“I am not sure, but to reach eighth-grade spiritual controller, it is probably only the Tantai family or Spirit Pool Island. Loose cultivators are not impossible, but the possibility is very small.” An Miao replied.
“Tantai family…”
Lin Xiao felt a slight chill in his heart, then secretly guessed, “Could it be that the matter of me enslaving Tantai Wenjun has been discovered by them?”
“It should not be. Moreover, if they really had a way to undo it, they would not delay. Once undone, I would sense it immediately…” Lin Xiao shook his head in calculation.
The Tantai family’s eighth-grade initial spiritual controller probably only attempted enslavement because he saw Lin Xiao’s exceptional talent, not because he discovered that Lin Xiao had enslaved Tantai Wenjun and came for revenge.
Of course, to undo enslavement, the simplest way is to enslave the spiritual controller who performed it, then order him to undo the enslavement himself.
“I will wait for you to refine the Nine Lotus Pill, to prevent any incidents.” An Miao reminded.
Lin Xiao nodded. Then he instructed Wang Qi to have people guard the periphery of the courtyard. After that, he took the Nine Lotus Pill in the room and began refining it.
An Miao and her spirit form stayed nearby to protect him at all times.
In addition, the Wang family’s great elder, Long Tutian, was secretly providing shelter.
With this, Lin Xiao could refine the pill with complete peace of mind.
During the time Lin Xiao was refining the Nine Lotus Pill, in ordinary days, apart from the geniuses who appeared in state-level clashes, collisions occasionally occurred between other geniuses. They would visit each other’s cities, provoke one another, and fight.
The clashes were very casual. Some were in the same realm, some sought out opponents they wanted to challenge, some crossed age groups, and some, after improving their strength, challenged opponents they had previously lost to.
It could be said that every day, exciting battles took place in every city.
After some more days passed, people from the Tianji Holy Land and Yaochi Holy Land also arrived. The eight-directional cities became even more lively.
As soon as the two holy lands arrived, they formed a Holy State team to challenge the geniuses of the eight states, causing the entire place to boil with excitement.
On that day, geniuses from the eight states gathered. Many people fought consecutively, with numerous matches.
However, for the strongest combat power under twenty years of age, a genius from the Jiang family fought and defeated all the strongest geniuses from the two holy lands in Holy State under twenty years old, sweeping them completely.
For ages twenty to twenty-five, Lin Xiao was still in seclusion and had not emerged. The strongest geniuses of that age from each state fought one after another.
In the end, Xiao Zihao fought again but was defeated once more, losing to a female genius disciple from Yaochi Holy Land.
For under thirty years old, the top geniuses from each state also fought consecutively. Finally, the strongest, Hong Yixun, took the field but still lost to a genius from Tianji Holy Land.
Two to one, Holy State ultimately won.
This left the eight states quite unwilling. The Central Continent had nine states standing equally. No single state was supreme, not even Holy State.
Yet the eight states combined had lost to one state. This was very embarrassing for them.
However, they still had one hope: Mu Haoran had not yet fought.
After the eight states were defeated, many people brought up Mu Haoran. But the people from Yaochi Holy Land and Tianji Holy Land showed no weakness, saying they were ready to face Mu Haoran at any time.
Mu Haoran, however, used seclusion as an excuse and delayed appearing. Some even spread the same words he had previously used against Xiao Zihao, saying he disdained to fight and the like. This angered the two holy lands, who came to Lingnan City several times looking for him.
But each time, they were sent away by the Wang family’s great elder.
When the fifteenth day arrived.
At this time, in the inn room, vast spiritual energy surged continuously in Lin Xiao’s mind, washing through it. His entire mind seemed on the verge of undergoing a qualitative change.
When the last strand of medicinal power was about to be exhausted, Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and fiercely directed it into his mind.
“Sizzle!”
With the final impact of medicinal power, Lin Xiao felt his head spin. His consciousness became somewhat blurred.
His mind nearly could not withstand it and almost shattered.
Fortunately, his mind was strong enough and ultimately held.
