Chapter 82

White Ling's breakthrough this time also raised Lu Xun's pillcraft proficiency and cultivation by another notch.

His pillcraft proficiency climbed from fourth-grade earth tier all the way up, reaching fourth-grade heaven tier, then settling at fourth-grade saint tier, only one step away from fifth grade.

He failed to break through to fifth grade.

White Ling this time merely managed a first-grade pill breakthrough to saint tier, yielding a modest gain.

Moreover, pillcraft proficiency, like cultivation, requires ever greater resources the higher one goes.

Just as Chu Youqing's breakthrough to the eighth layer of Qi Gathering, with a thirtyfold return, only let Lu Xun advance from the thirtieth to the thirty-second layer of Qi Gathering.

White Ling's breakthrough this time also only raised Lu Xun by one layer, to the thirty-third layer of Qi Gathering.

"White Ling, keep consolidating; store the saint-tier pills for now, don't put them up for sale."

"Alright, boss."

White Ling is very obedient to Lu Xun's words.

Saint-tier pills are still scarce; their greatest value lies in the auction house.

If White Ling were to produce a large quantity of saint-tier pills, they could not fetch such explosive prices.

First wait for White Ling's pillcraft proficiency to improve further, enabling her to refine second- and third-grade saint-tier pills, then we'll talk.

A few days later, Princess Barbara awoke once again.

"Eh~"

"I find following you quite interesting; when this princess returns to Astra Star later, how about you stay and become my general?"

Princess Barbara lazily stretched, her starry eyes flashing with lively light.

After teaching Lu Xun a few incantations and chatting for a while, she fell back into sleep.

Recently, due to the secret realm examination, the business at the Spirit Pill Pavilion has boomed again.

White Ling specially refined some pills and battle pills that can boost combat power in a short time, placing them for sale at the Spirit Pill Pavilion.

The pills she is currently refining are still primarily heaven-tier.

Refining saint-tier pills is quite difficult; even White Ling dares not guarantee success every time.

Sometimes she clearly feels it should be saint-tier, but after it comes out of the furnace it turns out to be heaven-tier.

"Finally succeeded."

Lu Xun spent some time here and managed to refine the saint-tier Secret Aperture Pill.

Secret Aperture Pill, a third-grade pill, can help martial cultivators break through to the Third Realm.

Like the Immortal Cultivators' Foundation Establishment Pill, it is a very precious pill.

This Secret Aperture Pill is what Lu Xun prepared for Murong Wan.

After Murong Wan breaks through the tenth layer of the Sea of Qi, she can then attempt to reach the Third Realm.

Given her possession of the Linglong Treasure Body, it should not be too great a problem.

The only problem is the efficacy.

The martial cultivator's Third Realm is the Penetrating Aperture Realm, requiring the opening of all 108 secret apertures of the body.

The first layer is the Eye Aperture Realm, requiring the opening of nine eye apertures to awaken martial divine abilities.

There are many martial divine abilities of the eye apertures, such as discerning the faint with a weak candle, condensing light by spotting flaws, and observing patterns a hundred steps away—these are eye-aperture divine abilities.

Heavenly Eye and Thousand-Mile Eye, etc., are also eye-aperture divine abilities.

Ordinary people who awaken mostly gain such common eye-aperture divine abilities as discerning the faint with a weak candle and condensing light by spotting flaws, which amounts to night vision and the ability to see through others' weaknesses, granting dynamic vision.

Wanting to awaken Heavenly Eye, Thousand-Mile Eye, and the like is very difficult.

Moreover, even the same eye-aperture divine ability varies in strength.

The saint-tier Secret Aperture Pill can make Murong Wan even more formidable after she breaks through to the Third Realm.

When she becomes stronger, Lu Xun can also receive greater returns.

"Sister, pick up the phone."

However, Murong Wan has consistently not answered the phone.

"Still in seclusion?"

After Murong Wan broke through the tenth layer of the Sea of Qi, Lu Xun has never found an opportunity to give her the weapon he bought for her.

Looking at this, she might still be in seclusion now.

"Why do I keep thinking of him?"

At this moment, inside the cultivation chamber, Murong Wan's beautiful brows are tightly knit, fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead.

This time her seclusion has lasted a bit long.

After breaking through the tenth layer of the Sea of Qi, Murong Wan's original plan was to push forward in one go to the Third Realm.

But when attempting to breakthrough to the Third Realm, a problem arose.

Whenever she reached a critical moment, some stray thoughts would pop up to disturb her.

For example, some intimate scenes of her with Lu Xun.

