266: Breaking through level 20 extreme realm, basic strength of two hundred tons!

"Applying the principles of the sword to a spear?"

Li Xiaoyao looked at the broken sword on the ground that Lu Sheng had thrown away like trash, then at the dragon devouring spear that was radiating terrifying Evil Qi, his beard twitching in anger.

"Crude! Simply a disgrace to the refined!"

The Old Man pointed at Lu Sheng's nose and cursed, "The sword is the weapon of a gentleman, following a path of lightness, elegance, and breaking all Laws with a single strike. This fire poker of yours... that's something only a brute would use!"

"What's wrong with being a brute?"

Lu Sheng gripped the end of the spear with one hand and casually spun it.

The heavy spear shaft tore through the air, creating a howling sonic boom and a gust of wind that messed up Li Xiaoyao's hair.

"A weapon that can kill is a good weapon." Lu Sheng's eyes were sharp. "Besides, Old Man, do you think it's appropriate for someone with my physique to be gesturing around with an embroidery needle?"

Li Xiaoyao choked on his words.

True.

This kid possessed the True Dragon Bloodline, and his Physical Body strength was close to a hundred tons. Making him learn those "threading through flowers and trees" sword techniques would be like asking a Tyrannosaurus Rex to do embroidery; the image was too much to bear.

"Fine, fine!" Li Xiaoyao waved his hand listlessly. "You chose your own path. If you end up with a Qi deviation, don't blame me for not warning you."

"However..." The Old Man's tone shifted, his expression becoming serious. "Though the weapons differ, the principles are the same. What I am teaching you is not Moves, but Intent."

"Intent is the unification of essence, Qi, and spirit; it is an extension of the Soul."

"Whether you use a sword or a spear, if you cannot grant the weapon a Soul, it will forever remain just a Mortal Weapon."

For the next half month, there was no peace on Daozi Peak.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The massive roars were like thunder hitting the ground, never ceasing day or night.

Lu Sheng didn't practice any fancy spear forms or routines.

He practiced only one Move—the thrust.

The simplest, most direct, and most tedious straight thrust.

Every time he struck with the spear, he mobilized every muscle group in his body, channeling the pressure of the Dragon God Sequence, his gold and fire dual-attribute spirit sources, and his ambition to pierce the heavens all into the single point of the spear tip.

Ten thousand times.

A hundred thousand times.

A million times.

This kind of tedious repetition would be enough to drive any impatient Genius mad.

But Lu Sheng seemed possessed. Even as the skin between his thumb and forefinger split and sweat poured off him, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Because he felt it.

That dragon devouring spear, which was originally just heavy, was slowly becoming an extension of his arm, a part of his body.

Even then, he could hear a faint, ethereal dragon roar coming from within the spear shaft.

Half a month later.

At the summit of Daozi Peak, the setting sun was like blood.

Li Xiaoyao sat cross-legged on a bluestone, eyes closed to rest his spirit, calculating how to squeeze more resources out of the other Elders to fill the bottomless pit that was Lu Sheng.

Suddenly.

A scalp-numbing chill enveloped the entire peak without warning.

Li Xiaoyao snapped his eyes open.

Not far away, Lu Sheng stood with his eyes closed, holding his spear with one hand, as still as a pine tree.

There were no spirit source fluctuations from him, and even his breathing seemed to have stopped. Yet, the air around him was like boiling water, distorting and trembling violently.

That was Momentum.

An overbearing Momentum of supreme dominance under heaven and earth!

The next second.

Lu Sheng moved.

No charging up, no roaring.

He simply took a step forward, and then—

Thrust!

Buzz—!!!

The moment this spear thrust out, the world fell silent.

A dark-gold spear beam, like an ancient venomous Dragon emerging from the Void Realm, flashed and vanished with a decisiveness that seemed intent on crushing the heavens, the earth, and all Laws!

Rip!

The Void Realm a hundred meters ahead was forcibly torn open with a pitch-black crack by this single spear strike!

Although it lasted only an instant, that destructive aura made Li Xiaoyao's heart skip a beat.

"Clang—!!!"

Just then, a shrill and terrified sword cry abruptly rang out from within Li Xiaoyao's Dantian.

That was his natal Flying Sword!

