Needlessly Provoking

Due to the repeated experiments, old Zhan's body had lost too much lifeforce. Currently, his body was on the verge of breaking apart. At first glance, he looked just like a corpse, which wasn't entirely wrong.

Tianlong couldn't let the man die. Old Zhan was under a slave imprint of Qin Houzi which was tied with his life. The moment old Zhan died, it would inform Qin Houzi.

"Although the energy in the spirit liquid has decreased and can't be used to increase cultivation beyond the fourth layer of Qi condensation, cultivating inside it is still the fastest way to recover."

Both of the bodies stood up and went inside the pool. Their body half-submerged in the spirit water.

Immediately, Tianlong could feel the pores of his body opening up and greedily sucking the spiritual energy. Within just an hour, all of his fatigue was gone.

"For the past few weeks, whenever I felt thirsty, I would drink spirit liquid; when I needed to exhaust my blood energy, I would refine wind blades. I have barely cultivated actively…

"Even so, my body has naturally condensed 72 qi vortexes on its own, sending me at the peak of the third layer of Qi Condensation! If my talent has three parts contribution in it, the other seven parts are due to the spirit liquid. This spirit water, it's simply wonderful!"

Even if one was born with trash talent, if he or she had the support of appropriate resources and the backing of powerful cultivators, their cultivation journey would be very smooth.

Looking at the glowing water surface, Tianlong heaved a sigh.

"Ever since I reached the peak of the third layer, my cultivation speed has slowed down. No matter how much energy I accumulate, all of it just goes around condensing the previous vortexes or staying inside my vessels. Hm, it's my first bottleneck, huh."

The realm of Qi condensation required one to create 361 qi vortexes in all of the body's meridian acupoints. These vortexes would draw the spiritual energy of the surroundings and replenish the meridians.

Condensing one vortex successfully meant reaching the first level of Qi condensation. The body would be able to hold the Qi of heaven and earth and no longer be a complete mortal.

Subsequently, every 36 qi vortexes constituted a minor stage. Hence, the minor stages occur at 1, 37, 73, 109, all the way up to 325 vortexes. Once someone condensed all 361 vortexes, they were considered at the peak of the Qi condensation realm.

The entire great realm only focused on absorbing spiritual energy from outside. One's talent, affinity towards spiritual energy, and resources were the greatest factors that decided the speed of cultivation in this realm.

There were only major bottlenecks that existed in this realm - the fourth and the seventh layer. But once someone successfully passed these stages, their body would undergo a qualitative change vastly different from the other minor stages.

Everyone's bottleneck was different. But most of the time, it was closely linked to the path they followed. For Qingxue, it was related to her alchemy. It was only after her knowledge of alchemy and spiritual sense reached a certain level, that she was able to breakthrough.

Now that Tianlong had also reached the peak of the third layer, he had encountered his first bottleneck.

Looking at the glowing pool, Tianlong took a big deep breath.

"This bottleneck, I'm in no hurry to break it! I cultivate the path of the wind, thus I'm free and unfettered. This is but a small obstacle, there's no need to worry…

With a smile on his face, he waved his hand.

The simple wave caused the wind in the room to become restless. It swirled around the cave in a vortex and setting huge ripples on the water surface.

Next, he swept his gaze over old Zhan. With a single thought, Tianlong possessed him.

To get a stronger spiritual sense, he was possessing the man's body multiple times a day. As time passed by, he got more proficient in it and he didn't need to struggle with it like he initially used to.

To the current him, it just felt like wearing an extra layer of clothing.

Both of the bodies closed their eyes simultaneously and started to cultivate.

As the winds raged around him, his long hair along with his sleeves fluttered. Strands of spiritual energy would enter and exit his body through the pores, moving along the wind.

In contrast, old Zhan's body displayed absolute stillness. It calmly sat there, like an unmoving mountain. No wind energy entered his body.

Having possessed old Zhan's body multiple times, he understood why old Zhan's wind affinity was so low. It was due to the trace of earth qi in his veins.

When Tianlong connected with the wind, the surrounding wind spiritual energy would easily pass through his body, even his clothes would only slightly flutter. His silver wing roc bloodline turned his body especially suitable for wind cultivation.

As for old Zhan, he was the exact opposite. Having cultivated the flesh indulgence merit law, his body was gaining the nature of a corpse devil. The corpse devil race cultivated through devouring flesh and blood of others and sleeping underground. So when the same wind hit old Zhan, his body would resist the flow and remain unmoved.

However, despite all of this, Tianlong had continued to use old Zhan's spirit sense while creating the wind blades.

The feeling he got from each body was different. One was resisting the wind, the other one was going along with it.

"Mother earth is all-embracing. Her heart forever calm and steady, silently watching her children, silently providing them.

"The wind is like an adventurer. His heart doesn't rest anywhere, forever on the move, forever on the road.

"Because she is placid, she can appreciate his freedom; Because he is unrestrained, he can respect her stability." Tianlong silently mumbled. Soon, a thunderous sound filled him. Even without his intervention, an additional vortex seemed to form in his meridians.

Tianlong wasn't aware of any of this, he silently sat there immersed in this binary state. The spiritual energy inside his meridians seethed and started to circulate at an alarming rate.

The spirit liquid in the pond started to churn. Large amounts of spiritual energy escaped from it and turned into mist. Affected by his aura, the mist transformed into a dragon and coiled around him.

Accompanied by the howling of the wind, his cultivation broke through the third layer and entered the fourth layer …but even then it didn't stop and started to create more and more

Black filth started to come out of his pores, which indicated that his meridians were getting cleansed of impurities. As soon as the impurities came outside, they would immediately dry up and scatter due to the wind. These impurities were different from the ones excreted due to body refining. After being relieved of impurities, the body becomes a much more suitable vessel for spiritual energy.

Soon the process slowed down. The mist dragon finally disintegrated into fog entered his body.

Tianlong's skin glistened with a soft glow. If one looked closely, one would notice a mist of spiritual energy surrounding him. It created a faint shimmering effect around his body and gave him an otherworldly look.

His features were still handsome and demonic, but there was an additional scholarly vibe to it.

Getting out of his trance, he slowly opened his eyes. A bright light shone within them.

He opened his palm blew out air from his mouth. The air swirled and turned into a small cyclone in his palm!

Surprisingly, the small cyclone didn't affect the surrounding wind, even the water surface remained still without any ripples. Furthermore, the cyclone was terrifyingly quiet, as if it didn't exist in the first place. Unless one saw it with their own eyes, they wouldn't be able to detect it at all!

"My wind affinity has made a breakthrough." Tianlong waved his hand and dispelled the cyclone. "From now on, my wind blades will be sharper. The consumption of spiritual energy for casting wind techniques would also be much lesser."

"I never imagined that possessing this body would let me enter a state of enlightenment." Tianlong sighed in emotion. "The grand dao of Yin and Yang, huh?"

Dispelling his thoughts, he checked old Zhan's body. His brows immediately furrowed.

He quickly sealed old Zhan's life force and took him inside his interspatial ring. "I've been using his sea of consciousness for the past few weeks. All the mental backlashes I had to suffer, were shared by the two of us. But unlike me, he's unable to heal his consciousness through meditation and rest

"Even after sitting in the pond for 12 hours straight, his condition barely improved. Looks like, only if he cultivates the flesh indulgence art would his vitals get any better. Sigh… How troublesome!"

Tianlong walked out of the cave. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the two people standing just outside. He directly ran into them.

"Old bastard! have you gone blind?"

Tianlong was just about to bow down in apology when he heard the other person insulting him.

"And here I was wondering how to feed him."