Chapter 19: Physical Transformation, Third Level of Essence Nurturing

the Clear Firmament Sect had been attacked by the Seven Peaks Alliance! Jiang Zhaoxia and Li Sifeng were seriously injured!

This news was like a heavy bomb dropped into the Clear Firmament Sect, shocking all the disciples into gathering in the courtyard. They discussed the battle down the mountain in low voices, not daring to disturb those inside the room.

Inside.

Li Sifeng lay on the bed with Jiang Zhaoxia practicing meditation at the foot of it. Li Qingqiu stood by the bedside, performing the Ghost-Immortal Rejuvenation Needle on Li Sifeng.

He had obtained a set of silver needles from the tailor; although they weren't true medicinal needles, they could barely be put to use.

Li Sifeng’s condition was not optimistic; he had multiple broken ribs, his face was disfigured, and several of his teeth had been knocked out. He was currently in a coma.

Fortunately, he was not crippled; Li Qingqiu’s Ghost-Immortal Rejuvenation Needle could not cure a permanent disability.

Zhang Yuchun, Li Dongyue, Wu Man’er, Li Sijin, and Yang Jueding stood behind him, watching Li Qingqiu treat Li Sifeng with nervousness and worry.

Xu Ning sat cross-legged on a stool in the corner, circulating her power to regulate the blood and qi in her body.

The room was silent, and no one dared to disturb Li Qingqiu. Their hearts were heavy, fearing that Li Sifeng wouldn't make it.

Li Qingqiu withdrew his hand, leaving three needles in Li Sifeng’s chest. He spoke: "Alright, Sifeng is no longer in danger. Now we just have to wait for him to wake up."

At these words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did Yang Jueding turn toward Jiang Zhaoxia and ask, "How many people did the Seven Peaks Alliance bring? Who was the leader?"

Jiang Zhaoxia opened his eyes and replied, "There were hundreds of them, all with decent skills. The leader was highly skilled in martial arts and caused me quite a bit of trouble, eventually managing to escape. Before he left, he said this wasn't over. I don't know his name."

"By the way, I owe it to Xu Ning arriving in time this time; otherwise, I might already be dead."

'Xu Ning?'

Everyone turned toward the ten-year-old Xu Ning, their expressions filled with shock.

Xu Ning did not open her eyes, remaining focused on herself.

'Is she really a peerless genius too?'

Yang Jueding was secretly shocked, not having expected that his eyes had failed him once again. However, he didn't think too much about it, and his expression turned grave. "The Seven Peaks Alliance is a major sect in the Gu Prefecture martial world. If they attack our Clear Firmament Sect with their full force, it will be very difficult for us to resist. They have as many as three thousand disciples, with experts as numerous as clouds. This time we are truly in trouble."

'Three thousand!'

Everyone was terrified. Just a few hundred people had nearly cost Jiang Zhaoxia his life; how could they resist three thousand people gathered together?

Li Qingqiu said, "Let them rest first. It will take time for those guys to get back to the Seven Peaks Alliance. We can rest easy for at least the next half month."

His tone was calm and no emotion could be seen on his face, but in reality, a storm was brewing in his heart—he could not calm himself at all.

With that, Li Qingqiu turned and walked toward the door, with the others following closely behind.

After leaving the room, Zhang Yuchun began to disperse the disciples, having them return to their respective tasks, while Yang Jueding followed Li Qingqiu’s footsteps.

"What are your thoughts on this?" Yang Jueding asked in a low voice as he walked beside Li Qingqiu.

Li Qingqiu replied, "I haven't thought it through yet, but this cannot be forgotten."

Hearing his answer, Yang Jueding couldn't help but sigh. "This is the martial world. Even if you don't provoke others, others will come to trouble you. You are still too young. If it really doesn't work, find a place to lay low for a few years, then come back and reclaim the territory that belongs to you."

Li Qingqiu stopped and glanced at Yang Jueding. His gaze actually made Yang Jueding feel a sense of unease.

"It is precisely because we are young that we do not want to hide."

Li Qingqiu tossed out those words and walked toward the gate, leaving Yang Jueding standing there looking at him with a complex expression.

