With the business at the Hall of All Laws concluded, Qi Yun returned to his private courtyard.

A cool breeze swept under the grape trellis.

Qi Yun reclined on the rocking chair in the courtyard, gazing up at the infinitely brilliant Taixu Mirror Heaven above. He folded his hands, his thumbs twirling gently.

The contest in the Hall of All Laws had been full of twists and turns, but his gains were substantial.

First, his Basic Sword Qi had evolved into the Nanming Sword Demon, giving him another ace up his sleeve.

Losing the Basic Sword Qi wasn’t a major issue.

With the Nanming Sword Demon as a foundation, he could relearn that Sword Dao Technique in minutes. However, restoring it to its previous level would require more work.

Second, his cultivation had advanced to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

With this level of cultivation, he could look down on his peers throughout the entire Holy Sect’s Outer Mansion and rightfully be called a "Champion Scholar."

’The Sect’s ironclad rule states that one must reach the Qi Refining Sixth Layer within ten years of joining to be promoted to the Inner Mansion and become a true disciple.’ Qi Yun’s gaze was serene as his mind raced with calculations.

’I’ve already won the title of Mortal Champion Scholar. With my Qi Refining Fifth Layer Cultivation, winning this year’s assessment and seizing the title of Earthly Champion Scholar shouldn’t be too difficult.

At that point, I’ll hold two champion titles.

As for the third one next year...’

If no one unexpected got in his way, and another Master’s son with a shocking background like Yue Rong didn’t suddenly appear, he had at least a fifty percent chance of winning the triple crown and knocking on the door of the Inner Mansion.

As for Yue Rong...

The very thought of him made Qi Yun’s brow throb with a faint ache.

Black Mountain Master’s favoritism toward his son was utterly shameless.

He hadn’t hesitated to personally intervene at the Old Dragon Pool to rescue him. By the time Yue Rong returned, his cultivation would likely have been forcibly boosted to an unimaginable level.

This, in turn, reminded Qi Yun of someone else.

Li Chong, the captain of the Punishment Hall’s Seventh Law Enforcement Team.

This Law Enforcement Team captain was a man of mystery. He had approached Qi Yun in secret, ostensibly to mediate the conflict between him and the numerous disciples of the Seventh Outer Mansion. Yet, he had also secretly proposed that they join forces to ambush and kill Yue Rong.

Li Chong had shown his sincerity by leaking information about the Hall of All Laws in advance.

But that small favor was hardly enough to convince Qi Yun to tie his fate to Li Chong’s and take such a perilous risk.

’Ambush and kill the beloved son of a Master?

How is that any different from slapping a Master right in the face?’

’If word got out, given the fiercely protective nature Black Mountain Master had already displayed, he would likely descend in his true form. In the face of his thunderous wrath, Li Chong and I would be captured and made into human lanterns, our bodies and souls utterly destroyed.’

’This plan must be absolutely flawless, completely airtight. Otherwise, I can’t afford to make a move.

I’ve already offended the Flower Moon Hall Master. If I offend Black Mountain Master too, my life won’t be easy, even if I do manage to enter the Inner Mansion and become the personal disciple of a Master.’

Having sorted through the web of connections and consequences he was entangled in, Qi Yun let out a long breath.

This year’s assessment was about four months away. Many of his plans required careful, long-term deliberation.

After resting for a short while, Qi Yun rose and walked toward the quiet chamber in the inner room.

Cultivation in the Holy Sect is like rowing upstream: if you don’t advance, you fall back.

If you don’t seize every moment,

the Holy Sect’s talent market will become your permanent home.

...

「Four months passed in a flash.」

Inside the quiet little courtyard of his residence, the scene was vastly different from before.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, enveloped by countless motes of Iron Sand. They were as fine as dust, yet they shimmered with the faint, cold, metallic glint of dark blue.

The Iron Sand was no longer its original jet-black.

Instead, it held a faint, strange, and eerie shade of dark blue.

