What exactly is your martial soul?
Could it be the Mountains and Rivers martial soul?
Ji Mingkong was startled by her own thought.
Greatly startled!
For over a hundred thousand years, only the Human King had possessed the Mountains and Rivers martial soul. Since then, it had never appeared again. Ling Xiao had no connection to the Human King, so how could he have such a powerful martial soul?
It seemed unlikely.
Ji Mingkong shook her head, quickly dismissing the idea.
Perhaps it was a form of self-deception.
Deep down, she still wanted to catch up to Ling Xiao.
If he truly had the Mountains and Rivers martial soul, she’d have no chance at all.
At least now, she clung to a sliver of hope.
“Such arrogance! A mere Qingxu Academy disciple dares to act so brazenly on the third level, occupied by our Divine Phoenix Academy!”
As the crowd stood in shock, four private rooms opened, and four people stepped out.
To Ling Xiao’s surprise, two of them were Mo Wushang and Qin Bixue. The other two were unfamiliar but had peak Liangyi Heaven cultivation.
“Too much talk. Get lost!” Before Ling Xiao could speak, Ji Mingkong rushed forward, and with just two sword strikes, the two peak Liangyi Heaven warriors were sent tumbling down the pagoda.
With her peak Liangyi Heaven cultivation and Heavenly Mechanism martial soul, Ji Mingkong, though not on par with Ling Xiao, was still outstanding among geniuses.
Dealing with ordinary warriors was no challenge.
“You two, do I need to invite you to leave?” Ji Mingkong glared at Mo Wushang and Qin Bixue, speaking coldly.
If not for the rules here, she would have killed them both with one strike each!
“Let’s go!” Mo Wushang and Qin Bixue had finished cultivating, having run out of spirit stones. They planned to get more and return, but hadn’t expected to encounter Ling Xiao and Ji Mingkong, these two formidable foes.
What frustrated them more was that the two peak Liangyi Heaven warriors from Divine Phoenix Academy were so easily defeated by Ji Mingkong.
If they were that useless, why act so arrogant?
Couldn’t they just keep a low profile?
Both were clever enough to know they couldn’t take on Ling Xiao and Ji Mingkong, so they fled in a hurry.
“Any of you want to cultivate in the private rooms?” Ling Xiao asked.
Having joined Qingxu Academy, Ling Xiao felt indebted to Vice Dean Feng Qingyan.
This was a chance to repay that debt.
Divine Phoenix Academy had been domineering, following a survival-of-the-fittest mindset, leaving no opportunities for Qingxu Academy.
So he’d be even more domineering!
“Yes!” the Qingxu Academy disciples shouted.
“Anyone who wants to cultivate in the private rooms, join us. We’ll drive out all the Divine Phoenix Academy disciples from here. Let them cultivate in the corridor or get as far away as possible!” Ling Xiao continued.
His words met with silence at first.
But soon, inspired by Ling Xiao and Ji Mingkong’s earlier display, they gritted their teeth and agreed.
“Good. First, we clear out the main cultivation room. Follow me!” Ling Xiao said.
He wasn’t greedy. He’d come to the Tianyuan Pagoda purely to cultivate, but Divine Phoenix Academy had monopolised this level, giving Qingxu Academy no chance.
And they’d forced him to act.
If he didn’t get angry now, he’d deserve to be bullied.
As Ling Xiao and Ji Mingkong entered the main cultivation room, they were met with disdainful and angry glares.
“How did this idiot get in? Doesn’t he know he’s disrupting our cultivation?”
“A Heavenly Vein warrior from Qingxu Academy? This fool thinks he can cultivate on the third level. Did those three guards eat nothing? How’d they let him barge in?”
“No idea what happened, but this is Divine Phoenix Academy territory. Qingxu Academy trash needs to get lost!”
“You hear that? Get out!”
Not a single kind word was spoken.
Divine Phoenix Academy warriors, relying on their numbers and strength, treated Ling Xiao and his group as pushovers.
They didn’t even consider that the three guards outside had been defeated, assuming they’d just slipped away.
Ling Xiao’s brows furrowed slightly, a cold smile crossing his lips. In that instant, a terrifyingly scorching aura spread through the entire main cultivation room, surging wildly toward every Divine Phoenix Academy warrior cultivating there.
“Attack!” Ling Xiao waved his hand lightly, and the Qingxu Academy disciples charged forward, shouting.
Normally, their overall strength wouldn’t have been enough to defeat the Divine Phoenix Academy disciples in the main room.
The opponents were more numerous and stronger.
But Ling Xiao’s Mountains and Rivers Will completely suppressed the Divine Phoenix Academy disciples, giving Qingxu Academy a golden opportunity.
Ji Mingkong and Feng Yanran joined in.
Screams soon followed.
They didn’t kill anyone, only injuring the Divine Phoenix disciples and throwing them out.
After all, Divine Phoenix Academy had done the same when seizing cultivation rooms, so they felt no guilt.
In moments, only Qingxu Academy disciples remained in the main cultivation room.
“Alright, you cultivate here. It’s time for me to cultivate too!” Ling Xiao said.
He had considered driving out the warriors in the private rooms as well.
But each private room was protected by a powerful formation, which Ling Xiao couldn’t break unless the occupants ran out of spirit stones and emerged.
So he, Ji Mingkong, Feng Yanran, and Lan Yuer, who had been called up, took the four private rooms on the third level and began cultivating.
As long as enough spirit stones were paid, the cultivation room’s Dragon-Severing Stone would activate, releasing spiritual energy for the warrior inside to cultivate.
The spiritual energy was dense and pure, far better than the cultivation environment Ling Xiao had experienced in the Moonlight Pagoda.
In that moment, he felt invigorated and deeply comfortable.
Though warriors could generate internal energy themselves, it was minimal.
The human body was a valuable resource, but the spiritual energy of the world was easier to absorb and convert, far simpler than tapping into human potential.
Above his head, the Eye of the World opened, its inscriptions flickering.
Ling Xiao sat cross-legged, entering a cultivation state.
His Light and Shadow Profundity was only at the first step, granting him the Crimson Sun Feather Robe and Shadow Armour.
But from the second step, light and shadow had to be cultivated separately, as the two forces, though interdependent, were sharply contradictory.
Cultivating them together would hinder progress.
Though Ling Xiao wanted to advance his cultivation and master the Light and Shadow Profundity’s final step, he knew haste would lead to failure.
Everything required a gradual approach.
Even so, with the unique effects of his Mountains and Rivers martial soul, his cultivation speed was still far faster than others.
