Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Realm

Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Realm

For a moment, the scene was awkward beyond belief.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at one another, not knowing how to describe their feelings at that moment.

After several seconds of stalemate, the Seventh Elder broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Ahem, enough. I announce that Ye Yun has won this life-and-death battle."

At that moment, Ironwood rushed onto the stage, clutching Iron Mountain's corpse as he shouted at the Seventh Elder, "Don't talk nonsense! My brother didn't lose! Brother, wake up! Get up and kill this Ye!"

The Seventh Elder merely glanced at Ironwood without saying a word, then turned and left.

Even he had probably never encountered such an awkward scene in all his decades.

Even now, Ye Yun found it hard to believe this was real. It felt as though everyone had been putting on an act for him.

A perfectly good match had ended so easily.

It reminded Ye Yun once more that he must never underestimate an opponent. Even against someone he could defeat with thirty percent of his strength, he had to use one hundred percent.

Watching Ironwood weep bitterly while holding Iron Mountain's corpse, Ye Yun could not help thinking that perhaps every hateful person had something pitiful about them.

Shaking his head, Ye Yun turned and stepped down from the Life-and-Death Platform. Walking over to Wang Chen, he took back the Shadow Sword and asked, "Are you going back with me?"

"Let's go back together. It feels strange staying here," Wang Chen replied.

With that, the two of them walked through the crowd and returned to their residence beneath everyone's strange gazes.

Only after Ye Yun had gone far away did the crowd erupt into an uproar. Many people had only just realized that the life-and-death battle was over.

A few days later, Ye Yun heard shocking news from Wang Chen: Ironwood had gone mad.

As time passed, the matter gradually settled down, and Ye Yun returned to his former peaceful life.

One night, atop a cliff in the back mountains of Sunrise Peak, Ye Yun sat cross-legged with his eyes shut. His body trembled faintly, and beads of sweat slid down his forehead. He appeared to be attempting to break through an acupoint.

Not long afterward, a ripple of blood and qi spread from Ye Yun's body, signaling that he had opened another acupoint.

Opening his eyes, a trace of joy flashed through Ye Yun's gaze. Nearly a month had passed since the life-and-death battle. The farther along he went, the harder it became to open acupoints. The one he had just opened was his one hundred and seventh.

Now, Ye Yun was only one step away from the Qi Refining Realm. With the help of the Aperture-Opening Pill, he would be able to break through to the Qi Refining Realm in just five days.

Among the outer sect disciples of the same generation, most were at the Body Tempering Intermediate Stage, aside from Ye Yun. Even the few with exceptional talent had only just broken through to High-Stage Body Tempering. Ye Yun's cultivation had already left many veteran disciples who had entered the sect years ago far behind.

All of this was thanks to his ability to see the compatibility of cultivation techniques. Without that ability, even piling up resources would not have let him advance so quickly.

Whenever he thought of Iron Mountain, the one who had given him this ability, yet had died by his own hand, Ye Yun did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Five days later, Ye Yun sat atop the cliff in the back mountains. He focused his mind and gathered his qi, emptying his thoughts. Once all preparations were complete, he took an Aperture-Opening Pill from his Storage Bag and swallowed it.

The Aperture-Opening Pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth, turning into a stream of heat that flowed into his meridians. Ye Yun did not hesitate. He controlled his inner qi, guiding the medicinal power toward the final acupoint.

The immense medicinal power traveled from the first acupoint to the final one at the crown of his head. This was the most dangerous and most difficult acupoint of them all to open. If he failed, his meridians would be severed at best; at worst, he would lose his life.

His inner qi, mixed with the medicinal power, slammed against the Impurity Barrier blocking the acupoint. Yet the barrier did not budge. Ye Yun endured the pain and continued striking it.

Again and again, he attacked until, just before the medicinal power of the Aperture-Opening Pill ran out, he finally smashed a crack into the Impurity Barrier.

Ye Yun accelerated his attacks, widening the crack with every impact. A short while later, the Impurity Barrier shattered with a thunderous boom, and his inner qi surged madly into the acupoint.

At that moment, as Ye Yun opened his final acupoint, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within several hundred meters gathered toward him. It then poured into his body through the acupoint atop his head, blending with the inner qi within him.

As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured in, Ye Yun felt the flesh and blood throughout his body being torn apart and repaired. In that endless cycle, the strength of his body steadily increased.

After the breakthrough process ended, Ye Yun regained full awareness. Sensing the powerful strength contained within his body, several times greater than before, he could not help throwing back his head and letting out an excited roar.

"Ah... ah!" His long roar shattered the surrounding silence, startling the birds and beasts in the forest into panicked flight.

Then Ye Yun suddenly caught a foul stench. He instinctively looked down and found his body covered in black, foul-smelling filth. These were impurities from within his body, washed out by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The stench was overpowering. Ye Yun sprinted all the way to a small river in the forest and plunged into it with a splash.

It took Ye Yun a full hour to wash away the smell. After changing into clean clothes, he returned to the cliff.

Ye Yun sensed the energy within him, which had transformed from inner qi into true qi. With a thought, he began to perform the Layered Waves Fist.

As his body swayed and his fists flew, his fist force whistled through the air. It sounded as though waves were crashing beside his ears. This was the manifestation of the Layered Waves Fist at perfection.

Ye Yun was suddenly seized by interest. A longsword appeared in his hand, and he performed the Profound Yin Twelve Swords together with Treading Snow Without Trace. From afar, only a phantom-like figure could be seen flashing alongside sword light. Every thrust shot forth like lightning and flying arrows. Combined with his footwork, his body shifted and transformed, leaving behind one afterimage after another, as though more than a dozen people were practicing swordsmanship at once.

Before long, Ye Yun had performed every martial art he knew once. Driven by true qi, their power had increased by no less than threefold.

He had heard that after reaching the Qi Refining Realm, one could cultivate attribute-based techniques. Once mastered, they could imbue one's attacks with attribute effects.

"Finally, I can be promoted to an inner sect disciple. I wonder how happy Grandfather will be when he learns of this."

Filled with joy, Ye Yun turned and headed back to his residence.

Early the next morning, Ye Yun left home and made his way toward Great Sun Peak, where the inner sect disciples resided.

Any outer sect disciple seeking promotion to the inner sect had to meet two conditions. First, their cultivation had to reach the Qi Refining Realm. Second, they had to pass the inner sect disciple assessment. The Purple Extreme Sect followed the principle of survival of the fittest, where the weak were prey to the strong. To ensure the elite quality of its inner sect disciples, it had no choice but to establish numerous assessments, ensuring that no worthless fish mixed in with the dragons.

It was precisely because of this that the Purple Extreme Sect ranked among the top three of the seven great sects of the Great Chu Dynasty. The inner sect disciple assessment alone eliminated at least half of the participating disciples every year.

The inner sect disciple assessment was held halfway up Great Sun Peak. Along the way, Ye Yun encountered several disciples who had also come to take the assessment.

The inner sect disciple assessment was held once a month. Missing it meant waiting another month, so many disciples taking the assessment arrived early to wait. By the time Ye Yun reached Great Sun Peak, more than ten people were already lined up ahead of him.

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(End of Chapter)