Chapter 836: Chapter 835: Spiritual Gang Pool_1
"Monster, you’re not even human!"
Seeing this scene, Horizontal Blade Wanderer nearly went mad, wondering why even his own killing moves couldn’t harm the opponent.
Without a word, Shi Xiaole continued to charge forward.
In a true sense, this was his first time facing a high-ranking Eighth Tier Earth Immortal. The previous battle against the Eternal Night tribe’s leader and his five warriors was mostly about delaying, and since the fight was too short, it didn’t serve as a valid reference.
In the sky, flashes of blade light and Sword Qi streaked by, resembling ravines. Shi Xiaole’s frontal strength was inferior to Horizontal Blade Wanderer’s, but it was clear to everyone that in other respects, he was pressing the opponent hard.
One hundred moves.
Two hundred moves.
Three hundred moves.
Soon they reached six hundred moves, frequent clashes of killing moves left Horizontal Blade Wanderer with only thirty percent of his strength, and to his frustration, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t take down Shi Xiaole.
The opponent was like an eel, feinting here and there, using minimal effort to produce great effect, slippery enough to infuriate anyone, yet you couldn’t afford not to defend against him.
Whoosh!
Shi Xiaole’s sword sliced open Horizontal Blade Wanderer’s arm. Relying on the subtle workings of the life-and-death martial arts, his energy expenditure was far less than Horizontal Blade Wanderer’s, and he still had fifty percent of his strength left.
Of course, to conceal this, Shi Xiaole kept swallowing medicines, giving others the illusion that he was using pills to compensate for his strength.
"You’re just lucky, I’ll remember you."
Seeing that the fight was futile and not only was he unable to subdue Shi Xiaole, but also he might even become a stepping stone for Shi Xiaole’s reputation, Horizontal Blade Wanderer made a quick decision, slashed out with his blade, and retreated rapidly into the distance.
"Go!"
The enemy had repeatedly exposed his intent to kill, and Shi Xiaole wouldn’t allow him to escape. His mind and spirit integrated as one, he used the Controlling Sword with Qi Skill.
The Red Left sword became like a beam of light, constantly pushing forward and accelerating. After several impacts, coinciding with the great depletion of Horizontal Blade Wanderer’s strength, the protective Vigorous Air was much weaker than usual and it successfully penetrated his abdomen.
"You dare... Sunshine Sect won’t let you go!"
Horizontal Blade Wanderer tried his best to resist, shouting threats with a strong front yet weak interior.
Shi Xiaole didn’t even bother to respond, as the Red Left sword pierced through Horizontal Blade Wanderer’s body like a needle, so quick that before the blood from one wound could flow, the next strike was already complete.
By the time the Red Left sword returned to his hand, Horizontal Blade Wanderer had long since died and hit the ground with a thud.
Shi Xiaole didn’t linger, he dashed in a certain direction. He had long noticed the presence of the purple-robed elder and had planted a psychic seed on him, making it easy to catch up.
A quarter of an hour later, Shi Xiaole killed the purple-robed elder and casually returned to Ten Sword Mountain.
"Elder Shi, you, you..."
If at first, Elder Kong and the others marveled at Shi Xiaole’s talent, now they were thoroughly convinced of his exceptional ability. Everyone believed he was a prodigy even more outstanding than Qiu Wuming and Zhan Liye.
Perhaps a few years later, he could match the three giants?
As for killing Horizontal Blade Wanderer, there would definitely be trouble for Shi Xiaole, but the sect would surely protect him. After all, if they couldn’t even protect a talent like him, Ten Sword Sect might as well disband.
A battle that moved all sides.
To describe the fight between Shi Xiaole and Horizontal Blade Wanderer with these five words was no exaggeration. Within just a few days of the incident, not only Yunsong Plateau but also the headquarters of various major powers received the news.
At that moment, some were outraged, some were apprehensive, some were elated; the reactions varied greatly.
