Chapter 20: Another Breakthrough (First Update!)

If two cultivators of equal rank were to face each other, the one who possessed a domain would hold an overwhelming advantage. In such a clash, if one party were to shroud the other within their domain like a thunderstorm, the latter would be rendered utterly powerless to resist. To forge a domain was to bind one's fate to it—while the domain endured, so did its master; if it shattered, so too would the master perish.

Realizing this, Ye Feng's spirits sank. This domain teemed with vitality, showing not the slightest sign of ruin. Clearly, its master yet lived in the mortal world. A shiver ran through Ye Feng, and he quickly began searching for an exit...

But he soon abandoned the attempt. After probing in every direction, he discovered that on every side, an invisible wall barred his way, preventing any escape.

After some time, left with nothing for his efforts, Ye Feng sat cross-legged upon a bare patch of earth, his gaze drifting to the distance where a monkey leaped about, frolicking with unbridled joy.

He was bewildered. Why had the monkey brought him here? This domain was rich with spirit herbs and immortal fruits at every turn. Though the monkey was still a juvenile, its intelligence rivaled that of a human child of ten. At ten, a child already knows to hide their treasures from others. Moreover, back in the Falling Wild Goose Mountains, the monkey had clearly possessed the strength to defeat him, yet had not struck him down.

Could it be that the monkey mistook Ye Feng for one of its own? But if anything abounded in those mountains, it was spirit beasts…

All signs pointed to one thing: the monkey harbored goodwill toward Ye Feng. Or perhaps something about Ye Feng drew it in.

Where there is strangeness, there is the supernatural. Yet Ye Feng had no clue where this oddity lay.

Chittering gleefully, the monkey tossed him a fruit radiating pale blue spiritual energy.

Ye Feng caught it, and a wave of coolness swept through his body. Instantly, his spiritual power surged, flowing faster as if spurred on.

Sensing these changes, Ye Feng set his thoughts aside and swallowed the fruit in a single bite. In that instant, threads of icy sensation shot through every limb and bone.

Yet scarcely a moment had passed when disaster struck.

The pleasant chill was swiftly replaced by mounting heat, the temperature within him soaring higher and higher—even his spiritual energy was affected, rampaging like an enraged rhinoceros and threatening to spiral out of control.

Worse still, as the strange fruit digested, it released a torrent of spiritual energy, causing his meridians to swell painfully.

The heat intensified. After just a few breaths, it was as if a raging inferno had ignited within him—intolerably hot, his skin bulging erratically under the assault of wild energy.

Gritting his teeth through the agony, Ye Feng stole a glance at the monkey nearby. Fortunately, it was still playing without a care, easing his anxiety. At least the monkey had not intended him harm.

Even a ten-year-old child was capable of vengeance, after all.

What reassured Ye Feng was that his current predicament had nothing to do with the monkey. The cause could only be the fruit's own effects.

Boom...

A violent surge of spiritual energy erupted, flooding Ye Feng's body like a deluge.

Fighting through the pain, he immediately immersed his mind, channeling the "Heavenly King Technique" in an attempt to rein in the rampaging energy. He was no stranger to such crises.

But this time was different! Neither the Dragon-Serpent Demon King's essence nor the demon core within him—which had merely shrunk a little—reacted at all.

"Damn it! Do or die," Ye Feng muttered through clenched teeth as the power inside him grew ever more unmanageable. "A man dies facing the sky, and if not, he lives for eternity. To die a coward here would be a laughingstock!"

Golden light burst from his body as Ye Feng made a desperate decision. "If there's so much power, I'll use it to break through!"

The stages of human cultivation, from lowest to highest, were: Spirit Summoning, Spirit Communion, Post-Heavenly Adept, Pre-Heavenly Adept, Spirit King, Spirit Emperor, Exalted One, and finally the Supreme Celestial.

Below the Pre-Heavenly level, advancement required only the absorption of the world's spiritual energy—a process of laying foundations. The deeper mysteries of the Dao would come later.

Yet even foundations must be built step by step...

This was hardly the time for another breakthrough—he'd only recently reached Spirit Communion, and the demon king core within him was still enormous. It was reckless to advance now, but... not breaking through meant certain death.

Ye Feng had little choice. It frustrated him—others risked their lives to advance, but he kept facing spiritual energy overloads...

Like rivers flowing to the sea, spiritual energy poured from his meridians into the dantian's spiritual eye.

But the energy unleashed by the spirit fruit was so massive that even the "Heavenly King Technique" at full speed couldn't absorb it as fast as it was being released. Ye Feng's body continued to swell.

