Breakthrough

Luo Yang had considered many possibilities.

For instance, the moment the potion hit his throat, the violent energy might act like a runaway horse, rampaging through his meridians and blood vessels, torturing him to the brink of death.

Or perhaps the residual consciousness of that Level 4 mutant beast core would take the opportunity to lash back, sparking a fierce battle within his Sea of Consciousness.

After all, that was how it was always written in the novels he had read. When a protagonist consumed a heavenly treasure, they were bound to endure agonizing torture before achieving a narrow breakthrough at the edge of life and death.

He had already prepared himself to roll around on the floor in pain.

However, nothing happened. The golden liquid slid down his throat with a cool, gentle touch, feeling like a mouthful of semi-solidified honey.

It flowed slowly down his esophagus and into his stomach, and then... it went quiet.

There was no explosive surge of energy, no tearing pain, and not even the slightest hint of a burning sensation.

Luo Yang felt as if he had just drunk a glass of ordinary plain water. Aside from the faint sweetness lingering in his throat, nothing had changed.

He stood before the workbench in the basement, still holding the pose of someone who had just downed a drink, and froze for several seconds.

“Is that it?”

Had Yan Zhi messed up?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt a change.

It didn't come from his stomach, nor from his meridians or blood vessels, but from a much more vital and deeper place.

His Sea of Consciousness.

This was the conscious space every Punisher possessed to accumulate mental power.

It was formless and intangible yet very real, like a gray lake eternally shrouded in mist.

Luo Yang’s Sea of Consciousness was much broader than that of other Punishers at the same rank. This was the result of years of mental power training and the foundation that allowed him to control dozens of weapons simultaneously.

And now, in the center of that gray lake, something new had appeared.

A tree.

A shimmering golden tree.

It had sprouted from the deepest depths of his Sea of Consciousness. Its thick trunk possessed a texture somewhere between metal and crystal, and its surface was etched with intricate golden patterns that resembled ancient inscriptions.

The canopy spread out in all directions. Every leaf was as thin as a cicada's wing, their edges glowing with a faint golden light as they swayed gently in the intangible Sea of Consciousness.

Luo Yang’s consciousness “watched” the tree, momentarily at a loss for how to react.

Then he discovered that the tree didn't just exist within his Sea of Consciousness; its roots were extending into his body.

Countless hair-thin golden roots spread from the base of the trunk, piercing the boundary between the Sea of Consciousness and his physical form, growing along his blood vessels.

The roots were so fine they didn't clog his vessels or obstruct his blood flow. They simply clung quietly to the inner walls of his veins, reaching from his heart to his limbs, from his torso to his fingertips, leaving no part of him untouched.

Luo Yang could feel his body changing under the influence of these roots.

His muscle fibers were being combed one by one, becoming denser and more elastic.

A faint layer of gold was plated onto the surface of his bones, their density increasing silently.

Even his internal organs were enveloped by that gentle power, as if they were soaking in a pool of warm spring water. Every cell breathed greedily.

In just a few dozen seconds, his physical strength was forcibly elevated to the Clear Heart rank.

This wasn't a temporary boost triggered by a potion that would require time to stabilize; it was a true strengthening, as if he had been tempered through a thousand fires.

The golden roots weren't just modifying his body; they were “completing” it. They were opening every tiny gate and bottleneck within him that should have taken years of bitter cultivation to clear.

First came his body, followed by his blood energy and mental power.

They began to grow in synchronization.

But this was different from every breakthrough Luo Yang had experienced before.

In the past, his blood energy and mental power would act like wild horses, rampaging through his body and requiring immense effort to restrain, guide, and tame.

This time, those two powers were as docile as well-trained steeds.

It was as if they had been completely suppressed.

The golden tree’s root system didn't just wrap around his blood vessels; it extended into every path where blood energy flowed and every inch of space where mental power circulated.

Its presence was like a vast, all-encompassing net, keeping all his power firmly under its control.

Luo Yang tried to mobilize a thread of blood energy. The moment the thought occurred, the power rose from his dantian and flowed precisely toward his fingertips along his meridians.

The speed was at least thirty percent faster than before, yet the consumption was reduced by nearly half.

What shocked him most was his control over this power.

If controlling blood energy before was like gripping a sword hilt with one hand, it was now like using ten fingers to pinch every inch of the blade simultaneously. From the tip to the spine, everything was within his grasp.

The same went for his mental power. He could clearly perceive the boundaries of his Sea of Consciousness, the flow of every wisp of mental power, and even the frequency at which those golden roots swayed within his mind.

The sensation was eerie, as if a butler had suddenly appeared in his body to organize everything perfectly.

However, before he could fully process this, another change occurred.

The golden tree suddenly began to draw upon his blood energy.

It wasn't a plunder or a consumption, but a gentle extraction.

Countless golden roots exerted force simultaneously, pulling the blood energy that had just stabilized in his dantian bit by bit, sending it up the roots toward the trunk.

