Chapter 95 - 91: Breakthrough

Chapter 95: Chapter 91: Breakthrough

Chen Jianghe saw that Little Black was about to break through. He directly floated up to the surface of the lake and looked down, where he could still see a faint cyan light flickering in the water.

Subsequently, he revealed his upper half above the water and cast the Small Cloud Rain Skill, creating the illusion that he was practicing Magic to cover up the anomaly at the bottom of the lake.

At the same time, his Divine Sense was tightly locked onto the Spirit Platform Mark, paying close attention to the changes as Little Black broke through.

SQUEAK SQUEAK.

Little Black’s head stretched out from his Turtle Shell, revealing an expression of pain. His four limbs were slowly growing, and grey streams of light began to fracture across them.

The faint glow emitted by the Turtle Shell completely confined the Spiritual Power of the Spirit-Encompassing Flower within his body. As time trickled by, his Physical Body grew another size larger.

Three days later.

The pain on Little Black’s face disappeared. His Turtle Shell had grown to twice its original size. Underneath such a massive body, his limbs, which had grown longer, still appeared somewhat thick and stubby.

However, one could clearly see that his four robust limbs were fractured with grey patterns. They were no longer pitch-black all over; instead, they featured blocky black spots.

Through the Spirit Platform Mark, Chen Jianghe sensed that Little Black had successfully completed his breakthrough, and he immediately dove to the bottom of the lake.

"Master, am I an adult now? It seems like I’m not an adult yet."

Little Black looked at Chen Jianghe in confusion and extended his robust claw, which bore obvious black spots.

"Doesn’t the appearance of black spots mean you’re an adult?" Chen Jianghe asked doubtfully.

"My body has reached adulthood, but I feel like I’m still young," Little Black said earnestly.

"Uh?"

Chen Jianghe was taken aback, rolling his eyes. "That’s normal. Humans who just reach adulthood feel the same way."

However, Chen Jianghe sensed that something was amiss. Little Black possessed a Third-Grade High-Class Bloodline. Logically speaking, upon reaching adulthood, he should be at the Peak of Late-Stage Tier one. Now that he had just broken through to Late-Stage Tier one, why were there already signs of adulthood? There could be no mistake about the purity of his bloodline; the bloodline aura exuded by Little Black was indeed stronger than that of a Mountain Furred Beast. Then, it was likely an anomaly with Little Black himself.

It was because of the Third Transformation Demon Ascension Technique that Little Black had raised his bloodline purity to a Third-Grade High-Class Bloodline. Therefore, the time it took for him to reach adulthood wouldn’t be normal either.

Chen Jianghe calculated silently.

Little Black was currently thirty-five years old, having just reached adulthood. Based on the normal span between a Spirit Beast’s coming-of-age and the age their vitality declined, adjusted for his lifespan multiplier... In other words, if Little Black’s vitality declined at a normal rate, it should happen around the age of eighty.

There were still forty-five years left.

Suddenly, Chen Jianghe felt the pressure shifting onto himself.

He needed to successfully achieve Foundation Establishment within forty-five years. Otherwise, it would hinder Little Black’s attempt to break through to become a Tier Two Spirit Beast. He was fifty years old now. Forty-five years meant he had to succeed in Foundation Establishment before he turned ninety-five.

"Forty-five years. That’s enough," Chen Jianghe thought.

He considered it carefully. Forty-five years was a very long time, and he might not even need that long.

If it weren’t for the bottleneck of breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Refining, he would have already reached Seventh-Layer Qi Refining four years ago. He would be completely capable of attempting Foundation Establishment at the age of seventy. Even if he had to spend several years polishing his Cultivation to overcome the bottleneck, he still wouldn’t have to wait until ninety-five for Foundation Establishment.

Furthermore, Little Black’s Cultivation improvement speed wasn’t slow either. He had cultivated to Mid-Stage Tier One in seven years, and then took another nineteen years to advance to Late-Stage Tier one.

Later on, as his profits from Talisman Painting grew higher and he provided Little Black with more Cultivation Resources, it was highly likely that Little Black would become a Tier Two Spirit Beast within forty years.

At this thought, the corners of Chen Jianghe’s mouth curled up uncontrollably.

A Tier Two Spirit Beast’s lifespan. And a turtle-type Spirit Beast at that. He couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

"Master, shoot me," Little Black suddenly sent a voice transmission, asking Chen Jianghe to attack him.

