Chapter 70: Mu Rongyue’s Breakthrough

Recalling the battle, Mu Rongyue smiled happily. “I used your ‘Rainbow Startling Sword’ to fight the two, and I scared them into fleeing. I’m not sure where they ran off to.”

“Huh.” Qin Yu looked at the fair maiden laughing pleasantly in front of him and couldn’t help smiling as well. “Nice! You’ve already managed to understand the basic essence of ‘Rainbow Startling Sword’ in such a short amount of time.”

“En! I’ve almost finished mastering it. Right, Da Ge, what’s the second form of ‘Rainbow Startling Swordplay’? Don’t you think its about time to teach me?” Mu Rongyue asked eagerly.

Qin Yu shook his head. “You must continue practicing and developing your understanding of ‘Rainbow Startling Sword’ until you can bring out all of its power. I’ll teach you the second form once you break through to Transformation Realm. Your current cultivation is a bit too low.”

“I...” Mu Rongyue lowered her eyes, feeling slighted. For her age and discipline, her cultivation was already at a stage where it wouldn’t typically be called low. But, then again, nevermind Qin Yu, but even Qing Yun currently exceeded her level. Qing Yun’s cultivation might have advanced leaps and bounds due to her inheritance from an Immortal Realm cultivator, but the martial world cared only for her strength; no matter their luck or technique, the weak were still weak.

“In fact, I’ve already been in the initial stage of Immersion Realm for a pretty long time now, and I sense that I’m about to make a breakthrough soon. I just lack an opportunity,” Mu Rongyue explained and bowed her head.

“Opportunity?” Qin Yu paused, then suddenly said, “Give me your hand.” Mu Rongyue didn’t know what Qin Yu wanted to do, but she still extended her delicate, fair hand. Qin Yu pushed on an acupuncture point on her hand, sending a trace of internal energy racing through her body to quickly evaluate of Mu Rongyue’s status. She really was about to break through. “Sit up straight and enter a meditative stance. Prepare to move your qi to attack the barrier to the next stage.”

“Da Ge, I tried before, but it’s no use! I’m really just missing an opportunity.” Mu Rongyue’s face was bitter.

“I’ll give you the chance, believe me,” Qin Yu stated firmly with a serious face.

“En, I believe you.” Mu Rongyue barely hesitated to place her faith in Qin Yu, and so she immediately entered a meditative state.

“Close your eyes and move your qi to your dantian region. Listen to my instructions to break the barrier.” Sitting across from Mu Rongyue, Qin Yu issued orders.

“En.” Mu Rongyue obeyed and instantly closed her eyes. She began to gather qi in her dantian. The moment the woman couldn’t see, Qin Yu’s forehead flashed, and a small, bright black pearl flew out; with a glimmer, it disappeared into Mu Rongyue’s forehead. Startled and frightened, she asked, “Da Ge, what is this?!”

“Don’t move! You don’t need to worry about it. Just continue to gather your qi.” Qin Yu sharply raised his voice and continued directing her, “3, 2, 1, break!” The qi Mu Rongyue had gathered in her dantian suddenly flooded through every vein in her body, and she sensed a strong power pouring into her head. Her qi rushed forth and merged with her internal energy, surging through every crucial acupuncture point in her body.

Simultaneously, Qin Yu’s finger became a phantom, striking every single one of Mu Rongyue’s major acupuncture points like flashes of lightning. Every place he struck, Mu Rongyue felt a bizarre trace of pain. The strange ache made her drive her internal energy to strike at those locations, as if to stop the stabs of pain. Her response was precisely what was intended; and, with a small pop, her first acupuncture point broke through. As she continued, the rest of the points followed, one by one.

The powerful internal energies of Qin Yu and Mu Rongyue burst through all the barriers before finally merging together, signifying the successful completion of attaining the next rank. Upon succeeding, the air about Mu Rongyue’s body surged and roiled around her like a gust of wind. With a whoosh, the black, luminous pearl flew out of Mu Rongyue’s forehead and once again slowly sank into Qin Yu’s. From beginning to end, Mu Rongyue never saw the strange object.

Opening her eyes, Mu Rongyue happily shouted, “Da Ge, I’ve broken through!” Her voice roused Qing Yun and Ruo Feng, who were resting nearby. They hadn’t really fallen asleep; but, they didn’t want to bother the two earlier, so Qing Yun and Ruo Feng feigned sleeping. Yet now, they sat up.

“Miss, you’ve really broken through! How wonderful!” Ruo Feng walked over, appearing very happy for the princess. Qing Yun also walked over and looked at Mu Rongyue for a while before turning to Qin Yu. She had never thought that Qin Yu would really be able to help somebody break through; it was completely beyond her imagination.

Seriously, who was this guy? Only somebody from those famous legends could help another break through. An ordinary cultivator simply didn’t have such an ability. Nevermind an Immersion Realm cultivator like Qin Yu, Transformation Realm and even Spirit and Void Realm cultivators weren’t able to do so. Only an Immortal Realm cultivator and above had this power. But, Qin Yu was only at Immersion Realm, and yet what he had done was something far beyond his league; it was just too f*cking crazy! Truthfully, Qing Yun didn’t know the whole story: If Qin Yu didn’t have the Earth Spirit Pearl’s help, then the breakthrugh would’ve been impossible with his current cultivation.

