This is the true immortal of the Taoist sect.

This undercurrent even knows how to use strategy.

If that's the case, then this thing is really quite scary.

Feeling his true energy rapidly depleting, Li Daoxuan dared not delay and immediately ran towards his own front door.

Suddenly, a bizarre creature that blended into the darkness yet possessed a real body rushed towards them.

Without a second thought, Li Daoxuan threw a punch directly at the target.

A burst of intense internal energy erupted, carrying with it tiny strands of electric current.

The punch felt like it had struck empty air, yet it had a real tactile sensation.

What followed was a piercing scream.

The thing seemed to have been driven back.

Li Daoxuan continued running forward, and more and more strange creatures rushed towards him.

In order to avoid being completely devoured, Li Daoxuan could only keep throwing punches.

Before long, the true energy in his dantian was almost depleted.

The moment the true energy was exhausted, darkness instantly enveloped the surroundings.

In an instant, it felt as if countless monsters were tearing at his body.

However, the moment Li Daoxuan's blood fell, the dark tide seemed to touch scalding magma and retreated once again.

When Li Daoxuan emerged from the dark current, he was already covered in blood.

His entire body was covered in pitted wounds, the wounds inflicted by the dark currents.

If it weren't for his physique at the fourth level of martial arts, with extremely yang qi and blood, which made Dark Tide wary of him, he would probably have been reduced to ashes long ago.

Even so, Li Daoxuan was almost half dead.

He lay unconscious in the house, not even having time to close the door.

Fortunately, there was the protection of the temple's divine power. The dark current lingered outside the door, coalescing into a deformed and bizarre creature that roared at the unconscious Li Daoxuan.

At this moment, after Li Daoxuan fell into a coma, his body's instincts kicked in.

I don't know if it's a memory resurrection or an instinct from the depths of my soul.

Li Daoxuan's hands slowly came together, and he began to form hand seals.

The hand seals, such as Daozhi, Jingxin Jue, and Lingguan Jue, are constantly changing.

A glimmer of light quietly appeared between his brows, as if a light veil or mist had been gently covering his body.

The pitted wounds on Li Daoxuan's body began to heal at a visible speed.

Moreover, the residual medicinal power of the Purple Qi Thunder Fruit in the body is also taking effect.

Tiny arcs of electricity coursed through his flesh and blood, rapidly restoring his depleted internal energy, which began to steadily increase.

The monster formed from the dark currents outside the gate seemed to have seen this scene, and turned and ran away like a mouse seeing a cat.

In the blink of an eye, a large open space appeared in front of Li Daoxuan's house, a large, visible open space without any sign of the undercurrents.

It seems that compared to Li Daoxuan's protective true energy or even that divine power bead, this undercurrent is more afraid of Li Daoxuan's current state of forming hand seals.

But Li Daoxuan knew nothing about this.

This process lasted all night.

The tide receded as the sun rose the following morning.

The hand seals on Li Daoxuan's hands slowly loosened.

The person also fell into a true deep sleep state.

When the sun was high in the sky, Li Daoxuan finally slept enough, sat up, and subconsciously stretched.

His bones and muscles were cracking and popping all over his body.

Beneath those tattered clothes was an extremely strong physique. Without any deliberate concealment, an ordinary person would likely be injured simply by getting close to Li Daoxuan.

"Huh? My body..."

Li Daoxuan only then realized what was happening and looked at his body, which had no wounds, with some surprise.

He clearly remembered that before he lost consciousness yesterday, his flesh and blood had been gnawed away beyond recognition. It was a miracle that he survived. How could all his injuries have been completely healed overnight?

Moreover, Li Daoxuan could also feel the inexhaustible vitality flowing within his body, as well as extremely profound martial arts true energy.

"The Fourth Heaven... is it complete?"

Li Daoxuan found it hard to believe.

He knew his martial arts training would be fast, but he didn't expect it to be this fast.

More importantly, Li Daoxuan also sensed a different aura in the true energy within his body.

The aura felt somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place what that familiarity was.

Completely baffled, I simply stopped thinking about it.

This unexpected experience also made him aware of the power of the undercurrents.

If the intensity of the dark currents is the same in all parts of the world, according to Li Daoxuan's calculations, as long as he can break through the seventh level of heaven, he should be able to survive in the dark currents without worrying about being swallowed up by them.

However, considering the time involved, the divine power of that bead probably wouldn't be enough to sustain his cultivation for as long as it took him to reach the seventh level of the Heavenly Realm.

Li Daoxuan pondered for a moment, then looked up at the door.

His family isn't the only one in this village with the magical bead...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The cultivation continues. There is only one thing to do to break through from the fourth level to the fifth level: to continuously accumulate true qi, fill the dantian with true qi, and then undergo a transformation under high pressure.

Once the true energy transforms into a more solidified form, one is considered to have broken through to the fifth level of the Heavenly Realm.

This process requires the help of mental strength.

Li Daoxuan's dantian is now fully filled. He only needs to continue accumulating energy and applying mental pressure to break through to the fifth level.

This process can't be rushed; you just have to endure it little by little.

Fortunately, Li Daoxuan's mental strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, so his progress was not slow. Li Daoxuan estimated that he could complete the breakthrough within two months.

As the days went by, Li Daoxuan stayed at home every day, except when he needed to go out after he ran out of food, focusing on practicing his skills and breaking through his limits.

Nearly two months later, the abundant true energy within his dantian finally reached a critical value.

It begins to shrink and condense rapidly.

Finally, it transformed into a wisp of true energy with extremely high density and a slight spiritual quality.

He has now broken through to the fifth level of martial arts.

The true energy of the fifth level of the Heavenly Realm must be vastly different from that of the fourth level.

If we compare the true energy of the fourth heaven to the steam that naturally rises when boiling water.

The true energy of the fifth level is like water vapor trapped inside a pot with a sealed lid; once it erupts, its power far surpasses that of ordinary water vapor.

This is why, in martial arts training, it is extremely rare for a martial artist of a lower level to defeat a martial artist of a higher level.

Unless one is a genius like Li Daoxuan, whose dantian is far beyond that of ordinary people from the very beginning.

"The fifth heaven... is still not enough..."

Li Daoxuan glanced back at the beads on the roof of the temple.

The crimson light was already very weak, and it would be completely extinguished within the next day or two.

Li Daoxuan packed his things and left home without looking back.

He wasn't leaving, but rather preparing to... go somewhere else.

Standing at the door and looking up, I saw a house deep in the village, with beads on its roof that looked quite fresh.