Chapter 58

The "huhuhu" sound of the foreign repelling energy, like countless raging dragons, wildly rampaged inside Lu Tianyu's body. In an instant, it shattered countless large and small meridians, turning them into countless free-floating fragments that drifted within his body.

"Go for it!" In a roar, Lu Tianyu's eyes had turned blood red. He recklessly circulated the battle qi in his dantian, which quickly surged out, forming a large web of battle qi that swiftly enveloped the foreign energy.

However, his strength was not on the same level as that of the senior expert from the Flowing Cloud Sect. How could he possibly match it with his current strength?

Lu Tianyu's output of all his battle qi energy could only envelop one-third of the foreign energy, forcibly dragging it back to the dantian.

The remaining two-thirds of the foreign repelling energy continued to wreak havoc in his body, causing destruction like a mountain being moved and a sea being overturned.

But now, Lu Tianyu was in a position where he could not back down. He gritted his teeth and pulled the one-third of the foreign energy that was enveloped, crazily colliding it with the dantian barriers around.

After entering inner vision, Lu Tianyu could clearly see a layer of faint red mist surrounding his dantian vortex, tightly enveloping the entire vortex. This was the barrier preventing him from entering the Battle Master realm.

As long as there was enough battle qi, he could break through this barrier, expanding his dantian infinitely to accommodate more battle qi energy, and condense it into the inner core of a Battle Master realm expert.

"Rumble" like a thunderclap, a deafening boom echoed from Lu Tianyu's dantian. The layer of faint red mist around the dantian, under the combined impact of the one-third foreign energy and Lu Tianyu's own battle qi energy, instantly shattered into pieces, turning into wisps of faint red smoke that gradually disappeared.

Lu Tianyu's dantian instantly expanded several times over.

The first step of advancing in rank, the dantian barrier, was finally broken. Next, it would depend on whether Lu Tianyu could successfully compress the battle qi and condense it into his own inner core.

"Ah" Although he had successfully broken the barrier, the powerful impact also caused more severe internal injuries, and he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

With his severe injuries, Lu Tianyu's hands, which were gripping the eighteenth step, could no longer hold on. Suddenly loosening, his entire body was immediately violently shaken by the strong repelling force from below, flying wildly.

"Thud" Tracing a bloody arc in the air, Lu Tianyu finally fell heavily onto the platform below, his body covered in blood, a sight too gruesome to bear.

"Ah? Little brother, are you okay?" The several disciples of the Flowing Cloud Sect standing on the platform could not help but exclaim in shock, rushing over to try to help Lu Tianyu.

"Don't come over!" Lu Tianyu, with bloodshot eyes, suddenly roared.

At this moment, the two-thirds of the foreign energy was still rampaging inside his body. If someone touched him now, the energy would immediately find an outlet, surging out of Lu Tianyu's body and into the person, causing severe and irreparable injuries.

Without any grudge, Lu Tianyu did not want to involve innocent people.

The several disciples, upon hearing this, stopped advancing, looking at Lu Tianyu with worried expressions.

The previous scene had deeply shocked them, and they had developed a sense of admiration for Lu Tianyu. They did not want to see him die, but they also knew that with their current strength, they could not help him. Apart from the senior of the Flowing Cloud Sect who had used great power to pave the golden path, anyone else's help would be seeking death.

But that senior had not yet appeared, seemingly not intending to help.

"If this child can survive this, I will definitely take him as my last disciple. If he cannot, he does not have the qualifications to be my disciple. I want to see if he can do it." At the peak of the Flowing Cloud Sect's mountain gate, the gray-robed old man muttered, then slowly closed his eyes. He indeed did not intend to help, as he wanted to see Lu Tianyu's limits.

Standing on the twentieth step, Sima Ye's body slightly moved, intending to rush down to help Lu Tianyu, but after some thought, he ultimately abandoned the idea and continued to stand steadily on the twentieth step, taking no action.

"If he cannot even cross this small rank advancement barrier, then I must have misjudged him. What use is there in helping someone who does not meet the conditions?" A strange light flashed in Sima Ye's eyes as he quietly observed Lu Tianyu below, muttering to himself.

At this moment, Lu Tianyu was unaware of others' thoughts. He was suffering from the wild destruction caused by the foreign repelling energy inside his body and had no time to care about others' thoughts.

He must quickly make the foreign repelling energy his own; otherwise, he would end up dying from a violent explosion.

"Whoosh" Enduring the pain as if being cut by a thousand knives, Lu Tianyu suddenly circulated his battle qi, quickly gathering it in the center of his dantian.