“Miss Qing, sorry for disturbing your rest.” Qin Yu stood up and gave Qing Yun an apologetic smile.

Qing Yun’s cool and elegant face trembled slightly, yet she flatly replied, “No need. Miss Mu‘s breakthrough is a happy occasion. Congratulations.”

“Thank you!” Mu Rongyue also got up and responded with a smile.

“Ok, you guys chat; I’ll be going back to sleep.” Qing Yun felt it’d be awkward if she stayed, and she turned to leave. Qin Yu watched Qing Yun leave and smiled bitterly; the woman was just a bit frosty.

“You guys should also rest. Tomorrow, there might be a difficult battle,” Qin Yu told Mu Rongyue and Ruo Feng.

“Alright,” the two agreed, and each went to their own corner to rest. Mu Rongyue couldn’t fall asleep immediately after her breakthrough, and her happiness kept her awake until midnight.

Another beautiful maiden also didn’t fall asleep until midnight. Naturally, it wasn’t because Qing Yun was too excited, but rather because she was confused about Qin Yu. After interacting with him the past few days and with what happened just now, she felt more and more like she couldn’t see through Qin Yu. The man seemed to possess too many secrets.

......

The next day, the group all rose in the early morning and began to hunt once more, looking for hunters to kill. However, something was off: In the area, they no longer found any hunters, like they had all disappeared. The whole place was extraordinarily peaceful... strangely peaceful... uncomfortably peaceful. “Qin Yu, I feel like something’s wrong,” Qing Yun addressed Qin Yu with a frown. On a high mountain, Qin Yu and the others stood on a cliff, observing the extremely quiet mountain range.

“Could it be we’ve killed so many hunters recently that they’re afraid and don’t dare to come searching?” Ruo Feng hazarded.

“Impossible,” Mu Rongyue directly denied his words. “The real experts still have yet to act. There’s no way they fear us.”

“‘Real experts’? How powerful are their strongest people?” Qing Yun asked Mu Rongyue curiously.

“I heard that the leader of the hunters is called ‘Can Bao,’ a very frightening person. He’s known as an unmatched monster of cultivation in all of Qiongxi. 20 years old this year, and he’s already a Transformation Realm master.” When Mu Rongyue finished, everyone but Qin Yu trembled.

“What did you say, a 20-year-old Transformation Realm master?” Qing Yun’s beautiful face was filled with disbelief. “A 20-year-old Transformation Realm master is impossible!”

“It’s true. Not only is he at Transformation Realm, his stage is also unknown. He could be at the initial, middle, or even late stage of his realm.” Describing the man, Mu Rongyue’s face turned serious. If this guy actually appeared, then things would become very dangerous. The four of them, together, wouldn’t pose any more of a threat than the food stuck between his teeth.

Transformation Realm was the dividing line, a threshold, among cultivators. Only after stepping into this realm would one be considered a real, genuine cultivator. If one didn’t, they’d forever be just an average cultivator. In the cultivating world, practitioners numbered in the tens of thousands. But, those who had stepped over the line of the Transformation Realm and become true cultivators directly cut the number in half. In other words, among the thousands of cultivators, half of them would never be able to cross the threshold. Thus, the feat was clearly difficult. In Qiongxi, a 30-year-old Transformation Realm master would already be seen as an amazing talent; ordinary people would need at least 40 years to cross the watershed.

Qin Yu felt somewhat emotional. In his past experiences all around the continent, 20-year-old Transformation Realm masters weren’t regarded as anything too special. But, in this tiny, little country, such a rare talent was truly a monster.

“How are you so certain? Is there any proof?” Qing Yun still couldn’t believe Mu Rongyue’s words.

“Miss Qing, we all believe Xiao Yue’s words. There’s no need for proof,” Qin Yu retorted. “I suggest, first, we leave this area; then, we can talk about this again later. Something feels wrong here.”

“Okay.” Their leader was Qin Yu; and, as he had spoken, the rest of them could only obey. The four were currently on a remote cliff in the northwest region of the array, farthest from the center of the Illusory Battlefield. Originally, Qing Yun had brought them here to take refuge, but now they intended to go to the center of the Battlefield, the most dangerous area and nest of the hunters. However, sometimes, the most dangerous areas are really the safest.

The four walked for a day; and, the entire way, they encountered not a single trace of a hunter. The fiends seemed to have truly just disappeared into thin air. Even odder, not only did the group not find any hunters, but they also didn’t meet any other people. When the sky eventually began to darken, they finally ran into a quartet walking on the same road. “I’ll go and ask them about the current situation,” said Ruo Feng, and Qin Yu and the others didn’t stop him.

Like the wind, Ruo Feng’s figure disappeared in a ripple, flying over to the other group of four. His name was Ruo Feng [1. The literal translation for his name is “Like Wind”], and his speed really was like the wind. Although he didn’t comprehend the spiritual nature of wind yet, he specialized in speed; thus, compared to ordinary cultivators, his pace could be considered astonishing.

The quartet very quickly noticed Ruo Feng dashing toward them, and they immediately came to a halt. Each grasped their own weapons, and they stared at him vigilantly.