Jianghai City, on the coast of Moon Bay.
Before sunrise, Lin Ao sat cross-legged on a private beach, eyes closed and facing the sea.
He wore nothing but a pair of shorts. His breathing shifted between quick and slow, and his lean, powerful muscles were on full display.
His features looked more resolute, mature, and strong.
His once-slender frame had been replaced by a much more muscular build. His shoulders had broadened, and the clear lines of his muscles revealed a masculine strength and confidence.
His limbs were now more proportionate. He no longer looked overly thin; instead, he had a healthy, muscular physique.
This transformation gave him a more imposing and charismatic appearance, the sort that naturally drew people in.
The sun began to rise. In the faint morning light, the hazy orange-red orb slowly climbed above the distant horizon, casting rays of rosy light in every direction.
Lin Ao shifted his crossed legs and changed his hand seal. A faint golden glow seemed to flicker around him.
As the rosy light touched him, Lin Ao's entire body turned red, and the faint golden glow grew stronger.
For the past month and a half, Lin Ao had been staying here alone, on the private beach he had bought.
Father Lin and Mother Lin had moved back to the family home temporarily, since the Lin Family Manor was being renovated.
Meanwhile, Lin Ao had sneaked off here by himself without telling anyone.
First, he needed somewhere to stay while the house was being renovated.
Second, he wanted to avoid Gu Wanqing's temptation.
Third—and most importantly—he wanted to cultivate a technique he had previously practiced all the way to the True Martial Realm.
[Yang God Art]
He had obtained two techniques: the Yang God Art and the Moon God Art. The Moon God Art could only be cultivated by women, while the Yang God Art was the opposite and could only be cultivated by men. So he could only practice the far more dangerous Yang God Art.
The Yang God Art had an incredibly strict entry requirement: for forty-nine days straight, without interruption, one had to absorb the first wisp of essence from the rising sun.
During the process, one's insides felt as if they were being scorched by flames. As the days of cultivation added up, the pain grew tenfold, then a hundredfold.
A source of energy like the sun itself would form inside the body and circulate endlessly throughout it.
Those without the aptitude to cultivate this technique would suffer anything from shattered meridians and a ruined life to an exploding body and certain death.
Cultivators often couldn't last even ten days. Lin Ao had previously cultivated it with the resolve to die, yet somehow he had succeeded. With that experience behind him, he felt he could do it again.
So he had come here. Maybe it was just his imagination, but cultivating seemed easier than before. The scorching sensation was still there, but by the second day, his meridians already felt as good as new—and even more resilient. Before, he had always gritted his teeth through the pain in his meridians as he cultivated.
If he could endure all forty-nine days, he would reach the Grandmaster level as soon as he mastered the Yang God Art—not an ordinary Grandmaster, either. His strength would be enough to fight an ordinary Great Grandmaster to a standstill. It was terrifyingly powerful.
Once he mastered it, he wouldn't need the rising sun to draw energy into his body anymore, because he would already have a spark of fire within him. He would only need to bask in the sunlight each day to grow stronger. That ever-flowing power would constantly temper his meridians and increase his strength. He could still absorb the sun's essence every day if he wanted to; doing so would speed up his cultivation.
Actually, the best approach was to find someone who cultivated the Moon God Art and cultivate together. One day of dual cultivation would be like a year of progress.
Today was the final day of Lin Ao's cultivation before he mastered the Yang God Art. His skin was crimson from head to toe, and fine cracks had appeared across its surface, with threads of golden light shining through from within.
It was as if a furnace were scorching his entire body. He looked like a little sun, radiating a dazzling light.
"Draw it all in!"
Lin Ao let out a booming shout and changed his hand seal again. In an instant, all the light flowed back into his body, and his cracked skin healed completely.
Lin Ao remained seated with his eyes closed for a while longer, then breathed out a mouthful of stale air.
"Good grief—the final step is still this dangerous. I almost burst apart."
Lin Ao opened his eyes. He was completely naked; even the last scraps of his underwear had long since burned to nothing.
He clenched his fist, feeling the surging power gather there, then rose to his feet and punched the nearby boulder with all his might.
The two-meter-tall boulder shattered under his fist.
"Tsk, tsk. I have to admit, this is still insanely powerful. But if you're so powerful, how come you couldn't beat those assholes before?"
Lin Ao had been in the True Martial Realm before. How many people in the world could say the same? Yet at most, he had only ever managed to badly injure those guys. He had never once killed any of them. Then every last one of them turned out to be in the True Martial Realm too. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.
Would things be different this time, now that he had his own ideas and was taking action?
He asked himself that silently. This time, he had mastered the Yang God Art much earlier than before.
Though Lin Ao spent every day here burned red as a boiled shrimp, his life was actually pretty comfortable.
That crazy Gu Wanqing went looking for him like a madwoman every day, demanding that he check in and let her know he was safe. If Lin Ao didn't reply, she'd bombard him with pictures of black stockings and lace.
Every now and then, she'd leave him heading out to cultivate with dark circles under his eyes.
But Lin Ao seemed to have sensed that something about Gu Wanqing was different. Could she... actually like me?
Lin Ao didn't dare give a definite answer. He was waiting—waiting until he could truly kill Xiao Fan!
As for Qin Yun, she was the easiest to placate. He told her he was away on a business trip, and they chatted every night while he admired all kinds of high-slit qipaos. It seemed Qin Yun had discovered a whole new world during this time.
She happily changed into outfit after outfit for Lin Ao to see, getting more and more daring. She no longer called him "Ao-Ao"; now she called him "Darling Lin Ao," a new pet name.
Every so often, she'd send him shy, flustered voice messages too. Lin Ao could only cry, "I can't take this!"
From their chats, he could also get a sense of what Xiao Fan was up to. Xiao Fan clung to her every day, leaving her exhausted from dealing with him.
Sometimes she simply stayed inside with the doors shut, but Xiao Fan would still come to her courtyard gate and call out to her. Qin Yun found it maddening.
It also seemed that he was discussing some kind of business deal with her grandfather. Qin Yun hadn't told Lin Ao the details, but Lin Ao figured Xiao Fan probably wanted to use Elder Qin to go after the Lin Family.
A cold smile tugged at Lin Ao's lips. You couldn't just launch a large-scale business war whenever you felt like it. Qin Yun had helped him before, but now she only cared about changing outfits for him. You couldn't even get through the door, yet you still thought you could pull a little trick like this? Dream on!
The quietest of them all was Liu Menghan. They had only video-called a few times during this period. Yes, video-called—because of Liu Nian. Every time, Liu Nian was the one chatting with Lin Ao while Liu Menghan held her. Lin Ao felt that she seemed rather nervous, though he couldn't figure out why.
The renovations to the Lin Family's home would probably take another half a month, so he could spend another half month living it up here.
He couldn't waste this rare chance to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.
After breakfast at the villa, Lin Ao changed into casual clothes and went to explore the little town near the beach. He'd been here for days, spending almost every one of them cultivating. He hadn't gone out even once.
He was walking toward town when he came across a film crew. They were probably here to scout locations for a movie.
A young woman passed by him. She looked strangely familiar.
Lin Ao scratched his head. Who could he possibly know around here?
He turned and continued cheerfully toward town.
"Yun-yun, I've arrived~ This place is so remote. The director insisted on filming out here—it's driving me crazy!"
Before you continue