Five Days, Ten Fissures Cleared, Martial Ancestor Realm Achieved!

Day one.

Lin Feng headed straight for the nearest C-Rank rift within the jurisdiction of the Sixth Defense Line.

This rift, designated C03, was under direct military control and normally required a Martial Master-level squad to enter.

The guard at the entrance checked the Sergeant Major badge and hesitated for two seconds.

"One person?"

"One person."

The guard didn't stop him.

The incident of one person clearing six rifts last time was already known throughout the entire defense line.

First layer of the rift, three Dark-Scaled Giant Lizards lay sprawled in the passage.

Mountain Splitter left its sheath—one slash, one kill.

With the penetration effect and the A-Rank War Blade's material, the C-Rank Exotic Beast's carapace stood no chance.

[Killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Dark-Scaled Giant Lizard ×3, gained Martial Path Points ×1500]

[Steel of the Blade: 321/500]

Second layer, five Iron-Spined Earth Dragons.

Lin Feng charged in, Lost Trace Step pulling afterimages as his true body circled to the dragon group's flank. Mountain-Breaking Slash swept out a blast of wind, piercing three; the remaining two took two more cuts before they fell.

[Killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Iron-Spined Earth Dragon ×5, gained Martial Path Points ×4000]

[Steel of the Blade: 326/500]

Third layer, fourth layer, fifth layer.

Crimson Flame Horned Rhinos, Dark Gold Beetles, Poison Mist Giant Spiders... he pushed through, killing whatever he encountered.

Mountain Splitter barely had a moment to rest.

The entire C-Rank rift cleared in six hours.

[Current Martial Path Points: 24300]

[Steel of the Blade: 354/500]

No rest.

He went straight to the second rift.

Day two.

Two C-Rank rifts.

Went in before dawn, came out past midnight.

His body was caked in seven or eight different colors of Exotic Beast blood, dried and rewetted, rewetted and dried again.

In between changing rifts, he gnawed on two dry rations and downed a flask of water.

[Current Martial Path Points: 48600]

[Steel of the Blade: 397/500]

Taking advantage of the gap between rifts, Lin Feng leaned against a withered tree to allocate points.

"Realm."

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×5000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Fifth Stage → Martial Master Sixth Stage!]

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×6000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Sixth Stage → Martial Master Seventh Stage!]

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×7000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Seventh Stage → Martial Master Eighth Stage!]

Three surges of heat stacked together and rushed up, his bones crackling and popping inside.

Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art had greatly enhanced Lin Feng's physique, sharply reducing the side effects of breakthrough.

Lin Feng gritted his teeth and endured it, then stood up and moved around.

Martial Master Eighth Stage.

His strength had jumped another notch.

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 30600]

No rush. Save them.

Keep grinding.

Day three.

One C-Rank, two D-Rank.

The intensity inside the D-Rank rifts was like slicing vegetables to him now.

With a Martial Master Eighth Layer physique, backed by his Penetration talent and an A-Rank War Blade, D-Rank Exotic Beasts swerved out of his way when they saw him coming.

Some of the smarter Exotic Beasts caught the killing intent radiating off him and shrank deep into their caves, too afraid to come out.

Lin Feng dragged them out one by one.

Not a single one spared.

[Killed D-Rank Exotic Beast: Shadow Blade Leopard King ×2, gained Martial Path Points ×400]

[Killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Blazing Horned Rhino ×4, gained Martial Path Points ×2000]

[Killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Dark-Scaled Giant Lizard ×6, gained Martial Path Points ×2400]

[Current Martial Path Points: 41400]

[Steel of the Blade: 438/500]

Add points.

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×8000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Eighth Layer → Martial Master Ninth Layer!]

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×9000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Ninth Layer → Martial Master Peak!]

Two waves of searing heat washed through his entire body.

The pain of bone reforging was already familiar. The Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art cycled, absorbing most of the side effects.

Martial Master Peak.

One step away from Martial Ancestor.

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 24400]

Day four.

Lin Feng didn't go to the rifts.

He found a wind-sheltered canyon in the wilderness outside the camp, sat down cross-legged, and settled in.

The leap from Martial Master to Martial Ancestor was different from before.

Every previous upgrade—the heat came, he endured it, and it was done.

But this time, he could feel the qi and blood in his dantian had condensed to an absolute limit, like a water bag about to burst. Not a single drop more could be forced in.

This was one of the biggest bottlenecks in the martial path system.

Countless Martial Masters spent their entire lives unable to cross this threshold.

Lin Feng closed his eyes.

"Martial Path Points. Spend."

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×10000]

[Breaking through...]

[Detected cultivation art Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art assisting breakthrough, side effects reduced by 80%]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Master Peak → Martial Ancestor First Layer!]

This breakthrough was unlike any before.

It wasn't a wave of heat—it was a storm.

A violent surge of energy detonated from the depths of his dantian, rushing through his meridians into every limb and joint.

Lin Feng felt every bone in his body dismantled and reassembled, every meridian stretched to its limit before snapping back.

A thin mist of blood steamed off the surface of his skin.

The gravel in the canyon was blasted away by the shockwave. The ground within ten meters cracked open in a web of fissures.

The Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art cycled at full force, deflecting eighty percent of the impact.

But the remaining twenty percent still made him wince from the pain.

Three minutes.

The aura settled.

Lin Feng opened his eyes.

He stood.

He clenched his fist.

The wind of his punch howled, and a fist-sized hole exploded out of a boulder twenty meters in front of him.

Qi and blood burst outward.

He hadn't even touched that rock.

It was purely the qi and blood carried by his fist's swing that shattered the rock layer from a distance.

Martial Ancestor.

He'd made it.

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 14,400]

Lin Feng didn't stop.

"Continue."

[Consumed Martial Path Points × 10,000]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Ancestor First Stage → Martial Ancestor Second Stage!]

Another round of earth-shattering reconstruction.

When the last surge of energy settled, Lin Feng's clothes had already torn into shreds, and the ground beneath his feet had caved in half a meter deep.

Martial Ancestor Second Stage.

Standing at the bottom of the pit, he picked up Mountain Splitter and weighed it in his hand.

The blade felt lighter.

It wasn't that the blade had gotten lighter—it was that his strength had grown stronger.

Lin Feng didn't hold back the remaining points either, pouring them all into Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art.

[Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art (4400/10000)]

The points hit zero.

Day five.

The last day.

Lin Feng changed into a clean combat suit, grabbed Mountain Splitter, and stepped out of the camp.

Target: two D-Rank rifts.

Although D-Rank rifts didn't give as many points as C-Rank ones, the density of low-level Exotic Beasts was higher.

Not for leveling up—purely to push the layers of Steel of the Blade a bit further.

438 layers, still 62 layers short of the ultimate effect at 500.

With Martial Ancestor Third Stage combat power, clearing C-Rank rifts could be summed up in one word: satisfying!

Before, it took a few strikes to take down a C-Rank Exotic Beast. Now, one strike was enough.

The range and intensity of qi and blood release had jumped more than a tier. When Mountain Splitter swung out, the gale-force energy could tear space apart over ten meters away.

Two rifts cleared.

[Current Martial Path Points: 4000]

[Steel of the Blade: 480/500]

480.

Twenty layers to go.

When Lin Feng walked out of the rift, the sky had just darkened.

Five days.

Martial Master Fifth Stage to Martial Ancestor Third Stage.