Breaking Through

"Pang Jian just said he was the one who killed all those Dark Ghost cultivators?"

Han Duping watched Pang Jian disappear, then whipped around to stare at Luo Hongyan and cried, "That kid wasn't joking with us, was he?"

Su Yuntian, He Rong, and Su Meng, with her hair tied in little buns, all looked utterly incredulous.

From Luo Hongyan, they had only learned that the Dark Ghost cultivators led by Hong Tai had laid an ambush for them at Blackwater Pool.

It was only because Ouyang Duanhai had suddenly appeared, and a Black-White King Python had turned on Hong Tai, that they had managed to escape in the chaos.

Luo Hongyan had never clearly explained what became of Hong Tai and the other Dark Ghost cultivators, so naturally they had no idea.

After Pang Jian and Zhou Qingchen returned, they went to the top floor of the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda to break the array. And there, Pang Jian had actually said... that he had killed every Dark Ghost attacker except Hong Tai!

How was that possible?

Everyone turned to Luo Hongyan, seeking confirmation.

Zhou Qingchen, his face scruffy with stubble and his appearance unkempt, showed a flicker of surprise in his eyes. He seemed somewhat inclined to believe it and asked, "Miss Ning, is what he said true?"

"Mm."

Luo Hongyan's expression was cool. She kept watching the White Tower, not even bothering to turn around, and said impatiently, "I forgot to tell you earlier. That Black-White King Python that betrayed Hong Tai only did so because Pang Jian set it in motion."

"After you escaped, he lured the Dark Ghost cultivators to the bottom of Blackwater Pool, then rode the giant python and slaughtered them underwater."

"None of the Dark Ghost attackers escaped, except Hong Tai."

Luo Hongyan stated the truth as casually as if it were nothing.

Han Duping was dumbfounded. "It really was him..."

"No wonder Sister Ning fell for him. So he was the one who saved Sister Ning's life at Blackwater Pool!"

Su Meng suddenly understood.

Zhou Qingchen looked thoughtful. After a moment, he couldn't help sighing, "I never thought the vow I made before leaving would be fulfilled by him."

"I was desperate to break through to the Xisui Realm so I could find Hong Tai and those Dark Ghost attackers and avenge our fallen companions."

"Pang Jian did what I should have done before I even got the chance to."

He knew Pang Jian was hiding secrets, and admired many of his qualities, but he still hadn't expected that after he and Han Duping had been forced to flee, Pang Jian would turn Hong Tai's Black-White King Python against him, single-handedly turning the tide and killing so many Dark Ghost cultivators.

Luo Hongyan curled her lip, disdain gleaming in her beautiful eyes. All you do is talk big. When trouble came, weren't you the first to run?

She gave a light cough and added, "That included Dong Qianfeng. He was the one wearing a golden mask."

"Dong Qianfeng!"

Han Duping cried out in shock. "Wasn't he expelled from the Blazing Sun Sect? How did he end up in the Fourth Realm, conspiring with those Dark Ghosts?"

"Isn't that what the Dark Ghost organization does—recruit people rejected by the Seven Great Families and cast out by the forces of the Upper Realm?" Zhou Qingchen replied calmly, not at all surprised. "The Blazing Sun Sect expelled him, and the Dong Family didn't dare take him back. With his cultivation, surviving in the Third Realm would have been too difficult, so he could only fall to the Fourth Realm."

Fifth floor of the White Tower.

As the others discussed things outside, Pang Jian once again stood before the enormous skull and picked up the Dragon-Patterned Spear lying on the ground.

Inside the skull, the deep-green Spirit Turtle no longer stirred. The many soul spirits and ghosts circling it still howled without pause.

Pang Jian slowly closed his eyes.

The Spirit Sea below his dantian suddenly surged into a tide of spiritual power. Towering waves rose like mountains, churning violently through the sea.

The essentials of the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art surfaced in his mind. He carefully sensed the strange changes within his body: the roiling waves of spiritual power and the sea growing steadily more turbulent.

A feeling that he had to let it all out suddenly stirred within him. He let the spiritual tide beneath his dantian erupt with even greater force!

Gradually, he felt a powerful swelling ache rising from his lower abdomen, from his dantian.

The burning, swelling pain made Pang Jian feel as if his Spirit Sea, the source of the surging tide, held one furious giant serpent after another, along with celestial dragons. They were about to burst free of the sea in his lower abdomen and storm through his entire body's meridians.

As he endured the terrible swelling pain, he let that "fire" burn ever more fiercely, roaring with delight in his heart.

"The first layer of the Pulse-Opening Realm is to open up the eight extraordinary meridians and channel spiritual power through the limbs!"

"The eight meridians begin at the Spirit Sea and run through the arms and legs. Each hand and foot has two meridians connecting it to the Spirit Sea."

As he considered the details of breaking through to the Pulse-Opening Realm and felt the swelling pain grow more terrifying by the moment, a wild look appeared on Pang Jian's face.

His blood was boiling. He yearned for this storm!

When the waves towering above the Spirit Sea finally reached their peak, they suddenly crashed down with a thunderous roar!

The immense force from above found an outlet at the bottom of the Spirit Sea, punching through eight channels as deep as bottomless wells.

The vast, violent spiritual power poured into the eight deep channels like a sluice gate thrown open, surging out from the Spirit Sea beneath his dantian.

