Chapter 277: Chapter 277: Middle Realm
October 25th.
It happened so suddenly, out of the blue—he’d never expected that the realm bottleneck, which had been teetering on the edge but refusing to break, would suddenly crack open.
Shen Hao didn’t even have time to find a secret chamber or set up any arrays, he just went straight to breaking through in his tent, clutching a handful of elixirs as he started assaulting the realm bottleneck.
The crack in the bottleneck meant that his current realm had hit its extreme limit; True Qi, meridians, sea of consciousness—all were ready to be elevated. All it took was some extra effort to widen the crack, pierce through the bottleneck completely, and he’d advance smoothly.
Of course, small realms are this easy. A breakthrough to a great realm is a whole different ballgame entirely.
But this time, Shen Hao’s Black Beast Tattoo had feasted well in the Cloud Sword Domain, devouring even late-stage Primordial Pill Realm cultivators, and Shen Hao had prepared for this for quite a while. So after the bottleneck cracked, nothing could hold him back anymore—it all fell into place.
"Crack!"
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he seemed to hear something shatter. The flow speed of True Qi in his meridians suddenly surged past some threshold, skyrocketing once more, and it was as if he’d gained new strength—restless, beginning to pulse again, expanding slowly and persistently just like before.
At last, his sea of consciousness felt like it broke free from a layer of shackles, instantly expanding a bit, and the soul power inside grew even more pure and dense.
This is a transformation—a metamorphosis from the inside out.
Soon that metamorphosis spread to Shen Hao’s physical body. It was wisps of True Qi nurtured from the meridians, moisturizing every inch of muscle, organ, bone, slowly pushing out impurities from the corners of his body, leaving a thin layer of dust-like stuff on his skin.
Normally, by the end of the night and dawn the next day, he’d be able to gather Qi and finish the practice, with the rest of the foundation to be steadied slowly later. But Shen Hao’s breakthrough this time was a bit different; even by noon the next day, he hadn’t come out of his meditation.
The guard made a round and, seeing Shen Hao stuck deep in cultivation, was startled—quickly called for the Black Banner Battalion brothers to guard the place. Wang Yiming and Liu Kuan naturally didn’t dare slack off, their swords drawn and ready in hand—anyone daring to mess things up would be chopped to death.
Tang Qingyuan, who came to watch the commotion, caught all this and just curled his lip. He could obviously see how much overacting Wang Yiming and Liu Kuan were doing.
Come on, it’s the Xuanqing Guard camp—what trouble could possibly happen?
It wasn’t until the afternoon, when the sun leaned west, that Shen Hao, exhausted, finally gathered Qi and ended his practice, standing up.
"Hoo! No need to come in, I’m fine. Just bring me some food and drinks."
Wang Yiming and Liu Kuan wanted to butter him up for some credit, but Shen Hao clearly had no patience for chit-chat, waved them off, saying to deal with any business later.
Shen Hao was genuinely wiped out.
The breakthrough was basically wrapping up by the second half of the night, but as soon as he broke through at dawn, problems came: he wanted to gather Qi and finish the practice, consolidate what he’d gained, but couldn’t do it. The Black Beast Tattoo seemed to want to "spit" out even more energy, furiously flooding the freshly expanded meridians, unstoppable, and the sea of consciousness was the same, soul power swelling nonstop.
Shen Hao was grumbling in his heart: Damn it, if you couldn’t take any more, why didn’t you show some reaction back then? I wouldn’t have eaten so much! Now you’re stuffed and puking energy into me—is that how you want to blow me up?
In the end, it wasn’t too bad—after Shen Hao smashed through the Gathering Spirit Realm Third Layer bottleneck into the Fourth Layer, his cultivation soared, and before he could even stabilize the new realm, he could already sense the next bottleneck. Hell, he hadn’t even eaten a single elixir from the handful in his grip.
The explosive surge in cultivation left Shen Hao utterly depleted—empty meridians and a body, spirit, and mind all wrung out.
Only after downing a big bowl of sour soup noodles and two meat patties did Shen Hao feel a bit better. Then he didn’t leave the tent, just sprawled out in his bedding and slept.
That sleep lasted all the way to the next morning—a full twelve hours.
He opened his eyes, washed up, and downed another huge bowl of noodles, took a deep breath, stood up, and all his joints crackled like beans in a frying pan. His mind was clear, his spirits were high, and days of tension finally eased; his tired body had gotten its rest.
"Congratulations, Lord, on your cultivation progress!"
"Congrats, Lord, on reaching new heights!"
Wang Yiming and Liu Kuan heard Shen Hao was up, so they came early and bowed in the tent, offering their congratulations. Both knew what was up—yesterday they’d already noticed something was going on, then Tang Qingyuan mentioned "yet another breakthrough," so it was clear: their lord had leveled up again.
"Haha, once this business is wrapped up, I’ll throw a banquet for you guys at Fengri City!"
Shen Hao was in high spirits. This breakthrough meant something different to him—he’d met Jiang Cheng’s expectations ahead of schedule, stepped into Gathering Spirit Realm Fourth Layer, entered the Middle Stage of the God-Gathering Realm, and barely reached the threshold for Deputy Thousand Households.
Also, since he’d now entered Gathering Spirit Realm Fourth Layer, according to what Nie Yun said, he’d reached the requirement to cultivate that "Great Five Elements Technique." Once Nie Yun swapped it back, he could improve further.
Wang Yiming and Liu Kuan expressed their thanks, chatted for a bit, Liu Kuan excused himself, but Wang Yiming stayed.
"Lord, yesterday Wang Jian from Fengri City sent a message via a covert route," Wang Yiming said, pulling a copper rod from his breast and handing it to Shen Hao.
Shen Hao took it, checked the seal was intact, but didn’t immediately open it. He looked at Wang Yiming: "Anything else?"
"There’s one more thing, uh, it’s... it’s..."
"Oh, why all the hemming and hawing? You need to borrow money?" Shen Hao was in a good mood, so he cracked a joke with Wang Yiming.
"Huh? No, no, Lord. It’s—well, um..." Wang Yiming clearly wasn’t ready for his boss’s humor, looking a bit weird, paused, then continued, "I heard something—Households Commander Wu was imprisoned by Lord Jiang yesterday."
"What?" Shen Hao’s smile vanished, visibly surprised by Wang Yiming’s news.
"My family sent word yesterday—no way it’s wrong."
Wang Yiming’s roots are in the Imperial City, and his family’s connections aren’t something someone like Shen Hao could match. If his family took the trouble to inform him, it had to be true.
"Are you worried?"
"Truthfully, Lord, yes—a bit anxious."
"No need to overthink. Though you’re with Fengri City Thousand Households Station, you’re more a Trial Hundred Households of the Black Banner Battalion. Wu Changhe being jailed won’t affect you. Alright, dismissed."
"Yes, your servant takes his leave."
As soon as Wang Yiming left, a smile tugged at Shen Hao’s mouth. Wu Changhe’s imprisonment was definitely tied to botching things at Tu Kui City this time. But Wu Changhe’s backer is Prince Shou, Yang Lin—Jiang Cheng giving Prince Shou so little face? Or is this a chance to clean out internal traitors?
