After a month in seclusion, Ling Xiao emerged transformed.
His late seventh-stage martial master cultivation was fully stabilized, and the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art was consolidated at its perfect ninth turn, completely mastered.
Next, he would focus entirely on the Heavenly Dragon Golden Body.
Pushing the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art to a transcendent state held little value, merely enhancing defense, similar to cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Golden Body.
The Snow Lotus True Solution was also stabilized at its sixth layer.
The first form of the Divine Prison King Fist was fully mastered, and with the ninth turn of the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art, it produced astonishing effects.
His ghost ship remnant soul, giant sword remnant soul, blood blade remnant soul, and black bear remnant soul were all refined to eighty percent.
They were inching closer to complete martial souls.
When he killed Li Xinghui, Li Yunsheng’s sudden intervention prevented him from devouring Li Xinghui’s white tiger remnant soul.
No matter.
Martial souls valued quality over quantity, his four remnant souls and three complete souls were more than sufficient.
Upon exiting seclusion, Ling Xiao noticed changes in Leng Mei and Ling Yixue’s cultivation.
Leng Mei had broken through to the seventh stage, becoming a martial master.
Before his seclusion, Ling Xiao secretly tested Leng Mei’s potential, finding her physical potential at seven stars.
Though slightly below him and Ling Yixue, it matched Zuo Leng and Ming Tian, ensuring she could break through the mortal realm.
Her earlier stagnation was due to lacking proper martial arts and resources, otherwise, her cultivation might surpass Ling Xiao’s now.
As for Ling Yixue, guided personally by Master Baiyun, her progress was meteoric, reaching the peak of the seventh stage, a notch above Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao sensed she had learned a soul-refining martial art stronger than the Soul Burning Art, though likely only quasi-mortal.
This puzzled him, given Ling Yixue’s potential, Master Baiyun should have taught her mortal martial arts.
He couldn’t fathom the old man’s thinking.
Shi Lei had also broken through, reaching the peak of the seventh stage, a perk of being Master Baiyun’s disciple.
Ling Xiao, Ling Yixue, Leng Mei, Shi Lei, and Dai Yuling, all from the Hidden Dragon Camp, had a decent relationship.
Today, as Ling Xiao emerged, Dai Yuling was still in seclusion, so only the other three came to congratulate him.
“Junior Brother Ling, a month in seclusion, you must’ve gained a lot, right?” Shi Lei said, munching on fruit.
As fellow initiates of Master Baiyun, though they joined simultaneously, Shi Lei, being older, called Ling Xiao junior brother without issue.
Among Master Baiyun’s disciples, Ling Xiao was the youngest, the little junior brother.
“My cultivation progressed slowly, just late seventh stage, a bit behind you, Senior Brother Shi,” Ling Xiao said with a smile.
“Don’t be modest, your cultivation may lag, but that’s because you started late, soon you’ll leave me behind,” Shi Lei said, swallowing the fruit pit, excited. “How about this, while I’m still slightly ahead, let’s spar?”
“Sure, let’s all spar to spot flaws in our training,” Ling Xiao agreed.
The four were friends, their sparring aimed at improvement, not life-or-death.
After the matches, their strength hierarchy was clear.
Ling Xiao was the strongest, followed by Ling Yixue, while Shi Lei and Leng Mei were evenly matched.
This showed Leng Mei’s terrifying physical potential.
Had the seven-star flower not shattered, Master Baiyun would have two more true disciples.
Ling Xiao considered telling Master Baiyun but decided against it.
Master Baiyun wasn’t as infallible as imagined, his judgment of people was lacking, and being his true disciple wasn’t necessarily ideal.
More crucially, he couldn’t reveal the seven-star flower’s restoration, or it might bring deadly consequences.
“Haha, I’m convinced, I thought with Master Baiyun’s quasi-mortal martial art, I could at least tie with you, but I’m so far off,” Shi Lei said bitterly. “Junior Brother Ling, tell me honestly, how much strength did you use against me?”
“Want the truth?” Ling Xiao asked, smiling.
“Of course, why else would I ask?”
“About fifty percent,” Ling Xiao said calmly.
“That’s crushing, I used full strength, you used half, and still won so easily, if you visit the Hall of Transmission again, I won’t even match ten percent of you,” Shi Lei said, shaking his head.
“No way, but what’s the Hall of Transmission?” Ling Xiao asked.
“It’s Master’s exclusive place in Baiyun Temple, storing martial arts texts, but only quasi-mortal and mortal ones, no top-tier arts, plus Master’s travel notes,” Shi Lei explained. “Master said true disciples can study mortal arts freely, once a day for an hour, while initiates like us can study quasi-mortal arts freely, but can’t take them out, with three hours daily.”
“Oh?” Ling Xiao’s eyes lit up.
Quasi-mortal arts were still very useful to him.
His Mountain and River Martial Soul’s copying ability would shine, others had three hours daily, but he could copy texts to study at leisure.
Soaring Cloud Steps and Bull Demon Art needed further evolution, top-tier arts couldn’t advance them anymore.
Only quasi-mortal arts could trigger a qualitative leap.
These two unique arts were likely more extraordinary than the Ling Clan ancestor claimed, the deeper he cultivated, the more Ling Xiao felt it.
“Also, Master said once Dai Yuling, Die Wu, Zhu Hua, Lu Xing, Fei Yu, and Fei Liu emerge from seclusion, he’ll personally assess our cultivation,” Shi Lei added.
“Including Zuo Leng and Ming Tian?” Ling Xiao asked.
“Yes,” Shi Lei nodded. “Don’t underestimate this sparring, based on performance, Master will give special rewards.”
“Rewards or not, I’m eager to spar with Dai Yuling,” Ling Xiao said.
To him, Dai Yuling was mysterious and powerful, surpassing Tianren Academy’s geniuses.
Aside from Zuo Leng and Ming Tian, she was likely the third strongest.
Unsure when they’d emerge, Ling Xiao didn’t want to waste time, now knowing about the Hall of Transmission, he was determined to visit.
The martial arts and texts there, collected by Master Baiyun during his travels, were rare outside.
Only his disciples could access them.
Of course, true disciples had more access than initiates like him, who couldn’t yet freely study mortal arts.
