Invincible Beyond Heavens: Cultivating With A Broken EXP System

“Begin.”

Bai Xueqin’s voice rang out, crisp and cold.

Li Yun and Chen Xiao moved at the same instant.

Scarlet flames burst from Li Yun’s body as the Crimson Flame Scripture surged to life. Ninth layer. In just a week, he had pushed the high-grade mortal cultivation technique to perfection of ninth layer from the previous 8th layer. His aura blazed like a furnace, the ground beneath his feet scorching under the heat.

The Dark Light Sword in his hand ignited, its blade glowing red-hot. With a sharp swing, he unleashed the Scarlet Sun Slash. A crimson arc of sword light tore forward, cutting straight for Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao’s body erupted with a deep blue aura, calm yet suffocating. His own high-grade mortal cultivation technique flared to the 5th layer, and a long spear manifested in his hand. At the tip, a faint shadow of a dragon coiled and roared to life.

With a powerful thrust, his spear collided with Li Yun’s slash.

Bang!

The crimson light shattered apart in sparks.

Chen Xiao pressed the advantage, sweeping his spear upward with a roar.

“High grade mortal rank Spear Dragon Art, Dragon Ascends!”

A ferocious blue dragon surged out from the tip of the spear, rushing skyward before crashing down toward Li Yun.

’A high grade mortal rank technique at completion stage of mastery?’ Li Yun’s expression turned serious as his left hand clenched, his fist blazing.

’Dragon-Tiger Fist.’

With a sudden strike, the shadows of a dragon and tiger manifested, coiling around his arm before slamming downward.

The two forces collided with deafening impact.

Boom!

Shockwaves rattled the square, but the combatants were already gone.

Their figures blurred, red sword arcs and blue spear streaks flashing through the square like storms colliding. Sparks rained down as steel met steel, the sounds of impact echoing like rolling thunder.

Then, in an instant, their forms became clear again.

Chen Xiao’s spear flared brilliantly, his eyes flashing cold light. The weapon stabbed forward in a relentless flurry, hundreds of thrusts exploding in just seconds.

“Spear Dragon Art, Dragon’s Barrage!”

A wall of dragon-shaped spear shadows surged at Li Yun.

His expression turned grim. The Dark Light Sword pulsed with heat as he invoked the final technique of his sword art. At its tip, a glowing red sphere condensed, bright enough to sear the eyes.

“Solar Flare Blast!”

He thrust forward.

Boom!

The crimson sphere detonated, consuming the incoming spear barrage in a sea of flames. Spear shadows burst apart, shattering into countless sparks before dissolving into nothingness.

But just as the firestorm cleared, Chen Xiao’s figure flickered. He had already closed the gap, appearing before Li Yun in a flash of blue light.

His spear struck downward, aimed mercilessly at Li Yun’s dantian.

“Spear Dragon Art, Dragon’s Claw!”

’Fast!’ Li Yun’s pupils shrank. There was no time to evade. His blade flashed across his body, powered once more by the Scarlet Sun Slash, meeting the attack head-on.

Bang!

Sword and spear collided. The violent impact erupted in a spray of sparks, the sound echoing like steel splitting mountains.

Li Yun’s body was hurled backward, skidding across the stone ground in a trail of scorch marks before he managed to stop himself, sword still in hand.

“You… blocked that?” Chen Xiao’s eyes widened, disbelief flashing across his face. That strike had been flawless, fast, ruthless, delivered at point-blank range.

In his mind, Li Yun’s dantian should already be pierced, his cultivation crippled beyond repair. Yet somehow, the boy had stopped it.

“I did.” Li Yun smirked, his tone calm yet laced with mockery. “Don’t misunderstand. Your attack was excellent… but I was simply faster.” As he spoke, a wave of scorching heat radiated from his body, the crimson aura blazing stronger with every breath.

Chen Xiao’s gaze sharpened, narrowing at the sight. His face darkened. “A high-grade cultivation technique… mastered to the ninth layer?”

A pang of inferiority stabbed through his chest. He had trained for more than a decade longer than Li Yun, yet he himself had only cultivated a high-grade mortal technique to the fifth layer. And here stood this sixteen-year-old, already standing above him in mastery.

’No. I can’t allow this.’

A cold urgency filled Chen Xiao’s heart. If Li Yun continued to grow at this terrifying pace, his title as the strongest genius of Azure Wind City would shatter overnight. He had to cripple him now, while there was still time.

Around the square, the spectators were no less shaken.

“Li Yun can stand toe-to-toe with Chen Xiao? What kind of monster is this kid?”

“He’s only sixteen! Yet he’s matching a peak ninth-level Body Tempering cultivator blow for blow. This is insane!”

