Little One had broken through to the peak of the Near-Saint Nineteenth Heaven before Chi Xue and Po Tian. To Ling Tian and the others, this was a pleasant surprise. They had assumed that Chi Xue and the others, having consumed the Phoenix Soul Fruit earlier and undergone rebirth, would have an edge: their Bloodline Power had remained at its peak for longer, so their cultivation would advance faster and they would have a better chance of breaking through first. Unexpectedly, Little One had overtaken them. Knowing that the earlier Little One broke through, the higher his ultimate limits would be, Ling Tian was naturally overjoyed.
Ling Tian himself was the one who had truly overtaken the others, but that was because he had refined a great deal of strange energy and cultivated the Nine Reversals Heavenly Technique twice. It was only natural that he would break through before Chi Xue and Po Tian, so it wasn't a surprise. After all, everyone knew he was bound to break through sooner. Little One was different. Few cultivators, if any, had expected him to reach the peak of the Near-Saint Nineteenth Heaven before Chi Xue and Po Tian—not even Ling Tian.
Only the unexpected could be a pleasant surprise. Ling Tian's early breakthrough, by contrast, had simply been what everyone expected.
"But I've sensed Chi Xue and Po Tian's auras too. They're on the verge of breaking through as well. If nothing goes wrong, they'll break through soon, not much later than Little One." Ling Tian spoke, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile. "That's good news for us too. The stronger Chi Xue and Po Tian become, the more pressure they'll put on the Lord of the Universe in the future. That'll ease the burden on Little One and