Chapter 152: Another Breakthrough

Fang Che had lost count of how many lives he had taken, and he didn't know what final ranking he would be able to secure.

By his estimates, Fang Che felt like the total number of Generals in the domain had to have fallen to below a hundred thousand, but that was still a huge number!

If all one hundred thousand of these elite Generals were released into the world...

I have to keep going!

As he continued to fight in more and more battles, Fang Che could sense that he had already reached another bottleneck and was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Hence, he immediately began to make his way back to the bear cave from earlier.

That was a relatively safe area, and his plan was to complete his breakthrough there before worrying about anything else.

If he were to make a breakthrough out in the open, that would leave him vulnerable to enemy attacks.

As he raced covertly through the forest, the Golden Horn Flood Dragon was scouting for him up ahead.

All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out up ahead, and two figures came plummeting down from a cliff, still locked in a fierce clash even as they descended from above.

Fang Che was just about to rush in and pick up a couple of easy kills when one of the two combatants was sliced into two by their assailant.

Fang Che immediately ducked for cover with a look of lingering fear in his eyes.

The final attack that had ended the battle was extremely fearsome, and Fang Che could tell that he would be no match for the one that had unleashed it.

Who's that?

From his hiding spot, Fang Che could see that it was a black-robed man.

Fang Che committed the man's appearance to memory, making a mental note to avoid him in the future.

After being informed by the Golden Horn Flood Dragon that the black-robed man was long gone, Fang Che finally came out of hiding and continued on his way.

He was only two mountains away from the bear cave, but he would have to pass through an open grassland to get there.

He sent out the Golden Horn Flood Dragon to do some scouting, and it gave him the all clear, but he still proceeded with a great deal of caution, soaring high over the grassland like a giant bird so he would have time to react if he came under any attacks from the tall grass below.

All of a sudden, a streak of swordlight erupted out of the tall grass, hurtling directly toward Fang Che.

A white-robed figure then flew up into the sky behind the streak of swordlight.

"I've got you now, you thief!"

It was none other than Yan Beihan.

Fang Che hurriedly hurriedly parried the attack with his sword, using the impact of the clash to help himself accelerate through the air.

In the blink of an eye, Fang Che disappeared over the nearby mountain, wiping some cold sweat from his forehead as he went.

Thankfully, he had taken some precautions even though the Golden Horn Flood Dragon had given him the all clear. Otherwise, he would've truly been in some trouble.

Around twenty figures emerged in unison from the tall grass below, pelting a barrage of hidden weapons that Fang Che was only just barely able to evade by the skin of his teeth.

Yan Beihan descended onto the ground with a cold look in her eyes.

Not only Fang Che used the force of their clash to propel himself through the air, he had also exerted downward force with his sword to ensure that she wouldn't be able to remain aloft and pursue him.

Now that she had been forced back down to the ground, there was no way she would be able to catch him.

"His cultivation base has gone up yet again!" she exclaimed, and everyone was very surprised to hear this.

Yan Beihan and her lackeys had been tirelessly pursuing Fang Che, so they had already clashed on five occasions.

Every single time, Fang Che was able to preemptively sense the impending peril and get away by the skin of his teeth.

Furthermore, Yan Beihan had discovered that his cultivation base had been progressing with each passing encounter, indicating a terrifying rate of progress, and that only made her more determined to hunt him down and eliminate him.

"He must be going somewhere to make a breakthrough!" she deduced. "After he completes his breakthrough, he'll most likely come out from one of these three directions."

She pointed in three directions one after another as she spoke.

"Let's split up into three groups to intercept him. If you run into him, make sure he doesn't get away, and send out the signal for reinforcements. It hasn't been long since he ate the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, so some of its medicinal power must still be left in his body right now."

A hint of disgust appeared on Yan Beihan's face as she continued, "I'm not going to do it, but after we kill him, all of you can eat his body if you wish. The residual medicinal power of the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit should be able to provide some benefits."

The eyes of her twenty or so lackeys instantly lit up upon hearing this.

They were all aware that the medicinal power of the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit could linger in the consumer's body for a long time, so at the very least, there had to still have been at least half of it left in Fang Che's body.

If they could capture him and eat his remains, then that would undoubtedly benefit them immensely.

With that in mind, they were even more motivated to hunt Fang Che down, and they quickly split themselves up into three groups to preemptively intercept him.

