Chapter 597 - 593: Late Stage of Second Grade

Chapter 597: Chapter 593: Late Stage of Second Grade

His Wind God Step had recently reached the Great Success realm, but it was still a long way from Perfection. It would be difficult to achieve another breakthrough anytime soon.

He had only just begun to comprehend the Void Wind God Sword, and reaching even the Entry Level was not something he could accomplish in a short period.

As for his Horizontal Training, the Xuanwu True Skill required patient, diligent effort and couldn’t be rapidly advanced in a short time.

’After some thought, my best chance for a breakthrough right now is still my cultivation.’

During the nearly month-long journey to the Imperial Capital, he had spent most of his time cultivating the Cyan Profound Technique due to the limited space in the carriage.

As it stood, the Inner Qi in his body was not far from the Late Stage of Second Grade.

If he could break through to the Late Stage of Second Grade during this time, he would only be one Minor Realm away from the First Grade.

At that point, he couldn’t be certain about his chances against the three prodigies widely expected to take first place in the Martial Arts Assembly—Qin Yuan, Lin Qingyin, and Chu Jinghong. However, he would have a fighting chance against the other geniuses who had just entered the First Grade.

After all, it was only a gap of one Minor Realm. He was extremely confident in his own prowess with Martial Techniques, even if his opponents were geniuses among geniuses, who could often fight across several Minor Realms.

’Then it’s decided.’

Fang Han made his decision. He would focus all his efforts on improving his cultivation, striving to break through to the Late Stage of Second Grade before the Martial Arts Assembly began.

Back in his room, Fang Han closed the door and took out a cloth bag.

The bag contained the loot he had collected after killing Lei Zheng and his two companions.

While traveling with Luo Yuntian and the Qingxuan Sect Steward, it had been inconvenient to deposit these items into his system panel. After all, it would be extremely difficult to explain things vanishing into thin air before their very eyes.

Now that he was alone, he could finally take care of them.

The over fifteen million in silver notes he had obtained couldn’t be deposited into the system panel. To do so, he would first have to exchange them for precious materials like gold and silver.

To him, over fifteen million in silver notes wasn’t a huge amount. Even if he could deposit it into the system panel, it would be far from enough to activate the Ninth Level Amplification.

He decided to keep the fifteen million-plus in silver notes for daily expenses and placed them directly into his Storage Ring.

His gaze fell on the remaining items.

A few Jade Bottles, several vials of Elixirs, and the longsword inlaid with a blue gemstone.

He picked up the vials of Elixirs, uncorking and inspecting them one by one.

Two vials were for healing injuries, one was for restoring Inner Qi, and the other two contained elixirs that aided cultivation. While their quality couldn’t match the Celestial Essence Pill, they were comparable to the Earth Spirit Pill.

’Deposit.’

Unwilling to risk using them himself in case they were poisoned, Fang Han focused his mind. The vials of Elixirs, along with the Jade Bottles, vanished simultaneously, dissolving into fine specks of light that dissipated into the air.

The numbers on the system panel jumped.

[Wealth: 210,000 Gold → 240,000 Gold]

’Thirty thousand gold.’

Fang Han’s gaze lingered on the numbers for a moment, and he was quite satisfied.

Thirty thousand gold for a few vials of Elixirs was not bad at all.

He then picked up the longsword.

The blade was long and narrow, its edge exuding a cold, sinister glint. A thumb-sized blue gemstone was embedded in the guard, refracting a faint blue glimmer in the candlelight.

It had a slight heft to it, and its quality was superb. It was a Top Grade weapon among Low Grade Magical Soldiers.

However, he already possessed the Cloud Splitting Sword, which was a Low Grade Magical Soldier, and even the Wind Shocking Sword, a Low-Grade Spiritual Soldier. Keeping this new sword would be useless, so his only option was to deposit it.

’Deposit.’

The longsword, along with its Sword Scabbard, dissolved into specks of light and vanished.

This time, the numbers on the panel jumped even more noticeably.

[Wealth: 240,000 Gold → 300,000 Gold]

’Sixty thousand gold.’

It was a Low Grade Magical Soldier, after all. Its value was naturally higher than that of the elixirs.

A faint smile touched Fang Han’s lips.

Excluding the fifteen million-plus in silver notes, the elixirs and the sword alone had increased his wealth by ninety thousand gold, bringing his total from 210,000 to 300,000.

At three hundred thousand gold, he was still 9.7 million short of the ten million gold needed to activate the next Ninth Level Amplification.

It was a distant, seemingly unreachable number, but it was better than nothing.

Fang Han shook his head, pushing the thought aside. He closed the system panel, sat cross-legged on the bed, and prepared to begin cultivating his Inner Qi.

However, he didn’t rush into cultivating his Inner Qi. Instead, he first sat quietly for a moment, allowing his mind to become completely tranquil.

Outside the window, a gentle night breeze blew, and from the distance, the faint sound of dogs barking could be heard.

A moment later, once he felt his mind had settled, Fang Han took a Jade Bottle from his Storage Ring.

He uncorked it and tipped out a lustrous, longan-sized Earth Essence Pill, which he placed in his mouth.

The Elixir melted the moment it entered his mouth, transforming into a gentle yet immense wave of Medicinal Power that slid down his throat into his stomach. It then spread outward, surging through his entire body.

RUSH—

Fang Han closed his eyes and slowly began to circulate the Cyan Profound Technique.

Cyan-gold Inner Qi surged through his meridians like a mighty river, capturing and refining the Medicinal Power of the Earth Essence Pill strand by strand. It converted the power into wisps of pure Inner Qi, which then flowed through his meridians and poured into the acupoint not yet completely filled with Inner Qi—the Dicang Acupoint.

