"Yes, today is my first time cultivating the Eight Trigrams Lightning Steps."
Xiao Ting answered without the slightest guilt.
He had only received the Plane's Blessing and the seven days of cultivation experience after midnight, so it was indeed only today that he'd actually begun cultivating the Eight Trigrams Lightning Steps.
"Terrifying."
Yao Lao was inwardly shaken. Judging purely by comprehension of battle skills, Xiao Ting was the greatest talent he'd seen in his entire life.
On top of that, his cultivation aptitude surpassed even Xiao Yan's. To reach the height of Yao Lao's prime was entirely within reach.
If that Ancient Clan girl held enough status in the clan and was willing to shelter Xiao Ting, then reaching the peak right below Saint would practically be nailed into the board—just a matter of time.
"Mm, not bad."
Although his heart was full of shock, Yao Lao still wore a slightly surprised expression on the surface, speaking in a solemnly serious nonsense tone:
"Your cultivation talent and comprehension, if placed in the Jia Ma Empire, would be enough to tower over all. Even in the Northwest Continent, you'd be considered a once-in-a-generation prodigy."
"But in Central Plains, geniuses are as numerous as the clouds. Someone like you can only be called pretty good, far from enough to grow arrogant and complacent."
"Teacher, there are people even more talented than Brother Ting?"
Xiao Yan's face was full of disbelief.
"A mid-Black-rank battle skill—Brother Ting mastered it to Small Success in under an hour. Don't tell me those Central Plains geniuses can just look once and master it, and they all start out with Earth-rank techniques?"
Yao Lao: "…"
When your disciple exposes you on the spot, what are you supposed to say?
"Looks like when I reach Central Plains in the future, whenever I meet an opponent I'll have to go all-out. I can't afford to hold back at all."
Xiao Yan said this with a serious tone.
Xiao Ting: "…"
The so-called "Central Plains Corrector" said such a line, and Xiao Ting silently observed a moment of silence for the geniuses of Central Plains.
"Brat, your Battle Qi is almost spent. Rest for a while before continuing."
Yao Lao deftly changed the subject, completely ignoring Xiao Yan's question.
"My Battle Qi consumption is actually still under thirty percent."
Xiao Ting thought for a moment and replied.
Yao Lao: "…"
"It's this old man's soul-body that needs a break!"
Yao Lao's figure flashed and vanished.
He'd originally planned to use the teaching opportunity to "discipline" Xiao Ting a bit, but failed to land even a single hit and instead got shocked by the boy's talent.
Yao Lao felt he really needed to calm down.
"Brother, since Senior Yao asked me to rest, he must have his reasons. I'll go sit over there for a bit."
After greeting Xiao Yan, Xiao Ting walked over to a clean rock, sat down, and closed his eyes, running his cultivation method to recover Battle Qi.
His feeling wasn't wrong—after practicing a battle skill and then immediately meditating, his cultivation progress was indeed a bit faster.
Once his technique started automatically circulating through a full cycle, he decided to record this in his journal.
…
[Hall of Souls's signature laugh: Jie-jie-jie.]
…
The five girls currently holding a copy of the Journal: ???
…
[Across the myriad worlds, it is common knowledge that when recognizing someone of the Hall of Souls or Hun Clan, you don't look at their name, cultivation, cultivation method, or bloodline—you listen to their voice.]
[The black-robed guy who shows up with a creepy "jie-jie-jie" laugh—that's a proper, canonical Hall of Souls villain.]
…
The five girls: "…"
So ridiculous. Don't tell them this is actually that damned Tian Can Tu Dou's official setting?
If reality worked like that, then the Hall of Souls… would be a walking punchline.
…
"Old Ling."
On a mountain several hundred zhang away from Xiao Ting's training spot, Xun Er had her hands clasped behind her back and called softly.
"Miss."
A black-robed Ling Ying appeared and dropped to one knee.
"You've seen much of the world and read extensively. Do you know what the mark of a Hall of Souls member is?"
Xun Er's red lips parted slightly as she spoke.
"The mark of Hall of Souls?"
Ling Ying's thoughts spun rapidly. Then he answered solemnly:
"Nine out of ten Hall of Souls members use chains as weapons, and they all like to wear black robes."
