Chapter 141 – Shock and Awe (I)

Volume III

Silence of the Sages

Chapter 141

Shock and Awe (I)

It was about a month into our journey, and on a particularly cold day (as they’ve been getting cooler by the week), that it happened at last–the first domino fell.

Wan Lan broke through.

We hadn’t actually made much physical progress, all things considered, over the past thirty days or so. In part it was because I had them all focus on cultivating far more, and in part because it was essentially only possible to travel midday. The weather turned wildly over the course of a week, with mornings and nights (well, even evenings, to be honest) turning extremely cold.

We’d bunk inside the tent–a great insulator, if I may say so myself–eternally grateful to Old Zemin for having gifted it to me.

I’m not quite sure how we’d endure without it. I mean, we wouldn’t have frozen to death or anything like that (at least, the kids wouldn’t have), but it certainly wouldn’t have been nearly as pleasant as it had been.

Anyway, today was a bit different–while the kids stayed inside, Long Tao and I accompanied Wan Lan outside to break through. He drew up some concealing array or something, plucked her at the center of it, and I handed over about 300 mid-grade Spirit Stones as well as a rose-like herb that smelled like grapes.

I didn’t actually need to be instructed about this, strangely enough, as I recall reading about it during my binge of the history books. There’d occasionally be information about cultivation in them, and I remember the book mentioning that those who chew on this type of herb–called Redrose Grass–whilst breaking through into the Foundation Establishment have a higher chance of remaining calm.

Thus, we stayed to her side, acting as Dharma Protectors, while she sat down cross-legged, closed her eyes, and started the process.

It’s a fascinating experience, I gotta say, and the first time I’ve been privy to it. Motes of Qi slowly begin to converge in a whirlpool-like shape, swirling around her like a maelstrom as she slowly takes them in and begins purifying them.

Internally, there are probably a thousand different things happening, though I didn’t try and take a peek.

“Will she be fine…?” I mumbled to myself, actually, as I’d kind of forgotten that Long Tao was there.

“She’ll be fine,” he said with full confidence. “If someone like her failed to break through, then few would ever have managed to do it in the world’s history.”

I glanced over at the old monster.

He’s been mostly quiet the past month, cultivating and actually reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment, though he hasn’t shown any signs of breaking through.

Even if this was a joyous day, I knew for a fact that I’d get barely any rewards from Wan Lan breaking through–she’d only become my ‘Disciple’ just shy of two months ago and was already on the cusp of breaking through. Honestly, if I just get a few points, I’d be happy with it.

The author’s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The entire process lasted nine hours.

I honestly thought it’d be like, I don’t know, an hour or two, tops? That’s how long it took Long Tao to break in the Antechamber, though I guess that was special circumstances.

Visually, barely anything changed in all the hours–motes of Qi continued to swirl, though she did, bit by bit, begin to float. A small mist of vapor formed beneath her, almost like a cloud, slowly pushing her up.

Kids would occasionally peek out to check if she was fine, but for the most part it was just Long Tao and me, standing and sitting around in silence. I tried striking up a conversation a few times, though the rebuffing silence was too much to do it any more.

[–one of your Disciples has successfully broken through into the Foundation Establishment Realm]

[Wan Lan has managed to form quasi-Void Foundation, embossed with Demonic Qi]

[Breakthrough’s successful nature has immediately propelled her into the middle of the Foundation Establishment]

[Disciple’s talent has evolved: low-Heaven -> peak-Heaven]

[Disciple’s nature strengthens; Wan Lan has unlocked a new trait, ‘Heartless’]

[Heartless (Common) — feels no empathy toward anyone but those close to them]

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