Chapter 95 — A Breakthrough Already?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
A breakthrough? Wei Zhao was somewhat dumbfounded. He had never broken through before, nor ever felt that sensation at the critical threshold, when energy brims full and threatens to spill over. He was speechless—he had thought he was about to explode, and instead it was a breakthrough.
No wonder Jiao Yazi wore that teasing look. The old man had clearly foreseen this outcome all along.
Sure enough, Jiao Yazi spoke: "A breakthrough? Well? Feels good, does it not?"
"It does feel good, but I never expected the energy here to be so powerful that it would break through just like that—it gave me quite a fright," Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile.
"You were already on the verge of breaking through. It was only that the environment outside was so harsh there was never enough energy for you to break through all at once." Jiao Yazi chuckled. "Here the energy is plentiful. The moment you enter a state of cultivation, you break through in an instant, as a matter of course."
Only with Jiao Yazi's explanation did Wei Zhao understand: he had in fact long since cultivated his way to the late stage of the first layer, merely lacking the conditions for breakthrough, while here the energy was so abundant that he had broken through in a flash. As for that great surge of energy that had poured suddenly into his body, such a thing likely happened only at the instant of breakthrough; in ordinary cultivation it would not occur.
"Thank you... Mr. Jiao." Wei Zhao bowed to Jiao Yazi in all sincerity. Whatever else might be said, Jiao Yazi's help had filled Wei Zhao with gratitude.
Seeing Wei Zhao so solemn and proper, Jiao Yazi was rather taken aback, and only after a good while did he say, "All right, you brat, don't be so dead serious. From now on, call me Old Jiao, or just Jiao—but spare me the 'Mr. Jiao'..."
"Then I'll call you Old Jiao." Wei Zhao nodded. "Old Jiao, might I ask whether I can now go on to cultivate the second layer of *The Xuanyuan Dragon-Slaying Art*?"
"The second layer? Do you have it?" Jiao Yazi was startled, and asked in return.
"Ah? You don't have it?" Wei Zhao was startled too, and stared at Jiao Yazi in astonishment.
"You never went into the stone gate to take the second layer out—so where would I have gotten it from?" Jiao Yazi was somewhat at a loss for words.
"Isn't it the cultivation manual your martial granduncle left behind? Don't tell me you never cultivated it?" Wei Zhao was even more speechless.
"It was left by my martial granduncle, so I must have cultivated it?" Jiao Yazi rolled his eyes. "My path of cultivation is different from this one. This one only you can practice; I cannot."
"Ah? Is that so..." Wei Zhao scratched his head, a little embarrassed. He had let ordinary thinking confine him; Jiao Yazi was right enough—just because his martial granduncle had left something behind did not mean he himself had to cultivate it.
"If I knew it, why would I have told you to hurry into the stone gate?" Jiao Yazi said, somewhat helplessly. "Don't imagine I can help you with anything. I am only an illusion; my function is about the same as a commentator's—I explain to you the uses of this cultivation space, and when you are idle I keep you company and relieve your boredom... As for everything else, you will have to rely on yourself."
Hearing Jiao Yazi's blunt words, Wei Zhao was speechless at once. It seemed that even if he wanted to slack off, he could not... Only, this first layer had already been broken through, and there was still some time before the five-year deadline. What was he to do with this stretch of time?