Time flew by, and a year passed quickly. The time Flander mentioned for the Shrek gathering was drawing near.
During this year, Yang Xiong primarily focused on diligent cultivation, not paying too much attention to matters concerning either the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect or the Body Sect.
Anyway, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's protection plan had already been clearly explained to Ning Fengzhi; the rest was up to him to implement.
Bone Douluo personally made a trip to the Clear Sky Sect on behalf of Ning Fengzhi, mainly to discuss the Clear Sky Sect's return to the world and cooperation between the two sides.
However, within the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Xiao and the five Grand Elders did not have unified opinions. The five Grand Elders were more inclined towards the Clear Sky Sect re-emerging, but Tang Xiao was steady and cautious in his actions, not advocating for the Clear Sky Sect to come out at this stage.
Clearly, Tang Xiao had communicated with Tang Yuehua and was very aware that Spirit Hall was currently very powerful. If they rashly emerged, they would likely immediately become targets of Spirit Hall.
Furthermore, it was unknown if Tang Yuehua had contact with Tang Hao, but Tang Yuehua was aware of Tang San's situation.
Tang San's performance in the last Soul Master Competition was quite remarkable. With twin martial souls, innate full soul power, and an external soul bone, he had already reached the Soul Ancestor realm at the young age of 14, showcasing his talent.
In terms of both opportunity and talent, he was a rare genius in the Clear Sky Sect in recent years. If the Clear Sky Sect rashly emerged, Spirit Hall would definitely tear up the agreement from back then, and Tang San would not be given any chance to grow.
Therefore, after final confirmation, the Clear Sky Sect decided not to emerge for the time being.
However, they were also prepared to emerge at any time, as Tang San would need protection after wandering outside for a long time.
After Bone Douluo returned to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he described in detail what he had seen and heard in the Clear Sky Sect. Although the Clear Sky Sect did not display the strength of the five Grand Elders, with Bone Douluo's strength and unfathomable nature, he could clearly sense that the Clear Sky Sect had more than one Titled Douluo aura.
Especially when Bone Douluo faced Tang Xiao, although Tang Xiao was exceptionally steady, his aura was also like a mountain, mysterious and unfathomable.
One must know that Bone Douluo was now at the peak of level 96, and Tang Xiao's soul power was clearly a notch stronger. With Bone Douluo's vision and experience, he clearly knew that Tang Xiao had reached level 97, and especially with the power of the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul, he was probably on par with Sword Douluo.
After hearing Bone Douluo's description, Ning Fengzhi became much more serious and decided that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would further contract its influence, urging all disciples within the sect to cultivate diligently.
Evidently, Bone Douluo's probing this time made Ning Fengzhi feel pressure. If the Clear Sky Sect continued to develop like this, perhaps when they emerged, it would be the beginning of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's decline.
Ning Fengzhi was also very clear that in terms of rallying power, the Clear Sky Sect was far stronger than the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Especially during the Clear Sky Sect's peak, the inner and outer disciples were much more prosperous than the current Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. It could be said that the Clear Sky Sect inherently possessed unparalleled rallying power, and the Clear Sky Hammer was an insurmountable peak in everyone's hearts.
Originally, Yang Xiong also wanted to visit the Clear Sky Sect to see Tang Xiao and the so-called Clear Sky Hammer martial soul, but he was denied by Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo. This trip was mainly to probe the Clear Sky Sect's background; going rashly could easily alert them and even lead to inexplicable suspicion between the two sides.
As for the Body Sect, everything developed as usual. The sect itself was thriving, with diligent cultivation. The Body Academy had also expanded to some extent over the years, successively recruiting several students with Body martial souls from outside.
The overall strength of the Body Sect also increased to a certain extent. Lin Gong and Dragon Duke were still at level 91. After entering the Titled Douluo realm, their progress slowed down significantly, especially since both had thousand-year fifth soul rings, which affected their foundation.
However, Niu Gao broke through to the Titled Douluo realm some time ago, becoming the third Titled Douluo of the Body Sect and the only Titled Douluo among the single-attribute families.
This time, Sword Bone Douluo did not take action. Instead, Lin Gong led all the elders of the Body Sect to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for soul rings.
After some searching, Niu Gao obtained a soul ring of around eighty thousand years, reaching level 91 soul power.
Perhaps stimulated by Niu Gao, Bai He and Yang Wudi also cultivated more diligently. Yang Wudi reached level 88, and Bai He reached level 87.
In fact, purely in terms of combat power, Yang Wudi was the strongest in the entire Body Sect, even slightly stronger than Lin Gong and Dragon Duke.
However, Lin Gong was a rare control-type Titled Douluo, while Dragon Duke could form a martial soul fusion skill with Serpent Granny Chao Tianxiang. The three each had their strengths, and their combined strength would be even more exaggerated.
While the Body Sect's strength could be said to have significantly increased, and even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had improved to some extent, Yang Xiong was relatively struggling.
No matter how hard Yang Xiong cultivated, he seemed to be stuck at level 69, with no progress recently.
After obtaining the sixth soul ring and undergoing Ice Fire Body Tempering, his three soul bones were broken and then rebuilt. Yang Xiong broke through to level 67 with the help of the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well.
However, in the following year, Yang Xiong's cultivation speed became slower and slower. He only managed to increase by two levels in a whole year, and especially after reaching level 69, the increase in his soul power was like a turtle's pace; he couldn't feel any progress at all.
Yang Xiong had also considered taking immortal herbs again, but unfortunately, none of those immortal herbs were specifically for his Body Martial Soul.
Especially since it had only been a little over a year since he took the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Yang Xiong could clearly feel that the medicinal power within his body had not completely disappeared, and his meridians and bones were still getting stronger.
