Chapter 33: The Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage

Ice! With sharp angles, snowflakes drifted past Xu Ziyan’s eyes. She seemed to hear the sound of the snowflakes’ six corners cutting through the air. This! Represented killing!

The snowflakes melted on her cheeks and trickled down, reaching the corner of her mouth. Xu Ziyan slightly opened her lips and sucked in the melted snow. The cool snow water made her mouth moist. This! Represented life!

The Highest Good is Like Water!

Water nourishes all things, full of vigorous life force. Xu Ziyan’s thoughts became increasingly clear. The True Essence inside her suddenly grew restless. She felt signs of a breakthrough.

She looked back at the others who were still in Meditative Rest and hesitated about whether she should continue her enlightenment. If she continued and fully immersed herself, she would lose awareness of her surroundings. If Monster Beasts attacked at this time, the consequences would be disastrous. But if she stopped her Sudden Enlightenment now, she didn’t know when she would get such an opportunity again.

While wavering, she noticed two Inner Hall Disciples waking up one after another. Overjoyed, Xu Ziyan softly said to them:

“Senior Brothers, I have some matters to attend to. I’ll trouble you two with keeping watch.”

After speaking, Xu Ziyan’s figure moved. She flew down the slope and darted forward along the mountain path. After traveling about three hundred meters, she stopped in the middle of the path.

The two Inner Hall Disciples watched Xu Ziyan’s departing figure. They thought she was going to relieve herself and felt too embarrassed to say so directly. They thought no more of it and stood at the high point of the slope, vigilantly keeping watch.

Xu Ziyan stood in the center of the mountain path. The wilderness stretched endlessly around her, as if she were in a separate world. Her mind was empty and clear. Gradually, her mind and body seemed to merge with the falling snow. The paths of the snowflakes clearly imprinted themselves onto her Soul.

Suddenly, Xu Ziyan’s body moved. But if an outsider were present, they wouldn’t have been able to spot her. She had completely blended into the falling snow, like a snowflake moving with the wind. Her body lightly floated in the air, like a winter spirit, dancing gracefully.

She drifted away from the mountain path, floated up a high slope, then down into a valley, and afterward toward a mountain peak.

Normally, Cultivators below the Foundation Building Stage couldn’t fly through the air. But at this moment, Xu Ziyan was gliding through the void like a snowflake.

As she flew, ripples of water suddenly appeared around Xu Ziyan’s body. Waves of watery patterns spread out from within her, creating circles of ripples. Finally, her entire body was enveloped in a layer of watery ripples, like an egg formed by a Water Screen, wrapping her inside.

Suddenly, the water sphere suspended in the air burst apart, sending countless water jets flying in all directions. Xu Ziyan spread her body out in a star shape. The Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth rushed toward her, gradually forming a Vortex above her head. It spun continuously, pouring into her body.

After one hour, Xu Ziyan lifted her head and let out a long cry, like a crane’s call or a Phoenix Cry.

The surrounding snowflakes suddenly flurried outward. The Spiritual Energy Vortex that had formed around her shattered with a roar.

Xu Ziyan abruptly opened her eyes and looked around. She suddenly realized she was suspended in the air. Her heart jolted, and she fell straight down from the sky. Luckily, the snow was deep and had been falling for several days, and she wasn’t very high above the ground. Otherwise, who knows how badly she might have been injured.

Xu Ziyan turned over and stood up from the snow. She brushed the snow off her clothes and looked around. This time, she finally realized she was lost and had no idea where she was. But she was certain she wasn’t on the original mountain path.

“Did I unknowingly come here during my Sudden Enlightenment just now?”

Thinking of this, Xu Ziyan felt a wave of fear. If she had accidentally run into a group of Monster Beasts or fallen among them, wouldn’t she be beyond help, with no one to hear her calls? There would be only one outcome—death!

“I wonder if I broke through?”

Xu Ziyan quickly focused her awareness inward to check her Realm. As soon as she did, the corners of her mouth lifted. A smile gradually spread across her face—first her lips, then her nose, then her eyes, until it covered her whole face. Every cell seemed to be laughing.

She had broken through! Xu Ziyan had now reached the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage!

In less than a year of Cultivation, starting from nothing, she had advanced all the way from Houtian to the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage. In the entire cultivation world, this was nothing short of a miracle. Even in those major Sects, this was unheard of.

Of course, this was partly due to Xu Ziyan’s own decent aptitude. But more importantly, she had a steady supply of Elixirs to aid her. It was important to know that on this continent, the lack of Alchemy had constrained the entire cultivation world. Yet Xu Ziyan happened to obtain complete Alchemy techniques and a large number of Pill Recipes. This put her on a completely different starting line compared to other Cultivators.

Xu Ziyan withdrew her awareness. While confirming her breakthrough, she also discovered that the Breath-Concealing Talisman she kept inside her body had been damaged due to the breakthrough. It could no longer conceal her aura.

Xu Ziyan stretched out her hand and formed several Hand Seals. A damaged Talisman immediately drifted out from within her. She grasped it, and it turned into a pile of fragments. With a flick of her hand, it scattered away with the wind.

Xu Ziyan scanned the area and found a flat, smooth rock. She took out a Talisman Brush and Talisman Paper from her Storage Pouch and quickly made a new Breath-Concealing Talisman. She set her displayed Cultivation Level to the Ninth Layer of Houtian.

Xu Ziyan picked a direction and started walking, hoping to find her way back.

Her absence for over an hour had worried the Xu Clan Disciples guarding the slope. When the others woke up one by one, they found that the two on watch were Inner Hall Disciples, and Xu Ziyan was nowhere to be seen. When the awakened Xu Jin asked about it, the two Inner Hall Disciples truthfully explained.

At first, everyone wasn’t too worried, thinking Xu Ziyan might not be urinating but defecating. But as time passed, they began to panic. Especially the New Disciples from the Outer Hall—Xu Ziyan was their backbone, their anchor.

With Xu Ziyan gone, they became completely frantic. They immediately surrounded the two Inner Hall Disciples on watch, repeatedly asking what had happened.