Chapter 99 - 97: Breakthrough
The next day, when Lin Ye reappeared at the abandoned chemical plant, the look in his eyes as he gazed upon the faint blue glow covering the ground had completely changed.
The Source Crystals that once filled him with awe.
Now, in Lin Ye’s eyes, they were a mountain of treasure.
A question lay before him.
Should he continue to use the high-concentration source energy emitted by these Source Crystals to practice the Five Qi Guiding Formulas and earn experience points?
Or should he just swallow them all and, in the most brutal fashion, complete the refining of his body’s Qi and Blood?
The question barely lingered in Lin Ye’s mind for a second.
He had already made his choice.
The latter.
Experience points could be obtained by killing mutated beasts.
But a breakthrough in his realm, and the ability to condense all his Qi and Blood into a single point to unleash an attack several times more powerful than normal for a short duration—that was what he craved most right now.
As for the source of the Source Crystals...
Lin Ye’s gaze turned toward the deeper, darker heartland of the ruined city.
He had been spending all his time in the abandoned chemical plant.
Even so, he could feel the source energy pulses coming from the center of the ruined city, and they were incredibly regular.
There had to be more Source Crystals hidden in that core area.
Once he had thought everything through,
Lin Ye no longer hesitated.
He got to work.
Like the most meticulous gem sorter, Lin Ye collected every single Source Crystal fragment he could find within the massive factory building.
Then, he scrupulously sorted them according to size, color, and the intensity of their energy radiation.
From the smallest ones, similar in size to the one he had swallowed before,
to the largest, a complete crystal the size of an egg.
He arranged them all in order.
Lin Ye knew that even though he could swallow and digest Source Crystals, he couldn’t rush the process.
Even swallowing them whole had to be done step by step.
After he finished sorting,
Lin Ye sat down cross-legged.
He began a new cycle, one that was both frenzied and masochistic.
He picked up the smallest piece and swallowed it, just as he had done before.
The familiar burning sensation and mental assault arrived right on schedule.
But this time, Lin Ye was mentally prepared.
He clenched his jaw, allowing the chaotic flood of information to batter the walls of his consciousness.
He felt the frenzied energy dissolve and erupt in his blood, refining a small portion of his ordinary Qi and Blood into a higher-level form.
The pain was swift and violent.
But when he fully recovered after just a dozen or so breaths,
the tangible feedback of his power’s essence being enhanced after his Qi and Blood was refined brought an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
He picked up the second piece.
The third.
Swallow.
Adapt.
Swallow again.
...
Lin Ye gradually figured out the pattern.
There was a clear upper limit to the amount of Source Crystal energy his body could digest and absorb in a short period.
Once this limit was exceeded, the excess energy wouldn’t be stored. Instead, it would convert directly into a large amount of radiation and dissipate from his body, resulting in a huge waste.
Furthermore, the mental strain from excessive consumption would grow exponentially—a fatigue and damage originating from the depths of his soul.
Even his "Healing out of combat" couldn’t fully repair it in a short time.
So, Lin Ye devised the most efficient plan for himself.
He divided all the Source Crystals he had collected into several days’ worth of portions.
On the first day, he only swallowed the crystals with the weakest energy to let his body gradually adapt.
On the second day, he doubled the dose, and the quality of the crystals also increased.
With every crystal he devoured, Lin Ye could clearly feel a part of his Qi and Blood being reshaped and purified.
It was as if a piece of common iron had been thrown into a furnace heated to tens of thousands of degrees, burning away all impurities and leaving only the purest steel.
「By the fourth day.」
Lin Ye discovered that he no longer needed to swallow the Source Crystals. Just holding them tightly in his palm was as good as swallowing them.
However, in terms of absorption speed, swallowing was still faster.
But the uncomfortable sensation of swallowing made him hesitant. He decided it was fine if it was a bit slower and chose to absorb the energy through his skin.
As he completely absorbed all of that day’s Source Crystals,
he felt a strange sense of fullness.
The Qi and Blood throughout his body had been thoroughly refined once over by the frenzied energy of the Source Crystals!
「The fifth day.」
Lin Ye finished absorbing all the remaining Source Crystals, which were of the highest quality and contained the most immense energy.
This time, he felt his already-refined Qi and Blood being refined and purified once more.
