To confirm that the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers in his hands was authentic, Lin Huang directly burned the smashed black box, melting even the lock clasp into molten iron.
He let out a long sigh of relief only after the ashes died down and nothing unusual occurred. After carefully hiding the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers, he swaggered out of the room, his face filled with joy as he headed toward Piaomiao Peak.
Unlocking the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers would still require relying on Qin Xuance. He believed that with him and Lin Cangxue residing in Piaoxue Palace, Lin Beichen would have planted at least a few spies within the sect—the inconspicuous kind who could leave the mountain gates at will. And since Lin Cangxue had been in Piaoxue Palace for three years, she ought to know.
It was already late at night when Lin Huang returned to Celestial Waterfall Cliff.
Now that the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers had been found, aside from waiting for the black-robed man’s arrival, his most important task was cultivation. After all, since he had already boasted in front of Yun Feifei earlier that he would participate in the battle for the Chief Disciple position, his Cultivation was of the utmost importance.
With his current Realm, he was obviously not worth mentioning. Furthermore, to participate in the Chief Disciple competition, he needed the identity of an Inner Sect Disciple. He was still struggling in the Outer Sect right now, so he had a long way to go.
Lin Huang’s Godslaying One Slash had already been cultivated to its peak state. Currently, his most critical tasks were the improvement of his Realm and the cultivation of Arrays.
Another point was the application of Martial Soul Divine Techniques. These so-called Divine Techniques were unique abilities specific to a Martial Soul. The Phoenix Martial Soul possessed the Nirvana ability. The Timeless Thousand Years Martial Soul possessed the Time Control ability. The Thousand Miles in a Day Martial Soul possessed the ability to rapidly elevate one’s Realm.
These all belonged to Martial Soul Divine Techniques. Naturally, the Celestial Asura’s Martial Soul Divine Technique was Asura’s Fury. Its four arms could instantaneously multiply combat power by four times. However, with Lin Huang’s current capabilities, he could only boost his combat power by a maximum of two times. Achieving a fourfold increase in an instant still required continuous cultivation.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang’s Great Vajra Technique had been cultivated to the Ultimate Realm, which made his physical strength even more tyrannical. If he could advance Asura’s Fury one step further, his physical body might be able to ignore most attacks from those within the same Realm.
In addition, Asura’s Fury and the Godslaying One Slash possessed an extremely high degree of compatibility. The Godslaying One Slash inherently focused on a one-hit absolute kill, pursuing speed, momentum, and precision. Supplemented by Asura’s Fury, it would inevitably unleash entirely new levels of might.
It was just that, thus far, the maximum power Lin Huang could draw from Asura’s Fury was merely twofold.
To defeat Yun Feifei in the future, Lin Huang had to start cultivating Asura’s Fury, at least reaching the point where he could instantly triple his Asura Power. After all, he could not raise his Realm to par with Yun Feifei’s in such a short period of time.
Beneath the waterfall, Lin Huang sank his consciousness into his Profound Sea, quietly sensing the power of his Martial Soul.
Cultivating Martial Soul Divine Techniques did not rely on any incantations or specific methods. The only thing one could do was sense the Martial Soul’s willpower, understand its intent, and maintain a high degree of harmony with it. Only by achieving a telepathic connection with the Martial Soul could one unleash its ultimate strength.
Therefore, the method to cultivate a Martial Soul Divine Technique was actually very simple... it was to constantly flirt with it!
According to what Fatty Bai had said before, cultivating a Martial Soul was akin to finding a wife. You had to shamelessly flirt and relentlessly tease, give her joy and radiance, be elusive yet follow her like a shadow. You needed to be as tender as the spring breeze and drizzle, but you also couldn’t lack unyielding, iron-boned tyranny. You had to bring her mind and body to ultimate pleasure.
