Time ticked by, second by second.
Unbeknownst to him, five hours had already passed.
Luo Mu remained seated with crossed legs.
His eyes were tightly shut.
At that moment, a tremendous change had occurred within his dantian.
The originally barren dantian had now transformed into a dazzling, luminous ‘lake’.
“It’s done!”
Luo Mu opened his eyes.
A look of relief flashed across his face.
He had almost, truly only by a hair's breadth, failed just before the breakthrough. His dantian had suddenly become unstable.
Thankfully, he had survived the ordeal.
“Ding!”
“You have focused intently, broken through with unwavering determination, and triggered a critical strike, earning a 30x reward!”
Thirty breakthrough scenes appeared in his mind.
Among them were failures and successes.
And failures outnumbered successes.
“It seems that starting from the Spirit Sea Realm, the failure rate of breakthroughs has far surpassed the success rate.”
Luo Mu’s eyes flickered slightly.
This was the consequence of his mediocre aptitude.
In this world, aptitude wouldn’t absolutely limit your ceiling, but it would affect your cultivation speed and breakthrough probability.
Strictly speaking, as long as lifespan was infinite and resources abundant, everyone could actually reach the peak.
However, humans were not immortal beings.
Ordinary people who lived past seventy years old were considered long-lived.
Even Spirit Sea Realm warriors only lived to be a little over a hundred years old.
Only by stepping into the Earth Splitting Realm.
Upon undergoing physical reconstruction and primordial essence transformation, could lifespan be significantly extended.
He shook his head slightly.
Luo Mu dismissed these thoughts.
For him, mediocre aptitude didn’t matter. Out of thirty attempts, one successful breakthrough was all that mattered.
But if he could enhance his aptitude, he wouldn’t miss out. After all, the better the aptitude, the greater the basic gains during cultivation, which was quite essential.
He took a deep breath.
Luo Mu slowly stood up.
He looked towards the sky, a smile appearing on his face.
Finally… he had reached the Spirit Sea Realm!
This realm was something he had once craved intensely. Now, in just under two months, he had reached it.
Therefore, there were no longer any overt disparities between him and the inner palace prodigies.
“Let’s test the power of true essence.”
Luo Mu thought silently.
The originally tranquil spirit sea within his body suddenly churned.
And he assumed a sword-drawing posture.
He didn’t use any swordsmanship techniques, just true essence and swordsmanship.
Slash!
A hundred-meter-long slash of true essence swept across a small mountain peak not far away.
Boom!
The mountain peak trembled violently.
The entire mountaintop shattered, turning into countless fragments that rolled down the slopes.
“Not bad.”
Luo Mu sheathed his sword, nodding in satisfaction.
It was indeed true essence.
The power of swordsmanship unleashed using true essence was far superior to that of blood Qi.
“The academy grand ceremony is twelve days away, continue cultivating.”
Luo Mu retracted his gaze.
The spirit stones he had obtained from the Demon Sect elder would be just enough to support his Spirit Sea Realm cultivation for the next period.
Buzz!
Just as Luo Mu was about to sit down.
A rainbow light soared up from the distance, quickly fading into specks of light.
“Rainbow霞?”
Luo Mu was startled, and then the word appeared in his mind.
He recalled that his teacher had mentioned during a miscellaneous knowledge lecture that when high-grade spirit herbs were about to mature, rainbow霞 phenomena would occur.
The reason was that the spirit herb’s medicinal power was too immense and couldn’t be suppressed.
“Could it be that I’ve stumbled upon such an opportunity?”
A smile spread across Luo Mu’s face.
Up to this point, he had never encountered any heavenly materials or treasures of that sort.
This was his first time.
“Let’s take a look.”
Although he didn’t know what kind of spirit herb it was or what its effect was, since it had produced rainbow霞, it must be extremely valuable.
After putting on his clothes, Luo Mu rushed towards the location where the rainbow霞 appeared.
——
In a matter of moments.
Luo Mu arrived at his destination.
It was a rather sizable ancient pond.
The pond water was icy cold, emanating a chilling aura.
And in the center of the pond, a white lotus bud was about to bloom.
“Heavenly Water Yuan Lotus?”
Luo Mu searched his memory, and the relevant information surfaced.
The Heavenly Water Yuan Lotus was a third-grade spirit herb. It normally fed on heaven and earth yuan Qi. When it matured, it would produce at least six lotus seeds.
Each lotus seed was the essence of yuan Qi.
Its cultivation effects were far superior to spirit stones.
“Not bad.”
Luo Mu’s eyes brightened.
It seemed that his luck had changed recently.
He had even stumbled upon such a spiritual treasure.
From now on, he would have no shortage of resources for his Spirit Sea Realm cultivation.
However, it seemed that the Heavenly Water Yuan Lotus hadn’t fully matured yet.
It would likely take another seven or eight days.
During this period.
Rainbow霞 phenomena would occur every day, impossible to conceal, possibly attracting others.
However, this location was quite deep into the academy’s back mountain.
It shouldn’t be too crowded.
Roar~
Just as Luo Mu was contemplating, a muffled roar sounded from behind him.
Luo Mu raised an eyebrow.
He almost forgot, aside from humans, the back mountain was teeming with demonic beasts.
Heavenly spiritual treasures were also irresistible to demonic beasts.
Swish!
Luo Mu instantly drew his sword and unleashed a slash.
The second-level demonic beast that had just approached was instantly cleaved in two.
Now that he had stepped into the Spirit Sea Realm, corresponding to a third-level demonic beast, a mere second-level one was no match for him.
“Fire Flame Lion.”
Luo Mu approached, recognizing the demonic beast.
The blood of the Fire Flame Lion was quite valuable, containing abundant fire elemental power. For martial artists cultivating fire elemental techniques, it was quite valuable.
“Perhaps I can use this as bait and lie in wait.”
A smile appeared on the corner of Luo Mu’s lips.
Ordinary people wouldn’t dare do this. After all, the back mountain was the ‘territory’ of demonic beasts, with countless numbers.
If they were attacked en masse.
They could very well perish.
But Luo Mu was naturally fearless, as his strength was more than enough to handle them.