Staring at the flickering flame in his palm, Evan Cross couldn’t help but marvel. He turned to Luna and asked, "Luna, just how strong is my attack power now?"
Luna chuckled, "Linfeng, your Fireshift is still at its most basic stage. With the fire you can summon now, you could easily take out anyone below the fifth layer of the Heaven Martial Realm. But once you truly master it, you’ll be able to kill anyone beneath the Saint Martial Realm in one shot."
Evan was completely stunned. With just ninth-layer Earth Martial Realm strength, he could already wipe out a fourth-layer Heaven Martial expert? That was insane. But the craziest part was, it didn’t even drain his Chaos Energy.
In other words, he could spam Fireshift attacks until he was totally spent, unlike Chaos Energy, which needed to be replenished when it ran dry.
But Luna immediately threw cold water on his excitement. "The highest level of Fireshift is when you can fully transform into Burning Flame. At that point, you’ll be able to instantly obliterate anyone below the Saint Martial Realm."
"But at your current level, you can only use Fireshift three times a day. It doesn’t burn up your Chaos Energy, but it’ll drain your mental strength—way more than Heart-Sword does."
Evan blurted out, "So when can I reach the highest realm of Fireshift?" That was what he wanted to know most—just imagining being able to one-shot any Saint Martial expert was wild.
Luna replied, "Once you’ve refined all Five-Element Spirit Pearls and mastered the Five-Element Transformations, any transformation you use will have that kind of power. For now, just take it slow and focus on strengthening your mind and spirit."
Evan glanced down at himself and realized he looked like a total beggar, covered in blood and reeking so bad it could knock someone out.
If he went out like this, he’d definitely scare people half to death. So he pulled a clean set of clothes from his storage ring and threw them on, planning to take a proper bath once he got back.
Stretching lazily, Evan felt power surging through his whole body. Not only had he broken through to the Fourth Layer of Starforge Body, but he’d also mastered Fireshift—definitely something to celebrate. On top of that, he could sense the faint signs of an impending breakthrough to the Heaven Martial Realm.
Evan stepped out of the Gravity Chamber and saw Selena waiting for him. As soon as she spotted him, she hurried over. “Finally! You actually stayed in there for seven days, huh? That’s pretty hardcore. So, did you break through?”
Evan grinned. “Seven days? Yeah, that’s a long haul. I finally made it, but I almost died in there. Sorry for making you worry.”
Selena scoffed, “As if I’d worry about you! Go take a bath, you stink!” She said it with a pout, but when she’d heard Evan screaming inside, she’d nearly rushed in to save him.
Even though she could tell Evan was still at ninth-layer Earth Martial Realm, something about his aura felt different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but the change was real.
The two of them headed back to Skylar Yule’s manor. After Selena had the servants prepare hot water, she teased, “Want me to help you bathe?”
“Of course! Who wouldn’t want a beauty to serve them?” Evan laughed, knowing Selena was just joking, but he couldn’t resist messing with her a little.
Selena rolled her eyes. “I knew you’d say that. Shameless!” she huffed at Evan.
Sinking into a huge wooden tub, Evan slowly scrubbed the blood off his body. He couldn’t help but chuckle, remembering the first time he broke through to the First Layer of Starforge Body and Jenny Sima had seen him looking like a total wreck.
After finishing his bath and stepping out of the room, Evan asked Selena, “How’s your soul-sea injury? Did Skylar get the medicine yet?”
Selena smiled, “So you do care about me, huh? It’s fine now—after you entered the Gravity Chamber, Second Prince Skylar sent the soul-healing medicine right over. So, when are you heading home?”
Evan replied, “Tomorrow, I think. I want to let Skylar and General Roland know before I leave. It wouldn’t feel right to just vanish without telling them.”
As the two of them set off to find Skylar Yule, they ran into Gavin Wei. As soon as Gavin saw Evan, he called out, “Bro, where’ve you been these last few days? I’ve been searching everywhere for you—I thought you’d ditched me and run off!”
Evan laughed, “I’ve been in the Gravity Chamber, working on a body-refining technique. It took a few days. What’ve you been up to?”
Gavin grumbled, “Nothing but eating and sleeping. There’s seriously nothing to do here. If I stay any longer I’ll go crazy. We need to find something to keep busy.”
“Looking for something to do? I’ll set you up right away!” Skylar Yule’s voice rang out just then.
Evan saw Skylar walking toward him, with General Roland Lowell and Rowena Luo at his side.
“Big brother! General Roland!” Evan greeted them.
Rowena gave a formal bow. “Greetings, Prince Valiant!”
The way she said it made Evan feel awkward. He laughed, “Just call me Linfeng. That prince stuff sounds way too stiff.”
“Linfeng, I heard you stayed in the Gravity Chamber for seven days, and at the ninety-meter mark, too—is that even true?” General Roland was genuinely shocked.
He knew that even a fifth-layer Heaven Martial Realm expert couldn’t last an hour at that spot, yet Evan had survived seven days—and he was still just at Earth Martial Realm!
“Pretty much. I suffered like crazy in there, almost died, but managed to pull through. So, General, what brings you here today?” Evan replied calmly.
Rowena stared at Evan like he was some kind of monster. “You actually lasted seven days in there? How is that possible? You haven’t even broken through to Heaven Martial Realm yet—how did you do it?”
“Rowena, don’t be rude to the prince!” General Roland scolded her.
Evan explained, “I cultivate a really powerful body-refining art. The more damage I take, the better the results—but the pain is brutal.”
“I see. Then your body-refining technique must be at least high-grade Earth-tier, otherwise you couldn’t have survived that long,” General Roland mused.
Evan glanced at Skylar and General Roland and said, “Actually, I was just about to look for you guys. Since you’re here, I’ll let you know—I’m heading home tomorrow. It’s been almost a year since I left, and I have no idea how my family’s doing.”
Skylar thought for a moment, then said, “Little brother, I’ll go with you. Staying cooped up in the capital is boring—getting out for a change will be good.”
“I’m coming too! You wouldn’t refuse me, right?” Rowena declared.
“Linfeng, I actually came to ask you for something too, but I’m not sure if you’ll agree,” General Roland said seriously.
“Whatever it is, just say it, General!” Evan replied.
General Roland’s lips twitched as he spoke softly. Evan heard him clearly, and his expression changed instantly. “General, you can’t be serious...”