Chapter 264 - 185: Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation, Atop the Life and Death Platform

Chapter 264: Chapter 185: Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation, Atop the Life and Death Platform

In the days that followed, Zhao Zuo dedicated most of his energy to refining the Sky-Breaking Saber into his Lifebound Magical Artifact. Fortunately, with one successful experience already under his belt, it only took him five days to transform the Sky-Breaking Saber into his Lifebound Magical Artifact.

The difference, however, was that unlike the Qilin Seal, the Sky-Breaking Saber resided in his Dantian, where it was nourished by his Mana. Moreover, Zhao Zuo discovered something quite interesting: nurturing the Sky-Breaking Saber in his Dantian was like having a cheat that ground experience points for him around the clock. It netted him twenty-five experience points every day.

’It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing...’

After successfully completing the refinement of the Sky-Breaking Saber, Zhao Zuo’s life returned to its usual routine. He spent most of his daytime hours continuing to refine Middle Grade Magical Artifacts and a smaller portion of his time practicing the Thick Earth Spirit Patterns. His nights, of course, were dedicated to the primary task of advancing his Cultivation.

Meanwhile, whenever Zhao Zuo had a spare moment, he would turn in Lower Grade Magical Artifacts for merit points. He planned to exchange them for the manual detailing the Nourishing Body stage of the Golden Fire Refining World Scripture, intending to begin that phase of his Cultivation after breaking through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation.

On November 7th, the Moonlight Pearl condensed a third wisp of Moonlight Essence.

Zhao Zuo swallowed and absorbed it, just as he had before, continuing to refine his Mana and increase its purity. He purged the trace impurities within his Mana, bringing himself to a more perfect and powerful state. Although his Cultivation hadn’t shown any obvious progress, his actual strength continued to increase steadily.

In truth, purifying the Mana within one’s body is an incredibly difficult step at any stage of Cultivation. It requires either a specific Cultivation Technique or an extremely pure form of Energy to act as a catalyst. As it happened, Moonlight Essence was one of the energies that could aid in this purification.

He absorbed the Moonlight Essence slowly and meticulously. At the same time, Zhao Zuo was also compressing his Mana.

Right now, his Mana was in a gaseous state, its most basic form.

The primary differences between the Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation realms lay in three areas.

Divine Thought, which could mobilize the Power of Heaven and Earth.

Vitality, which could extend one’s lifespan to three hundred years.

And Mana, which liquefied into True Essence and possessed even more terrifying power.

When his half-day Cultivation session ended, the Spiritual Pressure emanating from Zhao Zuo had grown even stronger. It felt like a raging tornado, seemingly possessing the terrifying force to destroy everything.

He stood up and stretched his limbs. His eyes gazed at the patterns on a distant lampstand, but his mind involuntarily turned to the duel arranged for more than twenty days from now.

This was the third challenge, and he no longer had the right to refuse. With his current abundance of Mana, he was confident he could break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation before the duel on the Life and Death Platform. At that point, no matter what trump cards his opponent held, they would be unable to overcome the gap in their Cultivation.

Zhao Zuo wasn’t contemplating how to defeat his enemy, but rather *how* he should go about it. Should he hide his strength as much as possible, or should he defeat his opponent with an overwhelming show of force?

He didn’t actually want to attract much attention, but he was also well aware that he couldn’t remain an obscure ascetic forever. One day, he would be noticed by many people and leave his life of anonymity behind. That, however, was supposed to happen after he reached Foundation Establishment; he never expected Meng Tianhua to shatter his plans.

This taught Zhao Zuo a valuable lesson: things don’t always go according to plan.

Since he was destined to reveal a certain degree of his Cultivation anyway, there was no longer a need to hide. He might as well establish a "genius" persona and attribute any irregularities about himself to talent.

Having made his decision, Zhao Zuo stood up and left his bedroom. The Fire Spirit Snake had begun hibernating two days ago. He figured that when it woke up, it would have reached the High Level of the One Tier rank. ’Among all its siblings... it’s probably the luckiest one, getting to eat Fire Series Spiritual Objects every day.’

Zhao Zuo checked on the Fire Spirit Snake. Seeing its breathing was still but its aura was rising steadily, he finally let out a sigh of relief. Theoretically, the Fire Spirit Snake shouldn’t face any bottlenecks before reaching the limits of its bloodline, nor should there be any danger during its breakthrough, but he couldn’t help but worry.

He returned to his bedroom and continued absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power to refine his Mana, striving to reach a state of perfection a few days ahead of schedule so he could face the duel from a position of greater strength.

「Fifteen days passed in the blink of an eye.」

Zhao Zuo had made the most of this time, not wasting a single moment. He had also come to understand a truth: a life of pure ascetic Cultivation would make one lose all joy in living and, eventually, lose oneself.

’I’m cultivating so hard I’m even sacrificing sleep. So what’s wrong with treating myself every now and then?!’

And so, Zhao Zuo fell in love with the Spirit Banquets at Ruyi Pavilion. He would indulge every few days, spending over one hundred Spirit Stones each time. He even got some Sound Transmission Talismans from the Ruyi Pavilion’s Shopkeeper and set up a delivery service, which allowed him to enjoy the food while also saving time.

Not much else changed during this time. Shen Yunjiao was still in seclusion, attempting to break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation. Liu Heng and Wang Yao also remained in seclusion. Chen Xiaorong had yet to return, and sometimes Zhao Zuo wondered if she had failed her breakthrough and died in the Yunlan Mountain Range.

Additionally, thanks to Zhao Zuo’s hard work, his failure rate when refining Middle Grade Magical Artifacts was now very low, with a failure occurring only once every two or three days. However, his daily limit hadn’t increased; two refinements were the absolute maximum his mental stamina could handle.

If he tried to push past that limit, his success rate would inevitably plummet.

That night, Zhao Zuo retrieved the Moonlight Pearl from the small platform, and a transparent panel appeared before him.