"A will of iron, a heart of peace. Conviction."
Suddenly, he realized that the second tier of the Invincible Vajra Body was not merely about being able to endure pain for a long time.
Sometimes, the revelations of the heart and spiritual changes were equally important.
After another near-death incident, and walking past the gates to the next world, Wu Yu had gained new insight to this withering and arduous process.
"A strong heart comes from a strong body.
"From a resolute heart, the Will of Vajra germinates, and a Body of Vajra germinates.
"The Will of Vajra does not waver in the face of death. To constantly refine oneself. All good and evil in the world begins from my heart."
Wu Yu had not thought that such a day would come. He had shrugged off the pain, proudly reciting the Inner Vajra Buddha Sutra. And now he had entered a new, strange level. Who would have thought that the highest level was not enduring painful growth, but relishing it?
This was a form of surpassing himself.
It was a process that had turned from sour to sweet.
For example, using the Inner Vajra Buddha Sutra to kill the ghost insects. That had been sweet.
Building his body and pursuing Vajra. That was not misery, but a physical baptism akin to body rebirth. It was a reconstitution of his body.
Just like that, his spirits full, the speed at which Wu Yu chanted the Inner Vajra Buddha Sutra grew faster and faster, until he lost track of time.
Sometimes, fully engrossed in a vortex of golden light, he forgot that time was passing.
The golden vortex was like a sea in which he bathed. Immersed in the golden vortex, he floated with the waves. He felt like he was becoming one with the vortex, even becoming the vortex.
Perhaps only those close to him would realize that before, he could not finish the sutra 10 times in a day. And now, he could do much more than that, perhaps even close to a hundred.
Bang!
Suddenly, they saw that there was a huge Buddha that kept growing outside of Wu Yu's body. It continued to grow until it was a full four zhang tall!
Weng!
The Buddha suddenly disappeared, and they stared at Wu Yu, perplexed. They could feel that he had grown stronger, especially in physical strength. Without question, his spiritual change had helped his Invincible Vajra Body quickly reach the fourth realm.
This was all thanks to Liu Haijun.
And Wu Yu's somatic strength had soared to godly levels, the like of which had never been seen before. Spiritual power aside, 1,000 Feng Xueyas would not be Wu Yu's match.
It felt like he could level mountains and part seas with a lift of his hand.
His Vajra body was like sharp metal. Even staring at him caused a sharp pain. In the moment that Wu Yu broke through, everyone drew a distance apart, not daring to look directly at him.
Envy, respect, and fear were clearly written in their eyes.
The gold on his body gradually faded, and Wu Yu opened his eyes. As expected, his body was stronger than ever before. The masculine qi surged through the Bipo Mountain Range, until even a certain 1,000-year-old fox demon could smell it. It was like a sun buried within the Bipo Mountain Range.
Wu Yu could feel the changes in his body. He smiled to those around him, then sat down and took out 30 more Spirit Concentration Pills.
He prepared to condense qi in his seventh spiritual orifice, and reach the seventh tier of the Qi Condensation Realm!
The seventh spiritual orifice was in the soles of his feet. It was called the Gushing Spring Meridian!
The Gushing Spring Meridian was connected to the ground. What was most important was for the spiritual qi in the ground to flow through the Gushing Spring Meridian and directly gather within its spiritual source. It was said that after condensing qi in the Gushing Spring Meridian, one simply had to stand on the ground for one's spiritual qi to regenerate extremely quickly!
Everyone could only gape as they watched Wu Yu pop Spirit Concentration Pills like peas. Spirit Concentration Pill after Spirit Concentration Pill followed into his mouth. He rapidly absorbed them, and his spiritual power continued to rise.
Because his spiritual power came very quickly, Wu Yu needed an even stronger body to suppress it. Normal people would kill themselves if they absorbed Spirit Concentration Pills like that. Being able to refine one a month was already a respectable feat.
The Spirit Concentration Pills plundered from the Zhongyuan Dao Sect entered Wu Yu's body one after another. The Gushing Spring Meridian's spiritual source formed with unprecedented speed. The rampaging power was completely controlled by Wu Yu's unbreakable body. Honestly, his spiritual power was much coarser than that of others. But besides the Invincible Vajra Body, Wu Yu still had the Great Way of Immortality Art. Using the Great Way of Immortality Art to construct this spiritual source, it was born robust and complete, defying demons and gods!
Exactly because of this, even if his opponents were growing stronger and stronger, Wu Yu could still maintain his ability to defeat opponents who were two realms higher!
Not long after, he successfully condensed qi, and entered the seventh tier of the Qi Condensation Realm. And at this time, Su Yanli had only just begun to construct her sixth spiritual source. Mo Shishu was still a long way from reaching the seventh tier of the Qi Condensation Realm.
"Sigh, what a disgrace. If this continues, I'll be ashamed to call you ‘Junior Brother!’" Mo Shishu pulled a long face as he feigned sobbing.
