Chapter 662: Chapter 661: Bathing in the Brilliance of the Divine Stone
Shi Xiaole was surrounded by women. Two were cradled in his arms, another was massaging his legs, and yet another was kneading his back. Their touch was light but firm, so soothing it seeped into his bones.
The man said something,then lowered his head.
Rumors had spread that Qi Sina had given all four of her favourite maidservants to Shi Xiaole. Many people had held onto the hope that he would remain chaste despite his handsome appearance.
But...
The man gave a bitter smile.
"The Divine Stone Cave? Thank you, I will be there on time tomorrow at dawn."
Shi Xiaole nodded nonchalantly, but anticipation stirred in his heart. He wondered whether his spiritual quality would improve after he bathed with the divine stone. Whether he could withstand the four truths.
"Young Master, eh."
After the man left, Lan Xiaodie peeled a grape and called him like a child, suggesting he opened his mouth.
Amidst laughter, Shi Xiaole obediently opened his mouth and swallowed the grape. He quickly stole a kiss while Lan Xiaodie’s fingers were still in his mouth. As if struck by lightning, she playfully clung to him, complaining about him being a bad young master.
The other three women also protested coquettishly, accusing him of bullying Xiaodie.
Shi Xiaole laughed heartily, teasing the women by pretending to kiss them one by one. Despite his playful exterior, he remained detached at heart.
The next day.
At dawn.
As agreed, Shi Xiaole arrived at the grand hall. Zhao Sen and others were already waiting there, along with some unfamiliar young faces, presumably the talented individuals from Ninth Elder’s side.
Upon seeing him, all gaze shifted to him revealing curiosity and astonishment. Zhao Sen and a few others even took the initiative to greet Shi Xiaole.
"Brother Shi, you look more impressive than ever."
Shortly after, Qi Sina arrived with a few bodyguards. The smile gracing her face was like a fresh spring breeze.
Usually, Shi Xiaole would walk in Qi Sina’s shadow, acting as her bodyguard. But ever since he won the competition for the divine stone, Qi Sina had tactfully downplayed this issue.
Shi Xiaole replied with a smile, "Thank you, miss."
An odd remark that deepened Qi Sina’s smile: "As long as you’re happy."
A hero often falls for a beauty.
She already knew from her informants that Shi Xiaole was getting along wonderfully with those four strikingly beautiful girls. Despite grumbling about all men being the same, she couldn’t help but feel smug.
Now, Qi Sina didn’t think she could control Shi Xiaole with mere women. But this was just the first step. With this foundation, she believed Shi Xiaole would eventually fall into her hands.
After waiting for a while, Ninth Elder also arrived. He gave Shi Xiaole an amiable smile before leading everyone out of the grand hall.
About half an hour later, they arrived at a grand temple.
From the sky, one would see the temple was situated right at the center of the Yiling clan’s campground, like the center of a circle.
The temple was thirty feet high and wide and made of yellow clay and stone. Its surface was covered with intricate patterns and aged cracks, revealing a rich sense of history.
Behind the temple, a hilly landscape stretched out into the distance.
"Let’s go."
Following Ninth Elder, everyone climbed the three flights of steps.
As soon as Shi Xiaole stepped into the temple, he felt at least ten covert gazes on him. The intensity of their gaze was earth-shattering, making his heart tremble.
Even in the face of Xing Shuzi’s aura, Shi Xiaole hadn’t lost his composure like this. He couldn’t begin to comprehend the extent of power the people in the temple possessed.
Shi Xiaole had never underestimated the Yiling Clan.
With tens of millions of members, the clan was as large as a medium-sized city in Tian State. The proportion of elites was surprisingly high. Ninth Elder, for instance, was completely enigmatic. Even Shi Xiaole couldn’t discern his true power level.
Everyone else remained clueless too when asked.
Even the Seventh Elder and Third Elder who served as judges, as well as some other elders at the event, had concealed their spiritual powers, leaving everyone guessing.
He must be extremely careful.
He reminded himself to be cautious. Once he sensed the gazes leaving him, he felt considerably relaxed and started to survey the temple.
Contrary to expectations, the temple was devoid of decorations or statues. It didn’t even have torches.
All he could see was dense darkness, penetrable even by his perceptive eyes.
The only thing he could see was a light-colored elliptical stone, as tall as a person, suspended far away. The stone shimmered, expanding and contracting unpredictably amidst the darkness.
He thought he heard a faint chant emanating from the mysterious stone before it faded away.
"Ancestor Ling Gong, unworthy descendants are here to pay respects!"
Ninth Elder appeared devout as he led everyone else in a bow.
No one dared to slack off. Seeing this, Shi Xiaole also made a gesture of bowing and lowered his head.
After maintaining their positions for a full fifteen minutes, Ninth Elder finally straightened up and said softly, "Everyone, sit down." Everyone familiar with the process sat down methodically.
"Hmm?"
As his legs touched the ground, a wave of energy raced into Shi Xiaole’s body and immediately exited. For a brief moment, he felt an uncanny connection with the distant elliptical stone.
"May the spiritual deity manifest."
