Xia Liuhui strutted into Xiang Shaoyun's residence, and borrowing Xiang Shaoyun's glory, he basked in all the attention he was getting from the crowd.
This is such an amazing feeling, Xia Liuhui thought to himself, not wanting to ever part from this feeling. When he saw Little White, who was on guard duty in the courtyard, he said, "I know I'm handsome, kitty. Stop staring at me like that."
Little White immediately dashed over and bit his foot.
"AHHH! Stop! Let go! It hurts like hell! Let go, or I won't forget this!" Xia Liuhui yelled miserably as he shook his leg repeatedly, trying to fling Little White away. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake Little White off. He was almost tearing up from the pain.
"Little White, let go," Xiang Shaoyun's voice rang out. At that command, Little White released Xia Liuhui. He meowed once at Xia Liuhui before strutting away proudly to lie down at the corner of the courtyard.
Xia Liuhui had a miserable expression on his face as he complained, "Boss, what was that? It hurts so much!"
"It's your fault for calling him kitty," Xiang Shaoyun said. He then continued, "Tell the people outside to leave. I need some time to stabilize my cultivation."
"Yes boss! On it!" Xia Liuhui answered before running outside.
In the courtyard, Xiang Shaoyun sighed as he muttered, "Looks like fame is not necessarily a good thing. Guess I’ll need to disappear from the public eye for a bit."
Thus, in the coming days, Xiang Shaoyun started cultivating in seclusion. He did not join the Martial Hall Palace so he could fight for power and wealth, nor did he care much for fame. He only wanted a place where he could silently cultivate and quickly grow.
After plundering Wu Fuxiang, Xiang Shaoyun had gained a considerable amount of resources. On top of that, he could also take what he needed from the Martial Hall Palace. Because of that, he no longer needed to worry over resources. With no hesitation whatsoever, he gathered the resources he required to increase his cultivation and expand his astral cosmos sea.
The speed of Xiang Shaoyun's growth had been fast enough. What he needed on top of the speed was a stable growth. The first thing he did during his seclusion was strengthen his battle techniques. He learned a tier-3 primary-grade saber technique called the Berserk Lightning Blade, and he also got the final mantra of the Star Destroying Finger from the Battle Techniques Hall to further improve his Star Destroying Finger.
Xiang Shaoyun did not plan to practice too many battle techniques at once. It was not like he would find it hard to remember all those battle techniques, but he wanted a stable growth right now. In any case, he already had a large number of tier-4 battle techniques in his head that he could start practicing the moment he reached the Transformation Realm.
The Berserk Lightning Blade was a lightning elemental battle technique, and it only had three stances. Each stance was incredibly powerful, and this battle technique was enough for him for now.
As for the Star Destroying Finger, Xiang Shaoyun had been strengthening it. His Star Destroying Finger was much stronger now, as the energy he shot out of his finger could already pierce through stones and tier-2 armors.
Apart from that, after putting some work into the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps, his speed had also increased significantly. Even eighth-stage Astral Realm cultivators would be hard pressed to match him in terms of speed now.
However, the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps was not just a movement technique. Xiang Shaoyun knew full well that this was in fact a battle technique that he could actually use to battle.
Upon full mastery of the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps, a single step could destroy mountains and rivers, awing the heavens with its might. But that level was of course still far from his reach.
Additionally, Xiang Shaoyun had also fully mastered the Golden Wolf Sword Technique and Lightning Spear Technique. He could now unleash 100 percent of the two battle techniques’ strength, greatly increasing his flexibility during combat.
One could say that the one month of cultivation had granted Xiang Shaoyun the number of battle techniques a proper Astral Realm cultivator should have. The seclusion had also helped him fully consolidate his cultivation at the fourth stage.
His previous growth had been too fast. Without properly tempering himself, he would be left with a shaky foundation. Thus, he had been absorbing the purple qi of the first ray of sun and the boundless power of the moon and stars without actually increasing his cultivation. Instead, he suppressed the absorbed energy to temper and stabilize his cultivation base.
One night, Xiang Shaoyun was seated in the courtyard. Like a monk in deep meditation, he sat completely motionless. Occasionally, rays of starlight would shine upon him as a large amount of energy gathered in his body. In this condition, his entire being emanated an extremely mysterious and majestic feeling, and he looked like the son of heavens that had descended upon the mundane world.
Generally, when a person reached the Astral Realm, that person would be able to start absorbing astral energy from the stars to grow in strength. But most people could only absorb a small amount of astral energy. In fact, the amount of astral energy a regular person could absorb was so miniscule it was hardly noticeable. That was completely unlike Xiang Shaoyun's current condition where a dense amount of astral energy was surrounding him.
Elder Zhen Peng, who was guarding Xiang Shaoyun in the dark, was shocked by this scene.
"Is the young master's physique really only five-star? From his current condition, even if he actually has a six-star physique, it wouldn't be a surprise. Or perhaps, his actual physique is..." Elder Zhen Peng cut this line of thought short as it was simply too terrifying.
Many people would fight over getting a disciple with such freakish talent.
Within Xiang Shaoyun's body, a wave of starlight rippled everywhere before finally combining with the astral cosmos sea, forming a dazzling river of stars. Purple qi could be seen floating and drifting about on this river, creating an incredibly mysterious world in his body.
Presently, the astral cosmos sea was already two square meters in size. This was the result of him spending one whole month nurturing his astral cosmos sea with spirit medicines. A size of two square meters was already a decent storing space. Xiang Shaoyun was very pleased with this result.
The night passed quickly and morning arrived. This morning, Xiang Shaoyun started absorbing the purple qi to once again grow his strength. After spending a month suppressing and stabilizing his cultivation, it was now time for further growth.
A large amount of purple qi was being absorbed, and when the purple qi entered his body, his lightning bone absorbed a large portion. In truth, the lightning bone only constituted a tiny part of his spine, the tiny part that was purple in color. To fully turn his entire spine into the color of purple lightning, he would require a much larger amount of energy.
Nevertheless, just from this tiny lightning bone, traces of the natural purple lightning energy could be found. This so-called natural purple lightning energy was a sort of innate lightning energy.
The current Xiang Shaoyun had yet to discover the actual function of the lightning bone, but after reaching the Transformation Realm, he would gain the inner gaze ability. He could then start controlling the lightning bone and gain an even more terrifying power.
Done with meditating, Xiang Shaoyun stood up. With an elated expression, he muttered to himself, "It has been a month. Time to pay the Hall of Limits another visit. Or maybe I should go out on a trip instead. Hiding indoors all the time will only stunt the growth of my combat prowess."
After telling Elder Zhen Peng that he was leaving, Xiang Shaoyun started making his preparation to visit the town with Little White. With Wu Fuxiang's death, the Wu Clan was now shrouded in fear. It was unlikely that they would try anything against him.
"Young master, please allow me to come with you. I don't want to see you in danger ever again," Elder Zhen Peng said.
Xiang Shaoyun hesitated slightly before saying, "Fine, we'll go together. In any case, I only wanted to take a breather outside."
And since Elder Zhen Peng was already going with him, Xiang Shaoyun decided to invite Xia Liuhui along as well. But right after they left, their departure was noticed. Shortly after, a pigeon was sent flying toward a certain direction.