But when the medicinal power was completely depleted, Lin Xiao’s mind still had not undergone a qualitative change. It stopped abruptly at the final moment before transformation.
“Failed!”
Lin Xiao nearly fainted. He could not hold back a mouthful of blood that spurted out.
Last time, when he refined the pills from Tantai Wenjun and Tantai Qiuping to impact seventh-grade initial spiritual power, he failed, but he was already close to seventh-grade initial spiritual controller.
This time, he had used the specialised seventh-grade advanced pill, the Nine Lotus Pill, for breaking through spiritual power realms, yet he still failed!
“Failed?” An Miao beside him could not help showing disappointment.
She did not know how much cost or how long it had taken her to prepare this pill. In the end, it still failed…
Of course, even the Nine Lotus Pill was not guaranteed to succeed one hundred percent. She could still accept that.
After all, breakthroughs for spiritual controllers become increasingly difficult. If it were that easy, there would long be hordes of seventh-grade spiritual controllers.
Even the most outstanding geniuses sometimes fail.
“Sizzle!” An Miao’s spiritual power surged out, supporting Lin Xiao who was about to collapse. A healing pill shot from her hand into the corner of Lin Xiao’s mouth.
Lin Xiao did not faint, but he was somewhat dazed. After the healing pill entered his stomach, it did not take long for him to gradually regain clarity.
“Just a little bit short.” In the end, Lin Xiao could only sigh regretfully.
He also felt a sense of helplessness. With such a great opportunity from the Nine Lotus Pill, he had failed.
Spiritual power realms were indeed harder the further one progressed, countless times more difficult than breaking through primordial force cultivation.
He had already failed several times impacting from sixth-grade to seventh-grade.
“It is normal not to succeed in the breakthrough. No pill offers a one hundred percent guarantee of success. Moreover, even if the Nine Lotus Pill fails to break through, it should still increase spiritual power considerably.” An Miao comforted him from the side.
“It has indeed increased a lot. But rest assured, even without breaking through, I should not achieve too poor a ranking. Besides, there is still more than a month until it starts. I still have a chance to break through again.” Lin Xiao grinned at An Miao.
He was not someone whose confidence could be shattered by a single failure. If he needed a woman to comfort him, that would be somewhat embarrassing.
Moreover, his spiritual power could already fight across two levels. This time, although no breakthrough, his spiritual power had grown considerably.
Probably no seventh-grade mid-level spiritual controller would be his match.
With his spiritual ability added, he could even contend against seventh-grade advanced spiritual controllers.
Furthermore, he could refine burst pills. When the time came, his specific ranking was still hard to predict.
Most importantly, he had another trump card: his slave, Tantai Wenjun.
Tantai Wenjun was still impacting the eighth-grade initial spiritual controller realm. Even if he failed, his combat power would surely be extraordinary.
With the various resources provided by the Tantai family, even if Tantai Wenjun could not reach the top, his ranking would certainly not be poor.
Tantai Wenjun’s ranking would be his ranking.
Tantai Wenjun’s ranking should be sufficient to meet An Miao’s requirements.
If Tantai Wenjun directly broke through to eighth-grade initial spiritual controller, there would almost be no need to compete.
The championship would belong to Tantai Wenjun, and thus to him.
Moreover, there was still more than a month. He was now at the peak of sixth-grade advanced spiritual power realm, so there was still a chance for breakthrough.
He had cultivated spiritual power for too little time, making it hard to break through even with high-grade superior pills.
This period was perfect for focused cultivation.
“There is indeed still a chance.” An Miao smiled happily. Since Lin Xiao was not discouraged, there truly was still opportunity.
Then she asked, “How strong is your combat power now?”
“Fighting across two levels and sweeping seventh-grade mid-level spiritual controllers should be no problem.” Lin Xiao answered honestly.
“That means you can refine seventh-grade mid-level pills?” An Miao pressed.
Lin Xiao nodded.
An Miao’s eyes brightened. “Write down the herbs you want for me. As my father’s successor, you must have quite a few burst pill formulas, right?”
