Time flies. Spring turns to autumn. Unknowingly, two years have passed since the battle with Tang Hao.
During those two years, Xiao Yan wasn't worried about Tang Hao returning for revenge.
After taking his silent sword strike, Tang Hao hadn't died, but the injuries he sustained wouldn't heal quickly.
Furthermore, Tang Hao himself seemed to have extremely serious injuries, likely from the battle against the experts of Spirit Hall back then.
Now, with the sword energy in his body, triggering his old injuries, he wouldn't be able to cause trouble anytime soon.
Over these two years, besides his daily basic cultivation, Xiao Yan spent more time studying Xiao Xue and Xiao Yi.
And during this long period of research, Xiao Yan finally understood why their cultivation speed far surpassed that of ordinary people, even surpassing his own.
Soul Rings!
The Blue Silver Emperor vines were their bodies. The hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring not only granted them souls, but the Soul Ring's energy also made their vine bodies almost indistinguishable from humans.
However, the energy of the Soul Ring wasn't exhausted; it still existed within their bodies.
It was just that they couldn't use it skillfully at first. The Mysterious Heaven Skill was the key to unlocking this treasure trove of Soul Rings.
Initially, Xiao Yan sensed something special about their bodies, but he hadn't pinpointed the ultimate factor: the Soul Ring.
At first, he thought that the Soul Skills generated after a Spirit Master absorbed and fused with Soul Rings were just skills similar to martial arts moves, which could be used continuously as long as one had Internal Strength.
It was like the Six-Vein Divine Sword; if one had infinite Internal Strength, it could become a six-vein machine gun.
Later, after learning about Spirit Masters and personally comparing the Soul Skills of some Spirit Master students, Xiao Yan realized it wasn't what he had thought.
After a Soul Skill is used, there's a process similar to needing to recharge.
It's not just a matter of having soul power and being able to use it continuously.
Carefully considering the matter, Xiao Yan believed that the energy of the Soul Ring might not all be absorbed by the Spirit Master for breakthroughs and advancement, and that some of the energy remained.
In the future, this portion of energy within the Soul Ring, after combining with the Spirit Master's soul power, would be able to unleash powerful might.
This is also an important reason why the older the Soul Ring, the stronger the Soul Skill that is used.
Xiao Xue and Xiao Yi both have Soul Rings at the 100,000-year level. Even if they had spent some of the energy on taking human form, the remaining energy within them would undoubtedly be extremely terrifying.
After cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, they began to tap into the potential energy within their Soul Rings.
With the support of this energy, the two's cultivation speed was naturally not something ordinary people could compare to.
Although he had only cultivated for two years, through continuous medicinal baths and his uncanny talent, his Internal Strength had reached a level equivalent to about seventy years of cultivation.
Even Xiao Yan couldn't help but admire this kind of fortune.
He had cultivated for a full eight or nine years to reach a similar level of Internal Strength.
Of course, by now, his Internal Strength had become even more profound, nearly reaching a hundred years.
Most of this Internal Strength came from his cultivation. Under the weighted state, Mysterious Heaven Skill automatically ran continuously. Although only twelve years had passed, it was several times faster than regular cultivation.
Another part came from the enhancement of Soul Ring energy.
The fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring activated during his bloodline awakening, the fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring of the Golden Silk Vine, and Xiao Wu's hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring – the energy overflowing from each Soul Ring caused a surge in his Internal Strength, similar to consuming a rare treasure.
Xiao Yan could feel that the increase in his Internal Strength had pushed his strength to a peak.
If he wanted to improve significantly in the future, simply increasing his Internal Strength for a few more years wouldn't be enough.
Xiao Yan wasn't too surprised by this; he'd anticipated it.
Once Internal Strength reached a certain level, further increases yielded far fewer benefits than during the initial stages of cultivation.
Early Internal Strength cultivation was a direct correlation: one unit of effort for one unit of gain. However, in the later stages, it became ten units of effort for one unit of gain.
The most obvious examples were the three brothers, Qiao Feng, Xuzhu, and Duan Yu.