This top-grade spirit sword, nurtured for centuries and long since sentient, actually flew out uncontrollably. It hovered above Li Xiaoyao's head, emitting bursts of buzzing toward Lu Sheng's direction.

Was that... fear?

Or a demonstration of meeting a natural enemy?

Li Xiaoyao stared blankly at this scene, then at the calmly retracting Lu Sheng, his throat as dry as if he had swallowed a handful of sand.

"This... this is the prototype of Spear Intent?"

"No... this is f*cking World-Destroying Mad Intent... chewed up and spat out from my Xiaoyao Sword Intent!"

The Spear Intent was newly formed, but this was only the beginning.

Only three days remained before the start of the "Dao Seizing Battle."

The concentration of Spiritual Qi at the summit of Daozi Peak had become so dense that one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face.

Li Xiaoyao stood by the Spirit Spring, looking at the stone in his hand—barely the size of a fingernail and emitting a seven-colored misty glow—with an expression more painful than cutting off his own flesh.

"Enlightenment Divine Stone..."

"This is something I risked my old life to snatch from the Kunlun Holy Land back then. I originally planned to save it for breaking through to the Spirit Emperor Realm..."

The Old Man's hands were shaking, but looking at Lu Sheng, who was sitting cross-legged in the center of the Spirit Spring at a critical stage of Breakthrough, he finally gritted his teeth.

"Fine! You can't catch the wolf without sacrificing the child!"

"If this kid can really trample the Prodigies of those two Holy Lands under his feet in the Grand Competition, this investment will be worth it!"

Snap.

Applying force with his fingers, the priceless Enlightenment Divine Stone turned into a cloud of seven-colored powder, fluttering into the Spirit Spring.

Boom!

The originally calm Spirit Spring boiled instantly.

A profound Dao rhythm flooded into Lu Sheng's body through his pores.

[Ding! Detected high-dimensional Law fragments (Enlightenment Matter)!]

[Dragon God Sequence operating at full power!]

[Beginning deep integration of the host's current power systems...]

Lu Sheng's consciousness sank into a state of Chaos.

Within this Chaos, he saw all his accumulation from the past month.

The powerful Physical Body tempered by Dragon blood, the resilient bones polished by hundredfold gravity, the internal organs baptized by the earth's core fire veins, and that overbearing Spear Intent he had just comprehended... all of it began to undergo a miraculous chemical reaction under the catalysis of the Enlightenment Divine Stone.

Like countless rushing streams finally converging into a surging river.

Rumble—!

The spirit source core within Lu Sheng's body began to rotate, compress, and transform at a terrifying speed.

His Rank began to soar!

Rank 13... Rank 15... there were no Bottlenecks, as easy as drinking water.

Rank 18... Rank 19... until—

Boom!!!

A brilliant golden light shot out from the crown of Lu Sheng's head, shattering the clouds above Daozi Peak.

[Ding! Promotion successful!]

[Current Rank: Rank 20 (Spirit Apprentice extreme realm)!]

[Physical Body reshaping complete!]

Lu Sheng snapped his eyes open.

In that instant, two beams of solid golden light shot out three feet, even igniting the air.

On his retina, a brand-new data panel appeared, so magnificent it made one's head spin.

[host: Lu Sheng]

[Rank: Rank 20 (extreme realm Spirit Apprentice) (0/)]

[Five Viscera Golden Body: Level V (Perfection)]

[Dragon Bone/Dragon Muscle: Level V (Perfection)]

[Six Treasures: Level IV]

[Base Strength: 400,000 catties (200 tons)!]

[Normal Speed: 600 m/s (close to Mach 2)!]

[Comprehensive Evaluation: Your normal combat power crushes a Rank 25 Spirit Master; activating Human-Dragon Form allows you to slaughter a Rank 30 Spirit Master; if you activate Dragon Transformation Form... Congratulations, you now possess the qualifications to threaten a mid-stage Spirit Ancestor (Rank 35)!]

"200 tons..."

Lu Sheng clenched his fist, feeling the terrifying power in his palm that seemed capable of crushing the Void Realm.

This was only his base strength.

If Spear Intent and the various buffs from the Dragon God Sequence were added... "Now, I should be able to kill the me from a month ago with a single punch, right?" A cruel arc curved at the corners of Lu Sheng's mouth.