81: Chapter 81: At the Perfection of the Blood Burning Realm, Geniuses Are Meant to Be Crushed.

"Top-tier genius? Hehe—isn't that as easy as lifting a finger?"

Lin Yuan raised his head proudly. With the system's support, it would be against the laws of nature if he weren't top-tier—

"Kid Lin, don't be happy too soon. You're only 'top-tier.' In the starry sky, there are many monstrous geniuses, freaks beyond your imagination. So, you must remain humble."

Chu Yunfeng poured a bucket of cold water on his enthusiasm, but Lin Yuan simply smiled slightly.

"I know, of course. In the vast starry sky, I am nothing yet. But I believe that in the future, I will not be weaker than any genius."

Lin Yuan looked confidently at the sky outside the window. "I'm actually looking forward to it. Monstrous geniuses? Aren't they just meant to be crushed?"

Powerful confidence flickered in Lin Yuan's eyes, and a surging battle intent erupted from his body.

Chu Yunfeng nodded with relief. He felt increasingly fortunate that he could stay by Lin Yuan's side—

"Alright, let's continue!"

Lin Yuan shook off those unrealistic fantasies and immediately threw himself back into his advancement.

"Advancing to the peak of the second rank consumed 180,000 ability points. Advancing to the early third rank cost 340,000, and the mid-third rank cost 680,000. A total of 1.2 million ability points consumed, with 800,000 remaining."

"My current combat power has reached 3.7 million, exceeding the 2.56 million standard for the early fourth rank. However, I'm still quite far from the mid-fourth rank. It seems the higher the level, the harder it is to fight above one's rank—"

"There are 800,000 ability points left. I'm still quite short on points to raise my Martial Arts Level again. I should increase my combat power first. Strength is the foundation of confidence; I can always earn more ability points."

With a thought, Lin Yuan kept 100,000 ability points for emergencies and poured all the rest into combat power.

He was no miser; one must spend to earn...

His combat power increased by another 700,000, reaching a terrifying 4.4 million.

The standard for mid-fourth rank is 5.12 million, so he was still 720,000 short. However, being far beyond the early fourth rank standard was already quite good.

"With my current combat power, I should be able to rank even among the seniors at Qing University."

Lin Yuan smiled slightly. With a flash, he disappeared from the training room and entered his storage space, where the fire berries were waiting for him.

After entering the space, Lin Yuan looked at the Extreme Cold Ice Pool before him. A thick layer of ice had frozen over the surface again, with dense white cold mist rising from it.

Even standing by the edge of the pond, Lin Yuan felt his body almost freezing, making it difficult to move.

Without any hesitation, Lin Yuan stepped forward. Using his Space Warp ability, he sank directly into the Extreme Cold Ice Pool.

The extremely cold water and the nearly boiling water combined paradoxically around him, making him experience the agony of a world of ice and fire.

Lin Yuan did not dare to be careless. He immediately circulated the S-rank body refining martial art, the [Heaven Burning Body Refining Art]. His body began to absorb the fire energy from the fire berries, tempering his physique.

In an instant, the cold was dispelled, followed by the boiling of his blood. Lin Yuan's eyes widened instantly.

The energy of these fire berries was far too violent. Fortunately, he had this Extreme Cold Ice Pool to neutralize it. Otherwise, given his current realm, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to refine a spirit fruit of this level.

Even a dragon's powerful physical body had to rely on this Extreme Cold Ice Pool; how could he possibly refine it at will?

At this time, Big Dragon and Second Dragon both had their eyes closed, focused on absorbing the energy of the fire berries.

Lin Yuan also closed his eyes, floating on the surface of the ice pond, and began frantically absorbing the fire energy.

...

More than a month later, Lin Yuan's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and flames that seemed tangible rose within them.

Beneath his lustrous skin, a crimson color appeared, as if he were a piece of red-hot iron.

Inside his transparent-looking torso, veins were clearly visible. The blood vessels were extremely tough, and within them flowed pale gold blood like a rushing river, powerful and vigorous.

It seemed that the rushing of his blood even produced a gurgling sound of flowing water.

A moment later, Lin Yuan's body quickly returned to its normal color. His skin became even fairer, looking delicate, smooth, and supple.

But his physical defense at this moment had reached an extremely terrifying level. By physical defense alone, even a mid-fourth rank martial artist would find it difficult to wound him.

"Open System Panel," Lin Yuan thought.

[Ding! System Panel opening—]

[host]: Lin Yuan

[Ability]: SS-rank Spatial Ability

[Martial Arts]: Martial Artist Third Rank Mid-stage (0%)

[Combat Power]: 5.2 million

[Martial Arts]: Space Dimensional Slash SSS (Perfected), Heaven Burning Body Refining Art S (Bone Burning Realm 0%), Spatial Rend and Kill S (Advanced), Profound Crystal Spirit Armor S (Perfected), Star Scar Nine Steps SSS (Advanced)

[Skills]: Spirit Devouring, Soul Imprint, Swordsmanship (Advanced), Breathing Technique SSS, Fist Technique (Advanced)

[ability points]: 100,000 points

Lin Yuan looked at the system panel and frowned slightly. "I didn't expect that even with the support of a natural treasure like the fire berry, I've only barely reached the perfection of the Blood Burning Realm. It seems body refining Martial Arts become harder to improve in the later stages. I can only take it slowly."

"The remaining energy of the fire berries can go to Big Dragon and Second Dragon. Perhaps I'll have more encounters like this in the future. No rush. Now that my combat power has exceeded the mid-fourth rank standard, it seems it's time to end my seclusion."

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan stepped out of the Extreme Cold Ice Pool. Having reached the perfection of the Blood Burning Realm, Lin Yuan could now ignore the freezing temperatures of the pond.

With just a thought, the blood in his body could boil like lava. This was the terrifying aspect of the Blood Burning Realm.

Not only was his physical defense greatly increased, but his physical strength also improved exponentially—an increase that went beyond what was reflected in his combat power numbers.

Turning to leave the storage space, Lin Yuan's figure appeared in the training room. He checked his phone and saw that over a month had passed.

Fortunately, it was still summer break, and school hadn't officially started yet, so there were no classes.

Walking out of the training room, Lin Yuan removed the 'In Seclusion' sign from the door and headed downstairs.

At this time, his roommate Li Yuxuan was sitting on the sofa in the living room, leisurely watching a movie. Seeing Lin Yuan come downstairs, he stood up with a 'whoosh.'

"Lin Yuan, you're finally out! If you hadn't come out soon, I was going to break down the door. You've been in seclusion for over a month. I thought you'd suffered a cultivation deviation!"

Li Yuxuan threw an arm around Lin Yuan's shoulder and spoke with exaggeration.

"Hehe—it was a bit long this time, but the gains were significant," Lin Yuan smiled at him.

"You kid, you're already so powerful yet you still work so hard. You're really not giving the rest of us a way to live—seeing you work so hard, I can't slack off either. But I really can't grind anymore; I'd better watch a movie to relax—"

Li Yuxuan rolled his eyes and gave him a playful punch in the chest.

"Don't compare yourself to me. Take it easy; don't ruin your 'account' by over-grinding—" Lin Yuan shook his head helplessly.

"Haha—if you haven't ruined yourself refining like that, I'll definitely be fine. Oh right, Dean Mu came looking for you. She said to go see her once you're out of seclusion."

Li Yuxuan suddenly remembered Mu Qianqian coming to find him and quickly told him.

"Oh? Okay, I got it. You go ahead and relax; I'll head over to the Dean's place."

Lin Yuan patted Li Yuxuan's shoulder, turned, and walked out the door—