The crowd surged up, completely reverent of Wu Yu's progress.
Wu Yu saw that Su Yanli was both happy for him and admiring. But her look for Wu Yu was just like Wu You's - the look one would give a younger brother. It contained satisfaction and pride.
"I should go flex some strength."
Wu Yu was finally confident enough to make such an utterance. These days, the 10,000 Swords Formation was threadbare and on its last legs. Although no one else had broken through, even the servant disciples could see that the 10,000 Swords Formation was unstable. Some reckoned that the 10,000 Swords Formation would not last another three days.
"Master."
Wu Yu had come to the Stone Gate of a Thousand Swords. At this time, Jiang Xie and the others had gone to rest, while Feng Xueya and the others still had to keep the 10,000 Swords Formation in motion. They could not get adequate rest like Jiang Xie.
Occasionally, a few elders and disciples, like Night Wishes for Snow, would maintain it for a while.
Seeing Wu Yu, all of them had relieved expressions on their faces. Feng Xueya noticed the commotion. "Another breakthrough, perhaps?"
All of them were waiting for his answer.
They had not expected Wu Yu to have another breakthrough a mere month after he had reached the sixth tier of the Qi Condensation Realm. Condensing meridians was a process that got harder the further one advanced. This was because controlling more spiritual power was not an easy task, and that did not factor in how the meridians interacted. Normally, ordinary people would slow down, even taking up to a few decades. On the contrary, Wu Yu was miraculously speeding up.
"Yes, Master." Wu Yu had understated his abilities. The Will of Vajra had changed his personality quite a bit.
Hearing this affirmation in their dark circumstances, everyone smiled hopefully. It had been a constant stream of bad news from the 10,000 Swords Formation, and the chances of the Heavenly Sword Sect getting through this had been getting slimmer and slimmer. Only Wu Yu always brought them good news.
"What do you plan to do?" Feng Xueya knew that Wu Yu would not come to look for him for nothing.
"They say the 10,000 Swords Formation will not last three days." Wu Yu lifted his head to look at him.
"Perhaps. Might be two, might be four. But there's no difference now. After holding out for so long, we're at our limit." After eking out a few months, Feng Xueya had become gaunt. He was no longer as aloof as he had been in the past, and was much warmer to his own now.
Wu Yu understood now.
He looked at the crowd and said, "Master, give me three more days. I want to change things up."
"You want to go back to the Zhongyuan Dao Sect?" Feng Xueya had guessed it.
"That's right. This time, I will defeat Jiang Ji."
"The same method twice. Will it work?" Lan Huayi could not help but doubt.
Indeed, it would be difficult to pull off. That was why others were being more reasonable regarding Wu Yu's decision.
Only Feng Xueya didn’t doubt him. He said, "I believe in you. No matter what, you go ahead. Three days? Then we will hold for three days. We will await your return. That is all."
The master and disciple shared a wordless look.
Wu Yu did not belabor the point. He needed three days. That was all. All that remained was to see if his trip would be as fruitful as he imagined.
"Wu Yu."
As he turned away, Feng Xueya suddenly called him, tossing a black, rope-like object roughly one zhang long to him. Wu Yu looked at it closely. It was actually a vine with black leaves and many thorns. They were extremely sharp.
It was an immortal treasure!
"This was Jiang Ding's Stalk of the Clouds. There are two Immortal Treasure Spirit Designs in it. One is the Fortification Spirit Design, which can make the Stalk of the Clouds stronger than many immortal treasures. The other is the Elongation Spirit Design, which can make the Stalk of the Clouds grow to over 500 zhang in an instant. It's not a bad immortal treasure."
Jiang Ding was at the tenth tier of the Qi Condensation, and the second strongest person in the Zhongyuan Dao Sect before he died. His immortal treasure looked simple, but it was much better than the Tapestry of Mountains and Rivers or Reaper Gourd that Wu Yu currently held.
People normally used lasso-type immortal treasures to restrict their opponents, but Wu Yu did not have one. It was the right time for Feng Xueya to give Jiang Ding's immortal treasure to Wu Yu.
"Use it well."
"Yes, Master." Wu Yu stowed the Stalk of the Clouds. Feng Xueya was expecting much of him, and he would live up to those expectations.
"Junior Brother, I'm envious of your Stalk of the Clouds. It's a good treasure. Treasure it well." Night Wishes for Snow smiled.
He was the straightforward type. If he wanted it, he would not hide his intentions.
"However, it suits you better," Night Wishes for Snow said wistfully.
"Don't let your senior brother down." Carrying their hopes, Wu Yu set forth once again. This time, he flew with his full strength using the Art of Sword Flight.
To ride the winds and crest the waves!
After a day, he arrived in the skies of the Zhongyuan Dao Sect and swooped down from above.
Below him: the Palace of Eternal Peace.
