Chapter 185: Locked onto again

A cultivator's strength came from two sources.  One was the sea of consciousness which kept increasing the cultivator's spiritual energy.  The ancient saying of three souls and seven spirits was actually pointing to the spiritual part of the sea of consciousness.  It was the Heavenly Soul, the Earth Soul, and the Life Soul that made up a person's soul and the innate impulse, the wisdom, the qi, the strength, the center pivot, the spirit, and the heroic that made up a person's spirit.  The Spiritual Pulse Technique refined the three souls and seven spirits, refining them one by one. Currently, Lin Mu Yu's soul was much stronger than cultivators of the same rank and his spiritual sense was also sharper.

The other source was the sea of qi.  The qi inside a person came from the earth, the stars, the sea, the spirits, and etc.  This power gathered inside a person's dantian and formed a sea of qi. Cultivators in the Fragmented Cauldron Plane focused far more on strengthening the sea of qi than the sea of consciousness, Zhang Wei, Wei Chou, Xiang Yu, and the others were all examples of this.  This was because the sea of qi was the most direct method of increasing one's strength.

At this time, Lin Mu Yu felt that his sea of qi was empty, as if all his battle qi was taken by his gourd martial spirit.  The light green gourd surrounded him, slowly turning, while it was wildly absorbing the Umbrella Dragon's beast spirit. It was also absorbing Lin Mu Yu's battle qi at the same time.

"What is going on with the gourd?"

Lin Mu Yu knit his brows, secretly feeling this was strange.

Without knowing how long pa.s.sed, when this ten thousand year old Thunder Umbrella Dragon's beast spirit was completely refined, suddenly a beam of light fell from the sky through the rocks and fell onto the gourd.  At the same time, the green gourd began to tremble slightly as a golden light was released from within, like streaks of gold. In an instant, the green gourd actually completely turned golden.

"Roar, roar….."

From within the alchemy cauldron, the Thunder Umbrella Dragon's final piece of beast spirit roared out, trying to break free from the alchemy cauldron's bindings, but it could not achieve its wish.  The alchemy cauldron became a completely sealed s.p.a.ce and Lin Mu Yu sent out the Heavenly Flame to refine it for five minutes. Finally the beast spirit turned into a stream of golden light that slowly entered the gourd.

"Weng, weng….."

The gourd let out sharp howls as it shook slightly.  The outside layer of the gourd was shedded, revealing a new gourd which was a completely golden gourd.  At the same time, Lin Mu Yu was filled with joy because since the gourd had increased a level, this also meant that he had broken through the First Heaven Tier!  Finally, after being in the First Heaven Tier for so long, he completed his breakthrough. He also finally caught up to Feng Ji Xing, Qin Lei, Chu Huai Sheng, and the others.

Lulu in his sea of consciousness said with a slight smile, "Congratulations to big brother for breaking through!"

"Thank you, Lulu."

Lin Mu Yu revealed a faint smile as he felt the golden gourd return a wave like battle qi back to him.  This was much more intense and purer than what was absorbed by the gourd. At the same time, there was a white battle qi that condensed around him, condensing into something that resembled a set of armour.

Battle qi armour!

Finally, he had the ability to turn battle qi into armour!  Adding in the gourd martial spirit's defenses, Lin Mu Yu could be considered a moving steel barrier.  A person that wasn't completely dominant to him would not be able to break his defenses.

Lulu said with a faint smile, "Big brother, the Thunder Umbrella Dragon's skill has also been refined, it is an attack skill named 'Dawn'.  This skill can be released in your attack or you can instantly release a flash of light to blind your enemy, it's up to you how you use it."

"Un."

Lin Mu Yu revealed a faint smile.  There was the Dawn energy gathered within the seven layers of the gourd.  He opened his palm and gently released the energy. The battle qi began to rotate, as golden lights began to appear around his fingers with the release of his martial spirit, even entering the Dragon Spirit Sword he was holding.  The Dragon Spirit Sword instantly let out a sharp cry, as if it was filled with joy because of this powerful light energy.

Perhaps a single slash from Lin Mu Yu would be completely different from before.

At this time, Xiahou Sang walked into the cave and saw that Lin Mu Yu's green gourd had turned into a golden gourd.  Moreover, this gourd was still flaking as it formed a new gourd. Instantly Xiahou Sang happily cupped his hands and respectfully said, "Congratulations sir, your gourd has increased its level and is now no longer a grade ten gourd!"

"Oh?"

Lin Mu Yu was stunned, "What is this about?  I only know the gourd has seven levels now, but I don't know what grade it is."

Xiahou Sang explained, "Sir does not know this, martial spirits are stable and there are people with innately low level martial spirits, but through certain fortuitous encounter or hard training, eighth grade martial spirits can turn into grade seven martial spirits.  I think that since sir's gourd has turned a golden colour, it should no longer be at the tenth grade. Perhaps after sir returns to Orchid Goose City, you should let great deacon Lei Hong see this, his eyes can tell what grade it is."

