The central region of the Magic Beast Mountain Range was uninhabited year-round. Here, seventh-level, eighth-level, and even ninth-level magic beasts roamed freely—only a ninth-level powerhouse would dare cross the Magic Beast Mountain Range through its heart. And this time, Lin Lei had entered the central region, proceeding northward along the mountain range's central axis. This feat was so audacious that even an ordinary ninth-level powerhouse wouldn't dare attempt it.
Lin Lei wore nothing but a pair of tattered hemp-cloth trousers, his upper body bare, his feet shod in nothing at all. Strapped to his back was the Blackjade Heavy Sword as he walked step by step through this desolate land.
Bei Bei stood on Lin Lei's shoulder, scanning the surroundings.
"Creak, creak—"
Lin Lei trampled over thick layers of dead leaves, his expression calm and indifferent. His bundle, the Purple Blood Soft Sword, the Flat Knife, his clothes, and all his other belongings had been stowed away in his spatial ring. Inside Clyde's spatial ring, apart from the enormous Magic Crystal Cards worth two point two billion gold coins, there were also several dozen precious items, each worth at least several million gold coins. Thousands of years of accumulated wealth from the Fenlei royal clan—truly a terrifying sum.
But for the current Lin Lei.
Wealth was merely an external thing. What he truly valued was his own strength. Hadn't the Dawson Trading Company offered a full one hundred million gold coins just to recruit Lin Lei? And that was only because Lin Lei had the potential to become a Saint Realm powerhouse. If they were truly trying to recruit a Saint Realm expert, the price would be even more staggering.
This only proved that one's own strength was what mattered most.
Although Lin Lei was traveling through the central region, he deliberately avoided areas where not a single magic beast could be found for dozens of miles. In the central region, an expanse of dozens of miles completely devoid of magic beasts most likely belonged to a Saint Realm magic beast's territory. Lin Lei was confident, but he had no desire to provoke a Saint Realm magic beast.
Cutting through brambles and thorns, Lin Lei's pace was far from fast.
"Everything starts with the basics." Lin Lei was a very practical man. He carried the Blackjade Heavy Sword on his back every day, practicing basic strikes—chopping, hacking, lifting, thrusting—testing each motion repeatedly, always trying to increase his offensive power with every repetition.
Lin Lei did not train mechanically.
He thought about what he practiced. Drawing on the scant descriptions of ancestral cultivation techniques recorded in his family's inherited manual, he pieced together a correct path of training.
The path of cultivation must never be about reaching for things beyond one's grasp.
Early spring, blazing summer, cool autumn, harsh winter. No matter the season, Lin Lei always wore those same hemp-cloth trousers, torn from his repeated dragon transformations, his upper body perpetually bare.
Lin Lei discovered…
Going barefoot allowed him to feel the earth's pulse far more clearly. With his feet planted on the ground, his heart became as steady and grounded as the earth itself. When wielding the Blackjade Heavy Sword, this sensation gave his strikes a profound heaviness.
With his upper body bare.
Feeling the wind brush against his skin, Lin Lei felt as though his entire being had become part of the wind—wind that was inherently formless. His use of the Purple Blood Soft Sword grew ever more effortless and instinctive.
And because of this.
Lin Lei gave off two contradictory impressions simultaneously—a sense of grounded, immovable weight, and an airy, drifting freedom. These two feelings should have been mutually exclusive, yet they coexisted strangely within a single person, and so naturally, so harmoniously.
Heavy sword training as his primary focus, soft sword practice as his supplement. Occasionally he would carve stone sculptures, and at night he would meditate. Just like that, Lin Lei had entered an extraordinary state of cultivation.
Sometimes, upon seeing a rushing waterfall in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, he would feel a sudden impulse and train directly beneath the cascade.
Spotting a crystal-clear river, he might wade through the water.
Catching sight of a massive boulder atop a mountain peak, inspiration would strike, and he would climb to the summit to complete a stone sculpture. A single sculpture might take several days and nights.
Following his heart's desire.
Lin Lei's mind had never been so attuned to nature. In this state of cultivation, he completely lost track of time's passage. All he perceived was his strength growing day by day, and each advancement filled him with genuine joy and gratitude.
The path of cultivation was winding and far-reaching.
The road was difficult, yet the insights and progress gained along the way were deeply moving.
A beard had begun to sprout on Lin Lei's face, and his formerly short hair had gradually grown long. The fierce, murderous gleam that once dominated his eyes, after prolonged exposure to the serenity of nature, had softened into something calm and natural.
Only occasionally, during training, would his gaze turn razor-sharp with a terrifying edge.
Lin Lei's temperament had also been sculpted by nature into something far more composed and steady. Without Derinkoort's guidance—in truth, with no one left to rely on behind him—Lin Lei had naturally continued to grow, becoming ever more mature.
"Rumble~~~"
The waterfall, nearly a hundred meters tall, crashed down from on high, plunging into the deep pool below and sending countless droplets of spray into the air. Beside this pool, right against the waterfall, there jutted out a weathered boulder.
Upon the boulder sat a man cross-legged, with a blue-black heavy sword resting on his thigh.
It was early morning, the sky just beginning to lighten. In the deep mountains of the Magic Beast Mountain Range, the crisp morning air drew a deep, appreciative breath from Lin Lei.
"Ah." Lin Lei opened his eyes.
He glanced back. Bei Bei was curled up beside him, its tiny claws firmly gripping the stone—no worry of falling.
"Bei Bei, time to go," Lin Lei said with a smile.
Bei Bei opened its drowsy eyes, looked around, then shook its head in a daze before standing up. "Boss, I'm hungry."
"Let's go. You can eat later." Lin Lei pushed off the boulder with one foot, and his body drifted across the wide pool like the wind, landing lightly on the bank. Bei Bei kicked off the rock, transforming into a black afterimage, and landed right at Lin Lei's feet.
The man and the beast set off once more.
But after only a short walk, Lin Lei's large stride came to an abrupt halt. Bei Bei looked at him in puzzlement.
"There's a magic beast nearby," Lin Lei transmitted through his soul.
Bei Bei's eyes widened. By now, Bei Bei was considered an early ninth-level magic beast—ordinary beasts wouldn't even get close without it sensing them. But this time, it had detected nothing.
Lin Lei planted his feet on the earth and felt the movement of the wind.
Anything stirring in his surroundings was very difficult to slip past his awareness.
"This beast moves with extremely light steps. I can't sense it touching the ground at all, but its movement disturbs the wind," Lin Lei transmitted.
Bei Bei nodded.
A golden-striped leopard roughly three meters long was clinging to a tree trunk, utterly motionless. Leopard-type magic beasts were among the fastest of all ground-dwelling creatures.
And the Saint Realm magic beast known as the Thunderflow Lightning Leopard moved like a bolt of lightning—one of the most fearsome Saint Realm beasts in existence.