Chapter 19
Long Chen opened his eyes with a sigh, the familiar scent of wood and dust from his room replacing the fresh mountain air.
He was back.
The memory of Xiao Xue's farewell gaze tightened his heart. He shook his head, forcing the image to the back of his mind. As he had promised, he would find her again in the future.
"Sigh! I just hope it won't take too long!"
He shifted in his bed. But before he could get up, something happened.
"BOOM!~"
It wasn't a sound, but a silent explosion within his Soul Realm. A torrential, pure, and overwhelming force—all the cultivation he had gained in that world—erupted suddenly. It was as if a dam had broken. His soul force, which had previously reached the peak of 4-star Bronze Rank, was flooded with new strength.
The 5-star barrier didn't stand a chance; it was pulverized instantly.
The tsunami of power didn't stop. The barrier to Silver Rank, a barrier that most people of this era would take years to even approach, was obliterated as if made of paper.
Silver Rank 1 star... 2 stars... 3 stars!
The barriers that separated each level, once insurmountable mountains, were now mere dry leaves swept away by a hurricane. His soul energy surged forward without hesitation, pushing his cultivation higher at a terrifying pace.
4 stars... 5 stars!
The torrent of power finally settled, resting in his Soul Realm like a vast and deep ocean. Long Chen lay in bed, panting, a satisfied smile on his lips as he felt his familiar strength return.
In less than ten seconds, he had leaped from Bronze Rank to 5-star Silver Rank. The foundation he had established in the Ancestral World was now back in his body in all its glory.
He stood up, noticing with a smile that his clothes were perfectly intact. "I definitely need to bring a few spare sets next time," he murmured to himself.
He clenched his fist and threw a punch into the air.
The strike cut through the air with a sharp swoosh, the raw physical power far beyond anything he had ever experienced. He was pleased with it. This level of strength already placed him among the elites of Glory City, even stronger than Shen Xiu. But he also knew that such power couldn't be revealed—at least not to certain people.
"Presence Concealment," he whispered.
Immediately, the vast Silver Rank aura within his body shrank, folding in on itself and disguising itself, decreasing until the pressure he emitted matched that of a 5-star Bronze Rank.
"Yes, that's much better!"
He nodded, satisfied. The level was acceptable, a believable advancement for someone who worked hard. With this technique, which he inherited from Xiao Xue, he doubted even Nie Li's sharp eyes could see through his true cultivation.
"Chen'er, come down! Dinner's ready!" his mother Feng Wu's voice came from downstairs.
"All right, Mom, I'll be there in a minute!" he responded.
With a thought, he accessed his spatial ring. Among the demon cores and beast corpses, there was a small sealed jade jar. He picked it up. Inside, a thick golden honey glowed with a soft light. It was Spiritual Honey, something he had found in a hollow tree during his explorations.
Huyan Yanming had given him the jade jar along with a bit of wine when he sold the cores, and Long Chen found it extremely useful to collect the honey. It wasn't overly sweet, but had a delicious, floral taste, with a noticeable effect of calming the mind and refining soul force. He planned to give some to his mother.
He left his room and went downstairs, the jade jar in hand. His mother was already at the table, and the smell of home-cooked food filled the air.
"Mom," he began, placing the jar on the table. "I bought this today from a street vendor. He said it was special mountain honey. The taste is really good, so I thought you might like it."
Feng Wu looked at the elegant jade jar, then at her son, surprised. "Oh, Chen'er, you didn't need to spend your money on me."
"It was nothing," he said with a soft smile.
Dinner was calm and warm. Feng Wu felt like her son seemed different with each passing day. But since he didn't offer any explanation, she didn't ask. As long as he wasn't doing anything wrong, she would support him.
After dinner, Long Chen returned to his room, his mind already racing. Tomorrow, Nie Li would probably continue with the plan to hunt Horned Sheep. After that would come the bold scheme to monopolize and resell Purple Haze Grass for a fortune, followed by the most crucial step: teaching everyone a high-level cultivation technique.
---
The next morning, the first thing Long Chen did was enter the Ancestral World, his heart eager to find Xiao Xue. However, the world had other plans.
He appeared in a dense forest and, before he could even take a step, a blue shadow flashed past him. Claws sharp as blades tore him to pieces. His last sight was of a two-headed blue leopard snarling, its aura just as powerful as Xiao Xue's.
'Damn! I didn't even have time to use gravity manipulation!' he complained mentally as his world darkened and he found himself once again in his room.
---
Arriving at the Holy Orchid Institute, he found Nie Li and the others and continued to act as if nothing had happened.
"Hm?"
As expected, Long Chen felt Nie Li's gaze fall on him for a few moments.
"You made a breakthrough?" Nie Li suddenly asked, his expression calm as always.
