Chapter 737: A Tremendous Improvement!
Yun Yang slowly awakened from a deep sleep. After the repeated rounds of extreme torment, his physical and mental energy should have been drained; he should have felt like he was utterly depleted. However, Yun Yang only felt indescribably at ease now.
A switch of thoughts could easily summon the surge of energy within him and a slight bit of cultivation work could make his body float airily like he possessed no weight at all. It was not an uncontrollable imbalance of weightlessness, but a complete manipulation of control.
Carefully feeling the surging energy within him, the aggressive force in the past that pulsed but could not be exerted was no longer there. It felt gentle and obedient to his will, yet the actual power was a hundred times stronger than it had been before. There was no doubt about the authenticity of this feeling.
Every pore on his body could breathe on their own, inhaling and exhaling the energy of both heaven and earth. The birth of a thought could allow him to absorb the surrounding basic Qi and silently turn it into his personal reservoir of energy without any hindrances.
Yun Yang dared not believe the tremendous improvement he had experienced upon the breakthrough. He cultivated to observe himself internally, attempting to peer at the changes. What greeted him, flowing in his meridians, was not the spiritual force he originally possessed; it had turned into a special spiritual energy that was purple and endless. Even his dantian was violet in color and the inner walls of his meridians were lined with a thin purple film that felt incredibly resilient.
Yun Yang tried to maneuver the spiritual energy in his dantian only to realize with surprise that the cycle speed of the spiritual Qi within him had increased by more than ten times compared to how it had been before!
"How is this tremendous progress possible? It is akin to leaping right into heaven to take on God's role!"
Checking his cultivation again, Yun Yang discovered that all nine mystical arts of his had ascended to the pinnacle of the seventh stage while his mystical Qi cultivation base had gone past the ninth Dao realm; like Ji Lingxi, it had reached a previously unknown realm of expertise.
The most delightful part of all of this was his Endless Divine Art; it had arrived at the pinnacle of the fifth level!
To the youth, the improvement of his cultivation base was delightful, but there was always a cultivation experience that could be followed. Even when he had ascended to an unknown realm, there was a direction forward. Unlike the cultivation base, the journey of the Endless Divine Art's progress was immensely arduous. Developing into another stage was usually several times harder than it had been previously, so the current breakthrough was honestly a remarkably precious opportunity!
"Ayaya..."
Emmie was about to go insane from ecstasy. It shook and danced in the space, its long tendrils waving around speedily. Perhaps it was overwhelmed with elation, which caused it to pull its deeply planted roots out as well. Sprinting around, its five large leaves fluttered everywhere. The space was a blur of green but enjoyably so.
Jiji that had benefitted greatly from this incident covered its head with its pair of wings that was just grown with a layer of thin down. It buried its head into the space's soil, exposing only its buttocks.
It was evident that Jiji was scared of the overly excited Emmie slapping it with its tendrils in its delirium. That would be a scathing sting at the end of happiness.
Yun Yang suppressed the glee that bubbled within him and focused on the contents of the Endless Divine Art's recently acquired fifth level.
The pithy lines of the Endless Divine Art's fifth stage were already reeling in his mind, but Yun Yang was caught between laughing and lamenting the current situation. He had cultivated the fifth stage to the pinnacle without even knowing the pithy formula! What kind of a situation was this?
Could the Endless Divine Art have a hidden attribute? Could it only advance as long as one was adequately capable?
In spite of this, when Yun Yang had checked the pithy lines and fully comprehended it, he could finally confirm that while the smooth sailing pinnacle achieved was real, there was still a considerable difference from the pinnacle which had been cultivated step by step.
The fifth stage's maxim - Bless the people and the world, massacre - where did the heart go? Picturesque territories stained into shape by blood, the five-leaf lotus of gold should always stay...
Nonetheless, the exact cultivation route, precautions to be taken and everything else still needed to be done accordingly. Otherwise, the foundation was hardly secure and there would be no hope of ascending into the sixth stage. The explosion of spiritual Qi from heaven and earth this time around and its forceful infusion into the body had fortified Yun Yang's cultivation base. Despite its purity and refined aspects, it was still distinctive from the Qi that he cultivated and ground with effort.
The cultivation method was the basic to cultivation after all. A fair cultivation base did not mean an upgrade of a realm, especially with a mystical cultivation method like the Endless Divine Art; there was not much room for skimping.
Of course, what Yun Yang lacked right now was a routine cultivation for a period of time. It would be fine with correction. It would not affect his actual combat power.
Actually, what Yun Yang was the most interested in among the benefits of the Endless Divine Art was the Saber Truth: Destiny Blade, specifically, the one form two styles that he was newly accustomed to. It had actually made him feel as if it was corresponding to his previous techniques.
Perhaps, it was too much of a coincidence!
The Destiny Blade's fifth form - first style, Door of Life and Death Opens; second style, Eighteen Levels of Hell.
"Keep karma in mind, the door to life and death opens with this strike; do not speak of the fickleness of heaven's will, the eighteen levels of hell invite your presence!"
Yun Yang could not help but fall deep in thought once he saw the maxim.
Right now, he was in close cooperation with the Concourse of the Underworld. Very possibly, they would continue working together and he did have plans to tell the ten Yama Kings about the Haunting Temple location that he had discovered.
It was at this subtly delicate juncture that he had a breakthrough to the fifth stage and came across such a maxim.
Although the description could be a metaphor for the saber's power, could there be such a coincidence for the maxim to appear so timely? Would it actually be some sort of reminder?
"Keep karma in mind, the door to life and death opens with this strike," Yun Yang mumbled, "The door to life and death opens... with this strike? The next line - do not speak of the fickleness of heaven's will, the eighteen levels of hell invite your presence... that means something else. It is a subject worthy to ponder upon."
"A strike sends you to the underworld? Or the eighteen levels of the underworld invite me?"
Yun Yang felt as if there was a certain reason for that message, no matter how he formed the explanation. If so, his cooperation with the ten Yama Kings could very well branch into something else...
Unfortunately, everything needed more concrete evidence before it could be taken as truth. Yun Yang did not go slow, trying out his saber truth and practicing the newly acquired one form two styles. Just as he attempted the form, he felt inexplicably odd, like the styles did not match. They were not as smooth as when he had practiced the previous forms.
Yun Yang was silent for a moment before he continued practicing. After several attempts, it was still hindered. The indescribable sense of an obstruction remained. If he had used this form in a battle, the only result would be sending himself to death!
He stopped, no longer forcing the cultivation, and switched to thinking again.
Until now, the saber truth Destiny Blade had respectively acquired had a total of five forms and ten styles.
They were Merciless Blade, Merciless Dao, Saber Laic, Life and Death in a Thought, Upended River of Blood, Reincarnation under Saber, Wind Beyond the Sky, Mountain of Ivory Bones, and finally the recently obtained fifth form, Door of Life, Death Opens and Eighteen Levels of Hell!