"My body has almost completely recovered. Closed-up training should be fine now." The three-thousand-year-old Bloody Sun Flower was way too powerful, and even if he had lost a part of the medicine, there was still some that got hidden away in the deepest part of his body. It carried on nourishing his Qi, blood, and flesh. Right now, Ye Chen would have to pay great attention to try spot some flaws in his body, and even those flaws were healing on their own.
Sitting on the stone platform, he took out two mid-rank soul stones and held them in each hand, shutting his eyes.
…
While Ye Chen was in the closed-up training, the whole Sky Cloud Martial School had started its modification.
There were a lot of escapee during the Jin Huang incident, among which were more than one thousand outer disciples, one hundred inner disciples, fifty outer masters, and four inner masters. Most of them were newcomers, who were not loyal enough to the school yet.
For this, Luo Xinglie decided to offer a chance of redemption for those disciples, since they were still quite young, and their loyalty could still be trained. He could understand why they had chosen to run in a time of crisis. However, for those escaped masters, it would be the end of their careers in the school. Especially those four inner masters, they had lived in the Sky Cloud Martial School for more than ten years. It was indeed shameful for them to ditch the school.
In the main palace on the main mountain…
Luo Xinglie looked at Luo Hanshan and Zhu Mei, who were standing in the middle. He cleared his throat and said, "Hanshan, Zhumei, you guys have reached the Clasping Yuan Realm for a while now, and it might not be suitable for you two to be core disciples for any longer. Since now we have a couple of inner masters’ spots available, I think they should be filled by you two. Do you agree?"
The inner master requirement for the Sky Cloud Martial School was not too high. As long as they had enough power, even mid-Clasping Yuan Realm would be enough. Although Luo Hanshan and Zhumei were only Early Clasping Yuan Realm warriors, their fighting power was almost equivalent to Mid Clasping Yuan Realm, so being an inner master should be fine.
"Yes, sir!" The two answered.
They were indeed happy about it. Now that Ye Chen was the Great Master and Xu Jing was the core master, both had quite high statuses. In official events, the two had to formally greet them, which was quite hard to get used to for them. Becoming inner masters, that problem had been solved perfectly.
"Great. Work hard! The school would be on your shoulder soon. Ye Chen and Xu Jing would probably go out again soon, and they would not be able to stay here for long." Luo Xinglie nodded.
Luo Hanshan and Zhu Mei exchanged a forced smile. Going out and traveling was also an option for them, but being able to go to somewhere even bigger would require a higher level of power. For example, the Clasping Yuan Realm warriors in the Windy Nation would normally travel within the nation, which would be categorized as a small radius for traveling. Rarely would anyone at this level travel to another nation. It was the same for the other warriors from other nations. The less the power, the smaller the traveling radius. If anyone wanted to break that rule, then they would have to have a great potential, which would allow them to grow rapidly in a time of crisis. Even the slightest mistake or delay would cost them their lives. They both were very clear about their potential, and knew that even if they were to experience those critical moments, it would be hard for them to grow fast. So, instead of risking their lives for small progress, they might as well stay within the Windy nation. Going somewhere huge was something they had never considered.
All of the martial geniuses were like a group of fishes swimming against the wave; some fish were doomed to be washed off after a distance. After another while, another group would be washed off. The ones who were able to swim to the top would be the most powerful ones who were destined to be someone huge. Ye Chen and Xu Jing were indeed the leading fish in the group, dragging the distance between them bigger and bigger. Eventually, they would disappear from their sight.
…
HE!
On the steep mountain, the wind was blowing heavily. Xu Jing, who was wearing a white robe, was standing in that blade-like wind. She was completely focused on her training.
Of course, with both of her arms shattered, it would not be a fist art anymore. Instead, she was training a leg art and a flying art.
It might be under the influence of her personality that every martial art she had trained would be full of power. Combined with her slim soft body, it created a huge contrast. It was like a small white flower on a cold wintery day.
That sharp wind had been shattered by that blade like kick power, and the peak of the mountain had been sliced down. Xu Jing’s body was sometimes fast and sometimes slow. When she was moving fast, she looked like a falling star, and as she moved slowly, she looked like a floating origami. It was perfectly coordinated, which showed her perfect body control.
"Break!"
Her kick power was like a knife, hitting the edge of the mountain.
Crack! The huge mountain had been chipped off. The edge was extremely neat and smooth, and there was no way of guessing that it was made by the kick power.
…
Soon, two months of time had passed, yet Ye Chen was still closed-up.
During this time, a couple of things had happened in the Sky Cloud Martial School. The annual inner disciple ranking competition had finished, in which, a lot of potentially great disciples had been discovered. The core disciples list had been increased from twenty people to thirty people. Among them, three of them had reached the Clasping Yuan Realm.
