The city was completely different from the one Xu Hui had experienced in the caves earlier. Although there were inns available, most of them operated as rented courtyards. Here, one could rent a courtyard and stay for a week or even up to a year. These accommodations were typically rented to cultivators seeking to remain in Thousand River Cave for an extended period to improve their cultivation foundation.
"How long do you think we should stay?" Xu Yue asked Xu Biao, as many of them stood before the clerk to rent a courtyard.
"Leave it to ," Xu Biao said with a smile, pulling out a pouch filled with Demon Coins and handing it to the clerk before them.
"A year? And an advanced courtyard? You must have so background for to rent you one," the clerk said hesitantly. However, Xu Biao produced a golden badge embedded with a silver symbol. Upon seeing the badge, the clerk was instantly flustered and bowed deeply, saying, "Milords, we would never dare to charge such esteed guests for the courtyard! Please use all of its facilities freely!"
Seeing the clerk’s drastic change in attitude, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows, wondering why the man had suddenly altered his behavior.
However, he was wise enough not to ask this question in front of the clerk, choosing to remain silent instead. He watched as the clerk handed Xu Biao a mory Stone Key. Afterward, the clerk bowed to all of them, and they left for the new courtyard that would be their ho for the year.
"Are you sure we should rest here for an entire year?" Deng Wu asked with a frown. After all, they were on a mission from Zhou Long, tasked with delivering information to the final cave in the cave system containing the Cave Dragon Core.
"Don’t worry about the mission," Yan Xiaobao said with a smile. "Zhou Long will likely reach us at the last cave ahead. Even if we take it easy, wherever we go, there’s bound to be spies following us."
The notion of being under surveillance caused Deng Wu, Wang Julong, and Sha Yun to tremble nervously as they glanced around. Seeing this, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but laugh aloud as he followed Xu Biao, motioning for his suddenly paranoid friends to follow him.
The courtyard they were led to was positioned in the middle of a park along with three other courtyards. They were spaced far apart, allowing for privacy. In front of their courtyard was a tranquil lake where white swans swam among beautiful water lilies.
Their buildings were pristine white, like freshly fallen snow. Even the surrounding walls were painted white. Two guards stood in front, ensuring no one entered without permission.
When the guards saw Xu Biao and Yan Xiaobao arriving with their entourage, they straightened up, their eyes locked on the group of n. Though they showed no hostility, their gaze remained watchful as they blocked the path.
"Forgive ," one of the guards said in a deep voice. "I’ll need to see your authorization before allowing you to remain in this compound."
Upon hearing this, Xu Biao promptly showed the mory Stone Key given to him by the clerk. Once the door opened, the two guards imdiately bowed.
"Welco ho, God," the guards said in unison as they bowed deeply. Yan Xiaobao and the others were slightly taken aback, but Xu Biao seed accustod to the treatnt.
Watching the still-bowing guards, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but wonder if they would behave this way every ti they entered the courtyard or if it was just a one-ti occurrence. However, he didn’t have ti to dwell on such thoughts long because Xu Biao entered the courtyard with an amused smile on his face, his rcenary Badge hanging from his hand.
The badge was engraved with a large "B," identical to the symbol Hui Yue had seen earlier that day, finally making sense to him. The clerk’s behavior had stemd from Yan Xiaobao’s presence. Since both he and the others on the mission were considered B-rank.
"So, a whole year, huh?" Yan Xiaobao said, surveying the surroundings. The courtyard consisted of three houses and a stable. Behind the main house was a tall multi-storied building; next to it were two smaller ones — one for bathing and another for training. When he entered the training house, a large white pearl was situated in the center, doubling the Heaven and Earth Essence within the room.
Sitting down, the white-haired boy imdiately entered a state of ditation. He ignored his friends and was unbothered by the other distractions in the courtyard. His focus remained locked on the vibrant atmosphere of the room.
Hui Yue’s brows furrowed against the floor as his cultivation techniques operated at their peak capacity. Energy transford into Qi, and then further refined into spiritual energy. Within his spiritual energy ocean, the accumulation continued, and with each drop of newly refined spiritual energy falling into the ocean, massive ripples ford. They collided with an intangible barrier that prevented further cultivation.
Seated and imrsed in ditation, no one observing him could tell he was currently stuck in a bottleneck. However, they all knew the importance he placed on his cultivation, so they quietly left the room, allowing him to refine alone.
When the group entered the main building — the multi-storied house — they were shocked to find everything constructed from white marble. The house glead like a pearl, beautiful and pristine.
They quickly chose their rooms, and after inspecting all the spaces, the group hurried back to the house where Yan Xiaobao was cultivating.
Their quick return stemd from their understanding of the importance of increasing their strength. At present, Yan Xiaobao was the most powerful among them, not counting Xie Lan and Xu Biao. The others refused to remain weak and didn’t want to beco burdens to Yan Xiaobao.
Sitting down, Xu Biao smiled with pride as he observed the young cultivators’ newfound zeal for cultivation. Unlike them, Xu Biao was an Upper Dantian cultivator. His requirents were not rely to refine Qi into spiritual energy continuously; instead, he needed a greater understanding of Wu Wei.
Although Qi was a force refined from Heaven and Earth Essence and spiritual energy refined from Qi, Wu Wei’s energy was much more complex.
Wu Wei was derived from spiritual energy. However, the amount one could refine depended on one’s understanding of Heaven and Earth Essence. Cultivators needed to return to basics and gain a deeper understanding of the world’s energies. Only when a cultivator improved their comprehension could their strength grow further.
As Xu Biao smiled while observing the four young cultivators, his grin widened when he looked at Yan Xiaobao. Outside, everything seed normal, but for soone like the Guild Master, with profound understanding and heightened senses of Earth Heaven’s nature, it was a marvel. In the room, boundless energy converged toward the youth’s body at an unimaginable speed.
Yan Xiaobao gritted his teeth as he pushed his body to its limits. So far, he hadn’t succeeded in breaking through the bottleneck suppressing him. Yet he didn’t give up, hoping to overco the obstacle eventually. Instead, he pushed his limits further, refining at an arduous pace. Now, the spiritual energy within his ocean no longer fell in re droplets; it surged forth as a continuous stream of silver liquid, spreading across the winding spiritual ocean.
Though it was fast, Yan Xiaobao could have advanced even quicker if he had compromised the quality of his Qi. However, the young white-haired boy rembered Lan Feng’s earlier warnings. Staying firm in his resolve, even at slower refinent rates, he refused to compromise quality.
The stream of spiritual energy flowing into his body generated increasingly powerful waves that crashed against the barrier.
At first, the barrier remained immovable—one or two waves couldn’t even shake it slightly. But now, wave after wave struck the obstacle, and each impact caused it to tremble. The more it trembled, the more it spurred his cultivation techniques. Sweat dripped down his face, his brows furrowed, his teeth clenched. Every muscle in his body tensed, his hands clenched tightly, and a drop of blood trickled from his palms.
...
User Comments
0 comments from readers