An uproar erupted all around, like a pot boiling over. Liangyuan, who was already at the eighteenth layer, had actually lost to Li Tianyi, who was only at the fifteenth. And it was... a crushing defeat...
"No wonder the Immortal Fate Hall has been so low-key lately!"
The Pill Cultivators of Immortal Fate Hall were the strongest, capable of reinforcing the other sects, which was why Immortal Fate Hall's overall strength was consistently ranked in the top three. Pills decided everything.
Zhang Liang stared dumbly at Yang Ying's devastatingly beautiful face. 'She's so gorgeous,' he thought. 'How can a woman this beautiful exist in the world? No wonder countless men would fight tooth and nail just for a chance to speak with her.'
He had thought Yang Ying might say a few more words to him, but she seemed to already have a grasp of the situation, merely nodding in thanks.
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Liang refused to miss this chance to say one more thing to the number one beauty of the Nine Halls.
"Senior Sister, I have another piece of unconfirmed news, but I'm ninety percent sure it's true!"
Zhang Liang said. Yang Ying stopped in her tracks, her gaze, which seemed to pierce right through a person's soul, fixed on him. Zhang Liang's heart instantly started POUNDING. His mind went blank. For all his eloquence, he suddenly didn't know what to say.
To his surprise, Yang Ying revealed a hint of a smile. "You must be Junior Brother Zhang. Why don't you tell me what you've heard."
Yang Ying actually knew his surname. At that moment, Zhang Liang felt like he was floating on air; this alone made his whole life worthwhile. "They say that among the younger generation, Li Tianyi is already unrivaled. His time in the Sub-Hall is just to temper his character. But not long ago, he seems to have suffered a major defeat. Someone broke his Nine Heavens Fire Sword!"
The Flying Phoenix Hall instantly fell silent. Ripples appeared in Yang Ying's beautiful eyes. "If his Nine Heavens Fire Sword could defeat Liangyuan, it must have at least reached Small Success. It would be very difficult to defeat him. Could it be that Ning Zhiquan's Self-sacrifice Technique has improved greatly? No... that's not very likely either."
"Senior Sister is brilliant. It wasn't Ning Zhiquan. Lingyin Hall is also looking for this person. Apparently, he's also a Holy Hall Disciple. During his fight with Li Tianyi, he suppressed his Life Mark to the fifth layer!"
A battle fought with a suppressed Life Mark Level is much more difficult. It requires an extraordinary level of control over one's Sword Technique. The fact that Li Tianyi dared to use the Nine Heavens Fire Sword in that state meant he had considerable mastery, and yet he still lost.
Even Yang Ying couldn't help but ask, "What Sword Technique did that person use?"
"No one knows. After the fight, the person vanished as if they'd evaporated. Lingyin Hall searched for a while but gave up when they couldn't find him. However, Li Tianyi seems to have been spurred on by this. He believes that with that person's strength, they're bound to show up at the grand tournament."
"This Li Tianyi is too arrogant! He completely disregards everyone else. Is this grand tournament being held just for the two of them?!"
"What Nine Heavens Fire Sword? That's got to be an exaggeration. He's just coasting on the Li Family's name. Maybe Senior Brother Liang went easy on him."
"Exactly. Fifteenth layer? His talent is probably nothing special."
Zhang Liang just smiled and didn't explain further. Yang Ying, however, did not refute the claims. "Junior Brother Zhang, thank you. If you need anything when you come to the Flying Phoenix Hall in the future, you can find me."
"Thank you, Senior Sister."
Zhang Liang was so thrilled his soul was about to leave his body. He really shouldn't have said those last few things, but upon seeing such a beauty, he threw caution to the wind. And now, it seemed it was all completely worth it.
He didn't have any improper designs; he just liked getting to know famous people. If they valued him, he would feel the greatest sense of satisfaction.
Everyone has their own pursuits.
After using a bottle of Spiritual Spring to perform the improved Wind Cloud Technique twice, Wang Meng stopped tending to the Spirit Field. The next step was to raise his Life Mark to the fifth layer. This would make it easier to use certain Magic. The third layer of Life Mark was still a bit restrictive.
