131-140
Chapter 131 - A Cultivator's Way
"This is Long Wang, he's a close friend of mine."
Xiao Fang told Xiao Hei to refer to him as Long Wang from now on and to introduce him as such.
"Long Wang, huh..."
"Xiao Fei Lin, aren't you going to introduce her to me?" Xiao Fang said.
"Ah right, this is Li Xiang, Patriarch's daughter of the Li Family clan."
"I see, so it's another Li family clansmen," Xiao Fang said. He finally realized why Xiao Hei was being friendly with her.
"Another Li family clansmen?" Li Xiang replied.
"We know someone else with the surname Li. Well, more than know actually, she is my fiancée," Xiao Fang replied.
"You're fiancée! Who is it?"
"Perhaps another time. We should get back to doing the exam," Xiao Fang suggested.
Xiao Fang didn't like revealing too much about himself to strangers, and he preferred to keep certain things about himself a mystery so that people would be curious about him.
What Xiao Fang didn't realize was just how effective it was on her. She was the Patriarch's only daughter in the Li family clan, so she felt it was her responsibility to know everything about her people. However, this was the first time she was hearing about Long Wang.
"Hey, Fei Lin. Do you know who his fiancée is?" Li Xiang whisperer.
Xiao Hei smiled as she nodded.
"Can you tell me who it is?"
"It's Li Lian."
Xiao Fang felt like he was suddenly hit by a massive boulder. He didn't expect Xiao Hei to reveal a secret like that so easily. Although the secret wasn't big, it was still something Li Lian didn't want people to know yet.
'She must really trust Li Xiang,' Xiao Fang thought.
Despite learning who his fiancée was, Li Xiang was curious about him now, more than ever. Even if Li Lian was born into a noble family, she still had a fairly poor reputation. She wasn't given the nickname Crazy Lian for nothing.
"Long Wang, is your fiancée really Li Lian?" she asked for him to confirm.
"It is," Xiao Fang admitted. "Li Lian wants to keep this a secret, can I trust you not to share this information with anyone?"
"... Sure, I won't tell anyone about this." Li Xiang replied almost unconvincingly. Truth was, she was fairly bad at keeping secrets.
Xiao Fang sighed, but there was nothing he could do about it now. What was done was done, all he could do now was move on and pretend nothing happened.
Li Xiang wanted to learn more about him, but he didn't seem too interested in talking. Without even realizing it, she was now following him through the maze, and so was Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei seemed content to follow Xiao Fang without question, but Li Xiang wanted to work on it together. Every time she wanted to share her input on which path to take it seemed that they had already made up their mind.
"Shouldn't we think about this first? How do we know that we're not just walking around in circles," Li Xiang said.
"Don't worry about that, Long Wang is really good with this sort of stuff. We should trust him," Xiao Hei reaffirmed her.
Li Xiang was reluctant to follow him, but she did so anyway. The terrain gradually began to change, signifying that they were reaching the end. However, they eventually encountered a problem.
The path they were walking on eventually ended. There wasn't a wall blocking their path, but a large abyss.
"Long Wang, wait!!" Li Xiang screamed.
She then jumped in front of him, stopping him before he could fall over the cliff.
Despite being blindfolded, Xiao Fang was easily able to navigate through the maze without any problems, so why was Xiao Fang not able to see the cliff in front of him.
'Could it be another illusion,' Li Xiang thought.
If it was really an illusion, then she feared that she had made a fool of herself. However, no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't see through the illusion. Eventually she was completely convinced that it wasn't an illusion. If she didn't stop him, he definitely would have fallen.
Xiao Hei was also confused. The reason she didn't stop him was because she trusted him wholeheartedly. She wanted to confirm it by tossing a stone into the abyss, so she picked up a stone then tossed it down.
Li Xiang saw what Xiao Hei was doing and thought it was a clever idea.
Xiao Hei released the stone then watched the stone fall. The most frightening thing was that they never heard the rock hitting the bottom. Just how deep is this hole.
A slight chill ran down Xiao Hei's spine as she looked up at Xiao Fang. She didn't realize it before, but it really seemed as if Li Xiang had saved his life.
"How do we get past it?" Li Xiang wondered.
{"Xiao Fang, can't we just jump over it?"} Xiao Hei asked Xiao Fang via spirit transmission.
The door was actually only a few dozen meters away, so the easiest way for them to get to the other side was if they simply jumped over it. However, Xiao Fang rejected that idea. He had no intentions of revealing his body cultivation realm to Li Xiang, they had only just met.
Li Xiang suddenly pointed out to the right. It seemed that there was a rope connecting one of the paths to the exit.
"We need to find the path that leads to that exit and walk across that rope to get to the other side," Li Xiang suggested.
She wasn't excited about going back to find the correct path, but it seemed like it was their only option.
"There are no other paths. All of them lead to this one. An interesting concept fitting for us cultivators."
Xiao Fang began to read the words carved above the exit door in large characters.
[ There are no shortcuts. A path of a cultivator is a path against the Heavens ]
"What does that even mean?" Li Xiang said.
"There are many paths a cultivator can take, but there is only one dao; one way. A way against the natural order, a way against all odds and reason, a way against the heavens."
"What does that mean? You're not making any sense," Li Xiang complained.
However, Xiao Hei's eyes were sparkling in admiration. She understood exactly what he was saying and agreed wholeheartedly. Nothing about being a cultivator was easy, you must abandon the luxury of comfort and push past your limits everyday. That was what separated a great cultivator from a mediocre one.
Xiao Fang then turned his head slightly towards Xiao Hei's direction.
"How are you with water."
"I hate it," Xiao Hei replied bluntly.
"In that case you better stick the landing."
Li Xiang couldn't follow their conversation, but she was getting a bad feeling from it.
"What are you 2 planning?" Li Xiang asked nervously.
"There's only one way to pass this exam. If you want to pass, then I suggest you hold on."
"Hold on to what?"
Xiao Fang suddenly grabbed Li Xiang then jumped into the bottomless pit. Xiao Hei, with a smirk on her face, followed Xiao Fang down.
"Aghhhhhh!!!! You crazy bastard!!"
Chapter 132 - Perfect Clone
The moment Xiao Fang jumped, Li Xiang screamed.
Suddenly the whole maze began to warp in front of them. Before she realized it, they had suddenly stopped moving.
Li Xiang eventually opened her eyes and saw that the exit was just 10 meters away. The strangest thing about it was that everything around them had changed. The maze was no long behind them, they were in a completely empty space, and the floor that Xiao Fang stood on was so black that it reflected everything perfectly like a mirror.
"What? How did we..." Li Xiang couldn't understand what just happened.
In the next moment she heard a loud splash.
Li Xiang looked at the spot where she heard the splash and saw ripples in the mirror-like water that Xiao Fang stood on. It was at that moment that she realized that Xiao Fang wasn't standing on land, but a body of water.
Xiao Hei suddenly peeked her head out of the water.
"Ugh, I hate water," Xiao Hei complained.
"Why do I find that hard to believe," Xiao Fang said with a smirk and a naughty look in his eyes.
Xiao Hei didn't catch the meaning behind his words. She just looked at Li Xiang enviously in his arms. She couldn't help feeling bitter, because if Li Xiang wasn't here then the person being carried by Xiao Fang would've been her instead.
Xiao Hei took her arms out of the water then a layer of qi briefly shined blue around her hands. Using it as support, she climbed out of the water till she was standing on the surface like Xiao Fang.
"Fei Lin, are you alright?" Li Xiang asked.
"Mn, the abyss is just an illusion. Whoever cast this illusion must've been extremely powerful."
"How did you know it was an illusion?"
"I didn't."
"Then why did you jump?"
Xiao Hei looked up at Xiao Fang then said, "Because I trusted him."
Hearing Xiao Hei's words, Li Xiang looked up at Xiao Fang. Even when she was unable to see it, Xiao Fang was able to do it blindfolded.
'Who is this guy? Why have I never heard about him before?' Li Xiang had so many questions, but she couldn't bring herself to ask them.
It was at that moment that she realized she was still being carried by him. She wanted him to put her down, but she didn't know how to walk on water like he did and she preferred to be dry.
