Chapter 115: Breaking the Barrier

"Last night, a murder occurred in Kaiping District. The victim was a third-rank chief judge of the Judicial Academy, along with over a dozen guards in his home. The killer's methods were extremely brutal."

Li Lei, Zhang Yuqing, Li Tianyu, and Li Fei were having dinner in the living room, listening to the news on the radio while they ate.

This was a daily habit for the Li family.

"Dad, a third-rank chief judge of the Judicial Academy was killed. Is this a very big case?"

Li Tianyu couldn't help but ask.

Li Lei looked pained: "It is quite severe. This case has been assigned to me, and my superiors want me to solve it as soon as possible."

He had now officially taken office as the captain of the First Brigade of the Inspectorate, and Huang Weiguang had retired, with Wu Yihua succeeding him as Chief Inspector.

Wu Yihua had only been in office for two days when this case occurred, and he handed it directly to Li Lei, demanding that he solve it as quickly as possible.

"Doesn't Kaiping District have many patrol points for the Inspectorate? Didn't your people catch the killer last night?"

Li Tianyu asked.

Li Lei shook his head: "The other party moved too fast. The brothers at the nearby patrol points arrived at the scene immediately, but they still couldn't block the person."

"To be able to kill over a dozen guards so quickly, the person must be a formidable martial artist. You must be careful."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuqing said to Li Lei with concern.

"Mm, don't worry. If it's truly thorny, I will apply for the Zige Academy to intervene."

Li Lei said.

Although the Zige Academy was responsible for taking over matters related to martial artists, their manpower was limited after all. If a martial artist committed a crime, the Inspectorate was still responsible at first, and they would only have the Zige Academy send people when they truly couldn't handle it.

Li Fei had been listening quietly to the three of them talking without interrupting.

After he killed Feng Zhenshan last night, he didn't stay to search the man's home because the other party had fired a signal gun in advance, and the nearby Inspectorate personnel would arrive immediately; he did not want to clash with the Inspectorate.

Therefore, he only searched Feng Zhenshan's body before leaving, finding over two thousand yuan in cash and a three-thousand-yuan deposit note from the Taijia Bank.

This deposit note was not tied to a personal national ID; whoever had the note could go to the bank to withdraw the money. It looked like a bribe someone had given to Feng Zhenshan.

Besides the money, Li Fei also took the revolver that Feng Zhenshan had obtained from who knows where.

Now he had three guns in his possession, and even more money—over sixty-four thousand yuan!

This amount of money was enough for him to cultivate all the way to the Dao Foundation realm.

"Although I am ordered to apprehend the killer."

Just as they were finishing dinner, Li Lei suddenly sighed with emotion:

"But if you ask me, that murdered third-rank chief judge of the Judicial Academy really deserved to die. A good kill!"

"You, why are you saying these things in front of the children?"

Zhang Yuqing, who was to the side, chided him and gave him a light pat.

Li Lei looked at Li Fei and Li Tianyu and smiled: "They have already grown up; they should have their own sense of right and wrong."

As he was speaking, his bowl was taken away by Li Fei.

"What are you doing?"

Li Lei looked at him.

Li Fei got up and walked toward the kitchen: "Refilling your bowl, eat a bit more."

"This child."

A smile appeared on Li Lei's face.

The next morning, Li Fei went to the Martial Arts Hall as usual to find Hao Yi for training.

As a result, he was frequently struck by Hao Yi's blade today.

"Stop."

Hao Yi suddenly withdrew his blade and looked at Li Fei with a serious gaze, "Why are you so restless today?"

Li Fei was startled, sheathed his blade, and fell silent.

Hao Yi did not urge him, waiting quietly for Li Fei to speak on his own.

"Master, I heard that breaking through from the Body Breaking realm to the Qi Transformation realm requires repeated tempering between life and death. What is the principle behind this? Must one reach the peak of the Body Breaking realm before doing this, or can one start the life-and-death tempering in advance?"

