Six realms of blood coagulation

Watching Shen Zhou walk back with a technique manual in hand, quite a few people from the Qin Family were stunned. "You actually managed to get it?"

Shen Zhou straightened his back and said, "How would they dare not give it?"

They glanced at the Taixuan Sword in Shen Zhou's other hand and fell silent.

Wasn't this just blatant robbery!

Dongfang Hongyu laughed at that. "This is still considered tame. I almost thought he was about to chop down the Xu Family Head just now."

That was meant as a joke, but when applied to Shen Zhou, no one doubted it.

Everyone genuinely believed the latter was capable of doing something like that.

Ancestor Qin, Qin Fenglan, and Qin Yuanshan could only shake their heads with wry smiles at this, though a gleam of light shone in both their eyes.

From the Xu Family Head's attitude just now, it was clear that the Qin Family could no longer be underestimated by anyone.

Even the five great families had drastically changed their stance toward them now.

And all of this—Shen Zhou had won for the Qin Family with today's battle!

The Taixuan Sword drawn, the Qin Family rises anew.

This prophecy, originally meant to conceal the true verse, seemed to be slowly turning into reality.

Next, matters returned to their proper course.

The negotiation and competition between the Xu and Qin families finally began.

But for some reason, Qin Fenglan told Shen Zhou that he wouldn't need to appear later.

Shen Zhou was puzzled and asked why. Qin Fenglan explained that the strength he had displayed had made the Xu Family change their strategy toward the Qin Family—from suppression to alliance-building.

For this Fire Crystal mine, the Xu Family was willing to follow the original split, fifty-fifty between the two families.

Returning the two-tenths share they had taken was the goodwill the Xu Family was offering.

So the remaining competition no longer mattered. The Xu Family wouldn't send Xu Baxia, and they would deliberately win only five matches, letting the Qin Family win five as well, just for appearances.

Shen Zhou raised an eyebrow after hearing this. "You agreed?"

Qin Fenglan smiled. "The Qin Family can't afford to make too many enemies right now. We've already formed a death feud with the Wu Family. Since the Xu Family is willing to turn hostility into friendship, we're naturally happy to go along with it. Besides, now that the Qin Family has you, our ancestor, as our pillar, returning to our peak is only a matter of time—and what we lack most right now is exactly that: time."

Shen Zhou looked half-understanding. "So earlier, when you had me let those Wu Family people go, that was also to buy time for the Qin Family?"

Qin Fenglan said, "Exactly. Even though the Wu Family Head is dead, it's not that simple for them to retaliate against us. First, there's the Qin Family's strength. Because you, our ancestor, are here, the Qin Family is no longer an ordinary second-rate clan. We're a second-rate clan with two top-tier Celestial Firmament Realm combatants.

If the Wu Family wants to make a move against us, they have to weigh the cost of a fight to the death with the Qin Family.

At the same time, they also have to consider whether the other four great families would take advantage of the chaos if war breaks out between us.

The Wu Family can't afford that gamble, and they don't dare to take it.

So when the Wu Family talks about revenge, it's mostly just a show for the outside world."

Shen Zhou: "..."

He hadn't expected that even revenge among noble families involved so many twists and turns.

This kind of scheming and intrigue really wasn't for him.

Shaking his head, he stopped dwelling on it and began to focus on watching the spectacle.

Without Shen Zhou's participation, the subsequent matches immediately revealed the enormous gap between the Qin Family and a first-rate clan.

Although Xu Baxia from the Xu Family also didn't participate, the Xu Family had many elite disciples—over a dozen young members at the Transformation Yuan First or Second Realm alone.

Looking back at the Qin Family, aside from Qin Mingyue at the peak of Transformation Yuan Second Realm and three disciples at the early Transformation Yuan stage, none of the younger generation had even stepped into Transformation Yuan.

If the Xu Family hadn't agreed to a fifty-fifty split with the Qin Family, the latter might have ended up with only one-tenth—or even nothing at all.

