Long Chen stoodpletely still as he tried to make sense of what the Earthly Martial Fist Manual was exining.


    “The Earthly Martial Soul and the pulse of the earth … Martial Veins, Martial Meridians, and my heaven meridian point. Within my sea of consciousness … ”


    Long Chen had a feeling that he wasprehending the method to enter the Three Martial Realms much faster than others.


    He was reading it through quite fast.


    He then found the crucial point in the manual.


    <em>The problem should lie with the heaven meridian point. Other people’s heaven meridian points lie somewhere in their bodies, but mine is in my sea of consciousness. An Earthly Martial Realm cultivator cultivates their Martial Soul, which is located in the sea of consciousness. Since my heaven meridian point is inside my sea of consciousness, it will be much easier for me to connect it with the power of the Martial Soul. Conversely, the close proximity between the two will also allow me to better control the essenceing from the meridian points. The connection between my Martial Soul and my essence will be superior to the connection of others. It seems I will have an easier time advancing into the next realm than other people.</em>


    Long Chen snickered at that prospect.


    He had never heard of anyone whose heaven meridian point had appeared in their sea of consciousness. Since the average person’s Martial Soul was located inside their sea of consciousness while their essence was stored in their body, some found it difficult to connect the two, but Long Chen wouldn’t have this problem.


    <em>Others might find it hard to do this, but I will probably have an easier time. I will probably have the strength to find Ling Xi in five years.</em>The difference between ten and five years was massive.


    Long Chen did not believe that there was an obstacle he couldn’t ovee.


    “With this advantage that I have, no one can stop me.”


    The Martial Realm was just in front of him.


    The Four Basic Realms and the Three Martial Realms. The Earthly Martial Realm, the Heavenly Martial Realm, and the Divine Martial Realm.


    But would the Divine Martial Realm be the final stage?


    Long Chen didn’t think so. He knew that the Ancestor Dragons were not that weak. At the very least, Little Cat was stronger than a Divine Martial Realm cultivator before he died in the past.


    Long Chen was excited to immerse himself in the feeling of advancing into the next realm. At this time, Long Yue stopped resting. Only a short amount of time had passed, so the other three hadn’t recovered yet. Long Chen was certain that Long Yue hadn’t either.


    But for the sake of helping him make a breakthrough so that he could depart from here safely, she had chosen to teach Long Chen instead of recovering.


    In order to avoid the others, they went to a corner of the room. Long Yue asked, “Have you read it? Do you understand it?”


    “More or less.” Long Chen nodded.


    “Your heaven meridian point is in your head, so yourprehension should be leagues better than the average person’s. Try telling me what you learned and I will see if you misunderstood anything.” Long Yue was very thorough in her teaching.


    Long Chen told her what he understood, and Long Yue was shocked.


    “Is this really the first time you’ve read it?” She was speechless.


    She definitely knew it was the first time, so she had asked casually. Long Chen never failed to create miracles. Long Yue even thought that his talent was at the forefront here in the Divine Martial Empire.


    “Long Chen, do you know of the two geniuses of the Divine Martial Empire?” Long Yue suddenly asked.


    “I don’t.” Ever since Ling Xi left, Long Chen had matured. He talked less and wasn’t as arrogant as before. All that was left of his old self was an indomitable heart that refused to give up.


    He was even more dangerous now too.


    “Compared to the other empires, the geniuses here are nothing, but there are two of them that are clearly above the rest. You should know one of them.” Long Yue’s expression shifted slightly when she said that.


    “Who is it?”


    “It’s … Long Chen, my brother. He has the same name as you, but he turns twenty this year. However, he’s already at the Third Earthly Martial Stage, around the same as me. But he has always been rebellious and prefers to work on his own. He has never agreed with my methods and even argued with me. I have no idea where he is right now.”


    Long Yue looked sad when she said that.


    Maybe she was feeling guilty.


    “Young people always make mistakes. Maybe he will realize that he was wrong and will apologize to you in the future.”


    “Yeah. You are younger, but your heart is more mature than his. It’s clear that you’ve experienced far more hardships than him. He never had a goal, but I could feel that you’re working towards something, something so important to you that you will strive to obtain it until you die.”


