Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Boom!

A dull crash could be heard.

As Rock Pile slammed heavily into the ground, he crashed through and collapsed a building next to the opposite house.

By now, most of the houses around Jiang He's house had crumbled entirely.

Blargh!

Rock Pile spat out a mouthful of blood. Fear and disbelief cloud his eyes, and all he could think offwas Jiang He's palm strike.

How frightening!

How horrific!

Even if Rock Pile was himself a grandmaster in stress straining and his physique alone could match a rank-seven advanced individual, in the face of that palm strike, he felt an illusion as if he was no more than a leaf raft adrift in the sea, and could capsize at any moment.

There was just no way of stopping it.

The buffeting winds from Jiang He's nonchalant palm alone had sent him flying, causing his qi and blood to boil.

He needed several minutes to calm his body, before rising and returning to Jiang He and offering another respectful fist-palm salute, bowing.

At the same time, the stupefied Awakened regained his senses as well, and quickly said, “Please don't be too harsh on us, Mister Jiang. Rock Pile is famous for being a martial nut in our department. When he learned about how formidable your physique was and might be a grandmaster of stress training techniques, he offered to bring you these Purple-Golden Sunflower Seeds to spar with you.”

On the other hand, Jiang He stared at Rock Pile, frowning as he said, “What did you mean, an heir of a Shaolin Temple's lay monk?”

Now even more reverent towards Jiang He, Rock Pile explained, “My grandfather was once a lay monk in the Shaolin Temple, having once trained there. There, he learned Indestructible Diamond—one of the Seventy-Two Supreme Moves of Shaolin Temple. Since my father cultivated under my grandfather's tutelage and I did the same under my father, that is why I'm an heir of a lay monk.”

Jiang He came to an understanding then and nodded.

The Shaolin Temple was one of the Hua Nation's five sacred grounds and had since closed its doors for almost a hundred years. However, it boasted many disciples, although not all would shave their heads and take on an oath of abstinence—in fact, many keep their hair during cultivation, becoming lay monks in the process.

Then, after they leave the mountain, they could break the abstinence rule once more, eating meat, drinking alcohol, and even take a wife or start a family.

Still, Jiang He was curious.

The Shaolin Temple of this world actually had Indestructible Diamond too?

“What about the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, then? If memory serves, that technique is founded by the Tantras, which is another one of the five sacred grounds…” Jiang He thought inwardly.

Meanwhile, Rock Pile had been musing to himself for a long time. Then, unable to help himself, he asked, “Mister Jiang, if my eyes weren't tricking me, you must have cultivated Indestructible Diamond as well, I believe? The Nature Qi that shrouds your body is a sign of mastery over Indestructible Diamond.”

“It was said that mastery over Indestructible Diamond is incredibly difficult, that even the elder monks of the Shaolin Temple might not cultivate it to that level.”

Pausing, Rock Pile then offered another fist-palm salute and bow, saying, “Rock Pile, heir of a Shaolin Temple's lay monk, hereby saluting Brother Jiang.”

Jiang He couldn't help chuckling, “I'm neither a lay monk at the Shaolin Temple nor an heir.”

“True,” Rock Pile replied, “I've also heard a dragon's roar and an elephant's trumpeting… Mister Jiang must have cultivated in the Dragon-Elephant Prajna as well, which was only taught to core disciples of Tantra. You must be a Tantra, Mister Jiang?”

“Still…”

Rock Pile was rather bemused then. After he studied Jiang He from head to toe, he exclaimed in surprise, “Does the core Tantra sect have lay monks too?”

Jiang He shook his head, saying, “I'm not a disciple of Tantra. I merely taught myself Indestructible Diamond and the Dragon-Elephant Prajna… alright, Brother Rock, I have other matters to attend to if there's nothing else—the crops in my farmyard are waiting.”

Rock Pile offered another fist-palm salute then, saying, “Farewell, Mister Jiang.”

The Awakened did the same too, and with that, Jiang He turned and went to his yard.

He was not concerned at all with the Indestructible Diamond and the Dragon-Elephant Prajna.

Those were planted on a whim and functioned as a stopgap, he would definitely have traded for another cultivation manual when his farm levels up. Was Nature Mystic and Invincible Demon Form not awesome?

“Right.

“That fellow mentioned that the Dragon-Elephant Prajna is a forbidden technique of the Tantra Sect, and no one could cultivate aside from core disciples… would the Tantras bother me in the future?”

Soon, Jiang He was amused by his own thoughts.

Bother him?

The manual he planted was the revamped one. How could he be bothered?

As for the cultivation of mnemonic chants and styles circulating online?

The one thing Jiang He was sure about was that the cultivation manuals online were basically made up by some netizen who had too much free time… someone simply fabricated them because the Indestructible Diamond and the Dragon-Elephant Prajna were famous.

1

Returning to the yard, the third batch of yuanbaos were ripe.

By the time Jiang He plucked every yuanbao and cut down the trees, Sora arrived at the yard.

“Master, dinner's ready.”

“Dinner is ready?”

