Chương 313: Rank seven spirit realm

Long Feng nodded.

"I'll do my best." Now that he knew the use of the spirit purifying pill, he lost most of his interest in it. For others, such a pill would be very useful. But for him? His energy was so pure and refined that his combat power was multiplied to a ridiculous extent. He was able to cross an entire realm to fight opponents. Could he still purify it beyond that?

"I'll wait till I return to my pavilion before I take it. No matter how small it's effects are, it's better than nothing." He thought.

"We should focus on recuperating and cultivating for now. If we complete this mission, we can discuss more outside." Ren Hua suggested. Long Feng immediately agreed. He had learnt nearly everything he wanted to know. It was time to begin his plans. Ren Hua moved some distance away to give each of them some space. Long Feng then casually built some minor formations around him. He couldn't build anything grand to avoid drawing other's attention.

After that, he reached into his void ring and took out a single drop of liquid. It was quite small for a drop and actually appeared to be half of a drop. The drop contained an extremely sense energy. If not for the already dense natural energy around which concealed the energy of the drop, it would have drawn attention. This was the drop of profound mist dew which Long Feng had purchased in an auction back in the Yihua continent.

He had divided it into two and used half of it to help Li Yue'er advance her cultivation by two levels. Now, it was time for him to use his own half. He was trying to quickly increase his cultivation to the Imperial realm at least to gain some semblance of security. Although this half drop wouldn't be enough to achieve that, it would help him to get much closer. Staring at the translucent drop, he took a deep breath.

"I hope those earth dwellers do not wake up and pick today as the best time to attack." If that happened, he would be left defenseless. Long Feng normally wouldn't take such risks but now, he was left with no choice. Closing his eyes, he swallowed the drop. This was the best way to utilize every strand of energy without wasting anything. The drop melted in his throat and turned into a large flow of energy that rushed into his meridians.

Long Feng's meridians began to bulge slightly but didn't bend or tear under the pressure. He slowly began to control the energy to complete several rotations through his meridians. This continued for nearly a full day before he controlled it fully and deposited everything into his Dantian. Long Feng's aura began to fluctuate. The spirit cyclone in his Dantian rotated at a slightly faster speed, completely refining this new energy into part of Long Feng's cultivation.

His aura began to rise slowly to the peak of rank six spirit realm, then after stagnating for a few minutes, it rose violently, breaking past and reaching the next level, rank seven spirit realm! His aura exploded fiercely, startling the others. But the aura of a rank seven spirit realm warrior wasn't nearly enough or draw anyone's attention, so they all ignored him. That was everything Long Feng could ask for. He took out some spirit crystals and quickly absorbed their energies to stabilize his new level.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. With his solid foundation, this only took a short time. Long Feng's eyes fluttered open and he exhaled a deep breath that caused the air around him to vibrate.

"Rank seven spirit realm... my foundation is already comparable to the Imperial realm so I can make rapid breakthroughs until the Imperial realm. But after that, I'll have to slow down and stabilize my foundation after each breakthrough." He reasoned. Nevertheless, rank seven spirit realm was extremely good. It has only been a few months since he reached the spirit realm. Even in the mainland, this speed wasn't bad.

And if it wasn't for his unstable foundation after his initial breakthrough into the spirit realm, then Long Feng would've been at the peak spirit realm by now.

"I have two more levels to reach rank nine. I wonder, with my current level, can I try to use an Imperial crystal?" Long Feng wondered. No sane and ordinary spirit realm warrior would ever entertain such thoughts, but... Long Feng also wasn't ordinary. And recklessness was more or less his middle name.

"If I can absorb a single Imperial crystal, it'll be similar to absorbing a full profound mist dew. The pressure would be great but I think I can withstand it. Three Imperial crystals should push me straight to rank nine spirit realm..." Long Feng frowned and began to think it through. Honestly, it was a reckless idea. But it would enable him to very quickly reach the peak spirit realm.

After that, he could re enter the ancient sword legacy remnant, try to comprehend the sword intent and also prepare to become an Imperial. He could even consume the spirit purifying pill during his breakthrough to eliminate even the slightest flaw in his foundation.

"Is it worth the risk?" He murmured and thought for a few minutes then sighed.

"I guess it is. But not here, not now. It's not the place to take risk. After this mission, I'll try to absorb a single Imperial crystal. If I can withstand it, then I'll reach rank nine spirit realm in one move!" The peak spirit realm was an insignificant stage for the Mainland's geniuses, but it was a significant demarcating line for him, just as the peak Yang realm was.

