Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 288 Breakthrough in the Path of Dharma Cultivation: Moving Strange Wind

As the year draws to a close, many places across the country are beginning to be decorated with red and green decorations.

Many low-level cultivators, regardless of their gains or losses over the past year, will take a break during these few days.

Even when the wind is howling at Tingtaohai, it remains the same.

However, unlike most monks who were immersed in the joyous festive atmosphere,

A few high-level cultivators have been filled with worries lately.

As the sea creatures suddenly made their move, countless sea fish rushed in, and the dark cloud of great turmoil almost completely enveloped the entire Compassionate Sea.

The situation suddenly became more severe than ever before.

As a result, many factions are unsure whether or not to spread the latest news.

Especially the news of the death of Zen Master Kuji.

The fall of a fourth-level cultivator is enough to cause widespread panic.

Moreover, such panic will only create chaos and will not help the overall situation.

"Let's wait two more days and let the people below have a good New Year."

Inside the Cloud Wave Sword Pavilion, True Monarch Lvshuang, who had emerged from seclusion ahead of schedule, placed the secret report back on the table: "Juehai Temple is quite a distance from here, so it won't make a difference if we wait a little longer."

"How is Tianjian's cultivation going lately? What are his chances of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage?"

Upon hearing this, True Monarch Yunwo shook his head slightly: "My eldest nephew has been working very hard these days, but unfortunately he is still lacking in skill."

"Senior brother, don't be anxious. You can't blame him for this. After all, he's still young and hasn't accumulated enough experience."

"Besides, the Buddhist sect is now located on the east side."

"I've long heard that Pudu Temple has boundless Buddhist teachings. In my opinion, this is a good opportunity to test their capabilities."

Yunwo Zhenjun first spoke up for Tianjian Zhenren, saying something fair.

Then, he changed the subject and began to gloat.

While it cannot be said that Taoism and Buddhism are irreconcilable, they are generally not very harmonious.

In some aspects, such as the competition for resources, they can be considered complete competitors.

Currently, only the Buddhist sect's eastern and northern sides have been attacked by the sea tribes, while the Taoist sect's southern and western sides remain unscathed.

Since the fire hadn't reached his own doorstep, True Lord Yunwo naturally wasn't in a hurry.

Of course, this is not entirely because he was short-sighted and could not see the hidden crisis that followed.

The main reason is also closely related to the overall grand vision of the Ocean of Compassion.

Before the emergence of the Zhaokong Sect and the Chongzhen Temple, the five major sects had already been squeezed to the southwest by Buddhism.

Therefore, unlike the Storm Sea, the various sects are intertwined with each other.

While the five major sects compete with each other, they also maintain a certain degree of tacit understanding.

One specific manifestation of this is that Golden Core disciples can fight each other to the death.

However, Nascent Soul True Monarchs try to maintain restraint and avoid fighting each other easily. They always choose to discuss things together.

This is not just for everyone's dignity.

The deeper reason is to ensure that the top combat power of the Taoist sect will not be consumed by internal factors.

In the past, the five major sects could unite to counterbalance Buddhism, and now, facing the sea tribes, they can certainly choose to unite as well.

"Everyone is usually in seclusion, so it's always difficult to get everyone together."

Yunwo Zhenjun suggested, "Several old friends should be out this time, so why don't we take Junior Brother Dielang with us and go to pay our respects on the first day of the new year?"

"Firstly, it's a chance to get to know each other, and secondly, it's a chance for everyone to sit down together and come up with a proper plan."

Upon hearing this, True Lord Die Lang nodded slightly in agreement.

It has been four years since he broke through to the True Monarch level, but he still hasn't met all the True Monarchs from the other four major sects.

The main reason is that some people have been in seclusion for a long time. For a Nascent Soul True Monarch, it is not unusual to go into seclusion for several decades at a time.

"It's different; this situation is unusual."

True Monarch Lvshuang, however, said with a serious expression: "Although the spiritual energy tide has been rising in recent years, it shouldn't be able to cultivate so many Golden Core Sea Fish."

