Progression and Robbery

Yaan had been cultivating diligently during this past year. With his Psyche Power cultivation, Yaan was able to train harder and for longer, whilst his efficiency when using resources also reached a new height.

His Vital Energy did not progress by much, given that he had been training for a full year. It was now at 94% progression towards the 4-Star Realm. However, this was to be expected.

Yaan's cultivation in the past year focussed on two major aspects.

His first focus was on developing the Progressive Body Constitutions.

In order for Yaan to properly cultivate the Four Paths Cultivation Technique, he needed to obtain all five of these constitutions. He then needed to raise them to the Obsidian Rank, before fusing the constitutions together during the formation of the Vital Qi Core in his dantian.

However, he could not directly take this path. Before even thinking about completing that final step, Yaan needed to first form the Vital Core normally within his body, so that he could repair his crippled dantian. He would then need to navigate his way through dealing with what came next.

One year ago, Yaan possessed four of the five Progressive Body Constitutions, one at Iron Rank, two at Bronze Rank and one at Silver Rank. One year ago, the only one of the five needed constitutions that he lacked was the Progressive Blood Constitution, and due to certain reasons, he still hadn't developed this constitution.

However, he had certainly improved…

Gold Rank bones!

Gold Rank flesh!

Gold Rank organs!

Gold Rank tendons!

After a year of arduous training, every component within Yaan's body aside from his blood now possessed a faint golden shimmer. His physical body as a whole was now almost on par with a Peak 2-Star Realm demon, even without factoring in his Vital Energy!

Whilst Yaan's Vital Energy cultivation might seem to vastly outmatch the strength of his fleshly body, it was a matter of multiplying the two powers together, it was not a simple addition. His powerful physical form supported his abundant vitality and Vital Energy, forming a superior foundation and overall strength.

The second focus of Yaan's cultivation was his Astral Power.

Astral Power was not compatible with the Four Paths Cultivation Technique, unfortunately, he would be forced to give up this power eventually. Yaan didn't let this bother him though, because right now, Astral Power was exactly what he needed.

Astral Power was a means to rapidly improve his strength. For others, trying to form each additional Astral Tattoo would be prepared for and considered exceedingly careful, but to Yaan, it was simply a non-issue. His willpower, which was clearly superior compared to others at his level, allowed him to suppress the spirits with greater ease, but the more important point was his possession of Psyche Power. With Psyche Power, Yaan had extremely high confidence whenever he suppressed each astral spirit, even when it came to 3-Star astral spirits.

Each rank of astral spirit was roughly equivalent in strength to a cultivator at the bottom of that rank. It was easy for a 3-Star Realm demon to defeat a 3-Star astral spirit in battle, but to take such a spirit into their body and subdue it was another matter entirely.

In fact, having a powerful fleshy body was much more useful compared to Vital Energy when it came to enduring the process of integrating an astral spirit into one's flesh.

Yaan had a powerful body, but also a powerful mind…the astral spirits could neither destroy his body nor take over his mind!

And now, after one year of arduous training, Yaan actually possessed 99 3-Star Astral Tattoos…

If he subdued one more astral spirit, he would form a 4-Star Astral Tattoo!

This was the final matter of his cultivation that Yaan would accomplish before he was ready to ascend to the 4th level.

As he held the deep black crystal which glimmered with a dark light between his fingers, Yaan's gaze became firm and he resolutely crushed the crystal in his hand.

"AGAAAH!"

Instantly, a shockingly imposing spirit escaped outwards, entering the room for a brief moment before turning to Yaan with its gloomy red eyes. Its entire body was like a blurred shadow, only this shadow seemed to subdue all light within the room.

Yaan remained calm, as he had encountered such a scene many times before. Subduing the 3-Star astral spirit was only a minor matter, the difficulty lay in the fusion of the tattoos into a 4-Star Astral Tattoo.

Whoosh!

As quickly as it escaped from its crystalline prison, the spirit suddenly rushed towards Yaan's body, before vanishing into his chest and causing Yaan to tremble for a brief moment. His eyes remained calm, and as the spirit enveloped the interior of his body, he urged the Psyche Power within his Sea of Consciousness to rush forth and suppress the shadowy parasite.

The astral spirit screamed out, but its cries could only be heard in Yaan's mind. Were it any other cultivator, their mind would shake upon hearing this noise, but Yaan was able to prevent any attack to his consciousness by creating a surge of Psyche Power and using this to form a barrier between his mind and all external forces.

Like this, he was able to remain completely lucid, whilst keeping the spirit away from his mind. Not only was the spirit pushed away, back down into his body, but it was quickly suppressed by Yaan's will, which was also supported by his Psyche Power.

The spirit gradually weakened over the following few minutes, rapidly shrinking and condensing until it suddenly fused into Yaan's flesh, imprinting itself onto the surface of his heart.

Yaan had no time to rest, because the 100 Astral Tattoos across his body started to tremble. The trembling rapidly became increasingly violent, until the 100 tattoos were torn away from the flesh, accumulating into a ball of darkness within the centre of his chest!

