Enhancement of Ability and Return

In the underground secret chamber, after an unknown amount of time had passed, Ye Xiu opened his eyes amid a floor full of crystal core fragments.

Brimming.

That was Ye Xiu's first sensation upon opening his eyes.

The spiritual power brought by that fourth-rank Tyrant soul crystal was far beyond the soul crystals of ordinary zombies, both in quality and quantity.

Ye Xiu even felt that if he had used it back when he was at the first level of Qi Condensation, he might have surged straight through to the ninth level.

But now, after devouring that Tyrant soul crystal, along with more than a hundred ordinary zombie soul crystals, his cultivation had still remained at the ninth level of Qi Condensation.

Ye Xiu knew this was no longer something soul crystals could solve.

Having reached this realm, his cultivation technique was insufficient, and his talent was lacking. Naturally, he had encountered a bottleneck.

"Fortunately, while these soul crystals can't raise my cultivation, they can still be used to enhance my ability."

Ye Xiu stared at himself in the mirror.

His fair skin had become even paler than before. Under the light, it even carried a texture resembling crystal.

Although his build had only grown slightly, Ye Xiu could clearly sense that his physical capabilities had improved by a full half compared to before.

This was the improvement brought by his ability rising from the second rank to the third. His ability had always served two purposes: under normal circumstances, it enhanced his physical capabilities; when activated, it allowed those capabilities to erupt once more while rendering him immune to most damage from spells.

When he had faced Yun Tingxiao of the Divine Firmament Sect, he had relied on that single second of explosive ability activation to kill him.

Now that his ability had advanced, its duration had increased by a full threefold.

It was not what he had expected, but the increase in strength was undeniably real.

Still, his continued inability to break through to Foundation Establishment left Ye Xiu somewhat uneasy.

"This side is more or less settled. As for breaking through, I really need to go back there and get to the bottom of it."

After leaving Xu Hualing a message, Ye Xiu's figure gradually blurred and vanished...

In the cultivation world, inside Ye Xiu's residence.

Ye Xiu carefully inspected the formations he had left around the area and confirmed that no one had come by.

Though only a day or two had passed here under the one-to-ten flow of time, caution was never a bad thing.

Fang Qiong bore a life-and-death grudge against him. Under such circumstances, Ye Xiu could not afford even the slightest lapse in vigilance.

After tidying up a little, Ye Xiu left the courtyard and prepared to head to the sect's outer sect to seek information about breaking through.

Yin Harmony Sect, outer sect marketplace.

As one of the foremost great sects in the entire Tianhe Domain, the Yin Harmony Sect had an astonishing number of outer sect cultivators.

Where there were enough people, all manner of related businesses naturally sprang up.

Trading resources, forming factions, gathering intelligence—even the cultivation techniques provided by the inner sect for these outer sect disciples, as well as the tasks assigned to them, were all gathered here.

Fang Qiong's supposed title of outer sect senior brother was passable enough when mentioned among Ye Xiu's batch of newly admitted disciples, but in truth, Fang Qiong's real title was Chief Outer Sect Disciple of White Bone Mountain, Blood River Lineage, Yin Harmony Sect.

The Blood River Lineage had been founded by Blood River Patriarch, the founding elder of their branch. He was a supreme elder of the Yin Harmony Sect. White Bone Mountain, meanwhile, was governed by his disciple, White Bone True Person, who was also the nominal master of Ye Xiu and the other outer sect disciples of White Bone Mountain.

Though Ye Xiu had never met this master since entering the sect.

Such titles and lineages were one means by which each faction maintained its orthodoxy. Unfortunately, in a demonic sect, Ye Xiu could never expect care from his masters.

Throughout the Yin Harmony Sect, aside from those exceptionally talented individuals favored from the very beginning, the sect provided everyone else with only the most basic resources. Everything beyond that depended entirely on themselves.

Thus, when Ye Xiu arrived at the marketplace, aside from a few disciples from the various branches who looked at this unfamiliar face with puzzlement, his ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivation did not draw much attention.

After all, among the hundreds of thousands of outer sect disciples, there were plenty stuck at the ninth level of Qi Condensation and unable to enter the inner sect.

Passing through a long corridor hung with rows of white lanterns, Ye Xiu entered a gloomy pavilion.

Though it was noon, he felt a chill seep over his back. Within the pitch-black secret chamber, faint wails seemed to drift from the desk lamp burning with flickering ice-blue Bone Flame.

Looking at the exquisite puppet before him, Ye Xiu suppressed his discomfort and handed over a stack of spirit stones.

Click, click.

The puppet before him suddenly seemed to come alive, snatching the spirit stones in one swift motion and swallowing them into its belly.

Then, a cluster of green flame rose within its hollow eye sockets.

This was a tool used within the sect to answer the doubts of outer sect disciples.

Because the overwhelming majority of demonic cultivators would not teach their disciples, and to prevent the lower-ranking outer sect disciples from making simple mistakes that slowed their advancement and affected the sect's normal operations, the inner sect had used spells to establish these White Bone Puppet Bodies throughout the outer sect.

But a demonic sect would naturally never offer kindness for free. To receive an answer, one had to pay cultivation resources such as spirit stones.

"Why can't I break through after reaching the ninth level of Qi Condensation, no matter how much spiritual power I absorb?"

Seeing the puppet's dim green glow wavering as though it might extinguish at any moment, Ye Xiu hurriedly asked.

He had heard from the outer sect disciples that this thing was an outrageous scam. Not only was it expensive, its time limit was also absurdly tight.

If Ye Xiu had not wanted to conceal his strength, he would never have sent spirit stones here.

The puppet's eyes examined Ye Xiu from top to bottom before it slowly spoke.

"The Burning Soul Art is incomplete. Your aptitude is insufficient. To seek a breakthrough, you require a Foundation Establishment Pill as a catalyst."

Sure enough, the cultivation technique distributed freely by the outer sect was unreliable.

The moment Ye Xiu heard this, he cursed inwardly.

He had always wondered why the latter half of the Burning Soul Art was so vague, even contradictory in places. So Fang Qiong had never given him the complete technique in the first place.

"Where can I obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Seeing the puppet's ghostly glow about to fade, he hurriedly asked another question.

"Sect marketplace... task contributions... advancement competition..."

But this time, before the puppet could finish speaking, its neck jerked sideways with a click, and it fell silent.

"Fuck."

Seeing the puppet in that state, Ye Xiu could not help blurting out a curse.

He had known that things from a demonic sect were unreliable, but he had not expected it to be stingy down to the very last second.

But he did not want to spend more spirit stones asking again and become a sucker.

Suppressing the urge to dismantle the puppet in front of him, Ye Xiu quickly got up and headed outside.

After leaving the Heavenly Secrets Tower, Ye Xiu looked over the bustling crowd and decided to continue browsing through the marketplace.

That puppet had mentioned earlier that Foundation Establishment Pills were available in the marketplace. After looting the savings of those Divine Firmament Sect disciples, even if he did not have enough, he should not be far off.

With his mind made up, Ye Xiu followed the flow of people all the way to the area where medicinal pills were traded.

But to his surprise, the moment he entered that stretch of pill chambers suffused with a strange medicinal fragrance, he found the whereabouts of a Foundation Establishment Pill without even spending much effort.

Inside a crystal-clear jade bottle, sensing the waves of agitation within his body, Ye Xiu could not hold himself back as he reached for it.

But a massive skeletal claw seized the jade bottle before he could.