manynovel 54. Two years
54. Two years
Time flies like an arrow; it seems like only yesterday that Shrek Academy and the Guo family, the Mountain Gods, came. Two springs and autumns have passed since then.
After seeing Yan Shaozhe and his companion off that day, Ling Yongsheng spent some time entertaining the Guo brothers before sending them away.
Afterwards, the old man and Mr. and Mrs. Ling An pressed Ling Bingtian for several days about whether he had any special feelings for Ma Xiaotao, to which Ling Bingtian helplessly retorted with the excuse of his age.
Later, life seemed to return to normal, and Ling Bingtian continued her intense studies without missing a single day.
However, unlike the previous direct descendants of the Ling family, Ling Bingtian spends two hours every afternoon cultivating things that they could not cultivate before.
Martial arts!
Under the scorching sun, in an open space specially opened up by the Ling family for Ling Bingtian, four figures were squatting in a horse stance, their clothes soaked with sweat.
Upon closer inspection, one can see that the figure standing in front is none other than Ling Bingtian, the eldest son of the Ling family.
Compared to two years ago, Ling Bingtian has not only grown taller, but his aura has also become more rounded and restrained.
The biggest change was in Ling Bingtian's skin, which transformed from its original fair complexion to a bronze color that symbolized health and strength.
The slightly protruding muscles are proof of Ling Bingtian's hard work and sweat over the past two years.
His medium-length black hair fell evenly over his head, and beads of sweat trickled down Ling Bingtian's cheeks, but they couldn't make him open his eyes.
"Ouch, I'm not practicing anymore, it's too tiring." A groan came from a figure next to Ling Bingtian.
Upon closer inspection, one will notice that the most striking feature of this man is his large nose. In addition, his waist appears exceptionally muscular.
It was Wang Dayu, who had interacted with Ling Bingtian at the school two years ago.
At this moment, he groaned and gave up continuing to squat in a horse stance, glancing sideways at Ling Bingtian squatting in front of him, his lower limbs trembling involuntarily.
But looking into Wang Dayu's bright, darting eyes, one could tell that he was holding back some energy.
"Useless trash, you dare to be loyal to the young master?" At this moment, a faint voice came from the other side of Ling Bingtian.
"Damn it, Yuan Chao, don't be so arrogant. If you've got the guts, wait until we've rested and then have a one-on-one fight with me!" Wang Dayu shouted angrily in the direction the voice came from.
"Tch, just you wait." A calm voice still came from the other side, accepting the challenge.
"Alright, you'd be better off practicing more." Ling Bingtian's voice came at the right time, ending the conversation between the two.
"Big Fish, if you don't want to experience that hellish extreme training again, I advise you to train properly in your spare time."
"Yuan Chao, try to stay calm in normal times, so you won't get carried away in battle."
Wang Dayu's expression changed slightly, vaguely revealing a hint of fear of the devilish extreme training that Ling Bingtian had mentioned.
But after two years of getting along, he and that faint voice replied to Ling Bingtian in unison: "Yes."
Ling Bingtian steadied himself, but his mind was filled with thoughts of the events that had occurred in the past two years.
Wang Dayu needs no introduction; Yuan Chao is the skinny little boy we met at school.
He was the child of a lowly servant in the clan, and given his talent and status, he would not have had the opportunity to attend school.
However, two years ago, his father died unexpectedly during a Ling family event, which gave him the opportunity to enter the school.
However, the martial soul awakened by Yuan Chao is one of the weakest soul beasts, the Wind Baboon.
What's most absurd is that his martial soul may have undergone a malignant mutation, leaving him with only a pitiful half-level of innate soul power, just like a certain master from ten thousand years ago.
This resulted in Yuan Chao being bullied because of his half-level innate soul power, even though he had the opportunity to study at the Ling family academy.
For the sake of his still-living mother, Yuan Chao endured all kinds of bullying until that day when a ray of light shone into his dark life.
"What are you doing!" A furious shout chased away the crowd that had been mocking him, then the voice approached him and extended a hand.
"You seem to be a student at the academy too. They're being really unreasonable. If anyone bullies you again, you can come to me."
Despite their vastly different social statuses, Ling Bingtian's gentle and egalitarian attitude won Yuan Chao's loyalty almost instantly.
Not to mention that Ling Bingtian later dragged him to practice what was said to be a divinely transmitted technique. From the very first time he learned martial arts, Yuan Chao swore in his heart that he would be loyal to the young master to the death, believe in the God of Martial Arts, and carry out every task assigned to him by the young master.
Therefore, Yuan Chao always pushes himself to the limit during training sessions, unlike Wang Dayu, who occasionally has the urge to slack off.
About half an hour later, Ling Bingtian glanced at his watch and, knowing it was almost time, said, "That's about enough. Let's call it a day."
After speaking, Ling Bingtian stood up first and began to stretch his body. The other two figures beside him, drenched in sweat, also finished their exercises and began to stretch.
Wang Dayu, who had been slacking off, looked rather awkward at this moment, since he had already finished stretching and could only watch helplessly.
"Fan Xiang, how's your Qingfeng Skill training going?"
While stretching, Ling Bingtian turned around and asked the most silent person among the four.
