Gao Wu: I became a saint through daily settlements

As dawn broke, a thin mist still lingered in the forest on the fifth level of the Nanyang Secret Realm.

Lin Yue and his companions simply roasted a few pieces of brown rock boar meat. The rough texture of the meat, after being roasted over a blazing fire, emitted a rich aroma that barely dispelled the chill of the early morning.

The damp air was filled with the stench of rotting star beast corpses and the astringent smell of grass and trees.

In addition to eating beast meat, Lin Yue also chose to consume a star beast inner core.

Yesterday's settlement, like before, gave him the True Meaning of Martial Arts, but this time it did not help his Martial Will break through to the third level.

"The amount of martial arts essence required to go from the second to the third tier is about four times that required to go from the first to the second tier."

After absorbing this martial arts essence again, Lin Yue roughly understood what this martial arts essence was.

Every battle a martial artist engages in will yield some martial intent. The higher the intensity of the battle and the more focused the mind, the purer the martial intent gained.

The true meaning of martial arts is the purest form of martial intent.

This is what is passed down among martial artists:

To sustain war through war!

As a martial artist's martial will advances, their combat skills will also improve.

"It is said that after breaking through to the third level of martial arts will, one can even intimidate opponents of the same level."

In a martial arts duel, in addition to the contest of techniques and vital energy, there is also a battle of wills. Once fear arises and one becomes timid and hesitant, one's momentum will plummet, and defeat will be almost certain.

Legend has it that the strongest martial artist of that time, Tian Jingsha, had reached the pinnacle of martial arts will. With just a glance, he could shatter his opponent's mind and make them willingly admit defeat and surrender, winning without a fight.

However, that's just a legend, and Lin Yue has no way of verifying whether it's true or not.

After swallowing a first-tier star beast inner core, warm energy instantly swept through the entire body, causing a tingling and full feeling throughout the limbs and bones, and the speed of blood circulation also suddenly increased.

"There's no time to lose," Lin Yue thought.

On the fifth day, the entrance to the Red Moon will open, which means there are less than 24 hours left.

"Any later, and we might miss the opportunity."

Although I don't know exactly what's above the Red Moon, it's always better to go there as early as possible.

"No wonder you've improved so quickly, you eat star beast inner cores like they're food." Zhou Minghao, who was beside him, finished eating the last piece of beast meat and looked at Lin Yue consuming inner cores one after another, and said with a face full of emotion.

All martial artists are well aware of the nourishing effects of the Star Beast Inner Core, but its nature is hot and its medicinal properties are domineering.

If taken in excess, it will not only fail to nourish qi and blood, but will also over-nourish, burn the meridians, and even deplete the qi and blood of the martial artist, resulting in more harm than good.

"I not only eat it as food, I drink it as water," Lin Yue said with a smile, deliberately teasing him.

Modern cultivation methods are superior to ancient martial arts in almost every aspect, including speed and difficulty. However, there is one area where modern cultivation methods are almost incomparable to ancient martial arts.

That is the body's recovery speed and absorption speed.

Ancient martial arts emphasize physical training!

The stronger your body is, the faster you can absorb various medicinal herbs!

"Awesome."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Minghao assumed it was just Lin Yue joking.

"How could anyone actually eat star beast cores as food? Those things are both unpalatable and expensive."

Unless they are masochists, Zhou Minghao couldn't think of anyone else who would do this.

Furthermore, it is difficult to reabsorb the inner core of a star beast in a short period of time. Not only is the medicinal effect greatly reduced, but it may also directly deplete the martial artist's qi and blood, which means that it is too much.

Although Zhou Minghao didn't understand Lin Yue's behavior, he didn't say anything more.

In the blink of an eye, the group arrived at the middle section of the fifth floor.

Thanks to the advance clearing by the Tianjing team, the path on the fifth floor was completely unobstructed.

Along the way, they occasionally encountered a few stragglers, all of them weak low-level star beasts. Before they could even roar, Lin Yue drew his long sword from his waist and killed them instantly with a single, clean strike.

"It seems that the fifth floor was already completely cleared out by the Tianjing team."

Xu Beihai looked around and saw many skeletons of star beasts scattered in the forest, and clear signs of fighting on the ground, indicating that a large-scale cleanup had just taken place.

The Tianjing team is among the strongest of all participating teams; they are not only incredibly powerful but also extremely competitive.

