Tenth level of Qi gathering

Since the Peak battle between Long Chen and Huang Shang at the last Fengming Lantern Festival, which shook all directions, there was almost no one in the Imperial Capital, or even the entire Fengming Empire, who did not know the name Long Chen.

Especially among the youths, who viewed Long Chen as an idol; whenever that name was mentioned, their eyes would fill with worship.

Of course, in any world, there is no shortage of geniuses, though geniuses are not necessarily limited to the path of martial cultivation.

They can shine just as brightly in other fields. It had been over ten days since Long Chen's battle, but in these short ten days, one Genius had used Long Chen's persona to frantically amass millions of gold coins.

That person was originally a painter. While being a painter in the Fengming Empire was not considered destitute, it wasn't a high-end profession either, and the income was very meager.

However, ever since that person witnessed Long Chen's battle, he returned home overnight and, without closing his eyes for three days and three nights, painted a dozen exquisite pictures.

The figure in the paintings was naturally Long Chen. Long Chen was already handsome and dashing to begin with, but after the painter's rendering of background and light, he looked simply like a Heavenly God descending to the world.

Especially the scenes of Long Chen's pill battling and fighting; they were rendered to the point of perfection, leaving people in awe.

After the person finished the paintings, he directly sought out the largest printing workshop for a collaboration. Consequently, when the overwhelming number of Long Chen portraits swept through the Imperial Capital, those young men and women nearly went crazy.

Thousands of portraits were immediately snapped up. Those who didn't manage to get one began surrounding the printing workshop. The entire workshop, with hundreds of people, worked non-stop, yet the queue only grew longer.

The workshop had to temporarily increase its staff, working desperately to catch up. It took a full seven days to barely satisfy the demands of some of the customers.

However, if that were all, the painter could only be considered an average businessman. His brilliance lay in the fact that after the first batch of portraits sold out, a second batch appeared.

This batch was even more exquisite than the first, with more impressive packaging. The paper used was actually finely crafted beast-skin parchment that could last for hundreds of years without fading, and it was elegantly marketed as the "Collector's Limited Edition."

Naturally, this Collector's Limited Edition was quite expensive, yet it was still sought after by countless young men and women, with shockingly good sales.

When the Collector's Limited Edition portraits were mostly sold out, to everyone's surprise, a comic book titled "Fengming War God" quietly hit the market.

That comic book used hundreds of panels to record the scenes from that night, including the Third Princess's confession, Xia Baichi's pill battle, Huang Shang provoking Long Chen, and Long Chen's bloody battle with Huang Shang. A whole series of stories was expressed through pictures, vivid and lifelike, leaving people in awe.

From the portraits to the deluxe editions, and then to the later comic books, that painter and that workshop had almost emptied the pockets of youths whose living conditions were not very wealthy.

According to rumors, in just over ten days, they had profited at least several million gold coins. That originally destitute painter suddenly became a celebrity in the Imperial Capital, the most eye-catching existence aside from Long Chen.

Long Chen knew nothing of the many things happening in the Imperial Capital. As for Long Chen himself, he had already broken through to the Ninth Level of Qi Gathering a few days ago.

It must be said that Long Chen's ability to break through so quickly was inseparable from that life-and-death battle with Huang Shang.

Only by experiencing the test of death and withstanding such pressure could one further solidify their Dao Heart, allowing cultivation to grow rapidly without the hidden worry of an unstable Foundation.

Currently, Long Chen was fully circulating his nine Qi cyclones, absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and inputting it into his Fengfu Star. As long as the energy within the Fengfu Star was saturated and triggered the blood energy, he could enter the Blood Condensation Realm.

The so-called Blood Condensation Realm meant the condensing of Qi and blood. Blood was one of the energy components of the human body. Only upon reaching the Blood Condensation Realm could one be considered a true Martial Artist.

Blood Condensation involved circulating True Qi to purify and refine one's blood. Humans ate grains and cereals, which caused the Physical Body to be impure, hence the need to condense the blood. Making the blood more mellow and expelling Impurities would make one's power even stronger.

However, before entering the Blood Condensation Realm, one needed to reach the extreme of the Ninth Level of Qi Gathering, compressing the Spiritual Qi to a certain degree, only then could one convert Qi into blood and guide the circulation of blood—this was what was commonly referred to as "Qi and Blood."

After the Fusion of Qi and blood, it would erupt with incredible energy. At the same time, this was the most important foundational stage for a cultivator.

"Boom."

The Fengfu Star jolted. Long Chen couldn't help but be overjoyed; this was the precursor to entering the Blood Condensation Realm. He hurriedly steadied his mind, slowly circulating the Qi cyclones, outputting steadily.

This was a very critical moment, and he absolutely could not make a mistake. If the slightest slip occurred, he would injure himself, and the nine Qi cyclones he had originally gathered would very likely have a few shattered, leading to a drop in his Realm.

"Boom, boom, boom."

The Fengfu Star exploded repeatedly. The Spiritual Qi was constantly being compressed. Having reached a critical moment, Long Chen dared not be the slightest bit careless, circulating with full concentration.

But to Long Chen's surprise, these explosions continued for three hours, and there was still no change within his body.

"What is going on?"

Long Chen couldn't help but be shocked. This situation seemed different from what was recorded in books.

Even if entering the Blood Condensation Realm was difficult, it shouldn't be this difficult. He had flipped through many notes on cultivation in the Martial Skill Pavilion. Generally, when people impacted the Blood Condensation Realm, as long as the Spiritual Qi was sufficient, they often only needed to break through one shackle to advance to Blood Condensation.

Some people needed to break through two, or even three shackles to enter the Blood Condensation Realm. It was said that the more shackles one broke through during the promotion, the greater that person's future potential for development would be.

