Chapter 532: Guiding Cultivation

Inside the Qiling City City Lord Mansion.

If any residents of Qiling City were to see the scene inside the City Lord Mansion, they might be greatly shocked; the City Lord, who was usually overbearing and covered the sky with one hand in Qiling City, had vacant eyes, his dull gaze fixed upon the white-clothed man in the hall.

"Do you know what you should do?"

"I do."

The Qiling City City Lord answered in a slightly wooden voice.

Upon receiving the former's reply, the white-clothed man nodded simply, his figure vanishing without a trace; the Qiling City Lord in his original spot gradually regained clarity in his eyes, the chaos in his mind—as if it had been struck hard by a hammer—making his temper slightly irritable.

"Where was I thinking just now?"

Rubbing his head while recalling, he then suddenly realized and flew into a rage:

"I remember now, Gan Meng and Ye Cha hid precious treasures and fled in fear of punishment, so I sent people to pursue them."

"Rebellious!"

In the eyes of the Qiling City Lord, as his subordinates, the fact that the two of them did not proactively hand over the precious treasures after discovering them, but instead hid them privately, was simply a crime deserving of death!

The Qiling City Lord was just preparing to dispatch more City Lord Guard subordinates to pursue them, but worried that a massive display would alert other experts and cause news of the precious treasures to leak, he could only suppress the urgency in his heart and wait patiently.

Soon, a brand-new order was issued to the Outer Realm Evil Clan members searching everywhere in the city, withdrawing everyone back into the City Lord Mansion.

Sensing that the movement outside had vanished, Jiang Lingxian looked with a face full of admiration at Xiao Han, who was drinking tea with composure.

"Senior truly has vast Supernatural Powers."

"Just a small trick."

Xiao Han was indifferent; with his spiritual cultivation, planting a psychological suggestion in a Man Mo Clan member who had just reached the Supreme realm was simply too easy.

In the true thoughts of that City Lord at this moment, of the four missing subordinates, half had fled in fear of punishment, while the other half had been sent by himself as pursuers; under Xiao Han's psychological suggestion, his subconscious would rationalize the disappearance of the four people.

"No one will disturb us for this period of time."

Xiao Han set down the teacup in his hand, his expression slightly solemn.

"Now, we should properly prepare for the Evil Spirit Festival."

"Senior means..."

Xiao Han's inscrutable gaze swept up and down Jiang Lingxian, causing the latter to feel a sudden tremor in his heart, subconsciously taking a step back like a little rabbit being stared at by a big bad wolf.

"Heh, rest assured, it is very simple."

Xiao Han smiled slightly.

………

Two months later.

Inside Qiling City, in the mountainous area where Jiang Lingxian and Xiao Han first met.

Jiang Lingxian, bare-chested, supported himself on the ground, arduously doing push-ups, the cold sweat on his forehead falling like raindrops.

"Senior, is… is it not time yet?"

After forcing himself to do a few more, Jiang Lingxian's arms swelled, his joints feeling as if they had rusted and unable to move; feeling as if a mountain were pressing down on him, every inch of muscle in his entire body was emitting unbearable wails, and he finally could not help but speak.

"Teacher, drink some tea."

Xiao Han sat leisurely on a large rock as smooth as a mirror, while beside him, a clever and sensible little girl who made people feel pity skillfully handed the brewed tea to Xiao Han's side.

Ever since the Evil Qi in her body was forced out by Xiao Han, paired with the latter's various Medicinal Pills for strengthening the foundation and nourishing the essence, Jiang Lingyu no longer looked like a sickly person at all, appearing no different from a normal person.

What surprised Xiao Han was that, unlike her brother Jiang Lingxian, Jiang Lingyu's constitution had excellent compatibility with Spirit Power, and her innate powerful spiritual strength made her a good seedling for a Spirit Array Master, comparable to his own daughter Xiao Mu; seeing talent and feeling delighted, Xiao Han took on another Disciple.

As for Jiang Lingxian, Xiao Han felt it was tricky; his talent was not bad, but it seemed as if it had been averaged out—perhaps a common ailment of the Evil Spirit Clan—as both his Spirit Power and Evil Qi were only at an acceptable level; he had talent, but not much, completely lacking the extremity of his younger sister Jiang Lingyu.

Although his talent in Evil Qi and Spirit Power was mediocre, Xiao Han inadvertently discovered that this kid had some talent in body tempering.

Jiang Lingxian had made a living in the mountains and forests for years, inevitably engaging in close-quarters combat with various Magic Beasts, and thus had forged a formidable physique and tenacious willpower.

Due to the differences in cultivation systems, it was difficult for Xiao Han to offer many opinions on Jiang Lingxian's Evil Qi cultivation, but body tempering was different; he had fought many experts known for their physiques, and many famous brutes of the Man Mo Clan within the Outer Realm Evil Clan had died at his hands, so he still had some say in this field.

According to the environment of the Outer Realm Evil Clan, Xiao Han adapted the Spirit Array design to local conditions, creating a Gravity Adjustment Spirit Array that could be driven by Evil Qi, and used it directly on this lab rat, Jiang Lingxian; currently, the results looked good, and over the past month or so, Jiang Lingxian's physique had improved by nearly one-third.

"Kid, hold on; this is a threshold. If you can get past it, you have a chance to go further; if you can't, your life will just be like this."

"Also, you cannot sleep; if you fall asleep, you will also fall short of success."

Xiao Han ignored Jiang Lingxian's pleas; the reason why body-tempering experts were rare was precisely because of its difficulty, as every breakthrough required enduring immense pain and breaking the limits of one's willpower.

Also due to the arduousness of body tempering, in battle, body-tempering practitioners were often able to endure harsher environments and pain far exceeding that of ordinary people, which, combined with the powerful recovery ability brought by their own bodies, made this group recognized as tough nuts to crack.

But if one could not endure hardship, even if one spent more resources, one could only raise a good-for-nothing who was all show and no substance.

Xiao Han's reminder was like a great bell, startling Jiang Lingxian, who was in a state between waking and sleeping; his eyelids, which were about to close, suddenly opened, and he drove his trembling body to continue.

One, two, three...

Jiang Lingxian did not know how long he had been doing it or how many he had done; his mind was already numb, and he was just performing mechanical movements.

Outside, Xiao Han watched calmly as Jiang Lingxian's speed became slower and slower, from one every two or three breaths to one every five or six, then to ten, twenty...

"Brother..."

Beside him, Jiang Lingyu watched Jiang Lingxian's appearance with a heart full of pain, her face—which had initially shed its gauntness—twisted together; she wanted to stop him but worried about interrupting her brother's chance to improve his strength, so she could only remain where she was, biting her silver teeth and gripping the lapels of her clothes tightly with both hands.

Finally, a change occurred in Jiang Lingxian's body; the speed that had slowed down gradually began to increase: twenty breaths, fifteen, ten, five...

With a "Bang," Jiang Lingxian's body could no longer support him, and his vision went black as he collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Xiao Han removed the array and stepped forward to check Jiang Lingxian's body; it was just as he had expected: at this moment, Jiang Lingxian's entire body showed signs of being completely exhausted, like an old man in the twilight of his years, but deep within that twilight, a powerful and vigorous vitality surged into his limbs and bones, nourishing Jiang Lingxian's body and repairing his battered frame.

"Teacher?"

"No harm done; this kid did very well."

Xiao Han fed Jiang Lingxian a Medicinal Pill, thanking the latter's Evil Spirit Clan constitution for making his things useful.