As the dust settled, Xu Ping grimaced as he climbed up from the ground.

With his physique, although the explosion wasn't enough to injure him, the churning blood and pain from the blast made him cough involuntarily.

"The connections in the engraved pattern aren't smooth enough!" Xu Ping rubbed his slightly reddened chest, summarizing the cause of his failure this time.

He was already accustomed to failure, and it couldn't cause any ripples in his heart.

Just continue with the engravings; success will come eventually.

Xu Ping wiped off the pattern on his chest, adjusted his breath for a moment, and after calming the turbulent energy, he packed up the array and went to search for demon beasts again.

Time passed slowly as he continued hunting demons, engraving, and failing.

Despite repeated setbacks, he never felt discouraged. Instead, with the accumulation of experience, he became increasingly convinced that he was getting closer to success.

...

...

A month later.

In the cave dwelling covered by the array.

Xu Ping's face was grave; as the magic technique changed, green light began to spread along the route of the blood-red pattern.

The speed of the light flow was extremely fast, and the process was very smooth.

In just a few breaths, the green light had covered the entire pattern on his chest.

"This... did it succeed?" Xu Ping was stunned for a moment, feeling a surge of excitement in his heart.

Buzz!

In the instant his thoughts drifted, a ray of blood-green light burst forth from the pattern on his chest, the dazzling light was so blinding that he couldn't open his eyes, but it quickly dimmed down again.

"Success!!"

Xu Ping's face bloomed with a wildly joyful smile; he was certain in his heart that he had finally succeeded.

"Let's test the effect!"

Xu Ping took a deep breath, suppressing his inner excitement, and was eager to give it a try.

"Spirit Summoning Skill!"

He shouted in a low voice, the spiritual power in his hand surged continuously, and suddenly, a phantom snake appeared on his back, as if it was real.

"Merge!"

Xu Ping's eyes turned red, and with a roar, he forcibly merged the phantom snake into his body.

As the snake shadow gradually dissipated, his aura surged sharply, and within moments, his mana reached the extreme limit of the early-stage Foundation Establishment, seventy drops of mana.

"Seventy drops of mana!"

Feeling the tremendous boost brought by the Spirit Summoning Skill, Xu Ping was secretly amazed in his heart; it boosted nearly twenty drops of mana.

"It was worth spending all that time and Spirit Stones!"

Xu Ping was in a pleasant mood, feeling that the time and Spirit Stones spent during this period were indeed worthwhile, as it at least elevated his strength by half a level.

He closed his eyes and carefully sensed his situation.

"There seems to be no pressure on both the physique and the mana, so it seems there are no side effects."

"It's just... the power of the demon beast's essence blood in the pattern is slowly draining away. At this rate, it can last for about a quarter of an hour?"

Regarding this situation, Xu Ping wasn't surprised.

Books recorded that once the Spirit Summoning Skill was activated, the power in the demon beast's essence blood would drain away slowly, requiring replenishment with essence blood of the same stage after each use.

Replenishing essence blood of the same stage wasn't difficult for Xu Ping; it was just a matter of hunting a few more second-stage demon beasts.

"Now that the 'Spirit Summoning Skill' test is complete, it's time to see if it can be used in conjunction with the 'Heavenly Demon Solution' to stack the effects!" Xu Ping thought to himself.

If they could be combined, it would allow his strength to take a qualitative leap.

Xu Ping composed himself, his expression becoming solemn.

The 'Heavenly Demon Solution' wasn't as easy as the Spirit Summoning Skill; it required burning essence blood, and a moment's carelessness could lead to excessive self-damage.

Fortunately, during this time, he had practiced the 'Heavenly Demon Solution' to the point of Minor Achievement and mastered it perfectly; otherwise, he wouldn't dare to try stacking them lightly.

"Heavenly Demon Solution!"

Xu Ping changed the magic technique, mana surged along a special route.

Buzz!

In the next moment, his internal essence blood began to burn, a vast aura rose from his body, as if to tear everything apart, but was suppressed by an invisible force.

Thud!

A deep sound resonated in Xu Ping's body, and an invisible wave of energy rippled outwards, stirring up dust all around.

If it weren't for his strong physique, injury would have been inevitable.

Xu Ping's eyes were bloodshot, his face flushed; he knew this was the bottleneck from early-stage to mid-stage.

"Break!"

He roared, unleashing all his mana.

Crack!

It seemed as though he heard a cracking sound by his ear; the bottleneck was broken!

Boom!

His aura surged like a tide, and the mana within his dantian increased rapidly.

Seventy-five drops, eighty drops, ninety drops... one hundred and ten drops!

"This mana..."

Xu Ping's face showed a look of shock; one hundred and ten drops of liquid mana, nearly reaching the peak of an ordinary mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment breaks through with fifty drops of liquid mana, reaching the peak of mid-stage Foundation Establishment with roughly one hundred and twenty drops.

He truly hadn't expected that the combined effect of the two techniques would be so terrifying.

Xu Ping clenched his fist, abundant mana surged, giving him a feeling as if he could slay everything.

He knew this was an illusion caused by the sudden spike in mana; after all, it increased from fifty drops of liquid mana to one hundred and ten drops, more than double.

"With my current strength, if I give it my all, I may not be able to say for sure about a Fake Pill cultivator, but I should be able to easily kill a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!" Xu Ping thought to himself.

Although he had the urge to test his strength, the side effects of the Heavenly Demon Solution were too great. If he tried it now, he would be weak for at least a period, which wouldn't be practical in the Nightmare Swamp.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.