Several years slipped by in a flash.
Hanqing had broken through to the Nascent Soul Late Stage, but lingering injuries forced Lu Shang to spend several full years in seclusion before he completely recovered.
I haven't improved at all these past few years, but now that my injuries have healed, there's no need to dwell on anything else. It's time to enter seclusion and break through.
Hardly anyone comes here. There are a few too many Demon Beasts, but they're all low-level ones and couldn't possibly disturb me.
Wen Siyue has only just reached the false core stage. Since I pulled up the seedlings to hasten their growth, she can't go straight into seclusion to break through. She needs to stabilize her cultivation first.
Actually, I find this whole business of stabilizing cultivation rather strange. I reached Foundation Establishment in two or three years, Golden Core in fifteen or twenty, and now I've broken through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, yet I've never felt my cultivation was unstable. Could stabilizing cultivation only happen to "protagonists" like me? I remember that Shaman in the border battle, too. He hadn't stabilized his cultivation even after twenty years, and any stray cat or dog could take a shot at him. How strange.
After grumbling about stabilizing cultivation, Lu Shang entered seclusion again, intending to advance another minor stage alongside Hanqing in one push. He also told Wen Siyue not to wander around. Stabilizing her Foundation Establishment cultivation wouldn't take much time, and with her temperament, she really might go exploring nearby.
Before entering seclusion, Lu Shang repeatedly warned her that the Outer Sea teemed with Demon Beasts and cultivators of every stripe. Wen Siyue agreed to everything he said.
More than a dozen years passed in a flash. With an eruption