The Shenyou Realm was a critical hurdle for martial artists — many spent their entire lives unable to break through. But for the young leaders of various factions, this hurdle was not particularly daunting.
Once they entered the Shenyou Realm, how far they could go in the martial way depended on their own efforts and respective fortunes. For the vast majority, however, the peak of the Shenyou Realm was their absolute limit.
Because of these frequent Shenyou Realm breakthroughs, the Alchemy Chamber's output of pills had increased significantly, especially Mysterious Pills used to cultivate Divine Sense. The consumption of materials was enormous, but fortunately Yang Kai had accumulated quite a stockpile recently. The command banners he had seized from the residences of Yang Kang and Yang Shen had long since been exchanged with the clan for supplies, and the Bamboo Joint Gang was purchasing materials daily as well, so supply was not an issue for the time being.
Beyond the younger generation's frequent breakthroughs, the older generation of martial artists had also made notable progress.
For example, Guan Chile of the Blood Battle Gang had been stuck at the third level of the Shenyou Realm for a full seven or eight years.
He had always assumed that was his limit for this lifetime, that he had already reached the ceiling of his potential. He never imagined that after arriving at Yang Kai's estate and taking Mysterious Pills to aid his Cultivation, within a mere half month, the bottleneck that had plagued him for seven or eight years would begin to loosen. Another half month later, he successfully broke through to the fourth level of the Shenyou Realm, and from then on his cultivation continued to climb steadily. Now, his fourth-level Shenyou Realm cultivation had been fully consolidated.
When he broke through to the fourth level, Guan Chile couldn't hold back and burst into tears of joy, prompting the Hu sisters to spend quite some time consoling him.
Guan Chile was far from alone. The Shenyou Realm experts across the major factions were mostly in their forties, fifties, or sixties. At that age, with that level of strength, further advancement was exceedingly difficult.
Yet ever since they had begun using pills refined by the alchemists from Medicine King Valley, they had all shown signs of their bottlenecks loosening. They could absorb heaven and earth spiritual energy far faster than before, creating the illusion that they had been reborn.
They had no idea why this was happening.
The Mysterious Pills were of excellent quality and high grade, but they shouldn't have been capable of changing a person's Cultivation aptitude. And yet the pills produced in Yang Kai's Alchemy Chamber possessed exactly this effect.
Both the younger and older generations of martial artists were breaking through, but what pleased everyone the most were the Blood Guard breakthroughs!
Although clan intervention meant that only Shadow Nine and Tang Yuxian among the nine Blood Guards could participate in the succession war, Qiu Yimeng had not reduced their pill allocation in the slightest.
She understood that these Blood Guards were Yang Kai's capital for establishing himself in the Yang Family — how could she afford to slight them?
Now, more than half of the nine Blood Guards had already broken through, all advancing to the ninth level of the Shenyou Realm! Among them were Qu Gaoyi, Shadow Nine, Tu Feng, Tang Yuxian, and Xiao Shun.
The remaining four were the ones who had joined Yang Kai later. Though they hadn't broken through to the ninth level yet, their strength had grown rapidly, and they were unquestionably more powerful than when they had first come to pledge their allegiance.
The Blood Guards were ecstatic, overflowing with gratitude.
The difficulty and hardship of breaking through from the eighth to the ninth level of the Shenyou Realm was beyond what words could adequately describe. Given enough time, each of them had the potential and aptitude to reach the ninth level.
But... that would likely take five years, ten years, or even longer!
The rapid improvement of everyone's strength was a joy to see, and the sight warmed every heart.
In the end, the only explanation people could offer — a comforting self-deception — was that the feng shui at Yang Kai's estate was simply excellent!
In truth, everyone knew it was thanks to those Mysterious Pills. The Mysterious Pills produced at Yang Kai's estate seemed to possess some wondrous and profound effect, capable of fundamentally improving a person's aptitude.
Everyone kept this knowledge to themselves.
In his room, Yang Kai sat with a placid expression, turning a small sword over in his hand.
This was an Artifact — a heaven-grade superior-tier soul Artifact — that Dong Qinghan had seized from Mirror Lake.
Two months of secluded cultivation had dramatically increased Yang Kai's strength. It had been rare for him to have such a long stretch of time dedicated solely to Cultivation without worrying about anything else.
In his memory, the only comparable period was when he had broken through to the Zhenyuan Realm in that alternate dimension, spending several months in seclusion.
He was now truly only a single step away from the Shenyou Realm!
With Mysterious Pills supplied to all the martial artists in his estate, how could their master Yang Kai himself go without? These were Mysterious Pills that his Senior Sister had specifically refined for him, and their effects were even more potent than the others.
His own True Yuan had already reached the standard of the Shenyou Realm. His Divine Sense had grown dense and powerful — when he closed his eyes and focused, he could even see the radiant, five-colored Soul Nourishing Lotus. This supreme treasure for nurturing Divine Sense had once again manifested within his perception.
For two months, Yang Kai had done nothing but Cultivate. Apart from that, all he had done was refine the two remaining Artifacts.
The mysterious-grade middle-tier mirror had long since been completely refined. The small sword he now held was also ready to use.
But there was just that tiny gap remaining — he couldn't advance to the Shenyou Realm.
Yang Kai had a persistent feeling that this small sword had not yet fully synced with his Divine Sense. Perhaps it was because he still lacked a sea of consciousness. This was, after all, a soul Artifact — usable before reaching the Shenyou Realm, but unable to unleash its full potential without it.
If he could achieve complete synchronization between the sword and his Divine Sense, Yang Kai was certain that would be the moment of his breakthrough.