Yang Xiong continued his diligent daily cultivation routine, though he spent increasingly less time in the library since he had already read through most of the useful books during the past few years. His thirst for knowledge had been largely satisfied by the extensive collection available to him.
His daily activities consisted of body refinement, meditation, extreme weight-bearing exercises, researching self-created spirit skills, and basic combat training with wooden dummies and sandbags. These formed the core foundation of Yang Xiong's comprehensive training regimen.
Among these various practices, he devoted the most time to meditation and extreme weight-bearing exercises. He spent virtually every night in deep meditation, carefully cultivating his spirit power, while his mornings were dedicated to fundamental combat training. The wooden dummies and sandbags allowed him to train both punches and kicks effectively, while also improving his reaction speed and enhancing his body's natural ability to withstand powerful blows.
Furthermore, since Yang Xiong had successfully absorbed his second spirit ring, the weight he carried during training had increased once again. He now bore sixty pounds of additional weight every single day and never removed it, even during rest periods. This constant burden had become as natural to him as breathing.
Developing his self-created spirit skills occupied approximately two hours every afternoon, with his primary focus divided between perfecting the Rasengan and developing another promising technique that showed great potential.
As for body refinement, he continued his rigorous training with ice, fire, and poison exposure. However, as his overall strength increased dramatically, the medicinal herbs he used became significantly more potent and intense, resulting in considerably more severe pain during each session. Despite this increased suffering, all of these trials only served to make Yang Xiong's physical form increasingly stronger and more resilient.
Half a year after successfully absorbing his second spirit ring, Yang Xiong's spirit power had increased by another full level, bringing him to an impressive level twenty-four. This steady progression filled him with confidence about his future development.
During one particular afternoon training session, Yang Xiong concentrated a high density of spirit power in his palm and continued steadily injecting additional energy into the forming technique. The spirit power began rotating rapidly within his palm, resembling a miniature typhoon of pure energy.
Yang Xiong focused all of his considerable mental power on controlling this small typhoon swirling in his palm. Under the precise guidance of his mental concentration, the chaotic energy gradually took on a more defined shape, eventually forming a distinctive light blue sphere that pulsed with contained power.
At this crucial moment, Yang Xiong felt overwhelming surprise and excitement coursing through him. He gripped the light blue sphere firmly in his hand and hurled it directly at the ground with tremendous force. The entire earth instantly shattered under the impact, eventually creating a large crater approximately one meter in diameter and several inches deep.
Yang Xiong couldn't contain his jubilation and shouted with pure joy, "I succeeded! I finally succeeded completely! My Rasengan will eventually become one of the most terrifying spirit skills in the entire Spirit Master world!"
After many days of continuous practice and refinement, Yang Xiong had reached the point where he could quickly condense the Rasengan for actual combat situations. Unfortunately, his current spirit power level remained relatively low compared to his ambitious goals. Even if he utilized all of his available spirit power reserves, he could only successfully condense the Rasengan three times in succession. This limitation existed even with the beneficial effects of using distraction control techniques to significantly reduce spirit power consumption.
However, the destructive power of the Rasengan was genuinely impressive, already comparable to a typical Spirit Master's third spirit skill in terms of raw damage output. Moreover, with the inevitable increase of his physical strength and spirit power reserves over time, reaching the devastating power level of a ten-thousand-year spirit skill would probably be merely a matter of dedicated time and continued development.
Over the past several years of intensive research and development, Yang Xiong had successfully created a total of two self-created spirit skills. In addition to the powerful Rasengan, his other self-created technique was based on his first spirit skill, Profound Nether Displacement. He had carefully disassembled and analyzed this ability, gradually developing it into an entirely new self-created spirit skill called "Teleportation" through understanding the principles of Profound Nether Displacement and the manipulation of surrounding air currents.
Compared to the original Profound Nether Displacement, his new Teleportation technique consumed significantly less spirit power and did not require the use of spirit ring energy at all. This meant it could be utilized normally in virtually any combat situation or environment. This represented a practical application of his original martial soul's natural affinity for spatial attributes.
With these two powerful self-created spirit skills - Teleportation for mobility and the Rasengan for devastating attack power - Yang Xiong felt genuinely confident that he could engage in combat against any opponent below the Spirit King level. Even if victory proved impossible against a stronger foe, he could certainly escape to fight another day.