"Moreover, the sea creatures arrived too quickly; something must have happened that we are unaware of."

His eyes were fixed on the east side, his gaze seemingly piercing through the wall, staring directly at the giant nautilus.

"From today onwards, Tianjian will remain within the sect and is not allowed to leave on his own."

"Select three more clever disciples, plus three veterans we've trained ourselves, and send them westward disguised!"

He is clearly preparing for the continuation of the orthodox tradition.

Upon hearing this, True Monarch Yunwo's expression changed slightly: "Senior Brother, it doesn't have to come to this, does it?"

Lord Die Lang was even more puzzled. Although he did not speak, he cast a questioning glance at him.

"The situation is still unclear, but I have a feeling that something is not right."

True Monarch Lvshuang comforted him, saying, "My two junior brothers need not worry about this. Perhaps it is just that I am getting old and my judgment is impaired."

"But no matter what, it's always good to be prepared."

Similar incidents also occurred within the Tiangang Sect.

Han Chuan Zhenjun strongly advocated splitting up two groups of people to head west.

After offering a few words of advice, Gangyuan Zhenjun did not insist on opposing it, but nodded in agreement.

In any case, given the current situation, it doesn't matter whether there are a few more or fewer Golden Core cultivators in the sect.

Although the other sects did not send anyone to the Storm Sea, they all gave certain instructions and reminders to their own Golden Core cultivators.

After all, they are the backbone of the sect.

As for blocking information, that's just a tactic used against independent cultivators and ordinary disciples.

While the outside world was filled with countless thoughts due to the invasion of the sea creatures.

Inside Tingtao Market, Xiao Chen was listening to a storyteller and enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

He will remain in the market for the next few days as he needs to wait for Master Geng to refine the pills.

As a rogue cultivator, he doesn't have anything he absolutely has to do.

Therefore, after reading the intelligence, Xiao Chen did not rush to leave, but instead stayed in Lingtong Pavilion to relax.

They didn't leave until midnight, and found a nearby inn to stay in.

The wind outside has been blowing all day and shows no signs of weakening.

Fortunately, once the array in the courtyard of the inn was activated, the noise immediately ceased.

"Whoosh~ Whoosh~!"

However, when Xiao Chen woke up the next morning and opened the door, he immediately heard the howling wind outside again.

Moreover, the commotion was quite large; just by listening to the scale of it, you could tell it was even more impressive than yesterday.

It was already past Chen Shi (7-9 AM), but the outside was shrouded in a hazy, yellowish-gray light, making it almost impossible to see anything in the distance.

"This...this doesn't seem right, does it?"

Xiao Chen immediately sensed something was wrong.

He had arranged with Master Geng to pick up the pills on the third day after the wind stopped.

If the wind keeps blowing, wouldn't it drag on forever?

What's with the wind outside?

Upon arriving at Lingtong Pavilion again, Xiao Chen went directly to the manager and inquired about relevant information.

However, the manager shook his head: "Oh, senior, we really don't know about this."

"We've never had such strong winds before; we really have no experience with this."

Ordinary wind, frost, rain, and snow are not a problem for cultivators, so this kind of news cannot even be considered intelligence.

But precisely because of this, initially, no one in the entire Tingtao Market paid any attention to this sudden strong wind.

Until this wind became intimately connected with everyone in the market.

Only then did everyone realize that something was wrong.

"That's strange. The strong winds started on the 20th, and it's been nine days now. Why haven't they stopped?"

"It's not just not stopping, it's clearly getting bigger and bigger in my opinion."

"Do you think this could be a sign that some extraordinary treasure is about to be born?"

……

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, many cultivators hid in the shops of Lingtong Pavilion, discussing the unusually strong winds that had been blowing recently.

Xiao Chen was somewhat depressed.

He's not afraid of the wind and can easily go for a stroll on the street.

The problem is, everyone is hiding indoors, and there are almost no people on the streets, so it's not interesting to stroll around.

I finally got a few days to relax, but all I could do was stay in Lingtong Pavilion and listen to stories.

The key is that there have only been a few news items lately, and I already heard them a couple of days ago, so repeating them now would be less interesting.

