3 full days pass by.
The dim glowing enlightenment character on my forehead does not fade away.
It is nowhere as extreme as the three times in the past I've used this small white and gold piece of jade, but there is an extremely consistent focus that stays with me.
I become very confident about my progress, and certain that all of the necessary ingredients are in front of me. Timing is the only thing I have to wait on.
There is no concrete pattern to follow. I simply can feel the perfect balance of my qi refining ability, my martial physique, and the growing strength of my souls.
I've even eaten another milk fruit after the first one wore off, and occasionally eat a few newly upgraded heavenly grade fruits to keep the qi flowing through my meridians fresh and hot.
My inner mind stays locked on the mountain, becoming accustomed with its base all the way around, and slowly examining it further and further up as my souls grow stronger.
After digesting the soul wisps from her 8th level breakthrough, Meimei hopped right back out into the Wang Clan's cultivation chamber.
It took almost a full 24 hours before she absorbed enough qi and souls to hit the 9th level and come back to digest those too.
Now, after an additional 48 hours have passed, I feel her getting near her next bottleneck.
She is going to challenge the perfected stage of qi refinement.
Little Red has pulled in enough flames from the fire portion of the array to hit the perfected stage of his natural flame physique again…
Every time I finish a cycle of my Jade Purity Soul Scripture, I catch glimpses of my own qi refining bottleneck peak.
However, I do not consume my remaining barrier breaking and qi condensation pills.
The path of least resistance is not my qi cultivation. My root talent is too poor to risk wasting these pills just yet.
When I feel subtle fluctuations of Meimei's soul bond pushing to try and break through her 10th level bottleneck in the outside world, I decide now is the time for me to challenge my best bet too.
I pull out my perfect grade tier 2 cauldron, ignite all three tier 2 mid grade soothing flame talismans, and pour a glass jug of purified water inside.
The spiritual copper characters on its outside all heat up as red-orange tier 2 flames burst upward and envelop the cauldron.
Little Red opens an eye to watch, but croaks and returns to his own cultivation soon after.
I pull out the tier 2 heavenly grade martial root from my storage and use the golden mist of my hidden realm to lift it in the air and let it fall into the pot that has come to a boil.
Over the next half hour, I add more and more water as it evaporates away, and the entire cauldron shakes and rattles against the array.
I vividly remember the sight of my tier 1 perfect grade cauldron shattering under its pressure, but this tier 2 artifact is holding up.
The characters on its outside glow brighter the longer this simmering process takes, but there are no signs of cracks or real wear, making my excitement grow.
Meimei's soul fluctuations grow stronger and stronger as she challenges a bottleneck outside with all her strength, and I wait, holding my breath, carefully bringing the flames to and from the bottom of the cauldron to ensure the extract is pulled from this root properly.
It takes a while to achieve the perfect balance, but once I do, it happens all of a sudden.
One moment, the remaining boiling water in the cauldron is a light yellow-white from trace amounts of the root's aura touching it, and the next, it turns to a shimmering metallic gold as all of the root's heavenly aura and martial extract, in its peak state of potency, flows out.
Over a gallon of pure, thick, silky golden liquid rests at the bottom of this massive bowl.
The Heavenly Grade Tier 2 Martial Tea is ready.
I pull away the flames, uncork my porcelain jar of ox fat, and cover all of the weak acupoints and meridian stress points that could affect my breakthrough.
A large amount of it is lathered around my neck, upper back, chest, and torso. The entire jar is used up to cover every centimeter of the rest of my body in a thinner layer.
I devour my last milk fruit and walk forward to the burning hot cauldron.
I activate an enchanted defensive talisman so I can hold onto its edges, brace myself, and begin to gulp it down.
The bright golden tea floods into my body, burning my throat and cooking my flesh while it surges through every energy pathway and disperses deep into my physique and sea of consciousness.
My souls tremble from the strain as I swallow every drop of extract there is.
I eat three heavenly grade healing elixirs at once, then begin to perform the Martial Spirit movements in the center of the array.
It feels like my physique is being torn apart with every lunge, punch, or kick I make to carry out the transitional movements. However, the enlightenment character on my forehead flickers with intensity, showing me the end result crystal clear in my mind. It allows me to completely ignore the pain.
Everything feels so balanced and natural.
Once a single full cycle is complete, both my souls are already being used as last resort anchors. The physique stabilizing ring on my finger has become almost useless with the spirit grade vibrations inside me trying to rip me apart.
The golden aura is dissolving into my sea of consciousness, and what is left behind is a bright white martial extract glowing visibly on the outer edges of my body, trying desperately to tether to the perfected mortal grade physique already in place, but it is not strong enough to handle it.
The spirit grade extract will soon tear open the stress points and escape if it is not tamed.
Only a calm smile is left on my face as I can feel a similar reaction happening in the outside world, one that started well before mine and is coming to its natural end.
A strong burst of warmth saturates both my souls as Meimei breaks into the 10th level of qi refining and consolidates her perfected stage soul nourishing physique at the exact same time.
This warm pressure surges through me as I continue to repeat the necessary movements to break through.