Although the total amount hadn’t changed,
the quality had improved.
When the energy from the very last Source Crystal had completely integrated into his limbs and bones,
Lin Ye felt as though his body had become a powder keg filled to the brim.
That surging, roaring power was no longer content to just circulate within his blood vessels. It desperately needed an outlet, a wider riverbed to flow through.
Lin Ye knew.
It was time.
The difference between Body Refining and the Vein Opening Realm lay in whether one could use refined Qi and Blood to charge through and open the meridians within the body.
The first step involved the body’s twelve main meridians.
The twelve main meridians were originally a concept from traditional Chinese medicine, but in this high-martial-arts world, they had formed a complete cultivation methodology.
Lin Ye sat down cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes.
This time, he didn’t circulate his Cultivation Technique to draw in source energy from the world around him.
Instead, he focused all his attention and looked inward.
"Internal inspection" was a profound and mysterious experience.
After several days of consulting Chen Meng and combining it with his own repeated attempts, Lin Ye had basically mastered this technique, which only Vein Opening Realm Martial Artists could attempt.
It wasn’t about literally using his eyes to see through to his own internal organs.
Rather, it was a type of mental Observation Skill.
Lin Ye’s consciousness sank into an endless darkness.
Following the method recorded in the latter half of the "Five Qi Guiding Formulas," he began to visualize the pathways of the meridians inside his body.
He could clearly "see" every drop of blood in his body transform into flowing, crimson mercury.
Dense, condensed, and filled with explosive power.
Invisible pathways began to light up in his imagination, sketching out a precise and complex stellar map of the human body.
And the key acupoints obstructing the flow of Qi and Blood were visualized as towering, massive mountain gates that sealed off heaven and earth.
The moment this mental Visualization Image stabilized and manifested in the depths of his consciousness,
Lin Ye began to marshal his forces!
He used his Spiritual Power as the general commanding a mighty army.
He directed the frenzied torrent of Qi and Blood that had long since accumulated to its peak!
RUMBLE!
Lin Ye seemed to hear the colossal sound of a river bursting its banks.
He saw crimson torrents, like molten lava, converging from countless small tributaries in his limbs and bones.
They twisted together, transforming into a furious dragon capable of devouring heaven and earth.
This furious dragon roared and surged forward, arriving before the first massive mountain gate.
Lin Ye steadied his mind.
’Now!’
’Charge!’
Without the slightest hesitation, with the most resolute will, Lin Ye drove that monstrous tide of Qi and Blood to slam violently against the imagined mountain gate—which was also the very real bottleneck of his realm!
He was prepared to fail several times, even dozens of times.
However, what happened next was so unexpected it even surprised Lin Ye himself.
BOOM—!!!
The supposedly indestructible mountain gate was as fragile as a sheet of paper before the incomparably frenzied, crimson dragon!
With just the first assault!
The massive mountain gate symbolizing his bottleneck was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks!
The next moment, it collapsed with a roar, utterly shattered!
An unprecedented, incredibly wide pathway was forcibly blasted open inside his body!
At almost the same instant.
In reality, Lin Ye’s body shook violently.
A series of dense, CRACKLING POPS erupted from all the bones in his body!
A feeling of strength several times more powerful than before surged out from the newly opened meridian, instantly flooding his entire body!
Lin Ye felt that after the torrent of Qi and Blood broke through the first barrier and filled the entire meridian, its momentum hadn’t weakened. On the contrary, having found an outlet, it became even more frenzied!
The remaining energy was still terrifyingly immense!
A flash of inspiration struck Lin Ye, and he didn’t pause for a moment.
He immediately followed the guidance of the "Five Qi Guiding Formulas," directing the indomitable torrent of Qi and Blood toward two other mountain gates belonging to the "Three Yin Meridians of the Hand."
The Hand Jueyin Meridian!
The Hand Shaoyin Meridian!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two more soul-shaking rumbles!
Those two mountain gates were also unable to offer any effective resistance and were successively smashed through with overwhelming ease!
The moment the three new meridians were completely opened by the surging, crimson Qi and Blood and faintly formed a small cycle,
Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes.
He looked down, opened his palm, then slowly clenched it into a fist.
An unprecedented feeling of solid, explosive power filled every inch of his flesh and blood.
He had broken through.
He had officially stepped into the Vein Opening Realm!