Just as Zhang Tie pounced on Senior Brother Lei and sent him flying, an enormous ice sphere suddenly appeared where they had been standing. Then, with a deafening bang, the ice sphere exploded, and countless sharp ice spikes shot wildly in every direction like a torrential downpour.
Without hesitation, Zhang Tie instantly gathered the power of his blood and qi into his back, doing everything he could to shield Senior Brother Lei. At that critical moment, Senior Brother Lei reacted swiftly as well. He immediately summoned a bone shield and held it firmly behind Zhang Tie.
At the same time, a layer of protective spiritual light flared around his body. Just as they finished these defensive measures, the vicious ice spikes slammed into the bone shield, producing a barrage of harsh crackling sounds.
"How touching, Junior Brother." Just then, a round of appreciative applause and a voice came from behind them. Zhang Tie and Lei Hu quickly got to their feet and looked up, only to see Second Senior Brother Duan Feng and Third Senior Sister Su Li standing in the air.
Faint ice-attributed Spiritual Qi still lingered around Third Senior Sister. Clearly, that devastating attack had been launched by Su Li.
"Greetings, Second Senior Brother. Greetings, Third Senior Sister," Lei Hu and Zhang Tie said respectfully in quick succession, not daring to be the least bit negligent.
Duan Feng and Su Li slowly drifted down, landing steadily before the two of them. "Master truly did not misjudge you. Junior Brother truly is a loyal and righteous person," Duan Feng said with a smile, his eyes full of approval. "Your reactions are quick, and your strength is quite impressive as well," Su Li added.
"Why are Senior Brother and Senior Sister here?" Lei Hu asked in confusion.
"After receiving Junior Brother's message about borrowing Spirit Stones, I guessed that he must have sent messages to all of us senior brothers and sisters. And Fourth Brother, your cave dwelling is closest to Junior Brother's, so he would naturally come to find you first. Given your battle-loving nature, you would certainly spar with Junior Brother. That is why I came over to see just how strong he was," Duan Feng explained methodically.
"I thought the same," Su Li said with a slight nod.
"Lei Hu, you need to work harder. Junior Brother is only thirteen, and he has not even used the spiritual artifact Master bestowed upon him. If it truly came down to a fight to the death, you probably would not gain much of an advantage," Duan Feng said to Lei Hu, half teasing and half serious.
"Hehe, Junior Brother really is formidable." Lei Hu scratched his head and gave an honest grin.
"Senior Brother Duan overpraises me. Senior Brother Lei's lightning-attributed Spells have a powerful numbing effect on my body. If we had continued fighting for a while longer, my mobility would have fallen greatly, and Senior Brother Lei would certainly have won," Zhang Tie said earnestly.
"Not bad. Neither arrogant nor impetuous, and you have a clear understanding of yourself," Su Li said approvingly with a slight nod.
"Catch." Duan Feng suddenly spoke. Before his words had even faded, Zhang Tie saw Duan Feng and Su Li toss a Storage Pouch toward him at the same time. Zhang Tie reacted quickly and caught them.
"I'll head back first." With that, Su Li flashed away and vanished in an instant, leaving only her voice drifting back from afar.
"Thank you, Senior Brother and Senior Sister," Zhang Tie hurriedly called out.
"By the way, Eldest Senior Brother is in seclusion attempting Core Formation. Fifth Brother has gone out on a mission, and Sixth Brother has returned to his clan. Don't go looking for those three," Duan Feng instructed. Then he turned and shot into the sky, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"Then, Fourth Senior Brother, I'll head back as well," Zhang Tie said.
"Alright, I'll come find you for another fight next time!" Lei Hu shouted.
Zhang Tie shook his head helplessly. Speechless, he leaped into the air and vanished into the distant forest after a few bounds.
When Zhang Tie returned to his cave dwelling, he immediately opened the Storage Pouches from Fourth Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, and Third Senior Sister. Fourth Senior Brother's pouch contained five thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, Second Senior Brother's contained ten thousand, and Third Senior Sister Su Li's was even more astonishing, containing a full thirty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones. What is going on with Third Senior Sister? Does her family own a mine? Zhang Tie muttered inwardly.
After carefully putting away the Spirit Stones, Zhang Tie began seriously reviewing the battle from earlier.
He truly had not used his full strength in that fight, but Fourth Senior Brother had surely held back as well. When it came to a life-and-death struggle, who would not have a few trump cards for killing their enemies or secret arts to preserve their lives in critical moments?
His shortcomings were obvious. His fighting style was far too limited, as he could only rely on close-quarters combat. This was also an unavoidable major weakness of the early Body Cultivation stage. Moreover, he was simply too slow. If he had the chance, he needed to find some movement techniques suitable for Body Cultivators to make up for this flaw.
As for why, when Su Li launched her final sneak attack, he had not chosen to flee immediately but instead shielded Lei Hu without hesitation and warned him aloud, the reason was actually quite simple.
First, where was this place? This was the territory of True Lord Jing Ling of the Hundred Blossoms Sect. The possibility of anyone daring to kill his disciple here was minuscule. Second, Zhang Tie had not sensed the slightest hint of killing intent at the time, so from the beginning, he had guessed that it might merely be a test.
Still, the senior brothers and sisters he had met so far were all quite decent.
Now that he had enough Spirit Stones and medicinal pills, it was time to continue cultivating wholeheartedly. Zhang Tie took a deep breath and removed three thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch, stacking them neatly around himself. Then he closed his eyes, circulated the Five Elements cultivation technique, and began absorbing and refining the Spirit Stones. One Low-grade Spirit Stone after another slowly turned into white powder, while strands of pure spiritual power gradually emerged within Zhang Tie's body and were swiftly absorbed by the Undying Pearl. The process was slow, but it continued without pause...
Time always slipped away quietly during cultivation, and another year passed before he knew it. On this day, Zhang Tie was fully focused on circulating the Five Elements cultivation technique and absorbing Spirit Stones to replenish the Undying Pearl's energy. By now, all the Spirit Beast blood had been absorbed, and only a little over three thousand Spirit Stones remained. His cultivation had already reached Meridian Casting mid-stage peak. In other words, the meridians in his head, limbs, and five internal organs had all been reforged.
Zhang Tie silently calculated that the remaining three thousand or so Low-grade Spirit Stones could not possibly fill the Undying Pearl with energy, no matter what. He could not help considering whether he should borrow more from Third Senior Sister Su Li after using them up.
Just then, he suddenly sensed the Spiritual Qi around him rushing uncontrollably out of the cave dwelling. Zhang Tie was startled. He quickly put away the Spirit Stones and hurried outside. Moving like lightning, he leaped several times in succession and arrived at the summit of his mountain, looking toward the direction in which the Spiritual Qi was flowing.
The distant sky was filled with dazzling, brilliant rosy clouds. Countless strands of heaven and earth spiritual power gathered into a powerful spiritual-energy hurricane, wildly converging upon the mountain beneath those clouds. Just as Zhang Tie hesitated over whether to go investigate, heavy rain suddenly began falling over that mountain without warning. This was no ordinary rain, but spiritual rain containing dense spiritual power, a rare and wondrous sight. Immediately afterward, a radiant pillar of light shot straight from a cave toward the sea of rosy clouds. The clouds surged along the pillar like a tide and swiftly poured into the cave, while the spiritual rain gradually ceased. Soon, everything returned to calm.
At that moment, a deep, resounding voice rang through the entire Hundred Blossoms Sect like a great bell: "Congratulations to Jing Ling Peak of our Hundred Blossoms Sect on gaining another Core Formation True Lord!"
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