In the world of martial arts, there is a vast fantasy world.

Chapter 249 Seclusion Cannot Create a Strong Person

Of course, promoting oneself and expanding one's influence in this way will certainly bring many risks.

If it spreads widely, it might even attract the attention of the actual holy sites.

That's right. Although there is no trace of the Holy Land in hundreds of regions around here, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

This is because, unlike when they were in the Wu region, there were no strict information barriers between the various regions.

The reason why the current Tianyuan Sect and Dashang's power is limited to the area of ​​these hundreds of domains is not because they cannot understand further places, but because it is meaningless to understand them. In fact, the only areas where they can truly generate conflicts of interest are the surrounding ten or so regions.

The vast distances and inconvenient communication have created boundaries between the entire human martial arts community in this world.

But this boundary is not insurmountable; it remains a whole.

However, even so, Shen Xing could not give up 100% of the benefits for 1% of the risk. If he stayed in a small place and cultivated peacefully, the possibility of risk would be minimized, but the benefits would also be reduced, and the speed of improvement would also be slowed down.

This is unacceptable to Shen Xing.

"At least the surrounding areas should be relatively safe." After sending Princess Shang Lian back, Shen Xing pondered, "With this batch of pills, I should be able to break through to the Spirit Realm in at most two months. If I can then create divine-grade armor, I might be able to fight Shan Hai head-on."

With such strength, plus the existence of the flying shuttle, there's actually no need to worry about much more.

Whether in this world or in the Human Federation, he can reach the level of "strong".

Even if they are not top-tier experts, they are still fearless against most people and forces.

Therefore, Shen Xing can be more daring in many of his actions.

Now, what he needs to do is to focus all his efforts on improving his strength.

Shen Xing, holding the pills that the Great Shang Dynasty had "apologized" for, once again entered the secret realm.

Just as he resumed his cultivation, Shang Lian had already relayed her conversation with Shen Xing.

"Did he really say that?" The emperor of the Great Shang Dynasty was also extremely surprised. "It's one thing to open up the Xuanlong Realm, but to promote his reputation? The evaluation that he will definitely become a saint is not something that everyone can withstand—there are some forces that absolutely do not want to see a saint born in this area, or for any holy lands to interfere."

This is only natural, especially since no saint-level being stood up behind Shen Xing at this moment.

There will definitely be some forces that will take the risk.

In fact, this emperor can now think of several powerful forces.

For example, the Wutian Sacred Gate in the west is not directly connected to the Tianyuan Sect, but it is a powerful force that is domineering, arrogant, and ruthless.

This can be seen from the name of this faction.

To dare to add the word "saint" to one's name when there is clearly no "saint" is not just arrogance, but downright audacious.

Moreover, their style is extremely brutal, even towards their own people; most of them will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

Compared to the title "Holy Gate," "Demon Gate" is more fitting for them.

If they knew of Shen Xing's existence, they would either try to control him or destroy him. They would never want to see such a person become a saint in the near future and then control these hundreds of regions.

There are definitely not a few similar forces and similar people.

"Young Master Shen should be well aware of the risks involved," Shang Lian said, "but I think he doesn't care."

The Great Shang Emperor was silent for a long time, then nodded. "That's right. Compared to the identity of a holy son of an ancient holy land that has been destroyed, his own background is probably even more astonishing. He certainly has enough confidence to face these hundreds of domains. Since that's the case, then we shall obey."

An emperor, yet he uttered the word "obedience".

Neither the emperor nor Shang Lian found it strange at all.

For the people of the Great Shang region, the emperor may be supreme, but only those who have reached a certain level of understanding realize that the truly supreme being in this world is the strong, not the so-called emperor.

Even within the Great Shang Dynasty, either of the two ancestors could freely replace the emperor.

Because they are the sun and the moon!

Thus, in a very short time, a message suddenly began to spread, and it not only spread throughout the Great Shang Dynasty, but also began to spread rapidly to other regions.

That is, the Xuanlong Secret Realm has opened, and the Xuanlong Holy Son has reappeared!

Indeed, in a world where information dissemination is not convenient, the simpler the message, the better, in order to achieve sufficient dissemination.

These two sentences are already quite compelling.

As one of the ancient holy lands, Xuanlong Palace has certain records among many powerful forces, including the Xuanlong Secret Realm. This secret realm, which was originally only applicable to people below the fourth realm, did not attract much attention. However, opening up the quota completely is different. More importantly, it is the reappearance of the Xuanlong Holy Son.

With just a little investigation, one can find out what the Xuanlong Holy Son means.

Ten holy sons, ten saints!

