Two months passed quietly.
The hidden ravine remained isolated from the outside world, and during that time, neither Su Yang nor Tu Bing encountered another human being. The spirit lake continued to nourish their bodies and souls, while the surrounding forest remained strangely quiet, as though the beasts within it still remembered the terrifying clash that had taken place here and instinctively avoided the area.
Eventually, however, the time came to leave.
Su Yang and Tu Bing climbed out of the ravine together.
The moment they reached the surface, Su Yang looked back toward the place where they had spent the past two months. The entrance was still concealed by the surrounding vegetation, and unless someone already knew where to look, it would be difficult to discover that a spirit lake existed beneath the earth.
Their greatest concern was the corpse of the Xuan Gang expert.
The man's body had remained remarkably well preserved despite the passage of time.
Su Yang had originally considered destroying it before they left, but after several attempts, he discovered that destroying the corpse of a Xuan Gang martial artist was far more troublesome than he had expected. His physical body had been tempered by Gang Qi to an astonishing degree, and even after death, his flesh and bones possessed a degree of toughness that ordinary weapons couldn't damage.
In the end, Su Yang could only abandon the idea.
"There really is a difference between realms."
He looked at the corpse for a moment before shaking his head.
Even dead, a Xuan Gang expert wasn't something that could be casually handled.
Tu Bing, however, wasn't paying attention to the corpse.
Her gaze had fallen toward the edge of the ravine.
There, hidden beneath a cluster of rocks, was a small figure.
The Earth Bear cub.
Somehow, it had survived.
The little beast was considerably weaker than its mother, and after being injured during the battle, it had remained unconscious for a long time. The spiritual energy within the lake had eventually nourished its damaged body enough for it to recover, but it was still extremely weak.
Tu Bing crouched beside it.
The little bear opened its eyes and stared at her cautiously.
Its small body trembled.
Tu Bing extended her hand slowly.
"Don't be afraid."
The Earth Bear cub sniffed her fingers.
After a moment, it cautiously moved closer.
Tu Bing's expression softened.
"I'm taking it."
Su Yang looked at her.
"You want to keep it?"
"Yes."
She stroked the little bear's head.
"It's still young. If I leave it here alone, it probably won't survive."
Su Yang glanced toward the surrounding forest.
That was true.
Without its mother, the cub would have difficulty surviving in this dangerous region.
Tu Bing then took out a talisman and pressed it gently against the little bear's forehead.
A faint spiritual light spread outward.
The cub struggled briefly before becoming calm.
Su Yang watched the process with interest.
"What did you do?"
"I placed a simple soul restriction."
Tu Bing withdrew her hand.
"It isn't enough to enslave it completely, but it can establish a connection between us. As long as it doesn't resist me, it won't suffer."
Su Yang nodded.
That seemed reasonable.
The little Earth Bear looked at Tu Bing again before climbing onto her arm.
It was obvious that the small creature had already accepted her.
Tu Bing smiled faintly.
"From now on, you'll come with me."
Su Yang glanced at the little bear.
"Then you should give it a name."
Tu Bing thought for a moment.
"We'll decide later."
Su Yang couldn't help smiling.
The two of them then turned their attention toward their own cultivation.
The past two months had produced considerable results.
Tu Bing's progress had been particularly impressive.
After breaking through to the Leaving Aperture realm, she had continued cultivating her Spirit Dao while simultaneously maintaining her martial cultivation. Now, she had reached the mid stage of Leaving Aperture.
Her soul had become considerably stronger.
The difference between Gathering Thoughts and Leaving Aperture was enormous. Once the soul could leave the body, the cultivator's perception underwent a qualitative transformation, and Tu Bing could now perceive things beyond the limitations of her physical senses.
At the same time, her martial cultivation had not stagnated.
She had reached the peak of True Essence.
Cultivating two completely different systems simultaneously was extremely demanding, and even Tu Bing's expression occasionally became tired after long periods of cultivation.
Still, the results were undeniable.
She had advanced tremendously.
Su Yang's progress was equally astonishing, although his path was completely different.
He had spent the two months rebuilding and strengthening his External Arts foundation.
At present, his Body Refining cultivation had reached the peak of Tendon Refining.
The Five Blood Qi Nourishing State had already been perfected.
His Iron Skin had been tempered to perfection.
His Bronze Muscles had likewise reached perfection.
And his Ox Tendons had been completely refined.
The Qi-Blood within his body flowed with astonishing vigor.
