Chapter 190 The Difficult Breakthrough after Body Refining
“Master Jian has an extraordinary deity’s appearance and a spirit that reaches the sky.”

“Even the painter has returned to the original simplicity. Her delicate hands just casually sketched a few lines, and I could see the true meaning of the mystery.”

“That sharp sword is so graceful and straight, it must have stabbed Shang Xiyao, Dou Yuankong, Chu He, and the owner of the Fengzhou Immortal Manor who came from outside.”

“It’s nice, I love it, and I keep watching it.”

“Best regards.”

Even if you don’t understand, it’s always right to coax them…

In the following days, the temperature began to get colder.

Ji You would sit in the Zen room from early morning to noon every day, performing the sixteenth micro-imaging, using the spiritual energy outside of the spiritual essence as fuel to ignite the spiritual fire and continue to temper his body.

This time, the bottleneck of his physical body was extremely difficult to break through, and it seemed to have reached the next critical value. The pain caused by calcination became extremely severe every time.

For several days, the spiritual fire burning in his body could only flow through his meridians but could not penetrate his body.

This is the limitation of spiritual practice. The stronger the physical body is, the more difficult it will be to calcine it next time.

He used the time from noon to afternoon to look for opportunities to break through, and his life was extremely regular.

A few days later, at noon when the sun was shining brightly, Ji You, who had tempered his body with spiritual fire several times, fell into a state of weakness. His strength was exhausted, his mind was depleted, and he urgently needed rest.

So he made some tea in the yard, and after calming his mind, he began to ponder the masterpiece of the master.

Why did she stab me with the sword? Did she know that Yuan Caiwei saw the good stuff first?
There has been no reply yet, which is really puzzling.

As the sun began to set, Ji You wrote a few farewell letters, one to Cao Jinsong, one to Kuang Cheng, and one to Senior Brother Ban. He handed them to the disciples in charge of the inner courtyard, and then walked towards Zizhu Zen Temple.

He did not intend to suppress his realm for the sake of the Heavenly Dao, and decided to enter the Rong Dao as soon as possible to gain higher combat power.

The first threshold to enter the Rong Dao realm is to move from the Tong Xuan middle realm to the Tong Xuan upper realm.

Through the search in the past few days, he probably felt the opportunity to break through, so he planned to start the breakthrough from today.

Ji You walked to the boundless pure white Purple Bamboo Zen Forest, then sat cross-legged under the bamboo forest, his mind in a trance, constantly absorbing and exhaling the vast spiritual energy surrounding the Zen forest and transforming it into his body.

As the spiritual energy was replenished several times, gradually, the gurgling stream in Ji You’s body turned into a rushing river, and began to surge and surge.

Afterwards, mysterious light began to appear all around him, spreading from his forehead to the ground, and a buzzing sound was faint but continuous.

Nothingness, darkness.

This was the only feeling Ji You had when he crossed the realm. It was as if he was wrapped up and his whole body was tight, but this was not something unusual. It was the feeling he had every time he crossed a small realm.

But he soon discovered that this feeling of restraint was different from before.

In the past, the feeling of restraint when breaking through the realm was just a layer of urgency, but this time the restraint seemed to be alive, and the more I struggled, the stronger it became.

This strong restraint most likely comes from one’s own physical strength.

The practice of the upper five realms is actually a process of separating the mind from the body, and the strength of the body does have some restrictions on the mind.

Just like when caterpillars want to ascend to a higher dimension of life, they must make a cocoon. Sometimes they can indeed break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly, but sometimes they will be trapped in the cocoon.

The last time Ji You broke through was in Qiling. At that time, he did not have the idea of using the spiritual energy overflowing from the broken spiritual essence to strengthen his body.

So that time, the speed with which he broke through was like diabetic diarrhea. Not only could he not hold it in, he couldn’t even hold it in.

But at this moment, he had already experienced the breakthrough many times, and the limitations of body training on spiritual power were fully exposed.

It doesn’t matter, if there is too much water, add noodles, and if there is too much noodles, add water.

He took a deep breath and continued to absorb spiritual energy into his body, trying his best to break free from the restraints, and the fighting spirit in his body began to boil.

