Inside the Immortal Cave, a quiet room.
Lü Yang sat cross-legged, beginning his Breakthrough.
With Spirit Pills in his stomach, and having continuously Cultivated from Yun Miaoqing for the past half-month, his Cultivation quickly reached a state close to its limit.
“Boom!”
The next second, as if stepping up a level, Lü Yang felt a surge of True Qi roaring within him, rushing like a river, greatly invigorating his spirit.
Qi Refining Second Stage!
“Before Qi Refining Fourth Stage, there are no Bottlenecks. As long as resources are sufficient, one can reach it even by just spending time. However, it seems I don't have that much time.”
The existence of Fairy Qingchen triggered Lü Yang's sense of crisis.
He would not forget that in his previous life, Liu Xin had openly stormed into his Immortal Cave. If Liu Xin could do it, why couldn't Fairy Qingchen?
The Immortal Cave was not reliable either!
“What's truly reliable is one's own Cultivation and strength!”
Thinking this, Lü Yang gritted his teeth, directly took out all the remaining Spirit Pills, swallowed them whole, and then called Yun Miaoqing over.
Although doing so was a bit wasteful, at least thirty percent of the Spirit Pills' medicinal effect was lost. However, this also allowed him to increase his Cultivation at the fastest speed. In Lü Yang's opinion, as long as he could Breakthrough to Qi Refining Third Stage, these Spirit Pills would have served their purpose and not been bought in vain.
Time flew by, and in a blink of an eye, three days and three nights passed.
During this period, Lü Yang did not eat or drink, and he almost Cultivated Yun Miaoqing until she was limp like mud. Finally, he felt himself breaking through a thin barrier.
“.It's done!”
Lü Yang inwardly observed his body, only to feel a vast True Qi flowing through his meridians like a great river. It seemed boundless, but in reality, it could no longer advance in the slightest.
At first glance, it seemed as if his Cultivation had reached Perfection at this point.
“This is the Bottleneck.”
The next step up was Qi Refining Fourth Stage, achieving the leap from Early Stage to Middle Stage, which would make him an excellent Disciple capable of holding certain positions in the Saint Sect.
Lü Yang did not stop, nor did he dare to relax. He directly took out the Innate One Qi.
“Continue!”
The Innate One Qi circulated, and then Lü Yang manipulated his True Qi to swallow it whole. After that, he watched as his True Qi surged, pouring into his Dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
As the Innate One Qi was continuously consumed, Lü Yang quickly felt the Bottleneck, which had originally trapped him like an insurmountable mountain, being weakened bit by bit. Until the Innate One Qi was completely exhausted, that invisible Bottleneck melted away like ice and snow, collapsing in an instant!
In the dim quiet room, Lü Yang suddenly opened his eyes.
His gaze was like a torch, illuminating the empty room.
With one blink, another day and night passed, but from this moment on, Lü Yang's strength was already vastly different from his own a few days ago!
“Qi Refining Middle Stage, it’s simply not like the same Realm as Early Stage.” Lü Yang felt the changes within his body, a joyful expression on his face: “If the True Qi in the Early Stage was a small river, then the Middle Stage is a vast sea! It has increased by more than ten times! Only at this step can one be considered a true Cultivator.”
In the Qi Refining Early Stage, True Qi was limited, and every Spell and Divine Ability had to be used sparingly.
After advancing to Qi Refining Middle Stage, there was basically no need to worry about these things anymore. Ordinary Spells could be cast effortlessly, and the consumed True Qi could be replenished in a few breaths.
“Not bad! Not bad!”
Lü Yang walked out of the quiet room, took out a white bone Flying Sword, and with a thought, the Flying Sword instantly split into ten sword lights, enveloping the entire Immortal Cave.
Whoosh, whoosh!—
In an instant, the sword lights whistled sharply. Lü Yang unleashed the Divine Firmament Sword Control True Art, merging his body with the sword light, and for a moment, he felt an extreme sense of comfort and ease.
“I also have to thank Liu Xin!”
“Without this 'Innate One Qi' that perfectly suited me, I wouldn't have been able to Breakthrough at all. I would have been stuck at Qi Refining Third Stage for several years at least!”
“No wonder Liu Xin gave up the Yin Yang Great Bliss Art to Cultivate that Innate Dao Book.”
“It's a pity its intention is not righteous, treating people as medicine. After Liu Xin obtained it, who knows how much slaughter he caused, all because of the Innate Dao Book.”
“Such an evil Cultivation method, it should be used by me!”
A sudden greed emerged in Lü Yang's heart.