As Qi Yun breathed and his fingertips twitched almost imperceptibly,

the Iron Sand would at times spin into a whirlwind, forming a massive hand that blotted out the sky. At others, it would abruptly solidify into an incredibly thick, spike-covered shield. Then, it would suddenly explode outward like a torrential downpour, spraying into every corner of the courtyard with a piercing shriek as it tore through the air. The sand deeply embedded itself into the specially made bluish-black stone walls, leaving them riddled with countless holes.

VMMMM—!

Qi Yun’s eyes remained closed, his Heart and Spirit completely immersed in controlling the sand.

The Iron Sand in the courtyard moved faster and faster. Its transformations between offense and defense were seamless, with flashes of dark blue light flickering erratically as it tore through the air with a hair-raising shriek.

Eventually, the entire courtyard was filled with a blur of the Iron Sand’s afterimages and the ferocious winds it generated.

THUNDEROUS RUMBLES echoed without end!

Fierce gusts of wind scoured the ground, kicking up dust only to be instantly suppressed by an even greater force.

CLANG!

As Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes, all the rapidly moving Iron Sand in the courtyard froze in an instant, becoming utterly still.

The abrupt shift from extreme motion to absolute stillness created a moment of strange, breathtaking beauty.

"Haaa... With version 4.0 of the Sand Iron Skill, the idea I came up with should be feasible."

Letting out a long breath, Qi Yun lowered his gaze to his Magic Technique Panel.

[Sand Iron Skill 4.0: Improves the quality of Iron Sand while the skill is being cast.]

Over the past four months, Qi Yun had found and performed Refinement on numerous Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Objects to upgrade his Sand Iron Skill, pushing it to version 4.0.

And this Magic, one of his favorites, had gained its first new mechanic with this version.

[Improves the quality of Iron Sand while the skill is being cast.]

He flipped his palm upward. A cluster of Iron Sand at his side instantly converged, condensing into an incredibly dense and unusually heavy, dark blue steel ball that settled steadily in his palm.

’After I cast the skill, the Iron Sand instantly transforms from ordinary refined iron into Hundred-refined Steel.

But as soon as I withdraw my True Qi and stop actively controlling it, the Iron Sand reverts to its original state.

This mechanic is like a temporary buff.

That’s fine, though. It saves me the trouble of having to retrieve the Iron Sand.’

He raised a finger, levitating the steel ball on its tip. With a flick of that finger, the ball shot out like a terrifying black shadow. THWACK! It buried itself deep into the wall, a good few feet in.

’The power is comparable to a full-force strike from a Qi Refining Third Layer Martial Cultivator.’

But Qi Yun wasn’t finished testing the power of his Sand Iron Skill. His Finger Technique changed, and the jet-black Iron Sand swirling around him abruptly accelerated.

The Iron Sand, which had been glowing with a cold, dark blue light, began to glow dark red under the intense friction of its own movement, as if being forged in an invisible furnace.

In the blink of an eye, the temperature skyrocketed, and a wave of heat washed over him.

Qi Yun was now encircled by innumerable specks of incandescent, brilliantly glowing Iron Sand, as if he stood within a scorching planetary ring.

He beckoned with a finger, and a single, red-hot grain of Iron Sand flew before his eyes.

He made a pressing motion with his fingertip without touching it, carefully sensing the grain.

Though the Iron Sand was red-hot, it hadn’t softened in the least.

Its hardness was identical to when it had been cold; in fact, it now possessed a searing sharpness.

"Not bad."

A slight smile touched Qi Yun’s lips. He stopped testing.

With a grand wave of his hand, the sky full of red-hot Iron Sand roared as it converged, instantly forming a blazing longsword nearly ten feet in length.

The blade glowed a deep red, its heat warping the air around it. It radiated both a heart-stopping temperature and a terrifying sharpness.

BOOM!

The terrifying, superheated blade fell with brutal force.

The rockery—which Qi Yun had once again paid a good price to upgrade—snapped under the blow. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, its edges scorched black. Molten rock fragments even sputtered from the cut, hissing "SZZZ" as wisps of green smoke and sparks rose into the air.

That slash!

It was powerful enough to match a full-force strike from a Martial Cultivator of the same realm!

...