An hour later.
Carrying the corpse of another Dryland Sand Lizard, Ruan Meizhen returned full of anticipation. From afar, she saw that the seven human corpses were still there, but Zhao Changfeng was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?"
Ruan Meizhen froze for a second, then flew into a rage. "Damn you, Zhao Changfeng!"
She knew she had been played. After a moment's thought, she immediately sprinted toward Demon Mountain, planning to torture Zhao Changfeng to vent her anger once she caught him.
"With your measly yuanjing stage cultivation, leaving me is a death sentence, yet you dared play tricks on me!"
The more Ruan Meizhen thought about it, the angrier she became.
She had truly gone to painstaking lengths for Zhao Changfeng.
First, she had tricked him into leaving Demon Mountain, then protected him all along the way, fearing he would be killed by fellow disciples or rogue cultivators. She had even hunted down two Dryland Sand Lizards to help him achieve his Realm Breakthrough.
In the blink of an eye, Zhao Changfeng had abandoned her, smashing her entire carefully laid plan to pieces.
Now she was both maddened with rage and worried that Zhao Changfeng might run into someone powerful and get killed, ruining her meticulously prepared breakthrough plan. She cursed nonstop as she ran.
Even after racing along for a long time, she still saw no sign of Zhao Changfeng, and the agitation in her heart became impossible to contain.
"I went the wrong way. He wasn't in a hurry to return to Demon Mountain. He actually didn't rush back to Demon Mountain!"
Killing intent surged around Ruan Meizhen.
The dejection and humiliation of being toyed with, together with the sparks of anger about to erupt, had stirred the toxins lurking in her body, bringing on an uncomfortable itch.
She had no choice but to stop and calm her mind, lest her inner demons consume her before she found Zhao Changfeng, leaving her to die a miserable death.
The sun and moon shared one body, unmoving since time immemorial.
Using the stars he had seen over the past two nights, Zhao Changfeng had already determined where Demon Mountain lay. He had therefore chosen a direction leading away from it and sprinted off.
When people had attacked in wave after wave the previous night, he had not dared make any rash moves, because he knew Ruan Meizhen must be watching from the shadows.
Now, on the verge of entering the yuanqi stage, he had tricked Ruan Meizhen into hunting other first-rank spirit beasts, gambling that she would not be able to find prey and kill it immediately.
After all, it had taken Ruan Meizhen nearly two hours to bring back the first Dryland Sand Lizard.
While hunting spirit beasts, Ruan Meizhen could not keep watching him, giving him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape.
As it turned out, his gamble seemed to have paid off.
Once I reach the yuanqi stage, my chances of survival will soar, as long as I don't encounter people like Chen Haoming or Zhang Mu.
Rather than become a stepping stone on her cultivation path after her Realm Breakthrough, I might as well brave the danger and take a gamble.
Zhao Changfeng kept moving without pause, occasionally glancing up at the sky.
A Corpse-Eating Vulture circled high overhead, seemingly following him all the way, casting another shadow over his heart.
Strange...
According to Ruan Meizhen, Corpse-Eating Vultures were not ranked spirit beasts, and mostly fed on the corpses of living creatures.
A flock of unranked vultures might cause him some trouble if they attacked together, but a lone one... would simply be coming to its death.
At noon, the blazing sun was at its fiercest.
Drenched in sweat, Zhao Changfeng felt certain that Ruan Meizhen had lost his trail and probably would not find him anytime soon, so he sat down where he was beneath the scorching sun.
The Corpse-Eating Vulture that had followed him all the way had also vanished without a trace, seemingly having finally given up.
Zhao Changfeng decided to break through.
The hundred and thirty spirit stones, lustrous as fine jade, had all come from the seven people he had killed. Giving off a faint sheen, they now lay beside him, within easy reach.
I've accumulated enough, but a Realm Breakthrough still takes power. Thank you for your gift, Senior Sister Ruan.
Delight shone in Zhao Changfeng's eyes.
