Chapter 95: Innate Realm, Breakthrough to Ninth Level Profound Mind Stage!

Inside a dim cave, the flickering firelight illuminated Li Ya, seated on a stone with his upper body bare. He was wrapping blood-soaked bandages over his wounds, fresh blood seeping through, painting a gruesome picture. Yet, his expression remained stoic.

Floating beside him was a soul projection of a tall elder, stroking his beard as he observed Li Ya.

“Withstanding the poison of the Thousand-Hand Demon Vine, your physique has grown even stronger,” the elder praised.

“It’s still not enough,” Li Ya replied calmly. “Compared to Lü Xian and Ji Xuanyu, I’m far from their level. And now there’s even An Hao in the sect—rumor has it his talent surpasses even Lü Xian and Ji Xuanyu.”

The elder chuckled. “They are born prodigies, but you’re different. You’re a hard-working genius. That kind of determination might one day allow you to surpass them. Natural talent isn’t the most important thing—it’s an unyielding Dao heart and the will to fight on.”

Li Ya nodded, about to reply, when the flames in the fire pit began to tremble violently. His expression shifted.

“Spiritual energy descending?” he muttered with a frown.

The elder’s face grew serious as well.

“Could this be a natural disaster rather than something man-made? What could it mean?” He attempted to divine the cause, but his efforts yielded nothing.

As the spiritual energy in the Northern Sea Mountain Range began to sink, the air filled with the howls of demonic beasts. Cultivators hidden in their cave dwellings rushed out in alarm, and even those engaged in battles were forced to stop.

Beneath a tree, Gu An sat cross-legged, surrounded by a radiant glow of five colors. At a glance, he resembled an egg of pure light, sitting motionless amidst the chaos.

The distant howls didn’t faze him; he was already accustomed to such disturbances. This was only the beginning. He had finished refining his spiritual root—now it was time to enhance his techniques before focusing on his cultivation base.

The spiritual energy in the Northern Sea Mountain Range was extraordinarily dense, far surpassing that near Xuan Valley. Even with the ongoing descent of energy, it barely impacted the area’s richness.

As time passed, Gu An shifted his attention to the lifespan cost of his Lifespan Barrier, wary of underestimating its drain. He had no intention of meeting an untimely end due to carelessness.

Half an hour later, Gu An completed his transformation into the Five Elemental Treasure Body. The changes in his body were profound—his vitality surged, his strength increased, his ability to generate spiritual energy accelerated, and his sensory perception underwent a complete overhaul.

He could feel the surrounding five elemental energies blending seamlessly with his body, a sensation so wonderful it was almost intoxicating.

Suppressing his joy, Gu An resolved to explore the mysteries of his new form later. For now, it was time to invest more lifespan!

Next, he focused on the Yellow Dragon Qi Technique, a skill crucial for concealing his cultivation and aura—an absolute priority.

“Ten thousand years—invest!”

Lines of notifications bombarded his vision:

[Your Yellow Dragon Qi Technique has advanced to Earth Boundary Divine Qi Technique.]

[Your Earth Boundary Divine Qi Technique has advanced to Innate Wishful Qi Technique.]

Two advancements! Not bad.

A surge of new memories regarding the Innate Wishful Qi Technique flooded his mind. The technique not only amplified his ability to conceal his aura and cultivation but also awakened a divine ability: Size Manipulation. By enveloping objects in spiritual energy, he could enlarge or shrink them at will—even living beings, including himself.

This divine ability gave Gu An a glimpse into the profound wonders of immortality. Lost in enlightenment, he forgot the world around him.

Elsewhere, Li Xuandao, meditating atop his ritual platform, retrieved a compass and began a divination. The compass’s needles spun erratically, and his expression turned grim.

After a while, the needles slowed their frantic motion, trembling faintly as the divination revealed its results.

“Heavenly secrets obscured, unseen for a thousand years…” Li Xuandao murmured before his frown gave way to a gleeful smile. “While the spiritual energy descent makes cultivation and tribulation crossing inadvisable, it’s the perfect opportunity for me. Obscured heavenly secrets mean no interference.”

But doubt clouded his face as he hesitated.

What if the descent wasn’t natural but the work of a powerful cultivator? Attempting to transcend a tribulation under such conditions might invite trouble.

Yet the thought of the imperial court’s precarious situation steeled his resolve.

“Transcend!” he declared. “Better to risk death in the tribulation than to fall prey to court politics.”

Li Xuandao raised his arms, activating the formations around him. Light barriers surged into the air as spiritual energy coalesced into spiraling currents above his head, condensing into storm clouds.

As he opened the bottles of pills on the platform, their medicinal contents poured out, merging into the vortex overhead. The thunderclouds darkened, their rolling energy illuminated by the formations’ glow. His gaze hardened with determination.

Success was his only option.

Back beneath the tree, inheriting the Innate Wishful Qi Technique took Gu An another half hour. Considering the complexity of the technique, the speed impressed him. Despite its intricacies, he felt as though he had practiced it for 100,000 years, a testament to the growing power of his lifespan ability.

He had once feared that as his cultivation advanced, breakthroughs and inheritance might take progressively longer. Thankfully, his worries were unfounded.

Satisfied with the manageable lifespan cost of the Lifespan Barrier, Gu An pressed on.

