His attention turned to his gun. With six bullets now available to finally break through to the Core Splitting realm, he decided to absorb five while saving one bullet just in case.
As he descended through the air, Liu Xing adjusted his trajectory to glide toward the pillar where Prince Yang Jinyan and the rest of the Yang clan stood watching. Even from this distance, he could see their slack-jawed expressions, as if they were witnessing something beyond their wildest imagination. A smile cracked across his face as he wondered what they thought of him now, but he quickly cleared his mind to focus on the qi coursing through his body.
He closed his eyes mid-fall and entered a meditative state. Within his consciousness, he opened his eyes to behold the sight of a ball of lightning bound by silver chains, pulsing and growing like a newborn sun struggling to break free of its shackles.
Liu Xing examined the hole he'd created using Flowing Meditation and carefully widened it. Qi poured into his consciousness like a tsunami breaking through a dam, and he directed this torrent straight into his cultivation.
The ball of lightning absorbed the energy eagerly, like a starving dog presented with a feast, its form rippling with each surge of power as if on the verge of evolution.
Liu Xing sat down, settling himself on the white floor of his consciousness. Inside, his heart wanted to dance with joy like a celebrating monkey, but he forced himself to remain focused—this was too crucial a moment for distraction.
"All right, absorb all this qi," Liu Xing commanded softly.
The ball of lightning vibrated like an excited puppy sensing freedom, but the silver chains binding it—some now submerged within the lightning itself—resisted like anchor lines refusing to let their charge drift away.
Liu Xing had read about breaking through to the Core Splitting realm numerous times. The process itself was straightforward: channel enough qi into your cultivation, and it would break free from its shackles automatically.
However, many texts delved into the intricacies of this breakthrough. They discussed how long cultivators needed to consolidate their power beforehand, how to calculate the necessary qi, and other crucial details. Approximately sixty percent of the cultivators of the Lock Opening realm successfully advanced to the Core Splitting realm in their lifetime, a remarkably high percentage in the cultivation world, although the risk of failure remained.
His chances of advancing to the next realm looked promising. Liu Xing practiced the Lightning Scripture, which guaranteed that its disciples would advance to the Black Sun realm. Still, complications could always arise, so he steeled his heart and prepared himself.
Liu Xing felt his physical body hit something solid, accompanied by a loud thud and several startled cries. He had likely landed near the Yang clan members, who were probably concerned by his sudden descent. But they would understand he was undergoing a breakthrough, and they would protect him as he crossed into the next realm.
He focused on the lightning ball floating within his consciousness. It pulsed and vibrated, steadily expanding as qi from his body rushed toward it. Liu Xing commanded his cultivation to stabilize. He wanted the lightning ball to fully consume the chain, but not frantically.
Under his control, the lightning ball steadied and began to rotate on its axis to the right. This reminded him of an interesting detail he'd once read: when a cultivator's cultivation imagery resembled a ball, it would rotate on its axis either right or left, corresponding to whether they were right-handed or left-handed.
The ball of lightning spun faster, growing larger with each rotation. The silver chain began to sink into it until, several moments later, the lightning ball had grown to the size of a barrel and no trace of the chain remained visible.
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The lightning ball vibrated with what seemed like joy, but the process wasn't finished. Qi continued to pour into his consciousness, orbiting the lightning ball before being absorbed. It created a spiraling ring around his cultivation, and though a silhouette of the chain still lurked within the lightning ball, Liu Xing commanded his cultivation to intensify—to digest that silver chain and convert it to qi.
The process continued steadily. Little by little, the chain's silhouette grew fainter until it vanished completely.
Seeing this, Liu Xing grinned. It was time to break through to the Core Splitting realm!
At that thought, his ball of lightning blazed brilliant white, forcing him to shield his eyes even within his consciousness. The radiant sphere rose higher, swelling from the size of a barrel to that of a house. Lightning struck across his pure white consciousness, but Liu Xing seized control, commanding it to calm and stabilize.
The ball of lightning began to shrink. Its light dimmed, but this wasn't failure—it was precisely what should happen. The ball needed to compress until it transformed into a core.
After several moments of compression, the lightning ball reduced to the size of a basketball, floating just above his right palm. It continued to shrink until it was no larger than a tennis ball. The white ball no longer seemed to be made of lightning, but of pure white energy. It is still made of lightning, but if not for its faint glow, it would be almost indistinguishable from the surrounding space.
Liu Xing’s grin widened. The process was complete. The white space around him began to ripple, and suddenly he was thrust back into the physical world.
Liu Xing found himself lying on the ground, the blue sky filling his vision. He began to sit up in a meditative posture, ignoring the Yang Clan members gathered around him, and closed his eyes again.
Within his body, qi surged like a raging ocean. The energy felt heavy as it cycled through him, spreading to strengthen his entire form. Its power threatened to overwhelm him, like trying to contain a raging bull. Yet Liu Xing endured. With each passing second, he felt his body being reforged. His muscles melted away like sand castles before regenerating stronger and more durable. His heart beat faster as qi encased it, reforging it into something greater. His bones, skin, tendons, organs—everything in his body transformed, like rusted parts being cleaned and replaced by a master mechanic.
When the qi reached his brain, the world seemed to stop. When it resumed, his senses had sharpened dramatically. From his position, he could see to the edge of the City of Suns, where an abomination with a bat's head ambled about. His ears caught its footsteps, his nose detected the strong stench of blood permeating the air, and his skin registered even the slightest breeze.
His body was now stronger, his senses sharper. But becoming a Core Splitting realm cultivator wasn't just about physical evolution—it was about the transformation of qi itself.
Dense qi cycled through his body. Before, his qi had felt like water—pure, flowing, and light within his body. Now, while it still flowed with the same lightness, it had the density of molten steel.
Liu Xing commanded his qi to cycle faster around his body, and it responded so readily it almost made him stumble. Its obedience reminded him of potent qi.
He couldn't help but grin. Comparing himself now to who he had been this morning was like comparing a pebble to a mountain. The amount of qi cycling through his body was so vast, he felt he would never run out.
When he released qi from his body, it flowed out effortlessly, spreading around him while remaining under his complete control. This was one of the key aspects of the Core Splitting realm—not just the sheer quantity and the increase in the quality of qi, but the ability to control it even outside his body. This would allow him to learn new techniques that could be activated or controlled remotely.
Liu Xing cycled his qi faster and faster, marveling at his newfound power. He wondered about his current strength. Could he now defeat those abominations with snake limbs that had terrified him before? He wanted to say yes, but despite his vast qi reserves, they were still minuscule compared to those creatures.
"Congratulations," Prince Yang Jinyan said. "I can say that in the entire history of the Twelve Sun Empire, no one has ever advanced from Lock Opening realm's sixth stage to Core Splitting realm first core in less than a day."
Liu Xing smiled. Although he was happy about this breakthrough, he knew that it wasn't due to his talent, but rather Nui's gift. This made him even more grateful to his friend.
"Thanks for guarding me while I was breaking through."
Looking around, he saw the Yang clan members encircling him, their faces showing wide eyes and open mouths. Their expressions made him truly realize how extraordinary his achievement was. There were probably disciples in the Purple Moon Sect who had broken through from Lock Opening realm's sixth stage to Core Splitting realm's first core in a matter of hours, but they were the elite—and now, so was he.