Breakthrough

The six months in Yunfeng Town had passed faster than expected.

When Akes came out of the cultivation room, sunlight was falling across the courtyard.

It touched his face with the softness unique to early autumn. The old locust tree in the courtyard had started shedding its leaves, a thin layer of golden foliage covering the ground. Haeru was sprawled in his usual spot—a sun-warmed bluestone slab in the southeast corner of the courtyard. Hearing the noise, he lazily flicked his tail without even opening his eyes.

Bebe appeared from who knew where and landed squarely on Haeru's back. Six months later, the little guy was still the same: a palm-sized body, sleek and glossy fur, and a pair of beadlike black eyes that darted about. He chirped at Akes twice, clasped his front paws together in a little bow to say hello, then flopped onto Haeru's back and exposed his furry belly to the sun.

Akes's lips curved slightly.

A dull thudding sound came from the courtyard.

Thud—thud—thud—

Each blow came at a steady rhythm, as if someone were beating on a giant hide drum.

Following the sound, he saw Gates bare-chested, punching a boulder over and over. The rock was half a man's height and so thick that two people could barely wrap their arms around it. Barker had rolled it down from the back hill three months earlier, saying his younger brother could use it to train. Back then, Gates had thrown a punch that left the rock unmoved and his knuckles red.

Now, his blows sent chips flying, and a sizable dent had formed in the stone's surface, smooth as a mirror from countless strikes. Yet Gates's knuckles weren't even scraped. Every punch landed with a deep, resonant thud, making the ground tremble slightly.

"You've improved again." Akes walked over.

Gates stopped and turned, grinning to show two rows of white teeth. Sweat covered his body, glistening in the sunlight. His chest and abs were more defined than they had been six months ago, yet his physique wasn't as rugged as that of a typical warrior. Instead, his muscles held a sleek, powerful quality.

"Brother Akes!" He wiped the sweat from his face. "My big brother says my body's almost as tough as an eighth-level magical beast now."

Hearing his name, Haeru finally opened his eyes and glanced over, then turned away disdainfully. His expression clearly said, I'm only holding back because I don't want to hurt you.

Gates didn't take offense. If anything, he grinned even wider. "You're out of seclusion? You were at it for a while this time. Half a month?"

"Eighteen days," Akes said. "Where's your big brother?"

"On the back hill, sparring with Brother Linley." Gates nodded toward the hill. "He left first thing this morning and hasn't come back yet. I went to bring them lunch and watched from a distance. The commotion, tsk, tsk..."

He made an exaggerated gesture. "They were more than ten zhang apart, throwing punches at each other, and the wind from their blows was strong enough to bend the trees. I didn't dare get any closer. I dropped off the food and ran back."

Akes nodded and turned toward the back hill.

The hills behind Yunfeng Town stretched into the distance, dotted with sparse trees and jagged rocks. For the past six months, Linley had spent most of his time training there, with Barker occasionally coming to spar with him. Akes had watched them from afar a few times, and every time he'd felt Linley's progress—he wasn't making sudden leaps, but steadily growing stronger day by day.

Before he even got close, he felt the ground trembling.

Thud—thud—

It wasn't an ordinary tremor, but a rhythmic pulsation, like the heartbeat of the earth or the footsteps of some primordial beast. Each time it came, the ground beneath his feet shuddered, and loose stones around him hopped with faint scraping sounds.

Akes quickened his pace, crossed a small hill, and spotted two figures in the distance.

They were in an open clearing that had once been scattered with more than a dozen boulders. Now, only rubble remained. Linley stood before one of the few boulders still intact, frozen in a punching stance. He wore only a thin shirt, soaked through with sweat and clinging to him, outlining his muscular frame. His build wasn't exaggerated, but it was full of strength.

The punch he'd just thrown had struck the rock, leaving it unmoved.

But the ground behind it had exploded into a huge crater—three zhang across and half a man deep. Soil and stone had sprayed outward in every direction, as if a meteor had struck. The force of his punch had pierced the entire boulder, concentrated into a single point before blasting into the ground.

Barker stood ten zhang away, his whole body gleaming with a bronze-colored sheen.

It was a strange sheen, not cold and hard like metal, but warm and smooth, like fine brass polished thousands of times until it shone in the sunlight. Standing there, he looked like a bronze statue in human form. Even his hair and eyebrows had taken on a faint bronze tint.

