Chapter 653: Chapter 652: Yiling Clan and Yiling Barrier
"Beaded flash!"
Seeing Gu Shui being easily knocked away by Shi Xiaole, Gu Mu can’t take him lightly. He shifts his body sideways, creating phantom images all linked into a line. As the line shrinks, three points in space charge towards Shi Xiaole, emitting the sound of piercing through the void.
Thud!
A glance of his blade slashes out, severing the three points in space in half.
At this moment, Gu Mu has already charged in front of Shi Xiaole, a fist infused with spiritual power lashes out, revealing a terrifying image of a black bear.
"He has reached the Eightfold Level of the Dragon Gate Realm."
With superior perceptive abilities, Shi Xiaole could easily compare Gu Mu’s abilities with those of other experts in the world and came to this conclusion.
Gu Mu’s attack power and speed were not inferior to the charming girl, even more tricky, and because he used spiritual power, it would always affect the opponent’s state, which was something a martial arts expert cannot compare with.
In a competition of the same level, a spiritual power master would undoubtedly be more difficult than a martial arts master. Only Shi Xiaole, with his stable Sea of Spirit, is not influenced by Gu Mu and Gu Shui.
Of course, spiritual power masters also have their weaknesses, which is lack of endurance.
With Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power, it could only fully output for two quarters of an hour at most. Others can’t imagine such an ability.
Without further delay, Shi Xiaole stimulated his spiritual power to fifty percent. The Eye Blade suddenly burst out with an astonishing cold light, slicing straight across the air.
"Surprising Cloud Shield!"
Sensing the impending danger, Gu Mu paused and quickly blocked with both hands. A nebulous spiritual shield appeared.
Crack, the ruthless blade light shattered the shield. Gu Mu spat out blood as he was thrown backward, rolling over a dozen times on the ground. Gu Shui, who had just risen to his feet, watched in shock.
"What...what are you trying to do...?"
Watching the young man in green approach, Gu Shui was greatly frightened. However, the previous psychic blade light made him fearful and he did not dare make any further moves.
Without any nonsense, Shi Xiaole performed a soul capturing skill on both of them. After a while, he breathed a long sigh.
"Yiling Clan?"
Through these two men, Shi Xiaole got to know that the place where he is located is called the Yiling Barrier, inhabited by a group of people called the Yiling Clan.
The existence of the Yiling Barrier has been for untold years, no one knew how it came to be. They only knew that because of the influence of the aura here, people of the Yiling Clan have innate extraordinary spiritual power.
To survive, the ancestors of the Yiling Clan created various profound psychic secret techniques. Now, this civilization of spiritual power has become extremely developed.
The psychic secret techniques previously used by Gu Mu and Gu Shui are just some of the more common ones among the many psychic secret techniques of the Yiling Clan.
As for why Shi Xiaole ended up here, it can only be blamed on his bad luck.
The Yiling Barrier is hidden deep within the Zhuolu Plain. It is isolated from the world, but every hundred years it needs to absorb power, at which time array system cracks will appear.
Luckily, the time that array system cracks last is very short, only about a dozen breaths, so over the years, no outsiders have known of the existence of the Yiling Barrier.
There were those who have been drawn into it in the past, but they had no way to leave the barrier, therefore there was no possibility of leaking information.
"Zhuolu Plain produces essence stones in abundance. Would this have anything to do with the Yiling Barrier?"
A question suddenly came to Shi Xiaole’s mind.
And, given that the psychic civilization here is so prosperous, would there be essence stones? And how could he get out?
As one thought after another raced through his mind, suddenly, a loud rumbling sound sounded from the ground. Even the nearby trees were slightly shaking.
A group of people flew over from afar and soon surrounded him.
The spiritual breath of these people varied in strength. The weak ones were at the Spiritual-Passage Realm while the strong ones had reached the peak of the Dragon Gate Realm. Even amongst them, the spiritual power within a dozen individuals was like a clump of divine light, so brilliant and exuberant it was unimaginable.
Shi Xiaole looked at the young woman who led them.
The young woman was average in appearance, but her eyes were deep and full of spirit. Her spiritual power was like an abyss, incredibly strong. Shi Xiaole guessed that she was almost at the initial stage of the Divine Barrier Realm.
"Are you a stranger?"
One person looked at Shi Xiaole’s clothes, and then at Gu Mu and Gu Shui under him, and asked coldly.
"I mistakenly entered this place, I’m sorry."
Shi Xiaole gave a salute, while Gu Mu and Gu Shui fled and ran towards the crowd opposite.
"Guests are welcome, but the Yiling Clan only welcomes the strong. Yage, you go test him."
The young lady ordered a man with numerous braids tied up on his head without any prior explanation.
This place is near the outer camp of the Yiling Clan. Moreover, the noise made by the birds was not small, it just so happened to alarm her who was leading the clan disciples in training, so she was able to rush over in time.
Unexpectedly, she encountered the rarely seen outsider, and since he could subdue the two Gumen, he must be somewhat skilled.
"Boy, let me see your true strength."
The man named Yage smiled and stood still without moving.
But Shi Xiaole suddenly dodged to the right, and immediately a punch shadow pierced through the position where he had just been standing. The air bulged and pierced through a big tree as thick as three persons could circle around across from him.
"Another psychic secret technique."
Shi Xiaole’s eyes flickered.
Somehow, the opponent seemed to have subtly transferred his mental power to his rear and simulated a fist attack through the air. Even a master of the same rank may not be able to discern this in time.
