Imperial Scepter

After a sparring match with his nephew Gao Chengzhi, Gao Chun felt extremely happy.

He returned home, took a good shower, and felt refreshed afterward.

He was extremely satisfied with the competition and gained a clear understanding of his own combat capabilities.

Next, he still needs to continue to comprehend the fourth realm of artistic conception, so that he can advance to the fourth star of the Bronze Realm as soon as possible.

The difference between three-star and four-star in the Bronze Realm is not just one star, but a whole rank.

A major realm is divided into three levels: one to three stars is the low level, or simply low position; four to six stars is the middle level, or simply middle position; and seven to nine stars is the high level, or simply high position.

Once you reach the fourth star of the Bronze Realm, you can enter the middle Bronze Realm, at which point you can start learning spells.

The function of cultivation techniques is to absorb profound energy and then refine it into profound power; while the function of spells is to release the profound power within the body remotely.

Low-level Bronze cultivators can only attach their Xuan power to parts of their bodies and can only engage in close combat.

Once you learn magic and gain the ability to attack from a distance, your strategies and tactics will become much richer.

At that time, close combat and ranged combat will be combined, resulting in ever-changing tactics and more organized battles.

For the fourth artistic conception, he chose the metal element.

This is because the attack of this attribute is the most powerful.

He didn't beat around the bush and directly asked Old Man Gao for the metal-attribute mystic objects needed for cultivation.

Without saying a word, Gao Changhe readily gave him a large number of first and second grade metal-attribute mystic items.

Gao Chun, beaming with joy and a smile playing on his lips, happily carried the mysterious object back to his room, ready to devote himself to cultivation.

As Gao Changhe watched his son's light and quick departure, a faint smile of satisfaction unconsciously appeared on his lips.

This child's talent is truly monstrous; his cultivation progress is astonishingly fast. While his peers are still struggling at the first star of the Bronze Realm, he is already aiming for the fourth star. Such talent is extremely rare in the entire cultivation world.

While he was relieved, Gao Changhe was also filled with heavy worries.

My son is still young, and his temperament is like an unpolished gem. Although he has a bright future, he is ultimately not resilient or steady enough.

Although he is quick-witted, somewhat clever, eloquent, and knows a bit about human relationships, all of that is just superficial understanding.

He ultimately understood too little, too superficially, the true wickedness of human nature and the unpredictability of the world.

Gao Changhe knew that many truths in this world could not be understood simply by reading books, theoretical classics, or flipping through a few vernacular novels.

The good and evil in books are too clearly defined, and the principles are too straightforward. But in reality, people's hearts are filled with too much scheming and pretense, too much helplessness and unforeseen twists of fate.

"What you learn from books is never enough; you must put it into practice to truly understand." Gao Changhe once dismissed this ancient proverb when he was young, but after experiencing many trials and tribulations and witnessing the price paid for naivety, he finally came to truly understand its profound meaning.

Those choices about trust and betrayal, kindness and malice, perseverance and compromise, those knives hidden behind smiles and poison wrapped in honey—only by experiencing them firsthand, stumbling and suffering can one truly understand their weight.

Only then can one develop a discerning eye for right and wrong, and a calm and self-possessed heart in the years to come.

Relying solely on the admonitions of others and the teachings of books is ultimately insufficient, as they cannot withstand the complexity and cruelty of reality.

"Sigh, this kid, he's both lovable and worrisome." Gao Changhe paced back and forth, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the grain of the sandalwood on the table.

"Chun'er possesses a five-colored Dao Seed, an opportunity unprecedented since the beginning of time." Gao Changhe's eyes were deep, and a wise light flowed in them. "But without the matching mind and temperament, even the best talent is just empty talk."

"Those who only know how to cultivate but not how to experience will end up being nothing more than idiots with brute force." He sighed softly. "Not only will they fail to achieve anything, but they may also invite disaster because of their sharp edges and become butcher knives in the hands of others."

Gao Changhe walked to the window, looked at the green pine trees outside the courtyard, and had already made up his mind: he must arrange some training for his son.

These trials must both subtly test him, forcing him to face the storms of life, and secretly protect him, ensuring he doesn't fall into irreparable danger.

