Before merging with the Mountain and River Martial Soul, Ling Xiao’s aptitude was comparable to Ming Tian and Leng Hao.
However, after the transformation by the Mountain and River Martial Soul, he could clearly feel a significant surge not only in his martial arts aptitude.
Even his memory, comprehension, and other aspects had comprehensively improved.
The Mountain and River Martial Soul didn’t feel like a mere auxiliary tool; it had gradually become one with Ling Xiao’s soul.
As this fusion deepened, all aspects of his body would continue to undergo transformation and improvement.
The awakening of the Mountain and River Martial Soul was actually quite sudden, triggered by a tattered scroll given to him by his grandfather, Hong Qi.
Now, he couldn’t help but wonder: was Grandpa Hong Qi really just a beggar?
And who were his parents?
Ling Xiao’s suspicions weren’t baseless. As his horizons broadened, he increasingly understood the terrifying nature of the Mountain and River Martial Soul.
If Hong Qi was just an ordinary person, how could he possess something so valuable?
Forget it, no point dwelling on it. By hastening to improve his strength, one day, the answers to these questions would reveal themselves.
He believed Hong Qi wouldn’t harm him. Perhaps for some reason, there were things he couldn’t be told.
In that case, the only option was to enhance his own strength to convince Hong Qi he had the ability to protect himself.
Beyond that, there was probably no other way.
About an hour passed.
Ling Xiao’s body suddenly expelled a layer of foul, viscous black liquid.
This was the impurities in his body, not the first time he’d seen it. Ling Xiao knew this meant his body had once again moved closer to the Mortal Body.
From his body to his soul, he had undergone a sublimation, a true transformation, nothing short of rebirth.
Combined with the insights gained from his battles with Yang Cheng and Li Anle, his accumulated strength erupted once more.
His cultivation also broke through to the mid-stage of Martial Vein Ninth Layer.
Of course, to the outside world, he maintained the facade of peak Martial Vein Eighth Layer.
His combat power could be formidable, but his cultivation must not advance too quickly, or it would attract the attention of Demon Flame Heavenly Sovereign, which would be troublesome.
As for Hei Suo, Ling Xiao no longer feared him. Without Demon Flame Heavenly Sovereign’s full support, Hei Suo wouldn’t dare openly confront him, even with ten times the courage. After all, Ling Xiao now had backing.
As for underhanded tricks, bring them on. Ling Xiao wasn’t skilled at much, but he excelled at making others reap what they sowed!
Such significant progress, in fact, came from digesting less than a third of the Mortal Body Sculpting Pill’s potency.
For others, achieving this level of improvement would require consuming the entire pill, but he only used a third.
This, ultimately, was thanks to the Mountain and River Martial Soul.
With the Mountain and River Martial Soul, he wasted almost none of the pill’s potency, absorbing it nearly completely.
Moreover, the special energy released by the Mountain and River Martial Soul could enhance the pill’s effects, something others couldn’t achieve.
As the most powerful martial soul, its auxiliary role was undeniably unmatched.
As for combat, Ling Xiao hadn’t yet tried it.
Though he was eager to test it, to avoid becoming a target, he suppressed that urge as much as possible.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would never use the Mountain and River Martial Soul in combat; his other martial souls were already sufficient.
Additionally, with the aid of the Mortal Body Sculpting Pill, the effects of the Qian Yuan Bone-Changing Pill had been fully absorbed.
This allowed him to break through a bottleneck that had nearly stalled, advancing to the fourth layer.
The fourth layer enabled the cultivation of the Heavenly Dragon Martial Vein.
In other words, the martial veins in his body would fully transform into Heavenly Dragon Martial Veins, not only storing more true essence but also converting all true essence into Heavenly Dragon True Essence.
Having broken through to the fourth layer, his next step was to convert all the Snow Lotus True Essence in his body—except for the Thunderbolt True Essence and Ferocious Beast True Essence—into Heavenly Dragon True Essence.
Heavenly Dragon True Essence was of a much higher grade than Snow Lotus True Essence.
Yet it retained the characteristics of Snow Lotus True Essence, which was quite remarkable.
With the improved quality of his true essence, all his martial techniques would see a significant boost in attack power, making him far stronger than when he fought Yang Cheng.
Clearly, without the Mortal Body Sculpting Pill, breaking through to the fourth layer would have been nearly impossible.
At the very least, it wouldn’t have happened so quickly.
The greatest contributor was still the Mortal Body Sculpting Pill gifted by Old Hall Master Yang.
This was the Moonlight Sect, one of the twelve sects. The opportunities here far surpassed those in the secular world.
Just because of a challenge victory, a pill casually gifted by a hall master led to such a breakthrough—truly astonishing.
Defensive martial arts naturally progressed more slowly than other techniques, so many were unwilling to invest time in them.
Among the entire outer sect, fewer than ten out of a thousand used defensive martial arts as their primary method.
In the top thirty outer sect rankings, only one person primarily focused on defensive martial arts.
That was Jin Ming.
Even Ling Xiao didn’t primarily focus on defensive martial arts; he simply advanced comprehensively.
After reaching the fourth layer, his physical toughness had surpassed Jin Ming’s.
Confidence was never something he lacked, but previously, he truly hadn’t been sure he could defeat Jin Ming.
Now, the situation had changed dramatically. With his current strength, defeating Jin Ming, while not easy, was no longer impossible.
What concerned him more now wasn’t defeating someone but the next two layers.
There were only six layers in total.
The fifth layer was already terrifying. At this stage, a complete transformation occurred, with every part of the body undergoing an upgrade, granting full Heavenly Dragon Blood, enabling rebirth from a drop of blood, and breaking through to the Mortal Saint Realm!
Then there was the final layer, the sixth—
Immune to water and fire, indestructible as diamond, soul reborn, body immortal!
What kind of realm was this? Ling Xiao was truly astounded.
Such a fearsome defensive martial art was merely a high-grade gold-tier technique. What kind of realm could an even more terrifying one reach?
He was genuinely looking forward to it.
Ling Xiao was currently only at the fourth layer, but his physical strength already surpassed that of a half-step master.
In terms of raw physical power, without using any true essence, he could now crush an ordinary half-step master, while they couldn’t harm him at all.
That’s how formidable he was!
To say he was invincible below the Transcendent Realm might be premature, as the top three in the outer sect were no pushovers.
But even if he couldn’t be invincible, he could at least remain undefeated.
He continued cultivating for a while, and as the sky darkened, Ling Xiao felt his cultivation had stabilised and couldn’t improve further for now. Taking a deep breath, he stopped cultivating.
