Quiet Sign-In

Over the next few days, Chu He signed in continuously and obtained Pills, martial arts manuals, Martial Skills, and a Treasure Saber.

With Pills aiding his cultivation, his Nine Transformations Golden Body progressed at a tremendous pace. He had already reached the First Revolution, Third Layer.

In terms of the outside world, that corresponded to the third layer of the Acquired Body Tempering Realm.

If such a cultivation speed became publicly known, who knew how many geniuses' confidence it would shatter.

During these days, Chu He also gleaned plenty of useful information from the tales of strange heroes and odd records in the library.

Martial culture flourished in this world, and its people were fierce and hardy.

The city was still relatively peaceful.

But if one could not become strong and lacked the ability to protect oneself, then life and death would not be in one's own hands, and survival would be difficult.

The mountain villages and small towns beyond the city were even more dangerous. All kinds of demons and foreign races ran rampant, while lawless criminals roamed everywhere.

For that very reason, before his strength was sufficient, Chu He dared not go out even more.

The library was safer.

In the blink of an eye, two years passed.

Over those two years, Chu He signed in every day and diligently practiced martial arts. Whenever he was bored, he flipped through all sorts of strange tales and unusual records in the library, gaining a clearer understanding of this world.

During that time, young members of the Lin Family would occasionally come in to read.

This annoyed Chu He greatly.

Whenever someone came, his cultivation would be interrupted.

But there was nothing he could do. This was the Lin Family's library, and he was only a lowly odd-job servant. He had no right to drive anyone away.

The Old Man was advanced in years and had been permitted to live outside the Lin Family, so he rarely came to the library. He only stopped by once or twice a month to check on things.

What was gratifying was this.

Chu He's Nine Transformations Golden Body Technique had long since reached the complete Ninth Layer of the First Revolution. He could break through to the Second Revolution at any time.

He had been preparing for this for over half a year.

Over those past six months, he had continuously signed in and stored every cultivation-related resource in the system space as reserves for his breakthrough.

From the Acquired Realm to the Innate Grandmaster Realm was a major hurdle. According to the strange tales and unusual records he had read, this stage was easiest to break through the first time. After a failure, it became harder and harder with each subsequent attempt. Countless great heroes had been stuck at this hurdle for an entire lifetime, suffering breakthrough after breakthrough and blow after blow, until they finally died in depression. Countless others had developed inner demons because of it—some died suddenly after being unable to bear the blows, while others underwent drastic changes in temperament, turning from great heroes into devilish fiends.

So Chu He was extremely cautious.

He consolidated his foundation without haste or impatience, tempering his body over and over, seeking only to break through in one attempt and avoid any unnecessary complications.

Until today, when he could no longer hold himself back and decided to make his breakthrough.

He took out the Pills and treasures he had prepared through half a year of signing in, arranged them before himself, held his breath, focused his mind, and relaxed his body and mind.

He circulated his Cultivation Method, aiming directly for the Second Revolution.

He had made every preparation to face the barrier of breakthrough.

Yet with a splash—

He broke through.

It happened as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

A barrier of breakthrough? What was that?

Chu He had not felt a thing.

Looking at the Pills scattered across the floor, Chu He scratched his head, thoroughly baffled.

Where was the supposedly solid barrier?

Why had he felt nothing at all?

It did not seem any different from breaking through a minor realm within the First Revolution.

It had just slipped through with a whoosh.

All those preparations had been for nothing.

Chu He casually grabbed a handful of Pills and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them like candy beans.

Feeling the swelling, powerful strength coursing through his body,

Chu He was certain that he had broken through.

At that moment, he felt like he could fight a hundred of his former selves.

The gap between the First Revolution and the Second Revolution was as vast as heaven and earth, beyond the power of words to describe.

Another two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Chu He had consolidated his Second Revolution, First Layer cultivation and was beginning his journey toward breaking through to the Second Layer.

Strangely enough, over those two months, the Lin Family youths who often came to the library had hardly appeared at all.

Over the entire two months, only the Old Man had come three times, making the library seem ever more deserted.

But for Chu He, this was just as well.

He was not someone who enjoyed liveliness.

With no one to disturb him, he could focus wholeheartedly on practicing martial arts.

As for cleaning the library, with his current strength, it was no longer a problem.

Using the Eight Directions Steps he had obtained from one sign-in, he moved like a ghost, like a gust of wind. His figure became countless afterimages, pausing for an instant before every bookshelf. Once the afterimages faded, every shelf and every speck of dust had already been cleaned away.

As his strength grew, cleaning became faster as well, requiring almost no time at all.

Every morning, he would habitually flit about for a moment, practicing his Martial Skills while finishing his work.

All the remaining time was his to arrange freely.

Cultivating, reading, utterly at ease.

Then another two years passed.

Over those two years, the number of Lin Family descendants coming to the library sharply declined.

Even the Old Man came less and less often.

Until one day half a year ago, the Old Man told Chu He that his body had completely given out. He would never again be able to come to the library and talk with him. He had already made arrangements with the steward; from then on, the library would be entirely under Chu He's care.

After giving his instructions, he left for good, carrying regret as he departed from the place where he had spent more than half his life.

He told Chu He that only after leaving the Lin Family in these final years of his life had he begun to question life. At life's end, others came to see through life; he, on the other hand, had suddenly begun to doubt it.

He had entered the Lin Family at fourteen and come to the library.

Now, at seventy, he could die peacefully of old age.

Among the group that had entered the Lin Family alongside him, he could be said to have lived the longest and most comfortably.

And yet, after living such a life, he had understood nothing of life and never truly tasted its flavor.

The Old Man rambled sorrowfully to Chu He. If only he had been a little sharper back then, if only he had managed to enter some other department of the Lin Family and been fortunate enough to learn martial arts, then even if he had ultimately died for some other reason, he could still count himself as having truly lived.

Sensing his life ebbing away, the Old Man poured out all the words he had kept bottled up in his heart to Chu He in one breath.

At the end, he also told Chu He that, if possible, he should find a chance to practice martial arts, so that he would not be left with regrets in old age.

After the Old Man's departure, Chu He was truly the only person left in the entire library.

He cultivated quietly.

By then, his cultivation had reached the Second Revolution, Eighth Layer.

Chu He had already sensed that the higher his cultivation rose, the slower his cultivation speed became.

Each additional layer now took him several months.

Even so, such a speed would still be terrifying in the outside world.