Chapter 43: Ch 43 Entering the new realm.

Wan Ling had once promised himself that after his breakthrough into the Qi Gathering Stage, he would never perform another breakthrough in his room. Hence, after leaving Hei Wumei’s residence, he made his way towards Ling Ling Waterfalls, more precisely, the cave where he had found Han Lie’s secrets.

Having entered the cave, he looked around to make sure nobody was inside before settling at an open area that trickled with droplets of water from those that had accumulated along the ceiling.

He then pulled out his cultivation mat from his storage ring and sat within the lotus position.

Keeping his breath steady, he closed his eyes and quietly rested his hands on his lap.

A soft sigh escaped his lips, followed by a warm blue glow near his heart.

The pure Yin energy he had already extracted began swirling within his body, sending a gust of air all around him.

Another sigh followed, then came another gush of wind that surged out of his body.

This time, the winds froze, covering the surface of the cave’s walls with shallow layers of ice and turning the temperature within the cave cold.

While this happened, Wan Ling carefully refined the pure Yin essence.

Given that they were from core disciples, they were extremely potent and harder to refine.

A single mistake and his Qi veins would be destroyed, ending his days as a Cultivator.

So, he chose a method he called sampling.

This was done by isolating the pure Yin energy he had absorbed and drawing on it bit by bit.

These bits were then refined into pure Qi, which was then assimilated into his body.

A method like this required intense care, patience, and finally, excellent Qi manipulation.

Luckily, he had all three, so he kept at it until he had enough energy to advance him into the next stage.

His body boiled with energy, his muscles tensed, and shards of ice began manifesting all around him, but he wasn’t done yet.

He had merely entered the fifth stage within the Qi Gathering Realm.

He had four more stages to go through before finally achieving a breakthrough.

Understanding this, he took a short break and looked around.

He was still alone, and the entire cave was covered in shiny ice.

Wan Ling sighed and calmly tapped the surface of said ice.

It shattered into a cold mist that washed through the cave, leaving its air cool.

Wan Ling then rose and walked to the entrance.

His skin glowed with a subtle blue light as he looked past the waterfall and noticed the morning sky.

He had left Hei Wumei’s place around noon, but given the current sky, it was now morning.

"Almost a day has passed!" he sighed and returned to his cultivation mat.

Cultivation could be extremely tedious, especially when one tried breaking into the upper realms.

A single breakthrough could last for weeks, months, years, decades, or even entire centuries.

Nobody was the same in that regard, but Wan Ling had it even harder.

For him, Cultivation was done via refining pure Yin before he could officially cultivate.

Essentially, he underwent a two-stage verification.

Both were equally long and tedious processes, so going by his previous records, Wan Ling was certain he wouldn’t be done with his breakthrough anytime soon.

"I’ll give it a month!" he concluded and sat back down.

He relaxed his muscles and calmed his mind of unnecessary thoughts before finally closing his eyes.

He then continued his refinement process, gradually turning pure Yin energy into pure Qi, which he then assimilated into his body.

Given that he didn’t yet have a core, the energy dispersed throughout his body, strengthening his bones, muscles, and organs to incredible lengths.

Like before, chilling Qi exploded out of his body and engulfed the cave in ice until he opened his eyes and shattered it once more.

Now he was in the sixth stage, but this time he took an even shorter break and quickly resumed Cultivation right after.

He then entered the seventh stage, and this time, the ice spread further than the cave and even began affecting the nearby waterfall by freezing its fall.

"Not good!"

Opening his eyes to such a sight, he stepped out and touched the frozen surface of the water body.

Under the light pressure of his hand, it shattered, and he leaped back before he could fall into the water.

Watching a few ice platforms float about, he sighed and returned to the cave to continue.

He soon entered the eighth stage, and the Qi around him had grown considerably thicker, and so had his body.

His control of the ice was also growing better because this time, the frozen state didn’t extend beyond the cave, and the waters were left untouched.

Wan Ling smiled happily at this result and summoned his system to see if his mastery of the Ice Spirit Root had gone up, but nothing had changed.

[Status]

[Name: Wan Ling]

[Age: 28]

[Cultivation Path: Dual Cultivation]

[Cultivation Rank: 8th Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm]

[Spirit Root: Eternal Frost]

[Comprehended Techniques: Yin and Yang Exchange (20%), Fairy Dance Sword Technique (15%), Master Level Alchemy (10%)]

[Comprehended Spirit Roots: Eternal Frost Heart (50%)]

[Comprehended Bloodline: Eternal Frost Heart Bloodline (50%)]

[Comprehension Points: 1840]

[System Store]

The Spirit Root and Bloodline remained the same.

The only increase was the Yin and Yang Exchange Technique.

He had already suspected this, so he wasn’t sad and focused his remaining energy on breaking through.

With the ninth stage, he decided to take a few risks and increased the amount of energy he was sampling for a faster effect.

It damaged his Qi veins slightly, but it wasn’t enough to pose a threat during his breakthrough.

Having made up his mind, he poured everything into the refinement process.

A thick burst of energy surged out of his body as his clothing began to stir upwards violently.

Wan Ling felt his body tremble as an array of changes began happening all over his body.

His skin, once pale as snow, flushed red, its surface growing veiny while blood ran down his lips.

The same blood poured out of his eyes and nose.

Meanwhile, his insides didn’t fare any better as his bones snapped, only to mend themselves back together.

Wan Ling resisted the urge to scream, holding back all the pain as another spark ignited around his heart.

The glow flashed blue, and slowly, a fragment of something began to take shape.

It was his core... a fragment of it at least.

With it came a rush of energy that burrowed into his body violently, then, with a final catastrophic explosion of Qi, everything went silent.