Lin Huang cultivated according to this method for a week, only to discover that the effects were... completely useless! When Fatty Bai appeared again, Lin Huang chased the guy down and beat him relentlessly for half an hour, only stopping after battering the latter’s face beyond recognition.
"Boss Lin, that’s because I didn’t finish my sentence last time!" Fatty Bai plopped his butt down in front of Lin Huang. Looking like a mountain of meat, he let out squeals like a slaughtered pig. "Cultivating a Martial Soul is indeed like finding a wife, but the most important thing is to feed her! You have to give her money, give her money, bury her in money! If you don’t believe me, look..."
Saying this, Fatty Bai grabbed the pampered cat off his belly and tossed it onto the ground with a SMACK. Then, he took out a pale green Elixir. Looking into the resentful eyes of the big white pampered cat, he said, "Come on, roll over for your master, then shake your butt!"
The Big White Cat let out a MEOW and nimbly rolled over. After staining its body pitch-black, it stuck its butt out at Fatty Bai and wiggled it twice. Fatty Bai chuckled smugly, then tossed the green Elixir straight into the Big White Cat’s mouth.
This scene left Lu Han utterly dumbfounded. "Doesn’t this Big White Cat seem pretty aloof and arrogant? How did a single Elixir strip her of all morals to the point she even shook her butt?"
Lin Huang’s face darkened with exasperation as he kicked Fatty Bai to the ground.
"MEOW..."
The Big White Cat let out two low whines and glared fiercely at Lin Huang. It seemed to bear a grudge against him because its master had suffered inhumane treatment.
"What are you looking at?" Fatty Bai rolled into a sitting position and slapped the Big White Cat on the head. He snorted, "That’s my boss, which makes him your granddaddy’s granddaddy. You need to behave, understand?"
"MEOW!"
The Big White Cat let out an aggrieved meow and curled its entire body up on Fatty Bai’s belly.
"See that, Boss Lin? Look how obedient this dog is. If I tell it to go west, it wouldn’t dare go east. If I tell it to bite a dog, it wouldn’t dare chase a chicken. Anything in the Sect that catches my eye, it can track down by scent and fetch for me," Fatty Bai said with a smug expression.
Watching the Big White Cat with great interest, Lin Huang suddenly asked, "Is its nose very sharp?"
Fatty Bai curled his lips disdainfully. "Of course. As long as you give it a little sweet taste, it can give you the world in return. Its nose can track anything within a ten-mile radius!"
Looking at the proud, pampered Big White Cat, a hint of a smile suddenly appeared on Lin Huang’s face. He thought, "Such a good nose cannot be wasted."
Just as Fatty Bai was showing off the Big White Cat like merchandise, a delicate, giggling laughter resembling an oriole’s song suddenly rang out from beyond the waterfall. The sound frightened Fatty Bai so much that his face instantly changed color. He scrambled up from the ground with his rear end in the air, dusted off his clothes, and straightened his robes. Then, gazing at the beautiful green silhouette behind him with a blooming smile, he said, "Miss Qing’er, w-we really are fated, aren’t we? We meet again. In just two days of not seeing you, Miss Qing’er has become even more beautiful. Look, look! Even the fish in this pool forgot how to swim and sank to the bottom upon seeing you."
Lin Huang fell speechless.
Lu Han followed suit.
"Shut up!" Yann Qing’er snapped.
Yann Qing’er puffed her cheeks in anger as she glared at the wall of meat in front of her. She huffed twice and said, "If you keep pestering me, I’ll have my father punish you by making you run ten thousand laps around Piaoxue Peak! It’ll help you lose weight, and save you from blocking my line of sight!"
"Okay, okay," Fatty Bai smiled foolishly, drool practically leaking from the corner of his mouth. "I just so happened to want to exercise. If I can run while carrying Qing’er on my back, it would be even more helpful for my weight loss!"
"Scoundrel!"