He first tried drawing the spiritual power from the spirit stones with the Lingxiao Qi-Controlling Art, only to discover that the threads of spiritual energy flowing into the Sea of Spiritual Qi in his lower dantian stirred no tremendous waves.
The deep crimson of the Sea of Spiritual Qi, along with the hazy red mist floating over its "surface," could not mobilize the power needed to strike at the heavenly chasm above.
"Once you enter the Demonic Cultivation Art, the depths are as boundless as the sea; from then on, the righteous path is a stranger!"
After that sigh, Zhao Changfeng knew that from the moment he had used the Essence-Devouring Demon Art to draw the essence of beast blood into his spirit sea, achieving a Realm Breakthrough with righteous spiritual arts had become all but impossible.
He had hoped to avoid the dangers of the Demonic Cultivation Art and break through with a righteous technique, but now he could only switch to the Essence-Devouring Demon Art.
The Essence-Devouring Demon Art was indeed extraordinarily efficient.
The moment he changed techniques, the crystalline luster in the spirit stone in his hand vanished, and it grew cloudy at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Like a spark igniting a thunderous inferno, a tremendous transformation erupted in Zhao Changfeng's Sea of Spiritual Qi.
An astonishing rainbow radiance soared ninety thousand li into the heavens, ceaselessly swallowing the spirit sea's power like a tornado. It swept up the red mist and bloody hues, carrying the spirit sea's energy as it surged skyward.
A blazing line of fire seemed to form in an instant between his lower abdomen and the center of his chest, connecting the two dantians.
The surging, violent spiritual power was constantly refined by the tornado-like vortex, condensing into streams of light like slender lightning bolts that raced along the line and struck madly at his chest.
The Shanzhong acupoint in his chest, also known as the Crimson Palace, was the site of the middle dantian, the Qi-Blood Sea.
At that moment, in Zhao Changfeng's perception, his Shanzhong acupoint became a towering gateway as impregnable as copper walls and iron ramparts, ceaselessly pierced by millions of lightning bolts and fiery rays like swords and blades.
Heart-piercing agony assailed him, beyond what an ordinary person could endure.
Zhao Changfeng's concentration reached an unprecedented intensity.
He kept circulating the Essence-Devouring Demon Art, frantically devouring the spirit stones' power to make up for the enormous depletion of the Sea of Spiritual Qi in his lower dantian.
The Sea of Spiritual Qi, full just moments earlier, had shrunk by a fifth in no time, far exceeding Zhao Changfeng's expectations.
At the same time, an irrepressible urge to slaughter rose from his heart, clinging to him like his own shadow.
Zhao Changfeng divided his attention, doing everything he could to suppress it while fiercely circulating the Demonic Cultivation Art to marshal his power and hammer repeatedly at the barrier of his middle dantian.
Yet the obsession with slaughter only intensified, ceaselessly tormenting his mind and will. A voice seemed to urge him to stop cultivating and first indulge in a thoroughly satisfying slaughter.
With great difficulty, he restrained the wicked desires in his heart and continued his assault on the yuanqi stage.
His fragile will suffered relentless torment, and his mind reached the brink of collapse. Spirit stones shattered one after another, yet the Sea of Spiritual Qi in his lower dantian was nearing exhaustion.
The solid gateway to his middle dantian remained utterly unmoved, without even the slightest crack.
Soon, there was not a trace of spiritual power left in his lower dantian.
"Whew!"
With his eyes deep crimson, Zhao Changfeng let out a long breath and chose to stop.
His first attempt at breaking through ended in failure.
Only now, having experienced it firsthand, did he understand how difficult it was to cross a major cultivation threshold. He no longer dared underestimate any yuanqi stage cultivator.
So the backlash is strongest during a Realm Breakthrough. I have to resist the lingering consequences of rapid progress through the Demonic Cultivation Art while smashing that obstructing gateway with the strongest, fiercest momentum possible.
If I can't shatter the barrier in one sustained push, all my efforts will come to nothing.
I was too presumptuous, thinking I could achieve a Realm Breakthrough smoothly just because I'd accumulated enough. Ridiculous.