A broken chain in the middle, a gap between generations.

That was the Qin Family's biggest problem right now.

With the Xu Family holding back, the matches became utterly uninteresting to watch.

The Qin Family disciples going up felt more like a training exercise, and they ended up winning for no clear reason.

The other three families watching weren't fools, and they quickly caught on to what was happening.

A Chu Family Elder said calmly, "It seems the Xu Family intends to build a good relationship with the Qin Family."

Chu Tianqi was puzzled by this. "Is one Shen Zhou really enough to make the Xu Family this wary?"

"It's not Shen Zhou that makes them wary—it's the Qin Family Divine Weapon."

"Is there a difference?"

"Of course there is. Shen Zhou's own strength is only at the Coagulation Fourth Realm, but the Qin Family Divine Weapon allows him to rise to the 'Celestial Firmament Realm.' But what if the 'Celestial Firmament Realm' isn't the limit of that divine weapon?"

"What? You mean the Qin Family Divine Weapon might be able to elevate Shen Zhou's strength even higher—perhaps even to... Core Formation?"

This time, Chu Tianqi was truly shocked.

Core Formation!

For martial artists after the Millennium Cataclysm, that was nothing less than a mountain that could only be gazed at from afar, never crossed—and even those who could approach it were few and far between.

Celestial Firmament Realm cultivators were few, yet relying on the foundations of the great families, they could still be nurtured to some extent. But Core Formation—that had not appeared in nearly a thousand years.

Some said that once one crossed into 'Core Formation,' it would be an entirely different scene.

From martial arts to the Dao, one would leave the mortal realm behind and become a cultivator.

Both strength and the essence of life itself would undergo a qualitative leap and transformation.

That was why Chu Tianqi was so shaken. He could not believe that if the Shen Family Divine Weapon truly possessed such heaven-defying power, then not just the Five Great Families, but even the entire Great Cang Kingdom—who would dare provoke the Qin Family anymore?

The Chu Family Elder said leisurely, "For now, the Young Head of the Qin Family is only at the Fourth Coagulation Blood Realm, yet the divine weapon can elevate him to the Celestial Firmament Realm. As his own strength grows, no one can say to what extent the divine weapon might boost his power further.

Core Formation... perhaps that day will indeed come."

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Chu Tianqi gazed into the distance at Shen Zhou's figure, his eyes flickering with sharp light, his thoughts inscrutable.

As for the Yang Family.

After the Wu Family Head's death, the Yang Family Head issued an order to his clan: let the younger generation provoke the Qin Family less from now on.

In his words, it was like the snipe and the clam grappling—the fisherman reaps the benefit.

He planned to sit back and watch the Wu Family clash with the Qin Family first, and when both sides were nearly spent, the Yang Family would leap in at the right moment to pick up the spoils.

By then, whether it was the Qin Family or the Wu Family, both could be prey for the Yang Family to devour.

That was the Yang Family's way of survival.

The Lin Family, meanwhile, declared they would not meddle in these conflicts.

With two prodigies bearing 'Martial Soul' bloodlines in their ranks, the Lin Family only needed to wait quietly for these two prodigies to awaken, and their family would remain unshaken.

Thus, the Lin Family carried an air of being unmoved by favor or disgrace, watching the flowers bloom and fall before their courtyard—quite transcendent.

Amid the speculations and schemes of all sides, the competition between the Xu and Qin Families ended not long after.

The crowd in the mountains began to disperse.

For the wandering cultivators who had come to watch the excitement, the negotiation between the Xu and Qin Families had indeed been a rare and grand spectacle.

The Wu Family Head and his son both being hacked to death was the 'climax' of the entire negotiation.

The subsequent competition between the Xu and Qin Families was somewhat lacking.

Thus, many people gossiped.

"I thought the Xu Family would crush the Qin Family in this contest, but in the end, it was a draw—truly unexpected."