She looked away embarrassingly. She didn't feel anything at first, but the longer she stayed in his arms like that the warmer her cheeks felt.
"This position is a bit embarrassing, can you carry me on your back instead?" Li Xiang asked.
After all he did, she felt like she was asking too much from him, but she felt like her heart was going to pop out of her chest if he kept carrying her like that.
"Hm? Sure, why not," Xiao Fang replied.
Li Xiang reached up to wrap her arms around his neck before maneuvering onto his back. Xiao Fang then carried her legs up to his sides, but it invoked a reaction he didn't expect from her.
Li Xiang planted her face on his back as if to hide her face, and her hands made small fists on his shoulders. It was at that moment that he realized that his hands were too high up her thighs. Any higher and he would've been touching her butt.
Even if she didn't complain, he still found it a bit inappropriate so he retreated his hands lower down her legs before walking. She could tell that he realized her discomfort, so her heart felt a bit more at ease when he took his hands away from that area.
The three of them eventually passed through the exit, but Li Xiang climbed off of Xiao Fang's back before they did.
When Xiao Fang opened the door, it didn't lead back outside like they had expected it to, but it led directly into another large room with someone standing in the center of it.
Standing at the center of the large room was an elder. However, this wasn't just some ordinary elder, the colour of her robes were white and purple, and her hair was long, silky, and as white as snow. Although she was simply standing there, she was emitting a light majestic glow that gave her a profound presence.
She was a Supreme Elder, the same one that gave the speech at the start of the exam.
"Disciple greets Supreme Elder," the three of them greeted her respectfully.
The supreme elder was a bit surprised. She wasn't surprised by how quickly they completed the 2nd test, she was surprised to see Xiao Fang and Li Jiang still dry.
'Could they have seen through my illusion?' She thought.
She was a bit worried that she had made the test too difficult to pass, but it seemed there were disciples able to see right through it.
After a moment of thought, she quickly got over it then greeted them.
"Congratulations for making it this far. This will be your final test."
The supreme elder released the illusory qi from her body to create a clone of herself.
"To pass this test you must make 2 perfect clones of yourself. Anything less than perfect will be a fail."
Li Xiang was the first to make her clones, followed by Xiao Hei then Xiao Fang.
The elder watched as the 3 of them easily made perfect clones of themselves.
She walked around each of them, inspecting them closely.
"Hmm. Good, very good."
Even though she said she wanted them to be perfect, she didn't really mean it. The level they were able to display with this simple technique far surpassed what she expected out of the outer court disciples. Although there were a few rookie mistakes, they were still much better than some of the inner court disciples in the sect. However, when she inspected Xiao Fang's clone she suddenly froze.
She stared at the two clones standing side by side with Xiao Fang. His clone was so well crafted that even she was unable to discern which was real and from the fakes. She just went with her gut and picked one.
"Mn, not bad. I could hardly tell the difference," she said.
"Hm? Elder, I'm not the clone. This is," Xiao Fang corrected her.
"Ah, of course."
She looked at his clones thinking that he played a prank on her. There was no way a disciple at his level should've been able to make a clone this flawless.
This wasn't something an [ Illusory Body ] Foundation Realm cultivator was capable of doing. This level of accuracy was usually only possible from elders with years of experience.
Truth was, not even Xiao Fang realized how perfect his clones were, but since dual cultivating with Yu An and some of the elders in the black paradise sect, he was able to quickly learn and perfect the technique much faster than any of his peers.
"Do we pass?" Li Xiang suddenly asked.
"Huh. Oh right, you all pass."
Following those words, Li Xiang clasped her hands and bowed her head, she could hardly contain her joy.
Using her finger and some spirit qi, the supreme elder created 3 small identical images in the air, one for each of them. The images made with spirit qi suddenly imprinted itself into their upper right arms.
The qi seemed to have marked their skins like a tattoo, but after a few seconds it glowed one last time before hiding under their skins.
They received a less complicated version of the same insignia after passing the entrance exam so they knew what it was for. Anytime they needed to verify their identification as a disciple of the sect they would only need to channel their qi into their right arms to make the insignia glow and show that they were inner court disciples.
The supreme elder then took them over to a peculiar looking cauldron. Cylindrical in shape, it stood 6 meters tall with a radius of 2 meters across.
The elder briefly explained it's function then asked,
"Who would like to go first?"
Chapter 133 - Spirit Cauldron
Xiao Fang, Xiao Hei, and Li Xiang didn't move. They wanted to know what it was before stepping inside. Just from the outer appearance alone, it looked anything but harmless.
Seeing the hesitation from the three disciples, the Supreme Elder realized that it was probably their first time seeing something like this, so she explained.
"This is what we call a Spirit Cauldron. Inside you'll have to do 3 different tests. How you do on those tests will determine what class you will be put in. So if you pass the 1st test you will be put into the Insect class, if you pass 2 you will be put into the Snake-class, and, of course, if you can pass all three tests you will be put into the prestigious Tiger-class."
There were over 25,000 inner court disciples in the sect, but they were divided into 5 different classes: From worse to best they were:
No-class: >13,000
Insect class: ~8,000 disciples
Snake class: ~3,000 disciples
Tiger class: ~1,000 disciples
Phoenix class: ~100 disciples
Dragon class: Top 20 disciples
The supreme elder briefly explained about the benefit of being in each class, then explained a bit about what to expect inside the cauldron.
Li Xiang was the first person to enter the cauldron. Upon entering, the door immediately sealed her inside, but she didn't panic. She followed the elder's explanation and transferred her spirit body into the cauldron core.
After a few seconds the cauldron was activated. Watching from the outside, Xiao Fang and Xiao Hei could only guess what was happening inside.
Suddenly a narrow band of light began to circle the base of the cauldron.
"What does that light mean?" Xiao Hei asked the supreme elder.
"It means she successfully passed the first stage."
Xiao Hei gasped.
An hour later, a 2nd band of light suddenly lit up.
"Now there are 2. Does that mean she beat the 2nd level?" Xiao Hei asked excitedly.
The elder simply nodded her head with a smile. She was very old now, so it made her happy to see someone with so much energy like Xiao Hei getting excited about something like this.
Xiao Hei could hardly sit still. Truth was, it wasn't the first time she was hearing about these kinds of cauldrons, but she just never got to try it before. She was too excited and she couldn't wait for it to be her turn.
After another hour, the 3rd band of light began to encircle the cauldron.
"She did it!" Xiao Hei said in surprise.
Suddenly the door to the cauldron opened and Li Xiang stepped out.
Her clothes were fine and there wasn't a single scratch or bruise on her body, but she looked extremely fatigued. Her complexion was ashy pale and she was panting heavily. She seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. Luckily, the supreme elder was there to catch her before she fell.
"Did I do it?" Li Xiang asked weakly.
"Mn, you did. Rest now, child," the supreme elder replied before laying her down on the ground.
There weren't many people willing to push themselves this far. To see someone with so much talent push themselves this far said a lot about her character.
The elder helped her lie down so that she could recover her strength.
Next up was Xiao Hei.
Before stepping in, Xiao Hei looked back at Xiao Fang. She had a look in her eye which made her seem like she wanted to ask his permission to go all out.
Xiao Fang gave her a simple nod then she quickly jumped in.
'It seems she still wants to ask for my permission for everything. Perhaps the more she hangs around Li Xiang the more independent thinking she'll become,' Xiao Fang thought.
Xiao Fang noticed the Supreme elder looking at him. He knew that she was probably curious about him, but he decided to remain silent.
Before Xiao Hei looked at Xiao Fang, the supreme elder had actually forgotten about Xiao Fang. He didn't have an aura at all, it was almost as if he wasn't even there.
Every cultivator is capable of suppressing their aura, but it gets increasingly difficult to hide it from cultivators with a higher cultivation realm.
The supreme elder was in a bit of a daze. She was at the 3rd stage of the Divine Spirit realm. It should've been extremely difficult for anyone under the Profound Spirit realm to hide their cultivation from her, but not only was she unable to detect it, she couldn't even feel a hint of his spirit cultivation at all. There was only one explanation she could think of.
