The Half-Step Realm is a stage of accumulating power, with no need for comprehension. As long as one has enough strength, they can advance.
This kind of pill is for supplementing power.
It has no side effects, nor is there any talk of an unstable foundation. It’s completely different from previous situations.
These hundred Half-Step Breakthrough Pills could probably help Ling Xiao forcibly advance two to three realms.
For an average martial artist, consuming one such pill requires at least a day of secluded cultivation. A hundred pills would mean a hundred days.
But with Ling Xiao’s Mountain River Martial Soul and the Hell Furnace of the Primordial Hell Dragon aiding him, an hour at most would suffice.
Seeing no one around, Ling Xiao simply swallowed all hundred Half-Step Breakthrough Pills.
The moment they entered his mouth, a sensation like being burned by raging fire surged through his body.
“The power is indeed terrifying. Fortunately, it’s me. Anyone else at my level, taking so many Half-Step Breakthrough Pills at once, would surely die,” Ling Xiao muttered, quickly sitting cross-legged and fully activating his Mountain River Martial Soul to digest the pills.
One quarter of an hour.
Two quarters of an hour.
Half an hour.
If anyone were watching Ling Xiao, they would have seen his body seemingly engulfed in flames, his entire being burning, his clothes completely incinerated.
“Ha!”
Within an hour, Ling Xiao leapt up, smashing a wall in front of him with a single punch. The surging power burst forth dozens of metres, utterly terrifying.
A ferocious beast that had been preparing to ambush him saw this and fled in terror.
“Hahaha, too strong! To think I found a high-grade Yellow Pill. On the Heavenly Dragon Continent, even mid-grade Yellow Pills are considered treasures,” Ling Xiao exclaimed, thrilled. In just one hour, he had advanced from twenty percent power Half-Step Heavenly Venerable to fifty percent power Half-Step Heavenly Venerable.
Purely in terms of cultivation, he was now on par with some of the top hundred ranked individuals.
“Better set a realm template, or it’ll be too shocking,” Ling Xiao decided, keeping his template at twenty percent power Half-Step Heavenly Venerable before moving on.
The ruins were vast, almost headache-inducing. More importantly, the passages were dense and numerous. Some were completely destroyed, while others were exposed due to collapsed buildings, resembling an inadvertently created labyrinth that left people utterly confused.
More crucially, there weren’t as many treasures as imagined. Most had been taken by martial artists who had entered before. What remained was harder to find and of lesser quality.
Initially, Ling Xiao found it thrilling and fun, but as time dragged on, it grew boring. He simply activated the analytical ability of his Mountain River Martial Soul to search for treasures.
Perhaps finding him too idle, someone was lying in wait at a fork in the path, ready to ambush him.
Ling Xiao sneered disdainfully, slashing out with an air sword, cutting through both the person and the wall.
The ambusher was sliced in half, still unaware of how Ling Xiao had spotted him or launched the attack. Judging by his expression, he probably thought he was well-hidden.
Ling Xiao took the man’s storage ring, expecting it to be empty as usual. To his surprise, his luck was good this time. The ambusher had likely killed several martial artists this way, as the ring contained over ten thousand low-grade spirit stones and a top-tier Gold-Grade martial art.
While these items weren’t significant for advancing his martial arts, low-grade spirit stones had wide utility as currency in the long run.
“Karma catches up. You killed so many, and now you’re dead yourself. No injustice there,” Ling Xiao said, not sparing the corpse a glance as he took the storage ring and left.
He had already found a way to leave the labyrinthine ruins. More importantly, beyond the ruins stood a palace, still standing tall after tens of thousands of years.
It was the former palace of the True Demon Emperor, towering into the clouds. Even the brutal war back then hadn’t destroyed it, and it still appeared remarkably pristine.
By now, many martial artists had gathered near the palace, likely arriving while Ling Xiao was cultivating.
Not everyone could find treasures in the ruins like he did. Many martial artists, after so long, had only found some herbs or encountered ferocious beasts, missing the opportunities they expected.
According to the Martial Arts Festival organizers, the True Demon Forbidden Land was primarily for selecting finalists. Those who found opportunities were never more than thirty per event. The rest were essentially there for the preliminaries.
Gains were ideal, but passing the preliminaries to reach the finals was also a good outcome.
Hundreds of metres from the palace was a vast open area, likely once the palace square, now overgrown with weeds.
A fierce battle was unfolding there.
Long Chen was surrounded.
He faced four disciples from the Southern Three Sects: three from the Tang Sect and one from the Poison King Sect.
The fight had reached a fever pitch. Long Chen was covered in wounds, debating whether to enter his Golden Dragon form.
If he did, his identity would be exposed, leading to endless trouble.
But if he didn’t, he’d have to withdraw today.
He was unwilling.
The Divine Sword Sect had sent only him to the preliminaries. If he couldn’t reach the finals, how could he face his sect?
“Tang Qi, we have no enmity. Why are you pushing me like this?” Long Chen shouted while dodging.
“I’ve already given you everything you wanted. Must you drive me to a dead end? It’s better to leave some room, or you’ll regret it!”
“Hahaha!” Tang Qi laughed loudly. “I’ll take your things, but you’ll die too. Who told you to be friends with that Ling Xiao? The Southern Three Sects won’t spare any of Ling Xiao’s friends!”
“You’re going too far!” Long Chen roared.
“So what if I am? You’re weak, so you get beaten. Otherwise, just quit the preliminaries and crawl back like a dog to save your pathetic life, hahaha,” Tang Qi laughed smugly.
He was Tang Jiu’s older brother and one of the Tang Sect’s top ten core disciples, though his strength was far inferior to Tang Jiu’s.
One-on-one, he might not be Long Chen’s match.
But now, he had three others of similar strength teaming up to besiege Long Chen.
For Long Chen to hold out this long was already impressive.
“Hmph, if it were one-on-one, I’d have killed you already!” Long Chen dodged an attack, spitting bloodied saliva and cursing.
“Your Divine Sword Sect is a bunch of nobodies. You deserve this. Today, you die here! Brothers, stop wasting words. Finish this kid off before the Moonlight Sect interferes,” Tang Qi said, no longer talking but joining the others to intensify their assault.
The four surrounded Long Chen, leaving him no chance to escape, like a net closing in.
