Chapter 52 Preparing for a Breakthrough
Shangguan Jiannan's strength has leaped to the level of a nine-star great swordsman. At this moment, his face is filled with joy that is difficult to conceal, and it seems that even the air is filled with a hint of joy.
"All my hard training these days has not been in vain." He thought to himself. Although he could not condense pure shadow aura in his dantian, the improvement in speed was obvious.
"The threshold of the Sword King realm seems to be just around the corner." In the practice of swordsmanship, if the shadow aura can be successfully gathered in the dantian and successfully liquefied, it is a sign of entering the Sword King realm.
Generally speaking, this is a challenge that can only be attempted by a great swordsman at the peak of the ninth level, and the spiritual energy needs to go through a violent gathering.
However, there are also many warriors who, relying on their extraordinary talents, have already started practicing specific skills at the ninth level and directly impacted the realm of Sword King, achieving extraordinary achievements.
The peak of the Great Sword Master, the definition of this realm is vague and varies from person to person. At this moment, if Shangguan Jiannan can guide the shadow spirit into his body, it will undoubtedly be a key step for him to move towards the Sword King realm.
"It's a pity that the shadow spiritual energy is still insufficient." He sighed lightly. Although the "Night Shadowless Heart Method" is powerful, he has only just begun to learn its skills. The spiritual energy he absorbs is mixed with a lot of impurities. Compared with the inferior Yuanling Stone, its purity is far from that.
"If I can have sufficient Yin and cold energy to help, I will be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort." He thought to himself that the purity of the Yin and cold energy and the "Night Shadowless Heart Method" would complement each other and might help him break through to the Sword King realm in one fell swoop.
But unfortunately, the cold and yin energy is extremely rare in ordinary spirit stones and is extremely difficult to obtain, not to mention the rare dark spirit stones. With his current strength and status, it is simply out of reach.
"Spirit stone, spirit stone..." He repeated to himself, knowing that although the "Night Shadowless Heart Sutra" could lead him to rapid progress, his speed would be even more astonishing if he could get the help of the Yuan Ling Stone.
However, the reality was cruel. He could neither immediately complete the sect mission to exchange for spirit stone rewards, nor was he strong enough to take on difficult missions. So, Shangguan Jiannan closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, with a myriad of thoughts in his mind.
He knew very well that only by relying on his own efforts and wisdom could he go further on the road of kendo.
Deep in his heart, Shangguan Jiannan repeatedly considered possible solutions. He knew that the most urgent need at the moment was the spirit stone or the pure and unparalleled dark shadow cold air.
He sat quietly, his thoughts surging like the tide, constantly trying to figure out how to obtain a large amount of spirit stones in the most efficient way.
Since the established mission could not be completed, he could only find another way. Many thoughts flashed in his mind, but he rejected them one by one, until one thought was as bright as a star - "Don't Wang Bo and the others have a Xuanyou grass?"
His mind lit up and he confirmed, "This is it, the third-grade medicinal herb Xuanyoucao." At first, he knew nothing about the value of this medicinal herb, but after learning that it could be used as a reward for a difficult task, he went out of his way to learn about it.
Thinking of this, Shangguan Jiannan couldn't help but take a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily, his heart was full of excitement. The value of Xuanyou Grass was unquestionable, but if he took it personally to complete the task, it would definitely cause countless troubles.
After all, he was only at the Great Sword Master level, and the mission was difficult, and even Wang Bo and his team had failed. If he acted rashly, it would surely cause an uproar, which was definitely not what he wanted.
Therefore, he became more determined to break through to the Sword King Realm as soon as possible. So, Shangguan Jiannan stretched out his body, increased his speed sharply, and rushed towards the gate of the Tianjian Sect.
During the training, time seemed to lose its meaning, day after day, dull but fulfilling. In the blink of an eye, Shangguan Jiannan had spent half a month in the Monster Forest.
