First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 247 - Entering the Grandmaster Realm

Before coming to Bloodthistle Yao Mountain, Su Yi had only tempered about a tenth of his true essence into Dao Astral Force.

Yet now, he’d fully converted all of his true essence. This was what they meant by “Astral Manifestation.”

“I can finally begin my Inner Furnace Realm Cultivation….” As he pondered, Su Yi didn’t hesitate to take out the two Pure Yang Fire Peaches he’d kept in storage all this time. 

This was a tier-four spiritual medicine, and it contained abundant pure yang, fire elemental essence. It was extremely beneficial while establishing your foundations in the Inner Furnace Realm.

After swallowing both peaches, Su Yi felt a searing current course through his entire body.

He then immediately circulated the Pine and Crane Body Refining Technique according to its chapter on the Inner Furnace Realm, sat down, and started meditating. 

In the Inner Furnace Realm, cultivators tempered the five major organs: the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Each organ—or set of organs—was like a furnace, hence the name “the Inner Furnace Realm.”

Cultivated to the highest level, each organ became as mighty as a furnace, and a cultivator could digest even metal and stone. 

Different cultivation techniques started the first level of the Inner Furnace Realm from different organs. 

Take the Pine and Crane Body Refining Art. It started with the heart, and the heart was of the fire element. 

When the blood and heart were strong, they were like a blazing furnace that nourished the flesh and quenched the spirit. 

If Su Yi wanted to far surpass his past self at the same realm, he had to refine the five spiritual aggregates!

“Refining the five spiritual aggregates” referred to producing five types of spiritual Dao light within the organs.

Wood’s light was green, and it arose within the furnace of the liver. 

Metal’s light was golden, and it was nourished within the lungs. 

And so on and so forth. 

The five organs were like furnaces, and they gave rise to five spiritual aggregates. When all five came together, they formed a perfect, complete power. This was the ultimate secret of the five levels of the Grandmaster Realm. 

According to Su Yi’s observations, in the mundane nation of the Great Zhou, even those as strong as Ning Sihua and Mu Xi hadn’t perfected their five spiritual aggregates. 

Even in his past life in the Nine Provinces in the Wilds, those who realized all five were, without exception, peerless geniuses, the likes you might not see even once in a million years!

Ordinarily speaking, only peak-level old monsters had any hope of raising such peerless experts. 

Of course, even then, they only had “hope.” 

Back in the day, Su Yi had nine inheriting disciples, but of them, only three had achieved the five spiritual aggregates. 

One was his eldest disciple, Pi Mo. The others were his fifth disciple, Wang Qiu, and his youngest disciple, Qing Tang. 

However, even then, there were differences in quality.

When Qing Tang’s five spiritual aggregates lit up, their Dao Light stretched a thousand feet into the sky, like a dazzlingly radiant, five-colored rainbow. 

She was unquestionably a step above Pi Mo, whose Dao light only reached eight hundred feet, or Wang Qiu, whose only reached six hundred.

In his new life, Su Yi had already achieved full spiritual awakening of the acupoints. He’d opened his Hidden Meridian, and he’d achieved Dao Astral Force. All three were rare, making his foundations unprecedentedly firm. This was sufficient to enable him to achieve even mightier spiritual aggregates in the Inner Furnace Realm!

But then, it was still too easy to talk about all that. After all, he’d only just barely stepped through the threshold of the Inner Furnace Realm.

Whoosh~~

Blood and Qi surged through Su Yi like a tidal wave. His energy seemed like it was boiling, and his entire body was bathed in the radiant luster of his true essence.

And his heart was blazing with a subtle and miraculous rhythm, as if it were a furnace. It boomed like a windstorm, surging and power. There was already a subtle hint of spiritual radiance shrouding his heart. 

Half a day later, Su Yi silently opened his eyes. Suddenly, a streak of fiery-red light shot from him, soaring directly into the skies.

In an instant, it traveled over a thousand feet!

But almost immediately afterward, it disappeared.

“I only just crossed the threshold of the Inner Furnace Realm and begun tempering my heart, but I’ve already produced Dao capable of stretching over one thousand feet. If I continue cultivating, it’s sure to grow even stranger!” A hint of satisfaction tugged at Su Yi’s lips.

The Inner Furnace Realm was also called the Grandmaster Realm. In the world of the mundane, this was sufficient to make you a dragon-like existence. 

At the pinnacle of this realm, you could slay enemies from afar and walk in mid-air, at least for a little while. Your qi and blood no longer feared water or fire, and you could cover a thousand feet in a single bound!

And those who realized the five spiritual aggregates could use martial arts to control the spiritual and force to manifest technique!

In other words, they could use their Inner Furnace Realm cultivations to direct the spiritual energy and trends of heaven and earth to manifest seemingly magical powers!

Not long ago, Ning Sihua displayed power of that level while sparring with Su Yi. 

But although Ning Sihua was strong, she hadn’t truly refined spiritual Dao light in all five major organs. 

According to Su Yi’s deductions, this woman of mysterious origins had tempered two types of Dao light, not five. 

Even so, that was already shocking. After all, this was a mundane world.

Su Yi calmed himself to sense the chances to his body and energy, then rose. He was now a true Grandmaster, one worthy of the name!

With a flip of his hand, the soul jade appeared in his palm. He glanced up at the hovering vortex. Inwardly, he thought it was quite the pity.

He’d planned to help Qing Wan uncover the mystery of her origins during this expedition. 

But now, it seemed that would be difficult to achieve.

If nothing else, he’d already roughly deduced that the soul jade came from the world on the other side of the spatial barrier!

