Tier 3 Starshatter Sword

The skies over Kaiyang City had changed.

The rivalry between the Lin Family and the Li Family had given way to the Lin Family's sole supremacy.

The Li Family had become its subordinate lineage.

At first, some people doubted whether the news was true.

But as Lin Family disciples began taking over the Li Family's many shops in the city, all doubts vanished like smoke.

Kaiyang City truly belonged to the Lins now!

For a time, the city buzzed with discussion, with countless theories and conspiracies circulating.

Some said that Lin Hai, the Lin Family Head, had broken through to the Profound Martial Realm in one stroke and subdued the Li Family with overwhelming strength.

Others said a traitor had emerged within the Li Family, allowing the Lin Family to seize a fatal weakness.

Still others whispered mysteriously that the Lin Family might have received secret backing from some sect.

Opinions abounded, but no one knew what the truth actually was.

The snow melted, winter yielded to spring, and four months passed in the blink of an eye.

On the mountain behind the Lin Residence.

Lin Chen sat on the ground with his eyes gently closed, a faint golden radiance shimmering around him. Rather than dazzling, it was warm and lustrous as jade, brightening, fading, and flowing in rhythm with his breathing.

Several months had passed since the Li Family submitted, and the situation in Kaiyang City had stabilized completely.

The Lin Family had taken full control of the city's important markets and shops, while the Li Family took a secondary role, concentrating on managing a portion of its businesses. The younger disciples of both lineages had also begun exchanging resources and sparring with one another.

As for Lin Chen, he had taken Li Yuan's Golden Bell Shield along the way and spent these months cultivating it.

"Whew..."

Finishing his cultivation, Lin Chen slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

He raised his right hand, and with a slight stir of his thoughts, a pale golden film of light emerged beneath his skin, swiftly covering his entire arm.

This was the Li Family's upper-tier spirit-grade martial art, Golden Bell Shield.

As a defensive martial art, once cultivated to great mastery and activated, it could form a dense layer of golden light over the body, impervious to blades and spears, water and fire. It was particularly suited to close-quarters combat.

"Golden Bell Shield has reached perfection."

Lin Chen murmured softly, a hint of satisfaction flashing through his eyes.

Only a few months had passed since the Li Family presented this supreme art, yet he had already cultivated it to perfection.

His astonishing progress came down to two factors.

First, he was already a Profound Martial Realm warrior, so cultivating a spirit-grade martial art naturally came more easily.

Second, Golden Bell Shield was unusual. This cultivation method placed no emphasis on comprehension or potential. As long as one had sufficient martial resources to temper the body, cultivation would yield twice the results for half the effort.

And Lin Chen had taken enough martial resources from the Li Family to support his cultivation of Golden Bell Shield from beginner to perfection.

With both factors combined, he had reached perfection in just a few months.

"Growing stronger lets me obtain more martial resources. Even without allocating experience points, I can still improve..."

Lin Chen smiled faintly, rose, straightened his clothes, and headed toward his father's courtyard.

When he arrived, neither of his parents was there.

Only after asking a maid did Lin Chen learn that Lin Hai had gone to the Li Family, while his mother, Liu Mubai, was in seclusion.

As the Lin Family came to dominate Kaiyang City, its martial resources had increased greatly. The lineage elders were perceptive enough to send plenty of cultivation resources to Lin Chen's parents to help them advance.

And so, it was not until dusk that Lin Hai finally returned.

"Father."

Lin Chen rose to greet him.

Lin Hai nodded, then took a Storage Ring from inside his robe and handed it over.

Lin Chen accepted it, swept it with his spiritual sense, and raised his brows slightly.

Inside were mountains of spirit stones. With a quick scan, Lin Chen estimated there were around fifteen thousand.

Besides those, there were dozens of Jade Boxes containing neatly sorted materials such as profound ice iron, molten fire crystal, and azurewood marrow. Every one was a precious material needed to forge Mystic Weapons.

The weapons corresponding to Spirit Martial Realm warriors were spirit weapons, while Profound Martial Realm warriors wielded Mystic Weapons.

"Sorry for the trouble, Father."

Lin Chen smiled.

His life-bound divine artifact was currently only top-grade tier 2. To advance to tier 3, it needed to devour other Mystic Weapons.

But Kaiyang City had never even had a Profound Martial Realm warrior before, so naturally it possessed no Mystic Weapons. Lin Chen could only use the old method: gather materials and refine his life-bound divine artifact to a higher grade.

Thus, after the Li Family submitted, Lin Chen had drawn up a list and asked both lineages to work together to gather everything.

Now all the materials had been collected, the most precious being a material called stardust sand.

