Breaking Through to Xiantian

For the next six days, Lu Changfeng followed his usual routine: rising early to practice the Muscle and Bone Tempering Chapter, reporting to the Spirit Pivot Institute at dawn to oversee its affairs, studying medical texts in the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion from noon through the afternoon, and diligently cultivating the Shennong Glazed Glass Art after dinner.

His injuries healed rapidly, and the Shennong Qi within him grew more active by the day.

His glazed glass body gradually approached maturity...

His medical skills also advanced at a tremendous pace.

Yet he showed no intention of breaking through to Xiantian or researching a way to undo the [Immeasurable Seal].

Jinghong and Fu Rong began to grow anxious.

After all, fewer than two days remained before Su Bonian's poison flared. Lu Changfeng had given his word, and the princess trusted him. Besides, Wu Sansi was waiting for the Princess's Residence to contact the Great Vehicle Sect and "wallow in the same mire" as him, so he could seize the opportunity to attack. With no other choice, they had chosen to believe.

But Lu Changfeng did not seem to take the matter to heart. If he failed and Su Bonian died from the poison, the loss would be enormous!

Their investigation into the Shennong Glazed Glass Art had yielded nothing. They could only infer from Wu Lingyun taking away the Medicine King's handwritten manuscript that Lu Changfeng might have benefited from it and obtained some inheritance. But there was little evidence to support that conclusion. Even if it truly was the Medicine King's supreme art, whether it could cure the poison remained unknown. At least, the Medical Compendium made no mention of it...

On the afternoon of the sixth day.

In the Golden Scale Pool Pavilion, Princess Taiping reclined against a brocade couch, listening to intelligence reports.

"According to our reports, Princess Anle approved another seventeen edicts appointing Side-Sealed Officials yesterday. All the appointees were wealthy merchants, and none received a position above the sixth rank, yet every bribe she demanded exceeded ten thousand in gold. Princesses Changning, Yicheng, and several others have followed suit. Minister Du of the Ministry of Personnel has claimed illness for three days and has not affixed his seal."

Princess Taiping's gaze did not stir. She merely murmured an acknowledgment, as though she were hearing nothing more than fluctuations in the price of rice in the markets.

Jinghong paused briefly before continuing, "Furthermore, there have been many unusual movements among the empress's people lately. Rumors in the palace claim that a wardrobe maid saw the empress's skirts stir without wind, giving off five-colored clouds. In her hometown of Duling, someone also claimed to have unearthed a Black Auspicious Beast with natural markings on its shell reading 'Mandate of Heaven.' Zong Chuke and the others have been making much of these signs. A 'Mulberry Branch Wei' ballad has already begun circulating quietly among the common people."

"Five-colored clouds? An auspicious beast?"

The corners of Princess Taiping's lips rose in something not quite a smile. She casually tossed aside the report in her hand. "So impatient that she's even dragged out auspicious omens from the countryside. Her ambitions grow greater by the day."

Her tone was indifferent, as though she were merely watching a play. Empress Wei had ambition, but none of her mother's talent, strategy, or resolve. She was merely an ugly woman copying a beauty's frown.

For now, another matter concerned her more.

"How are things with Lu Changfeng?"

She abruptly changed the subject, a sharp glint passing through her eyes.

Jinghong immediately bowed. "Your Highness, Mr. Lu has kept to his usual routine these past six days. He reports to the Spirit Pivot Institute at dawn, reads the texts in the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion in the afternoon, and cultivates in his quarters at night. He has done nothing unusual, nor have we seen him attempt a breakthrough to Xiantian or study any method of curing the poison."

Fu Rong, standing beside her, could not help adding, her voice taut with suppressed urgency, "Your Highness, fewer than two days remain before Su Bonian's poison flares! Mr. Lu's promise that day... he has made no move to fulfill it yet. If he fails and Su Bonian dies from the poison, then..."

The most troublesome part was that even contacting the Great Vehicle Sect now to bargain for the antidote would be rather late.

Success was far from certain, and Wu Sansi and the others would undoubtedly make a great fuss over it. The tighter the time, the easier it would be for something to go wrong!

Princess Taiping's gaze swept over another secret report on the desk-the results of the investigation into the Shennong Glazed Glass Art. It remained a complete blank.

