25: Breakthrough

Breakthrough

One of the Thundercloud Ninth Heaven cultivation methods was Borrowing Might! Not just any kind of might, but the might of the Ninth Heaven.0

 After all, Thundercloud Battle Qi was the very Qi surging through the clouds. It contained the might of crashing thunder.

As the cold mountain wind howled, the distance of a thousand miles seemed to have compressed itself into a singular plane of sight with clear upper skies hanging above and clouds bubbling below. 

Ling Chunxi's clothing thrashed around her as she kept her eyes on the boundless horizon. The earth and the lower skies were nothing but a fine line gliding above the storm of clouds gathering at the mountain ranges. Tens of thousands of rays of golden light pierced through the skies.

She felt the jagged surface of the majestic peaks beneath her feet, the whip of the cold wind against her face and the scorch of the sun's beam above her.

Though her body did not yet contain a single thread of Battle Qi, arrogance flowed through her veins. Ling Chunxi remained unmoving despite the force of the gale lashing against her. Far beneath her frame, somehow even the magnificent mountains seemed small.

A prickling sensation of heat surged through her body as she activated the Thundercloud Cultivation Method. The sensation raced through her, flowing alongside her meridians till a clarity began to surface.

'How quick!' It took her an entire night to sense Battle Qi the first time she tried cultivating with the Thundercloud Cultivation Method. It came as a surprise to her that she could sense it so swiftly on this attempt.

Little did she know, she had actually been standing on the mountain's peak for two shichen1. She did not feel the passing of time as her mind had been so deeply integrated with the rhythms of the heavens and the earth.

There lay a strange cadence throughout the vastness of the heavens and earth. All things thrived within its pulse as though they were indestructible. Ling Chunxi's mind was fully entwined in this symphony. Her thoughts circulated around the Battle Qi and her breath held steady. She was pacing herself.

As she became one with this primitive song, her slender frame appeared to tower atop the majestic mountain peak.

Breakthrough after breakthrough! Ling Chunxi hurtled through the Beginner, Intermediate and Pinnacle stages of Battle Qi Levels 3 and 4! Her consciousness was deep in the recesses of a distant and wonderful ethereal dimension. She was unaware of the rapid speed at which Battle Qi was building up in her body. It was as though a dam had burst forth within her, flooding her with unbelievable levels of energy until her cultivation had evolved to the highest level it possibly could—Battle Qi Level 6 Pinnacle. 

The wind began to roar without warning. Clouds assembled into an army of gray, painting over the blue of the skies. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed as though a storm was coming.

"Transcendence!"

"Who has achieved this? Who was able to enter the state of transcendence?!"

Miles away in Shi Qu Town, across three different ancient courtyards belonging to three different major families respectively, each family's elder exhaled a gasp of astonishment at once.

The state of transcendence was a mysterious frame of mind beyond the reach of many cultivators throughout their lifetimes. Only those who manage to reach it are able to grasp a more infinite understanding of heaven, earth and all that nature holds—allowing them to advance towards the pinnacle of cultivation. Without reaching the state of transcendence, one would not be able to step into the last threshold of cultivation no matter how much they practice, however many chances they encounter and how innate their talents are. Even the three elders themselves had not been able to attain this elusive state of being. 

"Don't tell me someone is about to break through again? Which family does this person belong to?" The three elders were preoccupied with the same thoughts at the same time. A feeling of dread swamped their hearts.

If they had known that the person in question was in fact a cultivator of the lowest grade, a mere ignorable wastrel no one thought would amount to anything, would their jaws not drop?

The dark clouds around Purple Maple Mountain grew denser as they pooled closer and closer together, eventually obscuring the mountain's peak. An electrifying sizzle zipped through the thick air, culminating in a deafening boom of thunder.

1 – Shichen is an older form of time measurement. One Shichen is two hours.

pqdm.com