Chapter 361 - 191: Breakthrough

"I heard it from the people at Four Seas Tower! Over in the Western Realm, the Great Yan Kingdom’s army is massing on the border again. Looks like another war is about to break out! And in the north, those rebels from the True Mother Sect are getting more and more out of control. I heard... even Jiangzhou has fallen!"

"What?! Jiangzhou has fallen? But that’s the nation’s breadbasket!"

"Exactly! That’s why the Court is under immense pressure. I heard His Majesty has already issued an imperial decree. He’s going to select talented youths under the age of forty from every prefecture in the Great Chu Dynasty and send them to the Three Top Sects for special training!"

"And after the training, they’ll pick the most elite among them to form a special unit that answers only to His Majesty. It’s called... the Celestial Strategy Guard!"

As soon as this news broke, the entire dining hall erupted.

"The Three Top Sects?! Are you talking about... Myriad Phenomena Dao Sect, Haotian Sword Sect, and Prajna Zen Sect?"

"Gods! Is this for real? Those are the legendary Supreme Sects! How could they just accept anyone?"

"Right! You’ve got to be kidding! Our Taiyuan Sect, Profound Sound Sect, and Cangyun Sect here in Cangzhou Prefecture might sound impressive, but compared to the Three Top Sects, they’re like country squires meeting the Emperor. They don’t even register!"

A knowledgeable-looking Inner Sect Disciple lowered his voice and began to enlighten the eager junior disciples around him:

"Those Three Top Sects are on a whole other level! Their Sect’s Techniques are all supreme manuals that lead directly to the Great Dao of True Mastery! As for our Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique, even at its absolute peak, it only reaches the Seventh Layer of the True Master Realm! We’re worlds apart!"

"And have you heard of Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands? It’s said that only by practicing Cultivation in those places, by absorbing the world’s primordial Spiritual Mechanism, can one break the shackles of the True Master Realm and glimpse the secrets of True Mastery! And places like that? In the entire Great Chu Dynasty, only the Three Top Sects possess them!"

"I heard that if you take any random Inner Sect Disciple from one of the Three Top Sects and drop them in our Cangzhou Prefecture, they’d be able to go toe-to-toe with the prodigies on the Hidden Dragon List! And that’s not even mentioning their True Disciples! Those people are practically living Immortals!"

"So... this news is probably too good to be true, right? How could an opportunity like this ever fall to us?"

For a time, the entire Martial World of Cangzhou Prefecture was abuzz with discussion.

Some scoffed, dismissing it as baseless nonsense concocted by storytellers to draw a crowd.

But many more felt their hearts burn with excitement, clinging to a faint yet fiercely burning hope as they desperately tried to verify the rumor.

After all, this was... the Three Top Sects!

To all Martial Artists, they were akin to sacred grounds!

If this opportunity was real, it would be a chance to ascend to the heavens in a single leap, for a carp to leap the dragon gate!

...

While the outside world was in an uproar over the Celestial Strategy Guard rumors, with treacherous undercurrents swirling beneath the surface.

None of this turmoil had anything to do with Jiang Che, who had once again entered a state of deep seclusion.

Within the Level A Cultivation Room, thick Spiritual Mist hung in the dead silent air.

Jiang Che sat cross-legged on a cushion with his eyes shut tight. His presence had completely merged with his surroundings, faint and almost non-existent, yet unfathomably deep.

His consciousness had long since sunk into the esoteric realm of Refining Spirit.

After breaking through the Peak of the Refining Organ Realm, his Strength had reached its limit.

Further accumulation of Strength was meaningless.

To continue on the path forward, he had to break through the Twelve Major Acupoints hidden deep within the body!

But for any Martial Artist, this was a life-or-death chasm to cross.

Each acupoint was as if bound by indestructible shackles forged by the gods.

Opening them required not only an immense amount of patient, grinding effort but also tremendous luck and Comprehension!

Even a common genius could spend years of effort and count themselves lucky to open a single acupoint or two, a feat worthy of pride.

Those with lesser talent might be stuck before the very first acupoint for their entire lives, ultimately passing away in quiet despair as their lifespan ran out.

However, for Jiang Che, this path, fraught with thorns and fog for others, was a wide, smooth highway personally paved for him by True Master Bai Yi!

Using Introspection, he looked within himself. In his Sea of Consciousness, the vast inherited enlightenment from True Master Bai Yi shone like the brightest constellations in the night sky, guiding his path.

How to focus his Divine Thought? How to channel his Strength? How to find the weakest point of an acupoint’s barrier? How to handle the backlash and Heart Demons that arose when breaking through?

For every step, every detail, and every possible danger, True Master Bai Yi had left him the most detailed and perfect "walkthrough"!

All he had to do... was follow the guide.

With a mere thought, Jiang Che’s Divine Thought—now considerably stronger—acted like a nimble shepherd. It easily herded a torrent of highly condensed Strength from the vast ocean of it within his body.

Then, under his precise control, this torrent of Strength transformed into an invisible and incomparably sharp Divine Thought Drill. It followed a meridian path that True Master Bai Yi had verified countless times to be the safest and most efficient, hurtling violently toward the second major acupoint—

The Shencang Acupoint, located in the center of his chest!

BOOM!

A dull roar that seemed to echo from the depths of his very soul!

The solid barrier, which would take other Martial Artists months or even years of constant effort to wear down, shattered in less than half a month under Jiang Che’s well-prepared and precise assault!

The second acupoint, breached!

A purer, more immense energy flowed back out of the Shencang Acupoint, instantly suffusing his entire body and greatly nourishing and strengthening his Divine Soul and physical form once more!

He didn’t pause for a moment.

The third acupoint, the Lingxu Acupoint!

The fourth acupoint, the Tianji Acupoint!

...

Over the next three months, Jiang Che was like a tireless pioneer. At a terrifying speed that would drive all other prodigies in the world to despair, he broke through one indestructible acupoint barrier after another!

A path that others might spend decades on and never complete.

He finished it in a mere three months!

When he successfully broke through the seventh acupoint—the Mingmen Acupoint, located on his spine at the small of his back—he could clearly feel his Divine Thought ascend to an entirely new level!

Now, without even consciously using Introspection, he could clearly "see" the circulation in every inch of his meridians and every wisp of his Strength!

He could even perceive the slightest disturbance in his surroundings with his Divine Thought!

Furthermore.

Although he no longer needed to accumulate Qi Blood.

He continued to constantly practice and then dissipate his skills in order to strengthen his major Talents.

As a result, the Passive Effects of his core Talents all improved to varying degrees during this time.

What he did find slightly regrettable, however, was that neither his Twentyfold Strike nor his Shadow Escape...

...these powerful Active Skills, had shown any signs of further evolution.

Jiang Che knew why.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking at the mountain of Qi Blood Realm Martial Arts Secret Manuals before him—their contents already etched into his memory—and couldn’t help but let out a frustrated sigh.

All the Qi Blood Realm Martial Arts within the Cangyun Sect’s Scripture Pavilion that he was able to redeem...

He had almost... learned them all!