During this period, his life was almost completely occupied by cultivation. Apart from the fierce battles with monsters every day, he was immersed in cultivation and never tired of it. On a sunny day, Shangguan Jiannan sat quietly by the cold moon and cold pond, closed his eyes and concentrated, practicing the "Yeyou Wuying Heart Method".
As the cold spiritual energy circulated through his meridians for several cycles, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, as if to dispel the boredom in his heart. However, when he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but mutter to himself: "It's been half a month, but there is still no progress." A trace of helplessness quietly appeared on his face.
Half a month passed quickly, Shangguan Jiannan was concentrating on practicing the "Night Shadowless Heart Method", but he did not make any significant progress, and even he himself could not help but feel a little anxious. He shook his head suddenly, trying to dispel the haze in his heart and return to his calm state of mind.
The Xuanyou grass quietly appeared in his palm, Shangguan Jiannan closed his eyes, and his face returned to a calm expression. Instantly, a stream of extremely pure spiritual energy surged in his body, and he immediately activated the "Night Shadowless Heart Method", guiding this spiritual energy to flow freely in his body like a rushing river, filling every meridian, bringing unprecedented numbness and pleasure.
With Shangguan Jiannan's careful control, the dark and cold energy contained in the Xuanyou grass was quickly absorbed and integrated into his body.
The spiritual energy circulated throughout the body and finally gathered in Dantian. He concentrated his mind and carefully guided the power to condense in Dantian. Time passed slowly, one breath, two breaths... until Shangguan Jiannan's face blossomed with surprise. The spiritual energy that was originally as ethereal as mist was actually firmly condensed in Dantian without any intention of dissipating.
With fatigue mixed with joy that was difficult to conceal, Shangguan Jiannan couldn't help but whisper, "Success!" He continued to use the "Night Shadowless Heart Method" as a guide to drive the wandering spiritual energy to gather towards his dantian. The spiritual energy in his dantian became increasingly dense, and not only did it not decrease, but it became stronger as it continued to gather.
Shangguan Jiannan was secretly happy, but he did not slack off in his actions. He was highly focused and guided more spiritual energy into his dantian. Finally, under the extreme pressure, the spiritual energy in his dantian began to form a cyclone, indicating that his long-standing stagnant cultivation had finally made a breakthrough.
For a long time, the difficulty of improving his realm made Shangguan Jiannan feel anxious, but at this moment, as the spiritual energy in his dantian turned into liquid, his heartfelt joy was beyond words, and his face was filled with indescribable satisfaction and happiness.
The pure spiritual energy slowly peeled off from the core of the Xuanyou grass tightly held in his palm, and then poured into Shangguan Jiannan's body like a torrent, with a force as fierce as a river. In just a few minutes, the color of the Xuanyou grass quietly tended to be transparent, but Shangguan Jiannan was completely unaware of all this.
"Huff!" A heavy gasp mixed with a hot breath escaped from Shangguan Jiannan's mouth. His originally slightly relaxed mind instantly tensed up and he concentrated. The spiritual energy continued to flow in, and the "Night Shadowless Heart Method" in his body had quietly completed thirty-six cycles of circulation. The whole body's energy suddenly surged, and the Yuanling Stone in his hand also dimmed a little. The pure spiritual energy spread throughout his body.
"37th week." Shangguan Jiannan's breathing was a little hasty, and his mind was highly focused, not daring to slack off. In his dantian, a ball of spiritual mist about the size of a basketball slowly condensed, and the purity contained in it was astonishing.
Most of the spiritual energy that was originally roaming through the meridians throughout the body has dissipated, but the only strand left in the dantian has such a high concentration that it is terrifying.
He frowned slightly and thought to himself: "How could a third-level elixir be consumed so quickly?" He suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the shriveled elixir in his hand. Shangguan Jiannan couldn't help feeling a little surprised and regretful.
"This... this is a third-level elixir!"