Breakthrough Speed Defying the Heavens

Chen Chang'an's performance, in the eyes of many, paled in comparison to Chen Yunxuan's brilliance. After all, Chen Yunxuan had slaughtered his way through the battlefield with just the first or second level of the Transcendent Realm, even managing to hold his own against experts of the Divine Ability Realm for a short time. Such strength was truly astonishing.

But what about Chen Chang'an?

Core Formation Realm, first level?

Sure, his speed of absorbing spiritual energy was impressive, but he was still only at the first level of the Core Formation Realm—nothing more.

The Lord of the Great Zhou Kingdom and his allies, however, saw an opportunity.

This was their chance!

It had to be!

"Don’t give him any time!"

"Strike now, all together!" the Lord of the Great Zhou Kingdom commanded in a low voice.

The first to react were Wei Tianfeng and Wu Yuan, the two peak-level ninth-stage Transcendent Realm experts. After Cheng Yushu's departure, they were now the strongest present.

"You take Chen Yunxuan. I’ll handle the other one," Wei Tianfeng said to Wu Yuan.

"Agreed. Let’s finish them both and end this crisis!" Wu Yuan replied grimly.

"Move!"

With that, the two charged toward Chen Chang'an and Chen Yunxuan.

The big yellow dog, Da Huang, didn’t even bother glancing at them. Lying lazily on the ground, it pondered what to eat later.

Humans?

Nah. Humans have poop. Never eating them again!

Chen Chang'an’s words had left quite the psychological scar.

Wait, hold on—

Humans have poop, but so do animals. And beasts. And demonic creatures!

Does that mean… nothing’s edible anymore?

Damn, that’s cruel!

Boom! Boom!

Two deafening crashes snapped Da Huang out of its poop-related existential crisis.

"H-how is this possible?"

"What just happened?"

Wei Tianfeng and Wu Yuan were utterly dumbfounded. This should have been a golden opportunity—so why had they failed?

Why couldn’t they even get close?

"What was that just now?"

"Couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like they were repelled."

"They were, but by what?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Strange. Really strange."

Everyone was baffled, much to Da Huang’s disdain.

What kind of backwater place is this? The Great Zhou Kingdom is seriously behind the times.

Don’t they even know what a barrier is? Not a single person recognizes it?

To Da Huang, setting up a barrier was child’s play—especially against these ants.

"Enough of this nonsense! I refuse to believe something so absurd exists!"

"Archers, ready!"

"Fire at will!"

At the Lord of the Great Zhou Kingdom’s order, rows of archers took formation, unleashing a hail of arrows toward Chen Chang'an and Chen Yunxuan’s position.

"Loose!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The arrows rained down—only to be deflected harmlessly by the barrier.

"Damn it!"

"Again!"

"Loose!"

As the arrows continued to fly, Chen Chang'an’s cultivation level began rising at an alarming rate.

"Wait, Core Formation Realm, second level already?"

"Hold on—third?!"

"He was stuck for so long earlier, how is he breaking through so fast now?"

"Fourth level! Holy crap!"

"By the heavens, I’ve never seen anyone cultivate like this!"

"Fifth level—just like that?"

In mere moments, Chen Chang'an’s cultivation soared straight to the fifth level of the Core Formation Realm.

From the moment he broke through to the second level, it had taken barely a dozen breaths to reach the fifth—with no signs of stopping.

"Kid, how is your spiritual energy absorption even more monstrous now?"

"Compared to Swallow Return City back then, it’s not just a hundred times faster—it’s thousands, maybe millions!"

Others might not have noticed, but Da Huang’s senses were sharp. In that short span, Chen Chang'an had drained the entire Great Zhou Kingdom of its spiritual energy.

Forget the sheer volume—just the speed was unprecedented.

"Stop him!"

"Now! What are you all standing around for? If you don’t want to die, attack together!"

Watching Chen Chang'an’s relentless ascent, the Lord of the Great Zhou Kingdom roared in fury—not just at the 200,000-strong army, but at Wei Tianfeng, Wu Yuan, the Liu Family, and every ally present.

"He’s right! We can’t let him keep breaking through!"

"Everyone, charge!"

"Move!"

They threw everything they had at the two, desperate to kill Chen Chang'an and Chen Yunxuan.

But no matter how hard they tried, it was futile. The barrier Da Huang had erected was beyond their power to breach.

"Tch. Pointless. Why bother?"

Da Huang rolled onto its side, watching the spectacle like a bored spectator amused by a troupe of clowns.

"Core Formation Realm, ninth level!"

"He’s reached the ninth level!"

"That’s too fast! How is this possible?"

"True Qi Realm—he’s broken through to the True Qi Realm!"

"What the hell?! Is this how cultivation works? Is breaking through supposed to be this easy?"

"I give up on cultivation."

"Same. The gap’s just too damn wide!"

Is… is this the right way to cultivate?

Many onlookers began questioning their life choices. They’d seen breakthroughs before—but never like this.

"Stuck again?"

When Chen Chang'an’s cultivation stabilized at the first level of the True Qi Realm, it was no surprise that he hit another bottleneck.

"Done?" Da Huang asked curiously.

"Yeah, done."

"The Great Zhou Kingdom’s spiritual energy… was a bit lacking. Should’ve prepared some spirit stones in advance," Chen Chang'an remarked casually.

Huh? Lacking? What did that mean?

"But wasn’t that enough for your breakthrough?" Da Huang pressed.

"Hard to explain. It’s like… my realm reached the bottleneck, but my body’s a container. The realm caps the opening, but the container itself could hold more."

"Except the spiritual energy ran out before I could fill it. Normally, even after a breakthrough, people can keep absorbing energy."

"But for me, it’s like a switch—once the realm caps, the door slams shut."

"Annoying." Chen Chang'an sighed.

It was like eating: the food gets stuck in your throat. You’re still hungry, but you can’t swallow another bite—completely blocked.

"Never heard of anything like it."

"But then again, nothing about you is normal," Da Huang said, unfazed.

"Guess so."

Chen Chang'an nodded, then turned his gaze to the enemies still fruitlessly charging outside the barrier.

"Persistent, aren’t they?"

"Da Huang, drop the barrier."

"Perfect timing to test my current strength!" Chen Chang'an said with a faint smile.

"I'm quite curious too."

Da Huang chuckled, then with a thought, the barrier instantly dissolved!

The moment the barrier vanished, everyone felt an overwhelming surge of energy erupt from Chen Chang'an's body.

Caught off guard, they were all sent flying back dozens of meters.

"Isn't he only at the True Qi Realm's first level? How can his aura be this powerful?"

"He's finished his breakthrough!"

"This is our chance—let's go!"

Chen Chang'an glanced at the crowd and said calmly, "This farce ends now!"