As for those strange and bizarre rumors, they are so distorted that it's hard to believe them.

"Forget it, I'd better go back to cultivate."

Finding no enjoyment in Lingtong Pavilion, Xiao Chen simply returned to the inn's courtyard, set up an array to block the strong wind, and began to actively refine his true essence.

After acquiring the Yin Five Elements Ring, he no longer needed to worry about this matter.

Each day, under the influence of the mutual generation of the five elements, an extra strand of true essence will automatically be generated within the flawless golden elixir.

But since Xiao Chen had nothing better to do, he decided to use it as a way to pass the time.

He skillfully used his divine sense to examine the total amount of true essence within the flawless golden core.

He then realized that although he had barely focused on cultivation after breaking through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm in the path of Dharma cultivation.

However, without realizing it, he had already accumulated a full 666 strands of true essence.

If it weren't for the fact that three of the true essences within came from the Hundred-Turn Mystic Pill...

In his cultivation path, he is already approaching a minor bottleneck in the late Golden Core stage.

Even so, only three more strands of true essence are needed.

"Really that fast?"

Xiao Chen himself was somewhat surprised; he thought he had fallen far behind.

However, if you think about it carefully, it has been almost four months since we arrived at the island where Broken Blade Demon was located in August.

In other words, the Yin Five Elements Ring had unknowingly provided him with more than a hundred streams of true energy.

This effect, which may seem weak, actually excels in its slow, steady, and subtle influence.

It not only replenished Xiao Chen's true essence, but also did not affect his progress in searching the ruins or collecting evil energy.

So, through his own efforts in cultivation, he successfully gathered enough true essence in two days.

Upon internal observation, the flawless golden elixir had almost transformed into a round, bulging sphere.

"very good!"

Xiao Chen nodded in satisfaction: "Next, it's time to press on and break through to the next minor realm!"

He sat in meditation to clear his mind and silently recited the mantra three times in his heart.

Then, with the help of his experience from body cultivation, he directly began to help the flawless golden core break through the minor bottleneck.

"Hiss~, this doesn't make sense!"

Xiao Chen gasped. He cultivated both physical and magical techniques and had already broken through to the late Golden Core stage once, so he wondered if he could give it a try.

Unexpectedly, the breakthrough still failed, and it wasn't the kind of breakthrough that was just a hair's breadth away from success.

On the contrary, he failed decisively.

A large amount of chaotic true energy surged through his body, sweeping across his internal organs and meridians.

Fortunately, as a body cultivator, Xiao Chen was not seriously injured by such an impact. Moreover, because he decisively released the out-of-control true essence into his meridians to bear the burden, the Flawless Golden Core itself was not damaged.

"Even with my qualifications, I still failed to break through."

Xiao Chen sighed, "I thought I could try to save a Dao-Nourishing Crystal, but it seems like that's out of the question."

After personally experiencing the loss of control over one's true energy.

He also gained a deeper understanding of why so many Golden Core cultivators are stuck at minor bottlenecks, and why these bottlenecks can last for decades or even centuries.

Because after the flawless golden elixir has accumulated 666 strands of true essence.

It's already full!

For a cultivator to continue their practice, they need a long period of experience accumulation.

Alternatively, one can use spiritual items such as large golden nanmu branches or Dao-infused crystals to help increase the capacity of the Golden Core.

However, such top-tier spiritual items are extremely rare, which naturally stumps most cultivators.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen possesses seven wood-element Dao-nurturing crystals, so he won't be stumped by this hurdle for the time being.

After trying to find that saving money was not an option.

He didn't hesitate to take out a Dao-nurturing crystal and prepared to refine it directly.

Of course, the matching purple-gold bodhi fruit is also indispensable.

In terms of cultivation, Xiao Chen has always been very generous to himself.

As soon as he swallowed the golden Bodhi fruit, he felt his mind become much clearer.

Unlike the last time he took it, this time he also gained the Heart of Clarity from the new Hextech.

With the two factors combined, Xiao Chen entered a rather mysterious state.

