Xiao Minghuang circulated her cultivation method.
Six great vortices of qi appeared around her body all at once, madly devouring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. In the span of a single breath, all the qi within several hundred meters was completely drained.
Sensing the change outside, she let out a bitter little laugh and withdrew the vortices. The terrifying suction vanished with them.
“The speed at which a Five Elements spiritual root draws in qi is terrifying. If I activate my technique in battle and suck all the nearby qi dry, that might be fatal to my opponent.”
But a moment later, Xiao Minghuang chuckled softly and shook her head.
“Even if I drain all the surrounding spiritual energy, it won’t amount to much. Who doesn’t carry a few spirit stones and pills on them?”
For cultivators, if they relied on ambient spiritual energy alone to advance to higher realms, they would be waiting until the end of time.
That was why most martial cultivators were used to relying on spirit stones and pills to raise their strength quickly.
In battle, they would also use spirit stones and pills to restore their energy. Apart from certain blessed lands and paradisiacal grottos, the outside world’s spiritual qi was of negligible help to them.
Xiao Minghuang took a deep breath in and out, adjusted her state, then slowly opened her eyes.
At the same moment—
A streak of golden light shot out from her pupils at astonishing speed, piercing straight through the wall in front of her and blasting a large hole in it.
The golden light faded from her eyes, revealing a pair of pupils bright and dazzling as a sky full of stars.
When she saw the wreckage inside the room, she couldn’t help letting out a light sigh.
“Looks like this closed-door cultivation stirred up a bit too much commotion…”
She lowered her head and looked at her own skin, and the corners of her lips curled slightly.
She reached up and pinched her cheek. It felt exquisitely smooth and radiant to the touch, soft and springy, as if it would bruise at a breath—yet its defensive power was likely stronger than that of a body cultivator who practiced specialized body-tempering arts.
Still, Xiao Minghuang did not care much about her changes in appearance.
What truly excited her was that after several days of seclusion, her realm had risen from the fourth to the sixth level of Qi Refining, and her spiritual root aptitude had leaped from mid Earth grade to lower Heaven grade.
Even more noteworthy: her former single gold-attributed spiritual root had evolved into a Five Elements spiritual root.
In terms of pure aptitude, she now far surpassed the personal disciples of the three great sects.
And that point alone might be even more frightening than breaking through an entire major realm.
Xiao Minghuang raised her palm. With a single thought, a brilliant sword-light of gold blossomed out from her palm out of thin air.
Compared to before, the sword radiance was now far more solid. Tiny golden motes shimmered along its edge, no less resplendent than stars in the night sky.
Xiao Minghuang had a feeling that even if she encountered a Yongquan Realm expert now, she would at least be able to put up a fight.
As that thought crossed her mind, she sat up from the bed—only to notice that the aura-concealing formation in the room had been completely shattered, ground into powder.
“Seems I’ll have to find time to study formations.”
Thinking this, Xiao Minghuang stepped out of the room.
Outside, the people waiting sensed the calm settling inside. A moment later, they saw Xiao Minghuang emerge, dressed in a bright red gown, black hair cascading like a waterfall, skin fairer than snow, her bearing peerlessly graceful, noble and ethereal.
Even before this, her skin had been as pale and delicate as white jade. After being refined by the Five-Viscera Spirit Origin Pill, it was now as if carved from ice and polished jade, carrying a faint fragrance, pure and otherworldly, like a banished immortal walking the mortal world.
At the same instant they laid eyes on her, everyone present felt from her a profound, ineffable aura, as if she had already merged with the Dao itself, one with heaven, earth, and all things—unfathomable and beyond grasp.
But that feeling only lasted for a single fleeting instant before disappearing without a trace.
Sensing Xiao Minghuang’s rise in cultivation, Lin Zhengquan was overjoyed. This meant they had even more certainty in the upcoming contest with the Jinxiang Kingdom.
Though with Xiao Minghuang’s original cultivation, victory had already been almost assured.
Smiling, Lin Zhengquan stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said,
“Congratulations, Your Highness, on your breakthrough.”
Xiao Minghuang gave a small smile.
“City Lord Lin, you flatter me. If not for the spirit stones and pills you provided, it would have been very difficult for me to break through.”
