Breakthrough

Back at the sect...

Everyone has resumed their normal lives. Though they still talk of Hao Ren sometimes, it was getting lesser and lesser as time went on. Only Elder Li and a few of the disciples who didn't have a bad relationship with Hao Ren still talk about him sometimes.

Whenever Elder Li thinks about Hao Ren, he was feels sad as it has already been a while now and Hao Ren still haven't returned. Because of his absence, the disciples believed he was already dead according to what they heard.

Wu Chen was still in seclusion and Yun Lu also went into seclusion when he got the fruit. Elder Wu was happy on seeing that Hao Ren hasn't returned, which simply means that he has already died in the forest. Now whenever Elder Wu appears, he can be seen with a happy face. Since his sons obstacle has already been eliminated, now nothing will stand on his way to the top.

In Elder Yun's Courtyard...

"Haha Elder Wu, you seem to be getting younger a lately" Elder Yun said while laughing loudly

"Haha Elder Yun, I can say the same about you. I brought some wine over, you know its been long we had a nice drink" Elder Wu said while also laughing. He then took out a wine from his storage pouch and placed it on the table

When Elder Yun saw the wine, he immediately smiled widely as he has also missed this particular wine a lot. Elder Wu was the only one who has it and he has always refused to tell where he got it from whenever he was asked about it.

"Yes, it truly has been long. Ever since that little beast appeared, he has always caused us problems" Elder Yun said

Elder Yun has always been a follower of Elder Wu and has always supported him in anything he was doing. That was why his son was also close to Wu Chen since both families already have a close relationship in the sect. Although Elder Yun is envious of Elder Wu because his own son isn't as talented as Elder Wu's son, he never shows it since Elder Wu is stronger than he is.

"Well now he's already out of the way, so there's no need to bring him up. Whenever I hear his name I'm always angry, so lets just talk about something else" Elder Wu said with his face turning cold when he heard Hao Ren's name

"If not for the sect leader he would have long been dead, but he's dead now and that is great. He always took himself as a wise person and I can say, for someone his age he was pretty smart. He knew heading out of the sect was deadly for him so he always stayed in the sect" Elder Yun said

"Wu Chen is currently in seclusion, and with the help of the fruit he will have no problem in advancing to the Qi Gathering Stage Nine. Once he comes out of seclusion, he'll be the fastest genius in the sect and the sect leader will decide to nurture him with everything the sect has" Elder Wu said with pride

"Yes, that is really fast of him. If only my son is half as talented as yours, then I'll have no worries anymore. But since he has been following Wu Chen, he has gained a lot also. I know without the fruit, it might have taken him another year or even two years before breaking through to the Qi Gathering Stage Seven" Elder Yun said with a sad look

"You shouldn't worry too much about him, as long as Wu Chen is able to reach higher heights then there shouldn't be an issue with Yun Lu breaking through to the Foundation Realm" Elder Wu said with a smile

He has always knew that Elder Yun has always been bothered about Yun Lu and that was why he was able to easily take him under his camp with a little promise

"I know" said Elder Yun

"What I'm really worried about is the sect leader's reaction once he finds out about Hao Ren's death" Elder Yun said seriously while looking at Elder Wu

"The sect leader isn't much of a problem since there is no way for him to know what really happened. At most he'll just head to the place where the incident occurred, the sect leader can't made a big deal of an issue with a dead genius. And besides, there were also other disciples there" Elder Wu said confidently

He knew that the sect leader will get angry once he gets to hear about the death of Hao Ren but he didn't care since most of the disciples were close to Wu Chen, so they won't go against him

"I hope so" Elder Yun said. He has always been bothered about this issue since he knew how much the sect leader values his relationship with Hao Ren's father. Although they were not that close, since he was saved by Hao Ren's father he was indebted to him that was also one of the reasons he took in Hao Ren when his father brought him over.

Elder Wu stayed a while longer with Elder Yun before he left for his own courtyard

Deep in the sect...

An aura immediately exploded out of a particular courtyard. The moment the grand elder sensed the aura, he immediately went over to the place the aura came from. The courtyard was the sect leader's courtyard, he has been in seclusion for a long time now. He has finally made a breakthrough after so long.