It was exceedingly valuable, reportedly formed from fragments of stars that had fallen from the nine heavens. None was available in Kaiyang City, so a Lin Family elder had made a special trip to bid for it at an auction elsewhere.

Having decided to refine his life-bound divine artifact into a tier 3 Mystic Weapon shortly, Lin Chen changed the subject:

"Father, did something happen at the Li Family today?"

Lin Hai nodded. "Li Yuan has entered seclusion."

"Oh? He's still entering seclusion at the tenth level of the Spirit Martial Realm?"

Lin Chen's eyes flickered.

"Yes. He's probably planning to attempt a breakthrough to the Profound Martial Realm."

Lin Hai sighed softly. "It seems losing to a single sword strike that day did spur him on after all."

"What are his chances?"

"If breaking through were that easy, he would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"

Lin Hai shook his head, unconvinced.

"His chances of success in forcing a breakthrough this time are less than five percent. If he fails, he'll suffer severe injuries at best. At worst..."

Lin Hai did not finish, but Lin Chen already understood.

"He's certainly decisive. He knows that with our Lin Family backing him now, his lineage will have nothing to worry about even if his breakthrough fails—or he dies and his path ends. That's why he dares to stake everything on this attempt."

Lin Chen pinpointed the crux of the matter.

In truth, Lin Chen did not particularly care whether Li Yuan succeeded or failed.

Right now, Li Yuan was only at the tenth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, while he was at the first level of the Profound Martial Realm. They seemed to be separated by an entire major realm, but this was actually the smallest gap their strength would ever have.

Several months earlier, Lin Chen had defeated Li Yuan with one sword strike not merely because of his Profound Martial Realm true essence, but more importantly because he had imbued his sword with the power of sword intent. That was how he had won in a single stroke.

Otherwise, having only just broken through to the Profound Martial Realm, without switching cultivation methods or learning any profound-grade martial arts, he could never have won so easily.

After all, although the gap between the first level of the Profound Martial Realm and the tenth level of the Spirit Martial Realm was like a heavenly chasm, defeating a tenth-level Spirit Martial Realm opponent would still require... at least a few exchanges.

But from now on... things would be different.

As time passed and his idle gains increased day by day, Lin Chen would only grow stronger faster and faster.

By then, even if Li Yuan successfully broke through, the gap between them would likely be even greater. Perhaps Li Yuan would no longer even qualify to make him draw his sword.

Returning to his room, Lin Chen took out the Greenedge Sword and formally began refining his life-bound divine artifact.

Of course, although he called it refining, he was really just providing materials for the life-bound divine artifact to devour and advance on its own.

There was no helping it. That was simply the nature of a life-bound divine artifact.

Profound ice iron, azurewood marrow...

With a wave of Lin Chen's hand, materials of every color piled across the floor, their spiritual energy swirling together into a brilliantly colored mist of light.

The stardust sand resembled stars in the night sky, its specks of silvery radiance flowing on their own, looking utterly wondrous.

"Go!"

Lin Chen stirred his thoughts.

The Greenedge Sword immediately gave a clear, lingering hum. Then its tip turned downward, unleashing an invisible suction force.

The multicolored mist emitted by dozens of spiritual materials immediately streamed into the blade. Light flowed across it as its quality rose rapidly, transforming it into a Mystic Weapon.

After roughly ten minutes, as the colorful mist thinned, the light upon the blade grew brighter instead.

At its edge, a chilling gleam that made the heart tremble gradually condensed—the manifestation of pure destructive power.

Finally, the stardust sand floated into the air and merged into the Greenedge Sword of its own accord, instantly enveloping it in starlight.

When the light faded, a snow-white longsword hovered silently in midair. A faint, almost imperceptible silver halo seemed to flow across its entire blade, lending it a sacred, extraordinary air.

Mystic Weapon: tier 3 Starshatter Sword!

Lin Chen held out his hand.

As though possessed of a spirit, the longsword gave a cheerful, soft hum and flew into his palm on its own.

It felt slightly heavy in his hand, and a sense of blood-deep connection welled up within him, as though he could wield it as naturally as his own arm.

More wondrous still, he sensed that when his true essence flowed through the blade, it circulated noticeably faster and acquired a trace of the coolness and sharpness unique to stars.

With the slightest stir of his thoughts, without even deliberately activating it, a layer of exceptionally solid, pale silver starlight appeared over the blade.

"What a fine sword!"

Brilliant light shone in Lin Chen's eyes, and he could not help praising it.

Only a Mystic Weapon could endure sustained bursts of true essence!

A keen glint flashed through Lin Chen's eyes.

"My life-bound divine artifact is complete. Everything is ready now. It's time to set out."

Several days later, Lin Chen bade his father farewell, left Kaiyang City, and headed toward Yunlan City.