Tantai Wenjun was already gravely wounded and had almost no strength to resist. The Bewilderment Pill slid down his throat.
Moments after it entered his stomach, the medicine took effect.
Soon Tantai Wenjun’s eyes grew glassy; his spiritual sense fell into a muddled haze.
Seeing this, Lin Xiao immediately swallowed a Spirit Explosion Pill.
The pill’s medicinal power was ferocious. He wanted to test whether he could temporarily break through to early seventh-grade spirit controller.
Whoosh!
Under the violent surge of the pill, the spiritual aura around Lin Xiao’s head rose layer by layer. In mere moments his spiritual power smashed through the late sixth-grade barrier and stepped into early seventh-grade.
In that instant Lin Xiao felt his sea of consciousness undergo a qualitative transformation. His spiritual sense grew incomparably powerful.
Whoosh!
He instantly sent his spiritual sense surging into Tantai Wenjun’s mind and began fusing with it.
Enslavement was similar to mind control, only far more exhaustive; it required pouring out nearly all of one’s spiritual sense.
Both techniques were lightning-fast: success or failure was decided almost instantly; prolonged struggles were rare.
With Tantai Wenjun in a befuddled state similar to a purple-corpse puppet, Lin Xiao easily imprinted his spiritual brand deep within the elder’s mind.
Enslavement successful!
From this moment on, Tantai Wenjun would naturally feel reverence toward Lin Xiao and obey his every command.
Phew!
Lin Xiao let out a long breath. Though the process had been quick, it had been extremely taxing; this was his first time performing true enslavement.
Of course, the Bewilderment Pill’s effects had not yet worn off, so Tantai Wenjun remained unconscious.
“He… actually enslaved Tantai Wenjun?” Wang Qi, who was healing nearby, stared in shock.
The two Wang half-step Martial Saints and the remaining Wang elder were equally stunned.
A seventh-grade advanced spirit controller of considerable status within the Tantai Clan, one of their main contestants for the Continental Spirit Controller Grand Competition, had just been enslaved by Lin Xiao?
“Heh, please keep this secret as well,” Lin Xiao said, breathing slightly heavily. Performing enslavement had drained him.
“Brother Lin, rest assured. We would only bring trouble on ourselves if we spoke,” Wang Qi replied solemnly.
The other three nodded vigorously.
The Tantai Clan specialised in spiritual power. If they learned that one of their seventh-grade advanced elders had been enslaved by a junior and would still represent them at the Grand Competition, they would explode with rage.
It would be the ultimate humiliation for a spirit-controller clan.
Of course, such things happened at every Continental Spirit Controller Grand Competition: participants arriving already enslaved, or enslaving one another on the spot. It was simply one of the many accepted tactics.
After a while Tantai Wenjun gradually regained consciousness. When his eyes focused on Lin Xiao, they were filled with deep reverence.
“Master!” he said devoutly.
“Take these healing pills. Once your injuries are recovered, you may return,” Lin Xiao said, handing over several pills. “You know what to say when you get back?”
“The beast clans set a trap to hunt humans. Only this old woman and three from the Wang Clan escaped,” Tantai Wenjun answered at once.
Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction. Enslavement truly was convenient; the target instantly became a perfectly obedient slave.
He did not test further and simply let Tantai Wenjun begin healing.
Wang Qi and the others were still staring in disbelief.
They knew about enslavement, but seeing a seventh-grade advanced expert who had been an enemy moments ago now acting like a loyal servant was hard to accept.
Lin Xiao ignored their shock and took out one of the Zitan Spirit Lotus roots.
It looked no different from ordinary spirit lotus root, only its medicinal potency was far greater because it had grown in the special pool.
He had been curious what made that pool special, but the entire area had been levelled; even the pool itself was gone.
He held the root in both hands, circulated his vital energy, and began drawing its medicinal power into his dantian to refine.
The root’s effect was gentle yet vast. Surging power flooded his dantian space, instantly filling his one-chi dantian to the brim, even threatening to burst it. As he refined, his dantian continuously expanded to accommodate more.
Unknowingly, his dantian grew larger and larger.
A full day later, when the root’s power was nearly exhausted, Lin Xiao’s dantian had expanded from one chi to two chi. Terrifying energy surged within, flooding his entire body.
In that moment boundless strength filled him. An aura far stronger than before radiated from his body.
“Breakthrough successful?”
Wang Qi and the others stared in astonishment.
Even Lin Xiao himself was surprised and delighted. He murmured, “Worthy of the name Zitan Spirit Lotus. The beasts didn’t lie.”
“…”
Wang Qi’s eyes gleamed. If one root had let Lin Xiao break through so dramatically, would refining his own do the same?
He was tempted, but his injuries were not fully healed, so he held back.
Lin Xiao, however, immediately took out the second root and began refining it without hesitation.
“…”
Wang Qi and the others were speechless.
Such a priceless treasure, normally one would consolidate the realm and push to the absolute peak before using the second. Yet he was refining the second straight away?
Wasn’t that incredibly wasteful?
A day later, another terrifying aura erupted from Lin Xiao.
“He broke through again!”
Wang Qi and the other two twitched.
Two major realms in two days, using the exact same treasure. Just how monstrous was this Lin Xiao?
At First Layer Martial Emperor he had already possessed strength close to half-step Martial Saint. Now at Third Layer Martial Emperor, how strong would his vital energy alone be?
“He could probably sweep someone like me now…” Wang Qi thought, heart trembling again.
A Third Layer Martial Emperor overpowering him, a genius who already surpassed ordinary half-step Martial Saints; he felt ashamed.
“I can’t fall behind!”
Though his wounds were not fully healed, seeing Lin Xiao break through again, Wang Qi could not resist. He took out his own Zitan Spirit Lotus root and began refining it on the spot.
