368: Chapter 368 Breaking Through Divine Power, Taking a Gamble

The flowing light of the Biluo Palace traveled through the clouds for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, then was forced to stop above a relatively sparse belt of clouds.

Ahead, two figures were quietly blocking the path.

One fat and one thin, both wearing old gray monk robes.

The fat one had a round face, and when he smiled, his eyes narrowed into two slits, looking like a Maitreya ready to speak auspicious words at any moment.

The thin one had a calm expression, head slightly lowered, as if silently reciting something.

Chu Sheng stood inside the Biluo Palace, seeing the two figures through the protective array. He slowly adjusted his breathing rhythm, focusing his attention on the arrangement of the four swords deep within his Storage Pouch.

The fat monk spoke first, his tone like casual chatter: "Donor, there is no need to be nervous. I am Liaoyuan, and this is my Junior Brother, Liaochen."

He smiled, his eyes narrowing further: "Master Xuandu has already spoken to me. Monks do not tell lies; luring you here this time was indeed our idea."

Chu Sheng did not respond.

Liaoyuan seemed not to notice his silence and continued: "From the moment you stepped out of the Phoenix clan, we have been waiting for you."

Chu Sheng finally spoke, his tone still steady: "So Jinchan Island, the ferry, Master Xuandu—it was all a setup?"

Liaoyuan did not deny it: "That cannot be said entirely. Master Xuandu did want to help you, but he also understood that there are some things he could not decide."

Chu Sheng offered no comment, just stood quietly on the spot, his fingers slowly adjusting angles behind his back, calibrating the position of the four swords one by one, like a network spreading in the dark.

On the other side, the clouds were split open by a streak of sword light, and two figures walked out from the gap.

Elder Xuesong still maintained his unhurried pace, while the old man beside him had a cold, stern face, with a broad-bladed longsword hanging at his waist, his aura several degrees sharper than that of Elder Xuesong.

Elder Xuesong spoke, his tone calm but carrying an unavoidable weight: "You murdered our Elder, stole Sect relics, and bear a sinful Bloodline; you should have been captured back in the Central Region."

That cold, stern old man.

Chijian Daxian—took over the conversation: "Those four swords on you belong to the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. If you do not hand them over today, you will not be leaving."

Liaoyuan stood on the other side, shaking his head slightly, his tone carrying a sense of persuasion: "The two Donors need not be so anxious. The person is here; there is always room to talk."

Chu Sheng did not look at any of them; his gaze remained fixed on the edge of the clouds ahead, on that gap that had not yet fully closed, as if searching for a non-existent retreat.

Jiuer moved.

Her figure swept out from the side of the Biluo Palace, a condensed purple light already forming in her hand, pressing toward the direction of Elder Xuesong.

She did not expect to succeed in one blow; she only wanted to buy some time for Chu Sheng.

However, just as she swept past the edge of the clouds, a golden light descended from the side.

Liaoyuan's movement did not look fast, but the timing of the golden cymbals falling seemed to have been calculated long ago.

The golden cymbals unfolded in mid-air, completely enveloping the figure of Jiuer, the runes on the edges lighting up one by one, like a cage door slowly closing.

A Medium Grade Magical Artifact.

Jiuer crashed into the wall of light and was bounced back a step; she tried several times to break through but could not find a gap to enter.

Liaoyuan stood in place, as if he had completed a task that required no special attention: "Female Donor, it is better to wait here for a moment."

Seeing Jiuer trapped in the golden light, the actions of Chu Sheng did not change noticeably.

But he withdrew his gaze from searching for a retreat and let it fall back onto the figures in front of him.

He reached his hand into the Storage Pouch and touched the jade box containing the dead wood springs to life.

He opened the jade box and swallowed the pale golden liquid.

When the liquid entered his throat, it carried a warm breath that spread down along his Meridians, and when it touched the thin crack at the bottom of his Dao Palace, it was like encountering a wound that was slowly healing.

That crack was gradually narrowing, fading, and healing.

But his aura did not become steady because of this; instead, it was as if, at the same time the crack was healing, a new channel was being forced open by a force surging from within.

