In the first night of receiving the spirit stones, Yu Tian managed to get his fire, water, and metal elements to the third layer. Wood and earth were still in the fifth layer though, as the later stages were much harder to advance.
During the day, he read manuals as he instructed Xueling for five hours, then practiced the mind for the rest of the day.
On this day, he finally analyzed the high grade manuals.
With his level two mind, it didn’t take that much time. One was a sword method and the other was a body strengthening method. The sword method wasn’t that interesting but still taught him quite a bit about the body. For the body strengthening method, he picked up ways to strengthen the body through qi enhancement, learning much more about the body.
He didn’t make a technique from this - after all, it was just qi circulation.
It just gave him the knowledge he needed to begin strengthening his body using the Path to Heaven method whenever he wanted.
In the second night, Xueling finally entered the third layer of the Core Formation realm.
She was really excited and felt she might really reach the peak before the end of the year.
Yu Tian, on the other hand, advanced his fire, water, and metal elements to the fifth layer, finally catching up with the other elements. Well, only for a second as wood and earth soon advanced to the sixth layer.
During the day, he finished up analyzing the rest of the manuals. It was easy to go through as they were all just low level. Even so, what they didn’t have in quality, they made up for in quantity. He learned very little from each method, but combining the more than eighty manuals, he learned quite a lot.
Xueling returned the manuals. Although she wanted to get others for him, he was against it as the sect didn’t have any higher ranked manuals - the twelve mid grade and the two high grade he had received were practically the entire sect’s high level manuals.
Although he could still learn from low level ones, he didn’t feel it was worth it.
After instructing Xueling for some time, he returned to mind cultivation.
On the third night, all his elements had caught up at the seventh layer, though wood and earth were still slightly ahead. But it wasn’t significant enough of a difference to matter at this level. As for Xueling, her cultivation was progressing greatly, though the fourth layer wasn’t yet close.
The difference between the third and the fourth was a little higher as this was officially advancing from the early stages to the mid stages.
During the day, Yu Tian instructed Xueling and read some novels for a few hours before continuing his mind practice.
This cycle continued until the eighth day.
Yu Tian slowly opened his eyes. He looked at his empty hand - he had just finished the very last spirit stone. He thought to himself that even so, he wasn’t disappointed. He had managed to advance all his elements to the peak, which was the tenth layer.
In the last week, he had also greatly optimized his methods as well as Xueling’s methods.
Now, with his enhanced methods and the amount of qi he had at level ten, he felt confident in winning against a late Foundation Establishment cultivator. And if he pushed himself even harder, he could fend off a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
At that moment, Xueling, who was before him, noticed how he looked at his empty hand. She grabbed his hand. "Don’t worry, next time, I’ll find even more spirit stones for you," she said reassuringly.
"It’s okay, I’m not worried," he said. "How’s your cultivation?" he asked.
She smiled. "Thanks to you, I finally entered the mid stages," she said with a bright smile. Thɪs chapter is updated by NovᴇlFɪre.nᴇt
The previous day, Yu Tian’s mind had entered the third level, enhancing his Path to Heaven method even more and allowing her to break through to the fourth layer even faster.
"When are we leaving?" he asked.
She quickly got up. "Just after breakfast," she said, beginning to walk away.
"I’ll help," he said, following her.
"Yu Tian, your cooking has really improved," Xueling praised as she ate.
"Well, I learned from the best," he replied. He thought to himself that although his cooking skills weren’t bad, compared to her, they were indeed a little lacking. That’s why he had decided to learn from her.
Knowing how to cook wasn’t bad - he might need it later.
"Stahp," she blushed, covering her face. She then suddenly paused. "Wait, aren’t we just like newlyweds?" The thought made her blush even deeper.
At that moment, they heard a voice at the door.
"I’m coming in..." Jingxing said as she opened the door and walked in.
"Greetings, Sister Liu," Yu Tian said, getting up and cupping his fists, and she returned the gesture. He had come to know her over the last week. She was one of Xueling’s servants. Though he was beginning to suspect she was the only one as he didn’t see other servants in the compound.
"Wait, for real?" He was shocked by this. "Don’t tell me even the lady’s faction doesn’t exist."
"Phew! It seems it indeed exists," Yu Tian thought. But he suspected it was probably also the same, with just one member.
Not exactly one member but filled with spies - it might as well be a single member.
"Are you serious?" He could only sigh.
"Did I come at the wrong time?" Jingxing asked, seeing Xueling’s flustered face.
"You are seriously asking that after you didn’t even knock?" she asked, getting up. "If something happened and you came in..." Before she could complete her sentence, she noticed their gazes.
"Something happened?" Jingxing asked.
Yu Tian also looked at her with a curious gaze.
"Forget it. Did you prepare what I told you to?" she asked.
"Of course," Jingxing said as she handed her a spatial bag. She inspected it and smiled. Although Jingxing was a little strange, her work ethic was top notch and she didn’t disappoint her.
"Alright, let’s go," Xueling said as she walked past Jingxing and grabbed Yu Tian’s hand. "Look after the house while I’m gone," she said, and Jingxing nodded.
As they were about to leave the house, Jingxing stopped them.
"What now?" Xueling asked.
"Mr. Yu Tian, please look after the lady," she said and bowed.
Xueling’s eyes brightened when she heard this. "Jingxing..." Was she worried about her? She had wronged her. She wasn’t a bad girl after all.
"If the lady dies, I won’t have a job anymore," she added, instantly crushing Xueling’s hopes.