Bottleneck

Training Stone Chamber

Leian sat cross-legged in mid-air, his body enveloped by a powerful black light. On the surface of that black light, streaks of purple electricity flickered incessantly; at a glance, Leian looked like a star shimmering with purple light in the night sky.

Whenever the purple light flared, a terrifying aura of destruction would emanate from the black light. Simultaneously, ripples clearly visible to the naked eye would slowly spread outward into the surrounding space, centered on Leian.

Within the countless ripples, one or two black lines as thin as hair would occasionally appear—those were cracks in space that could no longer withstand the force of destruction.

Perception, deduction, evolution, verification, realization, experimentation...

The Destruction Profundity evolved continuously in Leian's mind, various possibilities flashing by like meteors. However, as time passed, Leian's expression grew increasingly solemn.

Wrong!

Wrong!

Still wrong!

Countless possibilities were deduced one after another, only to be rejected by Leian each time. At this moment, Leian felt as if an invisible membrane was blocking his path forward.

After a long while, the black light dissipated. Leian opened his eyes and sighed softly; he knew he had hit a bottleneck.

At this moment, he was just like those peak Saint Realm powerhouses—clearly only a step away from becoming a god, yet he was being blocked outside the door.

"It seems that trying to become a god in one step through bitter cultivation alone is impossible."

Leian pondered silently. More than four years had passed since he reached the Saint Realm, and his comprehension of the Destruction Rule had been stagnant for nearly half a year.

If he could not break through this bottleneck, continuing to cultivate bitterly would be in vain.

"Calculating the time, there is less than half a year until the competition for the Goddess's Named Disciple. I might as well take this opportunity to go out and travel; perhaps with a bit of luck, an epiphany will lead to a breakthrough."

Leian quickly made up his mind. Although he had no intention of becoming a disciple of the Dark Night Goddess, since he had accepted the token, he had to go; otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the Goddess.

"Dajin, are you finished recovering? If you're done, hurry up and get to work!"

In the manor's training grounds, a slim, black-haired girl was urging the Golden-Haired Stone Ape, who was napping at the edge of the field.

As the girl's voice rang out, the Golden-Haired Stone Ape shuddered. It lifted its furry, massive face and looked at its master, Barry, with a look of utter despair, making no effort to hide its plea for help.

Seeing this, Barry turned his head to look at the girl and said with a chuckle, "Little Bella, you've been training all morning. At least give Carter a half-day break."

The girl kept a straight face and shook her head decisively. "No, Big Brother said that Dajin's task is to assist my training. If I don't rest, he isn't allowed to slack off."

Hearing this, Barry spread his hands and gave the Golden-Haired Stone Ape a gesture that said he was helpless.

The Golden-Haired Stone Ape took one look, immediately covered its head, and stood up reluctantly, walking toward the girl.

However, after taking only two steps, the Golden-Haired Stone Ape stopped in its tracks, its two large golden eyes staring straight at the nearby training stone chamber.

Seeing this, a flash of surprise crossed the girl's cold, pretty face. At the same time, she turned around at lightning speed and looked in the direction of the Golden-Haired Stone Ape's gaze.

"Big Brother!"

Seeing the figure at the entrance of the stone chamber, the girl immediately put away the long sword in her hand, ran to his side in a few quick steps, grabbed his arm, and called out affectionately.

Leian had already seen the scene just now. His sister's diligence made him very happy. At this moment, he took the opportunity to pat the girl's small head and said with a smile:

"Bella, when you break through to a level 7 warrior, Big Brother will take you to the Youquan Mountain Range for some real-world experience, how about that?"

Upon hearing this, Bella became excited and cheered, "Great, great! I've wanted to go to the Youquan Mountain Range for a long time. When the time comes, I must capture a Magic Beast myself to use as a mount."

Leian couldn't help but laugh at her words, but before he could reply, a dissatisfied voice suddenly came from the edge of the training ground.

"I say, Big Brother, you're being too biased toward our sister! You didn't even mention taking me along!"

Leian turned his head, looked at the tall youth walking toward him, and smiled, "It's not impossible to take you, as long as you can break through to level 7 by then."

This youth was his younger brother, Allen. Although Allen and Bella were fraternal twins, he was a head taller than Bella. At only fifteen years old, he was already no shorter than Leian.

After hearing Leian's requirement, Allen immediately pulled a long face and asked in a negotiating tone, "Can you give me a one-year extension? My cultivation talent isn't as good as my sister's; the same requirement isn't fair to me."

Leian laughed loudly upon hearing this, "That will depend on your performance from here on out."

In fact, Allen was also very diligent in his warrior training, and his strength had not fallen far behind Bella's. Both were currently level 6 warriors, though Bella had broken through half a year earlier than Allen.

This level of strength could be ranked in the top ten among their peers at the Imperial Capital's warrior academy. Nowadays, the two siblings were considered rising stars at the academy.

However, more than a year ago, the two felt they were no longer learning anything at the academy. Since then, they had spent most of their time at home, using Carter's Gravity Spell to assist their training, and occasionally receiving guidance from their big brother, Leian.

As a result, Carter the Golden-Haired Stone Ape had it the worst. Most of his time every day was spent casting the Gravity Spell, and he barely had time to sleep. If it weren't for the Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core that Leian had promised, he might have gone on strike long ago.

However, with Leian coming out of seclusion, Carter was finally getting a rare break.

Over the next few days, Leian spent time with his family. During this period, he also mentioned his plan to go out for training.

Barry and his wife were already used to this, but Allen and Bella were very reluctant to see him go.

On the other hand, Carter and Selina were very happy, because Leian had promised them that he would have Saint Realm Magic Crystal Cores ready for them when he returned.

Compared to four years ago, Selina was even more confident in her future breakthrough using a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core. After receiving pointers from Leian, she had been diligently practicing her Stealth Technique over the past few years.

Because of this, she and Aili, who also practiced Dark Battle Qi, had become friends. Now, the girl and the beast often trained together.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

On the morning of July 21, 9899 of the Byron Calendar, Leian left the manor and flew straight toward the Youquan Mountain Range.

According to what Leian knew, the competition for the Goddess's Named Disciple would be held at the Dark Night Goddess Temple, which was located in a hidden valley in the middle section of the Youquan Mountain Range.

With less than half a year left until the competition, Leian planned to first find a few powerful Saint Realm Magic Beasts to spar with. If he happened to break through, he wouldn't need to participate in the competition, nor would he have to worry about offending the Dark Night Goddess.