Quietly hidden deep within a deserted hill far away from the Great World City was a scroll. It was the Divine Map.
Su Mo had entered the Divine Map’s Space after hiding it from view.
He sat cross-legged with copious Spiritual Qi surrounding him.
He was trying to break through the bottleneck of the True Darkness Realm.
His nine Spiritual Spirals were spinning at full speed and his Vital Spirit was surging like boiling water.
He had converted most of his Vital Spirit into Dark Force, but a small trace of Vital Spirit remained, standing in his way like an insurmountable gap.
This was the bottleneck he was trying to get past. Once he managed to convert the last bit of Vital Spirit, he would easily be able to push past this.
“Breakthrough! Breakthrough!” He roared.
As he verged on the edge of a breakthrough, his aura started to destabilize and shook violently, causing tremors across the entire courtyard.
Time ticked by. All of a sudden, a rumbling sound could be heard from Su Mo’s body, as if he had thrown off the shackles holding him back. His nine Spiritual Spirals surged and expanded rapidly.
His aura continued to soar. All the Spiritual Qi in the yard streamed toward him and flowed into his body.
Almost instantly, he absorbed all the Spiritual Qi. His nine Spiritual Spirals rapidly expanded to many times their original size before their growth slowed down, then stopped altogether.
The yard returned to normal.
Su Mo slowly opened his eyes. A dazzling beam shot out from his eyes, cutting through the air dozens of meters away.
“Lv 1 True Darkness Realm!”
He could feel the copious Dark Force in his body. He clenched his hands and smiled. His cultivation had taken a giant leap forward.
In addition to the increase in strength, advancing to True Darkness Realm signified he was one step closer to the Central Continent.
Once his cultivation increased another few levels, he would be able to cross the Barbaric Mountains.
“I have over 30,000 Upper Spiritual Stones left; I can still increase my physical strength.”
He sighed. Nie Yu’s storage ring contained around 50,000 Upper Spiritual Stones.
With the 10,000 he already had, this would add up to around 60,000 Upper Spiritual Stones.
However, he had used 30,000 to bring about this breakthrough. This rate of consumption was just too terrifying, even for him.
Su Mo continued to devour Spiritual Stones and cultivate his Archean Dragonesque Elephant Skill.
The shadow of the Archean Dragonesque Elephant flashed around his body. It stood tall and large. Its head reached the heavens while its feet were planted firmly into the ground. It released an earth-shattering roar.
It was awe-inspiring. Anyone who witnessed it would quake in their boots.
The Archean Dragonesque Elephant was said to have been a super Divine Beast in ancient times. It was said to be so strong that its power rivaled the gods and could overpower demons.
Su Mo’s Archean Dragonesque Elephant Skill was inspired by the Archean Dragonesque Elephant. Once he mastered the skill, he might not possess the power of a true Archean Dragonesque Elephant, but he wouldn’t be too far off.
He had yet to encounter any barriers in cultivating this skill, and with sufficient Spiritual Stones, he could continue to advance. However, after the 16th level, it would be a lot more difficult.
When he reached the 16th level, his physical strength would be on par with a Martial King Realm expert. If he wanted to progress beyond that, he would require a large amount of Dragonesque Elephant blood.
Su Mo had only cultivated to the 13th level, so he had no need to worry about that now.
He would cross that bridge when he came to it.
As he devoured Spiritual Stones, the golden glow he gave off intensified and his physical strength swiftly surged.
By the time he exhausted his supply of Upper Spiritual Stones, his physical strength had advanced from Lv 1 True Darkness Realm to that of a Lv 2 True Darkness Realm martial artist.
He stayed inside the Divine Map to refine his Dark Force and stabilize his cultivation.
He could have made further progress in increasing his physical strength, but he had run out of Spiritual Stones. He had to set it aside for now.
After cultivating for a few more days, Su Mo started to practice craftsmanship again.
He was going make some weapons that could be sold to the Sky-sea Pavilion together with some treasures from Nie Yu’s storage ring.
He was left with no other choice. He was just too poor right now!
He had purchased several craftsmanship materials when he was in the Celestialspirit Sect and now was as good a time as any to practice his craftsmanship.
Su Mo’s main goal in practicing craftsmanship was not to earn Spiritual Stones, but to craft a personal Natal Spiritual Sword.
A sword like this would make him invincible.
According to the records, martial artists who owned Natal Spiritual Swords were known as natal swordsman, and they were known for being the strongest of their class in ancient times.
The most powerful strategy a natal swordsman had at his disposal was known as the Natal Spiritual Sword Formation. Deploying a Natal Spiritual Sword Formation would make him unrivaled amongst his peers.
The records also told that during ancient times, a natal swordsman with True Darkness Realm cultivation had once killed a Martial Royal Realm expert.
It was absolutely unheard of for a martial artist of the True Darkness Realm to bridge the two realm gap in cultivation and kill a Martial Royal Realm expert!
Su Mo believed it to be the truth and not an exaggeration of facts.
According to the records, this man had 10,000 Natal Spiritual Swords when he was at Peak Lv 9 True Darkness Realm. He had formed a final hit formation with his 10,000 swords and killed the Martial Royal Realm expert with ease.
When he first read this piece of information, Su Mo had been amazed. This was just too powerful!
He was far too weak in comparison to the swordsman recorded in history.
“This man embodied what it means to cultivate truly amazing martial arts techniques.” Su Mo marveled.
Based on the records, natal swordsmen were few and far between. Furthermore, none of them had ever attained the Martial Emperor Realm and only a handful had attained the Martial Royal Realm.
Most of these swordsmen inexplicably met with violent, untimely death.
The book Natal Swordcraft Techniques contained many sword formations that might not be as powerful as the 10,000 Natal Sword final hit formation, but nonetheless were still extremely powerful.
Su Mo dreamed of his becoming peerless in the Firmament and Continent once he crafted his own Natal Spiritual Sword and became a powerful natal swordsman.
He took out his crafting furnace and threw in a dozen materials, including Dark Steel, Violet Gold, Dark Element Crystal, and Thunder Print Rock.
He then filled the burner with his Dark Force and began to melt the materials.
He was now crafting an Upper Lv 4 weapon. It was much more challenging than the Lower Lv 4 weapons he had crafted previously.
His willpower bursting forth, Su Mo worked meticulously to control the duration and degree of melting.