Chapter 196: Breaking Through

The spiral started small and could absorb more and more Primordial Force. The Primordial Force in the Dantian was tightly packed. If he created the spiral inside it, it would easily disturb all the Devouring Origin Force. Then the spiral would become huge, and even with Jiang Xincheng’s current Spiritual Sense, it would be hard to control. If it went out of control, the terrible outcome would be an exploding Dantian.

That was why Jiang Xincheng needed to start small and gradually expand the spiral. When the spiral grew big enough, it would then absorb the Primordial Force in the Dantian, forming an enormous spiral to break through the bottleneck of the Cloud Condensation Realm.

The gentle medicinal power of the Yangshan Pill was the catalyst.

Time passed bit by bit. The spiral in Jiang Xincheng’s Dantian grew larger and larger, gradually reaching a size similar to the Devouring Origin Force in the Dantian.

After all, the Yangshan Pill was a quasi level-five Spiritual Elixir. Although its medicinal power was gentle, its quantity was no less than the Devouring Origin Force in Jiang Xincheng’s Dantian.

As the medicinal power of the Yangshan Pill slowly seeped into Jiang Xincheng’s body, the spiral in the Dantian grew even larger. Gradually, this spiral gained the power to swallow the original Devouring Origin Force.

At a certain moment, after the spiral had absorbed all the medicinal power of the Yangshan Pill, it finally grew strong enough to rival the Devouring Origin Force in Jiang Xincheng’s Dantian. However, Jiang Xincheng’s body was now completely filled with Primordial Force, causing it to swell to nearly twice its size, like an inflated balloon.

If Jiang Xincheng had not already cultivated the Immeasurable Golden Body to the peak of the Black Fiend Copper Body stage, he would have burst by now. Even so, he was swollen like a balloon, looking incredibly strange.

Jiang Xincheng paid no attention to his appearance. His expression was serious as he focused his Spiritual Sense to the limit, controlling the spiral to swallow the Devouring Origin Force in the Dantian.

As the spiral touched the vast Devouring Origin Force, the energy rushed wildly into the spiral at an astonishing speed. For a moment, Jiang Xincheng felt like he was losing control.

He quickly concentrated, controlling the spiral with all his might. He ignored the rushing Devouring Origin Force and focused only on keeping the spiral stable, allowing it to absorb the energy on its own. Finally, he managed to stabilize it a little, preventing the spiral from going out of control.

This situation lasted for an hour. Jiang Xincheng’s whole body was soaked in sweat, and more than half of the Spiritual Sense in his Spirit Sense Sea was exhausted. Only then did he finally absorb all the Devouring Origin Force, forming an incredibly large spiral in his Dantian.

Inside the spiral, the mist of Primordial Force had begun to condense into the shape of a cloud, nearing the Primordial Force of an Early Stage Cloud Condensation Realm Practitioner. Now was the time for Jiang Xincheng to break through the bottleneck.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Xincheng became even more focused and serious than before. He mobilized all the Spiritual Sense in his Spirit Sense Sea and controlled the spiral like a drill, aiming it at the bottleneck barrier of the Cloud Condensation Realm.

“Zzzzzzzz…”

Where the spiral met the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck, sparks seemed to flash, accompanied by a sharp “zzzzzz” sound. The bottleneck of the Cloud Condensation Realm remained unmoving, like a giant steel dam. Even such a powerful spiral could not shake it in the slightest.

Jiang Xincheng was not discouraged. The bottleneck of the Cloud Condensation Realm was one of the hardest for a Practitioner to break through. He had long prepared for a prolonged battle.

In his previous life, it took Jiang Xincheng ten years and ten attempts to break through the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck. If not for the vast resources provided by his sister, he would never have reached the Cloud Condensation Realm in that lifetime.

Having struggled so hard in his previous life, Jiang Xincheng’s current Cultivation Foundation was more than ten times stronger. Naturally, the difficulty was greater, and he had mentally prepared for it.

He concentrated fully, controlling the spiral to drill relentlessly into the bottleneck barrier, hoping to bore a hole. Once a hole was made, he could use it as a foundation to break through the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck.

A thousand-mile dam could be destroyed by an ant hole. What Jiang Xincheng needed to do now was to create that ant hole in the thousand-mile dam.

Time flowed on. The “zzzzzz” sound continued without end. Time and again, he drilled and charged, only to fail repeatedly. Jiang Xincheng’s expression remained calm as water. He did not lose heart despite thousands of failures. After each failure, he simply controlled the spiral again and struck the bottleneck barrier.

After who knows how long, a white mark finally appeared at the point where the spiral was striking. Although there was still a long way to go before breaking through the bottleneck, a smile crossed Jiang Xincheng’s face. His long efforts had finally borne fruit. Even though the result was tiny, it was still an achievement, and that was reason enough to be happy.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and a great river is formed from countless small streams. Jiang Xincheng understood this better than anyone. So he continued silently and calmly, controlling the spiral and drilling into the bottleneck barrier, letting time pass by.

Outside the sweet potato cellar, the snow fell heavier and heavier, gradually covering the whole world. The north wind howled, plunging the world into a deep chill.

Jiang Xincheng could no longer sense the snow outside. His Spiritual Sense was entirely focused within his body. His mind was more concentrated than ever, all for the purpose of breaking through the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck.

He could not feel the passage of time, the cold seeping in, or the increasingly frigid sweet potato cellar around him. To break through the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck, one needed not only abundant and pure Primordial Force but also sufficient quiet and focus—and even a bit of luck.

He could not be disturbed by external things, could not lose focus even slightly, and could not give in to discouragement. At this moment, Jiang Xincheng was like a diligent and focused worker standing beneath a steel wall hundreds of meters thick, drilling slowly with an electric drill toward the other side, hoping to one day pierce through the steel wall and obtain the treasure inside.

But the wall was incredibly thick and sturdy. Every bit of progress required a great deal of time and effort. Moreover, if he slowed even a little, the wall might heal itself. One can imagine how immense the difficulty Jiang Xincheng faced was.

For most Practitioners, breaking through the Cloud Condensation Realm bottleneck was not this difficult. But Jiang Xincheng’s Cultivation Foundation was several times stronger than that of an ordinary Practitioner, so his bottleneck was also several times tougher.

However, once he broke through the bottleneck, what he would gain would be several times greater than that of an ordinary Practitioner. The moment he stepped into the Cloud Condensation Realm, he would immediately become an expert among Cloud Condensation Realm Practitioners.

This was the principle of gain and loss, and it was Jiang Xincheng’s own choice. Having been reborn, he did not want mediocrity or ordinariness. He wanted only the strongest and the best.

If the young do not work hard, the old will lament. If the foundation was not laid well, how could one fly higher and farther in the future? No matter how bitter or difficult it was, Jiang Xincheng was determined to build the strongest foundation and reap the greatest rewards.