Zhao Changfeng gave a self-mocking chuckle, but there was no dejection or discouragement on his face.
If breaking through a major realm really were that easy, why had Ruan Meizhen failed several times?
Teng Kun had nearly a hundred Named Disciples on Demon Mountain, but only a dozen or so had reached the yuanqi stage. At present, only four had advanced another step into the Primordial Spirit Realm and become formal disciples.
Now that I have experience and have learned my lesson, my chances of succeeding next time will be much higher, but...
The cruel reality had shattered his beautiful fantasy. Zhao Changfeng was no longer so certain or confident, and did not dare claim that his next attempt would be guaranteed to succeed.
Still, he had found the general direction. He knew what he would face during a breakthrough, and would be mentally prepared next time.
"What a pity..."
An icy voice suddenly rang out. The next instant, a white-robed figure appeared out of thin air within Zhao Changfeng's field of vision.
With the appearance of that voice and figure, the scorching desert seemed to cool in an instant, giving Zhao Changfeng the illusion that he stood in a cold, sinister night.
A chill crawled through Zhao Changfeng's heart, and his nerves abruptly tightened.
The newcomer was thin, his long white robe covered in black and gray ghostly scrawls, like crouching evil spirits ready to choose someone to devour.
The Corpse-Eating Vulture that had watched Zhao Changfeng for a while now perched obediently on this man's shoulder, ghostly flames flickering in its dark brown, hawklike eyes.
"Hand over all the spirit stones and implements you took from those seven people, along with every one of those bottles and jars."
The young man looked a few years older than Zhao Changfeng. His lips were thin as paper, and his rather handsome face held no expression. He merely held out a hand, demanding the goods.
The vulture's presence meant that he had been watching Zhao Changfeng for a long time, and his willingness to show himself further proved his confidence and strength. Zhao Changfeng had no choice.
Zhao Changfeng, by contrast, had just failed to break through. The Sea of Spiritual Qi in his lower dantian was completely depleted, leaving him without any strength to fight.
Besides, he felt that even with his spiritual energy full, as it had been before the breakthrough attempt, he would be no match for this man.
"It's all in here."
With a bitter smile, Zhao Changfeng tossed over the cloth sack on his back and all the implements hanging at his waist.
Everything he had seized changed hands.
Even after doing so, he remained taut with tension, watching the man's every movement for fear that death might still descend upon him.
"You're honest enough."
The white-robed young man nodded in satisfaction and said in an emotionless voice, "Apart from the spirit stones you used during your breakthrough attempt, you really haven't kept a single one."
Zhao Changfeng immediately realized that even his Realm Breakthrough attempt had taken place under the other man's gaze, and inwardly rejoiced that he had not tried any tricks.
"Since you've been so sensible, I'll tell you the truth."
The white-robed young man leisurely put everything away, securing it at his waist and on his back, then said coldly, "It's because you failed to break through that you don't qualify to become my Spirit Materials. As you are now, you have no value to me whatsoever."
-that was why Zhao Changfeng was still alive.
The smile on Zhao Changfeng's face grew even more bitter. He had never imagined that failing to break through would instead allow him to escape disaster.
Having failed to advance to the yuanqi stage, he was worthless. Even killing him would waste the other man's time and effort; he was not qualified to take a calamity in Ruan Meizhen's stead.
"Thank you for telling me."
Zhao Changfeng cupped his hands, then curiosity prompted him to ask another question. "Forgive my presumption, but aren't you afraid I'll seek revenge someday?"
He understood the principle of pulling out the roots when cutting down weeds.
"Someday?"
The white-robed young man shook his head, turned, and walked into the distance. With his thin back facing Zhao Changfeng, he said softly, "What future could people like you and me possibly have?"
"Before we meet again, you might die first, or I might die. More likely, we'll both be dead."
"My name is Chen Jian. I'm from the Ghost-Controlling Sect."
"If we ever meet again, that really would be an astounding miracle. I rather hope that day comes."