"No, it's not poison. Luo Xuanqing's complexion is improving!" Before Zhang Xuan could explain himself, Bi Hongyin had spoken up.

Her meticulous nature allowed her to immediately notice the slight changes within Luo Xuanqing.

Even though Luo Xuanqing still looked as weak as before, unable to draw forth the slightest strength in his body, redness had started returning to his previously ghastly pale face.

Seeing that he had misunderstood Zhang Xuan, Yuan Xiao hurriedly reined in his aura and scratched his head in embarrassment.

He had seen how the young man had poisoned the Crimsontail Wasp King to death and declared that he would poison Zhang Chun to death, so as soon as Luo Xuanqing said that there was something wrong with the wine, the first thing that came to his mind was that the wine was poisoned.

Gudong! Gudong!

It did not take long for Luo Xuanqing to down the entire vat of fine wine. Without his zhenqi protecting his body, he swiftly became intoxicated by the high concentration of alcohol in the wine. Nevertheless, his complexion and body seemed to have recovered significantly from before.

If he had appeared to be a terminally-ill patient who seemed like he was standing at the gates to hell a moment ago, right now, he seemed more like a young man who had just been afflicted with a slight fever or something.

Luo Xuanqing looked at Zhang Xuan with glazed eyes and asked, "Is there still any more wine?"

"Here you go!" Zhang Xuan took out another vat and passed it over.

"Thank you" Taking the vat, Luo Xuanqing began gulping it down in huge mouthfuls.

It was an established fact that after the activation of one's bloodline ability, one would be unable to exert any might for an entire month. Yet, just by drinking a vat of wine, he felt the frailty that seemed to plague him right from the depths of his body starting to vanish!

This was something that was unbelievable to him!

One must know that the frailty after activating one's bloodline ability was a problem that had plagued Sage Clans for countless years. Much research had been done to alleviate the problem, but there was still no feasible and affordable solution to resolve it.

But as he gulped down more and more wine, he could feel his vitality swiftly coming back to him, returning to his peak state.

By the time he was done with the second vat of wine, all frailty he felt had already vanished without a trace!

"Zhang shi" The astounded Luo Xuanqing turned to look at Zhang Xuan, wanting to know how he managed to do it.

"Close your eyes and don't resist me" Zhang Xuan interrupted Luo Xuanqing's words with wave of his hand.

Then, he flicked his finger, and countless needles flew over.

Tzzzzzzz!

As soon as the silver needles pierced into his body, Luo Xuanqing immediately felt a unique energy coursing through his body. The meridians that had ended up getting blocked as a result of him activating his bloodline ability slowly opened up once more.

To make an analogy, activating one's bloodline ability was like causing a machine to go on overdrive. Once it cooled down, the energy that had gotten into narrow meridians would slowly agglutinate, causing blockages in the area, making it difficult for one to drive one's zhenqi through them.

In other words, what was blocking the meridians was not impurities but one's own zhenqi!

However, the energy that flowed through the silver needle melted the agglutinated zhenqi as if ice in the face of boiling water, clearing those meridians swiftly. In just moments, Luo Xuanqing felt refreshed and energized, and strength swiftly returned to his body, surging through his entirety.

"This"

Yuan Xiao and the others glanced at one another, flabbergasted.

Recovering one's vitality through drinking wine could still be rationalized by the wine being concocted using potent recovery medicinal herbs but to replenish one's zhenqi just by sticking a few silver needles in, that was a little too exaggerated!

Having recovered his zhenqi, Luo Xuanqing no longer felt as withered before. He flicked his wrist, took out a pill, and threw it into his mouth.

Geji! Geji!

As he absorbed the energy harnessed within the pill, the energy in his body grew stronger and stronger. In less than an hour, he had already returned to his peak state.

"You are really able to resolve the side effects from activating one's bloodline ability" Getting to his feet and feeling the strength coursing through his body, Luo Xuanqing stared at the young man before him with a look of disbelief.

