Five Years

The night passed quickly. The next morning, as Leian was eating breakfast in his dining room, a series of footsteps suddenly sounded outside.

"Captain, were you looking for me?"

The person who arrived was none other than Edwin. After Wilson reorganized the guard squad, he had happened to be assigned under Leian's command.

"Edwin, go tell the others later that from today on, I will be going to the mountain behind the town to train during the day. Do not come to disturb me unless it is necessary. Do you understand?"

Leian looked up at Edwin, his expression quite serious.

The small courtyard in front of the house was still too small to serve as a training ground. Most importantly, after fusing with the magic core, he had to spend time adapting to his demonized body, which was not something he wanted others to see.

Upon hearing Leian's request, Edwin did not find it strange at all. After all, back in Qingshi Town, Leian had been a well-known training fanatic in the guard squad.

"Please rest assured, Captain, I will warn the others!"

Edwin replied with a solemn expression.

"That's all then, you go back to your business."

Leian was quite confident in Edwin, so he waved his hand and dismissed him.

After quickly finishing his breakfast, Leian strapped one heavy and one light longsword to his back and strode toward the mountain behind the town.

Leaving the town, a rocky mountain with sparse vegetation immediately came into view.

As mentioned before, Baifeng Town had a very small population. The reason for this was that the area was mountainous and barren, unable to support many people.

Leian had been here for a month and was already very familiar with the surrounding environment. Standing at the foot of the rocky mountain, he tapped his feet and his body shot upward. Then, using both his hands and feet, he climbed the mountain like an ape, reaching the summit in no time.

There was a small stone platform behind the peak; it wasn't large, but it was more than enough for training.

Leian stood at the edge of the stone platform and looked out. The surrounding ten miles were completely unobstructed, which made his mood brighten a little.

A moment later, he withdrew his gaze, unbuckled his longswords, took off his outer garment, and began his demonization.

Purple-black dragon scales quickly covered his cheeks, and a pair of dragon claws formed rapidly. This time, Leian felt nothing at all during the demonization, as if it were an instinct of his body.

He waved his arms with satisfaction, then grabbed the heavy black sword beside him and began to swing it. There were no deliberate techniques, just the most basic movements like chopping, hacking, parrying, and thrusting.

He practiced like this for over an hour. During this time, Leian clearly felt that his strength and speed had increased by several notches.

This was only the initial fusion, yet the effect was already so obvious. Once the magic core was completely fused, even if he couldn't reach the level of a magical beast, he would likely far surpass warriors of the same rank.

It was no wonder that the Saint Realm experts on the continent were always obsessed with the Spring of Life!

Time flies when training. In the blink of an eye, half a year passed. Under Leian's day-and-night hard work, his battle qi cultivation finally broke through to the level of an eighth-rank warrior a few days ago.

With the progress of his battle qi, the degree of Leian's fusion with the magic core had also deepened. Now, his feet had also completed demonization, and the dragon scales had even covered his thighs.

As the fusion deepened, his strength and speed naturally increased accordingly.

This all-around improvement greatly boosted Leian's strength. He was confident that with his insights into his realm, he would not fear even a ninth-rank warrior.

With such strength, he could be considered a person of some standing on the continent. Leian, who had been keeping his mind tense, decided to rest for a few days.

That afternoon, he was idle and wandered around the town. When he passed the center of the town, he saw that the only tavern was very lively, so he strolled over.

As soon as he entered the tavern, the rich aroma of wine hit his face. Leian scanned the room and found that, rarely, there were twice as many guests as usual.

"Captain Leian, you are a rare guest. Come over and have a drink, it's on me!"

The tavern owner spotted Leian at a glance. He moved his fat body quickly to get closer and greeted him with great enthusiasm.

The town was remote and the population was small. Usually, half of the tavern's customers came from the guard squad, but Leian, the captain, rarely appeared. This had been a source of great frustration for the tavern owner, who was desperate to befriend him. Now that he saw the man himself, he was not about to miss the opportunity.

