Shattering Limits, Martial Supreme Realm

In an area bordering the Azure Wind and Crimson Moon Empires.

Deep within the Demonic Gorge.

BOOOM!

A thundering explosion reverberated, shaking part of the Gorge.

"Did we get him??" asked a sinister-looking Martial Saint, his breathing haggard.

He, along with the dozens of other Martial Saints residing within the Demonic Gorge, had clearly put their all into the joint attack they just unleashed. If forced to use up any more energy, they might just collapse from exhaustion.

However, surely that little freak was dead now!

There was no way he hadn't died after enduring their combined might—...

"Anything else?" A nonchalant voice cut through the trepidation in the Martial Saints' hearts, as a devilish boy distracted by the flashing of system notifications slowly crept his head in their direction.

"!!!" "!!!" "!!!"

'Run!' was the thought to pass through the minds of all the Martial Saints of the Demonic Devourer Lineage.

But it was already too late.

Eyes glowing a deathly blue, Jin slashed out with his hand.

An icy beam of sword light stretched outward, taking on a fan shape. The sword light caught all of the fleeing Martial Saints in its wide range, instantly cleaving them in half.

However, the vitality of a Martial Saint allowed the majority of them to survive the attack.

Then again, this wasn't necessarily a good thing, as numerous pinnacle experts were left screaming out in agony while squirming on the ground…

"For the proudest and most arrogant Martial Lineage in the world, you sure are disappointing."

Jin's voice, like that of the devil, entered the ears of the Martial Saints.

They were terrified!

Never in their century-long lives had they ever been so scared!!

"P-Please, kind young Lord, won't you consider sparing our lives…"

SHING!

"No, I won't," Jin said, not expecting a response from the headless corpse in front of him. His cold eyes then fell on the remainder of the Martial Saints, sending shivers up and down their spines.

'Are we really going to die—...' Before they could finish that thought, a burst of bright icy sword light engulfed their vision.

Forty-six Martial Saints—among the most powerful in all of the Sky Cloud Continent—killed like chickens.

Most harrowing of all was that Jin accomplished this in half an hour, and that while purposefully prolonging the encounter for the sake of comprehending the Martial Saints' techniques.

"This was merely the largest of the Demonic Devourer Branches in Huaxia," began Jin, observing the corpses scattered throughout the Gorge. "If I want to fully weed out the Lineage and erase the threat they pose, then I'll need to dig the rest of the Branches out of their hiding holes."

The Demonic Devourer Lineage couldn't be permitted to exist in the same world as his Martial Dao Evolutionary Path. After all, they were sure to oppose its development and expansion every step of the way, preventing his next goals from coming to fruition.

…

After looting the Martial Saints, Martial Grandmasters, and other such dead cultivators in the Demonic Gorge, Jin journeyed throughout the world.

He crossed the seas, traversed the mountains, and upturned the ground in his extermination quest of the Demonic Devourer Lineage.

During this period of death and terror, he also observed many diverse techniques and skills, as well as assimilated the qualities of several rarely seen Physiques. These Physiques, uniquely suited to certain individuals, took advantage of Heaven and Earth to produce geniuses of the highest caliber.

The Sword Bearer Physique. The Diamond Body Physique. The Refiner Physique.

There were many different kinds, and after blazing through the comprehension of most of the world's techniques, Jin's focus moved over to the discovery of Physiques. He found their Fundamental Principles to be most useful for improving the Martial Dao Evolutionary Path.

Over time, his transition to |Essence Integration| gradually came closer.

Until eventually, a whole year flew by, and a long-awaited breakthrough entered Jin's sights.

RUMBLE!

The earth tore apart around the cross-legged Jin, crumbling the peak of a small mountain located somewhere outside the Crimson Moon Empire's capital city.

However, oddly enough, even in spite of the unnatural destructive damage to the immediate surroundings, no energy fluctuations were being emitted by Jin. This was orchestrated by him for the sake of concealing his breakthrough, thus not alerting any of the pinnacle Martial Saints in Huaxia.

At most, nearby commoners and low-level cultivators would merely think that a rockslide was happening.

Never would they deign to believe that a breakthrough into a Realm only mentioned in historic books was being solidified atop a seemingly ordinary mountain…

OOOM!

After making that final push in |Essence Integration|, Jin abruptly opened his eyes.

An otherworldly light flashed, blinding the area for hundreds of meters.

The mountain peak exploded in the same instant Jin's breakthrough concluded!

"This Realm," he muttered, clenching and unclenching his superpowered fists. "The Ancient Cultivators called it the Martial Supreme Realm, named as such because of the supreme power that they wielded. Splicing rivers and destroying villages with a single move, they believed themselves to be at the peak of strength."

However, Jin knew better.

He came from a world where even plucking stars and cutting through galaxies was commonplace among the true powerhouses.

In comparison, what did the meager Martial Supreme Realm count for?

That wasn't even mentioning that the so-called Martial Supreme Realm was inherently flawed among the cultivators of Huaxia.

If Jin's |Essence Integration| reached an integration percentage of 100%, then those apex experts of Ancient Huaxia weren't even 1% of the way integrated with their Essence. This was why they were flawed.

From the very moment they embarked on the path of cultivation all the way to their peak state, they hadn't progressed correctly.

But who could really blame them? They didn't have hundreds of millions of years to perfect their cultivation system like the Deep Sea Universe, nor did they have Against-Heaven's Understanding.

In reality, it was actually a miracle that anyone ever managed to transcend the Martial Saint Realm in a primitive world like Huaxia.

"But for me, the Martial Supreme Realm is not the end," Jin declared, sensing a path forward that required more exploration and research.

Even though he wasn't sure on what turns he should take next in his cultivation, he knew the direction.

After achieving 100% |Essence Integration|, it came time to return to the beginning—

Continuous Refinement.

As for what lay at the end of an endless amount of Integrated Essence Refinement, Jin would find out soon enough.