The Main World, Zihua Manor, Golden Continent.
After leaving the Three Yang Sword Sect, Lin Ze had returned here.
He had just gained quite a few benefits, so naturally, he needed to take some time to digest them.
As usual, he first opened the Gates to Heavens and tossed the newly acquired "Qi Consumption Method" to the martial arts fanatic who had already helped him test two techniques. The man could verify whether the technique was genuine—and, most importantly, whether it had any unknown side effects.
Next, Lin Ze took out a microscope and began analyzing the components of the two Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures he had just obtained.
Lin Ze could identify most of the components in the two treasures, and none were toxic. He extracted some of the unknown substances and tested them on animals, but nothing went wrong.
By then, Lin Ze's dedicated test subject had also sent back new information. The "Qi Consumption Method" had no problems either. It could indeed greatly strengthen one's digestive system, allowing the body to absorb more nutrients from ordinary food.
Judging from the final results of his analysis, Longevity Palace was genuinely sincere about cooperating. They had tampered with neither the Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures nor the secret technique they had sent.
And now, Lin Ze put these gains to practical use on himself.
First, he learned the "Qi Consumption Method."
After training for a while, Lin Ze successfully mastered the secret technique and began testing its effects.
Once he had prepared a great deal of food, Lin Ze circulated the Qi Consumption Method, gathering the blood and qi throughout his body and activating his digestive powers to their utmost.
A large pot of braised potatoes and beef was brought to the table, and Lin Ze dug in with a bowl of rice.
Normally, with Lin Ze's current digestive capacity, he would have been almost full after finishing the entire pot of food. But with the Qi Consumption Method boosting his digestion, he ate all the meat and rice without feeling the slightest fullness.
Next came a huge grilled fish, a large crab, a lobster, and a roast suckling pig.
Dish after dish was brought to the table, but Lin Ze's stomach was like a bottomless pit, easily swallowing it all without the slightest strain.
As he continued eating, Lin Ze could clearly feel the food in his stomach being digested at astonishing speed. Warmth spread through his body, and a surging sense of strength coursed through him as his lively blood and qi were refined by the Inner Breath circulating through his meridians and acupoints.
It felt just like eating Spiritual Medicine meant to aid cultivation.
He could clearly feel his cultivation advancing rapidly.
By the time he finished his meal, Lin Ze had eaten two hundred times the amount of food a normal person would. Only then did he finally feel full.
Or rather, his Inner Breath cultivation had temporarily reached the limit his meridians and acupoints could withstand. He could no longer refine the vital essence from food on a large scale.
Lin Ze set down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and burped. Then he began summing up the effects of the Qi Consumption Method.
"This Qi Consumption Method really is powerful."
"Longevity Palace has managed to secretly grow and accumulate a certain amount of strength despite the Great Zhou Dynasty controlling most of the world's resources. They probably owe it to this method. You can reach a profound level just by eating ordinary meals, without relying on medicinal herbs."
"Still, eating alone isn't necessarily cheaper. All this food cost me over a hundred thousand yuan, which would be three or four hundred taels of silver. Even if I ate ordinary ingredients, the cost would still be ten or twenty taels."
"The one advantage is that, for Longevity Palace's martial artists, food is easier to obtain than medicinal herbs. After all, powerful warriors like them can hunt lions and tigers in the mountains or catch giant whales at sea to eat."
"And this Qi Consumption Method is useful to me too. I'm not short on medicinal herbs to aid my cultivation, but with this method, I can cultivate faster. Besides, I can indulge my appetite as much as I like and eat hundreds of times the normal amount at every meal."
"Being able to enjoy the pleasure of eating whenever I want is pretty great."
Lin Ze thought it over, satisfied with the secret technique's effects. It was as if another source of joy had been added to his life.
After confirming the Qi Consumption Method's effects, Lin Ze took some time to handle a few odds and ends, then went to sleep.
Once his digestion had more or less recovered, he began to absorb the effects of the two Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures he had just obtained.
In the quiet underground chamber of Zihua Manor, Lin Ze was alone.
