Chapter 10: Night of Murder Under the Dark Moon

Inside the Cave Abode, within a quiet room.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged, beginning his charge at the bottleneck.

After swallowing the spirit pills and continuously cultivating for nearly half a month, his cultivation quickly reached a state approaching its limit.

BOOM!

In the next second, as if stepping onto a new level, Lu Yang felt a majestic surge of True Qi whistling through his body, galloping like a river, causing his spirit to soar.

Qi Refining Second Layer.

“There are no bottlenecks before the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. As long as resources are sufficient, one can achieve it just by grinding through time… but from the looks of it, I’m afraid I don’t have time.”

Fairy Qing Chen’s existence had stirred a sense of crisis in Lu Yang.

He hadn’t forgotten that in his previous life, Liu Xin had openly charged into his Cave Abode to kill him. If Liu Xin could do it, couldn’t Fairy Qing Chen do the same?

The Cave Abode was not reliable!

“The only truly reliable things are my own cultivation and strength!”

Thinking of this, Lu Yang simply gritted his teeth and took out all the remaining spirit pills, swallowing them whole. Then he summoned Yun Miaoqing.

Although doing this was a bit of a reckless waste of heaven’s gifts—at least thirty percent of the medicinal efficacy would be wasted—it allowed him to increase his cultivation at the fastest possible speed. In Lu Yang’s view, as long as he could break through to the Third Layer of Qi Refining, these spirit pills would have served their purpose and not been bought in vain.

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, three days and three nights passed.

During this period, Lu Yang neither ate nor drank. Finally, he felt himself break through a thin barrier.

“…Done!”

Lu Yang looked inside his body and felt a vast amount of True Qi flowing through his extraordinary meridians like a great river. It seemed boundless, but in reality, he could no longer make the slightest progress.

At first glance, it seemed his cultivation had reached perfection at this point.

“This is the bottleneck…”

One step further up was the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, realizing the leap from the Initial Stage to the Middle Stage. Within the Saint Sect, this was the level of an outstanding disciple capable of holding certain positions.

Lu Yang did not stop, nor did he dare to relax. He directly took out the [Primordial One Qi].

“Continue!”

He circulated the [Primordial One Qi]. Then, manipulating his own True Qi, he swallowed it in one gulp. Afterward, he sat and watched as his True Qi surged violently, rushing into his Dantian like hundreds of rivers returning to the sea.

With the continuous consumption of the [Primordial One Qi], Lu Yang quickly felt the bottleneck that had originally deadlocked him—insurmountable as a mountain—being weakened bit by bit. When the [Primordial One Qi] was completely exhausted, that invisible bottleneck dissolved like ice and snow, collapsing in an instant!

In the dim quiet room, Lu Yang abruptly opened his eyes.

His gaze was like a torch, illuminating the empty room with a white light.

Closing and opening his eyes had taken another day and night. However, from this moment on, Lu Yang’s strength was worlds apart from what it had been a few days ago!

“The Middle Stage of Qi Refining… it’s simply not in the same realm as the Initial Stage.” Lu Yang felt the changes within his body, a look of joy on his face. “If the True Qi of the Initial Stage was a small stream, then the Middle Stage is a great river! It has multiplied more than tenfold! Only at this step can one be considered a true cultivator…”

During the Initial Stage of Qi Refining, True Qi was limited, and every daoist arts and Divine Ability had to be used sparingly.

But after advancing to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, there was basically no need to worry about such things. Common technique came easily to hand, and the consumed True Qi could be replenished within a few breaths.

“Good! Good!”

Lu Yang walked out of the quiet room and took out the [White Bone Flying Sword]. With a thought, the flying sword instantly split into ten streaks of sword light, enveloping the entire Cave Abode.

Whoosh whoosh—!

Instantly, the sword light whistled with sharp intensity. Lu Yang executed the [True Art of Divine Lightning Sword Control], merging his body with the sword light. For a moment, he felt his spirit and mind stretch comfortably to the extreme.

“I have to thank Liu Xin!”

“If not for this wisp of [Primordial One Qi] that perfectly matches me, I couldn’t possibly have broken through. I would have stagnated at the Third Layer of Qi Refining for at least several years!”

“No wonder Liu Xin gave up on the [Ode of Yin-Yang Great Bliss] to cultivate that [Primordial Dao Scripture].”

“It’s a pity the intent behind it is corrupt. Using humans as medicine… I don’t know how much slaughter Liu Xin caused after obtaining it. Everything started because of the [Primordial Dao Scripture].”

“Such an evil technique… it ought to be used by me!”

