Proud Sword Soaring Clouds

Chapter 398: Chapter 290: Breaking Through to the Mid-Golden Core Stage

As Ling Xiao spoke, he placed the Urgently Cold Treasure Cauldron in the center of the stone chamber. The Urgently Cold Cauldron immediately began to shake violently. It could have been the instinct of a High-Tier Magical Beast, or perhaps this Puppet Magical Beast still possessed a trace of its Divine Sense. Once trapped inside, it began to resist frantically.

Ling Xiao sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air. His hands began forming a continuous series of hand seals, leaving a flurry of afterimages behind. After completing the seals, Ling Xiao summoned the True Flame from within his body, making it erupt from his palms!

The True Flame was scorching hot, dancing in Ling Xiao’s palms. He swiftly shot all of it into the Urgently Cold Cauldron!

The scorching True Flame instantly heated the Urgently Cold Cauldron until it glowed fiery red! Waves of heat rolled through the entire stone chamber. Ling Xiao remained unfazed, continuing to channel the True Flame from his body. True Essence flowed endlessly from his Golden Core, and he directed all the newly-generated True Flame into the Urgently Cold Cauldron.

While pouring True Flame into the Urgently Cold Cauldron to refine the Puppet Magical Beast, Ling Xiao used various hand seals to keep the cauldron stable. Perhaps sensing this was its last struggle, the Puppet Magical Beast’s resistance was shockingly destructive. If Ling Xiao hadn’t already refined the Urgently Cold Cauldron himself, it might have been shattered by the beast’s immense power!

Furious roars and crashing sounds echoed from within the Urgently Cold Cauldron, a staggering din. Yet, not a single trace of its aura leaked out. Ling Xiao’s expression was placid; a closer look would reveal a faint glow covering his face, making him look like a god. He formed the refining hand seals one after another without pause. Finally, Ling Xiao slapped the Urgently Cold Cauldron with one last palm strike, sending the final stream of True Flame into it.

By now, the Urgently Cold Cauldron had fallen almost silent. Only an occasional, faint crash could be heard. Ling Xiao’s True Flame had begun to refine the Puppet Magical Beast!

The Deep Sea Demon Chapter Ling Xiao refined last time was far more powerful than this Puppet Magical Beast. However, this Puppet Magical Beast possessed a physical body. Therefore, its body had to be completely refined down to extract its purest Origin Power, making the process very different from the last.

As for using the refinement of powerful Magical Beasts to increase one’s own strength, Ling Xiao was likely the first to do so on the entire Canglan Continent.

’I wonder what the Holy Sanctuary is like,’ Ling Xiao mused. ’But if even Saint Tier experts are at the very bottom, then I have a rough idea of the power level there. The strongest in the Holy Sanctuary are probably terrifying existences on par with the Tribulation Crossing and Mahayana Stage masters of the Cultivation Realm!’

Filled with a boundless yearning for the Holy Sanctuary, the True Flame inside Ling Xiao’s body suddenly flared, greatly increasing the speed of the refinement!

After calling out for a long while, Shangguan Yutong and Song Mingyue searched the corner for a long time, but they simply couldn’t find a way to open the Stone Gate.

In the end, they had no choice but to give up and decided to wait there for Ling Xiao. The torches he had lit cast a bright glow over the area. Song Mingyue and Shangguan Yutong found a relatively clean spot to sit down.

The two women exchanged a glance. Song Mingyue was now back in her disguise as a dashingly handsome young man. With rosy lips and pearly teeth, she looked suave and elegant, maintaining her poise even in such an environment.

Shangguan Yutong said, "Your disguise as a man is so convincing! Is this how you were dressed when Ling Xiao first met you?"

Song Mingyue nodded, then asked, "Can you tell me... how did you and Ling Xiao meet? I hear him call you Teacher. How... how did you end up falling for him? He’s your student, isn’t he?"

Even though she didn’t care much for worldly conventions, Song Mingyue’s words still made Shangguan Yutong blush. Nevertheless, she lifted her head and looked at Song Mingyue. Though her eyes held a trace of shyness, she seemed perfectly calm as she began to recount her story.

"When I met Ling Xiao, his older sister had just brought him to the Imperial Academy. At the time, he was just a... shy and somewhat insecure little boy."

A look of reminiscence appeared on Shangguan Yutong’s face as she began to recall the first time she saw Ling Xiao.

"Third Brother, call her Sister Shangguan!" A mischievous Ling Su grinned at Shangguan Yutong before introducing her best friend. "Yutong, this is my third brother. Don’t mind that he doesn’t have much of a future in the Martial Dao, he’s very smart! Alright, I’m entrusting him to you now. If anyone bullies him, I won’t stand for it! After all... you’re my best friend! Besides, I know how strong you are, tee-hee!"

And just like that, Ling Su had irresponsibly pawned her ’half-useless’ little brother off on her best friend.

"Come now, walk with me. Don’t you worry. The Imperial Academy doesn’t just teach martial arts. Being unable to practice them isn’t anything to be ashamed of. You have to face your own flaws, because everyone has them, right?"

Shangguan Yutong quickly slipped into her role, deciding to first offer some guidance to her friend’s little brother.

"I know, Teacher. You can rest assured, I won’t cause you any trouble!" the young Ling Xiao replied to Shangguan Yutong, sounding remarkably mature for his age.

A faint smile touched Shangguan Yutong’s lips as she said to Song Mingyue, "You see? He was a good, polite kid from the very beginning. Even though his sister told him to call me Sister, he insisted on calling me Teacher. From that moment on, I grew very concerned about him. Unfortunately, the students at the Imperial Academy are all from either rich or noble families. Even if they didn’t mock him to his face, there was no end to the pointing and whispering behind his back. During that time, he grew more silent with each passing day. No matter what anyone said to him, he wouldn’t talk back, let alone offer a single word in his own defense. I feel it was precisely during those bleak days, like a long slumber in a cocoon, that he accumulated experiences his peers would never encounter, allowing him to shine so brilliantly when he finally broke free!"

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