Innate Cultivation Method: Cold Shadow Absolute

Although Shen Fan's words had convinced many people, even he had his doubts.

But Huang Ling had to die. The two of them had already reached the point of no return. Since Huang Ling had lost and still dared to bare his claws at him, there was no way Shen Fan would let him live.

The best way to cultivate the Longevity Martial Path was to eliminate every source of danger.

After Huang Ling died, the dozens of Viscera Refiners he had brought with him stopped resisting as well.

What was the point of fighting back? Shen Fan had killed an Xiantian Expert with his own hands. How could little grasshoppers like them dare to kick up a fuss?

The surrender of the top fighters brought the entire force with it. Just like that, the Ox Demon Martial Arts School subdued almost every powerful figure in Laiyang City without much effort.

With a single leap, Zhang Longyun had become the most powerful man in all of Laiyang. It felt like a dream.

But he knew how he had come by all this, so he regarded Shen Fan with profound awe.

"Third Brother, our Ox Demon Martial Arts School is now the master of Laiyang City. From here on, we must be careful and focus on growing our strength!"

Zhang Yunhu replied solemnly, "Big Brother, developing the Martial Hall is important, but winning that man over is even more important!"

Zhang Yunhu now didn't even dare to say Shen Fan's name aloud.

Among the Martial Artists of Laiyang City, Shen Fan had practically become a taboo.

Zhang Longyun understood what Zhang Yunhu meant.

"Then what should we do to tie him to our chariot?"

"Gold and silver, or beautiful women? Something else?"

A flash of light gleamed in Zhang Yunhu's eyes. "Big Brother, you're being foolish! What do gold, silver, and beautiful women matter? They're all worldly possessions. What we Martial Artists desire most is to become stronger, isn't it?"

"So you mean we should give him treasures or cultivation methods?" Zhang Longyun asked uncertainly. He truly wasn't good at dealing with people.

"Exactly. Treasures and cultivation methods. With his strength, he surely has his own inheritance, but offering him our most precious possessions will better show our sincerity!" Zhang Yunhu declared confidently.

Although Shen Fan had once been an ordinary disciple, everyone now chose to overlook that fact.

In Laiyang City, he was unquestionably the strongest person around!

After pondering for a while, Zhang Longyun finally made up his mind. "All right, Third Brother. I'll leave this to you. We can give him a copy of all our cultivation manuals!"

"Big Brother, not just those from our Martial Hall. We should send over the manuals from the other schools too!"

"Mm. Third Brother, you've thought of everything!"

Soon, under Zhang Longyun and Zhang Yunhu's direction, the martial arts manuals of the Four Great Martial Arts Schools were all sent to the City Lord's Mansion, where Shen Fan had chosen to stay.

Compared with his previous residence, the City Lord's Mansion was far more comfortable. It had a dedicated training ground, and the other buildings were grand and imposing, very much to Shen Fan's taste.

Besides, his current status made it inappropriate for him to live alongside ordinary disciples.

The first thing Shen Fan did after arriving at the City Lord's Mansion was seek out the martial arts manuals Huang Ling had collected. Of all those books, the one he valued most was undoubtedly the Innate Cultivation Method: Cold Shadow Absolute.

He set the other manuals aside for the time being.

As he gradually learned more about the Innate Cultivation Method, Shen Fan came to understand what the Innate Realm was.

If Martial Artists in the Qi and Blood Great Realm focused on increasing their qi and blood and tempering their bodies, the Innate Realm was entirely different.

Unblocking the body's meridians, drawing in Spiritual Energy to temper the body, and forming True Qi within—this was the process of becoming Xiantian.

But to learn the specifics, he would have to study the cultivation method.

In the Innate Realm, Martial Artists no longer competed in qi and blood, but in the quantity and quality of their Innate True Essence.

Generally speaking, the more qi and blood a Martial Artist had when breaking through to Xiantian, and the stronger their physique, the more Innate True Essence their body could hold.

