Breakthrough

"The Shi Trial Tower..." Shi Li's eyes gleamed. He recalled some instances where this phrase was mentioned in the old Shi Li's memories, but he didn't know its true purpose. From the name alone though, one can imagine what it does.

Shi Xingwan then started to talk about the Shi Trial Tower which satisfied Shi Li's curiosity.

"The Shi Trial Tower is pretty much the pillar of the Shi clan. It acts as a treasure and a trial for every Shi clan member. There are a total of 7 levels in the Shi Trial Tower and the farthest a member has gotten was the 5th level."

Hearing the word pillar, treasure, and trial in his father's words, Shi Li then asked, "Father, why are you telling me this? From your words alone, it seems that the Shi Trial Tower is better off not known by the Shi clan members."

Shi Xingwan couldn't help but chuckle after hearing his son's words. "I'm glad you thought it that way since that's because it is."

"Eh?" Shi Li was confused. "If so, why Father?"

Now, it was Shi Xingwan's time to be confused. "Eh? Isn't it obvious since you're my son? Since you're the son of the Shi clan's patriarch, shouldn't you know everything about the clan since you're going to become its patriarch someday?"

At this moment, Shi Li realized that Shi Xingwan had more plans than he thought. Although he knew that the Shi clan and Huang clan would be at war with one another sooner or later, he wasn't sure when it would happen.

But his father knows.

Shi Li then apologized as he said, "I apologize for my shortsightedness Father."

Shi Xingwan couldn't help but chuckle at this point as he waved his hand. "It's fine, it's fine."

"Anyways, only the Shi clan members at the Martial Elite and the Martial Master level know of the existence of the tower. Sometimes they bring out good items from the tower, like the Sky grade technique Huang clan wanted from you." Shi Xingwan specifically said this as he wanted to know his son's reactions after hearing the Huang clan. To his surprise, his son didn't have any fear against them, as if he truly wanted to kill the Huang clan.

And that's what would really happen in the future, but that's for a later date.

Shi Li nodded after hearing that and said, "Then I accept both, Father. I'll participate in the Martial Novice tournament and reach the Martial Adept stage before the deadline."

Afterwards, Shi Li bowed respectfully before leaving the room. At this moment, Shi Xingwan was alone in his room, allowing him to ponder alone.

"I wonder if this would boost his motivation to work harder?" Shi Xingwan slightly chuckled before letting out a long sigh. "If the Shi clan loses, you'll become our only hope."

"Shi Li."

...

Later that night.

Shi clan, Shi Li's courtyard.

After hearing his father's challenges, his motivation was raised to an unbelievable degree. At the moment, he wanted to break through the second Martial Novice stage already, but he knew that he would be harming his future if he did that. He instead consolidated and solidified his foundation on the three techniques he cultivated from when he arrived home up to now.

After a while, Shi Li opened his eyes and nodded with satisfaction.

"Every technique has reached its limit for the first level. I should now head towards the second Martial Novice stage."

The second Martial Novice stage. Although it didn't seem like much for others, for Shi Li who only started cultivating about a month ago, it seemed like a big threshold he would have pass in order to get stronger.

He sat cross-legged on the floor as he held the red pearl hung on his neck. After feeling reassured by the red pearl, he closed his eyes and started to break through to the second Martial Novice stage.

"First, let's break through the second Martial Novice stage with my soul."

As usual, Shi Li started to visualize his soul as a piece of metal that was being tempered by a hammer, but it didn't stop there. He imagined the reheating and quenching process that he would usually do whenever he learned from Shi Zhang.

There are many steps in tempering metal, and so far, he has only visualized three steps of it in his metal.

As time passed, the stone layer in his soul that he felt gradually compacted as it turned denser and denser until...

Crack...

A small crack appeared at the bottommost side of the soul. It gradually turned bigger and bigger until...

Bang!

A large explosion sound occurred in Shi Li's mind. A small chunk of stone that covered the stone was broken, revealing a stronger and more firm material than stone. That's right, it was iron.

Shi Li was successful in reaching the second Martial Novice realm!

After feeling that he successfully broke through, he consolidated his current progress before opening his eyes. At the moment, his eyes showed a gleam that was comparable to the multiple stars in the night sky.

"Success!" Shi Li couldn't help but smile. Most people would regard as the second Martial Novice stage as nothing since there was still the Martial Adept, Martial Elite, and Martial Master stages after that. But for Shi Li though, it was definitely an important event for him since he felt that his soul was stronger. He could see clearer and think faster. He was gradually getting closer to the state of the immortals he read.

He closed his eyes once more to check on his soul's current state and was surprised to see that he could visualize his soul even clearer now. If Shi Li visualized his soul before as a huge progress bar, now he could visualize it as a rough sketch of a body. To be exact, his own body.

If he concentrated hard enough, he could see that the toes of his feet were glimmering in the color of silver. He smiled for a bit before continuing to break through.

"This time, it's the body," Shi Li grabbed the hammer he usually used for cultivation and started hammering down on his body as he lied down on the floor.

Using the newfound strength his soul obtained, he hammered each and every part of his body with full force...except for his special parts of course.

As he was doing this, the speed at which he hammered grew faster and faster. Gradually, a blurry brown haze appeared on top of Shi Li's body as his body grew redder and redder like a tomato.

Strong winds also appeared in his living room as he hammered, evident by how the leaves from the plants in the room swayed to and fro.

A few minutes of incessant and speedy hammering later, a loud explosion sound could be heard within the living room.

Bang!

A newfound strength appeared on Shi Li's body, giving him the feeling that he was able to shake the earth and tear the heavens asunder. But alas, it was only a fleeting feeling before it was gone.

Shi Li dropped his hammer to the ground before checking the state of his body. Every cell in his skin was emitting the feeling that they were as tough as iron. Not long after, Shi Li could find parts of his muscle that emitted the same feeling as well.

As he realized this, he couldn't help but stand up and jump in joy.

"I did it! I've become a cultivator of the second Martial Novice stage!"

And so, at the 15th Day of the Month of Breeze, Year 3191 of the Grand Xiuzhen Calendar, Shi Li has achieved his first step in becoming a legend.