30: Breakthrough in both

A sharp light flashed in Jiang Donghua's eyes. He twirled the longsword in his hand and curled his lips into a cold smile.

"Is that all you've got?"

His figure flickered, the Roaming Cloud Steps instantly activated, and his entire body transformed into an afterimage.

Before the giant rat could react, Jiang Donghua had already appeared behind it, his right palm glowing red like a branding iron, fiercely striking the rat's back with a scorching wave of air.

"Blazing Flame Palm!"

"Boom!"

With a dull thud, the fur on the giant rat's back instantly turned charred black, and a stream of blood mixed with a burnt smell sprayed from its mouth.

It stumbled, attempting to turn, but Jiang Donghua had already circled to its side, his longsword darting out like a viper's tongue, accurately piercing its neck.

"Screech—"

The giant rat let out a mournful shriek, and its massive body crashed heavily to the ground, twitching a few times before falling still.

The entire process took less than a minute.

Jiang Donghua flicked the blood beads off his sword and turned to look at the battle on the other side.

Liu Mingyu was controlling his earth-yellow Dou Qi, building stone walls on the ground to restrict the movements of the other giant rat.

Liu Yuting, holding her longsword, circulated water-attributed Dou Qi along the blade, occasionally thrusting out a tricky strike.

"Brother, the left side!"

Liu Yuting cried out softly.

Liu Mingyu understood, clenched his left hand fiercely, and a stone spike suddenly jutted up from the ground, forcing the giant rat to dodge to the right.

Liu Yuting seized the opportunity, her sword edge tracing an elegant arc, leaving a deep, bone-visible wound on the giant rat's hind leg.

Jiang Donghua watched from the side with his arms crossed, a satisfied smile on his face.

This level of combat was just right for the siblings; it wasn't too easy, nor was there any mortal danger.

With him, a Two-Star Dou Zhe, holding the line, this giant rat definitely couldn't harm them in the slightest.

"Don't rush to kill it, practice your coordination more."

Jiang Donghua called out a reminder.

Hearing this, Liu Mingyu immediately adjusted his tactics.

He stopped rushing the attack and focused on using earth walls to restrict the giant rat's movement space.

Liu Yuting began attempting more complex sword moves. Her water-attributed Dou Qi sometimes transformed into ropes to bind the rat, and sometimes condensed into water swords to stab.

The giant rat was forced to constantly parry and dodge, accumulating more and more wounds on its body. It roared furiously but was unable to break through the siblings' combined effort.

Jiang Donghua watched with great interest, occasionally offering pointers.

"Yuting, that sword strike of yours would be even better if it were three parts faster."

"Mingyu, pay attention to controlling your Dou Qi consumption."

About fifteen minutes later, the giant rat was at the end of its tether.

Liu Mingyu seized the chance, smashing a stone fist heavily into its abdomen.

The giant rat cried out in pain and its movement stalled. Liu Yuting immediately exploited the opening, her longsword shooting out like a venomous dragon, aiming straight for its throat.

"Pfft!"

The sound of the blade entering flesh rang out, and the giant rat crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Beautiful! Excellent coordination."

Jiang Donghua clapped and praised them.

Liu Yuting wiped the sweat from her forehead, a joyful smile appearing on her face.

Liu Mingyu was breathing heavily, but his eyes were full of excitement.

"We finally finished it."

Jiang Donghua flicked the blood beads off his sword and was about to signal the siblings to leave when his peripheral vision caught a flash of emerald green light near the giant rat's head.

"Wait!"

He lunged forward, his longsword accurately slicing open the giant rat's skull.

As the sword tip flicked, a thumb-sized emerald green crystal rolled out, shining with a moist luster inside the cave.

"A Wood-attributed Demonic Core?!"

Liu Mingyu's eyes widened, and his voice even cracked.

Jiang Donghua snatched up the Demonic Core, his grin stretching almost to his ears.

"Hahaha! I knew my luck couldn't be that bad!"

Liu Yuting quickly sliced open the skull of the other giant rat as well, and sure enough, found a slightly smaller Demonic Core.

Her hands, cradling the Demonic Core, trembled slightly.

"Brother, these two combined are worth at least a thousand gold coins!"

"We're rich! We're rich!"

Liu Mingyu jumped up and down excitedly.