At that moment, the demon king core beside his dantian's spiritual eye began to spin, sending out waves that targeted his acupoints.

Purple ripples radiated, stimulating acupoints throughout his body.

Ye Feng knew little about this demon king core. For most cultivators, the beast core within was consumed after Spirit Communion. But his demon king core had only shrunk a bit.

No matter how he probed, it remained motionless, floating quietly. Ye Feng felt little fondness for this uncontrollable core—though it had aided him greatly.

Yet for all his reservations, the core was helping him once again.

Boom, boom, boom...

Under the core's cleansing waves, nearly twenty acupoints throughout his body erupted with golden light, greedily absorbing spiritual energy, each eager for its share.

Like a thousand horses galloping, like floodwaters breaking loose, the wild energy rampaged within him. In moments, the twenty acupoints were saturated.

Still, a great deal of energy was absorbed, and what remained was somewhat gentler.

Suddenly, the dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed drawn in, surging toward Ye Feng.

Sensing this, Ye Feng swore, "What the hell? All the effort I've put into absorbing spiritual energy, and now it's happening faster without me even trying!"

Boom, boom, boom...

Perhaps fate was not ready to abandon Ye Feng. Stimulated by the demon king core's waves, acupoint after acupoint was awakened, blazing with golden light.

With dozens of acupoints absorbing energy at once, intake and output finally balanced. Now, all Ye Feng needed to do was circulate the "Heavenly King Technique" with all his might and absorb as much spiritual energy as possible.

There was no turning back now, nor any need to stop—the spiritual energy here seemed inexhaustible. No matter how much he absorbed, more came flooding in.

As time crept by, Ye Feng's aura soared rapidly.

Boom...

At last, the dantian's spiritual eye, swollen with endless energy, responded. With a sudden thunderclap, the surrounding spiritual energy was blasted away in a shockwave.

His dantian shrank, now no bigger than a thumb. Yet its appetite had grown.

Once again, Ye Feng's body drew in energy with even greater force, like a python breathing—exhaling first, then inhaling deeply.

But this time, the python took a deep breath, drawing in far more than it expelled.

The result was clear: spiritual energy gathered around him even faster than before. Ye Feng devoured it all, swallowing the world's power like a ravenous beast.

A quarter hour... half an hour...

After three or four hours, his dantian had shrunk to the size of a mung bean and, finally sated, the suction within him dwindled and the spiritual energy in the air slowly dispersed.

The power from the spirit fruit had been exhausted during the dantian's second "deep breath."

Everything stilled. The entire world seemed to pause—calm and silent. Yet Ye Feng, seated cross-legged, did not stir, his eyes remaining closed.

Even the monkey, watching him from nearby, seemed fascinated, blinking in curiosity. Such commotion from eating a single "Heavenly Fate Fruit"...

Swish...

In the next moment, a powerful aura burst out from Ye Feng, radiating in all directions. His dantian's spiritual eye shattered, replaced by a golden black hole—a "Spiritual Cloud."

This was the true foundation.

Only by stepping into the Post-Heavenly realm, breaking the dantian and forming the Spiritual Cloud, could one be counted among true cultivators.

Ye Feng's eyes snapped open, two brilliant golden beams piercing through the layers of mist.

The demon king's second spirit skill—"Violet-Gold Eyes."

Hmph...

Caught off guard, a cold snort resounded from the swirling chaos beyond, tinged with surprise. It had no discernible source, yet filled the entire space.

Ye Feng's golden beams dissolved instantly; he grunted, blood trickling from his eyes.

His face drained of color as he stared in terror toward the chaotic depths.

In that fleeting instant, he'd glimpsed something within the chaos—though only for a split second, and still shrouded in haze...

"Is that hell?" Ye Feng murmured. Corpses lay piled like mountains, desiccated blood staining the ground a dark red. "The pressure from those bodies alone made it hard to breathe!"

It was hard to fathom what lay beyond the chaos, what kind of world could hold such a scene.

Even after reaching the Post-Heavenly realm, twice refining the demon king core, and awakening the "Violet-Gold Eyes"—making him a match for Pre-Heavenly experts—Ye Feng felt utterly insignificant before those ancient corpses and the pressure they exuded. It was only pressure, yet it made him feel as small as an ant...

Silent for a long time, Ye Feng finally sighed deeply, slowly rising to his feet and walking toward the monkey without looking back.

This place was too strange. Were those the corpses of gods?

ps: First update—guess I count as part of the "3k club" now. Haha... Please bookmark and send flowers...