A thunderous rumble shook Pang Jian's lower abdomen, as if a celestial deity were pounding a drum, as if a Thunder Dragon were roaring toward the heavens!

Amid the agony, he clearly sensed four meridians beginning in his dantian's Spirit Sea and connecting to the palms of both hands. Like riverbeds that had been parched for millions of years, they were suddenly flooded with raging water that charged toward his palms with the force of swallowing rivers and mountains.

The narrow, riverbed-like meridians were suddenly flooded with a heavenly torrent of such immense power. His arms went numb with swelling, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

"Clang!"

The Dragon-Patterned Spear slipped from his grasp and crashed heavily to the ground.

He sank down into a sitting position, his shoulders shaking nonstop, both arms tingling and trembling as if struck by lightning.

With some difficulty, he slowly pushed up his sleeves and stared wide-eyed at his arms.

On his bared, outstretched arms, tiny streaks of light flowed along four meridians, rushing from his shoulders toward his palms.

Inside those four meridians, bundles of visible light streamed along. To his senses, they were the mighty spiritual power that surged like floodwaters bursting through a breached dam.

Like waves of a flood, the spiritual power crept inch by inch through the fine meridians, as if reclaiming barren land and washing away a thousand years' worth of debris clogging the bottoms of dried-up riverbeds.

The process of opening those meridians, like breaking new ground, came with stabbing pain that made Pang Jian bare his teeth.

He gritted them, guiding the flood of spiritual power with his will while keeping his eyes fixed on his arms.

There were still four meridians beneath his Spirit Sea, connecting it to his feet. He forced himself not to open them all at once.

Focusing his mind, he worked only on the four extraordinary meridians running through his hands, intending to complete them with the power still in his Spirit Sea.

For most people, the spiritual power stored in the Spirit Sea was limited. When breaking through from the Qi Refining Realm to the Pulse-Opening Realm, using the spiritual tide to open all eight meridians was already difficult enough.

Only a select few could choose one or two meridians to open after all eight had been unblocked.

Most people chose the meridians in their hands.

The Spirit Sea could only hold so much when first filled. Generally, the spiritual power it contained wasn't enough to fully open even one meridian in each arm.

Opening all eight extraordinary meridians—the first layer of the Pulse-Opening Realm—usually required constant work over a long period.

Many people's Spirit Seas simply weren't broad enough. Once filled, they couldn't sustain the effort for long, so opening their meridians had to be done gradually.

It was never something that could be accomplished with a single effortless push.

Originally, all he needed to do was open either one of the two meridians in his dominant right hand, allowing spiritual power to flow into his palm. Then, with the Dragon-Patterned Spear to amplify his strength, he could try to shatter the Soul Array.

But when the eight channels opened, he sensed that his Spirit Sea contained enough spiritual power to open all four meridians connecting to his arms in one go.

He trusted his instincts!

So he was opening all four meridians at once. He kept his eyes open as he watched, determined to see whether he could succeed.

Though the sharp pain coursed through him, he saw it clearly: streaks of spiritual light were slowly advancing through all four meridians.

He also kept a secret watch on his Spirit Sea. If its spiritual power began draining too much, too quickly, he would adjust his strategy in time and concentrate on opening just one meridian.

But every time he sensed his Spirit Sea, he found that it was still brimming with spiritual power.

Only then did he realize that his Spirit Sea was probably unlike anyone else's. It was far broader than those of cultivators at the same realm, and could store far more spiritual power!

"It was Blackwater Pool! The acid poison in the black water helped expand the Spirit Sea in my dantian!"

Pang Jian suddenly understood.

As he endured the pain, his thoughts wandered. At that moment, he didn't need to focus or maintain the state required by the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art.

Who knew how much time had passed.

"Chit!"

A tiny blue-green glimmer appeared in the palm of his left hand, like a firefly on a dark night.

The moment it appeared, Pang Jian snapped to attention. "It worked!"

That was the light released when spiritual power overflowed!

The color of this light differed according to the cultivation art each person practiced. Since Pang Jian cultivated the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, his spiritual light was blue-green.

To avoid wasting spiritual power, he focused his thoughts and cut off the flow of power into that meridian by sheer force of will.

The meridian he had successfully opened stopped receiving spiritual power, and the corresponding channel from the Spirit Sea closed with it.

It was an uncanny sensation. He could control all eight open channels as easily as he pleased.

Then he concentrated on the other three meridians and continued opening them in the same way.

"Chit! Chit-chit!"

In just half an hour, the other three meridians connecting his palms to his Spirit Sea had also been successfully opened, as blue-green light appeared in his palms.

Though he had only just entered the Pulse-Opening Realm, Pang Jian had opened four meridians in one go—and his Spirit Sea still held a third of its spiritual power!

If he hadn't needed to destroy the Soul Array, he could have used the remaining spiritual power to open two more meridians connecting to the soles of his feet.

Of course, he didn't do that.

Destroying the Soul Array would require spiritual power. He couldn't squander it recklessly; he had to save some for what mattered more.

"That should do it."

He had no time to carefully feel the changes in his body. After casually moving his arms a few times, Pang Jian swiftly picked up the Dragon-Patterned Spear.

He aimed its tip at one of the stones saturated with Profound Yin Power that made up the hollow skull.

With a thought, the Spirit Sea in his dantian, which had just settled, surged once more. His spiritual power poured like a waterfall into the meridians of his right arm, rushing toward the Dragon-Patterned Spear in his palm.