Grand Master

Whether it was Ren Li's arrival and appointment that made the Evil Cultivator sense something amiss, or Du En's relentless pushing from behind that had made the situation increasingly bewildering, or perhaps both factors working together, was impossible to say.

In any case, more than half a year had passed. Now, in early October, the Evil Cultivator still had not committed another crime, and everything had gradually settled into peace.

Even the Bully Gang, an organization of tyrants like the Green Robe Gang, had returned to its old ways. They still collected protection fees when they were due, but they were somewhat more timid and no longer used excessively brutal methods.

Although the "Evil Cultivator" had probably not killed anyone because of this, what if he had? Who would dare gamble on it?

As for Du En, amid the stable situation, he naturally advanced through daily accumulation until everything came together as water reaching its channel. He had passed through the complete comprehension and integration of the cultivation method, entering an entirely new stage where he could learn without a teacher, understand naturally, and give rise to sudden insights.

To become a Grand Master meant integrating the thoughts, doctrines, styles, techniques, and more from various schools, thereby forming one's own system or style.

Anyone capable of doing this was a Grand Master!

Rumble~

Thunder roared, and fierce winds howled.

Inside the tottering wooden shack at night, Du En sat cross-legged on the damp, water-seeping floor, racing against time as he circulated his cultivation method.

In his mind, he now understood every school of thought, every branch, and every trick related to the Yellow Earth Technique. He had mastered them completely and gone a step further, deriving a distinctive style and his own school.

Yellow earth, thick and restrained; technique and body, both cultivated...

Thick yellow gaseous magic power coursed through his meridians and spread through his flesh, forming a circulation pattern that differed somewhat from before.

A new embryonic form had already taken shape.

The water that had been seeping across the floor was now silently pushed aside.

The yellow-earth ground beneath him seemed to resonate at that moment, as if the two had merged into one.

Like an ancient stone in the mountains, unchanged for ten thousand years: the silent earth, constant as ever.

Crack, crack, crack~

The groans of the roof planks became the catalyst that shattered the wondrous atmosphere.

Du En finished circulating his power and calmly opened his eyes. A faint trace of yellow appeared in his pupils, then vanished the next instant.

He rose silently. This time, there was no sudden increase in strength that left him slightly out of control.

He could see his own panel in his eyes.

[Age: 19/106]

[Spiritual Root: Low Grade]

[ cultivation: Early Qi Refining (83/100)]

[Technique: Yellow Earth Technique (Grand Master 0/500)]

[Spells: Earth Bullet Technique (Minor Accomplishment 1/100), Sand Raising Technique (Perfect Integration 200/300), Breath Concealing Technique (Perfect Integration 93/300), Earth Armor Technique (Minor Accomplishment 91/100)]

[Divine Ability: None]

[Hundred Arts: Appraisal (Initial Glimpse 0/20), Culinary Arts (Practiced Ease 0/50)]

He had broken through once again tonight.

His cultivation accumulation had increased by fifteen points. The other Earth Element Spells had influenced one another as well, each increasing to some degree, resulting in his current state.

His basic cultivation efficiency had still increased by roughly ten percent on top of what it had been.

Because he had only so much time to cultivate each night, even after the breakthrough in his technique improved the efficiency of every circulation and shortened the time required, he could not greatly increase the number of cycles he completed.

Seventeen times. That was the most suitable number for him now.

"Compared with before, my overall efficiency has increased by another twenty-five percent. At this rate, I'll break through my cultivation before the technique breaks through again. It'll probably take about five months..."

As he calculated, he had not even been formally cultivating for two years, yet he was already about to break through to Mid-stage Qi Refining. This was clearly not a speed that an ordinary person from the Underlying Layer could possess.

But it was not a major problem. His Perfect Integration Breath Concealing Technique could now completely deceive even Ren Li, an overseer parachuted in with considerable backing. The others in the Shack District were even less likely to notice.

"Of course, I might not need to hide it..."

Crack! Snap!

Just as Du En was thinking, the roof planks finally gave way. Amid shrill splintering sounds, the gale tore them open and sent them flying into the deep black night ravaged by the storm.

At last, the torrential rain was no longer blocked and came pouring down.

Amid the thunderous roar, it resembled a snarling dragon, bellowing again and again.

This made Du En stop thinking about it. He shifted his attention and looked toward the night sky, where dark clouds, fierce winds, thunder, and heavy rain had all gathered.

A typhoon had made landfall!

The matter Du En had considered at the beginning of the year had not arrived in summer. Instead, it had come late, in this period between late autumn and early winter.

Its force was astonishing—at least level seventeen!

With the first roof plank torn away, the remaining planks quickly followed in its footsteps.

Before long, the entire roof had vanished.

The valuable belongings inside the shack, especially his private savings, had naturally been hidden and secured earlier that evening when he noticed something amiss. He had no fear of them being blown away now.

Du En's body remained motionless. As the rain poured down in sheets, he silently cast a spell to block it.

A layer of yellow-earth armor an inch thick began to cover his body, sealing him tightly and giving him a hard, well-defined appearance.

Earth Armor Technique.

But it was only at the Initial Glimpse level.

He put on this Earth Armor, meant primarily to block rain, secondarily to guard against falling debris, and lastly to add weight. Only then did he push open the door and step into the downpour.

The small courtyard had long since been ravaged by the gale and torrential rain. The other corpse-buriers' shacks were the same, their roofs torn to pieces.

Wei Ming had it worst of all. He had even been blown away and was now clinging desperately to the broken edge of a wall, like a scrap of fluff drifting in the wind. The moment he dared let go, he would vanish without a trace.

"Ahhhhh! Boss, save me!"

The reason he was in such a sorry state was naturally that the weather had already been drizzly and gloomy since the afternoon. He had needed to resist the tenacious infiltration of sinister entities, which had basically drained his magic power, and he had not been able to recover in time.

The others were slightly better off—but only slightly. They were struggling to take care of themselves and had no way to lend him a hand.

They could not even hear his words clearly. Their ears held nothing but the roar of thunder and the howl of the gale.

Occasionally, another mournful scream would mingle with them.

Those were the final cries of people in other places, carried away by the typhoon and crying out from the brink of death.

Hearing those screams, Wei Ming grew even more terrified.

He had never expected to die neither in the corpse-burying work nor in the human disasters of gang oppression and the like, but in this seemingly "ordinary" natural disaster.

"Ahhh... I don't want to die..."

Amid his scream, a roof plank came hurtling through the wind and slammed into his face, leaving him dizzy. His hand loosened instinctively.

It was over!

Wei Ming came to his senses, and despair filled his heart.

The next moment, lightning flashed and illuminated the earth.

That quiet figure appeared beneath the light as well. Clad in thick armor, he radiated an imposing dignity without anger, as if a heavenly god had descended. He reached out and seized Wei Ming's hand, then yanked him down, pulling him back from the gale.

"Boss!!!"

Wei Ming cried out excitedly. Struggling to open his eyes wide in the gale, he saw all kinds of debris being carried by the wind and crashing violently against Du En. Yet Du En remained utterly unmoved, and not even a hairline crack appeared in the Earth Armor covering his body.

He merely raised his head calmly and looked toward the heavy rain, dark clouds, thunder, and gale.

Many hardworking people from the Underlying Layer were now mixed among the fragments and assorted debris, dragged away and swallowed by the typhoon. Their fate was plain for all to see.