Li Rou and Xue Feng Breakthrough
After returning to the dukedom, Li Ruo and Xue Bai went their separate ways, with Xue Bai going to his training field to get used to his new sword and Li Ruo going to her courtyard with an excited expression.
Xue Bai's previous sword was okay, but it was just average, being merely a low Yellow-grade sword. However, his new sword was something rather amazing.
It was a standard Jian-type sword that was about a meter long. However, what made it special was that the entire sword was smoldering red as if Xue Bai had just pulled right out of a lava pit.
The reason for the sword's molten red color was the ores that went into the process of making it.
Of all the many ores that went into its forging process, the main ore was an ore called Lava Essence Ore.
Being only found in or around active volcanoes, Lava Essence Ore was a peak Yellow-grade natural treasure found only in or around active volcanoes that any fire element cultivator dreamed of finding.
Lava Essence Ore was a specific type of ore called an amplifier. If used in the forging process of a weapon, Lava Essence Ore, depending on how much the forger used, could amplify the power of the fire element of the cultivator who used it.
And with how much Lava Essence Ore was put into Fire Breath, Xue Bai estimated that it could amplify his fire element by almost 50%!
It was an exceptionally well-forgotten weapon, and Xue Bai was overall fine with finding it.
Also, on another note, the sword was forged by Blacksmith Guo, the man that Xue Bai poached from the Stone Gambling Pavilion a few years ago. The man was now one of the best blacksmiths under Xue Feng and was thriving.
Just a few years ago, he could barely forge a high Yellow-grade weapon, but now, barely three years later, he could forge Fire Breath, a peak Yellow-grade sword that was even comparable to some low Black-grade ones.
After figuring this out, Xue Bai couldn't help but be proud of his vision.
Smiling to himself, Xue Bai entered his training field, ready to get used to his new weapon.
—
"Rou'er, why did you call me?" Xue Feng asked as he descended into his wife's courtyard.
He had just returned to the dukedom with Li Huo and Old Man Xia, but Li Ruo called him over before he could even start the extortion. It was a horrible feeling for the greedy Xue Feng to be stopped right before such a good moment.
However, it was his wife, and the message seemed to be quite urgent, so Xue Feng still hurried over even though he was annoyed.
"Look what Little Mei found." Li Ruo replied as she tossed the Spirit Cleansing Fruit over to her partner.
The toss caught Xue Feng slightly off guard, but he was still a Domain Lord realm cultivator. His reaction time was far too quick for him to miss a simple catch.
"This…?" Xue Feng instantly realized what the natural treasure in his hands was, and his face changed.
"Rou'er, you know what this means, right?" Xue Feng asked, unable to keep his cool. Excitement had already started to appear on the usually stoic face of Xue Feng, and he couldn't keep his emotions under control.
"How could I not? This fruit can help us break through into the Xiantian Great Realm. I would never joke with you about such a topic." Li Ruo snorted proudly.
The Houtian Great Realm had two parts: one that built the body, which was the 5 physical realms, and the second part was what prepared a cultivator for the Xiantian Great Realm.
The Xiantian Great Realm followed a similar path. The first part of the great realm was cultivating the soul instead of the body. The second part was also what prepared the cultivator for the Immortal Great Realm.
However, Li Ruo and Xue Feng had long completed the Houtian Great Realm and were now just one opportunity away from the Xiantian Great Realm. And this Spirit Cleansing Fruit was that opportunity.
What a Spirit Cleansing Fruit did was heal the spirit of any foreign malicious intent. It was a niche use, but it still had many possible uses that made the fruit a popular treasure.
Cultivators of the Baishen Plane most commonly used the Spirit Cleansing Fruit to remove a slave seal that was branded on a cultivator's soul or if Demonic Qi infected someone's soul.
There were other uses, but almost always, cultivators used the Spirit Cleansing Fruit for healing purposes rather than for a quick boost in cultivation base.
This was because instead of having Spiritual Qi, the Spirit Cleansing fruit contained Soul Qi. And to any cultivator under the Xiantian Great Realm, Soul Qi wouldn't do anything. As Soul Qi was meant for cultivating the soul, cultivators in the Houtian Great Realm couldn't even sense their soul, let alone cultivate it.
Also, since the Spirit Cleansing Fruit was only a peak Yellow-grade natural treasure, cultivators in the Xiantian Great couldn't use it for their own cultivation as the Soul Qi inside of it was far from enough to be worth anything.
Over the years, this left the Spirit Cleansing Fruit in an odd spot that left it both rare and undervalued.
However, over the years, cultivators realized that eating a Spirit Cleansing Fruit could assist someone in breaking through to the Xiantian Great Realm.
When a cultivator consumed a Spirit Cleansing Fruit, it did, as the name said, cleanse their spirit. Immediately after consumption, a cultivator would feel a gust of pure Soul Qi that cleansed their soul. So, as long as the consumer's spiritual sense was sharp enough, they would be able to feel where their soul was hidden from where the Soul Qi circulated.
Xue Feng and Li Ruo both had side occupations, with Xue Feng being a formation master and Li Ruo being an alchemist. Having a strong spiritual sense was a necessity for having a side occupation.
So, the two of them were confident in their chances of being able to sense their souls and break through to the Xiantian Great Realm. All they needed was a fortuitous encounter.
Knowing all of this, Xue Feng didn't hesitate any longer and sliced the Spirit Cleansing Fruit in half and threw one to his wife.
Landing next to his wife, Xue Feng sat on the ground cross-legged, ready to start his breakthrough.
"Good luck." Xue Feng said before eating his half.
Smiling, Li Rou replied, "I don't need it."
Eating her own half, Li Rou sat cross-legged next to Xue Feng and began focusing on the changes within her body.
