Lin Sheng's room was soon entered by one of the auction house attendants, a young maid who carried the Grade A painting with both hands, her movements careful and respectful as she approached him, and when Lin Sheng casually handed over a storage bag containing eighty thousand Spirit Jades, her eyes widened before she could conceal her surprise.
A Qiankun Bag.
The reaction lasted only for an instant, but Lin Sheng caught it immediately.
Storage devices that possessed genuine spatial properties were extraordinarily rare on the Martial Continent, and although Qiankun Bags were commonplace in the memories Lin Sheng carried from the Immortal Continent, they were considered precious treasures here, normally belonging only to people with Grandmaster-level backgrounds or factions capable of obtaining spatial treasures through extraordinary means.
The maid quickly lowered her head, accepting the bag with both hands before presenting the painting.
Lin Sheng took it without saying much.
"You can leave."
"Yes, senior."
The maid immediately bowed and withdrew, carefully closing the door behind her.
Lin Sheng glanced at the closed door, then looked toward the surrounding walls, his divine sense already spreading through the room, and he could clearly sense several powerful gazes lingering around his VIP chamber, each one carefully probing the formations protecting the room while attempting to determine exactly who had just spent eighty thousand Spirit Jades without hesitation.
He knew what they were thinking.
The moment someone revealed enough wealth, there would always be people who began wondering whether that wealth could become theirs.
Lin Sheng calmly lifted the painting.
"If anyone wants to try something, they should be prepared to die."
His expression remained indifferent as he turned his attention toward the painting, because there was a simple principle he had learned during his years of cultivation, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The painting slowly unfolded before him.
The instant it opened completely, Lin Sheng's expression changed.
A strange rhythm immediately entered his perception.
It wasn't spiritual energy.
It wasn't ordinary Martial Intent.
It was something deeper, something that seemed to exist between the painting and the world itself, a heavy and profound rhythm that carried the sensation of mountains standing beneath an endless sky, vast earth supporting all things without moving even an inch.
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed.
"Earth?"
His fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the painting.
He immediately understood that he had struck gold.
No, calling it gold was underselling it.
He had found exactly what he needed.
The Kun Earth Concept.
For years, Lin Sheng had been occupied with cultivation, survival, investigating the strange circumstances surrounding Su Yang, preparing for the Heavenly Mechanism, and developing his external body, leaving almost no time to continue pushing his Martial Concept beyond the progress he had achieved around Anping County.
Now, however, things had changed.
He had reached the Rank 4 Golden Body.
His physical foundation had crossed another enormous threshold, his Qi-Blood had transformed into the Qi-Blood Furnace, and his mental strength had already reached the point where he could spread his perception across an enormous region.
He could finally devote himself to the next stage of Martial Concept.
More importantly, he now understood exactly where that path led.
The Five Qi Converges to Origin Grandmaster Realm.
One of the defining characteristics of a Grandmaster wasn't merely an increase in strength, but the formation of a Martial Domain, and although the mechanism was different, Lin Sheng couldn't help but notice the similarity between a Martial Domain and the Divine Abilities possessed by Golden Core cultivators.
Both represented the transformation of comprehension into something that could directly influence reality.
Momentum was merely the beginning.
Intent represented a deeper understanding.
Martial Will represented the ability to impose that understanding upon the world.
And Domain represented the point where that comprehension became an extension of the martial artist themselves.
Lin Sheng's eyes gradually became brighter.
There was another important function of Martial Concepts that many ordinary martial artists overlooked.
They could strengthen the Shen.
The spirit and mind of a martial artist were directly connected to their comprehension, which meant that every advancement from Momentum to Intent, from Intent to Will, and finally from Will toward Domain could gradually refine and strengthen the practitioner's mental foundation.
That was why some late-stage Astral Gang experts could suddenly complete the necessary mental requirements for the Heavenly Acupoint Circulation and break through to Peak Astral Gang in a relatively short period.
They weren't suddenly becoming smarter.
They were using their comprehension to force their Shen upward.
A cultivator with sufficient comprehension could spend years studying a profound Martial Concept, transforming that comprehension into Martial Will and eventually Domain, and the resulting increase in mental strength could be enormous, allowing them to overcome the bottleneck that had prevented them from completing the final circulation.
Those without sufficient comprehension had another path.
They could wait.
As their cultivation deepened and their age increased, their mental strength would naturally become more refined, and eventually they might possess enough Shen to attempt the breakthrough.
But there was a cruel price.
By the time many of those Peak Astral Gang experts accumulated sufficient mental strength naturally, they were already extremely old.
Their lifespan had been consumed.
Their potential had declined.
Even if they successfully stepped into the Grandmaster Realm, they would have lost the most precious period of their lives.
Lin Sheng naturally didn't have this problem of low mental strength but he has a deficiency in understanding of the martial side of shen.
