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*****
Inside the hotel room.
Xiao Tian carefully took out the external spirit bone that the system had rewarded him with from his storage soul tool. It took the form of transparent, sword-shaped wings with three pairs of pinions, all of which looked incredibly sharp.
'System, block the surrounding aura for me in a moment. Don't let the spirit bone's energy leak out.'
After giving this simple instruction, Xiao Tian sat cross-legged on the bed and began to absorb the spirit bone.
Half an hour passed.
Xiao Tian opened his eyes, a sharp glint shining within them. This external spirit bone was truly a fantastic item! It had instantly raised his spirit power by two full ranks, bringing him to rank nineteen.
The Ethereal Sword Wing external spirit bone had granted him two spirit bone skills so far.
[Sword Wing Soar: Upon use, allows Xiao Tian to gain the ability of flight and provides a certain boost to his movement speed.]
[Ethereal Sword Qi: Allows Xiao Tian to release sword qi to attack nearby enemies while in flight.]
Strictly speaking, the first skill was an inherent ability. Since it was a wing-type spirit bone, Xiao Tian didn't really consider it a skill in the traditional sense; only the second one, Ethereal Sword Qi, truly counted.
Xiao Tian walked over to a mirror and unfurled the Ethereal Sword Wings from his back. The three pairs of nearly transparent wings were aesthetically striking. (For reference, think of Hai Bodong's wings, just change the color.)
Over the course of the next year, Xiao Tian, as expected, did not let up on Tang San or Xiao Wu, putting them both through his devil training. The results were remarkably significant. Tang San finally managed to raise his spirit power to rank twenty and, with the help of the Nuoding Academy's Headmaster, obtained his second spirit ring—the Ghost Vine, just as in the original story. However, his progress was still the slowest of the three. By this time, Xiao Tian had already long since reached rank twenty-four, while Xiao Wu was at rank twenty-two.
For his second spirit ring, Xiao Tian had not gone to hunt in the Spirit Hunting Forest. Instead, he had directly absorbed one of the God-Bestowed Spirit Rings the system had given him. He was quite fortunate that his second spirit ability turned out to be an attack power amplifier, perfectly matching his requirements.
[Second Spirit Ability, Surging Sword Qi: Upon use, a powerful sword qi envelops the blade, increasing attack power by two hundred percent.]
Xiao Tian was extremely satisfied with this ability. If he remembered correctly, the Sword Douluo Chen Xin's first spirit ability, Long Sword's Edge, only increased his attack power by thirty percent, whereas his was a full two hundred percent. But this was also to be expected. Chen Xin's first spirit ring was a hundred-year one, while his second ring was from a four-thousand-year beast!
"Hey, Xiao Tian, so what is your rank, anyway? Why can't I beat you even now, when I'm clearly the one with the best talent out of the three of us?" A great big question mark was floating in Xiao Wu's little head.
"Tell me the truth, did you secretly raise your cultivation to rank twenty or higher?" Xiao Wu hugged Xiao Tian's arm with both hands and shook it back and forth, trying to use her cute antics to coax the truth out of him.
After spending two years together, the relationship between the two had become increasingly intimate. If Tang San were here right now, he would probably be grinding his back teeth to dust.
Feeling the soft press against his arm, even Xiao Tian's old soul couldn't help but blush. He marveled inwardly, 'It seems all that papaya and milk Xiao Wu has been having for the past two years hasn't gone to waste!' A feeling akin to a father seeing his daughter blossom came over him. Hehe.
Seeing the faint blush appear on Xiao Tian's cheeks, Xiao Wu gave a cunning smile, thinking to herself that she did have some charm after all.
"Xiao Tian, your..."
"Xiao Wu, you should take a look at your own face right now. It's as red as an apple." Before she could finish, Xiao Tian launched his counter-attack.
"Huh? No, it's not!" Xiao Wu ground her small, silver teeth.
"Are you going to tell me or not!"
Seeing Xiao Wu's defenses starting to crack, Xiao Tian just smiled. After two years of laying the groundwork, he felt it was about time he could tell her. Now was the perfect moment.
"Mm, you guessed right. My spirit power rank has indeed reached rank twenty. And it's a little higher than yours, too. I'm at rank twenty-four."
Xiao Wu fell silent.
Xiao Wu's eyes went wide.
Xiao Wu spoke!
"Xiao Tian, are you really not lying to me? Isn't your strength improving way too fast? That's even faster than me and Tang San, and we both have innate full spirit power." Xiao Wu's face was filled with shock. Furthermore, she had never once seen him use a spirit ability, which was why she had been so curious all this time.
Xiao Tian said coolly, "Yes, my innate spirit power is not as good as yours. But do you remember what I told you before?"
Xiao Wu: ??? What had he said? She couldn't remember at all.
"Ow, that hurts!" Xiao Wu clutched her head, not understanding why Xiao Tian had just flicked her on the forehead.
"You really don't remember at all? I told you before, I walk a different path to increase my spirit power."
It was only then that it dawned on Xiao Wu. "You mean, you accelerate your spirit power cultivation by continuously tempering your Sword Intent? I originally thought you were just messing with me, but it was actually true..." Xiao Wu found it incredible; it was the first time she had ever heard of increasing one's spirit power in such a way.
However, she wasn't too surprised by it. It was all within the realm of reason. No wonder Xiao Tian spent every day either practicing with his sword or on his way to practice with his sword, even sleeping with his blade in his arms! At the time, she had been completely baffled, but now, it all made sense! Everything clicked into place!
The next moment, two purple spirit rings flickered into existence around Xiao Tian.
He had no intention of hiding the color of his spirit rings. This might even serve to further stimulate Tang San's desire to strive harder. The faster Tang San improved, the more excited he would be. He was a precious little experience baby, after all. Once Tang San reached rank thirty, he could harvest another wave of rewards.
Xiao Tian's guess from a year ago had been correct. The moment Tang San and Xiao Wu had both broken through to rank twenty, he had eagerly challenged them to a match. And just as he had expected, he had triggered a critical hit reward! He had obtained another two God-Bestowed Spirit Rings, which was why he had been so extravagant as to use one for his second ring. He still had more to spare, anyway!
At that very moment, Tang San happened to be walking over, intending to call them for dinner, only to be confronted by this scene. He walked over, his face a mask of shock and solemnity.
"Xiao Tian... what... what is going on with those spirit rings on you?" Tang San felt a buzzing in his head.
Why were both of Xiao Tian's first and second spirit rings a thousand-year purple? According to the theoretical limits his teacher had taught him, the first ring should be around four hundred years, and the second around eight hundred years. But the spirit rings on Xiao Tian's body completely shattered that theory!
That's right, Xiao Tian had done it on purpose. Thanks to the system's notification, he had known Tang San was approaching them long ago. Hehe.
Xiao Tian said with a calm expression, "Let's go to the Grandmaster's office. This can't be explained in just a sentence or two. Haven't you two been curious about my strength for the past two years? I'll explain everything to you all at once."
(End of chapter)