Chapter 13: Breakthrough to Mid-Stage Qi Condensation, Suspicions Arise
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The screams of Zhang Laosan had long ceased.
Yu Xian panted heavily. Only after draining all the spiritual energy from his seven-inch qi sea did he finally stop. With a flip of his hand, two spirit stones appeared, which he began to rapidly absorb.
In front of him, in the deep pit, only some scattered limbs and fragments remained.
Zhang Laosan’s entire body had been completely blasted into pulp!
That was the second overseer he had killed…
Yu Xian stepped forward a few paces, gathered the remains, and casually picked up Zhang Laosan’s storage pouch, along with the charred Floating Light Mirror.
That mirror was a second-grade magical artifact, specialized in defense. It could easily block most ordinary spells. But unfortunately for Zhang Laosan, Yu Xian’s spells were numerous and relentless. Under the bombardment, the mirror’s protective shield was forcibly broken, and Zhang Laosan was killed.
Poor Zhang Laosan, a mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivator with five inches of qi sea, didn’t even get the chance to retaliate. He was beaten from beginning to end—literally to death.
“Go!”
After putting away the storage pouch and the damaged (but still repairable) Floating Light Mirror, Yu Xian looked at the corpse fragments in the pit and gave a cold shout. He waved his hand and launched two Fire Serpent Spells in succession.
Zzzzzzz…
The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the fire serpents twisted and turned, reducing the remains to a pile of ashes.
Disposing of corpses was something Yu Xian was becoming increasingly skilled at.
This time, since the remains were burned to a crisp, he simply let the mountain wind scatter the ashes, and returned to his hut as if nothing had happened.
He checked Zhang Laosan’s storage pouch. There wasn’t much—almost all of Zhang’s possessions had already been used to bribe Huang Hanxiao. Only one bottle of pills, around ten spirit stones, three Blazing Sun Crystals, and a few spell scrolls remained. Not even a single talisman treasure.
The bottle of pills turned out to be Sea Expanding Pills—the very same kind Yu Xian had just consumed earlier.
Clearly, Zhang Laosan also intended to expand his qi sea to increase his spiritual energy reserves. But now, that bottle belonged to Yu Xian.
Another overseer had disappeared from the Blazing Sun Mine. This time, the higher-ups would definitely investigate. After all, two overseers had vanished in less than half a month.
So, Yu Xian carefully hid both storage pouches and quietly waited to see how things developed.
Yes, he had killed someone—but there was no evidence. Who would know?
And what could they even do about it?
After calming his thoughts, Yu Xian took out the Earth Spirit Pill once more.
Tonight, he would break through!
In the world of cultivation, only one’s cultivation realm was the true key to survival.
He abandoned all distracting thoughts and focused his mind.
Moments later, without hesitation, he tossed the Earth Spirit Pill into his mouth.
Boom!
It sounded like boiling water exploding in his ears. Spiritual energy surged throughout his body.
His wood-element spiritual root glowed faintly, drawing in the pill’s powerful medicinal energy from the dantian up to the crown of his head.
At the same time, his dantian began to twist, the intense heat of the medicine forcefully pulling it apart.
His qi sea immediately expanded—eight inches… nine inches!
The dantian twisted violently but refused to grow further.
Nine inches…
For some reason, Yu Xian felt unsettled with just nine inches. Gritting his teeth, he took out the Sea Expanding Pill from Zhang Laosan’s pouch and swallowed it without a second thought!
The medicinal power of the two pills erupted simultaneously, causing his dantian to twist again.
This brutal, forceful expansion was agonizing beyond words.
Yu Xian let out a muffled groan, sweating profusely, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
Nine inches and one… two… finally—one foot!
His qi sea had expanded to a full foot and then stopped.
That was the limit!
Any further expansion and his dantian would rupture and be destroyed. At that point, even crying wouldn’t help.
Yu Xian quickly began suppressing the remaining effects of the Sea Expanding Pill, desperately trying to stabilize his dantian.
