Chapter 54: When Opportunity Comes, Heaven and Earth Work Together

Outside the Skeleton Mountain Market, within a temporarily established cave dwelling.

Seven-colored auspicious light steamed and billowed. Within the radiance, a woman of peerless beauty sat in meditation, regulating her breath. As she inhaled and exhaled, the surrounding light gathered toward her.

After a moment, all the radiance finally converged into one.

Immediately following this, the colors of the seven-colored light gradually fused, finally transforming into a beam of pure, pristine white divine light that shone down without a single speck of impurity.

"I have succeeded!"

As the pure white light condensed, the woman within the radiance immediately opened her eyes, her face flushing with joy: "Seven-Colored Pure Light Qi—I have reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement."

The method she practiced was passed down by an elder of the Saint Sect. The "Seven-Colored Pure Light Qi" appeared pure white, but in reality, it was formed by the fusion of seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. Each layer of light represented a purification; after seven purifications, the grade of her true qi reached the Fourth Grade!

"With this, Foundation Establishment is within reach."

Fairy Feixia sighed with emotion. As for the fact that Fourth-Grade true qi meant she had no chance at the Golden Core stage, it didn't affect her much; she had never harbored grand ambitions for the Golden Core Dao anyway.

"Finding this piece of Cloud-Gathering Stone was truly a stroke of luck."

"It is a pity for Junior Brother Lyu. Cultivation is an act of defying heaven; if he had left the market with me, perhaps he too would have had a chance at the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement."

Having achieved this breakthrough, Fairy Feixia's mindset had shifted.

Previously, she had submitted herself to Lyu Yang because his presence in the market allowed him to rival the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement. But now that she had broken through, Lyu Yang was no longer as important.

After all, "rivaling" was ultimately not the same as "being."

Excluding his formations, his strength, in her eyes, was no longer sufficient.

Furthermore, Fairy Feixia harbored dissatisfaction regarding Lyu Yang's previous overly cautious behavior, feeling it was merely an excuse for his lack of strength.

*Rumble!*

At that moment, the ground suddenly shook violently. Above the heavens, spiritual tides surged, and rolling spiritual energy swept in, nearly causing Fairy Feixia to stumble.

"What is happening?!"

Fairy Feixia hurriedly rode her遁光 (escape light) into the air, looking toward the center of the surging spiritual tide from a distance. Her beautiful face suddenly paled.

"Is it the market?"

*Rumble! Rumble!*

A second massive explosion followed, another wave of spiritual tide, as if someone had detonated a spiritual energy bomb. Fairy Feixia hastily used her Seven-Colored Pure Light Qi to protect herself.

However, compared to that vast, world-shaking power, her Seven-Colored Pure Light Qi ultimately lacked the most crucial step. Her Fourth-Grade true qi struggled to hold its ground; for a moment, she was like a small boat in a tempest, tossing violently. The originally pure white divine light was beaten until it began to show seven colors once more.

"Is this... the aftershock of a battle?!"

While summoning her Sunset Mist Veil to stabilize her form, Fairy Feixia's face filled with horror: "To trigger such an anomaly, someone must be fighting a massive battle in the market!"

*Junior Brother Lyu hasn't died, has he?*

Fairy Feixia's heart raced with dread as she flew toward the market. From a distance, she saw a figure being besieged at the center of the spiritual tide.

There were three attackers, and as Fairy Feixia recognized them, her expression became even more shocked.

"Yun Zhiqiu of the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion, the 'Heaven-Flipping Brute' Ouyang Feng of the Divine Martial Sect, and the rogue cultivator 'Demon-Subduing Zen Master' Ming Chan... They are working together?!"

As far as her gaze could reach, a blood-colored sword array covered the sky above the Skeleton Mountain Market. Thousands of blood-colored lights transformed into a vivid, lifelike eight-clawed true dragon, charging left and right, lashing its tail and striking with its horns. Finally, it let out a sudden dragon roar—it was this roar that had stirred the spiritual tide.

"Break!"

With every burst of the spiritual tide, Yun Zhiqiu, Ouyang Feng, and Ming Chan were forced to retreat temporarily, but they would soon regroup and press forward again.

"Amitabha, I did not expect Benefactor Lyu to possess such fortune... Third-Grade true qi!"

Ming Chan pressed his palms together, a trace of astonishment appearing on his usually calm face. Third-Grade true qi... that was already the level of the core disciples of the great sects!

Thinking of this, Ming Chan's expression became even more compassionate: "The Benefactor is indeed destined to meet this poor monk. To send the Benefactor into reincarnation this time, I shall ask for your Third-Grade cultivation technique. When you return in a future life, I shall return the technique to you intact, fulfilling the karmic bond between teacher and disciple."

"Die, you bald donkey!"

Lyu Yang let out a cold laugh. The great dragon formed from his true qi roared once more, while simultaneously, the Blood-Sun Sword Pill emerged, its sword array expanding violently.