Chen Jianghe didn’t hesitate. He directly circulated his Magical Power and condensed a half-zhang-long Water Arrow. With a WHOOSH, he fiercely shot it at Little Black’s Turtle Shell.

BANG!

The Water Arrow struck the Turtle Shell, instantly cracking apart before shattering and dissolving into the lake water. Yet, it didn’t even leave a single white mark on Little Black’s Turtle Shell.

"Why are you shooting my Turtle Shell? Hit my tummy."

Little Black stood upright, pointing his short claws at his plastron—the weakest part of a Black Crystal Profound Turtle.

"Are you sure?"

Chen Jianghe asked. He was at Sixth-Layer Qi Refining, after all. A full-powered strike from him could easily carve out a small cave two meters deep.

"Mhm, mhm. I feel like my tummy right now is even harder than my carapace was before," Little Black said.

With Little Black’s assurance, Chen Jianghe felt more confident. Before Little Black broke through, he hadn’t been able to breach the defense of the Turtle Shell, so he likely wouldn’t be able to breach the plastron’s defense now either.

Immediately, Chen Jianghe condensed another Water Arrow and struck Little Black’s plastron. With a crisp CLANG, the Water Arrow shattered into pieces, leaving the plastron completely unblemished.

"This can probably rival a High-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact!" Chen Jianghe guessed inwardly.

He had never seen a High-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact and didn’t know its power, but he felt that Little Black’s plastron should be roughly comparable to one. As for the Turtle Shell, it could definitely reach the level of a High-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact.

In other words, even a Ninth-Layer Qi Refining Great Cultivator would find it extremely difficult to break through Little Black’s defenses without a High-Grade Flying Sword. Even with a High-Grade Flying Sword, they might not necessarily be able to break it.

One shouldn’t forget that Little Black also possessed the ’Petrification’ Divine Technique.

"Master, am I hard?"

"You are, which is why you need to be stewed into a soup," Chen Jianghe said with a straight face.

"Two-Legged Beast, I’m going to fight you to the death!"

Infuriated, Little Black spat out a Water Arrow, shooting it directly at Chen Jianghe.

Looking at the seemingly weak and powerless Water Arrow, it was obvious that Little Black was just playing around. However, when Chen Jianghe dodged out of the way and the Water Arrow struck the gravel at the bottom of the lake, it blasted out a deep pit measuring three feet square and over a zhang deep.

Chen Jianghe was absolutely dumbfounded. Was this a Late-Stage Tier one Spirit Beast? A casual spit packed the power of a full-blown strike from a Sixth-Layer Qi Refining cultivator. How could this be considered playing around?

Little Black was just playing around with him, but he was practically risking his life.

No wonder Spirit Beasts and Demon Beasts were vastly stronger than Cultivators of the same Realm. A Cultivator could only fight them evenly if they possessed Magical Artifacts corresponding to their Cultivation level.

It was recorded in the Yun Family Magazine that slaying a Tier Two Spirit Beast required three to five Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Even with Top-Level Spiritual Artifacts, it would still require two or three Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

The stronger Little Black’s strength was, the safer he would be when he eventually left Jingyue Lake to travel the Celestial South Domain. From when he first started nurturing Little Black to now, he had spent over two hundred Spirit Stones. Now, seeing the true strength of a Late-Stage Tier one Spirit Beast, Chen Jianghe felt it was definitely worth it.

Wasn’t this much better than a High-Grade Flying Sword?

Uh...

The safety factor was significantly higher than possessing a High-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact.

Chen Jianghe told Little Black to stay hidden at the bottom of the lake. As for raising Little Cyan Fish? He could just raise them casually; his main priority was to remain concealed.

As for the Cultivation Resources required for Little Black as a Late-Stage Tier one beast, they would be put on hold for now and made up for once they found a new place to settle. Although the negotiation process with Little Black was difficult, thanks to Chen Jianghe’s skillful use of empty promises, the result was favorable.

Back in the cabin.

Chen Jianghe didn’t immediately switch to cultivating the Ten Thousand Waters True Scripture Qi Refining Chapter. Switching Cultivation Techniques would take three to five years. He only had three years left before his planned departure from Jingyue Lake.

He needed to break through to Seventh-Layer Qi Refining within these three years. Now that the bottleneck had finally loosened a bit, he absolutely could not give up halfway. As for the Ten Thousand Waters True Scripture Qi Refining Chapter, he would deal with it after breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Refining. At that point, the time required to switch Cultivation Techniques would be much shorter compared to doing so during Mid-Stage Qi Refining.

