Book 1 - What Is A Genius - Chapter 32 - Eighth Layer Bottleneck

He Yiming didn’t know how enormous of a change the new year’s Skill Competition would bring for him.
Since that day, his status indescribably had a huge change. He could even feel that in his grandfather’s eyes, he had already replaced his eldest brother’s position.
This kind of feeling made him quite apprehensive. Especially, the faint hostility he felt from his eldest brother made him even more worried.
Being a fourteen year old youngster, such a change, which was related to the ways of world, gave him quite a headache. Moreover, he had no way to rectify the situation.
After all, if not for the encounter in the lake, he would have still been an ordinary youngster. And how many of the ordinary youngsters could deal with such a messy situation?
Thereupon, he opted for the simplest of the alternatives. He once again secluded himself.
He was extremely thorough with this time’s seclusion.
Apart from the servants bringing him daily food and replacement of clothes, he completely isolated himself in his room.
Of course, evading the strange atmosphere in the manor was one of the reasons, but the principal cause was that he wished to attack the Xiantian realm his brother had spoken of.
After that discussion, he had no doubt that the cultivators of the Xiantian realm were above his grandfather in terms of cultivation. For him, this was a new discovery and also a new objective. After discovering the existence of such a realm, his heart was extremely moved.
His thoughts had never been so stirred, even when he was stuck at the fifth layer and trying every means possible to break through. Neither did he long for that as much.
He had a vague feeling that after receiving the fortune in lake, if he did not strive and advance to the Xiantian realm, he would surely suffer the retribution of heavens.
Day passed away like seconds, marking the end of approximately another half a year.
In his training room, He Yiming was sitting crossed-legged. His palms, feet, and head maintained a certain orientation, representing the stance of Five Cores Towards The Sky.1
In his body, the Primordial Energy was surging and flowing, like lake water, following the course of the eighth layer.
After a short while, he suddenly sprang to his feet, extended both of his hands, and as gently as silk, waved his hands, employing the Silk Palm. His whole being, seeming like the gluten, emanated a soft and gentle feeling. However, this soft and gentle feeling had the strong and indestructible metal-type Internal Energy behind it.
During the Skill Competition, He Yiming, through a lucky break, was able to conform water-type internal Energy to the Rolling Boulder Fist, which resulted in an unimaginable might.
He Yihai’s sixth layer, fire-type technique was actually unable to restrain the Rolling Boulder Fist of that moment, which nobody could understand no matter how they tired to think. However, after He Yiming revealed the seventh layer Internal Energy and the might of [Splitting Mountain Thirty Six Forms], everyone was convinced.
However, only He Yiming knew that him gaining the upper hand during his fight with He Yihai had nothing to do with his Internal Energy or Xiantian battle skill. Instead, it was the result of him fusing metal and water, the two different type of techniques, together.
During these six months, after experimenting countless times, he eventually understood that when two distinct type of techniques are conformed to each other, the might produced is often times simply unimaginable. However, the thing he doubted was why his grandfather and other elders seemed clueless about this. They had never mentioned anything such as this to him.
As his palm softly and lightly fluttered in the air, he arrived before the flexible wall, and in a seemingly casual way, struck ahead.
The strike didn’t produce any sound, as if it hadn’t hit anything and the wall didn’t seem to have moved either. However, when He Yiming raised his palm from the wall, the surface had one more palm impression.
This palm impression was extremely clear. Even the hand lines could be clearly seen, as if the wall wasn’t made of steel, but mud.
Of course, the impression was not deep. It still hadn’t reached the level of the ninth level, but had already reached that of the eighth layer’s peak. Even He Quanming and He Quanyi, the two brothers, might not be able to easily leave behind such a clear impression on a wall made of steel like this.
In the Internal Energy cultivation, the difficulty of further improvement became increasingly hard, but so did the corresponding might. At the eighth layer, the impression left behind was far incomparable to a mere dent.