'Hmm, but how could he make it past the maze without any spirit comprehension?' she thought.
She then remembered the amiable look Xiao Hei gave him.
'I see. So that little girl must've helped him.'
After that thought crossed her mind, she remembered his perfect clone. His clone was so perfect, not even she was able to distinguish the clone from the real body. Putting two and two together, she eventually came to the conclusion that it was impossible for a disciple to make a clone as good as that, so she started to suspect him of cheating.
Since she believed he cheated his way here, she wanted to see how he was going to cheat his way out of the spirit cauldron space. If Xiao Fang really had no spirit cultivation as she suspected, then he would suffer miserably inside of the spirit cauldron space.
Even though the supreme elder wasn't showing any emotion on her face, Xiao Fang could still hear her heart change paces a few times. He didn't understand what she was thinking, but whatever it was it didn't worry him.
The elder finally looked back at the cauldron and was shocked by what she saw. The first light was already shining around the cauldron.
'It seems she's already passed the first stage. She's quite the talent one," the supreme elder thought out loud.
Just as those words escaped her lips, the 2nd light appeared.
"This..."
Although the supreme elder was amazed, it wasn't something she hadn't seen before. In fact, this kind of speed was only a bit faster than the average tiger class disciples. The reason she was amazed at all was because this was only her first time doing it.
"Good, hahaha, very good! A talent like her might even be able to reach the Dragon class in just a few years," the supreme elder once again said her thoughts out loud.
Although they were all inner court disciples, there was a huge disparity between each class of disciples. The disciples in the Insect class were as insignificant as ants, while those in the Tiger, Phoenix, and Dragon classes were held in high esteem. Especially those in the Dragon class, they were idols in the eyes of many and they would rarely be seen out in public. They were only a step away from the core court after all, so no one treated them disrespectfully.
The supreme elder spoke out loud because she wanted Xiao Fang to realize just how talented Xiao Hei was and how worthless he was in comparison. She didn't want Xiao Fang to hinder Xiao Hei's path, so after today she hoped to see their relationship come to an end.
After a few more minutes, the final light began to shine around the cauldron, indicating that she had successfully passed all 3 tests.
Xiao Fang sighed inwardly. He couldn't help thinking that Xiao Hei got too excited again.
The door to the cauldron opened up, and Xiao Hei stepped out of it with large strides. She wore a smug expression on her face as if she was trying to show Li Xiang how awesome she was. Unfortunately, Li Xiang was in no condition to see what was going on, so Xiao Hei felt as if her achievements landed on deaf ears.
Suddenly the supreme elder approached Xiao Hei.
"Little girl, I don't think I've seen someone as talented as you in nearly a decade. What's your name?"
"My name? Ah, my name is Fei Lin." Xiao Hei replied.
"Fei Lin. Who is your master?" The elder asked.
The reason she asked for her master's name was because for there to be such a talented disciple in the sect, it was likely that her master was equally as extraordinary.
"My master's name is Su Yun." Xiao Hei replied again.
"Su Yun?"
The supreme elder recognized the name, but since she was a mere outer court elder, she hardly knew anything about her.
As they spoke, Xiao Fang was making his way towards the cauldron. The supreme elder watched as Xiao Fang entered the cauldron, then a subtle upward curve emerged on the corner of her lips.
Chapter 134 - Sadistic Elder
The moment Xiao Fang stepped into the cauldron, the door immediately closed behind him like it did for Xiao Hei and Li Xiang. It was pitch black, but it made no difference to Xiao Fang since he was blindfolded.
He casually sat on the ground then crossed his legs. After a bit of concentration, he was able to send his spirit body into the cauldron's core. Xiao Fang surroundings began to quickly change. In the next moment he appeared to be in a totally different space.
Since he was purely in spirit form he no longer had his blindfold covering his eyes. So, using his eyes, he was able to see everything around him. The room was completely empty, but it was also really big. It was a bit wider than it was tall, and there were stairs spiraling along the wall, leading to the 2nd floor. If he had to guess, it seemed as if he was in a very large pagoda.
Suddenly, an elderly woman's voice sounded out,
"Welcome to the Illusory Spirit Trials. When you're ready, please proceed to the second floor to begin your test."
Xiao Fang wasn't one to spend time idling around, so he immediately began walking towards the stairs. However, Xiao Fang stopped only after taking his first step.
"Hm? What's this?" He said while looking down at his core.
Although his spirit body looked no different than his physical one, there was a glaring difference within him that was hard to miss.
Looking down he could see something glowing within his dantian. Although it was extremely unusual, there was something about it that was familiar.
'Is this my Spirit Attribute?' Xiao Fang thought.
He could still remember the first time he tried using it and how much pain it brought him. Since then he assumed something went wrong and refrained from practicing it, but looking at it now, it seemed as if it was perfectly fine.
There was a bright light blue light shining in his core, but also thin vein-like strands of light blue qi spreading throughout his entire body.
With a bit of hesitation he tried to release the power of his spirit attribute like he did before, but this time he tried to be more careful.
Slowly opening his inner gates, the thin stands began to light up. Each strand thickened more and more till his whole body was being lit up from within.
Xiao Fang gritted his teeth in pain, but he didn't stop trying to fight it. Eventually, the pain was just too unbearable to continue, so he stopped pushing his inner gates open and just held it there.
Looking at himself now, he felt like he could understand why it was hurting so much. Before, the best way to describe the pain was that it felt like his body was being torn to pieces, but as it turned out it was actually his spirit body that was breaking down, not his physical one.
Unlike before, he could visibly see the damage the spirit attribute was doing to his spirit body. Since Xiao Fang still had to do the cauldron's tests he eventually stopped releasing his spirit attribute, but to his surprise, he began to feel a nourishing energy spreading throughout his body. In the next moment, the damage he sustained healed almost instantly.
As far as Xiao Fang knew, a cultivator's body healed faster the higher their Body cultivation realm was. With the same logic, he assumed the spirit body healed faster depending on his spirit cultivation realm. However, his spirit body healed almost instantly after he stopped releasing his spirit attribute. Not only that, but he noticed that his spirit body had become a bit tougher too.
"I... feel completely fine. How is this possible?"
Xiao Fang released his spirit attribute again, but just like before, his spirit body immediately healed the moment he stopped releasing it.
'Could it be this pagoda?'
Xiao Fang pushed his inner gates open a few more times and realized he was releasing more and more each time he tried. It was as if he was getting stronger with each attempt. Xiao Fang was so excited about this new discovery that he nearly forgot about the trial.
After nearly destroying his spirit body and healing up several more times, he was convinced that he couldn't go any further. It was as if there was a barrier blocking his path, but no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't get through it.
However, his struggles weren't without merits. After pushing himself so many times, he realized that he was not only able to keep the half-formed spirit attribute mode active for a few seconds, but it actually increased his cultivation by another realm. If he could already increase his cultivation by a realm now, just how much stronger would he get when he's able to use it's full power?
He tried it a few more times, but he was still unsuccessful. The power he could gain by crossing that barrier was tempting, but it was getting a bit tiring.
Without even realizing it, Xiao Fang had spent nearly an hour on the first floor. Still, Xiao Fang wiped the sweat off his forehead then walked upstairs to the 2nd floor. There, Xiao Fang saw an elderly woman standing at the center of the room.
Xiao Fang tried to steady his breathing as he cupped his hands and bowed to the elder with the Black Paradise insignia on her plain white robes.
"Junior greets elder."
Xiao Fang raised his head and saw that the elder did not react to his greeting. He wondered if she was just asleep or just couldn't hear him, but then a slight frown emerged on her aged face.
"You're a man..."
Xiao Fang was confused by her comment.
"Yes... I am." Xiao Fang responded.
"I assume the spirit pet that came before you was yours as well."
Xiao Fang froze.
'Did Xiao Hei tell her or did she just figure it out on her own?' Xiao Fang thought.
He could tell that she was no ordinary elder, but he didn't think she'd know that Xiao Hei was a spirit pet. He could also tell that her cultivation was incredibly deep, that was probably why it felt like she could see right through him.