There was, however, another piece of news that was quite interesting.

"On the twelfth day of the third month, the day Lu Changfeng entered the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion, Wu Lingyun took away the Medicine King's handwritten manuscript. That same day, Imperial Physician Director Zhang Shouzhuo died suddenly..."

Princess Taiping picked up the report and smiled. "What do you make of that?"

Jinghong and Fu Rong exchanged a glance. Of course they knew about this news. They also knew that a fifth-rank deadly poison was suspected as the cause of death. The Capital Prefecture's investigation had come to nothing, and the case had been reported to the Court of Judicial Review. There had still been no word.

Noticing something unusual in Princess Taiping's expression, Jinghong said, "Your Highness, you mean..."

Princess Taiping said calmly, "There is still time. No need to worry."

Just then, a female official entered to report, "Your Highness, Qing Dai has sent word from the Snow Listening Tower. Mr. Lu has begun consuming the red ginseng."

The three women in the hall froze for a moment, then felt both joy and apprehension.

The good news was that he had finally made a move. It seemed he had accumulated enough, but opening the Heaven and Earth Bridges was no easy feat. If anything went wrong, the outcome would be no different.

Princess Taiping instead smiled. "Composed even with the hour upon him. He has quite a method to his actions."

Inside the Snow Listening Tower.

Lu Changfeng sat cross-legged in the center of the Quiet Chamber, the jade box before him already open.

After six days of nurturing, the Shennong Qi had continually cleansed his entire body, purifying his meridians and marrow. His already formidable external cultivation had climbed another step, and the time had come to break through to Xiantian!

The three-hundred-year-old red ginseng lay quietly on bright yellow brocade. Its body was plump, crimson radiance flowing across it, and it exuded an immense medicinal potency that made the heart tremble.

Lu Changfeng drew a deep breath, picked up the red ginseng, and placed it in his mouth.

The ginseng melted the instant it entered his mouth, and an indescribably scorching torrent exploded within him!

This was no ordinary heat, but the purest medicinal potency, condensed from three hundred years of the essence of heaven and earth. As violent as a river bursting its banks, it surged into every limb and bone in an instant.

Lu Changfeng dared not delay. He immediately circulated the Shennong Glazed Glass Art. Within his dantian, that strand of Shennong Qi, once mild and mellow, seemed to have been infused with life. It suddenly sprang into activity, emitting a lustrous, clear glow.

Wherever that clear glow passed, the violent medicinal power gradually fell into order and began surging along a prescribed route through his meridians.

A warm, lustrous sheen of glazed glass rose over his body. Beneath his skin, light seemed to flow-the sign that his glazed glass body had begun to take form.

"It's time."

With a shift of intent, Lu Changfeng guided the immense true qi that had gathered the red ginseng's medicinal power within him, dividing it into two streams.

One scorching torrent sank into the sea of qi in his dantian, then rolled like an earth dragon turning over. It climbed the Governing Vessel along his spine, passed the Tail Gate, pierced the Spinal Pass, and broke through the Jade Pillow, charging fiercely toward the center of his crown-that profound and mysterious aperture linking him to heaven and earth, the Heaven Bridge: Hundred Meeting!

The other stream of cool energy descended along the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, passing the knees and ankles before finally gathering in the soles of both feet—that aperture which drew in the Earth Vein Qi and bore the body's weight, the Earth Bridge: Gushing Spring!

At that moment, his mind was utterly focused.

Above, an invisible yet incomparably tough membrane seemed to cover the Hundred Meeting point. No matter how the fiercely yang, unyielding true qi battered it, it remained unmoved. Every collision brought a buzzing that seemed to shake his very soul, sending golden stars dancing before his eyes.

Below, the Gushing Spring points seemed trapped in ten-thousand-year-old mystic ice, cold and stagnant. Though the cool, life-giving qi was gentle and tenacious, it could not break all the way through. It was as though the connection between his feet and the earth had been forcibly severed.

Of the two bridges, one reached heaven and the other joined the earth. They were the two most crucial mystic barriers in the return from Houtian to Xiantian, and no one knew how many astonishingly gifted martial artists at the peak of Houtian had been trapped before them.

At this moment, the might of a Sixth Tier cultivation art revealed itself beyond doubt!

