Burst of Vitality Pill

Yaan's Vital Energy was now at 98.9% progress. It was just a tenth of a percentage away from the peak, but forcing the body to absorb even a slither of energy was extremely difficult for Yaan right now. All of the resources that he used simply went to waste; he needed to change his approach.

The only way to succeed in reaching the peak was to devour a massive amount of energy in a single push. Only then, when his body was beyond overloaded with energy, would the pressure be great enough for his Vital Energy to reach its maximum.

Luckily, there were many spirit beasts kept by cultivators which also required similar resources. After looking around and again relying on Ghu Nadda's contacts, Yaan finally found what he needed.

Rank 3 Burst of Vitality Pill.

This was a pill designed to help large-bodied Rank 3 beasts overcome small bottlenecks. For instance, the giant grey spotted electric leopard often found itself stuck at the peak of Mid Rank 3, without any external assistance, it was unable to take that jump to the late stage of Rank 3. This exact issue was unique to this beast, but many spirit beasts had similar problems. The Rank 3 Burst of Vitality Pill was optimal for overcoming these bottlenecks.

"Yaan, are you sure about this…?" Ghu Nadda held the bright green and red spotted pill in his hand, hesitating before he passed it across to Yaan. The cost was quite high at 65 Rank 3 recovery pills, but that wasn't the problem here…

"Mm, it's my best option to finally reach the peak stage. I've improved gradually as much as possible, but I need this to overcome the bottleneck."

"But a Rank 3 pill with an effect like this…won't your body just explode…?" The young ghoul still wasn't convinced. After all, Rank 3 pills were designed to be used by Rank 3 beings like Rank 3 beasts, 3-Star body temperers and Qi Temple Realm Qi refiners.

It was bad enough that Yaan sometimes used Rank 3 recovery pills to balance the damaging effect of body tempering medicines, but the Rank 3 Burst of Vitality Pill would be an order of magnitude more dangerous than something like that!

Yaan smiled and shook his head.

"It's exactly because this pill is excessive that I need it. No Rank 2 pill can pressure my body sufficiently to push my cultivation up to the realm peak. There's always danger when cultivating as a demon, I'm sure you know this as well as myself, Nadda."

After getting to know one another over the past couple years, Yaan and Nadda used one another's given names and spoke casually with one another, despite their difference in cultivation level. Well, Yaan only ever told people his given name anyway, though, keeping his old mortal family name to himself.

Usually, a Qi Palace Realm demon would disdain a mere 2-Star Realm demon, but Ghu Nadda had seen Yaan's rapid improvement with his own eyes. He had seen Yaan's silence and honestly, he admired him. Whether it was his perception, his strong will or his potential, all of these things made him worthy enough to be treated as an equal in the young ghoul's eyes.

"Fine, just try not to die…" Ghu Nadda shook his head and sighed in the end, before throwing the pill to Yaan helplessly.

Like Yaan, Ghu Nadda also knew that for the demonic races, 'safe cultivation' was simply a fallacy. Being a demon meant defying your fate and surpassing your talent, so it was inevitable that a demon's path would be fraught with danger and uncertainty. This was the life of a demon, there was simply no other way around it, the only option was to brave the dangers, constantly moving forwards.

Yaan sat down at the side of the cool morgue. Since his undertaking would be dangerous this time, he wanted Ghu Nadda to watch over him incase he entered a bad state and needed assistance.

Gulp!

Yaan swallowed the pill, before he even had time to overthink it and work up any anxiety and doubt.

This pill was intended for beasts, Rank 3 beasts. Simply put, it was beyond Yaan's capability to handle. If he couldn't harness the energy to reach the Peak 2-Star Realm, there was no doubt that he would die within seconds. However, at this point, it really was his only option if he wanted to continue cultivating.

BOOM!

Ghu Nadda's pale face became a shade paler. His eyes widened in shock and he couldn't help but step back as Yaan's stomach inflated to twice, no, thrice its original size!

Yaan grit his teeth and showed a fierce expression as the violent explosion of energy erupted in his stomach and threatened to rip his body in half. He forced his Vital Energy to exert pressure inwards towards the explosive force, then did his best to direct the chaotic energy, having it spread out evenly throughout his body.

Seeing this, Nadda's face became a shade paler, making him look like a ghost.

After controlling the violent energy within, Yaan's stomach shrunk by 20%, but every other part of his body instantly doubled in size! His whole body looked extremely swollen, it was truly a horrifying sight to behold!

