Chapter 286: 1st-grade Mortal Warrior

Finally, the group reached the Wubei Sect a couple of weeks before the official end of their second year. Just as Cao Yun had thought, no one had dared challenge him so he had not lost his rank in the fighting scroll. But he didn't really care about that. Right now, he only cared about his cultivation.

During the travel he had advanced his blood cultivation and had slowly made his blood richer and richer both in Qi and in the properties of the Drop of Wrath. Among the advantages he gained were an even stronger body, more circulation of Qi in his cells which improved his Qi cultivation and a greater control of the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Slowly, the second Po character within the Drop of Wrath had become closer to the real Po character. Of course, Cao Yun would not gain full control of the Drop of Wrath so fast, but he was getting extremely close.

As of now, he was not afraid of getting taken over by it, he could use it to defend his mind and use its intent to even detect Evil Qi around him as though he were a Mortal Warrior. In fact, the only thing he was still not fully in control of was its ability to digest Evil Qi. Cao Yun had been able to limit it sometimes, but he had never actively used it. In order to fight demonic cultivators, being able to fully manipulate Evil Qi could be a great help. Besides, with his mind cultivation he was also getting close to this goal. With a bit more push, he knew that he would get there.

After gaining full control of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had another step in mind. He would reform the entirety of the Po within the Drop of Wrath but by putting his own Po inside. Although the idea seemed really interesting, Cao Yun had to admit that he wasn't really sure how to proceed. If he succeeded though, the Drop of Wrath wouldn't be a foreign object he had put a leash on but a real part of himself.

Apart from that, his mind cultivation was going nicely. By the end of the year, he would have completed the second layer of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'. He also had to consider his martial arts and wanted to train a bit with Chief Elder Baishen now that he had formed his Spear Aura. Unfortunately, he didn't really know what to do with it. For now, he had used it instinctively without knowing much. Concerning his martial art, he was also rather confident about forging the seventh star by the end of the year. Each star had been a bit more difficult, but at the same time, his mind and his intimacy with 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' had both progressed. Without being overly confident, Cao Yun was certain that he would reach the real Small Success.

Forging the seven stars of 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' was graded as Perfection for some, but because they had discarded the idea of ever reaching the real pinnacle of this art, turning the stars into constellations and the constellations into mansions. Seven stars was Small Success, seven constellations True Success, and only seven mansions was really Perfection. That was Cao Yun's goal.

For now though, Cao Yun was interested in advancing his Qi cultivation. Everything else could wait because becoming a Mortal Warrior would give so many benefits. But Cao Yun did not want to get impatient. Thinking about all he could achieve once a Mortal Warrior, he wanted to be one already, but not at the price of his future achievements. A Mortal Warrior could feel Qi all around him while a Mortal could only sense what was directly in his vicinity. He could also control and manifest his Qi. Of course, this would allow Cao Yun to progress in all his occupations, in his martial arts, but also, he could finally use a spatial ring. And he had the ring of Can Mouye on him.

After being lost almost a full year in an unfriendly environment, the idea of having several years of food and water in a tiny ring was enticing. From what he had heard, this ring should have the same capacity as a storehouse from the Huang family residence.

For a Mortal Warrior who had fewer needs than mortals, that space was largely enough to store all the food and water needed for more than a year, and more things. But until he had fully broken through, Cao Yun could not use it at all, although it was already on his finger.

With that in mind, Cao Yun naturally chose to visit Chief Instructor Peng.

Thankfully, the Wubei Sect had been mostly preserved from the stampede. No damage had been done beyond the Heart Gate. All the demonic beasts had been stopped before they could damage anything too important.

Chief Instructor Peng was the man who had helped him through the 'Coiling Turtle' method. As such, Cao Yun was certain that he had ideas to make a perfect breakthrough into the Mortal Warrior realm so that his progress would not slow down by much after. The Mortal realm, also known as Foundation Realm, could take from ten to fifteen years for an average cultivator. Some, like alchemists, were faster. But if Cao Yun counted all his training before he had encountered Cleansed Asura, he was well within this range, as he was now eighteen. On the other hand, an average cultivator would take around thirty years to go from Mortal Warrior to Spirit Warrior. Some were faster, like Cao Yun's father. But others just never broke through and stayed Mortal Warriors all their life.

The Mortal Warrior realm was also known as the Forge Realm. In this realm, the cultivator would slowly forge his insides to prepare for the creation of a Soul Embryo. Inside a Mortal, both meridians and Dantian were still ethereal, they were not physical objects. For a Mortal Warrior, they were. Grade by grade, a Mortal Warrior would slowly strengthen them and prepare them for the next phase of cultivation.

Cao Yun knew the general idea and he had both the 'Universal Law of Immortality' and the 'Cultivation of Wrath' talking about this. But for now, he had not gotten into the details. Sometimes, it wasn't a good thing to know too much. In cultivation, one had to think about the current stage, not what he would do thousands of years later. The 'Cultivation of Wrath' explained how to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath to unify all the cells and facilitate the breakthrough. The goal was very close to the one explained in 'Universal Law of Immortality'. To achieve a perfect breakthrough, it was necessary that the flow of Qi through all the cells was harmonious. And for that, the idea was mainly to temper the last cells while sending a uniform amount of Qi in the entire body. If everything was synchronous, all the cells would resonate with one another and the breakthrough would be perfect.

Otherwise, the cultivator would still need several weeks or months to harmonize the flow of Qi through all his cells. By achieving such a breakthrough, Cao Yun would save a lot of time.

