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Chapter 127: Chapter 112 Breakthrough to Late Stage of True Core (3.6K for monthly tickets)
Divine Sword Sect.
Divine Sword Hall.
Sect Leader Feng Shaoyu and several high-ranking members who remained behind were discussing matters.
"What background does this He Family from Yuanzhou have?"
Dishui Peak Master Yun Lei asked out of curiosity.
He had taken part in the battle of Qishui before and had suffered serious injuries. He still hadn’t recovered, which is why he remained at the Divine Sword Sect.
"This He Family has quite the background; the Empress Dowager is surnamed He."
Sect Leader Feng Shaoyu sighed as he spoke.
"What? The He Family that’s known as the Sky Saber Clan?"
Dishui Peak Master Yun Lei could not help but exclaim in surprise.
The others showed the same expression.
Because they had never dared to think in this direction before.
After all, the He Family was too famous; how could they possibly come to compete with the Divine Sword Sect for territory?
"It’s not that the Sky Saber Clan will compete with us for territory, but... this He Family should be a side branch that split off from them."
Sect Leader Feng Shaoyu shook his head as he said.
"It’s outrageous; even if this He Family is from the Sky Saber Clan, is the maternal family of the Empress Dowager... how can they reach so far, to actually install a side branch in Taixing Dao’s princely state? When we exterminated the Luo Royal Mansion before, they didn’t contribute at all."
Several elders with real power were very indignant.
With such a significant background of the He Family, the Divine Sword Sect really could not do anything about it.
This would mean that the benefits that could have been obtained would mostly be lost... What’s more important is that with such a neighbor... it also poses an intangible threat to the Divine Sword Sect.
After all, this He Family has the backing of the Sky Saber Clan.
"With the Empress Dowager in power, the He Family naturally rises with the tide; it will probably be troublesome in the future."
Sect Leader Feng Shaoyu sighed.
He knew that the He Family’s settlement in Taixing Dao’s princely state was a done deal.
....
In the next half a month.
More news kept coming from Xuanzhou.
Divine Sword Sect and the He Family joined forces and conquered the Xuanming Sect.
Moreover, Xiao Tianren from the Divine Sword Sect negotiated the distribution of benefits and territories with a Heavenly Human from the He Family, and they finally reached an agreement.
The entire Xuanzhou would belong to the Divine Sword Sect.
The rest of the territories of the Xuanming Sect would be controlled by the He Family.
In fact, the areas controlled by the He Family were not only these; even the territories of the Purple Cloud Sect had all fallen into the hands of the He Family.
The ones who wiped out the Purple Cloud Sect... it was the martial prowess of the He Family.
From this, one can see that the force of this He Family side branch is incredibly formidable.
Taking control of the entire territory of the Purple Cloud Sect, plus about forty percent of the Xuanming Sect’s territory, made the areas controlled by the He Family as vast, if not vaster than those of the Divine Sword Sect.
Furthermore, this He Family also swallowed a part of the Baihua Palace’s territories.
The newly rebuilt Baihua Palace was too weak, lacking even a Heavenly Human, and could only swallow its grievances.
Not only this, but there was also another heavy-hitting piece of news: the Imperial Family would send a prince to Taixing Dao’s princely state to establish his fief.
Among the princes of the Great Chang Empire, apart from those who were enfeoffed by dividing up the Imperial Family, there were also princes of different surnames.
These princes of different surnames had continued from the very establishment of Great Chang.
During this period, of course, many princes of different surnames perished for various reasons... Those who have survived till now are all of extraordinarily thick foundations.
The Imperial Family was not unwilling to remove these princes of different surnames, but the resistance was too substantial, and there were no suitable reasons.
But this time... with the princes’ rebellion, it gave the Imperial Family a reason.
....
Chen Bell Platform.
Li Qian was discussing the current situation with his master, Zhou Buping.
"I really didn’t expect things to develop to this point."
He had just learned that an outsider He Family has become a heavy-weighted overlord in Taixing Dao, able to stand on an equal footing with the Divine Sword Sect, and he couldn’t help feeling greatly emotional.
"This He Family is very domineering... they definitely won’t stay quiet in the future."
Zhou Buping was a bit worried.
According to his knowledge, this side branch of the He Family, it is said to possess three Heavenly Persons...
It’s precisely because they have such a strong foundation that the He Family has taken such a large territory upon their arrival.