As the Ninth Elder’s words fell, he casted a seal with his hand.
Soundlessly.
A layer of light radiated from the surface of the oval-shaped stone. The light was mysterious and gentle, shining upon everyone. Strangely, the bright light failed to penetrate the darkness, as if light and darkness existed in different realms, intersecting with each other.
Hum, hum, hum...
A tremor unlike any other before occurred in Shi Xiaole’s spirit sea.
Under the illumination of the light, strands of black air were being peeled away from the surface of the spirit sea, entering the darkness through the pores. Shi Xiaole could distinctly feel that the quality of his spirit was improving.
"Can it purify the spirit force?"
Just as the Vigorous Air has impurities, the spirit force does too, but purifying the spirit force is far more difficult than purifying the Vigorous Air. After all, the former involves the soul, which can be easily damaged.
In fact, the principle of the Essence Stone is also to purify the spirit force. It’s just that all this time, the Essence Stones that Shi Xiaole obtained were used ones, so the effect was not particularly noticeable.
As strands of black air dispersed, Shi Xiaole’s spirit force became brighter and shinier. He didn’t deliberately conceal it, because the masters who had previously stared at him would have been able to see through him if he did.
"Such a powerful spiritual fluctuation in this youngster."
"By level, he is no inferior to Gao Kun."
No one noticed that in the dark temple, a few people were conversing with words only they could hear.
"First it was Gao Kun, and now this youngster. Did our Yiling Clan suddenly gain two phenomenal talents? Could the ancient prophecy truly be coming to pass?"
The elderly voice was laced with uncontrollable excitement.
"Ninety-nine becomes one and only then can one return to the homeland. According to the Three-flower Ancestor’s interpretation of this prophecy, in eleven years’ time it will be the moment when the Tiger and the Rhinoceros clash, and also the day we break free!"
Another voice said gravely.
"Let’s keep this to ourselves. If something goes wrong, many in our clan will be disappointed and it could disturb the stability of the Yiling Barrier. We’ve waited all these years, let’s just quietly watch."
"Agreed!"
The others chimed in.
His spirit sea felt like it was soaking in a hot spring, as layers of filth were being washed away. Shi Xiaole almost moaned in pleasure. In just half of a 2-hour period, his spirit quality had significantly improved.
The improved spirit quality also fed back into the small green sword, making it more robust, its outline more clear, and a hilt and guard appeared.
If martial arts were divided into one to ten stages, at that very moment, Shi Xiaole’s Wind Sword Way had impressively reached three stages, equivalent to a minor accomplishment.
After half of a 2-hour period, the speed of spirit quality improvement began to slow down, as if falling off a cliff, but compared to the usual, it was still quite a significant improvement.
One 2-hour period.
Two 2-hour periods.
He sat just like that for five 2-hour periods.
"They say spirit quality can only improve by one grade, but right now, mine nearly elevated by a grade and a half. Is it because of me or the divine stone?"
Between confusion and excitement, Shi Xiaole looked around at the others and found his answer.
Qi Sina and the others had already been bathed in the divine stone’s light, yet they were still present. This implied that the spirit quality could continue to improve. Of course, at their stage, the rate of improvement would be minimal.
While bathing in the divine stone’s light, Shi Xiaole wasn’t idle and began cultivating the Heaven and Earth Changing Spirit Great Method. Thanks to his improved spirit quality, his cultivation speed was definitely faster.
At the start of the sixth 2-hour period, under the Ninth Elder’s beckoning, everyone left the spiritual temple.
According to the Yiling Clan, the divine stone can only radiate for six 2-hour periods each day. For the rest of the day, it draws power from heaven and earth to replenish itself.
And so, Shi Xiaole would enter the spiritual temple with the others every day. Sometimes, if the Ninth Elder was busy, another Elder would lead the group.
Besides Shi Xiaole, the people entering the spiritual temple weren’t always the same, but changed every few days. This was apparently done to maintain balance.
Time went by.
The improvement in spirit quality could be observed for the first two days. By the third day, it slowed to a snail’s pace. Only by accumulating over a period of time could a slight progress be discerned.
But still, it was better than nothing. Besides, while staying in the spiritual temple, Shi Xiaole could continue his cultivation.
Approximately half a month later, the Heaven and Earth Changing Spirit Great Method advanced to the level of minor accomplishment in advance.
Shi Xiaole secretly executed it once in his room and was almost frightened. He realized that he had greatly underestimated the profoundness of this top-notch, high-quality martial art.
Just at the level of minor accomplishment, the power of the Heaven and Earth Changing Spirit Great Method was no less than that of the Heart Thunder Sword.
In reality, when he had previously fought with Gao Kun, the latter’s Qiankun Eye at the third level could have contested with the Heart Thunder Sword. It was just that he was too slow to react.
On the eighteen day of entering the Spiritual Temple.
A burst of red light suddenly erupted from a red stone in Shi Xiaole’s system space.
"What is this?"
Shi Xiaole was extremely surprised.
This red stone, obtained outside Kuangyun City, was able to purify the Vigorous Air. At this moment, it seemed to be resonating with the divine stone’s light!