“You think that’s scary? His cultivation is just the fifth level of Body Tempering Realm! He’s crossing four entire levels to fight Chen Xiao head-on!”

“Wasn’t it said Li Yun couldn’t cultivate at all because of his no-attribute physique? Since when did he become this strong?”

Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd. None of them could reconcile the image of the ’crippled youth’ from a few months ago with the overwhelming powerhouse fighting before them.

But the ones most shaken weren’t the common cultivators, they were the patriarchs.

“That… that’s the Li Family’s Crimson Flame Scripture!” Zhao Lieyang shot up from his seat, his face ugly with shock. “A high-grade mortal cultivation technique… How in the world did that bastard Li Yun cultivate it all the way to the ninth layer?”

Beside him, Chen Yishen’s expression soured as well. He had expected a short battle, finished within one or two moves. Now, he realized he had gravely underestimated this fight, and the boy leading it.

Meanwhile, the Li Family elders couldn’t stop grinning. Patriarch Li Jinyun’s face glowed with pride, and the elders exchanged satisfied glances. They didn’t understand how Li Yun had managed such a feat, but to them, the explanation was simple, this was Li Yun’s talent, his destiny. He was born extraordinary.

Elsewhere, Bai Xueqin and Guan Long’s gazes met, their expressions equally grave. In the battle against Kun Long just a week ago, Li Yun’s Crimson Flame Scripture had only reached the eighth layer. Yet in this short span of a week, he had pushed it to the ninth.

Their shock ran deeper than anyone else’s. For them, Li Yun wasn’t just a genius. He was something unnatural.

As the crowd was still marveling at Li Yun’s strength, none of them immediately noticed the shift in Chen Xiao’s aura. The internal energy coursing through his body suddenly flared with frightening intensity, so fierce and violent it looked as if it had been injected with steroids. The power radiating from him now was far stronger than before.

Li Yun’s brows furrowed. ’What is this? How can his internal energy suddenly surge like this? It’s stronger than the internal energy I release even with the Crimson Flame Scripture at the ninth layer…’

“He’s using his qi,” Bai Xueqin’s voice rang out, her expression unusually grave.

The moment she said it, the cultivators watching all nodded in realization.

At the late stages of the Body Tempering Realm, seventh, eighth, and ninth level, cultivators could begin condensing true qi within their bodies.

This qi, unlike internal energy, was drawn from the very essence of heaven and earth. Once infused into combat, it could multiply one’s power dramatically. Internal energy was merely the raw, physical form of qi, crude and limited. Qi itself was a higher, purer energy.

This was why the three foundational realms, Bone Refining, Marrow Cleansing, and Body Tempering, existed in the first place. Their sole purpose was to prepare the body to handle qi. At the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm, cultivators first began to touch qi, and upon breaking through and opening their dantian, they would step directly into the Xiantian Realm.

Li Yun’s lips curved into a faint smile. ’So I’ve forced him to use his qi, have I? He must be getting desperate.’

He understood well how costly this was for Chen Xiao. Late-stage Body Tempering cultivators had only the faintest reserves of qi, since their dantian wasn’t yet opened to store it. Unless a cultivator’s life was on the line, they would never willingly exhaust this limited source of power.

Now, Chen Xiao’s body seethed with a mix of internal energy and qi. A deep blue dragon’s phantom coiled around him, winding from his shoulders down the shaft of his spear until its fanged maw gleamed at the tip. The ground beneath his feet cracked apart, reduced to dust under the sheer pressure of his power.

Chen Xiao pointed his spear at Li Yun, his eyes cold and merciless. “This is my strongest strike. If you can withstand this head-on, then I’ll admit defeat.”

But inwardly, he wasn’t giving Li Yun a choice. By forcing him into a direct clash, Chen Xiao wanted to ensure that this attack would shatter Li Yun’s body and cripple his cultivation for life.

“Fine by me.” Li Yun sneered, his grip tightening on the Dark Light Sword. He had been waiting for this moment, to finally test the Blazing Sky Sword Art, the high-grade mortal rank sword art that came with the Crimson Flame Scripture.

Until now, every opponent had already fallen to his Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art, leaving him no chance to try this technique.

“Good.” Chen Xiao’s roar split the air as he launched forward, qi flooding his veins until the phantom dragon around him solidified, its scales gleaming with murderous light. The spear in his hands howled like a living beast, its tip aimed mercilessly at Li Yun’s heart.

The ground cracked apart under his charge, stone tiles erupting into dust and rubble. Every step he took shook the square like thunder.

Li Yun’s pupils shrank at the sight of the incoming dragon. The pressure was suffocating, this was no ordinary strike. This was qi itself, condensed and weaponized to pierce through everything.