Chapter 571: Chapter 570: The Legacy of the Nine-Colored Granny
Outside the cave, numerous Spiritual-Passage Realm martial artists were still standing around. However, in apprehension of the seven experts inside, none of them dared to approach, but unwilling to leave, they could only observe in silence.
Inside the cave.
There was a strange tension between the four of them.
For Lei Jiaxin and Li Jiuding, Shi Xiaole seemed to be on an entirely different level.
He was the most dazzling genius in Shuntian Capital, also the chief of Wuling Villa. Without even realizing it, Shi Xiaole exuded a strong aura of prestige.
Even though he wasn’t trying to project it, it was still enough to inspire awe and respect, making others instinctively maintain a respectful distance.
Complicating matters, Lei Jiaxin found herself embarrassed by her previous impulsive confession. Every time her eyes met Li Jiuding’s, she made excuses to look elsewhere.
Li Jiuding, on the other hand, was visibly anxious, his forehead beaded with sweat.
Xia Yunxi on the other side, however, had not noticed the expressions of the other two, her gaze on Shi Xiaole was filled with mixed emotions.
For a time, no one spoke.
Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but smile at the silence, saying, "Are we all just going to stand here?"
Huh?
The other three snapped out of their thoughts, and Li Jiuding curiously asked, "Young Hero Shi, how did you know we were here?"
"Qi Wei found me."
Upon learning that Qi Wei was safe from Shi Xiaole’s confirmation, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Lei Jiaxin moved forward and grabbed Xia Yunxi’s hand, giggling and saying, "Yunxi, you must thank your savior this time. Go on, go thank him."
With a gentle twist of her arm gesture, the implication was clear.
Xia Yunxi blushed deeply, remaining silent, her usually outgoing personality transformed into a shy demeanor, which gave Lei Jiaxin and Li Jiuding pause.
Looks like Qi Wei doesn’t have a chance anymore.
Lei Jiaxin suddenly exclaimed: "Right! Yunxi, you swallowed that little seven-colored bead earlier, is everything okay?"
No one knew the origin or the effect of the seven-colored bead. They had ignored it during the life-and-death struggle earlier. Now, with Lei Jiaxin bringing it up again, everyone’s attention was drawn to it.
Shi Xiaole quickly moved to Xia Yunxi’s side, taking her hand, he began sensing for a moment before a look of surprise crept into his features.
Even with his Divine Barrier Realm level of spiritual power, it took considerable effort to barely detect the existence of the seven-colored bead. A strange aura emitted from it, seemingly able to melt away most of his spiritual power!
"For now, there shouldn’t be any major problems. The cave has its own hidden passages, I’ll go in first, you guys wait here," said Shi Xiaole.
His words left the other three puzzled, but their confusion was quickly replaced by surprise.
Under the impact of Shi Xiaole’s sword, a massive aura of energy emerged from within the cave. After striking several key points, the Array System opened up, leading to a deeper part of the cave.
Simultaneously, a Sword Qi that seemed to split the sky erupted from within Shi Xiaole, causing the martial artists outside the cave to scatter in fear, each of them running as if their lives depended on it in fear of the Sword Qi.
"I’ll go with you."
Just as Shi Xiaole was about to enter, Xia Yunxi grabbed his hand.
"There could be danger inside."
"I know you’ll protect me."
Shi Xiaole didn’t respond, only holding Xia Yunxi’s delicate hand, which sent a pleasant tingling sensation through her body, it felt like she owned the whole world that instant.
A warm sentiment was shared between the two.
"I hope Yunxi can find happiness," Lei Jiaxin said, looking at the pair’s retreating figures with hesitation on her face.
Li Jiuding replied, "I understand what you’re worried about. Relax, Yunxi is like our little sister, if anyone dares to bully her, regardless of who it is, I won’t let them off!"
...
The cave was long, with occasional dripping sounds.
Neither of the two speaking as they walked away hand in hand. Sometimes, silence says more than words, everything seemed to be understood without explanation.
About a half 2-hour period later, a stone wall appeared in front of them.
The wall was completely bare and extremely flat; one could even see their reflections on it. Suddenly, Shi Xiaole pulled Xia Yunxi towards the right, narrowly evading an obstacle.
Whoosh!
A seven-colored light pillar streaked across, silently creating a large hole in the wall of the cave it irradiated. The hole was about ten feet deep with a diameter of roughly one foot. The destructive power was on par with a lower-tiered expert in the Dragon Gate Realm.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Like toppling dominoes, one seven-colored light pillar after another surged out, crisscrossing and quickly blanketing the entire cave.