“Next, the Yang Wood Primordial Art—another 100,000 years!”

Once again, prompts flooded his vision, but Gu An remained composed:

[Your Yang Wood Primordial Art has advanced to Innate Celestial Art of the Earth and Heaven.]

Though it only advanced once, the inclusion of “Innate” in its name filled Gu An with anticipation.

Reflecting on the two innate techniques he had acquired tonight, Gu An’s thoughts drifted to Ji Xuanyu’s innate Dao glyph. Could “innate” represent a realm or stage? If so, Ji Xuanyu was born with an advantage that would take ordinary cultivators tens of thousands of years to achieve—no wonder he was so monstrous.

Just as he immersed himself in the profound inheritance of the new technique, the spiritual energy in the mountain range sank further. Alarm spread among the beings of the Northern Sea Mountain Range.

Powerful figures, including massive demonic shadows as large as mountains, flitted above the forest canopy. Yet none detected Gu An’s presence, concealed as he was—the unseen culprit behind the spiritual energy chaos.

Tonight, the Northern Sea Mountain Range was destined for turmoil.

Over half an hour later, Gu An opened his eyes, his remaining lifespan now at 680,000 years. Letting out a slow breath, he noted that the Lifespan Barrier had consumed over 10,000 years.

This wasn’t ideal.

Shifting his gaze to the cultivation base section of his stats, Gu An prepared to invest more lifespan when a powerful surge of battle energy from the east drew his attention.

“A battle at the Integration Stage?” he muttered, frowning.

The disturbance was only 200 miles away—a perilously short distance for cultivators at such a level.

Gu An immediately suppressed his intention to break through, deciding to wait until the nearby Integration Stage battle moved further away. If the combatants intruded upon his Lifespan Barrier mid-breakthrough, the consequences would be disastrous.

Sigh, if only the Lifespan Barrier could be upgraded in the future,

Gu An mused, though he remained calm.

If they did trespass, he would have no choice but to deal with them decisively. Reaching the Integration Stage was no small feat—he could only hope they would show restraint.

Fortunately, the situation didn’t escalate as Gu An had feared. After some pursuit and skirmishing, the two combatants eventually vanished into the distance.

Time to start!

“Let’s put in 100,000 years to calm the nerves. That should be enough for success!”

[You have invested 100,000 years of lifespan to evolve your cultivation base.]

[You cultivated for 500 years, attempting to break through to the Profound Mind Stage with the grand mastery of Innate Celestial Art of the Earth and Heaven. You initiated the Five Spirit Heavenly Tribulation but failed to endure it.]

[You cultivated for 1,500 years, attempting to break through to the Profound Mind Stage. You initiated the Five Spirit Heavenly Tribulation but failed again.]

...

The pattern of tribulation attempts every thousand years gave Gu An some relief—it meant his margin for error was relatively high.

Surely, I’ll succeed after 100 tries. I did enhance two of my techniques, after all!

However, the failures began piling up:

Failure!

Initially, Gu An could tolerate the setbacks, especially before burning through 50,000 years of lifespan. But by the time his lifespan expenditure reached 67,500 years, he began clenching his teeth.

“Sixty-eight failures?! Who can endure this?!”

[You cultivated for 81,500 years. You initiated the Five Spirit Heavenly Tribulation and failed.]

[You cultivated for 82,500 years. You endured the Five Spirit Heavenly Tribulation successfully. Your cultivation advanced to the first level of the Profound Mind Stage.]

Finally, success!

With the barrier broken, Gu An’s cultivation surged:

[You cultivated for 83,000 years. Your cultivation advanced to the second level of the Profound Mind Stage.]

[You cultivated for 84,000 years. Your cultivation advanced to the third level of the Profound Mind Stage.]

...

[You cultivated for 99,000 years. You attempted to break through to the Grand Ascension Stage, initiating the Five God Heavenly Tribulation, but failed.]

[You cultivated for 100,000 years. You continue preparing for your next tribulation.]

When the last notification appeared, Gu An let out a long breath of relief.

Ninth Level Profound Mind Stage.

The next major stage would be the Grand Ascension Stage.

“Breaking through smaller levels isn’t hard—it’s these tribulations that are ridiculous! Hopefully, I won’t have to face hundreds or even thousands of failures in the future…” Gu An muttered, shaking his head.

Once more, the surrounding spiritual energy surged toward him, though the movement wasn’t as dramatic as before—consistent with the standard cost of a 100,000-year investment.

Opening his stats panel, Gu An noted his remaining lifespan: 580,000 years.

Now faced with a dilemma, he hesitated. Should he aim for another major breakthrough or enhance his divine abilities?

The Infinite Trace Celestial Step and Grand Yin-Yang Transformation were must-haves for their utility in evasion and concealment. Beyond that, he also needed to improve two offensive techniques.

Why does it feel like lifespan is never enough?

Perhaps he could skimp on attack techniques. After all, he wasn’t in the habit of challenging opponents beyond his realm. The spells and ultimate techniques he already possessed were more than formidable in the Nine Dynasties’ cultivation world.

Caught in indecision, Gu An began channeling energy to strengthen his cultivation further.

Spiritual energy poured into his body like an unrelenting tide, causing his cultivation to climb steadily. His robes billowed violently, threatening to tear apart under the growing force.