Because of this battle, Ten Sword Mountain completely reversed its decline, not only recovering its previously lost territories but also beginning to expand in an orderly fashion. Regarding this, not to mention smaller powers, even the major powers maintained their silence.
By the time Shao Xiaobo, the genius of Half Moon Gate, reached Ten Sword Mountain hoping to exchange pointers with Shi Xiaole, he found out that Shi Xiaole had already rushed back to the Ten Sword Sect headquarters.
"You just managed to dodge a calamity."
Noticing the many subtle presences around, Shao Xiaobo chuckled, shrugged his shoulders, and left.
...
Having just returned to the Ten Sword Sect, Shi Xiaole immediately had an extraordinary meeting with the Suzerain Zhan Renxiong, the Grand Elder, Second Elder, and other core senior members.
"Shi Xiaole, you’ve done very well! Don’t worry about Sunshine Sect’s retaliation. They were the ones who caused harm first, and you’ll be justified wherever you go. However, for safety’s sake, try to stay within the sect for now," said Zhan Renxiong, a middle-aged man with sharp features who did not seem easy to approach, but he spoke quite gently to Shi Xiaole, making the young girls around him jealous.
"Thank you for your concern, Suzerain," replied Shi Xiaole.
Without being reminded by the Suzerain, Shi Xiaole knew what to do. If he really needed to go out, he could always use a disguise.
"According to the mission reward, you were originally allowed to spend five days in the Spiritual Gang Pool, but the Suzerain is very fond of you and has granted you ten days. Any longer and the Spiritual Gang Pool would be of no effect. In addition, the Suzerain has ordered the Eighth Elder to specially craft a mid-grade Spiritual Sword for you," said the cheerful elder speaking, none other than the Grand Elder.
Shi Xiaole promptly expressed his thanks.
This was indeed a pleasant surprise.
While the other party indeed had the intention of granting a favor, the benefaction was tangible. As far as Shi Xiaole knew, even the young Suzerain Zhan Liye only spent ten days in the Spiritual Gang Pool.
The mid-grade Spiritual Sword was even more extravagant. Given the limited grade of the Cloud-Gathering Stone, the resources expended to successfully forge a mid-grade Spiritual Sword were astronomical, not to mention other rare materials.
There were only a few dozen mid-grade Spiritual Weapons throughout the entire Ten Sword Sect.
"I don’t mean to hide it from the Suzerain, but I already have a Tiger Abyss sword, so there’s no need to waste manpower and resources," Shi Xiaole said.
Zhan Renxiong and the others brightened at this, their expressions growing even more satisfied as they looked at Shi Xiaole.
"Dad, you value him so much," huffed the girl beside Zhan Renxiong as Shi Xiaole left.
"Weiwei, in terms of potential, this is someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the top three giants. As long as he is loyal enough, I wouldn’t mind spending a great deal of effort to cultivate him. In fact, if he has the ability, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to become the future Suzerain."
Zhan Renxiong looked into the distance, his gaze complex.
As the time for Wuyuan Palace to open drew nearer, various rumors became more pervasive, and no one knew what the future would bring.
The only thing he could do was to strengthen himself and preserve more hope for the Ten Sword Sect.
"Liye, don’t let me down!"
...
The Spiritual Gang Pool was located in the forbidden area behind the mountain of the Ten Sword Sect.
Guided by a specialist, Shi Xiaole noted down as they went up and down the stone steps, he discovered a total of sixty-seven peak Divine Barrier Realm level array systems and five Void Origin Realm level array systems.
As for hidden masters, there were hundreds of them.
Even a general Martial Emperor of the Void Origin Realm wouldn’t stand a chance if they tried to forcibly enter this place.
A fork appeared in the path ahead. Following the guide, Shi Xiaole went towards the right and soon arrived at a secluded little valley.
Inside the valley, mist was steaming.
A two-zhang-wide small pool was boiling, with bubbles forming and dissipating. The Spiritual Qi that escaped was turned back into raindrops by the barrier of the array system and fell back into the pool.
