223. Moonless Night for Murder
Training chamber, Beno Alder's quarters.
Beno Alder sat cross-legged, beginning his breakthrough attempt.
Each First Realm Breaker had twelve essence chambers to fill. His Innate Dao Essence contained nine chambers' worth of essence, primarily from Reka Vagar in his previous life. He had used three chambers' worth when he was promoted to formal member in this life. The remaining six he acquired by using Pleasure of Kama Sutra on a few unsuspecting sisters of the Hall of Harmony.
Based on his calculations, Innate Dao Essence alone would be sufficient to propel him to First Realm Perfection, with essence to spare.
This was precisely what happened. His essence chambers rapidly filled, approaching their limits.
Boom!
In the next second, as if ascending to a higher plane, Beno Alder felt a powerful surge of essence roaring through his body—rushing like a mighty river and invigorating his spirit.
First Realm Perfection!
There should be no bottleneck after this point. All he needed to do was absorb more essence while condensing it into essence dew.
With sufficient resources, I could reach the Wave Realm bottleneck simply by investing time. However, looking at my current situation, I fear time is a luxury I don't have.
The visit of Maiden Pristine had triggered Beno's sense of crisis.
He hadn't forgotten that in his previous life, Xin Liu had openly invaded his home. If Xin Liu could do it, couldn't Maiden Pristine do the same?
Not even his home was safe!
The only thing I can truly rely on is my own training and strength!
With this realization, Beno gritted his teeth and took out all ten vials of Mana Stream, downing them one after another. Then he summoned Khmara Bohdana once more.
Although this approach was somewhat wasteful—with at least thirty percent of the elixir's efficacy being lost—it enabled him to increase his essence accumulation at the fastest possible speed. In Beno's view, as long as he could condense the essence in his three chambers into liquid, these elixirs would have served their purpose and wouldn't be a waste.
Combined with Khmara Bohdana's eleven chambers and the three chambers left in the Innate Dao Essence, he still hoped to condense liquid essence in at least half of his chambers.
Although Khmara was sealed and unable to use her essence, the Dragon-Tiger Kama Sutra Yin-Yang Great Pleasure technique could still extract it.
This act could result in Khmara's death, yet Beno found himself with no luxury to care. Environment changes people; after being in the Red Party for a while, he found himself forced to regard humans as mere resources, devoid of the transcendent worth that came from the creator.
… …
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three days and nights had passed.
During this period, Beno neither ate nor drank and had absorbed so much essence from Khmara that she was left limp as mud. Beno felt the constant dripping of jade dew in his major chambers.
Five and a half.
Beno observed his body internally and felt enormous celestial essence flowing through his nadis like rivers—vast and powerful, yet unable to progress any further.
Another bottleneck?
This was unexpected. Beno didn't rest, nor did he dare relax. He immediately took out the Innate Dao Essence.
"Break through!" he commanded.
As the Innate Dao Essence circulated, Beno controlled his essence to consume it, then watched as his energy surged, flowing into his chambers like countless rivers returning to the sea.
His gaze was sharp, illuminating the empty room.
In the time it took to close and open his eyes, another day and night had passed, but from this moment on, Beno's strength had become vastly different from what it had been just days ago!
The midpoint of the essence condensing process differs dramatically from the earlier stage. Beno felt the changes within his body and smiled with pleasure.
Where essence once felt like a small river, beyond the mid-way point it now resembles an ocean! The essence he can harness in a single moment has increased more than tenfold! It's as though he'd received some Wave Realm benefits early.
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Beno walked out of the training chamber, took out a white bone flying sword, and with a mere thought, the weapon instantly split into ten beams of sword light, enveloping the entire house.
Whoosh, whoosh—!
In an instant, the sword light howled fiercely as Beno performed the Empyrean Verdict Blade technique, merging with the radiant sword light and feeling utterly exhilarated.
I must thank Xin Liu! Without this Innate Dao Essence—which perfectly compatible with me—I wouldn't have been able to make this breakthrough for at least several years!
It's no wonder Xin Liu abandoned the Dragon-Tiger Kama Sutra Yin-Yang Great Pleasure Scripture to practice the Innate Dao Scripture.
Unfortunately, its principles are corrupted, using humans as elixir ingredients. Who knows how many people Xin Liu has killed since obtaining this technique.
