True Solution of the Sword Dao

All around, every Red Armor seemed to know his name, hesitating and wary of moving forward for a while.

"We meet again," he said calmly. "I thought this training session would be like the previous ones, but I didn’t expect to encounter an expert like you."

Lin Fei slightly furrowed his brow; he didn’t understand why Xia Longque had suddenly approached him.

"Are you specifically looking for me?"

"Indeed." Xia Longque didn’t deny it. "There’s something I need your help with."

Lin Fei frowned and said, "Don’t bother, if the Successors can’t handle it, I’m unlikely to be capable either."

Xia Longque seemed taken aback by Lin Fei’s direct refusal. After a slight pause, he said, "Alright, as you wish, but aren’t you going to even listen to what it’s about?"

"No need," Lin Fei firmly replied., in such a place, in this environment, and considering Xia Longque’s only recognition of him, it was obvious he was wanted as an enforcer or something of that ilk. Although he could seize the opportunity to demand more raw ore as a reward. But Lin Fei didn’t want to reveal his strength so prematurely; after all, he wasn’t a Successor yet. If he could become a Successor in the contest, then it would be natural to use his Class B strength afterward. But for now, that wasn’t an option.

Now, all he needed was to find a good spot to break through his current Cultivation Level and wait for the mission to end. The Purple Raw Ore was already in hand, and he had no further attachment to it.

Xia Longque glanced casually at the people around, his gaze finally resting on Saglas lying on the ground. "Saglas, it’s you. Your father once guided my cultivation; consider this a favor for you," he said.

Xia Longque extended his right hand, his fingertip flicked slightly, and a spark of red fire suddenly flew out, quickly vanishing into the air. Then, countless sparks appeared instantaneously, resembling numerous blood-red eyes.

"Lord Xia Longque! You dare to break the agreement!?" Two Red Armor Successors cried out in fright and anger, sudden blood-colored, crystal-like protective layers lighting up around them as they turned to flee.

But within moments, the red sparks caught up with them.

Whoosh!

As soon as the sparks touched their bodies, they immediately ignited the two into human torches.

The countless sparks around did the same; all the Red Armors were instantly engulfed in flames.

Xia Longque gave Lin Fei a final, indifferent glance before turning into a streak of red light and flying away instantly.

"Let’s go," Lin Fei whispered.

Accompanied by Jin Yi, the two lightly tapped their toes and quickly stepped back, disappearing into the woods.

Only Saglas was left leaning against an ice tree, his expression complex.

The other survivors, mostly also in a sorry state, gathered together.

"That man..." Saglas’s face turned a deep red, filled with a profound sense of humiliation, "to be valued by Xia Longque..."

**************

Having left the battlefield in the woods, Lin Fei and another directly found another grove to stop at.

Jin Yi walked around to keep watch.

Sitting alone in a hollow of a large tree, Lin Fei took off the leather bag he had obtained from a kill earlier. After opening it, he gently shook it. Seven or eight different colored ores immediately slid out.

One of them was the Purple Raw Ore. Among the others, three had butterfly-like patterns, and four were blood-red, but they seemed to contain many impurities and their red color appeared quite impure.

Lin Fei then took out his previously acquired Purple Raw Ore, totaling five pieces, and placed them together. A slight purple halo instantly illuminated the tree hollow with a purple light.

"This should be enough," Lin Fei whispered, arranging the five Purple Raw Ores together, then lightly pressing his hand on them.

A slight movement of True Force within him caused the purple energy in the raw ores to surge into his body like water, causing a great glow in the hollow.

Lin Fei felt the purple energy drilling into his body from his palm, like boiling oil.

A loud boom resonated next to his ears.

The immense amount of True Force within him exploded like a barrel of dynamite.

Innumerable True Forces, driven by the shock, battered harshly against the barrier of the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation.

The purple energy continued to flood in, and the True Force boiled over, pounding against the barrier. The barrier of the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation began to soften gradually. It resembled an expanding and contracting membrane; each expansion and contraction grew larger, and the rebound lessened.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a slight snapping sound signaled the barrier had finally burst through. Lin Fei abruptly came to his senses.

Opening his eyes, his surroundings seemed to have transformed completely.

In the pitch-black tree hollow, where the purple light had previously filled the air, the Purple Raw Ores had now turned completely ash-white, devoid of any luster. Outside the hollow, the originally green scenery now seemed much more vivid.

Every tiny sound, from insects rustling in the soil, leaves rustling in the breeze, the extremely faint breaths and heartbeat of Jin Yi, was perfectly reflected in Lin Fei’s mind without a single detail missing.

His already sensitive five senses were now drastically enhanced, as if turned upside down.

"I used to rely on the radiation of True Force to grasp the surroundings, but now I can perceive everything around me entirely with my senses," Lin Fei murmured softly. "The Fourth Layer seems to be a bottleneck. Breaking through has brought such significant changes. I’m just unsure how my strength has changed?"

