Chapter 128: Breakthrough

"Open interface."

Name: Lin Yang
Age: 65/500
Cultivation Base: Late Golden Core Stage (20,000,000/50,000,000)
Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Method (Peak Perfection)
Primary Professions: Third-rank Advanced Alchemist, Third-rank Intermediate Array Master, Third-rank Primary Artifact Refiner.

If he were to cultivate at his usual steady pace, it would likely take another dozen years or so. However, time waits for no one. Even after his breakthrough, he would need time to acclimate to his new strength, so Lin Yang decided to utilize rare treasures to assist his advancement.

Lin Yang brought out the various spiritual materials he had prepared. After organizing them, he produced a multitude of small jade bottles. These were pills he had refined long ago, capable of directly boosting one's cultivation. However, relying on such pills often led to a hollow foundation. Consequently, he usually favored pills that assisted in cultivation by increasing the rate of spiritual energy absorption; he had almost never used pills designed for direct breakthroughs.

This time, he had taken them out solely because he intended to use the Red Lotus throne as well. As a top-tier treasure, the Red Lotus throne possessed remarkable efficacy, the most prominent being its ability to forge and refine spiritual energy, elevate its quality, and continuously consolidate one's foundation. It did, however, have a limitation: it could only be used once, after which it would vanish from the world. Yet, such items were meant to enhance strength; if he did not use it now, it would be of little help to him in the future.

Lin Yang brought out the Red Lotus. The moment it appeared, its intense heat turned the entire enclosed space a deep crimson. Although the lotus floated a meter above the ground, the extreme heat had already begun to melt the floor into magma. Seeing this, Lin Yang realized he had to act; left unchecked, the Red Lotus might burn straight through the entire mountain. He quickly brought out several array flags and placed them at the eight cardinal directions. Instantly, spiritual energy surged, and the space of the chamber became disconnected from the mountain’s structure. The room was now suspended in a void, isolated from the mountain, preventing the heat from escaping. Though contained, the temperature continued to rise, melting the rock of the chamber into a lake of magma that pooled at the bottom.

Lin Yang felt as though he had returned to a world of magma. He performed a hand seal and flew onto the lotus throne. The throne began to expand until it was large enough for a person to sit comfortably, at which point it stopped. Lin Yang landed upon it, enduring the scorching heat as he settled into a seated position.

The heat was merely secondary; such a treasure offered more than just high temperatures. The throne radiated a crimson spiritual energy, tangible and drifting through the air. This was the result of the throne compressing high-grade fire spiritual energy over tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. It was precisely this energy that would allow Lin Yang to compress his own essence and fortify his meridians.

After steadying his breath, Lin Yang began to consume the pills and herbs. Once the first herb was ingested, he channeled his energy to digest it. After a day and a night, he had fully digested the medicine and absorbed the refined spiritual energy. Upon doing so, his interface displayed a "+100,000" symbol next to his cultivation progress. To an outside observer, it would have been as if Lin Yang had just gained 100,000 experience points.

Although he had absorbed the herb, a great deal of medicinal residue remained in his body. He had to use the fire spiritual energy to grind away these impurities, a process that took another day or more. He drew the fire energy filling the chamber into his body; it rushed in like a gale, forming a crimson vortex that pulled all the spiritual energy into his core. This high-grade fire energy was searing, burning through his meridians like flames. Sweat poured from Lin Yang’s body, only to be instantly evaporated by the heat. Following this, the fire energy began to scour the impurities from his body.

Unbeknownst to Lin Yang, tiny wisps of black vapor were being burned out of his spiritual energy—wisps that carried a faint, demonic taint. All he sensed was that his spiritual energy was becoming increasingly dense and refined. The once coarse energy began to feel delicate and precise. Where his previous energy had been like wielding a bundle of chopsticks to perform a spell, it now felt like individual strands of silk, responding instantly to his every whim. The most immediate benefit was that his future spells would produce far less collateral damage; after all, a true expert would never allow their attacks to harm those they did not intend to strike.

After a day, a layer of black grime surfaced on Lin Yang's skin. With a shake of his body, he returned to his clean, pristine state.

He then produced another herb and placed it in his mouth. Thus, through the monotonous passage of time, he repeated this process.

...

Time flowed on as the sun rose and set. Eight cycles of spring and autumn passed. The lotus throne beneath Lin Yang was now teetering on the edge of destruction. Having been drained for so long, its spiritual energy was nearly exhausted, and its surface was covered in cracks. The magma in the chamber had long since solidified into volcanic rock. Lin Yang was now forcibly extracting the last vestiges of energy from the throne, which had become too weak to release it on its own.

As Lin Yang purged the medicinal potency of the final herb, he began to undergo a sublimation. His soul gradually detached from his physical flesh, condensing and gathering within his Dantian. In an instant, he began to crazily absorb the surrounding spiritual energy, but the chamber held little left to offer. Lin Yang hurriedly retracted the array that had sealed the space, reconnecting the room to the mountain.

External spiritual energy seeped in, only to be instantly devoured by the suction force of Lin Yang's body. This massive pull began to draw in the spiritual energy from the entire Yunduan Mountain Range, compressing it into clouds and mist. Eventually, the entire mountain became the eye of a storm, consuming energy at an incredible rate.

This immense phenomenon affected an area spanning over a hundred miles. In the sky above, the sheer force of the suction pulled all the clouds together, creating a massive, typhoon-like storm. The Yunduan Mountain Range was but a single point within this tempest, and the violence of the storm generated extreme lightning, its thunderous roar echoing for nearly a thousand miles.