Ye Jian chose a relatively clean patch of ground and sat there. He was currently in top form, both mentally and physically - it was the preparation he had made in order to break through. Thus, he merely spent a few seconds preparing before breaking through. The process of breaking through to the Qi Sea Realm was quite disruptive - the rivers of Qi flowing through the cultivator's body were all simultaneously stopped and all redirected into the Dantian, forming the Sea. Simultaneously, the cultivator also had to form the source of the rivers - extend the pathways to connect outside the body. Fortunately, due to breaking through to the tenth layer, Ye Jian had already finished that step, and could now focus on strengthening the pathways and forging his Dantian to enlarge his Qi Sea.

The process had disrupted the Qi flow around him, which after a few seconds of turbulence, slowly formed a vortex around him. It was like Ye Jian had transformed into a bottomless abyss, which would never be full, and he greedily absorbed all of the Qi flowing into him.

Meng Li helped him to do so, by forming a barrier which encompassed a few hundred kilometres of mountains, which was slowly shrinking. Due to shrinking, the Qi in the surroundings didn't thin out, and the concentration only increased, allowing Ye Jian to absorb even more. Meng Li, even with his strength, found this process to be quite exhausting. Controlling such a large barrier and sweeping along a literal sea of Qi required all of his concentration and then some. However, Meng Li endured - for his friend, Ye Jian, as well as for himself - he found it to be a pretty good training method. His control over Qi gradually strengthened, and although mentally exhausted, he felt happy.

Ye Jian didn't notice the commotion, and instead simply absorbed the Qi around him. His pathways were extremely strong and clean, akin to jade. The sea in his Dantian also grew bigger - he had actually managed to reach the peak of the first layer of the Qi Sea Realm. However, due to his strong pathways, his ability in using Qi was several levels above his true level of cultivation - the Qi he could unleash at once had actually reached the level of at least the third layer of the Qi Sea Realm. At the same time, due to this, his Qi would be used at a much faster pace - his sea was too small to sustain such a high level of consumption.

Meng Li's barrier didn't shrink that much - it still encompassed a fifty kilometre radius, and the density of Qi was two times higher than previously. He also took care of the area outside the first barrier, creating a smaller barrier to slow the Qi rushing in. If he didn't do so, the huge amount of worldly Qi being displaced would create ripples which could travel through the entire planet, and would alert anyone who could sense them. The second barrier Meng Li created acted as a dam - it merely slowed down the rate at which Qi flowed back into the region without any ambient Qi.

A couple of minutes later, another large ripple came out from Ye Jian's body. Due to the density of Qi around him, he managed to break through to the second layer of the Qi Sea Realm in record time. With the breakthrough, the rate at which he could absorb Qi had increased once again, and the vortex around him, which showed signs of dissipating, roared back to life and supplied him with more Qi. Meng Li also took note of this fact, and quickly increased the density of Qi in the surroundings by shrinking the inner barrier once more - it caused many ripples outside of the barrier, but they didn't manage to travel through the outermost barrier. After all, ripples couldn't travel up a waterfall.

The inner barrier now had a radius of merely a dozen kilometres. If Meng Li shrunk it any more, the density of Qi would actually be detrimental to Ye Jian's breakthrough, because he wouldn't be able to control the Qi inside of the vortex. Ye Jian wouldn't be able to tell it, however, and it was up to Meng Li to monitor the area around him and take care, not to let anything disturb him. Ye Jian couldn't help him with it, and similarly, Meng Li couldn't help Ye Jian with what was going on in his Dantian.

Half an hour later, Ye Jian's rate of absorption had practically stopped - the barrier around them was also only a couple hundred metres in radius and quickly shrinking to keep the density of Qi inside of it as high as it was. The Qi outside the barrier was thin - not even a tenth of what it usually was. It would take a couple of days for it to recover to its' usual concentration, but afterwards, no one would be able to tell what happened in there. No ripples also emerged outside the barrier Meng Li had set, and he succeeded in keeping the breakthrough a secret.

In merely a few minutes, Ye Jian stopped his absorption and started solidifying his newfound cultivation base. It was the last stage of a breakthrough, and even though it was extremely easy, it was still important.

Meng Li had already dissolved the barrier around the valley and let the Qi inside join in with the thin Qi surrounding the valley. Although it was extremely thick, it didn't even make a dent in the amount of Qi which was required to restore the previous concentration of Qi in the surroundings. Thus, after a small storm, it quickly calmed down.

Ye Jian took only ten minutes to solidify his cultivation, and quickly opened his eyes. He stood up, and controlled a strand of his Qi to his hand. Even though he was aware of his new cultivation, it was still immensely satisfying to see it with his own two eyes. Ye Jian revealed some happiness in his eyes while playing with the strand of Qi in his hand, but he quickly dispersed it with a small wave and turned to Meng Li.

"Congratulations, brother Ye. Not only did you break through to the Qi Sea Realm, but you also managed to break through to the second layer practically instantly." Meng Li congratulated Ye Jian with a smile.

"Don't joke, brother Meng. If not for you, I wouldn't even reach the middle of the first layer." Ye Jian waved his hand and laughed. It was true - Meng Li's barrier was the main reason for his huge boost in power - if not for him keeping the Qi in the surroundings thick, Ye Jian wouldn't be able to absorb the Qi from a hundred kilometres away. The vortex around him would only absorb the Qi in a radius of five kilometres at most.

