The night passed without incident.
Lin Shuguang and Leng Yueyan seemed to share a tacit understanding. Neither of them slept all night. They pretended to cultivate, yet neither was truly focused on it, as if they were ready to strike at any moment.
This absurdly comical scene continued until the first rays of sunlight rose high.
Leng Yueyan could not help yawning. Yesterday, she had first endured a long journey, then expended a great deal of energy exploring Demon Mountain, and finally encountered the flower-destroying madman next door. Even if she had been made of iron, under such intense pressure and concentration, she could not help feeling a trace of fatigue.
Yet she still had no intention of leaving.
"That madman next door isn't an ordinary person. He can travel between two places... Even someone in the Nirvana Realm couldn't accomplish something like that, unless..."
Leng Yueyan subconsciously looked over. Through the white wall before her, she gazed toward Lin Shuguang. Before the speculation in her heart could take shape, she suddenly felt a surge of aura erupt from the room next door.
Leng Yueyan was startled at first, thinking Lin Shuguang was about to attack. But in the next second, her eyes widened in disbelief. "That guy broke through?"
Since when had breaking through become such a casual matter?
After hesitating for a moment, Leng Yueyan rose and prepared to sneak out.
At the same time, the door to Lin Shuguang's room opened, and both of them stepped over their thresholds with one foot at once.
For a moment, neither was willing to take a second step. To say neither had any misgivings would have been a lie.
Leng Yueyan was wary of Lin Shuguang because, after their clash yesterday, the ruthlessness of his attacks had left a vivid impression on her.
Lin Shuguang's concern was that he could not kill her in a short time. Instead, he would only provoke even greater trouble. With the thought of avoiding complications, he withdrew his foot.
He was just about to close the door when he heard Leng Yueyan ask in a low voice, "Did you just break through?"
Lin Shuguang was silent for a moment before answering, "Mm."
Leng Yueyan seemed unable to wait. "Do you have any trick for breaking through?"
She had assumed Lin Shuguang would not be willing to say anything. Yet to her surprise, she received a response the instant she finished asking: "Focus your mind."
Leng Yueyan subconsciously crossed the threshold and moved up to Lin Shuguang's door. She stared at him with wide eyes. If a person's gaze could be represented as a pie chart, then at this moment, Leng Yueyan's gaze was thirty percent confusion, thirty percent skepticism, and forty percent hesitation.
In the end, all of it became one sentence: "Really?"
Lin Shuguang: "..." He calmly glanced at the young woman.
If he remembered correctly, the two of them had still been shouting about killing each other yesterday. Exactly who had given this woman the confidence to approach him so boldly?
Lin Shuguang was a little taller. At present, he calmly looked at Leng Yueyan.
One glance...
The aura around him suddenly erupted once more.
His cultivation broke through another minor realm.
Leng Yueyan was completely dumbfounded.
"Bang!" Lin Shuguang shut the door directly. Ignoring the woman's look of astonishment as if she were staring at a monster, he turned around and went back into the room.
He took out the Divine Bone.
A line of text appeared on the system panel.
Spend 1.5 million Gold Leaves to extract divine genes
Lin Shuguang had previously unlocked it twice, spending a huge fortune before finally extracting two points of divine genes. He had directly broken through the Spirit Transformation Realm, and his cultivation had surged to the second layer of the True Fate Realm.
"One and a half million..."
Lin Shuguang frowned. His finances were indeed somewhat strained.
The wealth of Marquis Gu of the Southern Dynasty had now been mostly spent, with very little remaining.
It was also thanks to that fortune from Marquis Gu of the Southern Dynasty that Lin Shuguang's cultivation had been able to advance so much. The price of increasing his cultivation, however, was truly exorbitant.
In the blink of an eye, there was already little left. Lin Shuguang was depressed.
"Money flows away like water. No wonder they say scholars need poor study and martial artists need rich support... If Demon Mountain hadn't mentioned the imperial capital's treasury, I really wouldn't know what to do next. But that fellow seems not to know about the Heaven Sacrifice Talisman."
Lin Shuguang smiled silently.
Just then, knocking came from the door. Leng Yueyan seemed to know Lin Shuguang did not want to open it, so she said from outside, "I'm leaving. See you around."
"Best not to," Lin Shuguang said calmly.
After the outer door closed, he continued closing his eyes and cultivating.
