Lin Sheng held the jade between two fingers as he sat cross-legged in the center of his courtyard, his breathing slow and almost imperceptible.
A faint shimmer of spiritual energy circulated around his body before gradually being drawn inward, disappearing beneath his skin as though swallowed by an invisible vortex.
The sea jade in his hand trembled.
A fine crack appeared across its surface.
Then another.
Within moments, the jade completely lost its luster, crumbling into a pile of pale dust that slipped between Lin Sheng's fingers and scattered across the stone floor.
Lin Sheng opened his eyes.
His gaze was calm, but beneath that calmness was a profound depth that had not been present several months ago.
He slowly exhaled.
"Another one."
The remaining fragments of jade beside him were already considerably fewer than before.
He had spent much of his free time cultivating external arts and strengthening his mental cultivation, and although neither could be considered easy, the latter was particularly troublesome because the improvement of spiritual strength could not simply be forced through ordinary meditation.
The realm of meditation cultivation began with Opening Apertures, followed by Entering Samadhi, Spirit Platform, Divine Treasure, and realms beyond that.
Lin Sheng was currently at the fifth layer of Spirit Platform.
The Spirit Platform realm was essentially the construction of a pagoda formed from one's own mind and spiritual foundation, with nine layers in total.
The strange part was that the numbering was reversed.
The ninth layer represented the beginning.
The first layer represented the summit.
Every advancement therefore meant that the pagoda within his mind was becoming increasingly complete, increasingly stable, and increasingly capable of carrying his growing spiritual strength.
Lin Sheng had been relying on sea jades to accelerate this process.
At first, he had used mortal sea jades.
Their effect had been extremely weak, but that weakness had been precisely why he started with them.
Then came Rank 1 sea jades.
Afterward came Rank 2.
Now he had begun using Rank 3 sea jades.
He had deliberately progressed through them in this order because he had discovered an interesting characteristic of these treasures.
Repeatedly using sea jades of the same rank caused his spiritual foundation to gradually develop resistance toward their nourishing effect.
It was not that the jade stopped containing spiritual energy.
Rather, his body and soul became increasingly accustomed to the particular quality of energy contained within them, making each subsequent piece less effective.
The phenomenon was similar to developing immunity.
If he began directly consuming Rank 3 sea jades and remained dependent upon them, he would eventually reach a point where the resources he possessed could no longer provide the same stimulation.
Therefore, he had started from the lowest grade and gradually worked upward.
Unfortunately, the situation with Rank 4 sea jade was considerably worse.
There were only fragments remaining from the treasure cave of the Rank 4 serpent.
The majority had already been consumed or used for other purposes.
Lin Sheng glanced toward the remaining pieces.
"Rank 3 is already becoming less effective."
He wasn't particularly disappointed.
The resources he had were already extraordinary compared to what ordinary cultivators could obtain.
Besides, he had a much larger objective.
The third layer of Spirit Platform.
That was the threshold he was currently pursuing.
Once he reached the third layer, his spiritual strength should be sufficient to cross the hundred-li threshold.
At that point, his spiritual sense would no longer merely be an invisible extension of his perception.
It would possess the characteristics of a field.
A domain.
That was the standard associated with Rank 4 divine sense.
Lin Sheng stood from his meditative posture and stretched his body slightly.
The movement appeared ordinary, but the space around his body faintly distorted for an instant before returning to normal.
His physical foundation had already reached an extremely terrifying level.
Unfortunately, his body was also becoming increasingly difficult to control through ordinary means.
The stronger one's Jing became, the greater the burden placed upon the Shen required to control it.
Lin Sheng had understood this principle long ago.
Fortunately, his Shen had always been considerably ahead of his physical foundation.
Only after obtaining the Rank 4 serpent's materials had the balance begun changing.
That was precisely why his current cultivation of spiritual strength was so important.
He could not afford to allow any weakness to exist in his foundation.
Lin Sheng looked toward the courtyard entrance.
He already knew that Su Yang had returned.
More importantly, he had already heard everything about the escort mission.
The mission had gone far beyond what he had originally expected.
There had been assassins.
A Xuan Gang expert.
A strange package.
A secret technique.
And most importantly, there had been several moments during the journey when the flow of events had become strangely distorted.
Lin Sheng had spent considerable time thinking about those incidents.
The more he analyzed them, the more convinced he became that the escort mission had exposed something far more significant than a simple conflict between martial forces.
It had also given him another reason to investigate the dynasty more carefully.
That was why he had already begun making preparations.
His first target was the Repository Pavilion.
It belonged to the Demon Suppression Division.
Getting inside would not be easy.
