Chapter 354: Chapter 316: An Imminent Breakthrough, Just One Step Away

"Xiaotian, contact Xiaowu immediately and ask him if there’s anything unusual on his end!"

"Yes, Dad!"

Yi Xiaotian nodded hurriedly and rushed outside.

Yi Nanshan turned back to look at the Elder Celestial Master.

"If those demonic beasts are appearing inexplicably in the cities of the New District!"

"I suspect there is only one possibility!"

As he finished speaking, the Elder Celestial Master looked at him with a focused gaze.

"Are you suspecting that someone is colluding with the demonic beasts? That they opened a back door for them?"

Yi Nanshan nodded. "It’s just a suspicion. Why don’t the two of us take a trip? We can visit the various war zones. If someone did this, they’re bound to have left some clues!"

Hearing this, the Elder Celestial Master nodded slightly.

"Alright, let’s take that trip."

After they made their decision,

they walked straight out of the office, found Yi Xiaotian, and told him to be the sole Defender here for the next few days.

Yi Nanshan didn’t say what he was going to do.

In the current situation, an unexpected variable might have appeared in the New District.

Naturally, the fewer people who knew, the better.

This would avoid tipping them off and giving them time to prepare.

Yi Xiaotian personally saw them out of Four-direction City.

Only after watching the two of them leave did Yi Xiaotian return to the war zone to continue his duties as Defender.

He waited for the next wave of demonic beasts to attack.

「...」

Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Inside the Star Tempering Barrier.

More than a month had passed since Lin Yi arrived.

However, his bottleneck showed no signs of loosening.

His Qi and Blood had also stagnated, not advancing in the slightest.

But Lin Yi wasn’t worried.

On the contrary, White Tiger and Xiaoqi had both made significant gains.

Xiaoqi had already broken through to the Seven-Star Realm.

Although White Tiger was a being of Power of Heart and Mind, it looked a bit more solid than before.

If one had to assign it a realm classification,

Lin Yi estimated that White Tiger was now also at the Seven-Star Realm, just like Xiaoqi.

At this moment, he was standing outside the wooden cabin.

The sound of the rushing waterfall filled his ears, roaring like a charging army of thousands.

In the pool below the cliff, fish would leap out of the water from time to time.

Struggling upstream against the waterfall...

Failing again and again, returning to fight the current again and again.

It was as if life was endless, and so was the fight against the current.

Lin Yi found himself watching, captivated, for nearly three hours.

The fish in the pool swam upstream again and again with tenacious resilience, only to fail again and again.

But it was as if they had no fear of failure.

Instead, the more they fought, the braver they became, constantly challenging the risks of the opposing current.

Suddenly, Lin Yi made a surprising discovery.

After hours of failed attempts,

it was as if the fish had learned from their experience.

They actually formed a ladder for each other, writhing against the turbulent curtain of water.

Step by step, they built a ladder.

Just as Lin Yi was wondering about their purpose,

another fish suddenly leaped from the water, and they began to cooperate.

When that fish was about to fall, another flicked its tail, slapping it directly on its body.

This sent the falling fish a little higher.

The other fish followed suit, taking turns to boost it halfway up the waterfall.

But at this point, there were no more fish to help it reach the top.

Relying on its own strength, this fish twisted its body and plunged into the waterfall.

It struggled with all its might to swim upward.

Witnessing this scene, Lin Yi was completely stunned.

He had never imagined that these fish could cooperate in such a way.

The other fish had worked together to help one of their own swim against the current.

Unfortunately, just as it was about to succeed,

the force of the water from the cliff top grew stronger, and it ultimately couldn’t withstand the pressure.

It fell back down with the current.

Although the final result was still failure,

at least this fish had swum to a place no other fish had reached.

’Perhaps in their eyes, its failure isn’t a failure at all.’

’It’s another form of success.’

Thinking of this, Lin Yi felt as if he had been enlightened.

He hurried back into the wooden cabin and sat down cross-legged to meditate again.

Gradually, the scene before his eyes changed.

He appeared once more in the vast, boundless cosmos.

The sky was filled with incomparably brilliant starlight.

Right in front of him, seven stars radiated a dazzling light.

These stars represented his current realm.

Seven Stars Perfection, their light at its peak.

Lin Yi gazed at the stars before him, and his heart gradually found peace.

It was as if all his previous cluttered thoughts had vanished at this moment.

And in the next moment,

a spectral image of a Daoist appeared behind Lin Yi.

It was three to four times larger than Lin Yi himself.

It also sat cross-legged, its hands forming a Technique, its eyes tightly closed.

As Lin Yi began to chant,

the Daoist image seemed to be silently chanting something as well.

Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted from Lin Yi himself, instantly dimming the starlight around him.

At this moment, no star was brighter than his own light.

Even the seven stars in front of him seemed to lose their luster.

And as the Daoist chant from behind him grew clearer and more resonant,

the seven stars seemed to respond to some kind of summons.

They slowly moved toward Lin Yi.

Then, the seven stars began to revolve around Lin Yi.

They floated around him, with him at their center...

At this moment, with his eyes shut tight, even more Origin Qi surged into his body.

This Origin Qi all turned into a liquid.

It fused with his blood, constantly surging through the meridians in Lin Yi’s body.

However, for Lin Yi,

the fusion of Origin Qi and blood was one of bone-chilling cold and another of unbearable heat.

The two extreme sensations intertwined.

The pain it brought to his body was impossible to describe in words.

Gradually, Lin Yi’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.

A large patch of his back was soaked through with sweat.

Beads of sweat continuously rolled down his forehead.

