90: Chapter 90 The whole city is shaken! A breakthrough in the perfect-level breathing technique has occurred!

Gino City.

Suddenly, the city erupted in a clamor.

The Church, Senate observers, local nobles, and even some hidden factions all turned their uncertain and suspicious gazes toward Still Lake.

Several powerful bursts of mental energy and detection spells spread out like invisible tentacles, rapidly reaching toward the center of the phenomenon.

At this moment, Rowan, who was at the core of the phenomenon, was not entirely unaware of the commotion in the outside world.

He could feel those several powerful perceptions rapidly closing in.

One of them was particularly powerful—cold, heavy, and carrying a holy aura. It clearly came from the Church, and might even be Priestess Aliyah herself.

But he had no time to worry about anything else right now.

The breakthrough had reached its most critical moment.

The Level 3 furnace phantom rotated slowly above his head, resonating with the actual furnace core within his body.

A massive amount of world energy was absorbed and refined by the furnace phantom, then transformed into a torrent of the purest new battle qi. Like the Milky Way pouring down from the nine heavens, it surged frantically into his body, remolding his limbs, bones, and even the essence of his soul!

His total volume of battle qi was exploding!

Its quality was undergoing a rapid transformation!

Battle qi, which originally needed to be attached to weapons or arrows to leave the body, now seemed to break free from invisible shackles. With a slight thought, it gushed from his palm like a living thing!

At first it was one meter in front of him, then several meters, ten-odd meters, dozens of meters... until... a hundred meters...

When the final surge of the majestic battle qi torrent had completely integrated into his body,

the grand All-Encompassing Heavenly Furnace phantom above his head emitted a low hum of satisfaction, slowly faded, and dissipated into the night sky.

At that moment,

Rowan snapped his eyes open!

In the depths of his eyes, a miniature furnace phantom seemed to flash and vanish, instantly turning into a deeper phantom purple.

He slowly raised his right hand, fingers slightly spread.

"Buzz—"

In front of his palm, the air distorted.

A blade of phantom purple battle qi, condensed as if solid, appeared out of thin air!

The blade was incredibly stable, emitting a heart-palpitating aura of cutting and annihilation.

With another thought, the battle qi blade suddenly extended, turning into a streak of rainbow light that instantly sliced across a hundred meters of the lake's surface!

"Ssh—!"

There was no earth-shattering roar, only the soft sound of something being sliced open.

A hundred meters away, the ice on the lake's surface, along with the water several feet deep beneath it, was cleanly sliced open, creating a smooth fissure over ten yards long and bottomless!

The cut was as smooth as a mirror, with lingering strands of phantom purple battle qi silently annihilating the surging lake water!

Projecting battle qi a hundred meters away, condensed and not dissipating, controlled as easily as one's own limbs, with doubled power!

This was the signature ability of a Low-tier Great Knight!

Feeling the new power within him, vast as the sea yet perfectly under his control,

a faint smile played on the corners of Rowan's mouth.

Great Knight—it's done!

However, the dissipation of the phenomenon above did not mean the end of the investigations.

He could clearly feel that those powerful mental energies, especially the cold and holy one from the Church, were about to lock onto this area.

"Time to go."

Without hesitation, he shifted his mind, and the recently acquired [Shadow Escape] trait activated instantly!

Simultaneously, the [Shape-shifting] trait quietly altered his aura and life fluctuations.

His body flickered, and he seemed to turn into an incorporeal, light-ink shadow. His presence instantly became obscure and ethereal, impossible to pin down.

Like a true night breeze, he skimmed the ground, quietly escaping toward Snow Velvet Manor at an incredible speed.

In just a few breaths, Rowan had already fled several hundred meters, completely leaving the lock-on range of those mental energies, and then silently returned to Snow Velvet Manor.

The entire process was as fast as a phantom, silent and traceless.

The investigators who hurried over, whether they were from the Church or informants from other factions, found nothing but the lingering, majestic afterwaves of energy when they reached the shore of Still Lake.

The one who broke through had long since vanished without a trace.

...

Inside the master bedroom.

Elena was still fast asleep.

She was completely unaware of the shocking phenomenon that had appeared outside the window.

Rowan deactivated [Shadow Escape] and [Shape-shifting], took off his clothes, and silently slipped into bed.

The power within him flowed unceasingly, but his mind was as calm as still water.

The afterglow of the breakthrough still needed time to be consolidated.

More importantly, once his realm was completely stabilized, he would attempt to refine that 'Scarlet Hymn Breathing Technique'!

At this moment, the sleeping Elena seemed to sense something. She unconsciously drew closer, her smooth body snuggling into his embrace...

...

The next morning.

In the sky, the light snow had stopped.

But an even more unsettling storm quietly swept through Gino City.

The grand and peculiar phenomenon of the 'Heavenly Furnace Refining Stars' by Still Lake last night, and the subsequent hurried deployment of the Church's Temple Knight Order, could not be hidden at all.