The Dicang Acupoint was already over ninety percent full of Inner Qi, and he could clearly feel it swelling to capacity.

With each Circulation of the Celestial Qi, his Inner Qi grew at a rate visible to the naked eye, steadily advancing toward the point of overflowing.

Time flowed by in the silence.

Outside the window, the moon rose and fell, and the sun rose and set.

Fang Han remained in his residence, never once stepping outside.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t curious about the Imperial Capital, the most prosperous city in the Great Chu Dynasty.

He wanted to see the towering city walls, to browse the shops rumored to hold countless treasures, and to witness the splendor of this magnificent city for himself.

But he knew what was more important right now.

The Martial Arts Assembly was about to begin. Every bit of improvement to his strength could help him advance further in the competition.

There would be plenty of opportunities to explore the Imperial Capital later.

Cultivation was the real priority.

In the morning, he would sit cross-legged on his bed, circulating the Cyan Profound Technique to absorb the Medicinal Power of an Earth Spirit Pill and convert it into Inner Qi.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, he similarly spent most of his time in meditation, increasing his Inner Qi.

He had used the blue-brick-paved Cultivation Field a couple of times, but only to practice his Swordsmanship for a few runs before stopping. After all, his current focus wasn’t on Swordsmanship, but on his cultivation.

Only late at night would he stop his cultivation and fall into a deep sleep, quickly recovering from the day’s accumulated fatigue.

Several days passed in this manner.

One morning, Fang Han sat cross-legged on his bed as usual, circulating the Cyan Profound Technique.

The Medicinal Power of an Earth Essence Pill was being refined, and cyan-gold Inner Qi surged through his meridians like a river.

The Dicang Acupoint was already over ninety-nine percent full of Inner Qi, and the feeling of swelling fullness had reached its absolute peak.

As another Circulation of the Heavens completed, a fresh stream of Inner Qi flowed into the Dicang Acupoint.

HUMMM—

A faint tremor that only Fang Han could perceive emanated from within the Dicang Acupoint.

At this moment, the acupoint was finally, completely full, without a single sliver of space remaining.

The overflowing Inner Qi spontaneously surged toward the next acupoint—the Baihui Acupoint.

However, the instant the Inner Qi touched the Baihui Acupoint, an invisible barrier suddenly materialized, firmly blocking the rushing current.

’The bottleneck to the Late Stage of Second Grade.’

Fang Han knew with perfect clarity that he had just hit the bottleneck for the Late Stage of Second Grade.

He didn’t grow impatient. His mind focused, he began to compress and condense the Inner Qi within his body, forming it into concentrated torrents. Following the breakthrough technique of the Cyan Profound Technique, he slammed them fiercely against the barrier outside the Baihui Acupoint.

It was only the bottleneck of a Minor Realm. He believed it wouldn’t take long to break through, and he was right.

BOOM—

The barrier trembled noticeably on the very first impact.

Fang Han’s expression remained unchanged as he guided his Inner Qi for another assault.

CRACK!

A crisp cracking sound, originating from the very depths of his being, resounded with absolute clarity in his perception, like the first crack in spring ice.

The invisible barrier before the Baihui Acupoint shattered instantly.

The immense Inner Qi he had accumulated for so long was like a flood that had finally found an outlet, surging with jubilant release into the newly opened Baihui Acupoint.

BOOM—!

In that instant, Fang Han’s aura exploded outward.

Including the Baihui Acupoint, the twenty-three now-open acupoints formed a more complex and efficient system for circulating Inner Qi.

The speed and volume of his Inner Qi flow increased dramatically. Its color grew deeper, its texture becoming as viscous as mercury. The sense of power it generated as it circulated far surpassed that of the Middle Stage of Second Grade.

A marvelous feeling of complete transformation washed over him.

’Late Stage of Second Grade. I’ve made it.’

Fang Han slowly opened his eyes. A flash of cyan-gold light glinted in their depths before slowly receding.

He gently clenched his fist, and his knuckles let out a series of crisp pops.

Feeling the increasingly vast and powerful Inner Qi within him, a faint smile touched his lips.

’The newly opened Divine Treasure...’

Fang Han centered his focus, sensing the newly opened acupoint within his body—the Baihui Acupoint.

As this acupoint opened, a brand-new Divine Treasure was unlocked as well.

With a flicker of thought, he tried to activate this Divine Treasure.

The next instant—

An unprecedented sense of clarity surged from the depths of his mind.

His reflexes became incredibly sharp, and his speed of thought and reaction time increased dramatically.

The world before him seemed to slow down, as if he were watching it in slow motion.

It wasn’t that the outside world had slowed, but that his own reaction speed had become faster.

’My reaction speed has increased.’

Fang Han muttered to himself, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.

The ability of this Divine Treasure was to enhance his reaction speed.

In battle, this meant that his opponent’s movements would appear slower to him—an extremely useful ability for a Divine Treasure.

He closed his eyes, savoring the feeling for a moment before opening them again and rising from the bed.

’Breaking through from the Middle Stage to the Late Stage of Second Grade should have increased my strength several-fold.’

Fang Han silently estimated.

This was, after all, only a Minor Realm breakthrough. The increase in strength was limited, not the kind of qualitative leap that came with breaking through a Great Realm.

However, even a several-fold enhancement was enough to elevate his strength to a level comparable to a Third Breakthrough Martial Artist.

After all, his strength had already surpassed that of a Second Breakthrough Martial Artist before, and he wasn’t far from the level of a Third Breakthrough Martial Artist.

Now, with another several-fold enhancement, he should be strong enough to contend with a Third Breakthrough Martial Artist.