"How great would it be if I can strengthen my body before absorbing the crystal... once I leave and receive my reward, I'll use the heaven runes to purchase some cheap body refinement treasures. My body strength has been stuck at early spirit realm... that is useless before my current strength. If my body was strong enough, say, comparable to an Imperial's body, then I will even be able to try and absorb an essence stone!" Long Feng's crazy ideas kept coming and didn't seem to want to run out.

But he couldn't help but feel that his ideas would work, or at least, there was a certain chance they would work. And as long as the chance wasn't too little, then it was worth the risk. For now, he focused on comprehending more of the heaven firmament skill as well as trying to perfect the second step of the Nine Firmament Steps.

Two days later, the earth dwellers returned. Their numbers were greater than before and they spent longer. Although they were eventually repelled, several more miners lost their lives and a rank seven Imperial actually died! That made everyone to feel as though they were sitting on pins. This was just half of the month. They still had about two weeks more before they could leave. This caused the rank six Imperials especially to feel despair.

Gui Wu nearly fled back through the tunnel they came in through, but then he heard that anyone who left without completing the mission would be killed instantly by the wardens. That caused him to turn pale and he never said a single word again. Everyone, even Long Feng were feeling threatened by these earth dwellers. Death itself didn't seem as frightening compared to the excruciating death everyone who died went through. No one wanted to go through that.

After the earth dwellers returned to their tunnel, Long Feng leaned against a rock.

"If this goes on for another half a month, then more of us will lose our lives and we might even fail the mission. The miners are already just eighteen. If they fall below ten, then we'll face severe punishments..." he frowned and thought. He never expected that a one star mission would turn out to be so challenging.

"If each mission in the outer peak's Mission hall are like this, then I really can't stay in this outer peak for long." He frowned.

"I'll need to change my plans slightly. According to Ren Hua, the inner disciple test would begin in five months..." Five months! In short, if Long Feng wanted to become an Inner disciple this year, then he had five months to become a Deity, or at least gain strength comparable to early stage deities. That was definitely a challenge. Five months sounded much, but it would pass in the blink of an eye.

"I can't let this year's tests pass by me. It would be best if I can really become an Inner peak disciple. To do that, I need to make some changes to my plan. I must reach rank nine spirit realm very soon to have any chance." He paused again.

"The earth dwellers shouldn't return in at least two days. Will two days be enough?" Long Feng shook his head.

"I need to think this through. This is a crazy risk I'm taking." His plan was to absorb an Imperial crystal here. He would try his best to reach rank nine spirit realm, then temper his body once he left. At least by next month, he should each the Imperial realm. Then he would work on his combat power instead. After all, it was literally impossible for him to reach the deity realm in four months. His only actual chance was his combat power.

If he could somehow gain deity realm combat power while at the mid Imperial realm, then it would be barely possible. Barely with a very large b.

"Damn it. If I don't take risks, then I won't ever become strong in this place. Every genius who reached the top of the Mortal, earth and even the heaven ranking must've made some really stupid and risky decisions at some point." He clenched his fists.

"I'll wait for a few more days and observe the attacks of the earth dwellers. If I can get three days before they attack again, that'd be Ace." With this thought, Long Feng returned to his comprehension. His understanding of the heaven firmament skill was rising day by day. His comprehension of the skill was astonishing. What was actually restricting him were his cultivation and his sword understanding.

He reckoned that he would need a true intent to fully utilize the heaven firmament skill; that was the sword dao level that corresponded to the Heaven Firmament Skill. As for the nine firmament steps, he was getting close to perfecting the second step. Similarly, his cultivation was slightly holding him back. Once he fully mastered it, his speed would easily be comparable to deity realm masters! And then he could begin to comprehend the third step.

Beyond the third step, the memory fragment of the Firmament Sword Saint revealed that he would need to have a superficial understanding of the legendary space Dao to stand a chance at comprehending the fourth step. Long Feng couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult that would be. He didn't need to think about it now. He would cross that bridge once he got to it. Two days later, the earth dwellers attacked.

Then surprisingly, the attacked again that very same day when everyone had let down their guards slightly, dealing them a heavy blow. Four miners died, leaving only fourteen to work. As for us cultivators, one of the earth dwellers entered Gui Wu's arm. But he reacted very quickly and chopped off his arm and watched it quickly turn into a skeleton arm while he gasped in pain. But another rank six Imperial was not as fortunate and lost his life. The disciples were thus reduced to just seven in numbers.

They didn't attack again untill two days later and killed two more miners. After that, they returned after two more days. When they repelled the earth dwellers this time, Long Feng's eyes glimmered brightly.

"They shouldn't attack in two days, maybe three... I hope." He sat down in a remote place and narrowed his eyes, hesitating briefly. Then the hesitation vanished, replaced by determination.

"Fuck everything. Let's do it."