Liu Mingyu suddenly froze, an expression of disbelief surfacing on his face.

"Wait, the Dou Qi inside me!"

He looked down at his hands; earth-yellow Dou Qi uncontrollably overflowed from between his fingers, forming small vortices in the air.

Liu Yuting also clutched her chest; her ice crystal pendant suddenly shone with intense blue light.

"Brother, it seems like I'm about to break through too!"

The water-attributed Dou Qi around her body began to circulate on its own, condensing fine water droplets on the surface of her skin.

Jiang Donghua raised an eyebrow, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes.

"Well, I'll be. They managed to break through simultaneously just by fighting?"

He cracked a smile and firmly patted the siblings on their shoulders.

"Hurry up and meditate! This kind of opportunity is extremely rare!"

Liu Mingyu was still muttering to himself as he sat down cross-legged.

"The bottleneck between Eighth Stage and Ninth Stage actually loosened just like this."

He formed hand seals, and the surrounding dirt automatically rose up to form a protective wall.

Liu Yuting chose a flat rock and took out a cyan jade cushion from her storage ring.

She lightly tapped her fingertip, and water-attributed Dou Qi drew an azure blue halo around her.

"I feel like the barrier of peak Seventh Stage has already cracked."

Jiang Donghua decisively drew his longsword, and fiery red Dou Qi burned fiercely along the blade.

"Just focus on your breakthrough."

He turned to face the cave entrance, his back as steady as a mountain.

"As long as I, Jiang Donghua, still have breath in me, even if the King of Heaven himself came, he wouldn't dare disturb you!"

When he spoke the last few words, he deliberately emphasized his tone, plunging his longsword into the ground. A ring of fire instantly spread out from him, forming a blazing barrier at the cave entrance.

Liu Yuting glanced gratefully at Jiang Donghua, then closed her eyes and entered meditation.

Liu Mingyu had already entered a deep meditative state, with earth-yellow Dou Qi forming a small vortex above his head.

Jiang Donghua stood with his back to them, but his ears were constantly monitoring the movements behind him.

He could feel two distinct streams of Dou Qi steadily rising—one heavy like the earth, the other agile like flowing water.

The corner of his mouth unconsciously lifted.

"These two kids really have good luck."

After about ten minutes, the Dou Qi fluctuations inside the cave gradually subsided.

Liu Mingyu was the first to open his eyes, a flash of earth-yellow light passing through his pupils. He slowly stood up, his joints popping and cracking, and he gripped his fists in pleasant surprise.

"Ninth Stage Dou Zhi Qi, I really broke through!"

Immediately after, Liu Yuting also let out a long breath and stood up. She lightly flicked her fingertip, and a strand of water-blue Dou Qi, more solidified than before, circulated in her palm.

The siblings exchanged a look, then simultaneously gazed at the tall, upright figure standing at the cave entrance.

Jiang Donghua still maintained his vigilant stance, the fiery red longsword plunged into the ground before him. He looked quite handsome.

Liu Mingyu suddenly recalled what his father had told him while patting his shoulder before he left home.

"Mingyu, when you get to the academy, be sure to maintain a good relationship with that kid named Jiang."

At the time, he hadn't quite understood, but now he had a sudden realization.

This wasn't just some ordinary schoolmate; he was clearly the benefactor of their siblings!

"Brother Donghua, we're done."

Liu Yuting called out softly, her voice carrying an unprecedented sense of closeness.

Perhaps it was due to experiencing life-and-death situations, or perhaps it was because of that simple silhouette, but feelings always crept into the heart slowly and unknowingly.

Hearing the sound, Jiang Donghua turned his head, swept his gaze over the two of them, and grinned.

"Not bad, one Ninth Stage and one Eighth Stage. This trip was worth it!"

Liu Mingyu stepped forward two paces and suddenly bowed respectfully, cupping his fists.

"Brother Donghua, if it weren't for you this time..."

"Stop, stop!"

Jiang Donghua waved his hands repeatedly, deliberately putting on a stern face.

"Cut the formalities!"

But the laughter in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

As the three chatted and tidied up the corpses littering the ground, Liu Mingyu looked at Jiang Donghua's back walking ahead of him and suddenly felt that his father's words were truly words of wisdom.

Some relationships are indeed worth cultivating wholeheartedly.