https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-62-Preparing-for-a-Breakthrough-The-Immortal-Sword-Formation/12575115/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-64-The-Mysterious-Grand-Array-at-the-Butian-Platform/12575117/
Chapter 63: Breakthrough to the Fusion Realm!
Chapter 63: Breakthrough to the Fusion Realm!
Chen Xuanjin's eyes widened in fear as his chest was pierced by a swirling leaf imbued with sword qi, causing the spiritual energy within his body to dissipate. He immediately escaped by expelling his Nascent Soul and fleeing towards the horizon.
In the swaying forest, Gu An calmly watched Chen Xuanjin's escape. He deliberately chose not to kill Chen Xuanjin, as doing so would only grant him an additional two or three decades of lifespan. Instead, he decided to let him go, hoping to deter the person pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Even if he killed Chen Xuanjin now, someone else would just take his place. It was like treating the symptom without addressing the root cause.
If he couldn't deter them and they continued to threaten his Xuan Valley, then Gu An would have no choice but to deal with the root of the problem himself.
Under the cover of night, Gu An's eyes turned icy cold. He turned and left, swiftly disappearing into the forest.
In the midst of the ruins, Left Sword struggled for a long time before he was finally able to stand up. He was covered in blood and dirt, looking utterly disheveled. He called out loudly for his senior, but received no response.
With no other option, he sat down cross-legged and began to heal his injuries.
Elsewhere, Gu An traveled swiftly, journeying far and wide until he had traversed a thousand miles. Only then did he finally stop to rest.
He remained hidden in the trees, lifting his robes as he sat down to meditate in front of a tree. Then, he brought up his attribute panel.
Looking at his lifespan of over ten thousand years, he took a deep breath.
Who knew how many times he would fail in his tribulation to transcend the Void Realm?
But he had made up his mind. No matter how many times he failed, he would keep trying until he succeeded!
Otherwise, he would never feel secure.
First, he decided to invest one thousand years of his lifespan.
[You have used one thousand years of your lifespan for cultivation evolution.]
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for a hundred years. With your profound mastery of the Yang Wood Mixed-Elemental Art, you forcefully charged towards the Fusion Realm and began your tribulation. However, you were unable to endure the Five Elemental Divine Thunder Tribulation, and your breakthrough failed.]
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for four hundred years. With your profound mastery of the Yang Wood Mixed-Elemental Art, you forcefully charged towards the Fusion Realm and began your tribulation. However, you were unable to endure the Five Elemental Divine Thunder Tribulation, and your breakthrough failed.]
...
Failure after failure continued.
Attempting the tribulation every three hundred years!
No wonder the Tai Xuan Sect chose to cultivate demonic arts to break through the Heavenly Mandate. This realm was incredibly difficult to surpass.
After ten consecutive failures, Gu An's heart began to tremble.
Could it be this difficult?
He had cultivated the Infinite Traceless Heavenly Steps, the Grand Yin-Yang Transformation, and had even mastered two divine abilities. Could it be that he still couldn't overcome this tribulation?
Gu An noticed that most of his tribulations seemed to be related to the five elements. Could it be that the tribulations he faced were much more difficult than those encountered by others?
After the Golden Core stage, Li Ya had once mentioned that tribulations varied depending on the cultivator. Different cultivators might face different tribulations, largely influenced by their innate talent and cultivation techniques.
Gu An's eyes narrowed.
No matter how difficult it was, he would succeed!
The heavens never spurned those who spent their wealth!
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for five thousand and four hundred years. With your profound mastery of the Yang Wood Mixed-Elemental Art, you forcefully charged towards the Fusion Realm and began your tribulation. However, you were unable to endure the Five Elemental Divine Thunder Tribulation, and your breakthrough failed.]
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for five thousand and seven hundred years. With your profound mastery of the Yang Wood Mixed-Elemental Art, you forcefully charged towards the Fusion Realm and began your tribulation. However, you were unable to endure the Five Elemental Divine Thunder Tribulation, and your breakthrough failed.]
...
The notifications of failure kept appearing.