Such an evil technique should rightfully be mine! A sudden pang of greed arose in Beno's heart.
Not urgent, I'll wait... I'll take it in the next life. There will be plenty of time.
While pondering, Beno suddenly raised his eyebrows and looked toward the garden in front of the house—one of his sword light projections had just been disturbed by someone.
Someone has fallen prey to temptation.
A cold glint flashed in Beno's eyes, but he also felt somewhat grateful that he had decisively broken through his Realm—even at the cost of wasting resources.
Had he not made this decision, he would have been in closed-door meditation or training, completely unaware of the outside world—and wouldn't that have sealed his fate?
This should serve as a warning.
With this thought, Beno swiftly concealed his newly acquired breakthrough energy, while the killing intent in his heart intensified—like a predator silently awaiting its prey.
"Click." With a soft sound, the house's door was pried open, followed by three figures slipping in one after another.
The three wore black clothes and masks, their essence completely concealed. Beno watched from the shadows in amazement—had he not known better, he might never have detected their disguise and would have mistaken them for ordinary people. Their ability to mask their energy was truly remarkable.
"..." The leading figure in black made a silent gesture. The others understood immediately and dispersed to search the house.
"Whoosh!"
In the next second, the black-clothed person walking in front felt a blur before his eyes, then a dazzling sword light—accompanied by a howling sound—appeared directly in front of him!
"Danger!" The black-clothed person's expression changed drastically. With no time to defend, he could only roll to the side attempting to dodge—but how could a person, no matter how fast, outspeed a flying sword?
Slash—! The sword light flashed, and a pillar of blood shot into the air!
"Wave Realm!?"
The lead black-clothed person, possessing discerning eyes, immediately recognized Beno's higher Realm from the power and quality of the sword light and exclaimed in shock.
At the same time, he was cursing furiously in his heart.
Damn Maiden Pristine!
Is this what you call a "newly admitted comrade"? An "easy target"? And this Beno Alder—despite being powerful enough to easily overwhelm all three of us in direct confrontation—is still resorting to deception and ambush?
What the hell!
Seeing the sword light approaching, the leading black-clothed person formed hand seals to release a mystical light shield while desperately shouting, "Misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"
Boom!
Beno ignored him completely. The sword light slashed horizontally, instantly bringing his protective barrier to the brink of shattering. At the same time, another mass of essence surged from the darkness like a tidal wave, transforming into a giant hand—ten feet in size with distinct palm lines—which seized another black-clothed person.
Splat!
The next moment, the giant hand exerted its force, crushing the second black-clothed person into pieces—tendons snapped, bones broke, and red and white matter splattered everywhere.
The brutal scene caused the lead black-clothed person's eyes to bulge with horror.
Meanwhile, Beno's lips curved into a satisfied smile.
The Great Primordial Grappling Technique from the Innate Dao Scripture truly excels at what it does. Though not particularly powerful against opponents of equal strength, it's perfect for dealing with weaker adversaries—a single grab guarantees instant death.
As he pondered, the sword light continued its relentless assault.
More than ten beams of sword light howled through the house, with the white bone flying sword teleporting and shuttling among them, giving the lead black-clothed person no chance to catch his breath.
Within moments, the lead black-clothed person was completely exhausted. Beno seized the opportunity and struck with his sword, instantly causing another pillar of blood to erupt skyward.
"Phew! That was dangerous."
After dispatching his attackers, Beno finally exhaled a deep sigh of relief. Surveying the corpses and scattered fragments of flesh on the ground, he felt a twinge of fear as he reflected on the battle.
This was his first time killing humans in actual combat. Previously, he had only slain beasts and minor vampires.
Although he had practiced these fluid ambush combinations countless times in private, this was his first time implementing the technique in actual combat.
To be honest, his combat experience paled in comparison to these three assailants. If they had all been at the same Realm level, he likely couldn't have defeated even one of them, much less all three.
However, by ambushing them, seizing the initiative, and forcing a contest of raw power rather than skill, he easily overwhelmed them.
This is why competing in combat skill is inferior to competing in magical techniques, and competing in magical techniques is inferior to competing in Realm level.
While reviewing this valuable combat experience, Beno identified several areas for improvement, knowing these insights would serve him well in his next life.