Chương 78: Breaking through

"Remember, the sword is an extension of your will. There really isn't a difference between a sword forged of precious metal, or a stick you pick from the ground. What really matters is how you swing your sword, the weight behind it, the intent, the goal that you wish to-, no, that you will achieve," Tianhu instructed his two daughters carefully. Shu Yang stood a bit away, watching.

It had been a few days since Shu Yang revealed the twins' talent, and Tianhu had discussed it with his wife, Xiaoshi, and decided they should start instructing them early so as not to waste their talent.

"I know, Dad," Xinxi said, nodding, "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

"I never said anything about being careful," Tianhu said with a small frown.

"We don't need to be careful?" Xinjiang asked, confused.

"Of course you do," Tianhu said.

"Oh, then…when are you giving us our swords?" Xinjiang asked. Shu Yang rubbed his forehead as he watched the scene. He turned to Xiaoshi, who was watching next to him.

"Are you sure it's not better to wait a few years?" Shu Yang asked. Xiaoshi seemed a little hesitant, but still answered, "Since when is raising children easy? We can't give up just because it doesn't always go as smoothly as we wish."

"I suppose you're right," Shu Yang admitted. He looked over at Xinmo, who was steadily swinging his sword in the distance, and couldn't help but feel it would have been a lot more assuring if he were the one with the Sword Bone.

'No. The twins are still young. It's normal to be a little carefree at their age.'

"Wow! So heavy," Xinxi said as she grabbed the sword Tianhu handed over.

"Amazing," Xinjiang tuned in next to her, scrutinizing her new sword.

"Alright, we'll go through the movements from the sword art together," Tianhu said, "Watch me closely." Tianhu started swinging his sword slowly so the twins could observe him. He wasn't teaching the actual martial art to them, as having them try to manipulate qi was far too early. They just needed to get their bodies used to the movements.

"Like that? Isn't it like this?" Xinjiang asked her father when she saw the third movement. She demonstrated a slightly altered version for her father to see.

"No, watch carefully," Tianhu said, demonstrating the movement again.

"Does it have to be like that?" Xinxi asked.

"If you want to practice the sword art and advance in your martial art, it needs to be exact," Tianhu said, "But in an actual fight, there is obviously no need to just make use of these motions. The sword is free to move however you want."

"Good, I want to swing it like this," Xinjiang said, jabbing out with her sword.

"Yeah, yeah, or like this," Xinxi said, making an entirely different motion.

"Let's fight Xinxi, I want to see who's stronger," Xinjiang said.

"Okay," Xinxi cheerfully agreed. Tianhu hurriedly interrupted them before they hurt themselves. Shu Yang felt exhausted just from watching.

'I'll let him handle it. I need to save my mental strength.' He said goodbye to Xiaoshi and walked home to his house. He saw that Qianyue was teaching a few of the younger grandchildren to read and write in the living room when he entered.

'I was planning on doing it here, but I might be easily distracted.' Shu Yang looked to his wife and decided not to tell her his plans for now; he would surprise her with his advancement later. Xiaorong was lazing in a tree nearby. Shu Yang could still spot her even after her advancement, but if she really wanted to hide, he had to activate his Bloodline Ability to see her. Luckily, she never hid so deeply from him.

"Xiaorong, come with me for a while," Shu Yang called out. Xiaorong opened her eyes, and jumped down onto Shu Yang's shoulder, immediately closing her eyes again.

'So lazy.' Shu Yang walked out of the settlement. With Xiaorong by his side, he wouldn't have to worry about being disturbed by any beasts or potential human refugees. It felt strangely unceremonious leaving without notifying anyone, but what was there to make a fuss about? He could celebrate properly once he succeeded. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He didn't walk very far.

After 30 minutes or so, he found a glade that he thought looked nice, so he decided it would do.

"Xiaorong, I'm going to break through," Shu Yang said, "Keep watch for me, will you?" Xiaorong opened her eyes and seemed a little more focused, hearing he was advancing.

"Careful," Xiaorong said, nudging his cheek with her head, and jumped up to a nearby tree. She didn't close her eyes this time. Her head swiveled from side to side, making sure nothing could approach.

'Careful. Right.' Shu Yang knew that there was danger involved. Advancing always carried a certain risk, and advancing a major stage was definitely more dangerous than a minor one. But Shu Yang was pretty confident. He had prepared for a long time; the process was clear in his mind. He opened a storage pouch and took out some things he might need while advancing. Mostly meat from various beasts. He also took out the bottles of pills that the cultivator who owned the storage pouch had carried with him.

Shu Yang still didn't know what they did, and hadn't dared to try them. But if he were about to die, he would definitely be willing to try anything.