The reason they were able to do so had more or less something to do with the dragon fountain Qi. But more importantly, that bloody battle against Jin Huang had left a huge impact on them. Each one of them could sense their mind being sharpened and become more focused.
On the Shocking Cloud Mountain, Ye Chen slowly let out a breath inside that huge empty secret chamber. It then turned into soft sword Qi, which punctured through the wall in front of him.
"The eleventh realm of the Green Lotus Sword Spell has been reached. It took even less time than reaching the eighth realm." According to Ye Chen’s calculation, it would be great for him to reach the eleventh realm within half a year. For Earth Realm martial arts, once one reached the tenth realm, it would only get harder and harder. A lot of people had been stuck on the tenth realm, while some of the Astral Reaching Realm warriors would still struggle between the twelfth and thirteenth realm. Once one reached the later stages, it would need more than just a huge amount of time, it would also require opportunity and timing. Sometimes, one would reach the next level with just a split second of thoughts.
The second his Green Lotus Sword Spell reached the eleventh realm, he could feel his six green lotus zhen Qi shake in his dantian. They had changed completely, as the pinky-sized sword Qi seemed like tiny fish which were covered with a layer of sharp Qi. On the tip of the sword Qi, there was a hint of a cold light. That kind of spirited sharpness even impressed Ye Chen. He could imagine what kind of power he would have once he had reached the thirteenth realm.
"Cut!"
Throwing out a finger attack, the green lotus sword Qi shot out through his meridian, tearing a tiny mark on the ground and eventually flashing through a stone column.
Without a sound, a perfect black line appeared in the middle of the stone column. If it were not for that bottom stone column’s support, the top part would definitely have fallen down.
"How sharp! The stone column had not even been touched by the sword Qi… It was only swiped by the aura of the Qi."
Ye Chen saw it clearly and secretly gasped. The green lotus sword Qi from the eleventh realm was already this powerful, then what kind of power would it have in the thirteenth realm? No wonder the manual had stated that the Green Lotus Sword Spell was separated.
"Right now, I am at the peak level Late Clasping Yuan Realm. And since I am training the Green Lotus Sword Spell, I would probably reach the zhen yuan producing stage any second. So, I must carry on what I am doing, pushing my martial arts and cultivation up. Then, my power would increase drastically."
Taking another deep breath, Ye Chen shut his eyes again, diving into his training mode again.
...
Time flew by, and it had been four months after Ye Chen’s second closed up training. The Sky Cloud Martial School had finally officially come out of its modification. The whole school had never been this united. No matter it was the core master, inner masters, outer masters, core disciples, inner disciples, or the outer disciple, single everyone person had changed. A lot of the warriors who had come because of its reputation could sense the unity before they even got close to the Sky Cloud Martial School. That kind of unbreakable bond had impressed them.
On this day, some of the outer disciples who went to train on the Silent Hills had hurried to run back up the main mountain, were covered in some blood.
"What happened to you? What is wrong?" One inner disciple stopped them and asked with his brows frowned.
The leading outer disciple breathed loudly and said, "It is bad. The beasts in the Silent Hills have increased somehow. There were some beasts that had never been seen before, and were drastically different from the normal beasts. We were attacked once we entered, and nine of us were killed."
"Nine people were killed? Let’s go. I will take you to the main palace, and you should tell everything in detail to the leader and the masters. It is important and should not be delayed." The Silent Hills was a place for the outer disciples to train. Sometimes, even the inner disciples would go and search for some great medicine, but there had never been nine people dying at once. One or two people within a couple of months would already be rare.
The group of outer disciples reached the main palace and briefed them with the information. Luo Xinglie frowned a little and thought to himself, ‘The Silent Hills should not be that dangerous. There were only one or two rank 7 beasts in the deepest parts. This seems strange.’
The deepest part of the Silent Hills had been listed as a forbidden area, which was something everyone in the Sky Cloud Martial School knew about. However, after this, the whole Silent Hills might have to be listed as a forbidden place, which would be a waste of such a wonderful training place.
The head master suggested, "Leader, I think it is best to notify the Great Master."
Luo Xinglie nodded, "You go gather everyone to the plaza and tell them not to go to the Silent Hills for now. We will inform them if things change."
"Yes, leader."
Over at the Cloud Catching Mountain…
Cloud Dreamer heard Luo Xinglie and exchanged a look with Thunder Freer, "Brother Thunder, you look after the Sky Cloud Martial School for me. I will go see what was happening."
"Should I come with you?"
"No need. Ye Chen is in closed up training, so he should not be disturbed. The Sky Cloud Martial School needs to be looked after. Plus, I am very familiar with the Silent Hills. If anything happens, I will come back at once. Even if it is a top rank 7 beast, it would not be able to stop me."
"Alright. You be careful!" Thunder Freer was very familiar with Cloud Dreamer’s flying art. Maybe he was not as fast as him in a straight line, but he was definitely more powerful than him in a lot of other areas.