Chapter 74 Mid-stage Divine Sense of the Second Realm

"Rise!" Yun Bai's Divine Sense covered these leaves one by one.

One, two, three... ten, twenty, forty, sixty!

When the number of simultaneously controlled leaves reached sixty, Yun Bai finally felt the pressure!

An invisible weight seemed to turn into a great mountain, pressing heavily into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness between his brows, bringing a stifling sense of oppression, and his thoughts seemed to become viscous.

Yun Bai took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing.

"Come again!"

The sixty-first leaf swayed as it rose... the sixty-second... the sixty-third...

When the sixty-fourth leaf had just left the ground by less than an inch—like the straw that broke the camel's back!

"Hum!"

Yun Bai felt the taut string in his brain snap instantly!

A wave of intense dizziness and sharp pain struck, and all his perception seemed to be instantly drained!

The leaves floating in the sky, like raindrops that had suddenly lost their pull, fell with a rustle, covering the ground and his body.

Yun Bai's vision went black in waves, the world spun, his body swayed violently, and he could barely stand.

The intense fatigue from the overexertion engulfed him like a tide; his heart pounded wildly in his chest, and his temples throbbed painfully.

He staggered to support himself against the rough trunk of an old locust tree and slid slowly to the ground, gasping for air.

It took a full quarter of an hour for the dizziness of having his Soul hollowed out and the heaviness of his body to gradually fade away.

"Sixty-three..." he muttered, his voice tinged with exhaustion, but unable to hide the ecstasy within.

His cultivation was only at the First Realm Middle Stage, yet his Divine Sense strength was already comparable to a Second Realm Middle Stage Cultivator!

This realization finally made him unable to help but laugh heartily:

"Hahahaha..."

Truly, just when you think you've reached the end of the road, a new path emerges!

The gloom caused by repeated failures in his Realm Breakthrough was now completely dispelled by this unexpectedly gained, even more incredible ability!

He "looked inward" at the strange black hole slowly rotating in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, and an indescribable sense of cherishing welled up in his heart.

This Divine Sense black hole was truly... a priceless treasure!

Having recovered a little strength, Yun Bai stood up, his thoughts shifting slightly.

A curled, withered leaf was picked up by the invisible power of his Divine Sense.

Under his precise control, that originally shriveled leaf was instantly straightened and smoothed by the powerful force of his Divine Sense, becoming as straight and hard as a quenched steel blade!

"Go!"

Yun Bai's eyes turned sharp, and he mobilized his pure spiritual power, infusing it into the Divine Sense command.

With a soft "pfft" sound!

That seemingly fragile leaf, like an arrow shot from a powerful crossbow, instantly broke through the soil at the foot of the locust tree and buried itself deep inside, a full five inches deep!

It left only a tiny slit.

"Such strong penetrating power!" Yun Bai's eyebrows shot up, his heart shocked, "Just a leaf plucked at random, yet it has such power after being infused with spiritual power? If I were controlling a specially made flying needle... its lethality would probably far exceed the Spirit Gun in my hand!"

The power of the Spirit Gun is very limited in battles above the Second Realm, so Cultivators like to use the power of the Spirit Gun as a standard to measure the lethality of attacks from First and Second Realm Cultivators.

"No wonder the Dao Canon says that a First Realm Sword Cultivator is only invincible within the same Realm, and cannot rival the Second Realm."

Yun Bai suddenly understood, feeling the consumption of spiritual power caused by that leaf attack just now.

"The speed at which this type of attack drains spiritual power is staggering!

With the Dantian reserves of a First Realm Cultivator, one can only pursue a one-hit kill or a quick battle; there is simply no way to fight a war of attrition.

However..." A confident light flashed in his eyes, "Within the same Realm, I'm afraid no one can truly withstand this kind of fatal attack driven by Divine Sense head-on."

Brother had been away from Chu Prefecture for six days to carry out a mission.

For these six days, to Yun Qian, it felt as if they had been stretched many times over.

When Brother was around, after those heart-wrenching headaches struck, she could always find brief peace in his warm embrace and strange soothing.

But now, Brother was often not by her side.

That terrible pain not only occurred more frequently, but after each most intense wave receded, it left behind an endless, shadow-like gloom.

Her head was always throbbing with pain.

It was as if a thin, cold needle was pricking some place deep in her skull day and night.

It wasn't intense enough to make her scream and roll around, but it was enough to drain all her energy, causing the world before her eyes to often be shrouded in an inescapable gray mist.

Attending classes, reading books, deducing those Formation runes that used to fascinate her... everything had become exceptionally difficult.

Her thoughts were like being stuck in a viscous quagmire; if she concentrated for even a little while, that needle seemed to be stirred, pricking her until her vision went black.

Not only that, her business selling seasoned bigu pill was getting better and better.

It wasn't just retail in the market; recently, many restaurants, teahouses, and the like had begun to inquire if they could purchase these Medicinal Pills in bulk.

This should have been a cause for celebration, but her physical condition was getting worse and worse; how could she have enough energy to deal with these troublesome business matters?

Moreover, she didn't have enough time.

She still had to go to school, study Formations and mechanism arts, and also manage the production and sale of Inedia Pill.

All these complex matters were pressed onto the thin shoulders of the two girls, Yun Qian and Shen Qi.

It was another sleepless night, another night of pain so severe she felt like dying.

Waking up in the morning, she forced a smile at Sister Qi.

Aunt Yang Peilan had gone out early in the morning.

Just as she packed her school bag and was about to go out to school with Shen Qi, she opened the door and was surprised to see her brother, Yun Bai, and Sister Jiang Shuanger.

She panicked—her headaches had been flaring up more severely lately, and she had been hiding it from her brother, not wanting to make him worry.

Her brother was already working very hard; every time he returned, he was covered in a pungent smell of blood and fierce Killing Intent.

Only after returning home and sitting down would Yun Bai restrain himself and transform back into that gentle and thoughtful brother.

Yun Qian was terrified that her brother would discover her abnormality, so she made an excuse and hurried to the academy with Shen Qi.

She stubbornly endured the pain and always appeared at Qingya Academy on time.

The academy was still filled with the sound of reading, brimming with the vitality of young boys and girls.

Mr. Gao, who was deeply loved by the students, was standing on the podium; he looked only in his early forties, spirited and with a gentle smile, but in reality, he was already over sixty.

Yun Qian knew that Mr. Gao's cultivation was at the Innate First Realm Late Stage, which was not top-tier, but he was proficient in all kinds of knowledge.

He was especially good at explaining profound introductory knowledge of Cultivate in a simple and easy-to-understand way, guiding students step by step, and was the teacher Yun Qian and Shen Qi respected the most.

"...Therefore, this small Three Talents Formation, although it only takes the trend of the Three Talents of Heaven, Earth, and Man—the foundation of foundations—its pivot for positional shifting and the circulation of Qi secretly corresponds to the hexagram flow of 'Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen,' where moving one part affects the whole."

Mr. Gao's voice was clear and bright.

His gaze swept over the eager faces below, finally landing on Yun Qian, "Yun Qian, you answer. If we want to change the 'Defense' stance of this Formation to a 'Trapping' stance, what adjustments need to be made to the Kun position, Zhen position, and Li position respectively?"

In an instant, all eyes were focused on Yun Qian.