Chapter 61: What the Hell is He Seven Years Old?

As Lin Heng finished his first session of cultivation and just stepped out of his room, he caught sight of Xiao Rang gazing at him with burning anticipation.

"Disciple, how does your first formal cultivation session feel?" Xiao Rang asked, addressing Lin Heng.

Originally, he had planned to take Lin Heng out for leisure today just as he always did. Since Lin Heng was still in the middle of recovering his physical health, spending more time together as master and disciple would help foster their bond, which could hardly be considered a waste of time.

Yet, he had never expected that after wasting more than half a year in play, this disciple of his would unexpectedly begin cultivating out of the blue.

Once the cultivation session concluded, Lin Heng's aura became extraordinarily restrained. Even with Xiao Rang's status as a Grand Master, he remained completely unable to read the depth of Lin Heng's cultivation progress.

"Master, I feel wonderful. I have already reached the Inherent Realm."

With a flick of his finger, Lin Heng projected a wisp of sword qi, directing it toward an empty space right in front of Xiao Rang. This was sword qi condensed purely from internal force, devoid of any added conceptual intent or surging blood-vitality to boost its might, yet it clearly demonstrated Lin Heng's newly attained cultivation at the threshold of the Inherent Realm.

Xiao Rang flicked his sleeve, effortlessly dispersing the sword qi as he sensed the extent of Lin Heng's progress.

Overjoyed, he laughed heartily and said, "Splendid, splendid, splendid! As expected of my disciple, the peerless Fallen Sword Immortal, you have cultivated all the way to the Inherent Realm in just a single day! How about I host a grand master-induction ceremony for you, so that all the pugilistic sects in the world may come to know of your transcendent talent?"

Lin Heng glanced at Xiao Rang.

During his first simulation, because Lin Heng had relied on the sect for food and shelter and could offer little in return besides providing emotional value to his elders, he would always coordinate with them to host grand celebrations to show off every time he broke through a major cultivation realm, which could be considered contributing to the sect's rising prestige.

Right now, however, such a display was entirely unnecessary. Lin Heng had already shared the first edition of the *Ocean-Bound Boundless Divine Skill* with his elders, and when the appropriate time came, he would also provide the second and third editions.

These would grant them a substantial increase in lifespan alongside a massive boost in combat prowess. Afterward, they could rely on their own efforts to secure further emotional value and practical benefits, leaving Lin Heng with no need to waste time keeping up with useless interpersonal socializing.

Therefore, Lin Heng shook his head and directly refused, "Master, let's not. The upcoming period happens to be a time of rapid leaps in my cultivation, and I wish to pour all my energy into practicing."

Without waiting for Xiao Rang to feel disappointed, Lin Heng grabbed his master and pulled him toward the back mountains. "I've been cultivating for a whole day and I'm starving. Master, let's go to Junior Sister Zhang Ya's place for some Blue-Bearded Fish. That dual-fresh stew of fish and mountain mutton is simply unimaginably delicious; just thinking about it makes my mouth water."

***

Although Elder of Spiritual Flora Zhang Ya possessed rather ordinary combat strength—her cultivation at the eighteenth heavenly layer of the Grandmaster realm ranked merely in the upper-middle tier within the Cloud Sword Sect—she excelled at raising spiritual fauna, cultivating medicinal herbs, and possessed extraordinary skill in preparing spiritual banquets.

Consequently, her residence boasted the greatest abundance of culinary delicacies within the Cloud Sword Palace.

The renowned Blue-Bearded Fish paired with the equally famous Azure Mountain Mutton to create the dual-fresh stew achieved a level of deliciousness that could truly be described as out of this world.

Xiao Rang's attention was instantly derailed, allowing himself to be pulled by Lin Heng all the way toward Zhang Ya's dwelling in the back mountains.

"Heng'er is my disciple. Though it's a bit disappointing not to show him off before the heroes of the martial world, showing him off to the other elders isn't a bad alternative either."

Watching Lin Heng running ahead of him, Xiao Rang adjusted his train of thought as he followed closely behind.

Before they even reached Zhang Ya's place, he began using secret voice transmission to summon the other elders to gather at the back mountains.

***

The following day, Lin Heng continued his cultivation.

