The Supreme God of Martial Arts

Austin was sitting peacefully in the lotus position inside his grotto for cultivation. There were signs of extrconcentration on his face.

His fingers were crossed together and were making several complex incantation gestures. With each of his motions, numerous streams of golden vital energy gradually gathered between his palms.

At this moment, he was busy trying to condense the second layer of his Grand Pagoda.

Since he was now at the preliminary stage of the Earth Realm, he was confident that this realm was powerful enough for him to learn the second step of Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill.

After grasping the first step of this cultivation skill, he had becquite proficient at condensing the first three layers of the Grand Pagoda. As he continued with his cultivation practices, his golden and radiant vital energy kept on emanating and finally covered up his arms. It was giving out such a formidable aura that anyone seeing it would have been astonished.

Gradually, those streams of golden vital energy curled up inside Austin's palms and pretty soon, formed the Three-layer Grand Pagoda he had already mastered and utilized in earlier fights. The tiny pagoda was now shining with a golden light and looked like a real object.

Austin sighed with satisfaction as he felt the violent power contained in that virtual object. He was pleased about the fact that with his improvement in cultivation base, the Grand Pagoda he had condensed today was much stronger than he had ever managed.

However, this was not where his cultivation ended. Intending to learn the next step of the skill, he released another strand of vital energy and lifted the Grand Pagoda up from his palm. With a buzzing sound, it left his hands and floated in the air. The brilliant rays it was emitting made it difficult for anyone to look at it directly.

Recalling the instructions he had read in the book about this skill, Austin made several complex gestures with his hands. His slender fingers danced around, quite a bit like butterflies fluttering around flowers, and golden colored vital energy continued to cout from his palms and flow toward the Three-layer Grand Pagoda. These strands soon gathered over the pagoda and intertwined above it like numerous small snakes.

He was now starting the second step of the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill! Soon a visible change could be seen on the pagoda. Slowly but surely, a fourth layer was beginning to form on top of the previous three layers like a new bud appearing on a stem at an extrpace.

A Four-layer Grand Pagoda! Austin was excited with his success but dared not slacken off. Snake-like streaks of golden vital energy continued to flow out of his hands and merge into the pagoda which was growing taller continuously.

Soon, the fifth layer of the pagoda got its shape as well.

If Austin could condense the sixth layer of his pagoda without interruption now, he would have grasped the second step of this powerful cultivation skill.

‘Looks like I'm going quite smoothly with this. The second step doesn't seem so difficult like the first one so far!’ Austin thought with satisfaction.

However, disappointment sank in his heart as he heard a cracking sound at that very moment.

Following that sound, a similar noise resembling the kind when glasses shattered into pieces cfrom the Fifth-layer Grand Pagoda. Disappointed but helpless, Austin had no other choice but to watch quietly as cracks appeared and spread on the entire pagoda.

Finally, with a snapping sound, the pagoda floating in the air broke into numerous pieces.

Its shards broke into confetti and fell like golden rain before they were reduced to vital energy and then the entire system vanished into thin air.

Owing to the influence of the small explosion, Austin's body trembled slightly. A bitter smile appeared on his face as he sensed a choking feeling inside his chest and a disturbance in his blood circulation.

If one were to be honest, the danger Austin had just experienced proved the notorious stories of the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill quite clearly. His failure to condense the sixth layer of the Grand Pagoda had greatly consumed his vital energy and had done sharm to his body as well.

Thanks to the massive reserve of vital energy inside his elixir field, he could still continue with his cultivation and practice if he wanted to.

Not wanting to give up, Austin rested for a while to calm down his pounding heart and blood pressure, and began his cultivation once again.

He failed his second attempt as well! And then his third attempt.

He failed, over and over again.

Still, he was not discouraged; he merely gritted his teeth and went on. Every the failed, he received sreward in the form of more experience. This slowly built up a path for him towards the second step of the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill. Austin was the sort of person who never gave up easily, and his persistence carried him through all sorts of frustration.