She could feel the Soul Qi traveling through her body, searching for something. Soon enough, the aimless Soul Qi seemed to find what it was looking for, and after reaching a random location near her heart, it dispersed on the spot.
Just as Li Rou memorized the location where the Soul Qi dispersed, she felt a warm gust of energy that seemed to cleanse her very soul. It was as if she had lost a burden she didn't know bound her.
Not only did her shoulders feel lighter, but she was also released from some brain fog that seemed to shackle her from further comprehending the Fire Law she was known for.
However, Li Rou ignored the euphoric feeling and began to remember where the Soul Qi dispersed. Li Ruo needed to find where her soul was, and rather than indulging in her small gains, she had to focus on the bigger picture.
She was already at the final step. Failing now would crush her, so she needed to take every precaution she could in order to the Xiantian Great Realm.
Li Rou continued to focus deeply on the spot where she felt the Soul Qi dissipate, and very soon, she found something.
There, just where the Soul Qi last was, sat an illusory phantom curled up in a fetal position. It was small, just barely the size of Li Rou's palm, yet even at such a small size, it still managed to look exactly like her, albeit a much smaller version.
Li Rou continued to examine her soul, but just before she could send her Spiritual Sense toward her and examine her deeper, the previously shut-eyed soul opened its eyes and stared back.
And as it did, an explosion happened in Li Rou's mind. Then, like a black hole, Li Rou's dantian started to absorb all of the surrounding Spiritual Qi madly. Like a vacuum on the highest level, Li Rou's dantian began to attract and absorb all the Spiritual Qi in their courtyard.
Unable to contain it all, her dantian started to bloat up in size to the point that Li Rou feared that she would blow up. Thankfully, since it didn't seem dangerous yet, she held back from stopping the phenomenon.
She could tell that this phenomenon was actually helping her. Not only did her dantian expand, but her body also seemed to be nourished, increasing her physical strength.
The sensation of her physical body being strengthened was almost intoxicating, but it eventually began to scare her.
The feeling continued for almost an hour until Li Rou's body visibly began to grow.
Fearing for her life, Li Rou was going to stop it, but right before she was going to resort to drastic measures, the excess Spiritual Qi bloating her dantian and physical body seemed to funnel out of her now expanded dantian all on its own accord.
Then, from her dantian, the Spiritual Qi flowed into her soul, vitalizing it.
However, even after her soul absorbed all of the Spiritual Qi, it still stayed in the fetal position. Like a fetus growing in the womb, her soul looked far from ready.
After giving her a few more looks, Li Rou seemed satisfied with her advancement and opened her eyes.
She could still see Xue Feng madly absorbing Spiritual Qi to her left.
Seeing that he would still be unavailable for some time, Li Rou shifted her attention to her strength.
After eating the Spirit Cleansing Fruit, not only did Li Rou sense her soul, but she also managed to advance to the Xiantian Great Realm, skipping the half-step state completely.
Currently, Li Rou's cultivation base is in the 1st stage of the Spirit Awakening Realm. Like the others, this realm had 9–13 stages in which Li Rou had to slowly feed her Soul, Spiritual/Soul Qi until it awakened.
After that, Li Rou would have the chance to advance to the Spirit Severing Realm. But since she was only to advance to her current realm with the help of the Yggdrasil Fruit, Li Rou wasn't sure if she could go that far.
However, even advancing to the Xiantian Great Realm made Li Rou feel satisfied. Before Xue Bai found Yggradrasil, she and Xue Feng were more than fulfilled staying at the peak of the Domain Lord Realm.
Even if it wasn't the peak of strength on the Southern Continent, it was more than enough to guarantee their safety, as cultivators in the Xiantian Great Realm on the Southern Continent were few and far between. They all stayed either in seclusion all year or were the guardians of their sects, making them unable to travel the continent.
Even more so, with Li Rou and her husband's peaceful nature, the chances of someone stronger than them finding trouble with them were almost zero.
But now, in the Xiantian Great Realm, and with the chances of advancing even further, Li Rou was feeling content.
Just as Li Rou was lost in her thoughts, she sensed Xue Feng suddenly stop absorbing Spiritual Qi next to her. Spinning her head in his direction, she found him opening his eyes.
"Did you advance as well?" Xue Feng asked as he saw his wife standing up.
"Yes, but I finished a while ago. I was just testing out the difference." Li Rou bragged.
In their entire relationship, Xue Feng always had a higher cultivation base, so her having the lead for a little while made Li Rou feel smug.
Seeing her arrogant smile, Xue Feng wanted to knock her down a peg, but since he wasn't sure if he'd win in a fight, he gave up on his plan.
"Now that we've advanced, what do you want to do, Rou'er? We can go out and kill Wang Yin without even having to use Bai'er as bait now. Or should we wait as Bai'er told us?" Xue Feng asked as he stood up.
"I say both. Wang Yin deserves to die, but that's as far as we should go. The Wang Clan should make a fine sharpening stone for Bai'er. The only thing we have to make sure of is that none of the old farts of the previous generation go after Bai'er." Li Rou answered.
Xue Bai was destined to go far in his life, but no genius could reach their full potential without suitable stepping stones for them to trample along the way.
The Wang Clan was strong but not overwhelmingly so. Moreover, with Xue Feng and Li Rou behind him holding down the fort, it was more than possible for Xue Bai to accumulate power and destroy the clan slowly. All it would take was time, and with their family only getting stronger as the days passed, time was the least of their worries.
Finding her words sensible, Xue Feng agreed before he took Li Rou's hand into the bedroom to rest. Though they had broken through to the Xiantian Great Realm and were full of strength, they planned to consolidate their foundations before cultivating any further. And a quick rest would serve to help that.
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