Chapter 375: Without Reaching The Martial Innate Realm, One Is Still An Ant (I)

Rumble, rumble.

The dim golden sunlight scattered across the mist thrown up by the waterfall, and a beautiful rainbow hung above the deep pool.

Lin Zheyu first exhausted the blood qi within his body in the courtyard where he lived using the Furnace Tempering Body Technique, then entered the deep pool and cultivated for more than four hours.

Splash, splash.

After coming up from the deep pool, he practiced the Great Strength Vajra Fist on the open ground nearby. His fist force tore through the air, producing sharp hissing sounds. He only trained the Blood Burning Saber technique in private and had no intention of practicing it openly. Otherwise, if Elder Yang and the others learned that he had cultivated additional true intents, it would be difficult to explain.

Advancing to the Grandmaster realm with ten true intents was extremely difficult. If he added one more, Elder Yang and the others would likely completely abandon the idea of letting Lin Zheyu cultivate the Primordial Wuji True Technique. Lin Zheyu would not be able to explain himself either. The strength his spirit and spiritual soul had reached could not be accounted for by simply calling him a genius or citing a fortunate encounter.

More than twenty minutes later, Lin Zheyu stopped cultivating while panting. This time, however, he was not so drained that he collapsed to the ground as before. His physique, as usual, had exhausted its energy and reached its limit, yet his spirit and spiritual soul, being excessively powerful, felt little fatigue. His formidable spirit and spiritual soul allowed Lin Zheyu to control his body at its limit and force himself to remain standing instead of lying down.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 4]

[Skills: Tortoise Breath True Technique (Sixth Stage: 0%), Blood Burning Saber Technique (Second Stage: 68%), Azure Tide Boundless True Technique (Sixth Stage: 70%)]

I still only gained 4 units of Origin Force... My spirit and spiritual soul have clearly grown much stronger, yet the Origin Force gained has barely changed. Is it because my physique is not strong enough, so my body reaches its limit while my spirit still has plenty to spare?

His understanding of Origin Force was that it was produced after essence, qi, and spirit were twisted into a single stream and underwent some wondrous transformation. However, his spirit and spiritual soul had improved greatly, but his physique had not grown much.

"The Origin Force I gained should have increased somewhat as well, but it was not enough to amount to a full unit, so it did not show," Lin Zheyu said to himself.

After swallowing an Essence and Qi Pill, within a few minutes, it was digested by his powerful physique and transformed into surging, pure blood qi energy.

Seeing that Lin Zheyu had finished cultivating, Huang Youwei jogged over and attentively wiped the sweat from Lin Zheyu's forehead, "Martial Uncle, wipe your sweat. I heard you are going with my grandfather and the others to the main sect. When the time comes, take me along too."

"Your information network is quite sharp, isn't it?" Lin Zheyu glanced at Huang Youwei.

Although he had been stimulated by him and his enthusiasm for martial training had increased somewhat, it was not by much. The moment he heard something interesting was going on, he was like a cat that had caught the scent of fish, immediately rushing over.

"Of course." Huang Youwei chuckled, clearly pleased with how well-informed he was.

"Martial Uncle, if you take me along, I will introduce you to a beautiful woman—that being Xing Xinlan, ranked number one on Wuling City's beauty list. What do you think?" Huang Youwei said with a sly grin, waggling his eyebrows in a way that made his intentions obvious.

"Not interested. Besides, just go if you want. I am not restricting your movements." Lin Zheyu shrugged.

Xing Xinlan was indeed beautiful, but her background was far from simple. The Xing Family behind her was powerful and possessed Grandmaster realm experts. At the same time, Xing Xinlan was a true inheritor of Water Cloud Palace. Although Lin Zheyu liked beautiful women, he had no intention of involving himself with any woman who required responsibility. Unless he met someone he truly wished to spend his life with, he would not act.

"Martial Uncle, you are not young anymore. Shouldn't you think about your future? That is Xing Xinlan. Her talent is outstanding, her strength formidable, and she recently ranked ninety-ninth on the Hidden Dragon List. A woman like that suits you perfectly. Besides, if I could decide for myself, would I need to come to you? You have met my father. His temper is terrible, and he has been strict lately. Your words carry more weight. The old man might listen." Huang Youwei could not help but complain.

It had been a long time since he advanced to the Marrow Refining realm. He had consumed a large number of True Intent Pills, and his father often gave him special guidance, yet he still could not condense a true intent. His father was furious.

"I cannot help you with that. When Senior Brother Huang loses his temper, he scolds even me. I have no desire to provoke that. And how am I old? You are a year older than me, yet you still have the nerve to say that," Lin Zheyu glanced at Huang Youwei and said expressionlessly.

Huang Youwei fell silent. He had no way to refute it. Indeed, he was a year older than this martial uncle. Seeing that he could not persuade Lin Zheyu, Huang Youwei could only watch him leave with a bitter expression.

"Cultivation, cultivation, always cultivation...

Sigh,

life is so dull," Huang Youwei muttered softly, completely dejected.

***

Returning to Azure Water Garden, Lin Zheyu pushed open the storage room door. With a flick of his hand and a downward slash, several muffled sounds rang out as more than thirty new wounds appeared on the demon puppet's body. The demon puppet was growing weaker and weaker. It now required half a day to fully recover from a single wound.

