Bab 15: Jin entered the innate stage
"Uncle Luo, someone is tailing us." The leader of the three mercenaries, his face darkening, spat out, "It must be a scout from 'Dark Nether' who left earlier!"
The mercenary, exuding a heroic aura, appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six, standing tall at 1.85 meters, his physique robust, a warrior at the Third Heaven of the Innate Realm. His sharp eyes gleamed with vigilance, clearly marking him as a seasoned fighter.
"He's not from 'Dark Nether,' just a brazen, lustful fool. We can ignore him." Luo Hao shook his head, frowning. "Let's speed up and shake him off."
Zhao Xin's face grew cold. "Does he harbor ill intentions towards Miss Mu? Shall I stay back and take care of him?" As he spoke, he cast a concerned glance at Mu Yudie, who was being supported by Luo Hao.
"Don't complicate matters." Luo Hao shook his head again and softly asked, "Little Die, can you hold on? Shall we pick up the pace?"
Mu Yudie's delicate face was pale, a faint sheen of fragrant sweat glistening on her snow-white forehead. Yet she smiled gently, "Yes, let's go faster. The sooner we lose him, the better. Otherwise, he might get killed by 'Dark Nether's' envoy."
Luo Hao sighed inwardly, reluctant yet yielding, he nodded. "Little Die, don't waste even a trace of your essence. Leave everything to me."
With that, Luo Hao gripped Mu Yudie's fragrant shoulders as if holding a feather. He moved swiftly through the forest, his burly body light and nimble. When he landed, his feet barely made a sound, showcasing his exquisite control over his essence.
...
Shi Yan gritted his teeth, his breathing heavy.
The bloodthirsty impulse continued to torment him, and his body, severely injured by Karu, ached as if it were about to tear apart. The immense consumption of his essence from using 'Berserk' made it difficult to recover quickly.
In such a state, if he encountered Mo Yanyu, death would be certain. He needed to stabilize his body's abnormality swiftly.
The girl's music was his only hope!
Regardless of whether she disliked him, Shi Yan knew he had no choice. Even if it meant clinging shamelessly, he had to follow her, hoping she would play again.
Suppressing the increasingly intense urge to kill, Shi Yan directed his dwindling essence to his legs, his face grim, and hurriedly pursued the group of five at his fastest speed.
When he focused all his attention, with only the thought of catching up in his mind, he suddenly felt his steps become much lighter.
...
"Uncle Luo, is that man really only at the Acquired Realm?" Zhao Xin asked in astonishment as they sped through the forest.
Luo Hao was puzzled too. A warrior at the Acquired Realm shouldn't be able to keep up with their speed. Yet, although the distance between Shi Yan and them was gradually increasing, he tenaciously refused to be shaken off. This made Luo Hao wonder if he had misjudged earlier.
"Uncle Luo, I can hold on. You can go even faster," Mu Yudie said, enduring the pain, sweat dripping like pearls.
"No! We can't go any faster!" Luo Hao resolutely refused, frowning. "We don't need to bother with him. If he insists on seeking death, it's not our fault."
"Howl!"
At that moment, a bloodthirsty roar like that of a wild beast echoed from behind them, clearly from Shi Yan. But the roar was unlike any human sound, filled with a murderous fury that sent chills down their spines.
"Is this guy even human?" The female mercenary Diyanlan shuddered, astonished. "How can a human make such a terrifying sound? Even a frenzied demon beast wouldn't be like this!"
"His madness is acting up," Luo Hao's face changed as he urgently said, "Stay away from him, or he'll attack us in a frenzy. Killing him isn't hard, but if we waste time and 'Dark Nether's' envoy catches up, we'll be in trouble."
"I'll help him, or else he'll become a mindless killing machine, slaughtering people all over the Dark Forest," Mu Yudie hesitated briefly, then suddenly took out the guqin from her back. Without waiting for Luo Hao's dissuasion, she sat cross-legged and began to play.
Luo Hao stomped his foot in frustration, "Damn brat!"
The melodious, clear sound of the guqin flowed through the forest, the music highly focused, directed towards where Shi Yan was.
With bloodshot eyes, barely able to suppress his bloodthirsty desire, Shi Yan froze at the sound of the guqin, a trace of confusion flashing in his crazed eyes. He suddenly stood still.
