Burial Furnace

Zhang Yuan was both surprised and delighted.

He took a deep breath, circulated his inner energy, and repeatedly attacked the barrier.

Once, twice, three times...

The true energy surged like a raging tide, wave after wave crashing against that invisible wall.

But the wall remained unmoved, as stable as a rock.

Zhang Yuan attacked dozens of times, but the barrier still showed no signs of weakening.

He stopped, panting heavily, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

"Is it absolutely necessary to buy elixirs?"

He frowned.

He knew that there was a pill called the Qi-Harmony Pill in the Qi Refining stage, which could help break through bottlenecks and advance to a higher realm.

However, this kind of pill is quite expensive, costing ten high-grade spirit stones for a single pill.

He simply can't afford it now.

"It's all Zhou Lie's fault." Zhang Yuan gritted his teeth, a surge of anger rising in his heart. "If it weren't for his price war, my income these past few days would have at least doubled. Buying a Qi-Harmony Pill wouldn't have been a difficult task."

Unfortunately, no corpses at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul level have been delivered in the past few days. Relying solely on the corpses of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators has yielded far too few spirit stones.

He stopped cultivating, walked out of the secret room, took out the communication jade pendant, and input a wisp of true essence.

A moment later, Jiang Yao's charming voice came from the other end of the jade pendant: "Martial Aunt?"

"I have something I'd like to ask you. Would it be convenient for you to come over?" Zhang Yuan said.

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Not long after, Jiang Yao arrived on her sword and landed at the entrance of the crematorium.

Today she wore a pale yellow long dress, the hem swaying gently as she walked, exuding a touch of languid charm.

A faint smile graced her face, her two dimples appearing and disappearing, giving her a pure yet alluring look.

"Uncle-Master, did you miss me?" she asked with a sweet smile as soon as she entered the room.

Zhang Yuan felt a little uncomfortable under her smiling eyes, so he coughed lightly and said, "I just wanted to ask about the recent situation of your Jade Maiden Sect."

Jiang Yao naturally took his arm and pulled him upstairs, saying, "Let's go, let's go upstairs and talk slowly."

She half-dragged, half-brought Zhang Yuan up to the second floor and into room number six.

The two sat down on the bench, and Jiang Yao began to chatter on about the Jade Maiden Sect.

Liu Mei, Hua Jinhuan, Qi Jiaojiao, and Hua Nongying all went to the secret realm to seek their fortune.

Inside the mountain gate, only she and eight other junior sisters in the Qi Refining stage remained.

They were all diligently cultivating. The spiritual energy at the mountain gate was quite abundant, and there was also a low-grade spirit stone mine that could produce several hundred low-grade spirit stones every day, so their cultivation progress was not slow.

"It's safe here, I want to take a nap." After saying this, Jiang Yao suddenly smiled shyly, stood up, and walked straight into the bathroom.

Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

Zhang Yuan was dumbfounded.

This is too blatant!

He sat there, listening to the sound of the water, feeling his mind stirred. He quickly recited the incantation of the Evergreen Mantra several times to barely suppress the distracting thoughts in his mind.

After a while, the sound of water stopped.

The bathroom door opened, and Jiang Yao came out.

She changed into a light and airy nightgown, the fabric of which subtly revealed her graceful curves.

Her long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, still dripping with water droplets.

Her features were exquisite, her skin glowed like white jade under the dim light, and she exuded a fresh fragrance after a bath.

She saw Zhang Yuan staring blankly at her, giggled, and spun around on the spot, her skirt fluttering up to reveal her two fair legs.

"Is it pretty?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling.

Zhang Yuan's eyes widened, and he subconsciously reached out to hug her.

Jiang Yao, however, slid back with a charming laugh, deftly avoiding his hand.

She was a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, and her speed and reaction time were much faster than Zhang Yuan's.

"This woman is teasing me." Zhang Yuan's face flushed slightly. He quickly suppressed the romantic thoughts in his heart, coughed lightly, and said seriously, "I've hit a bottleneck at the fifth level of Qi Refining. I called you here to try dual cultivation and see if it can help me break through."

"Uncle-Master, you're making really fast progress." Jiang Yao's smile faded, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. "However, we can give it a try."

The two entered the meditation chamber and sat cross-legged facing each other.

Four palms pressed together.

Zhang Yuan closed his eyes and circulated the Yin-Yang Rejuvenation Technique. The true essence in his dantian flowed slowly, along the meridians to his arms, and surged out from his palms into Jiang Yao's body.

Jiang Yao also guided her true essence, following his true essence, and began to circulate between him and her.

The two streams of true energy, one yin and one yang, were like two fish swimming head to tail, forming a closed loop within the two people's bodies.

Each time a major cycle is completed, an attack is launched against that invisible bottleneck.

Once, twice, three times...

Under the dual impact of Yin and Yang True Essence, that barrier began to tremble slightly.

Four times, five times, six times...

Cracks began to appear, spreading outwards from the center of the barrier like a spider web.

Seven times, eight times, nine times—

With the ninth impact, the invisible barrier finally gave way and collapsed with a deafening roar!

A tremendous power erupted from the depths of his dantian, like a flood bursting its banks, sweeping over his entire body.

Under the influence of this force, his meridians became wider and stronger; his five senses became incredibly sharp in an instant, and the rustling of leaves outside the window, the chirping of insects in the distance, and even the gurgling of blood flowing through his body were clearly heard.

The whole world seemed to have become clearer.

"Great! I've finally broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining!" Zhang Yuan felt an indescribable surge of joy.

"Congratulations, Martial Uncle!" Jiang Yao opened her eyes, her face full of joy.

The two stepped out of the cultivation chamber, and Zhang Yuan couldn't wait to test his strength after his breakthrough.

He closed his eyes and projected his consciousness outward.

The divine sense, which originally could only extend to about one zhang, can now cover more than three zhang.

He could even clearly "see" the tea leaves floating in the teacup on the table in the next room, and a dewdrop hanging on the spider web in the corner.

With a thought, the Ink Scale Sword flew out from his dantian and hovered in front of him.

He tried to control it with his divine sense, and the sword hovered steadily in mid-air, slowly moving, rotating, and accelerating according to his will.

Although it's still a bit rough around the edges, I can already hover and attack with my sword, no longer needing to throw it by hand.

"Uncle-Master, I'll teach you two little spells," Jiang Yao said with a smile.

She first taught him a Golden Bell Shield – it wasn't really a spell, but rather a clever use of true energy, distributing it evenly across the body to form an invisible protective layer.

When practiced to a high level, one can withstand a full-force attack from a cultivator at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining.

Then he was taught a technique called "Earth-遁术" (Earth-遁术), which allows one to burrow underground and travel hundreds of meters through shallow soil. It is very useful for escaping or launching surprise attacks.

Zhang Yuan tried them all and mastered them successfully.

He then tried to draw invisibility talismans, and surprisingly drew ten in one go, and every single one of them was successful.

Ten invisibility talismans are worth ten mid-grade spirit stones.

It's clear that his mental strength also surged after breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining!

"Uncle-Master, you're amazing! You can even draw invisibility talismans!" Jiang Yao's eyes widened, her face full of admiration. "Can you give me one?"