“Your Highness possesses a Heaven-grade spiritual root, unseen throughout the ages. In the future you will surely uphold and secure the fortune of Great Xia for a thousand years. The few spirit stones I offered are but the tiniest of contributions, hardly worth mentioning. Your Highness need not take them to heart.”
Lin City Lord’s face was full of spring breeze and satisfaction. His gamble this time had paid off spectacularly.
A Heaven-grade spiritual root—such an aptitude could not be found a second time in the entire Southern Territory.
And this kind of peerless genius was actually willing to accept his daughter.
With the Ninth Princess sheltering them in the future, Beiyang City would be able to sleep soundly.
Hearing his words, Xiao Minghuang, however, frowned slightly and asked,
“My breakthrough in seclusion has already spread?”
Lin Zhengquan knew how serious this matter was. His expression turned solemn.
“Your Highness, there is something you may not know…”
After listening to his explanation, Xiao Minghuang understood.
While she had been in seclusion, her spiritual root had evolved and the Five Elements root had been nurtured, repeatedly triggering heavenly phenomena, causing all of Great Xia to learn that a peerless genius had appeared within the Wild Forest.
Once she understood the whole story, Xiao Minghuang thought for a moment and then said,
“City Lord Lin, issue an order that what happened today must be kept strictly secret. You may say only that a genius has appeared. As for the specific details—not a single word is to leak out.”
Hearing this, City Lord Lin gave a wry smile, troubled.
“Your Highness, the overwhelming vision spanned several hundred li. How could we possibly hide it?”
Xiao Minghuang shook her head slightly and explained,
“City Lord Lin, you misunderstand. I am not trying to erase the matter entirely, but rather…”
When she finished her detailed explanation, Lin Zhengquan suddenly saw the light and nodded.
“Rest assured, Your Highness. This subject will see it done.”
The nurturing of a Five Elements spiritual root had drawn forth five-colored divine light that illuminated the heavens. All the cultivators of Great Xia had witnessed that.
But the heavenly phenomenon unique to a Heaven-grade spiritual root had been seen only by those present here. That part could still be concealed.
They only needed to announce to the outside world that the one who triggered the vision possessed nothing more than a lower Profound-grade Five Elements spiritual root.
A lower Profound-grade Five Elements root was rare, but not to the point of inviting a death sentence.
After receiving her instructions, Lin Zhengquan led everyone away.
The courtyard returned to silence. Xiao Minghuang suddenly realized that after such a major breakthrough, why had Ye Ruoshui and Lin Wanqiu not come to congratulate her?
Given their temperaments, they should have been waiting outside her door long ago.
“Perhaps they took pills and went into seclusion as well.”
She summoned a servant and, after asking, learned that her guess was correct.
Ye and Lin had gone into seclusion almost at the same time as she had. Seven days had already passed.
Thinking of the overwhelming heavenly phenomena she herself had triggered during her own seclusion, Xiao Minghuang’s slender brows drew together.
“The tree that stands above the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. I need to lay down more aura-concealing formations. I can’t let Ruoshui and Wanqiu’s aptitudes be exposed.”
With that thought, Xiao Minghuang moved at once. She called over the servants of the City Lord’s residence and had them help her set up layer upon layer of aura-concealing formations in the courtyards of Ye Ruoshui and Lin Wanqiu.
Even after all the preparations, Xiao Minghuang was still uneasy. She ordered the servants to prepare extra materials in case of emergencies, then remained outside their courtyards, waiting quietly for the two girls to emerge.
“Ruoshui originally only had a lower Yellow-grade spiritual root. After taking the Essence-Replenishing Pill, her root should have improved somewhat, but at most to mid Yellow grade. This time, with the Fivefold Essence-Nurturing Pill, she should at least reach upper Profound grade. If she’s lucky, even peak Profound grade isn’t out of the question.”
“Wanqiu’s meridians were blocked from birth, yet with spirit stones and pills alone, she reached the seventh level of Body Tempering at only fourteen years of age. That talent was already much stronger than mine used to be. After taking the Five-Viscera Spirit Origin Pill, her aptitude should at least rise to mid Earth-grade spiritual root. I just don’t know whether she can cultivate a Five Elements root.”
Gazing at the two girls’ small courtyards, Xiao Minghuang narrowed her eyes slightly, deep in thought.