There were fewer than seven days left until the third day of the tenth month.
In truth, he did not have much time remaining.
Eternal Night was about to descend. Before that happened, he had to obtain the treasury of the Great Gan Dynasty and raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.
"The moment Eternal Night descends will mean that the Heavenly Dao will begin hunting me... Heh."
Lin Shuguang lowered his brows, his gaze sharpening.
He only wanted to become stronger. But in his world, the strongest had only reached the Profound Connection Realm. From any obvious perspective, Lin Shuguang was indeed innocent.
But the world was heartless. No one would care whether he was innocent.
Among the teeming masses, only the fittest survived.
Lin Shuguang had no intention of complaining. His temper had always been fierce, so his attitude toward the battles ahead was equally clear: "If you refuse to submit, then fight!"
"Thud!"
A heavy object suddenly crashed to the ground in the courtyard. In the dusk, the sound seemed somewhat eerie.
Lin Shuguang keenly sensed a muffled groan mixed into the noise. Someone had come.
That woman?
But judging from the sound, it did not quite seem like her.
A hand suddenly slapped against the door. A weak voice sounded as if it were pressed right against the door panel: "Save me."
Lin Shuguang's face remained expressionless.
Although he had heard the voice, he had no intention of getting up to open the door.
He was not some great philanthropist who enjoyed helping others.
Especially in the current environment, where signs of a chaotic age had already appeared, showing excessive kindness might very well drag him into some troublesome affair.
Lin Shuguang only wanted to make himself frantically stronger before Eternal Night descended.
As for everything else... Lin Shuguang lowered his gaze and brushed the dust from his clothes. "Anyone who stands in the way of my becoming stronger has only one fate. Either you die, or I do."
The door was slapped twice more.
Lin Shuguang still had no intention of opening it.
The person outside seemed to have determined his attitude and finally stopped calling for help... The world outside sank into absolute silence.
Lin Shuguang opened his eyes instead and snorted coldly. "You're courting death!"
He abruptly seized the Slaughter Blade and charged out.
The air exploded with a thunderous roar.
At the same time, the door was opened from outside, and Shi Wenliang's figure appeared. He was in a sorry state, with bloodstains still clinging to his clothes. Yet despite his disheveled appearance, he erupted with the strength of an advanced True Fate Realm cultivator.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Three hidden weapons shot explosively from his hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A string of ear-piercing sounds rang out amid the sparks, and Shi Wenliang suddenly froze.
He was an advanced True Fate Realm cultivator, yet the hidden weapons in his hands could not even force Lin Shuguang back. Hadn't the Ninth Prince said this fellow was only in the Spirit Transformation Realm?
This was Spirit Transformation Realm???
He wanted to curse the Ninth Prince furiously, but ultimately did not dare. He could only thrust out a palm.
His palm struck the Slaughter Blade with a tremor.
But what happened next was completely different from what Shi Wenliang had expected. He thought that, as an advanced True Fate Realm cultivator, even if his hidden weapons could not deal with Lin Shuguang, his strength should at least be enough to send the man flying.
He had never imagined that Lin Shuguang's strength would be so astonishingly great. He was nearly sent tumbling through the air.
His blood surged from his heart, boiling violently, almost rushing up into his throat.
Staggering backward through the air, he retreated from Lin Shuguang's door all the way to the courtyard ten meters away.
Shi Wenliang had no mind to concern himself with anything else. His head was filled with terror as he stared in bewilderment at Lin Shuguang standing before the door. The Ninth Prince's intelligence was absolutely wrong!
"You hid your strength well enough. But I merely underestimated you just now. With my skills, taking you down will be no problem, so don't waste your effort. Hand over the item obediently. I don't want to take your life either. We can leave each other in peace."
Lin Shuguang's gaze was cold. Holding the blade in his hand, he stepped out of the room and suddenly asked, "Did Gu Changhe send you?"
The words reached Shi Wenliang's ears, and he froze. Then he sneered disdainfully. "Kid, your talent is decent, but before the Ninth Prince, you're nothing. I intended to spare your life earlier, but you dared to call the Ninth Prince by name. That's treasonous and outrageous. I'll have to teach you a lesson and let you learn what it means for ranks to be respected and order to be observed!"
He struck first. His toes lightly tapped the ground, displaying extraordinary lightness skills. He moved like thunder, stabbing toward Lin Shuguang in an instant...
Before you continue