Even if the Divine Sword Sect was very displeased, they also had to pinch their noses and accept it.
"Master, don’t worry too much; that’s a matter for the future, and this He Family will need time to consolidate their territory."
Li Qian said.
After a few years, once he raises his cultivation to the Heavenly Human Realm, practices the first layer of Great River Sword Qi, the Qi Blood Sacred Realm is no longer just an embryo, and the Heartless Sword Intent breaks through to the Heavenly Phenomenon Realm... he felt the He Family would not amount to anything.
He was not referring to the current small He Family side branch, but to the one known as the Sky Saber Clan.
Now the most important thing was time.
"How is your cultivation now?"
Zhou Buping suddenly asked.
"Master, my cultivation has already reached the early stages of the True Essence Realm."
Li Qian revealed a bit of his power.
"Early stage of True Essence Realm? Then aren’t you already ranked among the Grandmasters?"
Zhou Buping’s eyes brightened.
True Essence Realm cultivation, Illusionary-level Sword Intent... that’s the mark of a Grandmaster.
If it were True Pill Realm cultivation, that would make one a Great Grandmaster.
"Good, good, good..."
Zhou Buping’s face showed excitement, "It’s a pity your achievements are not sufficient... nor is your age, otherwise, you could go directly to the elder status."
Age was secondary, mainly because of the lack of achievements.
Li Qian had not participated much in the big battle to eliminate the Luo Royal Mansion, so he certainly could not have much credit.
The Divine Sword Sect had lost a lot this time, with many elders fallen... and injured even more, so there were many who needed to recuperate, hence the sect inevitably had to promote a batch of elders.
Since the number of Grandmaster-level martial artists was not much anymore, they could only relax the criteria, selecting a batch of elders with enough achievements and potential from the Innate Martial Artists.
Li Qian had enough strength.
But lacked achievements...
To become an elder, it’s easy to get stuck.
After all, what the Divine Sword Sect truly values in promotions is achievements.
"Li Qian, you should participate more in missions that can earn achievements in the future, accumulate enough achievements, otherwise, your position as an elder will be difficult to reach."
Zhou Buping said.
He knew his disciple’s character was somewhat indifferent to fame and fortune, hiding in the Chen Bell Platform every day to cultivate with bell striking, detached from world affairs, simply having no ambition.
Although he had been guarding Yanmen Valley for decades, he had also worked hard in the first few decades.
"Yes, Master."
Li Qian responded.
But he didn’t take it to heart at all.
What’s so good about being an elder?
Being an elder of the Divine Sword Sect is no easy task, as dangerous matters often require the elders to step up first, despite the good benefits.
Becoming an elder would be a complete waste of time for him.
After his master left, Li Qian resumed his study of the Lion Camel Ridge Array Solution.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his fingers lightly tracing patterns, and streams of True Qi emerged, gradually forming an array map in front of him.
Yet the moment the array map was nearly half completed, it burst apart with a crackling sound.
"Still just a bit short."
Li Qian shook his head.
He had just been setting up one of the seven basic arrays in the Lion Camel Ridge Array Solution.
Once the seven basic arrays are properly set up and combined at will... only then could he truly master the Lion Camel Ridge Array Solution.
Of course, to go a step further would require even greater enlightenment.
Although he failed, he wasn’t in a hurry.
Because with each attempt at setting up the array, he made some progress.
Moreover, this progress could be seen on the system panel’s progress bar.
Any progress was good progress.
Time flew by, and several months passed.
One day, after finishing a session of cultivation at the Chen Bell Platform, Li Qian felt the True Pill in his Qi Sea within his Dantian vibrating slightly, vaguely showing signs of a breakthrough.
On the system panel, the cultivation section showed that he had already reached the True Pill Realm (Mid Stage 99/100).
He was on the verge of breaking through to the late stage of the True Pill Realm at any moment.
He decided to go out that evening to find a place for his breakthrough.
Night fell.
The moon shone brightly, stars sparsely scattered across the sky.
Li Qian quietly left the Chen Bell Platform, swiftly flying beyond the confines of the Divine Sword Sect.
Half an hour later, he was in a mountain forest more than a hundred miles away.
On a huge rock.
Li Qian sat cross-legged with two Primordial Stones in his hands, starting to circulate the Heartless Sword Technique and his Pure Holy Body automatically releasing a faint golden Qi Blood Holy Realm Embryo, forming an area nearly three zhang in diameter.
