526: Breaking Through to Grand Achievement
Arriving just in time, Jiang Mo fought two matches as planned, or more accurately, was beaten in two matches.
This was thanks to the seniors having important matters to discuss afterward; otherwise, these beatings wouldn't have been so quick and clean. Even so, the little tiger was still beaten until she cried "aoao," making Yun Qingyue feel extremely distressed.
"Ahem, all right, let's discuss our important business now." Sect Leader Qingxiao didn't bother addressing who had been rough with his Jianbing. Seeing that the challenges were over, he cleared his throat and naturally changed the subject: "Qingyue, please tell us about your encounter with the Nine Abyss Sect Leader yesterday. Shouldn't he have been in Xuanqing City? Did you go to Xuanqing City?"
Yun Qingyue looked worriedly at Jiang Mo. The little tiger was in pain all over and wanted to seek comfort from her senior sister. However, in front of all these people in Lingyun Hall, she ultimately didn't have the courage and could only pitifully shake her head, indicating she was fine.
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue relaxed a little and began telling Sect Leader Qingxiao about yesterday's events: "Indeed, our cultivation had recently advanced, so we risked a trip to Xuanqing City..."
……
While Yun Qingyue was carefully recounting yesterday's events to everyone, Jiang Mo's attention had already drifted elsewhere. She first touched her newly bruised areas, somewhat relieved that everyone had shown restraint this time and hadn't aimed for her face. Since her face was fine, the injuries on her body weren't worth worrying about—after all, no one would truly harm her.
Jiang Mo popped a medicinal pill into her mouth and gradually relaxed, thinking about how she and her senior sister had rushed around for several hours, managing to collect all of yesterday's rewards. Including the special rewards from everyone gathered at Lingyun Hall, the harvest was quite substantial.
She mentally calculated the day's gains and felt satisfied, then casually opened her data panel to take a look—
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 80
Combat Power: 296,840
Experience: 398,960/400,000
Points: 23,960
Potential: ∞
Skills: Advanced Spiritual Energy Utilization, Blood Inheritance Suppression, Sharp Metal Force, Way of Transformation…]
Jiang Mo glanced at the data panel, then glanced again, her eyes gradually widening. The numbers were clearly higher than she had expected. Whether it was combat power, experience, or points, everything had increased over these two days—especially the points. Although they had only increased by a few hundred, none of the timed challenge tasks she had completed offered points as rewards.
Could it be that spending these two days with her senior sister had triggered some hidden quest, causing her stats to increase so much?
The little tiger's eyes immediately brightened as she clicked on the message history, rubbing her hands in anticipation. However, after seeing the contents of the message history, she instantly calmed down—there was no hidden quest at all; it was simply because she had been fighting monsters.
Indeed, the demons surrounding Xuanqing Sect could no longer be considered human. In the eyes of normal cultivators, they were walking corpses for disciples to slay and train with. In the system's eyes, they had become humanoid monsters that could be farmed. And because of the special nature of these demons, the rewards they provided were substantial—certainly more efficient than farming spirit beasts of the same level.
After reading the messages, Jiang Mo couldn't help but mentally calculate. Disregarding the combat power rewards, the experience she gained from hunting monsters with her senior sister each day might actually exceed what she earned from timed tasks, especially considering the countless demons outside.
As these thoughts ran through her mind, Jiang Mo became excited and unconsciously clutched her senior sister's sleeve.
Yun Qingyue immediately noticed and, having just finished recounting the events, turned to ask with concern: "What's wrong? Are your injuries hurting again?"
Everyone had been focused on Yun Qingyue's narrative when she suddenly changed topics with this question, making those who had just beaten Jiang Mo feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Jiang Mo didn't take the opportunity to complain or accuse anyone. Gripping her senior sister's sleeve, her eyes sparkling brightly, she blurted out: "No, the injuries don't hurt anymore. But Ah Yue, I'm about to break through again."
Upon hearing this, not just Yun Qingyue but all the seniors present were shocked—Jiang Mo's recent cultivation progress was evident to all, especially when she broke through to late Fusion stage in front of everyone, proving her special cultivation method effective. This was why everyone, despite their impatience, reluctantly cooperated.
But what was this tiger cub saying now? She was about to break through again? To what—Grand Achievement stage?!
Everyone's first reaction was disbelief, a sense of absurdity filling their minds. Only Yun Qingyue, who always had exceptional faith in Jiang Mo, showed delight in her beautiful glaze-like phoenix eyes: "Really?"
Jiang Mo didn't care what others thought. Seeing her senior sister so delighted for her, she nodded firmly and smiled brightly: "Yes, with just a few more challenges, I'll definitely break through today!"
She spoke with such certainty that the assembled seniors exchanged glances.
Finally, Sect Leader Qingxiao stood up, walked over to the pair, and said: "Cultivation advancing so rapidly may lead to instability. If Jianbing doesn't mind, would you allow me to examine your condition?"
This reasoning made sense for human cultivators but wasn't applicable to divine beasts. After all, a divine beast's power originated from its bloodline rather than painstaking cultivation. No one had ever heard of a divine beast with unstable cultivation... except for the formerly deficient little White Tiger, though without the system's possession of a corpse, this little White Tiger wouldn't have existed at all.