"She is," Xiao Fang didn't try denying it.
The mysterious elder sighed.
"For once I finally met a remarkable disciple, but it turns out he's just a man. I always knew my fate was cruel, but I didn't think it would be a tease as well."
"Elder, please allow me to take the test."
"The test? Ah right, you can forget about that. You're in no condition to be doing that now."
"What?"
Xiao Fang was confused. 'Why did the women in this sect despise men so much?' he thought.
Staring at the blue light in his dantian, the elder asked,
"I don't suppose you got that True Immortal Spirit Attribute from my sect."
"I did." Xiao Fang answered again.
The elder suddenly squinted her eyes at him. She was able to read him perfectly till now, but she didn't seem to believe his words this time.
"You're... telling the truth. How in the world were they able to get their hands on something like that." she said in astonishment.
Suddenly, the look on her face twisted.
"To think, they would waste such a priceless treasure on a man like you."
"Elder, I might be a bit tired, but I'm still able to continue. Give me a chance to prove myself," he argued.
"Is that so?" The elder smiled mischievously.
Xiao Fang didn't know what she had in mind, but it made him a bit nervous.
"Very well. If you can bring out the full power of your True Immortal Spirit Attribute, I'll consider it a pass."
"This..."
"What's wrong? Didn't you want to prove yourself? I enjoyed hearing you screams from up here. I want to hear more of it."
'This bitch is sadistic,' Xiao Fang thought.
"If you can unleash the power of that True Immortal Spirit Attribute, I'll not only give you a pass, but I'll also give you a strong spirit cultivation technique too."
"A strong spirit cultivation technique? What's the catch?"
The elder smiled innocently, but her next words were far from harmless.
"Well, you see... There's nothing you have that I want. So instead, I'll have my little spirit beast knock you around a bit for my entertainment. What do you say."
Xiao Fang didn't want to leave without being put into the same class as Xiao Hei. So even if the elder was intentionally making things hard for him, the only thing he could do was to suck it up and keep going.
Besides, considering how strong she was, if she really gave him a strong cultivation technique, that might actually make the whole thing worthwhile.
"Alright. I accept," Xiao Fang said.
Suddenly, the elder began to release some of her qi, allowing it to morph into a 7 foot tall, humanoid beast.
"Good. Shall we begin?"
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*Author's Note:
Hi everyone. I've been reading a few books on webnovel recently, but there was one that really caught my eye. I assume many of you have heard of it: 'My Pick Up Artist System' (Currently ranked 5th on Webnovel's power stone ranking). It's an R-18 comedy with a hilarious cast of characters, great relationship making advice, and some epic face-slapping too! If you haven't read it yet, then I highly recommend you go check it out.
Chapter 135 - Divine Spirit Beast
"Good, shall we begin?"
.
.
.
Back outside, Li Xiang was awake and waiting with Xiao Hei for Xiao Fang to come out of the cauldron.
"How long has he been in there for?" Li Xiang asked worriedly.
"It's been over an hour," Xiao Hei answered.
"How could he be in there for over an hour without lighting up a single ring?"
Xiao Hei didn't respond because she also didn't know what was taking him so long. She assumed he was just stalling to not reveal his talents, but after a while she began to worry.
There was nothing in there that could threaten his life, but because they had such a close relationship, she naturally worried for him.
The supreme elder couldn't believe what she was seeing. Two extremely talented girls were worrying about a crippled and talentless man.
'Just what kind of spell did he put on these girls?' the supreme elder thought.
"Girls, don't you think you are acting a bit inappropriately. Someone with your talents could do much better than someone like him," the supreme elder spoke bluntly.
Hearing the supreme elder's words, Li Xiang's cheeks turned red.
"Ah, please don't misunderstand. I only care for him as a family member. He told me that his fiancée was someone in my family's sect," Li Xiang tried to explain.
"Ha! He told you that his fiancée was a member of the Li family sect? What is her name?"
"Her name is Li Lian."
"Li Lian?! Hahahahahahaha."
Li Xiang didn't know what the supreme elder was laughing about, but if she knew that Li Lian had recently became the Matriarch's only direct disciple then she might've understood her reaction.
The supreme elder laughed louder than she ever laughed before, it was as if Li Xiang had told her the most hilarious joke she had ever heard.
Wiping her tears after laughing so hard, she finally began to speak.
"Let me give you some advice. All men are liars. I wouldn't be so quick to believe anything they say."
"Ah, could he be lying about being engaged to her? I guess I believed it too easily. Perhaps I was really being naïve."
Although Li Xiang still liked Xiao Fang, she didn't want to go against the supreme elder's words. Even if she had told her that she was adopted, she still wouldn't refute her words, because the supreme elders were respected by everyone in the Black Paradise sect, even the Matriarch had to humble herself in front of them.
"Mn, you were being naïve. You should've known a talentless cripple like him would never marry any girl from a noble family, much less into the Li family clan."
Suddenly Xiao Hei snapped.
"Li Lian is his fiancée, and if you call him a cripple again I'll rip your fucking throat out!"
"You..."
Neither the supreme elder nor Li Xiang could believe what they were hearing. Considering how much of a talent Xiao Hei was, the supreme elder allowed it to pass.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear anything this time, but you would be wise not to offend me."
Xiao Hei took her angry eyes off the supreme elder then put it back on the cauldron. She couldn't help feeling that something had gone wrong. She only knew Xiao Fang for half a year, but she felt like she knew him enough that he wouldn't pull something like this. She didn't understand how, but she knew he was in trouble.
'It seems she's too much in love with him. It must be nice to be young and stupid. Even after thinking he has a fiancée she still can't stop licking his boots,' the supreme elder thought as she shook her head.
She thought that she could understand the situation better now. It wasn't Xiao Hei's fault for snapping at her. No disciple in their right minds would ever do something like that. If anything, Xiao Fang was the one to blame. She believed he brainwashed Xiao Hei to the extent that she couldn't even tell right from wrong. When Xiao Fang got out, the supreme elder planned to drag him into the tribunal and have him punished severely before kicking him out of the sect.
'Trash like him are the lowest of the low. There is no place for men like him in this sect.'
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In the cauldron, Xiao Fang was up against a spirit beast with the combat prowess equal to that of a Divine Spirit realm cultivator. Since he was purely in spirit form he could only rely on his spirit cultivation realm, which was currently only at the 7th stage of the Spirit Core realm.
'Dammit! What is she thinking? Even if I could use my Profound Body cultivation, this would still be an unfair fight,' Xiao Fang complained inwardly.
Without even getting a chance to prepare, Xiao Fang could see that the beast was going to attack, so he immediately stood on guard releasing his [ True Immortal Thunder Tribulation ] spirit attribute to the max.
If he could just breakthrough his bottleneck the first time he thought could avoid all the senseless beating he was going to receive from the Divine realm Spirit Beast.
However, the moment Xiao Fang released his spirit attribute, the beast immediately jump towards him, shooting his fist straight towards Xiao Fang's chest. Xiao Fang crossed his arms in time to block the attack, but he was still shot flying across the room.
Boom!
Xiao Fang's body hit the wall with a deafening bang.
The elder's jaw dropped.
"You idiot! I didn't say you could kill him!!!"
The beast had actually held back a lot. Also, even though he only had a fraction of a second to channel his spirit attribute power, Xiao Fang was able to increase his cultivation by another realm before the attack hit.
Considering how trigger happy the spirit beast was, Xiao Fang could only try to escape before trying to unleash his spirit attribute again.
The elder rushed to heal Xiao Fang, but then discovered something strange about his body. As she approached to see if he was still alive, Xiao Fang's body suddenly evaporated into a mist of qi.
...
Meanwhile on the first floor, Xiao Fang suddenly reappeared as he came out of [ Stealth ].
'That will buy me some time,' he thought.
He then quickly released his spirit attribute. A deep frown appeared on his face due to the pain, but he stopped himself from making a sound. He knew his clone wouldn't have fooled them for long, but if he screamed now then they would find him even faster.
