Zhaang Tianlong and Zhaang Chuanqi led Zhaang Ye to the edge of a small, crystal pool filled with a colorless, odorless medicinal solution.

Zhaang Tianlong pointed to the small pool and said, "The solution in this pool is special. It contains Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. When a drop of blood enters it, the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi will seep into the blood and cause it to change color. We only need to see the color of the blood to determine your talent. Alright, go ahead and drip a drop of your blood in."

Zhaang Ye had seen this pool once before when he first joined the Cyan Mulberry Zhaang Family. Without hesitation, he slid his fingertip across the blade of his Heavy Saber, breaking the skin and letting a drop of blood fall into the pool.

The drop of blood fell into the solution, swirled for a moment, and immediately turned cyan.

Seeing the cyan color, Zhaang Chuanqi, who had been silent until now, chuckled. "The results are excellent. Zhaang Ye, your talent is now Sixth-Grade. To be precise, you’re at the Sixth Grade, but approaching the Fifth. Your Cultivation is only at the Martial Arts Fourth Layer, yet you managed to draw out the full effect of that potion. Very good, very good."

’At this, Zhaang Chuanqi breathed an inward sigh of relief. In just two short Hours, Zhaang Ye had absorbed nearly one percent of the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi from the top of the camphor tree. This meant that Zhaang Ye had absorbed what took the tree several years to gather. And this was only with Zhaang Ye’s current low Cultivation. If he had reached the Martial Arts Fifth Layer, he would have absorbed even more Heaven and Earth Essence Qi.’

Zhaang Ye breathed a sigh of relief at Zhaang Chuanqi’s words. ’Eighth-Grade Talent is considered Lower Talent, while Sixth-Grade is Middle Talent. Even though it’s the lowest of the Middle Talent, at least I’ve finally escaped the Lower Talent tier.’

Zhaang Ye thanked Zhaang Chuanqi and Zhaang Tianlong, then asked, "Are there other ways to improve my talent in the future?"

Zhaang Chuanqi pondered for a moment before replying, "Of course. However, the necessary ingredients are incredibly difficult to gather. And even if you could find them, it would cost a fortune."

Zhaang Ye let out another sigh of relief. ’As long as there’s a way. Money... with enough time, that can always be earned.’

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s relieved expression, Zhaang Tianlong chuckled slyly. "Zhaang Ye, do you have any idea what that barrel of potion was worth? It was made with over seventy different ingredients, including more than ten items that are hard to find even if you have money. For example, a fruit like the Gathering Flower Fruit is something money simply can’t buy. If we had to put a price on all those ingredients in Gold, it would be at least three million."

Zhaang Ye gasped.

Zhaang Tianlong chuckled and continued, "Improving one’s talent gets progressively harder. Each grade is ten times more difficult than the last. You just spent over three million gold to reach the Sixth Grade. To get from the Sixth Grade to the Fifth, you’ll need at least thirty million gold..."

"Thirty million gold!" Zhaang Ye’s expression soured. "In that case, going from the Fifth Grade to the Fourth Grade would cost three hundred million gold? Isn’t that... astronomical?"

Zhaang Chuanqi, standing to the side, nodded slightly and added, "That’s the general calculation, yes. But in truth, some ingredients and materials can’t be measured in Gold. Certain things, like aged Mutated Medicine, the blood of a Barbaric Beast, or even a Spirit Elixir, are things you can only stumble upon by chance, not actively seek out. In short, raising one’s talent is incredibly difficult. That’s why all the families and powers value talent so highly."

Zhaang Ye sighed. He knew improving his talent wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t imagined it would be *this* difficult. ’It seems I’ll have to focus on raising my strength for now and worry about improving my talent later.’

After leaving the rear mountain, Zhaang Ye went to the Outer Sect to meet with Zhaang Qing and Zhaang Que.

The three hadn’t seen each other in some time. By the time they met again, Zhaang Ye had already become an Inner Sect Disciple, and his Cultivation had risen to a level that Zhaang Qing and Zhaang Que could no longer perceive. Meanwhile, Zhaang Qing and Zhaang Que had also had their own small fortuitous encounters; their Cultivation had improved, and they were approaching the Late-stage Martial Arts Third Layer. They had a good chance of reaching the Martial Arts Fourth Layer before turning eighteen.

After spending half the day with them, Zhaang Ye returned to his courtyard and spent two days organizing his recent insights. His participation in the young experts’ tournament of the Four Races had been immensely rewarding. Not only did he witness the various Combat Skills of Cyan Mulberry City’s young masters, but he also comprehended the Dissolving Power from Zhaang Yijian’s Swordsmanship, allowing him to perfect his Mountain-Breaking Slash.

With the completion of the Mountain-Breaking Slash, it formed a complete Saber Technique alongside the Gentle Wind Slash and Reverse Flow Slash. Because the three techniques shared a common origin, perfecting the Mountain-Breaking Slash also significantly boosted the power of his Gentle Wind Slash and Reverse Flow Slash. With a little more time to practice, Zhaang Ye was confident he could easily overpower Lee Lie, even if Lee Lie were to use the authentic Clear Wind Bright Moon Dusk Slash.