Jiang Mo wasn't entirely clear on this, but she wasn't worried about her cultivation level being unstable, since her combat power had kept pace. Therefore, she waved dismissively and said: "That's fine, Sect Leader can examine if you wish."
Sect Leader Qingxiao had no ill intentions. After releasing his divine sense to examine her, he was stunned—Jianbing truly was about to break through, and her cultivation wasn't unstable at all. On the contrary, it was extremely solid, as if she had remained at this level for many years, having been tempered through countless trials. Yet the tiger before him had only broken through recently. In just a few days' time, when normal cultivators wouldn't even have stabilized their cultivation, how had she achieved this?
Could divine beast bloodlines and cultivation methods truly be so special? Was the Heavenly Dao truly so favoring?
Even though Sect Leader Qingxiao's heart was firm and his mental state approaching perfection, he couldn't help but feel a touch of envy. However, his character was ultimately sound, and such inappropriate emotions only surfaced briefly before being suppressed.
Jiang Mo could feel Sect Leader Qingxiao's examination and offered no resistance, but she saw that he remained silent for a long time, lost in thought. After waiting a while, she ran out of patience and proactively asked: "Sect Leader, how does your examination look?"
Sect Leader Qingxiao finally came back to his senses and said: "Indeed, you are about to break through."
Upon hearing this, everyone was truly shocked.
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The Nine Abyss Sect Leader's defection was significant, but Jianbing's special cultivation method was equally eye-catching—in the millions of years of the cultivation world's existence, apart from consuming rare treasures or experiencing the good fortune of having an elder transfer energy directly, no one had ever heard of legitimate cultivation advancing at such a speed. Not human cultivators, not beast cultivators, not ghost or demon cultivators, and not even divine beasts beloved by heaven and earth had such precedents.
But now, with the cultivation world no longer as prosperous as before and a great calamity approaching, a special existence like Jiang Mo had appeared at this critical juncture. This led everyone to wonder: could she be some chosen one of destiny, or perhaps someone arranged by the Heavenly Dao to break the deadlock?
Such thoughts unconsciously arose in everyone's minds. And because Jiang Mo stood at the forefront, no one noticed that Yun Qingyue's cultivation was also advancing rapidly... From Jiang Mo's perspective, she wasn't any chosen one, just an ordinary person with external assistance. In contrast, her senior sister was more like the so-called chosen one, facing continuous setbacks, hardships, and opportunities.
But Jiang Mo kept these thoughts to herself, instead actively drawing everyone's attention.
As for how she attracted it... while the Nine Abyss Sect Leader's defection still needed discussion, Jianbing's breakthrough could happen right away. Thus, with everyone distracted, they decided not to rush the important matters and accompanied Jianbing in starting a new round of challenges.
So in the middle of the night, cultivators who had just been challenged by Jiang Mo not long ago had their cultivation interrupted again, this time with an escort of seniors. Even though they had received favors from Yun Qingyue, such disruption of cultivation inevitably caused annoyance. However, when the challenged individuals emerged and saw the lineup outside, even the greatest anger was suppressed.
"This... why such a mobilization tonight?" A certain sect leader at the late Fusion stage awkwardly inquired.
Having interacted with many people for days, Jiang Mo was somewhat familiar and stepped forward sincerely: "I apologize for disturbing your cultivation. Let's have one more match today, and after that, we'll be even. I won't trouble you again in the future."
Hearing this, the person was delighted. Although he had taken benefits to go through the motions of losing, pretending to be defeated daily wasn't a pleasant experience. He immediately smiled and said: "Jianbing is too polite. Since that's the case, let's not waste words and begin immediately."
Jiang Mo nodded, and the two playfully exchanged a few moves, completing the formalities before finishing.
As Jiang Mo's level increased, the number of people she could challenge decreased, and consequently, the rewards she received also diminished. Especially after breaking through to the Grand Achievement stage, her challenge range would be limited to a few major sects, as smaller sects simply wouldn't have Grand Achievement cultivators in residence. Even now at the late Fusion stage, though she could still find a few to challenge, they were few, and the rewards were meager.
This match was only against someone of the same level, so the 500 experience points reward naturally couldn't level her up. However, when Jiang Mo challenged the third person, her experience successfully reached the amount needed to level up.
She felt a familiar warm current envelop her body, and the lingering pain from earlier beatings instantly vanished without a trace, restoring her to peak condition.
In the eyes of others, Jiang Mo had indeed broken through after a few challenges, doing so effortlessly and silently—ordinary cultivators breaking through to Grand Achievement would definitely trigger natural phenomena. Spiritual energy gathering and weather changes would be the mildest effects, followed by seventy-two bolts of heavenly lightning announcing to the world that another Grand Achievement cultivator had emerged.
But Jianbing was different. It seemed as if she had accumulated enough energy within herself that even breaking through to the Grand Achievement stage didn't require additional absorption of the world's spiritual energy. And since divine beasts naturally didn't face lightning tribulation, there was no heavenly lightning either, making the entire breakthrough occur in complete silence.
The onlookers exchanged glances, as if they had witnessed something utterly uneventful.