"Yes, last night," Long Chen replied honestly. "Seems like I reached 5-star Bronze Rank."
And it was true. He really had advanced to 5-star Bronze Rank last night. So he wasn't lying.
Nie Li nodded, as if he had already expected it. Long Chen had already been at the peak of 4 stars, so the breakthrough wasn't unexpected. That also reassured him. At least Long Chen didn't seem to have been affected by the Incapacitating Divine Pill.
That made Nie Li even more curious about Long Chen's Soul Realm.
During the hunt, Long Chen performed slightly more efficiently, but when faced with more than one 2-star gray wolf, he deliberately appeared to struggle, allowing Nie Li and the others to "help" him with their poisoned arrows.
Lu Piao, as always, provided the entertainment, screaming in fear and calling for help at every encounter, making everyone laugh.
"AAAHHH! Nie Li, hurry! It's catching up to me! This Horned Sheep's hide is too thick!" Lu Piao shouted, clumsily dodging the beast's charges.
---
[Library]
In the library, while they counted the money from the sold hides and cores, Nie Li was busy writing.
"What's that?" asked Lu Piao, curious.
"The recipe for our next big profit," said Nie Li with a mysterious smile. By the end of the day, that recipe was sent to the Alchemist Association's mailbox.
The days passed in a cycle.
In the morning, attempts to enter the Ancestral World and lessons. At night, Long Chen entered the Ancestral World, but each visit was brutally short. His series of quick deaths forced him to reassess the dangers of that place. His initial luck—or perhaps "plot armor," as he ironically thought—had protected him. The reality was that the world was a meat grinder.
Once, he appeared in the middle of a continent-sized ocean at night. He had no idea where to go. Using his gravity skill to fly and Shadow Steps for speed, he chose a random direction and flew for hours. But there was no land in sight. His journey ended when a colossal white shark, the size of a hill, leapt from the dark waters and devoured him in two bites.
However, the death that shocked him the most was, without a doubt, the last one.
---
Flashback
He woke up in silence. A deadly, unnatural silence that sent chills down his spine. He wasn't in a forest or a mountain, but in… a city.
Towers of stone and metal, corroded by time, scraped the gray sky. Entire buildings had collapsed into heaps of rubble, while others still stood, defiant, with vines as thick as snakes wrapping around their structures. The streets were cracked and covered in dust, and there wasn't a single sign of life—no animal, no demon beast. It looked like a place abandoned thousands of years ago.
'This place…' he thought, shocked. 'Could it be… a city from the Tiny World? Could my inner world and the outer world somehow be connected?'
The speculation was overwhelming, and he needed to confirm it. He began to explore, walking toward a house that was falling apart.
Although...
Before he could reach it, a black shadow emerged from the ground behind him. He barely had time to turn before a terrible force exploded from within his body, disintegrating him instantly. His last sight was of a vaguely human figure with red eyes glowing with bestial instinct.
The moment Long Chen's body disappeared, another shadow materialized. It was a tall, slender figure dressed in white, with golden eyes glowing with ancient wisdom. In his hand was something that resembled the hilt of a sword made of light. With a single fluid motion, he sliced the black shadow in half, dissipating it into nothingness.
The white figure then looked at the spot where Long Chen's body had been destroyed by the black soul. If Long Chen were there, he would be shocked to hear the soul sigh and… speak.
"Surprising! Seems there are still living humans somewhere in this world… but he was so weak. He looked like a teenager, yet he was only at Silver Rank. It seems humanity has decayed greatly over the years…"
"But I don't understand… being that weak, how did he get here?"
The figure looked at the desolate sky.
"What a pity… if only I could leave this place… sigh. Looks like I'll have to wait another few thousand years before I find someone worthy of inheriting my legacy. But I don't think I have that much time left…"
End of Flashback
---
"Long Chen? Your turn."
Nie Li's voice pulled him back to the library. Everyone was watching him. Lu Piao, Du Ze, and the other three. They had all tested their Soul Realms and received their new techniques. He was the last.
He held the soul crystal, its cold surface against his skin. Everyone watched with anticipation.
Long Chen could feel with a single thought his true strength hidden under the Bronze Rank disguise—and deeper still, the dormant golden presence of the Spirit Fox.
"Just send your soul force into it," said Nie Li, watching carefully. The moment had come for him to see what was happening with Long Chen's Soul Realm.
With his heart pounding, Long Chen took a deep breath. He focused not on his full power, but on the thin thread of 5-star Bronze Rank strength he showed to the world. He reached out and touched the crystal.
_________________
(Thank you if you've read this far. Please leave an idea, comment, or suggestion for Long Chen's future.)
[Next Chapter: Xiao Ning'er!]