Yaan's bloodshot eyes illuminated his terrifying gaze. He could feel the scythe of death lingering over his head, causing him to become filled with a ferocious unwillingness!

He used every ounce of willpower that he could muster to control his Vital Energy, compressing his body back down as much as possible. As a 2-Star Realm demon, controlling his Vital Energy was extremely difficult, but with this life and death crisis lingering over him, Yaan managed to surpass his own abilities!

When Yaan felt that he was running low on energy, Ghu Nadda took notice and quickly threw a handful of Rank 3 Vital Recovery Pills into his mouth. Yaan paused for a moment, but he didn't continue shrinking back to his usual size. Instead, black sludge flowed out from his pores and blood continually streamed from his eyes.

Ghu Nadda was baffled that multiple Rank 3 Vital Recovery Pills did only this much. He narrowed his eyes, then waved his hands and sent another wave of pills into Yaan's mouth, before forcing them down his swollen throat and into his stomach.

At the same time, the ghoulish young man held out both hands and formed a wall of black gas. The gas gradually solidified, before shooting towards Yaan and enclosing him within a pitch black sphere. The sphere rapidly shrunk until it covered Yaan's body, creating the image of a bloated shadow giant. Ghu Nadda didn't stop there, but narrowed his eyes and forcefully pushed his hands together.

He managed to shrink Yaan's body even further, but the resistance was far greater than he had anticipated. He didn't hesitated to take out a paper talisman, before throwing the strip of paper onto the black figure's forehead. This action produced a vibrating sound which echoed throughout the morgue.

The talisman was extremely effective and allowed the shadow wall to continue compressing Yaan's body, until it finally returned to its normal size. Ghu Nadda was sweating heavily and panting for breath, but he stared forwards at Yaan and showed no signs of stopping his actions.

He looked beyond the black shield and frowned. He hesitated for a brief moment, but in the end he sighed and threw out a Rank 4 Vital Recovery Pill. The pill was absorbed into the talisman.

The pill's medicinal effect was slowly channeled into each part of Yaan's body. If Yaan were to consume this pill directly, he would without a doubt die, but the talisman allowed him to gradually absorb the medicinal energy.

Finally, the young ghoul could no longer hold out. He tried his best, but he had thoroughly exhausted himself. He dropped to his knees and forced himself to look up with a trace of fatigue and uncertainty in his eyes. When he saw Yaan sitting there calmly with his eyes closed, drenched in blood, black sludge and burned chunks of skin, he heaved a sigh of relief. Yaan was heavily injured, but he was at least alive and recovering.

Ghu Nadda sat down to recover and swallowed a Rank 3 Vital Recovery Pill and a Rank 3 Qi Recovery Pill. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes. He was surprised to see that Yaan was standing up, seemingly completely fine!

"Thank you, Nadda." Yaan turned to him and said honestly. The flesh eating ghoul smiled eerily and laughed.

"It was nothing…but you owe me ten 4 Star recovery pills…kakaka…"

Yaan laughed too, but he promised Nadda that he would pay him back. It was only fair, after all, Ghu Nadda used up a valuable talisman and a Rank 4 Vital Recovery Pill to assist him. Were it not for that assistance, Yaan was unsure whether or not he would have survived. At the very least, he would have been severely injured.

"So…did it work?" Nadda finally asked curiously examining Yaan but finding nothing conclusive. The difference in Vital Energy was too small, there was no way to tell from a glance.

"Mm, I reached the Peak 2-Star Realm, thanks to your help." Yaan grinned, unable to hide his mixture of relief and excitement.

When he first arrived in North Ghu City two years ago, he could have never imagined that he would reach this stage so quickly! If he had continued to train using only normal materials, he wouldn't even be at the late stage yet!

Yaan realised that what Rui told him in the past was true…as the demonic body improved, it became increasingly difficult to improve further. Choosing body cultivation as the main path was basically just a terrible choice…considering the level of expenditure he had endured just to rise from the Mid 2-Star Realm to the Peak 2-Star Realm, Yaan began to wonder how he would manage to progress at all once he reached the 3-Star Realm…

No matter what though, he needed to gain the 4-Star demonic body. Like this, he would be able to use Rui's unknown method to switch back to the Qi refining path! Of course, he also needed to find a way to awaken her from her slumber…he was a bit lost when it came to this matter though. No matter what he tried, he was unable to interact with the black stone ring at all.

For now, he cast those thoughts aside, because there was something more pressing that he needed to obtain…

The Rank 3 Boundary Ascension Pill!

If he wanted to reach the 3-Star Realm, then procuring this pill was an absolute must.

