While his strength had increased dramatically, Evelyn Benson began to worry, because he had no idea how to break through his cultivation bottleneck. In the past, by secretly observing martial training, he had only managed to learn the cultivation method for the second stage of martial refinement.

Now, even if he wanted to continue secretly learning, Mark Benson had fallen far behind in training the boys at the Martial Training Camp, and what was being taught was completely useless to him at this point.

“Cultivation methods—I must obtain a set of cultivation techniques suitable for myself, a complete set that will allow me to reach the ninth stage of martial refinement.”

Looking across the Duan family, there were only three ways to obtain cultivation methods: passing the basic trials to enter the Martial Training Camp and gradually improving one’s strength step by step.

Or, braving the “Beast Forest” to directly earn the qualification to enter the Duan family’s inner residence, at which point one would be trained as an elite disciple, and cultivation methods would no longer be a concern.

The third method, however, was much riskier: sneaking into the Duan family’s Scripture Repository. If successful, not only martial refinement techniques but even alchemy-related methods could potentially be acquired.

For Evelyn Benson now, entering the Martial Training Camp posed no difficulty at all, but he couldn’t explain his sudden surge in strength, and might even expose his greatest secret because of it.

Braving the “Beast Forest” had the same drawback, so as soon as these three options flashed through his mind, he locked onto the third—sneaking into the Scripture Repository.

Having lived in the Duan family for so many years, Evelyn Benson had always resided in the outer quarters, but after hearing so much since childhood, he was quite familiar with the Scripture Repository located in the inner residence.

In fact, the Scripture Repository wasn’t a heavily guarded area in the Duan family. As long as a family member had the qualification to enter the inner residence, almost anyone could come and go as they pleased.

After all, cultivation methods related to the nine stages of martial refinement weren’t rare at all. Even alchemy-related techniques weren’t considered particularly precious. With the Duan family’s influence, the techniques they could collect were all common fare. The truly powerful methods were never recorded in books, but passed down orally.

For example, the “Dragon Elephant Great Wild Strength,” which was passed down through the generations of the Duan family and could only be cultivated by the family head and his heir, had always been transmitted by word of mouth and never recorded in any book.

In the deep of night, Evelyn Benson set foot in the Duan family’s inner residence for the first time in his life. Although, with his current sixth stage martial refinement strength, he could already move without making a sound, his body still trembled slightly.

Whether it was excitement or nervousness, even he couldn’t say for sure.

The Scripture Repository was at the western end of the inner residence. Having already memorized the route, Evelyn Benson hid in the bushes to steady his emotions, cast aside all distracting thoughts, took a deep breath, and stealthily crept forward.

Since this area wasn’t a critical part of the inner residence, there weren’t many guards, either overt or covert. Even where there were a few, with Evelyn Benson’s current peak “Qi Swallowing the Bull” strength, he didn’t need to worry about being discovered.

He made his way smoothly to the Scripture Repository, fixed his gaze on the three-story octagonal ancient building not far away, and instantly pushed his speed to the limit. Using the cover of darkness, he climbed up the building, quietly pried open a window, and slipped into the Scripture Repository without a hitch.

The night was as deep as water, and all was silent. Who would have thought that a lowly servant of the Duan family would be frantically copying texts inside the Scripture Repository?

For ten days in a row, Evelyn Benson snuck into the Scripture Repository eight times, copying a manual on the nine stages of martial refinement—“Lihuo Qi.”

In addition, he also copied a book called “Miscellaneous Essays on Alchemy and Medicine.” Although this book was of no help to his cultivation, ever since he had used the power of plants in the primeval forest to overcome the odds and snatch a heaven-sent treasure, Evelyn Benson had developed a keen interest in using medicines and poisons.

“Lihuo Qi,” the cultivation method he found in the Scripture Repository, was already the best technique Evelyn Benson could find there. Although it was still considered a lower-grade method, to Evelyn Benson, it was as precious as a divine scripture.

Martial refinement cultivation methods were divided into four categories: lower-grade, middle-grade, upper-grade, and the extremely rare peak-grade methods.

The way to judge the strength of a cultivation method was simple, mainly based on two aspects. First, the speed at which internal energy circulated through the body when practicing the method—the faster the circulation, the stronger and more powerful the method.

For example, two martial artists of the same level could throw a punch, but the power of their punches would differ greatly depending on the strength of their cultivation methods. Those who practiced superior techniques could even challenge opponents of higher levels.

The second aspect was the attribute of the method. Techniques with the five elemental attributes were common, while those with rare attributes—such as lightning, wind, darkness, devouring, strength, or speed—even if their circulation speed was similar to the five elements, were still much more powerful.

The “Lihuo Qi” that Evelyn Benson practiced was a lower-grade method, with a major circulation speed of only three cycles per hundred breaths—seven cycles fewer than a peak-grade method. However, in Evelyn Benson’s view, this was only temporary. What he needed most right now was to break through his bottleneck, not to find a peak-grade method and start over.

If he had the opportunity in the future, he could always switch to a stronger method. For martial refinement practitioners, this was a common occurrence.