Chapter 48: The Peerless Transformation Reveals the Enemy's Situation

Four teenagers were running, traversing mountains and wading through rivers, pressing on toward the southwest.

At this moment, having just forded a river, the oldest of the youths said, "Let's rest for a moment and prepare to charge the peak ahead."

Before his voice had even faded, the second-eldest youth collapsed directly onto the riverbank, leaning his back against his bundle and lying flat on his back facing the sky.

These four were Qin Anyu, Qin Wushuang, Qin Lingxue, and Qin Youqin. Aside from Qin Wushuang, the other three were all in the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation realm. Their destination was the Kingdom of Dali. Unwilling to take the long detour and wishing to temper their bodies and unearth their latent potential, they had chosen this method of travel. Not only could this temper their physiques, but they could also forage for medicinal herbs along the way.

Originally, none of the three younger ones had any knowledge of medicinal herbs. After spending the past few months in the secret realm, Qin Youqin and Qin Lingxue had learned to recognize quite a few, while Qin Wushuang knew practically nothing beyond telling the age of a plant and identifying a few common herbs.

Lying on the ground, Qin Wushuang asked, panting heavily, "Brother, is this method really helpful for unlocking bodily potential?"

Hearing his question, Qin Lingxue and Qin Youqin felt a surge of joy in their eyes.

Ever since his body had been healed, they had finally heard him call out "brother" once again.

After staying at the Wuyuan Sect for nearly two days, they had chatted briefly with Fu Peng before taking their leave.

Qin Wushuang's injuries were completely healed, and his physique was even three or four times stronger than before. Qin Anyu had fully absorbed the medicinal potency, stimulating and clearing nine meridians while opening six acupoints in addition to his three dantians; categorized by realm, he had also stepped into the mid-stage of Qi Condensation.

In truth, they had achieved all this in just a single day. The reason they waited two more days before leaving was because of Qin Lingxue and Qin Youqin. Seeing that the two girls were on the verge of a breakthrough, Qin Anyu decided to wait for them until they reached the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation realm before departing, especially since the ambient spiritual Qi here was far denser than in the outside world.

Upon emerging from the Wuyuan Sect, spurred on by Qin Anyu, they had begun to run.

After running for a while, Qin Anyu increased the weight of his clumsy sword from two hundred catties to four hundred catties. Sensing that their bundles were too light, Qin Lingxue and Qin Youqin also picked up some stones from the ground and tossed them inside.

Realizing now why the others carried heavy swords and large packs, Qin Wushuang had also produced a bundle to strap onto his back, adding a few stones for good measure.

What left him feeling somewhat depressed, however, was his suspicion that the stones in his pack were nowhere near as heavy as those carried by the two girls.

Not only was his load lighter than theirs, but his running speed and stamina were also vastly inferior. Every time they had to stop and rest, it was because he could no longer keep running. This made him feel utterly useless, yet he never complained of exhaustion to Qin Anyu, only admitting to Qin Lingxue when he could run no further.

In truth, he was simply too proud and embarrassed. He had always believed that he and his younger sister were the true geniuses while his older brother was nothing more than a good-for-nothing. Now, not only had his brother stormed into the sect to save him, but even Qin Youqin could outrun him effortlessly, making him feel completely incompetent.

After his injuries healed, he had felt his physical body grow many times stronger than before. When Qin Lingxue recounted the events of that day, he finally learned that it was his older brother who had fought his way into the sect and deep into the inner sect to rescue him, forcing the sect's high-ranking elders to pay heavy compensation. Even the medicinal bath had been concocted by his eldest brother.

Once Qin Lingxue finished giving him a brief account of what had transpired, she immediately began to cultivate. Finding himself with nothing to do, he had wandered idly around the courtyard, watching his eldest brother relentlessly strike his own body with that battered sword, pummeling every single part of his physique, while Qin Youqin was deep in cultivation. Eventually, he sat down and began to cultivate as well.

After a day of such cultivation, his eldest brother announced that it was time to leave, prompting him to halt his training and prepare to set out with them.

To his utter astonishment, when they opened the courtyard gate, they found the sect's supreme elders and an elderly man waiting outside, speaking to his eldest brother with extreme gentleness and an air of wanting to negotiate.

Back in the sect, he had always had to speak to the higher-ups with the utmost caution, and he had never even laid eyes on the patriarch. Yet here these figures were, acting with such palpable nervousness and ingratiating deference in front of Qin Anyu.

Much of their conversation went completely over his head; he only caught mentions of spiritual Qi and the Putian Gate, while words like spirit stones, Golden Cores, and the Heavenly Dao were terms he had never heard in his life.

