Volume 8, Chapter 522 – Tell Me, Who Is the Real Monster (Part 3)

Cheng Hongling opened the door to find her master standing anxiously outside.

“Is it really that urgent?” Cheng Hongling asked in surprise.

“Yes. The end of the month is merely the final deadline the Cao Family set. Those people might come to cause trouble at any moment. Since you ruined their plans last time, it’s better for you to leave early.”

Shi Yuqi voiced her concerns.

“I was just about to tell you, my main body’s cultivation has broken through! It’s now reached the third layer of the Incarnation Realm.”

Qi Huang hurriedly shared the good news. After all the effort she and her main body had put into coming to Huarong Sect, how could they just leave without reason?

“Really?”

Shi Yuqi’s face lit up with joy before she tentatively asked, “Can this master use her divine sense to check?”

Qi Huang froze for a moment before casting a questioning glance at Cheng Hongling.

“Forget it, let her see. Hiding it will only make her more suspicious,” Cheng Hongling transmitted via divine sense.

“Fine. The Western Radiance Dynasty is tens of thousands of miles away, separated by dozens of countries. Besides, the Water Exquisite Art isn’t famous enough for them to figure out our identities anytime soon.”

Qi Huang agreed.

“Alright, go ahead and check.”

Cheng Hongling withdrew her protective divine sense.

Shi Yuqi probed with her divine sense and found that the water-attributed true qi in her disciple’s Qi Sea had indeed filled about a third of it. The frozen figurine at the center represented the Incarnation Realm.

“It really is the third layer of the Incarnation Realm! Congratulations! Now hurry and pack your things.”

Shi Yuqi offered a perfunctory congratulation before urging her again. Perhaps due to her haste, she failed to notice the unusual nature of her disciple’s true qi.

“No, didn’t you hear me? My main body’s cultivation has already reached the third layer of the Incarnation Realm!”

Qi Huang let out a small sigh of relief before repeating herself emphatically.

“And then what? Can she defeat those two Heavenly Tribulation Realm experts from the Cao Family?”

“No.”

“Can she block the Cao Family’s Immortal Stele?”

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“No.”

“Then why aren’t you leaving yet?!”

“You… make a very compelling point!”

Qi Huang nearly got dragged into her master’s logic and frantically explained, “But my main body broke through to the third layer of the Incarnation Realm in just one night! Doesn’t that talent surpass Hua Yu’s? If you just let her marry into the Cao Family, wouldn’t that mean we don’t have to leave?”

Shi Yuqi frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then asked Cheng Hongling, “How long has it been since you reached the second layer of the Incarnation Realm?”

“Two years.”

Cheng Hongling answered truthfully.

“Two years to go from the second layer to the third layer of the Incarnation Realm, while that’s certainly much faster than the average cultivator, it’s still far behind Hua Yu. So you can’t replace her.”

Shi Yuqi delivered a blunt, crushing rebuttal.

“Uh…”

Qi Huang was immediately left speechless. The reason she had been able to help her main body break through to the third layer of the Incarnation Realm in just four hours was precisely because Cheng Hongling had been cultivating for two years already.

‘But she was still far from a breakthrough, wasn’t she?’

Qi Huang argued internally, though she knew that even if she said it out loud, her master wouldn’t believe her. Seeing was believing, after all.

“Hurry and pack. This master still needs to notify the others.”

After giving her instructions, Shi Yuqi quickly left.

“Wait, Master! There’s no need to rush. Let’s leave tomorrow instead!”

Qi Huang called out urgently, she didn’t want to waste any more time.

“Why?”

Shi Yuqi turned back, slightly impatient.

“There’s something I must take care of. I need one more day.”

Qi Huang’s tone was firm.

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After hesitating for a long moment, Shi Yuqi finally relented. “Fine. You have one day. We leave tomorrow morning.”

“Definitely.”

Qi Huang replied dismissively, though inwardly she mocked, ‘By then, it’ll be you who doesn’t want to leave.’

Once her cheap master was gone, Cheng Hongling turned to her and asked, “What now?”

“What else can we do? Focus on cultivating! Even if one day isn’t enough to break through to the next layer, the growth in true qi will still be visible. I’ll make them see what a true monster looks like.”

Qi Huang pumped herself up with determination.

Cheng Hongling knew there was no other choice, so she followed her doppelgänger back inside to continue cultivating.

Meanwhile, Shi Yuqi was far from idle. She immediately went to find the sect master, Hua Ruyi.

“Sect Master, do you remember how fast Hua Yu’s cultivation progressed when she was in the Incarnation Realm?”

Shi Yuqi inquired.

“Why do you ask?”