But Lin Sheng didn't need to steal anything.
He merely needed knowledge.
Knowledge was often more valuable than treasures.
Especially when one was attempting to understand the distribution of power within an unfamiliar dynasty.
Lin Sheng had already gathered a considerable amount of information through various channels, but most of it was fragmented.
The Repository Pavilion should contain the records necessary to connect those fragments together.
The first thing he needed to understand was the Imperial Family.
They were the central pillar of the entire dynasty.
Multiple Five Qi Grandmasters were said to reside within the Imperial Family and are ready to be dispatched.
And according to the records he had obtained, there was supposedly an Ancestor within the Imperial Family who had reached the peak of the Grandmaster Realm.
Lin Sheng's expression became slightly solemn.
A peak Grandmaster.
That was not an existence he could casually provoke.
Even with his current foundation, he had no intention of testing whether his life was long enough to withstand such an existence.
The Imperial Family's strength also explained something else.
The dynasty had remained relatively stable despite possessing numerous powerful martial forces.
The Imperial Family was strong enough to suppress the others.
Not necessarily through direct intervention, but simply through the existence of overwhelming deterrence.
As long as the Imperial Family remained powerful, the other Grandmaster forces had little reason to tear the dynasty apart.
But the Imperial Family was not the only major power.
There was also the Marquis Sword Manor.
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed slightly.
The records regarding the Marquis Sword Manor were unusually complicated.
Its history stretched back a long time, and there were rumors that its creation had some connection with the Imperial Family itself.
Whether that connection was cooperation, inheritance, or something more complicated remained unclear.
What concerned Lin Sheng more was its relationship with the recent incident.
The letter.
The sealed package.
The assassins.
The attempt to eliminate everyone involved.
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious the entire situation became.
Then there was the Zhenwu Temple.
Lin Sheng's expression changed slightly when he recalled that name.
The Zhenwu Temple was different from most of the other major forces.
They practiced Buddhism.
More importantly, they possessed an extremely profound inheritance in external arts.
According to the information he had obtained, they were among the foremost authorities on external cultivation throughout the dynasty.
Their monks rarely involved themselves in political struggles.
They rarely fought over territory.
They rarely participated in the disputes between noble families and martial forces.
They simply cultivated.
Protected their temple.
Accepted disciples.
And occasionally descended the mountain to suppress demons and fierce beasts.
A force like that was extremely difficult to deal with because they had almost no obvious ambition.
Yet the escort mission had involved items apparently connected to them.
That was what made Lin Sheng uneasy.
Someone had gone so far as to send assassins after an escort carrying an item destined for the Zhenwu Temple.
And the people who carried it had nearly all died.
The question was simple.
Who would dare?
Lin Sheng slowly folded his arms.
"The Marquis Sword Manor."
He murmured.
It was the most likely answer.
Not necessarily because the Marquis Sword Manor had definitely ordered the assassination, but because they were among the few forces powerful enough to act against something connected to the Zhenwu Temple without immediately fearing the consequences.
If the letter had contained something important enough to provoke such a reaction, then the situation could become considerably more complicated.
Lin Sheng's eyes became colder.
He didn't like complicated situations.
Especially situations involving forces capable of producing Grandmasters.
He had spent enough time running from one place to another.
The thought of relocating again made his expression darken.
"I just settled down."
His voice carried a faint irritation.
"And now another problem appears."
He looked toward the distant horizon.
For the moment, however, the dynasty remained peaceful.
The Imperial Family still stood at the center.
The various Grandmaster forces still maintained their territories.
The Zhenwu Temple had not publicly declared anything.
The Marquis Sword Manor had not openly acted.
And the Demon Suppression Division continued operating normally.
Everything was still within the boundaries of the existing status quo.
That was precisely how Lin Sheng preferred it.
Peace provided time.
Time provided cultivation.
And cultivation provided strength.
As long as the situation remained stable, he could continue pushing his cultivation forward until he reached Rank 4.
Once he crossed that threshold, his position would change completely.
The Heavenly Mechanism would no longer be able to treat him as an ordinary existence.
At least, that was what he hoped.
Lin Sheng's eyes became distant.
The five-year appointment was approaching.
The strange fluctuations of luck he had sensed around Su Yang's journey had already strengthened his suspicion.
The day of the appointment would not simply be a gathering of young geniuses.
It would be a turning point.
And if his theory was correct, the Heavenly Mechanism would become abnormally active on that day.
The last time it had noticed him, it had sent a Rank 5 Flood Dragon.
Lin Sheng had no desire to discover what it would send next.
That was why he needed to advance.
sea jade scattered on the floor.