71: The national competition has concluded.

Deep within the "Nest," inside the newly built core command room.

Floating before Lin Mo was a crude "light screen" pieced together from several large crystals, upon which dense data and diagrams flowed.

This was an "information summary board" cobbled together by several Death Warriors possessing [Basic Rune Engraving] and [Basic Mechanism Art] skills, combined with the rudimentary Artifact Refining knowledge provided by Lin Mo.

Driven by Lin Mo's True Qi, it received real-time updates of information from various nodes via the voice network.

On the left side of the light screen was a constantly scrolling summary of external intelligence:

[Dynasty Movements]: The National Martial Academy Great Competition concluded two months ago.

Many young talents have emerged, with the top three winners being recruited by the Imperial Family and the military. During the competition, there were sporadic frictions at the border, and the Grassland Royal Court seems to have unusual movements.

The Emperor has issued an edict that next year a "Prodigy Dao Discussion Meet" will be held, focusing on both "Immortal and Mortal" talents. It will be jointly hosted by the Imperial Court and the three invited Sects—Xuan Yun Sect, Divine Weapon Pavilion, and Miao Yin Pavilion—to broadly recruit talents and respond to the changing situation.

[Sect Surveillance]: Elder Zhou of the Xuan Yun Sect remains stationed at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, while two new Golden Core Elders have been added to patrol the north and south respectively.

Three minor Seal leakage points were discovered and handled within the territory, and suspected foreign scouts were repelled twice.

The announcement for Sect Disciple selection has been released; preliminary selections will be held at various states and counties in three months.

[Blood Fiend Aftermath]: Since the Black Mountain incident, no organized Blood Fiend Sect activity has been detected within the borders.

However, [Three] has analyzed the residual marks on Ruthless Soul's token and some intercepted blurred foreign communications.

It is confirmed that the Blood Fiend Sect utilized the power of their Sect's supreme treasure, the "ten thousand souls blood banner," with a Nascent Soul Stage Old Ancestor performing remote spellcasting.

Combined with the weakening period of the once-in-a-century "Seal Tide," they barely managed to open a temporary passage to send Ruthless Soul and the others in.

The cost was immense, and the passage was extremely unstable, making large-scale transmission impossible. Their purpose was indeed the "source blood."

[East Sea Anomalies]: The frequency of strange incidents along the coast has decreased but has not been eradicated.

Xuan Yun Sect Cultivators and the Heavenly Supervision Department conducted joint patrols and discovered traces of an ancient remnant formation on the seabed, suspected to be a damaged auxiliary node of an ancient seal.

Elder Zhou determined that this might be one of the potential infiltration paths for foreign forces and has deployed more personnel for monitoring.

On the right side of the light screen was the detailed data of Lin Mo's own forces:

[Total Death Warriors]: 287/290 (Continuously growing)

[Core Cultivation Group (Qi Refining/hidden acupoints)]: 73 people (Highest cultivation: Third Level Qi Refining)

[Basic Qi Guiding Art Cultivators (Peripheral Screening)]: 847 people (Scattered in various places, one-way contact)

[Resource Points]: Secret mines x2, hidden herb gardens x3, coastal supply points x5... [Special Project Progress]: "Fireseed" Project, the popularization of Cultivation Techniques is proceeding smoothly.

"Deep Dive" Project, infiltrating Sects; 30 Death Warriors have been selected as candidates and are undergoing targeted training.

"Boundary Breaking" research, based on kong yun stones, dark gold foil, and token residual marks, is at 9.8% progress; the "Seal Tide" cycle and a calculation model for some weak points have been preliminarily confirmed.

Lin Mo's gaze lingered for a moment on the "Blood Fiend Aftermath" and "Boundary Breaking Research."

He whispered to himself, "So that's how it is. They forced their way in from the outside.

Then, theoretically, if we can find and utilize the patterns of the Seal Tide, or master more powerful spatial forces, could we also..."

This thought made his heart skip a beat.

But he quickly suppressed it.

The Nascent Soul Stage was still an unreachable mountain to him at present.