At the same time, the mental power in the Sea of Consciousness was absorbed by the leaves on the canopy. Each leaf became a tiny vortex, drawing the gray mist inside.

Within a few breaths, nearly thirty percent of Luo Yang’s blood energy was drained.

His face turned slightly pale, but his body’s reaction wasn't violent. The tree’s extraction was so gentle that his body’s instinctive defense mechanisms weren't even triggered.

Then, it began to “exhale.”

Much like photosynthesis, the blood energy and mental power that had been drawn away were released back into him after circulating once through the trunk.

But what was released was fundamentally different from before.

It was still blood energy, but its purity had increased by at least an entire tier.

The dark red energy that had previously contained slight impurities now looked like a polished ruby—clear, solid, and radiating a steady luster.

His mental power was no longer a gray mist either; it had become nearly transparent, as if all unnecessary elements had been filtered out, leaving only the purest essence.

Luo Yang was utterly stunned.

This golden tree seemed to be acting as his second heart.

It was even more thorough than a heart. A heart only pumps blood, but this tree was actively helping him purify and temper his energy.

The effect of one hour of his usual high-intensity training would be tripled under its influence.

Most terrifying of all, it didn't require his active control. It moved on its own, like a living organism with its own independent set of rules.

“Potions are only an aid.”

This was an iron law in the world of Punishers.

No potion could directly help someone break through a major realm. They could only provide an opportunity; whether one could ultimately cross that threshold depended entirely on the Punisher’s own accumulation and will.

But everything happening before him was grinding that iron law to dust.

Luo Yang took a deep breath, suppressed the shock in his heart, and began to actively circulate his blood energy.

This was something every Punisher had to do during a breakthrough—accelerating the flow of blood energy to consume it through high-speed circulation and then completing the reconstruction.

Every cycle was a tempering of the entire body.

Only when blood energy achieved a leap from quantitative to qualitative change during this extreme operation would the breakthrough be considered truly complete.

Now, with the assistance of the golden tree, Luo Yang’s entire process became exceptionally smooth.

Blood energy surged at high speeds through the network of roots. With every cycle, its purity increased.

His mental power was repeatedly refined as the canopy swayed, becoming more and more condensed.

Time slipped away in the quiet basement.

Luo Yang didn't know how long had passed. He only knew that when he finally stopped circulating his energy and opened his eyes, drenched in sweat, he looked as if he had been fished out of a lake.

His white shirt was soaked and clung to his back, his hair was stuck to his forehead in clumps, and a thin layer of mist covered the lenses of his plain-glass spectacles.

He was exhausted.

But more than that, he was overjoyed.

He had broken through, and he had skipped levels.

Clear Heart Level 3.

From Core Consolidation Level 9, he had jumped past Clear Heart Level 1 and Level 2, arriving directly at Clear Heart Level 3.

Luo Yang took off his glasses, used his soaked sleeve to haphazardly wipe the lenses, and perched them back on the bridge of his nose.

He looked down at his hands, slowly curling his fingers into fists.

Blood energy flowed in his palms. The sensation of it being so condensed it was almost tangible made him grin.

“Ha... I hit the jackpot.”

He pushed open the basement door and walked up the stairs barefoot.

In the living room, the television was still on, playing the ending theme of that hot-blooded anime.

There was another empty cola can on the coffee table. Yan Zhi was curled up in the corner of the sofa, hugging a cushion, her long black hair scattered over the armrest.

Her eyes were closed, and her eyelashes cast faint shadows under the light of the TV screen.

Her breathing was light—so light it was almost inaudible. But the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, as if she were having a dream that wasn't particularly bad, but wasn't particularly good either.

Luo Yang stood at the top of the stairs, looking at the figure curled into a ball on the sofa, suddenly feeling a sense of unreality.

This girl, who had lived for who knows how many years, had casually tossed a Level 4 mutant beast core into his potion, and that bottle had helped him break through two minor levels. The whole process had been as casual as brewing a cup of instant coffee.

And now she was sleeping on his sofa next to three empty cola cans.

Luo Yang shook his head, pulled a thin blanket from the other end of the sofa, and draped it over Yan Zhi.

Then he turned toward the kitchen, took a can of ice-cold cola from the fridge, pulled the tab, and took a long swig.

He knew she likely wouldn't feel the cold, but he did it anyway.

Carbonated bubbles exploded on his tongue, and the cool, sweet liquid washed away the residual fatigue from his breakthrough.

He leaned against the kitchen cabinet and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the far end of the living room.

The sky was dark, and the night view of Yuanxing City was painted in a warm orange glow by the lights of thousands of homes.

A notification popped up on his phone. It was the confirmation letter for the distribution of Zhang Ke’s compensation, requiring his signature.

Luo Yang stared at the lines of text on the screen for two seconds, set the cola on the counter, and quickly swiped his thumb across the screen to sign his name.

He stuffed his phone back into his pocket, picked up the cola, and took another sip.