Chapter 1911 — Failed

Yang Huaijun lived in the police department's guesthouse, where he occupied a suite. Until he bought a house of his own, this was his temporary home.

The guesthouse staff all clearly knew Yang Huaijun, so they naturally thought nothing of him bringing someone back. Assuming he was meeting a witness or an informant, no attendant would disturb them.

"Let's begin right away. We've got experience from last time," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Alright!" Yang Huaijun nodded forcefully, sat down in front of Wei Zhao, and extended both hands. Wei Zhao locked his fingers over Yang Huaijun's meridians, and Yang Huaijun began circulating his internal cultivation technique.

Wei Zhao was well-versed in elevating one's strength. He activated the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art, and the omnipotent energy within his body transformed into the true qi that Yang Huaijun needed, flowing ceaselessly into Yang Huaijun's meridians...

Yang Huaijun's strength smoothly broke through from the peak of the late Yellow stage into the Mysterious stage, climbing all the way—to the peak of the early Mysterious stage, the middle Mysterious stage... then the peak of the late Mysterious stage! Perhaps because Wei Zhao's own power had increased, Yang Huaijun did not require compressed true qi to go from the peak of the late Yellow stage to the early Mysterious stage. Though there was still a barrier, Wei Zhao helped Yang Huaijun breach it with ease.

In other words, although Yang Huaijun felt the pain of breaking through a bottleneck, it was absolutely nothing like the breathtaking ordeal that Chen Yutian, Qiu Lingshan, and the others had gone through.

The peak of the late Mysterious stage—Yang Huaijun had now reached it, but Wei Zhao still did not stop. A sudden idea occurred to him: what if he used the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art to create compressed true qi and help Yang Huaijun break through the Mysterious stage? Would that be feasible?

The true qi produced by the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art was of a purity that the first level could not compare with. The difference between them was so vast that even Wei Zhao was astonished. If he used the second level to compress the qi, perhaps a breakthrough really was possible!

At that thought, Wei Zhao asked in a low voice, "Junzi, I'm about to help you break through from the Mysterious stage to the Earth stage. Do you have any problem with that? It may be very painful—you might fail at the last step, and all your meridians could be destroyed. But I can still repair them..."

"If they can be repaired, then what are we waiting for? Come on, Chief—if you want to improve your strength, how can you avoid taking a little risk?" Yang Huaijun was perfectly calm and answered at once.

If his meridians, once destroyed, could never be repaired, Yang Huaijun might have hesitated. But since Wei Zhao could repair even completely ruined meridians, the worst outcome was merely suffering a bit of pain—an ordeal that would amount to nothing in the end. And if it succeeded, it would bring him far greater strength. Was there even a choice to make?

Surely any cultivator would choose the latter.

"Good, then bear it!" Wei Zhao then switched his mental technique from the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art to the second. Though he was not yet proficient in the second-level technique, switching between the two levels came to him with ease.

Wei Zhao began trying to compress true qi using the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art, but was shocked to discover that compressing this qi was difficult beyond measure! Compared with the first level, it was as different as heaven and earth.

The true qi formed by the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art already seemed so pure that it would not allow Wei Zhao to compress it any further. Before long, a fine layer of sweat densely covered Wei Zhao's forehead, yet there was utterly no progress in compressing the true qi!

Yang Huaijun was mystified. The true qi Wei Zhao had been transmitting suddenly stopped, but judging by Wei Zhao's expression, he seemed to be struggling with something. Yet Yang Huaijun felt nothing at all, so despite his confusion, he did not dare ask, and could only cooperate silently.

Wei Zhao was growing anxious. Though he could mobilize the true qi of the second level during normal circulation of the technique, the moment he tried to compress it, it became somewhat uncontrollable—as if it were entirely beyond his command!

He would gather the true qi together, but when he tried to compress it, it either slipped away to another place or dispersed on its own!

How cursed! Wei Zhao refused to believe it—if he couldn't even control the true qi inside his own body, then why practice the Xuanyuan Dragon-Commanding Art at all? Gritting his teeth, he gave up compressing a large amount of true qi this time and instead selected a much smaller cluster to compress.

This time, there was an effect. Although even this small cluster of true qi was not entirely under control, under Wei Zhao's forceful gathering and compression, it slowly shrank in volume. Overjoyed, Wei Zhao did not dare delay and directly sent this small cluster of compressed true qi into Yang Huaijun's meridians!

"Ah—" Yang Huaijun felt Wei Zhao's true qi surging over once more. Though he had been prepared, the sudden release and expansion of the true qi, feeling as if it would burst his meridians, still made him feel like his entire body was about to explode.

With Yang Huaijun's fierce roar, the clothes on his body all turned to ashes. The fluctuation of true qi generated in that instant was enough to destroy everything around him!

Seeing what was before him, a glimmer of joy flashed through Wei Zhao's eyes, because when he had broken through to the Earth stage himself, his situation had been similar to the one Yang Huaijun was in now... However, the joy in Wei Zhao's eyes soon turned to disappointment!

Because Yang Huaijun had not broken through to the Earth stage. The fluctuation of true qi around his body came to a stop, and his strength—as Wei Zhao could tell at a glance—was still the peak of the late Mysterious stage! Though he had made one charge at the Earth stage with Wei Zhao's help, he had not succeeded.

This kind of situation often occurred when other cultivators tried to break through on their own. Rank barriers were not so easily broken. For a cultivator to break through a barrier—especially one spanning an entire rank—was difficult beyond measure. Most only succeeded after trying again and again. Someone like Wei Zhao, who sometimes broke through a barrier in a single attempt, was all but nonexistent apart from the Inheritors.

Of course, those who broke through barriers with heaven-defying assistance like Wei Zhao's were a different matter entirely.

"Huff—" Yang Huaijun let out a long breath, a trace of disappointment flashing through his eyes as well. He was fully aware of his own condition: at the final critical moment, the attempt to break through had failed! He had been on the verge of reaching the Earth stage, but because his true qi ran short, the attempt ended in failure.

He had encountered this kind of situation before in his cultivation, so it did not seem too strange. Seeing Wei Zhao's somewhat dejected expression, Yang Huaijun was actually the first to let it go, saying to Wei Zhao with a smile, "Eagle Captain, you're not going to be down in the dumps over such a small setback, are you? A cultivator failing to break through is a perfectly normal thing!"

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