~RUMBLE~


    The sound of low thunder could be heard within the courtyard originating from one of the rooms.


    This was none other than the rooms of Lin Mu where he had been cultivating in seclusion.


    Currently he was sitting cross legged on the bed, while waves of energy surrounded him. A mix of qi and immortal essence could be felt within his body, threatening to escape at any moment.


    And yet, whenever it reached the point where it was was about to explode out of his body, it was blocked. This process repleted several times as the immortal essence fluctuations only kept on increasing.


    The qi fluctuations though were stable and didn''t show any difference. It was like the qi was a mellow stream, while the immortal essence was a flooding river.


    For most cultivators, handing a mix of energies was not something they would prefer. It could not only lead to the splitting of one''s focus, it could also make one privy to mistakes.


    Mistakes that could be deadly.


    But for Lin Mu, who was in a rtively unique situation this was the best method.


    His immortal qi stayed stable and contained the fluctuations of the immortal essence within his body, while the essence continued to flow though his body.


    The reason for this raging immortal essence was none other than the pills he had obtained from Alchemist Ruoxian. He had taken more of them in an effort to boost his body cultivation further and it was now showing effects.


    Within Lin Mu''s body, the raging Immortal Essence was being controlled by his will and was being channels to the position of his third Aperture!


    There, a circle of the immortal essence wisps could already be seen, and it was still growing in size. More of them were added before the circle started to spin!


    ~HUM~


    A ringing sound was heard as the ring of immortal essence spun at high speeds, gaining great momentum. And when it finally reached a peak, a change happened.


    ~RUMBLE!~


    A vortex seemingly appeared from the spinning ring, sucking the rest of the immortal essence within it. Lin Mu let it do so as well, channeling all the immortal essence into his third Aperture that had now been opened!


    "More, more, more!" Lin Mu internally shouted.


    His eyes were closed but they still moved nonstop. Lin Mu''s mind was doing tens of things at once, his immortal sense split into hundreds of tendrils working together to control everything.


    Just the sheer amount of Immortal essence that was coursing through his body would have overwhelmed or perhaps even exploded someone. Yet, Lin Mu gritted his teeth and soldiered through it.


    Minutes turned into hours as all the immortal essence coursing through his body finally settled into his Third Aperture.


    ~HUU~


    Letting out a long breath that wasced with a tinge of exhaustion, Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    But instead of looking exhausted, they were full of power and vitality. He had just broken through to the Third Stage of the Three Apertures Invoking Technique!


    "That worked out a well than I thought… Just in time too." Lin Mu said checking the time through the token that had been given to him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There were still three days left for the tournament to start, and he had managed to progress his body cultivation to the equivalent of a third tribtion stage immortal.


    ~Tremble~


    But just as Lin Mu was rejoicing in his achievement he felt his back heat up.


    "Argh!" he let out a cry of pain, almost falling from the bed.


    ''Did something go wrong?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~HISS~


    Before he could check it in detail though, the back of his robe spontaneouslybusted and turned into ash. What was left behind though was a totem.


    The totem of the Tyrant Bull!


    "Why is it… suddenly…" Lin Mu muttered between pained breaths, trying to get his immortal essence into control again.


    His body was now reacting automatically and all three of his Apertures had opened up on their own. They were injecting more and more immortal essence through his body which was now being channeled to his back, or more urately to the totem.


    This was the reason why he had broken out in pain that made him cry it.


    Such arge outburst of Immortal essence was still painful for him after all.


    Bearing through what was just some extra pain, Lin Mu discovered that the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets was working on its own. The Tyrant Bull totem was growing more and was almost at the third stage as well.


    ''How is it suddenly growing like this when I couldn''t progress it before?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder. "Is it because I also progressed the Three Apertures Invoking technique?" he questioned.


    He didn''t have much time to think though, as the Totem was soon about to reach a new form.


    ~MOOOOOO!~


    The cry of a bull could be heard at that moment, as a faint figure materialize over Lin Mu. It was that of the Tyrant Bull but it was missing its legs. It only had a body and its horned head.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    It lifted its head and roared at the sky, dering its presence.


    The Hundred Fruits Courtyard shook once more, as a tyrannical aura descended upon it.


    The Tyrannical Aura lingered for a few minutes before retracting into the bloodline figure of the Tyrant Bull and disappearing into the totem.


    When the totem calmed down, Lin Mu took another look at it, finding it to have truly reached the third stage of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets, the Legless Bull.


    By now he had a solid guess about what had happened.


    ''The Three Apertures Invoking Technique provides the fuel needed for the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets to work. Thus if it isn''t good enough to support the next stage, the technique would not progress either.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    While he knew there were other factors to this double breakthrough of the same level, he also knew that his strength had now risen even more.