He had just taken one of Linley's punches head-on. The shirt over his chest had torn, revealing bronze-colored skin. Akes's sharp eyes caught a faint white mark on it, like a light scratch from a fingernail. It was fading at a visible pace.

"Good!" Barker roared, barely able to contain his excitement. "Brother Linley, again!"

Linley didn't hold back. He threw another punch.

It looked no different from the last one, but Akes keenly sensed that the air around Linley had frozen for an instant as he struck.

The punch landed on Barker's chest.

Boom!

The sound was unlike a fist hitting flesh. It was more like a great temple bell being struck, deep and resonant as it echoed through the valley. Barker staggered back three steps, each one leaving a deep footprint in the earth. The first sank past his ankle, the second past his calf, and the third all the way to his knee.

But he stayed on his feet.

Barker looked down at his chest. The white mark was slightly deeper and more pronounced than before, but that was all. He took a deep breath, and the bronze sheen on his body grew richer. The mark quickly faded, vanishing completely within a few breaths.

He looked up, wild with joy.

"Ninth level!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the valley. "When I transform, I can reach Saint-level now!"

Linley withdrew his fist and slowly exhaled. Fine beads of sweat had formed on his forehead, and he was breathing harder than usual, but he smiled too. "Congratulations."

Akes walked over, his gaze sweeping across Barker.

"When did you break through?" he asked.

Barker spotted Akes and hurried over, eyes shining with excitement. Each step made the ground tremble slightly, as if a ferocious beast in human form were approaching.

"Just yesterday!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Brother Akes, you should've seen me transform. My whole body turned this color, and that brat Gates punched me and ended up shaking his hand in pain. I didn't feel a thing!"

He laughed as he spoke, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Akes nodded. "Congratulations."

Linley walked over and said, "You came at just the right time. Take a look at this for me."

He turned to face the boulder and took a deep breath.

Akes noticed that Linley didn't punch right away. Instead, he stood still with his eyes closed, as if making some kind of adjustment. The air around them gradually grew heavy, and a faint pressure began to emanate from him.

Then he opened his eyes and threw a punch.

This time, Akes saw it clearly.

As Linley punched, his fist seemed to tremble slightly. The force struck the rock, leaving its surface unchanged, but a series of dense cracking sounds came from inside it.

Crack—crack, crack, crack—

The sound was faint and brittle, like countless beans popping inside a bamboo tube, or like ice cracking in a continuous series. The boulder remained motionless, but fine cracks began to spread across its surface.

Stone dust drifted out through the tiny fissures, glimmering in the sunlight.

Then the boulder collapsed with a roar.

It disintegrated completely, breaking into a pile of fist-sized chunks. The pieces were uniform in size, their edges neat as if they'd been carefully cut. Even more remarkably, the boulder's base remained intact, with a smooth surface on top and heaps of rubble scattered around it.

"This is..."

"An advanced form of Triple Wave," Linley said, breathing a little harder than before. "I stacked the three layers of force until they became a hundred layers. The instant I punch, the force oscillates a hundred times inside my body, then combines into one and enters the target, destroying it from within."

Akes was silent for a moment, then nodded.

The boulder's surface remained intact, but its insides had been pulverized by a single punch. This degree of control and power far surpassed that of an ordinary Saint-level Initial Stage expert. If that punch had landed on a person, the outside might have shown only a fist mark, while their internal organs would have been reduced to mush.

"Try it on me," Barker said, stepping forward and thumping his chest. "I want to see if I can take it."

Linley glanced at him but didn't refuse.

Barker took a deep breath and stepped back into position. The bronze sheen on his body grew richer, darker in color and heavier in texture, like a real suit of bronze armor covering him. He lowered into a horse stance and clenched his fists, every muscle tensed. His toes dug into the earth.

"Bring it on!"

Linley didn't hold back. He stepped forward and punched Barker in the chest.

Boom!

A deep, thunderous crash rang out, like an iron hammer striking a bronze bell. Barker was sent flying like a stone launched from a siege engine. He crashed through a tree as thick as a bowl, then rolled seven or eight zhang across the ground before stopping. Soil churned and rocks flew wherever he passed, leaving a deep furrow behind him.

He lay face-down and didn't get up for a long while.

Akes walked over and crouched to check on him.

Barker lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of dirt, but he was smiling. "I'm fine... I'm fine... Just a little dizzy from the shock."