Xiao Fang was in the middle of channeling his spirit attribute when he heard the elder's voice, only this time her voice sounded nothing like before. She sounded much angrier.
"You sneaky bastard! I thought you died up there."
Following the elder down to the first floor, the spirit beast saw Xiao Fang and his eyes immediately lit up. He charged straight towards him with a frenzied look on his face.
Xiao Fang frowned.
He didn't frown from the pain, or the fact that he couldn't breakthrough his bottleneck, he frowned because of the look on the spirit beast was giving him. It looked like it was going to enjoy beating up Xiao Fang.
"Good, come you beast! Let's see how long you can last against my fists!"
Chapter 136 - Play Thing
"Good, come you beast! Let's see how long you can last against my fists!"
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Ever since Xiao Fang absorbed the Death Reaper energy from the 20 disciples' corpses, he noticed that it was affecting his mood in a negative way. He was already on edge because of it, so seeing the arrogant look on Spirit Beast's face just made him snap.
The whole situation was messed up. He didn't care that the Spirit Beast was in the Divine Spirit realm. The angrier he was, the less rational he became, and right now Xiao Fang was madder than he had ever been.
Despite all the pain it brought him, Xiao Fang couldn't fight the Spirit Beast without his spirit attribute active.
The elder watched in surprise as Xiao Fang ran towards her Spirit Beast.
'Does he actually think he can win against it?' she wondered.
Since the Divine Spirit Beast wasn't using any spirit techniques, Xiao Fang thought he might have a chance against it. Even if he couldn't fully use the [ True Immortal Lightning Tribulation ] spirit attribute it still increased his cultivation by a whole realm, and his [ Illusory Body ] method also increased his fighting prowess by another realm.
Unfortunately, Xiao Fang was being too optimistic. He was still severely outmatched because his [ Illusory Body ] spirit cultivation was only at the 9th stage of the Spirit Foundation realm, so it was too generous to say that his battle power increased by another realm.
Xiao Fang still had the power of his curse, but he wasn't going to use it because there was no point if the mysterious elder kept healing their injuries.
The beast punched straight at Xiao Fang's chest again, but this time Xiao Fang threw a punch right back. However. Instead of meeting his fist half way, Xiao Fang's body suddenly faded into a mist of qi the moment their fists made contact.
Dodging the fist and maneuvering under its arm, Xiao Fang punched straight into its ribs.
'Not bad,' the elder thought.
A spark of interest suddenly appeared in her eyes, but it only lasted for a second because of what happened next.
The Divine Spirit Beast looked down at Xiao Fang as a smile crept up on its face, it then swung its free arm around, knocking Xiao Fang off to the side. Xiao Fang's body rolled and tumbled a few times, before coming to a stop.
The elder scoffed.
"Why were you acting so tough when your attacks are so weak?"
What she was saying was true, the beast barely felt it. To be more accurate, the punch was equivalent to a child punching a grown man in the gut. Sure a couple of those would eventually start to bruise, but the same trick wouldn't work twice.
Suddenly, the beast fell to one knee, and standing behind him was Xiao Fang.
"My attack wasn't weak. I just didn't strike where it hurts."
In the next moment Xiao Fang's hand swooped in, mercilessly gouging out both of its eyes.
The elder furrowed her brows as a chill went down her spine. There was no hesitation in Xiao Fang's actions at all. It was as if he had done it several times before. She knew doing that sort of thing wasn't something ordinary people could do.
'Whoever that boy is, he certainly isn't as innocent as he looks,' the elder thought.
Looking back at the body that had earlier been knocked to the side, the elder watched as it suddenly turned into another mist of qi.
The thing that amazed her wasn't just his creativity, but the fact that not even she could immediately discern his clones from the real one. The reason he was also able to fool her with his clones wasn't because he was stronger than her, but simply because she was severely underestimating him. His skills were far beyond what an outer court disciple should've been able to do, so she didn't expect him to be able to make such real clones.
Just when Xiao Fang was about to focus back on his spirit attributes, his swordsman instincts suddenly kicked in. In the next moment, he dodged the unexpecting attack. When he landed several meters away he looked back at the spirit beast and was surprised by what he saw.
There were two gaping holes where its eyes should've been, but it still had a large smile on its face. In fact, the smile looked even creepier than it did before.
Xiao Fang knew how much it hurt having his eyes gouged out, so he was surprised that the beast was still able to attack him without even taking a break.
Xiao Fang began to frown, because its eyes were starting to heal back.
"You didn't think it would end just like that did you?" The elder asked.
Xiao Fang had always been told that his blindness couldn't be healed or regenerated, not even by a heavenly realm cultivator.
Just how strong was this elder, and what was her background? Xiao Fang was starting to have more and more questions, but given the situation he was in, he was in no position to start asking questions.
What Xiao Fang didn't know was that the elder wasn't using her own power to heal them, she had been using the power of the ancient spirit pagoda to heal them this whole time. Since the power the spirit pagoda contained was virtually limitless, she could keep healing them for as long as she liked.
...
The fight continued for a few more hours. Any injury inflicted on the spirit beast or Xiao Fang would instantly be healed up by the mysterious elder. So the fight wasn't about strength or technique, instead it was simply a battle of attrition. Unfortunately for Xiao Fang, he was already a little tired before the fight began and his spirit cultivation was 2 realms below the spirit beast's.
Despite all the time that passed, Xiao Fang had only made an insignificant amount of progress with his spirit attribute. Every time they stopped fighting to get healed, Xiao Fang would use that time to make another attempt at his spirit attribute. Eventually, Xiao Fang wouldn't even think about the pain, but still, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't do it. However, his rigorous efforts weren't without merits.
Xiao Fang's spirit body began to glow as another layer aura emerged from his body.
[ Breakthrough to the 8th stage of the Spirit Core Realm ]
'I made a breakthrough to the 8th stage already?!' Xiao Fang thought excitedly.
Not only was making a breakthrough a big deal, but he had also restored some of his energy.
Although it was a bit surprising to see, considering how many times his spirit body got destroyed and healed up again, it wasn't too hard to believe. The only thing that was extremely unusual to elder was that his spirit body was constantly getting stronger every time she healed him. She knew the spirit pagoda didn't have the ability to make his spirit body stronger, so the only explanation she could think of was that his True Immortal Spirit Attribute was making him stronger.
The elder was more interested than she was entertained. She wanted to make Xiao Fang suffer, but now she wanted to know more about him.
'I don't think I've ever seen eyes like his before,' she thought as she looked deeply into them.
...
'It hasn't even been a month since I made a breakthrough to the 7th stage of the Spirit Core Realm. It seems I already gained a lot more than most people could from this place,' Xiao Fang thought.
With reignited flames burning in his eyes, he jumped back into the fight while pushing his spirit attribute to the max.
The elder was enjoying their fight, even though Xiao Fang didn't seem to be in as much pain as before. Unless he gave up, she would joyfully watch by the sidelines as her spirit beast roughed him up. Luckily for her, it was impossible for someone under the Heavenly spirit realm to completely control the full power of a True Immortal Spirit Attribute. At least, she had never heard of anyone doing it before.
The longer the fight lasted, the less she disliked Xiao Fang. If she was honest, her impression of him had gradually changed over time. Eventually, she was even starting to like him.
'Why isn't he giving up?' she wondered. 'Does he want a spirit cultivation technique that badly? or could it be that he wants to be put into the Tiger class?'
The moment she summoned the Divine Spirit Beast, Xiao Fang knew that he wasn't going to be treated fairly, but he still accepted her challenge. From that moment, he had already gained the elder's respect. However, after many hours of torturing himself to control the spirit attribute while getting attacked by her Divine realm Spirit Beast, he had already proven to the elder that he was worthy of at least being placed in the Insect or Snake Class.
'He might be just a man, but he's a respectable one,' she thought.
She was thinking about telling him to stop, but how was she supposed to explain it to him? Was she supposed to say that it was actually impossible for him to completely control the True Immortal Spirit Attribute, and that she had only set up this match purely for her own twisted entertainment. After putting him through hours of torture, that was the last thing she wanted to say to him.