As Ji You exerted great strength, beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. At the same time, the mysterious light around his body began to splash continuously. The buzzing sound that followed gradually expanded and turned into bursts of whistling, causing the bamboo leaves above his head to rustle continuously.

He once asked the dean how the martial arts masters on TV practiced their martial arts skills.

The dean actually didn’t know either, so he tricked him into thinking that he should tie heavy iron blocks to his legs and run every day. When he reached his previous level, he could add more iron blocks and continue running.

One day, when you feel you have mastered it, you will take apart all the iron blocks and learn the art of lightness.

It made sense to him then, and it still makes sense to him now.

The strength of the physical body’s restrictions is so great that it is actually like tying a huge weight on the body. So he wants to try and see what kind of Tongxuan realm he can break through…

He Lingxiu had just finished his meditation and walked into the Zizhu Zen Forest.

Xiao Hanyan and Shi Junhao were also among them, drinking tea and taking a rest.

The two of them are now trying to reach Yingtian Realm. After entering Yingtian Realm, they will be chosen to be the personal disciples of the Palace Master. This is the benefit they got when they joined the diplomatic mission to the demon clan.

He Lingxiu was sitting opposite them at this time and asked, “How’s the progress?”

Shi Junhao frowned slightly: “It has been several days since I came back from the Snow Region, but I still can’t find an opportunity to break through. It seems that I still need to make long-term plans.”

He Lingxiu heard the voice and said, “I heard from the elders in the courtyard that the most important thing in Yingtian is to follow the natural flow and obey the will of heaven. You don’t need to be too anxious.”

The practice of the five higher realms is a threshold-based one, and it becomes increasingly difficult as you move higher.

Because the Way of Heaven is so profound, if one does not have enough understanding at this point, it really cannot be made up for by so-called hard work.

However, Shi Junhao and Xiao Hanyan both have good talents and are the best in the school.

In addition, although the Xiao family and the Shi family are not thousand-year-old families, they are also prosperous families, and they also provide them with the conditions to sit in the mountains, temper themselves for several years, and practice Taoism with peace of mind.

However, Shi Junhao didn’t seem to think so: “Just wait for the Tiandao meeting.”

He Lingxiu raised her eyes and asked, “Do you want to go to the place where the sages attained enlightenment to break through?”

“Yes, maybe we can break through faster there.”

“The top ten in the same realm battle can enter the sages’ enlightenment land. This is not difficult for you.”

Shi Junhao heard the voice and said: “Since I have decided to participate, I must seek the best ranking. To be honest, I want to enter the center of the holy land.”

He Lingxiu opened her mouth and said, “Then I can only take first place. What do you think, Senior Sister Xiao?”

Xiao Hanyan looked at Shi Junhao and chuckled: “Then maybe we are competitors.”

Shi Junhao was stunned: “So you have the same idea as me.”

“Even if I didn’t have the promise of personal instruction, I would still go to the holy land of the sages. As a monk of my generation, who can resist such temptation?”

At this moment, a whistling sound suddenly came from the depths of Zizhu Zen Forest, which immediately attracted the attention of the three people.

He Lingxiu turned around and saw Ji You in the gaps between the bamboo forests.

The mysterious light around him became more and more magnificent, and the whistling sound produced by the aura surrounding his body had already reached the tea pavilion.

Judging from her aura, He Lingxiu could tell that he was breaking through from the middle realm of Tongxuan to the upper realm, but Shi Junhao’s next muttering made her stunned.

“Do you think he wants to enter the path of integration?”

“?”

He Lingxiu turned to look at him, then chuckled: “It’s a big hurdle to go from Tongxuan to Rongdao. Ji You has only been Tongxuan for a year, it won’t be that fast. And even if he has entered Rongdao, he is only at the initial stage of Rongdao. Brother Shi, are you afraid that he will take your place?”

After she finished speaking, she looked at Xiao Hanyan, thinking that her senior sister might also laugh, but she didn’t expect that Xiao Hanyan’s expression also became a little solemn.

This scene made him stunned, and he slightly opened his pink lips in confusion.

No, are you really worried?
He Lingxiu had never been to the Snow Region, nor had she faced the King of Soldiers, nor had she seen the [Forty-Nine Mountains]. She had only read the case files.