The current priority was still to take root, develop, and observe... Seven days later... Inside a secret room filled with True Qi.

Lin Mo slowly finished his cultivation, and the pale golden glow circulating on his body's surface withdrew into his body like liquid silver.

He opened his eyes, and deep within his pupils, a nebula vortex seemed to flash and vanish, quickly returning to a deep calm.

After months of hard cultivation, integrating massive feedback from the Death Warriors, and refining kong yun stones and Yao Beast essence blood.

His "True Qi" system finally broke through its Bottleneck, completing a crucial qualitative change.

At this moment, the energy in his body was no longer simple "high-quality True Qi" or "Pseudo Spiritual Power," but a unique power that combined the majesty of martial blood and Qi with the mystery of immortal spiritual power.

Its total amount might not yet match the spiritual power reserves of a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but its quality in nourishing and strengthening the Physical Body, as well as its adaptability to various energies, had reached a startling height.

If vaguely compared to orthodox immortal cultivation Realms, in terms of energy level and control over the body alone, Lin Mo now stood firmly on the threshold of the Foundation Establishment Stage, and could even be called Middle Stage Foundation Establishment.

But this was merely the energy level. In terms of actual combat—

With a slight thought, without using True Qi, relying only on Physical Body strength, he lightly made a grasping motion toward the void in front of him.

"Poof!"

A low sonic boom sounded in the air! An invisible air wave exploded in his palm, causing the runes on the secret room walls to flicker slightly.

His pure Physical Body strength had already surpassed mundane martial Grandmasters by an unknown margin.

This was the terrifying result of the daily uninterrupted stacking of Death Warrior attributes, combined with the Aperture Condensation Method and True Qi nourishment.

If combined further with that exceptionally high-quality True Qi and the preliminarily revived "Seven Star Demon Suppressing Sword" (Remnant).

Lin Mo was confident that even if he faced a Golden Core Cultivator, he could hold his own for a bit.

If the tactical support and resurrection abilities provided by the Death Warrior network were also factored in... "Young Master, [Six]'s analysis report has been compiled." [Four]'s voice came through the voice network, interrupting Lin Mo's self-assessment.

"Speak."

"First, regarding the deep analysis of the blood-dripping ghost head token and Ruthless Soul's relics.

The token is not only a token of identity, but also a special spatial beacon and blood-soul communicator.

Its core Restriction is damaged, but residual marks show it has a weak connection with the Blood Fiend Sect's supreme treasure, the ten thousand souls blood banner, and can sense Seal Tide fluctuations.

This explains why the Blood Fiend Sect could accurately grasp the timing to sneak in."

"Second, combined with the kong yun stone, the dark gold foil runes, and the token's residual mark data, the Boundary Breaking research team's calculation accuracy of the Seal Tide has improved.

The next significant weakening period is: approximately five years from now.

At the same time, three potential spatial weak point coordinates under the influence of the tide have been preliminarily identified, all located in the deep sea or extremely dangerous places."

Lin Mo's eyes flashed.

"Continue deep research, especially on the tide's weak points," Lin Mo ordered. "Also, what about those small items in Ruthless Soul's Storage Pouch?"

"Most are internal supplies of the Blood Fiend Sect and some rough records of the geographical and power distribution of Demon Suppressing Island; their value is average.

However, there is a damaged Jade Slip recording a remnant of a secret technique called 'Blood Shadow Escape,' which belongs to blood-path escape methods.

Although it is incomplete and has hidden dangers, its concept of short-distance burst speed is worth learning from. It has been handed over to [Six] for analysis and optimization."

"Very good."

"How is the progress of the Deep Dive Project?" he asked.

"The thirty candidates have completed the first stage of disguise and background implantation.

Six of them performed the best and have been arranged to 'accidentally' obtain low-grade Spiritual Root test results, meeting the minimum standards for the three major Sects to recruit Outer Sect Disciples or Utility Disciples.

They will naturally sign up at various selection points. The other twenty-four will target second-tier Sects, martial academies, or local forces."