Chapter 67: Breakthrough, Ninth Stage of Heaven!

The reason it's a trump card rather than a regular move is fundamentally because his spiritual power isn't enough!

"Reverse Fate Blade" condenses spiritual power into an invisible sharp edge; the power of its release depends on the strength of one's own spiritual power.

Chen Mu is currently at Eighth Stage Post-Heaven, his spiritual power stronger than an ordinary person's, but weak compared to the Innate Realm.

Energy Cards can only restore stamina, they cannot increase spiritual power.

To increase spiritual power, one must cultivate specialized Wu Gong, or consume specific great pills.

For example, the congratulatory gift "Divine Origin Pill" that Shen Ge presented at the He Family Fort birthday celebration!

However, great pills like the "Divine Origin Pill" rarely circulate on the market.

The entire South Cloud Prefecture has pitifully few.

With average spiritual power, the number of times one can perform "Reverse Fate Blade" is limited.

For now, it can only serve as a trump card!

……

"Huu~"

A deep breath, steadying his state of mind.

Chen Mu sat cross-legged on the ground, took the Internal Force Cards, used them one by one, and charged toward Ninth Stage of Heaven.

In the first eight stages of Post-Heaven Nine, one ceaselessly condenses internal force, hoping for growth, with few temperings of the fleshly body.

It is precisely the accumulation of the first eight stages that, by the ninth stage, internal force no longer grows as the main focus, but rather tempering!

Both the fleshly body and the internal force are tempered, the two ceaselessly fusing, achieving balance, ultimately becoming a perfect unified whole, preparing for the breakthrough to the Innate Realm.

Therefore, when charging toward Ninth Stage of Heaven, internal force consumption is greatest.

Following normal cultivation, it takes the longest time.

Chen Mu cultivates in reverse, consuming Internal Force Cards instead.

One Internal Force Card after another was used; energy spontaneously arose within the body, driving the "Rolling Cloud Art" to circulate, stimulating both the physical body and internal force for dual tempering.

This process cannot be rushed; the moment one grows impatient, balance is broken, fusion becomes impossible, and the perfect unified whole cannot be achieved.

Chen Mu had long been prepared; he settled his patience, grinding through it again and again.

Time passed.

Internal Force Cards were used one by one.

The aura on Chen Mu's body rose in an orderly fashion. Every pore on his body opened, heat radiated outward, rising and coiling like a fog.

Accompanying the tempering of the fleshly body, qi and blood boiled ceaselessly, his skin turning red.

Hoo~ hoo~

Qi swirls danced, filling the entire room.

When the first ray of light appeared on the horizon, piercing the darkness…

Hum~~!

Chen Mu's whole body shuddered, as if shaking and producing a double image.

On closer inspection, he realized it was an invisible membrane on the surface of his body, nearly invisible to the naked eye.

Internal force fused with the fleshly body, a perfect unified whole.

Ninth Stage of Heaven!

Success!

"Huu……"

Chen Mu slowly gathered his art, opened his mouth and spat out a qi arrow that shot out over ten meters.

A moment later, the boiling qi and blood returned to stillness.

The opened pores also sealed shut, no longer releasing aura outward.

"Ninth Stage of Heaven……"

"Sun Jindong, soon!"

Chen Mu lightly clenched his fist, light bursting from his eyes.

Previously he only knew Sun Jindong was at the Innate Realm, but didn't know which stage of Innate.

After the trip to He Family Fort, he confirmed Sun Jindong's specific cultivation.

Perfect Fourth Stage Innate!

About to reach Fifth Stage Innate……

To kill someone at this realm, one must at least be at Third Stage Innate oneself!

Right now Chen Mu is at Post-Heaven Nine, only one step away from the Innate Realm.

According to Shen Ge, there are three methods to break through to Innate.

The first: without the guidance of an Innate art, relying on thick internal force, repeatedly tempering, stimulating the spirit, sensing heaven and earth, using the spirit to draw the power of heaven and earth into the body, condensing internal force and transforming it into true qi.

This method takes the most time, depends most on luck, has the lowest success rate, and is basically only chosen by poor loose cultivators.

The second: with the guidance of an Innate art, cultivating the art makes it easier to sense heaven and earth, to draw the power of heaven and earth into the body, ultimately transforming internal force into true qi.

This method takes considerably less time than the first.

Of course, with the aid of an Innate Pill, the final breakthrough success rate of both methods increases by thirty percent.

The third method: breaking through with the aid of an Innate Spirit Object!

Innate Spirit Objects themselves contain the power of heaven and earth; with their aid, even without the guidance of an Innate art, one can achieve drawing qi into the body.

This method takes the shortest time and has the highest success rate.

But the problem is the chance of obtaining an Innate Spirit Object is too small.

One can only rely on fate!

However, was opportunity really that easy to come by?

The vast majority of martial artists in the world, when attempting to break through to the Innate Realm, used the first method!

Take the leader of the Great Blade Gang, Guan Tong — after Chen Mu read his memories, he had chosen the first method.

Precisely because it was so difficult, Guan Tong had sold Chen Mu for a single Innate Pill.

Now that it was Chen Mu's turn, naturally he chose the second method.

He had an Innate cultivation method!

He also had an Innate Pill!

Most importantly, he still had a True Qi Card!

Once the True Qi Card was used, the True Qi born within the body could effectively accelerate the speed at which internal force converted into True Qi!

Therefore, to attempt the Innate breakthrough, all that was lacking was a great deal of internal force.

When sufficient internal force formed a vortex in the dantian space and held for three days without dispersing, one could attempt to break through to the Innate Realm!

For this reason.

After breaking through the Ninth Stage of Heaven of the Postnatal realm, Chen Mu still had two remaining Internal Force Cards, and he didn't hold back — he used them one by one, every last one.

……

……

The sky brightened.

In Wulong Fucheng, whether the inner city or the outer city, every corner was abuzz with discussion.

The Guo family, a century-old martial arts clan, had been wiped out overnight — the shock and the ripples it caused would not settle for the next three months.

Simply because it was too stunning.

Especially those living in the inner city who had witnessed Zhao Fuzhou strike last night — that hundred-meter-long platinum sword-light — most people in the city had never seen anything like it in their entire lives.

If nothing unexpected happened, Zhao Fuzhou's sword strike would also be the most dazzling sight they would ever witness in their lifetime!

……

Chen Mu did not join in the street-corner discussions.

Near noon, Chen Mu left the city for a trip, changed into Guan Tong's clothes, put on a human-skin mask, and rode back to the Great Blade Gang headquarters on horseback.

The moment he returned, he summoned the four hall masters and the steward, and announced a closed-door retreat.

The pretext was that this trip outside had yielded an unexpected gain, and for the next half year he would be in closed-door retreat attempting to break through to the Innate Realm.

Unless there was an emergency, no one was to disturb him.

The place of retreat was the underground chamber in the rear courtyard of the headquarters.

This chamber was indeed Guan Tong's cultivation room.

However, aside from Guan Tong, no one else knew that deep within the chamber there was a secret passage!

The exit of the secret passage was a secluded little courtyard, more than two hundred meters from the Great Blade Gang headquarters.

The courtyard had long been purchased by Guan Tong and had remained uninhabited.

Therefore.

The moment he stepped into the underground chamber and shut the stone door, Chen Mu took off the human-skin mask, changed his clothes, and following the secret passage, emerged from the bottom of a dried-up well at the corner of the little courtyard.

Chen Mu had little interest in replacing Guan Tong as the leader of the Great Blade Gang.

Once Huang Feiyang broke through to the Seventh Stage of Heaven of the Postnatal realm, he would inform him and see if Huang Feiyang had any interest in taking the position.

……

The Guo family massacre remained the talk of the town for three days.

That afternoon, Chen Mu had just stepped into the External Affairs Hall's station for a few minutes when a subordinate reported that someone outside was looking for him.

Curious, Chen Mu came out of the room — it was Long Tutu paying a visit.

"Little Tutu, hey!" Chen Mu raised his hand in greeting and called out.

"I'm not good."

Long Tutu pouted her lips and spoke listlessly, "Old Chen, I'm leaving."

"Leaving?"

Chen Mu was startled, and the next moment, remembering something, blurted out, "Are you going home to go to school?"

"Eh~ how did you know?"