The battle in the vicinity of the volcano didn't draw to an end until the darkness fell.
In this battle, more than 130 overmatches of the Voodoo-barbarian Tribe died, and the Water Barbarian Branch suffered the heaviest losses. Over 30 practitioners of the empire were dead or wounded.
The day was the 13th day after the Bloodthirsty Camp's trainees entered the Demon-cloud Ridge war zone. Lin Xun had left with plenty of trophies before the battle was over.
Almost simultaneously, the news of the battle near the volcano spread like wildfire.
……
In a mountain forest-
The graceful figure of Bai Lingshi flew through the darkness. The moment she encountered the strong Voodoo-barbarians along the road, they fell onto the ground dead almost immediately, never being in her way.
A few moments later, when Bai Lingshi met one of the trainees who just joined the volcano battle, she stopped suddenly.
"A young overmatch killed five top Voodoo-barbarians in a move with his saber?"
She quickly learned the news about Lin's battle, and fell into a trance.
"It seems that not only has he broken through into the ninth level of the Martial Realm, but also has mastered a brand-new terrifying battle technique in the terms of the Martial Tao..."
Bai Lingshi soon figured out a rough situation of Lin Xun. If Lin Xun knew this, he would be shocked by her accurate judgment.
When she embarked on her journey again, she had already made a decision that if Lin Xun wasn't sifted out, she would mount a challenge to him after returning to the Bloodthirsty Camp.
This was what she had promised, and she never forgot it.
……
"Except Bai Lingshi, Lee Duxing, and Zhangsun Heng, one more interesting guy finally shows up."
In another area, Zhao Yin wore a faintly discernible smile. "Hope Lin Xun can participate in the final assessment at the end of the year!"
…
"The strange changes of the Water Barbarians are caused by Lin Xun?"
Shi Yu gave a bitter smile upon hearing this news.
A couple of days ago, he had predicted based on various signs that there would be a storm. Thus, he didn't involve himself in in order to avoid risks.
To his surprise, Lin Xun was behind this storm!
He felt relieved spontaneously when learning that Lin didn't die in the disturbance. However, after he knew more about the battle, he couldn't help but fall in a daze.
Alone, Lin Xun besieged circle upon circle killed more than 50 Voodoo-barbarians?
With only one strike, Lin Xun annihilated five top Voodoo-barbarians of the young generation?
How could Lin's combat effectiveness become so high after about 15 days since Lin entered the Demon-cloud Ridge?
Shi Yu felt astounded.
"Awesome."
At this moment, Lee Qiu, who had been following Shi Yu, gently spoke one word after he kept silent for a long time.
"Lin Xun is virtually abnormal!"
Shi Yu sighed, and then a trace of resoluteness flashed across his eyes, "But, if he thinks he'll be the final winner in the bet, he'll be too naive!"
Lee Qiu knew that there was a bet among Shi Yu, Ning Meng, and Lin Xun. Having heard Shi's words, he couldn't help but realize that Lin's excellent performance put a lot of pressure on Shi.
…
"Damn it! Lin Xun was so lucky that he could encounter so many Voodoo-barbarian bastards. If I were him, I would have gained more military merits!"
When Ning Meng learned the news, he felt surprised and envious.
Though he said that, Ning Meng felt a little proud subconsciously. Since Lin Xun was his friend, wasn't it quite normal that Lin could obtain such an impressive accomplishment?
…
"Is Lin Xun that powerful?"
"How could he do this?"
"If all this is true, doesn't it mean that the guy's combat effectiveness is high enough for him to be a matched rival of Bai Lingshi, Zhao Yin, Zhangsun Heng, Lee Duxing..."
"Ha ha, someone should want to grab Lin's military merits, which is greatly absurd!"
"Lin's rise can't be stopped!"
In all areas of the Demon-cloud Ridge, as the Bloodthirsty Camp's trainees learned the news, they couldn't help but feel shocked, bursting into a variety of discussions and sighs.
…
The empire's Reshahar Army was stationed in the south of the Demon-cloud Ridge while the troops of Voodoo-barbarian Tribe were stationed in the north.
It was late at night now.
In the center of Voodoo-barbarian Tribe's camp, there was one tent ablaze with lights, from which fitful fierce quarrels came.
That was the camp of the Water Barbarian Branch.
Now, the leaders of the Water Barbarian Branch got together.
"We're sad because of Shrizi's death. But most urgently, we should recapture our branch's sacred treasure- Amrita Saint Pearl!"
In the tent, a strong and masculine man said with in a low and deep voice, suppressing all the discussions and causing the others to fix their eyes on him.
The mighty man called Shri Xingkong was really a big shot with the cultivation of Barbarian Hercules. His eyes were like blue abysses, surging with tide-like awful luster.
