The Boxer Advancement Ritual, a Ten-Thousand-Year Scheme (Extra-long chapter, please keep reading)

Just as Zhang Qichen stepped forward, a voice sounded beside him.

"Me."

"Me."

The two voices rang out almost simultaneously, overlapping.

Zhang Qichen stopped short and turned, slightly surprised.

Lu Jin, who had barely made his presence felt until now, had actually stepped forward as well.

His back straightened inch by inch, like a great spear shedding its accumulated dust and rust to reveal a chilling edge.

"Fellow Daoist Lu?"

Zhang Qichen looked at the man beside him.

Ever since they entered this blessed land's secret realm, the rules had firmly suppressed everyone's cultivation to the first realm.

Even for a direct disciple of the Celestial Master Mansion like him, or an outstanding disciple of the Buddhist Order like Yan Kong, the once-vast energy within their bodies had become sluggish and unresponsive, as though mired in a swamp.

Every movement inevitably brought considerable discomfort—the withdrawal symptoms of someone accustomed to the power of a higher realm.

But Lu Jin was different. Since entering the cave, his aura had remained frighteningly steady. At first, Zhang Qichen had assumed the Lu Family had fed him some heavenly treasure, forcibly inflating his strength into something impressive but hollow.

Now, however, Zhang Qichen understood.

This was not someone suppressed to the first realm. This man's actual cultivation was the first realm.

A first-realm cultivator who had honed his physical foundations to the utmost, with blood like mercury and sinews and bones like jade.

"So that's it."

Understanding dawned on Zhang Qichen. "Your actual cultivation is the first realm."

Only a professional whose actual cultivation was the first realm would remain completely unaffected by these suppressive rules, because this was already his full strength.

The Lu Family has hidden its cards well, Zhang Qichen mused. *Three hidden dragons in succession. Lu Jin has a reputation