Chapter Twelve: Making a Breakthrough

Faced with this situation, Qin Tian could only keep circling around, evading the attacks. Mu Yihan, however, pursued relentlessly from behind. At this moment, An Miaoling seemed thoughtful. Her master’s spiritual form simply couldn’t break through her defenses, but it didn’t mean he was defeated.

Quickly, she tossed the Ice Lithe Sword to him. “Master, catch the sword.”

As Qin Tian caught the sword, his aura instantly grew stronger. After all, it was a supreme imperial weapon. He spun around and slashed fiercely with one stroke.

Whoosh!

The Sacred Ape’s body was directly slit open by the blade.

In Qin Tian’s hands, the imperial weapon was completely different from when it was in An Miaoling’s grasp. After this slash, Mu Yihan grew somewhat flustered, recognizing the imperial weapon. During the peak of the Heavenly Demon Palace’s strength, there were imperial realm experts present, but they had never possessed an imperial weapon.

After much consideration, she prepared to flee, thinking, “As long as the green mountains remain, there will be firewood to burn.” But Qin Tian would not let her go so easily; he immediately gave chase.

“Mountain Cleaver!”

The Ice Lithe Sword’s light blazed, transforming into a giant frost sword. Under Qin Tian’s control, the massive blade crashed down with tremendous force.

Boom!

Mu Yihan’s Sacred Ape form was cut cleanly in two.

This technique was a sword skill Qin Tian had acquired during his previous sign-in, having been enhanced several times to reach the tenth level.

After dealing with Mu Yihan, Qin Tian’s spiritual form began to wane. He knew time was running short. He gently patted An Miaoling’s head, then poured the remaining spiritual energy of his form into the Ice Lithe Sword.

At the same time, he said to An Miaoling, “Within three hours, if there is danger, you can activate the spiritual energy stored in the sword.”

“After three hours, the spiritual energy will dissipate automatically.”

With that, the Ice Lithe Sword returned to An Miaoling’s hand.

An Miaoling murmured, “Having a master is quite good.”

Then she broke through the constraint array and retrieved the Heavenly Phoenix Sacred Fruit to consume.

Once the sacred fruit entered her body, her Ice Phoenix bloodline reawakened. Its concentration grew ever stronger, and her aura began to rise. Upon reaching a certain level, she started breaking through to the Destiny Realm.

Meanwhile, Qin Tian, who was traveling, suddenly received a system notification.

*Ding!*

[Congratulations to the host’s disciple for breaking through to the great realm. The host’s aptitude has been raised to eighth grade, and sign-in rewards increased by twenty percent.]

An Miaoling had broken through to the Destiny Realm? Indeed, she was a prodigious genius. Having such a disciple was a blessing! Moreover, Qin Tian himself had ascended to an eighth-grade aptitude—a level comparable to a peak master’s personally chosen genius.

Thinking this, Qin Tian felt quite pleased.

After An Miaoling’s breakthrough, she headed out, preparing to find Yan Qingsi and the others.

She had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, after searching, she spotted disciples of the Demon Sect pursuing members of the Penglai and Taibai Sects.

An Miaoling paid them no mind, focusing only on Yan Qingsi and her group.

After half an hour, she finally found Yan Qingsi and the others. They looked somewhat disheveled, having just fought fiercely against demonic beasts.

“Are you all alright?” An Miaoling asked with concern.

Upon seeing her, they smiled with relief.

“We’re fine. We saw you chase after the beast, but you disappeared suddenly,” Yan Qingsi said.

“Yeah, we searched for quite a while but couldn’t find you,” Xuan Lei added.

An Miaoling thought of Mu Yihan and the Demon Sect disciples appearing in the secret realm and began to suspect.

The Sacred Soul needed to consume others’ souls to maintain itself. The souls of such talented disciples were exactly what Mu Yihan needed most. The Demon Sect and Heavenly Demon Palace were likely connected.

Understanding this, she said, “Someone deliberately lured me over earlier. On the way here, I saw Demon Sect disciples chasing Penglai and Taibai Sect members. We should leave as soon as possible.”