In other words, it was highly likely that Qing Wan wasn’t from the Azure Continent!

“Given the patterns and marks emblazoned on this piece of jade, you could indeed call upon various secret methods to send it across the spatial barrier. Alas, the soul jade’s power has been completely expended, and it's no longer possible to discern its mysteries….” Su Yi thought for a while, then put the jade away. He turned to leave this underground world.

Once Chen Zheng refined the soul power sealed in his mental sea, he might obtain some knowledge about the world on the other side from its memories. 

When the time came, he’d naturally obtain some new leads in regard to Qing Wan’s origins.

…..

Meanwhile, above ground.

“It’s already been two days. Why hasn’t Young Lord Su returned yet? Don’t tell me something’s happened to him?” Chen Zheng was a bit worried.

“If something did happen, I’m afraid it wouldn’t do any good even if we rushed to his aid.” Ning Sihua chuckled.

She was undoubtedly the calmest one here.

“Now that I think about it, all of us came here in search of fortune. Who’d have thought we’d encounter such an unforeseeable disaster? Fortune truly does play tricks on us all.” The Grand Elder of Starcliff Academy, Pu Yi, sighed.

Shen Jiusong, Jiang Tanyun, and Lu Zhangfeng recalled what had happened two days ago. They couldn’t help but sigh as well. 

He was right. Who would have guessed that the strange phenomena occurring around Bloodthistle Yao Mountain were connected to cultivators from another world?

And the Deathbringer’s Gate had undoubtedly known all this for a long time!

To the point that they were already preparing to welcome this terrifying existence from another realm. 

Fortunately, Su Yi had foiled their plans. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

“The Azure Continent is so spiritually barren. Why would these true cultivators even want to cross over? What in this world could possibly be worth them plotting over?” Mu Xi muttered to himself. He really didn’t get it. 

“Even just the Great Zhou’s Eight Great Yao Mountains hide deep secrets. If you search the entire continent, with its hundred-plus nations, I’m sure there’s no shortage of places hiding comparable mysteries,” Ning Sihua pondered out loud. “As of today, all we know for sure is that Bloodthistle Yao Mountain hides a sealed spatial barrier, but that doesn’t mean that the other Yao Mountains don’t have them.”

Everyone was instantly solemn.

“I’m more curious to know the secrets behind just who placed these one hundred and eight altars and why they decided to seal away the spatial barrier down in the chasm in the first place….” muttered Mu Xi. 

Shen Jiusong and the others heard their conversation, and despite themselves, their hearts sank.

In the world of the mundane, which of them wasn’t a towering expert, someone who stood at the very pinnacle of society? Who among them didn’t have dominion over their respective territories and vast, far-reaching authority?

Yet now that they understood the secrets of this place and realized how terrifying true cultivators were, they felt more paltry and insignificant than ever before. 

Grandmasters were like dragons? 

They feared that only the common folk of the mundane world would praise them so highly. 

In the eyes of true cultivators, the so-called “Grandmaster Realm” was merely the third stage of the Martial Dao, the Inner Furnace Realm!

True cultivators could subsist on wind and dew, abstaining from food. They could ride the clouds and produce thunderclaps with a shout.

That was what it meant to be like an immortal or deity.

Even the experts the ordinary people lauded as Earthly Immortals were really just those who’d stepped over the threshold. They’d stepped onto the path of the true cultivator, yes.

But…

They’d only just barely gotten started!

Now that they were truly starting to understand some of the secrets of cultivation, these extraordinary figures of the mundane world felt rather depressed. How could they not be? 

They’d thought themselves lofty as heavenly dragons, yet in reality, they were just a bunch of small-fries who’d yet to even join the ranks of true cultivators….

Fortunately, I already received guidance from Palace Master Ning and know how to seize this opportunity to create a connection with a true cultivator! In stark contrast with the others, Shen Jiusong inwardly rejoiced.  

“In regards to the mysteries hiding here, Fellow Daoist Su undoubtedly knows far more than we do. With the methods at his disposal, I’m sure he’ll have a way to resolve this,” said Ning Sihua. Her tone was casual yet full of confidence in Su Yi.

Mu Xi was briefly stunned. Then, he nodded. “You’re right. He even said he was eager for cultivators from another world to cross over. He said that that way, he could harvest a whole bunch of prey at once….”

When he said that last part, his expression was strange.

Earlier, in the world at the bottom of the chasm, when Mu Xi heard Su Yi’s disdainful remarks about how the cultivators from another world were nothing but resources to him, Mu Xi thought it incomparably absurd. He even thought Su Yi was full of hot air. 

But now, Mu Xi had no choice but to admit it: Su Yi had used his actions to effectively slap him in the face.

That cultivator from another world, the one who’d possessed Chen Zheng? Su Yi had effortlessly sealed and suppressed him!

When they heard Mu Xi’s words, Pu Yi and the others’ expressions shifted, and all of them sighed to themselves.

They feared that, in this world, only someone like Su Yi, someone you couldn’t gauge with common sense, would dare attempt such a thing…

Who else would dare look down on cultivators from another world, experts capable of crossing dimensions? 

Chen Zheng took it a step further, saying, “Were I any younger, I’d cast aside all other considerations and beg Young Lord Su to accept me as his disciple. That way, I might have walked the path of the true cultivator right from the beginning. I wouldn’t be stuck in the Martial Dao even now….” 

Even casual remarks could reveal much to an attentive listener.

When they heard Chen Zheng’s words, Pu Yi and Jiang Tanyun’s hearts stirred.