A faint mist, mixed with emotions of exposure, despair, and fear, swirled out from his body, enveloping him in a haze. The vortices in his 720 acupoints spun wildly, repeatedly refining and purifying the strange energy within him.
Shi Yan's blood-red eyes gradually returned to normal, a hint of clarity appearing in his gaze. He realized that the beautiful girl had ultimately extended a helping hand.
Feeling grateful, Shi Yan immediately sat down, immersing his mind in the enchanting guqin music, concentrating on circulating his essence, slowly relaxing his entire being.
In the perilous Dark Forest, he entered a state of empty-mindedness, free from self.
Time seemed to pass without him noticing. The mist surrounding Shi Yan was gradually reabsorbed into his body, directed by him back into his acupoints.
Suddenly, strange warm currents began to flow out of his 720 acupoints, infusing his essence with strength as they flowed through his meridians.
Shi Yan's body trembled as he felt his essence grow thicker and more refined at an astonishing rate!
In just ten breaths, his essence had thickened five or six times!
The sudden surge of essence continuously condensed in his lower abdomen, filling him with immense power. Shi Yan felt a surge of joy as he realized that the energy he had absorbed from Karu had finally been purified.
Holding his breath, Shi Yan focused entirely, emptying his mind of all distractions as he directed his essence through the Twelve Principal Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
The dramatically increased essence surged through his body like a flood, breaking through the blockages in his meridians, clearing the way as it went.
The essence, now several times thicker, flowed like a river, slowly circulating through his body along the path of the Grand Celestial Cycle. One by one, the previously blocked meridians were cleared by the powerful surge.
The sun set, and a bright moon rose in the starry night sky.
Suddenly, Shi Yan's body shuddered as the last blocked meridian was cleared by his essence. Suppressing his overwhelming joy, Shi Yan continued to circulate his essence, completing a full Grand Celestial Cycle.
When the cycle was completed, he let out a deep breath, awakening from his meditation. Looking up at the star-filled sky, he felt an indescribable sense of relief and comfort.
Having cleared all his meridians meant he had officially stepped into the Innate Realm!
With the energy he absorbed from Karu, after narrowly escaping the madness twice, he finally succeeded, purifying Karu's energy and using the now denser, purer essence to break through all his meridians, stepping into a new realm.
The bloodthirsty madness that had plagued his mind disappeared without a trace after Karu's energy was fully purified.
Reflecting on previous incidents, Shi Yan realized that whenever his acupoints absorbed the energy of the deceased, before the energy was fully purified, it would release some negative emotions, which would trigger the darkest side of his nature, pushing him towards madness.
The previous warriors at the Acquired Realm weren't strong enough to cause much of a disturbance, so he could barely keep his impulses in check.
But Karu, being an entire realm higher than him, had an energy so laden with negative emotions that it almost overwhelmed him, nearly driving him to lose his sanity.
Now that Karu's energy was fully purified, Shi Yan had entered a new realm and no longer needed to worry about being consumed by it.
"Crack, crack!"
Shi Yan flexed his limbs, slowly standing up. The pain in his body was gone, and even the broken bones in his chest seemed to have healed.
Feeling his body carefully, Shi Yan smiled in satisfaction.
He understood that his rapid recovery was not only due to his breakthrough in cultivation but also related to his 'Immortal Martial Spirit.'
Before he went mad, he had clearly felt the cells in his injured chest becoming extraordinarily active, beginning to repair the damage.
Surveying his surroundings, Shi Yan noticed that he was in an exposed area. Realizing that he had been so engrossed in his cultivation in such an open space, he felt a twinge of fear.
If Mo Yanyu had still been hunting him, cultivating in a place like this would have made him easy prey for her.
The melodious sound of the guqin had long faded. He recalled that it had still been daylight when he began cultivating, but now the moon hung high, indicating that he had been cultivating for a considerable amount of time. He felt grateful to the beautiful girl who had saved him twice, the first time by accident, the second time deliberately.
From their conversation, Shi Yan knew that someone was still pursuing them. Out of gratitude, he decided to continue following their path.
He disliked owing anyone a debt. He intended to repay the woman for saving his life twice, in his own way.
...
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone