Indeed, Wandong didn't get around to sleeping that night. But it was not because that Tang Xinyi was insufficiently intelligent that Wandong just couldn't get across his swordsmanship. On the contrary, Boasting an unusually sharp perception, compounded with her familiarity with the swordsmanship ― the Cloud-Penetrating Silver Sparkle, she picked it like a piece of cake, though it was an upgraded version by Wandong.
And her amazing thirst for knowledge got on Wandong's nerves. After having mastered the swordsmanship, she went on performing her own systematic techniques and fist techniques and forcing Wandong to help her improve them.
It took a long time for them to have discussions and tweaks on after another. However, it was indeed a fruitful night for Tang Xinyi ― she acquired a much better understanding of martial arts, albeit insufficiently helpful for her cultivation. Moreover, her reorganization of the techniques she had already grasped brought advanced power out of them. If Tang Xinyi had been pipped against Luo Xiao again, Luo Xiao might not have taken an upper hand.
Of course, Wandong did benefit from it as well. At least he was able to make her smile at him, which was literally poles apart from how she treated him in the past.
General Tang finally let out a yawn until the daybreak, feeling sort of tired.
"Well, let's wrap it up for now. I'm heading back to sleep," Tang Xinyi proposed, putting a light-hearted end to the arduous practice.
Seeing her turn around and leave right away, Wandong smiled wryly and thought to himself, "Who had helped who? How come Tang Xinyi had a sense of authority even if she benefited a lot from his help?" He couldn't figure her out. As a matter of fact, at the night they spent together, Wandong blew away Tang Xinyi completely. She fell completely in awe of him for his striking insight into martial arts, without mentioning his unearthly innate talent. Just one night with Wandong could even equal her ten-year dedicated cultivation with her master.
That aroused a sense of reverence toward him in her. Now she had butterflies in her stomach ― she had no idea how she was going to get on with him in the future. Albeit terribly grateful at heart, she was not able to verbalize her gratitude to him.
Following Tang Xinyi breezing away with his eyes, Wandong shook his head. He didn't head back to his room to rest, instead, he sat down cross-legged right where he stood.
It was dawn, which was the time when the wandering energies of the heaven and the earth were the most lively. Wandong didn't want to miss out on it ― the best moment for cultivation. In addition, Wandong hadn't finished refining the spiritual energy that he absorbed from Wu Qiujun. Wandong intended to know the extent to which his own Taoist energy would grow after the refining process concluded.
The result thrilled Wandong to the full. Once it concluded, Wandong was startled to have found that the amount of his Taoist energy had almost doubled. The golden Taoist energy, which used to stay within the range of his arms only, now cast a light golden coat to his upper part of body thoroughly. With Wandong's stream of consciousness circulating and the Taoist energy flowing, the size of the energy already grew into that of a middle finger from that of a pinkie.
Wandong plunged his fist subconsciously. "Bang!" A pine tree with a bowl-size intersection broke into two parts forthwith. Wandong felt excited. The degree of his cultivation was roughly the same as the previous one when he jumped off the cliff ― an authentic second level cultivation of the spiritual energy.
Just a bit of spiritual energy that he absorbed from Wu Qijun during their duel should usher such a considerable increase in his cultivation! Wandong couldn't help but further contemplate it ― what if he went on taking Wu Qiujun's spiritual energy till the last bit?
On having this idea come across his mind, he couldn't help shake his head and let out a wry laughter, Wu Qiujun was too shrewd to be noosed by him. Nevertheless, he was still delighted by the new find that he could manage swift growth in his Taoist energy by taking in others' spiritual energy. That was, without doubt, a short-cut to the development of cultivation ― the time before his reunion with Mulian was largely shortened.