A few hours later, the silence of the ravine was finally broken.
The faint sound of flowing water echoed through the darkness, accompanied by the occasional drip from the damp stone walls. The strange spirit lake beneath them continued to ripple gently, its surface glowing with an extremely faint spiritual radiance that was almost impossible to notice unless one deliberately focused on it.
Both Su Yang and Tu Bing had regained consciousness.
Neither of them spoke.
Their injuries had already recovered to a degree that should have been impossible under ordinary circumstances, and even the severe exhaustion brought about by their escape had disappeared considerably. The spiritual energy within the lake was clearly extraordinary, and simply remaining submerged in it was allowing their bodies to recover continuously.
But compared to Su Yang...
Tu Bing's condition was far more unusual.
She sat cross-legged a short distance away, her back straight and her hands resting naturally upon her knees.
Her previously neat hair had already come undone.
Silky black strands cascaded down her shoulders and back, some of them drifting gently despite the absence of wind.
The mask she had worn throughout the journey was still covering her face.
But now...
A faint crack appeared across it.
Then another.
Crack.
The sound was incredibly soft.
The mask slowly began peeling away from her face, not because someone had touched it, but because the spiritual energy surrounding her had begun to affect it.
Piece by piece, the disguise that had concealed her identity began falling apart.
Su Yang immediately noticed the change.
His eyes narrowed.
He did not interrupt her.
There was something different about the atmosphere around Tu Bing.
It wasn't the oppressive feeling produced by a martial artist releasing their aura.
It wasn't Qi-Blood.
It wasn't True Essence.
Instead, it was something much more subtle.
Spiritual energy was gathering around her.
But unlike the violent movements that accompanied a martial breakthrough, the energy surrounding Tu Bing moved almost silently, flowing toward her body like countless invisible streams.
Her breathing became slower.
Then slower still.
Until eventually...
It almost seemed as though she had stopped breathing entirely.
Su Yang's expression became solemn.
He could faintly sense something changing.
Tu Bing had finally reached the moment she had been waiting for.
The Gathering Thoughts realm had already allowed her to cultivate her soul and achieve a degree of introspection that surpassed ordinary martial artists, but that realm was fundamentally different from true external perception.
She could look inward.
She could observe her own soul.
She could use spiritual energy to nourish it.
But she couldn't truly project her spiritual consciousness outside her body.
That required the next realm.
Leaving Aperture.
The transition between the two realms wasn't a transformation that could be seen with the naked eye.
There was no thunder.
No surging Qi.
No tremendous pressure.
The breakthrough was occurring in a place ordinary people couldn't see.
Deep within Tu Bing's sea of consciousness, her spiritual energy slowly condensed.
Her soul seemed to become increasingly clear.
The vague sensation of herself that had existed within her consciousness gradually became distinct, as though a figure hidden beneath layers of mist was finally becoming visible.
The spiritual energy surrounding her trembled.
Then...
It slowly began moving outward.
For the first time, a strand of her spiritual consciousness touched the world outside her body.
It was only a tiny change called Divine Sense.
Yet to someone cultivating the Spirit Dao, this was equivalent to stepping through an enormous gate.
Tu Bing's soul had begun to leave her body.
Her closed eyes remained completely still.
The spiritual energy around her continued to gather.
The broken mask finally fell from her face.
Pieces of it landed quietly beside her.
Su Yang's gaze rested on her face for a moment.
It was the first time he had properly seen her without the disguise.
The boyish appearance that had accompanied "Tu Bing" for so long was gone.
The person sitting before him was clearly a young woman.
Yet Su Yang didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it.
Something had changed.
Tu Bing's eyes slowly opened.
The instant they did...
Su Yang felt the surrounding air become strangely lively.
It was an extremely subtle sensation.
The air itself seemed to have gained consciousness.
The spiritual energy within the ravine responded to her presence, gently flowing around her body as though recognizing its new master.
Su Yang's pupils contracted. He felt like she had seen through him all at once.
She had succeeded. Tu Bing slowly looked around.
Her gaze seemed clearer than before.
She turned toward Su Yang.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Tu Bing's lips moved slightly.
"Su Yang."
Her voice was still soft.
But there was a strange clarity to it.
Su Yang nodded.
"You broke through."
Tu Bing lowered her gaze and looked at her hands.
"I can feel everything."
Her spiritual consciousness slowly extended.
She could sense the water beneath them.
The stone walls.
The plants growing in the cracks.
The subtle movements of insects hidden in the darkness.
Even the faint fluctuations of spiritual energy within the lake became considerably clearer.
It was completely different from before.
At the Gathering Thoughts realm, she could only introspect.
Now...
Her soul could truly leave her body.
She had entered Leaving Aperture.
Tu Bing's eyes briefly flashed with surprise.
Then she suddenly looked toward Su Yang.
"You..."
She paused.
Her expression changed.
Su Yang was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Spiritual energy was continuously entering his body.
But something strange was happening.
His meridians were already undergoing a transformation.