Gao Chun was completely unaware of this and had no idea that his father was preparing a grueling ordeal for him.

He had already returned to his room by now.

He sat cross-legged in meditation, circulating his internal energy to continuously absorb and refine various first and second-grade metallic mystic objects.

In an instant.

Gao Chun's mind was completely absorbed, as if he had fallen into a vast ocean of weapons, with swords, spears, halberds, hooks, axes, and forks, all kinds of metal weapons lined up in an endless array.

In a daze.

He saw a giant axe swinging across the sky, its immense power splitting the towering mountain in two.

He saw a long sword roaring to the sky, drawing out ten thousand swords to pierce through the vast heavens.

He saw a great sword descend, carrying the power of thunder, severing the flowing river...

He stared intently, his eyes fixed on the changing forms of various weapons, every move, every slash and thrust etched into his vision, not daring to miss a single detail.

He only went to bed to rest when he was completely exhausted.

The next day at the crack of dawn, he got up early again and continued to immerse himself in the contemplation of the artistic conception.

When he was tired, he would go to his study to browse through classic texts, covering history, geography, politics, economics, and humanities.

Or go to the training ground to practice combat and release profound energy, so that the body and mind can find balance between movement and stillness.

Days passed by, and Gao Chun continued in the same repetitive way.

As dawn breaks and dusk falls, as winter turns to summer, time slips away quietly.

The morning light streamed through the window several times, and the night repeatedly bathed the house in its glow.

Gao Chun gradually settled into a life of contemplating the essence of things in his room, reading classic texts in his study, and practicing combat in the training ground.

When the mood struck him, he would even spar with a second-star Bronze Realm cultivator.

Among them, Wang Hu left the deepest impression on him.

This dual-type Dao Seed genius, who was somewhat famous in Gaojia Village, had an extremely strong combat awareness. He had integrated the assassin and control talents of the purple and blue dual-type Dao Seeds to the extreme.

When fighting Wang Hu, Gao Chun almost lost. The usually arrogant Gao Chun had to calm down and take the blows. In the end, he only managed to win by relying on the advantage of the Five-Colored Dao Seed.

Spring goes and autumn comes, time flows quietly, and twenty months have passed in the blink of an eye.

A moonlit night.

Gao Chun sat cross-legged in the room, still immersed in his understanding of the essence of metal.

Boom boom boom—

Suddenly, countless phantom images of weapons surged within his dantian, eventually merging into his dantian and transforming into nourishment for himself.

The meaning of gold is perfect.

Immediately afterwards, his dantian and qi sea suddenly expanded... advancing to the fourth star of the Bronze Realm.

call--

Gao Chun let out a long sigh, slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of golden sharpness appeared in his eyes.

"Damn it, it took me twenty months to comprehend the fourth realm, and I'm a genius with a five-colored Dao Seed! How long would it take for a one-colored or two-colored Dao Seed?"

The thought of Gao Chun gives me a headache.

He felt that leveling up was too difficult, requiring not only a large amount of cultivation resources but also a long period of time for refinement and comprehension.

He tallied the time it took him to comprehend each artistic conception: the first artistic conception was a gift from heaven, so let's leave it aside for now; the second took six months, the third took thirteen months, and the fourth took twenty months.

"Each artistic conception is seven months apart, so wouldn't the fifth one take twenty-seven months, and the sixth one thirty-four months?"

Gao Chun became increasingly agitated. At this rate, it might take him four or five years to fully grasp even one of the later layers of meaning.

Even though I am a genius with a five-colored Dao Seed, it still takes me so long. Those cultivators with one-colored or two-colored Dao Seeds will only take even longer... How many realms of enlightenment can they comprehend in this lifetime?

He knew that cultivators were divided into five realms, and their understanding of intent was also divided into five levels. The Bronze Realm only comprehended the first level of intent, also known as the Bronze Intent. Above that, there were Silver, Gold, King, and God Intent.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but complain about some popular novels: "The protagonist reaches the pinnacle of cultivation after only a few years and can easily defeat old monsters who have cultivated for tens of thousands of years... These authors must be out of their minds!"