Chapter 114: Breakthrough to the Eighth Stage of True Vital Energy!

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In the blink of an eye, Yang Ze had already spent nearly two months atop Qingyang Peak. Today, he was not cultivating martial arts; instead, he sat cross-legged in his room. A faint white true essence energy circled his body, subtly dispersing outward and forming a barely visible vortex.

At this moment, Yang Ze was positioned at the center of that blurry vortex. As his aura steadily rose, the vortex thickened and became more tangible.

Yang Ze continued to circulate the Qi Nurturing Technique, pushing it to his current limits before finally stopping, not advancing further.

At this peak, the aura emanating from him had reached the pinnacle of seventh-stage true essence energy.

With a change in his hand seal, the aura around Yang Ze suddenly rippled violently. A fierce burst of true essence energy radiated outward, forming seven true essence vortices around him.

Without hesitation, Yang Ze opened his palm. A carefully prepared Essence Cultivating Pill rested there. He swallowed it in one gulp.

As the pill entered his mouth, the black stone on his chest immediately emitted a dark glow. The energy penetrated his body, breaking down the pill and transforming it into a pure energy that coursed through his meridians.

Sensing the energy again, Yang Ze continued to activate the seventh layer of the Qi Nurturing Technique, steadily converting and absorbing it—one breath, two breaths, three...

Half an hour passed silently. The previously peaked aura around Yang Ze began to loosen and ascend to a higher realm.

He could feel a barrier within his body blocking his path to eighth-stage true essence energy. Previously, his internal energy was insufficient to break through this barrier. Today, however, he was determined to shatter it completely.

The black stone had energy left over from breaking down the Essence Cultivating Pill. Yang Ze activated his technique with full force, surging forward. His internal true essence energy circulated at unprecedented speed.

He could sense the eighth-stage true essence barrier beginning to waver. Yet, such slight weakening was still far from enough to break through.

Feeling his internal situation, Yang Ze changed his hand seal. His aura rippled once more. The seventh layer of the Perfect Qi Nurturing Technique, which he had already mastered to its peak, began to surge toward the eighth layer.

This assault lasted for half an hour without pause.

However, as time passed and repeated strikes wore on him, Yang Ze’s aura weakened slightly. Though still surpassing the seventh-stage true essence of his peers, he had yet to reach the breakthrough.

A hint of anxiety crept into Yang Ze’s heart. He cultivated the perfect version of the Qi Nurturing Technique, so his true essence was denser and stronger than others at the same level. But precisely because of this, breaking through was much more difficult. After considerable time spent, his internal energy began to show signs of decline.

Just as despair threatened to take hold, the black stone pattern on his chest, which had been silent for some time, emitted a faint, ghostly glow again.

Drawn by this light, his previously flagging aura surged anew, instantly restoring to its former level. With a stronger fluctuation, it charged toward the eighth layer.

What was once a solid bottleneck disintegrated under this attack.

His body trembled slightly. Yang Ze’s aura surged dramatically, reaching the level of eighth-stage true essence energy.

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Yang Ze had no time to ponder why the black stone had manifested its power now. Suppressing his excitement, he began circulating the eighth layer of the Qi Nurturing Technique, stabilizing his newly attained cultivation.

By the time Yang Ze calmed his internal aura, night had already fallen outside.

Exhaling a breath of stale air, Yang Ze extended his right hand. A faint white true essence swirled in his palm, coalescing into eight vortices.

With a surge of power, the eight vortices merged instantly into a single, larger vortex.

Clenching his right hand, the vortex dissipated. A gleam flickered in Yang Ze’s eyes as he rose from his meditation cushion.

Feeling the considerable increase in his strength, he was quietly pleased. He had broken through again—within less than two months since beginning his training, he had reached eighth-stage true essence energy.

This training speed was remarkable. Even if Yang Ze tried not to be arrogant, among the tens of thousands of registered disciples, few could match his pace.

Passing into the eighth-stage true essence meant he was now considered a master within the top ten residential zones for registered disciples. After all, only one or two thousand disciples in the first zone had reached eighth-stage true essence.