'No use in waiting any longer.' Shu Yang closed his eyes and focused on the mist of innate qi in his heart. To advance, he needed to compress that mist of innate qi into a liquid. He then needed to use the energy released from that process to forge his heart into a foundation that could hold the liquid of innate qi without bursting. When he first approached the bottleneck to the Foundation stage, Shu Yang had felt quite intimidated by the thought.

Even with his Founding Bloodline, he felt it was too risky to advance without any resources. If his heart burst, it would all be over. But when his aptitude increased from good to great, Shu Yang gained a lot of confidence. When he went over the process in his head, he didn't feel like there would be any great risk all of a sudden.

'I guess it's time to find out.' Shu Yang took a deep breath and then clenched his teeth to brace himself. He compressed the mist that filled his heart to the brim and tried to force it to collapse into itself. It really took a lot of effort; the mist of innate qi struggled against him, and wisps of it would escape his control from time to time, and he would have to collect it again. He was close to activating his Bloodline Ability to see if it could offer some assistance.

But he held back, his Bloodline Ability wasn't quite so versatile yet, and he had just prepared to use it in case of an emergency. Sweat poured down his back, but eventually, some threshold seemed to have been crossed. A boom sounded. The wind rose, and birds took flight. Xiaorong swirled her head around to look down on him.

'There it is!' A small drop of liquid had formed, and the innate qi in his body was now being swallowed by it with minimal effort. It grew bigger and bigger until all his innate qi was emptied. Some kind of strange aura was released from the drop the moment it was created, washing over Shu Yang's body, strengthening it.

"Argh!" Shu Yang suddenly coughed up a burst of blood.

'Damn! My heart can't handle it!' The drop of innate qi was far too powerful for Shu Yang's body. He could feel his body strengthening, but not fast enough.

'What's going on?' Shu Yang started to panic a little. The strange aura emanating from the drop of liquid qi was beginning to fade. But he could feel that his heart wasn't close to handle holding that drop of innate qi yet.

'Food!' Shu Yang kept his eyes closed, focused on not letting the drop of qi slip out of his control, while he simultaneously grabbed the beast meat in front of him and started chewing through it.

"Argh!" Shu Yang yelled out in pain. His heart felt like it was about to burst. The meat helped, but it wasn't enough. It was far from enough.

'What went wrong? Did I forget something?' Shu Yang was really panicking now. His heart was slowly strengthening, but breaking down at the same time from the power of the liquid qi. He pulled out one of the pills he was most confident wasn't poison and swallowed it, deciding he needed to take the risk. The pill melted straight away and turned into a cooling liquid that nourished his body slightly. He could feel that spiritual qi was pouring into his body.

It actually helped somewhat; the drop of liquid innate qi absorbed the spiritual qi, and the aura it released increased for a few seconds. But it was just that, a few seconds.

'If I knew spiritual qi would help, even this little, I would have stayed at the settlement!' Shu Yang didn't hesitate and swallowed the whole bottle. For the brief moment that he felt the aura strengthening him, he focused on repairing the small tears in his heart, forging it just like he had deduced.

'It's…It's not enough.' Shu Yang was in despair.

'What can I do?'

"Aaargh!" Shu Yang screamed out in pain as he threw out some more blood. His heart just tore open a wound an inch long.

'Is this it? I'm dying? What? WHAT!?' Shu Yang couldn't believe it. He never thought this would actually go wrong. He didn't even say goodbye to Qianyue, to his kids. What would become of Tianyi? His quest for immortality… ends at the very first step? Then. Like rain in the desert, a huge power emerged from Shu Yang. The drop of liquid innate qi seemed to have received what it needed, and the aura it released washed over Shu Yang like a waterfall. The tear in his heart healed, stronger than ever.

It started pumping, strong, fierce, like a beast. His muscles felt like they were tempered over a fire, becoming as hard as metal. His organs and tendons, every part of him, were blessed and became unbelievably more durable. Shu Yang didn't know how long it lasted. But when he opened his eyes, he almost broke down in tears of gratitude at seeing the sun above.

'Too close. Far too close.' Shu Yang took a deep breath; his lungs felt amazing, equally strengthened from his advancement as everything else. His heart carried the drop of liquid qi with confidence now. The scene where that same drop of liquid qi had torn his heart open was like a distant dream all of a sudden.

'What went wrong? And how did I overcome it?' Shu Yang just had time to finish the thought when he noticed Xiaorong standing on the ground in front of him. She was swaying, looking like she was about to fall over any second.

"Success?" Xiaorong asked.

"Yes, yes," Shu Yang said, hurriedly bending down to her, "What happened? Are you alright?"

"Hungry," Xiaorong said, and passed out in Shu Yang's arms.