He planned to spend five hours a day cultivating in the upcoming period to polish the bottleneck of breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Refining. The rest of his time would be spent on Talisman Painting. His mind made up, he began to execute his plan.

Time slipped by in the blink of an eye, and two years passed in a flash.

During this period, Chen Jianghe received four letters: two from Yu Daniu, one from Gao Peiyao, and one from Zhou Miaoyun.

The contents of Yu Daniu’s letters consisted of casual catch-ups and explaining why he didn’t have time to come out and meet up. Just as Chen Jianghe had predicted, Yu Daniu was cultivating the Cold Pond Body Tempering Technique and had to stay within his family constantly, leaving him with little to no time to go out.

Under the intensive grooming of the Yun Family, Yu Daniu had also obtained the Refining Spirit Cultivation Method, and his father-in-law had even managed to secure two Nourishing Spirit Pills for him. Therefore, until he broke through to Ninth-Layer Qi Refining, it would be extremely difficult for Yu Daniu to find the time to step out of the Yun Clan Territory.

Furthermore, Yun Xiaoniu had just turned twenty-eight this year and had broken through to Sixth-Layer Qi Refining. Yun Youniu, who was a year and a half younger than Yun Xiaoniu, possessed a Four-Element Pseudo Spirit Root and had also broken through to Sixth-Layer Qi Refining this year. Yun Sanniu and Yun Siniu had both cultivated to Fifth-Layer Qi Refining.

As for Yun Wuniu, his situation was somewhat special. When he was at Third-Layer Qi Refining, Yu Daniu had thrown him into Port No.1 to temper his character. According to Yu Daniu, one must cultivate their moral character before pursuing Cultivation. With Yu Daniu’s current status, he didn’t lack Cultivation Resources. As long as Yun Wuniu perfected the tempering of his character, he would receive a massive amount of resources, and with his Four-Element Pseudo Spirit Root Talent, he would be able to catch up to his older brothers in no time.

Nowadays, all of Yu Daniu’s children had become key targets for nurturing in the Yun Family. As Yu Daniu’s father-in-law reached his nineties, he gradually relinquished the authority of their branch, letting Yun Huizhen take over. Under Yun Huizhen’s strategic planning, their branch faintly showed signs of rivaling the Patriarch’s branch.

Chen Jianghe couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but it wasn’t his place to speak out.

Then came Zhou Miaoyun’s letter. She mentioned that the Zhou Family was not developing smoothly in Lotus Town and wanted Chen Jianghe to help put in some good words with Yu Daniu. Her intentions were clear and simple. The Zhou Family wanted to move back to Jingyue Lake.

As an outsider family, the Zhou Family’s attempt to establish themselves in a Cultivation Town like Lotus Town, which thrived on Spirit Field agriculture, naturally resulted in them being ostracized by the local Cultivation Families. With the rise of the Yun Family and the growing prosperity of the Jingyue Marketplace, Jingyue Lake was clearly much more promising for development.

One must know that the current territory of Jingyue Lake spanned 1,800 li Fang Yuan, which was more than double its previous size. This meant that several new towns with Tier One High-Grade Spiritual Veins now fell under the Yun Family’s jurisdiction. Zhou Miaoyun thus developed the ambition to monopolize one of these towns and wanted Chen Jianghe to help her advocate for it.

Given Yu Daniu’s current identity and status in the Yun Family, he could indeed lease a Cultivation Town to the Zhou Family at a low price. However, it wasn’t appropriate for Chen Jianghe to bring this up. The only proper way was for Zhou Miaoyun to plead with Yu Daniu first, and then Yu Daniu might seek Chen Jianghe’s opinion. If he asked, Chen Jianghe would put in a good word. Of course, if he didn’t ask, Chen Jianghe would pretend to know nothing.

He already owed Yu Daniu a huge favor, and he wasn’t going to owe him another one just for Zhou Miaoyun. He had already repaid her for her past financial support. What remained between them was merely an ordinary friendship, far inferior to his bond with Gao Peiyao. Not to mention comparing it to his bond with Yu Daniu.

Gao Peiyao’s letter was the one Chen Jianghe had just received.

He returned to the cabin, and upon opening Gao Peiyao’s letter, his brows couldn’t help but furrow deeply.