"So, now that you've broken through, shall we return?" Meng Li asked Ye Jian. Although they had spent a few hours in here, Ye Jian's parents wouldn't emerge from their cultivation for at least another week - they weren't in a hurry.

"Actually... We should stay here for a few hours. It's much more private than the rooms in that inn. I wanted to talk about what we should do next." Ye Jian replied, walked to a small rock and sat on it.

Meng Li nodded and sat on another rock, not far from Ye Jian.

"Our ultimate destination is the Weixi island, but the ships leaving for it will only return in two months, and will leave in another three, so we have a lot of time." Meng Li started, seeing Ye Jian was in thought.

"Yes, that's a lot of time. But the problem is, I don't know where I could leave my parents..." Ye Jian explained with a frown. Meng Li could see that the matter weighed on his mind a lot - it truly was a difficult matter to settle.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again - at least your father, Ye Jin, won't be happy simply sitting at home all day. He's extremely hardworking, and without something to do, he wouldn't be happy... Since he was gathering herbs previously, how about finding a small nice town and arranging for him to be a herbalist? Since he was around herbs so much, he should know a bit about them, so alchemy is the extension of that idea, don't you think?" Meng Li added.

"Hmmm... That's a sound idea, but I don't know if my father will be alright with it. However, I truly don't have any other ideas..." Ye Jian replied with a sigh.

"On the other hand, settling the matter with your parents won't take that much time - what do you think we should do in the coming months?" Meng Li asked.

"Hmmm... That's another matter entirely." Ye Jian's spirits seemed to be lifted and he sent a strange gaze at Meng Li.

"Well, first off, since we want to create a sect, you have to have some strength. Although you are the strongest cultivator in the world, at the same time, you're not nearly competent enough when it comes to techniques..." Ye Jian replied. Meng Li had to agree - even though he had some basic knowledge of the applications of Qi, like creating barriers, lifting objects, or destroying them, every grand thing he had accomplished was through brute force.

He was sure that there were some techniques for creating barriers which were at the same time stronger and less Qi consuming than what he used - it was like comparing a snowplow to a single man shovelling away with a snow shovel.

His mastery over the sword also wasn't anything amazing - he was barely at a level of a normal militia man. Still, it was something to be proud of, since he merely trained for a month. The only skill he could be proud of, were his painting skills - he was at a level of a grandmaster. There was undoubtedly someone in this world who was better than him, but Meng Li was sure that he was one of the best. Unfortunately, without the Dao of Painting, his skills in painting couldn't be translated to any abilities involving Qi - or at least, he didn't know of any way to do so.

"You're right, I really do have to train." Meng Li agreed. He wasn't ashamed to admit his incompetence - only stupid or arrogant people wouldn't admit their incompetence if they didn't even try. However, losing in something a person was proud of was another matter altogether - if Meng Li lost to someone in terms of his painting skills, he would undoubtely be discouraged.

"To train quickly, you need to undergo life and death battles. This will be hard to do for you with your cultivation..." Ye Jian thought out loud before asking Meng Li. "Wait, that seal of yours - can I see the method?" Ye Jian asked Meng Li. They had sparred many times in the past month, and Ye Jian noticed the seal Meng Li was using was something more than a cultivator simply repressing his cultivation base.

"Sure." Meng Li didn't have any objections and passed the small manual to Ye Jian. Ye Jian opened it and started reading it quickly. With his comprehension as a Origin Soul cultivator, he finished it in merely a few minutes. The technique was extremely simple, after all.

"Even though it's simple to use, it's actually really profound. It's a good technique." Ye Jian experimented with the technique a bit, and praised it. Meng Li didn't say anything, but he treated the manual better this time when he put it in his bag of holding. He didn't think anything of it previously, but since it was enough to receive Ye Jian's praise, it had to be good. It would probably go into the library at the sect they created.

"When we sparred previously, you sealed all of your cultivation?" Ye Jian asked further. Even though he had learned the technique, he didn't know all of the details of Meng Li's cultivation.

"Most of it, but not all. I created some pillars which support my brain and sensory organs, I didn't seal them." Meng Li responded carelessly.

"Hmmm? Your brain?!" Ye Jian asked in confusion before sighing gently.

"Yeah..." Meng Li responded, berating himself inwardly. He had forgotten that the matters of his cultivation were quite extraordinary, and Ye Jian would inevitably be surprised. However, this was a matter which couldn't be avoided, so he didn't regret what he said.

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"Sigh... Normally, creating a pillar supporting the brain is a dangerous matter. With the slightest carelessness, you could have died." Ye Jian explained. Meng Li didn't really react - he had done something dangerous but survived, what was the use of being afraid now?

"Alright, I won't ask you about all of your cultivation, but when you fight in the future, you should probably seal off the pillars supporting your sensory organs. Even if you have the same cultivation as someone else, those pillars supporting your senses are an unfair advantage. The pillar supporting your brain is... More complicated. Even though it makes your thoughts faster, you should leave it unsealed. After all, you need to train, not make the fight completely fair." Ye Jian explained.

Meng Li nodded silently. This was an area in which Ye Jian was the master - his input wasn't needed.

"Alright. With this sealing technique, it will be easier." Ye Jian said. Meng Li couldn't help but ask.

"What will be easier?" he asked curiously.

"Your training. I don't know the details, but there should exist some arena in this world where you can fight for money." Ye Jian casually replied.