Advanced Essence Gathering Realm

"Don't even think about it," Zhao Yunxiao shut him down immediately.

"What? Why? Don't you want to break through to the next boundary?" Hua Xian retorted.

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes at the sealing bag. "You want me to hold a leaf that you have packed full of your essence energy while cultivating? What would I do if you tried to take me down with you?"

"Tch! My life is much more precious than yours, so why would I do something that stupid?" Hua Xian snorted in disdain.

Zhao Yunxiao: "..."

Did you really mean to say that out loud?

But that aside, Hua Xian's words did make sense when he thought about it.

Firstly, it was not easy for a spiritual plant to gain enlightenment in the wilds. Hua Xian had probably spent hundreds of years, if not thousands, in order to become a flower demon. However, all that effort would go straight to waste if he were to harm Zhao Yunxiao, since there was no way that he would be getting away with it considering how deep they were within the Black Tortoise Sect territory.

So, unless Hua Xian was feeling suicidal, there was no way that he would do something like that.

After all, even if Zhao Yunxiao were to pass Hua Xian to the sect administrators, they were more likely to engage Hua Xian in corrective services within the confines of the sect instead of directly killing him off.

Secondly, if it was just about creating a more suitable cultivating environment, the risks involved would not be as huge. In contrast, directly ingesting the leaf would be something completely out of the question.

Thirdly, Zhao Yunxiao had a decent level of expertise when it came to studying item traits, accumulated over numerous years of doing various work at the sect. To a large extent, he should be able to determine if Hua Xian had played any tricks on the leaf.

Of course, it was not like he could completely eliminate the risks, so it still came down to weighing the benefits against the costs.

"Do it then. However, that's on the condition that you stay within the sealing bag at all times. You can release a leaf from within," Zhao Yunxiao decided after a few moments of contemplation. "I will take a look at the leaf and decide from there."

"Good decision! Your conditions are fine. As long as you don't let my efforts go to waste, I can assure you that you will only benefit from this!" Hua Xian answered. "Just don't forget about my help after you reap the benefits!"

"I don't have time to chat with you all day. Are you going to do it or not?"

"Yes, yes, I will! I am doing it now! Now, you just have to open the sealing bag for a moment."

Zhao Yunxiao did not think much of such a request.

Without opening the sealing bag, there was naturally no way for Zhao Yunxiao to obtain a leaf from Hua Xian.

But if he were to simply open the sealing bag like this, Zhao Yunxiao would still be putting himself at risk for that brief moment.

[Earthen Clone Technique]

Zhao Yunxiao created an earthen clone, leaving Zhao Yunxiao Two in the residence while he left for a moment.

It was only after Zhao Yunxiao had walked a good distance away that Zhao Yunxiao Two carefully released the sealing bag.

"Tch! How distrustful. Did you grow up surrounded by liars or something?" Hua Xian said unhappily.

Yet despite his complaints, he did not play any tricks.

Hua Xian understood that if he wanted to regain his freedom anytime in the near future, the best chance he had would be by getting into Zhao Yunxiao's good books.

A single leaf floated out of the opened sealing bag – a leaf that was packed full of essence energy by the flower demon.

Zhao Yunxiao Two did not hesitate to close the sealing bag after grabbing the leaf, once again trapping Hua Xian within.

After inspecting the leaf to ensure that there were no issues, Zhao Yunxiao slowly made his way back to his residence while Zhao Yunxiao Two stepped out.

"See? No trickery," Hua Xian said.

"That remains to be seen," Zhao Yunxiao carefully inspected the leaf once more, just in case there was something that escaped the spiritual senses of his clone.

It was indeed packed with essence energy. Just to produce this single leaf, Hua Xian must have emptied out most of his energy reserves.

Once again, he found no issues with it.

"Now, let's see if it works," Hua Xian urged in anticipation.

Zhao Yunxiao looked at the leaf and contemplated one final time.

The main question was Hua Xian's personality – whether he was more inclined to sacrifice his life for revenge, or if he was more likely to bid his time for an eventual shot at freedom.

As a plant demon who had always been confined within Ghost Fog Valley, Zhao Yunxiao believed that patience was a trait that Hua Xian definitely did not lack.

And Hua Xian's submissive actions ever since he had been subdued definitely corroborated that belief.

Huu-!

Letting out a long breath, Zhao Yunxiao finally decided to take a leap of faith here.

Cultivation was a long journey that mainly required patience and hard work, establishing a strong foundation every step of the way.

But on top of that, there were also times when calculated risks had to be taken, and that was especially true for those who lacked talent like himself.

Zhao Yunxiao was definitely not someone who enjoyed taking risks. Things like venturing into unchartered territories and risking his life for fortuitous encounters that could turn his life around were simply unthinkable to him.

But at the same time, that did not mean he would not take any risks whatsoever.

He simply needed to make sure that the benefits outweighed the costs, and that the probability of success was much higher than that of failure.

His cultivation talent was already enough of a limiting factor. If he dared not even grasp an opportunity where the risks were this low, then who knew if he would ever attain his dreams of freedom?

Zhao Yunxiao returned to the meditation room and sat down cross legged while holding the leaf tightly in his hand.

Boom-!

