Lin Chenqing was waiting for Jiang Chenâs response, but, next to him, An Yingyue couldnât wait any longer.
âI knew youâd have some excuse, but I didnât expect it to be so lame,â she said with a sarcastic smile.
Jiang Chen looked at her. His eyes shone with power.
An Yingyue felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her soul seemed to be shivering.
Lin Chenqing put his hands on her slender shoulders to try and calm her down.
âPlease tell me your reason,â Lin Chenqing asked once again.
âIâm going to have a breakthrough soon,â Jiang Chen said calmly.
A breakthrough in his state was going to happen at any time now. If he started at this time to engage in a big fight, he absolutely would lose control of himself.
Although the breakthrough itself wouldnât result in anything bad, if he got involved in some kind of contretemps before completing it, he definitely wouldnât be able to restrain himself as he wished. For example, he could kill his rival by accident, which would really be a shame.
Heâd made a great effort to find the 500 reincarnated Sovereign Souls in his previous life. He definitely didnât have any desire to kill any of them in this life that he was living now.
If this hadnât been true, he wouldâve already killed An Yingyue.
âIs this a breakthrough to Venerable Sovereign?â Lin Chenqing looked very surprised, and a cloud of confusion could be seen in his bright eyes.
If their fight could be affected by Jiang Chenâs state, it must be a huge state breakthrough.
âNo, itâs only a breakthrough from the preliminary stage of a Martial Arts Saint to the middle stage,â said Jiang Chen.
The crowd all made weird faces when theyâd heard Jiang Chenâs answer. They all knew that Martial Arts Saint was the state that Jiang Chen claimed to be, but they also knew that his real strength was much more powerful than that.
A breakthrough from the preliminary stage to the middle stage of a Martial Arts Saint would never have had any influence on Venerable Sovereigns of the Supreme Venerable level.
âThis guy is really annoying. Youâre obviously scared. Why do you bother to come up with these silly excuses? Do you think a middle stage Martial Arts Saint could defeat Elder Brother Chenqing?â
An Yingyue didnât have the nerve to provoke Jiang Chen much further because of that glimpse of his he had given her, but she still was full of disdain for him.
âOkay.â Lin Chenqing didnât really understand Jiang Chenâs intentions either. âHow long will you need?â
âAbout an hour.â
âOkay.â
So, Jiang Chen and Ye Xue returned to their villa.
âThat man is strong indeed.â
Since even Jiang Chen needed to have a breakthrough before the fight, Ye Xue recalled the pressure she had felt when facing Lin Chenqing.
âTop five among Senior Supreme Venerables, only one step away from Extraordinary Supreme Venerable...â Jiang Chen agreed.
âApprentice Younger Brother, are you sure you can beat him?â
Jiang Chen smiled at her question. âI dropped by the Sacred City before I came back here, and I was graded there. Apprentice Elder Sister, take a guess. Am I a Senior Supreme Venerable or a junior one?â
âA Senior Supreme Venerable,â Ye Xue said immediately without even thinking about it for two minutes.
Sheâd defeated An Yingyue without any effort. However, now, facing Jiang Chen, she still considered that he was unfathomable, pretty much the same as what she had felt before her breakthrough.
âThe thing is, whatâs your rank?â Ye Xue asked.
âFirst.â
Ye Xueâs pretty face looked shocked. Then confusion could be seen in her eyes.
âYou want to ask me why I still want a state breakthrough, donât you?â Jiang Chen could see through her.
âYes, I do.â
âBecause without the state breakthrough, Iâm afraid I will kill him.â
What would An Yingyue and Lin Chenqing think if they could have heard what heâd just said?
So Ye Xue helped to protect him and the villa while he was working on his breakthrough.
Jiang Chen went into the back room to find some of his super Immortal Elixirs.
This was one of the benefits of having a home here in the celestial palace. His treasures were here, in one place. He didnât have to make any effort to look for them anymore.
The refined Immortal Elixirs had helped him achieve the peak he was able to achieve in his previous life.
âWhat class will the Holy Elixirs make me?â Jiang Chen thought while swallowing the Immortal Elixirs.
The preliminary stage of Martial Arts Saint was the state in which Jiang Chen had spent the most time. Heâd been in this state for more than three years, which was really incredible for him, a genius.
