With the vital energy unleashed from the point of the sword and in a respectful manner, Austin moved
the bones of the Great Sage Cloud into the grave he had just dug. He then buried the shell of this once
powerful cultivator with sand and soil from the cave. A pile of mound was made to serve as his tomb.
To further show his respect for the dead, Austin stepped back and bowed to the heap for a few
moments, before he turned his attention to the little silver ball on the bed.
'Could this be some kind of treasure?' he wondered. This might explain why the Great Sage Cloud kept
it hidden under his body even during his final moments.
After hesitating for a while, Austin went up and took the ball in his hand, studying it carefully.
However, the very instant when his breath touched the ball, it suddenly started vibrating. A burst of
silver light emanated from within. Austin narrowed his eyes in order to see through the dazzling light,
and discovered some words hovering in the air.
"He who would help me rest in peace must uphold honesty and faith. All my life I have appreciated the
honorable and despise the opposite. An honorarium is thus waiting for you." Austin read the words as
the silver light kept illuminating the space.
"This silver ball is a crystallization of my lifetime's achievements. Take it as a reward and use it well."
Before Austin could even digest the words, the words slowly disappeared after lingering in the air for a
few more seconds.
'What does he mean, the crystallization of what he has achieved? Does it have something to do with
cultivation?'
Questions began erupting inside Austin's head like fireworks. He still stared blankly at the place where
those words once rested after they were gone.
The next instant, instead of being enlightened with the words he just saw, Austin was struck by a
refreshing wave of light. In his surprise, Austin saw the fist-sized silver ball shake more violently, and
suddenly it exploded with a light but clear sound.
The light did not fade away, but the ball turned into a cloud of thick silver smoke that rushed towards
Austin, surrounding him and eventually enveloping him.
The next thing he knew, a refined force surged rapidly through his entire body. He could feel that it was
a high-quality vital energy force which enveloped him. In the blink of an eye, Austin was unable to
move a single muscle.
Then, as Austin struggled to free himself, the silver smoke began to flow, and seeped in his body
through his pores and acupoints.
At the same time, Austin felt that the vital energy quickly accumulated within him before it suddenly
permeated into his energy meridians like a river rushing through. Austin started to breathe deeply while
the vital energy flushed into him like the rivers pouring into the sea.
As the vital energy filled him, streams of it met and converged in his meridians. They formed a strong
tidal current and began to open and enlarge his energy meridians as they pushed through.
This process was accompanied by the crackle of his body.
Austin was no stranger to the sound of body transformation, and he knew that the sound he heard now
indicated that his energy meridians were expanding. They were growing so fast that he felt they would
burst if they continued expanding. But they didn't stop there, instead, the speed of expansion kept
accelerating all over his body.
And what was even more amazing was that his organs were being refashioned at the same time! After
he mastered the Overlord Body-refining Formula, his organs were refined to a hardened state, which
enabled him to take other cultivators' attacks without getting his organs ruptured easily.
Now, with the large amount of vital energy he inherited from the Great Sage Cloud coursing through his
veins, the shields that had been protecting his body seemed to have been more enhanced. He could
feel that the outer layer of his organs were turning hard as iron, and they even made clicking sounds
every time he took a deep breath.
'What? Wait a second ...' Austin sensed that a rush was coming over him. 'I'm close to a breakthrough,
right now!'
It took him only a few seconds to realize that this was a sign that he was about to make a breakthrough
in his cultivation level.
Austin was ecstatic, and he was definitely not gonna let this opportunity pass. After all, the higher the
cultivation level a cultivator had achieved, the harder it would be for him to make another breakthrough.
So ever since Austin had refined at the Earth Realm, he found that his cultivation speed had slowed
dramatically. It was much slower than when he was still at the Energy Gathering Realm.
Of course, he would not pass up such a rare chance to progress even further!
There was no time to waste, so he sat immediately with his legs crossed. He placed his hands in front
of him closer to his Elixir Field, with palms facing but not touching each other. He closed his eyes,
quieted his mind as he prepared for his meditation.
Slowly and steadily, he allowed his consciousness to enter his body, and guide the silver vital energy in
order to make a breakthrough.