On the one hand, influenced by the Bodhi fruit, his mind became exceptionally active.

On the other hand, he was also influenced by the Mind of Enlightenment, which quickly eliminated all extraneous thoughts and allowed him to focus wholeheartedly on comprehending the Dao-Containing Crystal in his hand.

in this state.

Xiao Chen could clearly feel that he had entered a completely different world.

The surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth was originally just a kind of mysterious energy sensation.

But now, it feels more welcoming.

Those that are detached from the outside seem to be an integral part of the universe and nature.

Those things that are drawn into the body become a part of oneself.

At the same time, the originally colorful world gradually turned into five blurry colors, mixed together.

But the difference is that Xiao Chen now has a strange perspective.

Even though his eyes were closed, he could clearly 'see' a large clump of lush, ever-changing, verdant flowers and plants in his hand.

It resembled both the spiritual herbs he had purchased in Li Huo Market and the spiritual flowers he had seen at Bi Shui Peak.

It even resembled the different vines I had seen in the Cangran Secret Realm not long ago.

This feeling is incredibly wonderful, indescribable, and makes one irresistibly drawn in, unable to extricate oneself from it.

I do not know how long it has been.

Xiao Chen felt as if he had stepped off a cliff and lost his footing. He instinctively tried to activate his escape technique.

He then regained consciousness and realized that he was sitting cross-legged and out of danger.

Then all sorts of memories from before suddenly flooded back to me.

"Oh right, I was cultivating."

Xiao Chen looked down at his hand, only to see some weathered sand slipping from his fingertips.

Without the help of the Purple Gold Bodhi Fruit and the Dao Crystal, he was forced to break free from that mystical state.

"Hiss~, let me think, what was that thing I just saw?"

Xiao Chen raised his hand to gently touch his forehead, trying his best to recall what he had just felt: "Ugh, why is everything so blurry?"

However, those scenes were perfectly clear just a few breaths ago.

But at this moment it became blurry and unclear.

It felt as if Xiao Chen had just had a beautiful dream.

As time passed, those incredibly vivid details in my dreams, that unmistakably real feeling of excitement, began to slowly fade away.

At first, many details were hard to recall, and then the harder I tried to remember, the less I could recall them.

In the end, all I could remember was how I felt after waking up; I had completely forgotten the original dream and couldn't recall anything at all.

"Hey, I'm really... oh dear."

Xiao Chen felt a little helpless; he had felt the same way last time.

He was clearly trying to comprehend the Dao, but after using the Enlightenment Crystal twice, he didn't feel like he had gained any enlightenment.

Objectively speaking, this is quite normal, since he doesn't expect to actually grasp the Great Dao and become an immortal while still in the Golden Core stage.

The key issue is this overly vague feeling after each enlightenment.

This left Xiao Chen unsure of exactly how much he had gained this time.

For example, the cultivation of true essence is clearly visible; accumulating 999 strands of true essence is the Great Perfection of the Golden Core.

However, when comprehending the Great Dao, there is no such clear and distinct division.

Moreover, it's not just Xiao Chen who doesn't have it; it's also absent in other inheritances.

So far, he has read quite a few Heavenly-level inheritances, but they still cannot explain what the 'Dao' is.

"Never mind, this matter is rather complicated, let's talk about it later."

Xiao Chen decided to put this big problem aside for the time being and focus on the present.

Strangely enough, he didn't feel like he had gained anything or changed at all.

However, when I looked inward at my dantian again, a sudden realization dawned on me.

It's that sudden flash of inspiration that you can't quite put into words or write down.

But he was so confident that he had an inexplicable confidence in breaking through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm through the path of cultivation.

Since that's the case, Xiao Chen naturally chose to test it in practice.

I relaxed my mind again and silently recited the mantra three times in my heart.

Then, step by step, guide your own true energy to begin breaking through the minor bottleneck.

The whole process was basically the same as it was not long ago.

But the results were completely different.

This time, when the true essence broke through the minor bottleneck, it was as smooth as water flowing into a channel, as fluid as mercury spilling onto the ground, and as smooth as silk.

