Breakthrough to Third-Order Qi Sea Realm, Raiders Attack

To ensure his breakthrough would be foolproof, Lin Hanzhou requested a few days of leave from the town mayor.

He ventured alone deep into the desolate mountain forest behind Peace Town.

He found a valley with relatively dense spiritual energy and sat cross-legged atop a massive bluestone.

He began the most important breakthrough since his transmigration.

"Nine years of accumulation—success or failure hinges on this one attempt!"

Lin Hanzhou slowly closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his dantian.

He could see the vortex of pure spiritual energy within his dantian, which had grown to its absolute limit.

It spun frantically, and with every rotation, the entire barrier of his dantian hummed, as if it might be shattered at any moment.

The time for the breakthrough had arrived.

Lin Hanzhou no longer suppressed it; with a single thought, he began to circulate the method for "Opening the Qi Sea" from the Luo Heaven Art with all his might.

"BOOM!"

The vortex within his dantian, as if receiving an order for an all-out assault, instantly erupted with unprecedented power.

That immensely vigorous spiritual energy, like a bursting dam, surged violently toward the center of his dantian!

Opening the Qi Sea meant using one's own spiritual energy as a foundation to forcibly carve out an "inner space" within the dantian capable of holding more energy.

For the vast majority of martial artists, this process is fraught with danger.

The slightest carelessness could result in a shattered dantian and the total loss of one's cultivation.

But for Lin Hanzhou, all of this was a natural progression.

His accumulation over these years was simply too profound.

His foundation was incredibly solid!

More importantly, he possessed the blessing of the Martial Arts Prodigy talent.

The power of this talent was evident to all; opening a Qi Sea was a trivial matter for him.

The torrent of vigorous spiritual energy finally carved out a tiny space, the very prototype of a Qi Sea.

Immediately following, more spiritual energy poured into it continuously.

That small space began to expand and evolve at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ten feet... one hundred feet... one thousand feet...

In the end, an inner space that seemed boundless took complete shape within his dantian.

What surprised Lin Hanzhou most was that the Qi Sea he had opened appeared golden in color.

One must know that the grades of a Qi Sea, from lowest to highest, are colorless, gray, blue, purple, and gold.

A golden Qi Sea is undoubtedly the top-tier Qi Sea!

This meant that his Qi Sea, in terms of both stability and spiritual energy capacity, far exceeded that of masters at the same level.

Lin Hanzhou felt a surge of joy; he could sense that the spiritual energy within him was undergoing a qualitative leap.

The originally gaseous spiritual energy, after being transformed by the golden Qi Sea, became even purer, its power incomparable to before.

He had successfully broken through to the third stage, the Qi Sea Realm.

A sense of power like never before flooded his limbs and bones, bringing him a profound sense of security.

Lin Hanzhou felt that if he were to strike with his full strength, the entire Peace Town would be razed to the ground.

Compared to the power of his previous strikes, this was the difference between heaven and earth.

Beyond this, his five senses had also received a terrifying boost.

He only needed to focus slightly to know every rustle of wind and grass within a radius of several dozen miles.

Whether it was the chirping of insects and birds or the sound of flowing streams, everything felt as clear as if it were right beside his ears.

After experiencing the earth-shattering changes within himself, Lin Hanzhou did not rush to stand up to test his current strength.

He knew that having just broken through, his realm was not yet stable.

The most urgent priority was to spend some time properly consolidating his cultivation.

Thus, he remained seated cross-legged and began to feel the changes in his body even more carefully.

On the other side, on a mountain path a dozen miles away from Peace Town.

Dozens of fierce-looking men were traveling rapidly.

If any martial artists from the pugilistic world were here, they would surely be shocked.

Because these dozens of men were all ranked martial artists, with the lowest among them being third-rate.

Among them, there were no shortage of several first-rate martial artists.

Leading them was a burly man with a hulking frame and a hideous scar across his face.

Judging by the aura radiating from him, he was clearly a powerhouse at the Martial Master level.

They were none other than a band of marauders who had recently become notorious throughout Qing Prefecture.

They were originally soldiers from the Great Gan Dynasty's Qing Province border army, but after suffering a defeat in Qing Province, they fled south all the way to Qing Prefecture.

Along the way, relying on their formidable cultivation, they burned, killed, looted, and committed every evil imaginable.

Any village or town that fell victim to their cruelty was left with almost no survivors.

They forcibly seized wealth and abducted women, having long since extinguished every shred of their humanity.

Now, they had set their sights on Peace Town as their next prey.

"Boss, the scouts report that the town ahead is called Peace Town."

"It's a remote little place with not much wealth, but there aren't any decent experts there either."

"The young and strong martial artists in town have all been conscripted by the imperial court; what's left are just the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled."

A man with a sharp, monkey-like face spoke flatteringly to the scarred leader.

"Hahaha! Good! That's perfect!"

Upon hearing this, the scarred man let out a cruel, booming laugh.

"Brothers, pick up the pace! We must reach it before noon today!"

"I'm telling you all now, the women and grain in that town belong to whoever grabs them first!"

"If you're late, you'll only be left with someone else's scraps!"

"Ooh--!"

His band of marauders let out a chorus of excited, lecherous wolf-howls.

They immediately accelerated, their eyes gleaming with greed and lust.

None of them wanted to be left with nothing but the dregs.

Little did they know, a pair of cold eyes in the sky was quietly watching their backs.

This person was none other than Lin Hanzhou, who had just broken through to the third rank and stabilized his cultivation.

Originally, he had only wanted to experience the sensation of flight as a third-rank martial artist.

But as he flew, his incredibly keen senses picked up this group of people.

And just now, he had heard their filthy, wretched conversation with perfect clarity.

"Marauders, are they..."

Lin Hanzhou hovered in the air, his gaze growing increasingly icy.

He had heard rumors about this band of marauders back in Peace Town.

The commotion they caused was so great that it was said no fewer than three towns had already fallen victim to their cruelty.

The government had tried to send troops to wipe them out several times, but every attempt had ended in failure.

What he hadn't expected was that they would appear here now, targeting Peace Town.

Lin Hanzhou had always believed in killing without mercy those pieces of human trash who swung their butcher knives at innocent civilians.

He might not be a saint, but he had his own moral compass and a bottom line.

The actions of these marauders had undoubtedly crossed that line.

They all deserved to die!

The killing intent in Lin Hanzhou's eyes was almost tangible.

In the next instant, his figure flashed and vanished from his position high in the sky.