When those who had entered the Heavenly Sea Mystery Realm returned, a shocking piece of news spread, instantly shaking the whole Imperial Capital.

… someone had crossed the Crimson Lake Island three times!

But to the majority, they completely did not know what that meant. Was that very awesome?

Immediately, someone told them, “Do you know Zhao Lun? In the past, even Zhao Lun managed to reach the island twice, and he was already the first in a thousand years!”

With such a comparison, everyone had some idea.

Who was Zhao Lun?

He was a real genius that everyone thought highly of, certain that he could advance into Heavenly Body Tier in future! Moreover, it was possible that such a genius only appeared once every million years!

Now, there was another one that was even greater than Zhao Lun.

“Who exactly is this Ling Han?”

“You still don’t know? He came from a small world.”

“What, someone from a small world could also be that awesome? You think you can deceive me just because I haven’t studied much? I am not someone that has not seen a cultivator that has ascended from a small world. In the Shattering Void Tier, they would only have battle prowess of 15 Stars at most, and are practically trash”

“That’s your fault for being ill-informed and ignorant. This person is the emperor of a small world that has come through opening the sky.”

“Hiss!”

If the fact that Ling Han represented the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire and won the first place in the competition between the three nations caused his reputation to rise, then now, his name really rung out through the whole Imperial Capital, and became known to all the forces in the city.

If he could mature, this man could very possibly become an ultimate elite of the Heavenly Body Tier in the future!

Of course, the Heavenly Body Tier was too difficult to reach. Firstly, doing so required a great amount of time, and secondly, required an extremely large amount of resources. If there wasn’t a powerful force to support him, this perhaps would remain only a possibility.

Some Sun Moon Tier forces had already decided to make Ling Han their son-in-law. As long as Ling Han nodded, they would nurture him with all their resources in hand, and in the future, their own clan would naturally become a clan with a Heavenly Body Tier elite, and become an influential force on the Joint Peace Planet.

But there were also some forces that revealed killing intent towards Ling Han, for example, the Luo Clan. They would definitely not allow Ling Han to mature and reach his full potential.

Amidst these turbulent waves in the darkness, Ling Han returned to the Academy.

The first thing he did was inform the Academy beforehand that he was planning to attempt breaking through into the Mountain River Tier.

Presently, he had only raised his cultivation level with the aid of Mountain River Stones, and lacked personal comprehension. He would only be limited to the peak stage of the low extreme, and could not possibly advance further than that. He had to cultivate an Immortal level cultivation technique to truly become an Immortal.

The Academy attached great importance to this matter, and deliberately sent out a well-experienced elder to safeguard his Dao.

Firstly, he naturally had to learn an Immortal level cultivation technique. Without the experience of a predecessor, and he had to invent his own cultivation technique, and that was definitely not a matter of eight or ten years, but an extensive project that would take a few hundred to a few thousand years of time.

Cultivation techniques of the low extreme were gifted by the Academy, but from the medium extreme onwards, cultivation techniques had to be redeemed through academic credits. However, because Ling Han had reached the Crimson Lake Island three times, the higher-ups of the Northern Institution were naturally very pleased, and hence rewarded him with 1000 academic credits.

… One had to understand that an ordinary student of the low extreme would not be able to earn so many academic credits even in 10 years. This was very, very generous.

The cultivation technique that he was cultivating now was called “Seven Star Secrets’, a very ordinary cultivation technique; every student could obtain this cultivation technique from the Academy after they had reached the ninth layer of the Shattering Void Tier.

Since it was free, it was naturally impossible that it would be any high-grade item. After all, there was nothing so nice like reaping a harvest when no seeds were sown.

The person safeguarding his Dao was responsible for explaining cultivation techniques, and Ling Han could ask him for guidance if there was anything he did not understand.

An ordinary student would have three days to ask for guidance, but Ling Han had seven. This naturally was proof of the generous fondness of the higher-ups of the Northern Institution.

However, Ling Han merely used one day to ask for guidance, and on the second day, he began to achieve enlightenment in seclusion.

Firstly, his comprehension ability was indeed amazing, and secondly, he was already standing in the low extreme, so if he turned back to achieve enlightenment of his cultivation on this level, the difficulty was naturally considerably lesser than it was for others.

After all, the difficulty was in teaching you how to achieve enlightenment regarding the Regulations of the heavens and earth to form your Mountain River; now that his Mountain River had already taken form, he had skipped the most difficult step.

Ling Han drew out a Flame Mountain River Stone, and as he comprehended the secrets of the Mountain River Tier, he continued to refine it. In this manner, he would be able to attain a more visible and physical comprehension.

After this Mountain River Stone was refined, he had also advanced into the peak stage of the low extreme. He did not stop, but rather continued to refine Mountain River Stones, wanting to charge up to the maximum limit of the low extreme in a single go.

He had made a miscalculation. Four Mountain River Stones were completely insufficient to raise his cultivation level to the maximum of the low extreme; the resources required for every step forward would also be double the last.

After he had refined four Flame Mountain River Stones, he discovered a problem.

He had not reached the maximum of the low extreme, but no more divine patterns could be emblazoned on the large mountain in his Dantian—the maximum limit was nine.

‘If I refine any more special Mountain River Stones, that would only be pure waste. I can only continue to do so after I have advanced into the medium extreme and formed the second Mountain River:

Ling Han drew out an ordinary Mountain River Stone and began refining. This would only increase his cultivation level, but did not possess any special effects. Hence, this was not a waste.

‘Lam at least three Mountain River Stones away from reaching the maximum of the low extreme!’

Ling Han shook his head. He had not imagined that the distance would be so wide, because the early stage of the low extreme only needed a single Mountain River Stone.

‘However, at least, I am now truly a Mountain River Tier cultivator!’ He smiled. After four days, he had finally comprehended the secrets of Mountain River Tier, and become a genuine Immortal who had potential to continue advancing.

In his Dantian, the first Mountain River had also been magnified by about a hundredfold, and was no longer smaller than other Mountain Rivers.

‘I have just learnt the Seven Star Secrets, and it is going to expire soon. I will need a new cultivation technique. Otherwise, I would not be able to break through to the medium extreme. This is not something that Mountain River Stones can help with:

Ling Han shook his head. The grade of the cultivation technique directly decided the speed and pace of cultivation. Hence, he had to save up enough academic credits to redeem an awesome cultivation technique.

After he came out of seclusion, he made a report to the Academy that he would be leaving the Shattering Void Tier Division in future, and officially step into the Low Extreme Division.

Because the Academy attached great importance to him, they had long since made the arrangements for him. After he came out of seclusion, his new proof of identity was already waiting for him. Thus, Ling Han went to the Library.

Firstly, he had to look around for a cultivation technique for the medium extreme—even if he did not have any academic credits to redeem it, he had to find out what the “price” was first, right? Secondly, he also wanted to pay a visit to Old Man Xu. He had gotten an awesome technique from him, and he had yet to thank him properly for it.

He strolled, and very quickly, arrived at the library.

Everything was just as it had been. Old Man Xu was seated at the entrance, looking like he was about to nod off.

“Greetings, Senior!” Ling Han walked over, and greeted him respectfully.

“You’re back?” Old Man Xu asked casually without opening his eyes.

“I’m back,” Ling Han answered with a nod.

“Go on.” Old Man Xu waved him off.

Ling Han nodded again. He pressed a hand on the stone plaque at the entrance, and obtained a new level of permission. He could now ascend to the second floor.

He went to the second floor. The bookshelves here were double the number on the first floor. However, their contents were not books in the traditional meaning of the word, but rather multiple bone plaques. Some were even complete bones.

There were also some pieces of Godly metal that were covered with divine patterns, exuding an ancient air.