Ever since he was young, his clan elders had always warned him against activating his bloodline ability easily, or else he would have to undergo a long period of recuperation. Who knew that the formation master he had coincidentally met would actually be able to resolve his problems so easily?

"This is a secret art of mine, and it depletes my energy greatly as well, so I earnestly request for you all not to let this matter out," Zhang Xuan said with a pale face as he clasped his fist.

Luo Xuanqing's cultivation was simply too much higher than his. He had needed to expend nearly all of his zhenqi before he was able to heal the other party.

It would be best for him to avoid doing this in the future, or else he would probably die of overexertion after treating a couple of people.

"Un." It was apparent that Zhang Xuan had also pushed himself a little too much in the recovery process, and the others also understood the significance of this matter. Thus, they swiftly nodded in agreement.

After a short moment of rest, Zhang Xuan said, "Since Brother Luo has already recovered fully, let's push for a breakthrough to Saint 8-dan right now then!"

"Alright." Luo Xuanqing nodded. Then, with a slightly lost look on his face, he asked, "What should I do now?"

Even though he had managed to recover to his full strength, he was still some way off from pushing for a breakthrough to the Dimension Sundering realm. Otherwise, he would not have gone through the trouble of looking for the Dongxu Gourd either.

"You should assimilate this item first." Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and passed a vine over.

Although the power of Dimension Sundering within the vine was slightly inferior to that of the Dongxu Gourd, it was apparent that assimilating it would do one much good in pushing for a breakthrough to the Dimension Sundering realm.

It was due this vine that he dared promise Luo Xuanqing that he would help him achieve a breakthrough.

"Alright." Nodding, Luo Xuanqing began pumping his zhenqi into the vine, attempting to assimilate it for his own.

This was only a small segment of the entire vine, so it was not too difficult to assimilate it. It took him less than six hours to succeed.

Within the period of time Luo Xuanqing spent assimilating the vine, Zhang Xuan had managed to recover fully as well.

"Alright, store it in your dantian!" Zhang Xuan instructed.

Seeing how slow Luo Xuanqing's movement was, he tapped his finger forward.

Tz la!

The vine immediately dived right into Luo Xuanqing's dantian.

"This" Luo Xuanqing widened his eyes in disbelief.

In his view, the vine was only an ordinary item. Even if he were to assimilate it, there would be nothing that would come out of it. However, when he fused it into his dantian, he realized that the vine actually harnessed countless folded spaces packed together!

In fact, it could be said that the effect of the vine was nearly no different from assimilating the Dongxu Gourd itself!

Seeing that Luo Xuanqing finally understood, Zhang Xuan casually said, "Alright, you can push for a breakthrough now."

It was only with the Eye of Insight that he could discern the power of Dimension Sundering that was harnessed within the vine. The others lacked the ability to do so, so naturally, they were not able to notice it.

"Alright."

With his body back to its peak state and having assimilated the vine, Luo Xuanqing knew that it was the ideal opportunity for him to achieve a breakthrough. Thus, he took a seat on the ground and began conditioning his breathing, preparing himself for a breakthrough.

Some time later

With a resounding explosion, a powerful aura flowed forth from his body. His aura abruptly surged, and in just a few moments, he had already overcome his bottleneck.

However, as he advanced into the Half-Dimension Sundering realm, his cultivation gradually came to a halt.

Seeing as Luo Xuanqing's flow of energy gradually came to a halt, Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully, "What's wrong? Are you lacking the strength to push for a breakthrough straight to Saint 8-dan?"

Under normal circumstances, considering that Luo Xuanqing was in his peak state and that he had assimilated the vine, he should have been able to push for a breakthrough to Dimension Sundering realm with ease. Why did he stop at just Half-Dimension Sundering realm?