At this moment, Yaan's face turned pale and he was forced to grit his teeth. His Psyche Power was rapidly worn down as he did his best to control the fusion. He also urged his Vital Energy to move, combining it with his Psyche Power to suppress the dark ball which threatened to burst outwards.

In theory, even a mortal could directly cultivate Astral Power, but in reality, this was simply too difficult. If their body could not suppress the astral spirit, then their mind could still do so, but the formation of a higher ranked Astral Tattoo from 100 lower ranked tattoos was different. During this fusion and ascension process, all the Astral Power within the body would gather into a central location, threatening to explode outwards!

If this power was not contained, it would tear the cultivator apart.

Of course, Yaan was not such a person who was unable to contain this power.

As he urged his will, Vital Energy and Psyche Power, to all converge on the dark ball, the outwards explosive power was rapidly diminished. After a long and arduous period of exhausting effort, the Astral Power was finally compressed back far enough that it was able to fuse into his flesh.

The newly formed tattoo sunk down into Yaan's body, then re-emerged on the lefthand side of his chest. As he slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't help but smile.

He had actually formed a 4-Star Astral Tattoo…even though it was a tentative and relatively weak type of cultivation, it remained a fact that he had become a Rank 4 cultivator!

"Now then, it's time to do what is clearly intended of inheritor candidates…"

Yaan's smile widened further as he formulated a plan for robbing the entire 3rd level.

Over the past year, besides training, Yaan had thoroughly considered the best way to ascend to the higher levels without being targeted by others.

In the end, it was impossible to avoid being targeted entirely, so all he could do was rapidly increase his strength.

During this realisation, Yaan realised something else that caused him to feel slightly startled.

Wouldn't it be quite easy for him to rob an entire level in a short period of time, assuming that he had sufficient strength to do so?

Generally speaking, the highest ranking members of each level would actually be more powerful than the lower ranking residents on the level above. The reason for this was simple; people hung back, remaining on the lower levels so that they could lord over the weak. They did this not because they enjoyed bullying the weak, but simply because it was profitable.

If you were the most powerful person on the level, then you could issue your three individual challenges and one group challenge every day, and almost all of them would surrender without a fight. It really was easy money.

But for Yaan, the potential benefit was endlessly more extreme.

He was currently ranked 1st on the 3rd level. If he challenged anyone on the 3rd level, there was a 99% chance that they would admit defeat without even fighting.

He was able to challenge anyone on the 3rd level, including those on the lower half of the level. He was able to challenge ten people at once. Anyone whom he challenged was forced to face him immediately, there was no delay.

He had no limit on how many challenges he could issue each day.

Combining all of this together made it possible for him to challenge an endless stream of 10-man groups!

Being an inheritor candidate made it impossible to truly cultivate with peace of mind, but it clearly came with some seriously desirable benefits.

Until now, Yaan had remained silent and peaceful, only acting to deter others, but otherwise keeping to himself. Because of that, it seemed that others were willing to leave him alone for the most part.

Or perhaps, due to the inheritance rules, it was simply too difficult to scheme against someone on a lower level from a higher level.

Either way, Yaan now intended to break this 'peaceful' period. Since he was going to cause a stir, he decided to go all out.

"There are around 35,000 people on the 3rd level…I'd best get going." Yaan muttered to himself as he walked into the Battle Temple. He drew some casual glances at first, until people realised his identity, causing the few individuals in the temple to stare fearfully with wide eyes.

"I want to challenge the ten highest ranked competitors, aside from myself, on this level." Yaan ignored those around him and spoke directly to the 3rd level temple spirit.

"Of course, lord inheritor candidate." The receptionist smiled at him politely. Yaan nodded, not surprised that he was being referred to as 'lord'. It seemed that all of the lower ranked inheritance spirits now spoke to him like this. They were more polite and helpful, it was a nice unspoken benefit.

Before the spirit did anything, Yaan added:

"After I return, I immediately want to challenge the next ten beneath me."

After saying this, chatter broke out behind him.

"He's doing it again! He's definitely going to kill countless people!"

"For sure, ah, we should leave, he might target us!"

"Shh! Don't let him hear you, do you have a death wish?!"

Yaan's eye twitched as the over-excited audience quickly retreated from the temple, leaving him alone here with the receptionist and one other youngster who looked nervous, but was too curious about Yaan's actions to leave with the rest.

"Of course, lord inheritor candidate, I'll-"

"Then after I return from that battle, do the same. Repeat until I'm the only one left on the 3rd level." Yaan interrupted her quickly, not wanting to be sent to his battle before saying this. "Can I pay you to do all this without me listing off everyone I want to fight, or will I need to issue each challenge individually?"

The female spirit stared at him blankly for a moment, before her eyes widened as she realised what he was saying. The youngster behind him also stared with his jaw hanging wide open, feeling like he must have misheard. The receptionist also seemed to be feeling uncertain and clarified with him.

"L-lord inheritor candidate, there are currently 35,046 residents on the 3rd level, y-you can't be planning to kill them all…?"

"If they surrender, I won't kill. Can I do this or not?"

