Cultivation After the Great Grandmaster Realm

After one night of revelry, Lin Heng woke from his hangover.

He felt refreshed and clear-headed. All the pressure weighing on him had vanished, and he was ready to continue climbing toward higher realms.

The spiritual wine was delicious. It was Lin Heng's first time drinking it, and he had indulged a little too much.

At that moment, he circulated his blood and qi, dispersing the lingering drunkenness from his body.

Then, after bathing under a maid's service, he went to the Cloud Sword Palace Main Hall and found his master, Xiao Rang, intending to discuss cultivation in the Great Grandmaster Realm with him.

"My disciple is up quite early. Now that you have reached Great Grandmaster, what are your plans next?"

"You have only just broken through to Great Grandmaster, so you still need several months to consolidate your cultivation. Once the Great Grandmaster Celebration is over, your cultivation realm should be completely stabilized. Would you like to go down the mountain for a walk then?"

Seeing Lin Heng arrive, Xiao Rang spoke with a smile.

Lin Heng had come up the mountain at age five, and nearly nine years had passed since then. He had never gone down the mountain.

With a young person's curiosity about the world, he should have long been unable to hold back the urge to go out and look around.

With Lin Heng's current cultivation, and several sect experts accompanying him, his safety in the Jianghu would be assured.

Only after satisfying his curiosity and settling his restless mind would he be able to remain peacefully in the sect and guard it in the future.

Xiao Rang had once been young himself, so he naturally understood this.

"Master, I wish to continue cultivating. I came today to seek your guidance on the path of cultivation ahead."

Lin Heng had no intention of going down the mountain.

Though he looked young, he was living a second life and had long experienced the myriad phenomena of the mortal world. Ordinary sights of the world held little attraction for him.

What attracted him most now was cultivation!

If Xiao Rang had not previously taught Lin Heng cultivation knowledge only up to becoming a Great Grandmaster, Lin Heng would probably have continued cultivating on his own by now.

"Very well."

Xiao Rang glanced at Lin Heng. Seeing that his expression was not false, he nodded in satisfaction.

As expected of a Natural Cultivation Seed—such a disposition truly left nothing to be desired.

Thus, Xiao Rang began explaining the path of cultivation in the Great Grandmaster Realm to Lin Heng. "Heng'er, you already know that the Great Grandmaster Realm chiefly cultivates intent. Tell your master: what is intent?"

This question was not difficult. Lin Heng had already gained insight into it during his past cultivation.

Without hesitation, he answered, "Intent is an obsession formed in a martial artist's heart from their understanding and insight into heaven and earth nature and the myriad phenomena of the mortal world. By using obsession to condense and sublimate one's spiritual power, one can use an illusory spirit to interfere with physical matter."

"A Great Grandmaster's ability to interfere with heaven and earth nature in a single thought is founded upon this."

Xiao Rang nodded, indicating that Lin Heng was correct.

He smiled and said, "When a martial artist reaches the Twenty-Seventh Heaven of Grandmaster, their physique, internal breath, and spirit have all been cultivated to the peak, reaching a point where there is no further path forward. If they wish to improve further, they can only cultivate intent."

"Once one comprehends intent and achieves mind and spirit sublimation, one can command and gather more abundant and purer heaven and earth origin energy."

"Using it to baptize oneself allows one to break the limit, strengthen the physique, condense the internal breath, and then use even stronger blood and qi to nourish an even stronger spirit, gaining the qualifications to comprehend more powerful intent."

"The breakthrough from Grandmaster to Great Grandmaster is when intent first takes effect."

"After that, every time one sublimates one's intent, one's cultivation rises another Heaven. Those are all the cultivation steps of the Great Grandmaster Realm."

"According to the records of our Cloud Sword Palace, Patriarch Ling Yun, who brought the entire sect to glory, underwent seven transformations and sublimations of his intent, reaching the Great Grandmaster Seventh Heaven. In that era over five hundred years ago, he was the Number One Expert Under Heaven."

"Though he had not yet reached the point of Treating Great Grandmasters as Nothing, his combat power still Far Surpassed Ordinary Great Grandmasters. No one in the world could contend against him, and the heroes of the Jianghu called him a Supreme Great Grandmaster."

After hearing Xiao Rang's explanation, Lin Heng understood.

When a martial artist cultivated to the Twenty-Seventh Heaven, the Great Completion of the Grandmaster Realm, their essence, qi, and spirit reached the Limit of Normal Humans, already at a point where there was no further path forward.

From then on, every attempt to grow stronger required Breaking One's Own Limit, and the key to Breaking the Limit was intent.

Breaking through from the Grandmaster Realm to Great Grandmaster was a martial artist's first time Breaking One's Own Limit.

"Master, which Heaven of Great Grandmaster are you? How many transformations are needed to reach the Heaven-Human Realm?"

Lin Heng asked.

Xiao Rang's cultivation had long reached the realm of returning to simplicity. He never revealed even a trace of aura in daily life, looking like an ordinary old man.

Unless he fought with full strength, even Lin Heng could not discern the depth of his cultivation.

"Great Grandmaster Fourth Heaven."

Xiao Rang first answered the question about his cultivation realm.

He had broken through to Great Grandmaster at fifty-eight years old, and this year he was one hundred ten years old.

In fifty-two years, his intent had transformed three times. It was not especially fast, but neither was it slow.

Before his great limit arrived, he might still raise his cultivation several more Heavens. Perhaps before death, he might even reach Patriarch Ling Yun's realm.

After a pause, Xiao Rang answered Lin Heng's next question.

"As for how many transformations are needed to reach the Heaven-Human Realm, I do not know. Perhaps nine times, perhaps more. After all, no one from our Cloud Sword Palace has reached the Heaven-Human Realm, and no expert worthy of being called a legend has appeared in the Jianghu for many years."

"Only ancient texts once described an invincible expert named the Pure Yang Sword Saint, who transcended the Great Grandmaster Realm and reached the Heaven-Human Realm, a realm comparable to that of a Land Immortal. Then, after many years of diligent cultivation, he reached the realm of Ascension in Broad Daylight."

"In the end, with One Sword Cleaves the Heavenly Gate, he shattered the void and departed."

"Heng'er, when one day you can Treating Great Grandmasters as Nothing throughout the world, perhaps you will have reached the Heaven-Human Realm. Though I do not know whether shattering the void is real."

Lin Heng fell silent upon hearing this.

Would he have to explore everything beyond the Great Grandmaster Seventh Heaven on his own? Hopefully, he could reach the Heaven-Human Realm within his lifetime.

Lin Heng did not dwell on it too much. He only needed to keep cultivating.

As for what height he could ultimately reach, that could be discussed in the future. Even if this time did not work out, he could still start over.

Only after Xiao Rang gave Lin Heng time to digest the information did he continue, "Then come with your master."

He rose and led Lin Heng deep into the Cloud Sword Palace Main Hall, into a secret passage hidden behind a mechanism.

The two descended the steps of the secret passage. Night-Shining Pearls gave off a faint glow as they gradually approached the mountain belly of Cloud Sword Palace.

At last, they arrived in a vast underground space.

It was filled with bookshelves holding many books, as well as numerous sealed stone chambers.

Pointing at the bookshelves, Xiao Rang said to Lin Heng, "This is one of the Library Pavilions of our Cloud Sword Palace. Aside from storing this sect's martial arts, it also contains many martial arts secret manuals collected from other sects throughout the Jianghu."

"Furthermore, the insights and conjectures of the sect's peerless experts throughout the generations regarding the cultivation of intent are also stored here."

"Since you do not wish to travel outside and want to continue cultivating, come to this underground place often from now on."