LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 153: Promotion to Xuan Gang
Han Zheng had lingered at the peak of the Innate Transcendence Realm long enough.
After touching the threshold of the Xuan Gang Realm, all that was left for him was to thoroughly nourish his True Yuan so that it pervaded all of his meridians and acupoints, and that would mean he officially stepped into the Xuan Gang Realm.
Following the capture of the Guiyuan Sword Pavilion, the merit from the Demon Cleansing Bureau had also been awarded.
Han Zheng received as many as six hundred points of merit, the continuous slaying of demons and the killing of key figure Yao Zijing brought him such an abundance of merit points.
The merit points Han Zheng received from this battle could be said to be the highest among all, even a hundred more than Demon Sweeping Colonel Liao Hongsheng of the Xuan Gang Realm.
Adding his previous remaining merit points, Han Zheng now had a total of one thousand and two hundred merit points.
Moreover, the Hunger Level in the Taotie Furnace had also accumulated to ninety-eight thousand points for Han Zheng.
With these resources at hand, Han Zheng could breakthrough in any way he wished; he had never fought such a wealthy battle before.
First, Han Zheng went to the Guardian Storage and directly exchanged one thousand and two hundred merit points for two Heavenly Spirit Jade Dew Pills.
The elixir that even Xuan Gang Realm's Demon Sweeping Colonels dared not take lightly, Han Zheng took two at once, which could be described as extremely extravagant.
After that, Han Zheng asked Wen Tingyun for a month-long leave to prepare for his closed-door breakthrough.
Having prepared everything, Han Zheng returned to his cottage, directly swallowed one Heavenly Spirit Jade Dew Pill, and instantly the overwhelming medicinal power surged and overflowed within his body.
Given his previous experience, Han Zheng refined the Heavenly Spirit Jade Dew Pill at a rapid rate.
The originally faint True Yuan grew continuously under the nourishment of the overwhelming medicinal power, filling every meridian channel.
In just five days, the medicinal power of one Heavenly Spirit Jade Dew Pill was completely exhausted, and without hesitation, Han Zheng swallowed another pill into his belly.
Once again, the medicinal power dispersed, and his True Yuan gradually grew and extended to eighty percent of the meridians and acupoints throughout his body.
But the follow-up medicinal power had become somewhat insufficient and could no longer sustain his cultivation.
Han Zheng directly opened the Taotie Furnace and entered it to cultivate.
He had not cultivated in the Taotie Furnace for a long time, but Han Zheng did not feel the slightest unfamiliarity.
Although cultivating in the Taotie Furnace purely stacked up time, with time standing still, it did not impact Han Zheng's mental state too much.
After consuming over fifteen thousand points of Hunger Level, True Yuan as solid as reality had filled all of Han Zheng's acupoints throughout his entire body.
The True Yuan, containing robust power, flowed through Han Zheng's body as if it were another type of blood, entirely different from the feel of True Qi.
With a casual wave of his hand, the disengaged True Yuan transformed into Gang Qi, extending a good three to four zhang (10-13 meters) away.
This distance was already extremely astonishing since most Martial Artists who stepped into the Xuan Gang Realm had Gang Qi that only reached about one zhang (3.3 meters).
However, when Han Zheng condensed True Yuan into Gang Qi, he still felt a bit of rawness, and the speed was somewhat sluggish.
In the event of a fierce battle, he might not be able to convert True Yuan into Gang Qi for an extended period.
It might be fine at the start of the fight, but if the battle went on too long, the speed at which True Yuan converted into Gang Qi would inevitably decline.
So now was the time to cultivate the Gang Skill.
The Beidou Tianxuan True Gang, which he had previously exchanged from the Demon Cleansing Bureau, was already imprinted in Han Zheng's mind.
Now, he directly began cultivating within the Taotie Furnace.
In the void, before Han Zheng's eyes, the dazzling and brilliant Beidou Seven Stars Map appeared.
The Southern Dipper governed birth; the Northern Dipper governed death.
The power of the Northern Dipper could determine one's life span, controlling when you die.
The death aura projected by this Beidou Seven Stars Map was not the ordinary sense of yin and malevolent death Qi.
It was the utterly pure concept of 'death'—the end of one's life span, the cessation of vitality, that deadliness which obliterates everything.
Now Han Zheng understood why so many had previously found it so difficult to cultivate the Beidou Tianxuan True Gang.
The comprehension of such power was too unorthodox; if it were an old man nearing the end of his days, or someone seriously ill and lingering on the brink of life and death, they could easily grasp its true meaning.
But a normal martial artist would only wander in life-and-death struggles, which are entirely different from the Death Qi contained within the Beidou Tianxuan True Gang. Therefore, it was naturally difficult to comprehend.
In fact, Han Zheng's guess was quite accurate.
The martial artist who created the Beidou Tianxuan True Gang did so when their life span was approaching its end, hoping to leave behind stronger cultivation techniques for the sect before death. Hence, they created the Beidou Tianxuan True Gang on the brink of death.
Regrettably, this technique was too unorthodox, and there were not many who could cultivate it successfully.
