Chapter 3014: Chapter 3014
After that, their flying ark was flagged down every few days. In total they were “taxed” five times; each time Gu Changfeng and the old man went out to buy safe passage.
Most of the road-gangs simply took the money and left. The people bold enough to rob them were certainly strong, but none of them wanted to fight a full-scale battle against so many passengers.
Only once did the extortionists complain the fee was too low. The old man traded a single palm-strike with their leader.
That clash drew out a dozen-odd experts of the sixth- and seventh-rank Unity realm. Every bandit aboard Ye Liuyun’s ark filed out in full battle array; the second ark dispatched a matching force of equal caliber. Seeing that, the other side backed off.
“Without enough strength you can’t move an inch here—even a huge pirate fleet gets shaken down this many times,” Ye Liuyun sighed inwardly.
Li Qingyang explained it was precisely because they were an outsider convoy—and a conspicuously large one—that the local powers kept coming. Easy pickings. Lone cultivators entering the Desolate Sea world usually sailed right past these patrols.
Although no full fight broke out this time, Ye Liuyun got a better look at the First-Star pirates’ real strength. The ten they fielded were all distinctive—true heavyweights.
He finally met the leader, Chang Yuxing. The man wore a treasure that concealed his aura, but Ye Liuyun could tell he was solidly seventh-rank Unity; his soul and elemental power were far too condensed for a recent breakthrough.
Ye Liuyun stopped worrying. If things kept unfolding like this, the pirates’ full strength would surface long before they reached the treasure vault. Whenever he wasn’t needed for combat he slipped into his clone’s pocket world to condense his Primal Essence. Li Qingyang, pleased with his diligence, paid him less and less attention.
By now both Ye Liuyun and his clone had refined their Primal Essence to peak first-rank Unity quality, yet no breakthrough sign appeared.
He asked Tyrant Dragon, Sky-Cleaver and Shadowless for advice. Their consensus: the Heaven-Earth power fused into his essence was still insufficient.
He checked Tang Xinyao and the demon beasts: their elemental energy carried even less Heaven-Earth force.
Shadowless added, “Every breakthrough is different. The stronger the cultivator, the purer the essence required. With demons, general rules don’t apply.”
“All right—I’ll try.”
With no better option, he decided to weave in more Heaven-Earth power. No mentor could guide him at this stage; he could only experiment.
His recent insights sped the process. Once he focused, a torrent of Heaven-Earth force poured into his Primal Essence, aligning core and dantian closer to nature.
Now every palm he threw carried thirty percent external power—demon beasts topped out at twenty; Tang Xinyao and the rest lagged even further, forced to draw extra mid-fight.
When his own ratio hit thirty percent, a breakthrough finally stirred. Relieved, he fed primeval crystals into the Exchange Cauldron, converting them to the exact Primal Essence he needed.
Months of combat tempering, essence condensation, and Heaven-Earth infusion had prepared him so thoroughly that the actual ascension felt effortless; he simply stepped into second-rank Unity. The price was steep—over ten primeval crystals for the jump, then another six or seven to mend meridians and stabilize.
He was used to the expense; with ample stockpiles, he didn’t blink.
The moment his aura settled he hunted sparring partners. Pure Primal Essence alone let him overwhelm fourth-rank Unity cultivators, the Heaven-Earth component flowing automatically. Going all-out, he could trade front-on blows with fifth-rank foes; add spatial methods and fifth-rank generics were no threat at all.
Yet after burning through a few rounds he returned to seclusion. The Desolate Sea lay ahead; his current edge might not suffice against its unknown apex predators. Resources he’d swapped for were barely tapped, and he’d learned that many experts excelled in soul, bloodline, and other arts—so those aspects stayed on his training schedule too.He and his clones all followed the same rule: whichever aspect was weakest, they hammered that weak point with top-tier resources and accelerated training. Body-tembling rotated between本尊 and the two avatars; no one was allowed to stand still.
So, long before the shuttle slipped into the Desolate Sea world, Ye Liuyun’s soul, bloodline, flesh, profound energy, heaven-and-earth force, and spatial power had all taken a big step—his overall combat strength had climbed another full rung.
Most strikingly, his bloodline and soul strength were now solid enough to let him fight four, even five minor realms above his own without losing.
He still had little hope against freaks like Zhankong or Wuying, whose powers were just too exotic, but against Tyrant Dragon he could now suppress the brute with bloodline pressure, then stall for time with heaven-and-earth and spatial force.
After his latest breakthrough, his resonance with heaven-and-earth had grown stronger, cloaking his aura far better. When he stepped out, Liu Yan didn’t even notice the realm jump at first.
Li Qingyang, however, spotted the change instantly and quietly warned Liu Yan: once they left the shuttle, Ye Liuyun’s group was to drop to the rear of the column.
They were stopping now because the shuttle had reached the outer fringe of the Desolate Sea world; the craft was about to be stowed and they would continue on foot.
Liu Yan led Ye Liuyun and the others to the tail section of the formation.