Fan Xiang was the same gatekeeper who stood guard at the North Gate and received Ling Yongsheng and Ling Bingtian.
After observing his martial arts talent, Ling Bingtian had Ling An transfer him from the Extreme Ice Army to his side to cultivate martial arts together.
Strangely enough, in the month following his treatment of Ma Xiaotao, Ling Bingtian had Ling An take him all over the entire Ice City, but they never found another person with martial arts talent that could reach the purple level.
Unfortunately, Ling Bingtian was unwilling to share the already scarce new energy with those who lacked talent, as that would be a pure waste.
Therefore, in the end, only Wang Dayu, Yuan Chao, and Fan Xiang continued their cultivation with him.
As for Ling An, it would be too embarrassing to ask him to cultivate with his son.
In addition, he usually has a lot of work to do, so he generally doesn't cultivate with Ling Bingtian and the others.
"Young Master, I have already cultivated to the third level." Fan Xiang came from a military family, so his body was extremely upright, his features were three-dimensional, and he gave people a capable temperament. His answer to Ling Bingtian was also concise and to the point.
The third level? This question made Wang Dayu's heart skip a beat. When Ling Bingtian asked last week, Brother Fan was clearly still at the peak of the second level.
I've actually broken through to the third level. It seems like I'm probably going to be in trouble.
As expected, Ling Bingtian looked at Wang Dayu with the same gaze one would give a dead fish, and said casually, "You know what I mean."
"Yes." Wang Dayu wiped the sweat from his brow and ran outside helplessly, deciding to practice more.
"Hehe." Yuan Chao, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but sneer when he saw Wang Dayu get the short end of the stick.
In terms of talent, he was the strongest among the three. Ling Bingtian taught him the Heavenly Fire Technique, and with the spirit of practicing to the point of death as long as he didn't die, Yuan Chao had already cultivated it to the late stage of the third level.
The path of martial arts is completely different from that of a soul master; at the bottleneck, it does not require soul beasts to provide soul rings.
When martial arts cultivation reaches a bottleneck, one only needs to rely on one's own comprehension and the energy absorbed to have a chance to break through.
The path of martial arts is divided into nine ranks, with each level of technique being the first rank.
The nine ranks train the skin, tendons, bones, flesh, blood, genitals, limbs, torso, and brain, respectively.
Ling Bingtian could tell how many levels of cultivation techniques were stored inside the Divine Pearl just by looking at the catalog.
The individuals Ling Bingtian selected for the group were all capable of cultivating all the way to the first rank.
With their formidable talent, aside from Wang Dayu who occasionally slacked off and Ling An who was usually busy with other matters, Ling Bingtian and the other two had already cultivated to the third level, which is the Bone Refining Realm.
Watching Wang Dayu run off into the distance, Ling Bingtian sighed. That kid was too lazy.
"Okay, Xiang-ge, I got it. Let's go wash up. The three of us are going to the training camp tomorrow. Don't hold back then." Ling Bingtian said to Fan Xiang.
Two years of intensive study have come to an end. From astronomy and geography to aristocratic etiquette, from martial spirits themselves to all the beasts in the world, Ling Bingtian has gained a deeper understanding.
At this stage, Ling Bingtian will also enter the training camp for a three-year military career.
At the same time, Fan Xiang, who was already a soldier in the Arctic, was also returning to his unit.
Whether by coincidence or by arrangement by the Ling family's higher-ups, Fan Xiang was also one of the instructors for Ling Bingtian and his group at this training camp.
"Yes, young master, I understand." Fan Xiang replied calmly, indicating that he already knew.
"It's alright. With Young Master's cultivation level of 28 Great Soul Master, those things in the training camp are a piece of cake," Yuan Chao said cheerfully after stretching out.
That's right. After two years of training, Ling Bingtian has advanced from a level 19 Soul Master to a level 28 Soul Master.
Just two days after helping Ma Xiaotao complete her treatment, Ling Bingtian broke through the level 20 bottleneck.
Under Ling Yongsheng's guidance, he once again went to the far north to hunt down a powerful thousand-year-old bird-like soul beast, thus achieving the position of a Great Soul Master with two purple rings.
"I advise you not to underestimate the training camp." Compared to Yuan Chao's optimistic attitude, Ling Bingtian, who had some understanding of the situation, was not so ignorant.
"The training camp isn't just about teaching you dry, boring training. There are many things that are more important than advanced cultivation..." With that, Ling Bingtian walked towards the washroom.
That's all I have to say. As for how Yuan Chao will ultimately decide, that's not something Ling Bingtian can decide.
"No way, Brother Xiang, is there anything more important than cultivation?" Yuan Chao was puzzled. In his mind, cultivation was the most important thing on the continent.
This always made him complain about his damned half-level innate soul power.
Fan Xiang glanced at Yuan Chao, giving him a look that let him figure it out himself, and then followed Ling Bingtian away.
Everything in the training camp is kept absolutely secret from these children, as it involves military orders. As a professional soldier, Fan Xiang would naturally not make such a basic mistake.
Yuan Chao was left alone, pondering what could be more important than cultivation.
It wasn't until Ling Bingtian and Fan Xiang were about to disappear from sight that Yuan Chao realized what was happening, shouted "Wait for me!" and chased after them.
Whatever it is, we'll deal with it as it comes!