Outside, while Lin Xiao was refining the yellow jiao blood pill, the name Mu Haoran had already spread widely.
At the bone age of twenty-two, he had consecutively killed two geniuses of the same generation from Yangzhou, drawing intervention from Martial Saints of both sides.
However, after a Martial Saint appeared and threatened him, when Yanzhou clashed with the geniuses of other states again, Mu Haoran’s figure was nowhere to be seen. The people from Yanzhou claimed he was in secluded cultivation.
But more people believed Mu Haoran was afraid and dared not appear.
Some said he feared being killed by a Martial Saint. Others said he feared being slain by other geniuses.
After all, he had killed first. Anyone facing him might also strike to kill.
All sorts of rumours circulated.
However, there was never a glimpse of Mu Haoran himself. Some even speculated that he might have been secretly killed by a Martial Saint.
Of course, in the clashes among the top geniuses of each state, various prodigies and dark horses emerged one after another. Mu Haoran was merely one topic of discussion. He stood out only because he had killed so dominantly, leaving a strong impression.
Other geniuses were no less renowned than Mu Haoran.
In less than ten days, the geniuses from the eight states had completed their pairwise clashes.
Even Zhuzhou, without the Dantai family’s participation, had clashed with states of lower ranking combat power and produced several powerful geniuses and dark horses.
But in the end, they all ended in defeat.
The states were ranked by a best-of-three system across three rounds. Zhuzhou came last.
The specific performance rankings were: Haozhou first, Minzhou second, Youzhou third, Yanzhou fourth, Yangzhou fifth, Xuanzhou sixth, Cangzhou seventh, Zhuzhou eighth.
However, everyone knew this was merely a best-of-three system reaching the top in one cycle. It did not reflect the overall number of geniuses.
It only indicated the combat power ranking of the strongest geniuses in the three age groups.
It was not the overall quantity of geniuses. If each age group were divided into multiple matches, the rankings would be different.
Moreover, this ranking was not entirely accurate in determining which state had the absolute strongest top combat power.
Among the eight states, some ultimate top geniuses remained hidden and had not acted.
If they all participated, the specific rankings might change.
For example, the Dantai family had not competed. If they had, the overall rankings might have been disrupted, as they were based on total wins and losses.
Nevertheless, the rankings were not meaningless. They roughly showed which states had stronger openly displayed geniuses.
The top three states had relatively stronger pinnacle geniuses across the three age groups.
Among them, the strongest genius under twenty years old came from Haozhou, which ranked first overall.
A twenty-year-old genius from the Jiang family repeatedly revealed trump cards and swept all participating peers from other states.
The strongest genius under thirty came from Youzhou, which ranked third overall.
A genius nearing thirty from the Hong family swept all participating peers from other states.
The strongest genius under twenty-five came from Minzhou, which ranked second overall. A twenty-five-year-old genius from the Xiao family swept the participating youths from other states.
Even Wang Qi, who had been outstanding and famous during the state clashes, was defeated by that Xiao family youth.
However, since Yanzhou had Mu Haoran under twenty-five who had not appeared, the Xiao family genius, Xiao Renhao, challenged Yanzhou twice but was turned away both times with the excuse that Mu Haoran was in seclusion.
Mu Haoran’s reputation plummeted sharply.
…
Another day, in the inn where the Yanzhou Wang family resided.
After refining for a full ten days, Lin Xiao’s dantian finally showed faint signs of change.
Finally, he fiercely poured the medicinal power into his dantian. His dantian underwent a qualitative transformation, instantly experiencing massive changes.
“Slash!”
As the dantian changed, a heavenly phenomenon occurred.
It was the zi hour of the night. Above the entire Lingnan City, the night sky for hundreds of li around instantly turned blood-red. Terrifying pressure suddenly enveloped from above.
In that instant, everyone’s minds shook. Many awoke from sleep in shock. Those who had not slept also looked up towards the windows.
However, by the time they awoke and rushed out or looked up, the blood-red sky had already vanished.
The terrifying pressure had also disappeared without a trace. It lasted only a fleeting moment.
Many who were awakened even thought it was a dream. Those who had not slept believed it was an illusion.
Yet in their hearts, they were certain that terrifying pressure had indeed descended for that brief instant. They wondered what had happened.
“Could it be the Wang family’s Martial Saint warning some ill-intentioned intruders into the city?” the crowd thought secretly.
Afterwards, with no further pressure enveloping them, many went back to sleep.
Of course, those with great strength naturally noticed the phenomenon in the sky.
However, it seemed to have been deliberately erased. No one knew what had occurred.
In the courtyard where Lin Xiao was within the Wang family inn, it had already been destroyed by his terrifying aura.
A deep earth-coloured glow burst from outside Lin Xiao’s dantian. Above and behind him, a massive blood-coloured dragon shadow appeared. The blood-coloured dragon shadow showed increasingly clear signs, as if a true dragon traversing from ancient times. Ancient and powerful pressure surged out, intimidating all directions.
A trembling sound like chanting scriptures or Buddhist recitations filled the air. Terrifying aura emanated from Lin Xiao for a long time, creating massive commotion.
However, around the entire courtyard and even above the blood dragon shadow, a powerful Martial Saint pressure enveloped everything, preventing the aura from leaking out.
After quite a while, the blood dragon shadow finally vanished. The terrifying aura on Lin Xiao’s body ceased.
At this point, in the courtyard, the rooms were destroyed. Wang Qi and the two half-step Martial Saint elders, who had fallen to the side, all stared in shock at the scene before them, somewhat unable to recover.
“High-earth-tier phenomenon, divine dragon phenomenon?” Wang Qi said dumbfounded.
The divine dragon phenomenon had attributes and quality that were simply too high. It was related to dragons and divine beasts.
“No wonder his combat power in the same realm is so strong. He actually possesses a divine dragon phenomenon, and a high-earth-tier one at that.” Another half-step Martial Saint elder exclaimed in shock.
In reality, they did not know that this was Lin Xiao’s phenomenon upgrading from mid-earth-tier.
They assumed Lin Xiao had originally possessed a high-earth-tier phenomenon.
They had never heard of phenomena upgrading, so naturally they did not consider that possibility.
“This child is truly a monster!” In the void, the Wang family Grand Elder was also filled with shock.
A mid-earth-tier divine dragon phenomenon alone would have shocked him immensely.
The changes and phenomenon it emitted, that ancient pressure, even made his heart palpitate.
One must know, he was a genuine Martial Saint expert, and not just a first-level one.
Yet he felt palpitation from a young man in his early twenties.
“This kid’s phenomenon can even upgrade…”
In the shadows, even Long Tutian’s face twitched involuntarily.
He had seen Lin Xiao use his phenomenon before, so he knew it had upgraded.
This was the first time he had witnessed such a situation.
Originally, he had only thought that a blood pill related to “dragon” would be greatly beneficial to Lin Xiao.
He had not expected the benefit to be this immense.
He very much wanted to go congratulate him, but in the end, he did not appear. He left the Wang family inn and hid in the shadows.