Lin Fei had hidden his strength too deeply. On the surface, he was merely at the peak of Class D, using the combat power of the Black Demon Sword alone. Then there was the Star Shattering Sword Technique, and also the Extreme Shadow State. Normally in battle, he used at most eighty percent of his strength, rarely unleashing his full power. Now, even he found it difficult to gauge his full strength.

"Six more days until the mission is complete. Jin Yi, stay here as a point of reference. I’ll head back first," Lin Fei communicated telepathically. This trip to the Inner World’s purpose was initially achieved.

Packing away the other raw ores, which he was still unsure of their effect, it was best not to disturb them until he understood better.

After receiving a confirming response from Jin Yi, Lin Fei gradually vanished, transforming into a shadow.

**************

Outer World

Lin Fei’s figure had just appeared inside the Swordsmanship Club. The wristwatch on his hand instantly emitted a series of urgent beeps.

He slightly furrowed his brow and pressed a button on the watch.

A semi-transparent screen popped up abruptly.

"A part of the Divine Artifact is in hand, this is what you need, take it quickly, I can’t suppress it for much longer. This thing is completely useless to us! In exchange, you need to help me once," said the Night King in a deep voice.

"Okay," Lin Fei nodded. He knew this was a message from the Night King, not a real-time call.

He closed that message. Then another screen popped up, this time from Snake Woman.

"The Eye of the Viper, if I can obtain it, my strength will be even greater. Everyone, I need your help," came Snake Woman’s slightly trembling voice.

"We need to discuss and decide," replied Griffin nonchalantly. "I also need to forge an artifact and might need everyone’s help. Let’s talk about it at the meeting."

Lin Fei felt a chill in his heart.

"These Level A old monsters are already so strong yet they can still improve. It looks like I must hurry up. My current strength is increasingly insufficient."

After reviewing the information, Lin Fei then began to sit cross-legged across from Ye Yuhua. He officially started Cultivating the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation.

Bits of Cultivation data continuously flowed into his mind.

Lin Fei was somewhat astonished to discover that the Fourth Layer had only an image.

Huge surges of True Force followed the meridian operating methods depicted in this image and started circulating. A cool sensation spread from the back of Lin Fei’s head, the focal point of this breakthrough.

Faint colorless fluctuations continuously emitted from Lin Fei’s body.

Ye Yuhua, who was sitting beside him, changed her expression and instantly drew her sword to trace a circle. A ring of silver light encircled Lin Fei, completely enveloping his aura without any leakage.

After a long while, Lin Fei slowly opened his eyes.

"No progress at all... How is that possible...??" he murmured with a frown.

"Master, this is an inevitable process," Ye Yuhua said calmly, "Advancing to the Qi Cultivation Realm requires an extremely massive amount of True Force. Back in my sect, it was only with some top-level heavenly materials and earthly treasures that I successfully advanced. If ordinary people want to break through, they need to accumulate for at least a hundred years and continuously Cultivate without sleep. Most importantly, the process of transforming True Force into True Qi is very troublesome and slow. Moreover, the density and quality of True Force are far lower than those of True Qi. Often many people take years just to condense a trace of True Qi."

"I see," Lin Fei nodded. "So, this is another phase that requires a long time to accumulate?"

"Yes," Ye Yuhua nodded. "However, if you have top-level heavenly materials and earthly treasures, you can break through quickly."

"Artifacts, huh?" Lin Fei remembered the top-level raw ores in the Inner World. Now his body was completely empty, all the True Force he had accumulated before had turned into a tiny stream of energy. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"So the Fourth and Fifth Layers begin the transformation into True Qi? That means, if I fully break through the Fifth Layer, that will be the time I reach the true Qi Cultivation Realm," Lin Fei speculated.

The True Force cultivated by hundreds of people over several months had only converted into a tiny bit of True Qi. This stark contrast made Lin Fei profoundly realize that to meet the Qi Cultivation requirements, his body must be filled with millions upon millions of strings of True Qi, meaning that even with a cultivation speed hundreds of times faster than ordinary people, he still needs over a hundred years of accumulation.

"Too slow... I must accelerate the spread of the True Force seeds."

Lin Fei slowly activated his True Force, and strands of newly merged True Force slowly emerged in the palm of his hand.

"Master, there is news about the green seeds you needed," suddenly Yuan Yicheng’s voice passed through Lin Fei’s mind. "One of the golden members has found some related records that might be what you need."

Remote Berlin, Germany

Yuan Yicheng was lightly flipping through some documents on the desk, directly communicating with Lin Fei.

"Directly send it to my watch," Lin Fei said calmly.

A screen popped up.

Rows of dense text slowly appeared on it.

"Eastern Phosphorus Island ruins?" Lin Fei pondered.

Accompanied by the beeping transmission sound, after the text part ended, a photo abruptly appeared.

The photo showed a blue sky and white clouds, with azure waters, and a lonely small island nestled in the middle of the sea.

"How many days does a trip there require?"

"You need to change boats twice, about two days or so."

"Prepare the personnel immediately. After the mission, I will depart directly from your location," Lin Fei declared decisively.

"Okay."

Lin Fei raised his head to look out the window, a strange feeling spreading in his heart. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)