The first time, he did indeed fill his core completely before attempting the breakthrough, but clearly, that level of accumulation was still not enough! He needed to store up even more true essence!

Refine! Refine! Refine!

True essence continued to accumulate, and Logan Clark began his second attempt at a breakthrough!

Failure... failure... failure...

Logan Clark's nerves had long been tempered to be incomparably tough through countless bouts of ridicule. Although he failed again and again, he didn't take it to heart at all—if he failed, he just tried again, and again, and again!

He couldn't even remember how many times he had failed. After each failure, he would accumulate even more true essence before making another attempt.

Finally, when his true essence reached a certain critical point, the barrier blocking his progress was instantly broken through. Logan Clark's whole body trembled, as if some point had suddenly been pierced, and he felt an indescribable sense of smoothness and ease!

True essence flowed freely, and his core expanded more than tenfold!

Postnatal Fourth Layer, Tiger Strength Realm—breakthrough!

Chapter Four: The Evil Servant

To break through two levels in just over ten days—if word got out, it would absolutely shock everyone to the point their eyes would pop out!

What’s more, this included a leap across a major realm. Even The Clark Family's so-called genius, Dylan Clark, had been stuck at the Tiger Strength Realm bottleneck for a full three months back then!

Once you break through a major realm, the next two levels become effortless. As long as you accumulate enough true essence, the breakthrough comes naturally.

But the ridiculous thing was, although Logan Clark had reached the Postnatal Fourth Layer, he had only activated a pitiful five acupoints! Five activated acupoints... Compared to some geniuses, they might be born with more than that!

Falling leaves, insects stirring, wind surging, water flowing!

No matter how slight the sound outside, it could hardly escape Logan Clark's spiritual perception. This gave him a feeling of being in control of everything—an amazing sensation!

Logan Clark did not become complacent. Although his cultivation speed now could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds, he had started too late. With just a Postnatal Fourth Layer cultivation, he would be nothing special if thrown out into the world!

Only by entering the Exploding Qi Realm could one barely be called an expert!

“But now that I’ve stepped into the Tiger Strength Realm, I can finally practice martial techniques!” Logan Clark's eyes lit up.

The Clark Family had a rule: any family member who reached the Postnatal Fourth Layer, after confirmation, could receive a martial technique passed down by the family. Of course, as the only grandson of Nathan Clark, Logan Clark had some special privileges and had been given a martial technique early on. But since he had never entered the Tiger Strength Realm, that martial technique had just gathered dust.

What is a martial technique? To use an analogy, cultivation methods are tools for making money, allowing a martial artist to refine spiritual energy into true essence, while martial techniques are for spending money, expending true essence.

Logan Clark entered the study and took out a book that had been sitting on a high shelf.

This was the martial technique “Tiger Shadow Fist Manual,” a very advanced technique of the The Clark Family, only available to those of high status within the family. Although Logan Clark had received it early, he had promised his grandfather Nathan Clark never to look at it before reaching the Postnatal Fourth Layer.

He had always been a man of his word, so this was the first time he opened the martial technique.

The Tiger Shadow Fist had only eight forms in total, but don’t underestimate the power of this set of fist techniques! The first form of the Tiger Shadow Fist allowed the martial artist to throw two punches in an instant, achieving a double-attack effect, called “One Shadow”!

Each subsequent form added another “shadow.” By the eighth shadow, you could throw nine punches in an instant!

Take Logan Clark as an example: if he could throw nine punches in an instant, it would be equivalent to nine Postnatal Fourth Layer martial artists attacking together! This could almost instantly defeat an opponent of the same level, and even a Postnatal Fifth Layer martial artist could be beaten—provided the opponent didn’t know any martial techniques!

Of course, the Tiger Shadow Fist also consumed a huge amount of true essence! This wasn’t a simple matter of one plus one equals two. If Logan Clark could throw a hundred punches at full strength before exhausting himself, then using One Shadow, he could manage at most thirty punches before running out of energy, and with Two Shadows, maybe only ten punches!

Only after reaching the Tiger Strength Realm would a martial artist have enough true essence to use martial techniques. Otherwise, you’d collapse from exhaustion before defeating your enemy—wouldn’t that be courting death?

Logan Clark was immediately fascinated by this set of fist techniques and began to study it intently.

One hour, two hours, three hours...

“My talent is still too poor. After all this time, I’ve only reached the third shadow!” As the sun set, Logan Clark put away his stance and once again lamented his own aptitude.

If a true expert were here, they would surely slap Logan Clark to the ground!

To reach the third shadow in just over three hours—if word got out, it would scare people to death! Ordinary people might reach the first shadow after a month or two, the third shadow after a year, and five shadows would be a lifelong limit!

Although Logan Clark had terrible innate roots, his comprehension of martial techniques was astonishingly high. Such understanding couldn’t even be described as genius—it was downright monstrous! It was just that he’d never had the qualifications to practice martial techniques before, so Nathan Clark naturally never explained what kind of progress was normal, and what kind was defying the heavens!

You could say that heaven is fair. Although Logan Clark was given terrible innate roots, his comprehension was shockingly extraordinary!