Chapter 752: Breaking Through to Martial Emperor

Ye Xuan himself had only reached this stage because he cultivated the Profound Domain’s absurdly heaven-defying Nine Revolutions Sacred Body.

But Ye Xuan couldn’t be sure if Princess Qing’s physical body could withstand this level.

He swam around the Spirit Marrow Pool for a moment. It seemed to be incomparably vast, and with every move, Ye Xuan felt as if his entire body was being pricked by countless needles. He eventually had no choice but to stop.

‘Fine. Since Princess Qing isn’t nearby, I’ll just focus on cultivating first.’

In the end, Ye Xuan reluctantly gave up his search.

A few possibilities crossed his mind.

The first was that Princess Qing wasn’t here at all. After all, Xiao Ming and the others had only heard second-hand accounts, which weren’t necessarily true.

The second was that Princess Qing had entered but had already been torn to pieces by the Spirit Marrow Pool.

This was the possibility Ye Xuan dreaded the most.

The third possibility was that everyone entered the Spirit Marrow Pool at a different location.

After all, there were forty-nine altars, and given that the Spirit Marrow’s concentration varied between them, it stood to reason that breaking the Restriction of each altar led to a different part of the pool. Following that logic, even breaking the Restriction of the same altar multiple times might not lead to the exact same spot.

Alternatively, Princess Qing might have entered the Spirit Marrow Pool and already left at some point.

Ye Xuan considered several scenarios, but he couldn’t verify any of them right now. He had no choice but to devote himself completely to his cultivation.

Within the Spirit Marrow Pool, Ye Xuan sat cross-legged and began to cultivate with all his might.

As the needle-like Spirit Marrow Liquid entered his body and Profound Veins, he could clearly feel his body changing. Impurities seemed to be washed away by the liquid, and his body grew lighter and more nimble.

At the same time, Ye Xuan felt his Profound Veins and Profound Sea changing as well.

The Spirit Marrow Liquid seemed to be rinsing his Profound Veins again and again, washing away impurities and dross, evoking a brand-new sensation.

The sensation was simply wonderful. He didn’t know how the Spirit Marrow Liquid here was formed, but its purity was so high that it far surpassed any he had seen in his previous life. He didn’t even need to absorb it intentionally; his physical body was already undergoing a rapid metamorphosis.

However, the Spirit Marrow Liquid could only refine one’s physical body and Profound Veins. It couldn’t supply the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi that a Martial Artist needed to break through.

For Ye Xuan, however, this was not a problem.

He took out pile after pile of Mid-Grade Profound Stones from his Storage Ring. Spurred on by the Spirit Marrow Pool, they dissolved into dense Heaven and Earth Profound Qi that surged crazily into his body, so fast that he didn’t even need to absorb it intentionally.

CRACK!

Only an incense stick’s worth of time later, Ye Xuan felt his Profound Sea tremble violently, as if a barrier had been shattered. The entire Profound Sea suddenly expanded, swelling by a full circle.

‘I broke through to Tier Seven Third Layer just like that?’

Ye Xuan was pleasantly surprised.

Although he had long since reached the Peak of Tier Seven Second Layer and could have stepped into the Third Layer at any time, he hadn’t forced a breakthrough back then in order to avoid creating problems for his future cultivation.

After his recent period of combat and arduous training, upon entering the Spirit Marrow Pool, his cultivation naturally advanced to the Tier Seven Third Layer without him even needing to make a deliberate effort.

The entire process was a natural progression, with no stagnation whatsoever.

Of course, if not for the help of the Spirit Marrow Pool, breaking through in the outside world would not have been nearly this easy; it would have undoubtedly taken a great deal of effort.

But merely breaking through to the Tier Seven Third Layer was not enough to satisfy Ye Xuan.

In the Spirit Marrow Pool, Ye Xuan continued to cultivate with all his might.

WHOOSH!

The Heaven and Earth Profound Qi from a massive number of Mid-Grade Profound Stones formed a long dragon, continuously pouring into Ye Xuan’s body. Combined with the constant refinement of his physical body by the Spirit Marrow Pool, Ye Xuan’s cultivation soared at an astonishing rate.

It was no exaggeration to say his cultivation was improving at a visible rate.

Meanwhile, as Ye Xuan cultivated in the Spirit Marrow Pool, a commotion had erupted at the altars outside.

“Where’s that kid? Why is he gone?”

Ye Xuan had been cultivating in front of the altar, becoming a laughingstock for the many Martial Emperors present. As a result, someone would occasionally check on him.

No Martial Emperor witnessed the exact moment Ye Xuan entered the altar. However, a mere dozen breaths after he vanished from his spot, someone noticed he was gone.

This discovery immediately sent the entire altar area into an uproar.

“That kid couldn’t have actually broken the Restriction and entered the altar, could he?”

Some of the Martial Emperors murmured, their faces etched with disbelief.

They knew that even though they hadn’t been watching Ye Xuan constantly, if a mere Tier Seven Martial King had tried to leave the altar, they absolutely would have sensed it.

Besides, so many eyes had been on the boy.

Yet the fact remained that among everyone present, not a single person had seen Ye Xuan leave the altar. He had simply vanished from his spot. What could that possibly mean?