Meanwhile, the medicinal power of the Earth Spirit Pill began to manifest within his qi sea.
The cloudy, rain-laden mist of spiritual energy rapidly condensed into liquid, transforming the one-foot qi sea into a deep green spiritual pool.
This pool of green liquid was pure, condensed spiritual energy.
One-foot qi sea!
Mid-stage Qi Condensation!
Yu Xian quickly absorbed the energy of ten more spirit stones, filling the entire pool with liquid spiritual energy. Only when the effects of the Sea Expanding Pill completely faded did he let out a long breath and open his eyes—gleaming with energy.
After two months of hard cultivation, struggle, murder, and pill swallowing—he had finally stepped into mid-stage Qi Condensation!
With his new realm, he could finally learn the more powerful spells he had taken from Zhao Mulin.
Powerful spells naturally required more energy. If he had tried learning them in early-stage Qi Condensation, his spiritual energy would’ve been drained just by forming the hand seals, let alone casting them.
But now, with liquefied spiritual energy and a one-foot qi sea, his reserves were ten times greater than before.
At this point, Yu Xian could even cast Small Fireball continuously, as his absorption rate now kept pace with his energy consumption!
After resting a bit, he took out a scroll—Great Fire Flood Dragon Technique.
This was far more powerful than Small Fireball or even Fire Serpent!
Yu Xian began forming hand seals and studying the technique.
The night passed quickly.
Yu Xian had barely scratched the surface of the Great Fire Flood Dragon Technique, just enough to gain some initial insight. It would still take another seven days to fully master it.
The next day, Yu Xian went about his routine—picked up his mining blade and headed into the abandoned mine tunnels to dig for ores.
He didn’t have many spirit stones left. In the end, only through his own effort could he feed and clothe himself.
Now that he had a storage pouch and had reached mid-stage Qi Condensation, he no longer needed to hold back. He could mine as much as he wanted.
With the jade pendant’s guidance, Yu Xian was confident he’d soon gather several dozen Blazing Sun Crystals and exchange them for more spirit stones.
Zhang Laosan had disappeared…
It was Liu Xue who first noticed, and quickly reported it to Huang Hanxiao.
In just over half a month, two overseers from the Blazing Sun Mine had vanished without a trace.
Huang Hanxiao was forced to take the matter seriously.
Just like Zhao Mulin, Zhang Laosan had disappeared completely—no clues, no tracks. As if he had vanished into thin air.
But Zhang Laosan had no reason to run away with ore. He had just become an overseer and didn’t even have many Blazing Sun Crystals in hand yet.
Something was clearly off. Zhang Laosan was very likely dead.
And the prime suspects? Sun Laoqi and Liu Xue.
These two had spent a lot of resources trying to get promoted, yet failed. If resentment festered, maybe they joined forces to kill Zhang Laosan and destroy the body.
Standing in his quarters, Huang Hanxiao’s expression was cold as he pondered.
Meanwhile, Sun Laoqi and Liu Xue stood behind him, completely unaware that Huang Hanxiao already suspected them.
“So… where do you think Zhang Laosan went?”
Huang Hanxiao turned, smiling faintly.
“Uh… Senior Brother Huang, we don’t know either.”
Both men looked baffled.
If we knew, would we be asking you?
“Oh! That’s right!”
Liu Xue suddenly slapped his forehead and said quickly, “Senior Brother Huang, do you still remember that Yu Xian?”
“Hmph? That brat hasn’t scrammed yet?”
At the mention of Yu Xian, Huang Hanxiao’s eyes blazed with fury. “What are you two doing? Do you want to scram?!”
He had plenty of ways to deal with disobedient people.
“Well, Senior Brother Huang, that brat really is quite lucky. Last month, he submitted another Blazing Sun Crystal, so Zhang Laosan couldn’t find a proper excuse to kick him out,” Liu Xue explained quickly, then added with meaning, “Zhang Laosan even told us a few days ago that he planned to deal with that brat himself. So, is it possible… that Zhang Laosan’s disappearance was caused by him?”