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians had been completely opened.
The Ren Meridian.
The Du Meridian.
The Chong Meridian.
The Dai Meridian.
The Yin Qiao.
The Yang Qiao.
The Yin Wei.
The Yang Wei.
All eight had already become accessible.
Under normal circumstances, spiritual energy entering through these meridians would circulate throughout the body before being transformed and refined by the martial artist.
But Su Yang wasn't allowing it to proceed normally.
The moment spiritual energy entered his meridians...
It stopped.
Then it changed direction.
Su Yang's consciousness immediately followed the movement.
His expression became one of astonishment.
The spiritual energy wasn't dispersing throughout his body.
It was being drawn deeper.
Toward his acupoints.
One after another, the ten Innate acupoints he had deliberately opened began absorbing the spiritual energy.
Su Yang immediately entered deep introspection.
The scene inside his body was astonishing.
The ten acupoints were like ten enormous reservoirs.
Spiritual energy flowed into them continuously, accumulating layer after layer.
The acupoints themselves had already been prepared beforehand.
His master had given him the method.
And Su Yang had spent an enormous amount of effort opening and preparing them precisely for this moment.
The purpose was simple.
Store enough energy beforehand.
Then, when he broke through from Acquired to Innate, he would possess an enormous reserve of energy that could be used during the transformation.
Su Yang watched silently as the spiritual energy accumulated.
One acupoint.
Then another.
Then another.
The ten acupoints gradually began glowing faintly within his internal vision.
His expression became serious.
"Still not enough."
The spiritual energy continued pouring in.
His master had once asked him a question.
Did he want to reach the peak of True Qi?
Or merely enter True Essence?
Or...
Did he want to attempt something far more difficult?
Directly reach the peak of Innate True Essence.
At the time, Su Yang had already made his answer clear.
He wanted the third option.
But his master had also explained that such a breakthrough wasn't something that could be guaranteed merely through ambition.
Several factors determined how far he could go.
His physique.
The quality of his foundation.
And most importantly...
The amount of energy stored within his ten Innate acupoints.
Su Yang understood the principle.
When an Acquired martial artist broke through to Innate, their internal energy would undergo a fundamental transformation.
Ordinary internal energy would be refined into True Qi.
If the energy accumulated within his acupoints was only sufficient for the initial transformation, then he could forcefully complete the breakthrough and enter the Innate realm.
With enough energy, he could continue refining.
The True Qi would undergo another transformation.
It would become True Essence.
But even then, there was a limit.
If his reserves were insufficient, he would only be able to reach the entry stage of True Essence before exhausting his accumulated energy.
That wasn't what Su Yang wanted.
His goal was much more ambitious.
He wanted to keep the transformation going until his True Essence reached its peak.
Peak of Innate True Essence.
That required an enormous amount of energy.
And his physique had to be strong enough to withstand the transformation.
Fortunately, Su Yang had never cultivated like an ordinary martial artist.
His foundation was already far beyond what it should have been at his current realm.
His physical body had been repeatedly strengthened.
His Qi-Blood was extraordinary.
His meridians had been carefully cultivated.
And now, his ten Innate acupoints were being filled with spiritual energy.
Su Yang watched the reservoirs slowly grow fuller.
His eyes became increasingly solemn.
"Come on..."
"More."
The spiritual energy continued pouring into him.
The ten acupoints gradually became saturated.
Yet Su Yang knew that saturation wasn't the same as being sufficient.
He needed enough energy to sustain the entire transformation.
If he wanted to reach the peak of True Essence in a single breakthrough, he couldn't afford to run out halfway.
He had already prepared his body.
Now he needed to prepare the energy.
His consciousness carefully observed every change.
The ten acupoints were like ten enormous wells.
Spiritual energy continued pouring downward.
Their reserves continued increasing.
Su Yang clenched his teeth slightly.
His body remained completely still.
Outside his body, the spirit lake continued rippling.
Inside...
A storm was quietly gathering.
Tu Bing watched him silently.
She had just stepped into Leaving Aperture, yet she could already perceive the extraordinary nature of Su Yang's body.
His spiritual energy reserves were ridiculous.
His meridians were unusually stable.
And those ten acupoints...
She couldn't even properly comprehend what he was doing.
After a moment, she quietly asked,
"Are you preparing for a breakthrough?"
Su Yang opened his eyes.
"Yes."
"To Innate?"
He nodded.
"But I'm not satisfied with merely entering Innate."
Tu Bing stared at him.
Su Yang looked toward the ten acupoints within his body.
"I want to go further."
His gaze became sharp.
"Much further."
The spiritual energy continued flowing.
The ten acupoints continued filling.
And somewhere deep within Su Yang's body, the enormous foundation he had spent so long constructing was finally beginning to reveal its purpose.
He didn't know whether he could truly accomplish what he wanted.
But he knew one thing.
If he succeeded...
His first step onto the true path of the Martial Dao would be far more terrifying than that of an ordinary martial artist.