Half an hour later, he nodded, satisfied. "Yes — smooth as flowing water. A genuine breakthrough, no doubt.""So what exactly did Master Barnaby want to see me about?" Silas had originally assumed the man already knew about the breakthrough, but judging by his reaction, that clearly wasn't the case."You already know the Southern Region of our Grand Xia Dominion holds three major princely courts. Fortune Masters from the other two courts will be arriving here soon, coming to our own Ansel Court to hold a joint discussion with us.""I called you here because I was hoping you could take first place among the White Goose masters representing all three courts combined. Looking at things now, though, that's no longer really necessary."Old Barnaby's expression carried a hint of complicated emotion.He'd originally hoped his own student would represent the Violet Garden proudly, securing first place at White Goose-rank — but instead, the man had gone and broken through entirely.Only a hand

One day, as Silas walked out of his courtyard, he spotted young Barnaby's attendant standing at the door."Master says ten Green Sparrow-rank plots are being sold this round, and he wants you present to watch the ceremony while he engraves them personally for a Green Sparrow master.""Master Barnaby knows I'm back?" Silas asked, surprised.He hadn't left his courtyard in ten days."Of course he knows. Master understands you don't care much for crowds, so he never called for you directly before. But this particular burial's important for you, so I had no choice but to come find you." The attendant laughed."Alright." Silas nodded, delighted at the news."There's also a Purple Crane Tomb — you're permitted to watch that ceremony too."Hearing this, his eyes lit up.When Silas arrived at the cemetery grounds, he found the crowd surprisingly small — mostly just the noble families and clans who'd won plots, along with a dozen or so Fortune Masters.Thinking it over, everyone loved the Dao

Word was this family already had countless powerful cultivators among its ranks, including several unmatched figures, so this level of fortune shouldn't have even mattered to them.But the family's patriarch was attempting a breakthrough to King of Tribulation-level cultivation, and had decided to gamble with the Golden Scale Tomb's fortune to help push him over the edge.Should it succeed, that entire family would gain a permanent foothold across the whole Immortal Dynasty.With that, the uproar surrounding the royal city's Dao Discussion finally settled, and the powerful cultivators gradually departed one by one.Silas returned to his usual, peaceful routine.Still, he'd gained a great deal from this whole discussion — his spiritual root had climbed a full notch, genuinely impressive progress.Two years later.He successfully broke through to the second layer of Spirit Transformation."Spiritual root's improved — cultivation speed's picked up by about half a year's worth of progress

Silas offered him some comfort, and he wasn't exaggerating either — Elias truly did have real talent, it simply didn't stand out quite as much having met Silas first."Thank you for the kind words, Brother Silas — but earlier, when everyone asked whether you could crack the top ten, your answer sounded pretty vague. Can you tell me honestly — are you confident you'll actually make it into the top ten?"Elias nodded a little, then shifted the subject, asking a question that had genuinely been on his mind."Shouldn't be too much of a problem — I'd call it fifty-fifty odds." Silas gave his honest answer.Hearing this, Elias sighed inwardly — this really was what true, effortless talent looked like. Whatever small achievements he himself had managed before suddenly felt utterly insignificant, barely worth mentioning next to someone like this.It wasn't that he couldn't have dominated White Goose-rank a few more years running — it was that Silas's own breakthroughs came so unnaturally fast

With that, a group of Green Sparrow masters, along with several Purple Crane masters, made their way toward the Sage Master's residence for safety.Along the way, they crossed paths with other Fortune Masters doing the exact same thing, even bumping into a Golden Scale master along the way.Clearly, no one here was foolish — everyone understood the Sage Master's own grounds were the safest place to be.Boom!Meteors rained from the sky, and the bamboo groves throughout the Violet Garden blazed so fiercely the clouds themselves turned red.This was purely the shockwave from unmatched powerhouses colliding — enough to ignite raw fire across the ground, utterly terrifying."Kill!""Fight!"A low battle-cry rang out, followed by another earth-shattering collision."Enough!"At that moment, a calm, indifferent voice rang out — gentle, yet somehow resonating directly within everyone's mind at once.High above, in the middle of the battle, a massive figure suddenly appeared — a five-clawed g