Unlike other teams that progressed step by step, the Tianjing team skipped the first, second, and third levels after entering the secret realm, heading straight for the stronger star beasts on the inner third level, acting arrogantly and domineeringly.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring hall outside the secret area, the atmosphere was extremely lively.

"Oh? The entire Tianjing team has already begun moving towards the sixth floor?"

The large screen clearly displayed the locations of each team. A teacher pointed to the screen, his voice filled with amazement:

"Oh? The entire Tianjing team has already begun moving towards the sixth floor?"

On the screen, almost all the dots representing the students of Tianjing were concentrated in the sixth level area. Excluding a few who were injured and left early, more than 190 people from the Tianjing team successfully entered the sixth level.

"A pass rate of over 95%, the students from Tianjing are truly impressive," another teacher remarked, flipping through the historical data in his hand.

"According to previous years' records, most teams have less than a 30% chance of clearing the sixth floor. Tianjing's performance is simply overwhelming."

"Not bad, not bad. Most students have already entered the fifth level, and the overall performance is even better than expected."

"I thought the increased difficulty of this dungeon would significantly lower my scores compared to before, but I was surprised to find that my scores were even better than usual!"

"Some students from Jiangsu Province have also entered the sixth level of the secret realm, that's really impressive."

the other side.

"Teacher Guo, where is our Jiangcheng Martial Arts Affiliated Middle School now?" a student who left early asked.

"According to the locator, our team has advanced to the middle of the fifth level."

"This result is already very good!"

Jiangcheng Martial Arts Affiliated Middle School has been established for a century. In previous trials of the secret realm, its performance has always been average. This time, however, the fact that a team has made it to the middle of the fifth level and even has a chance to challenge the sixth level is definitely the best in its history.

"Wow, that's impressive." A hint of excitement flashed in the student's eyes as he couldn't help but exclaim.

Within the secret realm.

"The Tianjing team has over 200 members; they are truly terrifying," Zhou Minghao remarked, looking at the mountain of corpses of the Netherworld Wolves piled up beside him.

When the gap becomes so large, people will no longer feel jealousy, but will only fantasize about when they can be like that themselves.

Just like comparing a normal martial artist to Tian Jingsha, who would be jealous of Tian Jingsha? Who wouldn't want to become the next Tian Jingsha?

"With a large number of people, the advantages become very obvious."

A normal herd of beasts consists of only thirty or forty animals, but the Tianjing team has a full 200 people. They can easily sweep away these herds simply by overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.

The fifth level of the secret realm is not very large, and with the influx of a large number of students, the danger level is arguably even lower than that of the group of brown rock boars encountered before.

Seeing this, the group simply began searching for the resources they needed for cultivation, since there were quite a few valuable treasures within this secret realm.

"What a pity."

Lin Yue felt a little regretful when he thought about how the star beasts on the fifth floor had been wiped out by the Tianjing team.

"They should have been nourishment for my innate martial bones," Lin Yue thought to himself.

Once we leave this secret realm, where else can we find a place with so many low-level star beasts?

It was a pity, but Lin Yue did not stop for a moment.

Just then, the Martial Arts Treasures Record within Lin Yue's body suddenly felt a strong response.

"It's the Zhenyue Flower!"

"I never expected that this secret realm of the South Seas would contain not only ancient ginseng but also other martial arts treasures!" Lin Yue could not hide his excitement and followed this feeling, heading towards the direction of the Zhenyue Flower.

In less than two minutes, a small, earthen-yellow hill came into Lin Yue's view.

The hill is not high, and its entire body is composed of rough rocks. Under the shroud of a thin mist, it appears somewhat ancient.

At the very top of the hill, a small, blood-red flower was quietly blooming, its petals translucent and shimmering with a faint red glow.

Just as Lin Yue approached...

boom--

Beneath the blood-red Zhenyue Flower, the soil suddenly churned, and a gigantic brown rock boar burst forth.

Its massive body blocked most of the sunlight, and its bloodshot, bell-like eyes stared intently at Lin Yue, letting out a deafening roar:

"roar--"

[Intelligence-Rank Star Beast: Brown Rock Boar]

"A Spiritual Intelligence-level Star Beast!" Lin Yue whispered.

"So you've been hiding here all along."

"That saves me the trouble of looking for you," Lin Yue said with a faint smile.