Chapter 799: Breaking Through to the Unity Realm

"You go first!"

Letting the thousand-ant bee carrying the storage ring quietly fly toward the cave along the ground, Zhang Xuan shook his body and flew over, skimming the water's surface.

"Why has that Hong Yuan been gone so long and still hasn't returned?"

Before he even reached the spot, he heard a voice.

Two sacred beasts not far from the cave were chatting.

"Who knows? They say it's a human at the early stage of Saint Domain First Layer. Don't worry, it'll definitely subdue him. Probably wants to play for a while—after all, it's been a long time since a human came looking for trouble!" snorted the other.

Although they communicated in beast language, Zhang Xuan could understand every word clearly.

"Yeah... humans know we're here and are sensible enough to stay away." said the first sacred beast.

"Get in!"

Seeing the two sacred beasts chatting happily, completely unaware of him, he gently shook and slipped into the cave.

Any other soul cultivator would have gloomy energy inside them, and even if the sacred beasts hadn't trained their souls, they could detect it. But Zhang Xuan cultivated the Heavenly Dao soul, whose aura was upright and dignified, like a gentle breeze, making it not so easy to detect.

Coupled with the moisture from the water, the two sacred beasts never imagined that someone had slipped in right under their noses.

The cave was spacious and vast, filled with a damp atmosphere. Zhang Xuan waited a moment, saw the thousand-ant bee fly in as well, gently beckoned, and the ring landed in his palm. He strode inward.

The further he went, the damper it became, and the denser the spiritual energy. Compared to the spiritual energy here, even the elite district, let alone Vice Dean You's courtyard, fell far short.

It was undoubtedly a cultivation treasure land; cultivating here would surely yield twice the results with half the effort.

"No wonder these sacred beasts have been occupying it. Who would be willing to let go of such a treasure land?"

He nodded to himself.

The spiritual energy here was not only abundant but also pure. Even someone like him, who had high demands for spiritual energy, could be easily satisfied.

Moving forward slowly, he soon reached the end.

It was a huge circular pool, seven or eight meters wide, filled with emerald green liquid that exuded a rich, refreshing aura. Inhaling it seemed to greatly enhance one's cultivation.

"So this is the Earth Vein Spiritual Liquid? Truly remarkable..."

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Although he knew from the Hong Yuan beast's memory that the effects of this substance were immeasurable, seeing it in person was still hard to believe.

Though its purity was far inferior to high-grade spirit stones, the quantity was so vast that even hundreds or thousands of spirit stones combined couldn't compare.

"The surrounding peaks form a spirit-gathering array, and this is the core of the Cloud Mist Ridge. The accumulated spiritual energy, shrouded by clouds and unable to disperse, has over time formed the spiritual liquid..."

Combining the terrain he had seen along the way with the scene before him, Zhang Xuan nodded to himself.

This spiritual liquid had not formed in a single day; it had likely accumulated for at least ten thousand years.

"If I take it all, not only will I have no trouble breaking through to the Saint Domain, but Zheng Yang, Wang Ying, and the others will also find it very easy..."

He smiled lightly.

With so much spiritual liquid, he and his disciples would find breaking through very simple, no longer worrying about spirit stones.

"But... how to store it?"

There were dozens of tons of this spiritual liquid. Although a storage ring could hold it, without a container, he couldn't get it in!

Though he had some wine gourds on him, there were only a dozen or so bottles, not enough to hold much.

What to do?

He couldn't just come to a treasure mountain and go back with only a little.

He had succeeded this time because those sacred beasts hadn't expected a soul cultivator to come and were careless. Once they were on guard, it wouldn't be easy to take it again.

Therefore, this time he had to take enough spiritual liquid in one go, or it would be a wasted opportunity.

"I can use beast hide!"

After thinking for a while, an idea came to him.

In his storage ring, there were many beast hides from spirit beasts. He could use them to make containers.

Without hesitation, he flipped his wrist, and several huge beast hides appeared.

With a point of his finger, soul power formed threads, sewing them together into a huge container. With a wave of his hand, it flew into the pool.

Gurgle gurgle gurgle!

The beast-hide container quickly filled, holding more than twenty tons.

"Collect!"

With a thought, he stored it in the ring.

"Still less than half..."

After taking that much spiritual liquid, he looked down and saw that only a little less than half remained. Zhang Xuan rubbed his chin.

Having come once, if he didn't take it all, he always felt like something was missing.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder—how helpless it makes one!

Besides, these sacred beasts were hostile to humans, and countless humans had died at their hands. They weren't good creatures. Leaving it for them was like nourishing the enemy.

But he had used all the beast hides and had no other large containers on him.

Even if he wanted to take more, he couldn't!

"Let's see if there's anything around that can hold the spiritual liquid."

After thinking for a long time and finding no containers on him, Zhang Xuan had to walk around the cave to see what was usable.

"Hmm? What's that?"

