Breakthrough-inducing 'Shrimp' Skewers (Part 1)

Mrs Mooncat's Rants:

Many thanks to our reader, RolandThe4th for the review! We hadn't had one in a long time. So happy! This chapter is dedicated to you! The new phase starts from now :)

This month's illustration in Pat reon features our beloved Glacier Mirage Fox, Shiro! All May chapters was up since 3rd May a few days ago for our patrons.

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After Kuro finished four skewers of grilled 'shrimps', his eyes glazed over as his consciousness was suddenly pulled within. His ever-present aura was rapidly subdued within him uncontrollably. If anybody was paying attention to his black beady eyes, they would be able to see a faint image of lightning within. The ruby red 'gem' on his forehead was slowly lighting up.

[Am I finally able to break through the persistent bottleneck?!] Kuro was feeling incredulous as he observed the changes within his ruby-colored core from within.

After an accumulation of energy from wanton pillaging last time, he had gone into closed-door hibernation two hundred years ago to break the tough barrier. However, an unknown feeling had prematurely pulled him out from his hard-earned preparation, as his breakthrough process was halted halfway. All the energy accumulated had dissipated away and he had to bitterly start back from square one. Fortunately, the backlash was surprisingly minute.

After that, he met Hana; a creature that he was deeply attach to, without apparent reason. Since he needed to start accumulating again from the beginning, he had postponed his endeavor just to accompany his mistress. Who knows, just after about a week, the amount of energy was already reaching the maximum! It was an unexpected boon for him!

The little snake felt what he did in terrorizing the locality for the sake of advancement was a mean joke! It was even done for years! And here, just a few bites of random spiritual herbs and high energy meat, suddenly he was good to go. It was not even funny. Little that he knew, even if he had eaten all the spiritual herbs all over again it will never be the same as Hana's ingenious treatment through cooking.

Kuro pushed all the random thoughts away and started preparing his heart for the upcoming tribulation. The energy from within the 'shrimp' skewers were swarming into his core like a tumultuous tide ramming the shores again and again! He knew it won't be long before the heaven's tribulation descended.

A faint crackling of thunder was heard from within his body as a small spark of lightning surged through his unihorn, shocking everyone into stupefaction. Everyone around the fireplace was so nervous, they stopped eating to stare, wondering was the tyrant snake going to show his true colors? They clenched their bowls tightly, protecting what's left of the soup.

Kuro was abruptly jolted from Hana's concerned voice, "Ku-chan, are you okay? Tummy ache?"

[Oh no! Mommy is here!] He had just realized he was not alone anymore. Everyone around him will die from the bombardment of heaven's tribulation if he didn't move away! He immediately slithered out of the cave haphazardly and transformed into his full thirty-meter long black serpent!

"Guys, I'm on the verge of a breakthrough! Mommy, don't come out of the cave!"

Hana was so shocked when she peered outside from the back of the cave. Kuro had slithered away as fast as lightning into the depth of the forest in a bid to distance himself from the cave. He was out of time! A few seconds later, loud crashing sounds of trees being smashed and trashed were heard as a gigantic black snake with erected translucent black scales emerged out of thin air around a kilometer away from Hana's cave dwelling.

Kuro's form was even bigger than this morning! He was humongous! The clouds above him darkened rapidly as harsh rain started to fall. Blue-colored lightning bombarded Kuro's body one after another directly above his head as the cloud roiled and surged like a torrential ocean during a severe rainstorm! Kuro writhed and trashed about as he endured the lightning strikes. He hissed in pain as his skin was getting roasted and burned, but he tried his best to persist! The arboreal rainforest trees were further smashed and flattened from the strong impact of his breakthrough!

While everyone was watching Kuro, suddenly, a white silhouette ran out of the cave. Based on Hana's telepathic connection, she knew that it was Shiro.

[Shiro, are you okay?!] Hana asked telepathically with a worried expression as loud lightning strikes numbed her eardrums. It felt like the end-of-days had descended. It was really scary. If her beloved furry pet was struck down, she won't know what to do.

[Don't worry, Mom. I'm having a breakthrough of my own now. Stay back.] Shiro replied telepathically as he was moving away from the cave. He knew, even without a tribulation descended over his head, their Mom would not be able to withstand the uncontrollable cold air emitted from his body. He might kill her unintentionally.

He moved to Kuro's left, at a safe distance from the lightning bombardment as the air around him dropped in temperature and started to turn hazy, following wherever he went. His body didn't enlarge, but his aura was slowly burgeoning until it stopped only a silver from reaching Kuro's intensity.

[Damn, only half a step more before I can match Brother's power. What a pity..] Shiro sighed. He knew the extra boost that he needed was not present in this tropical region. Alas, the requirement to trigger the tribulation was not met. And now, he could only watch his brother transcend into a Lord with a tinge of bitterness in his heart!