"Yaan…"

"Hmm?"

Yaan was pulled from his thoughts and turned towards Nadda, who was gradually becoming someone that he might one day consider a true friend. Even though Nadda was doing all of this for his own benefit, the ghoul had still stepped in and potentially saved his life just now, even receiving some backlash and using up a precious talisman of his. Yaan would definitely pay this debt back with interest as soon as he was able to do so.

"I'm going to enter closed door cultivation until I reach the 4th Layer Qi Palace Realm….I need this level of strength if I want to stand side to side with the strongest competitors in this inheritance…"

Yaan nodded slowly. Indeed, since Origin Soul Realm powerhouses simply couldn't enter, and Spirit and Demon Core Realm Qi refiners would suffer too great a loss, the strongest participants would be those Rank 3 beings; mostly Qi Temple Realm cultivators, but also some demons at the Qi Palace Realm like Nadda. It was unlikely that any 3-Star demons besides Yaan would enter, but it was possibility.

The Qi Temple Realm and Qi Palace Realm were identical. Orthodox Qi refiners would form a temple in their dantian, but demonic race Qi refiners would form a palace.

It was possible to enter the Spirit Core Realm after achieving the 3rd Layer Qi Temple Realm, but almost nobody would choose to do this.

There were nine layers to the Qi Temple and Qi Palace Realms, achieving a higher layer before ascending to the Spirit Core Realm would improve a Qi refiner's foundation. Those individuals with a stronger foundation would benefit from greater strength, improved potential, superior talent and better future prospects.

Because of this, all cultivators at the Qi Temple and Qi Palace Realms would try to ascend to as high a layer as possible, only taking the final step to the Spirit Core Realm once they became unable to step into a higher layer.

Ghu Nadda was no different. He would never choose to settle for a 3rd Layer foundation. In his eyes, the 6th Layer was the minimum and the 7th Layer was the real goal.

There was a big difference between the 3rd and 4th, and the 6th and 7th layers. 3rd Layer foundation Qi refiners were average, whilst those who went on to attain the 4th Layer wouldn't have their future prospects be so limited. Achieving each subsequent layer would improve their foundation significantly, whilst someone with a 7th Layer foundation would be considered a true genius. Such individuals would be heavily nurtured by any clan or sect without exception.

7th Layer Qi refiners were extremely rare, but not completely unheard of. It was very unlikely that anyone like this would enter this inheritance though. If they did, that was just everyone else's bad luck.

That said, there would certainly be those at the 4th, 5th and probably 6th Layers. If Ghu Nadda couldn't even reach the 4th Layer, then he wouldn't have the qualifications to compete against those people.

Ghu Nadda's combat ability, perception, intelligence, planning and foresight were extremely good, so if others were only slightly stronger than him, he was confident that he could deal with them. Of course, that was only if he managed to reach the 4th Layer.

"When?" Yaan asked simply.

"One month from now…if there's anything you need, say now…do you have enough money and resources for this year…? Since I won't be doing deliveries from here on….if there's anything that could help to increase your strength, then just say and I'll lend it to you…I expect that we'll strike it rich in the inheritance, so you can just pay it back then…" He grinned darkly.

"I just need a Rank 3 Boundary Ascension Pill, along with some Rank 3 Vital Release Pills to help me improve my strength further during the breakthrough. Aside from that…I would like to compete in the arena before attempting the breakthrough."

Nadda nodded at first, but he frowned when Yaan mentioned wanting to compete in the arena.

"Is that really necessary…? Your identity is a bit sensitive, and the arena is dangerous, to do this right before the inheritance…"

"That's exactly why I need to do it now!" Yaan replied seriously. "Battle helps with comprehension more than anything else, my breakthrough will have a greater chance of success this way. I also haven't fought for some time, or at all with my current strength, so I need to practice before the inheritance opens."

"Hmm…" Ghu Nadda seemed to ponder for some time. After a while, he nodded slowly.

"Compared to peak Innate Qi Realm cultivators, you should be stronger than at least 90% of them…nobody will complain if you fight in those matches, and the danger should be low enough…as for your identity, I happen to possess a mysterious treasure with the ability to hide your face and distort your aura…so long as they aren't at the Origin Soul Realm, or at the Core Realms and possessing a perceptive spell, then nobody will see through it…I'll just monitor the audience this next month and make sure that it all works out fine…"

He paused, the turned to Yaan and asked:

"When do you want to start?"

"Tomorrow morning." Yaan didn't hesitate at all. Tomorrow, he would step onto the stage of battle once again!