He rolled over and sat up, then opened his shirt to look at his chest. A faint fist mark showed there, darker than the surrounding skin, like a red mark left by a hard press. He touched it and grinned.

"I really took it!" He looked up, eyes shining with excitement. "Sure, I got sent flying, but my skin didn't break and my bones aren't cracked. Brother Linley, your Hundred-Fold Wave can't kill me!"

Linley came over and looked at the fist mark, surprise in his eyes. He hadn't used his full strength, but he'd still put seven or eight tenths of it into that punch—enough to smash a boulder to pieces. Yet all it had left on Barker was a shallow mark.

The Undying Warrior's defenses were truly terrifying.

Akes stood nearby, watching the scene. He felt as if he were beginning to understand something.

Linley's Hundred-Fold Wave was the ultimate stacking of force. A single punch could split mountains and shatter rocks, yet it couldn't break through Barker's physical defenses. Barker's defense was the result of pushing the body's tempering to its limit.

Just then, a familiar notification sounded in Akes's mind.

Sign-in.

Akes paused slightly, then silently accepted the reward.

A warm current flowed into his body and gathered in his dantian as a tiny point of light. He closed his eyes and looked within. The speck was only the size of a grain of rice, a deep purplish-black, with flames flickering faintly across its surface. They weren't ordinary flames, but flames that contained a hint of life, their flickering following a strange rhythm.

Three Thousand Burning Flame Seed.

At the same time, information flowed into his mind—

Ranked ninth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, it originated deep within the heavens and formed over millions of years. It contained powerful vitality and restorative properties that could nourish the body and heal injuries. It had to be cultivated for a long time to mature. Once mature, it would greatly increase the power of its flames and grant its holder an extraordinary ability to heal. During cultivation, it had to be nourished daily with the holder's own Dou Qi and tempered with flames so that it could take root and sprout.

Akes opened his eyes, thoughtful.

"What's wrong?" Linley noticed his odd expression.

Akes shook his head. "Nothing. I just remembered something."

Linley didn't press him, only nodded.

The three of them headed down the hill together.

When they reached halfway down, Barker suddenly stopped and glanced back at the stretch of woods. The setting sun bathed the hills in gold and crimson. The boulders they had smashed lay scattered across the ground, casting long shadows in the evening light.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Brother Linley, Brother Akes, I've got an idea."

"Go ahead."

Barker scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm an Undying Warrior, and I can reach Saint-level when I transform. But I just broke through, and I'm still not very good at using this power. All I know is how to take hits and hit back. That won't be enough against a real powerhouse. Brother Linley, could you teach me your Hundred-Fold Wave? I don't need to learn all of it. Even a little would help. I want to train my punches too."

Linley thought it over, then nodded. "We can give it a try."

Barker was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.

Watching them, Akes understood what Barker was thinking.

Barker wanted to make the most of his strength. An Undying Warrior's body was already strong enough. If he learned how to stack force, he wouldn't just be able to defend himself—he could attack and defend at once. He'd be able to withstand Saint-level attacks and strike back hard enough to injure Saint-level opponents.

The five brothers were growing stronger at an astonishing pace.

When they returned to the courtyard, Sessler was standing outside his laboratory. The old man wore a gray robe, his hands tucked into his sleeves as he squinted at the three of them. Behind him stood the stone building that was always kept tightly shut. Strange smells and sounds occasionally came from within, but no one knew what he was working on.

When Sessler saw Barker, his eyes narrowed further.

"I heard you broke through to Saint-level?"

Barker chuckled and puffed out his chest. "I'm Saint-level when I transform, but still ninth level when I don't. Old Mr. Sessler, you really have a good eye. Yesterday you said I was just one step away, and today I broke through!"

Sessler nodded and stroked his beard. "Good, good. At last, one of you five has made something of himself. Those other lads, Gates and the rest, still need more training."

"Gates is close too," Barker said. "He says another two or three months and he'll catch up to me. He told me the day before yesterday that he could feel himself nearing the threshold. He's just a little short."

Sessler grunted, then looked at Linley. "Has there been any movement from the Radiant Church lately?"

Linley shook his head. "Nothing for now. The people we sent out reported that the church has been making some moves in the O'Brien Empire, but it's been unusually quiet here. Too quiet."

"That won't last much longer." Sessler paused, then said, "This old man thinks the same. You've killed so many of their people. They can't possibly let it go. They've spent these six quiet months building their strength. Next time, they'll either stay away—or come with a major force."

Everyone fell silent.