Looking at Ye Chu dodge his strike, Cave Old Three shook his head and sneered. “Useless. You’re merely at the Intent Transformation Realm. Dodging once or twice means nothing. Do you really think you can withstand three Innate Realm experts?”
Ye Chu did not deny it. He stared at the other man and said, “You’re right. I never expected to block three Innate Realm experts while still at the Intent Transformation Realm.”
“In that case, surrender quietly and spare yourself the torture!” Cave Old Three glared at Ye Chu with cruel malice.
“But what if I’m no longer at the Intent Transformation Realm?” Ye Chu evaded a kick from Cave Old Four, then suddenly smiled at Cave Old Three.
“What a pity — you are at the Intent Transformation Realm! You can’t change that fact, so you must die!” Cave Old Three kicked out. Ye Chu raised his hand to block, but the force sent him staggering back several steps. His foot came down on a stone, which shattered beneath the pressure.
“I said… I’m not!” Ye Chu suddenly tensed his entire body. He stared straight at the three men.
Those words stunned the three for a moment, but they immediately burst into mocking laughter. “He’s lost his mind!”
Tan Miaotong gazed at Ye Chu in utter anxiety. A layer of pallor spread across her tender, charming face. Her delicate body trembled slightly, revealing her soft vulnerability.
“Kill him!” Cave Old Three shouted to the other two. At the same time, he launched an attack towards Ye Chu.
Ye Chu stared at the three men. The Extreme Intent Jade clutched in his hand suddenly blazed with light.
“Intent entering the body, transforming turbid qi into Innate!” Ye Chu suddenly roared. The intent within him surged violently into the Extreme Intent Jade. Then, slowly, it began seeping back from the jade into Ye Chu’s body.
The Extreme Intent Jade had the ability to contain intent. Ye Chu possessed a great deal of intent — even conflicting intents. If he attempted to fuse and transform them directly within his own body, the backlash could severely injure him.
Using the Extreme Intent Jade as a medium eliminated that risk. Any damage from the fusion would be borne by the jade instead.
Sure enough, as Ye Chu’s intents poured into the jade, cracks began to appear across its surface. The jade was taking the brunt of the intent backlash in his place.
Ye Chu had anticipated this. His intents were too numerous and varied. Fusing them was like smashing several carriages together and forcing them to merge. The instantaneous collision of forces could devastate his body.
The intent pouring back from the jade now flowed into Ye Chu’s body once more, merging with his primal essence. Both body and essence underwent transformation simultaneously. Ye Chu’s mental and spiritual energy suddenly soared. A far more powerful intent than before erupted from him.
“He’s trying to break through to the Innate Realm!” Cave Old Three’s expression changed. He had never imagined Ye Chu would make such a choice at this moment.
Tan Miaotong was equally stunned. Her rosy lips parted in shock, her beautiful mouth wide open, her face filled with disbelief.
Did he know how dangerous breaking through to the Innate Realm was? One mistake, and he could leave himself with irreparable hidden injuries! Most importantly, Ye Chu was forcing a breakthrough right now in a desperate bid to reach the Innate Realm. If he failed, he would instantly lose all strength — unable even to stand. With three powerful enemies glaring at him, attempting something so reckless right under their noses — what were the chances of success?
Tan Miaotong’s lips trembled. Her mouth felt dry. She did not know whether it was from shock at Ye Chu’s audacity or from something else.
She stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the young man whose intent was climbing higher and higher. Her fair throat bobbed. Her eyes still shimmered with incredulity at what she was witnessing.
After a brief stunned pause, the three cave masters immediately cursed loudly. “Do you take us for trash?!”
They felt deeply insulted. To attempt a breakthrough right in front of them — did he truly see them as nothing? Normally, when cultivators broke through to the Innate Realm, they would find a quiet, secluded place and wait for the perfect moment to advance slowly and steadily.
Yet this fellow actually dared to force a breakthrough in their presence, intending to use the Innate Realm to fight them. It was a pipe dream — and suicide!
“Send him to hell!” The three roared in fury. Each unleashed their most ferocious attacks, all aimed straight at Ye Chu’s chest.
“Ye Chu!” Tan Miaotong’s heart leapt into her throat. She wanted to rush forward and pull him away, but that was clearly impossible.
Just as their kicks were about to land on Ye Chu, his previously motionless body suddenly moved. His speed was several times faster than before.
“Do you really think someone who came down from Wuxin Peak is the same as ordinary people?” Ye Chu sneered. The Extreme Intent Jade in his hand shattered with a crisp crack. All the intent within it poured fully into his body.
At some unknown moment, several more Baleful Cores appeared in Ye Chu’s hand. They melted into his body as well. “Intent Transformation Realm — break!”
With Ye Chu’s roar, he expelled mouthful after mouthful of turbid qi. The turbid qi blasted outward like a howling gale, its sheer power evident in the wind-like roar it produced.
“Turbid qi transforming into Innate!” Ye Chu shouted. The surrounding spiritual energy, drawn by Ye Chu, flowed along with his breathing and poured into his body.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. At the same moment Ye Chu drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, the three men’s renewed attacks came crashing down. Cave Old Three’s fist smashed viciously towards Ye Chu’s temple.
Ye Chu tilted his head to avoid it. One foot blocked Cave Old Four’s strike while his body twisted to evade the other. His palm turned into a fist and struck straight towards Cave Old Three.
Palm and fist collided.
“Crack!”
A crisp sound of breaking bone rang out. Ye Chu seized Cave Old Three’s fist and twisted viciously, snapping the bone outright. Cave Old Three’s miserable scream echoed instantly.
Ye Chu followed with two kicks, blocking Cave Old Four and Cave Old Five. His body was shaken back two steps.
Ye Chu looked at Cave Old Three clutching his broken arm and screaming in agony. He glanced at his own arm and realised his strength had more than doubled. The Cave Old Three who had previously held a slight edge over him in power now seemed noticeably weaker.
Ye Chu felt his breathing clearer than ever. With each breath, it seemed spiritual energy from heaven and earth flowed naturally into his body.
“So this is the Innate Realm? Filtering turbid qi with every breath. No wonder it’s a completely different level from Intent Transformation!” Ye Chu thought to himself. If he had not cultivated his intent to such a terrifying degree, fighting an Innate Realm expert would truly have been impossible.
And his newly ascended Innate Realm was far stronger than that of an ordinary Innate Realm cultivator.
He dispersed the lingering traces of baleful qi in his body. He allowed his true qi to wash through his physique, stabilising the realm he had just stepped into.
“Innate Realm!”
Cave Old Four swallowed hard, finding it unbelievable. Shouldn’t breaking through to the Innate Realm take a long time? How had the other party completed the transformation so quickly? Was it the effect of the Baleful Cores?
Tan Miaotong’s beautiful eyes also shimmered with light. She stared at Ye Chu in utter disbelief. This had completely exceeded her understanding.
“Again!” Ye Chu charged forward proactively, heading straight for the remaining two. With his Innate Realm intent, he unleashed a ferocious Vajra Fist. One palm slammed heavily into Cave Old Four’s hand.
Cave Old Three had never imagined that someone who had only just reached the Innate Realm — whose realm was not even stable — could possess such terrifying power. Fist met fist. The supremely rigid and domineering intent shattered his bones outright.
Having crippled two in succession, Ye Chu locked his gaze on the last man. His body shot forward like an arrow. With a continuous barrage of leg techniques, he forced the opponent into head-on clashes.
But how could the man possibly match Ye Chu? A kick landed squarely on his chest. With a miserable cry, he collapsed to the ground.