We truly made a breakthrough in one fell swoop!

The range of divine sense, which originally covered a radius of 103 li, immediately increased to 110 li.

The increase is not significant.

The main reason is that when Xiao Chen broke through to the late Golden Core stage in body cultivation last time, he had already increased the intensity of his divine sense to a certain extent.

This is merely making up for the Dharma cultivators' lead in spiritual consciousness.

Even so, compared to the average late-stage Golden Core cultivator, the range of divine sense within a radius of ninety miles is still limited.

Xiao Chen can be said to have gained a fairly significant lead.

In addition, he also experienced some improvement in terms of Qi and blood.

However, even this slight increase is relatively small, even for the sake of Dharma reform.

For Xiao Chen, whose blood and energy are now exceptionally abundant, he feels almost nothing.

This step was completed almost directly.

"So, it's a success?"

Even after the breakthrough was over, Xiao Chen was still a little dazed: "Hmm, I think I succeeded."

"So, the two processes were almost identical, so where exactly did the problem lie?"

He wanted to take advantage of his recent breakthrough to summarize his experience.

However, he sat there, holding back for a long time.

In the end, I only came to one conclusion: "Yun Dao Crystal is a good thing, especially when paired with Purple Gold Bodhi Fruit."

But you know what, this is also experience gained from practice.

At least next time Xiao Chen is preparing to break through a bottleneck, he can use the Dao-Nourishing Crystal in advance before attempting the breakthrough.

Although it feels somewhat reliant on spiritual objects.

But these are all resources obtained through one's own abilities, so there's nothing wrong with that!

"Swish~ swish~ whoosh~!"

Riding on the joy of his breakthrough, Xiao Chen deactivated the formation, but before he could even open the door, he heard the howling wind outside.

"No way, it's not over yet?"

Including the first two days of cultivation, plus the two breakthroughs and the comprehension of the Dao-nurturing crystal, several days should have passed by now.

Why doesn't the wind outside seem to be getting any weaker?

By now, Xiao Chen should have already obtained the breakthrough pill.

He went outside and found the innkeeper: "What day is it today?"

The waiter immediately replied, "Reporting to you, senior, today is the third day of the first lunar month, and it should be the beginning of the hour of You (5-7 PM) now."

Because practitioners often meditate behind closed doors, they sometimes become so focused that they forget the time.

Therefore, similar inquiries are frequently encountered at the inn.

Many staff members will deliberately memorize the current time so that they can provide their valued guests with accurate answers down to the exact hour.

"You're already in the final year of junior high? Okay, go ahead!"

Xiao Chen casually tossed over a spirit stone as a reward.

He immediately received the most heartfelt thanks from his colleague: "Thank you so much, senior! Thank you so much, senior!"

Braving the strong winds, we headed to Lingtong Pavilion once more.

Xiao Chen found the steward: "Is there any news about the strong winds yet?"

The steward immediately nodded, picked up a piece of intelligence, and handed it over: "New information that just arrived yesterday, only one spirit stone per copy."

Many people would be interested in this information, so Lingtong Pavilion adopts a strategy of low profit margins and high sales volume.

Xiao Chen immediately took it and looked at it.

The inscription read that, according to the calculations of the three diviners regarding this unusual strong wind, it was merely a moving, strange wind.

It's a minor disaster and nothing serious.

They predicted that the strong winds would move from Tingtao Market towards Yuntao Sword Pavilion.

The wind in the market should disappear in three to five days at the earliest.

However, the strong winds are likely to last for quite some time.

Xiao Chen could tell from the words that the three diviners were quite optimistic and did not think there was anything wrong with the wind.

I hope that's really the case!
Fortunately, since it didn't have a major impact on the market, it shouldn't delay his elixir production.

Four days later, which is the fifth day mentioned in the intelligence report.

The strong wind finally dissipated from Tinglang Market, leaving behind a trail of dust, but also restoring the long-lost tranquility.

Xiao Chen patiently waited for two more days.

On the third day, before it was fully light, they set off early and arrived at the alley where Master Geng Dan lived.

(End of this chapter)