Another Step Forward, the Fifth Level of the Profound Martial Realm

The main hall of Firecloud Valley's main branch.

Crimson Flame Stones set into the walls bathed the hall in fiery light. Three elders of the main branch sat apart from one another, one of them livid, while an unseen pressure spread through the air.

"The side branch dared to bring in outside help!"

Elder Liu Lie slammed a palm onto his armrest, instantly charring the redwood black. "This is a blatant insult to our ancestors' teachings! First Elder, we cannot stand by and do nothing!"

"Calm yourself, Elder Lie. I've made inquiries about Lin Chen. He holds a Purple-Gold Token from the Four Seas Merchant Guild, so he's no ordinary man. If we act rashly, we may offend the guild. That's a price Firecloud Valley cannot afford to pay..."

"So what?"

Liu Lie's beard and hair bristled with anger.

"The contest for the Fire Vein is Firecloud Valley's internal affair. However powerful the Four Seas Merchant Guild may be, can it meddle in another family's business?"

As the two argued, Liu Yan, who had been sitting at the head of the hall with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

A faint crimson gleam flashed through his eyes. The temperature in the hall seemed to rise at his glance.

"Enough."

His voice was quiet, but both elders fell silent at once.

Liu Yan slowly stood, his dark red robe stirring without a breeze.

He walked to the fire pool at the center of the hall and looked down at the churning Earthflame. "The side branch's decision to bring in outside help does break with precedent, but the ancestors' teachings never forbade it."

"First Elder!" Liu Lie protested.

Liu Yan raised a hand to stop him and continued.

"Since their guest comes from the Four Seas Merchant Guild, we must show him due respect."

"But victory in the contest for the Fire Vein"—he paused, his tone hardening—"must remain firmly in the main branch's hands."

Liu Yan turned, his gaze sweeping over the two men like a physical force.

"The Four Seas Merchant Guild may wield tremendous power, but what caliber of expert can Liu Tong recruit with his few connections? Someone at the second level of the Profound Martial Realm? The third?"

The faintest smile touched Liu Yan's lips. He stopped concealing his aura, letting it surge forth!

The fourth level of the Profound Martial Realm!

It was no baseless rumor. Liu Yan truly had broken through.

Liu Yan's expression remained calm.

"I gained a little from my years in seclusion. At last, I crossed the threshold of the fourth level and entered the middle stage of the Profound Martial Realm."

"I'd like to see whether the Four Seas Merchant Guild's young talent can withstand the Earthfire True Astral I recently mastered."

Liu Lie was still reluctant to let the matter go.

"Are we simply going to let the side branch do as they please?"

"Let them prepare to their hearts' content."

Liu Yan returned to the seat at the head of the hall. Against the leaping firelight, his figure looked especially imposing.

"This outsider will give us the perfect chance to show everyone the true gulf between the main branch and the side branch."

He lowered his eyes slightly.

"As for the Four Seas Merchant Guild? Once we win, I imagine Fellow Daoist Lin will have nothing left to say."

In an underground chamber of the side branch.

As the Wind-Eroded Crystal Core was purified, Lin Chen drew rapidly closer to the fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm!

He sat cross-legged on a platform of red stone. The Wind-Eroded Crystal Core floated before him, spinning steadily. Wisps of pure energy spilled from it as it turned, and Lin Chen slowly absorbed them with the Three Revolutions Profound Origin Art.

What pure power...

The rewards from idle cultivation really are top quality!

Lin Chen felt thoroughly pleased.

As he refined each wisp of pure energy, the lake of True Essence within him continued to expand.

Refining the Wind-Eroded Crystal Core took a full ten days.

Ten days later, as he absorbed the last wisp of pure energy, the floating core lost its luster and crumbled into dust.

On his panel, the experience in the cultivation realm field climbed rapidly. The bar was nearly full!

Break through!

Lin Chen shouted inwardly and decisively allocated his points.

His aura abruptly drew inward. Then, like a sleeping volcano awakening, a pressure far stronger and more solid than before burst from his body and filled the chamber.

The surging waves of True Essence even dimmed the glow of the Crimson Flame Stones set into the walls.

The fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm.

In the short time since leaving Spirit Mist Mountain, Lin Chen had taken another step forward using the energy within the Wind-Eroded Crystal Core!

Lin Chen was delighted, but he noticed something else.

As his cultivation rose, circulating the immense True Essence of the fifth level with only the first revolution of the Three Revolutions Profound Origin Art had become noticeably less efficient.

It was like asking a pony to pull a heavy cart. The art was struggling to keep up.

It took a full ten days to refine that Wind-Eroded Crystal Core... Part of that was because its energy was so pure, but my Three Revolutions Profound Origin Art really is falling behind my cultivation.

No wonder I have to master the art's second revolution before I can break through to the seventh level of the Profound Martial Realm.

Steward Li said he'd send the materials on the list I gave the Four Seas Merchant Guild to Firecloud Valley once they were all gathered. They should arrive soon. When I have enough experience, I'll put points into the art first...

As he thought about the art, Lin Chen unconsciously curled the fingers of his right hand around empty air. Only then did he remember that the Wind-Eroded Crystal Core had already turned to ash during refinement.

What a shame the drop rate for Wind-Eroded Crystal Cores is so low. One was enough to help me reach the fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm. If I had seven or eight, couldn't I go straight to the tenth?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Lin Chen shook his head with a smile.

Greed knows no bounds.

Getting even one Wind-Eroded Crystal Core had been a stroke of fortune. He could not demand more.

Still, at the fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm... I should qualify for the Cloud Province Rising Stars Ranking, shouldn't I?

The Cloud Province Rising Stars Ranking, compiled by the All-Knowing Tower, ranked Profound Martial Realm martial artists under eighty within Cloud Province.

Everyone on the list was an outstanding figure of their generation, with the potential to break through to the Earth Martial Realm and become a power in their own right.

The ranking was updated every seven years. Its latest edition had come out a year ago, when Lin Chen was still cultivating in seclusion on Spirit Mist Mountain.

If I remember right, Riftwind Claw Han Qing ranks sixty-first. He's seventy-one this year, at the peak of the fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm, and has reached twenty percent comprehension of Martial Dao True Intent...

My strength should be about the same as his.

Lin Chen compared their abilities and gradually formed an estimate.

Without the Wind-Eroded Crystal Core, he might have needed another three or four years to reach the fifth level of the Profound Martial Realm.

Even then, Lin Chen would only have been around forty. His progress was astonishingly fast.

After all, Profound Martial Realm martial artists had lifespans of four hundred years.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Lin Chen slowly rose.

With a thought, he circulated the True Essence of his newly attained fifth level with ease. His foundation was as solid as if he had spent decades cultivating it.

"Ah, my only flaw is that I'm too diligent. Every bit of my cultivation came from patiently, tirelessly letting idle cultivation do its work."

Feeling the True Essence surge through him, Lin Chen offered this shameless observation.

Then he took a moment to steady his breathing, pushed open the chamber's stone door, and stepped out.