In her opinion, Ji You just blocked a punch comparable to that of the Yingtian Realm Soldier King. Although it was shocking enough, there was a huge difference between blocking and defeating.

After all, after he blocked that punch, the barbarian soldier king was unharmed, but he was penetrated by the energy, which means that he still has a long way to go.

Xiao Hanyan and Shi Junhao are already on the threshold of Yingtian Realm, so they shouldn’t be so worried.

In fact, Xiao Hanyan and Shi Junhao also thought so, but whenever they recalled the [Forty-nine Mountains] above the wilderness, they always felt shocked.

What you learn from books will always be superficial, and only those who have experienced it in person can understand how powerful the sword art is.

Shi Junhao picked up the teacup at this time: “According to the combat power conversion, it should not be a big deal, but… there is always a lingering feeling of worry.”

Xiao Hanyan nodded: “Perhaps it is because of his recklessness that we always overestimate his fighting ability.”

“Junior brother, do you really want to enter the Rong Dao as soon as possible?”

“Yes, he does think so.”

When the temperature dropped sharply and frost hung on the branches, Ban Yangshu and Wen Zhengxin were sitting in Cao Jinsong’s yard and having a conversation.

The teapot roasted by charcoal fire exudes a fragrance of tea, which brings a touch of warmth in this cold winter day and adds a bit of leisure to this cold day.

Cao Jinsong has recently been busy with the matter of helping Xiang Fu, Liu Jianan and Cong Yi condense their spiritual energy and enter the lower three realms of perfection.

After all, they are all beloved disciples who love to give gifts. Although those gifts were eventually snatched away by evil disciples, they were still given after all, and it is reasonable for the instructor to spend more time and effort on them.

However, the cultivation path of these three people did not progress smoothly, which made Cao Jinsong deeply feel the gap between people.

Thinking back to when Ji You advanced to two realms in one night, that speed… even five cows couldn’t stop him. Xiang Fu and the other two had been stuck in condensing their spiritual energy for more than several months. Ji You had used some of the spiritual medicine that he couldn’t afford at the time, but to no avail.

Wen Zhengxin picked up the teacup at this time, thought for a while and then said: “Junior brother, as a Tongxuan realm, it may be safer to participate in the Tiandao meeting?”

“That’s what I told him, but Ji You said that this is the right of a child from an aristocratic family, and it’s not something a country boy like him can have.”

“What rights?”

Cao Jinsong raised his eyes: “The right to sit in the mountains and practice Taoism in peace.”

Ban Yangshu listened and looked at Wen Zhengxin: “Junior brother, what you mean is that the children of the noble families in the courtyard can practice Taoism peacefully because they have a family background to rely on, but junior brother does not have it, so he has a lot to worry about, such as the immortal manor in Fengzhou, the cultivation of next year, and the distribution of taxes.” Cao Jinsong nodded: “Ji You is preparing to change the crops in Fengzhou and at the same time attract more immortal cultivators to join in the reclamation of a large amount of wasteland. Those immortal manors will definitely take this opportunity to ask for a redistribution of taxes next year. For him, strength is the bargaining chip on the table.”

Wen Zhengxin frowned slightly: “The path chosen by Junior Brother is too difficult to follow.”

“Fengzhou has been divided by foreign immortal villages for thousands of years. Someone has to take this road.”

In the following days, Cao Jinsong received a letter from Shengjing City, signed by Kuang Cheng, asking about Ji You’s breakthrough.

He still owed Ji You a meal, and the money was ready. He was now working from nine to five in the Sixian Prison while waiting.

His relationship with Wei Rui was going pretty well, and they often had trysts in private. Recently, he was thinking about holding hands.

However, Ji You’s main focus is now on breaking through the realm and he is unable to meet him, so Kuang Shusheng cannot seek advice.

He also thought about writing a letter and sending it to Tianshuyuan, but he felt that putting things like “I want to hold her hand” on paper would seem more reckless than saying it out loud, so he hoped that he would break through soon.

In addition, Kuang Cheng often went to orphanages to look after orphans.

Tiger Boy has reached the age of growing up. Every time he sees him, he is a little taller than the last time, but he is still the same as before, always talking about his sister.

