Chapter 67: Breakthrough, ninth stage of the Acquired Realm!

The reason it was a trump card rather than a common one was fundamentally because his spiritual power was insufficient!

The "Fate-Reversing Blade" condensed spiritual power into an invisible sharp blade; the power of the release depended on the strength of one’s own spiritual power.

Chen Mu was currently at the eighth stage of the Acquired Realm; his spiritual power was stronger than an ordinary person’s, but weak compared to an Innate expert.

Energy cards could only restore spirit, not increase it.

To increase spirit, one had to cultivate specialized martial arts or take specific great elixirs.

For example, the "Spirit Origin Pill" gifted by Shen Ge when he was celebrating a birthday at the He family fortress!

However, great elixirs like the "Spirit Origin Pill" were rarely circulated on the market.

The entire Nanyun Prefecture had pitifully few.

With average spiritual power, the number of times he could use the "Fate-Reversing Blade" was limited.

For now, it could only be used as a trump card!

……

"Hoo~"

Deep breath, calming his state of mind.

Chen Mu sat cross-legged on the ground, took the Internal Power cards, used them one by one, and charged toward the ninth stage of the Acquired Realm.

In the ninth stage of the Acquired Realm, the first eight stages were all about constantly refining internal power in hopes of growth, with few times dedicated to tempering the physical body.

It was precisely because of the accumulation of the first eight stages that in the ninth stage, internal power was no longer the main focus; it was tempering!

Tempering both the physical body and internal power, the two constantly fused to achieve balance, eventually becoming a unified whole, preparing for the breakthrough to the Innate realm.

Therefore, when charging toward the ninth stage of the Acquired Realm, internal power consumption was the greatest.

According to normal cultivation, it took the longest time.

Chen Mu cultivated in reverse, consuming Internal Power cards instead.

Card after card was used, energy was born out of thin air in his body, pushing the "Cloud-Rolling Technique" to run, stimulating the physical body and internal power for dual tempering.

This process could not be rushed; if rushed, the balance would be broken, and they would be unable to fuse into a unified whole.

Chen Mu had been prepared for a long time; he calmed his heart and polished the fusion over and over again.

Time passed.

Internal Power cards were used up one by one.

The aura on Chen Mu’s body rose in an orderly fashion. All the pores on his body opened, heat was released, rising and wrapping around him like mist.

Along with the tempering of the physical body, his blood and qi boiled incessantly, and his skin turned red.

Hoo~ Hoo~

Air cyclones danced, filling the entire room.

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

Hum~~!

Chen Mu’s whole body shook, as if a double image appeared from the shaking.

Looking closely, he discovered that a layer of invisible film, almost invisible to the naked eye, had appeared on the surface of his body.

Internal power fused with the physical body, becoming a unified whole.

Ninth stage of the Acquired Realm!

It was done!

"Hoo……"

Chen Mu slowly finished his cultivation, opened his mouth, and spat out an arrow of air, which shot out more than ten meters away.

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

The opened pores also closed, no longer releasing aura.

"Ninth stage of the Acquired Realm……"

"Sun Jindong, it’s almost time!"

Chen Mu clenched his fist slightly, light bursting in his eyes.

Previously, he only knew that Sun Jindong was in the Innate realm, but didn't know which stage of Innate.

He had gone to the He family fortress once and confirmed Sun Jindong’s specific cultivation.

Innate fourth stage perfection!

About to reach the Innate fifth stage……

To kill someone at this realm, he himself had to be at least at the Innate third stage!

At this moment, Chen Mu was at the ninth stage of the Acquired Realm, only one step away from the Innate realm.

According to Shen Ge, there were three ways to break through to Innate.

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

This method was the most time-consuming, relied most on luck, and had the lowest success rate; it was basically what poor rogue cultivators would choose.

The second way: with the guidance of an Innate cultivation method, cultivating the method made it easier to sense heaven and earth, draw the power of heaven and earth into the body, and finally transform internal power into true qi.

This method took much less time compared to the first.

Of course, if there was the help of an Innate Pill, the success rate of the final breakthrough for both methods would increase by thirty percent.

The third way: breaking through with the help of Innate spiritual objects!

Innate spiritual objects themselves contained the power of heaven and earth; with their help, even without the guidance of an Innate cultivation method, one could achieve the drawing of qi into the body.

This method took the least time and had the highest success rate.

But the problem was that the chance of obtaining Innate spiritual objects was too small.

It all depended on fate!

However, was fate so easy to encounter?

Most martial artists in the world used the first method when charging toward the Innate realm!

For example, the leader of the Great Blade Gang, Guan Tong; after Chen Mu read his memories, he found that he had chosen the first method.

It was precisely because it was so difficult that Guan Tong had sold Chen Mu out for an Innate Pill.

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

He had the Innate cultivation method!

He also had the Innate Pill!

Most importantly, he still had a True Qi card!

Once the True Qi card was used, the true qi born in the body could effectively accelerate the speed of internal power transforming into true qi!

Therefore, to charge toward Innate, he only lacked a large amount of internal power.

When sufficient internal power formed a cyclone in the dantian space and did not dissipate for three days, he could charge toward the Innate realm!

For this reason.

After breaking through to the ninth stage of the Houtian realm, Chen Mu still had two remaining internal energy cards. He did not hold onto them and used them all, one by one.

……

……

The sky was bright.

In Nanyun Prefecture City, whether in the inner city or the outer city, every corner was discussing it.

The Guo family, a century-old martial arts family, had been wiped out overnight; the commotion and aftermath caused would not subside for the next three months.

Simply because it was too shocking.

Especially those living in the inner city who saw Zhao Fuzhou’s strike last night; that white-gold sword glow over a hundred meters long was something most people in the city had never seen in their lives.

If there were no accidents, this strike by Zhao Fuzhou would also be the most brilliant scene they would ever see in their lives!

……

Chen Mu did not participate in the discussions on the streets and alleys.

Near noon, Chen Mu went out of the city, changed into Guan Tong’s clothes, put on the human-skin mask, and rode back to the Great Blade Gang headquarters.

The first thing he did upon returning was to summon the four hall masters and the steward to announce his seclusion.

The excuse was that he had unexpected gains from this trip and would be in seclusion for the next half year to charge toward the Innate realm.

Unless there was an emergency, he was not to be disturbed.

The location of the seclusion was in the underground secret room in the backyard of the headquarters.

This secret room was indeed Guan Tong’s cultivation room.

However, except for Guan Tong, no one else knew that there was a secret passage deep in the secret room!

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

The courtyard had long been bought by Guan Tong and had always been uninhabited.

Therefore.

The moment he entered the underground secret room and closed the stone door, Chen Mu took off the human-skin mask, changed his clothes, and followed the secret passage out from the bottom of a dry well in the corner of the small 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 the Acquired Realm, he would inform him and see if Huang Feiyang was interested in being the leader.

……

The extermination of the Guo family was the talk of the town for three days.

On the afternoon of this day, Chen Mu had only been in the Foreign Affairs Hall for a few minutes when a subordinate reported that someone was looking for him.

Out of curiosity, Chen Mu came out of the room, only to find Long Tutu had come to visit.

"Hello, little Tutu!" Chen Mu raised his hand and called out.

"I’m not good."

Long Tutu pouted and said listlessly, "Old Chen, I’m leaving."

"Leaving?"

Chen Mu was startled. The next moment, he remembered something and blurted out, "Are you going home to go to school?"

"Eh~ How did you know?"