32: Chapter 32: Encountering a Bottleneck

In the underground hollow.

Xiao Yuan sneezed.

"Who is talking about me?" He rubbed his nose and continued to circulate the Gengjin Sword Soul Art.

Faint golden light emanated from his body, and a sharp aura permeated the Immortal Cave.

He had already cultivated the metal-attribute Cultivation Technique to the Qi Condensation 4th Layer... wait, to the Qi Condensation 3rd Layer, and was currently breaking through to the Qi Condensation 4th Layer...

Only...

Four months passed in a flash. In the underground hollow, Xiao Yuan opened his eyes, his face full of depression.

"The Qi Condensation 4th Layer... It's the Qi Condensation 4th Layer again!"

He lowered his head and looked at his hands—the palm of his left hand rippled with faint golden sharpness, while the palm of his right hand had water-blue halos flowing.

Gengjin Sword Soul Art, Qi Condensation 4th Layer.

Guishui Ice Emperor Art, still the Qi Condensation 4th Layer.

Coupled with the Binghuo Yang God Method and Wu Tu Sacred Body Art that were stuck before, all four Cultivation Techniques were stuck neatly at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer, as if they had agreed to go on strike together.

Only the Yimu Azure Emperor Skill hung lonely at the 7th Layer, appearing exceptionally abrupt.

"Cultivating the Five Elements together... Is it this punishing?" Xiao Yuan scratched his hair.

In these four months, the marrow cleansing pills he consumed were countless, and the Low-Grade Spirit Stones consumed were at least nearly a thousand. And the result?

The wood-attribute Cultivation Technique rushed from the 7th Layer to the Peak of the 7th Layer—considered a tiny bit of progress.

The other four elements were stubbornly stuck at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer, unable to take even half a step in.

It wasn't that his Spiritual Qi was insufficient, that the Medicinal Pills were not good, or that the Cultivation Technique was bad.

The problem lay in his Spiritual Root—his damn Five-Element Miscellaneous Spiritual Root was like five deadweight teammates holding each other back.

The wood Spiritual Root was slightly stronger because it took advantage of early cultivation, while the other four just gave up.

He desperately absorbed Spiritual Qi, but as a result, more than ninety percent leaked out from his Meridians and couldn't enter the Dantian at all.

"This fucking leaks worse than a funnel!" Xiao Yuan was so angry he wanted to smash the wall.

He stared at the five Cultivation Technique markers in his Sea of Consciousness:

Yimu Azure Emperor Skill — (7 / 18)

Gengjin Sword Soul Art — (4 / 18)

Guishui Ice Emperor Art — (4 / 18)

Binghuo Yang God Method — (4 / 18)

Wu Tu Sacred Body Art — (4 / 18)

The "18" behind seemed to mock him: The road is still long, youngster.

"creation cauldron..." Xiao Yuan looked at the small tripod floating inside his body.

The energy inside the creation cauldron was overflowing, and five-colored radiance flowed. If he used it to assist his Cultivation, he should be able to forcefully break through the Bottleneck.

But calculating the cost—pushing the four Cultivation Techniques from the Qi Condensation 4th Layer to the 7th Layer would probably drain the creation cauldron of all its energy.

And this was only a temporary measure. What about the next Bottleneck? He had accumulated so much energy in the creation cauldron with great difficulty; his old back almost broke.

But if he used it all up now, what would he do if he encountered an emergency in the future?!

"Forget it, let's mine first, accumulate some Cultivation resources, and then see if we can find the cause." Xiao Yuan stood up and patted his butt.

Having not moved for four months, his bones were stiff. It was just the right time to see if there were any "surprises" deep within this Ore vein.

He removed the concealment Formation, swept away everything in the Immortal Cave—the cushion, Formation Plate, and unfinished Medicinal Pills were all stuffed into the Creation Cauldron Space.

He walked out of the hollow and groped along the Ore tunnel deeper inside.

Circulating the Great Turtle Breathing Technique, his perceptual power expanded to a hundred meters.

This time, he wasn't looking for Spirit Stone spots, but sensing the "flow direction" of Spiritual Qi—the denser the Spiritual Qi, the more likely there was a rich Ore deposit.

After walking for about half an hour, he sensed a faint Spiritual Qi fluctuation. With a slight ripple in his heart, he began to dig forward.

Having dug hundreds of meters, the Spiritual Qi fluctuation ahead grew stronger and stronger.

With the excavation of the last shovel, a large-scale collapse occurred ahead.

A naturally formed giant Rock Cavern appeared before his eyes. Stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, and glowing Ore was scattered on the ground, making the entire space look dreamy and illusionary.

