Breakthrough! Peak Second-Tier Stage!

Shu Capital.

Military Dependents' Compound.

Lin Xiaoxiao sat cross-legged on her bed.

Following the posture her brother had taught her, she painstakingly adjusted her breathing.

For the past half month, she had practiced every day.

Although she found it dull, she still listened to her brother.

Suddenly.

Lin Xiaoxiao felt an exceedingly faint warmth three inches below her navel.

It was like swallowing a sip of hot tea, leaving her pleasantly warm.

Immediately afterward.

The warm current began flowing through her body.

Lin Xiaoxiao abruptly opened her eyes.

She could clearly see the veins of the leaves outside the window.

She could hear the sirens on the distant streets with perfect clarity.

Even the air had become unusually fresh. One breath made her whole body feel comfortable.

"Th-this... is this martial arts?"

Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes widened as she muttered under her breath.

She recalled the grave look on her brother's face before he had left, as well as the soldiers filling the streets these past few days.

Though the little girl was usually mischievous and clever, she was far from foolish.

She immediately shut her mouth and told no one.

"Brother."

"What exactly are you doing...?"

Southwest Military Region.

Inside Specialized Cultivation Room No. 3.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged.

He had long since taken off his shirt, revealing sharply defined muscles.

Spiritual Energy Tide!

This was the enormous opportunity Su Qingxue had repeatedly warned him never to miss.

During ordinary cultivation.

Spiritual energy was like a small stream, requiring him to carefully guide it and draw it into his body strand by strand.

But now.

The spiritual energy was like a flooding river, crazily pouring into every pore of Lin Yuan's body.

Pain.

Utter, extreme pain.

Lin Yuan's facial muscles violently twitched, and his teeth ground together with cracking sounds.

For a Second-Tier Martial Artist in the Flesh Tempering stage.

True qi had to continuously scour and tear apart the original muscle fibers before reorganizing them anew.

With every reorganization, the density and resilience of the muscles would skyrocket geometrically.

It was a long and painful process.

But with the Spiritual Energy Tide empowering him, that process was shortened without limit.

"Psst, psst, psst—"

Fine droplets of blood continuously seeped from Lin Yuan's skin.

The moment they emerged, they were evaporated by the high temperature into crimson mist.

The second layer of the Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula was operating at a frenzied speed.

Break for me!

Lin Yuan let out a furious roar in his heart.

His violent true qi surged like an army of a thousand troops, directly smashing through the barrier of the Early Second Tier.

Boom!

A dull explosion sounded from within his body.

His bones rang in unison, while his muscles swelled as if inflated.

Mid-Second-Tier Stage!

He had broken through.

Only ten minutes had passed.

But Lin Yuan was not satisfied.

He could clearly sense that the concentration of spiritual energy around him was still steadily rising.

Not enough.

Far from enough.

Only one week remained before the beast tide erupted.

According to Su Qingxue.

The beast tide near Shu Capital would be led by a Peak Second-Order Stage Ironclad Mad Ape.

Ferocious Beasts were inherently far more physically powerful than human martial artists of the same tier.

A Peak Second-Order Stage Ferocious Beast had defenses comparable to an armored vehicle.

Though he was a monstrous genius, he still risked failure if he did not raise his realm high enough.

He did not merely want to win. He wanted to crush them!

Because behind him lay Shu Capital—his parents and his younger sister.

"Keep going!"

Lin Yuan seemed to turn into a black hole of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth directly formed a vortex above his head.

Time passed second by second.

Thirty minutes.

Forty minutes.

Fifty minutes.

A layer of dark red keratin appeared over Lin Yuan's skin.

It was a defensive membrane naturally produced once his muscle density reached its limit.

With the rise and fall of his breathing.

The keratin layer emitted a pressure that made one's heart tremble.

Fifty-five minutes.

Lin Yuan sensed that the spiritual energy pouring into his body was beginning to slow.

That violent feeling of being flooded was rapidly fading.

The tide was about to end.

Don't even think about running!

A powerful unwillingness surged within Lin Yuan.

He abruptly rose to his feet and assumed the opening stance of the Broken Rock Fist.

Since sitting still had become too slow, he would move.

