Refraction and Breakthrough

"Courting death!" The Grey-robed Cultivator with the treasure-seeking rat sneered when he saw Lin Chen charging at him.

He knew the other party wanted to take advantage of everyone's scattered attention to kill him and prevent the news from leaking, which would draw a siege upon himself.

But did the other party not realize that someone like him, who had stood out among countless Rogue Cultivators, reached Qi Refining Perfection, and was on the verge of Foundation Establishment, would not be so easy to deal with?

"I'll let you little brat taste my power!" As he spoke, the Grey-robed Cultivator pulled a Golden Spirit Sword from his Storage Bag and sent it directly at Lin Chen.

The spirit sword came roaring in, radiating streaks of golden light.

Beneath the radiance of the Golden Spirit Sword, an inconspicuous invisible Spirit Needle shot toward Lin Chen's vital points from an extremely tricky angle.

Clearly, the spirit sword was only meant to draw Lin Chen's attention. The true attack was the Spirit Needle hidden in the dark!

This Spirit Needle had been made from the tail of an exceedingly rare and special demonic beast—the Jade Scorpion. It possessed two properties: Law Breaking and lethal poison.

Law Breaking could shatter most cultivators' protective spirit shields in one blow, while the lethal poison could take a person's life!

Once it struck its target, even if they did not die, they would still be afflicted by deadly poison.

At that point, the other party would absolutely be unable to contend with him at his peak.

Controlling two spirit artifacts at once, attacking with the open move as a feint and the hidden move as the real strike, coupled with the Spirit Needle's Law Breaking and poisonous properties—these vicious methods had made him invincible in cultivator conflicts.

Not only had he slain a great many enemies and fat sheep, but the Grey-robed Cultivator had also plundered vast resources, giving himself a chance to aspire to Foundation Establishment.

And now, not only would another life be added to his tally, he might even obtain the Marrow Cleansing Method to remove the hidden dangers in his body, perhaps even a precious spirit treasure—the Hundred Year Jade Marrow.

"Die!" The Grey-robed Cultivator gave a savage grin, as though he could already see the scene of himself collecting the spoils.

He controlled the Spirit Needle to pierce through Lin Chen first, then brought the Golden Sword down fiercely upon him.

Even if the other party had been poisoned, he would still strike again without hesitation!

After all, if he did not finish the job and gave the other party a chance to catch his breath, only for him to pull out some method of mutual destruction, that would be a truly unjust death.

Buzz!

The Golden Sword descended from above with razor-sharp force, cleaving the utterly defenseless Lin Chen in two!

"Wh-what is going on?!" Seeing this scene, the Grey-robed Cultivator showed no joy. Instead, his smile froze, and shock filled his face.

Because when the Golden Sword passed through Lin Chen's body, it did not split him in half. Not even blood or flesh splattered out!

On the contrary, Lin Chen continued charging at him as if nothing had happened!

"That's impossible!" The Grey-robed Cultivator's face was full of disbelief.

If the other party had blocked it with a Life-Saving Talisman or a Defense Spirit Artifact, or if he were a Body Cultivator who had resisted it with his flesh, he could still understand.

But he had never seen anything like this—where a spirit sword passed through someone's body as though it had struck nothing at all!

Could it be an illusion? No, impossible. Illusions at the Qi Refining Stage are merely false images and are easily distinguished. How could it be so realistic... The Grey-robed Cultivator gritted his teeth and revealed another of his trump cards.

All manner of things flashed through his eyes like flowing light. In the end, his pupils became vertical and gave off a faint green glow, like a snake's eyes.

This was a unique trick he had obtained from an Ancient Cultivator's Cave Mansion—the Jade Eye Spirit Pupil.

Not only could it perceive the tiniest details and assist in battle, it could also see through illusions to a certain extent.

Yet when he looked at Lin Chen again, his pupils abruptly contracted.

Because the Lin Chen in his eyes was not illusory in the slightest. He could even clearly make out every detail of the other party's clothes, shoes, and everything else on his body!

Given all the circumstances before him, the other party was either an illusion or a real person!

But how could a real person ignore his attacks like a mirror image?

"This isn't an illusion. It's the refraction of light." Seemingly noticing his shock, Lin Chen smiled faintly.

"Refraction?" The Grey-robed Cultivator could not help but freeze upon hearing those words.

Yet in the instant his mind wandered, Lin Chen's Gaze suddenly turned sharp. His entire figure blurred, as if countless figures were overlapping together, then stretched out like dough, forming a bizarre and fantastical sight.

By the time the Grey-robed Cultivator reacted, Lin Chen had vanished from where he stood some distance away and appeared directly in front of him.

The change had happened so swiftly, within the instant he had been thinking, that he had no time to retrieve the Defense Spirit Artifact from his Storage Bag!

"No!" Once he came to his senses, the Grey-robed Cultivator's Eyes Bursting with Rage. Spiritual light flashed across his body to protect him as he attempted to risk his life in resistance.

But how could the defensive measures he formed in such haste withstand Lin Chen's long-planned attack?

