Some things, however, cannot be achieved just by enduring pain and putting in efforts far greater than others; the ones whom the Heavenly Dao favors are still those with exceptional talents.
Just like at this moment with Xu Taiping.
He had attempted six times, and despite enduring the pain, he still couldn't break through.
Even Lingyue, who was beside him, couldn't help but feel some doubt—can a mortal bone truly cultivate in this cultivation world?
In her original cultivation world, it was possible for a mortal bone to cultivate with the help of medicinal pills. But now, in this cultivation continent, not only was the spiritual energy scarce, but the laws of the Heavenly Dao were also far more powerful than those in her original world.
"It looks like it's going to rain..."
Lingyue gazed at Xu Taiping, drenched in sweat, lying on the bed, then glanced at the flashing lightning outside the window, her expression growing grim.
At this moment, she even regretted, regretted giving Xu Taiping hope, regretted not meeting this child when she was at her peak.
On the contrary, Xu Taiping didn't overthink it.
The repeated failures didn't discourage him; after all, he had lived his life this way from a young age.
When he was hungry, he found his own food. When he fell, he picked himself up. When he was ill, he climbed up the mountain to gather herbs.
"The effect of the Qi Gathering Pills seems to have diminished a lot... One more time... Just one more time..."
Xu Taiping, who was now somewhat numb to the pain, said to himself in his heart, then without hesitation, he once again fully opened all his acupoints and activated the Remnant Mist Technique with all his might.
"Ugh..."
When he began to channel all his true energy to impact his small dantian, the intense pain still made him groan in agony.
At the moment when his consciousness was beginning to fade, two voices suddenly rang out in his mind:
"Even the clearest pond can only yield fish and turtles. Only the sea can nurture the dragon. Thus, the first realm of cultivation, the Opening Door Realm, is also called the Opening Door into the Sea. Do you wish to be the fish and turtle in the pond, or the dragon in the sea?"
"Taiping, hold on, fight for all the mortals with a mortal bone!"
These two voices were like the rolling thunder, constantly echoing in Xu Taiping's mind, perfectly in sync with the thunder outside the window.
"Grandfather, I... I... I won't accept this!"
Xu Taiping, who had been with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide, then roared almost like a lion defending its territory.
Lingyue, who was beside him, was startled by Xu Taiping's outburst. She thought for a moment that something had gone wrong with his true energy, and he had fallen into a demonic trance. But soon, her worried expression turned to one of astonishment.
Xu Taiping, with his eyes wide open, seemed to be looking at something, his body surrounded by the Remnant Mist True Energy, which suddenly began to spin violently, like a whirlpool pulling in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Lingyue could sense that the spiritual energy within a radius of several miles was being devoured into Xu Taiping's body.
"Using spiritual consciousness to connect with the spiritual energy of the world... This... This should be the ability that comes after comprehending the second level of the Remnant Mist Technique. But this little guy... How did he comprehend it? He hasn't even qualified to practice the second level yet!"
Lingyue's face was filled with shock.
She didn't know much about the Remnant Mist Technique, but for most cultivation methods, the second level typically taught how to use spiritual consciousness to connect with the spiritual energy of the world, exactly what Xu Taiping was doing right now.
"He hasn't been taught, but he understood it on his own... Could it be that he's relying on... instinct? Cultivation instinct? Does he possess the legendary Clear Heart Dao Heart?"
A shocking thought emerged in Lingyue's mind.
In her original cultivation world, outstanding geniuses with cultivation talents were numerous, but those with the Clear Heart Dao Heart were extremely rare, often appearing only once in several thousand years.
"To make a mortal bone possess a Clear Heart Dao Heart... The Heavenly Dao is so cruel, so sinister, so laughable!"
Lingyue couldn't help but curse in her heart.
The Clear Heart Dao Heart was an enviable talent, yes, but it was also the most likely to attract foreign demons. Especially during a breakthrough, ordinary cultivators would only attract foreign demons once they had become high-level cultivators. But for cultivators with the Clear Heart Dao Heart, foreign demons could descend even when they broke through the first realm. One wrong move could allow the demon to enter the body, leading them to fall into the demonic path, never to recover.
If Xu Taiping had spiritual bones, it might have been better. But unfortunately, he was a mortal bone, and the path of cultivation was already perilous enough. Now, with the added backlash of the Clear Heart Dao Heart, his future cultivation journey would be a nine-death one.
If she could, Lingyue would prefer Xu Taiping to be dull in cultivation, rather than having this Clear Heart Dao Heart.
"Boom!"
At this moment, the Remnant Mist True Energy surrounding Xu Taiping suddenly contracted back into his body, and a powerful ripple of pure spiritual energy spread out from him.
"Is he about to break through?"
Seeing this, Lingyue furrowed her brows.
Had it been earlier, she would have been overjoyed to see Xu Taiping breaking through. But after realizing that he might have the Clear Heart Dao Heart, she couldn't help but feel worried.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, Xu Taiping's body emitted another powerful spiritual energy wave.
Above his head, three differently colored clouds—lead, ash, and white—began to gather.
This was the sign that a cultivator was about to break through.
"There's no other choice. If it's really a foreign demon, I'll have to use the final extinction fire curse I borrowed from the Buddhist sect. At worst, I'll just sleep for a few decades."
Lingyue silently stood in front of Xu Taiping. Her delicate hands quickly formed a strange hand seal, and a terrifying light gleamed in her eyes as she gazed coldly at the thunderstorm outside the window, speaking in a chilling voice:
"I, Chu Lingyue, will protect him. Even if the Demon Lord comes, he shall not harm a hair on him."
"Boom!"
At this moment, the thunder outside and the sound of Xu Taiping's spiritual energy fluctuations merged. Then, the entire world seemed to fall into a deathly silence, with the thunder, wind, and rain all ceasing.
Xu Taiping's breakthrough to the Opening Door Realm would naturally not cause such an anomaly, but the appearance of such an anomaly could only mean one thing—foreign demons were coming.
Even the barriers of first-rate sects in her original cultivation world wouldn't be able to completely block foreign demons.
"It's really here."
Chu Lingyue smiled grimly.
"Whoo, whoo, whoo..."
A cold, eerie wind suddenly broke through the window, and a huge, pitch-black hand began to stretch into the room.
The hand seemed to be made of thick ink, and as it reached into the window, it began to swallow the light cast by the lamps inside the room.
Before foreign demons, the barrier outside Qingzhu Manor was utterly useless.