Chapter 31: Breakthrough Failed?

Returning from the Hall of Attaining Far to his home, Fang Xu played with that strange staff in the courtyard for a while, but lacking a matching staff technique manual, he could only do some chopping and smashing motions.

After a brief moment, he noticed that the little ones inside his body had gradually stopped working, so he went back to his room and carefully sensed the tempering condition of his viscera.

Lu Zhiyuan said that when the viscera tempering reaches perfection, one can feel the existence of the body's apertures.

He had felt this a few days earlier, but since the little ones transformed from the divine servants were still meticulously polishing his viscera, he did not rush to break through.

"Take another five Blood Qi Pills." After sensing carefully for a long time, Fang Xu secretly decided to take another five Blood Qi Pills to see if his viscera tempering still needed refinement.

If it truly reaches perfection, then this Blood Qi Power shall be a reward for the divine servants, letting them devour it to strengthen themselves.

Having swallowed the five Blood Qi Pills, Fang Xu sat cross-legged on the bed, carefully feeling the changes in his body.

Time passed bit by bit until the hour of You, when the little ones enveloping his five viscera and six bowels completely stopped moving.

He could clearly feel that the Blood Qi Power transformed from the Blood Qi Pills had not been exhausted, so Fang Xu understood that at this very moment his viscera must have been completely corrected and tempered to perfection.

He slowly opened his eyes, seeing that the outside sky had already darkened, yet he did not rush to break through.

He rose and went to the courtyard, picked a piece of blood food, washed it clean and stewed it, then practiced some fist and foot techniques in the courtyard until the blood food was cooked, ate it all clean, took a shower, and returned to his room.

He dug up the Divine Extension Canon from underground, took out the remaining five Blood Qi Pills, everything was ready, and then he began preparing for the breakthrough.

With the help of the divine servant's pill and his own accumulation, Fang Xu felt that five Blood Qi Pills were enough for him to open the first aperture's secret store in one go, breaking through to the Martial Apprentice Realm.

"All things are the evolution of the Dao; the spirit is the follower of the Dao......"

Having swallowed the five Blood Qi Pills, Fang Xu slowly opened the beast skin of the Divine Extension Canon, and his whole person instantly entered the Inner Viewing State.

With the aid of the Divine Extension Canon, he could clearly "see" that all one hundred and eight apertures of his body emitted a faint light.

At the same time, a genuine feeling arose in his mind; Fang Xu knew that the aperture most suitable for him to open now was the Inner Gate Aperture located on his right arm.

The Inner Gate is located three cun above the center of the wrist crease; in his perception, among his one hundred and eight apertures, this one's barrier is the weakest.

His consciousness immediately arrived at the location of the Inner Gate aperture; Fang Xu was about to mobilize his internal Blood Qi Power to forcefully blast open the barrier of the Inner Gate aperture, when the scene before his consciousness suddenly changed!

The Inner Gate aperture, which originally emitted a faint fluorescence, suddenly expanded dramatically, and then formed a huge vortex!

Fang Xu was shocked, but before he could understand what was happening, his consciousness was directly sucked into that vortex!

The next moment, when his consciousness regained clarity, Fang Xu clearly felt that his consciousness was in a chaotic space with no distinction of front, back, left, right, up, or down!

"Is this... the space inside the aperture?"

Gazing at the slowly churning chaotic Qi around him, Fang Xu couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.

Are other people's apertures like this?

Or is it only my aperture that is like this?

As his consciousness pondered, his heart slightly stirred, he walked slowly through the void, bypassing a clump of thick chaotic Qi, and Fang Xu was suddenly stunned by the sight before him!

Gate!

A colossal stone gate spanning the space suddenly appeared before him!

The stone gate exuded an ancient, vast aura, causing Fang Xu's consciousness to tremble uncontrollably!

Standing before the stone gate and looking up, he actually felt the inferiority of an ant gazing up at a dragon.

