The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 89: Breakthrough

Wu Yuan summoned a jet of water to scour the foul-smelling gray sludge from his body.

Once clean, he conjured a water mirror to inspect the damage.

To his surprise, he had shrunk.

Previously, Wu Yuan had been a towering, two-meter-tall behemoth of rippling muscle—a visual powerhouse. Now, he had condensed. He stood at roughly 1.7 meters. His frame was leaner, his muscles compact and streamlined, as if he had been meticulously carved by a master sculptor.

His fur, once a deep black, now shimmered with a faint, jade-green luster. He stood there like a statue of living jade, exuding an aura of mystery and nobility.

He examined his paws. The claws were slender, and the separation between his fingers had widened. He flexed them. They were far more dexterous than before.

“Excellent,” Wu Yuan murmured, opening and closing his palms. “Forming hand seals for techniques will be much faster now. My old claws always felt a bit clumsy.”

But the change that pleased him most was his tail.

Gone was the ugly, rat-like appendage. In its place was a long, slender, completely smooth tail that moved with the fluid grace of a silk ribbon.

“Finally. I got rid of the ugly part,” Wu Yuan said, admiring the limb in the mirror. “I am a perfect being; dragging around a gross tail was ruining my image.”

He couldn’t help but wiggle his hips, testing the tail’s responsiveness. It moved like a snake, then darted like a fish.

He whipped it out.

Thwack!

The tail struck a block of Spirit Copper lying on the ground. It pierced straight through the metal like a spear, leaving a clean, smooth hole.

Snap!

He flicked it again, using it like a steel whip. The solid block of Spirit Copper was instantly sheared in two.

Wu Yuan nodded, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. “This tail is a hidden ace. In a desperate moment, it will catch any enemy off guard.”

He closed his eyes to inspect his internal state.

“My bloodline… it has risen to Rank 2 Top Grade!”

“The improvement speed is terrifying.”

He took a deep breath. With every inhalation, he could feel the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth being pulled into his lungs.

“Ninety-eight strands of Demon Power.”

Wu Yuan flexed his muscles. Instantly, a shroud of crimson energy enveloped his body.

This was his Blood and Qi—scorching, heavy, and tyrannical.

The color indicated he had already reached the Mid-Stage of Body Refining.

In the Initial Stage, Blood Qi manifests as a drifting red mist. But at the Mid-Stage, the energy condenses, clinging tight to the skin like armor.

A surge of unprecedented power flooded his limbs. Wu Yuan felt a strength so immense he lamented that the earth had no handle for him to grip and flip it over.

“But this is strange,” Wu Yuan frowned. “Why did my physical strength and Blood Qi increase so drastically? I actually broke through to the Mid-Stage of Body Refining before my Qi Cultivation?”

“Even if my bloodline quality improved, that usually just means higher Potential and faster cultivation speed. It shouldn’t grant such an instant, massive buff to my physique.”

While Wu Yuan was racking his brain, he heard a rustling outside. He opened the door to his treehouse.

The Pangolin poked its armored head inside, its beady eyes staring at Wu Yuan with intense confusion.

“Boss? We feel… you look different?”

Wu Yuan grinned. “Nonsense. Of course I look different, I just underwent a massive—”

He stopped mid-sentence. He looked at the Pangolin. Then he looked at his own condensed, powerful frame.

“So that’s it!”

The realization hit him like a lightning bolt.

“I am becoming more like a Barbarian Beast!”

The Mouse Spirit Rune he had inscribed… it didn’t represent a regular mouse. It represented a Mouse-type Barbarian Beast.

It all made sense. Barbarian Beasts were renowned for their tyrannical physique and overflowing Blood Qi. By inscribing that rune, Wu Yuan had grafted their biological advantages onto his own demon foundation.

One day later.

Wu Yuan woke from a deep, restorative sleep. Every inch of his skin hummed with vitality.

He closed his eyes and looked inward. He watched his Demon Power flow through his meridians like a joyful brook.

Ninety-nine strands.

Wu Yuan’s eyes snapped open, a sharp light flashing within them.

“2.5 years of cultivation,” he whispered, a satisfied smile curling his lips. “I have finally maxed out the Early Stage of Qi Condensation.”

Ninety-nine strands was the limit. He could not advance another step without breaking through.

“It is time.”

He felt perfect. His condition was at its peak.

As for the rule that forbade Mid-Stage Qi Condensation demons from staying on Little Green Mountain?

Wu Yuan scoffed. What did that have to do with him? He was a local.

The Spirit Mulberry trees were allowed to upgrade. Why shouldn’t he?

“Those stinky outsiders come to Little Green Mountain to rob and pillage,” Wu Yuan muttered, justifying his loophole. “How can they compare to someone like me? My roots are proper, and my seedlings are red. I am the ecosystem.”

Confidence surged through him. But Wu Yuan was not a gambler.

“Karma Pearl,” he whispered. “Tell me. Will this breakthrough be smooth?”

The invisible pearl spun in his consciousness.

[White Information: Breaking through to Qi Condensation Mid-Stage carries zero risk.]

Wu Yuan wasn’t surprised.

He had a Rank 2 Top Grade bloodline. He had gorged himself on Golden Thread Peaches to purify his Demon Power and Blood Spirit Mulberries to purify his flesh.

If he failed with these stats, he should just slit his own throat and save the universe the embarrassment.

Wu Yuan retreated into his nest, curled up into the most comfortable position possible, and closed his eyes.

The key to breaking through to the Mid-Stage was compression.

The gaseous Demon Power needed to be squeezed until it transformed. Usually, cultivators needed external pressure—swallowing a Pill or sitting in a high-pressure Qi array.

Wu Yuan didn’t need props. He had biology.

[Talent: Stomach Spirit Storage]

He issued the mental command.

BOOM!

The massive reserves of Spiritual Qi stored within his stomach were unleashed. It was like a dam breaking. The raw energy flooded his system, instantly converting into wild Demon Power.

His meridians swelled. The amount of power inside him far exceeded his body’s natural capacity. The energy began to riot, frantically trying to burst out of his pores to escape the pressure.

This was the danger zone. If a cultivator couldn’t contain this explosion, their cultivation would dissipate, and their body would be torn apart.

But Wu Yuan was already a Mid-Stage Body Refiner.

He tightened his muscles.

His body, tough as a Barbarian Beast, became an iron barrel. He locked his pores and hardened his skin.

The rampaging Demon Power slammed against the walls of his flesh and found no exit. Trapped, with nowhere to go, the energy was forced to turn back inward.

It began to squeeze itself.

Strands of loose, gaseous power were crushed together, merging, condensing, and growing heavier.

“The container holds,” Wu Yuan thought calmly. “The rest is just cleanup.”