“No hurry, bear with it a bit longer. Let's talk about it in the next life, there's plenty of time.”
As Lü Yang was pondering, suddenly, his eyebrows twitched, and he looked towards the Immortal Cave's main entrance, simply because one of the sword lights he had sent out had just been touched by someone.
“Someone?”
A cold glint immediately flashed in Lü Yang's eyes, along with a hint of relief. Fortunately, he had acted decisively, preferring to waste resources to Breakthrough his Cultivation as quickly as possible.
If not for that, he would currently be in seclusion, completely unaware of the outside world, wouldn't he be certain to die?
“I should learn from this.”
Thinking this, Lü Yang quickly restrained his newly Breakthrough Qi aura, while the killing intent in his heart grew stronger, like a hunter silently waiting for prey to come to his door.
“Click.”
With a soft sound, the Immortal Cave's main entrance was quietly pried open. Immediately after, three figures stealthily slipped in from outside the Immortal Cave, one after another.
The three were dressed in black, wore masks, and their True Qi was not revealed in the slightest. Lü Yang, hiding in the shadows, marveled. If he hadn't already Breakthrough and his Cultivation was higher, he probably wouldn't have been able to discern their true strength, thinking they were just three ordinary people. This ability to conceal their aura was truly exquisite.
“.”
The leader of the three black-clad figures made a gesture without speaking. The others understood immediately and quickly dispersed, preparing to search the Immortal Cave.
“Whoosh, whoosh!”
The next second, the black-clad figure walking in front only felt a blur before his eyes, and then a dazzling sword light, accompanied by a whistling sword hum, arrived before him!
“Not good!”
The black-clad figure's face instantly changed drastically. He had no time to defend and could only roll sideways to try and dodge, but no matter how fast a person was, how could they be faster than a Flying Sword?
Swish!—
The sword light flashed, and a pillar of blood shot into the sky!
“Qi Refining Middle Stage!?”
The leading black-clad figure was clearly discerning. From the power and quality of the sword light, he immediately recognized Lü Yang's Cultivation and cried out in alarm on the spot.
At the same time, he cursed inwardly.
Damn you, Fairy Qingchen!
Is this what you call a newly initiated Disciple? A soft persimmon easy to squeeze?
And this Lü Yang, clearly in Qi Refining Middle Stage, could completely crush the three of them, who were in Early Stage, head-on. Yet, he still chose to deceive and ambush them?
What a dog!
Seeing the sword light approaching, the black-clad figure, while chanting a Spell to release a mystic light to protect himself, quickly shouted: “Misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding.”
“Boom!”
Lü Yang ignored him. The sword light slashed horizontally, instantly causing the black-clad figure's protective mystic light to be on the verge of shattering. At the same time, a mass of True Qi roared and spread out from the darkness, like surging waves, finally transforming into a large hand with clear palm lines, several zhang in size, directly grabbing another black-clad figure.
Pfft!
The next second, the large hand suddenly exerted force, directly crushing the second black-clad figure, breaking bones and tendons, splattering red and white everywhere.
Such a brutal scene made the leading black-clad figure's eyes split with rage.
On the other side, Lü Yang had a satisfied expression.
“This Innate One Qi Grand Hand Seal is really good. Although it doesn't show much power against Cultivators of the same Realm, it's a sure hit when used against those of lower Realms.”
While thinking, the sword light did not stop.
More than ten sword lights whistled within the Immortal Cave, while the white bone Flying Sword teleported and shuttled among the sword lights, giving the leading black-clad figure no chance to breathe.
After a few breaths, the leading black-clad figure was already exhausted. Lü Yang seized an opening, and with a sword slash, another pillar of blood shot into the sky.
“Phew! That was truly dangerous.”
After all this was done, Lü Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the corpses and scattered flesh on the ground, and recalling the recent battle, he even felt some lingering fear.
Strictly speaking, this was his first time killing someone.
Although he had practiced that set of smooth consecutive moves for ambushing from the shadows countless times in private, it was ultimately his first time using it in actual combat.
“Honestly, my combat experience is actually far inferior to these three people. At the same Realm, let alone three, I might not even be able to defeat one. However, as long as I manage to ambush and seize the initiative, forcing them to compete with me in terms of raw power, I can still easily suppress them with my higher Realm.”
“This is why fighting with magical power is not as good as fighting with Divine Abilities, and fighting with Divine Abilities is not as good as fighting with Dao.”
Lü Yang reviewed and summarized the valuable experience from this cross-Realm challenge, while also thinking about areas for optimization, believing that it would surely be useful in his next life.