Kill When It’s Time to Kill, Flay When It’s Time to Flay

Right now, the most critical thing for Ryan Ling is to activate the Ancient Heavenwood. As soon as the Heavenwood Spirit Root comes alive, its source of life will start pouring out nonstop—and with that, Ryan will break through the last barrier of his flesh and reach the illusory shadow level. That’s basically the same as smashing through the Qi-Refining Stage in Immortal Cultivation and stepping into Foundation-Building!

Of course, Ryan's breakthrough right now is way stronger than just martial arts. It might look like he's hitting the Void Realm, but honestly, he's gonna be way tougher than any Void Realm master!

Ryan sweeps his eyes over the place; the Flower-Fairy Dao art on this mural is already burned into his mind. He’s walking the Immortal Cultivation path, so all those regular mortal techniques are basically instant downloads for him.

No time to waste—Ryan starts tempering the Heavenwood Spirit Root right away. The rotten outer layer instantly shatters, and inside is a short, jade-like fine root—this is the purest essence of the Heavenwood Spirit Root.

Looking at this Heavenwood Spirit Root—about the size of a few strands of hair tied together—Ryan can’t help but feel a tremor inside. Even this tiny thing is packed with insane spiritual energy. If he really manages to activate it and it grows into a towering tree, who knows what kind of power it’ll unleash? This is legit a celestial relic.

"Activate!" Ryan channels all his qi and applies the Flower-Fairy technique straight onto the Spirit Root.

The Spirit Root shudders a little—but nothing happens.

"What the hell?" Ryan’s heart jumps and he quickly asks the System. Time is literally life right now—he can’t afford to waste a single second.

"The Ancient Heavenwood’s spirituality is way too intense. Just using the Flower-Fairy art isn’t gonna cut it. Hurry up and check if there are any Blossom Fairy Sect elixirs or spirit pills nearby. Mix those in and it should speed things up!" the System urges.

"Elixirs and spirit pills?" Ryan is totally confused—there’s not a single Blossom Fairy Sect disciple around, so where is he supposed to find any of that stuff?

"Ryan, are you looking for these?" Rose Yates overhears him muttering and jumps in—she knows the Blossom Fairy Sect inside out. She pops open a hidden compartment nearby, and sure enough, it's packed with elixirs and spirit pills, plus some special female items. Turns out, these Blossom Fairy girls cultivate like nuns and still need a little comfort now and then—most of those were actually brought in by Rose herself.

"Thanks, sister-in-law!" Ryan’s eyes light up and he rushes over.

"All you ever do is say thanks!" Rose grumbles when she sees Ryan snatch up the pills and elixirs without even glancing at her. But Ryan’s way too busy to notice right now.

Ryan grabs all the pills and elixirs and gulps them down, then channels the Flower-Fairy technique again. Instantly, all the spiritual energy floods into the Heavenwood Spirit Root. The part that was totally unresponsive before suddenly sprouts a bunch of fine rootlets—clearly, that section’s alive now.

"Too bad, these pills and elixirs are still kinda basic—they can’t fully activate this celestial relic!" The System sighs inside him. Even though he just burned through years’ worth of Blossom Fairy Sect stash, none of it’s really top-tier. At best, it only wakes up this much.

Ryan feels a bit frustrated—it’s only about one-fifth activated. If he uses it like this, it’d be a total waste. He’s gotta figure out how to get the whole thing going.

"System, is there really no other way?" Ryan asks urgently—he’s already burned a ton of time here.

"Seriously, nothing useful for now. Neither I nor the Special Item Store have any way to fully activate this relic. You’ll have to keep searching the Blossom Fairy Sect—maybe there’s something else hidden around!" The System is just as anxious, but right now it’s stuck watching helplessly.

"What else do you need to look for? Want me to help?" Rose is super eager, seeing Ryan so anxious she quickly comes over.

"Is there any other elixir in the Blossom Fairy Sect?" Ryan asks urgently.

"Uh, let me look around—maybe there’s something else…" Rose Yates murmured, her delicate body accidentally brushing against Ryan Ling’s skin. The instant they touched, Ryan shivered violently—and, even more shocking, his Heavenwood Spirit Root trembled too, way more intensely than ever before.