Kuang Cheng felt that he seemed to know that his sister had been killed, because he just kept repeating his sister’s nickname on weekdays, but he never asked Kuang Cheng to help him find her again.

However, Kuang Shusheng never gave up. He always wanted to find the body, the grave, or even the whereabouts.

But after the Zheng family ancestor failed to ascend to heaven, everything seemed to have disappeared into thin air, and nothing could be found. It was as if it was just an episode with no follow-up and just a grandiose incident. Even fewer people mentioned this matter.

After delivering the letter, Kuang Cheng was sitting on a bamboo chair in the orphanage, holding a candied haws and thinking for a long time, when he saw Wei Rui coming towards him.

“Miss Rui’er? Why are you here?”

“I’ve come to bring some preserves to the children.”

Wei Rui picked up the snack box in her hand, pinched out a piece, and after thinking for a while, handed it to his mouth: “It’s just been released by Furong Pavilion. I’ll give you one…”

Kuang Cheng held his breath and finally opened his mouth gently.

Wei Rui’s pretty face turned slightly pink, and she hurriedly found a topic to talk about: “By the way, how come I haven’t seen Master Ji for so long?”

Kuang Cheng covered his hot cheeks and said, “Ji You, ask him, who… is he?”

“?”

“Oh, I remember now. Are you talking about my life-and-death friend? He is in seclusion and I haven’t seen him for half a month…”

Wei Rui blinked: “Does it take so long to break through?”

Kuang Cheng shook his head: “I don’t know either.”

Does it take so long to break through? This question is actually related to talent.

Ji You has always had excellent talent, which is a recognized fact by both the inner and outer courts, and it should not have taken so much time.

So Xiao Hanyan and Shi Junhao often observed him these days, and their originally worried hearts gradually calmed down.

Because Ji You had a very difficult time breaking through…

Gradually, some people began to understand.

He was limited by his physical body.

Humans need to comprehend the Way of Heaven in order to cultivate immortality, and divine thoughts are the carrier of the connection between Heaven and man. An overly powerful physical body will limit divine thoughts and hinder the connection between Heaven and man. This is the consensus in the world of Qingyun, so there are very few people who practice physical cultivation in the world of immortal cultivation today.

There are some messy body-refining methods that only private practitioners or cultivators who have been stuck in a bottleneck for many years will come into contact with.

In fact, many people knew about Ji You’s body training.

“Although I don’t know what kind of body-refining method Ji You used, in any case, body-refining is a side path that wastes talent.”

“Yes, although the body refining can make the combat power of people in the same realm stronger, the disadvantages are also obvious, which completely offsets the closeness to the way of heaven.”

“There are some students who have no talent. They have wasted many years. I would suggest them to try some unconventional methods, but Ji You… really shouldn’t do that.”

“He is just a rural cultivator. What can he do? If he hadn’t practiced body cultivation, could he have defeated Chu He? Could he have lifted up the forty-nine layers of Spirit Sword Mountain?”

The matter of Ji You’s breakthrough took a very long time, and it caused countless discussions in the winter when everything was withering. Even the elders were discussing it with each other, which led to a dual discussion on body refining and enlightenment.

This is an extremely classic case that only happens once in a century.

Because after something becomes a negative consensus, there will be very few people who don’t believe it. People like Ji You who are talented but stubborn in physical training are extremely rare.

So should we practice physical training?
Well, everyone can see the restrictions he is facing now.

If it is said that he shouldn’t, some people think that he may not be able to withstand Chu He’s [Hun Tian Shu Fa] in the Autumn Fight, nor can he hold up the [Forty-nine Mountains] in the wilderness.

“In fact, I was quite worried that Ji You would break through easily, but now I feel a little relieved.”

“Oh?”

“Brother Pan, don’t you think that this rising star has made it difficult for us to do our job in the inner courtyard?”

On the mountain road of Buchen Palace, two figures came down the mountain at this time.

One of them is named Pan Bin, and the other is named Liu Qichen. They were the two who entered the hospital before Ji You. They were unable to sense the Heavenly Book and have been stuck at the threshold of the Rong Dao Realm for many years.

