Chapter 179: 5° stage of the Qi Liberation Realm

Fen, the man who had greeted him earlier, stepped forward, his face hopeful.

“Young Master Kyrian! You’ve returned… and the others? Elder Bo?”

Kyrian dismounted, his face a cold mask of polished stone.

“Gather all remaining members of the Court. Now.”

There was no room for questions in his tone. Fen swallowed hard and ran to carry out the order. Within minutes, around twenty surviving cultivators of the Court were gathered in the main courtyard, their faces expectant and worried.

Kyrian looked at them, his posture upright, his immaculate crimson robes a stark contrast to their dirt and wear.

“The primary threat was… transformed,” he began, his voice clear and impersonal, carrying the authority of his status.

“The source of the wave was a Monster-Tree on the verge of advancement. When we arrived, it had already consumed the energy of the dead beasts and completed its ascension to the Spiritual Awakening Realm.”

A murmur of shock and terror ran through the group. The Spiritual Awakening Realm was a realm that likely none of them would ever have the chance to touch in their lives.

“Elder Bo and the other eight of the Core Formation Realm… attacked in an attempt to interrupt it during its moment of vulnerability.” Kyrian paused briefly, letting the next sentence hang in the heavy air.

“She eliminated them. Instantly. There was no fight.”

The silence that followed was dense. Twenty pairs of eyes stared at Kyrian, incredulous and terrified. Eight of their best, crushed like insects.

“The entity, which assumed a humanoid form, departed toward the lowlands. Its intentions are unknown.”

Kyrian then took a scroll from his spatial ring, one he had prepared during the flight back, using a bit of Qi to inscribe the information concisely. He extended it to Fen.

“This is a complete report of the events, including a description of the being, its estimated level of power, and the location. You, Fen, I assign the mission of delivering it personally to Elder Goran, the leader of the External Missions Branch.”

Fen took the scroll as if it were a burning coal, his fingers trembling slightly. It was a great responsibility, especially since the order came from a Main Branch disciple. He straightened his shoulders and nodded firmly.

“Understood, Young Master. It will be done.”

Without waiting for further responses or reactions, Kyrian turned and walked back to his horse. The group watched him leave, a mixture of relief at having survived the wave but also a deep chill in their stomachs at having lost their superiors in such a manner.

Kyrian mounted the black horse. He did not look back at the sect or the men he left behind. His objective was now clear.

He would return to the main branch. The Blood Library. The spirit stones Dong Zhen had promised. He would do everything to accelerate his growth as fast as possible.

The incident with the root woman was not a complete failure. But a warning. A warning he would not ignore.

He guided the horse northward, toward the dark clouds and the hidden fortress of the Crimson Court.

The journey back to the fortress was a race against time itself. The sky darkened, swallowing the landscape in black tones, but Kyrian maintained the same pace.

The black horse, fueled by its rider’s newly awakened urgency, flew like a dark arrow through the night.

For during the flight, something had happened. Something he remembered vividly, a sensation rising from the depths of his mind.

A tenuous but undeniable connection had formed between his consciousness and the blank book that resided in his mind. It was not an active call, but as if it had awakened slightly, a sign that the banquet had been digested and was ready to be distributed.

It was the same sensation he had felt the last time the book devoured one of the black masses, but this time the connection was amplified exponentially.

He knew what this meant. The colossal energy of the black mass that had existed in the core of the corrupted tree, devoured by the book, was about to feed back into him.

By the time he crossed the formation barrier of the main fortress, night had fully fallen. The red crystals embedded in the walls and pillars emitted their usual bloodlike glow, casting long, sinister shadows across the silent corridors.

In the Core Hall, he saw the silhouettes of the other five disciples. Bai Zhu, Li Fen, Yan Ling, Kai, and Mei Li. Seated in meditation, making use of the dense energy of the place.

They raised their eyes upon sensing his sudden arrival, expressions of curiosity or appraisal appearing on their faces.