Normally, these stray thoughts have no effect on her.

But at the critical juncture of breaking through to the Third Realm, they become somewhat troublesome.

That could cause Murong Wan's breakthrough to fail, or make the effect less significant.

After thinking it over, Murong Wan calmed her mind and breath, adjusted her emotions, and continued her meditation.

Yet the stray thoughts still appear.

Moreover, before when she didn't notice them it was fine, but now that she's aware, the more she pays attention, the more the stray thoughts increase.

Given her willpower, such a thing should not happen.

Her expression gradually became resolute, preparing to try again.

In the blink of an eye, another three days passed.

Murong Wan opened her eyes again, and there was an unshakable sorrow between her brows.

"Little Wan, are you about to break through the Third Realm?"

When Murong Wan was worried sick, her mentor came to find her.

Murong Wan's mentor is an elder of the Northern Dipper Hall, looks very much like Fu Xue, and is named Fu Yue.

In fact, she is Fu Xue's older sister, and they are twins.

However, Fu Yue keeps a low profile, and few people in the outside world know of her.

Fu Yue basically comes over every month to give Murong Wan some guidance, helping her avoid many detours.

"Yes, Master."

Murong Wan replied respectfully.

Fu Yue keenly caught the gloom between her brows: "It seems you have encountered it."

"What does Master mean?"

"Heart demon!"

Fu Yue said in a low voice.

"Heart demon?"

Murong Wan's brow twitched.

She had heard of heart demons and knew how terrifying they are.

But she is only at the Second Realm, and already has a heart demon?

With your talent, a heart demon originally had nothing to do with you, but recently the Dark Demon Clan have been releasing demonic qi everywhere; we noticed it a bit late, causing many people in the capital to encounter heart demons.

Fu Yue's expression grew grave as she explained the situation.

Dark Demon Clan!

They are a hostile alien race that possesses their own planet; in recent nodes of the Starry Sky Ancient Road, they have clashed frequently with humans.

To curb the development of Lan Xing, some Dark Demon Clan members have hidden themselves on Lan Xing, just like the Shadow Clan, and occasionally pop out to cause trouble.

Their methods are more sophisticated than those of the Shadow Clan.

The Shadow Clan specializes in assassination.

The Dark Demon Clan causes trouble by releasing something called "demonic qi".

Demonic qi actually does little harm to humans.

But if inhaled by a cultivator with a flaw in their spirit, it can possibly trigger a heart demon.

"Are those stray thoughts of mine... a heart demon?"

Murong Wan recalled what she had experienced recently.

During cultivation, fragments of her intimate moments with Lu Xun would occasionally surface, disturbing her.

Formerly, she cultivated with a mind free of stray thoughts.

She wasn't sure whether this was a heart demon.

"Little Wan, I don't know what you've encountered, but it's best to deal with the heart demon now, to avoid affecting your breakthrough to the Third Realm."

Fu Yue advised softly.

"Master, how do we resolve it?"

Murong Wan asked.

"The Heart Demon Pill is the simplest method; it can suppress the heart demon but cannot eradicate it, merely postponing the problem."

"There are also some rare spiritual herbs, such as Buddha Lotus Pure Heart Grass, that can dissolve a heart demon, but the Buddha Lotus Pure Heart Grass only grows on the Starry Sky Ancient Road."

Fu Yue explained the methods.

Murong Wan didn't rush to reply, sensing from Fu Yue's manner that there was more to come.

Sure enough, Fu Yue continued:

"The best method is still to find the source and eradicate the heart demon, after all this heart demon was triggered by demonic qi, which is easy to resolve; don't leave it for later."

"Find the source, eradicate the heart demon!"

Murong Wan's dark brows furrowed slightly.

If what she encountered is indeed a heart demon, then its source would hardly be anyone other than Lu Xun.

Then how to eradicate it?

Do we have to kill Lu Xun?

She couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Little Wan, the heart demon you encountered is probably related to your feelings, right?"

As she was pondering, Fu Yue suddenly asked.

She had figured it out!

Murong Wan gently bit her lip, struggled for a few seconds, then admitted: "Mm."

Actually, she wasn't even sure if it was a heart demon.

Calling it an emotional issue isn't entirely accurate either, because her relationship with Lu Xun is rather complex.

Toward Lu Xun, she naturally doesn't hate him; saying she loves him seems still insufficient.

After all, their association began with borrowing a child.

In short, it's quite special, complex, and tangled; she doesn't know how to handle it.

Perhaps it is precisely this that, under the influence of demonic qi, gave rise to the heart demon?