Countless Heaven and Earth Essence Qi rolled in, and upon entering the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm, they combined with his blood Qi and then quickly transformed into True Qi.
The Primordial Stones in his hands also released an extremely pure and vast Heaven and Earth Essence Qi.
"What’s this?"
Li Qian was surprised by this phenomenon.
He hadn’t expected such a change to occur during this breakthrough — that the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi would directly combine with the blood Qi within the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm.
He remembered that when he broke through to the mid-stage of the True Pill Realm, this had not happened.
After all, he already had the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm at that time.
"Could it be related to the progress of the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm?"
Li Qian stroked his chin.
Now, the progress of the Qi Blood Holy Realm Embryo had surpassed twenty points.
This was evident from the scope of the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm, which showed clear improvement.
Previously, when the Qi Blood Holy Realm Embryo was released, it could only cover an area of about two zhang.
With a large amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi combining with the blood Qi and turning into True Qi, these True Qi flowed into his body and gathered in the Qi Sea within his Dantian.
One Primordial Stone crumbled to dust.
At this point, his Dantian and meridians were brimming with True Qi, nearly reaching the limit.
But Li Qian did not stop.
Because the blood Qi in the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm was still abundant.
He wondered if it could continue to be transformed into True Qi?
Perhaps there would be unexpected gains?
Thus, the second Primordial Stone was also drained of its Primordial Qi and turned to powder.
He took out a third Primordial Stone and continued to absorb it.
When he had absorbed most of it, he felt that the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm was also nearing its limit.
Currently, his Qi Blood Holy Realm Embryo was holding a vast amount of True Qi.
Normally, the body’s capacity for True Qi reaches a certain limit and can no longer increase, unless one’s cultivation rises and breaks through a realm...but now, he was actually using the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm to hold more True Qi.
Moreover, this amount was terrifying, not just a little bit more.
"Let’s break through."
He took a deep breath and continued to incorporate the True Qi into his body.
A roaring explosion!
Inside the Dantian, it was as if an explosion had occurred, the Eight Trigrams Qi Field shattered, the entire True Pill melted, and the ninth thread of True Qi condensed, combining with the other eight to gradually construct a new Nine Palace Qi Field.
At the same time, the original dissolved True Pill recondensed, absorbing a large amount of True Qi.
After the True Qi in the Dantian and meridians was absorbed by the True Pill, Li Qian poured the True Qi held in the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm into it as well.
This True Pill actually continued to absorb more.
Once the last strand of True Qi from the Qi Blood Holy Realm merged, the entire True Pill was completely solidified.
This True Pill was much larger and more condensed than in the mid-stage of the True Pill Realm.
Li Qian retracted the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm and opened his eyes, exhaling deeply.
Finally, he had reached the late stage of the True Pill Realm.
Suddenly, he summoned the system interface to check the latest information.
Host: Li Qian.
Cultivation: Innate True Pill (Late Stage 23/100).
Sacrificial Artifact: Chen Bell (Law 5285/10000).
Martial Arts: Sword Stabbing Fist (Perfect), Heartless Sword Technique (Perfect), Pure Holy Body (Perfect), Soul Chasing Sword Skill (Perfect), Great River Sword Qi (First Layer 40/100).
Martial Intent: Heartless Sword Intent (True Image 65/100).
Divine Skills: Qi Blood Holy Realm (Embryo 21/100).
Secret Skill: Ten Thousand Transformation Sword Qi, Blood Burning Technique.
Auxiliary Skill: Lion Camel Ridge Array Solution (Beginner 39/100).
...
"Indeed, that’s how it is."
Li Qian muttered to himself.
His progress in the late stage of the Innate True Pill Realm wasn’t 1 but had become 23.
Clearly, the additional 22 points were related to the vast amount of True Qi he carried with the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm.
After all, that vast True Qi was refined from more than one extra Primordial Stone he had absorbed.
"In that case, in future breakthroughs, if I fully utilize the embryonic Qi Blood Holy Realm to hold enough True Qi, wouldn’t it mean I can save a lot of cultivation time right from the start?"
Li Qian murmured to himself.
The progress of twenty-two points, if at a normal cultivation speed, would take several months to achieve.
This was indeed an unexpected fortune!
...
PS: Today’s first update is here, a bit late, apologies for that. Asking for a bout of double monthly tickets, thank you!!!!!!
Also, wishing all respected readers a happy National Day!!!