"And besides that?" Xun Er pursued.
"Hall of Souls members do have identity tokens, but they like to just toss them into their spatial rings to collect dust."
After changing his line of thought, Ling Ying added,
"They also have a unique… aura. Anyone who sees them will think, 'This guy's from Hall of Souls—definitely not a good man.'"
"What kind of aura?"
Xun Er's lips curved faintly.
"Is it that when they appear, they'll always do something that no one else would?"
Swish!
A bolt of lightning flashed through Ling Ying's mind.
"Miss has guessed right."
He immediately replied:
"People of Hall of Souls always let their 'jie-jie-jie' laughter arrive before they do."
"That laugh is extremely strange, enough to make your skin crawl. One listen and you know they're not good people."
"So that's how it is."
A smile blossomed in Xun Er's eyes.
"Then, to distinguish Hall of Souls people, we only need to listen to how they laugh and how they make their entrance?"
"That really is the case."
Ling Ying felt as if he'd been enlightened.
"If they don't laugh like that, it means they're not Hall of Souls enough."
Hahaha!
Xun Er almost burst out laughing.
This so-called "setting" was truly amusing.
But still—why did Brother Xiao Ting bring up Hall of Souls at this point?
…
[Right now, I just want to let out a jie-jie-jie laugh.]
…
The five girls: "…"
The image was too vivid to accept.
…
[Today, I got to watch, from a bystander's perspective, Yao Lao instructing the future 'Flame Emperor.']
[But Yao Lao actually wanted to teach me more. He was still holding a grudge over getting scammed out of his cultivation method and battle skills yesterday and wanted to "use public matters for private revenge"…]
[However, this future Emperor-Teacher was too shocked by the speed at which I mastered the battle skill.]
[Which is only natural. Today's Plane's Blessing gave me seven days of battle skill training experience.]
[A full, proper seven days. Under normal circumstances, when learning a battle skill, considering mental focus and Battle Qi consumption, being able to train four hours a day is already considered persistent and hardworking…]
…
"So that's how it is."
The five girls suddenly understood.
In a twelve-hour day, after subtracting time for eating, drinking, resting, meditation, cultivation, and all kinds of other trivialities, being able to devote four hours solely to training is indeed very diligent.
Calculated like this, seven days' worth of cultivation experience from the Plane's Blessing equaled a full month of a normal person's painstaking training.
If that cultivation experience was further calculated based on Xiao Ting's own talent and comprehension, the improvement would be even greater.
…
"Never thought there'd be a benefit like this."
On the southern provincial border of the Jia Ma Empire, by the shore of a lake full of dense heaven-and-earth energy and beautiful scenery, Queen Medusa—who was just taking a short break to recover Battle Qi—had eyes that burned with intensity.
The Plane's Blessing was practically a cheat-like accelerator for battle-skill cultivation. She herself very much wanted to experience it.
As the queen of the Snake-People Race, she was usually swamped with affairs. After cultivating, she had very little time left to train battle skills and secret techniques.
This led to her methods in actual battle being relatively monotonous, giving people the impression she only liked to use fists and kicks like a barbarian.
"More than that… I'm curious whether Xiao Ting will mention this queen's name again today."
…
The same thought appeared in Yun Yun's mind.
As the Sect Master of Misty Cloud Sect, she not only had to handle sect affairs, but from time to time also had to go to the frontlines on behalf of the Jia Ma Empire to fight against the Chu Yun Empire.
She had mastered quite a few wind-attribute battle skills, but rarely had time to truly sit down and polish them. She usually honed herself by seizing opportunities amid the chaos of battle.
"If only I could get such a blessing as well."
…
[I cultivate quickly not just because of talent.]
[No matter how top-tier a talent is, it's nothing in front of a cheat.]
[Senior Yao is worried I'll become arrogant, so he deliberately said all that stuff.]
[In the end he got undermined by the 'Flame Emperor' with a single line…]
…
"Pfft!"
At that moment, all five women couldn't hold their laughter in.
With no one around, Queen Medusa and Yun Yun laughed with unrestrained delight.
Little Fairy Doctor and Qing Lin also couldn't help but smile.
They could easily imagine how wonderful Yao Lao's expression must have been.
…