Mastering Nine Yang, Power Soaring

A night passed, and for once, Qingyun did not practice the Nine Yang Divine Skill. He lay in bed and slept until he woke naturally.

After getting up, Qingyun stretched and washed up. By then, Minato Namikaze had already left for the Ninja Academy.

Perhaps because he was in a good mood, Qingyun felt the Nine Yang internal force within him was unusually active, constantly circulating through the meridians throughout his body.

Qingyun knew this was a sign that he was about to achieve full mastery of the Nine Yang Divine Skill. Not daring to delay, he hurriedly sat cross-legged and began following its cultivation method.

As soon as he began, his Nine Yang internal force surged like a mighty river, circulating ceaselessly through his twelve main meridians. Thump, thump, thump... Muffled impacts rang out inside him, their vibrations opening every cell in his body.

At once, vast quantities of natural spiritual energy poured into the Baihui point atop his head and the cells throughout his body. Qingyun greedily absorbed the natural spiritual energy gathering around him.

While refining the spiritual energy entering his body, he directed his Nine Yang internal force to slam into his Conception Vessel.

Boom!

The tremendous impact left Qingyun's head ringing. He shook his head and steadied his mind, merging the Nine Yang internal force refined from natural spiritual energy with his existing internal force before slamming it into his Conception Vessel again.

Prepared this time, Qingyun was not stunned by the impact. He gritted his teeth and endured the tearing sensation, repeatedly circulating his Nine Yang internal force to batter his Conception Vessel.

Time slipped by, from early morning to noon, when the sun blazed overhead. Qingyun's face was flushed, and waves of heat rose from his body. With his teeth clenched, he struck at his Conception Vessel for what felt like the hundredth time.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, his Conception Vessel was finally forced open. Qingyun's eyes snapped open, his Sharingan activating in both eyes and continuously absorbing the natural spiritual energy entering his body.

The instant his Conception Vessel opened, the spiritual energy between the Heavens and Earth came swarming in, gathering around Qingyun for him to absorb.

Excitement filled Qingyun's face as cooling sensations flowed from his meridians, his cells, and his Sharingan. It felt so blissful that he almost believed he could rise into the air at any moment.

After savoring his excitement for a while, Qingyun calmed himself. Striking while the iron was hot, he circulated his now even greater Nine Yang internal force and began battering his Governing Vessel.

This time, thanks to the vast supply of spiritual energy, Qingyun opened his Governing Vessel in just two hours.

The instant his Governing Vessel opened, the spiritual energy between the Heavens and Earth gathered around Qingyun, growing so dense that it seemed on the verge of liquefying.

From outside, everything within ten meters of Qingyun was a sea of white, enveloping him completely.

Qingyun's expression was solemn, his hands moving from time to time. His Sharingan were exceptionally active, spinning at incredible speed. With every rotation, they absorbed an enormous amount of spiritual energy.

The earlier vibrations of his Nine Yang internal force had opened every cell in Qingyun's body, and they continually absorbed natural spiritual energy.

Gradually, a crystalline sheen appeared over Qingyun's body as natural spiritual energy filled his cells. His hair began to lengthen, soon reaching past his waist, and its growth was accelerating wildly.

Meanwhile, nourished by the natural spiritual energy that was on the verge of liquefying, the surrounding trees steadily grew taller and thicker. Their leaves rustled as though they were brimming with excitement.

Qingyun sat where he was with a solemn, almost sacred air, circulating the Nine Yang Divine Skill again and again. He refined natural spiritual energy, condensed it into internal force, then compressed it, repeating the process endlessly.

After countless cycles, Qingyun felt that his internal force had become as dense and solid as iron, without the slightest impurity.

Washed by this pure Nine Yang internal force, every meridian in his body had become extraordinarily resilient. Instinctively, Qingyun directed his internal force toward his eight extraordinary meridians.

His pure Nine Yang internal force surged like thunder, forcing all eight extraordinary meridians open. With that, Qingyun's breakthrough was complete.

In martial arts terms, Qingyun had now entered the Innate realm.

And he was no longer far from the Grandmaster realm.

Only then did Qingyun spur every cell in his body and his Sharingan to absorb at full strength. All the natural spiritual energy surrounding him was drawn into his body, either entering his cells or being absorbed by his Sharingan.

Now, Qingyun felt comfortable from head to toe, his eyes cool and refreshed. The burden his Three Tomoe Sharingan had once placed on him seemed to have vanished completely.

The three tomoe spun rapidly, and a mysterious power slowly began to gather. However, it was condensing very slowly.