Qiao Feng appeared at full strength, having cultivated for around thirty years, yet his power remained firmly within the top tier of the Tianlong Four.
Xuzhu, despite possessing over two hundred years of Internal Strength after acquiring it, and even after fully mastering its use in later stages, didn't surpass Qiao Feng's strength by more than seven or eight times.
Duan Yu was in a similar situation.
However, one person was completely different.
Dog Bro, with a thousand years of Internal Strength, had already entered the realm of cultivation.
The original text stated: Bai Zizai received a fortuitous encounter, possessing nearly a century's worth of Internal Strength. The two island masters, Long and Mu, claimed that Dog Bro's Internal Strength surpassed Bai Zizai's by ten times.
Xiao Yan lowered the carriage curtain and touched his nose.
Now, if he wanted to continue getting stronger, he only had two methods.
The first was to obtain Soul Rings. By merging them, the energy released would allow his Internal Strength to surge. A few years of Internal Strength might not show much, but several decades would have a significant effect.
The second was to deeply study martial arts and bring his techniques to their absolute limit.
Xiao Yan decided to pursue both methods simultaneously.
"Young master, we've arrived at Soto City."
Hearing the coachman's voice, Xiao Yan, Xiao Xue, and Xiao Yi got out of the carriage. After paying the fare, the three of them entered Soto City.
The combination of handsome men and beautiful women was eye-catching wherever they went.
It was worth mentioning that Xiao Xue had been disguising herself as Xiao Wu at Nottingham Spirit Master Academy for the past two years to conceal the fact of Xiao Wu's death.
Now, two years later, Xiao Xue had clearly grown a bit.
She had a beautiful face, with full, pale red lips, dense and long black eyelashes that made her watery eyes even more clear and charming. Her small mouth was slightly upturned, and her oval chin showed the rounded lines of her face. Her skin was fair, with a hint of light pink, delicate and smooth, as tender as a baby's.
She wore a white dress, adorned with small flowers that looked like they were embroidered with golden silk. The dress clung to her slender, graceful body, with a high chest, a waist as slender as a willow, and full, plump hips, indescribably graceful and with beautiful curves. She wore a pair of white tights on her delicate and well-proportioned legs.
As for Xiao Yi, she was basically unchanged, still in her outfit, looking like a young goddess.
The delicate veil added a touch of mystery to her peerless beauty. Her eyes, like autumn waves, shone with a breathtaking radiance, making all the beautiful women in the world seem like dust.
Xiao Yi's skin was like snow, her eyebrows were like a painting, she was delicate and graceful, and her beauty was pure and exquisite. Her pale robe moved slightly in the breeze, like a lily blooming in the dark night.
Her beauty was more about her temperament, a kind of ethereal quality that was difficult to describe, as clear and pure as dew on a flower. Her eyes were crystal clear, extremely lively, with a pure beauty that was light, free, and otherworldly.
Although most people were staring at the two women, the clever ones were secretly sizing up Xiao Yan, who was standing between them. They thought to themselves: Who is this black-robed youth who is accompanied by two such beautiful women?
His long hair, like ink clouds, was tied up with a mithril crown. He wore a simple black robe without any accessories, but his face made people couldn't help but admire: What a handsome and elegant young master, a graceful and beautiful youth!
His eyebrows were like distant mountains, and the most unforgettable thing was his dark eyes, which shone like stars in the sky, as clear as crystal, with a dreamy luster.
Because the lower limit of Douluo's strength is too low, and the upper limit is very high, let's briefly explain the level division.
Internal Strength of around twenty years is equivalent to a Spirit Saint of level seventy, but there's a significant difference in combat strength; they can't beat someone in Spirit Avatar state.
Seventy years of Internal Strength is equivalent to a high-level Spirit Douluo.
A hundred years of Internal Strength is equivalent to a Title Douluo.
A thousand years of Internal Strength is equivalent to a God.
Spirit Masters in Douluo have Soul Rings. Although they cultivate through meditation, the speed varies based on innate spirit power aptitude. Soul Ring enhancements also speed up the process considerably.
Level doesn't always equate to strength; everyone should be familiar with the trope of challenging opponents above their level (﹡o﹡)