What surprised Shi Xiaole the most was the fact that traces of martial arts seemed to permeate the mental fist technique just now.
"Huh! You managed to dodge my Severing Air Fist. Interesting!"
Yage, akin to a wolf tearing off its sheepskin disguise, laughed heartily. His combined hand and foot movements, coupled with his frantic wielding of fists, were characterized by a violent offensive onslaught akin to roaring waves, ferociously surging towards Shi Xiaole.
"The boy is done for. Lord Yage is one of the strongest warriors under Miss Qi Sina. He is ten, if not a hundred times stronger than any of us. Let’s see how he handles this!"
Releasing an exasperated sigh, Gu Shui chuckled sinisterly.
In the arena.
Facing the multitude of mental fists, Shi Xiaole was inevitably caught. He had the reflexes to keep up, but his body, unable to channel the Vigorous Air, was unable to match his fast thinking.
Realizing that his opponent’s mental attack had reached Lord-Level, Shi Xiaole fearlessly pushed his mental power to the limit. The dazzling light of his Divine Blade slashed down from the sky, shattering the barrage of punch shadows.
Puff Puff Puff...
With Yage fending off the blows, his defensive stance lasted only a moment before his mental fists were shattered and he involuntarily fell back. Seizing the moment, Shi Xiaole, who had been preparing for this, sprang forward like a cheetah using his physical strength.
"Get lost!"
Just as Yage was about to gather more mental power, Shi Xiaole’s fist, propelled by the Wind True Intent, suddenly accelerated and landed a punch on him, sending him flying.
With a loud crash, three thick trees were knocked down.
In the nick of time, Yage used his mental fortification defense, barely avoiding getting hurt, but he was clearly flustered and was itching to fight Shi Xiaole.
"Cease!"
The young lady halted Yage and turned her attention to Shi Xiaole. "You have done quite well. Would you be willing to accompany me to the Yiling Clan and serve as my bodyguard?"
This was an invitation.
The crowd was taken aback by her statement, while Gu Mu and Gu Shui were seething with jealousy.
The Yiling Clan had two contenders for the position of the tribal chief, and Miss Qi Sina was the daughter of one of them.
To serve as her bodyguard wouldn’t just render high status, but access to many resources within the clan, making it a stepping stone towards glory. If her father ends up as the chief of the tribe, the value of the position would become greater.
How could this boy be so lucky? But upon reconsideration, his strength was indeed formidable, having defeated even Yage, the bodyguard.
Hearing Qi Sina’s words, Shi Xiaole remained silent.
Although his mental power had reached the mid-level of the Divine Barrier Realm, the power he exhibited might not even reach the peak of the Lord-Level.
After all, the Eye Blade was only a second-rate superior martial art and was far from bringing out his mental strength advantage.
In fact, due to the lack of mental martial arts, the mental power of warriors in the Martial World generally falls short of their actual spiritual power levels.
Matching the mental power with the level of martial arts, the spiritual power of the initial Divine Border Realm must practice superior-grade spiritual martial arts for achieving full power.
Peak mental power at the Dragon Gate Realm level requires the cultivation of mid-grade spiritual martial arts.
However, in the Martial World, even inferior-grade spiritual martial arts were rarely seen. What more of the higher grades?
Yage in front of him, his mental power was only at the peak of the Dragon Gate Realm, but because of the addition of the spiritual secret technique, he could scarcely control even the Eye Blade, which shocked Shi Xiaole.
If he were to say that he wasn’t curious about the Yiling Clan’s mental secret techniques, he wouldn’t even believe himself.
"Thank you for your high esteem, I am willing."
After some contemplation, Shi Xiaole agreed to it.
On the one hand, he truly wanted to see the Yiling Clan’s mental secret techniques.
On the other hand, leaving the Yiling Barrier was imperative and that involved getting involved with the Yiling Clan.
Furthermore, Shi Xiaole had already learned from Gu Mu and Gu Shui that in the past thousands of years, there have been a few foreign warriors who have joined the Yiling Clan. Due to their merit in imparting martial arts, they received great treatment from the clan. Therefore, he believed that they would not harm him.
"You are wise."
Qi Sina nodded in approval.
If Shi Xiaole had refused just now, she wouldn’t have killed him but would have left him to his fate. Inevitably, he will have to follow the Yiling Clan, but the treatment wouldn’t be as favorable as it is now.
Presently, the party embarked on their return journey.
Shi Xiaole noticed that the way the Yiling Clan people looked at him had changed. On top of the latent wariness, a hint of the reverence elicited by his newfound standing was also evident.
While Qi Sina continued training the young members of the clan without personally engaging in combat, Shi Xiaole knew that her mental strength must be formidable. Judging by how Yage looked at her, he might even suspect that she is more powerful than him!
After three days of training, Qi Sina led a group of people back to the inner camp of the Yiling Clan. It was unclear whether it was due to a particular reason or just her nature, but throughout the period, Qi Sina hadn’t spoken a word to Shi Xiaole.
On a limitless plain stood tall and magnificent black stone architectural structures. From the sky, they looked like an endless game board filled with numerous pieces.
Inside the first level of a six-story building standing at thirty feet tall, the lamps shone brilliantly.
"In another month, the once Every-Five-Year God Stone Competition will be held. It seems we are bound for defeat considering our current strength," sighed a dignified man who bore a striking resemblance to Qi Sina.