This alone is enough to attract the attention of most forces!

The news and the sensation began to spread slowly among the forces in various regions. Some forces even decided to send representatives and outstanding disciples to investigate.

Of course, even with the power of mountains and seas driving the shuttle, it still takes enough time.

And now, for the entire "golden age," it is only just beginning.

As for Shen Xing, after giving the orders, he only occasionally paid attention to the development. To put it bluntly, the essence of this matter was to collect enough fifth-grade pill resources and more dragon-type martial arts intents. However, collecting pills was naturally for cultivation, and he would not put the cart before the horse.

However, as his cultivation progressed, Shen Xing gradually discovered that he seemed to have encountered some kind of difficulty.

The difficulty is not in the availability of medicine or resources, but rather in a problem of efficiency.

The closer one gets to perfection, the less efficient it becomes at refining elixirs and increasing one's strength.

"What's going on?" Shen Xing asked, somewhat bewildered.

For a long time, his cultivation had been smooth sailing, and the speed of his cultivation and refining pills would become faster and faster. But now, it has become slower instead.

It should be noted that after obtaining those one hundred eight-patterned golden dragon pills, he accelerated his study of martial arts intent. At a rate of three techniques a day, he has now completed all the remaining earth-grade dragon-type martial arts intents, including the eight techniques he traded from the Dragon Gate.

The quality of the Myriad Dragons Technique has been completely stabilized at the Heavenly Grade level.

In this situation, it would normally take him less than a day to refine an Eight-Patterned Golden Dragon Pill, but now it takes him a day and three hours instead.

It increased by about four or five hours.

This is actually quite logical; it's a classic manifestation of approaching a bottleneck in one's abilities, much like a person who is already full and can hardly fit anything in.

However, this does not conform to Shen Xing's common sense.

He had learned so many powerful martial arts techniques, including one Heavenly Rank technique that focused on cultivating the soul and another Heavenly Rank technique that focused on cultivating elemental power. His foundation was incredibly strong. For him, breaking through to the fourth realm should be as easy as eating and drinking. In fact, when he was calculating time, he never thought that he would encounter a bottleneck—the time to reach the perfection of the third realm was the time to break through to the Spirit Realm.

However, he is now genuinely feeling that he has hit a bottleneck.

Although the impact of this bottleneck was not significant, it still made Shen Xing wary.

It's important to understand that advancement in martial arts is like entering a new realm, with each level representing a different challenge. The difficulty of advancement increases exponentially as you progress. You're already encountering this problem just by breaking through to the fourth realm; what will it be like when you break through to the fifth, sixth, or even seventh realm?

"There's definitely something wrong." Shen Xing narrowed his eyes.

Given his background, it's highly unlikely that such a problem would arise.

Fortunately, Shen Xing is no longer all alone.

If you encounter problems in your spiritual practice, just ask directly.

The person asking the question at this moment is Huang Xingjie.

"Is it just that the efficiency of cultivation has decreased a little?" Huang Xingjie had no physical body, but the consciousness he transmitted at this moment clearly revealed a strangeness.

"That's right," Shen Xing said with extreme caution. "This is already quite serious. My cultivation efficiency has always been increasing."

Huang Xingjie fell silent.

He was a true genius in life. Even if he hadn't succeeded in learning the Sun-Holding Dragon Technique and becoming a Holy Son, he would still have had a high probability of reaching the seventh realm if he hadn't died.

It can be said that he surpassed the vast majority of people.

However, at this moment, I still feel a sense of being hit hard.

The transition from the third to the fourth realm is the first major bottleneck in martial arts, and countless martial artists are stuck here. It is also the first level that cannot be reached by resources alone. However, for the person in front of him, it was only a slight decrease in cultivation efficiency!

Back then, when he reached this point, his efficiency had slowed down to only half, and even decreased further. In the end, he made no progress for almost a year before he was able to break through!

Fortunately, Huang Xingjie quickly recovered from the blow. The stronger the Holy Son was, the better for them.

If the Holy Son can surpass the Seven Realms, then the Xuanlong Palace will not only be able to be reborn, but may even surpass its former glory!

Just thinking about it, even though he had already become a weapon spirit, Huang Xingjie still couldn't help but feel a little excited.

So he said seriously, "The problem you mentioned is actually very simple. I would say that 99% of martial artists know the reason."

"What?" Shen Xing was taken aback.

"Simply engaging in secluded cultivation cannot create a true powerhouse." These words echoed in Huang Xingjie's mind.

I'm having some writer's block; I'll update the remaining two chapters later.

(End of this chapter)