Lu Changfeng began following the breakthrough method described in the art. He focused his mind, calmed his qi, and formed hand seals. No longer dividing his attention between two tasks, he abruptly united the two streams of true qi above and below-utterly different in nature, yet born of the same source!

With the yang of Hundred Meeting, draw forth the yin of Gushing Spring!

With the yin of Gushing Spring, sustain the yang of Hundred Meeting!

Yin and yang converged, dragon and tiger aiding each other!

Boom-!

A thunderclap seemed to explode inside his mind!

The tough membrane over the Hundred Meeting point shattered at once. A clear, ethereal, mysterious energy descended from an infinitely distant height, pouring through his crown like sacred nectar!

At the same time, the cold stagnation in the Gushing Spring points vanished instantly. A dense, warm current of Earth Vein Qi surged in from the ground beneath his feet and rose through his meridians!

The bridges to heaven and earth opened at that moment!

In an instant, Lu Changfeng felt his perception change completely.

It was no longer confined to hearing with his ears and seeing with his eyes. Instead, his entire body and mind entered a mysterious resonance with the surrounding world.

Within the Quiet Chamber, the drifting dust and flowing air were reflected clearly upon the lake of his mind. His perception spread, revealing every minute detail within a radius of a hundred feet! He projected his true qi outward, controlling it within three feet as naturally as his own fingers!

The Xiantian Realm—the Initial Realm!

The instant the Heaven and Earth Bridges opened, the Houtian true qi within him mingled with the incoming Xiantian qi and transformed into a purer, more responsive current of Xiantian True Essence, brimming with vitality. It coursed through his meridians of its own accord, cycling endlessly, renewing itself without cease!

Lu Changfeng slowly opened his eyes. Clear light flowed within them, as though they held glazed glass. His once restrained aura had grown even more profound. With a slight shift of intent, a strand of emerald true essence leaped from his fingertip, radiating a rich breath of life.

"So this is... the Xiantian Realm."

Lu Changfeng gently clenched his fist, feeling the power surging within him and his unprecedentedly clear perception of all things between heaven and earth.

Only now did he truly possess the foundation needed to undo the [Immeasurable Seal], and only now did he truly have some strength to protect himself.

"Master?"

Qing Dai, who had been standing guard nearby, had long since held her breath in nervous anticipation. Now, sensing the transformed and elevated aura around Lu Changfeng, she was both astonished and delighted, her beautiful eyes shining.

Lu Changfeng rose to his feet. A series of faint cracks sounded from his joints, as though he had been born anew.

He looked at Qing Dai, a gentle, confident smile appearing on his face. "Fortunately, I succeeded. Come, take me to the Ten Directions Secret Prison. I'm afraid Su Bonian has grown impatient."

At his words, Qing Dai thought, Su Bonian is hardly the only one growing impatient. Those in the Golden Scale Pool Pavilion must have all but worn out their eyes watching for him.

She suppressed her churning thoughts and smiled. "Yes. Please follow me, Master."

Su Bonian had indeed grown impatient.

Ever since Lu Changfeng had said, "I can cure it," six days earlier, his heart had never settled again.

More than three years. Three whole years!

Day and night, he had endured not only imprisonment and brutal torture, but also the [Immeasurable Seal], a sharp sword forever hanging over his head.

Even before they struck, the agonies of Karmic Fire Scorching the Body and Karmic Realm Reincarnation were like cold, venomous snakes coiled deep within his soul, ready to awaken at any moment and drag him into Avici Hell!

His seemingly unhurried drinking and calm eating were merely his attempts to preserve a last scrap of dignity amid despair.

He dared not betray the Great Vehicle Sect, because betrayal meant torment more terrible than death. Nor did he dare readily reveal secrets to the Prince of Liang or the Princess's Residence, because once he lost his value and enraged the Great Vehicle Sect, there would be no cure for him. The poison would inevitably flare and kill him!

He was like a man walking an iron chain over a fathomless abyss, with dead ends both ahead and behind.

But Lu Changfeng's arrival, and that promise, had brought him a slender ray of dawn.

Perhaps I really can be free...

As he was thinking, footsteps sounded, and the cell door opened.

Outside stood Lu Changfeng, arriving as promised.