Meanwhile, Yan Beihan was staring off into the distance with a contemplative look in her eyes.

He's from the One Heart Church? Since when was there a prodigy of his caliber in the One Heart Church? Should I kill him or try to keep him?

Even though Yan Beihan had instructed her lackeys to capture and kill Fang Che, she knew that he was far too slippery for them to capture without her help.

In fact, even with her help, their chances of capturing him were still not very optimistic.

If any other ninth-rank General had been the target of the ambush, they would've surely met their demise, yet Fang Che had managed to get away unscathed.

If I can get him to join me, he'll definitely be a powerful ally in the future.

All of a sudden, Yan Beihan vanished from the spot, as if she had disintegrated into thin air.

Meanwhile, Fang Che returned to the bear cave, and he was immediately astonished by what he saw.

Is this still the same cave from before? It's so clean!

The cave no longer reeked in the slightest, and even the dirt on the walls had been removed.

Some fragrant straw had been placed over the floor of the cave, filling it with a pleasant aroma.

If it weren't for the presence of the black bear in the cave, Fang Che would've fallen under the impression that the cave had been taken over by a human, and a woman, at that!

The black bear's eyes instantly began glowing with excitement at the sight of Fang Che, and it immediately moved aside to vacate the most comfortable spot in the cave.

After that, it laid down on its back, completely revealing its belly to Fang Che in a display of complete vulnerability.

To Fang Che's dismay, it was a female bear, and in its current pose, it was as if it were getting ready for...

Fang Che shuddered in disgust as he quickly cast that train of thought out of his mind, then sat down with his eyes closed so he wouldn't have to look at the bear.

After that, he channeled his Boundless Sutra and began taking in spirit qi.

Strangely enough, Fang Che had perpetually been stuck between the elementary stage and the first stage of the Boundless Sutra this entire time.

He had progressed from the Warrior Disciple tier all the way to the General tier, yet he still hadn't made any progress in the cultivation art, and he didn't even know how many stages there were in total.

It's not just a single-stage cultivation art, is it? Why is it that I don't even feel like I'm close to a bottleneck after all this time? If there are multiple stages, how long is gonna take for me to make a breakthrough?

Waves of spirit qi were already surging into his body while also sweeping through the entire cave, as well as the black bear.

Here it comes!

The bear was so excited that its entire body was trembling, but it didn't dare to make a sound.

It stuck a paw into its own mouth to stifle its moans of pleasure and completely relaxed its body from head to paw as it basked in the waves of spirit qi.

Waves of intensifying pleasure were sweeping over its body, and its eyes quickly became glazed over.

That feels so good! Give me more!

Fang Che continued to absorb more spirit qi, and out of curiosity, he opened his eyes for a moment to take a glance at the black bear, only to immediately close them again in disgust.

WTF! That's disgusting! Thank heavens there's no one else here. Otherwise, they'd think I was doing something to that bear!

The waves of spirit qi came strong and fast, and more and more spirit power was accumulating in Fang Che's body, while countless impurities were being expelled.

More and more pure spirit power was flowing into his dantian, and he could see the spirit qi in his dantian going from an insubstantial gaseous state into a dense mist form.

His spirit qi was being elevated on a fundamental level!

Fang Che remained calm as he continued to cultivate, and all of a sudden, a sense of enlightenment welled up in his heart.

What's going to happen after this spirit qi condenses into mist? It has to liquefy, right? Will it solidify after that? What comes after the solid state? Will landmarks like mountains, rivers, and valleys begin to take shape in my dantian, while a star soul begins to manifest itself where the spirit qi is densest? If the human body is likened to a universe, will that be the birth of the first star? Is this star aura?

As soon as these thoughts sprang into his mind, he immediately felt a series of drastic changes taking place within his consciousness. His spirit sense began wreaking havoc like devastating typhoon winds blowing over a boundless sea, and he could feel his own consciousness expanding appreciably.

At the same time, the spirit power in his dantian was also quivering, and he had fallen into an extremely profound state of being, one of enlightenment and evolution.

It was as if his soul had soared up into the heavens, allowing it to see and understand the entire world from the vantage point of an omniscient deity.

Outside the cave, all of the spirit qi in the environment was converging toward Fang Che in a frenzy.