"Good, good. We are merely acting on behalf of Heaven; why must the Benefactor struggle in vain?"

Seeing this, Ming Chan did not force a direct clash. He shook his cassock, causing the seven treasures upon it—the Ruyi Bead, the Mani Bead, the Dust-Clearing Bead, and others—to burst with Buddhist light.

Relying on this protective Buddhist light, he retreated calmly, avoiding being swept into Lyu Yang's sword array.

In truth, the reason Lyu Yang could persist this long was largely due to the Blood-Sun Sword Pill.

The grand array within the sword pill allowed the "Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light" to strike with absolute certainty. Its power was immense; whenever he fell into a disadvantage, he could use it to turn the tide.

Of course, if he truly failed, he had the "Hundred Bones Return to Truth" grand array to save his life and allow him to make a comeback.

Beyond that, there was another reason why the three attackers were unwilling to go all out.

*They are afraid of my Profound Yin Form-Seizing Great Method...*

Lyu Yang knew this clearly. The more intense the battle, the more likely one's aura would leak. Once he caught hold of it, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow.

Therefore, the plan for Yun Zhiqiu and the others was simple: wear Lyu Yang down. They were three Great Perfection Qi Refinement cultivators with extraordinary combat power. At this moment, three of them working together against a single Eighth-Level Qi Refinement cultivator gave them a hundred percent chance of victory, even if Lyu Yang had two grand arrays to rely on.

"If I were only at the Eighth Level, that would indeed be true..."

Lyu Yang's eyes flickered. He looked up at the sky, and a sudden realization dawned upon him: *It is today, it is now—I must break through!*

In the next second, Lyu Yang let out a long roar toward the heavens.

At that moment, his true qi expanded violently, actually striking toward the Ninth Level of Qi Refinement!

Seeing this, Yun Zhiqiu and the others were momentarily stunned, before they burst into sneers: "Ignorant fool! Attempting a breakthrough during a battle? Have you read too many novels?"

Breaking through during a fight was nothing short of suicide!

Among cultivators, who does not sit in quiet meditation during a breakthrough?

A breakthrough requires absolute concentration because of the explosive nature of the true qi. If you are fighting, distracted by an external enemy, how can you focus your mind on the breakthrough?

However, at that very moment, above Skeleton Mountain.

From a place "higher than high," a gaze descended, looking down upon the people within Skeleton Mountain as if observing dolls on a sandbox.

"Interesting. He has courage... and knows how to read the situation. Not bad."

Perfected Immortal Yin Shan chuckled softly, then reached out his hand. With a light flick, as if plucking a lute string, the seemingly certain death of the situation suddenly shifted!

This change was felt most deeply by Lyu Yang.

Just a moment ago, he had felt his true qi was chaotic and his forced breakthrough was unprepared, making him highly susceptible to qi deviation. But suddenly, everything changed.

The "chaos" of his true qi was perfectly timed, as if by sheer luck, it aligned exactly with what the breakthrough required. The bottleneck was "unexpectedly" not as difficult as imagined, being shattered by his charge. Even his state of mind was blessed with sudden insight, stabilizing his cultivation after the breakthrough as if by "instinct."

Coincidence? It was unbelievably lucky!

*Is this the feeling of being a 'Child of Destiny'? When fortune arrives, even heaven and earth lend their strength. He didn't even need to do anything intentionally to achieve the desired result!*

*Rumble!*

In the next second, under the stunned gazes of Yun Zhiqiu and his companions, Lyu Yang violently broke through his realm, mastering the final stage of the *Nine Transformations Dragon Decisive Method*: the Flying Fish Transformation.

And the Flying Fish Transformation specialized in "Breaking the Realm"!

Thus, Lyu Yang did not pause. His newly broken true qi expanded once more, and bolstered by the Flying Fish Transformation, he launched a charge toward the bottleneck of the Tenth Level of Qi Refinement!

And then, he broke through "naturally"!

Nine Transformations Dragon—Great Perfection of Qi Refinement!

"Roar!"

For a moment, a clear dragon roar echoed throughout the entirety of Skeleton Mountain! The sound swept past Yun Zhiqiu and the others, revealing faces frozen in shock and terror.

"This is impossible... No! Is a Perfected Immortal manipulating causality?"

A second later, Yun Zhiqiu and the other two finally reacted, their faces filled with panic.

They saw Lyu Yang standing proudly in the air. He turned to look at the three of them and revealed a grim, chilling smile: "Understand now? This is what I call acting on behalf of Heaven!"

When a Foundation Establishment Perfected Immortal forms a thought, the world changes forever!

To a Qi Refinement cultivator, a Foundation Establishment Perfected Immortal is Heaven. Whoever has a Perfected Immortal as a backer is the Child of Destiny; whoever has that backing is the one acting on behalf of Heaven!

"Amitabha..."

In the next second, without a word, Ming Chan shook his cassock. As the Buddhist light exploded, he was the first to vanish.