Rise of the Sword Son-in-Law

Chapter 78 Rapid Progress

The following days were exceptionally peaceful; Xu Ping’an didn’t step out of his courtyard at all.

Besides consuming Spirit Marrow and accumulating his True Yuan,

his cultivation had also advanced to the peak of the Ninth Layer of the Sea-Splitting Realm, just one step away from breaking through to the Third Layer.

He spent the rest of his time honing his shield techniques and swordsmanship.

As for the elixirs, disciples took the initiative to deliver them daily.

Three Superior Grade Third Rank Jade Spirit Pills per day.

After five days, that amounted to fifteen pills in total.

Fifteen Superior Grade Jade Spirit Pills and ten Meridian Opening Pills were enough for him to break through to the First Layer of the Meridian Opening Realm.

"I’m preparing to break through to the Third Rank; once I do, my strength should ascend to another level," Xu Ping’an murmured to himself.

Having made up his mind, he no longer hesitated.

He went into his room and set up a simple Third Rank formation that sealed off the spiritual energy.

He then poured all his Spirit Marrow into a bath tub and consumed the Meridian Opening Pills and Jade Spirit Pills.

With the pills consumed, the True Yuan within Xu Ping’an reached an incredibly formidable state.

And the spiritual energy within his room’s formation had become alarmingly dense.

Xu Ping’an, without the slightest hesitation, began circulating the Chaotic Reversal Scripture, absorbing spiritual energy and turning it into True Yuan.

He formed the True Yuan and directed it towards assailing his Mysterious Veins.

The attack on the Mysterious Veins was an extremely dangerous process.

A slight mistake could cause irreversible damage to the Mysterious Veins.

But Xu Ping’an was unperturbed; with his control over True Yuan, there was no issue in breaking through a Mysterious Vein.

And he didn’t even intend to break through just one; he aimed to do so in one fell swoop, breaking through at least three.

Such a feat would be a massive drain on one’s True Yuan, and most people couldn’t possibly afford it.

But Xu Ping’an was in no shortage of resources.

While others might be reluctant to use Spirit Marrow, he had no qualms about converting all 110 drops of it into spiritual energy.

With Jade Spirit Pills from within and Spirit Marrow from outside.

Such formidable spiritual energy would be more than sufficient for one, even ten, people to break through to the Third Rank.

As the True Yuan assailed the Mysterious Veins, Xu Ping’an took a Meridian Opening Pill and a Jade Spirit Pill every hour.

Three hours later, Xu Ping’an successfully opened the first Mysterious Vein and officially entered the First Layer of the Third Rank Realm.

However, Xu Ping’an did not stop there; he continued to break through the second vein.

Another four hours passed, and the second vein was cleared.

After a total of twelve hours, Xu Ping’an had successfully opened three Mysterious Veins and stepped into the Third Layer Realm of the Meridian Opening Realm.

Opening three Mysterious Veins in one breath was an unprecedented event in the history of the Great Qin Immortal Dynasty.

Of course, the cost was immense—the ten Meridian Opening Pills, fifteen Superior Grade Jade Spirit Pills, and all 110 drops of Spirit Marrow were completely exhausted.

It could be said that this practically used up all the savings Xu Ping’an had accumulated over this period.

Now, the True Yuan in his body began to liquify bit by bit.

The Mysterious Veins were thick and robust, running through his limbs.

Xu Ping’an now felt an incredibly mighty power.

"With my current strength, facing a Seventh Layer of the Third Rank poses no pressure at all," Xu Ping’an thought joyfully to himself.

The differences in the stages of the Meridian Opening Realm become wider as one progresses.

Therefore, the advantage of challenging someone beyond one’s level would diminish accordingly.

Being able to fight someone of the Seventh Layer while at the Third Layer was already quite defiant of the heavens.

Even a genius like Li Qingyi would find it difficult to challenge someone beyond her level.

After taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, Xu Ping’an walked out of his courtyard.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Xu!"

Walking along the path, many disciples greeted Xu Ping’an.

Especially the female disciples, who couldn’t help but blush at the sight of him.

