The crowd looked in unison, with a hint of schadenfreude in their eyes. Since they had no hope at all, they logically wished to see more and more unlucky people.
Whoosh!
The vortex disappeared and then appeared a figure, followed by an outburst of energy belonging to someone in Jindan Realm.
Everyone changed their expression dramatically, and schadenfreude on their face immediately changed to respect and admiration.
“Breakthrough, this man has broken through to Jindan Realm!”
“What luck! No wonder he came out early. The adventure doesn’t suit him anymore, and his priority is to consolidate his cultivation.”
“Someone in Jindan Realm in a small sect should be a Mount Head, so the breakthrough would help him spare lots of efforts! With a prominent status and high power in sight, there is no need for him to take the risk. I envy him. When can I break through…”
As the people around were busy transmitting the sounds to each other, Fan Zisang restrained his energy that was temporarily out of control due to the teleportation and looked back at the vortex quietly. His eyes were full of delight and bitterness.
“Throughout all of this, I could not even know her name…”
Three days later —
In the cavern under the giant tree, the white lake had shrunk by one-fifth, so many disappeared the spirituality either.
Su Li sat in the middle of the lake and clenched her fist, feeling the surging and destructive spiritual power in her body with her bright eyes.
“The peak of the twelfth hurdle of Lianqi Realm, here it is!”
In just three days, she had broken through her spiritual power to the peak of the twelfth hurdle as fast as a lightning bolt, and without any hindrance. One more step forward would be her first try to Chuangxing Path.
“Reaching to ancient Lianqi Realm needs much more nimbus than I have estimated. After every breakthrough, the nimbus needed should be re-estimated.”
Su Li exhaled with a faint of rejoicing in her eyes.
If she had gone to the convergent place of nimbus in her memory, she would not be able to reach the twelfth hurdle of Lianqi Realm.
Su Li ladled out the lake water with her joined hands, and her eyes were shining.
“This water of convergent nimbus becomes more purified the further down it goes, and its color is almost milky. Although I’ve absorbed one-fifth of it, it barely reduces actually… Black Lotus!”
Black Lotus Ring on her ring finger appeared instantly. As it rotated itself slowly, Black Lotus’s voice came out in awe, “A top-grade convergent place of nimbus! Little Su Li, you’ve brought the spiritual power in your body to its limit. Could it be…”
“I have to go Chuangxing Path!”
Determination flashed in Su Li’s eyes. If she made her way through Chuangxing Path after she got out, she had no idea how long it would take her to finish practicing from the twelfth hurdle to the eighteenth hurdle of Lianqi Realm.
Black Lotus Ring fell silent and asked, “Do you really make up your mind?”
He had already made it clear to Su Li that going to Chuangxing Path was extremely difficult. Especially for a genius like Su Li, it would be several times harder! She could possibly die if she went rashly.
“But I don’t have so much time to wait.”
Su Li took a deep breath; she really wanted to find the truth about the Reincarnation Mirror back then, and likewise… she also wanted to see… how those two men… were going…
“I won’t stop you, but you should be careful.”
Black Lotus’ voice became severe, and the usual haughtiness was gone, “Remember what I said, the hardest part of the Chuangxing Path is the test of mind. If you get lost there, no one can save you.”
Su Li echoed and took a deep breath to calm down. Then she condensed a touch of spiritual power on her fingertips and slowly sketched in the nothingness.
Soon, an outline of a portal was sketched by Su Li. As the intricate markings were added, the portal gradually turned from an illusory image to a solid object.
By the time Su Li put the final stroke on the inscription, the entire Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits had shaken with a boom, as if something had awakened. But the change could not be sensed by those practitioners in Zhuji Realm, who were exploring in the secret realm.
Even Beixiao Liang just felt a slight chill on his back and could notice nothing more.
At the same time, a portal that emitted a faint starburst appeared in the cavern, resembling an entity.
Su Li stood up with a serious look, looking at the continually distorting starry sky in the portal, and vaguely saw a stone path extending from the door sill to an invisible end.
“Gate of Chungxing Path!”
Black Lotus sighed with a complicated feeling and quickly fell silent because he shouldn’t ruin Su Li’s concentration now.
“Ancient cultivation sect…”
Su Li’s gaze flickered, and there was no fear in her eyes. She stepped into the portal and disappeared.
A strange feeling touched her body, and the sight changed to a bright and brilliant starry sky. She couldn’t help but exclaim.
“It feels so real; could it be possible that… someone can really leave the continent and enter heaven somewhere in the world?”
“But now, it is not the right time to think about it.”
Su Li quickly restrained her mind and gently put her foot on the first white stone step. In a split second, her face changed slightly, and she immediately took a heavy burden on her shoulders.
“What a terrifying pressure! Besides the Secret Records of Black Lotus I practiced, if I hadn’t refined my body with starlight guided by Reincarnation Mirror, the first step would’ve crushed me on the ground. Those practitioners of nowadays, I’m afraid, even those in Jindan Realm would be directly crushed to death…”
Su Li became more careful, for she, in the twelfth hurdle of Lianqi Realm, was already much stronger than her in Jindan Realm in the last life, but she still felt the pressure at the first level of Chuangxing Path. Going to Chuangxing Path was indeed difficult.