Taking a few steps inward, he rounded the pool, and suddenly a pile of things appeared before him. Zhang Xuan's eyebrows jumped.

"These are... human bones?"

What appeared before him were human skeletons, piled up, numbering in the hundreds.

"Isn't this place forbidden to humans? Why are there human bones?"

He was full of doubt.

According to the rules of these sacred beasts and spirit beasts, humans were not allowed here. If not allowed, how could there be so many bones?

Curious, he looked down at the bones.

They were all male bones, with some weapons scattered around, seemingly of middling grade, around mid-grade spirit level.

He picked one up casually, and with a light shake, it broke into two.

The weapon was decent, but it seemed to have been through some battle, damaging its foundation, losing its former toughness, and was completely scrapped.

It seemed that at some unknown time, someone had broken in, and... all had perished.

"Hmm?"

Flipping through casually, a storage ring suddenly appeared before him.

With a thought, he entered it.

"Everything's gone; it's all been looted..."

He shook his head.

The ring was empty, almost nothing inside.

No wonder. Spirit beasts couldn't crack rings, but sacred beasts could. With so many sacred beasts around, if there were good things inside, they would have been looted long ago. How could they have waited for him?

"These are books?"

Just as his consciousness was about to withdraw from the ring, he caught a glimpse of a pile of inconspicuous items. With a thought, they appeared before him—all books.

Sacred beasts had their own inheritances and couldn't cultivate human techniques, so these things meant nothing to them.

He looked over the books and absorbed them all into his mind.

"They're all cultivation techniques and martial skills..."

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Many cultivators had the habit of copying techniques, so every human cultivator carried dozens of secret manuals.

This storage ring was the same; a quick flip revealed over a hundred volumes.

There were techniques for the Bridge Heaven Realm, Unity Realm, and Void Step Realm. But although there were manuals, the quantity wasn't enough to form a Heavenly Dao technique, so they weren't very useful to him.

"Let's see if there are other storage rings. If I can find a few more, I might piece together a cultivation technique..."

Without rushing, Zhang Xuan drove his soul and continued rummaging. Before long, he found over twenty storage rings.

Among the hundreds of skeletons, only this many rings remained; the rest had probably been divided among the sacred beasts.

The valuables in these rings had also been looted long ago, leaving only some worthless books.

He gathered all these books together.

"Over a thousand Unity Realm techniques, more than five hundred Void Step Realm techniques, and two hundred Cocoon Seal Realm techniques..."

His eyes lit up.

The Void Step and Cocoon Seal techniques weren't enough, but over a thousand Unity Realm techniques were sufficient to form a Heavenly Dao manual, allowing him to cultivate smoothly.

"Correct!"

He absorbed the books into his mind and focused his spirit.

Soon, a Unity Realm Heavenly Dao technique appeared before him. With a touch of his finger, the knowledge entered his mind.

"Since I can't take the spiritual liquid away, I might as well cultivate here and save what I can..."

He had looked around and found no containers. In that case, he might as well take the opportunity to cultivate and break through first.

One should be thrifty and save one's own resources when possible.

With a thought, his physical body appeared, and his soul slipped into it. Then, with a flick of his wrist, his clone also appeared.

The clone, like the main soul last time, had only cultivated to the late Unity Realm. Now, with so much spiritual liquid, it could absorb more to avoid waste.

After conveying the situation to the clone and giving instructions, Zhang Xuan jumped into the pool first.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

The Unity Realm technique activated, and the surrounding spiritual liquid immediately flowed into his body through his acupoints.

Boom!

His body rang with a series of cracks, and his cultivation instantly broke through the peak of Bridge Heaven Realm, reaching the Unity Realm.

With the breakthrough, the speed of absorbing spiritual energy increased. His whole body became like a huge pump, absorbing so fast that a massive whirlpool formed in the surrounding spiritual liquid.

Unity Realm Initial Stage!

Unity Realm Middle Stage!

Unity Realm Late Stage!

...

In just half an hour, his strength broke through the shackles and reached the Unity Realm Peak.

"Soul..."

With his true qi cultivation advancing, Zhang Xuan didn't stop. His soul leaped out and continued absorbing.

His soul had already reached the late Unity Realm, so cultivation was faster. In just over ten minutes, it broke through to the peak.

With both true qi and soul breaking through, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the surging power within him, his eyes shining.

At any other time, to break through both soul power and true qi, he would have needed dozens of high-grade spirit stones. But now, with enough spiritual liquid, it was essentially free, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of delight.

"Alright..."

He stood up and looked down at the spiritual liquid, intending to see how much was left, but he froze in shock.

The pool, previously seven or eight meters wide, was now exposed, and all the Earth Vein Spiritual Liquid had been nearly consumed.

"How is that possible?"

He had only broken through to the Unity Realm—how could he have used so much?

He turned to look at his clone, and with just one glance, his pupils involuntarily contracted, and he couldn't help but curse.

"Damn it, you wasteful thing..."