When Ace closed his eyes, the first thing he saw in his mind was the card.
The glass shard which awakened the card was nowhere to be seen, but judging from the current circumstance he was in, Ace was sure that the glass shard was absorbed by the mysterious card.
The card was releasing a constant stream of spirit energy, if not for the sudden mutation which his soul spirit had undergone, Ace might be in a more dire situation than now.
While Ace allowed his soul spirit to take the initiative to absorb spirit energy in order to nourish itself, he was also absorbing spirit energy into his body, directing it into his spirit core.
The spirit energy released by the card was violet compared to the usual spirit energy he cultivates with, even though there was a large number of spirit stones left behind by Roy and Rain to absorb, Ace setted them aside.
Even though making a cultivation breakthrough might lead to the same purpose, the ending result might be different in terms of quality.
Just like how the seas are separated from the sky by the land, it was a minor difference which called the changes.
It might only be a difference which results in his strength being slightly weaker than intended, but Ace could hear a voice screaming into his mind.
"The only way is a perfect breakthrough."
The voice was encompassed with killing intent, so concentrated that Ace felt like an ant waiting to be crushed despite being a cultivator of the slaughter law.
Whatever that voice was, Ace was sure that it had the best interest in mind for him, though the way it was conveying the message to Ace was harsh.
At this point of time, Ace only saw the need to become a Martial Saint, because he understood the cruel reality.
Cultivators of the Four Domains are merely controllers and gods in their own ways and beliefs, but compared to those Martial Saints, they weren't even ants in those eyes of clarity.
The clarity wasn't from their heart being pure, but because they have seen and been through too much in life.
The first prerequisite to become a Martial Saint, was to accept the cultivation world as it is and find your own role to play.
Would you try to change the cultivation world or continue to live as it is? Or will you seek some other purpose?
When one manages to answer that question, it's only a matter of time before they become a Martial Saint.
Out of every hundred Martial Ancestors, there might only be one who becomes a Martial Saint.
But in the vast cultivation world, there were billions who aren't even able to step past the Martial Spirit realm, not to mention the gate locking them off from the Divine realm.
Ace could feel the spirit energy within his body going on a rampage, his meridians were making a last stand, only to be torn apart by the merciless surge of spirit energy wanting to come to rest.
His muscles were tightened, bracing themselves for the strong impact which sent a wave of pain to Ace's mind.
His sweat was mixed with the blood which was splattering from his body, but no tears could be seen on his face, his fearless expression determined to settle his surge of spirit energy without failure.
Ace was still diverting the spirit energy into his spirit core, circulating his spirit core constantly in order to absorb the effects of the spirit energy.
His Nirvana flames were coming to life of its own accord, trying to repair his torn meridians and revitalize his ripped muscles, his bones were being mended together miraculously, but whether he would make it through alive was still unknown, hope was still bleak, but before his eyes.
Through this ordeal was the rainbow after the storm, fall before this ordeal and all that awaits him is the endless cycle of the afterlife.
"Life and death, rise or fall, shall be decided now." Ace murmured to himself as he grabbed the sword of his, which was both his soul spirit and only weapon.
The amount of spirit energy within his body has reached its limit, in fact, it was going to exceed his limit anytime soon.
What he had to do right now was convert the spirit core of his into what is known as a spiritual sea.
When one steps into the Four Domains realm, one of the prerequisites is to awaken their spiritual sea as well, this is done through breaking the spirit core into shambles, before gathering the broken pieces together through the flow of spirit energy naturally.
The moment one steps into the Martial Lord realm, the main purpose of their cultivation would be increasing the volume of water which their spiritual sea can contain.
When one feels that it's time for their spiritual sea to evolve into the vast ocean, that's when they can make a breakthrough into the Martial King realm.
When one steps into the Martial King realm, their spiritual ocean will then increase even further in volume, finally becoming what is known as the Divine Palace.
What Ace had to do right now was stabilize his spiritual sea, as for increasing its volume and how much was needed to make a breakthrough to even further realms, all would have to wait until he manages to form his spiritual sea.
Right now, he has already shattered his spirit core into nothingness, allowing the endless stream of spirit energy to form a spiritual sea in his body, which soon settled down calmly as he observed his spiritual sea which was different from the supposed blue.
His spiritual sea was a ruby red, sparkling with bubbles on the surface which made Ace curious about what the current situation was about.
The next moment, Ace realised that his body was coated in what seemed like dragon scales, but when he blinked and opened his eyes again, Ace realised that it was already early morning. One day had passed in the blink of an eye.
His soul spirit was now his weapon, but the soul was also infused into his spiritual pool of blood. The situation was bizarre, but instead of wasting his time trying to figure out the situation like back in the past, Ace made use of the entire afternoon to stabilize his cultivation base and getting used to the sudden increase in strength.
After this was done, he left the auction hall and managed to find Roy and Rain who have been busy making future plans and deciding on the next batch of items to auction on their list.
"Senior Roy, Rain, thanks for the assistance." Ace greeted them as he took a seat beside them, not being offended by them ignoring him because they were focused on their work.
After a few minutes, Roy closed the list he was reading and asked Ace, "So, what exactly happened?"
"I'm unable to explain, but I made a breakthrough to the Martial Lord realm."
"What did you just say?" Rain interjected and asked the question in his father's stead.
"I'm now a Martial Lord." Ace confirmed as a wisp of spirit energy gathered above his palm, judging from the concentration and the aura which his spirit energy was releasing, Rain and Roy knew that Ace wasn't joking with them.
He was the first and might be the only person to step into the Martial Lord realm at the age of fourteen.
"By the way, the family head of the Crimson family wants to meet you, would you give him the honour of receiving a visit from you?" Roy recalled and told Ace, thinking that it would be beneficial towards the Peacock Auction Hall in some ways as well.
"I'll pay him a visit right now then, senior Roy, Rain, the next time we meet, get ready because the cultivation world is going to rumble in fear, because the lord has come, the lord that will one day trample on all kings and show those Emperors who the true Ace is."
Ace laughed and left the auction hall as the father and son stared at the direction he left in before breaking out in laughter together.
A second later however, a knocking sound on the door surprised them as they contained their laughter in their stomach immediately, if it was Roine who's here right now, the two of them would be in trouble for slacking off instead of working for her sake as she had demanded.
But when they heard a man's voice, they couldn't help but laugh again, "Ace, what are you doing back here?"
Hearing Rain's question, Ace could only smile awkwardly and explain, "Can I know where the Crimson family is?"
Roy took out a map from his spatial ring and tossed it towards Ace.
"You can keep this map, it's more detailed than all those you can find out there along the marketside."
"Thank you senior Roy."
Seeing that Ace had finally taken his leave, Roy finally heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank god he's still alive, or the master would have killed me despite the years I spent staging this performance alongside Ezio who suffered years of cultivation lost because of the defeated clone which carried his thoughts."