, at the brink of despair, the path would twist and light would appear. By stumbling into it through sheer accident, he had broken through the shackles and forcibly stepped into the Houtian Realm, which countless Qi Condensation cultivators dreamed of reaching!

The Houtian Realm required one to open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians of the human body, linking all the body's meridians into one and forming a self-contained closed loop of circulation.

Only then could true qi circulate endlessly within a martial artist's body, never running dry.

Ordinary martial artists had to cultivate bitterly for more than a decade, even several decades, exhausting their resources and enduring countless dangers, just for a sliver of a chance to glimpse the mysteries of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and knock open the gates to the Houtian Realm.

Yet with nothing more than the system's power, he had crossed that heavenly chasm in a brief moment and achieved a realm breakthrough that countless people could only gaze upon from afar.

Yin Heel Meridian...

Yang Heel Meridian...

Yin Linking Meridian...

Yang Linking Meridian...

Belt Meridian...

When the two hundred years of cultivation time he had exchanged were finally exhausted, his true qi had also reached the location of the Belt Meridian.

The Houtian Realm was divided into four minor stages: early, middle, late, and complete. Opening two extraordinary meridians meant breaking through one minor stage.

And this time, Chen An had opened five extraordinary meridians in one breath.

In other words, his cultivation had now reached the Postnatal Realm Late Stage!

Hum!!!~~~

The air throughout the little room suddenly shuddered, and a deep humming of force rippled out of nowhere.

The next moment, an immense, heavy, invisible force centered on Chen An and rapidly spread outward.

The wooden window trembled faintly. The flame of the oil lamp on the table swayed violently, its halo twisting and flickering. Every speck of dust in the room rose into the air and slowly spiraled along the invisible current.

The vast foundation brought by opening the extraordinary meridians and entering the Postnatal Realm Late Stage could no longer be suppressed, naturally leaking out.

The true qi of the Houtian Realm was dense and heavy, ten times purer and deeper than that of the Qi Condensation Realm. As it flowed, it carried a steady, domineering power, along with the formidable aura of a flesh body reborn through transformation.

Chen An slowly exhaled a long breath of turbid air and gradually opened his eyes. At once, it seemed as if two bolts of lightning flashed through the room.

Though he remained seated and unmoving, a steady pressure naturally emanated from his body. He was utterly different from the frail Qi Condensation Realm martial artist he had been before.

"So this is a Houtian Realm martial artist!!!"

"Very good, very powerful!!!"

Chen An clearly sensed that he had become stronger than ever before.

If he faced his former self—the weak and pitiful Chen An trapped at the Qi Condensation Second Stage—then with a mere lift of his hand, he could easily crush and kill him as though swatting a fly.

A Houtian Realm martial artist possessed an entirely different foundation.

Across the vast Wurong County, the total number of Houtian Realm experts did not exceed a hundred. Every one of them was a renowned master within the county.

The ordinary martial arts schools, guards of prominent families, and martial officials assigned to suppress bandits outside the city were mostly still lingering in the Qi Condensation Realm.

Only instructors at the county academy, core disciples of the major clans, and veteran martial artists who had cultivated painstakingly for years had a chance to set foot in the Houtian Realm.

Once one entered the Houtian Realm, one would be counted among Wurong County's top fighting forces. Respect, resources, status, and influence would all rise like a boat lifted by a swelling tide.

Especially with the system on him, as long as he had enough Yuan Crystals, he could grow stronger without limit!

At that thought, the hesitation, unease, and confusion brought by awakening the memories of his previous life vanished like smoke in thin air...

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