He had not deceived Xiao Rang; he was indeed still in a phase of rapid breakthroughs. Following another full day of arduous cultivation, his internal breath had expanded by another massive margin compared to the previous day.

Because all of Lin Heng's meridians and acupoints were already in an inherently unobstructed state, he did not need to expend any extra internal force to clear them. Consequently, judging by the sheer denseness of his internal breath at this moment, he had effectively reached the ninth heavenly layer of the Inherent Realm.

Although subsequent realms required accumulating greater amounts of internal breath for each heavenly layer, making progress relatively more difficult, Lin Heng still reached the eighteenth heavenly layer Great Completion of the Inherent Realm by the fifth day of his formal cultivation, naturally transitioning straight into the Grandmaster realm thereafter.

"My body is beginning to undergo another minor round of growth."

Within the Grandmaster realm, there were two primary cultivation objectives: the first was to transform the physical body into an indestructible Vajra body with a copper head and iron arms, and the second was to completely saturate all the body's meridians and acupoints with internal breath, pushing essence, energy, and spirit to the absolute limits of the human form.

Because of this, upon reaching this realm, Lin Heng could distinctly perceive certain physical transformations taking place.

The potential of his Azure Wood Spiritual Body was partially unlocked, and the vast majority of the primordial essence accumulated through daily cultivation was channeled to fuel his physical metamorphosis. His skin, flesh, bones, internal organs, and brain all began to develop rapidly, growing tougher and far more formidable.

This transformation lasted for about a year before it finally subsided.

Throughout this process, Lin Heng's physical body experienced explosive growth. Every day, he consumed dozens of times more food than a normal person, and his appearance rapidly shifted from that of a young child into that of a fully grown adult.

Having just turned seven years old, Lin Heng now stood two meters tall.

With slender limbs, a sturdy build, and facial features that had shed all childishness to become sharp and defined, he now looked like a twenty-five-year-old youth, his physical body having reached the absolute peak state of a lifetime.

"Tch, this is overwhelmingly powerful."

"With this kind of state, my combat prowess is already no less than it was during my first simulation when I reached the thirty-sixth heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm."

Lin Heng marveled inwardly as he sensed his current condition.

Once the physical metamorphosis of the Grand Master realm concluded and the first physical limit was breached, one's cultivation was considered to have reached the ninth heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm. Beyond that, for every seventy-two acupoints completely filled with internal breath, one's cultivation advanced by another heavenly layer.

At this moment, with his physical metamorphosis complete, Lin Heng had filled one hundred and two acupoints within his body with internal breath, placing his cultivation at the eleventh heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm.

Yet this level of cultivation alone already rivaled the state he achieved in his previous life when he reached the thirty-sixth heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm, having broken through physical limits multiple times and undergone numerous transformations of essence, energy, and spirit.

This was simply too formidable, bordering on the shocking and the extraordinary.

At merely seven years of age, Lin Heng was already, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest martial artist in the world.

At this juncture, Lin Heng began to look forward to the future: once he broke through to the Celestial-Human realm and fully unleashed the complete potential of his Azure Wood Spiritual Body, to what unimaginable degree would his power grow?

"However, breaking through to the Grand Master realm from here on out will be difficult."

After a moment of anticipation, Lin Heng faced a very realistic problem.

To advance from the Grand Master realm to the grand mastery of the Grand Master realm, the prerequisite was to first accumulate immense, boundless internal breath and completely saturate all the acupoints throughout the entire body.

Only then could one comprehend conceptual intent, utilize the power of heaven and earth to nourish oneself, and shatter the limits of one's own essence, energy, and spirit to successfully attain the true Grand Master realm.

Ordinary martial artists could achieve this breakthrough once they reached the twenty-seventh heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm.

Lin Heng, however, possessed a primordial cycle's worth of acupoints. Counting seventy-two acupoints per heavenly layer, it meant he would need to cultivate all the way to the eighteen-hundredth heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm before he could even qualify to break through to the Grand Master cultivation level.

"When that time comes, should I break through to the Grand Master realm at the eighteen-hundredth layer, undergo the accumulation of the thirty-sixth heavenly layer of the Grand Master realm, and use supreme foundations to transform into the Celestial-Human realm? Or should I just leap straight from the eighteen-hundredth layer of the Grand Master realm directly into the Celestial-Human realm?"