With Wang Meng's Control Power, reaching the Fourth Layer was a natural progression. But when it came to the Fifth Layer, a problem arose. Even the Blast-Inducing Technique couldn't break through.
In Life Mark cultivation, there was a saying: passing the fifth is easy, but breaking through the tenth is hard.
Yet he had run into a problem at the Fifth Layer. He had never even heard of such a strange situation in his previous life. Hitting a bottleneck at the Fifth Layer was likely a bizarre occurrence in the entire Cultivation Realm. Many people's Natural Life Mark started above the tenth layer, and even crazier things existed in the Grand Thousand World.
But a bottleneck was a double-edged sword. It was a hurdle, but if one could overcome it, there would surely be rewards, great or small.
An ordinary Cultivator would surely be dismissed and abandoned as someone with low talent, but for the current Wang Meng, it was a different matter entirely.
Every hurdle was an opportunity.
'I can't try to take any shortcuts. Even from a Demigod's perspective, the combination of the Nourishing Essence Technique and the Blast-Inducing Technique is perfect for this level. These two Cultivation Techniques seem complementary, but because one is an Evil Cultivation Method and the other is a Saint Cultivation Technique, only someone possessing Godhood could make them fuse together perfectly. If anyone else tried to copy this, there would be only one result: they would Fall into Demon.'
For the current Wang Meng, having a challenge was an interesting thing.
「In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.」
Wang Meng succeeded in his breakthrough a month later than expected, finally reaching the Fifth Layer of Life Mark. After reaching the fifth layer, Wang Meng himself was a little speechless. '…No wonder it was so hard to get past the fifth layer. If it wasn't hard for me, then there's nothing hard in this world.'
The Five Elements Body!
Back then, Moo Shan's talent that let him dominate the world only consisted of three of the Five Elements: Water, Fire, and Gold. The reason Wangtian was so arrogant and ran rampant was that he too possessed a Five Elements Body—and a Great Five Elements Body at that. While it was still impossible to determine if Wang Meng had a Great or Little Five Elements Body, this was already a brand new start.
Wang Meng couldn't help but shake his head. 'I suppose this is life. What's meant to be will be, and what's not, you can't force.' Something Moo Shan had exhausted his mind trying to achieve was now accomplished naturally.
But his mindset was completely different now. Wang Meng was more concerned with how things were growing in his Spirit Valley.
When the crops in the Spirit Valley matured, they would attract the attention of small Demon Beasts, so some protection was still necessary. Wang Meng sat on the edge of the Spirit Field in a daze, sometimes staring for an entire day.
"Little Spirit, do you think that guy has gone stupid?" Zhao Lingxuan was also sitting in the distance, her chin in her hands, staring blankly at the idiot as she spoke with a touch of pity.
Beside her, the Fire Simurgh preened its feathers, showing no reaction whatsoever.
"Little Spirit, I've seen plenty of stupid people, but never one this stupid. He struggled so much just to reach the Fifth Layer of Life Mark. Do you think we should help him?"
Zhao Lingxuan found Wang Meng pitiful. He worked so hard but had little to show for it. The Fifth Layer of Life Mark... For a newbie who had just started cultivating, the first year was the period of greatest explosive growth. If one's Life Mark Level didn't advance by leaps and bounds during this time, it would only get harder later on.
If your Life Mark Level was insufficient, it didn't matter even if you had heaven-defying comprehension.
It was like a baby who, no matter how good its kung fu, was only capable of flashy but ineffective moves.
"Should I toss a Magical Artifact to him? I have plenty, anyway," Zhao Lingxuan asked.
The Fire Simurgh shook its head, conveying its thoughts. Sometimes, that kind of help could even bring about disaster.
An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth.
Little Spirit nudged Zhao Lingxuan, indicating it was about time to go. Zhao Lingxuan was a little disheartened. At first, she just thought he was amusing. Later, she saw how hard he truly worked. But sometimes, hard work really didn't guarantee results. 'Maybe... I shouldn't come back here again.'
Wang Meng also found it strange. Why did a little girl keep coming over to spy on him from time to time? In the memories of both his selves, no such person existed, and Wang Meng didn't think there was anything about him worth watching.