Commandant Tan stood in the arena, his gaze resting on Yang Jing as he accepted the black wooden box. He nodded slightly, admiration, wistfulness, and expectation hidden in his eyes.
Of all the Jintai Grand Tournaments he had presided over, if he had to name the person who had left the deepest impression on him, there was only one possible answer: Yang Jing, standing before him.
Before this tournament officially began, everyone's attention had been fixed on Jiang Yun and Lü Chongrui.
For years, Jiang Yun had stood firmly at the pinnacle of his local generation. He and Lü Chongrui had been universally regarded as the two favorites to win.
No one had expected Yang Jing to carve out a path to legendary glory through sheer force, reach the summit of Jintai, and claim the championship.
The resilience, comprehension, and combat strength Yang Jing had displayed in the arena were enough to shake the Jintai Prefecture Martial World.
The countless spectators below knew only that this tournament's rewards were generous. Commandant Tan alone knew what a priceless treasure lay sealed inside that black wooden box.
It was a supreme heavenly medicine tempered by six heavenly tribulations. Its medicinal potency surpassed even the heavenly treasure known as Heavenly Marrow, an extraordinary opportunity that could pave a Martial Path all the way to the heavens.
With such terrifying, peerless talent, bolstered by a treasure as rare and elusive as a leaf of the Six-Calamity Heaven Lotus, Yang Jing's Martial Path ahead would surely be smooth and open.
The breakthrough from the True Qi Realm to the Core Realm was a chasm countless martial artists could never cross in their entire lives, a barrier that cut short the futures of innumerable Heavenly Prodigies.
For Yang Jing, however, that chasm was a barrier in