Gu An quickly checked his attribute panel, taking comfort in the remaining years of his lifespan.
He still had plenty of leeway!
However, even after ten thousand years had passed, he still had not succeeded.
His mental fortitude was stretched to its limit, and he hastily invested another one thousand and two hundred years.
Failure!
Failure!
Failure!
Failure!
Gu An's eyes turned red with frustration, and he once again invested another one thousand and two hundred years.
Failure!
Failure!
Success!
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for nine hundred years. With your profound mastery of the Yang Wood Mixed-Elemental Art, you forcefully charged towards the Fusion Realm and began your tribulation. You endured the Five Elemental Divine Thunder Tribulation, and your breakthrough was successful. You have advanced to the first layer of the Fusion Realm.]
[You have cultivated for one thousand and two hundred years, and your cultivation has increased.]
Finally, success! Gu An exhaled in relief. It had taken him twelve thousand and four hundred years to break through successfully! Although the lifespan evolution consumed more lifespan than actual cultivation, it still made him feel the pressure.
If reaching the Fusion Realm was this challenging, what about the future realms?
But then he thought again. Considering his initial mediocre talent, it was already incredible that he had managed to reach the Fusion Realm before the age of fifty.
What he was spending wasn't his life but mere numbers!
Gu An adjusted his mindset and activated his lifespan barrier, ready to enjoy the enhancement of his cultivation.
The ground began to overflow with spiritual energy, visible to the naked eye. In less than three breaths, the ground was covered in green waves—a manifestation of wood-attribute spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy surged into his body, creating whirlwinds that encircled him.
The commotion grew louder! Gu An felt that this disturbance would be even greater than the previous ones. Although it seemed like he had only broken through to the next layer, the amount of spiritual energy required for this layer was far beyond what was needed for the previous realms.
As the spiritual energy entered his body, Gu An's cultivation level began to rise, and insights about the Fusion Realm emerged in his mind, as if he had truly experienced the years of cultivation.
...
In the outer sect's city.
Within a mansion, Chen Xuanjin's Nascent Soul hovered in front of a table, his face grim. His gaze was fixed on the ancient bronze mirror in front of him.
Soon, a blurry face appeared in the mirror, and a detached voice asked, "What is it that you want at this late hour?"
"I almost got killed by the Flying Leaf Sword Immortal... and Left Sword, he's interfering with our plans!" Chen Xuanjin gritted his teeth, his voice filled with resentment and a hint of fear.
When that leaf had pierced his body, Chen Xuanjin had felt the touch of death, and now he was terrified.
Gu An felt that if he had reacted any slower, he might have perished on the spot.
The figure in the mirror fell silent upon hearing this.
Chen Xuanjin remained quiet, waiting patiently.
After a while, Chen Xuanjin's expression changed drastically as if he had sensed something.
"The spiritual energy is sinking again!" Chen Xuanjin exclaimed, his eyes darting towards the door, fearing that the Flying Leaf Sword Immortal would come after him.
"I'll come to the outer sect myself tomorrow," the figure in the mirror said, and the image in the mirror disappeared as he finished speaking.
Chen Xuanjin turned towards the window, where the dark clouds in the sky were obscuring the moon, as if heralding the arrival of something terrifying, filling his heart with dread.
It wasn't just him who sensed the sinking spiritual energy; the entire outer sect city was stirred, and more and more disciples took to the sky.
With demonic cultivators wreaking havoc lately and disciples going missing from time to time, the sudden sinking of spiritual energy this night struck fear into everyone's hearts.
Ye Lan flew towards the Hall of Enforcement on her way, and on the way, she encountered Lu Jiujia, who was flying towards her with a stern look on his face. The two of them stopped simultaneously.
Lu Jiujia's face was cold, and upon seeing Ye Lan, he hesitated to speak.
"Is it you guys again?" Ye Lan asked expressionlessly.
Lu Jiujia shook his head. "No, the Demon-Subduing Hall has ordered us to be on alert. This time, it might really be a demonic cultivator invasion."
"Really?" Ye Lan asked sarcastically.
Lu Jiujia frowned.