The news quickly spread among the major factions, nobles, and powerful transcendents.

The whole city was shaken!

Last night, outside Gino City, someone had broken through to become a Great Knight, successfully ascending!

Moreover, looking at the scale of the world phenomenon it triggered, it was definitely not something an ordinary Excellent-grade Breathing Method could achieve.

It was highly likely—

A Perfect-grade Breathing Method!

This news left many people feeling suffocated.

The higher their status and the stronger their power, the more intense the shock and wariness in their hearts upon hearing this news.

They knew all too well what the combination of the terms 'Perfect-grade Breathing Method' and 'Great Knight' meant.

It wasn't just as simple as a newly ascended Great Knight.

A Great Knight who broke through using a Perfect-grade Breathing Method had a foundation so profound and potential so immense that they far surpassed those who practiced Excellent-grade or even Peak Excellent-grade Breathing Methods.

They often possessed stronger combat power, more mysterious abilities, and a much broader space for growth.

Every single one of them, as long as they didn't fall prematurely, was highly likely to become a true titan of the Empire in the future, and might even catch a glimpse of the legendary 'Sky Knight' realm!

The Empire was vast, but Perfect-grade inheritances were few. Most were held by the top families, the core of the Church, or the Royal Family, with only the most central heirs able to practice them.

The birth of every Great Knight with a Perfect-grade breathing inheritance was enough to influence the power structure of a region.

Gino County had not seen such a Great Knight who broke through with a Perfect-grade Breathing Method in hundreds of years.

But now, in this northern border county, at the sensitive moment of Count Farrell's downfall, a new Great Knight practicing an unknown Perfect-grade Breathing Method had quietly emerged?

This was no different from throwing a massive boulder into a lake that was already surging with undercurrents!

Inside the manor where the Royal Family was staying,

Princess Alice put down the secret report in her hand, her moon-like beautiful eyes flashing with light.

Her fingers unconsciously tapped lightly on the table.

"An unknown Perfect-grade Breathing Method... Heavenly Furnace Refining Stars... able to refine all manner of phenomena..."

She whispered to herself, her mind quickly filtering through the known Perfect-grade inheritances in the Empire related to such phenomena, only to find that none could completely match.

This left her feeling both surprised and suspicious, while also giving rise to an indescribable sense of interest and vigilance.

"Who could it be? A local hidden noble of Gino County? Or an outside powerhouse?"

At the residence of The Senate observation team, the atmosphere was equally solemn.

Theodore Witton frowned deeply as he held an emergency discussion with the others.

"We must send word back to the family immediately!"

"A Great Knight with an unknown Perfect-grade inheritance appearing in Gino County, with unclear allegiances, is a huge variable!"

Vanessa Bryce leaned against the window, her charming and elegant eyes looking toward Still Lake, her red lips curving slightly as she thought about who knows what.

The local nobles of Gino City, upon receiving the news, were filled with both worry and joy.

They were joyful that there might be a new force capable of balancing the Church, the Royal Family, and The Senate.

They were worried because this force was completely unknown; whether it was friend or foe was impossible to tell, making the already complex situation even more blurred and confusing.

The one with the swiftest reaction was undoubtedly the Church of Dawn.

In the meeting room of the Great Cathedral, Bishop Cole, Priestess Aliyah, and Commander Calvin gathered once again.

Aliyah's mental energy had arrived first last night, yet she was still a step too late and failed to lock onto the person who broke through. This caused the chill in her ice-blue eyes to deepen.

"The record of the phenomenon has been imprinted by the core of the magic circle and urgently sent back to the Holy Oracle Court at headquarters, requesting a comparison with all known Perfect-grade inheritance records."

Bishop Cole said in a deep voice, his face carrying a rare solemnity. "The preliminary feedback... no matching records."

No matching records!

These words made the air in the room almost freeze.

This meant that the Perfect-grade Breathing Method practiced by the person who broke through last night was very likely a brand new one that had never been officially recorded by the Empire or the Church!

A brand new Perfect-grade Breathing Method...

Its value, and the secrets and implications that might lie behind it, were simply immeasurable!

It could come from the ruins of an ancient civilization that had long since vanished, it could be the original creation of some recluse powerhouse, or it could even... be related to some forbidden god-level entities.

"Continue the investigation." Aliyah's voice remained cold and calm, but those familiar with her could hear the icy resolve beneath that calm.

"Use all available forces to screen everyone in Gino City and the surrounding areas who has shown abnormal movements recently, or who might have come into contact with ancient ruins or forbidden knowledge."

"Focus on... those whose strength is at the level of Peak Knight, or those who have had special encounters."

Her gaze seemed to sweep unintentionally over a list that had just been submitted on the table.

Among them, the name "Rowan Flynn" was inconspicuously listed.

...