"No need for you to treat me. As long as you, Jerome, are willing to bring out your prized wine, that will be enough!" Leian joked casually.

"Since Captain Leian has graced us with his presence, how could I hide anything? It just so happens that I have a bottle of 'Wind-Sleep Drunk' that has been stored for ten years. I've never found the right person to taste it, but now it seems it was waiting for you, Captain Leian!"

Jerome said these flattering words with an exaggerated expression, making the regular customers who knew his character unable to believe that this was the same stingy tavern owner.

Leian had heard of the reputation of Wind-Sleep Drunk. It wasn't a top-tier vintage, but in a remote town tavern like this, it was a rare treasure.

"Wind-Sleep Drunk, then I must have a good taste of it."

Having just made a breakthrough and now having good wine to celebrate, Leian couldn't help but feel great. He immediately walked to the bar and sat down.

Jerome moved quickly, and before long, he pushed a glass of Wind-Sleep Drunk in front of Leian.

Leian picked it up and took a small sip. The faint aroma of the wine combined with the smooth texture felt truly excellent.

"Not bad, Jerome, you have good taste!"

Seeing this, Jerome laughed loudly: "As long as Captain Leian is satisfied!"

In his eyes, Leian, who was only twenty-five years old, already possessed the strength of a sixth-rank warrior, and breaking through to the seventh rank in the future would certainly be a breeze. A seventh-rank warrior was a rare expert even in Hashan County, and very much worth befriending.

Leian was well aware of Jerome's intentions, but he was destined not to stay in Hashan County forever, so he would not accept the man's favor.

However, in view of the man's efforts, he would just appropriately support his business for the next few years.

Jerome was also very tactful. Seeing that Leian did not speak, he stopped bothering him.

At the bar, Leian sipped the Wind-Sleep Drunk while listening to the conversations of the surrounding customers. Only then did he learn that the reason there were so many people today was because merchants had come to collect goods.

Although Baifeng Town was barren, it was not entirely useless. Because of its unique sandy and rocky environment, it nurtured a fruit tree called the "Stone Spirit Fruit." This fruit was the main ingredient for brewing a type of fruit wine, so every autumn harvest season, some merchants would come to collect it.

However, Baifeng Town was small, the fruit trees were few, the yield was low, and it was located in a remote area. Not many merchants came, and they would collude to drive down prices, so the Stone Spirit Fruit could never be sold for a good price.

Leian didn't have any particular thoughts on this. After all, Baifeng Town was someone else's territory, and he was merely the captain of the guard; developing the economy was not his responsibility.

After finishing a bottle of Wind-Sleep Drunk, Leian heard quite a bit of gossip, two pieces of which surprised him.

The first concerned Elvis. Toby had previously announced that Laman and Elvis had perished together in a duel. With that narrative in place, it was difficult for the county city to openly punish the Cleo Family.

However, a few days ago, Elvis's wife suddenly died in her bedroom, and their twelve-year-old son had vanished without a trace.

Regarding the boy, some said he had been secretly murdered by the Rachel Family, while others claimed that Elvis's wife had long realized the Rachel Family would not let them go, so she had sent her son away in advance.

There were many rumors, but as for the truth, outsiders had no way of knowing.

When Leian heard about this, he didn't know how to feel, but if it were possible, he hoped the boy could survive.

As for the other piece of news, it concerned Laman.

According to reliable sources, after Toby confiscated the four small towns in Laman's territory, he quickly bestowed them upon a descendant of a family in the county city, and that member of the Rachel Family had now taken over the territory.

Hearing this, Leian felt nothing; such calculations of profit were too common and existed everywhere, even within the same family.

But what was pathetic was that, despite being born into a family with a Saint Realm expert, they did not understand that strength was the true foundation of one's standing.

Carrying this sentiment, Leian paid his bill and strolled out of the tavern.

In the days that followed, Leian entered a state of bitter cultivation once again.

