Li Lingyue wants to spend more time with you, not because she's worried about your lifespan running out, but because she fears that after the great calamity arrives, you two will be separated by life and death.

Although at Cuwei Peak, you shocked both the human and demon races with a single punch, making your name known throughout the Five Regions in one battle.

But that was countless experts and supreme Immortal Artifacts lifting you up; you yourself do not possess such high combat power.

Once the great calamity descends, the Female Emperor is worried you won't be able to protect yourself.

"If you could break through to the Martial King Realm, I would feel a bit more at ease."

"With you and Elder Brother helping me with all your might, my breakthrough to the Martial King Realm is just a matter of time, no need to worry."

"Breaking through to the Martial King Realm is far more difficult than you imagine. Haven't you noticed there are no Rogue Cultivator Martial Kings in this world? Every Martial King has an affiliated power."

"That's true, actually. Is there a reason for that?"

Li Lingyue tells you that martial artists are incapable of breaking through to the Martial King Realm alone.

To break through to the Martial King Realm, one must first complete the tenfold cultivation of the Spirit Condensation Realm and possess at least High-Grade External Techniques, Internal Techniques, and Heart Arts, with all three techniques cultivated to Perfection.

The technique requirement, you have already met.

Secondly, one needs to construct a Heaven-Grade Spirit Gathering Grand Formation within a Heaven-Grade Spiritual Vein to gather a sufficient amount of Essence of Heaven and Earth.

This single condition bars Rogue Cultivators from entry.

Minor powers can sometimes form connections with major powers, allowing them to borrow a venue. After succeeding, they would then attach themselves to the major power, following its lead as repayment.

Who would form ties with a Rogue Cultivator?

Finally, one must use the "Ten-Person Method" or the "Thousand-Person Method" to assault the realm barrier.

The so-called "Ten-Person Method" involves ten or more martial artists at or above the Martial King Realm using a specific secret art within the formation to assist the breakthrough.

It's like having ten people standing above, pulling you up!

The so-called "Thousand-Person Method" involves finding one thousand martial artists at the Middle Martial Path (Golden Body, Spirit Sea, Spirit Condensation) to assist the breakthrough.

It's like having a thousand people standing below, pushing you up!

Therefore, it's rare to see a Martial King Realm expert in this world who broke through alone.

"It does sound quite troublesome, but it shouldn't be a big problem for me, right? Elder Brother stepping in should be enough."

Li Lingyue hits on the crucial point.

"For martial artists with Earth-Grade or Heaven-Grade Innate Talent.

The success rate of the Thousand-Person Method is twenty percent and thirty percent, while the success rate of the Ten-Person Method is thirty percent and fifty percent.

If supplemented with rare treasures from heaven and earth, the probability can be increased a bit, such as the Sword Sect's Immortal Peach.

You have High-Grade Bone Structure, so your success rate will only be lower."

"If we fail, we just try again! Our Elder Brother isn't short on resources!"

"Failing will cause your cultivation level to drop. Some people can fall from Spirit Condensation all the way back to Golden Body, though they won't drop to the Early Martial Path."

"That is a pretty serious problem..."

Now you understand why Li Lingyue has been looking worried all day.

She already possesses a long lifespan.

The thought that you might very likely fail to break through to the Martial King Realm naturally saddens her.

Because even if there is no great calamity in the human world, she would have to watch you grow old and die.

"Is there really no method for a stable breakthrough?"

Based on your experience with previous realm breakthroughs, you feel there should be one.

It's just a matter of input-output ratio.

You used the Immortal Peach to break through to the Golden Body Realm, the Shen Family's "Three Heavens Method" to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm, and the Five Regions Sacred Pill to break through to the Spirit Condensation Realm.

All were cases of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, overkill, to guarantee absolute success.

There must surely be even more powerful methods in this world that can guarantee a successful breakthrough to the Martial King Realm, merely requiring the investment of more resources or manpower.

"There is."

There really is!

Your face lights up with joy. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"It's not in the Five Regions, but in the Three Great Holy Lands."

"Doesn't the Shen Family have one?"

If the Shen Family had it, you were thinking you could try to scheme for it in the next simulation.

"No.

The Three Great Holy Lands are located in the Great Wastes and Overseas. Their populations are small, but the number of martial artists at the Later Martial Path they have combined is no less than that of the Shen Family which occupies the entire Starry Domains.

It's precisely because they have a method for a stable breakthrough to the Martial King Realm."