"To your knowledge, we've dispatched spies to lurk at the Forbidden City of Ziyao Empire years ago at the expense of a number of financial and material resources. All this is to take the Amrita Saint Pearl back. Till recently, we successfully recaptured it."
Shri Xingkong wore a poker face and continued coldly, "In order to transport it safely to our branch, we chose some insignificant pawns to carry it and traverse the Demon-cloud Ridge. We took everything into consideration to avoid the attention of the overmatches from Ziyao Empire. Surprisingly, this action still ended up in failure!"
Speaking of which, his voice revealed a trace of anger, scaring many of the Water Barbarians present.
"However, it's never too late to amend. As far as I'm concerned, the big shots of Ziyao Empire haven't learned the news of Amrita Saint Pearl, and this is our chance."
Shri Xingkong took a deep breath and said with quite formidable eyes, "Furthermore, it's also the last chance!"
"Head, we all understand your meaning. What actions do you want to take?" one Water Barbarian asked.
The other barbarians echoed his view.
"Dispatch the best Barbarian Soldiers and hunt Lin Xun down with full forces!"
Shri Xingkong spaced those words with his voice full of killing intent. The air in the tent seemed frozen.
To human beings, Barbarian Soldiers were equal to the practitioners at the Gang Spirit Realm!
Hearing this, many Water Barbarians became restless.
"Head, for hundreds of years, we and Ziyao Empire reach a tacit agreement that neither barbarians beyond the cultivation of Barbarian Slave, nor the practitioners in Gang Spirit Realm and above were allowed to enter the Demon-cloud Ridge. If we break this agreement, I'm afraid the Ziyao Empire will launch a fierce counterattack against us."
One Water Barbarian muttered with some concerns.
"Humph! What the fuck is that tacit agreement! As long as we can recapture the Amrita Saint Pearl, we can ignore everything. Moreover, when does our Voodoo-barbarian Tribe has to take the Ziyao Empire's feeling into consideration?"
Some Water Barbarians disdained the viewpoint.
"This problem has to be considered, but it's urgent, so we probably have to make an exception," Shri Xingkong said to stop the arguments. "Our purpose is to kill Lin Xun and recapture the Amrita Saint Pearl, so the Barbarian Soldiers dispatched by us won't involve in the Demon-cloud Ridge battle. In such a case, all the impacts will be minimized."
Hearing this, all Water Barbarians connived at the arrangement after thinking for a while.
At that night, four Water Barbarian Soldiers with extremely rich battle experience left the camp and sneaked into the Demon-cloud Ridge.
An action against Lin Xun unfolded thereupon covertly.
…
Lin Xun sat cross-legged in meditation and refined his cultivation continuously.
After he left the volcano battlefield, he found a secluded cave where he had stayed for several days.
At the bottom of the volcano, he, by coincidence, directly broke through into the Spirit Transformation - the ninth level of the Martial Realm with the help of Amrita Saint Pearl.
However, what disappointed him was that the Amrita Saint Pearl in the Sea of his Consciousness fell into dead silence and didn't release any power waves after he reached the ninth level.
Although he didn't know how such a change came into being, he couldn't resist the attack of molten lava at the bottom of the volcano without the help of the Amrita Saint Pearl. Thus, he left in a hurry before he could consolidate his cultivation that just got updated.
As soon as he left there, a fierce battle broke out. Until now, he just had some time to strengthen his cultivation.
Gurgle~
The surging spiritual energy ran smoothly inside his body, sending out wave-like roars.
A gush of spiritual energy was like the purest azure jade in the world, shining with bright luster.
Just Lin's Qi had showed that his spiritual energy would undergo a complete change by such cultivation.
That was Spirit Transformation, the last level of the Martial Realm. If someone reached this level, all his strength tended to become Mastery.
Only on the basis of this was a practitioner likely to break through into the Gang Spirit Realm!
Gang Spirit Realm was the second realm among the five realms of cultivation. There was a saying in the world that only when reaching the Gang Spirit Realm, could a person be called a real practitioner.
Because entering this realm, a practitioner could not only change his power but also change his life level. He could live longer without eating staple food, feed on clouds, withstand coldness and hotness...
This was what a real practitioner could do!
The cultivation in Martial Realm was only a process of laying a foundation for practitioners. Only when the foundation was laid successfully could a practitioner have the hope to march on his own road of exploring Taoism.
In a word, the Martial Realm was the base of cultivation while the Gang Spirit Realm was the starting point for a practitioner to embark on his journey of exploring Taoism.
Since Lin Xun just reached the ninth level of the Martial Realm, he still had a long way to go before breaking through into the Gang Spirit Realm. At present, he should focus on consolidating his cultivation, familiarizing himself with and mastering the new energy as soon as possible.
Only in this way could he give full play to his power when he was in battle!