Though many were unwilling to believe it, only one possibility came to mind: the kid had entered the altar.

A Martial King had broken a Restriction that even Tier Eight Third Layer Martial Emperors couldn’t breach, and entered the very core of the Spirit Marrow Pool?

The mere possibility made everyone’s heart pound.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

In an instant, the Martial Emperors, who had been idly waiting on their own altars, now all swarmed madly toward the central, core altar.

The previously empty core altar was instantly surrounded, packed to the brim. One by one, these Martial Emperors began trying to break the Restriction with all their might.

In the Spirit Marrow Pool, Ye Xuan was naturally unaware of the situation outside and continued to cultivate.

At first, the Mid-Grade Profound Stones were enough to support his practice. But gradually, Ye Xuan discovered that the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi they contained was no longer sufficient.

As a cultivator of the Nine Profound World-Defying Arts, each of his breakthroughs required several, or even dozens, of times more Heaven and Earth Profound Qi than an ordinary Martial Artist.

Though the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi in the Mid-Grade Profound Stones was dense enough for an ordinary Tier Eight Martial Emperor, it was starting to fall short for Ye Xuan.

In the past, Ye Xuan might not have had a solution to this.

But having obtained so many treasures in this mysterious land, he now unhesitatingly took out a large quantity of Upper-Grade Profound Stones and began to absorb them.

These Upper-Grade Profound Stones were either loot from the Martial Emperors he had killed or from the vein he had just been mining.

They were more than enough for his cultivation.

Within the Spirit Marrow Pool, Ye Xuan’s cultivation continued to rise.

From the initial stage of the Tier Seven Third Layer, he slowly advanced to the mid-stage, and finally to the Tier Seven Triple Peak.

The initial euphoria passed.

Ye Xuan gradually entered a state of profound meditation, oblivious to his surroundings. He lost track of time, single-mindedly absorbing the Spirit Marrow Liquid from the pool and the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi from the Profound Stones, constantly raising his cultivation level.

Only when his Profound Veins were completely saturated with dense Third Layer Profound Yuan, unable to improve any further, did Ye Xuan open his eyes.

He had the urge to stand up and let out a long cry. He knew he had reached the Tier Seven Triple Peak, the very limit for a Tier Seven Martial King. All ten of his Profound Veins, including the Celestial Vein, were filled to the brim with Profound Yuan, reaching a state where he could no longer advance.

‘Tier Seven Triple Peak… I reached Tier Seven Triple Peak just like that?’

Ye Xuan murmured to himself. Although he could have broken through to the Tier Seven Third Layer at any time, reaching the Tier Seven Triple Peak would have normally taken him several months at least.

But with the help of the Spirit Marrow Pool, he had reached this realm in just a few days.

The next challenge facing Ye Xuan was the threshold to becoming a Tier Eight Martial Emperor.

‘Should I break through?’

Ye Xuan hesitated.

He still had the Emperor’s Heart Pills he had refined for Vice Director Ge in his Storage Ring. With those, plus the Spirit Marrow Pool, a large quantity of Profound Stones, and numerous Spirit Medicines, Ye Xuan was certain he had more than a fifty percent chance of breaking through to the Martial Emperor Realm.

However, he had only just reached the Tier Seven Triple Peak. To immediately push for the Martial Emperor Realm now… was such a hasty advance truly good for his future cultivation?

Ye Xuan calmed his mind and considered many things.

Only a few years had passed since his rebirth, yet he had already come this far, ready to attempt a breakthrough to the Martial Emperor Realm.

At that moment, he thought of Yun Aoxue and Xia Qixi back in the Thirteen Nations Alliance. He thought of Huangfu Xiuming, whose whereabouts were unknown. And most of all, he thought of the Yao Yue Martial Emperor.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, his determination solidified. He had to reach the highest peak as quickly as possible and find Yao Yue and the others.

True, rushing a breakthrough now might lead to some instability.

But he had the Spirit Marrow Pool to aid him here. If he left, not only was it uncertain how long it would take to attempt the breakthrough to Martial Emperor, but the loss of the pool’s assistance would be a huge blow in itself.

‘Since there are pros and cons either way, I might as well try to break through here.’

With this thought, Ye Xuan immediately took out an Emperor’s Heart Pill and swallowed it.

As soon as the Emperor’s Heart Pill entered his system, the Profound Yuan in Ye Xuan’s body began to fluctuate violently. A dense aura erupted from him as the Profound Yuan within his ten Profound Veins surged with frenzied energy.

A fluctuation of Space Law slowly began to manifest around Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan was not without experience in breaking through to the Martial Emperor Realm. Aided by the Spirit Marrow Pool, he immersed himself completely in the process, and the fluctuations of Profound Yuan around him grew increasingly intense.

The fluctuations continued for a full hour.

Suddenly—

HUMMM!

Ye Xuan felt a drastic mutation occur within his Profound Sea. This was not the simple expansion that accompanied his previous minor realm breakthroughs, but a complete and utter metamorphosis, from the inside out.

WHOOSH!

Within his Profound Sea, vast amounts of Profound Yuan surged wildly, advancing to a new level. This was a change in its very structure and essence.

“Success.”

A look of ecstasy appeared on Ye Xuan’s face. He knew he had successfully begun his breakthrough into the Martial Emperor Realm.