"Exactly. And the Xu Family is supposed to be a first-rate family—look at them."

"The Qin Family is a thousand-year-old clan after all; it seems they still have some foundation."

"Come off it. If not for that Shen Zhou pulling out the Qin Family Divine Weapon, the Qin Family would have been swallowed up by the other Five Great Families sooner or later. If you ask me, the Qin Family just got lucky—the Heaven's Chosen appeared just in time..."

"In the end, it's the Xu Family that's too weak!"

"Exactly, they're pathetic!"

'The Xu Family is truly pathetic'—that became the view of many wandering cultivators toward the Xu Family.

Time passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, over a month had gone by.

After the North Mountain Mine incident, the whole of Flying Bird City was in an uproar.

Headlines like 'New Qin Family Head Slices Down Wu Family Head with a Sword,'

'Qin Family Sword Drawer Ascends to Celestial Firmament, Shaking the Five Great Families,'

'Shen Zhou Double-Kills Wu Family Father and Son, Forging a New Legend!'

After all these rumors spread, Shen Zhou and the Qin Family's fame reached its peak.

To avoid the noise, Shen Zhou chose to return to White Deer Academy for intense cultivation.

Fame and reputation were all false—only one's own strength was the real truth.

Of course, during this time, the Wu Family did retaliate against the Qin Family, even sending assassins to White Deer Academy to kill Shen Zhou, but they were repelled by the Qin Family and Old Man Ji and the others.

Just as Ancestor Qin had speculated earlier, the Wu Family's revenge was their stance, but they also needed to be cautious about starting an all-out war with the Qin Family.

Aside from that, everything seemed to have calmed down.

One day.

Inside White Deer Academy.

In a bathhouse.

Shen Zhou and Dongfang Hongyu each soaked in a large wooden tub, the water steaming hot and thick with the scent of medicinal herbs.

This was a Medicinal Bath!

A method for body-tempering martial artists to stimulate the major acupoints across their bodies, heal hidden injuries, and strengthen their physiques.

But the medicinal herbs in Shen Zhou's tub were several times what Dongfang Hongyu had, and the potency was naturally more violent and stimulating.

Both of them now had their eyes closed, breath held, circulating their qi to refine and absorb the medicinal power in the tub.

As their absorption stretched on, the pitch-black medicinal liquid rapidly turned clear, until finally it was like plain water.

Not long after, Dongfang Hongyu was the first to exhale and open his eyes. Feeling the changes in his body, he grinned. "I didn't expect to step into the Coagulation Sixth Realm so soon. Fatty here really is a genius."

Before coming to Southern Prefecture, Dongfang Hongyu had trained, but his strength barely reached the Coagulation Fourth Realm.

After arriving in Southern Prefecture, he broke through another realm.

He'd thought it would take at least half a year to break through again, but here at White Deer Academy, it only took a little over a month. The little fatty felt he hadn't come to the wrong place.

But when he turned his head and saw Shen Zhou still soaking in the medicinal tub, refining the power, he couldn't help muttering, "This guy's realm isn't as high as mine, but he uses three times the herbs I do. With that much potency, it's probably not much different from soaking in lava, yet his body can actually take it. That's just too monstrous!"

As he spoke, Dongfang Hongyu quickly dressed, and to avoid disturbing Shen Zhou's training, he left the room first.

But just as he reached the doorway, a thick wave of blood and qi surged from behind him.

Qi and blood overflowed, the void humming.

Dongfang Pangpang turned in shock, incredulous. "This guy... broke through again just like that?"

Inside the room, Shen Zhou's eyes snapped open, a sharp light gleaming in his gaze.

He clenched his fist, bones and sinews cracking within his body, and the skin on his body rapidly turned the color of stone.

Hard. Powerful.

Shen Zhou looked down at the results of his training and nodded in satisfaction. "Coagulation Sixth Realm, plus the second layer of the Golden Body Art, the Stone Skin Realm. At least this month of bitter training wasn't wasted."

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