He pushed open the heavy alloy door.
Lin Yuan stepped out of the Exclusive Cultivation Room.
The cold lights overhead fell across him.
At first glance,
Lin Yuan looked much the same.
But a closer look
revealed a faint metallic sheen beneath his skin.
"Lin Yuan?"
Just then,
a startled voice came from the end of the corridor.
Nie Dingguo walked toward him.
Behind Nie Dingguo came Old Li, the research director, with dark circles under both eyes.
"You're... done cultivating?"
Nie Dingguo sounded uncertain.
According to Su Qingxue,
the Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula was a Sixth-Tier Cultivation Art, notoriously difficult to master.
He had expected Lin Yuan to remain shut away for ten days, perhaps even half a month.
"Yeah."
"Sir."
"I've mastered the basics."
Lin Yuan stopped and answered earnestly.
His casual words hit the corridor like a bomb.
The military tablet slipped from Old Li's hands and clattered to the floor.
Nie Dingguo's square face froze.
"You..."
"What did you say?"
Old Li forgot about the tablet and rushed up to Lin Yuan.
His hands trembled as he reached for Lin Yuan's arm.
"Five days!"
"Only five days!"
"Instructor Su took five years to master that art, and you did it in five days?"
Old Li's voice rose to a shrill pitch with excitement.
"I got lucky."
Lin Yuan rubbed his nose and smiled.
He offered no further explanation.
There was little to explain about talent.
"Good!"
"That's my boy!"
"Go wash up and rest. Eat something to get your strength back."
"We'll measure exactly how your body has changed tomorrow!"
Nie Dingguo quickly regained his composure.
But his eyes burned with fervor as he looked at Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan nodded.
Five straight days of intense cultivation had left him mentally exhausted.
Only after Lin Yuan disappeared around the corner
did Nie Dingguo turn to Old Li.
"Raise Lin Yuan's security classification immediately."
"Give him the highest-grade nutrient solution, however much he needs."
Old Li nodded firmly.
They both knew Dragon Country had found a treasure.
Over the next half month,
the entire Northwest Military Region Underground Base operated at a fever pitch.
Lin Yuan settled into a rigid routine.
Eat, sleep, cultivate the Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula, and hone his three Martial Techniques.
He paid no attention to the outside world.
But his terrifying pace of cultivation sparked a fierce wave of competition throughout the base.
At Comprehensive Training Ground No. 1,
Boom!
A heavy punch slammed into the force meter.
Bare-chested, Ye Qingshan stood drenched in sweat.
He stared at the numbers flashing across the screen.
1700 KG!
That figure was already nearing the limits of human physiology.
Yet he felt no joy.
"Still not enough..."
Ye Qingshan panted heavily.
He turned toward the closed alloy door at the far end of the training ground.
It led to Lin Yuan's Exclusive Cultivation Room.
Half a month earlier,
Lin Yuan's punch had reached a terrifying 5200 KG without his having cultivated any martial arts technique.
Now another half month had passed.
How strong had the young man Su Qingxue called Dragon Country's hope become?
Ye Qingshan hardly dared imagine it.
"Qingshan."
"Take a break."
"You haven't even slept these past few days."
"Keep this up and your body will give out."
A deep voice came from beside him.
Chu Tiankuo handed Ye Qingshan a bottle of specially formulated energy drink.
"You haven't even slept these past few days."
"Keep this up and your body will give out."
"We're among the best of this batch, aren't we?"
"But neither of us shows any sign of forming a Qi Vortex, let alone becoming a true martial artist."
Ye Qingshan took the drink and downed more than half the bottle.
He wiped the sweat from his mouth and asked Chu Tiankuo,
Chu Tiankuo fell silent for a moment.
His gaze swept the area.
More than a hundred people now filled the vast training ground.
Nie Dingguo had urgently transferred every one of them from military regions across the country.
They were here for one reason.
After learning the Basic Breathing Technique, they had all managed to sense the Aura drifting through the world.
But sensing Aura and holding it within the body to form a Qi Vortex were entirely different things.
"Rushing won't help."
"Instructor Su said full Spiritual Energy Revival is still six months away."
"The Aura is too thin right now. That's the world we're working with."
"All we can do is practice the Breathing Method over and over."
Chu Tiankuo patted Ye Qingshan's shoulder.
Ye Qingshan gritted his teeth and turned back toward the punching bag.
"I know one thing."
"Fall behind, and you get beaten."
"If Lin Yuan can become a martial artist in these conditions, so can we!"
Inside the Surveillance Room,
"Heh!"
"These kids have guts, I'll give them that."
Nie Dingguo watched them train, sweat pouring down their faces.
A satisfied smile touched his lips.
Because of Lin Yuan's success,
support from above for Northwest Base had reached unprecedented levels.
That was why
the Basic Breathing Technique provided by Su Qingxue had already been distributed to special forces units in every theater command.
Anyone who could sense Aura within a week
was transferred by Nie Dingguo to Northwest Base for training under Su Qingxue.
His reasoning was simple.
In Nie Dingguo's eyes,
Lin Yuan was Dragon Country's nuclear weapon.
But Lin Yuan could not fight the war against the Ferocious Beasts alone.
Before Spiritual Energy Revival, Nie Dingguo had to make Dragon Country stronger!
Night deepened.
Inside Lin Yuan's Exclusive Cultivation Room,
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged on the high-strength, pressure-resistant floor.
His skin glowed dark red.
It looked as though magma were surging through his veins.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
That was the sound of his heartbeat.
The thin Aura in the air was forcibly drawn toward him.
It entered through his pores, fiercely tempering every inch of his skin.
Pain came in wave after wave.
But Lin Yuan seemed not to feel it.
His breathing remained steady and deep.
Each breath stirred a faint current of air.
Throughout the past half month,
Lin Yuan had worked like a tireless machine.
Apart from eating when necessary, he had spent every moment here.
Break through!
Lin Yuan roared inwardly.
The fingernail-sized Qi Vortex in his dantian suddenly unleashed a powerful suction.
It drained the surrounding Aura in an instant.
Hum—
A strange resonance filled the room.
The dark red glow faded from Lin Yuan's skin.
In its place came an almost solid bronze sheen.
His skin had grown tough as leather, with the cold hardness of metal.
He had broken through!
The True Qi that had stalled in his meridians suddenly doubled in strength!
It raced along the path of the first stage of Skin Tempering, completing a full Heavenly Orbit.
The next instant,
Lin Yuan's eyes snapped open.
He let out a long breath of stale air.
The stream shot out like a blade, cracking the air with a sharp sonic boom.
He felt power surging through his body.
Lin Yuan immediately brought up the System Panel.
[Host: Lin Yuan] [Strength: Mid First-Order Martial Artist Stage] [Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula First Layer (Minor Mastery Realm 2%)] [Martial Techniques: Broken Rock Fist (Entry Realm 37%), Wandering Dragon Step (Entry Realm 41%), Overlord Spear (Entry Realm 39%)] [Treasure: None]
I finally reached Mid First Rank!
Lin Yuan scanned the panel, unable to keep the smile from his face.
Half a month.
In that time, he had forced a Sixth-Tier Cultivation Art from the Entry Realm into the Minor Mastery Realm.
If Su Qingxue saw how fast he had advanced, she would probably question everything she knew.
What pleased Lin Yuan even more was the progress of the three Martial Techniques below.
Before you continue