First was the Ten Thousand Year Stone Stalactite. This Heavenly Material Earthly Treasure looked like a drop of jade marrow about the size of a grape. Its main effect was to strengthen the body's bones and muscles after consumption, increasing one's strength and, to a lesser extent, improving one's constitution.
The reason Lin Ze had learned the Qi Consumption Method first was so he could digest the Ten Thousand Year Stone Stalactite's effects as thoroughly and quickly as possible.
Now, Lin Ze swallowed the Ten Thousand Year Stone Stalactite.
At once, he clearly felt a cool current flowing through his entire body, jolting his mind awake. Then the blood and qi throughout his body began to circulate at high speed, as if transforming into a hammer that pounded and tempered his bones and muscles.
A tingling numbness spread through his body. Lin Ze felt as if he were a piece of metal being hammered and forged a thousand times over, his body undergoing an indescribable transformation.
He had no idea how much time had passed before the strange sensations finally faded.
Rising to his feet and clenching his fist, Lin Ze could clearly feel a powerful strength filling his entire body. His flesh, bones, and skin had all become tougher and stronger.
He assumed a stance and tested himself briefly. Lin Ze found that his physical strength was several times greater than before.
His punch sent wind roaring like thunder.
Lin Ze was currently at the True Condensation stage.
In the Great Zhou martial world, a standard True Condensation martial artist could easily kill fifty armored soldiers without injury. If they fought to the death without retreating, they could kill over a hundred. Against ordinary civilians, they could even mow down thousands single-handedly.
Lin Ze felt that he could now kill over a thousand armored soldiers by himself, sword in hand, without suffering so much as a scratch.
Such combat power was already on par with a top-tier expert, and he even had the bearing of a Peerless Expert.
This was partly due to his advantage in cultivating an peerless divine technique, which gave him much stronger Inner Breath and physical prowess than other martial artists at the same level. But the Ten Thousand Year Stone Stalactite he had just consumed had also played a part, showing just how powerful this Heavenly Material Earthly Treasure was.
Next, Lin Ze swallowed the Sword Mushroom.
This naturally sword-shaped mushroom could slightly increase a martial artist's spiritual essence and vitality, but its greater effect was helping people comprehend sword intent.
After consuming the Sword Mushroom, Lin Ze felt himself enter a profound, ethereal state.
His body naturally assumed a stance, and he began practicing Zhou Tian Swordplay.
When Lin Ze had practiced this sword art before, he had been in a very calm state, treating it merely as a means of killing and defending against enemies. But now, he felt a sense of closeness toward the sword in his hand. In a very short time, his rigid and clumsy movements became fluid and lively.
The essence, energy, and spirit that had surged from consuming the Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures also began to gather from their scattered state as he practiced.
As his sword danced, the sharpness radiating from Lin Ze grew ever stronger.
Gales whipped through the underground chamber, but gradually, the swirling winds softened into gentle breezes. Before long, they had vanished completely, as if Lin Ze had disappeared into the breeze along with the sword in his hand.
"Essence joins with energy, energy joins with spirit, and spirit joins with intent. By using this to draw upon the essence, energy, and spirit of the whole body and sweep away one's enemies, one forms an intent."
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Ze emerged from his state of enlightenment.
He sensed his essence, energy, and spirit. His Inner Breath was stronger than ever, his blood and qi roiled through his body, and his mind controlled all of this power. His entire being radiated a sharpness he had never felt before.
Lin Ze had now broken through True Condensation and reached the Spirit Accumulation stage, becoming a top-tier martial artist. His combat power had risen to another level.
If before Lin Ze had merely shown some signs of becoming a Peerless Expert, now his martial arts alone were enough to make him the strongest below that level.
Normally, two Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures wouldn't have been enough to bring Lin Ze to his current level.
But the enhancement from the Gates to Heavens had made his spirit exceptionally powerful, saving him a great deal of time in building up his foundation. That was why, after comprehending sword intent, he had been able to leap straight from True Condensation to a highly advanced level of Spirit Accumulation.