All she could do was watch and wait for him to give up. However, Xiao Fang hated losing more than anything. He would never put himself in a position where he might think back on a moment and wonder 'what if'. What if I pushed myself a little harder. Since he was here right now, he was going to give it all he had, and if that wasn't enough he was going to keep pushing past his limits again and again till he could no more.
Just from the look in his eyes the elder knew that Xiao Fang wasn't going to give up anytime soon, but she was starting to hope it wasn't true.
Chapter 137 - Fields Dyed In Blood
Almost 10 hours after Xiao Fang entered the cauldron, the inner court exam was coming to an end.
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In the 2nd level of the Ancestral Training Grounds, a few guys were still trying to pass the first test of the exam when an elder announced the conclusion of the exam. Upon hearing the announcement, the disciples dejectedly started making their way out of the cave.
The tiered beasts were still active, so the moment the exam ended, several elders entered.
The elders traveled in pairs, trying to find the disciples in case they needed help getting out.
Since each disciple participating in the exam was given a pendant, all of the outer court elders used a special compass to find the location of the pendants, while the inner court elders would keep an eye out in case a disciple had lost theirs during the exam.
One pair of elders were heading east when they discovered something strange.
The outer court elder paused as she stared down at her compass.
"Why did you stop?" The inner court elder asked.
"It looks like there are several disciples in that direction, but there's something strange about what I'm seeing," the outer court elder said without taking her eyes off her compass.
"Strange in what way?" The inner court elder asked.
"Here, take a look."
The outer court elder gave her the compass then slowly watched her face change from surprise to concern.
She saw what looked like 20 disciples clustered together only a few kilometers away. The strange thing about it was that they weren't moving, not even a little. If it were just 1 or 2 pendants flashing on the compass then she would've assume that someone must've dropped it, but for there to be so many of them clustered together like this didn't make sense, she assumed it had to be deliberate.
The lofty looking inner court elder stared at the compass for a few more seconds before she began to frown. She had never seen anything like this before, so she didn't know what to expect.
"Could the compass be broken?" The outer court elder asked.
"I don't think so. I suspect someone stole the pendants from the other disciples and just stashed them there. Let's go check it out first before we come up with any useless conclusions."
The inner court elder began heading towards the stash of pendant and the outer court elder followed close behind her.
On the way to the location, the outer court elder asked,
"Isn't it strange. Why would a disciple steal and stash away so many pendants? It's not like the qi accumulated within the pendants can be transferred to another pendant."
"I can't say I know either. He might've done it to make the other disciples fail, or maybe he simply wanted to cultivate them." the inner court elder replied.
"Ah, you think he used it to cultivate?"
Although it was possible, it was hard to believe that someone would spirit cultivate in the middle of the exam and under such dangerous circumstances.
Suddenly the inner court elder stopped.
"What's wrong?" The outer court elder asked.
"I smell blood..."
The outer court elder eventually picked up on the scent as well, but it was extremely faint. From there they proceeded with caution.
Upon reaching the site, they both froze in horror.
The lush green field was dyed in blood. Limbs, flesh, and visceral pieces were scattered around and across the open field. The whole thing looked as if it had come straight out of a nightmare.
The outer court elder started feeling nauseous, and the inner court elder just couldn't believe her eyes. They had never encountered such a gory scene in their entire lives. It was so brutal it made their skins crawl. They were almost convinced that it wasn't the doing of an ordinary tiered beast, but something far more terrifying.
The outer court elder subconsciously took a step back. There wasn't supposed to be anything within this level that could threaten her, but whatever was capable of creating such a horrible scene frightened her to her core.
"How could this happen. There's at least 20 disciples here, nothing in this level should have been able to defeat a group this big."
The bodies weren't dragged here or else there would be trails of blood, and there were no signs that a tiered beast was in the area either. If a beast was here it would have left some clues, but there were none, none at all.
The inner court elder closely examined the scene, eventually coming to a shocking discovery.
"These disciples weren't killed by tiered beasts, they were killed by another disciple."
Surprised by her words, the outer court elder looked back at the scene. Although it was extremely unlikely, she just assumed they were attacked by a horde of 4th tiered beasts, but the inner court elder's next words dispelled that thought.
"The natural qi in this area is too weak. There wouldn't even be a single tier 3 beast, let alone a horde of 4th tiered beasts."
"Now that you mentioned it, this does feel like a safe zone. Could a disciple really do something like this? This... this shouldn't be possible right?"
The inner court elder didn't respond because she couldn't believe it herself.
The 20 dead disciples all had a cultivation realm above the Refinement realm or else they wouldn't have been able to participate in the exam, but even with the 20 of them here, they were still no match against this mystery disciple.
Even if that one disciple was in the Spirit Core or Solid Body realm, he still wouldn't have a chance against 9 or 10 refinement realm cultivators, much less 20.
"But how could he win against 20 disciples?"
"I don't know, but whoever this guy is this certainly wasn't his first time."
Outer court disciples weren't capable of doing such ruthless acts of murder, they simply wouldn't be able to stomach it. However, this disciple had killed all 20 of them in the most gruesome way possible.
"I'm going to inform someone about this. You stay here and collect their pendants. If you find any more like them let me know."
The inner court elder quickly left, leaving the outer court elder alone with the corpse.
Chapter 138 - Lightning Tribulation Gate
10 hours after Xiao Fang stepped into the cauldron, the sun was finally starting to set, marking the end of the exam.
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Inside the cauldron, Xiao Fang looked beat. He exhausted all of his qi hours ago, so he was unable to create any more illusory clones while fighting against the Divine Spirit Beast. All he could do was rely on his bare fists.
After suffering another beat down from the Spirit Beast, Xiao Fang laid on the cold hard ground as he heard light footsteps coming his way.
Feeling a gentle hand on his neck, he immediately tried to pull away, but his spirit body was too injured to move.
The elder held him up in the air by the neck to make him look her in the eyes.
"I'm surprised you could last this long. How about this, if you give up now I will put you directly into the Snake class. What do you say?"
Xiao Fang smirked.
"Do you really think so little of me?"
The elder frowned.
'Wasn't he doing this to get placed into a class? Could it be that he actually wanted a spirit cultivation technique all this time?' The elder thought.
She tried to think of something she could give him, but she quickly realized that she didn't have any strong spirit cultivation technique she could give him.
Since they were both in spirit form, there was no way she could give him anything physical, the only way she could give him a technique was through a special method that required him to already meet the minimum prerequisites of the technique.
Unfortunately, Xiao Fang's spirit cultivation realm was far too low to learn anything she had, everything she had at his level were all weak techniques she almost never used.
'Dammit, I only said I would give him a powerful spirit cultivation technique so that he would agree to the challenge, I didn't think he would go this far for it,' she thought.
Although getting a spirit cultivation technique was nice, what she didn't realize was how close Xiao Fang was to making another breakthrough. The fact was that Xiao Fang wasn't doing it for the spirit technique or the class placement anymore, he was doing it to train. This was the greatest opportunity he had to train his spirit cultivation. To leave now would be a wasted opportunity.
Besides, above all else, she was the one that convinced him that there was nothing wrong with his spirit attribute. If he could, he wanted to unleash its full strength before he got out of here. If he couldn't do it while he was here, then he might never get the chance to do it.
"How can you be this stubborn? Is your pride really worth it? It's no fun seeing you suffer like this anymore, hurry up and give up."
Xiao Fang wanted to laugh, but his whole body hurt too much. He had lost to his father more time than he could count, but he never admitted defeat. That was just the way he was raised.
[ Never beg, never give up. ]
Despite how badly his body was damaged, he still had a serene look on his face.
'This feeling is nostalgic,' Xiao Fang thought as he was reminded of home.
How many times did his father push him to the brink of death. How was that any different from what he was going through now?
'That's right, this is no different from my father's training. Actually, if I was to compare the two, I'd say what I'm experiencing now isn't nearly as bad.'
Still being held in the air by his neck, he heard his father's voice. The same voice that always told him to pick up his sword and get back up.
[ A Swordsman's Pride makes us strong, resilient, and persevering. Pride is not a virtue, but it is what makes us great ]
'That's right. Even if I am without a sword, I'm still a swordsman.'