Compared with Ji You, they are not well-known. Although they entered the inner courtyard without encountering any strong enemies, they did not have the assistance of the heavenly book and their cultivation speed has always been slow.

In fact, they were most embarrassed when they talked about Ji You breaking the mirror in the courtyard. Later, when they heard that he had difficulty breaking through because his body was too strong, they couldn’t help but feel a little relieved.

In the twelfth lunar month, snow began to fall across the entire Kyushu region. In Shengjing, the sky and earth were covered in white, and pieces of snow flakes like crushed jade were floating all over the sky.

The top of Mount Ni turned white overnight, and the falling snow covered the entire capital city.

Tianshuyuan is the closest to the way of heaven among the seven immortal sects. It is accustomed to following the four seasons and does not usually use immortal magic to drive away the falling snow, so that the eaves of the five immortal palaces in the inner courtyard are covered with crystal clear icicles, like hanging colored glaze.

In the morning, some inner court disciples came to Zizhu Zen Temple.

After all, the morning sets the tone for the day, and the human mind is clearest within the first few minutes of the morning.

Several areas for enlightenment had been cleaned up by people sent by the Office of Administration, and the cushions were placed neatly.

“Sister Xiao, would you like a cup of morning tea?”

“No, I don’t have the habit of drinking tea in the morning. I’d better go and gain enlightenment first.”

Xiao Hanyan waved to He Lingxiu, Shi Junhao, Chai Ze, Leng Yingying and others in the tea pavilion, then went back to his own seat and entered into meditation in silence.

Finding opportunities is different from ordinary enlightenment. It does not require long-term persistence, nor does it require the use of elixirs and spirit stones to replenish oneself.

Sometimes opportunities often appear in a flash of inspiration at a certain moment.

Cultivators at this stage usually do not allow themselves to enter a state of meditation too deeply, lest their minds become too quiet and they ignore the inspiration that may come at some point.

At this time, Xiao Hanyan closed his eyes and kept searching in the sky.

It was unknown how long it had been, but the candidate for direct disciple suddenly heard the sound of water in her ears, causing her brows to frown slightly.

In recent days, the world seemed to be frozen by severe cold. The temperature dropped to the extreme, and the living water turned into solid ice. She had not heard such a lively sound of water for a long time.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see that the snow on the ground that had not been cleared was quietly melting.

Then the snow water gathered in the ditches between the bamboo forests, forming trickles that meandered forward.

“The temperature has risen…”

Xiao Hanyan pondered in his heart and subconsciously turned his head to the left, only to see that the other inner court disciples were also looking in surprise in the same direction.

There, the snow had melted into a neat circle, and the snow water was flowing out continuously along the terrain.

Then, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened, and a burning aura continued to overflow from the owner of those eyes.

Xiao Hanyan was slightly startled, and felt a wave of heat coming towards her…

He Lingxiu, Shi Junhao and others had just finished their morning tea and were planning to go and seek enlightenment.

There was constant joking during the conversation, and some people seemed to be making bets about who between Xiao Hanyan and Shi Junhao could break through to Yingtian realm first.

However, just as they walked out of the tea pavilion, their steps suddenly stopped and the smiles on their faces began to fade.

Because at this moment, they happened to meet Ji You who walked out of the bamboo forest.

His lips were as pale as paper, without a trace of blood. He nodded gently to the people in the tea pavilion, and then walked out of the bamboo forest with heavy steps. His eyes and brows were full of fatigue, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

However, this metaphor is not inappropriate, because the difficulty he experienced in breaking through the realm was no less than surviving a serious illness.

At this moment, in front of the tea pavilion, everyone opened their mouths, their expressions revealing a hint of solemnity.

“Tongxuan is on camera…”

“His spirit is so strong…”

He Lingxiu and others looked at his departing back and could clearly feel his fatigue.

But what was more obvious than the fatigue was the spirit that could be felt from him, like the roar of a tiger or a dragon, which was like the gushing morning light, howling in the chill of winter.

Breath is related to realm, while spirit is usually related to combat power.

Although this judgment is not very accurate, it is actually of certain reference value.

He Lingxiu was still in the middle stage of Rong Dao at this time, but facing such a spirit, he felt that he might not be able to defeat him easily.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)