As he kept absorbing the silver smoke from his surroundings, the remaining smoke turned a lighter
shade and became thinner. It looked like that all of the smoke was about to infiltrate inside of him.
But Austin became indifferent about the things happening around him. He channeled all of his focus
and attention on the cultivation process.
Inside, the flooding of vital energy was finally under control, and went from a disorderly state to an
orderly one. Following Austin's instructions, they began to flow in specified paths within his body.
To be specific, with Austin's command, the strong vital energy had turned into a fierce and ruthless
army marching through his meridians, defeating all that was in the way of gaining another
breakthrough. And it seemed like they would come out victorious.
Within less than half an hour of workout, Austin suddenly sensed cracks from his body, and then he
heard a dull sound as a wave of vital energy force rushed out of him. The vital energy was so powerful
that Austin's body as well as the air shook due to its force. Even Violet, who had been watching
carefully a few feet away, was pushed back by the shock wave.
It happened so suddenly, but Austin was sure that he had just refined at the medium stage of Earth
Realm!
Violet was stunned at Austin's huge progress in just a short time. She might be a demon fox, but she
could tell from his vital energy force that he was at the medium stage of Earth Realm!
What amazing speed it was!
Generally speaking, it could take an ordinary cultivator two to three years to promote his refinement
level from the preliminary stage of Earth Realm to the medium stage of Earth Realm. And for those less
talented ones, it might even take five or six years of hard work just to get there.
But this man made a huge leap in less than half an hour. Surely, Violet realized that he made such
breakthrough thanks to the mysterious silver ball that the Great Sage Cloud had left him.
Anyway, Austin was delighted. He beamed with a satisfied smile when he checked his state.
But he wasn't going to stop there!
From what he could sense, the deluge of powerful vital energy from the silver ball was still pouring into
his body, and while he was catching his breath, it had helped him consolidate the realm he had just
reached.
From how well the vital energy in his meridians had been refined, Austin was aware that he had
accomplished more than he could imagine—Although he had just made the breakthrough, he could
already control the vital energy inside him easily, as if he had been at the medium stage of Earth Realm
for years! It seemed like his high cultivation speed didn't come at the cost of a solid foundation.
And while he was overwhelmed with excitement and joy, the cultivation didn't stop there. And he found
himself already at the peak of the medium stage of Earth Realm in the turn of a hand!
Austin was lost for words. In fact, he never imagined that reaching the highest level of the medium
stage of Earth Realm could be this easy, not even in his wildest dream!
Yet the vital energy inside him was shouting the truth, and his body had easily adapted to this high
cultivation base, even better than his mind could.
What came next, however, was something even crazier.
To his astonishment, Austin had again sensed that another breakthrough was about to happen!
'How could this be?' Austin was half amazed, half pleasantly surprised now. If this was true, then he
was going to reach the premium stage of Earth Realm just like that! ! ! !
This was no doubt a momentous occasion!
But Austin immediately tried to contain his excitement, for he knew very well that strong emotions could
get in the way of cultivating. If a cultivator was too emotional during his refining, then bad things might
happen when he tried to make a breakthrough. The worst case scenario was that one's cultivation base
could become dangerously unstable, and he or she might end up with energy deviation, just like what
happened to the Great Sage Cloud.
So it was critical for Austin to get a hold of himself and clear his mind during this critical stage. He was
experienced enough to know that by now.
To get rid of all the negative emotions, Austin quickly took some time to regulate his breathing. Being a
strong-willed cultivator, he was able to calm down and diminish the distracting thoughts in his mind right
away.
In an instant, he had driven all worldly distractions and all of his internal demons away. He became so
dedicated that he had forgotten all about the outside world and even himself. His sole attention was
focused on directing the silver vital energy to run through his body, and to help him with the
breakthrough.
Violet, on the other hand, felt ill at ease at that moment. But seeing that Austin was practicing steadily
like a monk sitting in meditation, she dared not say a single word which might disturb him, however
anxious she was.
Because she knew that this kind of opportunity was hard to come by, therefore Austin would definitely
not give it up easily.
But she had every reason to feel worried. Those five powerful cultivators at the Mysterious Realm were
at their heels, and could break in the cave any minute. The two of them were still in a precarious
situation anyway.
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