prynovel Chapter 137 Dedicated to Seclusion and Breakthrough to the Transformation Realm
Chapter 137 Dedicated to Seclusion and Breakthrough to the Transformation Realm
Lin Chen opened his eyes. Deep within his pupils, a flash of silvery-white starlight streaked across the night sky, brilliant yet fleeting. But the lingering aura of suppressing all things still lingered around him, refusing to dissipate.
Su Muyue, who was in the next cultivation room, was the first to sense that familiar starlight aura.
She put down the array flag in her hand, stood up, and pushed open the door to go out. Leng Feng, Chu Fan, and Su Ling'er arrived from their respective directions at almost the same time—Leng Feng carried a battle sword that had just been tempered, the dark red patterns on the blade still glowing faintly; Chu Fan was still holding an array plate that he hadn't finished carving, his fingers covered in spiritual ink; Su Ling'er was carrying a medicine box, the lid of which hadn't been closed yet, the jade bottles inside jingling.
Four people, three doors, different directions, but the same goal.
The stone door to the cultivation room was pushed open from the inside. Lin Chen stood in the doorway, his silvery-white aura still swirling around him, flickering like a thin layer of flame. His hair was somewhat disheveled, and his face was a little pale—traces left by a long period of seclusion and all-out breakthrough—but his eyes were clear, his spirit was high, and he was like a newly forged sword, its sharpness fully revealed.
Su Ling'er was the first to crowd around, her eyes wide as she scanned the silvery-white aura swirling around Lin Chen as if he were a priceless treasure. She reached out to touch it, but then withdrew her hand mid-air, as if afraid of being burned. "He's broken through! The Star Qi of the Transformation Realm is completely different from the true qi of ordinary martial artists. Just standing here, I can feel the oppressive force. I feel my true qi trembling."
Leng Feng didn't approach. He stood three steps away, his battle sword sheathed behind his back, and reached out to feel the condensed aura emanating from Lin Chen. The aura touched his palm, like being gently pricked by a fine needle—not painful, but very distinct. He nodded, a rare hint of approval appearing on his stern face.
"Within the same realm, the purity of your Qi far surpasses that of scions of aristocratic families. Even against a mid-stage Transformation Qi Realm expert, you have the ability to hold your own."
Chu Fan pushed up his glasses, his pupils behind the lenses slightly contracting, as if he were rapidly calculating something. He took out a small notebook from his pocket, wrote a few lines, crossed them out, rewrote them, then closed the notebook and looked up.
"The Qi of the Star Origin Technique is naturally effective against evil spirits. In the future, your combat advantage will become more and more obvious when dealing with evil cultivators. I just made a rough estimate, and at the same early stage of the Qi Transformation Realm, the effect of your Qi in suppressing evil power is at least three times that of an ordinary martial artist."
Lin Chen remained silent. He withdrew his inner energy, and the flickering silver flames gradually receded into his body, like the receding tide revealing a dry beach. His breathing changed from rapid to even, and his heartbeat from wild to steady. He raised his right hand and casually waved it, sending a wisp of starlight, as thin as a hair, piercing through the air and silently landing on the stone wall of the cultivation room.
There was no loud noise, no explosion. A small hole, about an inch deep, was left on the surface of the stone wall, its edges as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been pierced by a red-hot iron rod.
All four of them fell silent.
Su Ling'er opened her mouth, but no words came out. Chu Fan's hand, which was pushing up his glasses, froze in mid-air. Leng Feng narrowed his eyes. Su Muyue's gaze shifted from the hole in the stone wall to Lin Chen's hand, then to his face, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly.
"My cultivation level is mostly stable." Lin Chen withdrew his hand, looked at his palm, and saw his inner energy flowing beneath his skin like an underground river or magma. "The rest will only require three to five days of meditation to perfect. No rush."
He paused, then looked at Su Muyue.
"The border unrest mentioned in the Su family's message is no small matter. Once I've fully stabilized my Transformation Realm cultivation, we'll apply to the school for permission to go on a training expedition to the border to investigate the movements of the evil race. They've lost their secret realm setup, and they certainly won't let this go easily. We must dig out their roots before they launch an even bigger conspiracy."
Su Muyue took out a border map from her sleeve and spread it on the stone table in the cultivation room. The map was drawn on thick Xuan paper with copper-bound edges. The map marked the detailed terrain of the northeastern border of the Great Xia Kingdom—mountains, rivers, cities, and passes, all clearly visible. Many border towns were marked with red circles, the edges of which were slightly darkened, traces left by her repeated drawing.
"These towns have been hit by successive outbreaks of Gu plagues." She pointed to the red circles, counting them one by one. "Qingshi Town, Fenglin Ferry, Wangbei Pass, Eagle's Beak... these are all small places on the border, where news can't get out, and outsiders don't know. But the Su family has connections there, so the news can't be wrong. The people have had their minds corrupted by the Soul-Controlling Gu, turning them into walking corpses who attack any living creature. The local martial arts bureau has suffered heavy casualties, and they're almost unable to contain the outbreak."
She withdrew her finger and looked at Lin Chen.
"The mastermind behind this is most likely a branch of the Qin family from outside the territory. They have joined forces with the remnants of the evil race to create chaos on the border, firstly to retaliate against our destruction in the secret realm, and secondly to distract the Martial Arts Alliance and buy time for a larger operation."
Five people sat around a stone table. A map lay open in the center, covered with red circles, like festering sores, a shocking sight. The night wind blew in through the skylight in the dome, causing the edges of the map to flutter gently, making a soft rustling sound.
Leng Feng took his battle sword from behind his back, placed it across his knees, and ran his hand over the dark red patterns on the blade, feeling the sharp texture of its newly tempered surface. Chu Fan took out his portable array plates from his pocket, checking each one to ensure that the runes on each plate were intact and had not been damaged in the battle. Su Ling'er opened her medicine box, took out the jade bottles one by one, placed them on the table, categorized them according to their uses, and then put them back one by one. Su Muyue took out the array flags from her backpack; the twelve silver-white flags gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and the runes on the flagpoles flickered, as if breathing.
Lin Chen rolled up the map again and stuffed it into the side pocket of his backpack. The Star Sword leaned against the stone table, its blade lying quietly in its scabbard, without any light or fluctuation, like an ordinary weapon.
But on the blade beneath the scabbard, silvery-white starlight was slowly flowing.
The breakthrough in their seclusion is a new beginning. Stepping out of the gates of Xingwu University and venturing into the turbulent borderlands is the path they truly need to take.
The night breeze stopped. Moonlight poured down from the skylight in the dome, drawing a bright square on the ground. Five people sat around in the moonlight, their shadows stretched long and overlapping, making it impossible to distinguish who was who.