And in the center of the Rock Cavern—

Xiao Yuan's eyes went straight.

A Spirit Stone Ore vein spanning a full ten zhang in radius was densely embedded in the rock wall, like stars all over the sky falling into the stones. With a rough glance, there were at least thirty to forty thousand raw Ores!

"I've struck it rich..." Xiao Yuan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, pulled out a miner's pick, and rushed over.

Clang, clang, clang!

The sound of mining echoed in the Rock Cavern, exceptionally pleasant to the ears.

He specifically picked the chunks with the densest Spiritual Qi to dig. A fist-sized raw Ore could be refined into two or three Low-Grade Spirit Stones. After digging for a little under half an hour, over a thousand pieces had already been piled up in the Creation Cauldron Space.

Just as he was digging with great vigor—

"Yo, there is still a little mouse here."

A teasing voice came from the cave entrance.

Xiao Yuan's movements paused, and he slowly turned around.

Six figures blocked the cave entrance, three or four men and two women, each with a fierce aura and ferocious eyes. Their cultivation was uniformly the Qi Condensation 9th Layer, carrying the bloody aura of year-round slaughter.

The leader was a burly Scarface, crossing his arms and looking at Xiao Yuan like looking at prey.

"Kid, your luck is not bad being able to find this place." Scarface grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, "But now, it belongs to us."

A Seductive Female Cultivator next to him licked her lips: "Why talk so much to him? Just slaughter him."

Another tall and thin man had already stepped forward: "Let me do it. A trash at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer is a matter of one move."

The six of them didn't take Xiao Yuan seriously at all.

In their view, for a little miner at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer to die at the hands of old-timers like them could be considered an honor.

The tall and thin man's figure flashed, turning into an afterimage as he lunged at Xiao Yuan, his palm condensing a ball of crimson flame—fire-attribute Spell, Blazing Flame Palm!

With this palm strike, someone at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer would either die or be heavily injured.

The other five waited leisurely to watch the show, and some even discussed how to divide the Spirit Stones later.

"This batch of goods is at least thirty thousand, everyone can get five thousand..."

"That kid might still have some private goods in his Storage Pouch."

"Move faster, don't dawdle."

Just at the moment when the tall and thin man's Blazing Flame Palm was about to strike Xiao Yuan's face—

Xiao Yuan moved.

He raised his left hand and lightly clenched his five fingers.

"Thorny Cage"

Dozens of thick cyan vines suddenly burst out from the ground, instantly tying the tall and thin man up like a zongzi!

The thorns on the vines pierced into his flesh, sealing his Meridians. The tall and thin man let out a muffled groan, and his circulation of Spiritual Qi instantly stagnated!

This change was too fast; the tall and thin man had no time to react at all.

And Xiao Yuan's right hand had already formed sword fingers.

"Gale Shadow Chaser — Slash!"

A cyan sword qi that was almost invisible to the naked eye flashed past.

Puh!

The tall and thin man's head flew up, an expression of astonishment still lingering on his face. The headless corpse, bound by the vines, stood stiffly for two seconds before collapsing to the ground with a loud thud.

Fresh blood splattered.

The Rock Cavern instantly fell into dead silence.

On the faces of the remaining five people, the teasing, greed, and impatience all froze.

They looked at the corpse of their companion on the ground, and then looked at that little miner at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer.

Xiao Yuan flicked the non-existent blood on his fingers, raised his head, and flashed a brilliant smile at the five of them:

"Who is up next?"

The aura around his body was still only at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer—the Great Turtle Breathing Technique concealed his true cultivation.

But at this moment, in the eyes of the five people, this smile was even more terrifying than the darkness in the deepest part of the Ore vein.

The burly Scarface turned ashen, slowly drawing the long saber from behind his back.

"Attack together." He gritted his teeth and said, "This bastard... hides deep!"

Five auras of the Qi Condensation 9th Layer erupted with a boom!

Xiao Yuan narrowed his eyes, a cold sneer welling up in his heart. Although he had to face five experts at the Qi Condensation 9th Layer at the same time,

but right now, his cultivation was not simply the Qi Condensation 7th Layer, nor was it the Qi Condensation 4th Layer. To put it another way, he was now at the Qi Condensation 21st Layer.

Even though the other four systems of Cultivation Techniques were only at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer and the Spiritual Qi cultivated was very low, it couldn't withstand the sheer quantity.

His current cultivation was even not weaker than a quasi-Foundation Establishment Stage.

The sum of his Spiritual Qi was equivalent to two experts at the Qi Condensation 9th Layer. Moreover, his Spiritual Qi was even more condensed!