"Next, I just need to keep accumulating essence, energy, and spirit, then cultivate my intent and use my own essence, energy, and spirit to condense Aura and undergo Rebirth and Transformation. Then I can become a Peerless Expert."
"That will be a long process, but fortunately, I'm still young."
As Lin Ze sensed the road ahead in his martial cultivation, he grew even more pleased with the Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures Longevity Palace had sent him. They had saved him yet more time building up his foundation.
After sensing the changes in his martial arts, Lin Ze turned his attention to the foundation of his combat power: his Mental Power.
Now that he had comprehended intent and reached the Spirit Accumulation stage, Lin Ze could use his own blood, qi, and Inner Breath to nourish his spirit. This greatly strengthened his Mental Power.
On top of that, his intent allowed him to channel the essence, energy, and spirit throughout his body into his Mental Power, making it stronger still.
After trying it out, Lin Ze quickly sensed the upper limit of his Mental Power.
"My precision is still at the micrometer level, but its strength has gone from about five hundred pounds to five thousand. Its duration hasn't changed much; I can maintain it for a little over half an hour in all-out combat."
"Still, its strength has increased so much without reducing its duration. That alone is a huge improvement."
"Now, I no longer need to worry about the threat posed by Peerless Experts. With Mental Power strong enough to exert five thousand pounds of force, I can wield even more powerful weapons. I could replace my machine gun with a cannon and level an entire city block with one shot."
"And cannons are not only devastatingly powerful, but they also fire extremely quickly. Even a Peerless Expert with an Indestructible Body could withstand at most one shot before being gravely wounded. A second would kill them without a doubt."
Sensing these changes, Lin Ze formed an entirely new assessment of his current combat power.
If Lin Ze could previously be called invincible among Peerless Experts, then he could now be considered a one-man army at the Heavenly-Realm level. Against a stationary target, his destructive power was even beyond measure.
However, Lin Ze still had weaknesses.
Although he could now use Mental Power to wield heavy artillery and unleash tremendous destructive force, and had the Within Reach Horizon ability to protect himself from assassinations by swift enemies, he still had to fear mental attacks.
It was precisely because he had reached the Spirit Accumulation stage and comprehended intent that Lin Ze could now better understand the power of mental attacks.
Traditional martial artists, even those who reached the Peerless Expert level, could only begin to influence the outside world. But once they reached the Heavenly-Realm level, their spirits could grow to an entirely new dimension and directly attack the minds of others.
"So next, although I can act more boldly thanks to my increased combat power, I still have to be careful not to let another expert's mental attack influence me."
"Then it's about time I met the real person in charge of Longevity Palace."
Lin Ze had finished taking stock of the changes in his combat power.
Next, he spent some time devising a new combat style and familiarizing himself with it.
Time passed quickly as he did so, bringing him to the end of March—the time he had arranged to meet Longevity Palace's leader.
Before setting out, Lin Ze checked his remaining fortune.
Over the past period, fertilizer sales had continued unabated, while the textile factory at North Sea Pass and the mining business at South Gate Pass had also been steadily progressing. On top of that, Lin Ze's own industries had continued bringing him fortune.
By now, Lin Ze's fortune had increased significantly, and his balance had surpassed two hundred thousand.
Without much hesitation, Lin Ze took out two hundred thousand fortune and used it to enhance his Personal Space.
As the enhancement began, Lin Ze felt his Personal Space expand to forty cubic meters.
More importantly, his spirit rapidly grew, and his understanding of space continued to deepen.
When the enhancement ended, Lin Ze's spiritual strength had increased greatly, and the distance he could shorten or extend with Within Reach Horizon had reached five hundred meters.
At this point, even against a Heavenly-Realm expert, Lin Ze had ample means to protect himself.
March 28.
The Three Yang Sword Sect, behind the sect's mountain gate.
This was a scenic spot near the edge of a cliff, with a pavilion built there.
From inside the pavilion, one could see the clouds rolling and unrolling below the mountain, a landscape straight out of paradise.
A Taoist in a blue robe sat quietly in the pavilion, boiling tea. The moment Lin Ze appeared, the Taoist turned his gaze toward him.
He smiled and said, "You're here."
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