Chapter 668: Chapter 667: Advance into the Divine Border (Middle)
Transitioning from the Dragon Gate Realm to the Divine Barrier Realm fundamentally requires honing of one’s martial arts and receiving the baptism of heavenly and earthly forces, elevating both spirit and Vigorous Air to an entirely new level.
The process involves implementing an original breakthrough strategy to clear the Jade-Pillow acupoint in the brain, thus significantly enhancing one’s wisdom.
This is why, in the moment of breakthrough, martial artists at the Divine Barrier Realm gain complete stability in their spiritual power and can withstand the maximum force of martial arts.
Several months prior, Shi Xiaole had already perfected his breakthrough strategy, but the procedure was delayed due to his inadequate spiritual quality.
Now, having basked in the glow of Yiling Clan’s divine stone, his spiritual quality has reached a terrifying level. Shi Xiaole has a premonition that if he fails to achieve a breakthrough this time, he will never be able to do so in his lifetime.
Unless he abandons one or several of the great True Intents.
That would be a last resort.
Focusing his spirit and heart towards heaven, Shi Xiaole subconsciously surveys his surroundings with his spiritual power. Finding no one spying, he begins to circulate his Vigorous Air.
The Vigorous Air progresses from slow to fast, and within a quarter of an hour, it roars like four mighty rivers, raging unrestrained within his body’s meridians. Sometimes it rushes ahead in unison, other times, it splits and travels separately.
One current is emerald green, carrying the swiftness of the wind and the sharpness of a sword.
Another current is red, emitting a roaring sound that only Shi Xiaole can hear, seemingly more terrifying and evil than the wailing of ghosts in the underworld.
The third current is grey, half brimming with vitality and half heavy with a deathly aura. The mingling of life and death energies forms a reincarnation river with no beginning or end.
The last current is white, rich with illusions, as if existing between reality and nothingness, making it inscrutable.
These four currents, utterly different yet each possessing extraordinary True Intent, drive equally potent Vigorous Air. Under Shi Xiaole’s control, they flow into his inner ocean in an orderly manner.
Hum...
The green sword representing Wind Sword Way begins to vibrate, absorbing the green Vigorous Air.
The True Intents in the other three currents take form as three images, hovering over the inner ocean, receiving the onslaught of Vigorous Air.
In an instant, Shi Xiaole feels an immense weight, not a physical one, but a spiritual burden.
It is as if a mountain has been shrunk countless times, yet its weight remains unchanged, forcibly crammed into his brain.
"Hang in there."
The last time, his inner ocean showed signs of failing to hold up. This time, he merely feels weighed down.
With no distractions, Shi Xiaole manipulates the True Intent while guiding the Vigorous Air.
Gradually, Wind Sword Way resonates with the green Vigorous Air and certain associations appear between the other three True Intents and respective Vigorous Air currents.
Shi Xiaole’s breakthrough strategy is wild.
He aims to use four martial paths as pivots, dividing Vigorous Air into four to form four independent systems. Once successful, it’s as if his single body possesses fighting power four times that of others!
And by ’others’, we aren’t talking about ordinary people, but at least Terrestrial Immortals with top-tier martial arts, because even the weakest of his four martial ways are top-tier.
This breakthrough method is earth-shattering and unprecedented.
Firstly, others could not possibly possess more than two types of martial ways.
Secondly, even if they do, they would not have such an abundance of robust Vigorous Air to support the transformation of four martial ways.
For this, Shi Xiaole has to thank Ji Morou and Ren Mengzhen. Without them, there would be no Blood Yang Catalyst, and his Vigorous Air would never have reached today’s level.
Thirdly, few people possess spiritual quality comparable to Shi Xiaole, able to withstand multiple True Intents simultaneously.
Therefore, this is a breakthrough strategy that only Shi Xiaole could create and attempt. It is truly unique in the world.
The chances of success are indeed slim, but once achieved, the invincible Shi Xiaole will be in a league of his own, far surpassing his former self at the same level.
"The martial path is the seed!"
In the inner ocean, the green sword erupts with millions of dazzling lights, each one incredibly brilliant.
Around it, the green Vigorous Air gradually forms a blurry vortex, spinning faster and faster, emitting thin threads that entwine the green sword.
Strands of light pass through these threads, transmitting between the vortex and the green sword back and forth, like innumerable interconnected passageways.
On the other side, the ominous person-shaped image sits cross-legged, radiating a monstrous demonic thought. Red Vigorous Air is continuously absorbed into its body, making the outline of the image increasingly clear.
The Life and Death True Intent forms a Tai Chi diagram of Yin and Yang. Like a millstone slowly rotating, the grey Vigorous Air splits into two currents, entering the white and black semicircles respectively, merging at the center, then dispersing, displaying mysterious changes.
The image symbolizing Illusion True Intent is haziest, like a cloud or mist. After absorbing the white Vigorous Air, it expands indefinitely before rapidly condensing into a droplet of white water.
However, this droplet poses a fearsome sight. Even a single glance fills one with hallucinations and the risk of perpetual loss in boundless illusions, unable to extricate oneself.
One martial path and three True Intents are evolving and transforming unpredictably in ways unknown to the Martial World, aspiring to pierce the heavens and illuminate the sky.
Crack crack crack.