At first, Long Chen was ecstatic after continuously breaking through nine shackles, thinking he was a peerless Genius. But as more and more shackles were broken, Long Chen's heart changed from surprise to horror.

In three hours, he had continuously impacted countless shackles. Although he hadn't counted carefully, there were definitely hundreds of them.

This completely overturned all expectations. In his impression, the most that had been recorded in those notes was only three.

It had already been three hours; to say he wasn't afraid would be a lie. Those shackles were simply endless, making one's scalp tingle.

"I don't believe it. I'm going to stick it out with you."

Long Chen gritted his teeth. He had already reached this point; if he gave up halfway, it would severely damage his confidence, and the difficulty of the next attempt would double.

He was now riding a tiger and could not get off; he had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure. This endurance lasted for a full day and night. Long Chen was nearly going crazy.

He didn't know how many shackles he had broken through. At this moment, he was numb. Even with Long Chen's perseverance, he was somewhat ready to give up.

He even began to harbor doubts about the Fengfu Star. Was the problem with the Fengfu Star? Could it be that the Fengfu Star could not truly replace the Dantian?

"Boom."

Just as Long Chen was letting his imagination run wild, the Fengfu Star suddenly burst into light. Long Chen couldn't help but be overjoyed. Was he finally about to succeed?

With an explosive sound, Long Chen's Dantian jolted. To Long Chen's astonishment, a new Qi cyclone slowly appeared beside the nine, and it was—the tenth Qi cyclone.

"Are you kidding me?"

Long Chen simply couldn't believe it. Weren't there only nine Qi cyclones in total? What on earth was going on?

After a day and a night of tossing and turning, he hadn't broken through to the Blood Condensation Realm, but instead condensed a tenth Qi cyclone. Long Chen was practically stunned.

The Nine Levels of Qi Gathering were eternal and unchangeable. Even though there were countless freaks in the cultivation world, he had never heard of anyone who could condense ten Qi cyclones.

If such a thing happened to anyone, they would be dumbfounded. Long Chen was, of course, no exception. He stared blankly at the ten Qi cyclones within his body, unable to say a word.

Long Chen suddenly discovered that after the tenth Qi cyclone appeared, the cyclones actually began to slowly expand. Although slow, they were indeed truly expanding.

One had to know that once a Qi cyclone was condensed, it would always remain that size; this was common knowledge. But today, Long Chen discovered something that left him bewildered.

"Could it be the reason for the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art?"

Long Chen could only blame these strange phenomena on the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Now that he was practicing the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, his entire cultivation path had deviated from the normal track.

During the time Long Chen was deep in thought, those Qi cyclones continued to expand slowly. In just a quarter of an hour, they had actually expanded by a circle. What originally looked like the size of a bowl now looked the size of a plate.

Although he didn't know the reason for this phenomenon, Long Chen knew that the expansion of the Qi cyclones was a huge blessing for him.

The larger the Qi cyclone, the faster the speed of absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the less the consumption during battle, and the faster the recovery.

However, Long Chen was scared today. Something that should have been a pleasant surprise had instead left him terrified. The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was too bizarre.

At the Seventh Level of Qi Gathering, he could already defeat Huang Shang of the Seventh Level of Blood Condensation across Realms. This was already a terrifying combat power.

But the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art seemed like an endless Treasure Trove, and what he had discovered was only the tip of the iceberg.

The power of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art made one feel fear and unease. Furthermore, Long Chen was filled with unknown expectations and fear regarding his own future—it was very contradictory.

The ten Qi cyclones absolutely could not be exposed, otherwise he would be in danger. No one would be jealous of such a Heaven-Defying Cultivation Technique. In future battles, he absolutely could not use the Qi Explosion method like last time.

What Long Chen was most unsure about now was that he didn't know how many Qi cyclones he needed to condense for the Qi Gathering Realm of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

Although the more Qi cyclones, the stronger, if the Realm didn't go up, the combat power would still be lacking. Even if he had ten thousand sheep, they couldn't bite a tiger to death.

Most importantly, he was currently in a dangerous situation, surrounded by invisible enemies. They might appear at any moment to deliver a fatal blow. He needed to quickly improve his cultivation.

Looking at the Qi cyclones within his body that continued to slowly expand, having grown from the size of a plate to the size of a washbasin, he couldn't help but sigh. Perhaps this was what was called mixed blessings.

Long Chen didn't want to continue Cultivating today. His current state of mind was no longer suitable for cultivation; he needed to adjust.

"Gurgle."

A strange sound came from his stomach. Only then did Long Chen feel a wave of hunger. He hadn't eaten for several days; it would be strange if he weren't hungry.

He pushed open the door and breathed in the fresh air, discovering it was already noon. He called Bao'er to prepare lunch for him.

Long Chen was a bit afraid of seeing his old mother now, so he simply hid away. Bao'er seemed to see through Long Chen's thoughts and giggled as she prepared a meal for him.

A plate of white-cut chicken, a plate of pot-cooked fish, plus two plates of vegetable dishes, and a large pot of soup—simple yet sumptuous.

After Long Chen finished eating, he felt much more spirited, and the impact brought about by the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art had lessened significantly.

"Young Master, someone is looking for you."

"Who is it?" Long Chen asked.

"I don't recognize them either. You should go take a look. They've been waiting for a while. I saw you were eating so well, so I didn't disturb you," Bao'er smiled.

Long Chen couldn't help but laugh. Life in the Long family was better now, and Bao'er was becoming mischievous, actually daring to leave a guest waiting.

Arriving at the living room and seeing the visitor, Long Chen never imagined that this person would actually come to find him.