Stealing Immortal

A great deal of time had passed. By now, the absorption of the Earth Deity must have progressed considerably.

Chen Qingyang had no time to spare for other insights. He had to stop for now and head to the Qingxu Land.

‘As for the Tai Hao Qingxu Palace that Jing Shu mentioned, it’s impossible to see it this time. I’ll have to see if I can find an opportunity in the future, perhaps after I’ve raised my Array True Understanding or my Conscious Fish to the next level.’

At that moment, just outside the Qingxu Land, many Disciples were already heading over from all directions. The vast majority had failed in their search for fortunate encounters and were now returning to this place.

Chen Qingyang blended into the crowd, looking up and around from a distance.

High above, the curtain of light formed from Star Power continued to shine. The three hundred Masters were just as he had left them, completely still.

Chen Qingyang circled around, found the nearest Array Building, and began to slowly approach the center from within the world of the Array.

‘If I don’t use this roundabout strategy and instead try to break through the light curtain directly, there’s no guarantee I won’t be discovered by Miaoyou, who is presiding over the Grand Array.’

‘I can accept not succeeding today, but I absolutely cannot afford to fail. If the Sect discovered a ‘fish’ like me muddying the waters, my future actions would become incredibly difficult.’

Within the Circulation of Stars Demon Suppression Array, the Profound Pivot for absorbing the Earth Deity concentrated nearly all the Star Power. Inside the world of the Array, this critical node had become incredibly conspicuous.

Silver lines of varying thickness, some fine and others robust, continued to flow toward this point.

The Conscious Fish floated among the lines, following their flow. It had not been active for long when it noticed a dark, azure light appearing amidst the silver.

It appeared in scarce dribs and drabs, but it was present in many of the silver lines. Like nutrients in blood vessels, it was carried along by the silver ‘blood,’ converging toward the ‘heart’ at the center.

The Array was complex, its inner workings majestically intricate. Chen Qingyang continued to press forward, and after nearly a full day and night, he finally found his way to the place where the Earth Deity was coalescing.

‘As expected of a grand event like the Tai Xu Splitting Essence.’ This place was roughly ten feet square, with many wisps of blackish-green energy floating about. Each wisp was like a trickling stream, suspended independently and not mixing with the others.

Chen Qingyang crept closer and extended one Dragon Beard to a length of about ten feet, pressing it against the energy. A powerful force immediately swarmed in, and he hurriedly began the Refinement process inside his body. His Cultivation increased at a practically visible rate.

After a moment, seeing no reaction, he extended his other Dragon Beard as well, absorbing and refining with all his might. He was like a tiny borer on a massive, sturdy tree—for now, completely unnoticed.

And with just this tiny bit of sustenance, this ‘borer’ could eat to his heart’s content.

[Nanming Red Emperor’s Celestial Burning and Sea Boiling Daoist Truth: 1543/80000]

「It was now nighttime outside the Sumeru Secret Realm.」

Small golden characters floated before Chen Qingyang’s eyes. He memorized the number. When he checked again a day later, it had already increased by twenty thousand.

He then began to absorb at an even faster rate. After another night, his Cultivation progress was nearing fifty thousand.

The amount of Earth Deity being absorbed by the Tai Xu Wind Essence gathering on Sun-piercing Peak was immense and still growing. The Masters had no spare attention to focus on this particular spot.

Chen Qingyang continued to exploit this opportunity. Gradually, as his Cultivation reached a certain level, the rate of progress began to slow.

‘This is an opportunity not to be missed. Perhaps my breakthrough to the Seventh Realm should happen right now.’

All nine Dragon Tendons in his body activated, squirming like nine Spiritual Snakes. The speed at which he absorbed the Earth Deity instantly increased severalfold, and his cultivation entered a frenzied state.

All of this was thanks to the gifts from that True Dragon.

All told, after seven nights and eight days, the Conscious Fish had grown to an incomparable size, and he had reached the Perfection of the Sixth Realm.

[Nanming Red Emperor’s Celestial Burning and Sea Boiling Daoist Truth: 79999/80000]

He was only one step away from his breakthrough.

Not daring to remain there, he retreated a short distance, still hiding within the Starlight Array. Then, with a mere thought, he activated the Nanming Red Emperor’s Method. A powerful storm began to rage within the body of the Conscious Fish.

The energy flowed through every one of its Meridians, strengthening them, before finally coalescing in its Dantian to form an even denser cloud of fire.

Since this wasn’t a breakthrough of his true body, he wouldn’t gain the many profound mysteries associated with it. He couldn’t even feel a change in his Seventh Acupoint. The only thing that increased was pure power.

The Conscious Fish was equivalent to Chen Qingyang’s second Dantian. When he recalled this Dantian, he would instantly switch from being a Sword Daoist to a practitioner of a Fire Attribute Technique. Perhaps only then would the seven major acupoints in his body open, allowing his Cultivation to ascend to the next level.

[Nanming Red Emperor’s Celestial Burning and Sea Boiling Daoist Truth: (1/120000)]

‘One hundred and twenty thousand!’

‘That’s a huge number. Every step forward in a Dharma Gate after the Sixth Realm is this difficult. I wonder what it will be like when I finally reach Foundation Establishment.’

Not daring to waste any time, the Conscious Fish went back to continue absorbing the Earth Deity. With the new boost, his Cultivation progress was still quite fast.

In two days, he accumulated over ten thousand points of progress.

But just then, the heavens and the earth trembled. The Star Power surged, becoming even more immense, as if the ‘heart’ of the Array had suddenly begun to beat dozens of times faster.

The Conscious Fish hurriedly retracted its Dragon Beards, not daring to struggle against this new torrent of energy for fear of being exposed. The violent tremors were so intense that they even made his true body dizzy and disoriented.

‘I’ve been counting the days. Seven times seven is forty-nine. It seems the forty-nine days are up. Don’t tell me the Masters are about to distribute the Earth Deity right now?’

Because he was inside the Array, he had no idea what was happening outside or what the Masters were doing. He could only guess, and all he could see were the changes to the Star Power within the Array.