A surge of greed suddenly appeared in Lu Yang’s heart.

“No rush. Endure a bit longer… I’ll deal with it in the next life. The days ahead are long…”

Just as Lu Yang was pondering, his eyebrows suddenly raised. He looked towards the main door of the Cave Abode because one of the sword lights he had sent out had just been triggered by someone.

“Someone’s here?”

A cold glint flashed in Lu Yang’s eyes, accompanied by a sense of relief. Fortunately, he had made a prompt decision, preferring to be wasteful in order to break through his cultivation as quickly as possible.

If not for that, he would currently be in secluded cultivation, completely unaware of the outside world. Wouldn’t he have been dead for sure?

“I must take this as a warning…”

Thinking of this, Lu Yang quickly concealed the aura of his recent breakthrough. The killing intent in his heart grew increasingly intense, like a hunter silently waiting for prey to come to his door.

Click.

Accompanied by a soft sound, the main door of the Cave Abode was silently pried open. Immediately after, three figures sneakily slipped in from outside, one after another.

The three wore black clothes and masks. Not a shred of their True Qi was revealed. Hiding in the dark, Lu Yang clicked his tongue in wonder. If he hadn’t already broken through to a higher cultivation level, he probably wouldn’t have been able to see through their depths and might have mistaken them for three ordinary mortals. This breath-concealing skill could be called exquisite.

“…”

The leader of the three black-robed figures made a hand gesture without speaking. The others understood immediately and quickly dispersed, preparing to search the Cave Abode…

Whoosh!

In the next second, the black-robed figure at the front felt a blur before his eyes. Then, a brilliant streak of sword light arrived in front of him, carrying the whistling cry of a sword!

“Not good!”

The black-robed man’s expression changed drastically in an instant. It was too late to defend, so he could only roll sideways in an attempt to dodge. But no matter how fast a person was, how could they be faster than a flying sword?

Shhhink—!

A flash of sword light, and a pillar of blood shot into the sky!

“Middle Stage of Qi Refining!?”

The leader of the black-robed men clearly had a sharp eye. Judging from the power and quality of the sword light, he immediately recognized Lu Yang’s cultivation and cried out on the spot.

At the same time, he was cursing loudly in his heart.

Damn you, Qing Chen!

This is a newly entered disciple? A soft persimmon easy to pinch?

And this Lu Yang—he’s clearly at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining and could completely crush the three of them at the Initial Stage in a frontal assault. Yet he actually came to deceive, came to ambush them?

Dogshit!

Seeing the sword light flying towards him, the black-robed man hurriedly formed seals to release a streak of profound light to protect himself, while shouting loudly, “Misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding…”

BOOM!

Lu Yang turned a deaf ear. The sword light slashed horizontally, instantly shattering the black-robed man’s protective light to the verge of collapse. Simultaneously, a mass of True Qi whistled and spread out in the darkness like terrifying waves, finally transforming into a massive hand several dozen feet wide with clearly visible palm prints, directly grabbing another black-robed man.

Splat!

In the next second, the large hand exerted force violently, squeezing the second black-robed man until he exploded. Tendons snapped and bones broke; red and white splatter flew everywhere.

Such a savage scene made the leader’s eyes split with rage.

On the other side, Lu Yang looked satisfied.

“This [Primordial Great Handprint] is really quite nice. Although it doesn’t show much power against the same realm, it’s accurate every time when used to strike lower realms.”

While pondering, the sword light did not stop.

More than ten streaks of sword light whistled through the cave, and the [White Bone Flying Sword] teleported and shuttled within the light, giving the leader no chance to breathe.

After a few breaths, the leader was exhausted. Lu Yang seized the opening, slashing with his sword, and instantly another pillar of blood shot into the sky.

“Phew! That was dangerous…”

After finishing all this, Lu Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the corpses and minced meat all over the floor, he felt a lingering fear recalling the battle just now.

Strictly speaking, this was his first time killing someone.

Although he had privately practiced that silky-smooth combo of hiding in the dark and ambushing countless times, this was ultimately the first time he had used it in actual combat.

“In all fairness, my combat experience is far inferior to these three. At the same realm, let alone three, I might not even be able to beat one. But as long as I manage to ambush them, seize the initiative, and force them to compete with me in raw power, I can still easily suppress them by relying on my higher realm.”

“This is exactly why competing in True Qi is inferior to competing in Divine Abilities, and competing in Divine Abilities is inferior to competing in Cultivation (realm)…”

While reviewing and summarizing the valuable experience of this challenge against superior numbers, Lu Yang thought about areas he could optimize, believing he could certainly apply them to his next life.

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