Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
"Boom—!"
Xia Ming's left palm, wrapped in dark-golden sharpness, smashed fiercely against the surface of the Black Dragon Shield.
Qian Duoduo's shield-bearing arm sank slightly, and spiderweb-like cracks spread across the Blue Steel Rock beneath his feet. Yet his burly body merely swayed before becoming as steady as a mountain.
"Not bad! The penetrating power of that strike is far stronger than it was last week!" Qian Duoduo grinned, his eyes full of approval.
"But if you want to blast through my defense head-on, junior brother, you're still far from it!"
Xia Ming did not respond.
He slowly withdrew his fist and sat down cross-legged.
During that last strike, he had sensed an unusual fluctuation in the circulation of his Soul Power.
The Soul Power within the training ground began to stir.
A tiny Soul Power vortex formed around Xia Ming, and his aura began to rise steadily.
"Oh?" Mu En set down his teacup, a glint flashing through his eyes.
Qian Duoduo also put away his smile and stepped back a few paces to stand guard over Xia Ming.
About the time it took to burn an incense stick later.
"Hum—"
A low resonance sounded from within Xia Ming's body.
Immediately afterward, a far more powerful aura erupted from around him, and the bottleneck in his Soul Power shattered with a resounding crack!
Level forty.
Xia Ming opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
"You broke through?" Mu En's voice came at just the right moment, carrying a trace of satisfaction beneath its calmness.
"Yes." Xia Ming rose to his feet and bowed to Mu En. "I've finally reached level forty."
There was a hint of emotion in his voice.
Over these three months of training,