The pill entered his body.
Five Nourishing Spirit Pills melted into a warm current, flowing through all of his meridians.
In the Spirit-Gathering Well atop Evan Lin's dantian Spirit Platform, as the Grand Dao Foundation Art began to circulate, threads of spiritual energy overflowed, gently nourishing every inch of his body.
Wherever the spiritual energy passed, Evan's bones and muscles gave off crisp, clear sounds; with every soft crack, his skeleton and meridians grew denser and more refined.
Evan Lin sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. Within five meters around him, the air gradually gathered into visible blades of wind, swirling and condensing around his body.
The wind grew stronger and stronger, whistling fiercely.
In the end, those wind blades became swords—Evan was surrounded by a sea of sword energy, as real as steel itself.
This sword energy seemed to follow some hidden law, protecting Evan on all sides, tightly condensed and never dispersing.
River City, inside the Zuo family estate.
Zuo He and Zuo Shan stood respectfully to the side, watching the white-robed, bearded man in front of them with reverence.
The man was no longer young, but his posture was as straight as a sword, and just one glance at him made you feel his endless edge.
"Master Morgan, there are still four days left until your agreed battle with Master Lin from Seacrest."
Zuo He bowed respectfully and shot Zuo Shan a look. Zuo Shan hurried forward, holding a wooden box in his hands. "Master Morgan, this is a two-hundred-year-old ginseng root we've managed to gather after much effort. It's said to boost qi and blood. Please accept it!"
He opened the box, revealing a waxy-yellow ginseng about half the size of a palm, shaped uncannily like a sleeping infant.
Morgan glanced at it indifferently, picked up the ginseng, and looked it over.
Before he even spoke, the ginseng in his hand turned to dust before Zuo He and Zuo Shan's eyes, scattering across the room.
"What the—"
Zuo He and Zuo Shan stared in shock and disbelief.
"This kind of ginseng is utterly useless to me. From Vajra to Pointing-to-Mystery, I've cultivated beneath Heavenly Lake at Changbai Mountain for decades, and finally understood one thing."
Morgan shot them a look, then turned and walked slowly into the courtyard behind him.
Outside, snow fell heavily. Heaven and earth were silent and empty.
Outside the Zuo family estate, countless experts had gathered. Even the infamous Butcher Tu, carrying old grudges, was lurking at the gate, waiting to challenge Master Morgan. The Zuo family was truly basking in glory.
Ever since Master Morgan entered the Zuo family, he kept to himself and barely interacted with the outside world. All he waited for was the duel with Master Lin from Seacrest.
To slay Master Lin from Seacrest and avenge Drake Huang—that was now Master Morgan's only goal.
"Master, what was the insight you discovered?"
Zuo Shan saw Master Morgan standing in the courtyard, looking up at the sky as snowflakes drifted down around him, radiating a heroic, larger-than-life aura. Unable to hold back, he asked curiously.
"Martial arts, at its core, is just strengthening oneself through fists and kicks. Whether it's Outer Strength, Inner Strength, or reaching the Vajra Realm, you refine your body with various medicines and supplement it with deep martial techniques to achieve success."
Morgan spoke calmly: "I was once like countless martial artists—young, hot-blooded, challenging every expert I could find, just to prove myself and my martial path."
"I started formal training at fifteen, reached Outer Strength at sixteen, hit the peak of Inner Strength at eighteen, stepped into Vajra at twenty, and by forty, had reached the peak of first-grade Vajra."
"In my life, I've defeated one hundred sixty Outer Strength fighters, sixty-four Inner Strength experts, and only five at the Vajra Realm."
"Those five were known as the strongest Vajras at the time. I beat them all, won the worship of thousands, but my own realm remained stuck at first-grade Vajra, unable to advance any further."
"I searched everywhere for rare pills and medicines, hoping to shatter the Vajra bottleneck, but in the end, I failed."
"Decades spent pursuing martial arts, and when I emerged from Heavenly Lake, I was still stuck at the peak of first-grade Vajra."
At this point, Morgan paused for a moment.
His eyes were calm and deep, like a still well, as he watched the falling snow.
"Master Morgan, do you mean you still haven't broken through the Vajra bottleneck?"
Zuo He felt a jolt in his heart and asked cautiously.
When Master Morgan emerged from seclusion, everyone thought he had already entered the Pointing-to-Mystery Realm, that legendary next stage.
Now, hearing Morgan's words, Zuo He suddenly felt a bit empty inside.
"Up until today, that's exactly right." Morgan nodded. "That's also part of why the duel with Master Lin from Seacrest was set for February 14."
At this, Morgan paused, then slowly spoke: "But today, I finally grasped the true essence of the Pointing-to-Mystery Realm."
"Pointing-to-Mystery is still related to tempering the body, but not nearly as much as before."
"Anyone who reaches the peak of first-grade Vajra has already brought their body to its utmost limit. Unless you have miraculous treasures or legendary pills, your ceiling is set."
"But Pointing-to-Mystery..."
Morgan stepped forward, his right hand turning gently in the air.
His gaze landed on the tip of his right index finger.
Zuo He and Zuo Shan didn’t understand, but saw Morgan extend his finger and point at a drifting snowflake.
"The so-called Pointing-to-Mystery is using inner strength to borrow external force. All things possess power, and with power comes substance. By exchanging force for force, drawing upon the strength of all things under heaven, and making it your own—that is the Pointing-to-Mystery Realm."
"The mystery of a single finger lies in this."
As Morgan finished speaking,
the snowflake touched by his fingertip suddenly froze in midair. In the next instant, countless snowflakes whirled upward before him, intertwining and supporting each other, forming a straight, snowy-white bridge in the sky!
The snow bridge stretched out from the courtyard, growing as more snowflakes gathered in midair, as if driven by some hidden force.
Morgan lifted his head, gazing at the bridge of snow, and stepped onto its very beginning.
"What... what is this...?"
Zuo He and Zuo Shan stared wide-eyed at the unbelievable sight, their throats dry, unable to speak for a long moment.
That sky-piercing white bridge rose from the earth, spanning between heaven and earth.
With every step Morgan took along the bridge, a new section formed before him, stretching onward as if without end.
"Look! What is that?"
"Someone's up there! There's someone on the bridge!"
"Master Morgan! It's Master Morgan!"
Outside the Zuo family, a sea of people looked up at the sky. There, they saw Morgan, hands behind his back, walking calmly along the bridge, like a deity come to earth.
Heaven and earth were tranquil, yet the city was alive with the clamor of carriages and crowds.
"Morgan!"
Not far away, an elderly man dressed in black, with a somewhat delicate appearance, gazed at the snowy bridge in the sky, his face full of realization.
On this day, Master Morgan left the Zuo family estate in River City.
Beneath the falling snow, he entered the Pointing-to-Mystery Realm.