My Martial Spirit is Nanobot

Chapter 413 Theft

He slid the panel open. Inside lay a thin scroll wrapped in black silk. The moment he touched it, a faint surge of cold spiritual energy seeped into his fingers.

He unrolled it thoughtfully and started analyzing its content.

A surprise flashed through his eyes looking at the map inside. Old, as if sketched by ancient strokes. Mountains, rivers, and borders he vaguely recognized. But at the very top, beyond the sect territories, a red mark pulsed faintly.

’A special realm or secret in the Northern region.’ Lin Lee thought to himself, then he glanced at the mysterious words written beside it, which he couldn’t decipher.

Lin Lee’s chest tightened, and his expression became doubtful. "Looks like fate has tossed something big into my hands once again. Probably something ancient, something hidden and mysterious waiting for me.’

He rolled the map, storing it inside his robe.

Just as he turned to leave, a faint ripple spread through the air.

A formation had awakened.

Someone was coming.

Lin Lee narrowed his eyes; without wasting time, he hurriedly ran his boundless heaven art camouflage. His pulse slowed down, his breath lowered, and his figure dissolved into the shadows between the shelves just as footsteps echoed from the entrance.

An elder’s voice echoed coldly.

"Strange... the frost mist array triggered. Someone is here."

The treasury lanterns flickered, shadows of everything around elongated around, illuminating the shelves.

Lin Lee waited in absolute stillness, every nerve ready to react in the face of unexpected,

The elder’s figure, cloaked in the blue robes of the inner sect, finally came into view. His face was stern, his eyes sharp and filled with suspicion as he swept the room with his spiritual sense.

The power radiating from him was formidable, causing the spiritual energy in the air to compress slightly.

Next moment the elder footsteps halted noticing something as he glanced at the some empty areas in the shelves, his pupils shrank.

"Thief! Show yourself!" the elder commanded, his voice shaking with restrained fury. "To dare trespass in the Moon Crowned Treasury! Are you courting death?"

Lin Lee remained silent, observing the elder’s current realm and strength based on his spiritual pressure.

’High-level Jindan realm,’

Lin Lee thought, his gaze calculating. ’A peak expert in this minor sect. A perfect target for an upgrade. Anyway, I can’t avoid him silently now.’

He stepped out from the shadows, his face calm, revealing his outer-sect uniform.

The elder’s eyes widened momentarily. "A mere outer disciple? Impossible! Why would formation alarms not trigger for your low-level cultivation!"

Next moment his expression became cold and activated a spiritual lock, his powerful Jindan pressure slamming down on Lin Lee.

Crack!!!

The surrounding wooden walls cracked. The formation flickering inside contains the elder spiritual pressure, preventing it from scattering outside and alarming the sect.

Lin Lee allowed the pressure to hit him, his suppressed golden core acting as a perfect buffer. He took a single, slow step forward.

"Elder," Lin Lee spoke, his voice clear and devoid of fear and he tried to explain, "You are mistaken. I did not trespass. I simply came to examine the legendary frost mist formation you recently installed."

"Nonsense!" The elder rebuked as his spiritual pressure intensified, laced with killing intent. "You reek of stolen energy! You will come with me and face the Sect Master’s judgment!"

He raised his palm, urging his spiritual qi to prepare a strike.

Lin Lee sighed, shaking his head. "A pity. You should have stayed in the inner sect hall tonight."

Swish!

Lin Lee’s figure vanished and reappeared directly in front of the elder. The elder’s strike, aimed at Lin Lee’s chest, passed through the afterimage.

Before the Elder could react, Lin Lee’s hand clamped onto his forehead like a steel plier.

"W-what are you doing!?" The Elder yelled suddenly, completely startled by the sudden pain in his skull, panic replacing fury on his face as he realized the terrifying speed and power of Lin Lee.

He tried to unleash his Jindan power, but Lin Lee’s grip, backed by the pressure of a heavenly life bead, completely locked his spiritual pathways.

’His Jindan is stable, powerful, and ready to be merged, it will definitely upgrade my Jindan level.’ Lin Lee analyzed, ignoring the struggling elder.

Lin Lee closed his eyes, and the Boundless Heaven Art roared to life, resonating with the Heavenly Life Bead deep within his soul space.

"Boundless Heaven Art! Steal Life!"

A searing, pale-blue light erupted from the Elder’s forehead, flowing like a rushing river into Lin Lee’s body.

