After parting ways with the disciples of his family, Chen Xuan no longer sought out magical beasts. He felt that he was on the verge of a breakthrough. The battles with the Wu and Li families had caused his true power to show signs of loosening, a clear indication of an impending breakthrough. Chen Xuan needed to find a place to break through.

Each rank of the Seventh Rank of the Innate Realm represented a significant difference in power, with each advancement doubling his strength. Chen Xuan was able to fight beyond his level thanks to the Soul Stones improving his physique and the cultivation techniques he practiced. Even at the Fifth Rank, his true power was comparable to that of the Sixth Rank, and now that he had reached the Sixth Rank, he could almost effortlessly defeat those below the Seventh Rank. Even Eighth Rank practitioners would fall before him.

The practice of the Seven Killings Blade had changed Chen Xuan's mindset, broadening his horizons. Although Old Li had never spoken to him about the outside world, Chen Xuan knew that Old Li didn't want his mindset to be affected negatively for cultivation. Now, Chen Xuan was no longer confined to the small scope of Hongling Town. "I want to go out. I want to step onto the pinnacle of this continent." A surge of dominance emanated from Chen Xuan.

The cultivation of the Swallowing Heaven Technique had instilled in Chen Xuan a sense of dominance, the kind that looked down upon the world. "There is no one in the world but me. Only I am supreme." He could feel the heroic spirit of the person who originally created this technique – the spirit of looking down upon the world.

Throughout history, it had been said that man could conquer heaven. Those were just words concocted by scholars to deceive people. If man could truly conquer heaven, why were there so many natural disasters and calamities? In the face of heaven, humanity was truly insignificant.

The weak magical beasts in the mountains were trembling with fear at the dominance released by Chen Xuan. This was the true meaning of Swallowing Heaven – even "heaven" could be trampled underfoot by him.

Old Li shook his head in Chen Xuan's mind. "This kid has already deviated from the path I taught him. I never expected the Swallowing Heaven Technique to generate such a strong dominance. It even shakes my confidence. I've lived for thousands of years, and my heart is as firm as a rock, yet a mere Innate Realm kid has made my soul tremble with fear. What kind of power is this?"

Chen Xuan swiftly traversed through the jungle, terrifying the beasts in front of him with his dominance. He didn't bother killing them anymore. There were over fifty seventh-grade inner cores and over a thousand cores of sixth and fifth grade in his spiritual ring. Chen Xuan no longer needed inner cores; the seventh-grade ones barely increased his spiritual power.

Breakthrough. Only by breaking through could he challenge higher-level magical beasts more quickly. Only high-level magical beasts could greatly increase his true power.

Two seventh-grade magical beasts were fighting. Suddenly, they stopped and looked ahead.

"Swoosh..."

A figure passed through the gap between the two beasts. Chen Xuan crossed two mountain ranges and arrived at a waterfall. Behind the waterfall was a cave. Chen Xuan activated his true power and leaped into it.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Roar..."

A roar came from the cave. Chen Xuan had intruded into someone else's territory. He picked up his steel knife and walked toward the cave. In the dim light, Chen Xuan saw a giant earth bear approaching him.

An eighth-grade magical beast, the earth bear's thick skin and flesh were comparable to that of a ninth-grade magical beast. Since it had come, Chen Xuan had no intention of giving up. "I'll use your strength to help me break through."

The earth bear, seeing that it was just a weak human intruder, roared to the sky and rushed to tear Chen Xuan apart.

"Tsk!"

Chen Xuan's knife struck the earth bear's body, but it didn't even leave a wound. The bear's paw came at Chen Xuan, who hastily retreated, but still felt the burning pain on his face.

Touching his face and finding no injuries, Chen Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. "This guy's skin is too thick. Even my full-strength blow couldn't break through its defense!"

Looking at his steel knife, which was now engraved, Chen Xuan knew he had to rely on skill to win. He couldn't match the bear's brute force head-on. Chen Xuan circled around the earth bear, occasionally attacking and harassing it, slowly looking for its weak points.

After half an hour of fighting, the earth bear seemed a bit impatient. It started striking more frequently, causing the rocks in the cave to fall.

The only way now was to enrage the earth bear, make it angry, and lose its rationality. Then Chen Xuan would have a better chance to deal with it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The cave reverberated with the sound of the bear's paws hitting the walls.

"Now's my chance!"

With a swoosh, Chen Xuan came to the bear's front and swiftly blinded its eyes with a slash.

Blinded, the earth bear's ferocity was completely provoked. Regardless of where Chen Xuan was, it swung its paw wildly towards the cave. Chen Xuan had already retreated to the mouth of the cave, and large boulders as big as washbasins fell from the cave entrance. Chen Xuan had no choice but to hide at the mouth of the cave.

The earth bear swung its paw, possibly out of strength, and sat on the ground, gasping for breath with its mouth wide open.

"Now's the time!"

Chen Xuan swiftly approached the bear from the cave entrance, thrusting his knife into its mouth, directly piercing its throat, and then quickly retreating.

A stream of blood spurted from the bear's mouth, making a hissing sound from its throat. After a while, the bear finally fell unwillingly.

When the bear had no breath left, Chen Xuan stepped into the cave again. After the bear's death, its skin had softened. Chen Xuan picked up his steel knife and slowly peeled off its pelt.

"Phew..."

After removing the pelt, Chen Xuan took out the inner core. Comparing it with the seventh-grade one, he found that the earth bear's inner core was purer and contained more spiritual energy than that of the seventh-grade magical beast.

Placing the inner core in his spiritual ring, Chen Xuan briefly tidied up the cave, found a spot, and sat cross-legged. The signs of his true power loosening became more apparent after the recent battle.

Once again, he activated the Swallowing Heaven Technique. The spiritual energy of the surrounding heaven and earth surged towards Chen Xuan, and his true power circulated in his meridians repeatedly. With each cycle, his true power increased by one unit. When his dantian became saturated, it was time to break through.

His dantian felt swollen, a sign that his true power had reached its limit and could no longer be contained. Chen Xuan had read novels from his previous life where true power could be compressed. What if he compressed his true qi as well?

Chen Xuan separated a strand of divine sense and entered his dantian, observing the changes. Activating the Swallowing Heaven Technique, he extracted the true energy in his dantian and compressed it repeatedly. His true power gradually transformed from a viscous state to a solid one.

Old Li sensed Chen Xuan's actions in his mind and exclaimed, "What is this kid trying to do? He didn't break through properly, and now he's compressing his true power. Doesn't he know that the more he compresses, the harder it will be to break through later? But the power will also increase exponentially!"

When Chen Xuan stopped compressing his true power, he began preparing to break through. His true power had doubled in quality after compression, and his divine sense could sense the true energy in his dantian.

After compressing his true power, his dantian seemed more spacious. Chen Xuan took out the inner core of the earth bear that he had just killed and absorbed the spiritual energy inside. His dantian swelled again, and Chen Xuan absorbed the spiritual energy, causing his true power to surge like a raging river, flooding his meridians.

"Boom..."

A rumble echoed from within Chen Xuan's body, a sign of internal breakthrough, though it was inaudible outside. Chen Xuan's divine sense left within his body was left dizzy by the explosion.

Seventh Rank of the Innate Realm. Finally, he had reached the Seventh Rank of the Innate Realm. This rank was a milestone for cultivators. Only by breaking through before the age of twenty could one have a chance to reach the Spiritual Martial Realm. This was also the knowledge that Old Li had imparted to him – after twenty, reaching the Seventh Rank meant that one's cultivation would likely reach its peak at the Spiritual Martial Realm.