Chapter 114: Breakthrough!

Cultivation knows no years; in the blink of an eye, a thousand years may pass.

That is said of those supreme figures, for whom even a casual span of cultivation can mean centuries or millennia. Lin Fan was still far from such a realm, yet even so, this round of seclusion had gone by silently for an entire month.

Within the scripture vault of Little Thunder Sound Temple, Lin Fan’s aura grew stronger and stronger.

At times it surged like a flood of mercury pouring over the earth, vast and mighty; at times it pressed down like a lofty mountain, so overwhelming it took one’s breath away. By now he had reached the peak of the fifth level of the Meridian Condensation Realm, one step away from the sixth.

On this day, Lin Fan’s aura had risen and fallen violently five or six times. He was striking at the barrier of a breakthrough, but each time he came up just short and could only withdraw in frustration.

Ordinary people could attempt a breakthrough only two or three times in a day, and only he could endure so many attempts without injuring himself. Half a day passed, the sun sank in the distance, and once again Lin Fan’s aura began to rise without pause.

In the span of a single breath, his cultivation had already climbed to the peak, truly the stature of a formidable master at the fifth level of Meridian Condensation. Add to that his innate amplification and the Divine Fist of Creation, and this realm had already made him invincible among those of the Meridian Condensation Realm.

But Lin Fan still was not satisfied. He would make an eighteenth assault, his final one.

Success or death. That was the resolve he held now. If he failed, he would awaken entirely from cultivation and never attempt another breakthrough. Fortunately, eighteen attempts still had not reached his limit; otherwise, even success would be meaningless, for if his body grew weak, his realm would fall along with it.

Thud, thud, thud.

A series of muffled booms came from within Lin Fan’s body. It was the beating of his heart, yet the sound was as fierce as collision after collision, like ancient war drums pounding in the distance.

Nine scarlet dragon-shaped currents of life force manifested in succession. Above Lin Fan’s head, brilliance blazed forth, and three tiny blossoms appeared. This was the sign of Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown, the mark of a talent that had reached the pinnacle seen once in four thousand years. The next ascent would be Five Auras Returning to the Source, meaning his talent had already entered the realm seen once in five thousand years.

“This will decide everything. If I can take this step, then among everyone in Little Thunder Sound Temple, aside from the great figures, I will fear no one.”

Lin Fan opened his eyes. Two shafts of divine light shot forth, piercing the heavens and cleaving through the air, a manifestation of his peak resolve, of his refusal to yield.

Then limitless divine radiance erupted from his body. Stone tablets rose one after another into the air before being smashed to pieces by a single slap.

“Even if the Dao and the laws are mighty, they still cannot surpass the self. Even what I have comprehended is only so much, but I will not cast you aside. From this day onward, every movement I make shall contain the Dao.”

Lin Fan seemed to be in a dreamlike murmur. He abandoned the Great Stele-Splitting Hand, yet not entirely. Rather, he had fused this art completely into his own body. From this point on, every gesture of his would carry terrifying force and killing power, and he would stand at the summit at every moment. This was the realm of unity between Heaven and man.

Why are rulers of the Heavenly Man Realm so powerful? Why can they look down upon those of the Meridian Condensation Realm?

Because they have no weaknesses. Every time one sees such a person, they are at the absolute height of their power. Thus, when those in this realm clash, heaven and earth can shatter, and they are exceedingly hard to kill. How could someone perpetually at the peak be easy to destroy, unless a truly overwhelming force crushed them outright?

Lin Fan had not yet reached that realm, yet he had already begun to comprehend unity between Heaven and man. Such a thing was nothing short of astonishing; if word spread, it would cause an uproar.

“Break for me!”

Another half a quarter hour passed. Lin Fan’s momentum had already reached its very apex, but throughout the entire process he had not forced the breakthrough, for he had been waiting, waiting for the greatest accumulation.

At that moment, inspiration struck him. He made his final decision.

Everything followed naturally. This breakthrough went exceptionally smoothly, because he had already explored the path before; the difficulty was not great this time, though the danger within was beyond doubt.

An action that ordinary people could only attempt two or three times a day had been repeated eighteen times by Lin Fan. What kind of talent, what kind of confidence, would be required to accomplish such a feat?

Lin Fan’s aura surged violently, and then he directly absorbed every last trace of the little remaining energy within the Bodhi Seed. His cultivation was pushed all the way to the peak of the sixth level of Meridian Condensation.

To cross two entire realms in one month was something not even worth daring to imagine.

Lin Fan’s talent was that of one seen once in four thousand years, allowing him to challenge opponents across four realms. The Divine Fist of Creation could push him yet another step higher. In other words, Lin Fan’s raw combat strength now rivaled the mid-stage of the first decline of the Heavenly Man Realm. However, because of the barrier of cultivation, his power could not fully reach such a terrifying extent; even so, it had already entered the threshold of the Heavenly Man Realm, the early stage of the first decline.

With such strength, going out into the world would already make him a hegemon of a region. In the Ancient Buddha Domain, he would be more than capable of founding a sect. But Lin Fan was not satisfied. He wanted to kill his way back to the Martial Heaven Domain. That was where his stage truly lay.

“Duanmu Ci, I will be back very soon.”

Lin Fan’s voice was icy, carrying fierce killing intent. He had been lying low all this time because he knew how terrifying this man Duanmu Ci was. His dreadfulness was not limited to his own strength; his scheming and methods were even more shocking.

How many people could possibly hire a Void-Breaking expert to kill someone who had not even reached the Meridian Condensation Realm? If spoken aloud, no one would believe it. Yet Duanmu Ci had done exactly that, because he understood the principle that one must use one’s full strength even to strike a lion with a rabbit. He had left Lin Fan no chance at all.

But because of one reason or another, Lin Fan had escaped. That also meant Duanmu Ci’s end was drawing near.

The sun had completely set. Night descended, and within Little Thunder Sound Temple, sinister winds howled through the darkness, steeped in terror. No one dared to step outside at such an hour. Over the past month, countless ominous signs had occurred, and every single one had come at night.

Yet Lin Fan still had not stopped cultivating. In fact, his aura had become even more dreadful, now tinged with the flavor of a cocoon breaking open into a butterfly.

That was right. He was striking at his own innate talent, hoping to raise it to the level seen once in five thousand years, and to stand supreme above everyone in Cloud Heaven Prefecture.

“Hard. It is simply too hard. But in the end, it is not without hope.”

Lin Fan’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. He could already sense that faint thread of opportunity; five thousand years once was now within reach.

“Come out for me!”

Expressionless, Lin Fan drew the wild ginseng out from his interspatial bag and said, “You’ll have to suffer a little this time, but I will return this cause and effect in full.”

Without giving the wild ginseng any chance to speak, Lin Fan flicked his ten fingers in succession and activated the technique. The wild ginseng let out a miserable scream, and then a drop of liquid fell from its body.

“Lin Fan, you bastard!”

The wild ginseng was seething with resentment. It had become utterly listless, its whole body withered and wrinkled, the aftereffect of having its vitality severely damaged.

Lin Fan ignored it entirely. He swallowed that drop of liquid at once. In only the time it took to drink a cup of tea, his aura surged again. The Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown dispersed, replaced by a radiant five-colored divine light.

This was the talent of Five Auras Returning to the Source.