The Elders of the sect immediately came over when they also sensed the aura

"That is the sect leader's aura, he finally broke through. Now our sect's strength has gone up a notch, we won't have any rivals now among all the sects around us"

All the elders were thinking the same thing the moment the sect leader broke through

"Quiet, we should return as the sect leader is just breaking through you all know he will need some time to stabilize his cultivation" the Grand Elder said to the elders.

The rest of the Elders were happy as they returned to their respective courtyards

After some time, a middle aged man came out of the courtyard with a sharp aura exuding out of him. He was the current sect leader of the Silver Lining sect Yuan Hai.

"Sect leader congratulations on your break through" the grand elder immediately congratulated Yuan Hai the moment he saw him walking out of the room

"Thank you, how have things been in the sect since I was gone?" Yuan Hai asked

"Nothing much has really happened, Wu Chen has already broken through to the Qi Gathering Stage Eight and he recently went out and obtained a great benefit which will surely boost his cultivation to the next stage" the grand elder replied

"Hoho, I've always known that kid has a good talent. He should have no problems in surpassing us, how about Hao Yi's kid?. With his talent he shouldn't be far off from Wu Chen" Yuan Hai asked about Hao Ren when he heard about Wu Chen. He always knew that Hao Ren's talent is far better than Wu Chen's but since he can't stay in the sect for long he didn't nurture him as much as he did with Wu Chen

When the grand elder heard the sect leader asking of Hao Ren, his face changed a little as he didn't know how to respond to the question

When Yuan Hai noticed the change in the grand elders face, he knew something must have happened.

"What happened, how is Hao Yi's kid?" Yuan Hai asked again

When he saw the reaction of the grand elder he knew something happened

'Or could it be Hao Yi has returned and immediately left with the child?. No, Hao Yi wouldn't leave without informing me first and also the grand elders reaction wouldn't be like this if that was the case' thought Yuan Hai

"Hao Ren is dead" the grand elder told Yuan Hai what happened after he went into seclusion including the battle Hao Ren had with Wu Chen and also his injury, he also told him about the recent event in the forest.

"How could he die" Yuan Hai was shocked when he heard about the news. He wanted to find Wu Chen immediately to get more details about what happened but when he heard he was in seclusion, he let him be.

He has always known about the conflicts between Hao Ren and Wu Chen but he just let it be since Wu Chen gained more pressure with the appearance of Hao Ren and broke through much faster under the pressure

Yuan Hai was confused and didn't know what to do, he later paid a visit to Elder Wu but got nothing. Elder Wu told him exactly the same thing the grand elder said also.

He went to find Elder Li but also got the same result, though Elder Li had some suspicions, there weren't any proofs to back them up.

After knowing the location where the fruit appeared, Yuan Hai decided to go over to check out the place if he could find anything. But unfortunately he found nothing after searching for a day and gloomily went back to the sect

He didn't know what to do as he was confused and sad by what happened

'How I'm I going to answer to Hao Yi once he returns' Yuan Hai thought

Back at the cave...

After Hao Ren regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that his cultivation has already jumped all the way to Qi Gathering Stage Eight and it still seems to be improving without showing any signs of stopping

'If I take one of the Silverwing Earthspirit Fruit now it'll be very beneficial to me as it'll also help me in strengthening my foundation and also increasing it' Hao Ren thought

The moment this thought came into his mind, he immediately took out the fruit and swallowed it

When Zhao Huang saw this he nodded to himself in approval thinking this was definitely a great move by Hao Ren as it might help him with breaking through to the Foundation Realm easily with the help of the legacy also.

After some time, Hao Ren completely refined the fruit and easily broke through to Qi Gathering Stage Nine

'How can the fruit be refined in such a short amount of time' Hao Ren was shocked internally when he saw the time needed for him to refine the fruit

Zhao Huang was more shocked when he saw this as it was impossible to completely refine the fruit within such a short period of time, 'what on earth is this legacy, this sort of ability alone is too heaven defying'

Zhao Huang's mind was reeling on seeing all this

While both Hao Ren and Zhao Huang were shocked by what was happening, a kacha sound could be heard from Hao Ren's body...