Success and Rewards

Several weeks later, the news of the Town Mayor's death resonated like a thunderclap, sending everyone into a tremendous shock. Those who despised the Town Mayor gloated while those who supported him grieved.

But since the Merchant Town of Kalur was a town of progress and was constantly busy. After the town went into a single day of lockdown as a symbol of mourning everything returned back to normal and everyone's daily lives continued.

Inside a luxurious inn located at the center of the Merchant Town, Dan's figure could be seen sitting cross-legged on his bed. He shook his head in regret when he remembered what happened several weeks ago.

After taking all the benefits for himself, Dan acquired two hundred thousand gold coins, numerous defensive and offensive talismans, fifteen Mortal Grade Artifacts, three Earth Grade Artifacts, and a Heaven Grade Defensive Artifact.

Unfortunately, a Heaven Grade Artifact could only be fueled by Divine Essence. Something that only Divine Soul Cultivators possessed, else Dan would be invincible.

But no matter how big his gains was, it could not topple the Shadow God's Inheritance Key that he obtained from the Town Mayor.

Dan tried analyzing it with the System, but to his dismay, apart from the basic information about it, Dan couldn't unveil the row of question marks that appeared.

[Name: Shadow God's Inheritance Key]

[Effects: Use this to trace the Shadow God's Inheritance]

[Description: As one of the demi-gods, the Shadow God was only below to the True Gods. Using his might and unparalleled comprehension of the Darkness Element, he walked through his way from being a mortal into one of the demi-gods that governed their own worlds.

At the end of his life, Maverick, the Shadow God placed his inheritance inside his home planet and sent six of these keys away towards those who had fate towards it. Anyone who obtains the Key shall have the chance of acquiring his Inheritance.]

[??????]

Just below the Shadow God's Inheritance Key. The comprehension that he acquired with the help of the System gave him enough information to understand the process of breaking through the Spirit Tempering Realm.

After tirelessly cultivating for the past weeks, Dan achieved the Peak of the Organ Tempering Realm and after consulting with the System, Dan found that it was time for him to break through the Spirit Tempering Realm.

Shaking his head, he focused on the task at hand as he recalled the knowledge that he acquired from the battle between the two experts, several weeks ago.

The movements of the two experts replayed itself Dan's mind as the latter knitted his eyebrows. Although the movements of the Town Mayor and the apparition looked completely normal. After he processed it with the System, Dan noticed several intricacies within their actions.

The Town Mayor's punches looked average, but when it moved, the wind itself crumbled and when it made contact with his enemy's body or fist, a resonating sonic boom would echo and destroy everything around him in the ensuing shockwave.

"Why is it that their movements look like it is not completely blind? As if in each time they punched, the trajectory of their attack would follow each second of their enemy's movements, as if it's a homing attack..."

Dan recalled the scene where Demi countered the apparition's downward slash. At that time, Demi looked wretched and was severely injured, but his sudden burst of strength gave him enough power to parry his enemy's attack and even counter-attack with an elbow strike.

"How did he make such sharp and precise movements despite the fact that he's that injured?" Dan mumbled under his breath, holding his head, he gave an irritated scream and rolled on the bed.

"Why is it that no matter how much I think about it, I still can't understand the meaning of the Spirit!" Dan shouted in agony, his voice reverberated across the entire room. Fortunately, the walls of his room were reinforced with Sound Isolating Formations so there was no risk of anyone hearing anything that was going on here.

Suddenly, Dan's figure froze.

"Spirit?"

"Wait, could it be that the reason why their movements looked like they were following their enemy's movements is that there's a spirit attached to it?" Dan's expression brightened and he immediately sat cross-legged. Circulating his cultivation base, Dan summoned a ball of Spiritual Qi and enveloped his hands as he made a movement as if he was swimming.

"Make it fluid, without waste. Make it fluid, without waste..." Dan chanted in his mind and the circulation of his Spiritual Qi along with the movements of his body gradually started to become more relaxed and free.

Sensing the changes, Dan increased the amount of Spiritual Qi that he placed on his hands. He was so engrossed in cultivation that he forgot about the movements of the time. Only his perception towards his transforming Dantian and his increasing comprehension towards the concept of Spirit and Spiritual Qi remained.

Eventually, his Spiritual Qi became transparent like the crystal clear water of a pristine river.

At this moment, a confident smile lifted on Dan's lips as he manipulated the transparent water of Spiritual Qi inside his Dantian and made it forcefully expand. Increasing the pressure on the walls of his Dantian while widening it in the process.

Breaking through the Initial Stage of the Spirit Tempering Realm involved the transforming of a cultivator's stained Qi into the pristine and colorless Spiritual Qi before using it in expanding one's Dantian. The first process didn't look dangerous since it only relies on the cultivator's comprehension towards the concept of Spirit but when it comes to Dantian expansion.

That's where the pain would happen.

"Guah!"

A blood arrow shot from Dan's throat towards the bedsheets, staining it in a crimson hue. The intense pain that transmitted from his Dantian towards his body created a backlash which made him spat a mouthful of blood.

Forcefully suppressing his desire to scream and quit. Dan gritted his bloodied teeth and continued the process of breaking through by constantly attacking the walls of his Dantian.

Puchi!

The pores of his skin burst open, dripping with blood.

At this moment, Dan looked like a bloodied mummy and the intense pain which literally covered his entire body made him scream in a soundless agony.

Dan knew that if he canceled the process, he would experience a stronger backlash which could possibly send him back at the middle stages of the Organ Tempering Realm and not only that, he would also be temporarily weakened.

Clenching his fists, he thought, "I have to endure, I have to endure!!!"

When daybreak arrived, Dan managed to expand his Dantian by seventy percent, and now, his Dantian that was the size of a water bucket now had the size of a water drum.

Though he could stop now and settle for a sixty-percent increase in accumulated Spiritual Qi, Dan didn't stop. Instead, he pressed on and aimed for a hundred percent. A perfect Spirit Tempering Realm breakthrough.

It has to be known that a perfect Spirit Tempering Realm breakthrough was an extremely dangerous process that not everyone was willing to stake. Though the rewards were appealing, the pain experienced in the process and the prerequisite that the cultivator had to maintain complete concentration while breaking through was something that couldn't easily be achieved.

Blood still dripped from his orifices, but it looked much weaker as Dan's expression looked paler as time passed by. Clicking his tongue, he knew that he had to finish the entire process in an hour or else he would collapse from blood loss.

"Fucking hell, let's do this shit!" Dan resolved himself, but as an insurance, he saved his current progress in the System so that if he failed, he could just tap on the load button and return back in time.

The higher the risk, the higher the benefits!

If I want to be someone extraordinary, I should not cower in the face of death nor pain!

Reaffirming his resolve, Dan rotated his entire cultivation base and rammed it on the walls of his Dantian. The attack made him bend forward in pain as a mouthful of blood exploded from his mouth.

His vision swam, but his sheer determination to achieve perfection made him withstand all the pain as his Dantian that previously looked like a water drum now looked like a water tank!

With a joyful smile on his face, Dan's perception disappeared from his Dantian as he finally collapsed on the bed from exhaustion. However, as he slept, the small smirk plastered on his face indicated the success that he achieved.

As of this moment, Dan completed a milestone.

He managed to achieve something extraordinary!

He achieved a perfect Spirit Tempering Realm breakthrough!