After the Will Star Banquet ended, Gu Tiange once again had his subordinates convey his desire to spar with Yan Zhen over sword techniques.
Yan Zhen inwardly sneered with disdain. He knew full well that this guy was just coveting his sword; any talk of sparring was pure nonsense. He brushed it off with a casual excuse and then left the banquet hall with the three women.
The Star Plucking Assembly would be held at the end of the academy year, which was only four months away. In that time, he needed to break through to the Mystic General Realm, trick Long Ying into becoming his mount, and coax a drop of her divine blood from her. That would let him comprehend the Dragon Blood Scale Transformation Technique and counter the Wen Clan’s signature Crystal Transformation Mystic Palm.
Moreover, after refining the Dragon God Clan’s divine blood, the power of Yan Zhen’s Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Technique would soar to new heights.
Breaking through wasn’t something that could be rushed. Advancing from Eight-Star Mystic Master to Nine-Star Mystic Master was straightforward, but crossing from Mystic Master to Mystic General was far more challenging.
The realms of Mystic Practitioner, Mystic Scholar, and Mystic Master were all about accumulating Mystic Power. With sufficient pills, one could greatly shorten the time needed. But starting from Mystic General, things changed.
A Mystic General’s Mystic Power gained a spark of spirituality. Even when released into the air, it could be controlled remotely. When condensing Mystic Power into objects, they could take the form of vivid, lifelike creatures.
Take that white mastiff, for example—it could unleash a thunderclap wolf Mystic Technique.
To awaken that spirituality in one’s Mystic Power, a cultivator had to compress and refine the Mystic Power crystals in their dantian to the extreme, much like forming a crystalline orb with a technique akin to Planetary Devastation.
As cultivation progressed, the orb compressed further, its spirituality growing stronger until it finally collapsed into a tiny black hole. At that point, one could tap into the power of heaven and earth.
That was the hallmark of a Mystic King powerhouse!
Yan Zhen planned to first advance to the Mystic General Realm, then sign a contract with Long Ying and obtain her dragon blood. After all, refining Dragon God essence blood was no joke—one slip-up, and he might end up fully draconized.
Well, even though he now had his beautiful female master to help refine the divine blood, this time Yan Zhen wanted to try doing it himself.
Three months later, in a private cultivation chamber on the sixth floor of the Firmament Nine-Story Tower, Yan Zhen successfully broke through to One-Star Mystic General.
He had secluded himself for a full ten days to achieve this goal. The still-upgrading System-chan automatically rewarded him with a Trump Card (Tier 4).
It was perfect timing—the previous Trump Card (Tier 3) had been used up against the Sixth-Tier Magma Fox.
With a Tier 4 Trump Card in hand, he now had insurance against any pursuit from Cloud Heaven Palace… though, hmm, he wasn’t even sure if Cloud Heaven Palace would come after him anymore. Something felt off about the whole situation.
Unfortunately, as no longer a newbie, he didn’t get any upgrade gift packages.
Sigh~
Glancing at the points deducted from his academy card, Yan Zhen realized he had indeed been in seclusion for ten days. He tidied up and entered the Fire Refining Starry Sky to report his breakthrough to his beautiful female master. As expected, he received a breast pill reward and a head pat, leaving him thoroughly satisfied. He returned to reality, went back to his residence for a bath, and then headed to Elder Great-Aunt’s office.
He needed to report this to her as well.
Elder Yu Yan was naturally delighted.
“Very good, very good. Now that you’ve reached the Mystic General Realm, Little Yan Zhen, you truly have what it takes to compete for the top three spots on the General Star List.”
Yan Zhen chuckled sheepishly.
“It’s all thanks to Great-Aunt’s guidance.”
“Oh, what guidance have I given? It’s all the result of your own hard work, Little Yan Zhen.”
“The vice dean hasn’t come looking for trouble these past three months. Great-Aunt must have been handling him, right?”
“That’s just what us elders do…”
Elder Yu Yan smiled warmly and took out a new storage ring, handing it to Yan Zhen.