"Holy crap! Grab your sister-in-law already—forget looking for spirit medicine, she IS the best medicine!" The System clearly saw it all and shouted, super excited.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Ryan was totally confused.

The System explained urgently: "Your sister-in-law’s name is Rose Yates, and ‘Rose’ is no coincidence. Plus, she’s super close to the Blossom Fairy Sect—this has gotta be a past-life connection. If I’m not wrong, she’s the reincarnation of a heavenly rose, and not just any rose, but one from the heavens!"

"A rose from the heavens?" Ryan froze, totally dumbfounded.

"Exactly! So not only can she detox you, she can fully awaken your Ancient Heavenwood. Quit hesitating and go have another round of spring-breeze action with her—who knows, you might get even crazier results!" The System finished, leaving Ryan speechless. What kind of situation was this?!

But right now, Ryan had no way out. If this was the only thing that worked, he had no choice. So, he grabbed Rose Yates’s arm: "Sis, stop searching—I’ve already found what I need!"

"Y-You found it?" Rose saw the burning look in Ryan’s eyes and nervously swallowed.

"That’s right!" Ryan didn’t hesitate—he leaned in and kissed her.

Rose was so stunned she didn’t react at all, letting out a soft gasp as she collapsed to the floor.

"Sorry, sis—I need you one more time!" Ryan said between kisses.

"No problem! I like it—can’t get enough!" Rose laughed excitedly and wrapped her arms around Ryan. This time, her moves were way more skilled, way bolder, way wilder!

In an instant, the storm kicked up again—the whole bathhouse was shaking like an earthquake!

But this time, Ryan wasn’t focused on Rose at all—his eyes were locked on the Heavenwood Spirit Root. And you know what? The System’s method really worked: most of the Spirit Root suddenly burst with wild vitality, sprouting rootlets inside and out like crazy.

It seemed like the louder Rose cried out, the faster and fiercer the Spirit Root awakened!

(This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^ Click the next page to keep reading!)

And right after Rose’s wildest scream, the Heavenwood Spirit Root fully activated—all the rootlets popped out. Ryan could feel the life force inside pouring out nonstop, and his strength started skyrocketing.

This surge was insanely fast—he’d never felt anything like it before!

Hundreds, even thousands, of life droplets exploded inside him—the rush was so intense it made his whole body boil.

"Ryan, don’t hesitate—use this chance to break through to Foundation-Building!" The System yelled from inside his mind. The opportunity was here!

Ryan nodded—there wasn’t a shred of hesitation left. He jumped up off Rose, while she gazed at him, totally satisfied. Just today’s ‘grand opening’ would be enough for her to savor for ten years!

"Go, go, go!" Right now, Ryan gathered all the wood-element spiritual liquid, all the Heavenwood Spirit Root’s wild life force, and started the craziest power-up of his entire life.

Going from grandmaster to Void Realm is every martial artist’s dream. Hitting the Void Realm means your life gets a total upgrade—not just a huge boost in power, but your lifespan shoots up, instantly reaching three hundred years.

But even the Void Realm is nothing compared to Foundation-Building. Right now, Ryan was charging straight for Foundation-Building—and once he broke through, even someone like Mitsuo Mitsui, a Yellow-tier Void Realm master, could be crushed with one hand.

Right then, with the violent breakthrough, all the bathwater started boiling, and in a flash, the roof of the bathhouse exploded. A terrifying aura shot straight up, whirling around the whole Blossom Fairy Sect like a cyclone.

"What the hell?" Outside, Mitsuo Mitsui had already seized total control. The Void Realm’s power was overwhelming—even if all Ryan’s brothers charged in, they couldn’t handle Mitsuo. At this point, everyone was in his grasp.

But then, out of nowhere, a sudden change made Mitsuo jump—the aura erupting from the Blossom Fairy Sect was actually stronger than his own.

"Is there a top-tier expert hiding in the Blossom Fairy Sect?" Walter Gu was baffled, his face turning pale as question after question popped into his mind.

"Ryan—it’s Ryan! Ryan’s breaking out to avenge us! Hahaha!" Gabriel Xue shouted in excitement. Beside him, Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, and the others were fired up too, shouting Ryan’s name at the top of their lungs.