The Elder’s strong spiritual root, his profound Jindan cultivation, and the core itself were forcefully pulled toward the Life Bead.

"N-no! Impossible, what kind of evil method is this? You are a devil. My cultivation... My Core!"

The elder screamed fearfully, his features rapidly aging, his skin becoming dry and brittle as his life essence drained.

Lin Lee’s body shook violently as the pure Jindan energy rushed in, causing his own nine-line core to spin with incredible speed.

The Elder Jindan, possessing seven lines, which is higher rank then Lin Lee nine line Jindan began to merge with his own, compressing and purifying it further.

Crack!

The foundation of his cultivation trembled, and the Jindan core shattered, only to instantly reform... denser, brighter, and radiating an overwhelming power that instantly broke through the concealment.

Slowly three lines on the surface of his Jindan disappeared. The remaining six lines flickered with dark silver light on the golden core.

Six Line Jindan, Achieved.

Intermediate Level Jindan, Achieved.

Lin Lee opened his eyes. The elder’s body, now lifeless withered into ashes, scattered silently to the stone floor, his high-level seven line Jindan absorbed completely.

’Intermediate/Mid-level Jindan, Six Line, Excellent. I have reached the mid-level with a powerful six line core foundation now,’

Lin Lee thought, a sense of immense satisfaction washing over him. At the same time, the Life Bead pulsed contentedly within his soul.

He stepped over the elder’s corpse, collecting the storage pouch from elder clothes, and continued his looting. With the increased power of a mid-level Jindan, the treasury’s formations seemed trivial. He quickly swept the remaining rare items, storing them in his spatial pouch.

Minutes later, the treasury hall was empty of its most precious contents, save for the untouched hidden shelf.

Lin Lee paused only to activate a simple earth-burial technique, causing the elder’s ashes and clothes to sink into the ground beneath the stone floor, erasing all traces of the confrontation.

He looked around one last time, satisfied with the clean sweep, and then turned toward the stone tile he had loosened earlier.

Swish!

He slipped back into the water duct, sealing the tile above him with another breath of concentrated qi, leaving the Moon-Crowned Treasury silent and untouched, save for the sudden, inexplicable absence of its treasures and a high-level Jindan elder.

Lin Lee moved silently back up the water network, his mid-level Jindan core now fully suppressed beneath the Boundless Heaven Art.

He emerged from the southern cliff pool, changing back into a fresh inner-sect uniform he had prepared. The sky was still dark, the night quiet and cold.

’With the resources collected today, reaching the peak stage of Jundan will be much faster. And now, I have access to the inner sect’s resources openly.’

Lin Lee thought to himself while walking calmly toward the inner sect residences, the faint glow of his new core now hidden deep within his dantian.

After the Qi gathering realm, all major realms are divided into low, mid, high and top levels.

Each major realm is divided into ten stages, but to differentiate it easily... Each realm is divided into four levels,

The first to third stage, it is denoted as low level. From fourth to sixth stage, it is known as middle level. From seventh to ninth stage, it is a high level; some practitioners leap to the next major realm after high level, if their lifespan is on the verge of exhaustion. The final level is the top level which is the tenth stage in every major realm.

The basic major realms in mortal worlds (Lower Realms) are:

Qi Condensation/Gathering: The initial stage, where practitioners gather spiritual energy (Qi) from the environment into their bodies.

Foundation Establishment: Condensing the Qi into a liquid form, establishing a true foundation for cultivation.

Core Formation/Golden Core: Further refining the liquid Qi into a solid core (Jindan).

Nascent Soul/Yuan Ying: The golden core breaks and forms a tiny soul or infant (Yuanying) within the cultivator’s body. At this stage, the "soul" can leave the body and attack or possess others.

Ascension/Soul Transformation: The nascent soul interacts with higher energies of heaven and earth, a stage that often involves ascension to the spiritual world above after a dangerous "Heavenly Tribulation".

After surviving a major tribulation and ascending, the character enters the Spiritual World, (Middle Realms), with a further unknown major realm of powers.

After a while,

Lin Lee paused at the entrance to the inner sect dormitory area, his expression calm and assuring, ’Probably after this theft, the sect will be on alert... on top of that, the elder’s death will make the whole sect experts restless. I will lay low for a while until I reach the top Jindan level with current resources.’

... Chapter End ...