Xiao Fang struggled to raise his arm, but was eventually able to grab the wrist of the elder that was holding him up by the neck.
"I... will never... give up."
A fierce smile appeared on Xiao Fang's face, it was a smile telling her not to underestimate him, and that he was going to show her just how great he was!
Still being held up in the air by his neck, the dim blue light in Xiao Fang's dantian began to shine brighter. He was activating his spirit attribute once again.
The elder frowned. The look on Xiao Fang's face was not a look someone in his condition should've been making. His spirit body was in a piss-poor condition, but his fighting spirit was still as strong as ever.
Since he was already starting to power up his spirit attribute, she started healing him again.
Despite looking like he was doing the same thing over and over again, Xiao Fang had actually been studying his spirit attribute closely.
The reason why he couldn't unlock the full strength of his spirit attribute wasn't because he reached a bottleneck, there wasn't a barrier to begin with or else he wouldn't have made any progress whatsoever. All this time he had been subconsciously stopping himself from grasping that power, in fear of the suffering he would have to endure.
Xiao Fang was rarely scared of anything. He hated to admit it, but this time, he was scared. If he was feeling so much pain from just this small amount of control, then what kind of torture would he have to go endure if he unleashed it's full strength.
However, Xiao Fang finally realized something.
The first time he took the spirit attribute off the shelf, he had to push through unimaginable pain just to touch the scroll, but after he did, it no longer hurt him to touch it. Could the same thing happen if he released the full strength of the spirit attribute, or would he really be put through inhuman torture? There was only one way to find out.
Suddenly Xiao Fang's spirit body began to light up.
"Hey, what are you doing? At least wait for me to finish healing you first," the elder said.
Despite her words, Xiao Fang kept releasing more of his spirit attribute's power.
The Divine Spirit Beast didn't attack because Xiao Fang's spirit body was still badly damaged. Xiao Fang took advantage of that.
The elder tried her best to heal Xiao Fang, but his spirit body was breaking down faster than she could heal him. Each spirit vein in his spirit body was much larger than they were before, allowing more qi from his spirit attribute to flow through him. The cracks in his body began to shine, and the streaks of lightning began to zap and crackle around him.
The elder used as much of the pagoda's spirit power as she could, but his spirit body was simply breaking way too fast.
'What are you doing? Are you insane!?' She feared that all the pain he put himself through ended up making him go crazy.
Despite all that was happening, Xiao Fang was confident in himself and he tried to show that confidence while staring directly into the elder's eyes. Suddenly, his bright violet eyes began to glow in a curious way. She didn't know what to think of it, but it was making her feel weird.
"Stop being so reckless, if you keep going you're going to die!" she screamed for him to stop, but Xiao Fang ignored her.
Xiao Fang was aware of himself more than she knew. He knew he was walking on a fine line, but that was exactly what his spirit attribute wanted him to do. The spirit attribute had a mind of it's own, and Xiao Fang knew what it wanted, he could feel it. If he wanted to gain its power he would need to push himself to the very edge.
The reason Xiao Fang didn't tell the elder about his discovery was because he assumed she would've tried to stop him from beating the challenge. It turned out he was wrong about her. If she really disliked him as much as he thought she did, then she wouldn't have been so concerned about whether he lived or died.
She kept trying to make him stop, but what she didn't realize was the transformation happening to Xiao Fang's spirit body. He was going through rapid growth as his spirit body was continuously being destroyed and regenerated. Every second in this state was already way more beneficial to his cultivation than anything else he's ever done.
In her last efforts to make Xiao Fang stop, the elder finally told him the truth. She admitted to knowing that it was impossible for him to control the full power of his spirit attribute. She just wanted to have fun with him, but she never expected him to take it this far.
She looked as if she was about to tear up, but Xiao Fang eventually couldn't hear a single word she was saying. In the next moment his surroundings changed.
It was as if he was transported into a dark void.
'Where am I?' Xiao Fang thought as he inspected his surroundings.
Xiao Fang then noticed the giant gate behind him. The 2 doors were several dozens of meters high, and a few dozen meters across. On the doors were intricate designs of mystical creatures and beautiful scenery. However, after taking a step back, Xiao Fang was able to see 2 huge characters camouflaged into the epic collage of images. The ancient characters on the doors read:
[ Lightning Tribulation ]
Chapter 139 - My Turn
[ Lightning Tribulation ]
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Xiao Fang could feel the profundity in the characters alone. As magnificent as they were, the characters didn't give him a welcoming feeling, it felt more like a warning.
The door was warm to the touch, giving Xiao Fang the impression that whatever was inside must've been fairly hot.
Xiao Fang tried to push the doors open, but when it was open just a crack, a harsh light suddenly shined through. Upon inspecting it closely, Xiao Fang could see that it wasn't just a single bright light, but a countless number of them.
Looking through the narrow opening of the doors, Xiao Fang could see a sea of Lightning on the other side, and roughly 50 meters away was another gate, but it was even bigger and more impressive than the one he was opening now.
"Am I really supposed to walk through this."
Xiao Fang froze upon seeing such a terrifying sight. He didn't think he could handle getting struck even once, so how was he supposed to get through to the other side.
Even though Xiao Fang couldn't see or hear anyone, the moment he opened the [ Lightning Tribulation ] gates, he could feel a pair of eyes staring at him. It was neither friendly nor hostile, but it made Xiao Fang feel as if he was being judged.
Looking into the gates, Xiao Fang hesitated. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but wasn't this taking things too far?
While most people in his shoes would have seen it as a dead end, Xiao Fang saw it as finishing line. This was his last push, so he wanted to finish it strong. Seeing the hellish plains in front of him only settled his impatient heart.
'After this, it would finally be over.'
Xiao Fang walked in with the intent of accepting the vicious sea of lightning, but he immediately blacked out after stepping inside.
...
When Xiao Fang woke up, he found himself still inside of the Spirit Pagoda, but he was laying down with his head resting on the elder's lap with her breast hanging over his face. He couldn't remember what happened, but he now had a splitting headache.
As Xiao Fang was looking around, he realized all of his wounds were healed. It seemed that the elder was successful in healing him in the end, but if that was the case then wouldn't it mean that the Divine Spirit Beast would start attacking him again?
"How do you feel?" She asked.
With his head still resting on her lap, Xiao Fang looked up at her, but he didn't say a word. She continued to look down at him as she stroked his hair.
Xiao Fang thought she was acting strange, but he couldn't understand why. She had been looking into his eyes for the past 10 hours without much of a reaction so he assumed that she was immune or highly resistant to it's effects.
What Xiao Fang didn't know was just how precious he was to the sect, her sect. Even though she didn't originally approve of him and was venting her anger out at him, now that Xiao Fang had proven himself as being a strong and capable man, she finally accepted him as a disciple of the sect. He had completely won her over.
The elder was no longer in the sect, nor was she involved with the sect's affairs, but if she was then she would've taken good care of Xiao Fang till he became an exemplary Black Paradise disciple.
"How long was I out for?" Xiao Fang asked.
"Only a few minutes," she replied.
The strange thing was that Xiao Fang wasn't just fully energized, he felt significantly stronger too.
'Did I make another breakthrough?' he thought.
Xiao Fang released his aura then made a shocking discovery. His aura had reduced back down to 1 layer indicating that he was back to the 1st stage, but it was significantly denser than before. He didn't just make 1 breakthrough, he made 2.
"Profound Spirit realm." Xiao Fang thought out loud.
Even though he could clearly feel it, it took him a long time to believe it. The elder, on the other hand, didn't share the same reaction, but it was likely that she had already reacted to it before he woke up.
Xiao Fang already achieved far more than he ever thought was possible in the spirit pagoda, but he could only think about one thing. Did he grasp the full power of the [ True Immortal Lightning Tribulation ]?
Xiao Fang took his head off the elders lap then stood back up. Seeing Xiao Fang completely healed and standing back on his feet, the Divine Spirit Beast assumed he was ready to continue their fight.
The elder sighed.