After leaving the gate, Li Qingqiu headed straight for the subterranean Spirit Lake, even though it was nearly dark.

He walked faster and faster, quickly disappearing into the night.

From the day he became the Sect Leader of the Clear Firmament Sect, Li Qingqiu had anticipated that he would encounter various troubles in the future, so he had hoped for the sect to develop quietly, keeping trouble away for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, things had not gone as he wished.

He could avoid trouble, but when trouble came, he would not back down.

The Seven Peaks Alliance had troubled the Clear Firmament Sect twice; in Li Qingqiu’s heart, they were already mortal enemies, and the conflict was irreconcilable.

Think of a way to deal with the next attack from the Seven Peaks Alliance?

'No!'

'I can't wait that long!'

Li Qingqiu was going to draw his second Fate Token tonight. He planned to test a theory he'd had before—to see if he could forcibly raise his cultivation to the third level of the Essence Nurturing Realm.

Half a double-hour later, Li Qingqiu entered the subterranean Spirit Lake. After confirming that no wild animals or outsiders had intraged, he called up the panel and drew Xu Ning’s Fate Token.

Currently, Xu Ning possessed the strongest Fate Token. If he recruited more disciples, who knew how long it would take to meet someone stronger than Xu Ning.

Furthermore, Xu Ning’s cultivation speed was actually a bit faster than Jiang Zhaoxia’s; it was just that Jiang Zhaoxia’s sword talent was more suitable for actual combat.

After drawing the Fate Token, Li Qingqiu was once again pulled into a mysterious and profound state, as if entering a dream.

The subterranean space began to surge with spiritual energy, which moved toward Li Qingqiu and gradually formed a vortex around him.

If the Born Sword Fanatic token was a transformation of comprehension, then the Heaven-Thunder Spiritual Root was a refinement of the physical body.

Even before she started cultivating, Xu Ning’s constitution was different from ordinary people; to be able to endure hunger and walk a hundred li at less than ten years old was truly startling.

If nothing unexpected happened, Xu Ning would surpass the others and become the third person after Jiang Zhaoxia and Li Qingqiu to step into the second level of the Essence Nurturing Realm.

Li Qingqiu’s consciousness was in a state of chaos. He felt as if he were in the clouds, facing grand heavenly thunder; the thunder was terrifying, yet it also seemed to be guiding him.

Rumble—

The night sky over the Taikun Mountain Range let out a roar of thunder, sounding like the heavens rebuking the slaughter in the mortal world.

Jiang Zhaoxia opened his eyes and looked out the window. The night was dark, and Li Dongyue and Xu Ning had already returned to the female disciples' room.

"Third Uncle, can we do anything?"

Huang Shan, who was lying on another bed, asked. The other second-generation disciples also looked toward Jiang Zhaoxia.

Li Sifeng was in a coma from his serious injuries, and even the most powerful Jiang Zhaoxia was recovering; the Clear Firmament Sect was in a haze like never before. Although the Seven Sons of Clear Firmament were also frightened, they didn't want to just watch—they also wanted to do something for the sect.

Wu Man’er, sitting beside Li Sifeng, said in a muffled voice: "Third Brother, I want to avenge Sixth Brother."

Although Wu Man’er hadn't had a chance to strike yet, everyone could feel that his strength was improving by leaps and bounds. Even just sitting there, he looked like a fierce bear, the muscles on his body nearly bursting through his sect robes.

Zhang Yuchun lay on his bed with his back to everyone, his brow furrowed in unknown thoughts.

Jiang Zhaoxia withdrew his gaze, swept it over the disciples, and said huffily, "What are you all thinking? you're still young. Practice hard; you're not needed yet. Besides, I've already sent the enemies running with their tails between their legs; they won't dare come again."

Seeing that Jiang Zhaoxia was still arrogant and spoke boastfully, the disciples actually felt at ease. In the current moment, they actually liked Jiang Zhaoxia’s arrogance.

The disciples began to ask about the battle down the mountain earlier that day, and the calmed-down Jiang Zhaoxia did not hide anything, calmly recounting the fierce battle he had experienced.

