Zi Ling pouted with a smile, “Something like that, but with me vouching for you, you’ll naturally get more benefits than others.”
“It’s settled then. You’ll fight for our Zi family, and you’ll gain considerable rewards. If you achieve a good ranking, you might even have a chance to join one of the eight super sects, gaining access to better resources.”
With that, Zi Ling finalised the matter, then added, “By the way, I didn’t come here just for this. It’s also about the Yuanling Pool Secret Realm. In about ten days, it’ll open, and I plan to enter it.”
“You’re entering the Yuanling Pool Secret Realm too?” Lin Xiao was slightly taken aback, realising that this was likely Zi Ling’s primary reason for coming, rather than rushing to recruit him. “I’m also planning to enter the Yuanling Pool Secret Realm. But the Cao family has a seventh-stage Martial Venerable with a three-vein Yin body, and that’s just their second-ranked genius. Their top genius is even stronger. Plus, the Xu family has three top geniuses, and the Lu family likely has no shortage of talents either. It’s going to be dangerous.”
Lin Xiao sighed, concerned for Zi Ling. Her spiritual power was only at the initial fifth grade. If the top geniuses from these three families targeted her, it could be quite risky.
“Those three families wouldn’t dare kill me. I’ve brought some trump cards for protection, so it won’t be easy for them to take me down. Besides, don’t I have you watching my back?” Zi Ling grinned confidently.
Before Lin Xiao could respond, she cut in, “Don’t tell me you’re too busy fending for yourself, surrounded by enemies. I won’t believe that. Back in the Xuanyu Battlefield, what was your cultivation level? Yet when you emerged, you surpassed nearly everyone. You’re cunning, resilient, and thrive in adversity. How could someone like you fall so easily? My master’s judgement is never wrong.”
Lin Xiao was left speechless, his words preempted by Zi Ling. What could he say?
What frustrated him was how she described him as cunning and sly. Was he really that cunning?
And was it her master’s judgement or hers? Master An Miao didn’t seem to know *that* much about him…
After chatting with Zi Ling for a while, Lin Xiao returned to a room alone to prepare for the Yuanling Pool Secret Realm.
Originally, he planned to use a Martial Monarch’s skeleton to cultivate the Indestructible Skeleton Technique.
However, with only ten days until the secret realm opened, and the Cao, Xu, and Lu families likely sending their top geniuses to target him, the pressure was immense. Lin Xiao decided to use Qingling Stones to break through to the next cultivation level.
But the difficulty was considerable.
After giving instructions to the Ling family, Lin Xiao entered his room, locked the door, and sat cross-legged in a corner. He took out several Qingling Stones, held them in both hands, and began circulating his elemental energy in his dantian.
As he channelled energy into the Qingling Stones, a surge of elemental qi flowed into his meridians, rushing into the vast, chaotic sea of his dantian, pushing for a breakthrough.
The immense qi poured into his dantian, transforming into boundless elemental energy, merging with the existing forces in a turbulent surge.
Unmatched energy flowed continuously through his meridians, cleansing his body.
To Lin Xiao’s delight, under the impact of the Qingling Stones, he faintly sensed changes in his dantian. In just one day, he felt the outer layer of his dantian beginning to undergo chaotification.
Three days later, having consumed twenty Qingling Stones, his dantian was like a vast sea battered by intense elemental qi. By midnight on the third day, the outer layer of his dantian had formed a third layer of chaos.
Tremendous power surged within those three layers, and a formidable aura radiated from Lin Xiao’s body.
At the Martial King realm, the dantian condenses to its limit before starting to chaotify, a hallmark of the Martial Venerable realm. Each layer of chaotification marks a new stage.
Now, with three layers of chaos in his dantian, Lin Xiao had officially stepped into the third-stage Martial Venerable realm.
“I thought it’d take over ten days, or even fail, but I broke through in just three days. These Qingling Stones are really effective!”
Feeling the vast power within him, Lin Xiao’s lips curled into a broad smile. “With my current strength, I should be able to fight Cao Xueqing head-on, right?”
Now, he had enough confidence to battle Cao Xueqing and even defeat her.
“But these Qingling Stones… the consumption is insane. Just breaking through to the third-stage Martial Venerable used twenty stones…”
Thinking of this, Lin Xiao felt a pang of distress. Mei Tianmo had used twenty stones to break through from second-stage to third-stage Martial Monarch.
For him, breaking from second-stage to third-stage Martial Venerable also took twenty stones. How many would he need for future breakthroughs if he relied on Qingling Stones?
Of course, it was possible Mei Tianmo used fewer because she was closer to her breakthrough, but his consumption was still excessive.
Fortunately, he had auctioned off core martial techniques from two families, earning plenty of Qingling Stones. After splitting them with Mei Tianmo, he still had over a hundred left.
Otherwise, those twenty stones alone would’ve been painful.
“With about ten days until the Yuanling Pool Secret Realm opens, I’ll try to refine a Martial Monarch skeleton into a combat skeleton and see how strong it can be.”
After some thought, Lin Xiao began using the Indestructible Skeleton Technique to refine a Martial Monarch’s skeleton.
Having just broken through in elemental energy, further progress would be difficult without more resources. His spiritual power and petrification abilities, recently advanced, were also hard to improve further.
The only avenue for progress now was the Indestructible Skeleton Technique.
The technique’s upper volume involved refining others’ skeletons, understanding their mysteries, and granting them combat abilities.
The lower volume focused on cultivating one’s own bones.
If possible, refining a combat skeleton while simultaneously cultivating one’s own bones—infusing power into both—yielded better results than separate practice.
The technique’s annotations mentioned this method.
However, the Indestructible Skeleton Technique was profoundly complex and difficult to master. Only after reaching a certain proficiency could this approach be used.
With only ten days, Lin Xiao felt some urgency, but he was eager to advance the technique and curious to try this method.
After all, his studies were broad and varied, leaving little time to focus solely on the Indestructible Skeleton Technique. If he ever reached a point where his body collapsed and the technique wasn’t mastered, he might destroy himself.
In these ten days, refining a Martial Monarch skeleton into a combat skeleton while cultivating his own bones was a challenging task. If successful, it would bring significant progress.
