Time flew by, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.
During this month, Shen Han would still occasionally return to his own courtyard. Like some of the other disciples, he would cook some food to make himself appear entirely ordinary.
Food and drink were not free; instead, each sect would send people to deliver money, which was then used to purchase supplies from the Martial Arts Alliance. As the young master sent by Cangjian Villa to bear responsibility, the villa felt a deep ache in their hearts, but ensuring he had basic food and drink was certainly not a problem.
Throughout this month, Shen Han acquired treasures from the Cliff Pool every single day.
On the second day after obtaining the Sword Heart Pill, he acquired the supreme skill: Sword Heart Clarity!
Although Sword Heart Clarity lacked the dazzling spectacle of Ten Thousand Swords Return to One, it provided tremendous positive reinforcement for one's aptitude in the sword dao, serving as a completely internal mental manual. Combined with Ten Thousand Swords Return to One, it propelled his physique forward by leaps and bounds along the path of the sword.
On the third day, he obtained the Flying Feather Pill.
A medicinal pill of this caliber could simply not be purchased with money in the outside world. Other sects found it exceedingly difficult to possess pills of this grade; only a few genuine prodigies within the Martial Arts Alliance stood the slightest chance of acquiring them.
On the fourth day, the Marrow Cleansing Pill—a supreme treasure of Shaolin. Every single Abbot had consumed a Marrow Cleansing Pill in their youth. One could say that consuming a Marrow Cleansing Pill did not necessarily guarantee one would become a true Abbot of Shaolin, but anyone wishing to attain the formidable strength required to become an Abbot must consume one. Shen Han obtained ten of them in one breath.
On the fifth day, the Heavenly Water Pill. This pill originated from Biyun Valley and could only be refined by the Valley Master of Biyun Valley. Ingesting it effectively conditioned one's meridians, greatly enhancing their potential. Even an ordinary mortal who consumed it could become a quite capable cultivator. Shen Han received twenty-eight of them.
On the sixth day.
On the seventh day.
……
By the time a month had passed, Shen Han had mastered twelve supreme techniques!
Any single one of these supreme techniques, if brought out into the world alone, would be a sensational existence, regarded as peerless masterpieces even among the major sects. It was not just a matter of ordinary sect prodigies learning them; even sect masters would find learning them as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Shen Han mastered every single one of them.
Combined with the more than one hundred dazzling and varied medicinal pills he had accumulated in his hands, Shen Han's strength had already broken through the Fourth Tier of Xiantian: Qi Condensation Great Perfection.
The Fourth Tier of Xiantian primarily involved the generation of True Essence within the ocean of breath inside the body. Once True Essence reached Great Perfection, it would overflow from the ocean of breath. This overflowing True Essence would carve out true meridians within the cultivator's body. Wherever the True Essence surged and flowed, meridians would form, resembling the magma flowing from an erupting volcano to create various rivers of lava.
For other cultivators, the difficulty of this realm was extremely high, requiring a vast amount of time and various resources to generate true meridians. If one could produce a single complete meridian, their realm was already considered complete.
In reality, Shen Han had already reached the true limit within his body: a total of thirteen exceptionally complete meridians, storing a terrifying volume of True Essence. He had reached the absolute peak of what the human body could attain in this realm, and officially broke through into the Sixth Tier of Xiantian: Meridian Pushing Realm.
Once meridians were established within the body, one had to open up their own acupoints within them—one acupoint for every meridian. With thirteen meridians, Shen Han needed to open a full thirteen acupoints, a terrifyingly massive undertaking. In the eyes of others, this was something they wouldn't even dare to imagine.
Yet Shen Han accomplished it.
Presently, while casually fishing, he had pushed himself to the peak of the Sixth Tier of Xiantian: Meridian Pushing Realm.
The thirteen meridians within his body were broad and smooth, and the thirteen acupoints situated along them further accelerated the flow of True Essence. Together, they formed a densely interwoven, all-encompassing network within him—this was the true Innate Great Perfection.
To break through beyond this point meant entering the true Postnatal Realm!
Even the Martial Arts Alliance Leader, Jian Yunshan, was currently only at the Postnatal Second Tier: Pill Embracing Realm. Shen Han felt that he would not even need ten years to reach this realm entirely.
