Right now, Ryan Ling was on the road, and Jason Lin was filling him in on Gabriel Xue’s deployments. Su Province was locked up tighter than a steel drum, not even a needle could get through. The whole province looked ready to go head-to-head with Jinling City—the air was thick with gunpowder, just waiting to blow.
The real kicker? According to Gabriel, Su Province’s bigwigs were straight-up shielding those Japanese financial conglomerates. Every move Gabriel tried to make got blocked—he was so pissed he nearly wanted to go cuss them out at the provincial compound.
“Looks like things are getting pretty intense. No way this isn’t the World Dominion Society stirring the pot behind Su Province. We gotta move fast and hit hard, and do it by the book. If we let them off easy this time, Jiangnan’s gonna go full chaos mode!” Ryan knew crystal clear—no matter who he ran into or what came up, he had to go in hard.
“Got it. Should I hit up General Kenneth Li, see if he can send in more troops?” Jason chimed in right away.
“No need for now. Besides, even if you call in a whole army, it’s useless against these guys!” Ryan was clear—taking down Su Province wasn’t about numbers, it was all about his own power and going in with zero hesitation.
They were still a ways out from Qianzhou City. Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breath—right now his cultivation was stuck at the Forming Core phase of the Golden Core Stage. Golden Core’s got four phases: Forming Core, Nourishing Core, Transforming Core, and Transcending Core. Sounds like a tiny step, but breaking through? Crazy hard.
Immortal cultivation is OP compared to martial arts, but the grind is way tougher too!
Right now, leveling up was urgent for Ryan—World Dominion Society’s a total mystery, and Yan Capital’s crawling with high-level monsters.
With his Forming Core phase Golden Core Stage, Ryan could pretty much sweep Jiangnan Region, but in Jiangnorth Region it’s still not enough. If he could slowly power up to Transcending Core, or even break through to Nascent Soul Stage, he’d be set.
Nascent Soul Stage can go toe-to-toe with the peak Divine Realm martial artists—maybe even outclass them. At that point, Ryan wouldn’t need Guihai One-Blade looking out for him anymore.
For now, he had to take it step by step—first break into the Nourishing Core phase of the Golden Core Stage, then keep leveling up. At the same time, he needed to keep mastering the first ten forms of the Infernal Madblade Style to boost his attack power!
Nourishing Core was all about calming the mind and absorbing pill qi from heaven and earth. As soon as the timing was right, he could break through in one shot!
But right now, forget pill qi—even spiritual qi in this world was dried up. If he relied on ambient qi to break through, it’d take at least a year. Clearly, he needed spiritual artifacts or Saint-grade pills to make it happen!
Ryan cultivated for a while, but seeing no improvement, he was about to give up—besides, they were almost at Qianzhou City anyway.
Just then, a weird aura suddenly washed over him—totally unique, almost like pill qi from heaven and earth, but way more intense!
Suck it up! For Ryan, this was basically a god-tier supplement.
In no time, thick pill qi flooded his whole body—Ryan felt insanely comfortable all over. His Golden Core might be formed, but the power was weak, and the big fight with the World Dominion Society had burned through a lot of it. But now, with all this pill qi popping up, he went wild sucking it in, instantly feeling his dantian loaded to the brim.
Even better, his cultivation was skyrocketing—he could faintly sense a hint of Nourishing Core energy.
Awesome! Ryan was hyped—this felt even better than scoring a treasure. But after ten minutes of crazy absorption, he’d sucked all the pill qi dry.
Too bad it wasn’t enough! Ryan opened his eyes, still wanting more, but it was all over.
Ryan, those must be a few Japanese experts refining something near Qianzhou. Whatever it is, it’s gotta be a top-tier treasure!
This is the Japanese at work? No wonder the pill qi has a weird smell. But if they can refine it to this level, it’s definitely not ordinary—this pill’s gotta be Saint-grade, maybe even higher! Ryan was shocked, then quickly said, 'I bet the Japanese came to Su Province to loot resources, but that’s just the cover—the real goal is refining this treasure. You can’t put a price on it!'
Ryan’s mind was racing—he instantly caught the key detail!
You’re probably right. Ordinary cash would never make the Tokugawa Clan move, and they’re a pillar of Chiba Shrine—super high status. If it was just for money, they’d send a couple big conglomerates, not the top dogs. The Ghost Elder nodded in agreement.
Alright, since this thing is so mysterious—and so useful for me—let’s just cut in and snatch it! If I grab that treasure, breaking into Nourishing Core is a lock, maybe I’ll even hit Transforming Core. At that point, even if a Great Saint from Yan Capital shows up, I won’t be scared! Ryan said, hyped up.
He knew Guihai One-Blade would keep protecting him, but the old man had bigger things to handle—he couldn’t always be there. Besides, if he was, Ryan would never grow!
Plus, after taking out Elder Taicang from the World Dominion Society, they’d definitely send someone even stronger. If he could solo a Great Saint, then even if Guihai One-Blade wasn’t around, the Society wouldn’t dare mess with him.
While Ryan was hyped, plotting his next moves, far away on a mountain near Qianzhou, a few Japanese experts stared in shock at the giant furnace. Inside, a red, bean-sized pill flashed, but its glow looked way dimmer than before.
What happened? Why’s the glow fading? Quick, check the furnace! One of the Japanese experts barked. With his tall, unique ritual hat, he was clearly an onmyōji—and strong, probably Middle Saint level.
Looks like the furnace was leaking just now, but don’t worry, Silver High Priest—it’s sealed up again! Another onmyōji said, looking super humble, but he was also Middle Saint level.