"Hei, that's great!"

His tenth grade martial spirit had always been Lin Mu Yu's sore spot.  After all, an earth shattering person like him had such a low level martial spirit, it didn't make sense.  From what Xiahou Sang said, it seemed like his counterattack of potential was a foregone conclusion!

Xiahou Sang added, "Sir, it's almost daybreak, we should head back.  If we keep staying here, I'm afraid sir won't make it in time for the Swordsman Meet."

"It's already daybreak….."

Lin Mu Yu was a bit stunned, he never thought he would be cultivating for so long.  Wanting to raise the level of his gourd took quite a bit of time, so he nodded, "Un, let's head back!"

When he stepped out of the cave, Wei Chou's group was all outside s.h.i.+vering.  They didn't have good expressions after staying out all night without sleeping, but there was no other choice, this was fate.  The Falcon Guards were much more bitter off compared to the Dragon Guards.

Wei Chou could see that Lin Mu Yu's energy was different from before, so he said with a smile, "Congratulations to sir's breakthrough!"

Lin Mu Yu nodded, "Many thanks."

Another Imperial Guard named "Han Shao" had a stunned expression as he said, "Commander has already stepped into the Second Heaven Tier?"

"Un, let's go.  Let's quickly head back to the Falcon's Nest."

"Yes!"

Everyone left the cave together and their war horses weren't tied up far away.  After feeding the horses a bit of gra.s.s, they set off. It was good thing these war horses were good horses, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to withstand this trip.  But after this trip, the horses had lost several pounds, which was the dream of many young girls!

Lin Mu Yu sat down on his horse and closed his eyes.  Wei Chou was leading them as the vanguard.

But there was a bit of restlessness in Lin Mu Yu's heart, as if……there was something spying on them.  However, when he released his Spiritual Pulse Technique, there wasn't any strong people other than them in a several mile area.  This restless feeling filled him with doubt.

He slowly raised his hand to take the sword from his back and placed it at his waist, which was more convenient to draw.  Lin Mu Yu's eyes contained a trace of coldness as he said, "Everyone be careful, this place isn't safe."

Everyone nodded.  Xiahou Sang took out his blade and said, "Sir can be a.s.sured, we'll be on the main road in just ten minutes.  Our horses can run fast then and normal spirit beasts won't be able to catch us. Not to mention that sir is already in the Second Heaven Tier, becoming a Heaven King expert, normal spirit beasts would move around us."

"Is that so?"

Lin Mu Yu knit his brows and said, "Still, be careful."

"Yes, understood!"

Wei Chou took the bow from his back and placed it at his waist.  He also placed his arrow quiver beside him, being able to attack at any moment.

Lin Mu Yu closed his eyes and released his Spiritual Pulse Technique again.  He carefully searched, while piquing his ears, carefully listening to all the sounds around them.  Other than the horses' hooves falling down on the snow and the sound of the wind blowing through their capes, there were no other sounds.

But at this time, Lin Mu Yu suddenly knit his brows.  There was a strange sound that he heard, which was a "su, su" sound, like the sound of claws falling on the snow.  However…..when he opened his eyes to look around him, he could not see a single beast.

"What is going on?"

Lin Mu Yu gritted his teeth, even starting to suspect the Spiritual Pulse Technique's spiritual sense.  Where had this strange sound come from?

Suddenly, he looked behind him and saw a beast's paw print appear on the ground, but he couldn't see the figure of the beast.  Lin Mu Yu already confirmed that there was something following his group, it seemed like his spiritual sense and his premonition was not wrong at all.

"Be careful of behind us!"

Lin Mu Yu suddenly turned around and charged out wielding the Dragon Spirit Sword.

The one at the end was the Imperial Guard Han Shao, the level 54 Battle Saint.  He turned around in a daze and looked at the snow behind him as he said, "Sir, there is nothing?!"

"Han Shao, be careful!"  Lin Mu Yu loudly shouted.

At this time, there was a distortion in the air in front of them.  With a beast roar, a scarlet beast appeared in the air in front of Han Shao.  It was covered in fur and a sharp claw came out!

"Puchi!"

Han Shan was on top of his horse as his body suddenly sunk.  The armour from his neck to his abdomen split apart, as if it was cut apart by a blade, as his entire body split in half instantly.  His internal organs and blood poured out, and even the horse underneath him was split apart by the wild beast's claw. With a loud cry, Hao Shao's corpse fell down.

"Instant kill……"

Lin Mu Yu's voice was slightly trembling, as his anger made him unable to stop his body from trembling.

Han Shao's instant death was too tragic.  Just what kind of spirit beast was this?!