Kyrian ignored them completely. His gaze did not rest on them even once. He had something infinitely more important to do. His footsteps echoed with iron determination as he crossed the hall and disappeared down the corridor leading to his quarters.

Upon entering his room, the iron door closed behind him with a final click. Silence, broken only by the distant pulse of the fortress core, enveloped him. Without hesitation, he sat on the cold floor, legs crossed, closing his eyes.

His consciousness plunged inward, straight into his mental space where the book always rested.

He did not need to force a connection this time. It was as if a small portal was already open.

And then, it happened.

From the immaculate white book, a translucent and serene energy began to emanate. It had no color, but a quality of pure, cold light, like the first light of dawn reflected on a frozen lake.

It flowed, not to his dantians, but to the very essence of his consciousness, what Kyrian now knew was his soul. The essence of his consciousness.

Kyrian felt it wash over him. It was a bath of absolute clarity. All remnants of agitation from the battle, the echo of the tree’s scream, the image of the nine being crushed, the cold fascination with the root woman, all of it dissolved, washed away by the translucent current.

His mind became cold, lucid, and sharp as a diamond blade. As if it were a purification. The fatigue in his mind vanished completely, replaced by vivid, expansive awareness.

It was soul-refining energy, he identified, the knowledge from the library merging with direct experience.

Something extremely rare, mentioned only in relation to celestial treasures or divine ancestral inheritances. The book did not merely devour darkness and black mist, it refined them into a balm for the soul itself.

And then came the reward he had been longing for. As his soul was strengthened and polished, he felt the familiar, frustrating restriction begin to unravel.

The limit imposed by his eyes after an advancement, the barrier that prevented him from continuously devouring the energy of spirit stones, began to melt away.

Days of waiting compressed into hours, then into minutes. The sensation that his eyes needed time vanished completely.

His eyes were… free. Hungry. Ready.

Kyrian did not waste a second. His hands moved, pulling from his spatial ring what remained of his precious spirit stones. A considerable amount of low- and mid-grade stones he had reserved appeared.

He then began to grasp them.

His eyes opened. The habitual carmine glow shone with an inner light, reflecting the energy flowing before him. He focused on the pile of stones and then began.

The process was so fast it was almost violent. The stones were brought to his eyes one after another. They did not crumble into dust but seemed to evaporate within his eyes.

Transforming into veils of raw energy that were instantly sucked in by Kyrian’s eyes. It was a whirlwind of energy, a river of Qi that was constantly purified before flowing directly into his dantians.

Within his eyes, the two reservoirs, already solid and expanded by cultivation, began to vibrate. They filled to the brim, a pleasant and powerful pressure growing at their core.

There was no perceptible barrier, no bottleneck to be overcome through struggle like other cultivators faced. With the clarity of his soul and his eyes, the breakthrough was a natural conclusion.

A sudden warmth coursed through his body, originating from his eyes, strengthening him slightly. It was followed by a subtle expansion of his senses.

He broke through to the 4° stage of the Qi Liberation Realm.

Kyrian did not even smile. He simply continued. The translucent energy of the book was still flowing, and he felt the miracle repeat itself. The limit, which should have reasserted itself for weeks, began to retreat once more.

Thirty days of waiting dissolved into twenty, then into ten… until they vanished completely, like ice under an intense sun.

“More.”

Kyrian began to devour the remaining spirit stones, the pile shrinking to nothing. His newly expanded dantians accepted the fresh flood of Qi.

The book’s energy acted as a perfect catalyst, nourishing his soul as his cultivation grew. Once again, the internal pressure increased, reached a peak, and stabilized at a new stage.

“5° stage of the Qi Liberation Realm.”

Now the room was empty of stones. His reserves were exhausted. But the process was still not over. For the third time, he felt the limit attempting to assert itself.

But the translucent energy had not yet run out.

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