Breaking Through to the First Layer of the Divine Martial Realm

Evan Chu slowly attuned himself to the earth element, his mind becoming utterly clear—as if he were a single speck of dust, merging with the boundless land and fusing with all the earth around him.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he finally opened his eyes, glanced at the Earth Spirit Pearl in his hand, and smiled: “At last, I can absorb it—Earthshift, here I come.”

He slowly circulated his Chaos Dragon Force within, bit by bit beginning to absorb the Earth Spirit Pearl. This time, the absorption went smoothly—there was no more pain in his meridians.

Once he finished absorbing all the Earth Spirit Pearl’s energy, he found himself like a man of earth—his entire body coated in soil.

He then began rehearsing the key points of Earthshift in his mind, practicing the technique as time slipped by. Evan had no idea how long he spent, but he knew he’d learned Earthshift.

With a single thought, all the dirt on his body vanished, and a small earth wall rose from the ground—then instantly shifted into countless earth spikes.

Finally, his whole body was covered by an unfamiliar kind of stone, like he was wearing a suit of rock armor—yet he couldn’t feel even the slightest weight.

Evan wasn’t the least bit happy about this phenomenon; he remembered clearly what the Sword Spirit had said—what he’d grasped now was just the surface.

He’d originally wanted to see if he could walk through the earth itself, but gave up on the idea—he knew that, even if possible, he’d move unbearably slow.

After letting out a long breath, Evan asked the Sword Spirit in his heart, “Now that I’ve learned Earthshift, just how many layers of Divine Martial Realm attacks can my defense handle?”

“Right now, your Earthshift defense is still weaker than your native body,” the Sword Spirit said. “Once you can manifest Diamond Rock on yourself, your defense will be truly formidable—even Ninth-Layer Divine Martial experts won’t be able to do a thing to you.”

Evan wasn’t discouraged at all; he knew everything in cultivation took steady progress. The stronger your power and the more skillful your technique, the better the results. Right now, his goal was another breakthrough.

He immediately took out the Metal Crystal he’d obtained from Weakwater. The energy inside was different from a Star Crystal—this was pure, refined energy, just like the Heaven Crystal formed by the Mystic Ice Toad and Flame Spider, and could be absorbed directly.

Clearing his mind of distractions, Evan circulated his Chaos Dragon Force and slowly absorbed the Metal Crystal. Thin streams of metal energy appeared within him, gradually gathering at his dantian.

Finally, Chaos Dragon Force fused the energy into his Heaven Star Core. As the energy increased, the core began to spin wildly on its own.

Its color shifted subtly, from pale yellow to deep yellow, and the Primordial Dragon phantom on the core became more and more lifelike.

When Evan finished absorbing the Metal Crystal, his dantian rang out with two thunderous bangs, and the Primordial Dragon phantom on his core let out a dragon’s roar. Evan could sense every detail clearly.

Once everything calmed down, Evan checked his dantian. The holy power left to him by the Bloodshadow Berserker Lion was still quietly resting there, and all his Chaos Dragon Force had gathered within his Heaven Star Core.

But Evan noticed that his Heaven Star Core had shrunk a lot, while the Primordial Dragon image on it had become fully solid. Looking closer, he realized this dragon had nine claws—a sight he’d never heard of before.

What surprised Evan most was that the dragon actually winked at him, as if it was himself—just trapped and unable to leave.

“Linfeng, you’ve already broken through to the Divine Martial Realm. What’s in your dantian should be a Divine Star Core, but yours is a fusion of Dragon Pearl and Divine Star Core—different from ordinary people,” the Sword Spirit said.

“I broke through to the Divine Martial Realm?” Evan couldn’t help asking, even though he’d known absorbing the Metal Crystal would trigger a breakthrough.

“That’s right—First Layer Divine Martial Realm. But your actual strength is closer to Fourth or even Fifth Layer Divine Martial. Honestly, you’re a monster. You could probably even kill Sixth or Seventh Layer experts. If the world knew, your name would go down in history. For now, you need to stabilize your realm.”

“I can’t even imagine what will happen when you fully awaken your bloodline and become the legendary Primordial Dragon. Maybe you’ll break all convention and leap straight into the Saint Martial Realm—I’m really looking forward to it,” said the Sword Spirit.

Evan didn’t reply. He simply circulated his Chaos Dragon Force for countless cycles before finally stopping. Now he felt power surging through his body—many times stronger than before.

With a thought, a ball of flame appeared in his palm. This time, the fire was deeper in color and radiated even more heat than before.

When the flame vanished, a ball of water appeared—though it was really concentrated Profound Ice Qi, nearly as cold as Coldflame.

Glancing at the ground, Evan had an idea. He triggered Earthshift and sank straight into the soil of the room.

He emerged underground, feeling an uncanny sensation—almost as if he were the earth itself. He started to move, but the speed was truly slow; it took him nearly two minutes to shift just two meters.

But Evan realized he could actually see things inside the soil—every substance was crystal clear. If he used this to search for treasures underground, it’d be incredible.

Right now, though, he was heading for Claire Ouyang’s room next door. When he arrived, he didn’t surface—just listened quietly to the sounds inside.

“I wonder how Linfeng’s cultivation is going. It’s been ten days—I bet he’s about to surprise us,” Claire said.

“I think he’s about to come out. If I’m not wrong, he’s already reached the Divine Martial Realm. His cultivation speed is just ridiculous,” Selena said.

“Big Bro’s cultivation is actually pretty slow—you’re both Fifth Layer Divine Martial already, and he just broke through. But his attack power is scary, you can’t really compare,” Macy said.

Hearing the three chatting about him, Evan said, “Who are you talking about?”

His voice was so ethereal that the three women couldn’t pinpoint it, but they all knew it was Evan.

“Linfeng’s out! Let’s go see him!” Claire said.

“Wait, I sense his voice in this room—but the door’s closed. How did he get in? We didn’t see him come in,” Selena said.

Evan found it amusing and said, “I’m right here in the room. You really didn’t notice? Too slow…”