Inside a simple quiet room in the Zhang Family Side Courtyard.
As one of the people heading into battle this time, Zhang Tieshan did not rest.
The dark-skinned man sat bare-chested, repeatedly wiping the "Seven Stars Thunder Fire Armor" bestowed by the Young Master under the dim candlelight.
"Half a month left..."
Zhang Tieshan stopped moving his hands and looked at the ferocious lightning patterns on the armor. A trace of anxiety flashed through his eyes.
He had been stuck at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage for a full ten years.
This bottleneck was like an insurmountable mountain. No matter how many pills he took or how hard he cultivated day and night, he simply could not pierce through that thin layer.
Although he had shouted that he was not afraid of death when facing the Wang Family this time, he feared that his strength was insufficient and that he would drag the family down.
Even more than that, he feared failing the Young Master's weighty trust.
"If only I could break through... Even if I had to exchange ten years of my lifespan for it, I'd still be willing!"
Zhang Tieshan fiercely thumped his thigh, producing a muffled bang.
Just then, a sudden change occurred.
A warm current of unknown origin welled up from the depths of his dantian.
This force was gentle and rich, yet vast as the sea.
In an instant, it filled all four limbs and hundreds of bones.
"This... What is this?!"
Zhang Tieshan's bull eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.
He had not been cultivating, nor had he taken any pills, yet this Spiritual Power seemed to have been infused into him out of thin air. He did not need to refine it at all.
The warm current surged along his meridians. The bottleneck that had originally been indestructible faced this force...
It was like a sandcastle meeting the waves.
Boom—!
A muffled explosion erupted inside his body.
His aura climbed steadily!
The candle flame in the quiet room was shaken into a wild dance and nearly went out.
Zhang Tieshan stared blankly at his hands, then clenched his fists hard.
An explosive crack rang through the air. That powerful sense of control belonging to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage...
It felt so real that he wanted to cry.
"I... I broke through?"
The feeling was too dreamlike, as if Heaven itself had played an enormous joke on him.
The same scene occurred five times in succession throughout the Zhang Family Courtyard that night.
Those five clansmen who had originally worried that their insufficient strength would drag the family down...
All crossed the threshold that had troubled them for years at the same time.
Unlike the delight on the Zhang Family's side, Black Reef Island, several hundred miles away, was shrouded in a suffocating, sinister chill inside the Wang Family's headquarters.
In the underground Secret Chamber beneath the Wang Family's council hall.
The place was furnished with extreme luxury. Night-bright pearls were set into the walls for illumination, while thick Demon Beast pelts covered the floor.
Yet at this moment, even the usually overbearing Family Head of the Wang Family, Wang Lie, could only stand humbly below.
Standing beside him was Wang Teng, his face alight with fanaticism and excitement.
On the tiger-skin throne at the head of the room, however, no one from the Wang Family sat.
Instead, a middle-aged man in a white robe occupied it.
The white-robed man had a fair, clean face and even looked somewhat refined, but his eyes were narrow and cold.
Whenever they opened and closed, green ghostfire seemed to flicker within his pupils.
In his hand, he toyed with a string of beads polished from human skulls.
This man was none other than Li Wuji, an outer sect elder of the Yin Luo Sect, a cultivator of the Demonic Path on the mainland.
"Elder Li, for you to personally grace our tiny East Mountain Islands is truly the Wang Family's good fortune. You have brought glory to our humble abode!"
Wang Lie bent his body, his face piled high with an obsequious smile.
There was no trace of the domineering "Madman Wang" he usually was.
Li Wuji did not even raise his eyelids. His voice was shrill and cold. "Enough with the nonsense. I came this time because of that Secret Realm!"
"The higher-ups attach great importance to this matter and do not want anything to go awry."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Wang Lie nodded repeatedly. "Please rest assured, Elder. Our Wang Family is fully prepared this time. The Zhang Family is already a grasshopper in autumn; it will not be jumping around for many days."
"Hmph. If it were truly as easy as you claim, would you still need to request aid from the sect?"
Li Wuji let out a cold snort. The skull beads in his hand stopped turning and gave a crisp click.
Wang Lie smiled awkwardly. "This... This is merely to ensure absolute security. The Zhang Family does have some foundation, after all. Especially that old ghost Zhang Tianzheng—I heard he has recently shown signs of returning light before death..."
"Enough."
Li Wuji impatiently waved his hand and pointed toward the shadows behind him. "This time, I brought two personal disciples to lend you a hand."
As his voice fell, the shadows writhed.
Two cultivators completely wrapped in black robes...
With only a pair of sinister eyes exposed, they walked out.
Their auras were extremely obscure, carrying a dense scent of blood.
Yet their cultivation had genuinely reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage Peak.
They were only a hair's breadth away from the False Core Realm.
"These are Xue Sha and Gu Ling."
Li Wuji said indifferently, "They cultivate my Yin Luo Sect's Killing Secret Art. Among those of the same realm, few can match them. In this Arena Competition, let them replace those two useless slots of yours."
"Thank you, Elder! Thank you, Elder!"
Wang Teng's eyes shone brightly as he watched from the side.
Anyone could tell at a glance that these two were ruthless characters. The Killing Intent surrounding them was even heavier than that of the Rogue Cultivators he had encountered.
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