Once Zhao Yunxiao triggered it with a slight injection of energy, a burst of demonic essence energy erupted from within the leaf, forming into a cloud that shrouded Zhao Yunxiao.

Unlike the pure world origin energy, this was essence energy from Hua Xian, so it was not something that Zhao Yunxiao could directly absorb to aid his cultivation.

However, it was not meant for direct absorption in the first place.

Instead, it was meant to create an environment of high energy density, specially designed to aid in Zhao Yunxiao's cultivation.

Seeing this, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel slightly amazed.

Just how much essence energy did Hua Xian pack into this delicate little leaf for it to burst forth and create an enhanced cultivation environment like this?

And for it to take such a compact form, the level of energy control involved was no easy feat either!

Immersed in this enclosure of essence energy, Zhao Yunxiao felt his body quickly becoming lighter.

No, not just his body.

The flow of energy within his spiritual meridians was starting to become smoother, making it almost effortless to circulate his essence energy.

Hua Xian had not been bluffing earlier – this was definitely different from taking a Winterwarmth Pill.

Zhao Yunxiao did not know what Hua Xian did and how he did it, but such an effect was definitely not something that would naturally happen upon entering an environment of higher energy density.

At least, the benefits would definitely not be as large as this. It was an extremely comfortable feeling, as though entering a world where cultivation was that much easier.

It would appear that Hua Xian had somehow seen through the flaws in his cultivation, and did something special to the leaf to change things up a little. Perhaps this was why he had emphasised that it had to be a sentient spiritual plant that clearly understood what Zhao Yunxiao needed.

Is this how cultivation geniuses feel all the time, especially those with true or golden spiritual meridians?

Zhao Yunxiao could not be sure.

But if that was indeed the case, then it was understandable why they were capable of reaching a higher cultivation level than others!

The Foundation Building realm was about forming the spiritual meridian root, using it as a base to form a complete network of spiritual meridians – something that would act as one's cultivation foundation.

Following which, the Essence Gathering realm was about opening the dantian, creating a base where world origin energy could be gathered, refined into essence energy, and stored as energy reserves. The dantian would then be connected to the spiritual meridians, creating a complete energy system within.

As for the different stages of the Essence Gathering realm, they indicated the progress of connecting the dantian to these existing spiritual meridians.

The greater the completion rate, the greater the amount of essence energy that could be stored and the smoother the energy flow. This naturally decreased the reliance that cultivators had on world origin energy in the surroundings, as well as making it easier to execute complex techniques that were much higher in terms of energy consumption.

25% connection marked the start of the Intermediate Essence Gathering realm.

50% connection marked the start of the Advanced Essence Gathering realm.

At 75% connection, one would be considered to have entered the Peak Essence Gathering realm.

These were not arbitrary numbers chosen by some random ancestor.

Most cultivators would encounter bottlenecks at each of these points, unable to take a single step further. As time passed, these points naturally came to be seen as significant hurdles that had to be crossed.

Zhao Yunxiao was one of those cultivators who had been stuck at a bottleneck for some time. Specifically, he had been stuck at the 49.9% mark for quite a while now.

All he needed was one more step to reach the next boundary, yet this singular step had been ever so elusive.

One by one, his spiritual meridians connected to his dantian, though that was not the end of it.

He had already gone through this many times in the past, only for the spiritual meridians to eventually break off instead of staying attached.

And this time, the spiritual meridians were starting to waver once again, showing signs of detaching from his dantian.

But right at this moment, the dense layer of essence energy around him started growing heavier, reducing in volume but increasing in density.

As though reacting to this change, the wavering spiritual meridians slowly eased, their connections to the dantian growing firmer and stronger.

After a short moment, they finally stopped wavering altogether.

Boom-!

A gentle gust of energy spread out in all directions like a nova, as though a strong breeze had picked up within the meditation room.

His robes and long hair fluttered for a brief moment but quickly settled.

Just like that, Zhao Yunxiao had broken through to the next small boundary, entering the Advanced Essence Gathering realm!

However, Zhao Yunxiao did not stop there.

Zhao Yunxiao had never stopped cultivating while stuck at the previous bottleneck, thereby accumulating an extremely solid foundation.

Having finally overcome the bottleneck, this accumulated foundation could finally come into play, surging forth and allowing Zhao Yunxiao to push further with his cultivation.

50.01%...

50.02%...

50.03%...

One after another, his spiritual meridians connected firmly with his dantian, finally stopping after hitting 50.1%.

This 0.1% might not seem like much to others, but it was extremely precious in Zhao Yunxiao's eyes.

After all, drops of water could form an ocean. Every bit helped in the long and arduous path of cultivation!

Zhao Yunxiao finally opened his eyes after what felt like forever.

He could feel a significant difference in the flow of his essence energy after breaking through to the Advanced Essence Gathering realm – something that he had been looking forward to for a long time now.

However, Zhao Yunxiao also knew that he did not have the luxury of time to celebrate the achievement of this milestone.

This push to the Advanced Essence Gathering realm might have sounded simple, but it actually took almost two full days to complete.

Time always seemed to pass the fastest when you needed it the most. Before he knew it, it was already the night before the duel with Gan Luozhi.

And within the span of this one night, Zhao Yunxiao would have to do everything he could to adapt to this newfound strength of his!