Of course, even if Jian Yunshan were a one-in-a-million genius, his Postnatal Second Tier was merely a matter of realm. Could it be said that he had walked every single minor realm to perfection?
No.
When it came to the meridian pushing of the Fifth Tier of Xiantian, Jian Yunshan merely possessed six meridians. Compared to others, that was already defying the heavens, but when placed beside Shen Han's fully unfolded thirteen meridians, they were simply not on the same level. Every subsequent realm would hold far less potential than Shen Han's. If Shen Han truly wanted to kill him, he would not even need to reach that realm himself.
Having spent a month fishing, Shen Han no longer had any desire to leave this isolated island.
The outside world was far too chaotic; finding a relatively peaceful place was difficult. There were still plenty of karmic blessings to be reaped within this pool. Unless those blessings were completely exhausted, Shen Han would not leave, nor was there any need for him to do so.
"However, my prior judgment of Zhao Wenlin was spot on."
"He's only been here a month and he's already managed to stir up trouble."
After acquiring today's treasure, Shen Han didn't even need to go to the scene. Separated by three miles, he could clearly hear the commotion emanating from the center of the isolated island.
***
Zhao Wenlin conducted himself quite uprightly within the isolated island; he was not one for flattery. Disciples coming out of Tiance Manor basically shared this temperament—they loved and hated fiercely.
Not only had Zhao Wenlin offered help to Shen Han, but he had done the same for other kind-hearted disciples. Just within this past month, a disciple had their pills stolen and sought his help, and he agreed. He tracked down the person who stole the pills, scolded them severely, and subsequently retrieved the items.
In his view, theft was an extreme shame; not killing the other party was already an act of mercy. He had already taken into consideration that everyone was confined to this isolated island for ten years, so there was no need to impose excessive blame.
As it turned out, those people had already formed cliques. Right now, disciples from several sects had united to officially issue a challenge to Zhao Wenlin.
"Zhao Wenlin, what kind of noble hero are you putting on? Tiance Manor might have been powerful in the past, but it's fallen now."
"And don't think you're the only one who came here with a selfless heart; aren't we the same?"
"We took this coward's pills because his aptitude is mediocre."
"And people with mediocre aptitude simply aren't worthy of cultivation!"
"Isn't it a better thing to take these limited pills and use them for our own cultivation?"
"Could it be that the affairs of the Martial Arts Alliance haven't taught us yet, haven't taught you yet?"
Holding sabers and spears, the several individuals uttered these words with wild arrogance and resoluteness.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Wenlin burst into loud laughter.
"Mediocre aptitude means not being worthy of cultivation?"
"Then in my eyes, you lot possess mediocre aptitude as well—are you worthy of cultivation?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the men turned instantly red and white, while some of the surrounding onlookers slowly nodded.
That's right. If having mediocre aptitude meant one wasn't worthy of cultivation, then what on earth did that make the lot of you? Were the lot of you actually worthy of cultivation? Did you have the qualification to go snatch other people's pills and misappropriate them for yourselves at a time like this?
Zhao Wenlin pressed on directly:
"And another thing!"
"Don't bring the Martial Arts Alliance into this."
"What was the actual reason behind the failure of this encirclement and suppression of the demonic path?"
"Every single one of us knows it clearly in our hearts!"
"Yet you wanted to plunder our sect's resources, and none of us were willing to stand for it!"
"We've all been striving with all our might to grow stronger, just to show them that we are strong too!"
"And look at you lot!"
"You haven't learned a single proper thing from the Martial Arts Alliance, but you've managed to adopt their arrogant habit of plundering?"
Just as his voice fell, one of the men stepped forward smoothly. "Such grand spirit! I wonder if you might be willing to show me your true skills?"
Zhao Wenlin replied, "Heh, why wouldn't I dare!"
He raised the treasured sword in his hand, pointing its tip directly at the vicious-looking young man opposite him.
Meanwhile, standing by the shore, Shen Han heard what Zhao Wenlin had said. He slowly shook his head. "Silly boy, he's someone sent by the Martial Arts Alliance to suppress you."