"Ah…yes, of course. And because of your status, arranging this sort of thing with the Battle Temple won't cost you anything at all…"

"Oh?" Yaan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had been prepared to fork out a large sum to accomplish his plan, but it seemed that it would be easier than expected.

"S-since it's like this, and all of your battles will be consecutive anyway, would it be ok to just leave you in the battle arena and to transport your next opponents to you after each match?" The receptionist asked with a forced smile, just about regathering herself after she realised that an upheaval was about to overturn the 3rd level, or perhaps, the entire 4th Trial Realm.

"Mm, that would be best." Yaan nodded.

Soon enough, Yaan vanished from the Battle Temple, as did ten other residents of the 3rd level.

Immediately after Yaan vanished, the youth in the Battle Temple snapped back to reality. His heart was beating wildly as he realised the insanity that the inheritor candidate had just initiated. He quickly rushed out from the temple to spread the news to others.

Yaan was prepared to fight through his first few battles at the very least, but it seemed that his notoriety had grown even further than he realised. The very moment he appeared on the battle stage, all of his opponents recognised him and showed wary and fearful expressions.

The instant the battle began, all ten conceded without hesitation.

Yaan blinked in surprise as those ten fellows were transported away, but he smiled as the next ten arrived, immediately repeating the same scene.

After ten batches of ten 3rd floor residents immediately conceded without even daring to battle, Yaan relaxed slightly.

He didn't know that word had already spread throughout the entire 4th Trial Realm regarding his actions, but he could at least imagine that others on the 3rd level were becoming aware of what he was doing by now. This was confirmed as the later arrivals stopped looking shocked, and instead showed expressions of caution and readiness.

Still, everyone surrendered without a fight.

Remember, when Yaan arrived on the 3rd level one year earlier, he killed the highest ranked residents without them even having the chance to put up a fight. Nobody dared to believe themselves good enough to best him, in fact, nobody even dared to be too slow in surrendering!

"Since everyone is giving up so quickly, I'm getting through each round in half a minute. At this rate, it should take a bit more than a day to rob the entire 3rd level." Yaan mused to himself as a trace of excitement rose in his eyes.

He couldn't help but feel a bit thrilled, after all, he was going to be earning an absolutely absurd amount of wealth in doing this!

Over 35,000 people's wealth…these cultivators weren't as powerful as Yaan, but they were still relatively affluent as individuals, not to mention the entire population of this level!

Time passed by.

After so many people surrendered without even fighting, Yaan honestly considered cultivating, since standing here all day was quite dull. In the end, he didn't cultivate…but he did read.

He still had a few unread books that he had obtained from those he killed on the 1st through 3rd levels. Reading and accumulating knowledge in all forms was a habit that Yaan had developed, especially within this 4th Trial Realm where there was simply so much rare knowledge available in abundance.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't much regarding Qi refining and soul cultivation in this place. The majority of cultivation knowledge here surrounded body tempering, with some pieces of information on psyche cultivation.

Eventually, reading a book in front of his opponents started to give people strange ideas. However, the desire to catch Yaan off guard whilst he was engrossed in reading was quickly quelled after a daring trio rushed out towards him, only to be cut down mercilessly.

Aside from this, another 14 people attempted to attack Yaan in total. Two of these were a duo, the other two were individuals acting on their own. From what Yaan could see, they were just crazy people overestimating themselves.

As for the remaining ten, apparently one of the groups that he challenged actually gathered together beforehand in order to formulate a plan of attack. They even went so far as to approach others in the 3rd level for financial support.

Even though they were armed with better treasures than most, they were all killed mercilessly in the end.

Whenever Yaan killed, his gaze remained cold and resolute, as if nothing could shake him.

Zue Yin, who had been watching Yaan for some time in the crowded audience stand, showed a complex expression after seeing him kill once again. She had a question on her mind, or really, it was a question that had been in her heart for some time, and she felt like Yaan was the appropriate person to ask. Even if their relationship wasn't that deep, even though he acted cold, she still knew him better than the others in this damned trial realm.

Finally, after a long and arduous day of staying on guard whilst doing not much else, Yaan returned to the Battle Temple. After confirming that he removed the entire population from the 3rd level, and now basically owned the entire level, including the 35,046 residences, Yaan returned home.

As it turned out, all of the possessions that he had rightfully won, could be found in each of the respective homes of those he had defeated…

This gave Yaan a bit of a headache. What was he supposed to do, visit every single house, temple and palace, collecting countless storage treasures by himself?

Well, it seemed that he had no other choice, after all, he couldn't hire anyone to assist him…he was alone on the 3rd level, and he doubted that Zue Yin would still willingly act as his errand girl.

"Now that I think about it, how is anyone going to reach the 3rd level if there's nobody left to challenge? Well, I suppose the 3rd level must have been empty when the inheritance first opened, the rules must change according to circumstance." Yaan mused to himself as he returned to his own home.

However, this did give him another idea. The deeper he thought about this idea, the brighter his gaze became.

If he repeated this action and defeated everyone on the 4th level, then the 3rd and 4th levels would be completely empty…in this situation, due to the rules that bound the regular challengers, nobody in the 4th Trial Realm would even be able to challenge him!