The moment he was done breaking through to the second level of [Energy Disengtanglement], his eyes popped open in astonishment!
"I… I broke through…" Murmuring this, even he himself had a hard time believing the ease with which he had progressed.
Anyway, he remained in that amazed state for a while, when suddenly, a thought hit him, "Could it be…?"
With that, immediately closing his eyes, he focused his mind within his internal energy as he restored that sensation of control over the energy inside his pathways.
"Let"s continue." Thinking this, he led the energy which was almost twice as much as before in a forward manner.
A few minutes pa.s.sed and finally, all of the energy was almost on the verge of cras.h.i.+ng into the second knot.
However… the second it reached the location where the knot should"ve originally existed, much to the stupefaction of Virus himself, he realized his energy had once again continued to progress forward with its path un.o.bstructed!
And just like that, the energy which was within his control joined the energy inside the third pathway as he broke through once again.
"Third level of [Energy Disentanglement]!" Dumbstruck, he said out loud. He was truly having a hard time believing everything because not even in his wildest dreams had he predicted such a strange phenomenon!
For a normal person, disentangling one twist took around a month or even more, however, right now, Virus was casually breaking through one after another just like drinking a cup of tea!
Next, closing his eyes in a hurry, he tried pus.h.i.+ng the increased energy forward. But to his dismay, he realized controlling the energy was almost twice as difficult as before.
This was a completely normal occurrence because originally, every time a pract.i.tioner broke through, he or she had to spend many days getting used to the enlargened energy within his or her pathways.
Of course, that was the case just for normal or talentless people. When it came to one of the most advanced AIs in existence with monstrous learning abilities, that obviously didn"t apply.
So, he simply concentrated on the boosted energy and a single minute later, his control was as good as before.
Afterward, with the return of his dominance over his internal energy, he guided the energy toward the next twist!
And just as expected, he realized the third knot didn"t exist either as he straight away entered the fourth level of [Energy Disentanglement] while his energy also intensified further.
Then, he spent some time regaining the control he had over his internal energy before resuming the process of leveling up.
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.
.
5th level of [Energy Disentanglement]!
…
6th level of [Energy Disentanglement]!
…
7th level of [Energy Disentanglement]!
…
The 8th level!
…
The 9th!
And soon… the 10th!
Before long, even the 11th level was broken through!
.
.
.
This repet.i.tive process continued to happen until finally, Virus entered the twelfth level of [Energy Disentanglement]!
However, he knew unlike normal cultivators who possessed only twelve energy pathways in their physique, this wasn"t the end of the journey of [Energy Disentanglement] for him, thus after regaining control, he led the energy toward the next pathway!
Originally, after untwisting the incoming knot, one would"ve completed a single circulation of internal energy within his pathways, thus, that person would"ve officially entered the [Liberation] stage.
Unfortunately, that wasn"t the case for Virus because instead of twelve, he possessed eighteen energy pathways!
Anyway, pus.h.i.+ng forward, he noticed that the twelfth-knot indeed didn"t exist as he again broke through.
The 13th level of [Energy Disentanglement] stage… achieved!
"Could it be… I"m going to finish all of the eighteen levels tonight and directly enter the [Liberation] stage with a single leap?" He wondered in excitement. This notion also forced him to crack up uncontrollably, "Hahaha…"
"Anyway, I should persist through…" By now, he was feeling very tired and fatigued. But absolutely determined to finish this stage tonight, after getting used to the energy again, he proceeded.
And soon, he reached the location of the thirteenth-knot when…
Bam~
All of the energy rammed into something as its path of advancement was blocked!
"What the…" feeling puzzled, Virus" body trembled slightly as he focused all of his attention at the end of his 13th pathway.
"d.a.m.n it! There is a knot. What"s happening? I thought there wasn"t going to be anything clogging my path of progress!" He contemplated helplessly. To be honest, he was feeling slightly disappointed about not being able to directly complete the [Energy Disentanglement] stage in a single night.
If a cultivator of the Cultivation Earth was present right now, seeing his disappointment, due to experiencing intense rage, that person would"ve probably coughed a few mouthfuls of blood while yelling, "You continuously broke through twelve times in a single night and you"re still not satisfied?! f.u.c.k you! Cough, pfft…"
By now, the amount of energy acc.u.mulated within his pathways was many times more than before to the point it wasn"t comparable at all!
However, Virus didn"t feel impressed by the quant.i.ty in any way because he understood that it was still considered rather weak in comparison to either one of his alternative sources of power.
The raw strength of his body due to entering the [True 6th level: Ethereal Metamorphosis] or his [Median Configuration – Fragmentary Integument], both of them were still stronger, and that"s why he wasn"t moved in any way.
"Although it"ll make me somewhat more powerful if I use it alongside the raw force of my body or the Fragmentary Integument state… it"s still not satisfactory because the quant.i.ty is almost the same as that of a normal cultivator around my level." pondering to this point, he continued, "I mean… if I utilize my internal energy alone without using my calculative perk, my thirteenth level of [Energy Disentanglement] can nearly be considered the same as someone who is only at the very peak of the [Energy Disentanglement] stage."
With that thought finished, next, Virus mumbled unconsciously, "It would be extremely hard to defeat someone who has just broken through to the [Liberation] stage in my current state of cultivation." {A/N: He means it"d be hard in case he only uses his internal energy, excluding his ring, body strength, etc.}