With the seeds of speculation firmly planted in the hearts of the Leon Clan's younger generation…
Once they collected their monthly cultivation pills, their determination ignited like oil to flame. Where once many still spent hours socializing, browsing the marketplace, or enjoying idle outings—
Now?
They barely found time to eat, much less visit the latrine.
The feverish atmosphere of cultivation swept through the clan like a wildfire, dragging even the habitual slackers into the current. What began as reluctance turned into desperation and laziness became an all-consuming drive to them.
Even the older generation elders who had long grown content in their daily routines found themselves stirred from complacency. Watching the younger disciples immerse themselves so fervently, they too began to adjust their own training schedules.
And naturally, Leo noticed them all as he watched them from his peak.
"Huh. Their imaginations really ran wild… but this time it's for the better future of them and the whole clan, so i can't say mind it"
What the younger generation hadn't realized was that Lyra hadn't sacrificed even a sliver of her own cultivation time to produce those two hundred bottles of Bone Tempering Pills.
The truth was that, under Kaela's precise, hands-on guidance who was once a true Tier 7 alchemist, and with the incredible boost of her new Innate Treasure Physique, Gemheart Constitution, Lyra's alchemy had leapt forward.
She hadn't just secured her place as a Tier 2 alchemist.
She'd already advanced to the mid-tier of the second grade and was only a step away from rising to top 2nd grade again.
Of course, Leo understood the root of such progress better than anyone.
That kind of leap would've been impossible without the massive foundation her physique had granted her, the spiritual strength that flowed with it, and Kaela's high-level mentorship.
Without all those pieces in place?
Alchemy wouldn't be so easy for her or for anyone who didn't have these help.
People truly had no concept of how brutal the path of the alchemist could be.
"Alright. I've rested enough. Time to return to seclusion for my next step."
He exhaled slowly, his gaze turning inward searching, weighing, as if unraveling some hidden truth within himself.
"With the accumulation I've built up these last few weeks… maybe I can finally refine a portion of the Primordial Dao essence. Just enough to push my current Top-Grade Innate Treasure Physique into the threshold of an Early Primordial Dao Physique."
His gaze sharpened with anticipation.
After all, Leo's constitution was utterly different from any other cultivator's in the True Martial World.
Here, people were born with Spirit Bodies, Treasure Bodies, even rarer physiques like God Bodies but all of those only enhanced the body. Their Soul aptitude improved by a just a bit at best.
But Leo's body was something else entirely.
His physique, forged by fusing the origin of the Primordial Dao was extraordinary.
When he broke through to Top-Grade Treasure Body, his physical and spiritual aptitude both rose together equally and in harmony.
Every advancement from here on out wasn't just muscle or qi flow.
It was everything as his body and soul, rising in lockstep.
"With this foundation… I can already fight like a Soul Stage Tier 3 cultivator, even though I'm still just at Transcendent Tier 6. If I manage to break through to an actual Primordial Dao Physique…"
"…Could I match Soul Stage Tier 4 or even Tier 5?"
In this world, your cultivation foundation was everything. The deeper your roots, the stronger your future.
Leo knew it all too well: if he didn't solidify every layer of his base before rising higher, he'd never be able to compete at the top.
Because the ones who reached those peaks at Soul Stage or beyond were all monsters in their youth with little to no mistakes in their foundation. As they had the best foundation they hadn't just fought at their tier at equal grounds but destroyed their peers.
Once you hit the upper stages, each level became a boundless chasm. Crossing realms in battle? It was only possible in those stories you'd hear from bards about the legends of the Ancient Era.
"I don't care if I can't fight above my level when I'm at the very top…"
"I just want to never be weaker than anyone I meet."
With the Primordial Physique, Leo had no doubt about his potential.
But he wasn't naïve. He remembered what the myths and novels from his old world had said: even those who held the God Physique struggled to reach the Golden Immortal or Quasi-Saint stages.
Let alone anything greater.
He still didn't know if this world even had beings equivalent to those mythic realms. But…
If the legends were true and if figures from the Ancient Era had shattered the entire True Martial World into fragmented continents then this world was no mere fantasy.
And to survive in it…
He would need a foundation harder than Jade.
Meanwhile, across the city, deep within the halls of the Drake Clan...
Brandon Drake sat at the head of a carved obsidian table, his arms folded and he had a serious expression on his face. Around him, the clan's core elders exchanged grim looks with patience worn thin.
"What's going on with the Leon Clan? Has their so-called Ancestor really died or not? We haven't heard a whisper."
"The SkyCloud Sect's diviners confirmed it. Unless the Leon Clan sealed every leak and cloaked the truth completely..."
"Which is not possible unless they have a Soul stage expert of heir own"
"…They're hiding something."
"I also heard most of the Leon juniors have stopped appearing in public. They're not shopping in the store, not training outside, just buried in seclusion. If only some of them were doing that, it wouldn't be suspicious but all of them are not appearing in public. That's not normal."
"Could it be—"
"No. We can't risk anything until we're certain Leo's truly gone. If this is a trap… and he's still alive at Core break stage Tier 9… or even higher."
"…He could destroy our entire clan."
"Patriarch," one elder said slowly, "should we take a more cautious approach? Maybe… send a formal request to SkyCloud Sect? Ask the Young Lord to lend us his support"
The room fell silent at the elder's suggestion as everyone knew Brandon had no desire to disrupt his eldest son, who was thriving in the SkyCloud Sect."
Every gaze turned to Brandon wondering what he would say.
Brandon just closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"…Tch. I didn't want to disturb Gavin's cultivation for something like this. But for the future of the Drake Clan…"
His eyes opened again as he scanned the room and said.
"…I'll make an exception for this time."
"That's settled."
With that, he rose from his seat and strode out of the hall.
Behind him, the gathered elders exchanged wordless, electric glances with ambition blazing behind every eye.
They all knew what it meant.
If the Young Lord stepped in, everything would change.
With his position in the SkyCloud Sect, even the barest gesture and a few elite cultivators could be mobilized from the sect which would give them a decisive advantage.
They not only wanted to suppress the Leon Clan.
But dominate them.
With that, the Drake Clan wouldn't just rule Blaze City.
They'd become untouchable.
And if they took control of the city's cultivation resources… maybe—just maybe they could even raise a Transcendent powerhouse of their own.
At that point?
The Drake Clan would no longer be some middling seventh- tier clan.
They'd rise to nobility and become one of the Dusk Empire's Millennium Clans.
Just picturing it made their hearts beat faster.
More cultivation equals more power and more authority than they'd ever known.
And for that?
They were willing to pay in blood, spirit stones, or fire.