Su Yang slowly clenched his fist.
Kacha.
The bones in his fingers produced a crisp sound.
He didn't even need to exert much strength.
The air around his fist seemed to distort slightly.
The force contained within his muscles and tendons had already surpassed what an ordinary practitioner at the same stage could display.
His next target was Bone Refining.
However, unlike the previous stages, Bone Refining couldn't be completed by simply refining one part of the body.
The bones of his limbs needed to be refined together.
Only after the bones of both arms and both legs underwent simultaneous refinement would he truly enter the Bone Refining realm.
Su Yang had already managed to refine the bones of both arms.
The transformation was immediately obvious.
He could feel an enormous increase in his physical strength whenever he moved his arms.
Each arm now possessed a lifting strength of approximately 10,500 jin.
That was already an astonishing figure.
And this was only the result of refining his arms.
He had yet to complete the refinement of his legs, let alone fuse the entire skeletal structure into one complete system.
Su Yang looked down at his hands.
"Still not enough."
His voice was calm.
He wasn't dissatisfied with his progress.
Rather, he understood that the deeper he went into External Arts, the more difficult each step became.
Bone Refining was the foundation for the next great transformation.
Once the bones were completely refined, the four aspects of the body would finally begin merging into something far greater than the sum of their individual parts.
Su Yang had no idea that the ultimate principles behind that transformation had already been analyzed by Lin Sheng.
For now, he only knew what was necessary for his current cultivation.
He slowly raised his fist.
Then he punched.
Boom!
The air exploded.
The surrounding leaves were blown backward by the invisible force.
Su Yang stared at his fist.
There was no flashy movement.
No dazzling light.
Yet the sheer physical force behind that ordinary punch was frightening.
If he fought an ordinary martial artist at the early stages of Bone Refining, he was confident that he could overpower them through sheer physical strength.
His combat strength had already far exceeded what his cultivation realm suggested.
After all, cultivation realm was only one measurement of strength.
Foundation, martial arts, physical body, combat experience, techniques, and one's understanding of power all mattered.
And Su Yang's foundation was anything but ordinary.
He turned toward Tu Bing.
"Let's go."
She nodded.
The two began moving toward the direction of Dongtai Prefecture.
Neither knew what awaited them there.
But while they had been isolated inside the ravine, the outside world had continued moving.
And in Dongtai Prefecture...
Their names had not been forgotten.
---
Inside the Dongtai Prefectural City, the Martial Ranking had undergone several changes over the past two months.
The most noticeable change among the younger geniuses was Liu Ruyan.
Her position had risen by one place.
It might have appeared insignificant to outsiders.
It wasn't.
At their level, every position on the ranking represented fierce competition.
A single advancement meant that she had defeated or surpassed another talented martial artist who had once stood above her.
More importantly, her improvement demonstrated that she was continuing to grow.
The title of genius attached to her name was becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to challenge.
There were also numerous smaller changes further down the ranking.
Some disciples had broken through.
Others had improved their martial arts.
Some had obtained fortuitous encounters.
Others had defeated previously ranked opponents.
The ranking constantly shifted as the younger generation fought for their positions.
And among those changes...
Su Yang had fallen.
His ranking had dropped by five positions.
From Rank 90...
To Rank 95.
It wasn't because Su Yang had suffered a defeat.
He simply hadn't appeared.
While other geniuses continued fighting, cultivating, and improving, Su Yang had disappeared from the public eye.
Naturally, that gave certain people an opportunity.
The Jade Sword Palace seized upon it immediately.
Rumours began spreading throughout Dongtai Prefecture.
"Five places in only two months."
"I heard Su Yang hasn't appeared since the escort mission."
"Perhaps his cultivation really is mediocre."
"How could someone without sufficient talent possibly keep up with Liu Ruyan?"
"That five-year appointment..."
A mocking laugh would often follow.
"Perhaps the Jade Sword Palace was too generous."
At first, the rumours were limited.
Then more people began repeating them.
And eventually, some began questioning whether the much-discussed five-year appointment would become a complete disappointment.
The Jade Sword Palace naturally did nothing to stop those voices.
If anything, they quietly encouraged them.
After all, the more people who believed Su Yang was falling behind, the easier it would be to diminish the reputation he had gained from defeating stronger opponents.
The five-year appointment had once made countless people envious.
Now, some were beginning to wonder whether Su Yang would even remain worthy of Liu Ruyan by the time the five years were over.
Yet none of those people knew where Su Yang actually was.