It was only that Okuda Zhou was, when all was said and done, a complete outsider—and a personage of exceedingly high standing at that. They had already troubled him twice in a row over the matter of sending letters, and Tianchan and the others were growing uneasy about it. If some trifling complication arose and they went running to him again to intercede, that would be pushing their luck far too far; even if he said nothing, they themselves would feel ashamed.

Before long, Wei Shenjin brought Cai Zhongxuan and Hou Guanqi over. The two men hurried into the room, and at the sight of Wei Zhao in such a state they exchanged looks of unconcealed astonishment.

"What do the two senior brothers make of it?" Tianchan asked at once.

"He hasn't woken up yet, has he?" Cai Zhongxuan and Hou Guanqi exchanged a glance and asked in turn.

"No. Why?" Tianchan and Xueli both shook their heads. Up to now, Wei Zhao's aura, though impossibly powerful—so much so that it had thrown the floor below into utter chaos and forced them to close the doors and suspend business on the spot—had shown no sign whatsoever of waking.

"If he hasn't woken, then how has he come to be in this state?" Cai Zhongxuan looked utterly baffled.

"This state?" Tianchan and Xueli were taken aback.

"You've both been through this yourselves—aren't these precisely the signs that precede a breakthrough?" Hou Guanqi explained.

"A breakthrough? Wei Zhao is about to break through?" Only then did the two women finally grasp it. They were classic cases of those too close to see clearly: their worry had been so great that they had forgotten this familiar sight was the unmistakable herald of an impending breakthrough. It was merely that Wei Zhao was now at the early Xuan Ascension stage, and the commotion of his breakthrough far exceeded anything they had anticipated.

"So it would seem. But there is one thing this old man cannot fathom: if he has not yet woken, how could he possibly break through?" Cai Zhongxuan was thoroughly perplexed.

For a cultivator, breakthrough was the paramount matter of utmost importance. However lofty one's natural gifts, at such a moment one must strain every fiber to have any hope of success. As for breaking through unconsciously, in the depths of sleep—such a thing was unprecedented across the entire cultivation world. To go to sleep and wake to find oneself advanced a stage—was that even possible?

At least in the understanding of Cai Zhongxuan and Hou Guanqi, it was absolutely impossible. Yet Wei Zhao's present condition was overturning their understanding bit by bit.

"Indeed. Surely he cannot be cultivating even in his sleep?" Hou Guanqi found it equally inconceivable.

"If it were merely cultivating in his sleep, this old man could make a little more sense of it. After all, he is Wei Zhao—no ordinary man; it is no surprise that he should do things that defy common sense. But he is in a spirit-projection now, and his spirit is plainly not here at all. What is he using to govern the circulation of his true qi?" Cai Zhongxuan shook his head with a bitter smile.

When a person sleeps, consciousness remains active; applied to a cultivator, it means the spirit is still in its normal state, merely exercising a kind of subconscious self-control. Cultivating under such conditions was rare, to be sure, but strictly speaking not hard to imagine. Yet Wei Zhao's spirit was not even present—and this was no simple cultivation, but a breakthrough on the spot. How in the devil was anyone supposed to make sense of that?

Even as they spoke, the aura around Wei Zhao surged past its former limit. The others felt an invisible, powerful wave of qi sweep outward from him, and they fell back several steps in unison before staggering to steady themselves.

Then came a silence of sheer disbelief.

They watched helplessly as Wei Zhao's aura gradually steadied, settling back into that faint, almost imperceptible state. Cai Zhongxuan and Hou Guanqi stood slack-jawed; only after a long while did they look at each other and manage a few words: "Peak of the early Xuan Ascension stage..."

What had been a bold conjecture a moment ago was now plain, living fact. There truly existed in this world someone who could break through while unconscious—even without his spirit present—and at a level as high as the Xuan Ascension stage. It was utterly fantastical; had they not seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it if beaten to death.

Tianchan and the others were likewise dumbstruck. Yet more than the breakthrough, Tianchan and Xueli cared about Wei Zhao's condition at this moment, fearful that some unforeseen mishap might befall him.

"Rest easy. His condition is the same as before; there is nothing seriously wrong," said Hou Guanqi, after carefully examining Wei Zhao's body and finding no abnormality whatsoever—every vital sign perfectly steady.

"Oh, oh. Good, then." Only then did Tianchan and the others breathe easy.

"But what on earth is going on with him? How did he break through?" Cai Zhongxuan was still frowning, unable to fathom it.

"Give it up. This business is too bizarre for the likes of us—no amount of racking our brains will ever make it clear. We can only wait until he wakes and ask him then," Hou Guanqi said with a wry smile and a shake of his head.

Tianchan and Xueli exchanged a glance. To their minds, the breakthrough and all the rest of it did not matter in the least; so long as Wei Zhao's body was sound, and they could wait for his spirit to return safe and whole, that was their greatest wish.

This time the storm passed with fright but no danger, though it gave Tianchan and the others a considerable scare. Far away in the land of the Ancient Trial, however, Wei Zhao himself, the very man at the center of it, remained wholly unaware.

"What was that about?" Wei Zhao murmured to himself. When he had just attempted his breakthrough, something had felt distinctly different from before—a vague sense that he was on the verge of advancing. But that subtle feeling had not lasted long; it vanished without a trace, and he was plunged once more into the same old bottleneck. No matter how he tried or groped, that barrier stood there immovable as ever.

Anyone else in such a situation would surely have brooded over it for a good while—to have clutched at a straw of salvation only to find it was truly no more than a straw would drive a person to the depths of despair. But Wei Zhao kept his composure well and did not take it too much to heart.

He looked down at the others sitting quietly in meditation below, and it happened that his gaze met Leng Leng's as she lifted her head. The two could not help but smile at each other.

This Ancient Trial was a considerable ordeal for everyone, and among them all, the one under the greatest pressure was none other than Leng Leng. She was the second strongest after Wei Zhao; every time a spirit beast blocked their path, she was invariably the mainstay of the fight, and to a degree she also had to shoulder the task of protecting Qiu Lingshan and the others. The pressure on her was by no means small.

Of course, this was deliberately arranged by Wei Zhao. Over the past year, Leng Leng had clawed her way from the early Foundation Establishment stage straight through to the great perfection of Foundation Establishment; only abundant life-and-death combat could let her consolidate her strength as quickly as possible! (To be continued~^~)