Martial Arts Realms

"What was Earth Rock Cloud Stone?" Zhou Heng asked casually.

Lin Fuxiang supported her forehead with one hand and sighed. "Just where did you crawl out from, you monster? You were obviously so powerful—at the Sixth Layer of Body Refining, you could kill a demonic beast at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining—yet you knew nothing at all!"

"It was because this sword was too sharp!" Zhou Heng lovingly examined the longsword in his hand. Anyone who practiced the sword naturally dreamed of owning a famous blade.

Indeed, without this treasured sword's sharpness, there was no way he could have cut off the Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast's head with a single strike. His sword would only have shattered instead!

"Then... I'll give this sword to you!" Lin Fuxiang gritted her teeth and made a decision.

Zhou Heng froze. She was just giving away such a valuable sword? When had this beauty become so generous? He had saved her life before, yet he had not even heard her say thank you. Could it be... she had grown fond of him over time?

He looked at Lin Fuxiang suspiciously. "You don't like me, do you?"

"W-what!" Lin Fuxiang immediately sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "I like you? Dream on! You hateful bastard, I'll kill you!"

"Then why give me the sword?" Zhou Heng muttered.

"Brat, don't get the wrong idea!" Lin Fuxiang snorted twice. "This Earth Rock Cloud Stone is extremely precious! No, it's incomparably precious! That's why I'm giving you the Frost Cold Sword, as an advance payment for part of your reward!"

"Oh!" Zhou Heng nodded. But what exactly was Earth Rock Cloud Stone used for, that it was so precious Lin Fuxiang would not hesitate to give away a sword worthy of being called a divine weapon? And this was only an advance payment!

Seeing Zhou Heng's puzzled gaze, Lin Fuxiang sighed and could only explain, "Earth Rock Cloud Stone can be used to forge Dharma Artifacts!"

"Dharma Artifacts?" The confusion on Zhou Heng's face did not lessen. Instead, it grew deeper.

—He had only not known about Earth Rock Cloud Stone before. Now there was another thing he did not know: Dharma Artifacts.

"Ah, speaking a few more words to you makes me want to die!" Lin Fuxiang nearly beat her chest and pounded her head. "What backwater hole did you crawl out of? How could you not even know what Dharma Artifacts are?"

Zhou Heng curled his lips and naturally did not answer.

"To explain Dharma Artifacts, I also have to explain Spiritual Power, and martial arts realms... So annoying, so annoying!" Lin Fuxiang stamped her feet repeatedly, then glared fiercely at Zhou Heng as though she wanted to devour him alive.

Seeing Zhou Heng's indifferent expression, she could not help sighing. Dejectedly, she said, "You at least know about the so-called Ascension Path, right?"

"I do!" Zhou Heng's eyes lit up. This was his goal in life—to tread the heavenly path, let his sword howl through the nine heavens!

"How rare. There's actually something you know!" Lin Fuxiang praised.

"Hey, hey, hey, why do I not feel praised at all?"

"I wasn't praising you in the first place!" Lin Fuxiang rolled her eyes at him. In the dim light, that eye-roll was infinitely alluring, as though it brightened the cave by several degrees. "The so-called Ascension Path is what comes after reaching the peak of the Body Refining Realm—attempting to resonate with heaven and earth, to comprehend the Dao of nature!"

"You must know that human strength has its limits. Even if your entire body were filled with True Essence Power, how much could there be?"

"Legendary powerhouses can collapse mountains with one punch and sever rivers with one palm. How do you think they accomplish that?"

At the peak of the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining, one could at most smash a rock the size of a yellow ox with a punch, and that was already terrifying strength that made ordinary people tremble! But collapsing mountains with one fist and severing rivers with one palm—was that truly something a human could accomplish?

Zhou Heng could not help revealing a look of yearning. A surge of heroic spirit rose within him. He would definitely become such a powerhouse!

The intense confidence on Zhou Heng's face made the young man seem like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, flashing with dazzling brilliance. Lin Fuxiang could not help feeling a flutter in her heart, a tenderness that made her admire him.

But she immediately remembered Zhou Heng's hateful side. Her lips twitched, and she thoroughly drove away that tenderness. "Once one reaches the peak of the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining, a martial artist's excavation of the body's potential has basically reached its limit. To advance further, one must open the Dantian!"

"Open the Dantian?" Zhou Heng's heart stirred. He had once heard his father mention in passing that the Dantian was connected to the mysterious Ascension Path. He had not expected to hear it from a second person.

"The Dantian is a special place. It is an Inner World!" Lin Fuxiang tried hard to recall her father's words. "Though we cannot currently look inward at the Dantian, I can responsibly tell you that while the Dantian lies within the human body, it forms a world of its own and can expand without limit!"

Unable to look inward at the Dantian?

Zhou Heng smiled. He had been able to look inward at his Dantian since he was eight. Of course, it was not because he was some freak, but because a strange sword lived within his Dantian!

Dantian, Inner World, limitless expansion?

Understanding suddenly dawned on him. "After reaching the peak of Body Refining, do you store True Essence Power within the Dantian?"

