Verification, Sword Qi

"Lu Yuan, you... you've also broken through to the Hidden Energy Realm?"

Zhang Feng stared fixedly at Lu Yuan, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Mm!"

Lu Yuan nodded.

One should keep a low profile when necessary, but when it is time to reveal one's strength, one must do so appropriately.

"It's only been a few days, and he's actually broken through to the Hidden Energy Realm? Does he not have any bottlenecks?"

Zhang Feng continued to look at Lu Yuan, still finding it hard to believe.

"If I remember correctly, he only arrived five days ago. How could he have broken through to the Hidden Energy Realm so quickly?"

"He's only sixteen! A sixteen-year-old Bright Energy Realm martial artist was already enough to shock me, and yet, he's actually already reached the Hidden Energy Realm!"

The gazes of the others currently fixed upon Lu Yuan were also filled with shock.

"I never expected that the one hiding the deepest would be him!"

The youth in the white jacket and the big-headed youth exchanged glances, both filled with incredulity.

They had originally thought that they were the ones hiding their true strength the best, but they never imagined that the one hiding the deepest was actually Lu Yuan, who had only arrived a few days ago.

"Wang Chao, Chen Zheng, Lu Yuan, come here. Each of you, strike my palm once!"

Master Huang, after casting a look of astonishment at Lu Yuan, spoke to the three of them.

Clearly, he wanted to personally test whether the three of them had truly reached the Hidden Energy Realm.

The three did not hesitate and walked directly in front of Master Huang.

"Wang Chao, you go first!"

Master Huang extended a palm toward the youth in the white jacket.

"Offense taken!"

Wang Chao nodded, then slammed a fist into Master Huang's palm.

Hidden Energy surged, and a dull thud echoed out.

Yet, Master Huang's palm remained completely motionless.

"So this is a Transformation Realm expert!"

A flash of shock crossed Wang Chao's eyes.

Although he hadn't unleashed his full strength with that punch, it would have been enough to easily injure an average Hidden Energy Realm martial artist.

However, not only did Master Huang receive the punch without a scratch, but the Hidden Energy he had unleashed failed to affect Master Huang in the slightest, demonstrating just how vast the gap between them was.

"Not bad, you have indeed reached the Hidden Energy Realm!"

Master Huang nodded with a smile, then turned to the big-headed youth and said, "Chen Zheng, you may use your full strength. Do not fear hurting me!"

"I understand!"

Chen Zheng nodded and bowed to Master Huang.

He took a deep breath and threw a punch with all his might.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by a dull sound, Chen Zheng's fist landed squarely on Master Huang's palm.

However, Master Huang's palm remained unscathed and did not budge in the slightest.

"So powerful!"

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in secret admiration.

Chen Zheng's punch just now must have been his full-force strike, yet it still couldn't force Master Huang's palm back even an inch.

This was the power of a great Transformation Realm expert; no matter how a Hidden Energy Realm martial artist attacked, they could not do a thing to him.

"A great Transformation Realm expert is truly not someone a Hidden Energy Realm martial artist can easily contend with!"

A hint of intrigue appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.

If one relied solely on blood energy to trigger Hidden Energy, it was basically impossible for a Hidden Energy Realm cultivator to defeat a Transformation Realm expert.

Only by utilizing the Wind-Breaking Blade Technique and Flick Finger Technique at the perfection stage, and perhaps mastering the Gale Steps, would it be possible to achieve such a feat.

"Lu Yuan, you may also use your full strength!"

Master Huang turned his gaze toward Lu Yuan, a smile on his face.

Lu Yuan said nothing more; he bowed slightly to Master Huang before swinging his fist toward the man's palm.

"Bang!"

Blood energy erupted, Hidden Energy surged, and a rather dull thud followed.

As expected, Master Huang's palm remained completely motionless.

Clearly, Lu Yuan's performance was not much stronger than that of Wang Chao and Chen Zheng.