If he hadnât gained that unbelievable Heart Power, he wouldâve made no progress during the last three years.
âEnter.â Jiang Chen shouted in a profound voice. His two practicing bodies showed up, one on either side of him.
Three Jiang Chens closed their eyes slowly. Suddenly, different, wonderful changes started happening to them.
One of the practicing bodies looked stern and was giving off an awe-inspiring energy, while glistening with a golden light.
The other practicing body looked extremely handsome and was wearing a divine armor and controlling thunder and lightning.
The true body had a different aura. A Demonic energy soared from the true body, cold and emotionless.
However, different from most Demons, the true body didnât look crazy or ferocious.
Time passed. When a certain amount of breakthrough had been achieved, the three Jiang Chens raised their hands with their palms facing out, away from their bodies.
Soon, Tao, Buddha, and Demon mingled together.
All of a sudden, the back room became luminous. Lights of three colors interwove. A shapeless power was rushing around.
Fortunately, this back room had been built according to the highest standards of construction. Otherwise, it wouldnât have been able to have contained these enormous disturbance caused by Jiang Chen.
Although three years had passed, it still wasnât easy to gain Heart Power.
Tao, Buddha, and Demon were extremely difficult to get to mingle.
The Heart Power was what Jiang Chen extracted from the three.
It was as if heâd smashed the three into bits and then combined them. The Heart Power was created in this way.
Soon, the true body and the practicing bodies looked as if they were calming down.
The Heart Power felt like a freshwater spring, flowing in the mountains. It flew slowly into his heart.
Every beat of his heart was like a thunderbolt. This Heart Power, which was strong enough to resist the whole world, flew throughout his body.
Jiang Chen had broken through.
Heâd achieved the middle stage of a Martial Arts Saint, but, more than this, his sword doctrine, theurgies, holy methods, and even the genuine blood of the celestial phoenix were all experiencing their own breakthroughs as the Heart Power soared throughout his body.
His Immortal Will of the Sword Doctrine achieved the fifth level. And he was on the way to the sixth level, which was a watershed.
His universal energies like Du Tian Holy Thunder, the Solar Golden Flame, and the Void Divine Wind didnât have major changes. However, his conceptions of thunder, fire, and wind had all improved, especially the Law of Wind: it had achieved the State of Clarity.
The benefits of these improvements were reflected in the fact that Jiang Chen could already exert the seventh movement of the Azure Lotus Sword Classic alone.
The power of the Scripture of the Void had also multiplied many times.
At this moment, Jiang Chenâs right palm suddenly started to shine. The light seal that represented the grading results of achieving Supreme Venerable was changing.
People who had been graded by the Supreme Venerable Stone didnât need to go there in person again. The light seal left by the Supreme Venerable Stone could sense oneâs strength changes and regrade one automatically.
Jiang Chen had been graded Senior Supreme Venerable, ranked first. What the current change meant was obvious.
âTime will be up soon. Iâm wondering what other excuses he can find.â In the air, An Yingyue thought to herself.
Then, all of a sudden, both she and Lin Chenqing changed their facial expressions to ones of surprise.
They were both Senior Supreme Venerables, and both had light seals in their palms.
At this moment, they both felt a hot signal in their right hands.
âWe have a new Extraordinary Supreme Venerable in the world,â An Yingyue exclaimed in surprise. She surely understood what that meant.
Not only she and Lin Chenqing, but all who had been graded as Supreme Venerables, would be able to sense this change.
An Extraordinary Supreme Venerable was an overlord. Merely the fact that such a person had appeared was disturbing to everyone.
âThe thing was, who was that person?â
Exactly like the Sovereign Bell, people would only hear how many times it had tolled, but they wouldnât know anything about the person.
âCould it be...?â
An Yingyue and Lin Chenqing looked at each other. They both saw surprise in each otherâs eyes.
Jiang Chen was in the middle of a breakthrough, and it was almost the time they had fixed for their meeting.
Now, just at this moment, a new Extraordinary Supreme Venerable appeared in the world.
âWas that just a coincidence?â
âNo way. Itâs impossible,â An Yingyue murmured.
.....