The Innate Ninth Layer was divided into three stages. The first three layers were all about accumulating Innate True Essence.

The amount of True Qi a body could hold varied according to one's physique. Some people had only a few dozen strands, others a few hundred, and still others more than a thousand!

Once the body had reached its limit, the True Qi had to be compressed into Liquid True Essence. This was how its quality improved, a process corresponding to the fourth through sixth layers of the Innate Realm.

Once all the True Qi in the body had condensed into liquid, the Dantian had to be gradually opened. As the Dantian opened, the Liquid True Essence would become active, and eventually might form True Essence.

The moment one condensed True Essence, it meant they had broken through to the next realm—the Core Formation Realm.

Shen Fan knew nothing about the Core Formation Realm or the realms beyond it, because the City Lord's Mansion's manuals didn't mention them.

An Xiantian Expert already counted as a powerful figure in their own right, at least in Lanzhou Xuanyang Prefecture. As for the higher Core Formation Realm, only the truly powerful forces had information about it.

So Shen Fan wasn't in a hurry to learn about higher realms. His priority was to break through to Xiantian as soon as possible.

With Cold Shadow Absolute, he believed it wouldn't be long before he broke through.

The next day, Zhang Longyun and Zhang Yunhu arrived at the City Lord's Mansion with a large number of martial arts manuals. After explaining why they had come, they were allowed inside without difficulty.

As soon as they met, Zhang Longyun adopted a deferential posture. "Senior Shen, I'm deeply sorry to trouble you today. But I heard that you're devoted to martial arts, so I took the liberty of bringing over every martial arts manual we could gather in Laiyang City!"

At first, Shen Fan wasn't used to Zhang Longyun's form of address. But after thinking it over, he let it go. In this world, if the strong showed too little regard for proper conduct, it was hard for the weak to feel at ease.

"Mm. Thank you for your efforts. Rest assured, I won't interfere in Laiyang City. You can carry on as you normally would."

Shen Fan stared eagerly at the huge pile of manuals they had brought. He was already itching to get started.

Everyone present could tell what Shen Fan was thinking. After a few more pleasantries, they all took their leave. Only Zhang Yunhu glanced back at him, his expression complicated.

Shen Fan said nothing. He had his own plans, and he would settle everything at the final moment.

With so many martial arts manuals at his disposal, Shen Fan plunged into another busy period. His talent already far surpassed that of ordinary people, but mastering every method in a short time would still be difficult.

That was all right. His lifespan already far exceeded that of ordinary Xiantian experts, so he could afford to spend some time on it.

He trained relentlessly, studying both First-class Martial Arts and Second-class Martial Arts—he needed them all. As for anything below Second-class, it could no longer help him gain Attribute Points, so he treated those methods as reference material.

When it came to the Martial Path, one had to gather the strengths of a hundred schools to go far.

While Shen Fan devoted himself to training, Laiyang City finally regained stability and restored order. Now the city had only one dominant force: the Ox Demon Martial Arts School. As for the City Lord's Mansion, it had become a taboo, aloof and untouchable.

No one dared disturb Shen Fan while he was in secluded cultivation. That left him more time to study martial arts, and he was quite satisfied with that.

The only time Shen Fan went out during this period was to bring Li An back from the Ox Demon Martial Arts School.

He had promised to teach Li An the Martial Path and help him bring his True Combined Strength to great mastery, so Shen Fan kept his word.

At the City Lord's Mansion, Shen Fan had only two things to do each day: train himself and teach Li An.

The two of them were like ascetic monks, racing tirelessly along the broad road of the Martial Path.

But Shen Fan's progress was far beyond Li An's. After all, their talents differed by quite a margin.

But that didn't matter. For Li An, every moment spent with Senior Brother Shen was a precious memory he would treasure for the rest of his life. As for strength, he would let nature take its course.

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