With a flash of light, Han Xiao arrived in the Netherland Dimension, where he immediately saw Hila fighting Aurora.
In the pitch-black sky, two enormous energy clusters, one red and one gold, were tightly joined together, like two conjoined suns. The scarlet Power of the Dead pressed in relentlessly, squeezing the space of life energy, like a bully harassing a cowering girl.
A graceful figure floated in the center of the energy cluster of the Power of the Dead. Hila's red hair danced in the surging energy, her expression calm and effortless.
Meanwhile, within the golden orb on the other side, Aurora's golden hair danced wildly, her fists clenched in front of her, her chubby cheeks puffed out and her face flushed red as she desperately pumped out her life energy, struggling against Hila's suppression.
"Hey, I can't just ignore it when the older sister bullies the younger one. Do you need help? I can help you get revenge."
Han Xiao glanced at it, raised an eyebrow, and called out to Aurora.
Hila glanced at him, paused, and then abruptly withdrew the Power of the Dead had been releasing.
The crimson sun in the sky rapidly shrunk in a vortex until it disappeared completely, returning entirely to her body.
On the other side, Aurora suddenly felt no pressure, as if one of the two was pushing each other and one of them suddenly let go. Her life energy, now free from resistance, burst forth involuntarily, creating a golden tsunami in the air.
She hurriedly gathered her energy and slowly guided it back into her body. The golden sun quickly disappeared, leaving only Aurora's figure panting heavily in mid-air, looking like she was about to collapse.
Hila frowned, her sharp eyes fixed on Aurora, and said in a deep voice, "Your control is still too poor. Take a break and continue practicing."
As she spoke, Hila turned to look at Han Xiao and explained calmly:
"We're not kidding. This extreme pressure training can accelerate the growth of her life energy, broaden her potential, and help improve her strength. This is one of the special training programs I designed for her."
Han Xiao shrugged; he knew it was training, but he was just joking.
At this moment, Aurora also transformed back into her petite form, flying to the two of them. The blush on her face, from exerting herself so much, hadn't faded yet, making her look somewhat adorable and embarrassed. She explained:
"The defeat in the last battle was due to my insufficient strength. I felt that I could no longer lazily wait for my life energy to rise automatically; the speed was too slow. So I specifically asked my sister for special training, hoping to improve myself even a little bit."
"Good, very hardworking."
Han Xiao smiled, praised her, and reached out to rub Aurora's little head. Her smooth, long hair slid through his fingers, feeling incredibly silky.
Aurora seemed quite pleased, even tilting her head slightly and leaning closer to Han Xiao's hand.
At this moment, Hila floated over expressionlessly, slapped Han Xiao's hand away, and said, "What are you doing here? If you have nothing else, leave. The special training isn't over yet, don't bother us."
Han Xiao rubbed his hand, which was red from being slapped, and the marks quickly faded. He smiled and said, "I'm here to tell you some good news. Fording has become Beyond Grade A."
Hila's eyes flickered, but she wasn't particularly surprised and calmly nodded.
"That's definitely a good thing. Congratulations to him for me. But for him, reaching this level was only a matter of time."
"Besides that, I have another surprise for you. Fording has found the legendary Soul Ruins and the Remnant Soul Terminus. He knows that you have the ability to devour souls to strengthen yourself, so he asked me to ask if you are interested in going to take a look?"
Upon hearing this, Hila's expression changed, her eyes widened slightly, and she finally showed some emotion.
She also knew the legend of the Remnant Soul Terminus, where the Power of the Dead was nourished by souls. She too longed for this legendary place, but it was just a conjecture. There were no eyewitness reports of the Remnant Soul Terminus in history. If what Black Star said was true, then Fording should be the first to discover it.
"Of course I'm interested! When are we going?!"
Without hesitation, Hila blurted out "-book," instantly forgetting all about Aurora's special training.
"Let's go now, Fording is already waiting for you at the training camp."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get this done!"
Without Hila word, Hela quickly put on a set of Sovereign and gestured for Han Xiao to activate it with Mechanical Force.
Han Xiao chuckled and changed into a set of Sovereign, activating his Mechanical Force.
With a flash of lightning, the two figures vanished without a trace.
