However, Lin Xia and Larvitar's efficient yet extremely violent "training + eating" routine soon brought trouble.
The stretch of road they had chosen wasn't completely deserted.
During one training session, Larvitar had just blown apart a small mound with Ancient Power. Before the dust had even settled, Lin Xia and the little fellow were happily enjoying the fresh, dark soil rich in spirit power inside the newly formed pit—
When a terrified scream suddenly shattered the silence.
"Oh my god! A ghost! A ghost is eating dirt!"
Lin Xia froze and looked up, her mouth still full of soil.
By the roadside stood a woman carrying farm tools. Her face was deathly pale. She didn't even notice the hoe slipping from her hands and clattering to the ground. Trembling, she pointed at the person and Spirit Beast in the pit, her eyes filled with pure, indescribable terror.
Between the scattered fragments of Ore beside the pit and the two figures chewing soil with dirt-smeared mouths, what she thought she saw was no human at all—but a monster that devoured the earth and trampled all common sense.
She turned and fled, stumbling and crawling, crying as she ran.
"Eating dirt… eating stones… digging huge pits… monster! It's a monster!"
And that was only the beginning.
Several more times after that, whenever they "created" a new pit and buried themselves in eating, they inevitably attracted the attention of passersby.
Most people, upon seeing the devastated ground that looked as if it had been ravaged by some giant beast—and Lin Xia sitting in the center of the pit, dusty and disheveled with mud at the corners of her mouth, alongside that strange-looking Spirit Beast—instinctively chose to detour around them.
Their eyes were filled with a mix of shock, disgust, and deep fear.
"Whose crazy kid is that? Or… is he some kind of experiment by an evil Spirit Master?"
"That… is that a Spirit Beast? Why does it look so grotesque? It's… eating dirt?!"
"They dug out such a massive hole by sheer force?!"
"Report this to Spirit Hall!"
Some kind-hearted people, however, only noticed Lin Xia's pitiful appearance—young, filthy, and alone in the wilderness, eating dirt.
An elderly man leaning on a cane slowly approached, his voice full of sympathy.
"Child… you must be starving, right? Don't eat dirt. Grandpa has a pancake here… come home with me, I'll make you something warm…"
But when his gaze shifted past Lin Xia and landed on Larvitar on the other side of the pit—chewing loudly on a large rock fragment with a sharp crunch, then lifting its head to stare with dark red eyes—
The old man's kindly expression froze instantly, replaced by sheer terror.
Those eyes—filled with primal power and savage wildness—were absolutely not the eyes of a gentle, tamed beast!
"A monster!"
He dropped his cane without a second thought, staggered backward, and fled in panic.
Watching yet another well-meaning passerby run away in fear, while distant onlookers pointed and whispered, Lin Xia felt her chest tighten.
She slowly swallowed the soil in her mouth. The fleeting excitement from increased strength vanished, replaced by cold vigilance.
"This is bad…"
Wiping the mud from her lips, Lin Xia grabbed Larvitar, who was still tilting its head and watching the fleeing figures.
"Larvitar, in other people's eyes, we've already become monsters… and the signs are way too obvious!"
She looked at the freshly dug, dust-covered pit beneath her feet, then at the main road stretching ahead.
This was practically a glowing trail for anyone sharp-eyed enough to track them down.
Recalling how Yu Xiaogang had once hounded her for over ten days, insisting on taking her as his disciple, Lin Xia immediately realized something—
In the eyes of people with ulterior motives, she was probably already a highly valuable target.
With Larvitar's terrifying potential, and her own bizarre ability to eat dirt and Ore… what would happen if she fell into their hands?
Dissection? Experiments?
"No! We absolutely cannot stay on the main road anymore!"
Lin Xia made her decision instantly, her sharp gaze sweeping across the rolling hills and dense greenery on both sides of the road.
"We're going into the mountains! Larvitar, from now on, whenever we're hungry, we'll hunt for food in the mountains! We'll eat our fill before coming back out to continue the journey!"
With that, Lin Xia led Larvitar straight into the vast forest.
---
Two weeks later, Lin Xia ended a night of Calm Mind cultivation on a sheltered cliff near Gengjin City.
Morning sunlight filtered through the leaves, falling softly over her body.
By habit, Lin Xia entered Calm Mind and sensed the flow of spirit power within herself.
Buzz—
An unprecedented wave of solid, full spirit power instantly flooded her senses!
Within her dantian's Qi Sea, the spirit power that once accumulated only as thin wisps of mist now surged violently like a fully charged stream!
It was no longer ethereal—it was deep, condensed, and carried a heavy, rock-like sense of weight.
Like a shallow puddle that had transformed into a brimming pond!
They were only a hair's breadth from that critical boundary, yet both the quality and quantity of spirit power had already reached a peak!
Level 10 Spirit Power!
Without relying on the system's Calm Mind boost—only on Larvitar's疯狂反馈 from its Spirit attribute, and her own gluttonous absorption of the primal energy contained in Ore-infused soil—
In the ten days following the initial awakening of her innate spirit power, Lin Xia hadn't even cultivated properly, since she had been caring for Larvitar during its infancy.
Yet in just half a month of true cultivation, she had crossed Level 9 and stepped directly into the threshold of Spirit Masterhood—the first major bottleneck of cultivation.
Level 10!
If news of this spread, it would leave Spirit Masters of the same age—those following the orthodox cultivation path—utterly speechless.
It would be nothing short of a miracle.
"Level 10… I've broken through!"
Lin Xia suddenly opened her eyes, the dirt on her face unable to hide the blazing joy within them.
She excitedly reached out to pick up Larvitar, who was still yawning beside her—but couldn't lift it at all.
She didn't care in the slightest.
Her voice trembled with excitement.
"Larvitar! Can you feel it? Level 10! We've reached Level 10! Hahahaha!"
Startled by her sudden excitement, Larvitar quickly sensed the surging spirit power and overflowing joy within Lin Xia.
It immediately became excited as well, waving its little arms and letting out cheerful, unintelligible cries.
"Lar—vi! Lar—vi!"
After setting Larvitar down, Lin Xia stood up, her gaze sharp as it pierced through the dense forest, locking onto the legendary metal capital ahead.
Level 10 meant she could finally absorb her first spirit ring.
And for Larvitar—the future sandstorm monarch—what better place to begin its rise than a grand city where the essence of earth, gold, and iron converged, where metallic Ore veins flowed beneath the land?
Before that, she still needed to join a faction within the city and learn proper Spirit Ring knowledge, as well as locate suitable Spirit Beasts for Larvitar.
This decision would shape her future path—she couldn't afford to be careless.
Thinking of this, a surge of pride welled up inside her.
"There will be times when the wind and waves rise—
Hoist the sails, and cross the vast ocean!"
"Larvitar, Gengjin City is just ahead. Let's go!"