The second step of advancing in rank, the condensation of the inner core, began.

"Whoosh" Under his frenzied compression, the battle qi in his dantian immediately began to surge, gradually converging towards the center of the dantian, rapidly condensing into a single point.

But at this moment, the one-third of the repelling energy that Lu Tianyu had introduced into his dantian to help break the barrier began to wildly rampage uncontrollably.

"Boom" Accompanied by a thunderous boom echoing throughout the dantian, the battle qi that Lu Tianyu had barely compressed into a single point was once again shattered, scattering randomly within the dantian.

"Damn it!" Lu Tianyu could not help but be furious. If he allowed this one-third of the foreign repelling energy to continue existing, he would never be able to successfully condense the inner core. Every time his own battle qi condensed into a single point, it would be destroyed by the one-third of the foreign energy, rendering all his efforts futile.

Therefore, to successfully compress the battle qi and condense the inner core, he must first subdue the foreign energy in his dantian.

"Since I can pull you into my dantian, I can subdue you!" Lu Tianyu roared in his heart, immediately frantically circulating his own energy, quickly merging it into a large web of battle qi, once again enveloping the foreign energy.

"Whoosh" The foreign repelling energy, as if having a will of its own, immediately went wild, trying to rush out of the dantian to reunite with the remaining two-thirds.

But how could Lu Tianyu give it this chance? If they successfully reunited, he would no longer be able to control them.

It would be like the last straw that broke the camel's back. If they successfully reunited and rampaged, he would immediately die from a violent explosion.

"Whoosh!" Just as the one-third of the foreign energy rushed to the edge of the dantian, Lu Tianyu's battle qi web quickly enveloped it.

"Bang bang" sounds echoed continuously as the energy immediately went wild, struggling fiercely.

"Refine!" With a single word, Lu Tianyu immediately endured the wild destruction caused by the other two-thirds of the foreign energy, recklessly refining the one-third of the energy in his dantian.

The second layer of the *Pangu Heavenly Book* cultivation method quickly circulated, transforming into a powerful refining force, gradually refining the one-third of the energy, which was eventually transformed into wisps of pale yellow battle qi, merging into Lu Tianyu's own battle qi.

At this moment, Lu Tianyu's entire dantian was filled with thick pale yellow battle qi energy. It was time to condense the inner core.

"Condense for me!" In a roar, Lu Tianyu once again frantically circulated the second layer of the cultivation method, making the battle qi in his dantian instantly boil, all converging towards the center.

"Whoosh" Inside the dantian, it was as if a great storm had erupted. Countless battle qi energies wildly converged towards the center of the dantian, under Lu Tianyu's mental guidance, all condensing into a single point.

But at this point, it was still just compression. After all the battle qi in the dantian converged into a single point, it was still the size of a basin, still in a gaseous state.

"Burn for me!" As the second layer of the cultivation method frantically circulated, invisible flames quickly surged in Lu Tianyu's dantian, wildly burning and refining the condensed battle qi.

These invisible flames, which every cultivator would automatically generate when condensing the inner core, came from an unknown source, but their power was astonishing. Under the wild burning and refining, the basin-sized battle qi mass quickly shrank, turning into droplets of liquid, gradually floating in the dantian.

After the battle qi turned into a liquid state, the next step was to solidify it.

"Solidify for me!" Lu Tianyu, now in an inner vision state, stared at the countless droplet-like battle qi energies and let out a frenzied shout.

Under the control of his mental power, the droplets of liquid energy quickly merged into a ball the size of a teacup, floating in the center of the dantian.

"Whoosh" As Lu Tianyu circulated the second layer of the cultivation method, it was as if an invisible hand appeared, grabbing the ball and frantically kneading and compressing it.

The ball continuously shrank, gradually condensing into a single point, visibly getting smaller and smaller.

The battle qi energy, in its gaseous, liquid, and solid states, can be converted between each other. The battle qi energy is actually composed of countless pure battle qi micro-particles, and the structure and composition of these micro-particles determine the form of different substances. When the battle qi micro-particles are densely packed together, they generally form a solid. When the gaps are large, they form a gas. When they are between the two, they form a liquid.

The process of condensing the dantian is divided into three steps. Initially, the invisible flames burn and refine the gaseous battle qi into a liquid. In the final step, under the control of powerful mental power, the micro-particles within the liquid battle qi will merge again, the gaps becoming smaller and smaller, ultimately forming the inner core of a cultivator.

Although the inner core is small, the battle qi it contains is extremely terrifying.

This is the insurmountable gap between the qi vortex and the inner core.