Thus, a hand wrapped in red light tore straight through his protective spirit shield and clamped tightly around his throat!

Crack, cracking sound!

Bang!

In an instant, the Grey-robed Cultivator's head was forcibly torn from his body by Lin Chen. Then, under an enormous force, the head in his hand burst on the spot like a brittle melon, spraying red and white fluid everywhere!

"What?!"

The previously noisy scene instantly fell silent.

At this moment, whether it was the cultivators surrounding him or those who had fled from the battlefield some distance away, all of them wore faces full of shock upon seeing this scene. The cultivators blocking Lin Chen were even more so.

They had to know that, after catching the trail of the cultivator who had purchased the Foundation Establishment Secret Method, their attention had shifted away for over ten seconds.

Ten seconds was only enough time for a few sentences, yet in that brief span, Lin Chen had actually made his move and slain the Grey-robed Cultivator, someone of some renown among their Rogue Cultivators.

Moreover, what they found even more unbelievable was Lin Chen's method of disregarding attacks and achieving instantaneous movement through shifts of light and shadow.

Having lived for so many years, they had never seen such an eerie technique!

Just who was this person?

This thought flashed through the minds of everyone present.

Lin Chen walked forward expressionlessly. The rogue cultivators who had been blocking his path all unconsciously took a step back, and not one of them dared meet his gaze.

If the other party had merely been overwhelmingly strong, yet was still in the Qi Refining Stage, they might have dared to fight him on the strength of their numbers.

The problem was, the methods he had displayed—disregarding attacks, instantaneous movement, and the like—were simply too bizarre. Not a single rogue cultivator dared stop him; they even feared that one extra glance would get them killed!

Fortunately, I acted decisively and used the Invisibility Technique to intimidate them. Otherwise, if they had surrounded me and dragged me into a chaotic group battle, there would probably have been no small amount of trouble...

Lin Chen's face was ice cold, yet this thought flashed through his mind.

Of course, the Invisibility Technique he spoke of was not one of the ordinary templates sold on the market, but an improved version.

The Invisibility Techniques sold on the market not only gave off Spiritual Energy Fluctuations when cast, but could also easily be seen through by methods such as Pupil Techniques. Thus, Lin Chen had thought of many ways to improve it.

In Lin Chen's view, the purpose of an Invisibility Technique was to launch unexpected attacks in battle.

With that in mind, he had thought of two methods of improvement.

The first was to blind others' senses, making them subconsciously overlook him—what could be called invisibility in the psychological sense.

But human perception was tied to consciousness and the soul. With Lin Chen's Qi Refining Stage Cultivation Level, he could not explore the soul, so naturally he could not improve it to that extent.

Thus, Lin Chen adopted the second method: making use of the refraction of light.

Anyone who had speared fish knew that when spearing one, you could not aim at the fish's body, but had to aim below it.

This was because light refracted in water, causing one to misjudge its position.

The essence of the Invisibility Technique was to use spiritual energy to form a layer of material similar to an invisibility cloak, concealing one's body.

Thus, combining the principle of light refraction, Lin Chen changed the invisible material in the Invisibility Technique into a substance similar to water, then expanded its range, causing enemies to misjudge his position.

From beginning to end, what the Grey-robed Cultivator had seen was Lin Chen's true body. Yet due to the refraction of light, he misjudged Lin Chen's position every time, causing his attacks to miss. That was why the earlier scene had occurred.

And because he had judged Lin Chen's position incorrectly, he believed Lin Chen, who was clearly almost in front of him, to be five meters away. That was why it had been too late for him to defend himself.

The strangeness of that recent clash was precisely the unbelievable sight Lin Chen had created by combining certain theories from his previous life with this life's cultivation.

Moreover, Lin Chen's improvements to the Invisibility Technique did not stop there.

Refraction of light and misjudging one's position were merely the first step of improvement.

Next would be blinding perception, achieving something akin to psychological invisibility.

At the later stages, it would be distorting space and time, making heaven and earth, the world itself, unable to perceive his existence—even stepping beyond the Three Realms, outside the Five Elements, such that not even the vast River of Time could sense that he existed!

This was his true pursuit!

And when it reached that stage, this method should no longer be called an Invisibility Technique. It should be called one of the Thirty-six Heavenly Gang Arts—[Upright Shadowless]!

Pulling his thoughts back to reality, Lin Chen continued walking forward step by step with an expressionless face. No one Inside the Room dared stop him.

Watching Lin Chen walk out step by step, with no intention of fighting over the secret method, everyone Inside the Room could not help but let out a long breath in their hearts.

After all, no one wished to face an opponent so powerful and so bizarre in his methods.

But just as he reached the edge of the encircling crowd, a sudden change occurred.

At the center of the crowd, the man who had bought the Foundation Establishment Secret Method suddenly moved.

At some point, a small black ball had appeared in his hand. He clenched it fiercely.

At once, several streaks of lightning flashed. Interweaving, they formed a Ball Lightning that rapidly expanded in an instant, swallowing the people present one after another before they could react!