If his consciousness had a form, he felt he would surely be staring wide-eyed and speechless.

Could it be that breaking through to the Martial Apprentice Realm requires shattering this stone gate!?

As soon as this thought arose, Fang Xu felt he was about to go mad!

He could genuinely feel that all his strength was utterly insignificant before this massive stone gate; trying to break it was no different than a mayfly shaking a tree.

What should he do now?

His consciousness halted before the stone gate, and Fang Xu fell into despair.

Whoever breaks through to the Martial Apprentice Realm would face such a heavenly chasm-like barrier?

After pondering for a long time, he looked up again at the stone gate; Fang Xu still felt unwilling, refusing to believe he was simply blocked at the threshold of the Martial Apprentice Realm.

Great men have said, all powerful enemies are paper tigers!

I want to see whether this broken gate is truly that sturdy!

Having made up his mind, he immediately mobilized all the Blood Qi Power he could muster from his whole body and blasted toward the stone gate!

The Blood Qi Power transformed from the five Blood Qi Pills, plus his past accumulations, mobilized by his consciousness, coalesced into a fist nearly a hundred zhang tall, which he hurled at that vast stone gate!

Boom!

The huge commotion rang out in this space, stirring the surrounding chaotic Qi into a tumble.

His consciousness was nearly scattered by this recoil force.

The chaotic Qi gradually subsided, and Fang Xu, enduring the pain of his consciousness being torn apart, once again looked at that stone gate.

"Heh..."

Seeing that the stone gate didn't even show a single crack, Fang Xu couldn't help but wryly smile.

Enough!

Perhaps it is fate that I can only be an ordinary person in this life.

Despair rose in his heart, and his consciousness gradually withdrew from the aperture world; just as he was preparing to return to his true body, a surging power welled up from the vortex formed by the Inner Gate aperture before him!

After this power appeared, it swiftly surged into Fang Xu's limbs and bones, beginning to slowly alter his body.

This......

Feeling the changes in his body, Fang Xu was dazed!

Has he successfully opened the aperture and broken through to the Martial Apprentice?

No way!

That stone gate clearly wasn't broken; if he had succeeded in breaking through, what is that stone gate in the aperture space?

He slightly opened his eyes, Fang Xu dubiously looked at the Divine Extension Canon before him, and suddenly noticed a sentence on it.

"Therefore, apertures should be regarded as boundaries, storing mountains, seas, and the greatness of all things......"

Could it be that the changes in my aperture are all due to this Divine Extension Canon?

Is it the Divine Extension Canon that has altered my aperture into that state?

In my previous life, Buddhism held the 'one flower, one world; one leaf, one bodhi' mustard-seed spatial theory—could it be that I truly have a world hidden within my aperture now?

Fang Xu suppressed the shock in his heart and continued reading the latter part of the Divine Extension Canon.

After painstaking study, he finally grasped the general idea: the changes in his aperture were essentially due to the Divine Extension Canon.

According to the latter part of the Divine Extension Canon, this cultivation method indeed treats the aperture as a world, dividing the aperture space into two layers—the outer layer being the reserve power that ordinary martial artists can access when breaking through.

Only beyond the stone gate lies the world spoken of in the Divine Extension Canon.

Furthermore, breaking that stone gate to open the aperture world cannot be achieved by brute force.

A cultivator must nurture a Life Artifact within the aperture; once the Life Artifact is preliminarily formed, they can then draw on its power to shatter the stone gate and successfully open the aperture world.

Seeing this, Fang Xu couldn't help but give a wry smile and shake his head.

Prior to completing organ refinement, having been admonished by the Divine Extension Canon, he had overlooked the latter part.

Because of this, when he confronted the stone gate just now, his Dao heart nearly broke.

Fortunately, he has now made a narrow breakthrough.

Feeling the changes in his body, Fang Xu couldn't help but exclaim, 'What a feeling to become a martial disciple!'

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(End of chapter)