Grandmaster

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Power Progression

The following milestones document Lin Sheng’s advancement through Grandmaster and its Sunstar counterpart.

Realm Structure

Grandmaster has three ordinary ranks, with each successive rank exceeding the previous one. Supreme Grandmaster is a further transformative attainment rather than simply another ordinary layer 318.

Cultivation and Advancement

Entering Grandmaster

• Repeated nourishment: Advancement requires enormous quantities of energy to nourish the body until both physique and internal force undergo qualitative transformation 486.
• Long cultivation periods: Even peerless geniuses supported by the greatest powers ordinarily require decades of cultivation to enter the realm 486.
• Resources and efficiency: Silver Brilliance Stones accelerate Lin Sheng’s cultivation. Improvements to his absorption capacity nearly double his cultivation efficiency before his breakthrough 486 498.
• External assistance: Heavenly treasures supplied by the Heart of Thorns help Gongsun Changhai overcome his bottleneck and become a Grandmaster 409.

Becoming a Supreme Grandmaster

• Enlightenment: Comprehending Enlightenment is necessary to attain Supreme Grandmaster 484.
• Bloodline and will: The realm places exceptionally stringent demands on bloodline, mind, and will, explaining why Supreme Grandmasters are much rarer than Third Realm practitioners 483.
• Physical readiness: Enlightenment and sufficient spirit are not enough by themselves. After reaching Third Realm, Lin Sheng still needs his body to meet the remaining requirements 522.
• Qualitative force transformation: Supreme Grandmaster force is fundamentally different from ordinary Grandmaster Gang Force. Even a lingering wisp can obstruct Lin Sheng’s regeneration for an extended period 441.

Abilities & Characteristics

Bloodline–Body Fusion

A Grandmaster’s flesh, bloodline, and meridians are altered to perfectly match their Demon Beast bloodline 358.

• Fully unleashes the power of the bloodline beast.
• Functions like an enhanced ancestral bloodline maintained perpetually at its peak, without needing to revert to one’s ancestors.
• Makes Grandmasters comparable to exceptionally powerful humanoid ferocious beasts 358.

Grandmaster Gang Force

Gang Force fuses completely with the practitioner’s flesh, allowing even ordinary movements to carry immense destructive power 353.

• Lu Qing’s folding-fan strike is powerful enough that a defense-specialized Divine Form peak martial artist would ordinarily be left grievously injured and near death 353.
• Grandmaster Gang Force is qualitatively superior to Divine Form inner force; enormous reserves of weaker force do not automatically possess the same intensity 409.
• Lin Sheng’s force fully transforms into Grandmaster Gang Force after his breakthrough. His exceptional reserves then become sufficient to defeat a fighter such as Zhao Yantai and threaten a Supreme Grandmaster 513.

Lingering Aura

A Grandmaster’s distinctive aura persists in their flesh and blood and can remain on someone contaminated by it 358.

• Major factions exploit this residue to track whoever killed a Grandmaster.
• High-ranking concealment arts can erase Grandmaster aura and lingering resentments.
• Memorized aura can help identify a disguised practitioner, as Lin Sheng demonstrates when recognizing Elder Hai 358 382.

Combat Strength and Limitations

Rank Does Not Determine Every Matchup

• Bloodline and technique compatibility: Granny Shi ranks among the strongest First Realm Grandmasters despite not having entered Second Realm 376.
• Resources and secret techniques: Lin Sheng finds the Myriad Sect Alliance’s Second Realm Grandmasters weaker than their Imperial Court counterparts, attributing the difference to the court’s superior resources, methods, and secret techniques 428.
• Specialist advantages: Fang Wen’s formations can deny even Third Realm Grandmasters an advantage; some have been trapped to death within them despite his own Second Realm cultivation 469.
• Variation within Third Realm: Lin Sheng kills the veteran Gongsun Yue in one exchange after expecting a difficult battle, concluding that not every Third Realm Grandmaster is comparable to Zhao Yantai 454.

Countermeasures and Superior Threats

• Military formations: Southern Qi’s Jushi and Fubo battle formations can restrain Grandmasters temporarily 345.
• Sealing formations: A prepared wagon formation withstands Granny Shi’s Gang Force strike and prevents Princess Lingyu’s requests for help from escaping 469.
• Exceptional lower-realm opponents: Lin Sheng kills Grandmasters before entering the realm himself. His beast-integration marks account for more than half of his ability to defeat them while at lower cultivation 391 399.
• Supreme Grandmasters: Tang Chong kills the Third Realm Rashid with an apparently casual attack, leaving him no chance to escape. Ordinary Third Realm practitioners cannot meaningfully participate in Supreme Grandmaster battles 357 508.

Role in Major Factions

Grandmasters are the genuine upper leadership of major powers, unlike Divine Form martial artists, who occupy their upper-middle ranks. Losing one damages a faction’s core strength rather than merely reducing its pool of skilled fighters 356 486.

• Strategic restraint: Factions generally avoid deploying Grandmasters casually; their involvement usually signals serious conflict 349.
• Deterrence: Dark Star’s hidden Grandmasters make an unrestricted Imperial Court assault dangerous, despite the court’s superior overall strength 340.
• Wartime risk: Southern Qi’s leaders resist escalating the war into Grandmaster combat because the resulting casualties could include even Third Realm experts 384.
• Experimental value: Sky Rainbow Pavilion regards newly advanced Grandmasters as particularly suitable subjects for its beastification experiments 418.
• National power: Southern Qi and Northern Yan possess dozens of Grandmasters, but only two Supreme Grandmasters at the time Lin Sheng assesses Tang Chong’s strength 391.

Sunstar Counterpart

Sunstar’s Combat Master realm corresponds to Grandmaster, while Peak Combat Master is identified with Supreme Grandmaster. Its cultivation methods diverge substantially from the Ghost Whale World’s path 550 556 600.

• Cosmic energy and rules: Efficient advancement requires improving the absorption and refinement of cosmic energy, then fusing it more deeply with the physique according to universal rules 550.
• Visualization Sources: The Iron Bone Boxing Gym uses Flesh Observation to guide cultivation of the Blackgold Body-Forging Art 550.
• Blood Condensation: Completing twenty Blood Seals marks entry into Combat Master for that art 556.
• Peak attainment: At Supreme Grandmaster, Lin Sheng’s Origin Astral Force becomes almost solid; his apparent crimson flame is actually highly purified Blood-Refined Origin Gang 600 601.
• Further advancement: After bringing both of his cultivation arts to Peak Master, Lin Sheng prepares to enter the Erosion Martial realm 620.