Once his Sharingan settled down, Qingyun touched his eyes, then deactivated them and examined his condition.

He had no idea until he looked, and what he found startled him. His height had suddenly shot up from roughly one meter forty-five to one meter fifty-five.

Qingyun stared in surprise at his clothes, which had become too short and stretched tightly around his body. He scratched his head, then abruptly realized something else was wrong.

He pulled his hair around to the front. Sure enough, it had grown wildly as well. His glossy black hair trailed along the ground, like a black cloak draped down his back.

Qingyun's expression darkened. He gathered internal force in his left hand. Snip!

His long hair was severed in one stroke, leaving it only waist-length.

Only after finishing all of that did Qingyun begin examining the inside of his body.

His body had undergone a complete transformation. First, every bone was lustrous as jade, while his meridians had become exceptionally resilient and more than three times as wide as before. Every meridian in his body had been opened.

His Nine Yang internal force had also become extremely condensed. A single measure of internal force could now produce the same effect that had once required three.

Not only that, but his dantian had grown considerably larger, allowing it to store more internal force.

His cells were filled with enormous quantities of spiritual energy, raising his potential to an unimaginable level. Moreover, Qingyun could feel a mysterious power slowly gathering within his body, much like in his Sharingan. It was condensing even more slowly than the power in his eyes, though, and he had no idea how much spiritual energy he would need to absorb before it fully formed.

Qingyun inwardly marveled. Wait... am I really going to turn into the Tang Monk someday?

"B-big brother, is that you? Where's our house? Where did it go?"

Just as Qingyun's thoughts began wandering, a stammering voice jolted him back to reality.

Qingyun froze at the question. "Isn't our house right... uh..."

A bead of cold sweat slid down Qingyun's forehead as he looked around. The trees had become absurdly thick, their massive branches bursting through the house he and Minato Namikaze had lived in. Weeds had also sprung up everywhere, flourishing remarkably well.

"Damn it, how long was I cultivating? How did everything around me end up like this?"

After muttering to himself for a moment, Qingyun's expression changed. "Minato, Kushina, never mind all that for now. Let's restore this place to how it used to look. If anyone notices, it'll be hard to explain."

Such a drastic transformation had happened right around him. Even an idiot would know he was involved. If word reached Hiruzen Sarutobi, should Qingyun tell him the truth or not?

Qingyun guarded his internal cultivation methods closely. Minato Namikaze was the only other person practicing them. After all, they were the foundation of Qingyun's strength, and he would not casually let others learn them. He would only share them once he felt capable of protecting himself.

As for the drastic changes around him, Qingyun guessed they had resulted from the natural spiritual energy he had not absorbed in time nourishing the surroundings. Naturally, he had to put things back to normal as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, if word got out, wouldn't Jiraiya and Orochimaru come hunting him down, desperate to demand his method? After all, both had encountered Senjutsu, which involved a mysterious energy formed by combining natural energy and chakra in specific proportions.

Hearing this, Minato Namikaze and Kushina could only suppress their questions and help Qingyun cut down the trees and clear the weeds.

After working for a while, they finally cleared away all traces of the changes. Qingyun then used tools to shape the enormous trees into planks and built two wooden houses anew.

"Tomorrow, let's go to the market and hire a crew of builders!"

For the moment, Qingyun and the others were not short of money. They could hire people to build a nicer house so they could live more comfortably.

Minato Namikaze nodded blankly, then looked at Qingyun as though he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Kushina did the same.

"All right, you're the people closest to me, so there's no harm in telling you. But you can't tell anyone else about this, including Lord Hokage and Grandma Mito. Understood?"

Seeing how the two of them hesitated to speak, Qingyun explained the breakthrough he had just experienced.

"No wonder you smell better and better, Qingyun."

Kushina sniffed, moved closer to Qingyun, and began inhaling deeply.

Qingyun's expression darkened. He pushed away Kushina, who was clinging to him and sniffing nonstop, looking utterly speechless.

So I really smell that good? Why haven't I noticed it myself?

What Qingyun did not know was that Kushina had inherited part of a sage body, making her exceptionally sensitive to natural spiritual energy. She instinctively wanted to draw close to Qingyun to make up for what she lacked.

Although Qingyun had been able to absorb natural spiritual energy before, the amount had been too small to produce any noticeable effects. Now, he had absorbed an enormous quantity, and his strength had soared. Before he had time to rein in his aura, Kushina naturally detected it, which was why she had thrown all restraint aside and clung to him.