He Yiming slowly exhaled the impure qi in his chest. His eyes shined, knowing that currently, he had officially attained the peak of the eighth layer.
Half a year, once again, just half a year was all he took to attain the peak of the layer he resided. This kind of speed just couldn’t be said as monstrous or frightening anymore, it was simply demonic. If He Yiming was not certain that he had not grown another hand, arms, or anything else, even he would have doubted if he was still a regular human.
According to his father and other elders, the time required to attain the peak of the eighth layer from its initial stage should be estimated in a unit of years. Moreover, this unit should at least contain two figures.
In other words, even a genius would require ten years or more before advancing the Internal Energy from the beginning of the eighth layer to its peak.
On this point, even his exceedingly talented grandfather and eldest uncle were the same.
However, at this moment, He Yiming was hundred percent certain that he had truly attained the peak of the eighth layer and had touched the bottleneck. Because regardless of whichever technique he cultivated, his Internal Energy didn’t improve at all. This was precisely the feeling he would have while touching a bottleneck.
Faintly shaking his head, he threw out the strange feelings in his mind. He was extremely pleased as he looked at the clear impression on the wall. The eighth layer was so powerful, then what about the ninth layer, or the tenth layer? One step further, if he could attain the Xiantian realm, what level his strength would reach? This truly was something to look forward.
He sucked in a deep breath before his brows slightly creased. One and a half year had passed since he began to dent the wall. Although he had not tested the might of his battle skills everyday, his strikes had caused the flexible wall to be uneven. It was nowhere near its original appearance.
Normally, he could have asked the servants to replace the wall. However, at this moment, he hesitated. After all, his true strength was not known in the manor. However, if this flexible wall was to be taken out, wouldn’t it expose every bit of his true strength?
After a long consideration, his eyes slightly shined. If the wall were to be taken out as it was, perhaps people would be able to make out the lines. In that case, if he utterly messed up the surface, who would still be able to figure out the marvel that used to live within?
HIs lips curled into a smile. It just so happened to enable him to check out the might of [Splitting Mountain Thirty Six Forms] corresponding to the eighth layer as well.
He took half a step back and raised both of his hands high above while his Internal Energy had already attained the peak of the eighth layer.
The moment his hands were raised, his aura instantly underwent a complete transformation.
If one were to say that originally, he was a naive youngster, this instant, he emanated boundless awe and pressure. This was not just a change in his complexion and expression, apparently, even the air surrounding his body had been subjected to his influence.
[Three Forms Short Splitting Mountain Thirty Six Forms]; the transformation this ferocious and formidable Xiantian battle skill brought was not a strong battle power anymore, rather at an extremely slow pace, it would change his temperament and inner qualities.
If He Yiming continued to cultivate under such circumstances, after attaining a certain level, just a stare would be enough to form an intense aura, as in a cultivator’s aura, pressing down on someone to death.
The two arms chopped downwards.Their speed was not fast at all, however, as if piercing through the space and time, they had already struck the wall the next instant.
A loud explosion echoed, and He Yiming’s two hands, as if a giant hammer cutting down a mountain, firmly slashed apart the entire wall into two.
From head to toe, the entire wall was ripped into two parts.
The wall, which was made of flexible steel, had been ripped apart like a paper. Surprisingly, He Yiming hadn’t felt the least bit of resistance. And his palms’ completely intact momentum, further made him feel like keep on destroying.
Along with a loud screeching, ear-piercing sound, the two parts of the flexible wall flew in the air and heavily struck at the room’s wall, emitting a sound corresponding to an even more heavy strike. Deafening sounds reverberated throughout the room..
As if being stimulated by this sound, He Yiming’s both eyes surprisingly had a trace of strange, red colour.
His body, as if lightning, pounced forward. In mid air, both of his hands were once again raised above his head, and this time, his movements were even more quick. His both hands slashed like a knife, producing an air-piercing sound which was getting increasingly louder and clearer.
Stance is like this