During the day, he practiced his sword in the back mountains to comprehend the Worldly Momentum, and at night, he practiced the Destruction Codex at home to accumulate battle qi.

On the peak of the back mountain, Leian stood at the edge of the stone platform, gazing into the distance. The earth beneath his feet, the distant high mountains, and the clouds on the horizon were all objects of his observation.

What was the Worldly Momentum? Leian knew of its existence but not the reason behind it, because the concept of "world" was too vast. Being within it was like being inside Mount Lu—unable to see its true face.

However, being unable to overlook the entire world did not mean he could not observe the myriad things within it.

In Leian's eyes, all things had their own momentum, and furthermore, the momentum of all things was the embodiment of the Worldly Momentum.

For example, mountains, water, the earth, and so on; mountains had a majestic momentum, water had a surging momentum, and the earth had its own profound weight. Once one grasped the momentum of all things, could the Worldly Momentum be far behind?

Following this direction, Leian walked forward step by step.

No one knew that in this remote little town, a young man was about to rise.

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, five years passed quietly.

That winter, the snow fell very early. After one night, the earth was draped in a thin white veil.

On this day, as usual, Leian climbed the stone platform in the back mountains early.

Standing at the edge of the stone platform, he leaned over and looked into the distance. He had seen such snowy scenery no less than ten times, but this time, he had a premonition that it would be different.

Because his battle qi had reached the peak of the eighth level, and the purple-black diamond-shaped crystal in his dantian had been refined until it was nearly transparent.

Not long after, the sun climbed up. Under the warm and gentle sunlight, the thin layer of snow melted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Leian felt a sudden surge of interest and began to circulate his battle qi, refining the diamond-shaped crystal in his dantian.

Time passed bit by bit. When the sun reached its highest point, the last patch of snow in his field of vision finally melted away, and as if by agreement, the diamond-shaped crystal in Leian's dantian was completely refined at this very moment.

Sss—

Intense pain flooded into Leian's mind once again, and his body began to undergo uncontrollable beast-transformation.

Soon, a humanoid monster with dragon horns, covered in purple-black dragon scales, and limbs shaped like dragon claws appeared on the stone platform.

This time, the beast-transformation happened so quickly that Leian was caught off guard.

Moreover, at the moment the diamond-shaped crystal completely dissolved, an image flashed inexplicably through Leian's mind:

It was a miraculous beast with a dragon's head and a lion's body, covered in dragon scales, with four claws that looked like dragon claws when extended and ox hooves when retracted.

At just one glance, Leian was absolutely certain that this beast must be the original owner of the magic core he had swallowed.

It was just that, no matter how he looked at it, it resembled the Qilin from the memories of his past life.

At this moment, a thought couldn't help but flash through his mind:

Could it be that the other party was a divine beast that hadn't reached adulthood yet?

Once this thought arose, Leian felt a slight sense of pity. If it were true, it was too unlucky to have been killed before reaching adulthood.

As if sensing Leian's emotions, the beast in the image suddenly raised its head, its two purple dragon eyes staring fixedly at the sky, its mouth wide open. At this moment, it felt as if a heaven-shaking roar exploded in Leian's mind.

Affected by this, Leian opened his eyes abruptly, followed by opening his mouth to let out a roar that resounded through the world.

"Awoo!"

After this sound, the image in his mind vanished with a boom. Leian felt his entire body lighten, as if all his negative emotions had been expelled along with the roar.

When his vision refocused, he felt that even the world was different.

The sun was bright and the breeze was clear; the sky was high and the clouds were light!

It was an indescribable feeling. Having observed the momentum of all things for five years, at this moment, it felt as if the world had been contained within his heart!

Holding onto this feeling, Leian reached out and grabbed forward almost subconsciously.

He saw an invisible current gathering rapidly, followed by a sharp whistle; the entire world seemed to be trembling slightly!

At this moment, the Worldly Momentum was achieved!