Level Up in Martial World

Lu Zhen's eyes widened as he witnessed the scene unfolding before him. He felt a chilling aura emanating from the blood-red sword, as if his vitality were being drained merely by standing near it.

"Mother, what is this sword?" he asked, his expression revealing a sense of shock.

Lu Ying tenderly touched the sword with a gentle gaze. As if obeying her command, it ceased emitting the terrifying, bone-shivering aura and disappeared from her hands.

"This is our ancestor's weapon from our bloodline clan," she explained without looking back.

Lu Zhen nodded, his eyes still reflecting surprise.

"Mother, shouldn't it be in the hands of our clan? Why is it here?"

"They are all already dead," Lu Ying stated simply, deep in thought.

"Wait, what?" he exclaimed, a question mark adorning his face.

"I mean what I said."

Although Lu Zhen was shocked, he nodded after pondering for a moment.

"Is that why you were hiding from the outside world? Not because you were in seclusion?"

"Yes," Lu Ying simply nodded.

A frown appeared on Lu Zhen's face as he pieced everything together in his mind.

"So what should we do about the barrier now?" Lu Zhen asked, looking at the giant thin films surrounding them like a dome.

Although he was curious about the story behind what happened, since his mother didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't ask.

Lu Ying snapped out of her thoughts when she heard this, glancing outside.

"Well…" A frown appeared on her face. However, her expression relaxed after she thought of something. "The barrier should go down after some time. It shouldn't stay up indefinitely, considering it could take hits from Xia Jia, who is already almost a first-stage martial artist. The barrier energy shouldn't last long."

Lu Ying thought as she looked outside the barrier, observing the bloodshot eyes of the grand elders of the Xia family staring at her and Lu Zhen.

"Well, these grand elders are late," a sneer formed on her face as she looked at them with mockery.

"You dare." Eleven second-stage martial artist auras were released simultaneously, causing the ground to shake with pressure. However, the barrier remained unmoved, as even their combined auras couldn't penetrate it.

Lu Zhen backed away, feeling a little intimidated by the sheer pressure emitted when all of them used their aura at once. He had always fought one-on-one battles until now, or the opponents were too weak for him. Lu Zhen had forgotten how challenging it was to face a sheer number of opponents of the same strength.

"Well, we are safe for now, but after the barrier goes down, we'll be in trouble if they all attack at the same time," Lu Ying said, observing the bloodshot eyes sheathing in rage outside the barrier.

"But we won't be in trouble for long, as we have enough time." A small smirk appeared on Lu Zhen's face.

Lu Ying nodded with understanding.

The two remained inside the barrier, patiently waiting. However, Lu Zhen was curious about one thing, so he asked, "Mother, I have reached the peak of a second-stage martial artist; however, I can't open dimensional space like you do." He spoke honestly, already having a certain amount of trust in her.

Lu Ying's eyes glinted with a proud light when she heard that Lu Zhen had technically reached the peak of the second-stage martial realm.

"Hmm, I don't know. If you want to open dimensional space, you need to be able to hone intent at the peak of any cultivation technique. However, for the body…" She had a frown on her face.

"How did you practise with your body until now?"

"Well, hmm, I just trained my body until it almost reached the strength of the third-stage martial artist with just my raw strength. Then you gave me the cultivation technique to harness Wood Qi, so I practised it until I was able to sense Qi the moment I did…" Lu Zhen told the entire story to her without a single lie.

Lu Ying nodded her head as she looked at him with a strange light. "Your bloodline purity is slowly thinning out. Looks like the thing that was holding you back the most was this cursed bloodline all along."

Lu Ying attributed the unbelievable feat of Lu Zhen to simply his natural talent in cultivating the body, but it was blocked by his bloodline since childhood. It was suppressed, making him seem like a talentless mortal. However, now that Lu Zhen had awakened his bloodline, his talent bloomed.

Although the bloodline helped, it only boosted his combat ability and increased his talent a little, given that the bloodline was so thin.

So, for Lu Zhen, the bloodline was simply a curse—at least, that was what Lu Ying thought.

Thinking of this, she experienced a mixture of emotions.

"Mother, why are you so sad?" Lu Zhen asked, observing the expression on Lu Ying's face.

"Nothing."

"Well, if you say so," he didn't ask further since she didn't want to answer.

"The way for your body to progress might be producing intent naturally from your body," Lu Ying said, shaking distracting thoughts out of her head.

"What does that mean?" Lu Zhen frowned. Although he had heard a lot about intent, there was very little knowledge he had about it. Most of his knowledge came from the Verdant Blade cultivation technique, but it was still a cultivation technique. It showed how to reach that realm but didn't explain what it would actually do.

"Well, let's talk about normal martial artists who reach the first-stage martial realm and achieve their signature intent."

"It all boils down to how the cultivation technique is made. Every cultivation technique till now, or at least that I know of, has all been created with the inspiration and enlightenment of other creatures or things, whether animate or inanimate. It could be a beast like lion or it could be a tree like ours while it could even be a shooting star or even the sun or moon."