But just as he was about to give in,

the Daoist chant from behind him faintly entered his ears.

Instantly, the unbearable, excruciating pain was suppressed.

Lin Yi gradually returned to a state of calm.

But shortly after the pain was suppressed, it surged back again.

The crucial part was that it didn’t become excruciating all at once.

It built up, layer by layer.

Once it reached a critical point,

the hysterical, agonizing pain made Lin Yi’s body tremble once more.

"This is the pain of tempering. Do not panic. I am here!"

Suddenly, an ethereal yet sonorous and powerful, deep voice

drifted into the depths of Lin Yi’s heart.

That’s right, it didn’t enter his ears; it drifted directly into his heart.

The moment the voice faded,

Lin Yi felt an incomparable sense of reassurance.

It was as if this voice carried an ineffable sense of security.

He didn’t know if it was just psychological,

but after that voice arrived, the pain of tempering brought on by his body

actually began to slowly subside again.

In the next moment, streams of starlight all converged on Lin Yi.

All of it landed on his body.

Waves of coolness instantly brought his body into balance.

The pain vanished once more.

It was then that a new feeling arose in Lin Yi’s heart.

’I’m just one final push away.’

’I can break through this shackle and step into a new realm.’

But as for when he could make that final push, he himself couldn’t say.

All he could do now was endure the agony of tempering and continuously assault the bottleneck.

「...」

Outside the Star Tempering Barrier.

Zhong Yan had been standing guard here for five days.

Five days ago, he had sensed a strange aura leaking from within.

He had thought Lin Yi was about to break through his shackles and step into the Star Tempering Realm.

So, he had come here directly to wait.

As it turned out, that wait had lasted five days.

But inside, everything had returned to calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

However, he didn’t leave because of this.

Instead, he chose to continue guarding the spot.

Lin Yi had already been in seclusion for over a month.

That aura also indicated that he had entered a critical period.

Although Dragon Tiger Mountain was protected by a grand formation set up by the Elder Celestial Master, making it impossible for demonic beasts to enter and cause trouble,

Zhong Yan still couldn’t rest easy.

He was determined to personally guard this place for his junior brother until he stepped into the Star Tempering Realm...

"Junior Brother Zhong, hasn’t Junior Brother Lin come out of seclusion yet?"

Just then, a middle-aged Daoist walked over.

Zhong Yan quickly looked back and stood up from the ground.

"Eldest Senior Brother, what brings you here?"

He then glanced back inside the barrier and shook his head. "How could anyone break through their shackles so quickly!"

"Didn’t the Elder Master say it? Assaulting the Star Tempering Realm is like experiencing a life-and-death calamity!"

"Not to mention the agony of tempering, which is something no ordinary person can endure!"

"Without the right destiny, it’s impossible to break through to the Star Tempering Realm!"

"Although I have faith in Junior Brother Lin, it’s only been a little over a month. It can’t be that easy!"

Zhong Yan said with a light chuckle.

Despite his words, he was filled with confidence in Lin Yi.

He also believed a breakthrough was imminent.

’It should happen in the next day or two.’

The Eldest Senior Brother nodded. "If Junior Brother Lin can truly break through, it would be a great thing for our Dragon Tiger Mountain!"

"We would have another junior brother at the Star Tempering Realm among us!"

"By the way, demonic beasts are causing chaos in Dragon Tiger City today. Your Second and Third Senior Brothers are leading teams down the mountain for Demon Hunting, and I’m worried they’re short-handed!"

"Why don’t you lead a team down the mountain tonight as well!"

"The sooner we clear out those demonic beasts, the sooner the common people can return to their normal lives!"

the Eldest Senior Brother said with a serious expression.

But Zhong Yan shook his head. "Eldest Senior Brother, I can’t go. You’ll have to find someone else!"

"Hm? Why not?"

The Eldest Senior Brother was taken aback, his brows knitting tightly together.

Zhong Yan glanced back at the barrier and said with a smile, "The Elder Master told me to guard this place and not leave it for a single step until Junior Brother Lin breaks through!"

"So, Eldest Senior Brother, you should really find someone else!"

"There are so many people at Dragon Tiger University, and so many junior disciples on Dragon Tiger Mountain. Why must you insist that I go Demon Hunting?"

After Zhong Yan finished speaking,

a trace of displeasure showed between the Eldest Senior Brother’s brows.

"How can I rest easy letting others lead the team?"

"Besides, this is Dragon Tiger Mountain. What could possibly happen if you’re not guarding it? Are the demonic beasts going to attack their way up here?"

"If you’re really that worried, I’ll stand guard for you!"

"You can continue watching over it after you get back!"

At his words, Zhong Yan scratched his head and said with a laugh, "Let’s just forget it. It’s an order from the Master. Who would dare disobey?"

"Besides, aren’t you free, Eldest Senior Brother?"

"Why don’t you just lead the team down the mountain yourself!"

"It’s all the same whether you go or I go, right? No need to draw lines between us."

"Or how about you wait? I can go down the mountain after Junior Brother Lin breaks through."

"You..."

The Eldest Senior Brother’s face darkened, clearly angry.

But if Zhong Yan truly didn’t want to go down the mountain,

there was really nothing he could do about it.

Besides, Zhong Yan’s personality had always been this way—carefree and unwilling to listen to anyone.

Except for the Elder Celestial Master.

Even he, the Eldest Senior Brother, couldn’t order him to do anything.

Seeing that Zhong Yan absolutely wouldn’t listen, he looked up at the barrier again.

Then he turned and left the way he came.

After he left, the smile on Zhong Yan’s face gradually faded.

A complex look flickered in the depths of his eyes...

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