Chapter 10: A Moonless Night of Murder

Inside the cave dwelling, a quiet chamber.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged and began to break through.

With the spiritual pill entering his belly, plus the continuous cultivation of Yun Miaoqing over the past half month, his cultivation quickly reached a state approaching a limit.

"Boom!"

The next second, as if stepping up a stair, Lu Yang felt a vast true qi roaring within his body, surging like rivers, greatly invigorating his spirit.

Qi Refining Second Layer!

"Before the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining there are no bottlenecks; as long as resources are sufficient, one can reach it by grinding time. But it seems I fear I have no time left."

The existence of Qingchen Fairy stirred a sense of crisis in Lu Yang.

He would not forget that in his previous life, Liu Xin had openly stormed into his cave dwelling. If Liu Xin could do it, could Qingchen Fairy not?

A cave dwelling is not reliable!

"What is truly reliable is one's own cultivation and strength!"

Thinking this, Lu Yang simply gritted his teeth, directly took out all the remaining spiritual pills, swallowed them whole like gulping food, and then summoned Yun Miaoqing.

Although doing so was somewhat wasteful, at least thirty percent of the pills' medicinal effect was wasted, but at the same time it allowed him to raise his cultivation at the fastest speed. In Lu Yang's view, as long as he could break through to the Third Layer of Qi Refining, these pills were fully utilized, not bought in vain.

Time flew; in the blink of an eye, three days and three nights passed.

During this period, Lu Yang ate and drank nothing, and almost drained Yun Miaoqing until she was limp as mud, finally feeling that he had broken through a thin barrier.

"It's done!"

Lu Yang gazed inward at his entire body, feeling vast true qi flowing through his meridians like rivers; it seemed boundless, yet in reality, no further progress was possible.

At first glance, it seemed cultivation had reached perfection here.

"This is the bottleneck."

One step further up is the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, realizing the leap from early to mid stage; placed in a Holy Sect, one could hold a certain position as an outstanding disciple.

Lu Yang did not rest, nor dare to relax, and directly took out the Primordial One Qi.

"Continue!"

The Primordial One Qi circulated; then Lu Yang manipulated his own true qi to swallow it whole, afterwards sitting and watching the true qi surge, pouring into his dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

As the Primordial One Qi was continuously consumed, Lu Yang soon felt that the bottleneck, which had previously pinned him down and was as difficult to cross as a mountain, was gradually weakened; until the Primordial One Qi was completely exhausted, that invisible bottleneck melted away like ice and snow, collapsing in an instant!

In the dim quiet chamber, Lu Yang suddenly opened his eyes.

His gaze was like torches; the empty room generated brightness.

One blink of the eyes, and another day and night passed; yet from this moment on, Lu Yang's strength had already differed from his self of a few days ago by a world of difference!

"Mid-stage Qi Refining; it is simply not the same realm as the early stage." Lu Yang felt the changes within his body, his face showing joy: "If the true qi of the early stage is a small river, then the mid-stage is an ocean! It has increased more than tenfold! Only at this step does one become a true cultivator."

In the early stage of Qi Refining, true qi was limited; all spells and divine arts had to be used sparingly.

But after advancing to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, one basically no longer needed to worry about these; ordinary spells could be cast with a casual gesture, and the consumed true qi could be replenished within a few breaths.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

Lu Yang walked out of the quiet chamber, took out a white bone flying sword, and with a thought, the flying sword instantly split into ten sword lights, enveloping the entire cave dwelling.

Whoosh—whoosh—!

In an instant, the sword lights were seen whistling fiercely; Lu Yang cast the Divine Firmament Sword Control True Art, merging his body with the sword lights, and for a moment felt his spirit and mind relaxed to the utmost.

"I owe much to Liu Xin!"

"Without this 'Primordial One Qi' that perfectly matched me, I could not have broken through; I would have been stuck at the Third Layer of Qi Refining for at least several years!"

"No wonder Liu Xin abandoned the Great Art of Yin-Yang Joy to cultivate that Primordial Dao Scripture."

"Pity its intent was not upright; using humans as medicine. After Liu Xin obtained it, he caused countless killings; everything arose from the Primordial Dao Scripture."

"Such an evil art is meant to be used by me!"

A sudden greed rose in Lu Yang's heart.

"Not yet; endure a bit more. Save it for the next life; there is plenty of time ahead."

