In the Prince Zhen Dong Mansion, with its ornate railings and jade construction, pavilions and terraces, and tower upon tower, the grandeur was immense. Guards, each leading a Fierce Tiger, surveyed the surroundings, with the strict level of defense evident at a glance. In the deep of the night, atop a tower, sat a man and an eagle. The guards knew of their presence but chose to ignore it.
"Three days of arduous training, yet the increase in strength is minimal," Qin Yu inwardly sighed.
Ever since Feng Yuzi began Artifact Refining in the secret chamber, Qin Yu had started tough training on his own. Knowing that Feng Yuzi's refining would take three to five days, Qin Yu returned after three days of self-imposed rigorous training, pushing himself to the limit without regard for his life. Even with the recuperative power of the Meteor Tear, his body had made little progress.
He clearly understood that he had indeed reached his Postnatal Limit.
"Little Black, there are precedents to follow in advancing from Postnatal to Innate in Inner Power Cultivation, but what method should I use for my Outer Strength breakthrough when there are no precedents?" Qin Yu spoke to Little Black beside him. Although he was questioning Little Black, wasn't he also questioning himself?
With a gentle flap of its enormous wings, Little Black comforted Qin Yu, who looked back and felt the eagle's solace. Qin Yu laughed; it seemed Little Black knew he was in low spirits.
Suddenly, Qin Yu was taken aback.
"Learn from others, ah, that's right." His eyes suddenly brightened, and he slapped his forehead, exclaiming, "Qin Yu, you're such a fool! You can't draw from the predecessors of Outer Strength, but you can learn from the cultivators of Inner Power. It's about how they break through to reach the Innate Realm."
The words Lian Yan had once told him echoed in Qin Yu's mind—"To become a Postnatal Master is attainable with the right method of cultivation, but to become an Innate Level Expert is significantly harder. To achieve that status, two requirements must be met: one, reaching the Postnatal Great Perfection Realm, and two, gaining some insight into the Heavenly Dao."
Qin Yu murmured to himself, "Postnatal Great Perfection, my current Outer Strength cultivation can be considered as having reached Postnatal Perfection. As for gaining insight into the Heavenly Dao... that's a mystery."
What does it mean to gain insight into the Heavenly Dao? Qin Yu didn't know. This was something that couldn't be conveyed in words. If it could be taught, the Innate Experts of the Hidden Dragon Continent wouldn't be so rare and precious. Qin Yu pondered this continuously in his heart.
"Comprehending the Heavenly Dao, feeling the nature, alright, I will try to sense what this nature really is."
Suddenly, Qin Yu closed his eyes. Just like the time he first felt the Qi in his body, his entire being was in a state of emptiness, Kongming. Yet, he was not absorbing nature's spiritual energy. In this void, Qin Yu experienced the flow of the natural airs.
Quietly...
Time ticked away by the minute and second, yet Qin Yu remained still, his body motionless, his heart still...
Not listening, not smelling, not looking...
Unnoticed by Qin Yu, as he lay completely unfelt by the world, tides of nature's spiritual energy consciously converged towards him, or to be precise, towards the Meteor Tear, making Qin Yu the center of a vortex.
The sensation was wonderful, as if lying in a warm bath. Qin Yu could actually feel the surrounding spiritual energy, that intimate feeling was so endearing. As Qin Yu let go of everything, completely immersed in that wonderfully warm sensation—
At the same time, the Meteor Tear emitted a warm energy.
Unlike the past energy of a clear stream, it was a warm energy. This energy, like a gentle flow of warm water, slowly entered Qin Yu's mind. Deep in his mind, there lay a disc-like energy, surrounded by winding lightning—this in fact was the most fundamental aspect of a human—the soul!
The soul grows stronger with training, and having undergone extreme training from a young age, Qin Yu's soul was much stronger than that of an average person.
The energy flowed like water and reached the depths of his mind in a moment. As soon as his soul came into contact with this energy, it seemed to get excited and began to devour it continuously. In just a brief moment, the color of the disk deepened and it became more substantial.
Originally, the disk was somewhat intangible, but now it had clear, colorful radiance and had become slightly tangible. The lightning around the colorful disk also became stronger.
"Second brother, now that Xiang Guang has sent Zhen Xu to manage the intelligence and espionage work in the Eastern Domain Three Prefectures, our actions have become somewhat difficult. Zhen Xu also has a special group of people under him who are particularly adept at investigating. Especially as we step up our efforts, avoiding his scrutiny will be tough!"
"Big brother, don't worry. Father must have a way to deal with this matter when he went out. But this Zhen Xu, indeed, is a bit tricky—he clings to us like a plaster."
...
Qin Yu suddenly awoke.
The moment he opened his eyes, the nature's spiritual energy became the same as before, and Qin Yu could no longer feel it clearly. Meanwhile, the Meteor Tear had returned to its usual state, and that warm energy had disappeared as well, but Qin Yu himself had undergone significant changes.
Having sharp ears and clear eyes describes someone who can hear clearly and see far.
But for someone like Qin Yu, who could hear the whispers of his big brother and second brother tens of meters away and even the sound of earthworms moving in the distance as clear as day, and see the segmented wriggling of the earthworms—could he still be described with just 'sharp ears and clear eyes'?
"Big brother and second brother..." Qin Yu, for the moment, did not pay attention to this. His mind was filled with his brothers' words.
Qin Yu knew his father's plan to eradicate the Xiang Family and seize the Chu Dynasty. It now seemed that the manager of the Eastern Domain Three Prefectures' intelligence was a troublesome person.
Many thoughts flashed through Qin Yu's mind in an instant. He associated everything his brothers had said. His father's departure, the relations between the Four Major Families, the intelligence chief—all of them were clearly laid out in his mind.
"Me." Qin Yu was suddenly startled. Just now, in a flash, he had thought of so much. "Since when did my mind become so agile?"
Qin Yu finally realized the huge changes in himself. Looking around, Qin Yu was dumbfounded.
"What exactly happened just now? How have I undergone such a great change?" It took a while for Qingyu to calm down. He looked down at the Meteor Tear mark on his chest, shook his head, and then leaped down from the roof of the building.
Qin Yu's whole body flickered and shimmered, transforming into two afterimages, and he had already reached the ground.
"The feeling of the wind is several times clearer than before as well." Qin Yu felt that his movement technique had become more perfect. "Moreover, it seems that the flexibility of my body and so on has become much stronger than before."
Others might not be able to tell, but Qin Yu knew how naturally his actions were carried out and how effortless his body felt. It was as if he was strolling leisurely in a garden; he felt as though he had gone through a fundamental change.
"Could it be that I have reached the threshold from the Postnatal Limit to the Innate Realm?" Qin Yu wondered, but he was not certain because he had not yet felt the birth of Innate True Qi within his body.
Suddenly, Qin Yu's gaze turned to a courtyard in the distance. Below the courtyard was a secret chamber, the very place where Feng Yuzi forged artifacts. Just now, Qin Yu had heard the sound of the chamber's door opening.
"Has the Spiritual Artifact already been successfully refined?" Qin Yu immediately headed toward the courtyard.