“You’re a Pill Refiner, so you should need a storage ring dedicated to materials. This high-grade storage ring is yours, and it comes stocked with some medicinal ingredients useful for the Mystic General Realm, plus a bit of Mystic Crystal.”
Storage rings came in three grades: low, mid, and high. Low-grade held one cubic space, mid-grade ten cubics, and high-grade a hundred. Beyond that were the “storage spaces” used by Mystic Venerable experts, which were even more convenient and secure.
Yan Zhen already had three storage rings: one mid-grade and two low-grade. He kept his materials in one of the low-grade ones. With this high-grade ring, he could retire the two low-grade ones and keep just the high- and mid-grade.
“Thanks, Great-Aunt.”
“Good boy~”
Elder Yu Yan patted Yan Zhen’s head as well.
During those three months, Yan Zhen had made time for a trip to Rain Heaven Island to treat the three sisters again. Now, Elder Yu Yan and Dean Yu Qing were basically fully recovered, with only the Family Head Yu Lu showing faint lingering symptoms that would resolve with some self-adjustment.
These rewards had been personally prepared by the Family Head Yu Lu.
Looking at Yan Zhen’s handsome smiling face, Elder Yu Yan sighed inwardly. Little Lu had truly made up her mind.
Leaving the grand elder’s office, Yan Zhen hurried straight to the Cliffside Small Building. The moment he landed on the balcony, the mature beauty Zi Xunyi opened the floor-to-ceiling window to welcome him.
“Husband’s back… Congratulations on your smooth breakthrough, Husband.”
Yan Zhen smiled faintly, wrapped an arm around Zi Xunyi’s slender waist, and stepped into the room.
The sensation of touching a divine soul incarnation was indeed different from flesh and blood. It lacked that natural soft, bouncy feel, but in the dream realm, it was reversed—the soul incarnation felt even more real and sensitive than the physical body.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t gotten any action in three months. Even his two days spent in the Outer Academy with the four women had been purely platonic—just some kissing and cuddling at most—thanks to Dean Little Aunt and Mentor Aunt suddenly showing up and ruining the mood.
Inside the room, Zi Xunyi and Huangfu Wenqing were playing a game of go at the table, while Long Ying sprawled on the bed snoring away like a total lazy slouch.
Huangfu Wenqing had broken through to the Mystic General Realm two months ago and was now a Three-Star Mystic General—an absurdly fast pace.
Yan Zhen suspected she must have some kind of cheat.
As for Zi Xunyi, she was growing stronger alongside the fetus’s development. According to his beautiful female master, it was because Ling’er herself was a Mystic Saint powerhouse. Even as just a strand of consciousness, she was formidable. As she revived, her power was influencing her mother, who carried her.
Yan Zhen recalled that in the story’s script, when he reached the Emperor Realm, Yan Yan would awaken the Flame Emperor bloodline and leap to Nine-Star Mystic Saint in one go. With the second child, Yan Lingji, she would be born at Half-Saint and achieve sainthood by full moon.
Emperor Realm powerhouses rarely produced offspring, but any who were born were at least Mystic Venerable level.
—Even for his daughters’ sake, he had to strive for the Emperor Realm!
Once Yan Zhen entered, Zi Xunyi and Huangfu Wenqing both looked up in unison. Sensing the Mystic General aura radiating from him, they both smiled.
“Zi Ji, how’s your body been lately?”
“I’m doing great. It’s just that Ling’er keeps wanting me to read to her. We’ve nearly gone through every book in the room.”
“Then I’ll make time to borrow some from the Scripture Pavilion… Wenqing, does the spot between your brows still ache?”
“The pills you refined took care of it. I never imagined soul cultivation could be so prone to problems—nearly caused qi deviation.”
“Good to hear. Soul cultivation demands utmost caution. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me or Zi Ji. Puzzling it out alone is risky; discussing it helps.”
“Got it.”
“…”
Yan Zhen gestured for them to continue their game. He walked over to the bed, sat down, and gently pinched the loli dragon girl’s nose.