"Hmph, you're not as stupid as a pig after all. You finally caught on!" Lin Fuxiang took great delight in belittling Zhou Heng, which made her feel incomparably pleased. "But it isn't as simple as you imagine. Before the Dantian can store power like the rest of the body, it must first be opened!"

"The so-called Ascension Path is the opening of the Dantian. If you succeed, you can break through the limits of the human body and enter a new world of martial arts!"

"And if you fail?" Zhou Heng asked.

"Then keep trying, of course. Why are you so stupid?" Lin Fuxiang immediately laughed sweetly.

Zhou Heng's mouth twitched. Suddenly, he had the urge to give this woman a hard spanking.

"Ahem!" Lin Fuxiang cleared her throat. "You keep interrupting me. At this rate, I won't finish even by next year!"

"..." Zhou Heng had no reply. This beauty had truly brought the word shamelessly unreasonable to its fullest expression.

"That said, opening the Dantian is indeed dangerous. One wrong move can burst the Dantian. Though it will not kill you, you will lose all hope of progressing any further and can only grow old and die at the peak of the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining!"

Lin Fuxiang continued, her expression turning solemn. "Generally speaking, everyone's Dantian is the same size at the beginning—a circular space about one meter across."

"Once the Dantian is successfully opened, it truly forms an Inner World and can communicate with heaven and earth. At that point, martial artists no longer absorb and refine True Essence Power from food. Instead, they directly absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, forming their own Spiritual Power and storing it within the Dantian."

Zhou Heng's breathing quickened. Lin Fuxiang's words seemed to open a new world before him, making him feel as small as a frog at the bottom of a well.

"By absorbing spiritual energy, communicating with heaven and earth, and undergoing a complete transformation, martial artists not only gain far greater room for power growth, but also gain an extra hundred years of lifespan!" Lin Fuxiang added.

An extra hundred years of lifespan—wouldn't that mean living another lifetime?

No wonder it was called the Ascension Path!

"Above the Body Refining Realm is the Spirit Gathering Realm. As its name suggests, it means filling the Dantian with spiritual energy. It is divided into three minor realms, called the Three Heavens!" Whether Zhou Heng could take it all in or not, Lin Fuxiang poured out everything she knew in one breath.

Zhou Heng thought for a moment, then his heart suddenly began pounding wildly. "Then doesn't that mean the larger the Dantian space, the more Spiritual Power it can store and the greater the power it can unleash?"

"That's right!" Lin Fuxiang nodded. "That is true, but expanding the Dantian's space is an extremely difficult matter. Aside from those gifted geniuses who are born with Dantians larger than ordinary people's, the Dantian spaces of ordinary Spirit Gathering Realm powerhouses are roughly the same size."

His own Dantian space had already doubled from before!

Only now did Zhou Heng understand the value of that Ink Fruit. It could actually expand Dantian space! That meant if he could enter the Spirit Gathering Realm, he could possess twice the power of an ordinary Spirit Gathering Realm powerhouse!

Of course, this also meant that the Spiritual Power he needed to accumulate would increase greatly. But with the Black Broken Sword providing power, he had no need to worry at all!

"Hey, what are you spacing out for?" Seeing Zhou Heng once again staring blankly as though she did not exist, flames immediately surged up in Lin Fuxiang's heart.

Zhou Heng smiled. "I thought of something else for a moment and got distracted. Is there an even higher realm above the Spirit Gathering Realm?"

"Of course there is!" Lin Fuxiang proudly raised her jade-like face, but immediately drooped again. "Father said I must not aim too high, so he never told me what lies beyond the Spirit Gathering Realm!"

Zhou Heng nodded in agreement. It was better to take one step at a time, steadily and solidly. A lofty goal was certainly needed, but if it was set too high, one might lose oneself in it.

"But it seems we've gone off-topic. What I asked was what this Earth Rock Cloud Stone is actually used for?"

"Tch, isn't it because you're too ignorant? You made me explain everything from beginning to end!" Lin Fuxiang rolled her eyes at Zhou Heng again, as though no amount of glaring was enough. "As I said before, Earth Rock Cloud Stone can be used to make Dharma Artifacts. Dharma Artifacts are weapons that can only be used by those at least in the Spirit Gathering Realm. They can draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to increase the might of an attack!"

"Dharma Artifacts are divided into ten grades. Tenth Grade is the worst, and First Grade is the best. A Tenth Grade Dharma Artifact can increase a martial artist's power by ten percent, while a First Grade Dharma Artifact can increase it by a full hundred percent!"

Zhou Heng was slightly startled. A hundred-percent increase in power could turn a battle between two equally matched people into a one-sided crushing defeat!

"Silly boy, now you know how precious Earth Rock Cloud Mica is, right?" Lin Fuxiang's face was full of smiles. "I found an Earth Rock Cloud Stone Mine. This is a heaven-shaking achievement!"

She looked at Zhou Heng and added, "Don't worry. I'm a loyal person; I won't swallow up your contribution! After the New Year, come to the Nine Spirits Sect and find me. I'll have Father take you as his disciple!"

The Nine Spirits Sect?

Zhou Heng could not help freezing. He thought of the Identity Token beneath that corpse in the mysterious valley. One side bore the two words "Nine Spirits." Could that person have been a disciple of the Nine Spirits Sect in life?

This was far too much of a coincidence!