"This is outrageous! He actually defeated our senior sister in under a dozen moves and he's not even in the same cultivation stage!" the disciples gathered around the arena murmured in disbelief, struggling to make sense of what they had just witnessed.
"Have you calmed down now?" Ling Xu asked, withdrawing his sword from her neck and ignoring her earlier question.
Recalling that she had been the one to run into him, rushing ahead without watching where she was going, she blushed.
"I'm sorry, junior brother," she said, her tone softer now. "I was flustered because of something that happened earlier and lost my composure."
She paused and then added "If it's alright with you, I'd like to return the favor sometime. My name is Sun Qinglan by the way."
Sensing she had her own burdens, Ling Xu responded calmly, accepting her words without pressing further. "You don't owe me anything, senior sister. We all have our reasons."
Sun Qinglan gave a small laugh, the tension easing from her expression. "Well, if you won't accept my apology, then at least call me sister Qinglan. After all, you defeated me, so there's no need to call me senior anymore."
"Then sister Qinglan it is," Ling Xu replied with a slight nod. "I'm Ling Xu," he added, finally introducing himself as well.
"It's a pleasure, Brother Xu." she said with a smile.
"The pleasure is mine." Ling Xu added.
Recalling something, Sun Qinglan's expression changed, "Let's meet again sometime, brother Xu." and she stepped off the stage, heading toward a deeper part of the outer sect.
The disciples that were gathered moved out of her way instantly, acting like a group of followers from a cult seeing their goddess leave.
"It's time to head back and continue what I left unfinished yesterday," he thought, ending his exploration of the outer sect already after causing quite a commotion.
…
As he was about to arrive to his room, Ling Xu was walking when he suddenly sensed something behind him.
"Whoosh!" he dodged immediately, hearing the sound of the wind.
"You've got quick reflexes, impressive!" looking at the figure that almost stabbed the left side of his lower back, Ling Xu's expression darkened as he started circulating his qi, ready to fight.
"Aren't you going to say anything? After all you have already humiliated my fiancée." with the aura from someone in the fifth stage of Qi Refining, the man glared with anger, looking as if he was the one wronged.
"Is he sister Qinglan's fiancé?" he thought, recalling that Sun Qinglan was the only woman he had interacted with ever since he entered the outer sect.
"It shouldn't be allowed to attack a fellow disciple in the sect." he added, after all it was a rule that fellow members of the sect could only resolve their conflicts in the arena.
"You know the rules of the sect very well, but what you don't is that I have a senior brother that has entered the inner sect. So if I want to do something here, no one apart from an elder can say anything."
"That's why he was so confident about attacking me in the middle of the day." he thought surprised, "Is there someone in the sect that doesn't resort to violence?" Ling Xu was getting very annoyed at the amount of people that resorted to violence, being this the fourth time already since he entered the sect.
"Hmmm?" Ling Xu had a vague feeling.
"What is it?" the man asked hearing, noticing Ling Xu's reaction.
"Nothing." he said, "There seems to be someone watching from the side."
After a brief pause, he smirked and said, "Is that all you can do or do you have a little more strength to show?"
"What did you say?!" angering the person in front once again, he saw him charge at him.
All of a sudden, Ling Xu saw him turn from one person to two, using the same type of movement technique that the person he fought at night used. But his technique was much stronger since it didn't look like an afterimage but as if they were two different people.
"Die by the hands of my Elusive Ghost Sword Technique!" the man moved his sword, almost like a ghost as if it was going to attack from one side but suddenly attacked from the other.
"This is dangerous!" Ling Xu activated the shadow golden energy that acted as a defensive layer and then retreated using his full strength, trying to block one of the images he saw from the sword but getting attacked by another two.
"He is using the same movement technique that the night assailant used but with an even higher level of mastery. If he was only one I would be able to defend myself somehow, but this is too much for me right now." he said, being completely overwhelmed by the man as he was pushed back by his strong qi that surpassed his, taking several steps back every exchange they had.
"Hahaha, that's right! This is what happens when you meddle with someone's fiancée."
The attacks kept coming and Ling Xu's layer of protection didn't last long, barely withstanding two or three more moves before it got completely tore down.
"I have to do something!" he thought, trying to find a way to come out of this situation before he was seriously injured.
After a few more breaths, Ling Xu had several blood marks and his qi was about to become exhausted, using it all to withstand the pressure from someone who surpassed him by four stages.
"You've already had your fun, so let's stop for now." taking both swords by their edges with his bare hands, the fight stopped abruptly.
"What is his cultivation realm?" the man that attacked Ling Xu first was astonished, "For him to be able to interrupt my technique in the middle of an attack." he looked at the old man that didn't have any aura on him.
"Uh?" Ling Xu recognized him right away, having met him yesterday as it was the old man that had previously introduced him to the Books Pavilion.
Seeing that the old man wouldn't budge, Sun Qinglan's fiancé concealed his qi once again and said, "You were very lucky, but remember that you won't have the same luck next time." frightened by the old man, he sheathed his sword once it was set free.