It feels like a rigid bowstring that was refusing to be pulled back can now easily be controlled and used as a sturdy weapon.
Every kick, punch, and lunge no longer feels like they are tearing my physique apart. Instead, they are tightening it back, making sure every single fiber of my physique is strong enough to be released in battle once needed.
In a matter of minutes, every stress point in my physique consolidates to tether to the base layer of my original physique. Both of my souls calmly cycle back together into their silky smooth orb of wisps, no longer used as necessary anchor points.
An overwhelming pulse of bright white vibrations surges outward to make the array beneath my feet shake.
My ears start to ring, my vision burns white, and I'm forced to take the path of least resistance, pushing myself to slip back out of my hidden realm.
I open my eyes again to see the bright flash of aura released with a much stronger white pulse that completely ignores the thick mid stage tier 2 concealment and defensive barriers in this room.
[Initial Stage - Spirit Grade - Acquired Martial Spirit Physique] shines bright in my mind, but I only stare forward.
Meimei runs through the pulse of energy like it's a mirage and jumps into my arms, and we both disappear once more.
She's full of an extremely potent, unstable collection of soul wisps, while the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, man and beast, have their eyes open in shock, with their two souls completely healed.
The white illusory orbs resting in their bodies are silky smooth. There is not even a single hairline fracture or chaotic fluctuation remaining.
I'm far too concentrated to even say a word to them.
I immediately begin practicing my Jade Purity Soul Scripture in my hidden realm.
At the moment of this physique consolidation, I felt another strange series of popping sensations, five of them, one in each of my spirit roots, as it felt like my physique tethered to all of them at once and strengthened their ties to my dantian.
It is an odd sensation…
I recall reading a system notification on Lan Xin's status once that her innate physique increased her root potential to make breakthroughs safer.
However, no one has ever explicitly mentioned such a thing about acquired physiques.
It is either hidden knowledge, or whatever I'm feeling now is not the usual experience.
Either way, I was not counting on this internal shift. It is a surprise that will make this next step in my breakthrough process much easier.
I start to cycle my 5 element qi control technique and begin eating qi condensation pills one after another, alternating with two barrier breaking pills in between each time.
The thick layer of tier 2 ox fat holds my body in place, even though it's melting from the pressure, and I'm absorbing this qi-rich, vibrating fat through my skin.
The impossibly high mountain of a bottleneck gets closer and closer with every cycle of my Jade Purity Soul Scripture.
My dantian is refilled and drained over a dozen times, and I keep the momentum pushing forward until reaching the absolute peak of that mental mountain.
When I look off the edge, I see a deep sea near its base that is the old 6th level of Qi refinement's dantian.
The sky above is the inner wall of the boundless 7th level dantian.
I don't even need to push hard anymore.
The momentum that got me here is already piercing the sky and cracking it open.
I've only used up half of my upgraded barrier breaking and qi condensation pill supply. The long battle I planned for will not come. This will be a simple final push.
The enlightenment character on my forehead burns its brightest one last time then flickers out, leaving me with my natural senses once again.
The sky above this invisible mountain in my mind completely breaks apart.
In less than a minute, my entire consciousness spreads upward into the empty space to hit the new outer walls of a far larger energy pool.
My vision goes bright white as my qi stores all flood into my new dantian, and all my bones start to crack and grow. My muscles and blood heat up and become enveloped in an elusive pressure, evolving as I transition to the late stage of qi refinement.
A low croak echoes through my hidden realm at the same time.
Little Red uses the momentum of my breakthrough to stimulate his own.
I've piggybacked off him multiple times, and now it seems I'm unintentionally returning the favor.
He sacrifices his newest perfected natural flame physique, adding to the other three small flame fragments he's been storing inside his body.
When this one collides with them, the small frog's whole body glows bright red, far brighter than any of the flames coming up from this array.
He uses the invisible pressure that is stimulating my body's growth as his own catalyst, and his four mortal grade flames combine into one extremely strong flame fragment.
This bright red fragment dissolves into his body, and a pillar of fire bursts upward from him within my hidden realm. It shakes the array, and tints the golden mist above us in a crimson hue.
I can feel him leaning toward leaving through the bronze door, but he maintains his mental stability and stays put.
A series of low croaks echo through the air as he slowly pulls the eruption of flames back into his body. The pillar dissipates, the crimson clouds above disappear, and Little Red returns to a calm unbothered state. Now, [Initial Stage - Spirit Grade - Acquired Natural Flame Physique] is visible on his status listed as his second spirit grade acquired physique below the Black Lotus Flame Physique.
My new massive 7th level qi refining dantian fills up to its brim, the white flash of light around me fades, and the extremely tense vibrations of my new spirit grade physique synchronize to fit my new body.
I open my eyes and hear the mental dinging sound of my system checking off two side quests as complete.
A few seconds after, a single mysterious quest notification appears completed in my mind too.
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Author's Note:
One chapter of Five Element Overlord will be posted every weekday: M,T,W,TH,F.
If you'd like to support me, and read 45+ chapters ahead of the public release schedule, my patreon is linked in my bio:)
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