Yan Qingsi and the others’ expressions changed.

“Junior Sister An is right. They’ve come prepared. We should get out first,” Yan Qingsi said.

They quickly headed toward the exit.

But before they could go far, Leng Ya appeared.

Everyone was puzzled—why was Leng Ya, a half-Saint, inside the secret realm?

As the eldest senior sister, Yan Qingsi stepped forward and greeted him politely.

“Greetings, Senior Leng. May I ask your purpose here?”

“Are you trying to leave the secret realm?” Leng Ya asked.

Yan Qingsi nodded.

“In that case, I have no choice but to take action,” Leng Ya said.

At his words, Yan Qingsi and the others were stunned. Why would a half-Saint suddenly attack them?

An Miaoling drew the Ice Lithe Sword and said coldly, “Don’t be afraid. His cultivation is only at the third level of Nirvana Realm.”

Hearing this, everyone finally understood. The secret realm rejected anyone above the Nirvana Realm.

Leng Ya charged forward with his sword, but after a few exchanges, he realized that in his sealed state, he was no match.

He hesitated. If he unsealed, the realm’s spatial force would gradually expel him, severely injuring him, and possibly causing his cultivation to drop to the Destiny Realm.

After much thought, he decided to unseal. As long as he could get An Miaoling to the sect leader, the leader would surely help him restore his strength.

His aura suddenly surged, and in a breath, he returned to half-Saint level. At this moment, the secret realm’s spatial power began to repel him. He knew his time was limited.

He swung his sword directly.

An Miaoling remained calm, using the spiritual energy left by Qin Tian inside the Ice Lithe Sword to defend.

Swoosh!

The clash pushed Leng Ya back.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

Finally, he looked at An Miaoling’s sword.

Yan Qingsi and the others were speechless with astonishment.

Nirvana Realm pushing back a half-Saint? They didn’t know An Miaoling had reached the first level of the Destiny Realm. Even if they did, a first-level Destiny Realm practitioner repelling a half-Saint was earth-shattering.

Such shock left them utterly speechless.

“Is that all?” An Miaoling sneered coldly.

With no retreat left, Leng Ya gritted his teeth and charged again.

“Heart Sword Without Trace!”

Next moment, the Ice Lithe Sword fiercely stabbed toward Leng Ya.

This strike contained her perfected sword intent and the remaining spiritual energy left by Qin Tian—its power terrifying.

Boom!

Already suppressed by the spatial force, Leng Ya was heavily injured.

An Miaoling stepped forward with her right foot and charged again. The Ice Lithe Sword struck like a violent storm.

Unfortunately, the spiritual energy left by Qin Tian was nearly exhausted, so the power was weaker than before.

Yet even so, Leng Ya’s wounds worsened.

Finally, he could not endure it any longer. His cultivation dropped directly to the Destiny Realm.

As his cultivation fell, his body began to fade.

He regretted deeply—being expelled in this state meant death or ruin.

Bitterly, he said, “The sect leader will not let you off.”

With that, he was expelled.

“Damn, Junior Sister, you defeated a half-Saint?” Xuan Lei exclaimed.

“It’s not really me. It’s mainly thanks to the spiritual energy my master left in the sword,” An Miaoling replied.

“Little Junior Uncle?” Xuan Lei and Chen An’an exchanged doubtful looks.

In their impression, the little junior uncle was all looks and no substance. Their master often murmured that Qin Tian was unprogressive.

Yet Yan Qingsi looked on admiringly.

“Thanks to Little Junior Uncle, we might have died this time.”

“Let’s go! We’ll talk after we get out,” An Miaoling said.

After leaving, they found Su Lan and told her what had happened in the secret realm.

Hearing Leng Ya had attacked them, she was also shaken.

As for the claim that Qin Tian left spiritual energy in An Miaoling’s sword, Su Lan didn’t believe it. She thought it was more likely a trump card left by Jiang Qingsue.

After briefing the elders of the Taibai Sect, Su Lan led the group back to the sect.