Breakthrough

During the three and a half years since entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Lin Feng had rarely fought magical beasts himself. The area they were in was only a gathering place for Fourth-Level Magical Beasts. Usually, when one or two appeared, Dilia and Beibei dealt with them before Lin Feng even needed to step in. Only when a large group or a Fifth-Level Magical Beast showed up did Lin Feng take action.

While Beibei and Dilia fought magical beasts to hone their combat skills, Lin Feng kept busy too. Aside from watching over Dilia, he constantly practiced his carving. Of course, he occasionally trained his magical and warrior abilities as well.

Today, after nearly four years of dedicated practice, Lin Feng's Flat Blade stone-carving skills had finally won Doehring Cowart's approval. He was judged to have reached the entry level. During his three and a half years in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Lin Feng had devoted most of his energy to stone carving. But since the magical elements of every element were extremely abundant there, his occasional practice had brought him close to a breakthrough, even though he was still at the peak of the sixth-level mage stage. His warrior abilities had also reached the sixth level.

Lin Feng knew that trying to do too much would get him nowhere. So although he was a genius with all elements, he hadn't chosen to cultivate all seven at once. Instead, he focused on the earth and wind elements, casually refining a little magical power of the other elements as he practiced.

Of course, even though he'd only casually refined a little magical power, he could still easily cast simple first-level spells such as the fire-element Small Fireball, the light-element Light Bullet, and the Water Element Water Arrow.

For a mage or warrior, spiritual power was the most important thing. It was often spiritual power that held back their advancement. As for magical power and battle qi, there was no need to refine either unless they were going to fight.

As long as someone's spiritual power reached the peak of the ninth level, they had a chance to comprehend the Laws of the World. Once they understood even a little of the laws and crossed the threshold of one element's laws, they could advance to the Saint Realm.

In other words, once someone reached the peak of the ninth level, they could comprehend all kinds of Laws of the World. It didn't matter whether they had refined magical power or battle qi of that element, or how much they had refined. Of course, whether they could comprehend the laws depended on their elemental affinity.

Although Lin Feng could feel a breakthrough coming, he didn't leave the waterfall. He continued carving beside it every day. Besides Dilia and Beibei, the person he carved most often was his younger sister, Lin Ruo, back on Earth.

Out of the jealousy women were prone to, Dilia—who was usually so understanding—actually grew jealous when she saw Lin Feng carving statues of other girls besides her.

It wasn't really Dilia's fault. She was only a twelve-year-old girl, after all. Every time Lin Feng carved a statue of Lin Ruo, his focused expression and affectionate gaze made Dilia's tears fall one by one.

One day, as Lin Feng sat beside the waterfall, completely absorbed in carving a statue of his younger sister, Lin Ruo, he suddenly received a Soul Transmission from Beibei. "Boss, Big Sis-in-Law's looked a little off these past few days. Have you been picking on her?"

"Huh?" Lin Feng was a little surprised. He turned around and looked at Dilia, who was sitting on a large rock and watching him carve intently.

Dilia hadn't expected Lin Feng to turn around so suddenly. She hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes.

Although Dilia reacted quickly, Lin Feng still noticed the tears on her cheeks.

Lin Feng was confused. Why had Dilia suddenly started crying for no reason? Could she be homesick after being away from home for so long? That was possible!

Lin Feng tossed the Flat Blade into his Space Ring and went to sit beside Dilia. But when she saw him sit down, instead of throwing herself into his arms as she usually did, she turned her head away and showed him the back of it.

Hmm? Something's wrong!

Lin Feng pulled Dilia into his arms and whispered in her ear, "Dilia, what's wrong? Are you homesick?"

Dilia shook her head, still silent.

"If you're not homesick, then why are you crying?" Lin Feng cupped Dilia's lovely face in his hands and gently kissed away the tears still on her cheeks.

"I, I..." Dilia gathered her courage, then asked worriedly, "Do you not love me anymore?"

Lin Feng's heart gave a sudden lurch, but he still smiled and answered, "How could I not? You're my precious darling. How could I stop loving you? What made you think that all of a sudden?"

Hearing Lin Feng call her his precious darling softened Dilia's expression a little, but she still didn't give him a smile.

"Then who was that girl you were carving just now? You were so focused, so affectionate. You put more care into carving her than you do into carving me. You must like her a lot too, right?"

At last, Lin Feng understood why Dilia had been crying by herself. Little Dilia was jealous.

Lin Feng couldn't help but marvel. Dilia was only twelve, yet she already knew how to get jealous. She was growing up early.

But when his little girlfriend got jealous, he still had to soothe her.

"Of course I like her. She's my younger sister." Lin Feng didn't intend to deceive Dilia. He told her the truth.

"Boss, even if you've found yourself a new love, you shouldn't lie to Big Sis-in-Law like that! I, Beibei, know your family situation inside and out. You've got a younger brother, but where did this younger sister come from?"

Beibei, who had been eavesdropping on Lin Feng and Dilia's conversation, chimed in at just the right moment.

"Enough. Keep talking, and I'll cut your food in half today." As soon as Lin Feng said that, Beibei wisely shut his mouth.

Naturally, Dilia hadn't heard Beibei's interruption. Hearing Lin Feng say the girl was his younger sister, she asked curiously, "Lin Feng, didn't you say you only had one younger brother, Wharton? Where did this younger sister suddenly come from?"

Dilia's curiosity instantly replaced her earlier jealousy.

"It's a long story," Lin Feng said with a sigh. Before he knew it, he'd been in the Coiling Dragon World for five years. He wondered how his younger sister on Earth was doing. If there wasn't a time difference between the two worlds, she should be close to graduating from college by now.

"Boss, if it's a long story, then take your time telling it. We're not in a hurry anyway," Beibei couldn't help interjecting in Lin Feng's mind again.

Interrupted in his reverie, Lin Feng turned around and glared fiercely at Beibei. I'm cutting your roast meat in half today.

"No way, Boss..."

Hearing that his boss was going to cut his food allowance, Beibei instinctively started to complain. But when he caught Lin Feng glaring at him again, the adorable Beibei immediately raised his front paws and covered his little mouth.

Beibei's strange gesture caught Dilia's attention too. She glanced at him, then turned back to ask Lin Feng, "Lin Feng, what's wrong with Beibei?"

"He's been chewing too many stones and broke a tooth," Lin Feng said irritably.

Beibei heard Lin Feng insulting his indestructible teeth and instinctively wanted to argue. But he thought of the roast meat and swallowed the words before they could escape. Forget it. A broken tooth is fine, as long as I still get to eat meat.

"By the way, you said she's your younger sister. What's her name, and where is she now?" Dilia was more interested in Lin Ruo than in Beibei.

"Boohoo, I've been completely ignored," Beibei muttered to himself. He perked up his ears too, curious about Lin Feng's "nonexistent" little sister.

"Her name is Lin Ruo. She lives very, very far away. I don't know if I'll ever see her again in this life." Lin Feng lifted his head to look at the sky, his thoughts drifting back to Earth.

Beibei curled his lip. Boss can't even tell a convincing lie. Lin is your given name, not your surname. Lin Ruo? You might as well have said Ruo Baruch.

Lost in his thoughts, Lin Feng didn't notice Beibei baring his teeth at him. With a faint smile on his lips, he slowly began telling Dilia about the happy childhood memories he'd shared with Lin Ruo. As he spoke, something stirred in his heart. He suddenly felt refreshed and clear-headed. It was a sign of a breakthrough.