Hana was so astounded by what happening in front of her eyes until she fell butt-first and just sat quietly on the floor. Little Markisah was shuddering on her shoulders while peering through the door.

[Isn't this the famed breakthrough in Xianxia novels once a spirit beast had breached a threshold?!] She ruminated over the scant information given to her into a shocking conclusion. Fear slowly turned into excitement! The accumulation of premium grade food they've eaten must've been the reason. The energy from the 'shrimp' skewers must have been the final straw that broke the camel's back!

Was this truly due to her cooking? Hana really wanted to confirm this. Hence, she turned to the little gullible fish and flashed a most sincere, encouraging smile before started to coax her, "Ara, eat up the shrimp skewer now and see! Who knows you'll achieve a breakthrough too! As easy as pie! You can do it! Make your great grandpa proud." Hana encouraged the dumbfounded little fish. She had stop eating the soup after she felt the appalling aura of the two brothers. They were very strong! Just a little bit weaker than her own great grandpa!

"Is it okay?" Ara hesitated.

"Sure, sure. Kuro reminded, just two bites will do for you." Her words were sweet and encouraging yet, they were suffused with mellowness and confidence of an elder who knew what she was doing. Though Markisah may want to correct that the aunty sounded a little bit like a demon, tantalizing children to do bad deeds. However, after she think about it some more, the two brothers were living proof in front of her. If there was a shortcut to cultivation, she'd gladly took it! She'll have more time for experimenting on medicine making afterwards!

The innocent Ara was finally convinced. She took a leap of faith and obediently bit twice from her own skewers! She had selectively forgotten her grandpa advice that breakthrough need to be done in isolation, away from others, for security reasons. A breakthrough could not be rushed. A breakthrough needed meticulous preparation to succeed.

A sweet yet fragrant meat with mild spice assailed her olfactory. She closed her eyes to savor the succulent meat of the grilled marinated crawfish expert.

"Ahh..so sweet and succulent.."

...

"Ahh..the snake is in the middle of a breakthrough again. Such a talented little fellow." Elder Watershade could feel the surge of energy between the heaven and earth pulsating and converging into the snake's territory. They were already on their way to the snake's nest. The agitated lightning and the darkening sky concentrated at one point while the rest of the sky was clear and bright as day. This was an imminent phenomenon of a high-level breakthrough in this rainforest. The last one was his Lord's own breakthrough during the early establishment of their clan a thousand years ago.

"He had just gone through a hibernation breakthrough days before. It's a little bit too fast this time. Did he not consolidate his strength properly?" Lord Tittua commented at the side while scoffing. "The young ones these days sure are having it easy!" The old Spirit-Lord still remembered how he toiled with his brother-in-arms to obtain the Spirit Crystal lode for the sake of advancement. Once they succeeded to obtain the prized resources, they had managed to breakthrough and later established a clan together.

He was not too fond of the boy, but he agreed with his sworn brother's claim on how talented the boy was. Secretly, he agreed with the boy's way of doing whatever it took to advance to a higher realm. He himself was in fact, stuck on the Lord level for more than five hundred years now. The bottleneck to a Count was especially tough! The bitterness from failing the recent breakthrough due to his own great granddaughter's 'interference' was still fresh in his mind. Even his internal injuries were not fully healed since he was too busy looking for that naughty lass.

A sudden surge of icy cold winds blew in their direction as they stared at each other with wide eyes. "Another breakthrough?!"

"Whose aura is this?!" Lord Tittua could feel a foreign icy aura at the same vicinity as the snake! He was sure the creature who's experiencing the second breakthrough was a non-native of the rainforest. Icy winds were something that never appeared in this hot and humid region. At least not under his jurisdiction. Lord Tittua felt a sense of foreboding from the current development.

Two different experts of nearly the same cultivation level experiencing a breakthrough at the same time! One of them even triggered heaven's tribulation! This indicated that the breakthrough was a major one! He knew the boy was already an Ancient-Noble. It only means that now, he had stepped into the threshold of a Lord, similar to himself! Additionally, that boy had brought in an expert outsider at the level of his clan's Grand Elder! Although the boy had just advanced, the fact that the boy's Ancient bloodline was a whole grade higher than him meant that he could wholly contend him on his own. In a way, the boy's prowess was already on par to his clan's. A fight for the Spirit Crystal lode was inevitable in the near future!

Then, to the shock of the old spirit beasts, the final breakthrough happened.

The aura was much weaker but was extremely familiar to both of them! Extreme delight was seen in Lord Tittua's eyes. He had finally found his doted great granddaughter. He had forgotten his anger and worry over his beloved great granddaughter. He just wanted to be at her side right at this moment!

"Aranye is over there!"

The two old spiritual beasts dashed forward!

...