After spending two days sorting through his insights, Zhaang Ye spent the next three days consolidating his Cultivation at the late stage of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer. His recent breakthrough had been a direct result of absorbing a massive amount of incredibly pure Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. This essence, which the camphor tree had gathered over many long years, was far purer than the True Qi in Zhaang Ye’s body.

As this Heaven and Earth Essence Qi entered his body, the True Qi in Zhaang Ye’s Dantian and Meridians became significantly purer. ’With purer True Qi, I can skip the time needed to refine it later. My cultivation speed will increase dramatically.’

On the third day, Zhaang Ye returned to the clan’s Wind Cave.

Zhaang Ye knew that anyone who became a True Hall Disciple was a genius from some corner of the world. ’To secure my place in the True Hall, the only way is to get stronger, and stronger, and even stronger.’

His purpose in coming to the Wind Cave this time was to use its powerful gales to practice his Mountain-Breaking Slash.

He had only just begun to grasp the Rotating Power and the Dissolving Power. He intended to use the next month to master these two forces, fuse them, and bring his Mountain-Breaking Slash to the Minor Achievement Realm.

’The Mountain-Breaking Slash is incredibly powerful. If I can train it to the Minor Achievement Realm, I’m confident I can hold my own even in the True Hall, surrounded by geniuses.’

The best way to practice the Mountain-Breaking Slash was with stones. As luck would have it, Sunx Mantis, the one who had assisted him last time, was in the Wind Cave. Zhaang Ye once again tasked him with throwing the stones.

Sunx Mantis had witnessed Zhaang Ye’s entire previous training session and was already in complete awe of his strength. Even so, his expression changed when he saw the stones Zhaang Ye had a servant carry in.

The stones Zhaang Ye intended to use this time were small rocks weighing seven or eight pounds each. Sunx Mantis could just imagine it: the moment one of these rocks was placed in the air vent, the gale would instantly blast it dozens of feet away, likely smashing it to dust.

"Th-this..." Sunx Mantis stammered. "Senior Brother Zhaang, are you really going to use these stones for training?"

Zhaang Ye nodded slightly. "These are the ones. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing."

At Zhaang Ye’s signal, Sunx Mantis took a deep breath and abruptly placed a stone at the opening of the air vent.

The stone vanished from Sunx Mantis’s sight in an instant. At almost the exact same moment, Zhaang Ye, who was standing in the middle of the Wind Chamber, abruptly raised his Heavy Saber. The blade cut a jet-black arc through the air as he viciously slashed.

CRACK!

With a loud crack, the stone was shattered into pieces by Zhaang Ye’s blade.

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s relaxed, natural motion, Sunx Mantis was inwardly stunned. Previously, Zhaang Ye had struggled to handle ten-pound stones, yet now he shattered a seven- or eight-pound rock with casual ease. That single strike made it clear to Sunx Mantis that Zhaang Ye’s strength had once again improved in a short amount of time.

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s progress, Sunx Mantis hesitated no longer. For the rest of the session, he tossed the stones into the air vent, one after another.

...

The days passed one by one. Every morning, Zhaang Ye would appear at the Wind Cave to train. In this life-or-death game, he worked again and again to fuse the Rotating Power and the Dissolving Power. His instantaneous strikes grew quicker, and his slashes became more fluid. By the tenth day, he had completely adapted to the seven- and eight-pound stones. No matter how Sunx Mantis threw them, he could draw his saber and pulverize them to dust.

Once the seven- and eight-pound stones no longer provided a challenge, he switched to a different type. The stones Zhaang Ye used now were only five or six pounds each.

These five- and six-pound stones were two to three times more dangerous than the heavier ones. Being lighter, their flight paths weren’t straight but erratic. Some stones even spun constantly in the air, making their trajectories incredibly difficult to predict.

Faced with these fast, unpredictable projectiles, even someone as skilled as Zhaang Ye was hit several times. On the twelfth day, a stone that suddenly changed course grazed his shoulder, scraping away a chunk of his flesh.

The close call left Zhaang Ye in a cold sweat. Sunx Mantis, who was throwing the stones, was also pale with fright.

After resting for a long while, Zhaang Ye took a deep breath, suppressed his surging adrenaline, and signaled for Sunx Mantis to continue.

Sunx Mantis hesitated before saying with a wry smile, "Senior Brother Zhaang, let’s just stop. This training method is far too dangerous. Any one of these stones could..."

Zhaang Ye gave a slight wave of his hand. "Don’t worry. I can handle it."

’Zhaang Ye had already figured out how to deal with these lightning-fast stones. He would execute the Mountain-Breaking Slash, using its Dissolving Power to make his Heavy Saber vibrate. This would create a dense screen of Dark Force in front of him, using slow to counter fast and block the speeding rocks.’

Zhaang Ye was just on the verge of grasping it; he certainly wasn’t going to give up now just because he’d encountered a little danger.

*(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with Recommendation Tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)*