Chapter 12: Peak Initial Element
Chapter 12- Peak Initial Element
After returning to Su Yan's wooden house, Su Mu was greeted by the sight of Su Yan waiting for his return.
"You're back." Su Yan greeted him with a smile.
"Yeah." Su Mu replied, smiling back at her. "I plan on cultivating right now, do you mind placing an array to hide my increasing Qi while I breakthrough?" Su Mu asked.
Although Su Yan was confused, she still agreed and created an array around Su Mu before he sat cross-legged. Not long after, he took out all the Bright Yang Stones he had and placed them around him before closing his eyes. The quantity of the Bright Yang Stones was enough to create a small mountain around him. Hu Mei'er didn't hold back while buying these Bright Yang Stones for him. And from the looks of it, all of them were of superior quality to those available in the market.
'He is talking like he will need to breakthrough the moment he starts cultivating.' Su Yan thought, looking at Su Mu's face. She was completely absorbed in looking at his face and she didn't even notice that it's been more than 12 hours since Su Mu started cultivating. All the Bright Yang Stones around him have long turned into dust.
With a sudden surge of energy around Su Mu, Su Yan was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked at him.
'He broke through the 4th Stage of Initial Element.' Su Yan was pleasantly surprised by Su Mu's progress as a sweet smile appeared on her face. She was truly happy upon seeing Su Mu progress with her own eyes.
With another surge of energy around Su Mu, Su Yan's happy face soon turned into one of shock as Su Mu broke through the 5th and 6th Stages of the Initial Element in one go.
'The quality of these Bright Yang Stones is quite good. If I go all out, I can easily break through the Qi Transformation Realm. But having a World Baptism here would destroy Su Yan's wooden house. Let's stop at the peak of the Initial Element. I can break through to the next great realm when I'm in a secluded place.' Su Mu thought as he kept breaking through until he reached the peak of the 9th Stage Initial Element.
Opening his eyes, Su Mu looked at Su Yan's shocked face with no traces of her usual calm demeanour.
Moving forward, Su Mu caressed Su Yan's cheek, bringing his face closer to her. Before she could realise it, Su Yan was able to feel Su Mu's breath on her lips. It didn't take long for her face to become a little red. But for some reason, she didn't try to push him back like she usually would.
"How did you do it?" Su Yan asked, calming herself. The closer she gets to Su Mu, the more unfathomable he becomes. She was wondering if he somehow received an unparalleled inheritance when no one noticed.
"I will tell you later." Su Mu replied, backing off as Su Yan grabbed his hand.
"You promise?" She asked, making him nod in return.
"I'll be going somewhere for around half a month." Su Mu replied, remembering that he'll need to leave after a few hours.
"Where are you going? And why?" Su Yan asked, surprised.
"You know Xia Ning Chang, right? Treasurer Meng asked me to help her with something." Su Mu replied.
"Is that so? Then be careful. If anything happens, just contact me. But don't you need to consolidate your realm?" Su Yan replied with a smile. She was well aware of who Xia Ning Chang was, so Su Yan wasn't worried about her tricking Su Mu into something bad.
"Don't worry about it." Su Mu replied with a smile. If the only thing he wanted to do was breakthrough, he would have done it within an hour. The reason it took him so long was that he was strengthening his foundation to the maximum for each minor realm.
'My fighting strength should be enough to fight the Peak of Qi Transformation Realm. And I should start cultivating that as well.' Su Mu thought as a smile appeared on his face.
His encounter with Long Zai Tian reminded him that although he can kill a Peak Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivator on his own, the price he needs to pay isn't worth it.
With those thoughts in mind, Su Mu once again sat cross-legged.
Noticing this, Su Yan decided to not disturb him, taking a seat right in front of him, she also started cultivating on her own. Her Secret Art was highly dependent on her state of mind. And whenever she was near Su Mu, she was able to calm herself.
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[Outside the Contribution Hall]
Just as Su Mu arrived at the Contribution Hall, he saw Xia Ning Chang coming out with a bag on her shoulder.
"Senior Sister Xia, where is Treasurer Meng?" Su Mu asked, confused. From what he could tell, there was no way that Meng Wuya would leave Xia Ning Chang alone with him even for a second, not to mention a half-month-long trip.
"His old injury suddenly acted up again yesterday. Right now, he needs to prioritize his recovery so he won't be able to make it." Xia Ning Chang replied, trying her best to act natural.
"Shouldn't we check on him before leaving?" Su Mu asked.
'A very bad liar.' Su Mu thought, looking at Xia Ning Chang with a smile.
Hearing his words, Xia Ning Chang panicked while blushing. "No need for that. I know where the place is since Master told me to not wait for him. We don't have much time to waste, Junior Brother Su."
"Then let's go." Su Mu said, making Xia Ning Chang happy.
The horses for their journey were already prepared, so their departure from the High Heaven Pavilion went smoothly.
For the next three days, Xia Ning Chang and Su Mu travelled on their horses while occasionally taking breaks. During that time, Su Mu was getting closer to Xia Ning Chang at a very fast pace. Most of it was thanks to her being a nice and honest person.
He didn't bother pressing the question about why Meng Wuya wasn't able to accompany him. As far as Su Mu was concerned, it was better for Meng Wuya to not accompany them.
After travelling for three days, both of them decided to stay at an inn since the journey from heron will be on foot.
Inside his room, Su Mu was sitting cross-legged while using a Martial Technique to enhance all his senses.
During their journey, he noticed that there were a lot of people following them. Since they were staying in the same inn as him, Su Mu decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.
After listening for a good few minutes, Su Mu realised that the one tailing him was none other than Long Hui from the Blood Battle Group. After a while, Nu Lang also arrived at the scene. Since he was also looking for Su Mu, Long Hui and his supporter recruited them into their group as cannon fodder.
While he was busy eavesdropping, Su Mu heard some rather unpleasant comments about Xia Ning Chang and Hu Mei'er, which made him frown. No matter who it was, no one had the right to disrespect his woman.
"The strongest one in their group is True Element 5th Stage, huh? That should be enough to deal with him if I catch him off guard." Su Mu thought, grabbing the sword that was lying next to him as a smile appeared on his face.
'After I'm done dealing with these guys, I'll let Treasurer Meng deal with Long Zai Tian.' He was sure that the moment Meng Wuya learns of Long Hui attacking his disciple, he'd head straight to the Blood Battle Group before beating everyone present there senseless.
No matter how much his cultivation was sealed, who in this world can contend with a Peak Saint Realm Cultivator?
After leaving the inn, they travelled for a single day before Su Mu found a bunch of Royal Solar Flowers, a herb with strong Yang Qi inside it. It only took Su Mu half an hour to absorb all the Yang Qi inside them before condensing it into pure drops of energy and storing it inside his Dantian.
A few days later, they arrived at their desired location.
"There are two more days until the 7th of July. I still need to make some preparations in the valley, so wait for me here, Junior Brother Su." Xia Ning Chang said, taking off on her own.
And so, another two days passed.
"I'm back." Xia Ning Chang said, walking over to Su Mu's side before taking a seat next to him. "I will recover first. We need to capture the Nine Yin Dew Crystals tonight between midnight and sunrise. If we miss this chance, it'll go into hiding again."
"Alright." Su Mu nodded.
Both Su Mu and Xia Ning Chag sat cross-legged; the former was busy keeping tabs on Long Hui and his men while the latter was recuperating the Yuan Qi she had used during the past two days.