Ye Lan continued, "Lu Shixiong, do you really think this is the right path? They can be cruel to other disciples, but are you sure they won't turn on you one day?"
Lu Jiujia retorted, "If not this path, then what? Are you suggesting we join the Hall of Enforcement, which might be disbanded at any moment?"
The two of them stared at each other, their gazes sharp and confrontational.
Eventually, they brushed past each other without another word.
...
The dark clouds churned, and a huge vortex appeared in the night sky, vast and overwhelming. The mountains and forests below seemed to undulate like waves, oppressively gloomy.
In a grove, hidden from prying eyes, Gu An continued to meditate.
Half an hour passed, and his cultivation continued to rise, though he had not yet broken through to the Fusion Realm.
The amount of spiritual energy required for the Fusion Realm was far greater than Gu An had anticipated.
At such a level, how terrifying would the tribulation be in reality? He suddenly felt that it didn't matter how many times he failed at the simulated tribulation, as failing once in reality could mean death.
Gu An couldn't calm his emotions as he felt his spiritual power surging.
If the Fusion Realm granted such immense spiritual power, how powerful would true immortals be?
His mind wandered, filled with infinite possibilities.
The earth's spiritual energy surged into his body, and green waves rose from the ground as if he were in the midst of an ocean.
Outside the lifespan barrier, the mountains and forests shook violently, and countless cultivators flew overhead, but none detected Gu An's presence.
His influence didn't stop there; to be precise, the entire Tai Xuan Sect was affected. The forests outside the seven outer sect cities were shaking, unsettling the Tai Xuan Sect cultivators.
This wasn't the first time Gu An had experienced this, so he remained calm, even finding the situation somewhat amusing.
Want to practice demonic arts? Want to sacrifice outer sect disciples? Let's see how you handle this! Gu An was displeased with the idea of sacrificing a few for the sake of the many, not because he was particularly noble, but because he was among those being sacrificed.
Time continued to pass.
More and more cultivators flew over Gu An's head, and he kept using his lifespan to scan them.
He encountered over ten Nascent Soul cultivators and even spotted a Void Refinement cultivator.
Indeed, the Tai Xuan Sect was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!
As he noticed more and more Void Refinement cultivators passing by, Gu An even caught sight of Gu Zong.
Gu Zong's patrol exuded a powerful aura, a stark contrast to the gentle demeanor he had shown towards Gu An. This overwhelming pressure caused all things to tremble.
This night was destined to be far from peaceful.
After about half an hour, Gu An finally broke through to the Fusion Realm, and his senses underwent a transformation.
He felt a greater harmony between his physical body and his primordial spirit, and the process of separating his spirit from his body became much easier. His control over both his physical body and primordial spirit had improved significantly.
This feeling was so wonderful that he couldn't find the words to describe it.
Upon reaching the Fusion Realm, Gu An's spiritual power also changed, becoming stronger and more vast.
His spiritual sense expanded greatly, but he refrained from actively probing, lest he disturb the powerful cultivators flying overhead.
The number of Void Refinement cultivators had exceeded ten! Gu An even spotted a Void Refinement cultivator with the surname Ji, which explained why the Ji family dared to establish a residence within the Tai Xuan Sect, and why this person hadn't shown up during Ji Xiaoyu's banquet.
Another half-hour passed, and Gu An's spiritual power growth began to slow.
This signaled that his breakthrough was coming to an end.
Gu An's heart gradually calmed.
This time, the lifespan barrier had consumed over a thousand years of his lifespan, but he didn't regret it, as the barrier had helped him evade detection by over a hundred powerful cultivators.
In his opinion, these powerful cultivators were at least at the Nascent Soul stage.
And this was just in one direction from the Tai Xuan Sect; if he counted the powerful cultivators from the other seven outer sect cities, how many more would there be? The only thing that reassured Gu An was that he hadn't seen any Fusion Realm cultivators so far.
While this didn't necessarily mean that there were none in the Tai Xuan Sect, it at least indicated that the Fusion Realm was considered a top-tier cultivation level within the sect.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