Moreover, his Qi Nurturing Technique was flawless, making his true essence far denser and stronger than his peers. Though he had just advanced, he regarded the veteran eighth-stage disciples with a hint of disdain.

Yet this was not his ultimate goal. Though he had broken through, the competition was drawing nearer—just over a month remained. To achieve a high ranking, eighth-stage true essence was still insufficient.

Once the joy of breakthrough faded, Yang Ze loosened the collar of his chest garment, revealing the black stone pattern branded on his chest. He looked at it with a puzzled expression.

His current fortune seemed entirely owed to this black stone. He had always overestimated its power, but now it appeared that he had yet to uncover all its abilities.

For instance, during this breakthrough, when he was about to fail, the black stone suddenly unleashed a burst of power that helped him shatter the barrier. What had been a difficult breakthrough became effortless.

A thought suddenly arose in his mind—could the black stone also aid in breakthroughs? Upon reflection, he realized that since beginning cultivation, he had never truly encountered a hard bottleneck. Each time, he had broken through smoothly.

After much contemplation, Yang Ze found no concrete evidence.

“I’ll test it again when breaking through to ninth-stage true essence to see if this black stone truly lets me ascend without any bottlenecks.”

With that thought, Yang Ze began looking forward to his next breakthrough. If he could shatter that barrier, his future might reach even higher realms. The legendary ninth-grade realm seemed within reach.

Breathing more heavily, Yang Ze quickly recited the Qi Nurturing Technique. A martial artist’s mind must never waver; otherwise, they risk falling into demonic deviation.

After calming himself, Yang Ze chose not to continue cultivating. Instead, he pondered how to enhance his combat power in the time ahead.

Suddenly, he raised his right hand and pointed his two fingers forward.

A faint circle of true essence swirled around his fingertips. The air nearby twisted, and a force seemed to gather, ready to be unleashed at any moment.

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Yang Ze’s eyes gleamed as some of his true essence concentrated on the two fingertips. Instantly, a small vortex materialized above them, floating in place.

Smiling, he retracted his fingers without releasing the power. The energy condensed on his fingertips dissipated with that gesture.

“Perfect. I never expected that with this breakthrough, my Nine Spiral Finger technique would finally reach perfection.”

Yang Ze was genuinely delighted. The black stone had provided him with the ability to cultivate the Nine Spiral Finger to perfection, but he had long been unable to achieve that realm. Now, at last, the perfected Nine Spiral Finger would be a great asset.

“Since the Nine Spiral Finger has broken through, perhaps my Great Spiral Breaking Step…” Yang Ze mused. His body shifted, and he immediately landed on the ground.

Heading toward the training hall, he activated his cultivation and began moving.

With his first step, his true essence flowed toward his feet. A faint aura circled them, pushing his speed up several notches.

Though his footwork appeared chaotic, a careful observer would notice that each step landed on precise points. Only this way could the flow of energy in his body remain unbroken, allowing his aura to strengthen with each movement.

Moreover, after a certain point, his footwork would loop back to earlier steps but in a different sequence.

As he moved continuously, his speed quickened, becoming increasingly difficult to track.

When Yang Ze’s figure left several afterimages, his aura suddenly exploded. He halted and pointed with one finger. A burst of finger force struck the training hall wall, punching a small hole.

With that finger strike, Yang Ze’s speed increased again, soon matching his previous fastest pace, which he maintained steadily.

Only after completing all the footwork sequences of the Great Spiral Breaking Step did Yang Ze stop.

He looked at the hole in the wall and nodded with satisfaction. After being improved by the black stone, the Great Spiral Breaking Step had become much more flexible. However, its difficulty had also increased significantly.

Even with the black stone’s aid, he had only reached a rudimentary mastery of the step after breaking into eighth-stage true essence.

Currently, though he had made some progress, the Great Spiral Breaking Step still fell short of his expectations.

This technique was based on circular movements, using footwork to achieve adaptability in movement. More importantly, it required executing powerful attacks while maintaining fluid mobility.

What troubled Yang Ze was how to unleash strong attacks during flexible evasions. Every time he struck, his footwork was disrupted, hindering progress in the technique.