Yann Qing’er shot Fatty Bai a vicious glare. She walked several steps around the meat wall before finally seeing Lin Huang behind him. She snorted, saying:
"Hey, surnamed Lin! Didn’t you say you were going to participate in the Chief Disciple competition? Why haven’t you even registered for the Outer Sect Battle? Do you know that only Inner Sect Disciples are qualified to participate in the Chief Disciple battle? If you don’t participate in the Outer Sect Battle, how will you enter the Inner Sect?
"And here I thought you were serious earlier! I didn’t expect you to be a coward. You’re really an embarrassment to Sister Xuee.
"If you’re so timid, why did you even come to Piaoxue Palace? Shameless!"
Beneath the waterfall, Lu Han and Lin Huang froze in place once more. They hadn’t expected Yann Qing’er to fire off a barrage of words the moment she opened her mouth, giving no one a chance to interrupt. In one breath, she had condemned Lin Huang to the depths of moral bankruptcy and shamelessness.
Looking at her indignant expression, Lin Huang scratched his head and said, "Fatty Bai, get her out of here so she can calm down!"
"Yes, sir!"
Fatty Bai instantly burst into uproarious laughter. He scooped Yann Qing’er up into his arms and bolted. "Boss Lin truly knows my heart! An opportunity for such intimate contact presented itself in an instant. The heavens are really helping me!"
"Let go!"
Yann Qing’er shrieked, roaring right into Fatty Bai’s ear. The piercing sound nearly ruptured his eardrums. Startled, Fatty Bai shuddered violently and immediately released her. He stood there awkwardly, not daring to utter a single word.
"Little tigress, I haven’t really provoked you, have I?" Lin Huang smiled bitterly as he looked at Yann Qing’er, who was standing with her hands on her hips, her flushed little face puffed up with slight anger.
It would have been fine if Lin Huang hadn’t spoken, but the moment he did, the fury on Yann Qing’er’s face deepened. "Then tell me why you didn’t register for the Outer Sect Battle! Even though I know your Realm is low and your strength is poor, how will you enter the Inner Sect if you don’t take a gamble? Are you going to spend your whole life catching crickets in the Outer Sect?"
"Hehe... hehe..." Before Lin Huang could reply, Fatty Bai cheekily laughed again. Appearing in Yann Qing’er’s line of sight like a ghost, he said:
"The Outer Sect Battle isn’t the only path to enter the Inner Sect. Qing’er, look at me. With my unmatched talent across the entirety of Piaoxue Palace, didn’t I smoothly enter the Inner Sect?
"Although Lin Huang’s talent is a bit inferior to mine, he makes up for it with diligence. I just need to put in a good word with the Elders, and he can enter the Inner Sect too."
Lin Huang opened his mouth wide, looking somewhat bewildered.
Lu Han, on the other hand, twitched his lips, his face covered in dark lines. "Put in a good word with the Elders? Who the hell do you think you are? Do you really think that just because you weigh four hundred pounds, your thick skin makes you untouchable?"
"Get out of the way!"
Yann Qing’er reached out to shove Fatty Bai aside, only to find that this guy was like a tower of iron; he wouldn’t budge an inch.
Fatty Bai obediently shuffled to the side. His gaze landed squarely on Yann Qing’er, his eyes full of little stars.
Meeting Yann Qing’er’s piercing, murderous gaze, Lin Huang shook his head. "The Outer Sect Battle is not the only path to enter the Inner Sect. I don’t want to waste my energy studying every single opponent."
Just as Lin Huang and Fatty Bai had said, there wasn’t only one method to enter the Inner Sect. Aside from selecting elites to enter the Inner Sect through the Outer Sect Battle, there were also cases like Fatty Bai, whose exceptionally high talent allowed for direct entry.
Looking at Lin Huang’s calm expression, the anger in Yann Qing’er’s heart grew even more intense. Staring at him with a cold snort, she said, "Heh... Could it be that you actually want to challenge the Little Three Prisons or the Battle Eight Directions?"