He thought of Xu Ning and suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis.

He had actually misjudged her; that girl possessed talent not inferior to his own. Eldest Brother really was the most formidable.

...

Beside the subterranean Spirit Lake, a silver-blue light shone on Li Qingqiu’s face as he slowly opened his eyes. Wisps of lightning actually flickered in his eyes, giving his face a hint of divinity.

After opening his eyes, Li Qingqiu quickly regained control of his physical body.

"Huh?"

Li Qingqiu let out a sound of surprise, a look of joyful surprise appearing on his face.

He had actually directly reached the third level of the Essence Nurturing Realm!

Not only that, but his strength had also increased significantly, giving him a feeling of being completely transformed.

He had originally wanted to use the Spirit Stones embedded in the mountain walls to achieve a breakthrough. When he had come to practice before, he had felt that those crystals contained dense spiritual energy that could be absorbed into the body, but the amount was too large and could easily damage the meridians, so he hadn't tried it and didn't allow his siblings to take them without permission.

If these Spirit Stones could help a cultivator practice, then their utility would be massive, especially for a newly risen immortal sect.

Li Qingqiu carefully sensed the Spirit Essence in his body. He found that his essence had not only increased several times over, but its nature had also changed.

'Lightning attribute!'

Cultivation techniques were divided by attribute, and the Great Purity Primordial Scripture he had obtained contained all attributes—it could even be said to be a collective version of the five elements. It could accommodate cultivators with different spiritual root aptitudes and allow them to develop their own paths based on the technique.

Just as it was now, Li Qingqiu’s Spirit Essence had become lightning-attributed, possessing an overbearing thunderous power.

In the future, when his Spirit Essence hit an enemy, it would also carry lightning damage.

He felt his Spirit Essence had become more lethal; no wonder when he was teaching Xu Ning before, he had felt her Spirit Essence was different.

The spiritual energy around him had not yet dispersed, which made him think of a possibility.

'Fate Tokens related to the physical body can inherently raise my level?'

This theory gave Li Qingqiu even more expectations for such tokens.

He stood up, walked to the mountain wall, took down a Spirit Stone, tucked it into his robes, and left the subterranean Spirit Lake.

He had originally wanted to use the Spirit Stones of the subterranean Spirit Lake to forcibly charge into the third level of the Essence Nurturing Realm, but now that he had reached it, he didn't need to take the risk.

Currently, his body was full of Spirit Essence, and he didn't even need to rest.

He planned to take action immediately, catching the Seven Peaks Alliance off guard!

Half a double-hour later.

Li Qingqiu returned to the Clear Firmament Sect and woke Yang Jueding.

At this moment, it was raining heavily, with thunder pealing.

Yang Jueding opened his door and saw the drenched Li Qingqiu, asking in surprise, "What have you been doing?"

Li Qingqiu stared at him and asked, "Do you know how to get to the Seven Peaks Alliance?"

Yang Jueding replied, "Naturally. I once visited them as a guest. What do you want to do?"

"Pack your things and follow me down the mountain."

Li Qingqiu tossed out those words and turned away, leaving Yang Jueding standing there in a daze.

He went to his own courtyard and knocked on the door of the room where his junior brothers stayed. Soon, Zhang Yuchun opened the door.

"Yuchun, I plan to take Yang Jueding down the mountain to patrol the Taikun Mountain Range, in case the Seven Peaks Alliance people haven't left yet. For the next few days, have the disciples stay close to the sect while waiting for our return," Li Qingqiu said with a smile and a reminder.

Zhang Yuchun frowned and asked, "Brother, it's raining so hard. Why don't you wait until tomorrow?"

Li Qingqiu waved his hand. "A rainy night is exactly the best time to move."

With that, he turned toward his own room. Zhang Yuchun started to say something but ultimately chose to trust Li Qingqiu and closed the door.

After a while.

Yang Jueding, wearing a grass raincoat, waited for Li Qingqiu at the gate. Li Qingqiu also put on a grass raincoat, with the Empyrean Rainbow Sword left by his master hanging at his waist.