112 Breakthrough (2/2)
Xue Wei was currently incapable of being consumed by heart demons because his foundation of the soul was strong and his belief stronger. The fact that he kept fighting for what he believed in caused the foundations of his martial heart and his soul to become as firm as they could be.
When Xue Wei had been unconscious for those three months to regain his memories, his body had perpetually absorbed energy on its own, but that energy was not the refined type he could produce while awake, and Xue Wei had been too focused on the foggy world with the many memory shadows to even feel his body.
But now that he had returned to his body, now that he was once more utilizing the Azure Dragon Scripture and his martial arts techniques, he felt as if he finally was close to a breakthrough.
Rightfully so, after his body shook, all the essence of the heaven and the earth in the surrounding area flooded into Xue Wei's meridians, where it was being refined at a frightening pace.
The breakthrough to the fifth layer of the Earth Warrior rank was imminent.
”Since I started cultivating up until now, the slowest layer was without a doubt getting from the fourth to the fifth layer of Earth Warrior,” Xue Wei contemplated.
”This is not because of the increase in difficulty, but because I simply haven't had the time to cultivate. It was impossible to refine the energy when i was unconscious but every cell in my body was absorbing energy that has been overflowing until now when I have finally refined myself. It has finally broken through to the fifth layer!”
Xue Wei knew that this was but a minor breakthrough, but it was the first real breakthrough his cultivation base had seen in the past few months, and it made him eager to work harder at improving his cultivation.
”Although I wish to increase my strength soon, I cannot afford to risk my foundation,” he muttered to himself as he walked back to Hei Gou after searching the corpse for anything of value.
”I know that speed is good, but my body needs to be able to keep up. Fortunately, my soul is already at a level above the Earth Warrior stage, and my foundations are as solid as can be because of the experiences I have been through and the Azure Dragon Scripture, but I need to continue with my cultivation seriously. If I make any wrong decisions, my prospects will go out the window!”
Xue Wei felt a shiver run down his spine. He was far from being alone on the path of cultivation. In fact, every human and beast within the continent cultivated, but where most peerless experts had someone to guide them, Xue Wei was now all on his own. No one would go out of their way to give guidance to a criminal who was known to collude with Primordial Beasts.
Previously, Xue Wei had the support of the Heritage Ring that his uncle had given him, but when he had been taken prisoner back in the capital, all his possessions had been confiscated, including his ring.
No one knew it was a Heritage Ring, but they did not allow for him to keep it, and when he fled it was impossible for him to recover it.
Since he had lost his Heritage Ring, he had also lost the guiding light that supported his future cultivation progress. He would have to gain everything on his own from now on. He would have to rely on fortunate encounters to get his hands on any new techniques.
Fortunately, he had some very strong techniques at his disposal already. He had a steady foundation of those as well, and it should keep him satisfied until he reached the realm above the Warrior ranks.
Deep in thought, Xue Wei reached Hei Gou, who looked at him with surprise in his eyes. ”You dealt with it quickly!” he praised him, ”and you even managed to break through at the same time. Not bad, not bad at all.”
Hei Gou was weak at the moment, so weak that he had not even been able to observe the swift assassination earlier, so he did not know how overwhelmingly one-sided Xue Wei's actions had been. All he had done was sit calmly and try to restore his Qi and blood essence.
The Qi was replenished at a much more rapid pace than the blood essence.
Whereas Qi was constantly flowing into one's body from the surroundings, the blood essence relied on the body itself to restore it, and he was acutely aware that the process might take up to a full year before he was fully healed of the blood essence he had used. In fact, the only reason it did not leave everlasting effects on him was because of the mutation his body had undergone. Without such a sturdy and formidable body, he would have succumbed to his wanton use of blood essence, and his body would have fallen apart with nothing left to support it.
Xue Wei was bursting with energy after the breakthrough, so when he saw the haggard Hei Gou, he almost felt embarrassed. It was truly two different ends of the scale.
Again, Xue Wei supported Hei Gou, and the two of them once more moved towards the border. Once they crossed the border, they would shake off the majority of their pursuers save for the truly stubborn ones, which would afford them a less stressful time.
Their advance was slow, but together they stubbornly continued to move forward. They journeyed through forests and fields, mountains and valleys.
They continued to avoid the human settlements. And every time a human crossed paths with them, they would instantly kill the person in cold blood. Fortunately, they had not encountered any strong opponents so far.
The further they traveled, the better Hei Gou's condition became. His body was no longer hunched forward, his wax-pale face had recovered its original complexion, and his body had stopped trembling.
Although he was still feeling feeble and knew that it would take a long time to recover his blood essence, it was much better than before. He started moving around again, helping Xue Wei taking care of the experts that came their way.
Like this, they traveled for a full month. During this month, they did not stop to rest more than absolutely necessary. On the other hand, since their speed of travel was slow, it was possible for them to cultivate at the same time, and both Xue Wei and Hei Gou experienced a rapid growth in strength.