Shi Xiaole constantly shattered the seven-colored light pillars with his Sword Qi using his right hand. However, the speed at which the Sword Qi emerged was slower than the appearance of the seven-colored light pillars, which seemed to be endless.
"A formation of the Divine Barrier Realm?"
Shi Xiaole would have found a flaw in a conventional array system already. Clearly, the array system in front of him was at the level of the Divine Barrier Realm.
With Shi Xiaole’s capabilities, it would take a significant amount of time to crack it. Considering that his defensive measures were insufficient to protect Xia Yunxi, he said, "We should retreat."
"Hmm."
Xia Yunxi responded softly.
Just as the two were retreating, a drastic change occurred.
A Nine-Colored Light Column, ten times larger than the seven-colored ones, suddenly burst out from the stone wall. Like the sun from the sky, it pierced into Xia Yunxi’s body the moment it appeared and vanished instantly.
The seven-colored light pillars also disappeared automatically.
Anxiously, Shi Xiaole checked Xia Yunxi’s body and found that Vigorous Air inside her was surging at a high speed, relentlessly shattering one barrier after another.
Spiritual-Passage Realm, Fifth Tier.
Spiritual-Passage Realm, Sixth Tier.
Spiritual-Passage Realm, Seventh Tier.
Xia Yunxi, originally at the fifth tier of the Spiritual-Passage Realm, saw her cultivation soar all the way until she broke through to the peak of the Ninth Tier Spiritual-Passage Realm before it slowly stopped.
However, she hadn’t awakened yet and was enveloped in a layer of nine-colored light. After some thought, Shi Xiaole decided not to interrupt her.
Everyone has their moment of opportunity, and once missed, it might never come again.
Shi Xiaole couldn’t deprive Xia Yunxi of her opportunity under the guise of ’safety’.
Moreover, he understood some of Xia Yunxi’s thoughts and worries. If he were to hinder her, she might not say anything, but she would likely regret it in her heart.
Of course, if danger signs were to appear midway, Shi Xiaole would put a stop to it no matter what.
Two hours passed.
The Nine-Colored Light finally retracted completely, and Xia Yunxi woke up. The moment her eyes opened, they seemed colored but quickly returned to black.
"Shi Xiaole, I have obtained a powerful inheritance."
Xia Yunxi softly stood up from the ground. It was clear that she was extremely excited and thrilled, but she was restraining herself, afraid of leaving a bad impression on the one she had in her heart.
It turned out that this cave was left behind by a wise woman named Nine-Colored Granny. The seven-colored bead was placed outside as a test for the compatibility between the successors’ bodies and her cultivation method.
If the compatibility was not high enough, Xia Yunxi would have exploded and died at the moment of contact. In fact, because her physique was unusually close to the requirements, Xia Yunxi was able to activate the seven-colored bead in the cave and make it appear.
The Nine-Colored Light column was a test for the compatibility of the soul.
Because both types of compatibility reached perfection, Xia Yunxi received many pieces of information and inheritances left behind by the Nine-Colored Granny from the seven-colored bead.
"There’s no mention of this person in the tales of the Martial World; she seems like an unknown hermit."
Shi Xiaole would not underestimate such a hermit.
To some extent, such people might be the most terrifying. They avoid wealth and fame and often obscure their identities. As a result, even after surviving countless battles, others wouldn’t know their strength.
Furthermore, if such an individual possesses exceptional talents, they would be even more formidable. Without worldly distractions and having the freedom to immerse in real-world combat to verify their abilities, their progression in martial arts would be unimaginable.
Looking at the layout of the cave, Nine-Colored Granny was no less powerful than an expert in the Divine Barrier Realm.
"Shi Xiaole, here are two crucial pieces of information. Do you want to hear them?"
As if gaining confidence from the inheritance to catch up with Shi Xiaole, Xia Yunxi stood with her hands on her hips, a radiantly beautiful smile on her face, as if seeing Shi Xiaole for the first time.
SLAP!
A large hand smacked her buttocks, and Shi Xiaole said, "Speak."
Xia Yunxi froze, her face instantly blushing. The area that was smacked felt like it was burning, affecting her speech, "You, how could you..."
Seeing the smile on Shi Xiaole’s face, Xia Yunxi felt both fearful and expectant. She quickly said, "One of these pieces of information is a method to forge spiritual weapons. The Nine-Colored Granny, who lived thousands of years ago, had the good fortune to acquire a medium-grade spiritual weapon forging method."
"The other piece of information is the method that Nine-Colored Granny used to break through to the Divine Barrier Realm. Although it might not be applicable to others, it should be of some reference value to you."