With the Taotie Furnace at his disposal, Han Zheng could reveal the true essence of the technique, which was a kind of shortcut, but it was still incredibly challenging to comprehend.
Day after day, year after year.
Han Zheng gradually adjusted his mental state to one of complete tranquility, then fully submerged it into still waters akin to death, experiencing the ultimate transition between life and death.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Han Zheng suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze dead and ashen, filled with a grey-whiteness that only returned to normal after a long moment.
Leaving the Taotie Furnace, Han Zheng stretched out his hand, and his True Yuan almost instantly transformed into a grey-white Gang Qi, shimmering with specks of starlight.
The Beidou Tianxuan True Gang, which strips vitality and reverses life and death, had an overbearing power; its pure Gang Qi force was even stronger than that of most cultivation techniques at the Xuan Gang Realm!
Han Zheng glanced at his depleted Hunger Level and was astonished to find that it had consumed 20,000 points.
However, thinking of the mighty power of the Beidou Tianxuan True Gang, Han Zheng felt it was not too much of a loss.
With 73,000 points of Hunger Level remaining, Han Zheng prepared to have a breakthrough in his cultivation technique.
The cultivation journey in the Xuan Gang Realm was monotonous and tedious, lacking significant hurdles, requiring only the simple accumulation of power.
The only barrier was the successful condensation of the Dan Sea, which would allow entry into the Dan Sea Realm.
Using Hunger Level to break through at this stage seemed wasteful, and moreover, Han Zheng estimated that at least 100,000 points of Hunger Level would be required to break through to the middle stage of the Xuan Gang Realm. Whether his current Hunger Level was sufficient for a successful breakthrough was still uncertain.
Accumulating some Merit Points and using Elixirs to build up strength, and then utilizing Hunger Level to fill the gaps for a breakthrough seemed more reliable.
Opening the Taotie Furnace, Han Zheng checked his current attributes.
[Name: Han Zheng
Cultivation: Early Stage Xuan Gang Realm
Martial Arts Skill: Postnatal Realm [Iron Elephant Skill] Perfect, Postnatal Realm [Vajra Fist] Perfect, Postnatal Realm [Blood Slaughter Saber Technique] Perfect.
Innate Realm [Dragon Elephant Wisdom] Perfect, Innate [Vajra Demon Suppression Seal] Perfect, Innate Realm [White Ape Extended Arm Fist] Perfect, Innate Realm [Blood Slaughter Shura Blade] Perfect, Innate Realm [Heavenly Blade Secret Transmission First Volume] Perfect, Innate Realm [Black Blood Demon Evil Skill] Perfect, Innate Realm [Wind and Thunder Technique] Perfect, Innate Realm [True Martial Refinement] Perfect
Xuan Gang Realm [Ape Demon Nine Transformations·Moving Mountain] Skill Level 100%, Xuan Gang Realm [Dragon Elephant Prison Suppressing Power] Skill Level 80%, Xuan Gang Realm [Great Vajra Ming King Seal] Skill Level 70%, Xuan Gang Realm [Great Black Heaven Demon Technique] Skill Level 60%, Xuan Gang Realm [Avici Path Shura Slash] Skill Level 50%, Xuan Gang Realm [Wind and Thunder Nine Transitions] Skill Level 40%, [Beidou Tianxuan True Gang] Skill Level 5%
Special Secret Skill: [Horror Purgatory Ghost King Form] (No Skill Level Required, Breakthrough Requires Fusion with Special Items) [Shocking God Needle] (No Skill Level Required, Breakthrough Requires Fusion with Special Items)
Current Status: Vitality Abundant]
[Current Skills Available for Breakthrough:
[Ape Demon Nine Transformations] requires 50,000 points of Hunger Level to break through, integration of [Nine Heavens Ape Demon Star Picking Map] essence requires an additional 10,000 points of Hunger Level consumption
[True Martial Refinement] requires 10,000 points of Hunger Level for breakthrough.]
Seeing the Hunger Level required for the breakthrough of the Ape Demon Nine Transformations, Han Zheng's mouth twitched twice.
The Hunger Level needed for a breakthrough from the Xuan Gang Realm to the Dan Sea Realm was astonishingly high, counting in tens of thousands.
Compared to breaking through from the Innate Realm to the Xuan Gang Realm, it was ten to even more than fifteen times higher.
All the Hunger Level he had accumulated for so long would be depleted by just breaking through two techniques.
"Let's just breakthrough all of them."
The Taotie Furnace opened its gaping maw, first expelling a black orb of light which directly fused into Han Zheng's body.
Then the Nine Heavens Ape Demon Star Picking Map unfolded, with raging Ape Demons on it, reaching out for the stars; one star was plucked by an Ape Demon and directly shot into Han Zheng's body.
[Innate Realm [True Martial Refinement] broke through to Xuan Gang Realm [True Martial Yuan Chen Treasure Body], initial Skill Level 10%]
[Xuan Gang Realm [Ape Demon Nine Transformations·Moving Mountain] broke through to Dan Sea Realm [Ape Demon Nine Transformations·Earth Splitting], initial Skill Level 10%]