His gaze returned to the painting.
"Martial Concept."
He slowly whispered the words.
During his recent research, he had already learned that Martial Concepts weren't limited to a single path.
There were concepts based around Yin and Yang, concepts based around the Three Powers, concepts based around the Four Seasons, concepts based around the Five Elements, and even more profound conceptual systems such as the Eight Trigrams and Qiankun.
The greater the conceptual framework, the greater the potential, but naturally, the difficulty increased accordingly.
A martial artist could choose a single phenomenon and develop it from Momentum to Intent, then Martial Will, and eventually Domain.
Someone compatible with Fire, for example, could comprehend Fire Momentum, transform it into Fire Martial Intent, advance it into Li Fire Martial Will, and eventually create a Li Fire Martial Domain.
Such a path wasn't weak.
In fact, someone with extraordinary compatibility toward a single concept could become extremely powerful.
But it was ultimately a relatively narrow path.
Most true geniuses would attempt to expand their comprehension and construct a more profound conceptual framework, because combining multiple principles could produce a concept far more powerful than any single principle.
Lin Sheng looked toward the painting again.
The Qian Dynasty was an excellent example.
The martial artists of the dynasty were famous for comprehending Qian Heaven, a powerful conceptual framework that incorporated several principles, including Zhen Lightning, Xun Wind, and Li Fire, creating a more complete expression of heavenly power.
Lin Sheng had already comprehended Lightning and Wind during his development of Martial Intent, and through his experiences with the Grand Elder's Martial Concept, he had also gained a deeper understanding of Fire.
Those three had eventually allowed him to form his own Qian Heaven Martial Concept.
But he wasn't satisfied.
Qian Heaven was only half of something greater.
The complete concept was Qiankun.
Eight Trigrams Qiankun.
Lin Sheng's gaze became contemplative.
The Eight Trigrams were divided into Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui, with Qian representing Heaven and Kun representing Earth, while the remaining trigrams expressed other fundamental manifestations of reality.
Qian Heaven and Kun Earth formed the fundamental opposition between Heaven and Earth, and when combined with the other principles, they could produce the complete Qiankun conceptual framework.
Lin Sheng already possessed Qian Heaven.
What he lacked was Kun Earth.
He had considered finding such a conceptual inheritance before, but obtaining it was far easier said than done.
The Qian Dynasty had spent countless generations developing its understanding of Qian Heaven, and even that single conceptual branch already produced extraordinary martial artists.
But attempting to comprehend a larger framework could consume an enormous amount of time.
There were geniuses who had attempted to combine several concepts, only to spend decades, even centuries, trapped within their comprehension, and by the time they finally understood the concept, their physical potential had already declined, their lifespan had been consumed, and the opportunity to reach the higher realms had slipped away.
This was one of the greatest dangers of pursuing an excessively profound Martial Concept.
A powerful concept was valuable.
But if understanding it consumed one's entire life, then it could become a shackle.
Lin Sheng had no intention of becoming such a person.
He stared at the Kun Earth painting.
The rhythm contained within it was incredibly pure.
Heavy and stable and endless.
It reminded him of the earth beneath his feet, seemingly motionless yet carrying mountains, rivers, forests, cities, and countless living beings without complaint.
His eyes gradually narrowed.
"Kun Earth."
He could already feel his Qian Heaven Martial Concept reacting.
The moment the two conceptual rhythms came into contact, his Martial Will trembled slightly, as though two halves of something separated for countless years had finally sensed each other's existence.
Lin Sheng's expression became strange.
"This was almost too easy."
He had spent so long worrying about finding Kun Earth that he had already imagined numerous possibilities, traveling across different territories, searching ancient ruins, bargaining with powerful factions, perhaps even risking his life to obtain an inheritance.
Instead, he had walked into an auction house and found it sitting in front of him.
Lin Sheng stared at the painting for several breaths.
Then his expression became increasingly suspicious.
"This is a little too much good luck."
For someone who had spent years being watched by the Heavenly Mechanism, he had developed a healthy distrust of coincidences.
But after thinking about it carefully, he couldn't find anything wrong.
He had the wealth to purchase the painting.
He had the strength to protect it.
He had the comprehension necessary to understand it.
And most importantly, he had reached the point where he actually needed it.
Lin Sheng slowly sat down, placing the painting before him as his mental strength began spreading toward the profound rhythm contained within it.
The world seemed to become quiet.
The bustling auction house disappeared from his awareness.
The voices of the countless martial artists below faded into the distance.
Only the vast, ancient rhythm of the earth remained.
Lin Sheng closed his eyes.
His Qian Heaven Martial Concept began moving within his mind, while the Kun Earth rhythm slowly entered his perception, and for the first time since he had comprehended Qian Heaven, he felt that his Martial Concept had finally found the direction it had been missing.