If it weren't for Yang Xiong's special martial soul, especially after undergoing the tempering of the Blood River in Slaughter City, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum might have conflicted with the medicinal power of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot he initially took, which would have been a bit of a loss.
Therefore, Yang Xiong didn't dare to take immortal herbs casually anymore, otherwise, his body might experience side effects.
But even though Yang Xiong racked his brains, his cultivation speed became even slower after reaching level 69, as if he had entered some kind of bottleneck.
Originally, Yang Xiong wanted to break through through combat and pressure, but unfortunately, with Yang Xiong's current strength, he could even barely fight against a Titled Douluo.
Moreover, whether it was his two teachers or Yang Wudi and the others, their fights couldn't fully achieve that kind of life-and-death struggle, but rather felt like mutual sparring.
Seeing no progress, Yang Xiong finally left his room.
However, as soon as he walked out of the door, his eyes suddenly lit up. There were quite a few more people at home; it was his elder brother Yang Wei and the others who had returned.
Yang Xiong was extremely excited and directly hugged his elder brother Yang Wei.
After five years of not seeing each other, his elder brother Yang Wei looked much stronger, and the youthful aura he used to have had completely disappeared, making him appear sharper instead.
"Big Brother, Oscar, when did you guys come back?"
Yang Wei laughed heartily, "We just came back last night. We saw you were in seclusion cultivating, so we didn't disturb you."
"Little Xiong, you've changed a lot in the past few years. You're much taller than me, and your strength is even more unfathomable."
Yang Xiong quickly said, "Big Brother, you've also grown a lot in the past few years. It seems that training outside is quite good."
Yang Xiong didn't dwell on it, and the three of them started drinking in broad daylight.
Yang Xiong glanced around, "Oscar, why didn't I see Qin Shuang? Didn't she go out to train with you guys?"
Oscar smiled, "Qin Shuang is a sect disciple. She went to visit Sect Leader Ning early this morning and hasn't returned yet."
The three of them raised their glasses and drained the wine in them. After years of reunion as brothers, they seemed to have endless things to say.
His elder brother Yang Wei seemed to have endless things to talk about, "Little Xiong, I've seen a lot of things outside these past few years. I've basically traveled all over the Douluo Continent."
"To the far north, we went to the Far North. It was really cold there; I almost froze to death. To the southernmost point, we went to the Star Luo Empire. Their culture and various living habits are completely different from ours. I've seen the vastness of this world and realized that my perspective was still limited when I was in the sect before."
Taking advantage of their excitement, the three of them recounted their experiences over the years.
Yang Wei, Oscar, and the other person had gone through many hardships in the past few years, fighting against different people, fighting against soul beasts, and even encountering various dangers. They also met all sorts of people, martial souls, and even soul beasts throughout the continent. The three of them even went to a mercenary group and stayed there for a while.
In short, they trained all over the continent, experiencing various lives and dangers, and even had many close calls.
Of course, the three of them had also improved greatly over the years. When they first left the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, all three of them were level 41, which was when they had just obtained their fourth soul ring.
But after a full 5 years, Oscar had astonishingly reached an astonishing level 62. This soul power increase speed was extremely exaggerated, and he might be the one with the highest soul power level among the original Shrek Seven Monsters.
Oscar's talent was indeed outstanding, especially after taking the immortal herb, his improvement speed was very fast. He truly deserved to be called a genius with innate full soul power.
In comparison, his elder brother Yang Wei and Qin Shuang were much worse. Both of them were currently level 59 in soul power, and it seemed they would soon reach the Soul Emperor realm.
These two had not experienced the kind of training at Shrek Academy when it was in Soto City, especially his elder brother Yang Wei, who had not undergone any overly strict high-intensity physical training from beginning to end. Even after taking the top-grade immortal herb, his talent was ultimately limited.
However, when the two of them heard that Yang Xiong had already reached level 69, they were all extremely surprised. How did it feel like the gap between everyone was getting bigger and bigger?
While the three of them were drinking, Ning Rongrong and Qin Shuang arrived at Yang Xiong's house hand in hand and poured themselves drinks without any formality.
Especially Ning Rongrong, who was exceptionally surprised to see Oscar: "Great Sausage Uncle, long time no see. I knew that since Shuangshuang is back, there's no way you wouldn't be back."
Oscar was speechless upon hearing this, looking a bit awkward, while Qin Shuang covered her mouth and snickered.
In the past, Qin Shuang also liked to call Oscar Great Sausage Uncle along with Ning Rongrong. After going out for the past few years, who knew about their interactions? Now she directly calls him Little Oscar. It's clear their relationship is very close.
After everyone had their fill of drinks, Yang Xiong smiled and said, "Oscar, you guys trained very well on this trip. It seems you've improved a lot in both combat and other aspects. I'm relieved now."
Oscar quickly replied, "Brother Xiong, this is all thanks to the plan you gave me back then. I gained a lot from this trip to the Far North."
Yang Xiong said, "Could it be that you found the Mirror Shadow Beast I mentioned?"
Oscar nodded, "Of course. Not only did I get my Sixth Soul Ring, but I also got something good. Now, just as you said, I truly have combat power and am no longer a food-type Soul Master with no fighting ability."
Ning Rongrong, however, snorted, "Great Sausage Uncle, didn't you just reach level 62 Soul Emperor? I'm already a level 63 Soul Emperor, one level higher in soul power than you."
Everyone's mouths twitched upon hearing this. Ning Rongrong's soul power increase was probably faster than even those Battle Soul Masters.
One must know that Ning Rongrong was only 19 years old, a full three years younger than Oscar. A 19-year-old Soul Emperor was extremely rare in history, let alone an auxiliary-type Soul Emperor.
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