Turning around he continued, "I'm Sun Qinglan's fiancé, Lu Wenjie. Remember my name well." and then he left, observing that the old man didn't plan on stopping him from going.
With Lu Wenjie already quite far, the old man said, "You were very lucky kid, else you would have at least become a cripple."
Looking at the old man in shock, Ling Xu reacted and answered, "I have met senior, thank you for saving me!"
"Kekeke! Kid, you are very impressive." the old man said while looking at him with brilliant eyes, "I can't believe you managed to keep your ground against someone four stages higher, you have barely entered the Qi Refining Realm after all. You haven't even started practicing the Formless Qi Breathing cultivation technique."
All of a sudden, Ling Xu became uncomfortable, feeling like every secret he had could be seen by the senior that was in front of him.
"Is it possible that he has seen something else apart from my cultivation stage?!" a sound of alarm ring in his mind, afraid that his deepest secret was discovered by the senior.
"I can see what you are thinking from a mile away. Don't worry kid, this old man only came here because he heard a fight going on." he said while laughing, "Next time I won't be there to help you so be more careful."
"Aren't you guarding the Books Pavilion?" Ling Xu asked with a doubtful face, knowing that if the old man remained there he would notice if something happened.
After all, it was already obvious that his senses reached the whole outer sect, with their current position being far from it.
"That was only for yesterday." pausing for a second, he then added, "Remember to claim the other technique you have as a reward for becoming an outer disciple."
Once he ended what he was saying, the old man moved and disappeared from Ling Xu's sight.
"He is so strange." he thought, recalling that yesterday he was treated like every word he said would annoy him. "I didn't even have the chance to ask for his name."
While in deep thought about what happened in such a short span of time, he felt something in his hand, "What is this?" all of a sudden, he observed a pill that contained strong currents of energy.
…
Back in his room, Ling Xu was circulating his energy, trying to recover from the injuries he had received in the fight.
"It will take at least one week before I'm fully recovered." he sighed, having to postpone starting to practice the Formless Qi Breathing cultivation technique since he had to first recover before trying anything else.
"If there was only something that could help me heal faster…" recalling the pill he found in his hand, Ling Xu took it out from his spatial ring. "Could it be that he gave it to me so I could recover from the injuries?"
He looked at it for a while and decided to try it, "It's not like he would have given me something bad. After all, with his strength he wouldn't need to use a pill to harm me. He could have killed me there and no one would have known."
After swallowing it, the pill started to disintegrate and a very pure energy came out of it, traveling through his whole body.
Visible to the naked eye, the injuries that were left in his body were closing, recovering completely. Even those that were quite deep only took a few breaths before they closed.
"As expected, it was a healing pill. But what tier did it have for it to be able to heal me in such a short time?" he wondered, having seen the effects from the high grade wound ointment he had to use after fighting the night assailant.
Even then, it took him half a day before his injuries closed, but that was a medicine made for the Blood Qi Realm and Ling Xu was currently in the Qi Refining Realm. So for this pill to have such a miraculous effect, it must have been at least at the Foundation Building level, being a third tier pill.
With his wounds completely recovered, he then continued reading the manual from the cultivation technique he had chosen, trying to comprehend it for one last time before he started to practice.
After reading for an hour, Ling Xu closed down the book.
"As expected, this cultivation technique is very difficult. Even though I have read it several times already I still find new things to learn." he said amazed by it, "But I can't stop my progress, after all I have already understood the general outline so I should be able to complete the entry level after trying for a while."
He positioned himself in the lotus position and closed his eyes, starting to circulate his qi with the help of his acupoints through the method told in the manual.
…
Trying for several hours, Ling Xu still wasn't able to transform his qi into one without form. But fortunately, he had still made quite the progress since it had already appeared in his status panel.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: 1st stage of Qi Refining (0%)
[Cultivation]: Formless Qi Breathing (entry 37%), Existence Shadow Will (32%)
[Techniques]: Three Purities Sword (perfection), Blood Thread Transformation (completed)
The Formless Qi Breathing cultivation technique appeared, replacing the Basic Blood Circulation cultivation technique that had accompanied him through the Blood Qi Realm.
Although his qi didn't completely transform as it was very hard to do so, it had started to act like the formless qi from the cultivation technique, following different paths as if it had no form.
But after a few breaths it would return to normal, or at least parts of his qi would move like a formless one while other parts would remain the same. This showed that he was on the right path but he still had to improve a bit before he managed to transform it completely.
This process of transitioning between with form and formless continued for almost half a day, with Ling Xu's progress getting closer and closer to transforming permanently his qi into a formless one.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: 1st stage of Qi Refining (0%)
[Cultivation]: Formless Qi Breathing (entry 99%), Existence Shadow Will (32%)
[Techniques]: Three Purities Sword (perfection), Blood Thread Transformation (completed)
Reaching the ninety-nine percent, Ling Xu finally managed to make the last step as it advanced to a hundred.