“The Secret Realm will close over a month, so my time is limited. No one can predict what will happen after the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits closes completely…”
The ship had sailed, so Su Li adjusted her mind and was about to take the second step. Suddenly, her face changed slightly, and she pulled back her foot, which almost touched the second step.
“Is this… the refinement of starlight?”
An astonishing expression flashed over Su Li’s face, for the numbing feeling came incessantly from her feet was almost the same as the one when Reincarnation Mirror refined her back then, except that the power now was much intensive.
Taking a glance at Black Lotus Ring and Reincarnation Mirror, which had been completely cut off with her, Su Li was silent, and she knew that this was not from Reincarnation Mirror.
“Is this the gift of Chuangxing Path?”
Su Li frowned, “Didn’t Black Lotus say that the gift of Chuangxing Path occurs only after the fifth step? How did it come after my first step…”
Not having figured out the reason for this, Su Li didn’t dwell on it. She directly sat down and tried to guide that refining power to go throughout her body.
The gift of Chuangxing Path at the first step indicated that her Chuangxing Path was even more dangerous than any paths Black Lotus ever saw. She had to improve her cultivation to maximal at each step so that she would be confident in the future.
As for time, it wasn’t her priority now. She would buy it if she was trapped in the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits for another hundred years.
Su Li didn’t know how long it had been and was sitting on the first stone step. She finally opened her eyes, and with a determined look in her eyes, she stepped out for the second step!
Boom!
Completely different from the first stone step, the second one emitted a tremendous repulsive force that almost threw Su Li over!
Su Li grunted coldly, clenching her teeth to increase her strength, and her right foot hanging in the air finally descended slowly and touched the stone step. As she reached the stone step, all rejecting forces disappeared immediately.
Su Li put another foot onto the step as well, and there was no other anomaly, so she was relieved.
“I’ve passed the test of the second step.”
Su Li murmured to herself with a pale face, and fear appeared in her eyes. If she hadn’t found the gift of the first stone step and directly went onto the second step, she would be blown up straightly, fell off the stone steps and lost in the endless starry sky.
Because of her new experience, Su Li was in no hurry this time and sat down cross-legged.
As she anticipated, a gentle power came from the stone step beneath her body, continuously nourishing Su Li’s awareness sea, and the power of her soul was rapidly increasing.
“The second stone step can affect the soul!”
Su Li could not hide the shock in her eyes, for the power of the soul was inborn in the cultivation circle. Unless one could reach Huashen Realm, there was no way to improve it.
The power of the soul was about the power of understanding. The more powerful one’s soul was, the more comfortable he could infer. If practitioners with different powers of the soul learned a same practicing method, those with more power of the soul would undoubtedly comprehend the method first. This had nothing to do with the cultivation!
“After absorbing the gift, will my talent become even stronger? How difficult will the next step be…”
Su Li pursed her lips, and her face was covered with caution as she focused on refining the power of the soul.
After a period, Su Li finally stood up and put her foot onto the third step without hesitation.
Nothing happened this time.
As Su Li was wondering, her sight was suddenly distorted, and the starry sky was replaced by a mountain pavilion that resembled a fairyland.
“Have you thought it through, Holy Girl Su? Since you have no intention to open Reincarnation Mirror, I’ll give you another alternative. As long as you are willing to leave with me and betray Yuxu Sect, you can save the entire Yuxu Sect, including… your master, of course.”
A group of black-robed practitioners with undetectable pneumas were standing outside the pavilion, led by an elder with a cold and arrogant look. His tone was calm as if he was sure to win.
Su Li glanced at the white sarong she was wearing, and then at the complete Reincarnation Mirror she had placed on the table. She looked indifferent.
“Is this the test of mind Black Lotus mentioned?”
She wasn’t lost in the slightest. Indeed, such a group had come to Yuxu Sect to ask her to make her choice long ago. It might be a difficult choice for her once, but right now…
“Reincarnation Mirror! Hm!”
She grabbed Reincarnation Mirror with strength.
Crack!!
The entire illusion shattered along with Reincarnation Mirror, and she came back to the step of the Chuangxing Path.
“The third step is no difficulty for me.”
Su Li was silent. She now could easily distinguish the false from the true, but she didn’t know whether it was due to her state of mind or to her soul which became strong at the second footstep?
She kept the question in her mind and would ask Black Lotus when she got out. There, she might get an answer.
Sitting down cross-legged, Su Li waited quietly. If nothing went wrong, there should also be a gift of Chuangxing Path this time.
As she expected, a moment later, the numbing feeling came again. The third stone step had the same gift as the first, and it was the refinement of star force…
Su Li didn’t know how long it had been, but she was sitting on the twenty-sixth stone step silently.
And there was no road in front of her.