More than ten minutes later, Fording led Han Xiao and Hila directly to the Remnant Soul Terminus.
Looking at the inexhaustible remnants of souls here, Hila showed a rare expression of shock and surprise, forgetting to speak for a moment, staring blankly at the massive vortex of soul nebulae.
"How's this place? Is it helpful to you?" Fording asked from the side.
Hila snapped out of her daze, nodded decisively, her tone revealing an barely suppressed excitement:
"These remnants of souls are of great benefit to me; my intuition tells me this is the best place for me to engage in meditation!"
"If it works, that's good. Anyway, there's nobody here, so you can stay as long as you want," Fording laughed.
Thanks.
Hila patted Fording's shoulder forcefully, then rubbed against him twice as Han Xiao habitually did, her gaze fixed on the countless fragments of souls, her beautiful eyes radiating a fiery intensity.
At that moment, she made a decision without saying a word.
--I've lived here since before the World Tree invaded our territory, and nobody's going to take me away!
Hila was unusually excited, but amidst her joy, she vaguely felt that she had forgotten something.
Just then, a faint voice suddenly echoed in my mind:
"Sis... what about my special training?"
Uh, I knew I'd forgotten something...
Hila's expression froze, she coughed, and sent a telepathic message back:
"Well, things have changed. I won't be back for a while. You'll have to practice on your own for now."
The tone was somewhat like a parent trying to soothe a child when they're busy with important matters, conveying a sense of "go play by yourself."
"Hmph! I'll practice by myself then!"
Aurora angrily shut down telepathy.
Am I just being abandoned like this?
You promised to help me cultivate, but you ran off! You mean, you jerk, I'm ignoring you!
The mental communication was cut off, but Hila didn't care. She couldn't wait to slip out of the spaceship and float in the outer space.
Splash!
The Power of the Dead surged forth, forming a scarlet tornado that swept up the surrounding remnants of souls, crushing and disintegrating them into pure soul energy that was absorbed into the Power of the Dead, strengthening its own abilities.
Han Xiao's eyes flickered slightly.
'With such an opportunity, Hila is on the fast track to advancement. It's estimated that in ten years... no, it shouldn't take more than ten years, a new Peak Beyond Grade A will emerge. Once she reaches that level, her combat power will increase dramatically. With her abilities, as long as her raw strength grows, she should have no problem holding her own against two or three Peak Beyond Grade A from the World Tree.'
He stroked his chin as he watched this scene, nodding silently, placing high hopes on Hila.
Hila and Fording remained in the Remnant Soul Terminus to cultivate in seclusion, while Han Xiao returned to the training base to continue training everyone according to the original plan and to study the Sanctuary on his own, becoming so engrossed in his studies that he could not extricate himself.
Fording would come back every few days to give the trainees at the training camp a motivational boost.
Immersed in training every day, everyone's sense of time became dulled, and before they knew it, more than half a year had passed in intensive training.
The battle on the front lines is still raging, and the World Tree army is advancing resolutely despite the relentless harassment from the Three Universal Civilizations' suicide squads.
For the past six months, the forum has been flooded with related information, with countless players enthusiastically exchanging various combat intelligence.
Meanwhile, Han Xiao and other Beyond Grade A were training in the rear, having withdrawn from the front-line battles. They were seizing the time before the storm to improve their strength. Because they were no longer in the players' sight, Beyond Grade A had little to talk about in the past six months and had temporarily kept a low profile.
Intense warfare meant frequent combat missions. Many players who acted as suicide squads on the front lines made a fortune. Batch after batch of people reached the version's level cap of 180. The excess experience was used to upgrade skills, and the rest flowed into Han Xiao's hands through spending within the Black Star Army.
Thanks to the high rewards of the suicide missions, players can gain experience faster, which indirectly shortens the time it takes for Han Xiao to accumulate experience.
In less than a year, Han Xiao had roughly gathered enough experience to directly level up to level 360, which was more efficient than expected.
After many years, he finally had another chance to advance. Without much hesitation, Han Xiao chose an auspicious day and came to an uninhabited desolate star in his territory, ready to invest all his experience to level up and reach the threshold for the next advancement.