Half a Year in Seclusion, Level Thirty!

The cultivation room in the East Courtyard was tightly shut.

Ever since Li Long had moved in, the door had rarely opened after the second day.

A wooden plaque hung outside, bearing only four words: Do Not Disturb. Cultivating.

At first, the attendants outside the courtyard delivered three meals every day, placing them on the stone platform by the door. Later, they discovered that the food often remained untouched for half the day, only to be taken inside for a few hurried bites after it had gone cold. The meal deliveries were reduced from three to two, and eventually changed to one large portion delivered in the morning for Li Long to eat as needed.

Qian Shengyuan would occasionally pause for a moment when passing by the East Courtyard.

He listened to the sounds within: the wind of the staff, shifting footsteps, and the hum of soul power circulating. Most of the time, they maintained an even rhythm. Occasionally, they would suddenly accelerate for a while before gradually slowing again.

Those sounds told him that the person inside was still moving, still training, still walking that path.

After one month, Li Long was level twenty-five.

He had finished the first set of millennium-grade body-tempering medicinal baths from the first batch of herbs. Combined with the daily circulation of the Metal-Attribute Soul Power Guidance Method, the width of his meridians had increased by nearly twenty percent compared to before his seclusion.

The speed of his soul power circulation had clearly increased, and the time needed to transmit it from his dantian to his limbs had been reduced by nearly a third.

In the second month, Li Long reached level twenty-six.

He began integrating the guidance method into combat training.

He lined one corner of the cultivation room with iron stakes. Every day, while maintaining the constant enhancement of his second soul skill, Gale Giant Force, he continuously swung his staff against the stakes for half an hour at a time without stopping.

His three-ring Soul Elder-level body gradually adapted to this high-intensity sustained output. His muscle fibers grew denser, and his explosive strength rose further.

In the third month, Li Long reached level twenty-seven.

Qian Shengyuan arranged for a second batch of resources to be delivered. It included another set of higher-grade body-tempering materials, along with an auxiliary cultivation manual marked Weighted Soul Power Circulation Method.

Li Long fitted weighted iron rings onto his limbs and maintained the guidance method under the additional burden. The consumption was twice what it had been before, but the efficiency rose in tandem.

Every night when he removed the weights, the relief welling up from within him felt like shedding a mountain, and the surge of soul power became even fiercer.

In the fourth month, Li Long reached level twenty-eight.

The combined effects of the medicinal baths and guidance method began to show a clear qualitative transformation.

The walls of Li Long's meridians had become even sturdier than those of an ordinary four-ring Soul Ancestor, while the breadth of his soul power circulation approached that of a mid-stage three-ring Soul Elder.

He tried stacking his first and second soul skills. The instant both enhancements flooded into the iron staff, a crack nearly a foot deep appeared in the cultivation room wall.

He immediately stopped, realizing that the destructive power of this combination skill had exceeded what an enclosed space could withstand.

In the fifth month, Li Long reached level twenty-nine.

A bottleneck appeared.

At this level, the limitations of his innate level-three soul power began to reveal their suppressive force.

The growth of his soul power slowed noticeably. By the third cycle of the guidance method, an obvious sense of sluggishness would appear, as though hidden reefs had emerged in a riverbed, forcing the current to detour and causing its speed to plummet.

Li Long spent an entire week trying to break through this barrier, extending his cultivation to more than six hours every day, but the results were minimal.

Qian Shengyuan visited the cultivation room once in the middle of that month.

When Li Long opened the door, his head was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through, and his eyes slightly bloodshot.

Qian Shengyuan glanced at him and said only two sentences. "You can't rush a bottleneck. The harder you force it, the tighter it closes. Empty your mind for two days. Stop the guidance method and train only your body. Then come back and see."

Li Long did as he said.

During the two days he stopped the guidance method, he focused solely on pure body-tempering training: weighted staff swings, medicinal baths, and basic physical conditioning circuits.

When he restarted the guidance method two days later, most of the sluggishness had faded. His soul power once again flowed smoothly through those reef-like nodes.

When he attacked the level twenty-nine barrier, he stacked both soul skills at full power and unleashed a single blast. The barrier was blasted open with cracks, and soul power surged in.

By the end of the fifth month, Li Long had stabilized at level twenty-nine.

In the sixth month, Li Long reached level thirty.

On the final day of his seclusion, the cultivation room door finally opened fully for the first time in half a year.

When Li Long stepped out, the morning sunlight fell across his face, and only then did he realize that it was already late summer outside.

It had been early spring when his seclusion began. The branches in the courtyard had only just sprouted tender buds, but now they were thick with leaves, casting broad patches of shade.

Standing at the doorway, he rolled his shoulders and back, and a string of crisp cracks rang out from his joints.

He was more than half a head taller than he had been six months ago, his shoulders a full size broader. The muscles in his arms were sleek and firm, and his entire bearing had become steadier than before.

Level thirty.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. After half a year of repeated tempering, the skin of his palms was rough and thick, while the calluses from gripping his staff had layered upon one another like dark yellow gloves.

The soul power in his body flowed steadily through his meridians, broad and abundant, nearly twice as profound as it had been half a year ago.

He walked out of the courtyard with steady, powerful steps. The attendants he passed along the way were visibly stunned when they saw him, then quickly moved aside to let him through.

He had not shown himself for half a year, and the changes were too great. He had grown taller, his aura had become composed and heavy, and he seemed like an entirely different person from the boy who had still carried a trace of childishness during the grand competition.

Li Long passed through the corridor and arrived outside Qian Shengyuan's study.

He raised his hand and knocked three times, each knock even in force.

"Come in."

Qian Shengyuan sat behind the long desk. When he looked up and saw the person at the door, the hand holding his brush paused for an instant.

He looked Li Long over from head to toe, his gaze traveling from shoulders to arms, waist to legs, before finally settling on his eyes.

His gaze was deeper than it had been half a year ago, carrying the calmness of dust settling after the storm.

"Level thirty?"

"Level thirty," Li Long replied. "I've fully absorbed the impact of my second soul ring, and I've completely mastered the combined operation of my first and second soul skills. Now I only need a third soul ring to break through to Soul Elder."

Qian Shengyuan set down his brush and leaned back in his chair, certainty filling his gaze after his scrutiny.

He watched for a moment, and a faint, nearly imperceptible satisfaction entered his voice. "Earlier than expected. Half a year in seclusion, from level twenty-four to level thirty—a jump of six levels. That kind of speed is not something innate level-three soul power should have. You've practiced your guidance method well."

"It's because the guidance method and resources Master gave me were good enough," Li Long said.

Qian Shengyuan gave a noncommittal snort, then shifted the topic, his tone growing serious. "Now that you've reached level thirty, have you considered the age of your third soul ring?"

"I have." Li Long did not hesitate. "For pure strength stacked at full power, my first soul ring gave me a foundation in defense and strength, while my second soul ring made up for speed. Starting with my third ring, all I need is strength. The purer, the better. The heavier, the better. I'll choose a millennium soul beast that specializes in pure strength."

Qian Shengyuan nodded, as though it was exactly what he had expected.

He fell silent for a moment, tapping the armrest twice with his fingers before speaking. "Mm. Your thinking is correct. But have you considered the age?"

Li Long nodded. "I plan to challenge a ten-thousand-year third soul ring."

"You've decided?"

"A ten-thousand-year soul ring's impact alone is terrifying, and you'll also have to face spiritual attacks."

"That's too risky."

Qian Shengyuan was stunned when he heard that.

This kid was far too bold!