Not only that, Xu Ping’an was also surprised to find that many disciples in the Sect were carrying shields on their backs.

It was clear that his use of the shield had won over a significant number of fans within the Sect, causing many to imitate him and start practicing shield techniques.

The Beichen Sword Sect was famous for its swordsmanship, yet now there were disciples everywhere carrying shields; Xu Ping’an wondered if Dugu Tianyu would beat him up for this.

Afterwards, Xu Ping’an learned some information about the sect from some disciples.

Since his closed-door cultivation, Li Qingyi had also entered into seclusion.

Long Yan, Tang Qingheng, Zhao Kai, Tong Shan, and even the majority of the elite disciples had all secluded themselves for cultivation.

Additionally, there was another piece of news that surprised Xu Ping’an.

That was Zhou Mengyue had disappeared!

She had left the Beichen Sword Sect, with no one knowing her whereabouts.

Xu Ping’an frowned slightly, Zhou Mengyue would always be a threat if she remained alive.

Originally, he had intended to find an opportunity to kill her outside the sect.

But now that she had actually vanished, it somewhat disappointed Xu Ping’an.

Fortunately, the threat Zhou Mengyue posed was no longer significant; she couldn’t kill him now, and it would only be harder in the future.

One day, he would find her and settle their score.

Compared with Zhou Mengyue, Xu Ping’an was more eager to kill Chen Tianqing.

However, Chen Tianqing always had a Fourth Rank expert by his side, making it difficult for Xu Ping’an to make his move.

Xu Ping’an had also tried to initiate a life-or-death battle with Chen Tianqing, but the latter flat-out ignored the challenge.

Having no alternative, he could only look for another opportunity.

"Junior Brother Ping’an?"

Just then, a voice mixed with surprise and gentleness rang out.

Xu Ping’an turned around and saw that the person who had come was Li Qingyi.

"Senior Sister Li!" Xu Ping’an said.

"You can call me Senior Sister Qingyi or just Qingyi," said Li Qingyi with a gentle smile.

Many disciples around them were astonished.

Indeed, Li Qingyi only smiled when she was with Xu Ping’an.

She was truly beautiful when she smiled!

"Have you made a breakthrough to the Sixth Rank?" Xu Ping’an glanced at Li Qingyi and asked.

"Yes, I had another breakthrough in these past few days with the help of a Jade Spirit Pill," Li Qingyi nodded in response.

"Your progress is quite swift!" Xu Ping’an complimented.

"Junior Brother Ping’an has entered the Third Rank as well, right?" Li Qingyi looked at Xu Ping’an and asked.

"Mm, I just stepped into it yesterday," Xu Ping’an nodded.

"Junior Brother Ping’an, having stepped into the Third Layer of the Third Rank, must be even stronger now," Li Qingyi said.

Xu Ping’an gave a slight smile.

Third Rank, First Layer?

He was now at the Third Rank, Third Layer!

However, he didn’t explain this and just smiled, "What brings you out of seclusion this time?"

"It’s a summon by the sect master, apparently, there’s an urgent mission. Since Junior Brother has arrived, how about joining me?" Li Qingyi replied.

"Okay!" Xu Ping’an thought for a moment and then nodded.

After all, he had just had a breakthrough and didn’t have much else to do.

If there was indeed a suitable mission, it would be good to go out and sharpen his skills.

Especially since he had just made a breakthrough, his control over his strength was not yet perfect.

Arriving at the sect’s main hall, at that moment, there were three others inside the hall.

These three were Long Yan, Tang Qingheng, and Zhao Kai.

It seemed that their cultivation had also improved. Seeing Xu Ping’an and Li Qingyi walking in,

all three gave a wry smile and then subtly stepped aside.

It was clear that Xu Ping’an’s strength had completely conquered them.

They hadn’t expected Xu Ping’an to be here as well.

Li Qingyi alone was already enough to leave them feeling breathless; now with Xu Ping’an arriving too,

they didn’t know whether they were fortunate or pitiful.

"Is everyone here?" Dugu Tianyu walked in with a smile, and seeing the five people in the hall, his face showed a satisfied smile.

Then his gaze fell on Xu Ping’an, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.