"Fifth Level of Martial Pulse? And he easily killed a peak Fifth-level Martial Pulse Black Scarf Thief with the aid of Sword Intent?"
Sitting cross-legged in the practice room, Ling Xiao’s face showed a look of surprise.
The deed of Ling Yun slaughtering a peak Fifth-level Martial Pulse Black Scarf Thief in the Fulong Mountain Range quickly spread throughout the entire Ling Family.
Of course, he could not have been unaware of it.
"It seems I must work even harder, those top four are all martial artists at the peak of the Fourth Level of Martial Pulse, any of them might breakthrough. Once they do, given my current strength, it will be very difficult to win!"
On having that thought, Ling Xiao did not dare to hesitate, he temporarily put aside the pain of losing his relatives and transformed the pain into strength.
I must become stronger!
Under the immense pressure, Ling Xiao’s cultivation became even more frenzied.
Naturally, such frenzied cultivation also brought great rewards.
The "Bull Demon Technique: 100-step Sword of Slaughter" actually advanced from the Great Perfection realm to the Transcendental Realm.
The Hundred-Step Killing Sword, having ascended to the Transcendental Realm, underwent some very interesting changes.
Not only did its power become more terrifying and its speed even faster, but it could also use Qi to control the sword, creating subtle changes in the trajectory of the Flying Sword.
No matter how fast a straight line is, as long as the opponent judges correctly and prepares to intercept in advance, it’s enough.
But once there are variations, the opponent will be caught off guard.
Naturally, during the cultivation process, his cultivation level also slowly increased, and his Gang Qi kept building up.
I can say without any false modesty that if the current me were to participate in the previous elimination tournament, with the exception of Ling Yihang, no one else would be a match for me even within a single exchange.
Even for Ling Yihang, I could easily defeat him without having to use more than ten moves.
Of course, this is assuming no one else has improved their strength.
My current strength is so much stronger than before, the previous three Ling Xiaos combined are not as powerful as the current one.
But he was not satisfied; what he lacked most at the moment were internal cultivation mind techniques and defensive martial skills.
The "Crimson Sun Technique" was clearly not keeping up with his pace of improvement. Although it could give him some special attack effects, it truly wasn’t enough anymore.
His Martial Veins were at least twice as wide as other people’s, so naturally, the difficulty of increasing his strength was also twice as much as others.
Additionally, with the Martial Soul needing nourishment and the consumption of Gang Qi being absolutely terrifying.
Merely high-level internal cultivation mind techniques were completely inadequate; only top-level internal cultivation mind techniques were suited for his talent.
As for defensive martial skills, there’s no need to say much, no one would complain about being too strong defensively.
Shaking his head, Ling Xiao left the practice room.
Suddenly, he saw his grandfather Hong Qi standing outside.
"Grandfather, were you waiting for me?"
"Yes, Xiao Tudou will live with us from now on. He’s very happy, and you can rest assured that I will take good care of him," Hong Qi said with a smile.
"Yes, Xiao Tudou is more pitiable than I am; he witnessed the tragic death of his family with his own eyes."
Although Ling Xiao killed Li Xingyun, he felt that the hatred in his heart could not be completely dissolved, and he thought that this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
A person with hatred has the drive to move forward.
"There’s another thing, take this. It was Xiao Tudou who asked me to give it to you. He said they found it by chance on the road after an accident."
Hong Qi lied, he handed over a battered book that he had always kept with him to Ling Xiao.
Of course, such an action was also a well-intentioned lie.
There were some things he didn’t yet want Ling Xiao to know.
"The ’Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique’!"
Ling Xiao was astonished to find that, although the book was tattered, the writing on it was not destroyed, and even the name of the book was very clear.
He had heard of the "Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique". It was created by a legendary general of the Northern Han Kingdom and was a top-level defensive martial skill.
It was said that after nine rotations, when it was deployed, one’s skin became as tough as gold, making the defense extraordinarily astonishing.
Not only that, but each rotation of this defensive martial art can enhance inner strength, whether it’s True Qi, Gang Qi or something else—as long as it’s inner strength, it can be greatly improved.
If combined with internal cultivation mind techniques, the speed of improvement would be even more terrifying.
This defensive martial art is well-known throughout the Northern Han Kingdom, yet it seems like no one in the Ling Family has cultivated it—I wonder if it’s simply not available to them.
This is a royal martial art, after all.
Hong Qi asked with a smile.
"Of course, I need it, it’s like delivering coal in snow!"
Ling Xiao said excitedly, "Grandpa, thank you! I’m going to start cultivating now; please take a good rest. It wouldn’t hurt to invite some of the elders to chat if you’re up for it. Now that my status has risen, naturally, yours has too."
"Don’t worry about that, the old gentleman from the Pharmacy Hall comes over to chat with me often, so I’m not lonely,"
Hong Qi said with a smile.
"That’s good to hear, my biggest fear is neglecting you Grandpa because I’m so focused on training,"
Ling Xiao grinned and quickly returned to the practice room.
Defensive martial arts generally don’t require much comprehension because such martial arts rely on perseverance and diligent practice.
Of course, some special defensive martial arts require the assistance of certain items to accelerate the training process.
For example, the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique, the most troublesome part of its cultivation is that it consumes gold!
Luckily, Ling Xiao had previously slain Li Xingyun and found over a hundred taels of gold and a golden inner armor in Li Xingyun’s storage ring.
These were enough for Ling Xiao to practice for a while.
If it ran out, he planned to exchange silver for gold or simply hunt beasts in the Fulong Mountain Range to trade for gold.
The comprehension of the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique isn’t very difficult, but that’s only relative to top-level internal cultivation mind techniques, martial skills, and secret methods.
It would be quite difficult for most people to comprehend and practice it without several days, or even more than ten days.
But such a problem was non-existent for Ling Xiao.
The analytic and practice ability of the Mountain and River Martial Soul was just too terrifying.
As it analyzed, it visualized the entire process of cultivation for Ling Xiao in the most standard way.
If Ling Xiao still couldn’t comprehend it in a short time with such assistance, he would indeed be a bit too foolish.
Body refining martial arts are generally straightforward and easy to comprehend.
It took Ling Xiao only half a shichen to completely comprehend the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique.
Once comprehended, cultivation became much easier.
As its name suggests, the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique consists of nine rotations.
The first five rotations mainly focus on the accumulation of quantity.
It includes the fortification of flesh and the enhancement of inner strength.
The first rotation fortifies the skin membrane, enhancing inner strength;
The second fortifies the tendons and bones, enhancing inner strength;
The third fortifies the qi and blood, enhancing inner strength;
The fourth fortifies the internal organs, enhancing inner strength;
The fifth fortifies the entire body—the skin, tendons, bones, internal organs, and qi and blood all become as hard as iron, impervious to swords and spears, and the enhancement of inner strength also reaches a different tier.
It’s estimated that if he reaches the fifth rotation, Ling Xiao could at least advance from the early stage to the intermediate stage of the Martial Vein Quadruple Layer without even specifically cultivating any inner cultivation mind techniques.
Compared to other defensive martial arts, the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique has a clear advantage—it fortifies the body in a well-rounded manner.
Unlike some horizontal training martial arts that require the accumulation of inner strength to achieve a defensive effect.
After the fifth rotation, one is considered to have achieved small success.
The sixth rotation, besides continuing to strengthen the entire body and enhancing inner strength, what’s more terrifying is that it can greatly improve the body’s strength, and also provides certain defensive effects against special martial skills like "Punching through Mountains."