Yet, ever since Qin Lingxue told him that his eldest brother had forcibly breached the sect to save him and exacted a bounty of healing herbs on his behalf, he knew that this brother was no longer the brother he once thought him to be, and that he himself was no longer any sort of supreme genius.

The running trials over the past few days had only served to further highlight the vast chasm between himself and them. Thus, his lingering self-righteous arrogance was gradually worn away, until he finally returned to the simple dynamic of his childhood: a brother was a brother, a younger brother was a younger brother, and the elder brother remained the younger sibling's ultimate refuge.

Qin Anyu replied, "You can check your own body and see how your condition is right now."

Qin Wushuang immediately quieted his mind to sense within, then said in pleasant surprise, "I feel like my physical body has grown even stronger."

Qin Anyu nodded. "Your body has accumulated a certain amount of medicinal energy, which requires this kind of method to fully utilize and prevent from being wasted. As for Little Sister and Youqin, having just broken through to the mid-stage, they can only rapidly stabilize their realms and continue to progress through this method when there are no battles to fight."

Qin Wushuang flipped over to press his belly against the ground, his eyes wide as saucers. "Little Sister, you're already in the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation realm?"

Qin Lingxue blinked her eyes and said smugly, "What did you expect?"

Qin Wushuang felt as though he had suffered a devastating blow. "How on earth did you become a mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivator so quickly?"

Qin Lingxue chuckled mischievously, "Second Brother, if you don't put in the effort, you're going to be left far, far behind by us. Let me tell you, I'm going to follow Big Brother and Sister Youqin toward even higher and more distant planes of existence."

Qin Wushuang asked in astonishment, "You mean the Chenqiao Plane?"

Qin Lingxue curled her lips in disdain. "The Chenqiao Plane is only a tiny fraction higher than the Lingqiao Plane; it hardly counts as higher or farther."

Qin Wushuang disagreed vehemently. "The higher-ups of our sect said that many predecessors from the Wuyuan Sect went there to achieve immortality! Didn't you see that patriarch? He is an immortal."

Qin Lingxue let out a mocking laugh. "Second Brother, he's merely at the Foundation Establishment stage—what kind of immortal is that? If he were truly an immortal, he wouldn't have been suppressed so thoroughly by my eldest brother, obediently coughing up those medicinal herbs and spirit stones. Second Brother, let me tell you, the realms of cultivation are divided into Qi Nourishing, Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Formation, Void Integration, Dao Fusion, Great Vehicle... blah, blah, blah."

Qin Wushuang asked in alarm and confusion, "Little Sister, how do you know so much?"

Qin Lingxue giggled, "Big Brother told me. Weren't you wondering why we were all able to break through to the Qi Condensation realm? I'll tell you: Big Brother previously discovered a secret realm where the spiritual Qi was even denser than the inner sect of the Wuyuan Sect, and it contained Qi-Nourishing and Qi-Condensation beasts. We fought countless battles in there—which is why you're no match for me or Sister Youqin right now. It's just a pity that Big Brother wanted you to come along, but you refused. Though there's no use thinking about it now; when Big Brother made his breakthrough, that secret realm collapsed, and we were trapped inside for over three days. Oh, by the way, all those medicinal herbs Big Brother gave you back then came exclusively from that secret realm."

A wave of profound regret instantly flooded Qin Wushuang's heart.

If not for his own blind arrogance and his disregard for his brother's goodwill, he would at the very least be in the mid-stage of Qi Condensation by now.

Just as he sank into a pit of remorse, Qin Youqin's voice rang out, "Eldest Young Master, there are people on top of the mountain, and their numbers are growing."

Qin Anyu immediately opened his eyes to look. Sure enough, quite a few figures were pointing down at the four of them. He made a swift decision. "Restore your stamina quickly. I'll go up and take a look first. If any of them harbor hostile intentions toward us, I'll deal with the first wave, and the rest of you can mop up any fish that slip through the net."

Qin Lingxue produced a mortal-grade red ginseng and handed it to Qin Wushuang. "Second Brother, here, eat a piece and hurry up and recover your strength. There's going to be a major battle soon."

Qin Wushuang took the ginseng, bit off a piece, and mumbled indistinctly, "This is killing people we're talking about, how could it ever be your turn to fight?"

Qin Lingxue rolled her eyes at him. "Second Brother, I am a cultivator. When facing enemies, it's not a matter of whose turn it is or isn't. Besides, have you ever killed anyone?"

Qin Wushuang was instantly struck dumb with embarrassment.

He had spent his entire time cultivating within the sect; he hadn't even killed many beasts, let alone human beings.