Chapter 154: Golden Warrior

As saints, they were well aware of what had happened. From their observations, they quickly realized that the source of the turmoil was Rod’s dormitory. Learning that Rod had achieved a breakthrough filled them with joy.
To understand the significance of Rod’s breakthrough—he would now belong to the ranks of Golden Warriors, and Holy Light Academy would once again have a genius youth, someone who had reached the rank of Golden Warrior at just eighteen!
For them, who were in a precarious situation, such a breakthrough was like a lifeline, laying a solid foundation for the finals in three days and giving them more confidence and hope.
After their excitement, their expressions turned somewhat complex. Based on the information they had and the descriptions from Kiro and others, this boy named Knight Rod seemed to have only been practicing for just over a year.
Yet, in that one year, he had accomplished what many people could not achieve in a lifetime. From an unknown ordinary boy, he had risen to the rank of Golden Warrior in just a year—a concept that was hard to imagine.
Looking at Rod’s dormitory in the distance, their expressions became even more complicated!
……
Amidst the outside world’s speculation and shock, Rod remained calm. After breaking through that barrier, he allowed external elements to flood into his body. What he needed to do was control them tightly to prevent them from scattering. He guided these elements through his meridians, continuously expanding them. As a Golden Warrior, the amount of combat energy he could contain was far beyond what a Silver Warrior could achieve. He condensed combat energy while expanding his meridians.
The two most important aspects of training at the Golden Warrior stage were condensing combat energy into a physical form and unblocking the two main meridian pathways.
Condensing combat energy into a physical form was straightforward: it required sufficient combat energy, along with appropriate methods and external elements, to create a combat energy body that acted like armor, covering him completely and greatly enhancing his defense and offense. Once successfully formed, every part of his body would become a powerful weapon, allowing for countless attack methods—this was the greatest strength of a Golden Warrior! At this level, ordinary attacks could not break through their defenses, and they could easily destroy ordinary defense systems. Their power was self-evident!

Opening the two Ren and Tong meridians will connect the entire body, linking all the meridians together and bringing about a qualitative leap in every aspect, reaching a new level. It is clear that breaking through at these two levels is the most powerful means for a Golden Warrior. However, these levels are not easy to attain, which is why breaking through to the Golden Warrior level is considered one of the three major obstacles in a martial artist’s cultivation. The formation of a Combat Qi Avatar generally requires reaching the peak of Golden Warrior status to be fully accomplished; in fact, many people even after reaching the level of an Imperial-level warrior still fail to fully form a Combat Qi Avatar, highlighting the difficulty involved. So many requirements are needed to complete this avatar formation! It also demands a long time and continuous effort. For example, the genius warrior Viski, although at the advanced stage of Golden Warrior, still has his Combat Qi Avatar in its most basic form, offering little help—otherwise, Rod wouldn’t have been able to push him to such a disadvantage during their battle. Another example is Etouo, the captain of the high-level team, who, despite being an Imperial-level warrior, has his avatar at only an intermediate level, with average defense and attack capabilities. At this moment, Rod needs to make thorough preparations for forming his avatar and opening the two Ren and Tong meridians in the future. The rapid progress he made over the past year was largely due to opening all the major meridians except the Ren and Tong meridians while practicing the “Mind Cultivation Method,” which laid a solid foundation. Thanks to this, he faced few difficulties and advanced smoothly. Now, the foundation laid earlier has been exhausted, meaning from this point on, his cultivation will be no different from that of ordinary people, with no significant advantages. To make further progress, he must work hard step by step. As cultivation continues, the meridians throughout his body have expanded to a new level through purification and tempering. Under such conditions, the color of his Combat Qi gradually changes from silver-white to golden. Starting with a faint hint of gold, it gradually spreads until everything turns golden. Only when he sensed the approaching critical point did Rod reluctantly stop—reaching saturation; continuing would only bring more trouble and danger.

As Rod stopped, the external elements also quietly returned to calm and dispersed around. Exhaling a puff of misty air, he slowly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them like a tangible force. Feeling the abundance within his body, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a faint smile. “Golden Warrior! I’ve finally reached this level!” he murmured to himself with a hint of excitement. He could clearly sense that he was now completely different from before—his strength had increased significantly. If he had been a ten-year-old child before, he could now be considered a fifteen-year-old youth. This was the difference between levels; the further one progressed, the more terrifying the gains became. Suddenly, a disturbance arose within his body—he felt his combat energy rapidly fading away. Realizing this, his expression changed drastically as he quickly focused on investigating. He saw that his combat energy was rushing back into his dantian at an astonishing speed, and the culprit was none other than his beast soul, Furnace Heaven. At that moment, it was like a dried sponge, endlessly absorbing his combat energy. Though he didn’t understand why, Rod didn’t stop it; instead, he felt a sense of anticipation and excitement. Furnace Heaven had entered into a contract of equal life and death with him—it wouldn’t harm him. On the contrary, might his own progress bring some benefits to it? Xuanyuan had said that Furnace Heaven’s strength would increase as his own did. Undoubtedly, his current advancement must have brought benefits to Furnace Heaven. As his combat energy continued to drain, just when Rod felt it was about to run out, the sucking force gradually disappeared. Instead, he sensed the fire elements that had dispersed earlier gathering again and rushing into his body in a frenzied manner. One stream replenished his meridians and dantian to restore his lost combat energy, while the other flowed toward where Furnace Heaven was—clearly, the energy it needed to absorb. Without hesitation, he plunged back into cultivation. After what seemed like an endless cycle of repetitions, Rod felt his combat energy return to its optimal state, and only then did everything come to a halt. Only after confirming that nothing had changed again and that everything had returned to calm did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He felt something wrapping around his shoulder and sensed a warm breath, causing him to smile slightly—knowing that it must be Fen Tian having perched on his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, what he saw surprised him greatly. Then came an expression of joy—Fen Tian, yes, it was him. Its length had now reached over three meters, almost as thick as his own calf. Its scales had fully grown, displaying a striking crimson color that was incredibly vibrant! It had five claws on each of its four limbs—wasn’t that the hallmark of a Golden Clawed Dragon? Seeing this, Rod quickly observed it. In the next moment, his face was filled with delight—Fen Tian had directly risen to the Silver level after this transformation, skipping two stages in one go. Silver-level strength—although just at the beginning stage—was enough to help him fight. He couldn’t help but grin at the thought. This meant the little guy had entered its growth phase. At that moment, it was lying contentedly on his shoulder, its eyes slightly closed. Feeling all this, Rod’s mood became even better. It was truly a double celebration. Though it wasn’t yet appropriate to let Fen Tian appear in public, it was still enough to bring him satisfaction. “Captain… Captain!” A call from outside interrupted Rod’s thoughts, making him realize how much time had passed since he started practicing. His expression changed slightly. Based on past experience, a breakthrough plus thorough training took at least a day and a half, and reaching the rank of Golden Warrior might take even longer. Had the finals already begun? With that thought, he quickly recalled Fen Tian. Looking at the messy room, he smiled bitterly—there was no time to tidy it up. The calls outside urged him to open the door quickly. He hurried to the door and opened it. All the members of his team, including Kiro, were standing there. “Captain, you finally opened the door! What have you been doing these past two days? We haven’t seen you anywhere!” The female mage Anna was the first to complain upon seeing Rod. Tomorrow was the day of the finals, and everyone had been busy training to make final preparations. They had hoped to conduct one last practice battle under the captain’s leadership, but they hadn’t seen him anywhere for two days, which worried them greatly. So they had gathered everyone early that morning, brought along senior Kiro, and rushed to Rod’s dormitory.