Just as Lu Yang was pondering, suddenly he raised his eyebrows and looked toward the cave dwelling's main door, because one of the sword lights he had dispatched had just been touched.

"Someone?"

A flash of cold light instantly appeared in Lu Yang's eyes, along with a touch of relief; fortunately, he had acted decisively, willing to waste resources to break through his cultivation as quickly as possible.

If not for this, he would now be in seclusion, completely unaware of the outside world; would he not be doomed to certain death?

"This should serve as a warning..."

Thinking this, Lu Yang quickly suppressed the aura of his recent breakthrough, while his killing intent grew even stronger, like a hunter waiting quietly for prey to come.

"Click."

Accompanied by a faint sound, the cave dwelling's main door was pried open silently; immediately, three figures were seen sneaking in from outside the cave dwelling, one after another.

The three wore black clothes and masks, their true qi completely concealed. Lu Yang, hiding in the shadows, watched with admiration; if he had not already broken through and possessed higher cultivation, he feared he would not have seen through their true nature, thinking they were merely three ordinary people. This skill of concealing one's breath was truly exquisite.

"..."

The leader of the three black-clad figures made a hand gesture without speaking; the others understood immediately and quickly spread out, about to search within the cave dwelling...

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The next second, the black-clad figure at the very front felt a flash before his eyes; then a brilliant sword light, accompanied by a whistling sword cry, arrived before him!

"Not good!"

The black-clad figure's face instantly changed drastically; he had no time to defend and could only roll sideways to try to dodge, but even if a person is fast, how could they be faster than a flying sword?

Swish—!

A flash of sword light; a column of blood shot into the sky!

"Mid-stage Qi Refining!?"

The leader of the black-clad figures was clearly perceptive; from the power and quality of the sword light, he immediately saw Lu Yang's cultivation and cried out in shock on the spot.

At the same time, he cursed loudly in his heart.

Damn it, Immortal Qingchen!

Is this really a new disciple? An easy target to squeeze?

And this Lu Yang, who is clearly at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation and could have crushed the three of them at the early stage head-on, actually tried to deceive and ambush them?

There's a dog!

Seeing the sword light flying toward him, the black-clad man quickly formed a hand seal to release a beam of dark magic power to protect himself, while shouting loudly at the same time: "Misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding..."

"Boom!"

Lu Yang ignored him completely. The sword light slashed horizontally, instantly splitting the black-clad man's protective dark magic power until it was on the verge of shattering. At the same time, a surge of true energy roared out from the darkness like a terrifying tidal wave, finally transforming into a massive hand several zhang in size with clearly visible palm lines that directly seized the other black-clad man.

Splat!

The next second, the massive hand suddenly exerted force, crushing the second black-clad man until he burst apart, with bones snapping and tendons tearing, splattering red and white fluids everywhere.

Such a brutal scene made the leader of the black-clad men's eyes bulge with rage.

On the other side, Lu Yang wore a look of satisfaction.

"This Hand Seal of the Innate One Qi is truly excellent. Although it doesn't show much power against those of the same realm, it is dead accurate when used against those of a lower realm."

While pondering, the sword light did not stop.

Over a dozen sword lights were seen roaring within the cave dwelling, while the White Bone Flying Sword darted and teleported amidst the sword lights, giving the leader of the black-clad men no chance to catch his breath.

After a few breaths, the leader of the black-clad men was already exhausted. Lu Yang seized an opening and commanded his sword to strike, instantly sending another pillar of blood shooting into the sky.

"Phew! That was truly dangerous..."

After finishing all this, Lu Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the corpses and chunks of flesh scattered on the ground, he recalled the battle just now and felt a lingering sense of fear.

Strictly speaking, this was his first time killing someone.

Although the smooth combo of ambushing from the shadows was something he had practiced countless times in private, it was still his first time using it in actual combat.

"To be fair, my combat experience is far inferior to these three people. Against those of the same realm, don't say three, I might not even be able to defeat one. However, as long as I manage to ambush, seize the initiative, and force them to compete with me in raw power, I can still easily suppress them by virtue of my higher realm."

"This is why competing in magic power is inferior to competing in divine abilities, and competing in divine abilities is inferior to competing in Daoist cultivation..."

While reviewing and summarizing the valuable experience of this level-skipping challenge, Lu Yang pondered areas for improvement, believing he could surely apply it in his next life.

(End of this chapter)