Li Fei asked.

Hao Yi looked at him and spoke slowly:

"I told you before that under intense emotional fluctuations, the implant in your body may be stimulated, thereby accelerating its growth. The implant seems to be fused with a person's body, but in reality, what affects it most is a person's spirit. Those who let their humanity be suppressed by beastly nature and eventually turn into monsters are those whose own spirits have been affected in reverse by the implant.

The key to the Qi Transformation realm is to stimulate the Innate Qi, which is a substance formed by mixing the human body's own energy, spirit, and the energy of the implant. To form it, one must use one's own spiritual will to harmonize one's own energy with the implant's energy.

Therefore, there is another name for the stage before the Body Breaking realm, called the Barrier Breaking realm."

"Barrier Breaking realm?"

Li Fei murmured, lost in thought.

Hao Yi: "The implant breaks through the obstacles formed by flesh and blood within the human body, while a martial artist must break through the barriers of the heart."

"In the earliest stages of the martial path, a martial artist must achieve a clear state of mind and unobstructed thoughts, breaking through their own heart barriers. Only then can they maximize the power of their intent, making their spirit strong enough to stimulate the Innate Qi, thereby stepping into the Qi Transformation realm and becoming a Martial Master."

"However, with the later development of the martial path, implant cultivation technology has become better and better, and various new types of elixirs have been developed, making it increasingly easier for martial artists to enter the Qi Transformation realm. Now, it is no longer necessary for a martial artist to possess such powerful spiritual strength to complete the breakthrough with the help of elixirs."

Hearing this, Li Fei had a relatively complete understanding of the Body Breaking and Qi Transformation realms, and he said:

"So there are two ways to break through from the Body Breaking realm to the Qi Transformation realm. One is to reach the peak of the Body Breaking realm, where the implant in the body is already very mature; at this time, one tempers their spiritual will through life-and-death trials and then uses elixirs to complete the breakthrough. The other way is to break through the heart barriers, making the spiritual power strong enough to complete the breakthrough?"

Hao Yi nodded: "That's right. The latter is more difficult, but the benefit is that the speed of breaking through realms will be faster, and the future ceiling will be higher. Nowadays, it's hard to find one in a hundred martial artists who break through using the second method."

Li Fei looked at him: "Master, what is a heart barrier?"

"Very simple, summarized in three words: 'Follow your heart's intent'."

"Follow your heart's intent?"

"A person lives a lifetime with countless desires and various obsessions. If one can have everything go according to their heart's desire and have unobstructed thoughts, then naturally no heart barriers exist."

"But how is that possible?"

Li Fei laughed in spite of himself.

Even that Emperor of the Great Lan Dynasty probably couldn't have everything go according to his heart's desire, right?

"Then find your greatest obsession, see through it, fulfill it, or let it go. As long as you can do that, you have broken through a layer of heart barrier, and the power of your intent will receive a great leap, thereby affecting the implant in your body and allowing you to successfully break through the realm."

Hao Yi said to Li Fei.

Li Fei was silent for a long time, then bowed deeply to Hao Yi:

"Thank you for your guidance, Master. The student has learned much."

Hao Yi looked at this student who had always satisfied him, and said:

"The barrier is within yourself; all external forces are useless, and even a master cannot help you. Let's end today's training here; you may go back."

"Yes."

Li Fei bowed to Hao Yi again, then turned and left.

Hao Yi walked to the window of the practice room, watching Li Fei walk out of the building, and just like that, he watched Li Fei walk all the way out of the Martial Arts Hall's gate until his back completely disappeared from his field of vision.

Hao Yi let out a heavy breath and withdrew his gaze.

He did not ask Li Fei why he was suddenly restless, or why he suddenly asked about life-and-death tempering.

Some paths, in the end, must be walked by the person themselves. He only hoped that his student would not end up going down the wrong path.

(End of chapter)