[Almost forgot about powerstone rewards, so here you guys go. Also, the oct and nov mark I set for rewards is complete as of today. For now, there will be two chapter a day uploads with a bonus chapter every 250 golden tickets. Also, for those who might have missed it, prices will be stay the same for next month]
Despite the situation, Ryu looked down on Youkai with a calm gaze.
He knew well how powerful the Soul Birth Realm was. There was a reason that its transition barrier was so important. It was the equivalent of the Immortal Ring Realm for Mental Realm cultivation!
The gap between the Connecting Heaven and Immortal Ring Realm couldn't be described in just a few sentences. One needed to know that the gap was even more exaggerated that the difference between a Spiritual Severing Realm expert and a Connecting Heaven Realm one!
There was a very obvious reason for this. This was the barrier between the Mortal Grade and the Immortal Grade! Once one crosses this barrier, one's Mortal Qi becomes Immortal Qi. Likewise, one's Spiritual Qi Fumes becomes Spiritual Qi Liquid, forming the Spiritual Sea.
The current Youkai, whose aura was still madly surging, wasn't nothing like his previous self. Ryu couldn't even interrupt this sort of breakthrough because Youkai had suppressed himself for the sake of a perfect foundation too long. It was all too easy for him to breakthrough.
As for running, Ryu thought even less of that. This wasn't because of his pride, but rather because of a technique Youkai had displayed earlier: [Minor Teleportation].
With its help, Little Rock's speed advantage dropped to zero. Before, Youkai likely had to use a quarter to a third of his Spiritual Qi to cast it just once. However, once he broke through, casting it even dozens of times wouldn't burden him at all. He'd be able to cross several kilometers with a snap of his fingers.
Cutting open the void and teleporting like Youkai had was highly dependent on the space one was in. The denser the qi, the sturdier the space, and thus the more difficult it was to execute [Minor Teleportation].
However, this was merely the Inner Ring of the lowest Immortal Plane. To make matters worse, due to the influence of Mortal Qi Mountain, this place had a high concentration of Mortal Qi, but its Immortal Qi was severely lacking.
Since Youkai's Spiritual Qi had evolved to the Immortal Grade, it was simply too easy for him to tear apart space in this kind of location! The limit of [Minor Teleportation] was likely at most ten kilometers, but under these circumstances, maybe travelling even double that wasn't impossible.
These sort of odds left Ryu with just one option: he had to kill Youkai, and he had to kill him before Ancestor Basteel managed to make his way here.
'Dammit.' After a light furrow of his brow, Ryu once more became cold and expressionless.
His breathing slowed, his eyes drawing focus as he put away his two spears to retrieve a halberd.
Above his head, the Immortal Sakura still stretched for twenty kilometers, rapidly expending the Cosmic Qi his [Divine Chaotic Annihilation] grinded into Spiritual Qi. Unfortunately, it just seemed that no matter how fast it went, Cosmic Qi was too overbearing.
'Little Ryu, listen to me carefully. This situation is very dangerous, so you have to remain alert.
'The qi that slipped into your Inner Space isn't all neutral qi. You've probably sensed that many of them of all sorts of types. Tell me quickly, can you sense any lightning affinity qis within them? You must be quick about this.'
Ryu focused, using his overwhelming Qi Realm talent to siphon through the qi at blazing speeds.
In the distance, he could tell that Youkai had locked onto him. Though he was confident in his breakthrough, he still wasn't brave enough to move as it occurred. However, he knew the very same things Ryu understood about [Minor Teleportation]. As long as he kept his eyes on Ryu, he was confident that he couldn't escape, so though he was enraged, he wasn't anxious.
Still, he would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised that Ryu hadn't budged an inch. At the same time, the remaining elders of the Basteel and Zu Clan didn't dare to approach to closely to such a turbulent breakthrough.
'Yes, I do. The Cosmic Qi isn't of lightning affinity, but a sense several among those within the Immortal Qis.'
Though Ryu had been frantically dealing with the Cosmic Qi first, his body was also being rampaged by Immortal Qi. It was just that his Chaotic Silk Meridians were withstanding it far better than others of his cultivation realm could imagine.
'Good. You need to use those Immortal Qis to complete your next [Tribulation Nine Clouds] array.'
Ryu's expression drastically changed, but he immediately relaxed a moment later.
He remembered Ailsa's words before he started cultivating this technique. The quintessence of the technique was in taking lightning qi and using it to stimulate the growth of other qi. Though Ryu used this technique to boost his Mental Realm Cultivation talent, it had to be remembered that he could have used it for his Body Realm and Qi Realm as well, it was just that he had no need to.
To now, Ryu had already completed the first of ten stages of this technique. The first stage had three priming arrays that laid a foundation for the subsequent stages.
However, these matters were only surface when it came to [Tribulation Nine Clouds]. Something that Ryu had come to understand later was that this technique was unlike others where each step was divided into and connected to some cultivation realm.
This was obvious. Body Realm Cultivation had four stages. Qi Realm Cultivation had twelve stages. Mental Realm Cultivation had six stages. Yet, not only could [Tribulation Nine Clouds] be used for them all, but it itself had ten stages.
There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to this. However, recently, Ryu had grasped the reason why!
One was meant to use [Tribulation Nine Clouds] to change their fortune. How much you grasped and how much you could change was dependent on no one but yourself!
What did this mean? It meant that the more Tribulation Arrays you formed at earlier stages of cultivation, the more beneficial the technique would be to you. The earlier one could finish all ten stages, the better! And, the greater your cultivation realm when these Tribulation Arrays were formed, the higher the threshold you would need to meet to use them!
From Ryu's understanding, having completed the three priming Tribulation Arrays within the Mortal Grade, he was already on track to exceed even what the technique's creator would consider perfect completion for this technique.
But… If he completed the second stage within the Mortal Grade Realms as well… The benefits would be even better!
'[Tribulation Nine Clouds] calls for the use of Tribulation Lightning after completing the first stage, however, according to my calculations, you can use this Immortal Qi as a substitute. Firstly, it isn't your own qi and won't be treated as such by the technique. Secondly, it contains Heavenly Dao within it because it came from the core of Shrine Mountain, allowing it to come off as Tribulation Lightning.
'If you take the opportunity to use Immortal Qi to form these Tribulation Arrays within the Mortal Realms, the benefits will be beyond your imagining.'
Ryu trusted Ailsa's judgement.
In an instant, his mind was split in two directions. One frantically grinded a small wisp of Cosmic Qi, while the other grabbed hold of lightning affinity Immortal Qi, bending and molding it to his will.
Without Ryu mindfully taking control of them, what remained of the Immortal Qi wreaked havoc within his body, but he no longer had the luxury to care.
It was a race against time.
If Ryu could have a qualitative breakthrough in his Mental Realm, he would be able to suppress the newly advanced Youkai.
But… If the Basteel Ancestor arrived first…