Ji Qing's Breakthrough

Meanwhile, up ahead, at the top of the mountain, Ji Tang had just finished drawing some images on the ground when the staggering roars of the two shadows reached him.

"Unh? Lord Stage Demon Beasts? What are they doing so close to the human continent?" He thought to himself with a slight frown, before an ominous realization dawned on him;

"Oh no; Min'er! Qing'er!" He cried out in fear before turning toward the forest;

Bang!

Ji Tang's aura burst forth violently as a massive crater spread across the area.

Crack!

A spider web of cracks spanning about 10 meters in radius streaked out from the crater, followed by an ensuing tremor that sent several rock debris rolling down the mountain.

"Zap Steps!"

Cackle!

Several lighting snakes blitzed out of Ji Tang's body, fizzling in different directions like they were planning to escape, only to then vanish and reappear once again in an endlessly repetitive cycle.

Zing!

A strong electrical hum buzzed to life before Ji Tang and the numerous lightning snakes vanished from sight with a scorched mountaintop in their wake.

Elsewhere.

About 50 meters away from Ji Min's position; a spent Ji Qing could be seen, on her last legs, jugging like she's been fueled by nothing but her determination.

Then she heard an earth-shaking roar, followed by the sound of destruction.

"Unh? What a powerful demon beast."

She managed to say with bated breaths to herself before looking behind her to realize that her pursuer was nowhere in sight.

"Fortunately, the beast I offended was a Three-Horned Sloth; otherwise, should it have been any other beast, then I might have been in the belly of the beast by now."

She was still thanking her stars with a sigh when Ji Min's screams suddenly rang into her ears.

"Oh no, Ji Min's hurt!" She exclaimed as she tried to increase her pace when her legs wobbled into each other and tripped her into a fall.

"Damn it. How can I even help him in such a condition?" She cursed with a sigh.

"How unfortunate for him to meet such a powerful monster? I better hurry and help him." She said as she began to muster the last shred of grit within herself, in a bid to prop herself back to her feet.

"There's no way I'm letting him die here; I still need to show him I can be better at anything he does." She tried self-motivation, as she searched deep within herself to find any source of strength that could get her to her destination.

Shockingly, something responded to that search; a massive raging pool of energy suddenly appeared within her mindscape.

It raged and surged and intended to break past its banks but seemed to be blocked and sealed by an invisible barrier.

But the more Ji Qing earnestly yearned for that power, the more the pool raged aggressively; until the point where the barrier crumbled in the face of the violent splashes of the raging pool.

Then the moment the first drop of that energy spilled past its bank, the atmosphere suddenly shook and vibrated, as the rich natural Qi within the forest responded to the phenomenon happening within her mindscape and began to replicate it within her.

Qi began to surge toward her like a tidal wave, surging into the Qi Pool and expanding it at a spontaneous momentum.

Then all of a sudden, the bank that depicted her entire cultivation as a Qi Pool (Qi Gathering Stage) suddenly overflowed and spilled over.

Boom!

A suction force exploded out of Ji Qing's body as a massive sea of Qi gathered within the forest atmosphere, spanning about 50 meters in span, surging towards her as the speed of their momentum kicked up a wind within the area.

As the Qi poured into her like an inverted pressurized hose, the breeze kicked up by the commotion suddenly morphed into a rapidly spinning wind that even sucked harder at the Qi in the forest atmosphere, causing the scene to look like a massive whirlpool.

This caused the Qi gathering within Ji Qing to expand at a faster rate, and a few minutes later, the Qi pool grew into a miniature lake, and shortly afterward, transformed into a Qi Sea.

To signify the end of its expansion, the forest abruptly severed its connection to Ji Qing as the surging energy suddenly vanished, but not before the rapidly spinning wind gathered all it needed to complete the expansion.

Then the moment the final drop surged into her, the energy supporting the wind seemed to return to Ji Qing, causing the wind to vanish and the entire area to grow silent.

But just as one would think that's all, a massive surge of energy burst out of Ji Qing and ripple across the entire area like the shore of a beach on a windy summer.

"Finally! I finally stepped into the Qi Sea Stage!"

Ji Qing had tears in her eyes when she realized she had finally broken through the bottleneck that had plagued her for several years and finally stepped into the Qi Sea Stage!

"Hold on tight Ji Min, I'm coming to help." She cried before attempting to dash toward Ji Min's position.

Bam!

Her foot sank about ten inches into the ground the moment she took her first step, causing her to trip in her steps and fall for the second time in succession.

"Crap; I forgot about these chains?' She lamented to herself, before propping up herself with the vigor and energy that was now brimming all over her body.

After a few seconds of familiarizing herself with her new strength and readjusting her bearings.

Whoosh!

She tore through the forest like an impala that had been spooked by a lioness, stumbling and quickly regaining her balance as she tried to adapt to the adjusted weight of her chains.

Meanwhile.

Back at the scorched area, Ji Min was finding out that regaining his consciousness was a herculean task he was not ready for.

He had just sustained two unique serious damages.

Internally, his eardrums rang with a piercing and aching noise that severely blurred his sight, and the harder he tried to forcefully regain clarity, the worse his migraine became.

Physically, his bones felt like they had lost all the strength within their marrows as all the joints within his body ached like hell.

[Young Lord! Young Lord! Please, talk to me!]

Sensei kept rambling in panic as he sensed the chaotic nature of Ji Min's consciousness.