Chapter 4553 — A Step Away
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
This bitter tempering that forges steel through a hundred refinings was more effective even than panaceas and miracle elixirs. Strength gained from elixirs was like a castle in the air, hollow; one needed time to consolidate it, or the unstable foundation might easily lead to the disastrous end of qi deviation. But this tempering was different—every ounce gained was true, solid strength, and the foundation was not weakened but only made stronger.
Once, twice, three times...
What Wei Zhao did next was simply repeat, over and over. Each time was an incomparably difficult challenge, yet each time benefited him deeply—though of course the risk kept pace. In the space of a single hour, Wei Zhao was flung off the high platform and pillar three whole times.
Not because his resolve had weakened, but because those three times he had come far too close to the five-element killing qi. With his present strength he could at most withstand the aftershocks; he was far from enduring the tempering of the killing qi head-on.
Fortunately, his five-element spiritual root constitution made him far, far more resistant to the five-element killing qi than ordinary people. Otherwise, those three brushes with the killing qi alone would have been enough to send him to his death.
Three days—Wei Zhao held on for three whole days. To any cultivator such a span was negligible, a mere snap of the fingers. But for Wei Zhao, tormented by the tempering of the five-element killing qi, these were perhaps the longest three days he had ever known, a trial of body, mind, and resolve that pushed him to the very limit.
Yet correspondingly, the benefit Wei Zhao gained was peerless. On entering he had been merely at the peak of the mid Golden Core stage, but after three days of baptism and tempering, Wei Zhao had astonishingly touched the barrier of the late Golden Core stage—only a step away from advancing further.
This result delighted Wei Zhao enormously. Outside lurked the Old Sect of the Western Hills, watching like a tiger; every extra measure of strength was an extra measure of life-preserving capital. Every layer broken through might mean the distance between life and death.
Still, though he had successfully touched the late Golden Core barrier, breaking through in the short term would be somewhat difficult. After all, Wei Zhao had only recently advanced to the peak of the mid Golden Core stage; though he was the strongest Golden Core expert, one who had broken through perfectly, reaching a threshold like the late Golden Core stage was not something one could cross as easily as drinking plain water—it still required a suitable opportunity.
That opportunity could be taking a Golden Core elixir, or some other special circumstance. Once the opportunity came, with Wei Zhao's strength and foundation, the breakthrough would naturally follow like water flowing into a channel.
If he truly wished to break through in a hurry, Wei Zhao still had the Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit on hand. Refine it into a Golden Core elixir, and the late Golden Core stage would be right before his eyes! (To be continued..) R527