No matter how ferocious its fists, the Vigorous Divine Ape’s strikes had no effect, instead, the recoil left its whole body aching.
“Waoo—!”
The ape was nearly mad with frustration, it swore that once that human emerged, it would capture him alive and force him to reveal how to enter the structure.
It guessed right.
Ling Xiao had broken through.
From peak fourth-tier Martial Vein to fifth-tier, and thanks to his previously saturated qi, he shot straight to late fifth-tier, nearing the peak.
His qi quantity didn’t increase much, still around peak sixth-tier levels.
But the quality of his qi had noticeably improved, boosting his attack power to early sixth-tier martial artist standards.
His defense also rose to early sixth-tier levels.
All this was courtesy of the Mountain River Martial Soul’s analytical prowess, his mortal eyes couldn’t discern it so precisely.
The breakthrough had startled even him, the thunderous noise was unexpected.
Fortunately, no mishaps occurred.
But having just advanced, his foundation wasn’t fully stable, so he didn’t stop, he began consolidating his cultivation.
This late fifth-tier breakthrough was hard-won, he had to solidify it, instability could lead to a drastic drop in cultivation if injured.
Time stretched on, night turned to day.
Ling Xiao opened his eyes, their gleam sharp and vibrant.
A keen observer might notice a world seeming to exist within his pupils.
His cultivation was now fully stabilised at late fifth-tier.
In terms of combat power, he was no less than an early sixth-tier martial artist, with endurance surpassing them.
If he faced those three who’d tried to kill him before, he could wipe them out effortlessly now.
In just over two days, his strength had soared to terrifying heights.
Upon reaching fifth-tier, the Mountain River Martial Soul granted him a new ability—
Martial Soul Clone.
This allowed him to condense a qi-based clone without self-awareness, possessing thirty percent of his strength.
That wasn’t the key part.
The real value lay in the clone’s fusion with the soul’s analysis and simulation capabilities, perfectly mimicking any martial art Ling Xiao had seen others use.
This made finding a sparring partner much simpler.
That was the clone’s true purpose, in combat, with only thirty percent of his power, it was nearly useless.
Given his current state, it could probably only muster early third-tier strength.
Not much help in a fight, but it could serve as a decoy in a pinch.
Since the clone shared his exact aura and could be reformed if destroyed, it was a handy life-saving trick.
“I’ve been here nearly three days, the finals are approaching, I need to figure a way out.”
Though he wanted to keep cultivating here, the finals held immense importance.
Besides, with the Mountain River World, he could transfer the icy golden pool and snow lotuses there, cultivating back home just the same.
No more delays.
But reaching the exit, his brow furrowed tightly.
“Damn Vigorous Divine Ape, still waiting after all this time, does it plan to stay till it dies of old age?”
Though irritated, Ling Xiao was out of options.
Even with his boosted strength, escaping the ape’s grasp was near impossible.
Resigned, he figured he might as well keep cultivating.
Maybe he could use this chance to hit peak fifth-tier and push the “Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique” to the sixth turn.
With that, he gritted his teeth and decisively returned to resume his training.
Back in the icy golden pool.
Ling Xiao continued cultivating both the “Snow Lotus Qi Technique” and “Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique” as before.
Post-fifth-layer, the former grew harder to advance.
The latter, after the fifth turn, was equally tough.
Thanks to the pool, or he’d be stuck for who-knows-how-long.
Golden liquid and cold energy entered together, absorbed and refined by the two top-tier arts, continuously reshaping his body.
A faint trace also seeped into his soul, steadily strengthening it.
He could feel his soul’s strength was likely double that of an average person’s.
A stronger soul directly boosted comprehension, courage, and willpower.
Of course, a soul-based secret art would be ideal.
That could turn soul power into an attack method.
One hour!
Two hours!
Three hours!
…
With the Mountain River Martial Soul accelerating his progress, his cultivation speed kept rising, every cell in his body seemed to cheer.
Legend had it, ancient sages studied the human body, concluding it held a hundred trillion cells.
Over a hundred million died and regenerated each second.
The pinnacle of cultivation was transforming all cells into energy cells, at that stage, a single surviving cell could keep a martial artist alive.
But this was mere legend, unproven by anyone.
Yet Ling Xiao could distinctly feel his cells undergoing a unique change.
One cell gradually turned golden, becoming deathless.
Shockingly, this single shift added a hundred jin to his strength.
What a concept.
Boom!
A second cell turned golden, another hundred jin gained.
A third!
A fourth!
By the fifth golden cell, it stopped, the energy demand grew steeper the further it went, he couldn’t sustain more yet.
But just five golden cells added five hundred jin, pushing his strength to a terrifying two thousand jin.
Time flew unnoticed, two more days slipped by.
The “Snow Lotus Qi Technique” reached the sixth layer, his cultivation didn’t advance further but solidified at late fifth-tier.
The real surprise was the “Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique,” breaking from the fifth to the sixth turn.
The fifth turn was minor mastery, the sixth a new threshold, its gains outstripping the prior five combined.
The first five turns were foundational, passive defense boosts at minor mastery.
At the sixth turn, his robust body wasn’t just blade-and-spear-proof, it could actively wield that resilience in martial techniques.
Turning defense into offense, now that was interesting.
Put simply, his current “Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique” doubled as both a defensive and offensive art, akin to something like the Diamond Palm, only stronger.
Its only flaw was a lack of versatility, lagging behind the “Meteor Fist” in that regard.
Still, at the sixth turn, facing peers of the same realm, most couldn’t breach his defense.
Unless they were prodigies with rare weapons or unique arts, they might hurt him.
Even then, the damage would be greatly reduced.