She was hoping that Xiao Fang would stop now that she told him the challenge was a scam, but it looked like he still wanted to continue.
"I already told you it was impossible. Why are you still trying?" She asked him.
Ignoring the elder's words Xiao Fang started to activate his spirit attribute.
Seeing that Xiao Fang was channeling his spirit attribute again, the Divine Spirit Beast immediately jumped back into action. However, something spectacular began to happen. Xiao Fang was nearly emitting the same aura as the Divine Spirit Beast. Since he was in the Profound Spirit realm, his spirit attribute raised his cultivation into the Divine Spirit realm. However, the thing that surprised the spirit beast was that Xiao Fang's battle power was still rising, and it was rising fast.
Xiao Fang also realized it, but the thing that surprised him was that he didn't feel any pain from it. He could keep releasing more of his spirit attribute without any drawbacks.
'Could it be?' he thought.
Realizing what it could mean, Xiao Fang quickly released more qi from his spirit attribute unrestrainedly.
However, before he could finish he suddenly saw the spirit beast's fist coming his way. The punch connected to Xiao Fang's face, but it didn't move him. The spirit beast felt as if it had punched a mountain, Xiao Fang didn't even move an inch.
Looks of disbelief appeared on the faces of both the spirit beast and the elder, then the atmosphere around Xiao Fang suddenly began to change.
"Impossible... H-How... how could you-" The elder struggled to even make a sentence as she watched Xiao Fang's transformation happen before her eyes.
Similar to when Li Lian used her spirit attribute, Xiao Fang's aura and appearance began to change, his spirit body was undergoing a complete transformation.
Xiao Fang's long black hair turned white, and his hands, eyes, and feet began to glow, then his spirit body started to emit a light blue aura. Occasional streaks of lightning curved around his spirit body as his hair and robes fluttered violently, giving him an intimidating presence.
Xiao Fang looked down at his hands as he felt the power surging through his spirit veins. It was just as he expected. The lightning didn't hurt him no matter how much he used. He was able to use it's full strength without any restrictions.
It wasn't just his appearance that changed, his cultivation had changed enormously as well.
Xiao Fang flexed his arms feeling the enormous power they each contained. This was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Not even his father emitted such an oppressive presence.
"This pressure..." the elder said in surprise.
Xiao Fang had done something she thought was impossible. He was using the full power of his True Immortal Spirit Attribute!
Xiao Fang wasn't as surprised about his spirit attribute as much as he was surprised about his current cultivation. That was because his spirit attribute didn't just increase his cultivation by a single realm, it now increased it by two.
Xiao Fang looked back up at the Divine Spirit Beast in front of him, and it took a step back in hesitation. Even the Divine Spirit Beast could feel it. Xiao Fang had never personally seen anyone unleash the power of anything higher than the Divine Realm, but he was convinced this had to be it. This had to be the Heavenly Realm!!
A vicious grin appeared on Xiao Fang's face as he looked up at the spirit beast.
"I hope you had your fun, cause now it's my turn."
Chapter 140 - Strange Clones
"I hope you had your fun, cause now it's my turn."
.
.
.
Knowing Xiao Fang's intentions, the Divine Spirit Beast attacked him first. Xiao Fang didn't try to evade the attack, he simply raised his a hand and blocked it with his forearm.
In the next moment, the beast was shot through the air, only stopping when it hit the wall.
Xiao Fang opened and closed his hand curiously. He didn't think he could control his strength since he had never been this strong before, but he was still able to injure the divine spirit beast with a simple strike.
As far as Xiao Fang knew, the higher his cultivation realm got the greater the disparity between consecutive realms became.
A single Refinement realm cultivator had the strength of ~5 Foundation realm cultivators.
1 Core realm = ~8 Refinement realm
1 Profound realm = ~10 Core realm
1 Divine realm = ~13 Profound realm
Right now Xiao Fang felt as if he had the strength that was equal to a few Divine spirit realm cultivators, but he assumed it was due to his lack of experience fighting in this realm.
Just what kind of existence was someone in the heavenly realm? Heavenly realm practitioners were cultivators that could go anywhere unhindered. They were the idols of geniuses and the gods of men. Only those in the royal court were rumored to all be in Heavenly realm, but that was where all the strongest cultivators in the country were gathered.
While Xiao Fang was getting excited over his new found strength, the elder also had a look of shock in her eyes.
She couldn't believe that he was able to completely control his true immortal spirit attribute. As far as she knew, no one under the Heavenly realm had ever done such a thing before. Even if he was at the Heavenly realm, it still should've been extremely difficult to pull it off.
The Divine Spirit Beast pulled himself out of the wall, but it didn't seem nearly as injured as Xiao Fang expected. Seeing that Xiao Fang had gotten even stronger, the spirit beast suddenly got excited.
It roared again, but this time its ashy grey skin turned crimson red, metallic scales emerged out of his shoulders, chest, forearms, and tail, and it grew a bit taller. Its aura thickened as its battle power quickly rose. Xiao Fang didn't feel any killing intent coming from it, but its bloodlust became even stronger than before.
In front of such a powerful spirit beast, Xiao Fang didn't even show a sliver of fear, all he could feel was contempt. The spirit beast had been so keen on making Xiao Fang so miserable this whole time, whether it chose to run, fight, or hide really made no difference, the end result was going to be the same.
Xiao Fang and the Divine Spirit Beast both darted towards each other in unbelievable speeds, almost destroying the ground below their feet with every step they took.
Xiao Fang saw its fist coming, but he decided not to dodge it. He wanted to take it head on.
They went blow for blow, but since Xiao Fang was still new to this realm, his attack was still a bit weaker than he expected it to be, but as they continued to exchange blows Xiao Fang was quickly able to overpower it.
Even if he was still a long way from being comfortable fighting in this realm, he was still a realm above the spirit beast so the battle was heavily in his favour.
Xiao Fang created a perfect illusory clone whenever he needed to evade an attack or create a distraction to find an opening. Since the only form of martial arts he was proficient in was in swordsmanship, his illusory clones helped him get the edge he needed to compensate for his lack of hand to hand combat skills.
Suddenly, the spirit beast landed a strike with it's tail. Xiao Fang was pushed back several meters, but the attack didn't hurt him as much as he expected it to. After everything Xiao Fang went through and considering how much stronger he was now, the tail whip felt like nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
The spirit beast didn't have the same smug look on its face anymore. Not only was Xiao Fang's attacks much stronger, he was also landing 10 to 15 hits before the Divine Spirit Beast could even land 1.
With a serious look on its face, the Divine Spirit Beast created a clone of its own, then another, and then another. When it was done, there were 15 clones of the Divine Spirit Beast standing side by side with each other.
Xiao Fang was surprised, but considering the fact that it was in the Divine Spirit realm, it made sense that it was able to create so many Illusory clones. The only thing that worried him a bit was that its clones were even more perfect than Xiao Fang's. Xiao Fang could look at them for hours but still not distinguish the real one from the fakes, and since everything in the spirit pagoda was in spirit form, he couldn't rely on his ears to figure it out.
The Divine Spirit Beast made the first move. Xiao Fang couldn't tell whether the first one to reach him was real or fake so he decided to block it.
The fist hit his arm and it pushed him back a little.
'I found you,' Xiao Fang thought as he locked eyes with the Divine Spirit Beast that just hit him.
Ignoring all of the clones, Xiao Fang went straight for the one he was locked eyes with, but then his swordsman's instincts began to flare up. Xiao Fang dodged, but he didn't understand why. Suddenly the clone that missed him destroyed the ground on impact.
'What!? If this is the real one then-'
Suddenly, his swordsman's instincts warned him again, but it was coming from a different direction.
All of the clones were closing in on his position, so Xiao Fang dodged the attacks then retreated several meters away.
This was all too confusing for him. Was the Divine Spirit Beast somehow switching places with its clones or were the clones all real?
Xiao Fang then created 2 illusory clones of his own then made them rush into the group of spirit beasts from two different directions. They were immediately attacked by the group of spirit beasts and they both turned into a mist of qi at the same time when they were hit.
Xiao Fang slightly frowned.
'Those aren't illusory clones.'