BREAKTHROUGH

…astonishingly fast. However, what troubled him now was that, the progress of advancing his physique is quite slow. He knew he had underestimated the power of his Divine Body of Stars. Much more, much more, he had underestimated the power of the Celestial Body of the Dao.

From his calculations over the past month, regarding his cultivation, he has already cultivated to the Half-step King Realm, just one foot away from the King Realm. However, regarding the advancement of his Special Physique, Divine Body of Stars, to Celestial Body of the Dao, he could feel that he has just condensed about 1% of it.

According to his estimates, Jiang Hou believes that, to condense 10%, it would take at least 1 year and 6 months of his normal cultivation. 

'But one year and six months is too long a time to spend condensing the Celestial Body of the Dao. I need resources to aid my cultivation', he thought as he put a stop to his practise. 

'For a Dao Body like the Celestial Body of the Dao, resources of the Yin attribute, Yang attribute, and Guang attribute would be needed. If I can obtain the 'Yangyue Bead', I would be able to move forward three-fourth of the way in condensing the Dao Body. And that Xingxin Hua, it would be the wings that was given to the tiger of 'Yangyue Bead'.

The Yangyue Bead is a 'Strange' that contains vast amounts of Yin and Yang energy condensed into a black and white bead. And the Xingxin Hua is a flower that was born from starlight. At night it shines brightly like a star in the vast sky. During the daytime, it would hide itself in the void.

It is difficult to obtain the Star-Heart Flower, and much more difficult to obtain the Yangyue Bead. The Yangyue bead is also a Rare 'Strange'. It is born at the boundary between the yin and yang compartment of the World Core. And when it appears, it would manifest in the boundary of an extremely cold and extremely hot land.

Jiang Hou knows these things, of course it is because of the Red Armored Jiang Hou's memories. He also knows from memories, the exact location of these two resources. But, since he is not powerful enough to travel the worlds yet, he cannot claim them now.

'Then, we can only go out to practise after breaking through to the King Realm in a few days', he thought.

Of course he can obtain Yin, Yang, and Guang attribute resources from his Master, the Holy Land, even also from his family, which he would ask for in time, except from his Master. He would not, and cannot trust whatever his Master does or says. Also, he cannot see his Master now.

His cultivation has progressed rapidly in the past month so much so that, it would be unbelievable for anyone not to have thoughts that he, Jiang Hou, obtained a great opportunity. Opportunities and Resources are the major factors fueling the unrest throughout the Cultivation world. Even the mortals are not spared from this.

Mortals compete for resources, majorly resources that satisfy their basic needs of clothing, shelter, and food. But a cultivator competes for a chance at life. If he does not make any progress over time, he would wilter, then die. Ageing and Death are two concepts that cultivators are most unwilling to accept.

They want to defy fate, defy heaven. But 'heaven' decides their starting point: whether or not they are rich or poor, talented or not talented, sharp or dull.

So, if anyone found out that Jiang Hou was able to break through from the Peak of Soul Projection Realm to the Half-step King Realm in a little over a month, especially his Master, they would have doubts in their heart. 

Even though Jiang Hou is talented, with his Divine Body of Stars, it is not possible for his Cultivation to make such a huge leap. Others might reason that he received a blessing after a curse. And the curse was of course his 'Deviated Cultivation' state at the Grand competition.

Some might think that he was too anxious to improve and cause his foundation to become shallow and unstable.

'All in all, the Master must not know of my current progress. I need to conceal my cultivation after breaking through, then take permission to leave the Holy Land to practise outside'.

Jiang Hou put away his thoughts, and entered the meditation state again, after taking out several Body Tempering treasures of Pills, Fruits, and Medicinal and Spiritual Herbs. He needs to break through to the King Realm in the next few days.

…

5 days passed in a flash. And tonight, Jiang Hou consumed one last Medicinal Herb, then ran his Cultivation Technique to refine the energy in it.

As usual, the more energy of the herb he refined, the hotter his body became, and sweat covered his whole naked and toned upper body. However, it took a drastic turn today. Not only was his body becoming hotter, it was also turning red, fiery red. And he felt a burning sensation throughout his body.

Much more, his pants were melting too, which he quickly took off. Now completely naked on the floor. The floor of the Secret Chamber was made of special materials. It is soft on the bottom, legs and knees. 

Anyone who sat on it for a long time would not feel pain, rather, they would feel a wave of energy washing away their discomfort from time to time. Even the walls of the room are the same. They can actively absorb spiritual energy and convert them to healing Qi to aid the cultivator or even monster in the vicinity.

Jiang Hou's body became hotter and hotter, and the walls and floor were sending waves upon waves of energy to soothe his pain. But as his body became hotter, he knew the waves of soothing energy would not be able to compete with the pain soon enough. 

So he took out some Healing Pills, and Medicinal Herbs and Fruits that possess healing and purifying properties, and swallowed them.

After he did that, the pain receded a lot. And he could bear the pain for a little longer. 

But not long after, the blood in his body boiled greatly and was being transported from and to the heart at a very fast speed. His heart beats faster and harder.

His bones were also itching greatly, he felt as though millions of insects were biting at his bone marrows. And it was burning hot.

Observing the situation, he noticed that most of the medicinal properties of the resources he has consumed over the past few days were being absorbed by the heart and the bone marrows, and a change was occurring at this point.

The Blood Essences in the centre of his heart's chamber first were absorbing energy crazily. Then the red tone turned orange, and then golden, and it stopped at purple. His blood also turned purple as a result. Even his heart turned purple

Instead of the usual four drops of Essence, Jiang Hou has 8 drops of Blood Essence, 2 times that of a normal cultivator.

At the same time, the bone marrows also absorbed energy crazily and even the healing Qi of the Healing Pills and Herbs were absorbed and the marrows turned white, milky white. The blood that came out was also milky white and was being sent to refine the bones, on their own accord.

The bones also transformed and were becoming crystal clear. In a few breaths, the bones all over Jiang Hou's body turned Crystal clear like glass, transparent and reflexive. However, they cannot easily break like glass. They have become a different level alongside the heart.

The changes in him continued. And as Jiang Hou watched on, he couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of the cultivation world. Changes were happening in his own body, and he could monitor it at any moment. He could even control the degree of the changes to some extent.

The hotness in his body continued for a while, and then reached a point where the red turned… crystal too? His whole body became transparent, the flesh and bones became crystal clear, and from outside, you can see the purple heart and purple veins, the white bone marrow and the white blood they produced.

The white blood the marrows produced washed over the bones continually, this will continue for a long time, until Jiang Hou's body is also sanctified and the Saint King Realm.

Then, his body flashed a white light that lightened the room, and a 'Boom' resounded in his body, and shook the Secret Chamber. The light receded, his skin returned to the original asian tone, and his flesh also returned to normal colour.

But the aura emanating from Jiang Hou now was suffocating, and heavy. He broke through. At last,

"I became a King Realm cultivator. Time to go out to practise after stabilising my Realm", he said to himself