After successfully refining the "Youyue Water Essence," Ling Feng felt that the True Qi within his Qi Sea had reached its limit. It was time to swallow that "Meridian Passage and Qi Transformation Pill" and advance to the Magnetic Condensation Realm in one fell swoop!
Taking a deep breath, Ling Feng double-checked that there were no dangers around before excitedly popping the Meridian Passage and Qi Transformation Pill into his mouth.
A whiff of Elixir Fragrance was refreshing to the heart and spleen. Ling Feng opened his mouth and swallowed the Meridian Passage and Qi Transformation Pill.
It was sweet upon entry, gliding down his throat and directly into his abdomen.
Then, a warm current instantly spread throughout his body, a surging strength filling every part of him and flowing towards his limbs and bones.
The next moment, Ling Feng sharply inhaled a breath of cold air because the power within him had started to become violent, madly assaulting his veins.
The blood in his body seemed to be flowing backward, and his veins swelled as if they were about to burst open.
What Ling Feng didn’t know was that advancing from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Magnetic Condensation Realm was akin to a complete transformation. With his Chaos Physique, which was arguably the most tenacious in the world, to let the True Qi flow through his entire body and open up meridian gates, he had to "break and then stand," and naturally, this would be painful.
Before long, beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down Ling Feng’s forehead, and he bit down hard on his teeth.
He was a man who had clawed his way back from the brink of death; his temperament was a hundred, a thousand times more resilient than the average person!
His fists were clenched tightly, veins bulging on his arms as he allowed the excruciating pain to wreak havoc inside him without so much as a peep.
The process of refining the power of the Meridian Passage and Qi Transformation Pill took longer than Ling Feng had anticipated.
Veins were bulging on Ling Feng’s forehead, twisting across his fair and handsome face, making him look fierce and terrifying. The immense pain made Ling Feng, despite his strong will, tremble violently all over.
As time slowly ticked by, the pain Ling Feng endured grew more and more severe. Yet, his desire for strength and his commitment to reaching the peak of Martial Arts allowed him to endure this raw pain, and he hadn’t even whispered a single "hmm" until now.
Dawn was gradually breaking, the morning light subtle and soft, with a pale glow already appearing on the eastern horizon.
A whole night, an entire night had passed, and at this moment, Ling Feng was covered in blood. Droplets of blood seeped from his pores, staining him as if he were a bloodied figure.
"Break and then stand?"
Ling Feng clenched his fist, his voice trembling slightly, "Now is the time to make the leap!"
At this moment, Ling Feng was at a critical hair-trigger point, with an incredibly violent force rampaging through his limbs and bones.
The so-called Pulse Condensation was to open meridian gates within the body. These meridian gates, unlike the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, were like the Dantian, in that they could be used to store True Qi.
The more meridian gates one had, the greater the explosive power and endurance during combat would naturally be.
The Magnetic Condensation Realm can be divided into four stages: Open Vein, Linked Veins, Meridian Passage, and Magnetic Passage.
Open Vein (Early Stage of Pulse Condensation): one to three meridian gates; Linked Veins (Mid Stage of Pulse Condensation): four to six meridian gates; Meridian Passage (Late Stage of Pulse Condensation): seven to nine meridian gates; Magnetic Passage (Peak of Pulse Condensation): ten or more meridian gates.
After reaching the Meridian Passage Realm, the distinction between talent and mediocrity gradually became apparent.
Most martial artists only needed to open ten meridians to attempt a breakthrough to the next level, the Origin Transformation Realm. However, true talents could often open twenty, thirty, or even more meridians.
Legend even had it that some extraordinary evil beings could open as many as seventy-some meridians, use them to form a vein array, and could stand their ground against strong opponents of the Origin Transformation Realm.
For example, Jing Wuxue, who was known as the top expert of the Inner Sect of the Wenxian Sect, had reached the Peak of Pulse Condensation Realm but had only opened up a mere eleven meridians, making him a rather ordinary martial artist at this peak. His talent was only considered moderate compared to the level of the Wenxian Sect, which was why he was rejected by the Heavenly Position Academy.
"Qi Condensation Realm, break for me!"
Ling Feng’s eyes were bloodshot, nearly dripping with blood, yet those eyes were filled with an unwavering determination.
As Ling Feng shouted out, the blood in his eyes faded away like the tide, and his eyes regained their clarity in a flash.
Simultaneously, a soft chant emitted from within his body, resembling the roar of dragons and tigers, piercing through to the Nine Heavens.
A robust and pure energy, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, converged towards his Qi Sea Elixir Field, where strands of pure True Qi spiraled and swirled around the Dantian.
On Ling Feng’s left and right shoulders, a red and a blue light ball-like whirl appeared, each the size of a pebble—these were the meridians.
Due to his accumulated strength being released in a burst, Ling Feng had opened two meridians immediately upon his advancement. Clearly, these two meridians stored Water Attribute True Energy and Fire Attribute True Energy, respectively, within the Dantian.
Gently clenching his fist, a sense of unprecedented power surged through him.
"Is this the strength of the Pulse Condensation Realm? If Jing Wuxue were standing before me now, I wouldn’t need to use any martial techniques; a single punch could take his life without leaving a place for his burial!" Ling Feng exhaled a murky breath slowly, his mouth curving into a smile.
As if something had awakened within, a fine tremor echoed in his mind.
Then, Ling Feng felt his left eye becoming exceptionally hot, as though with the breakthrough of the realm, the Second Divine Pattern of the Human Dao Eye was about to form.
Clenching his teeth, Ling Feng sat cross-legged and quickly began to practice the magic of the "Chaos Heavenly Emperor Technique," gathering the Six Aura within to condense the Second Divine Pattern.
Everything fell into place naturally. Before long, a second mysterious Engraving solidified in Ling Feng’s left eye, marking his Human Dao Second Divine Pattern.
"I wonder what power the Second Divine Pattern of the Human Dao Eye holds?"
No sooner had the thought arisen than he heard a soft chant. Ling Feng felt the space before him warp, and with a flicker of dim light, a three-foot-long sword slowly emerged from the void, hovering in front of Ling Feng, buzzing and trembling.
Ling Feng paused for a moment, seemingly called by the long sword, and couldn’t help but reach out to grasp it.
The moment his palm grasped the sword hilt, a sense of blood connection spontaneously arose, as if the sword had always belonged to him.
He held the long sword and gently waved it a few times, then could not bring himself to let go.
The long sword was unsharpened, simple and unadorned, at first glance resembling a black iron rod, utterly crude, and even had several cracks on its blade, as if it would completely shatter at the slightest touch.
Yet it was such a sword that Ling Feng couldn’t put down, as if he had met an old friend after many years.
As Ling Feng held the sword, a torrent of vast information surged into his mind. The next moment, as if possessed, he murmured: "This sword is named, ’Ten Directions Annihilation’!"