"At your age, to break into the Hidden Energy Realm so quickly—regardless of your innate talent—Hidden Energy will certainly not be your limit. If you can find a noble family to shelter you in the future, even becoming a true Ranked martial artist is not without hope!"

Master Huang looked at Lu Yuan with a smile and nodded, saying, "If you can step into the Transformation Realm before the age of thirty, you will have at least a twenty percent chance of becoming a true Ranked martial artist!"

"That's right, he seems to be only sixteen. So young!"

"Although I have already turned twenty-six this year, I have only just managed to step into the Hidden Energy Realm, and my family already considers me a martial arts genius. Compared to him, what kind of genius am I?"

"If his innate talent isn't exceptional, then it's possible he used some special method to overdraw his potential!"

Everyone looked at Lu Yuan with curiosity, wanting to know exactly how he had done it.

A sixteen-year-old martial artist in the Hidden Energy Realm was extremely rare, even across the entire Qinghe County.

"Before the age of thirty?"

Lu Yuan just stood there quietly.

He was only sixteen now and was already a Hidden Energy martial artist. Furthermore, as long as he could maintain his current progress, he could basically complete his third blood-qi tempering before his birthday at the end of the year and become a Transformation Realm martial artist.

Even so, he was still three years away from twenty and thirteen years away from thirty, so he truly could not imagine what level he would reach by then.

After finishing a session of Five Animals Fist, Lu Yuan joined the others in the canteen to eat a complimentary serving of venison.

Afterward, he went to the front to collect a portion of Essence-Replenishing Soup and Qi-Replenishing Soup from Shopkeeper Yu, then headed straight home.

"A-Yuan, martial arts training is hard work; you must remember to rest."

Madam Yang said this after taking the medicine packets from Lu Yuan's hands.

"I will!"

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile and then played with Little Nannan for a while.

Once Madam Yang had set the medicinal soup to boil, he went straight into the courtyard and began practicing Gale Steps.

This movement technique was quite exquisite; by circulating blood-qi through the legs and coordinating it with the corresponding footwork, one could suddenly burst forth with extreme speed, swift as the wind.

[Gale Steps: Not Initiated (1/100)]

[Gale Steps: Not Initiated (3/100)]

[Gale Steps: Initiated (8/200)]

After only a dozen or so attempts, Lu Yuan successfully brought Gale Steps to the Initiated level.

During this time, he not only drank one dose of Essence-Replenishing Soup and one dose of Qi-Replenishing Soup, but he also practiced the Five Animals Fist twice more.

Night had already fallen, and Madam Yang had long since taken Little Nannan to sleep.

After resting briefly, Lu Yuan walked out of the house again.

The moonlight poured down like liquid silver, illuminating the entire courtyard as if it were broad daylight.

The surroundings were silent, save for the chirping of insects in the corner of the wall and the soft murmurs of Little Nannan in her sleep.

"Clang!"

With a crisp sound, Lu Yuan drew his sword and began practicing the Blazing Sun Sword Technique.

Although it was just an ordinary longsword he had bought from the blacksmith for half a tael of silver, it was sufficient for sword practice.

[Blazing Sun Sword Technique: Not Initiated (1/500)]

Although Lu Yuan had been mentally prepared, knowing that the Blazing Sun Sword Technique was a Mystic Grade art—superior to the Yellow Grade—and that the difficulty of practicing it would be much greater than the Wind-Breaking Blade Technique, he still hadn't expected that just reaching the Initiated level would require 500 proficiency points.

One had to realize that even bringing the Wind-Breaking Blade Technique to the Minor Achievement level only required 300 proficiency points in total.

Of course, even so, he could still master it in a very short time.

Not only that, but he also had to cultivate it to perfection as quickly as possible.

Because once the Blazing Sun Sword Technique was perfected, one could condense sword radiance into the much more powerful Sword Qi.

If sword radiance could injure a Ranked martial artist, then Sword Qi could kill one!