Jiang He took a look at the time and found that it was already half-past six in the evening. He had been too focused on his work that he actually forgot the time. He then returned to the mansion, washed his face, and sat down at the dinner table.

Then, Sora served dinner.

The aroma from the plate of stir-fried Violet Flame Lingzhi over beef and pot of stewed Violet Flame Lingzhi over snake meat wafted all over the mansion.

Picking up a bowl of rice, Jiang He began to eat.

And as he ate…

Ooom!

Jiang He shuddered as a searing presence flashed and disappeared over his body. Lowering his bowl of rice, he felt himself carefully, and found that the fire field in his head had strengthened considerably.

Even his cultivation has improved slightly too.

“The Violet Flame Lingzhi strengthens superpowers too?”

“Makes sense. My fire-type superpower was awakened thanks to the Violet Flame Lingzhi, and it is logical that eating it would strengthen it.”

Jiang He continued having dinner, but was only half full.

Boom!

The True Qi in his body began to stream on wildly, and his cultivation promptly rose from rank-seven pinnacle to rank-eight.

His fire-type power strengthened once more, reaching cla.s.s.

Naturally, there was a huge gap between the abilities of different cla.s.s Awakened, although novice cla.s.s and pinnacle cla.s.s individuals are all known as cla.s.s. Jiang He estimated that if he relied on superpowers only instead of his physique and True Qi cultivation, he would be rank-seven advanced at best.

Still, Jiang He was not concerned about his cultivation's improvement. He simply finished his rice and soup leisurely.

“Okay…”

“My cultivation has improved slightly, stabilizing on rank-eight novice.”

Calmly cleaning his mouth, Jiang He left his mansion and returned to his yard.

Luckily, there were still several batches yuanbao waiting for him.

Jiang He did not sleep the entire night until the sun rose the next morning, when he harvested the last batch of yuanbao. It was difficult, but the rewards were grand.

Planting ninety gold bullions earned Jiang He a total of ninety thousand Farm Points, reaching over a hundred thousand when added to the Farm Points he had before.

“Hard work never lets down the determined!”

Jiang He turned on his System Panel delightedly.

[Name: Jiang He]

[Cultivation: Rank-Eight Novice]

[Ability: Royal Sword, fire]

[Martial Arts Cultivation: Indestructible Diamond (Mastery+), Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms (+), Blind Princess's Eight Practices (Second Practice+), Strengthened Nine Yang Technique (Third Tier+), Ninefold Thunderblade (Second Fold+), Dragon-Elephant Prajna (First Tier+)]

[Owned Land: 888m²]

[Farm Level: 3 (EXP 5000/5000)]

[System Backpack: 12 boxes]

[System Shop: Unlocked]

[Farm Points: 118300]

Now that he has enough Farm Points, what next was improving his skills.

As the thought crossed Jiang He's mind—

[Ding!]

[-40000 Farm Points]

[Congratulations, Host. You have gained Fourth Tier Mastery over the Strengthened Nine Yang Technique.]

[Ding!]

[-20000 Farm Points]

[Congratulations, Host. You have gained Mastery over the Third Fold of the Ninefold Thunderblade.]

Jiang He's mood became even better as one System Notifications jingled after the other, and he could not help laughing out loud. “System, keep it up. Upgrade the Ninefold Thunderblade to fourth fold!”

[Ding!]

[Upgrade unavailable due to insufficient Farm Points.]

The yard became silent as once as Jiang He was left scowling and at a loss for words. “Could you not be that hurtful, System? I've been farming Farm Points for an entire day, and it's gone in seconds?”

Boom!

Even as he spoke, Jiang He's aura thundered, and he rose from rank-eight novice up to rank-eight intermediate, advanced, and soon pinnacle…

That was because the cultivation techniques he had just improved twice over.

Still, after waiting for half a day, his cultivation did not continue ascending, and he could not help scowling again.

'That's it?

'Isn't this disappointing?

'I spent over 90000 Farm Points to upgrade my Nine Yang Technique, and you can't even improve me up to rank-nine?'

Jiang He only came to his senses after what felt like half a day. Breathing a long sigh, he said, “Oh, I'll just have to go for combos. The improvement in cultivation was not great… but it seems that my combat ability has doubled compared to before?”

He then thought about it.

Back when he was rank-six, he had some trouble killing Guilty Star. Still, he could probably cut him down with two or three strikes at rank-seven after learning the Ninefold Thunderblade, and now…

“Perhaps two or three strikes at my full power would be enough to cut down Third Elder now. As for my Ninefold Thunderblade… Eh?”

Jiang He was about to test out the third style of the Ninefold Thunderblade when, in the next instant, something unusual happened.

He felt a mysterious epiphany that arose from the bottom of his heart.

Crack-boom!

A faint trace of thunder energy extended around Jiang He's body.

As if thunderstruck, Jiang He blanked out over a dozen seconds before coming to his senses, and mumbled in disbelief, “Is this… the Boundary of Wills?”

Wasn't it said that the Boundary of Wills was difficult to reach?

That rank-nines had delved into it for over a decade without any certainty of grasping it.

So…

How did I reach it out of nowhere???