    Long Chen never thought she would see through him.


    He smiled and shifted the topic. “Who’s the second person?”


    Long Yue expected that he would change the topic.


    “The Martial Alliance more or less controls the Divine Martial Empire. Their assets and talents are naturally very strong. The other is the personal disciple of the Martial Overlord, Zhao Danchen. He’s also around twenty, and he is also one of the Three Martial Emperors along with Yang Ningfeng and Xiao Lin.”


    Martial Emperor. That meant he was at the Third Earthly Martial Stage.


    Long Chen was only at the Ninth Passage Stage. It was clear that both of them were significantly stronger than him.


    “Long Chen and Zhao Danchen. The two geniuses. It would be funny if I joined their ranks as the second Long Chen,” Long Chen said with a chuckle.


    “I think you have a chance to do that. I will now show you the ropes of how to enter the Earthly Martial Realm. I taught this to my brother, but now he’s stronger than me.”


    “How long did he take to enter the Martial Realm from the Ninth Passage Stage?”


    “One month.”


    “Then I will only need ten days.” Long Chen was confident that he could do so.


    “If you want to finish in ten days, then you need to work even harder. First, I will demonstrate the first stage of the fist art once. Practicing it will help you get close to the earth. You need to feel the power of the earth.”


    Long Yue got ready.


    She punched slowly, with intention.


    Long Chen observed closely. He had a feeling that Long Yue was connected to the ground. It was as if she was a stone and her Martial Vein had connected with the Earth Vein. Her essence was also circting with the Earthly Qi.


    It was as if she had caught the heart of the earth and started dancing to the beat.


    Her fists and the movements of her body made it seem like she was dancing with the earth. It was more like a work of art. Long Chen forced himself to not get enthralled by it and instead focused on every single detail before imprinting it all in his brain.


    Talent and hard work would make it impossible for him to fail.


    One who had talent but refused to work hard would be worthless.


    But it was possible for someone without talent who worked hard to achieve sess after enduring harsh difficulties.


    Long Yuepleted the first stage while the other three recovered. She panted and white steam escaped her mouth.


    Long Chen had memorized the details of her fist art.


    The more he watched, the more he learned from her. Knowledge poured into his body as he immersed himself in her movements. He also tried to connect himself to the ground and move with it, but he moved the earth instead.


    Everything before his eyes disappeared. What remained was the endless yellow ground and dust. Sand swirled past him as he stood with his feet nted to the ground. He felt his heartbeat and the beat of the ground connecting.


    <em>The first movement should be like this …</em>


    As the earth pulsed again and again, Long Chen practiced. The moment he could coordinate his attacks with the beat of the earth would be the moment he could use the power of the Earthly Martial Realm.


    Long Yue wanted to talk to Long Chen and ask how much he had learned, but he stood up and started practicing.


    She was surprised.


    This was the first time Long Chen was practicing it. His form was riddled with imperfections, but the state of his heart was far beyond what Long Yue could achieve.


    But she knew that Long Chen was the only person who could start practicing by just reading the manual once.


    After he finished the first stage, Long Yue smiled bitterly. “You are the only person I’ve seen with such monstrousprehension. You are even better than my brother. In fact, you might really be able to reach the Earthly Martial Realm in ten days.”


    “Really? I felt nothing when I practiced. I’m lousy at itpared to you. I forgot the steps halfway through, so I just did something random.” Long Chen panted while he talked.


    He had always thought of himself as weak.


    “Not bad, but don’t get too cocky. I will continue to teach you what I know. I will also have to correct some of the ring errors you made when you were practicing just now. You can correct it and then show it to me again.”


    Long Chen had been under two masters before. The Clear Shallows King was only a temporary one, but he respected Zhao Qingyun despite the fact that he only even gave him items. He had never helped Long Chen in terms of cultivation.


    That was because Long Chen was too much of a genius for Zhao Qingyun to teach.


    Long Yue was the first person to properly guide him on the path of cultivation.


    Long Chen knew that without her, he would’ve been stuck at the Four Basic Realms for at least a few months.


    But now it had gotten simpler for him.