As the true qi continued to circulate, a faint purple hue began to appear between his muscles and skin. Suddenly, his body trembled, and he exhaled a breath.

　　Buzz!

　　Edward Carter opened his mouth and released a thin stream of breath, which remained condensed and did not dissipate. Like a transparent arrow, it shot out and struck the wall two meters ahead.

　　Pop!

　　A soft sound came from the wall, leaving a shallow mark.

　　"This is... true qi extending outside the body—how can it have such penetrating power!?"

　　Opening his eyes, Edward Carter saw the situation on the wall and couldn't help but be a little stunned. At the first stage of the warrior realm, although true qi can extend outside the body, it can only exert its full power when circulating on the surface of the body.

　　With the cultivation of a first-stage warrior, if true qi is released beyond half a meter from the body, its power is reduced to just one percent.

　　The wall in front of him was more than two meters away from his position. A single breath of true qi hitting the wall should have felt like a mere tickle. How could it have caused any damage to the wall?

　　Turning his gaze inward, Edward Carter saw that nearly ten percent of the true qi within his body contained a purple hue, and he suddenly recalled a legend about the warrior realm.

　　"According to ancient records, in the warrior realm, if one can cultivate purple true qi—qi containing purple—then within the warrior realm, one can be invincible among peers. This purple true qi possesses such astonishing penetrating power; it seems the legend is true." Edward Carter recalled the contents of ancient texts he had read.

　　However, Edward Carter immediately shook his head. In his previous life, in order to restore his body, he had read extensively, and his knowledge far surpassed that of the older generation experts in Burning Town. He naturally understood the full story behind this legend.

　　According to the legend, in the warrior realm, the strongest state of cultivating purple qi is when the meridians throughout the body are filled with rolling purple qi, like the morning glow across the sky—this is called "Purple Qi from the East."

　　Only by reaching this level can one truly be invincible among peers. By comparison, the purple true qi within Edward Carter's body accounted for less than ten percent of his total true qi—he was still far from that level.

　　Edward Carter then thought of last night's battle. Being able to tangle with Samuel Price was not only due to the powerful body of the Battle Saint Physique, but also because using purple true qi to perform martial techniques greatly increased their power.

　　After a brief thought, Edward Carter stood up and pushed open the door from the training room.

　　On the other side of the door was his bedroom. The little girl on the bed was still sound asleep, and the table was covered with boxes of various sizes.

　　These were gifts from the family elders to celebrate his safe return.

Chapter 7: The Library Pavilion

　　"Qi Recovery Pills, Golden Essence Pills, Blood-Activating Ointment, Body-Refining Ointment..."

　　As he took stock of the gifts on the table, Edward Carter glanced over them and shook his head disdainfully. They were all lower-grade mortal pills, which really didn't interest him at all.

　　On the Guyou Continent, pills, materials, and even martial arts are all uniformly classified from low to high as Mortal, Spirit, Profound, Earth, and Heaven—these are the five grades commonly known. Each grade is further divided into lower, middle, and upper tiers.

　　Lower-grade mortal pills might still be precious to ordinary martial artists at the warrior realm, but for the direct descendants of the family, they are just gifts received during holidays—nothing rare at all.

　　For the direct descendants of the The Carter Family, only middle-grade mortal pills are considered valuable, while upper-grade mortal pills are coveted even by the elders.

　　"Heh, the Grand Elder and the others are really stingy. After all the 'care' they've shown me, they couldn't even bother with a token gesture of comfort." A cold smile appeared at the corner of Edward Carter's mouth. The elders of the The Carter Family had all sent symbolic gifts, but there was nothing from the Grand Elder or the Vice Patriarch, Stephen Carter.

　　Suddenly, Edward Carter had a thought. He took out the gray treasure pouch from his chest, wanting to see if there was anything good inside.

　　Inside the gray treasure pouch, apart from a bottle of [Qi Recovery Pills], several dozen low-quality primal stones, and some scattered gold and silver, only the manuals for [Thunderclap Fist] and [Lockbone Claw] were of any real value, which left Edward Carter rather disappointed.

　　[Thunderclap Fist] and [Lockbone Claw] were both middle-grade mortal martial techniques. As long as the direct descendants of the The Carter Family reached the warrior realm, they could go to the library pavilion to choose martial arts of the same level, so to Edward Carter, these were rather useless.

　　"Huh! What's this?"

　　In the corner of the gray treasure pouch lay a wooden bead, dull in color and seemingly unremarkable. However, Edward Carter's intuition told him there was something unusual about this bead.

　　[Swift Shadow Slice]!

　　Edward Carter sliced his palm across the surface of the wooden bead, and a faint smile appeared on his face. "Samuel Price, you would never have guessed. The whereabouts of my mother's jade pendant, and the secret of this wooden bead, were both uncovered by a martial technique that doesn't even qualify as a mortal grade."

　　In his previous life, after becoming a "mediocre person," Edward Carter was unable to cultivate any martial arts. Later, he accidentally discovered the manual for [Swift Shadow Slice] among his grandfather's belongings. This martial technique didn't even count as mortal grade, and its power was extremely weak, but it could be performed silently and required no true qi to practice. It was the only martial technique Edward Carter could cultivate at the time.

　　Later, while wandering the continent, Edward Carter discovered the true use of [Swift Shadow Slice]: it could cut through the surface disguises of many objects without damaging what was inside. Relying on [Swift Shadow Slice], he often worked with appraisers and alchemists, earning considerable rewards.

　　Hiss hiss hiss...