The barrier of the Peak of Dao Completion began to loosen under the impact of that force, cracks spreading from the inside outwards, like fissures gradually forming on a stone slab after being repeatedly struck.

His cultivation was slowly climbing, not fast, but steady and firm, like a current of water being pushed layer by layer, constantly expanding outward.

Liaoyuan's smile faded a little; he turned his head to look at Chu Sheng, as if observing something that was undergoing a change, his tone carrying a rare hint of seriousness: "Donor, are you trying to have a Breakthrough on the spot?"

Elder Xuesong stood in the distance without moving, only watching the fluctuations of the aura around Chu Sheng, then spoke slowly, his tone still calm: "No rush."

His gaze did not shift from Chu Sheng, as if waiting for a node he had long anticipated.

Chu Sheng closed his eyes.

He felt the power within him still rising; that gap filled by the dead wood springs to life was slowly becoming a new starting point.

The originally steady spiritual power fluctuations began to churn, expand, and contract like boiling water, constantly reorganizing.

His Dao Palace was slowly disintegrating under the impact of this force.

It was not collapsing; it was shedding its shell.

That palace formed by spiritual power was peeling away piece by piece, like an old tree changing its bark, like a snake shedding its old skin.

The Dao Palace fragments turned into fine specks of light, converging toward the center, condensing into a continuously rotating small ball, floating deep within his Dantian.

The speed of the ball became faster and faster, and a pale golden halo gradually appeared on its edges, as if something was permeating from the inside out.

He felt that change.

If Qi Induction is a wisp of Qi that can be slowly circulated.

Condensing True Essence is turning the void into reality, letting that wisp of Qi condense into substance.

The Spiritual Sea is a body of spiritual power filling the whole body.

The Dao Palace is building a Dao Foundation palace to carry the Foundation of cultivation.

Then the Divine Ability is compressing, condensing, and turning all of this into a continuously rotating small ball of Law.

It was not big, only the size of a fist, floating in the center of the Dantian, like a newly formed star.

Its surface flowed with fine, dense patterns—not formation patterns, nor runes, but something more essential.

Fragments of the Laws of Heaven and Earth were slowly merging into it.

Chu Sheng could feel its existence, just as he could feel his own heartbeat.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his palm.

Spiritual power did not surge out from the Dantian as before; instead, it was automatically absorbed and transformed by that small ball, then released in a different form.

He raised his hand, palm up, and a strand of spiritual power condensed in his palm into a slender leaf, its edges glowing faintly, as if shaped by some kind of Law.

He withdrew his hand, and the leaf dissipated.

He stood up and looked ahead.

That unclosed gap in the clouds was still in the distance, but it was no longer an unreachable distance.

The sign of the Tongxuan Realm is that the Divine Ability is no longer a Move actively performed by the cultivator, but becomes a natural way for cultivation to operate.

The Divine Ability is mastered, adapted, and integrated into instinct, no longer needing to be deliberately called upon, and no longer restricted by the amount of spiritual power reserves.

The chasm between Dao Completion and Tongxuan lies in the latter's ability to directly mobilize fragments of the Laws of Heaven and Earth to assist itself, without needing to rely entirely on its own strength to endure.

This gap cannot be bridged by pure spiritual power depth.

And at this moment, Chu Sheng was crossing that gap.

He felt his aura stabilizing again, like the surface of a lake that had just experienced a violent tremor, slowly returning to calm.

Ahead, the gaze of Liaoyuan no longer carried a smile.

He still kept his hands together, but the aura around him was clearly no longer as relaxed as before.

"Donor is indeed no ordinary person."

His voice was still calm, "Using dead wood springs to life to forcibly achieve a Breakthrough to Divine Ability—this is the first time I have seen such a thing."

Elder Xuesong stood in the distance, his gaze resting on Chu Sheng for a moment, without comment or action.

But the fingers holding his sword moved slightly, as if he were re-evaluating his judgment of this situation.

The hand of Chijian Daxian remained pressed on the hilt of his sword. He did not let go, nor did he draw his sword, but that aura was already more solid than before.

Chu Sheng felt that small ball rotating steadily deep within his Dantian, as if it no longer needed his active maintenance to operate on its own.

He looked up at the front and said: "Now, you can all come at me together."