Forced to Marry a Female Billionaire CEO-Chapter 584 The Innate Path

Knowing Tang Yingchang would definitely protect him, Xu Ke was completely engrossed in his boiling True Qi. His mind was closed off to the outside world, shielding him from all surrounding perceptions.

He was going to break through!

At that moment, memories of books he had read three years ago flashed through Xu Ke's mind. He recalled a line of annotation someone had written in the e-books Ren Gu had given him—

"The human body is too marvelous!"

According to the teachings of the Martial Path, the human body is a natural universe. The internal organs, tissues, and major systems all operate in an orderly fashion, like the myriad stars in the sky or a precise and sturdy machine.

Under these conditions, any Martial Artist who even thinks of breaking this order will suffer a strong backlash from the body's instincts—a fierce refusal to allow the order to be broken.

But Martial Artists are born to shatter fetters and disrupt order!

There are several major hurdles on a Martial Artist's path of cultivation.

The first is tempering the body to cultivate True Qi. This is a method of disrupting the body's natural balance, which is why it requires martial talent. Overcoming this hurdle makes one a Martial Artist.

However, for someone with Xu Ke's aptitude, this was no challenge at all. He had quickly cultivated True Qi under Ren Gu's beatings when he first started three years ago, let alone now. According to Ren Gu, all that talk about a great universe was nonsense; after a good beating, even a dog could cultivate True Qi.

The second major hurdle in cultivation is the transition from the Post-Celestial to the Innate Realm.

The most distinct feature of the Innate Realm is breaking through from the inside out, allowing one's internal energy to connect with the outside world. Through this, a Martial Artist can gain terrifying offensive power, defensive capabilities, and even the ability to launch long-range attacks.

However, breaking out from within the body and escaping the limitations of this "human universe" is the greatest challenge of all. The Dantian that generates True Qi, the meridians that refine it, and even the "breathing" skin and pores all act as heavy barriers, blockading any attempt at a breakthrough.

Given these circumstances, how immense is the difficulty of breaking through the body's internal blockades to reach the Innate Realm?

To succeed, Post-Celestial Martial Artists must not only cultivate a vast amount of True Qi but also understand their body's weaknesses to find the most suitable point to break out. Many Martial Artists spend a vast amount of time searching for this weak point. It's not uncommon for some to take several days and still not succeed.

More importantly, this process involves enduring pain that is unbearable for an ordinary person.

These three factors combined are enough to make Innate Martial Artists a one-in-a-thousand, or even a one-in-ten-thousand, existence.

This is also why the Jade Mountain Lotus, Kirin Ginseng, and Blood Jade Monarch are considered divine medicines for those at Post-Celestial Great Perfection. They provide the most True Qi and vitality that a Post-Celestial Martial Artist's body can withstand. When combined with other mild and tempering herbs, their potency can be controlled. This allows a martial artist's True Qi to gush forth while simultaneously replenishing a great deal of vitality, enabling them to withstand the pain and shatter their body's barriers with the unstoppable power of a python.

Of course, those who swallow them directly usually don't meet a good end...

Take Duan Chongfeng and Xu Ke, for example.

After breaking through to the Innate Realm, it's no exaggeration to say one is completely reborn. It wouldn't even be an overstatement to call them a different species compared to Post-Celestial Martial Artists. This is also why no one ever believed Xu Ke could defeat an Innate Martial Artist.

But these challenges weren't too great for Xu Ke.

This wasn't his first time breaking through, after all.

The vast amount of True Qi? He had it.

The correct path to break through his body? He knew it.

As for the unbearable pain...

For him, who was on his second attempt, what pain was truly unbearable?

This being his second breakthrough, he was handling it with much more ease than before. Right now, he was expertly guiding his True Qi out of his Dantian and into his meridians.

At the same time, a thought crossed his mind...

This time, I really have to thank Bai Qian'er, and Han Wang for rushing me on the highway...

Just a moment ago, when Xu Ke took the wine cup from Bai Qian'er, he realized it contained something else—a wisp of Dragon Essence! When he touched the cup, he could hardly believe his senses. How could this cup contain Dragon Essence?

A moment later, he understood. He had figured out the reason.

It must be from when I was absorbing on the highway. Han Wang arrived so quickly that after eating the Jade Mountain Lotus, I was forced into battle without any time to absorb the Dragon Essence. I didn't have time to do what I did at the Longcha Subway Station, where I had squeezed every last bit from Zhou Hongsheng's Dragon Ring...

Realizing this, he was ecstatic.

With this, isn't the Innate Realm within my grasp?

Originally, Xu Ke thought it might be safer to attempt the breakthrough after returning to Tianhai. But the wine cup was already shattered, and he knew the Dragon Essence within could dissipate at any moment. The precious energy might be gone by the time he got back to Tianhai.

Therefore, he had to send Han Wang and the others away and seize this chance to break through immediately! Xu Ke believed that with his past experience, successfully breaking through before they returned would be a piece of cake.

「...」

As everyone watched Xu Ke's aura grow stronger and his True Qi begin to surge outward, they finally gasped in shock.

This time, his breakthrough was real!

"So, Mister Xu sent them to buy clothes and a car just to create an opportunity for himself to break through?" Tang Yingchang finally realized, muttering in a daze.

"Probably... yes," Ghost Elder stammered.

They never imagined that Xu Ke was in such a rush to get rid of them just so he could attempt another breakthrough. No one had anticipated this.

"Didn't he just fail? Why is he trying again?" Fang Caizhe's shrill voice cut through the air. His face was pale as he stared in disbelief at the seated Xu Ke.

Why? Why can he still break through?

Bai Qian'er was stunned. "That's right, didn't he just fail once? How can he try again?"

Fang Caizhe echoed her words, desperate for Xu Ke to fail. Bai Qian'er, however, was simply thinking that Xu Ke's actions defied all common sense for cultivation.

"That's right," Duan Zhuo'e said, equally astonished. "Who the hell has ever heard of someone breaking through twice in one day?"

True Qi was a resource that gets consumed. In their eyes, Xu Ke's recent failure meant his massive store of True Qi had been depleted. Yet here he was, trying again? Impossible!

They had no idea that Xu Ke's earlier failure wasn't due to a lack of True Qi, but a lack of Dragon Essence.

Just then, a guess that startled even himself came to Poison Elder. He turned and asked, "Could it be that Mister Xu deliberately interrupted his breakthrough earlier?"

"What?"

Everyone was horrified.

"Think about it," Poison Elder analyzed, his voice trembling. "When Han Wang and the others charged, if Mister Xu hadn't stopped, Mister Tang would certainly have been besieged. So, he deliberately halted the breakthrough, standing up at the precise moment everyone reached Mister Tang."