Two whole days passed by.

Austin did not move one step away from his grotto, and failed in his attempts numerous times.

Suddenly, in the middle of his practice, there was a fierce vibration of vital energy which spread across the whole grotto. The whole room shook slightly when that buzzing sound was heard.

The origin of that change, a Six-layer Grand Pagoda, which was shining with a dazzling and brilliant golden light floated into existence quietly in front of Austin. It was one of the most powerful weapons he had conjured yet.

Observing this magnificent thing he had produced through unremitting efforts, Austin's eyes filled up with excitement.

He didn't care that he was sweating profusely and panting for breath due to his efforts. Nor did he care about the fact that all of his clothes had bectorn and tattered.

He was in such a state because this dangerous cultivation skill was known to cause a strong flow of air every tthe Grand Pagoda was condensed successfully.

At the very moment that Austin had managed to form the Six-layer Grand Pagoda, he had exerted all of his strengths in trying to defend himself from that gust of strong air.

Nonetheless, he smiled with satisfaction as he observed the pagoda, and he felt that all his efforts over the course of the last two days had finally paid off.

He wondered, "So, exactly how much power does this Six-layer Grand Pagoda contain?" With that thought in his mind, he quickly stood up from the ground and left his cultivating place.

To avoid being disturbed, the grottoes for the core disciples of Sun Sect had been all built at numerous quiet and secluded places. After Austin stepped out from his grotto, all he could see miles and miles away could have been summarized in one word: forest! There were birds and trees, but no other creature.

The small, distant forest caught Austin's eyes.

Holding the tiny but powerful pagoda in his hands, he dashed towards the forest. Standing still in front of the line of trees, he controlled the Grand Pagoda with his mind and with a bright light and a violent vibration of power, it shot out from his palm. It was moving with such a great momentum that the reaction its movement exerted against the ground swept out dust, stones and leaves several feet around Austin. Pretty soon, an area of about twenty feet in diameter was cleared out.

After that, Austin controlled the Six-layer Grand Pagoda and ordered it to fly towards the trees.

His weapon roared as it hit its goal like a meteor.

Everything shivered under its unstoppable momentum.

Just as the Grand Pagoda touched the trees, they were uprooted instantly. Even trees which were the size of an adult's arms snapped off immediately as if they were made of paper. The ground shook severely, and the wind carried the sands and broken branches into the sky. Birds and beasts scattered in all directions. It looked as if a small earthquake had shocked the area.

After a while, an eerie silence eventually fell upon the scene. Austin looked through the cloud of dust and was surprised to see that the vibrant forest he had seen smoments ago had now turned into a complete mess. Several dozen broken trees lay dead on the ground and all the birds had flown away.

The terrible scene in front of him left Austin dumbfounded. Once again, he was shocked by the destructive power of this grade four cultivation skill.

Snapping out of his trance, Austin noticed that an enormous amount of the vital energy inside his body had been used up. He smiled bitterly in resignation.

It was true that the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill was extremely powerful, but the biggest downside to this skill was that it consumed ridiculously large amounts of vital energy very quickly.

After testing the power of the Sixth-layer Grand Pagoda, Austin touched the Space Ring hanging over his chest and let out a reluctant sigh.

He muttered to himself, ‘Looks like | am gonna get poor again pretty soon." Austin now had one and a half million vital energy crystals in total.

However, he would have to spend about two thirds of that stock if he wanted to learn the second stage of the Overlord Body- refining Formula.

Ever since he had mastered the first step of this powerful formula, Austin had enjoyed several benefits of a strong body. For that very reason, he had been desirous to learn the second step of this formula too. Now that he had enough vital energy crystals with him, he decided that he should start the new cultivation as soon as possible.

Therefore, without resting even after his several days of cultivation, he left the Sun Sect in haste. He couldn't wait to find the resources required for learning the second stage of the Overlord Body-refining Formula!