Hua Ruyi’s face showed confusion.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to know so I can use it to motivate the other disciples in the future.”

Shi Yuqi lied smoothly.

“Motivate who? That Jiang Ling? You know what they say, ‘Once a teacher, always a parent.’ I understand your desire as a master to ‘hope your daughter becomes a phoenix’, but a nine-bloodline descendant of an immortal is simply not something an ordinary cultivator can compare to. Even an eight-bloodline is far behind. You mustn’t put too much pressure on her, or it’ll backfire.”

Hua Ruyi kindly reminded her.

“I understand!”

Shi Yuqi’s expression turned slightly awkward, having her ulterior motives exposed was embarrassing.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Hua Yu took four months to go from the first to the second layer of the Incarnation Realm, and eight months from the second to the third layer… In total, it took her sixteen years to advance from the Incarnation Realm to the Divine Realm.”

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Hua Ruyi recounted the details with pride, her face glowing slightly as she spoke of her disciple’s past achievements.

“Thank you for telling me, Sect Master. I’ll remember it.”

Shi Yuqi took a deep breath, her expression grave. Sixteen years to go from the Incarnation Realm to the Divine Ability Realm, and here she was, thirty-six years old and still struggling at the sixth layer of the Incarnation Realm. Comparing oneself to others truly brought nothing but frustration.

Shi Yuqi quickly left. Now that she knew the truth about Hua Yu, any lingering hope she had was completely shattered.

That day, Qi Huang focused all her efforts on helping her main body improve her cultivation. The true qi in her Qi Sea rose steadily, though breaking through to the next layer in a single day was unrealistic, it would take at least several more days. Fortunately, the speed of the true qi’s growth was “visible to the naked eye”, so there was no fear of others failing to notice.

After a day of hard work, Qi Huang had raised her main body’s true qi to about one-sixth of the way through the third layer of the Incarnation Realm. At this rate, it would only take five more days to advance to the next layer.

“It seems I underestimated just how difficult cultivation truly is. Even with the support of a Heavenly Tribulation Realm divine sense, your cultivation still can’t advance by a full minor layer in a single day.”

Qi Huang complained to her main body, still somewhat dissatisfied.

“A minor layer in a single day? Do you think this is like pouring water into a bucket? Without your help, it might have taken me years to break through to the third layer of the Incarnation Realm, let alone the fourth.”

Cheng Hongling replied helplessly.

“I wonder just how fast those nine monsters cultivate…”

Qi Huang muttered uneasily, knowing this would determine whether she could convince Huarong Sect’s higher-ups.

“Don’t worry. I’ve asked around. Hua Yu was born with cultivation at the Unity Realm. She entered the Incarnation Realm before she was ten and only reached the Divine Realm last year. That means it took her fifteen or sixteen years in total. Even if the early stages of the Incarnation Realm are simpler, the time she spent on each minor layer must have been measured in months.”

Cheng Hongling analyzed shrewdly.

“That’s a relief.”

Qi Huang let out a small sigh.

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Meanwhile, Shi Yuqi had begun rushing the disciples of Biyu Peak to leave, going door to door.

“Senior Sister, shouldn’t we wait for Protector Yuan?”

Xiang Jun hesitated.

“Why wait for her? Haven’t I already told you the location where Huarong Sect will rebuild? It’s not like you don’t know the way. Jiang Ling may have performed a great service that day, but she also offended the Cao Family. She must leave as soon as possible, we’re counting on her to carry Biyu Peak’s legacy forward.”

Shi Yuqi explained sternly.

“Alright then.”

Xiang Jun came to her senses and began urging the other disciples as well.

Before Qi Huang and Cheng Hongling could even step outside, their master came knocking again.

“Finished your business? Then hurry and pack your things. Your Aunt Xiang will take care of you.”

Shi Yuqi was as impatient as ever.

“Why don’t you check my main body’s cultivation first before deciding whether we should leave?”

Qi Huang boasted smugly. After all, this was her achievement.

“What do you mean?”

Even as she asked, Shi Yuqi’s divine sense reflexively swept over her disciple. Then, her phoenix-like eyes widened further and further.

“This… this can’t be right. Yesterday morning, your cultivation had just entered the third layer of the Incarnation Realm, hadn’t it? How did your true qi increase by a sixth in just one day? Am I seeing things?”

Shi Yuqi rubbed her eyes vigorously.

“Master, you weren’t using your eyes to check. Why are you blinking?”

Qi Huang kindly reminded her.

“Then what’s going on?”

Shi Yuqi’s face was full of confusion. This terrifying speed of growth was something she simply couldn’t attribute to normal cultivation.