He would use high-intensity martial techniques to forcibly squeeze his muscles dry and compel his body to devour the final remnants of spiritual energy.

Bang!

Lin Yuan threw a punch.

A piercing sonic boom erupted through the air.

A ring of visible white air waves explosively burst from his fist.

He had not released any true qi. This was purely physical strength.

The floor of the entire cultivation room cracked beneath his feet in web-like patterns.

"Whoosh—"

Lin Yuan continuously shifted his footwork.

The Wandering Dragon Step turned him into an afterimage that flickered through the cramped cultivation room.

Though he held no spear, he used his arms in place of one with the Overlord Spear, each strike carrying an indomitable, fierce momentum.

The final five minutes.

Lin Yuan pushed his body's potential to its absolute limit.

Finally.

The pale white mist permeating the air completely dispersed.

The omnipresent pressure also receded like the tide.

The Spiritual Energy Tide had ended.

Blue Star's spiritual energy concentration stabilized at a steady level.

Lin Yuan stopped moving and panted heavily.

Sweat ran down his muscles, dripping onto the floor and instantly evaporating in the high heat.

His entire body resembled a volcano that had just erupted.

Though it had quieted down, it still contained power capable of destroying heaven and earth.

"Is it over...?"

Lin Yuan clenched his fist.

His knuckles let out a series of crackles like popping beans.

He could feel that his body was now terrifyingly powerful.

There was no need for testing equipment.

He was certain that a single punch from him could now blast straight through the previous force-testing target.

With a thought.

A transparent light screen appeared before Lin Yuan.

[Host: Lin Yuan]

[Strength: Peak Second-Tier Martial Artist]

[Cultivation Method: Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula, Second Layer (Perfected Realm 55%)]

[Martial Techniques: Broken Rock Fist (Minor Mastery Realm 85%), Wandering Dragon Step (Minor Mastery Realm 92%), Overlord Spear (Minor Mastery Realm 88%)]

[Treasures: None]

Looking at the data on the panel.

Lin Yuan's pupils contracted, then he broke into an excited laugh.

In just one short hour.

He had crossed the Mid-Second-Tier Stage and late Second Tier, soaring straight to the Peak Second-Tier Stage.

This rocket-like rate of advancement was so exhilarating it made his scalp tingle.

Even more outrageous was the proficiency of the Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula.

Second layer, Perfected Realm, 55%.

That meant his Flesh Tempering stage had reached perfection, and he had even touched the threshold of the Third-Tier Bone Tempering Realm.

As for the three martial techniques, although they were still at the Minor Mastery Realm.

Their proficiency had all approached the Mastery Realm.

Under such circumstances.

Lin Yuan's actual combat ability had undergone a qualitative leap.

What a pity.

If this tide could have lasted another half hour...

No, even just twenty minutes.

I could have used this violent energy to break through the barrier of my bones and step into the realm of a Third-Tier Martial Artist.

"..."

However.

Less than a minute after feeling happy.

A trace of regret flashed through Lin Yuan's eyes again.

It was not that Lin Yuan was greedy.

The effects of the Spiritual Energy Tide were simply too good.

This nearly cheat-like rate of improvement was truly addictive.

Forget it.

Peak Second-Tier Stage it is.

Among those of the same tier, I've never been afraid of anyone.

A moment later.

Lin Yuan steadied his emotions.

He casually grabbed a towel and wiped away the sweat on his body.

After finishing all that.

He walked up to the metal door of the training room and pressed the open button.

The heavy alloy doors slowly slid apart to either side.

Outside the door stood two armed guards.

The instant they saw Lin Yuan emerge,

the two guards instinctively tightened their grips on their rifles.

Even though Lin Yuan had done nothing,

the oppressive aura radiating from him still left the two soldiers gasping for breath.

"Greetings, Commander!"

Suppressing the tremors in their hearts, the two guards snapped to attention and saluted.

"Where is Commander Zhao?"

Lin Yuan nodded and withdrew his outwardly released aura.

He knew very well.

The Spiritual Energy Tide had ended.

But the real war had only just begun.

What came next was a battlefield where humanity and the Ferocious Beasts would fight for living space.

And he, Lin Yuan, would be Dragon Country's sharpest blade.