Who would have thought the Shen Family Founding Ancestor researched for thirty thousand years and only came up with useless stuff.

Such an important method for nurturing Later Martial Path experts wasn't researched, truly lame!

"Understood. Another item to add to the must-eat list for the next simulation: infiltrate the Three Great Holy Lands and find the method for a one-hundred-percent breakthrough to the Martial King Realm!

Speaking of which, breaking through to the Martial King Realm is actually this troublesome.

Even with Heaven-Grade Innate Talent, with all conditions maxed out, the probability is only fifty percent at best, and even that relies on rare treasures to slightly boost the odds.

If you fail, your cultivation level drops and you have to cultivate all over again. How brutal..."

The difficulty of breaking through to the Martial King Realm is because the Martial Path essentially has only three major stages.

Early Martial Path: Body Refining, Spirit Gathering, Soul Tempering.

Middle Martial Path: Golden Body, Spirit Sea, Spirit Condensation.

Later Martial Path: Martial King, Martial Saint, Martial God.

Going from Spirit Condensation to Martial King is actually moving from the Middle Stage to the Later Stage.

Crossing this step opens up a brand new world, a realm from which one can assault the dream of all martial artists—to shatter the void through martial prowess!

[Year Seventy, age eighty-eight.]

[This year, powerful sea monsters appeared in the North Sea, killing coastal residents and destroying coastal cities.]

[As the King of the Northern Frontier, Chen Jing had the duty to defend the land and righteously led troops to suppress them.]

[Simultaneously, problems arose with the Southern Borderlands' faithful, forcing the Female Emperor to rush back to deal with them.]

[You prepared to go with her.]

[It was absolutely not because you felt a sense of security by the Female Emperor's side, but because you wanted to protect your woman!]

[However, just as you were about to set off, Chen Yun reached her final moments.]

[The Female Emperor told you to stay, so your Third Sister wouldn't have no brothers by her side when she passed.]

[Before parting, the Female Emperor repeatedly instructed you that if you encountered danger, you must activate that Golden Body statue she left you earlier.]

[Chen Yun still passed away, even though you used many methods and mobilized many Northern Frontier resources using the authority Elder Brother gave you.]

[But in the end, it couldn't withstand the King of Hell claiming a life.]

[The Shen residence was draped in mourning white.]

[Shen Qingshan followed Chen Yun's dying wish and did not hold a grand funeral, keeping everything simple.]

[Only relatives within the clan were notified, and some banquet tables were set up within the Shen residence.]

[Elder Brother Chen Jing received the notice, but he was locked in fierce battle with the sea monsters in the North Sea and truly couldn't return.]

[Shen Qingshan's body was also nearing its limit and couldn't handle the strain.]

[Essentially, you were the one running around making all the arrangements for Third Sister's funeral.]

[While busy, you didn't feel much.]

[When the mourning period was almost over and the white curtains in the Shen residence were slowly being taken down, you suddenly felt a wave of grief emanating from the depths of your heart.]

[Even after experiencing the tempering of several lifetimes, you still harbor warmth and sentiment, never having truly become heartless.]

[After all this was done, you rode Black Wind south, preparing to go to the Southern Borderlands to find the Female Emperor.]

[You originally wanted to go to the North Sea to help Elder Brother deal with the sea monsters, but after Elder Brother heard about the trouble the Female Emperor was currently facing, he sent a letter telling you to go to the Southern Borderlands first to help the Female Emperor, saying you kid were a bit confused about priorities, and if you didn't listen he'd beat you up.]

[Along the way, you weren't idle either, cultivating without pause, consuming pills non-stop.]

[You hoped to reach the peak of Spirit Condensation as soon as possible, then go to the Great Wastes to find the Holy Lands, to see if they would give you, the King of Connections in the Five Regions, some face and help you break through.]

[However, you also knew this was just you indulging in wishful thinking.]

[From your usual interactions with major figures like the Sword Lord and the Female Emperor, you had learned some characteristics of the Holy Lands.]

[The people of the Holy Lands are even more arrogant than the Shen Family. They look down on the Five Regions, like arrogant city upstarts looking down on poor relatives from their hometown.]

[During the most difficult times of the war between the two races, the Five Regions never sent a request for aid to the Holy Lands.]

[Because everyone in the Five Regions tacitly believed that the Holy Lands wouldn't care about the life or death of the Five Regions.]

[If you really want to utilize the Holy Lands' one-hundred-percent breakthrough method to the Martial King Realm, you'll probably have to scheme and manage things carefully.]