"As long as I wish to do so, I can push for a breakthrough at any moment. However, at Saint 8-dan, one's Dominion will become imbued with the power of Dimension Sundering, which is equivalent to wrestling power from the surrounding space. However, the space in this folded space is considerably weaker and less stable, so even if I do achieve a breakthrough here, the increase in my fighting prowess will not be as great," Luo Xuanqing explained.

"I see." Zhang Xuan nodded in realization.

Even though he had already comprehended the third dan of the Heavenly Art of Dimension Unravel, he still knew close to nothing about the Dimension Sundering realm. As such, he was unable to anticipate such a possible pitfall.

At the Dimension Sundering realm, cultivators would seek to sunder the space from the world to strengthen themselves, and naturally, the space sundered from folded spaces would inevitably be weaker than those sundered straight from the natural world.

The space of the natural world had come to achieve an exquisite balance over countless years of development, so achieving a breakthrough there would be much more beneficial to one in terms of increment in fighting prowess or future potential.

"More importantly, when a cultivator achieves a breakthrough to Saint 8-dan, a lightning tribulation will be drawn in. If I challenge the trial back at the Sanctum of Sages, I'll be less susceptible to the offense of inner demons, making it easier for me to succeed."

Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.

The Sanctum of Sages carried the aura left behind by Kong shi and generations of master teachers, and due to the righteous air that lingered in the area, inner demons dared not wreak havoc when one was challenging a tribulation. As such, achieving a breakthrough in the Sanctum of Sages would be much easier than doing so outside.

After all, not everyone was like him, capable of talking an inner demon into submission.

"He really succeeded"

"How did he manage to do it?"

Seeing how Luo Xuanqing, who had difficulty even standing up not too long ago due to the side effects from activating his bloodline ability, successfully made a breakthrough to Half-Dimension Sundering realm, the faces of Bi Hongyin and the others flushed red in agitation.

Even though they had not reached Phantasm Space realm pinnacle yet, as long as they were to cultivate hard, they should be able to reach it within a few years.

If they could engage Zhang shi's help then and push for a breakthrough to Saint 8-dan Dimension Sundering realm, their clans would surely view them with far greater regard and grant them greater authority!

"Brother Luo, how much has your strength grown after achieving a breakthrough to the Half-Dimension Sundering realm?" Yun Lianhai asked curiously.

"How much has my strength grown?" Hearing that question, Luo Xuanqing laughed heartily and grabbed the space in front of him.

Kacha!

He tore off a fragment of space, creating a rift ahead of him.

Everyone widened their eyes in shock.

Even though they were in a folded space and Luo Xuanqing had always possessed exceptional control over space, this was still an astounding feat. Even Dimension Sundering realm intermediate stage experts would have incredible trouble achieving such a feat!

"There's no need to worry. There's no problem in the breakthrough method that Zhang shi has imparted to me. If I meet with that bastard Zhang Chun again, I'll be able to beat him up to the point where even his own father won't be able to recognize him," Luo Xuanqing said in excitement.

He had been competing with Zhang Chun for many years, and each time he achieved a breakthrough, the latter would swiftly follow suit as well. Neither of them was able to shake the other off. It was for this reason that he was determined to find the Dongxu Gourd so as to surpass the latter once and for all.

Who would have thought that, even though the Dongxu Gourd did not recognize him, he would still be able to successfully make a breakthrough?

With his newfound strength, he would make sure to put that fellow through a round of suffering when he returned to the Sanctum of Sages!

"That's a relief"

Everyone first heaved a sigh of relief before they slowly directed heated gazes toward Zhang Xuan.

"Ah" Facing everyone's passionate gazes, Zhang Xuan scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Since we have resolved the matter concerning the Dongxu Gourd, shall we return to the Sanctum of Sages now?"

"Wait a moment first," Luo Xuanqing said with a smile. "I don't think that there's only the Dongxu Gourd in this ancient domain. In fact, the reason I invited Yun Lianhai over is to borrow his ability to scan the surroundings. Perhaps, we might be able to find much more valuable treasures in here!"