With just a single breath, the Vigorous Air inside Shi Xiaole’s body surged.
The conditions for the formation of a Spiritual Gang Pool are very mysterious, and to this day no one has been able to explore it, so naturally they can’t be mass-produced. Moreover, even within Spiritual Gang Pools, they are divided into three classes according to their quality: third tier, second tier, and first tier.
Third-tier Spiritual Gang Pools correspond to Spiritual-Passage Realm martial artists.
Second-tier Spiritual Gang Pools correspond to Dragon Gate Realm martial artists.
First-tier Spiritual Gang Pools correspond to Divine Border Realm martial artists.
Since they are so precious, not all top-tier forces possess a first-tier Spiritual Gang Pool, with the chances being about one in twenty. So for the Ten Sword Sect, this is one of the sect’s most important resources.
Scanning the surroundings with his mental power, and finding no one peeking, Shi Xiaole quickly undressed and leaped into the pool. In an instant, he almost sighed in comfort.
A certain extremely pure energy was entering his body directly through pores, integrating into his Vigorous Air.
Suppressing his excitement, Shi Xiaole hurriedly began practicing the Dragon Gate Divine Skill.
Whoosh!
With Shi Xiaole at its center, the water in the Spiritual Gang Pool began to spin violently, and it was visibly receding at a pace visible to the naked eye.
One day.
Two days.
Three days passed.
Shi Xiaole’s cultivation had astonishingly advanced from the early stages of Divine Border Realm Rank 6 all the way to the peak of Rank 6.
By now, the pool was only up to his abdomen, and even the mist in the valley became much thinner.
Boom!
At a certain moment, a wild aura radiated outwards.
Shi Xiaole successfully broke through to the early stages of Divine Barrier Realm Rank 7.
At this point, the energy in the Spiritual Gang Pool was noticeably less, and the rate of increase was no longer as rapid as before, but his rate of cultivation progress was still faster than his own training.
On the seventh day,
Shi Xiaole’s cultivation reached the middle stages of Divine Barrier Realm Rank 7, and the Spiritual Gang Pool had dropped to his waist and stopped decreasing, as all the energy had been absorbed.
For it to gather again, it would require a long time.
"Three days ahead of the expected time."
With a wry smile, Shi Xiaole stood up from the water.
His robust figure wasn’t overly burly but was filled with a virile charm. Every muscle and sinew was just right, and paired with skin like fine jade, he resembled a perfectly proportioned marble sculpture.
Had there been any woman here, she would have found it hard to avert her eyes.
As Shi Xiaole stretched, there was a succession of firecracker-like snapping sounds from his bones. He was surprised to discover that aside from his cultivation level, his body had also been as if baptized, much stronger than before.
Shi Xiaole clenched his fist in secret, lightly thrusting it forward, and suddenly there was a transparent fist imprint in the air.
"My current strength should have reached an upper Eighth-Tier level."
Recalling the battle with Horizontal Blade Wanderer, Shi Xiaole came to a startling conclusion: His own frontal combat strength should be no less than that of the other party, who used to require over six hundred moves to defeat him.
Now, probably fewer than thirty moves would suffice.
Once he figured out the third form of the Wind Tribulation Sword Technique, his strength would definitely surpass that of an upper Eighth-Tier Earth Immortal.
But this wasn’t enough. It was said that Wuyuan Palace forbade the entry of the four Divine Fire Order masters but not others. In other words, to emerge victorious in Wuyuan Palace and become the fifth Divine Fire Order master, one must defeat everyone apart from the four great experts!
Clenching his fist, Shi Xiaole gave himself no excuses.
"What a strong little guy. Seven days’ worth of progress for him is equivalent to ten days for the young suzerain. He must have reached the peak of his internal cultivation."
"Pity that he has so little time, or else he might have become the fourth great giant and compete for the Divine Fire Order."
Outside the valley, two voices whispered to each other in secret.
