Another year had passed since Xiao Lin created the Mid-Level Earth Grade cultivation technique, the Starry Canon.
During this year, Xiao Lin did nothing but cultivate.
Although the days of cultivation were dull and tedious, the process of feeling himself grow stronger every day still made Xiao Lin very happy. Therefore, he remained focused on his practice, remaining indifferent to the affairs of the outside world.
However, today, someone came knocking on his door, interrupting his cultivation process. Initially, when a clansman came to tell him that someone was looking for him, Xiao Lin thought it would be Nalan Jie.
After all, over the past six years, Nalan Jie had been the most frequent visitor to his home. It was no wonder Xiao Lin assumed so. However, the person who came this time was not Nalan Jie, but someone else!
"Mu Chen of the Mu Clan? What is he doing looking for me? I don't have much interaction with him!"
When the clansman reported who the visitor was, Xiao Lin's brows furrowed instantly.
Mu Chen of the Mu Clan, Nalan Jie of the Nalan Clan, and Xiao Lin before he awakened his past life memories were considered the top talents of the younger generation in the Jia Ma Empire. Six years ago, the three of them had successively stepped into the Dou Ling level.
Furthermore, all three of them had served and trained in the Jia Ma Empire's military at the same time. But unlike his best friend Nalan Jie, Xiao Lin and Mu Chen were merely casual acquaintances.
Usually, there was no deep-seated hatred between them, but there was no social interaction either.
Moreover, whether it was the Xiao Clan behind Xiao Lin or the Mu Clan behind Mu Chen, there were no trade relations or frictions between the two clans. Under such circumstances, for the other party to actually seek him out, it was no wonder Xiao Lin felt surprised.
At the same time, Xiao Lin remembered that this Mu Chen was the Clan Leader of the Mu Clan, one of the Three Great Clans of the Jia Ma Empire in the original story.
Unlike the Nalan and Mittel clans, the Mu Clan in the original work was very low-profile—so low-profile that they barely had any presence!
However, Mu Chen's vision was very sharp!
In the original story, despite having no connection with the Xiao Clan and no grudge against the Yun Lan Sect, he ultimately had the courage to bet everything on Xiao Yan. One had to admire his foresight.
But those were events from the original story; the current Mu Chen had not yet become the head of the Mu Clan. The current strength of the Mu Clan was roughly equal to the Nalan and Xiao Clans. Including the Clan Leader, the clan possessed two Dou Ling powerhouses.
A clan possessing more than one Dou Ling powerhouse was considered a top-tier clan even within the capital of the Jia Ma Empire. Further up were the two clans that possessed a Dou Wang: the Mittel clan and the Yinter clan.
Oh, that's not right.
Hai Bodong of the Mittel Clan had ended his secluded meditation three years ago and successfully broke through to the Dou Huang realm!
This caused the Mittel Clan's status in the entire Jia Ma Empire to rise instantly by a level. It could be said that within the borders of the Jia Ma Empire, excluding the neutral Alchemist Association.
The Mittel Clan's strength was now second only to the Yun Lan Sect and the Jia Ma Imperial Family. However, as the Mittel clan became a Dou Huang-level clan, the current Yinter Clan found itself in an awkward position.
As the only Dou Wang-level Clan remaining in the Jia Ma Empire, the Yinter Clan was now in a state of being inferior to those above but superior to those below. Below the Yinter Clan were clans like the Xiao, Nalan, and Mu Clans, which possessed multiple Dou Ling.
Therefore, although the Xiao Clan of this period would be considered insignificant on the scale of the entire continent, within the Jia Ma Empire of the Northwestern Region they were already a second-tier clan.
Compared to the Xiao Clan in the original story before Xiao Yan's rise, which could only huddle in Wu Tan City, the current Xiao Clan, which held a place in the capital of the Jia Ma Empire, was definitely more than one grade stronger.
In the original story, if the Xiao Clan before the plot began had even a single Dou Ling powerhouse, they would have dominated Wu Tan City entirely, and no other clan's voice would have been heard.
This was the status of the Xiao Clan in the Jia Ma Empire's capital today.
However, it was precisely because of this that when Mu Chen, the young clan leader of the Mu Clan whose strength was similar to the Xiao Clan, came to find him, Xiao Lin felt puzzled. Because there should have been no intersection between them!
Puzzlement aside, since someone had come to his door and specifically asked for him, Xiao Lin wouldn't go as far as to avoid them.
After all, whether they came to cause trouble or truly had business, he had the confidence to handle it calmly. The source of this confidence was not only his Heaven Realm soul power but also his Dou Qi cultivation.
Four-Star Dou Huang—that was Xiao Lin's current Dou Qi stage!
That's right, not Dou Wang, but Dou Huang!
In other words, compared to being a Four-Star Dou Ling six years ago, Xiao Lin had forcibly crossed two major realms!
What kind of concept was this?
Perhaps in the eyes of those great factions in the Central Plains, going from a Four-Star Dou Ling to a Four-Star Dou Huang in six years was merely "decent."
But in the Northwestern Region and the Jia Ma Empire, this cultivation speed had clearly exceeded the limit. To say there would be no one like him in the future might be impossible, but he was certainly the first in history!
One must know that a year ago, when Xiao Lin had just created the Mid-Level Earth Grade cultivation technique, the Starry Canon, he was only a Nine-Star Dou Ling. Yet now, in one year, he had crossed more than one major realm; it was indeed a bit exaggerated.
According to his own original plan, during this year, with the help of the Mid-Level Earth Grade Starry Canon, it should have been enough to let him break through from a nine-star Dou Ling to a high-level Dou Wang.
However, once he actually started practicing, he realized his cultivation speed was "wrong." Not only was the cultivation speed wrong, but even the breakthroughs in realms were wrong!
In the process of breaking through from a Nine-Star Dou Ling to a Four-Star Dou Huang, he only encountered a slight bottleneck when moving from a Nine-Star Dou Wang to Dou Huang. Aside from that, he didn't feel any obstruction during the breakthroughs of other minor stages!
Was this normal?
It was twelve out of ten points of abnormal!
Normally, even if he practiced a Mid-Level Earth Grade cultivation technique, his progress couldn't be this fast, let alone the fact that bottlenecks almost never appeared. However, after thinking it over, Xiao Lin still couldn't find the reason.
In the end, he could only come up with an explanation that seemed relatively reasonable. It was that after he awakened his past life's memories, in addition to the fusion of soul power from two lives, perhaps even his talent was added to that of his previous life.
Although he hadn't cultivated in his previous life and didn't know what his talent would have been, looking at it now, it shouldn't have been bad. This was assuming Xiao Lin's guess was correct. But it didn't matter; it was a good thing after all, wasn't it?
Of course, if Mu Chen hadn't come to his door for some unknown reason, Xiao Lin would have likely continued his cultivation without worrying about the messy affairs outside. But since he had been interrupted, Xiao Lin could only choose to go and meet the man.