Chapter 362: Difficulty of Demonic Art!

After returning to Tianwei Academy, Ling Feng parted ways with Yue Yunlan and her servant and immediately headed back to the Tianshu East Court.

Ouyang Jing, Feng Mo, and the rest of the gang surrounded Ling Feng the moment he arrived, all wearing knowing smiles.

After all, having gone out with a beauty like Yue Yunlan, it was impossible for these guys not to feel a twinge of envy.

After being pestered by Ouyang Jing and the others for a while, Ling Feng finally managed to slip away and returned to his room. He closed the door and activated the Five Elements Heavenly Palace, directly entering the Wood Elemental Realm.

The Wood Elemental Realm was undoubtedly the gentlest and most suitable space for cultivation within the Five Elements Heavenly Palace.

Without further delay, Ling Feng prepared to refine the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit and break through to more than thirty meridian gates in one go.

Time was of the essence. Whether it was going to the demon race's sacred land or the Yan family in the Eastern Capital, he needed to become stronger to secure his place and protect himself.

After entering the Five Elements Heavenly Palace, Ling Feng sensed that the despicable donkey was searching for fire in the Fire Elemental Realm. Ignoring it, he took out the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit he had spent a fortune on.

According to the records, the primary function of the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit was to weaken the barriers of one's realm while stimulating one's potential.

Ling Feng's accumulation was so profound that he had encountered a bottleneck at twenty-five meridian gates. Neither using the Human Dao Eye to absorb the spiritual energy of the world nor enhancing his true qi with Purple Spirit Liquid had yielded any progress.

This Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit was exactly what he needed. It was a timely solution to his current predicament.

Without hesitation, Ling Feng swallowed the sacred fruit in one gulp.

The fruit melted in his mouth. It had a slightly cool taste. As the cool juice entered his body, it immediately released waves of immense energy that filled every part of him.

Energy spread throughout his body, followed by a sudden explosion of elemental qi in his dantian. Ling Feng, remaining calm, began to channel this energy using the True Art of Xuanyuan and attempted to break through.

The more meridian gates one opened, the more formidable the barriers of the realm became. Generally, breaking through from forty-nine meridian gates to fifty was considered a significant hurdle. It was known as the "heavenly barrier." This barrier was extremely difficult for any genius to overcome.

Pushing past this heavenly barrier made one outstanding; failing to do so relegated one to merely being an above-average genius, but not a monstrous prodigy.

Due to the Qi-Refining Lock, Ling Feng's true qi was compressed to the extreme, causing his barrier to appear prematurely at the twenty-fifth meridian gate.

Without the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit, Ling Feng might have spent several years without necessarily succeeding in breaking through.

If others knew that Ling Feng encountered the so-called "heavenly barrier" at just the twenty-fifth meridian gate, they would have been astonished.

In the history of the Tianbai Empire, there were a few instances of early challengers of the heavenly barrier. Those individuals had more barriers than ordinary people, but each breakthrough dramatically increased their power.

One such example was the Empire Legend, Yan Jinghong.

Rumble!

The moment the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit entered his body, Ling Feng felt the barrier of his realm crack and sensed the imminent opening of the twenty-sixth meridian gate.

Ling Feng was overjoyed. He repeatedly activated the True Art of Xuanyuan. In this situation, the difference between high-tier and low-tier martial arts became apparent. Operating the True Art of Xuanyuan, he absorbed the energy of the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit with nearly no waste.

Soon, Ling Feng completely shattered the barrier of his realm. By continuously absorbing the pure spiritual energy, the twenty-sixth meridian gate opened naturally.

Next came the twenty-seventh meridian gate!

The twenty-eighth meridian gate!

The twenty-ninth meridian gate!

...

The energy contained within the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit was truly terrifying. Quickly, Ling Feng opened thirty-two meridian gates, and then the thirty-third meridian gate also broke open with a sound. Yet, the explosive energy within his body had not been fully consumed.

However, after opening eight meridian gates in succession, Ling Feng did not rush to continue breaking through. Instead, he stored the pure spiritual energy in his dantian Qihai acupoint. He decided to stabilize his realm first and then refine the remaining energy later.

What gave Ling Feng a bit of a headache was that, after opening thirty-three meridian gates, he discovered to his surprise that his dantian space had expanded more than three times!

Ling Feng's dantian space was already much larger than that of ordinary people. The larger the dantian space, the more challenging breaking through and advancing would become.

Ancient books did not seem to mention that the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit had the effect of expanding the dantian space!

Ling Feng smiled bitterly to himself.

It seems that advancing to the Transformation Realm will be even more difficult for me.

In fact, the Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit did not have the effect of expanding the dantian space. It was just that Ling Feng had incredibly good luck. In the Wood Elemental Realm, his Dragon Blood Sacred Fruit had absorbed a large amount of wood spiritual energy. Consequently, the drop of dragon blood within the fruit, originally so scarce it could be ignored, mysteriously underwent atavism and evolved into true Sacred Dragon Blood.

Because of this drop of evolved Sacred Dragon Blood, Ling Feng's body was further refined, and his dantian space expanded threefold!

The rich wood spiritual energy in the Elemental Realm Wood Elemental Realm had a miraculous catalytic effect on all kinds of rare flowers and fruits. The entire Five Elements Heavenly Palace was incredibly mysterious, and this was just one of its many functions.

The more meridian gates one had, the greater their potential for future growth. This drop of Sacred Dragon Blood undoubtedly broadened Ling Feng's future path, increasing the upper limit of meridian gates he could open.

For Ling Feng, this was a good thing. Due to the half-step Reincarnated Sword Will, Ling Feng did not dare to advance to the Transformation Realm. Becoming stronger in the Pulse Formation Realm would naturally increase his chances of success when he eventually journeyed to the demon race's sacred land.

...

In the northern part of the empire, in Beiliang County.

Amidst a dense forest lay a barren clearing, devoid of any vegetation and strewn with mangled and shriveled corpses, each one incomplete.

At the center of the clearing, a campfire flickered that casted an eerie glow under the night sky.

Crack!

A man wearing a ghost mask crushed an ordinary mortal's skull with a single palm and viciously tossed the shriveled corpse aside.

"I failed again! Why did I fail again!?"

The masked man roared towards the sky, his voice as piercing as a wailing ghost, scaring away all the birds and beasts within a dozen miles. Even some demonic beasts cowered in their lairs and trembled.

"Why!? Why!? I possess the unparalleled

Devil's Love-Forgetting Art

, yet no matter how I cultivate, I cannot condense the Devil’s Wheel! I refuse to accept this!"

He slammed his palm into the ground, causing a series of explosive sounds. Rubble flew everywhere, and the already chaotic clearing was further riddled with charred craters.

The masked man had lost count of his failures. He had traveled from Hanwu County, targeting remote villages and seizing the lives of the living to cultivate his demonic art.

Over four months, although he had made some progress in his demonic cultivation, he still could not condense the first Devil's Wheel. He resorted to constant killing and plundering the vital energy of the living for his cultivation.

This small village on the edge of Beiliang County was just the latest in a series of massacres.

"My master bestowed upon me these divine skills, so I will definitely succeed!"

The masked man’s gaze shifted to another village in the northwest, a savage and ruthless glint in his eyes...

[1]

1. Author's note: I believe you all have already guessed the identity of the masked man without me saying much. Lin Canglang, who had been hiding for a long time, obtained the Devil's Love-Forgetting Art and retreated to the deep mountains, killing to hone his skills. He has become a ruthless demon, killing without batting an eye. ☜