Chapter 86: The Threshold of Mastery

Earth Federation, Silverwood City.

The cultivation chamber beneath Sterling Manor was silent.

Reinforced steel plates covered the walls, their surfaces etched with intricate defensive runes. Several layers of protective arrays shimmered beneath the metallic floor, forming a barrier designed to withstand the destructive force of powerful cultivators.

Even a full-powered strike from an experienced Martial Master would struggle to damage the chamber.

At its center, Lucian sat cross-legged on a black cultivation mat, his eyes closed and his breathing steady.

Yet beneath that apparent calm, his body was on the verge of an explosive transformation.

Rumble!

Spiritual energy surged through his meridians like a compressed river struggling against the walls of a narrow canyon. Every circulation pushed his body closer to its limit, while the pressure building inside him threatened to overwhelm the delicate balance he had maintained for so long.

His muscles tightened beneath his clothes.

The air around him began to vibrate.

Lucian remained completely unmoved.

He had reached the absolute peak of the Martial Warrior realm. Only a microscopic step separated him from the next stage, yet that final barrier was precisely what made advancement so difficult.

For ordinary cultivators, breaking through to the Martial Master realm could require months of preparation. Some spent years gathering resources, refining their spiritual energy, and attempting to overcome the bottleneck.

Others remained trapped at the threshold for the rest of their lives.

Lucian had no intention of joining them.

"One final step."

His lips moved faintly.

He redirected every trace of spiritual energy toward his spiritual sea, forcing the accumulated power to compress beyond its previous limits.

The pressure inside his body climbed.

His meridians trembled violently.

His heartbeat slowed until each beat sounded like a distant drum.

Then, for a fraction of a second, everything stopped.

Lucian’s eyes snapped open.

BOOOOOOM!

A deep, concussive explosion erupted within his core.

His spiritual sea shattered.

Countless fragments of spiritual light scattered through the depths of his consciousness, only to be pulled together by an invisible force. The fragments collided, merged, and transformed, rebuilding the spiritual sea into something far greater than before.

Larger.

Deeper.

Stronger.

A tremendous wave of spiritual energy swept through his body, flooding every meridian before settling into its newly transformed state.

At the same instant, the atmospheric pressure inside the cultivation chamber dropped sharply.

The defensive runes along the walls flickered. Reinforced steel groaned beneath the sudden disturbance, and the protective arrays glowed briefly before stabilizing.

Then silence returned.

Lucian slowly exhaled.

A thin stream of white mist escaped his lips and vanished into the air.

He examined the changes within his body, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

His spiritual energy had become noticeably denser. His meridians felt stronger, and controlling the power flowing through them required far less effort than before.

Most importantly, he could sense an immense reserve of strength resting beneath his calm exterior.

The barrier that had restricted his growth was gone.

He had officially entered the Martial Master Realm.

"Finally."

Lucian stretched his shoulders and rose to his feet.

"That took longer than I expected."

Anyone who heard him would probably have wanted to throw something at his head.

Breaking through to the Martial Master realm was a milestone that countless cultivators spent years chasing. Some would celebrate for an entire week after achieving it.

Lucian had barely spared it a second thought.

His attention had already shifted toward something considerably more interesting.

Testing his strength.

He walked toward the industrial-grade strength-testing machine installed in the corner of the chamber. Standing nearly two meters tall, it possessed a reinforced metal frame, a thick impact pad, and a digital measurement system designed to withstand the attacks of high-level cultivators.

It was also expensive.

Lucian stopped in front of it and examined the impact pad.

The last time he had tested his strength, the machine had started producing error messages before he could obtain a satisfactory result.

He hoped this one would survive.

"Let’s see what changed."

He rolled his right shoulder, positioned his feet, and casually drew back his fist.

He didn’t circulate spiritual energy.

He didn’t activate a martial technique.

He didn’t even bother to put his full strength into the movement.

His fist struck the impact pad.

BOOOOOOM!

The machine lurched backward.

Its reinforced base scraped across the floor with a metallic screech. The impact pad buckled inward, and a web of hairline cracks spread across its surface.

For an instant, the digital display remained blank.

Then the numbers flashed into existence.

100,000 KG

Lucian stared at the screen.

He blinked once.

Then he leaned closer, making sure he hadn’t misread the digits.

"One hundred thousand?"

A faint smile spread across his face.

That was his physical strength without using spiritual energy.

Not bad.

Actually, it was considerably better than he had expected.

He flexed his fingers and examined his hand with mild curiosity. The punch hadn’t caused even the slightest discomfort.

The machine, unfortunately, seemed to be having a much worse experience.

BEEP! BEEP!

WARNING: IMPACT SENSOR DAMAGE DETECTED.

Lucian looked at the message.

Then at the cracked pad.

Then back at the message.

"...That doesn’t seem right."

The chamber door slid open behind him.

"Lucian, are you—"

Evelyn stopped mid-sentence.

Her gaze moved from Lucian to the machine.

She noticed the displaced base first, followed by the cracked impact pad. Finally, her eyes settled on the six-digit number flashing across the display.

For several seconds, she said absolutely nothing.

Lucian turned toward her.

"Morning."

Evelyn slowly raised her eyes to his face.

"You fucking monster..."

Lucian glanced at the display again.

"What? It’s only a hundred thousand."

"Only?"

Her voice rose an entire octave.

"You’re standing in front of a machine designed to measure the strength of elite cultivators, and you’ve managed to make it look like someone hit it with a wrecking ball!"

"I punched it."

"I can SEE that!"

Evelyn marched closer and inspected the damage. She crouched to examine the impact pad before straightening with an expression of profound disappointment.

"Do you have any idea how much this thing costs?"

"Not exactly."

"Of course you don’t."

"I can pay for it."

"With what? The money you save by never buying new clothes?"

Lucian glanced down at his cultivation outfit.

"These clothes are comfortable."

"They’re also the reason I keep having to explain to the household staff why your sleeves look like they’ve been dragged through a battlefield."

"They haven’t."

"Lucian."

"Yes?"

"You’re impossible."

He smiled faintly.

Evelyn tried to maintain her annoyed expression, but the corners of her mouth betrayed her.

Then she looked at the display again.

One hundred thousand kilograms.

She had been cultivating this for a long time. Even the cultivation foundation of this family was impressive.

But this was insane.

"Wait a second." She narrowed her eyes. "Did you just break through?"

Lucian casually rolled up his sleeves,

"Martial Master."

Evelyn was stunned.

"Did you really break through to the realm of Martial Master just now?"

Lucian nodded, "about a minute ago."

"You didn’t tell anyone or do anything to celebrate and immediately went to test the equipment?"

"I wanted to see how much stronger I’d become."

Evelyn looked at him, then heaved a long sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Honestly speaking, I need to pay someone extra to put up with him."

Lucian raised an eyebrow, "Why? You aren’t responsible for the test equipment."

"Exactly!" said Evelyn, "if I did, it would be much worse!"

Lucian chuckled.

A moment ago, this room no longer felt like a dangerous and frightening cultivation site, but rather an ordinary room where two people who had been acquainted for many years met.

A sudden bell sounded next to the door.