Training base, secret chamber.
Li Peak slipped into the chamber the moment he reached the base, then fished out a Foundation Pill.
“Only a few left. Don’t let me down this time.” A sharp glint flashed across his eyes. The pill would speed his cultivation and raise breakthrough odds. To cross the hurdle cleanly, he had no choice.
He swallowed it, then drew a spirit herb from his space pouch. He had no name for the plant, but its surging energy was unmistakable.
No hesitation. He ate it raw. Chewing herbs whole wasted most of the qi, yet today he needed more than a single breakthrough; he wanted a leap.
“Ah!”
A million ants seemed to crawl under his skin. From marrow to muscle, every inch burned. Threads of qi stabbed like needles, rampaging through his channels, grinding flesh and bone. His body felt ready to burst.
“This is bad. Too much.”
Colour drained from his face. Never had he met qi this fierce. Past herbs were low-grade, tame. This one was a flood.
Any sane cultivator would slap him senseless for gulping a treasure like this.
Frowning, Li Peak watched veins bulge, ready to rupture.
He inhaled, ignited the Nine Heavens Scripture, and herded the flood toward his dantian, coaxing it into slow circuits.
The qi fought like a maddened dragon. Sweat poured. Light leaked from his pores.
“Now!”
He steered the torrent against the barrier.
BOOM!
One barrier shattered, then another.
Early Fifth Realm.
Mid Fifth Realm.
Peak Fifth Realm.
Li Peak exhaled, corners of his mouth lifting.
Success, and more. Straight to peak fifth. An unexpected bounty.
One major realm up, his combat power now matched a seventh-layer Postnatal, and with his hidden cards, even an eighth-layer was not impossible.
After the agony, freshness filled him. Power coursed through every limb.
“One herb took me from peak fourth to peak fifth. What if I take another?”
He wiped sweat, steadied his breath, and pulled out a second identical herb. Five had come from Du Wu’s vault; four remained.
Li Peak had no idea these were three-star herbs, mid-grade treasures Du Wu hoarded for his own push to Xiantian. In this age, cities would kill for one stalk, yet here he was popping them like sweets. Anyone who knew would brand him a wastrel.
“I survived the first. My channels held. One more should be safe.”
Decision made, he swallowed the second.
It melted instantly. Qi detonated. His body rang with dull thuds, each one whitening his face a shade.
Death crept closer.
“My dantian can’t store this much. Only one path left: temper the flesh.”
A fierce light lit his eyes. His Mysterious Heaven Body Tempering had reached the unheard-of tenth layer, yet it only gave him two-realm combat edge. For a while he had doubted the manual’s grand claims.
Now, with a furnace of qi inside, he saw the chance.
He drove the flood against skin, muscle, bone.
Sizzle. Skin split. Blood poured, pooling beneath him.
Pain flayed him alive, yet he clenched his jaw. Relax, and he would die.
“I refuse to break.”
Face twisted, demonic. Qi blades carved him from within, but he endured.
One hour. Two hours.
Flesh hung in ribbons, yet beneath the ruin, new pink tissue knit.
“Done!”
Half an hour later his eyes snapped open. Pain vanished like smoke. Power thrummed, reborn.
Sixth Realm, early stage.
Disappointment flickered; he had hoped for peak sixth. Second helpings yielded less, and most qi had gone to his body instead.
But the tempering paid off. Mysterious Heaven Body Tempering broke its old limit.
When the flood scoured him, the manual evolved. A new chapter bloomed in his mind: the second phase.
Four phases in total: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold.
Iron was the first. Only perfecting it unlocked the next.
Now he trained for Bronze.
Excitement sparkled. At Iron, he already crushed peers by two realms. What would Bronze bring?
Breath unsteady, he circulated the Nine Heavens Scripture for an hour, locking the new realm in place. Two realms in one day; skip consolidation and hidden injuries would haunt him forever.
Satisfied, he opened his eyes.
“Sixth realm against Zhao Xiu? I won’t fold in one move any more. Still not enough to kill him.”
Three herbs remained, but he left them untouched. Gulping raw treasures was wasteful; he needed proper refining.
Checking the time, he stayed in the chamber and drew the martial scroll won in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
Dragon Roar Palm, profound-grade.
He owned plenty of yellow-grade palms, Cloud-Splitting Palm among them, but profound-grade was another world. More importantly, every technique in his head had been instantly mastered. This one demanded study.
Yet after an hour he understood less than a tenth.
“Profound arts need realm. My foundation is still shallow.”
He smiled wryly, stored the scroll, and rose.
“Young Master Peak!”
A Black Eagle guard waited anxiously outside the door, sprinting over the instant Li Peak emerged.
