Chapter 191: Stuck in a bottleneck
In order to be able to congeal a Zhenling entity, each martial artist had to go through a major bottleneck.
On a scale of 1 to 10, if the difficulties in entering the Zhenling realm and congealing a Zhenling were rated as 1, entering Zhenling fourth layer and congealing a Zhenling entity was to be rated 10!
For martial artists, entering the Zhenling realm was common, but only one out of ten could go forward and step into Zhenling fourth layer to congeal a Zhenling entity. Without any extraordinary talent and equally extraordinary efforts, it was impossible to enter Zhenling fourth layer.
Long Yu was an exceptionally talented person and was quite confident of himself. He was a self-made man and had gone against all odds to gain the strength that he now had.
Moreover, fate had always favored Long Yu.
Considering all these factors, entering the Zhenling fourth layer would be much easier for Long Yu than anyone else.
"The aura of this mysterious level immortality pill, Heavenly Dragon Dan, is at least ten times more than the Long Yue Jindan that I had consumed earlier..."
Long Yu thought to himself as he held the Heavenly Dragon Dan firmly in his hand while it struggled to break free of his grasp and fly away.
After making all the preparations, Long Yu finally swallowed the Heavenly Dragon Dan and immediately felt a strange power surging throughout his body, flowing through his meridians. Around 30% of the Dan's efficacy was absorbed by him, while the remainder was stored inside his nine hidden dragon mark.
Long Yu could absorb three to five times more efficacy from a Dan than any ordinary martial artist.
In other words, the effect of a single Heavenly Dragon Dan on Long Yu would be equivalent to the effect of three to five mysterious level immortality pills on an ordinary martial artist!
Because of this, he was more confident of himself being able to break through and step into the Zhenling fourth layer after absorbing this Dan.
Ever since his nine hidden dragon mark had become active, Long Yu had been absorbing several immortality pills and used them to the fullest, without wasting the slightest of their power.
Soon afterwards, Long Yu began quenching his meridians with the Ling qi released by the Dan that he had absorbed.
In Zhenling realm, the practitioners had to quench their meridians to open up the heavenly arteries in order to promote the cultivation to next level. This process was quite time-consuming.
Although Long Yu had quenched his meridians to the level of Zhenling fourth layer, if by any chance he failed to break through this bottleneck, then quenching the meridians again would be highly difficult.
Next, Long Yu started consolidating his Zhentian Sun Zhenling and Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling.
In Zhenling third layer, although both his Zhenlings were still virtual shadows, they had grown quite powerful and were now just one step away from being consolidated into Zhenling entities.
This step was to enter Zhenling fourth layer, which was an extremely difficult task to accomplish.
"Zhentian Sun Zhenling, consolidate!"
Long Yu started consolidating his Zhentian Sun first. If he succeeded in consolidating even one of his Zhenlings into an entity, his chances of winning the seven sects' competition would increase accordingly.
However, if he failed and his Zhenlings remained mere shadows, he might be overpowered by some other contestant's Zhenling entity.
"If I try to congeal Lunar Spirit Zhenling and Thunder Mine Zhenling, it might give me an extra edge. However, that would make it more difficult for me to breakthrough this bottleneck. I don't think that would be a good idea..."
Long Yu thought to himself and finally gave up the idea of congealing Lunar Spirit Zhenling and Thunder Mine Zhenling.
The most important thing for him right now was to enhance his cultivation level.
As he let the Ling qi of the Heavenly Dragon Dan completely envelope his Zhentian Sun Zhenling, the Zhenling began to gain mass rapidly. The dim parts of the Zhenling were solidifying at a tremendous speed.
Since Zhentian Sun was a principle of Huangshi level, consolidating it was comparatively simple.
Soon afterwards, the Zhentian Sun Zhenling was consolidated into a Zhenling entity!
Long Yu didn't face any difficulty in congealing Zhentian Sun entity. By this time, he had completely consumed the 30% of the efficacy of Heavenly Dragon Dan that he had absorbed.
Next, he began with consolidating his Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling into Zhenling entity, for which he was to use the Ling qi stored inside his nine hidden mark.
Consolidating the Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling would be much more difficult than it had been to consolidate the Zhentian Sun Zhenling!
The difficulty faced in consolidating a Zhenling was directly proportional to the quality of the Zhenling's principle.
The Nine Hidden Dragon principle was one of the strongest principles in the world, far more powerful than lunar charm or thunder charm!
Because of this, consolidating the nine hidden dragon Zhenling wasn't going to be easy.
"Bottleneck! It's the bottleneck!"
Long Yu felt like his brain was going to burst. He had been facing a very strong resistance which was affecting his ability to consolidate the Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling.
Apparently, he was facing this resistance because he hadn't comprehended the nine hidden dragon law.
Although he used his nine hidden dragon mark to enhance his power, had practiced nine hidden dragon burst and had even congealed Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling, he hadn't even comprehended the domain level of the nine hidden dragon law!
Long Yu had always refrained from comprehending the nine hidden dragon law for he feared it might have some devastating effect on his mind just like the Nine Hidden Dragon Zhenling.
However, it seemed now that without comprehending the nine hidden dragon law, Long Yu wouldn't be able to step inside the Zhenling fourth layer!
"What should I do now?"
Long Yu narrowed his eyes. The situation was compelling him to comprehend the nine hidden dragon law.
This couldn't be done in a short period of time.
There was still a long way to go in order to step into Zhenling fourth layer.
Long Yu was stuck in a bottleneck!
..........
The weather was clear; the sun shone brightly. All the disciples and Elders inside the Divine Valley inn were awake, gathering in the hallway.
Long Yu and Liu Yuan were no exceptions.
They had arrived together and caught the attention of several people. The news of Long Yu and Liu Yuan staying in the same room at night spread like a wildfire!
This made Long Yu feel slightly awkward. However, Liu Yuan didn't lose her composure and carried herself with poise, as if she didn't care about anyone or anything at all.
Her calm and carefree attitude was making Long Yu feel weird!
"Today is the day we all have been waiting for so eagerly. The seven sects' competition starts today. The Prince will personally receive us all."
Baiyun Zhong addressed all the disciples with a smile, "The rules for the seven sects' competition will be announced today. The competition will go on for a month. I believe we all will find our shortcomings during this month and will continue to progress."
Prince Chu Chao Sheng!
Long Yu's eyes flashed with coldness. Was this guy really going to appear today?
Although Long Yu had no idea about Chu Chao Sheng's cultivation level, he was sure that the Prince wasn't weak at all since he had injured Baiyun Zhong!
Since the Prince was going to announce the rules for the seven sects' competition that day, the presence of all the Elders and disciples from all the seven great sects was expected.
Not even a single person would miss this event!
The place where all the people were supposed to gather was called the 'Imperial Martial Arena'. This was the place where the Imperial Palace's guards trained all year long and no irrelevant person was allowed to enter. It was only during the seven sects' competition that other people were allowed to enter the arena.
The team of guards that practiced in that arena was led by Long Ce, who was also the chief of the Imperial princess's bodyguards.
Long Ce was sent flying with the nine hidden dragon fist and nine hidden dragon qi had started eroding his body. Was he the most powerful man of the Long clan?
With this thought, a smile swept across Long Yu's face.
The Long Clan wanted to kill Long Yu, but unfortunately for them, there was a constant power struggle going on inside the Tang kingdom.
This power struggle had provided Long Yu with enough time to promote his strength and emerge out as a powerful warrior.
He had no idea what methods would Chu Chao Sheng use to kill him.
The sooner he would meet him, the sooner he would come to know.
The disciples followed Baiyun Zhong on the way to the Imperial Martial Arena, attracting the attention of a lot of people. Everyone knew that the seven sects' competition was finally going to start that day.
Unfortunately, common people couldn't enter the arena to watch the matches. Only the children of influential families and formidably powerful martial artists were allowed to watch the competition!
Although just 1% of the total population of the Imperial city had entered into the Zhenling realm, the seats of the Imperial martial arena were already full.
Not only this competition was the most prestigious one in the entire Tang kingdom, this year's competition was going to decide the future of the seven great sects of the Tang kingdom.
The agreement between Prince Chu Chao Sheng and the sovereigns of the seven great sects had already gained a lot of publicity.
If the six sects lose, they would have to surrender their core laws to the Qiansi sect, but if any of the six sects won, they would get the Qiansi sect's core law.
This year, the Qiansi sect's overall strength was much more than it previously had been.
The Imperial Martial Arena was located in the western part of the Imperial city and was the largest martial arena in the entire Tang kingdom.
Soon, Baiyun Zhong reached the arena along with his seventy disciples.
As they gathered at the gate of the Imperial Martial Arena, they saw another contingent arriving there.
The Raining Sword sect!
It was a contingent of around sixty people, all uniformly clad in white silk robes, with their long swords hanging from their waists.
Leading the contingent was a middle-aged man with a very long beard and a proud face.
"Here comes the sovereign of the Raining Sword sect, Hua Yanshi."
Baiyun Zhong talked in a low voice to his disciples.
Just behind Hua Yanshi was walking a boy who appeared to be twenty years old, with his sword hanging on his back. Long Yu narrowed his eyes as he saw this boy.
Xinghai sword!
This ultra spiritual level sword had fallen in the hands of a disciple of the Raining Sword sect! Moreover, this boy was a Zhenling fourth layer disciple!
"Behind Hua Yanshi is their first core disciple, Chi Guang. He bought that sword in yesterday's auction."
Baiyun Zhong continued murmuring, "Bu Xing, be careful with him."
"Yes, teacher."
Bu Xing nodded as he looked carefully at the proud-looking boy, Chi Guang and his sword.
All the disciples of the Raining Sword sect had supercilious countenances, and they looked disdainfully towards the disciples of the Zhentian sect as they approached the gate of the arena.
This made the disciples of Zhentian sect feel a little uncomfortable. However, they soon brushed it off since they thought it would be wise to not to stoop to the Raining sword disciples' level.
The seven sects' competition was going to commence that day. The Zhentian sect's disciples could easily give a befitting reply to the Raining sword sect's disciples during the matches of the tournament!