The inner ocean, steady as Mount Tai, starts to tremble. Under the pressure of one martial path and three True Intents, signs of instability appear.
Shi Xiaole pays it no mind, faithfully continuing with the breakthrough strategy.
Half a 2-hour period later.
The tremors in the sea of his mind were ten times stronger than before.
Worse still, the magnitude of the tremors was rapidly intensifying, especially as the other three True Intents transformed into Martial Ways, a sensation of pain started to ripple through Shi Xiaole’s mind, like it was being pricked by needles.
One 2-hour period.
Two 2-hour periods.
Cracks began to appear on the surface of his mental sea, which were quickly expanding. Each crack appeared and felt like thousands of needles ruthlessly jabbing Shi Xiaole’s mind.
Unbeknownst to him, his body was soaked in cold sweat, his long eyelashes trembling ceaselessly, his fists clasped tightly, the veins on the surface swollen like earthworms, seeming ready to explode at any moment.
Drops of fresh blood flowed down, dyeing the front of his green robe. He had bitten through his own lips, the faint sound of jumbled words escaped from between his clenched teeth, soft as a whisper.
"Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more."
Clearly, Shi Xiaole underestimated the combined power of one Martial Way and three True Intents.
At this stage, the safest course of action would be to instantly dissipate one or two of the True Intents. If he did that, he was 100% certain of succeeding.
And even so, after becoming a Terrestrial Immortal, Shi Xiaole would still possess strength far superior to others.
Conversely, if he forcefully congealed four Martial Ways, once his mental sea gets damaged, not only would he fail to breakthrough to the Divine Barrier Realm, but he would also suffer irreparable trauma, a regret that would last forever.
To proceed with the breakthrough or to take a step back?
"Is it truly impossible to possess four Martial Ways simultaneously?"
"But, I won’t admit defeat so easily."
For someone who is determined to reach the pinnacle of Martial Arts, the choice before him was more difficult than he anticipated.
He knew that choosing the safe path would still give him hope of standing above the rest of the world. The other path, however, was full of unknown and dangerous, but it was destined to take him even higher.
"I don’t care anymore!"
With a reddened face, Shi Xiaole gritted his teeth, hastily urged the Vigorous Air to its limit, channeling it into the four images above his mental sea.
Call him a gambler or call him irrational, but he could not deceive his own heart. Damned be it!
Crack, crack, crack...
The fissures in the mental sea kept deepening, branching off from one into multiple lines which had numerous overlapping spider-web-like cracks.
A tremendous wave of pain surged over him, almost causing Shi Xiaole to faint. His five fingers dug so deeply into his arms that they drew blood, and fresh blood was now flowing from those wounds.
Boom!
The white droplet representing Illusion True Intent, suddenly trembled massively, becoming solid from being an illusion, its surface even had patterns. The next moment, an enchanting light shot out from its interior, highlighting the droplet as if it were a crystal, dreamy and splendid.
White Vigorous Air, as if it had been summoned, gathered under the droplet, transforming into a lake and slowly flowing down.
At this very moment, Illusion True Intent evolved into Illusion Martial Way!
The pressure in the mental sea suddenly increased, violently quaking and conjuring countless illusions.
Yet at this moment, the Tai Chi Yin-Yang diagram began to rotate faster.
The two fish tails, one black and one white, split apart suddenly. Gray Vigorous Air rushed into the middle part, forming a type of luminous fan shape being drawn from it. Seeing it from above seemed like two wheels fused at the top, formed by countless rotating curved gray lights.
Life and Death True Intent, evolved into Life and Death Martial Way!
"Ah..."
Shi Xiaole let out a stifled grunt, veins popping out on his forehead, and his heart sank at the process. Because after the Life and Death Martial Way had condensed successfully, the mental sea had already begun to collapse.
"Success or failure, all depends on this time, Demon Martial Way!"
With no way to retreat, Shi Xiaole staked everything on a single throw, ignoring the collapsing mental sea and the boundless pain, forcefully condensing the last Martial Way— Demon Martial Way.
After the red Vigorous Air was input without any regard to cost, the human-shaped image starts to ripple slightly, successively forming the head, neck, shoulders...
When the legs were formed, the mental sea had already reached the brink of complete fragmentation. Once the mental fragments start to peel away, it would mean that his mentality was irreversibly damaged, moreover it was a tremendous damage.
Several figures and scenes flashed before his eyes, Shi Xiaole let out a loud roar toward the sky.
The green Vigorous Air of Wind Sword Way, the Life and Death Vigorous Air of Life and Death Martial Way, and even the Illusion Vigorous Air of Illusion Martial Way all transformed into the red Vigorous Air and thunderously penetrated into the human-shaped image.
This was another original method in his breakthrough technique. Vigorous Air can be divided into four parts and can also be concentrated for the use of one Martial Way.
Accompanied by an evil laughter, the contour of the human-shaped image became completely clear. A storm of Devilish Path intent that could shake the sky erupted, vibrating the sky above the mental sea.
The longsword resonated with it, the Tai Chi Yin-Yang diagram constantly rotated, and the droplet sprayed out infinite illusion air.
Four waves of earth-shaking intent again converged into one at the same moment, like a sweeping rainbow, it abruptly rushed toward the endless sky.
Crack.
In Shi Xiaole’s mind, a formless gateway was shattered without any resistance. It was the Jade Pillow Acupoint.