"The Baleful Yin force in its bodily fluids is becoming scarcer. I wonder if it will die once the Baleful Yin force is completely depleted," Lin Zheyu said curiously.

The more he understood demon puppets, the less awe he felt toward them. These evil creatures were merely somewhat stronger. The Baleful Yin force within them corroded living bodies. Conversely, a martial artist's true strength would also erode the demon puppet in return, consuming its Baleful Yin force. In the end, it depended on whose true strength or Baleful Yin force was greater and stronger.

Time passed slowly. In the blink of an eye, three days went by. As Guo Wenzi had said, Huang Baizhong returned.

"Greetings, Master. Greetings, Elder Yang."

Upon entering the main hall, Lin Zheyu finally saw his master after a long absence. Since joining the Wuji Sect, he had met Huang Baizhong far less frequently than he had seen Elder Yang. First, during the martial cultivation exchange held by the Wuji Sect, the Yao Heavenly Palace attacked Wuji Manor, prompting Huang Baizhong to gather many experts and launch a retaliatory campaign. Then the situation escalated, and demon puppets began appearing in large numbers.

By now, space-time nodes had even appeared. The space-time node in the northern lands had gone out of control, and it was unknown whether it had been sealed. As Pavilion Master of Azure Tide Pavilion and branch sect leader of the Wuji Sect, Huang Baizhong carried heavy responsibilities. Lin Zheyu rarely saw him throughout the year. Meeting again after several months, he noticed the fatigue on Huang Baizhong's face. It seemed that this expedition to the northern lands to eliminate yao and demon forces had been arduous for him as well.

"

Hm.

I have been somewhat unqualified as a master. I have not even kept up with your martial progress," Huang Baizhong said helplessly as he looked at Lin Zheyu.

A Grandmaster martial artist was a top-tier powerhouse among ordinary people. Yet in the eyes of the Great Wei authorities, he was nothing. A single official order could dispatch him elsewhere to carry out missions.

"You overstate it, Master. As the saying goes, a master leads you to the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. It is already fortunate to be accepted under your tutelage," Lin Zheyu said with a smile.

In fact, he was grateful that Huang Baizhong had been busy. If his master frequently checked on his progress, even though he had ways to conceal things, it would still be troublesome. This state of relative freedom, with resources provided and questions addressed to senior brothers, senior sisters, or Elder Yang, suited Lin Zheyu best.

"Well said. Martial cultivation primarily relies on oneself. Especially after the Marrow Refining realm, those of us who are masters or seniors can only offer suggestions from experience for reference."

Elder Yang smiled faintly, clearly agreeing with Lin Zheyu's words. After speaking, he looked toward Huang Baizhong, signaling for him to continue. After all, Huang Baizhong was Lin Zheyu's nominal master, and it was better for him to handle the matter personally.

"It has only been a few months, yet you have already reached the thirtieth rank on the Hidden Dragon List. That completely exceeded my expectations. Elder Yang previously said you were an unparalleled prodigy, one in ten thousand. At the time, I still had some doubts. Now, I fully agree with Elder Yang's view," Huang Baizhong said with a frank smile.

"You praise me too highly, Master. I merely laid a solid foundation earlier. After entering the Wuji Sect, I received better training, so it was only a matter of accumulated effort bearing fruit," Lin Zheyu said modestly.

Every word of that was true. If he had not established an incomparably firm foundation in the Blood Qi realm earlier, Lin Zheyu would never have achieved such rapid progress after advancing to the Marrow Refining realm.

"

Haha

. Elder Yang said that those who cultivate the Dominance true intent are usually bad-tempered, self-centered, convinced of their own invincibility, overflowing with confidence, and extremely stubborn. But looking at you now, you do not seem like that at all," Huang Baizhong teased with a hearty laugh, recalling Elder Yang's earlier assessment of Lin Zheyu.

"You have now cultivated the Boundless Azure Sea Body. Do you have any plans for your future martial cultivation path?" Huang Baizhong asked.

Before Lin Zheyu could answer, he continued, "My advice is the same as Elder Yang's. Cultivate the Heaven Shattering Dominance Flash. It can fully bring out your strengths and is the safest path."

Huang Baizhong looked at Lin Zheyu with utmost seriousness. The aptitude Lin Zheyu had displayed fully qualified him to cultivate the Primordial Wuji True Technique, but that would be under the condition that he had not condensed other true intents. Besides the Azure Tide true intent, Lin Zheyu had also condensed the Tortoise Breath true intent and the Dominance true intent. Among them, the Dominance true intent was one of the most powerful and had a far greater impact on a martial artist's spirit than other true intents.

With these two additional true intents, if he cultivated the Primordial Wuji True Technique, Lin Zheyu would possess ten different true intents. Even with only eight true intents, no one in the Wuji Sect besides the founding ancestor had cultivated the Primordial Wuji True Technique to the Grandmaster realm. Most geniuses, upon realizing it was impossible, chose to cut their losses. Before condensing all the true intents, they switched to other techniques. That was with merely eight true intents. Huang Baizhong could hardly imagine how difficult it would be to advance to the Grandmaster realm with ten true intents.