1st Stage Qi Condensation Realm

...…

Two more days passed as the day finally came.

The day when Azmodeus would attempt to breakthrough into the 1st Stage of Qi Condensation!

Twenty-four hours ago, he successfully tied with the old dude while still in the Half-Step Qi Condensation Realm. And although he was confident that he could narrowly defeat the Sect Leader, he wasn't willing to settle for a narrow win.

Azmodeus wanted to have an overwhelming victory! One in which that old dude would never be able to recover from!

WAAA!

A faint blue energy swirled around the figure of a young boy cultivating inside a small shed, as he had already reached the stage at which he could begin sensing Qi.

Right now, he was trying to condense all of the Qi stored inside his Dantian and make it transform into something called a 'Qi Cyclone'.

-----

The Qi Condensation Major Realm and all twelve of its Minor Realms.

To break through into the Qi Condensation Realm, one needed to absorb a sufficient amount of Qi into one's Dantian until one reached a point where they could begin redirecting all that Qi into forming a Qi Cyclone.

On the subject of Qi Cyclones, that was also the only indication for which one had to determine which stage they were at in the Qi Condensation Realm.

There were a total of 12 Minor Realms in the Qi Condensation Realm, namely:

1st Stage Qi Condensation Realm → [1 Cyclone sitting inside your Dantian Space and around your Dantian.]

2nd Stage Qi Condensation Realm → [2 Cyclones sitting inside your Dantian Space and around your Dantian.]

3rd Stage Qi Condensation Realm → [3 Cyclones sitting inside your Dantian Space and around your Dantian.]

This trend followed until the Twelfth Qi Condensation Realm, which was:

12th Stage Qi Condensation Realm → [12 Cyclones sitting inside your Dantian Space and around your Dantian.]

-----

WAAA!

Immense blue energies continued swirling around inside the interior of a small hut in the depths of the Yang Forest. Inside that hut, a boy was on the precipice of accomplishing something that less than a handful had achieved in Spirit River City!

"I am close, but still not there just yet…" Azmodeus muttered with furrowed brows.

He felt that his breakthrough was right in front of him, but at the same time, it felt so far away.

However, there was something that he assumed would help him get through this bottleneck.

Or rather, multiple things…

BING! BING!

Hundreds of Lowest and Low Quality Pills were dropped onto the ground through the use of a storage ring. After which, all of them started being slurped up by Azmodeus like victims to a human vacuum!

...

A few minutes passed as the breakthrough finally made itself known!

WAAA!

The various Qi energies transformed into a maelstrom of elements as everything inside the small shed was being thrown all around!

There was no end to the numerous elements hitting Azmodeus from all sides, taking both him and his Dantian Space through an extremely intense storm.

It appeared as if at any moment, him along with the hut would be destroyed by the Qi. Which would allow him to achieve something truly spectacular!

Just as one would assume that the shed would be destroyed, all of the Qi dispersed, and from within the Qi storm, a young boy emerged.

His shirt was gone, and his skin was flawless, as slight signs of a muscular physique were beginning to vividly show.

"I just knew that consuming all my remaining pills would do the job just fine," Azmodeus murmured with a small, satisfied smile, his new divine sense scanning the inside of his Dantian Space.

What he saw inside himself was a large, bluish gray sphere that should be his Dantian. Around that Dantian, there was a spiraling mass of condensed Qi orbiting in circular motion.

"This should be the Dantian and Qi Cyclone, which means I have successfully broken through into a stage considered a myth in Spirit River City…"

He didn't know how to feel about this information as he was clearly overjoyed. But for some odd reason, something was telling him it wasn't good enough…

This is no time to become complacent, for this is just the beginning… If I become all excited over a small breakthrough like this, then I might as well open myself up for an enemy attack.

His gaze hardened as he got up from his lotus position and walked out his house door, heading for the nearby creek.

Breaking through had caused a number of impurities to leave his body, resulting in a bunch of nasty and grimy substances covering him from head to toe.

...

A few minutes later.

Azmodeus finished cleaning off all the grime and was now putting on his set of specially designed purple and gold robes.

He didn't want to wear such ostentatious clothing in the beginning. But after listening to the nagging of his master telling him about 'upkeeping face as the sole disciple of the Sect Leader', he had no choice but to wear them.

Though, at this point in time, they had growed on him quite a lot, enough so that he wore them even when his master wasn't hounding him.

Nevertheless, Azmodeus made his way through the Yang Forest, going in the direction of the highest point of the Yang Sect, the Yang Leader's Residence.

"..." "..." "..."

Everyone whispered and conversed with each other as he passed by them with a debonair disposition. But he could hardly care about the opinions of those beneath him, so he continued on his way to his destination.

He was aware of his growing pride due to the side effects of all his superior Traits. But in the end, it didn't apply to anyone other than strangers, so it wasn't even worth fretting over in his opinion.

After all, Yang Hua was treated like a spoiled little princess by him, even though she was far weaker. Though she did bring home the bacon, so maybe that had something to do with his easygoing attitude when around her...

Even so, this newfound 'pride' seemed to only apply to strangers and those whom he already had low opinions of. Such as Yang Xiao and his father.

Speaking of those two, they would sometimes come by and try to apologize for their behavior. But nothing they said was even registered by Azmodeus's ears as his relationship with scum was immaterial for him.

And then there was the Black Tiger Family. Who in the beginning, even after learning of his identity as the Sect Leader's Disciple, still had the nerve to send out their strongest elders in an attempt to kill him in broad daylight!

But of course, all their attempts were proven futile, as they didn't even last half a second before their heads slid off the shoulders and they became a part of Azmodues's strength.

The Black Tiger Lord was infuriated at these actions, but there was nothing he could do…

After all, he was merely of the Peak 100% Tempering Marrow Stage, while the backer of the monstrous boy was in the 1st Stage of Qi Condensation.

This was all to say that for the last couple days, everything had been relatively peaceful—almost too peaceful…

In spite of that, today was a good day for Azmodeus, as he would be going back to shove his accolades in that old bastard's face!

Or, at least, that was how he originally envisioned the day going, but fate was oftentimes cruelest to those who deserved it the least…

.....