In all the volumes he had read about Qi cultivation, there were many methods involving certain postures, mantras, visualizations. Some even consisted in breaking through at certain moment of the year to take advantage of the nature around. He had also read several ways to do so with dual cultivation. Two cultivators had to make their two bodies one and at the apex of their pleasure, they would circulate their entire Qi within their two bodies, each one helping the other open every cell. This also gave Cao Yun the idea that not only his cells, but also his mind, his emotion, his very soul, had to be in unison for the breakthrough to be perfect.

Before realizing it, Cao Yun was in front of Chief Instructor Peng's door. Then, he saw the shabby man opening the door. Chief Instructor Peng was even more unkempt than usual. His beard had always been badly shaved but now it was pure chaos. Even his robe was not properly put. It almost looked like he had just been sleeping for several days as his eyes were blinking furiously under the light of the sun. However, he quickly regained his senses and recognized Cao Yun.

Immediately, he went outside and closed the door behind him.

"Oh?! Chen Guo! That's good to see you there! Fine! And ready to come inside!"

Every syllable of Chief Instructor Peng was stressed and he was speaking with his head slightly turned toward the door. Within, Cao Yun could hear the sound of several people moving around. With his hearing, it was easy to pick up the breathing of three young women. He could even recognize them. Cao Yun stopped himself. He would rather not know who they were...

Then, he heard three people jumping from a window and running away.

"I probably shouldn't talk about that."

For once, Cao Yun stole his teacher's line.

"Ha ha ha... Indeed."

Chief Instructor Peng opened the door again. The windows were all open now and the room was thus full of light.

"Chief Instructor, I'm happy that you survived. I've heard that you had gone to the front lines."

"No worries. If you think I'm afraid of a few demonic beasts. Hell, I'm more afraid of jealous hus... I probably shouldn't... Well, you know... I guess you're here because you're about to break through. Congratulations!"

As he walked into the room, Cao Yun saw a piece of intimate clothing belonging to a lady.

"Congratulations to you..."

Quickly, Chief Instructor Peng hid it. He combed his beard and remade his robe to get a more suited appearance. After all, they were about to talk about some important stuff.

"May I...?"

"Of course."

Chief Instructor Peng sent some surges of Qi within his pupil to get a better understanding of his current state.

"Great, great! Your Qi is plentiful, your blood is powerful and your cells are all ready. Our 'Coiling Turtle' has indeed several ways to help our disciples break through harmoniously but they won't really be useful to you. Indeed they mostly consist in some elder or instructor sending Qi into a disciple to harmonize all his cells during the breakthrough. But it's possible because we all practice the same art and our Qi is thus extremely similar. If I were to help you in such a way, that would just create problems. The best way to break through to the Mortal Warrior realm is for your Qi to be perfectly uniform and harmonious through your body. Your breathing, your mind, your Qi, your blood, everything in you must be in unison.

"But there are a few things you can learn from 'Coiling Turtle' still. You must imagine your body as a giant lake and your Qi must be a perfectly still water that will slowly spread throughout your entire body. Visualize the clear surface of the lake. Then, imagine a new drop of water falling into the lake without disturbing its surface. This drop will be the last ounce of Qi needed to open your cells. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think I do. I must first harmonize my Qi in all my cells and then try to open the last ones without disturbing what I already made."

"Indeed. If you can do that, in the worst case scenario, only those last cells won't be harmonized. But it would be better to get them all. Work on achieving this harmony for a few hours. I'll monitor you and when I think you're ready, just add this single little drop without disturbing the surface. Keeping the image in mind can also help you to stay harmonize. And of course, stay focused on the global sensation of your body. Do not fixate your intent on anything, not even those last cells. It is important so that you can feel your body as a whole and not as just an amalgam of different parts working together."

"I believe I understand. Thank you, Chief Instructor."

"Good. Follow me, we wouldn't want you causing a scene here."

Without losing any time, Chief Instructor Peng brought Cao Yun in a secluded room of the nearby martial art pavilion. There were rooms designed to rein in Qi so that breaking through would not cause too much trouble. Even breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm could generate some phenomena.

What Chief Instructor Peng had just told him seemed very close to what he was doing when he was energizing the chambers of his Upper Dantian. Usually he was trying to dissolve the Five Echoes Pearl in the ocean of his sea of consciousness. So first, he imagined that his Qi was the ocean itself and it had to spread through his entire body. At first, he could still feel every individual cell but he soon realized that trying to distribute his Qi evenly like that was impossible. Even for his mind, it was impossible to focus on every cell at once and his intent was always spread too thin. He even used the intent of the Drop of Wrath, but that didn't do the job either.

No, he had to think of his body as only one, not a myriad of elements. The Qi had to naturally spread through his body, he couldn't force it. The more he was trying to constrain it, the more his intent focused on a single part and he was losing the full picture. With the image Chief Instructor Peng had pictured for him, he truly saw his body as a giant lake and let his Qi flow naturally. One by one, he let go of any blockage. He even stopped the flow of blood and let it spread in his bloodstream, guided by both his Qi and the Drop of Wrath.

Cao Yun began to forget the boundaries within his own body. Everything felt the same with as much Qi and blood everywhere. Not a single part of his body was privileged. They were all as important.

Finally, he received the signal of Chief Instructor Peng and imagined the last surge of Qi as another drop falling into his lake of Qi.

A single ripple spread through his entire body. Even in his sea of consciousness, he felt it both through the ocean and the sky, all the way to the surface of the Drop of Wrath. With it was a single note that kept echoing in his mind. Then, the lake overflowed.

All of a sudden, Cao Yun lost the sensation of his own body completely. It was as though he was a single dot in an ocean of energy. And from this dot, a giant tide was spreading outward. He was officially a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior.