Chapter 966: The Second Stages

The ruthless training that he subjected himself to consumed Li Yu for a full month. He did not step out of his isolated courtyard and he barely slept or enjoyed food like he normally did. The days blended together into an endless cycle of mental strain and physical exhaustion. Li Yu knew his own limits were meant to be broken so he pushed past them every single day with relentless effort..

He had spent the first portion of the month focusing heavily on the Nexus Mind technique. The mental art was notoriously difficult and he struggled to cross the threshold on his own. He eventually asked the two Core Wardens for direct guidance.

Haelan and Jhyra had centuries of experience with soul manipulation and mental division. They answered questions he had and offered their own advice. The two were surprised by how quickly he was able to make progress once they began helping him.

Their direct training accelerated his progress immensely and brought a bit of pride to everyone involved. He was able to advance the Nexus Mind technique to the second level out of five by the end of the third week. The breakthrough brought an immediate sense of relief to his strained consciousness.

Each level of the technique allowed significantly less strain on his soul. It provided him with the raw mental bandwidth required for the complex multitasking he was evolving his fighting style to be. He no longer suffered from blinding migraines when he split his focus and he could maintain a calm and detached perspective while commanding multiple independent actions at once.

He immediately applied this upgraded mental capacity to his Celestial Star Sword Formation. He stood in the center of the training grounds and summoned his five majestic weapons once more. Li Yu successfully finished the initial phases of the first stage of the formation after countless hours of relentless repetition.

Silent Bastion served as the massive and immovable center of the array. The heavy rusted sword floated directly in front of him to act as a defensive anchor. The other four swords took up positions in the cardinal directions. Pale Extinction hovered to the north and Firmament's End claimed the south. Whispering Frost took the east while Gilded Calamity guarded the west.

He was able to control all five swords with much greater ease now. He walked across the courtyard and launched physical strikes with his heavy staff while his mind directed the orbiting blades. The swords weaved through the air and struck imaginary targets with much better synchronization now than he started.

Pale Extinction delivered trails of death while Whispering Frost froze was more defensive. Firmament's End provided sharpness and Gilded Calamity moved with terrifying speed. However, he knew he still was not great at using the actual formation itself. He was merely controlling five separate swords simultaneously in a rough formation. Activating the true power of the formation required much more training and practice.

That level of mastery eluded him for now but he was satisfied with his current progress. The ability to defend himself with Silent Bastion while constantly attacking from four different angles was a massive leap in his efficiency.

It was finally time for him to practice the Boundless Source Scripture technique given to him by Cangyuan. From the information given, Li Yu knew the process to the 2nd step was the most critical. It would require isolation and an extended period of deep seclusion because once he started on that step, he couldn’t stop.

He walked back to his private quarters and left a detailed note in a jade slip on the center table of the courtyard for his parents in case they returned while he was secluded. He then retreated into the deepest and most heavily reinforced meditation chamber beneath. The heavy stone doors sealed shut and locked him away from the outside world.

His mother returned to the Zhan Clan estate roughly thirteen days after Li Yu entered the meditation chamber. Zhan Tielan swept into his quarters with a tired but cheerful expression so her son wouldn’t worry. She had just returned from a brutal military campaign and her first instinct was to check on her son.

She found his quarters completely empty and she walked over to the center table and saw the jade slip he had left behind. She got his words through the jade slip and a complex mix of emotions washed over her face. She stepped outside and summoned the two Core Wardens to get a full report on his activities.

Haelan and Jhyra provided a detailed account of Li Yu's training regimen. They described his daily torture in the physical tempering chambers and his relentless pursuit of the Nexus Mind technique. They explained how he was currently sealed in seclusion to practice a technique that he didn’t tell them about.

Zhan Tielan listened to the report and smiled softly. She was proud that he was trying so hard and showing such immense dedication to his path. Her smile quickly faded into a deep and sorrowful frown though. She did not like to see him suffer so intensely.

She knew the cultivation world was a cruel meat grinder but she was a mother first and foremost towards him. If she could have it her way, he would just be enjoying himself and living a normal life. She wanted him to explore the realms and find happiness without the constant shadow of war hanging over his head. She hated that he felt the need to get stronger like this just to try to shoulder some of her burdens.

Zhan Tielan also knew she could not stop him from walking his own path so she let him continue his practice in peace. She placed a storage ring on the center table next to his note. The ring was full of cultivation resources she had gathered during her campaign. She left the estate shortly after to report back to her military command.

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His father returned ten days after that. He stepped in to find the note alongside his wife's storage ring. He did the same thing and asked the wardens and heard the exact same report. A similar scene played out as his father felt a surge of pride mixed with parental concern.

He understood the brutal necessity of strength better than anyone but he still wished his son did not have to endure such pain. He added his own storage ring full of pills to the desk before departing once again.

Li Yu was oblivious to the visits from his parents because he was trapped in a living hell of his own making. It had been a full forty days since he started practicing Cangyuan's scripture towards the second level and the process was nothing short of torture.

The technique required him to forcefully carve out a new spatial node within his own spiritual foundation. It was an incredibly delicate and violent procedure. He also had to condense his existing Qi and use it like a physical drill to bore into the very fabric of his soul and body. He cursed Cangyuan's nine generations every single day. The old man's manual did not mention how exceptionally bad the pain would be at all.

It felt exactly like his physical body was being ripped apart from the inside out while his soul was simultaneously shredded by jagged glass. Sweat poured from his skin and evaporated instantly due to the intense internal heat. His muscles spasmed violently and blood seeped from his pores as he forced the new storage space to stabilize. The agony was so bad that he nearly lost consciousness several times. He only stayed awake through stubborn willpower and a burning desire to protect his family.

If Li Yu began towards the second stage without the firm and stubborn resolve he made after returning, there was almost no way he would have kept on going. The pain was some of the worse pain he’s ever felt in his entire life and it was constant over the last 40 days.

He swore out loud that he would have to beat that old man up once he was strong enough to take him on. Cangyuan had effectively tricked him into enduring the worst pain of his entire life without any prior warning. He pushed through the final agonizing barrier and a loud cracking sound echoed through his soul space.

The pain seemed to have vanished instantly. It was replaced by a massive and overwhelming rush of pure energy. Li Yu gasped for air and collapsed onto the stone floor of the meditation chamber. He had finally made it to the second stage of the scripture.

He successfully added one additional storage node for his Qi but he was far from happy. He laid on the cold stone and examined his internal foundation as a now phantom pain continued on. He could not deny the miraculous results despite the horrific torture he had just endured.

His overall Qi reserves had effectively doubled as he reached this step, he just needed to fill it now. The new node acted as a secondary core that passively gathered and stored spiritual energy. He had already possessed an ocean of Qi that exceeded anyone else at his cultivation level and now he’s doubled it.

He slowly sat up and circulated his newfound power as the dense energy flowed through his meridians like a raging river. The volume of Qi made his skin tingle and he felt like he could fight continuously for days without ever needing to pause and recover his strength. He knew the technique had five stages in total but he immediately dismissed any thought of advancing further right now.

Reaching the third stage would take a lot more time and it would need to be done incredibly slowly. The first step was the most important, preparing his body and soul. The second step was the most violent as it was creating the first real step towards this technique and laid the foundation for the following steps. The third step and onward would take a lot of time and could only be slowly worked on. Li Yu was more than satisfied with his doubled reserves for the time being for the time being.

The heavy stone doors of the meditation chamber finally grinded open as Li Yu stepped out into the hallway and took a deep breath of the fresh circulating air. His robes were ruined and his skin was caked in dried blood and sweat. He felt entirely exhausted but his eyes burned with an undeniable power.

He walked straight to the bathing chambers within his private quarters as he stripped off his ruined clothes and submerged himself in the steaming hot water to wash away the fatigue. Li Yu scrubbed the grime and blood from his skin and let the soothing heat relax his fiercely aching muscles. He spent a full hour in the bath just staring at the ceiling and enjoying the simple feeling of being alive. The month of ruthless training and the forty days of pure agony had transformed him. Li Yu felt far more secure in his own abilities now.

He eventually stepped out of the bath and dried himself off while getting dressed in a set of clean dark robes and walked over to the center table of the courtyard. He saw the two storage rings sitting neatly next to the original note he had left behind. There were also two separate jade slips resting beneath the rings.

He picked up the jade slips and processed the warm words left by his mother and father. They expressed their pride in him and reminded him to take care of himself. Li Yu picked up the storage rings and sent a strand of Qi inside to check the contents and was surprised by the volume of rare pills and spiritual stones packed inside. His parents had left him a lot of cultivation resources.

Li Yu smiled to himself as he held the rings tightly in his hand and realized that it really was not bad to have some strong backing in this cruel world. Many rogue cultivators had to risk their lives and fight tooth and nail for every single basic resource they consumed, just as he had done before.

They bled for scraps while he received mountains of treasures simply because his family loved him. He felt a deep sense of gratitude for his parents. It meant he did not have to fight for each resource himself and he could focus on advancing his power. He safely stored the rings away and prepared to step out into the estate to see the sun once more.

The bright sunlight washed over him and he felt a renewed sense of purpose. The memories of his parents death still lingered in the back of his mind but they no longer paralyzed him with fear. He had taken concrete steps to address his own vulnerabilities. He possessed twice the Qi reserves he previously held and his mental processing speed was significantly sharper. He was steadily building the foundation required to stand alongside the towering figures of his family.

Li Yu knew the path ahead was still incredibly long and fraught with endless danger. The Myriad Realms were vast and the enemies hidden in the shadows were ancient and cunning. He did not let the scale of the universe intimidate him anymore.

He was ready to face whatever challenges came next with a calm mind and an overflowing reservoir of power. He took one final look at the training grounds before heading out to rejoin the daily life of the clan estate.