Yang Xiong was now eleven and a half years old, only a few short months away from his twelfth birthday. For his next phase of development, Yang Xiong had planned to venture out and travel alone, partly to engage in independent training away from the sect's protection, and partly to gain valuable combat experience, especially practical experience fighting against wild spirit beasts. After all, true Spirit Masters had to forge their path through blood and battle.
Of course, the most important consideration was that the entire Douluo Continent was about to become significantly more dangerous and chaotic, meaning he needed to improve his strength as rapidly as possible. There were certain crucial opportunities approaching that Yang Xiong absolutely did not want to miss. He had already carefully planned his next several moves in great detail.
However, one critically important question remained unanswered: should he share his self-created spirit skill, the Rasengan, with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul possessed two major fundamental flaws that had plagued the sect for generations. First, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda itself contained only seven distinct layers, which meant its wielders could never break through to the Spirit Douluo realm regardless of their talent or dedication. Second, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda remained fundamentally an auxiliary martial soul without any inherent attack power, making its users ultimately weaker than combat-focused Spirit Masters in direct confrontations.
The Rasengan could potentially address both shortcomings of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to some degree. It might even allow Spirit Masters wielding the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to possess genuine attack power, transforming them into true combat-auxiliary Spirit Masters rather than pure support specialists.
From a personal perspective, the Rasengan had consumed an enormous amount of Yang Xiong's dedicated effort and research over many years. It was a spirit skill truly created entirely by his own genius and determination, so he felt naturally reluctant to simply hand it over to others.
However, Yang Xiong had been living within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect since his birth, and as an inner disciple, he had enjoyed access to numerous valuable sect resources and opportunities. At the very least, the sect had provided him with a stable, nurturing environment for growth and development.
These advantages should not be underestimated or taken for granted. If he had been born into an ordinary Spirit Master family, they would never have been able to obtain his first two exceptional quality spirit rings, let alone support someone who did not engage in productive work and had never gained experience in earning money or surviving independently. The entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had truly become his home in every meaningful sense.
Yang Xiong was particularly concerned about events that would unfold approximately seven years in the future, when the Spirit Hall would launch their devastating Soul Hunting Operation. During that terrible time, not only would the sect face unprecedented danger, but his beloved parents would also be at serious risk, and his entire current way of life would be completely destroyed.
Throughout his years of solitary cultivation, although he had not interacted extensively with others, Yang Xiong could clearly feel the genuine effort and care the sect had invested in his development. When he had requested his second spirit ring, Teacher Lin Gong had shown no hesitation whatsoever except to express concern for his safety, which was obviously the result of direct instructions from the sect leadership.
Yang Xiong even suspected that the sect was providing him with special care and attention, because many aspects of his development had proceeded too smoothly to be mere coincidence. Even the expensive medicinal materials required for his extreme body refinement training in "The Way of Defense" had been directly provided by his parents. Based on their behavior, they did not appear to have purchased these rare herbs themselves, suggesting that a senior figure within the sect was aware of his cultivation needs and had arranged for their provision.
Having lived within the sect for more than ten years, Yang Xiong had developed a genuine sense of belonging to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. He had essentially never encountered any truly upsetting situations, and it could honestly be said that he had never faced any serious trouble or obstacles. Perhaps this was the most remarkable and terrifying aspect of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect - their ability to make virtually all Spirit Masters regard the sect as their true home.
There was another crucial consideration for his future development. Yang Xiong would soon need several additional top-quality spirit rings, especially after obtaining his fifth spirit ring. The spirit beasts required for such powerful rings were creatures that he could not possibly defeat alone, and even his parents lacked the strength to face such opponents. His only realistic option would be to rely on the collective power and resources of the sect.
Yang Xiong had even tested his parents' loyalty through careful conversations. They seemed to completely regard the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect as their permanent home, and were genuinely willing to face any danger for the sect's benefit. They showed no intention whatsoever of leaving, and had even scolded Yang Xiong when he had cautiously suggested the possibility, telling him firmly that he must never harbor any thoughts of abandoning the sect.
In the end, Yang Xiong released a deep sigh of resignation. "Very well, I'll consider this an investment in my parents' future safety. I hope Sect Master Ning Fengzhi will not disappoint my trust in him."
There was actually one additional practical consideration influencing his decision. Yang Xiong would inevitably use the Rasengan during his adventures outside the sect. When that happened, the sect leadership would naturally ask questions about this new technique. Rather than being forced into a defensive position later, it would be far better to take the initiative and provide the information now, when he might be able to negotiate for additional benefits in return.
As his father had wisely explained, within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, you should never fear displaying your talents and abilities, but you should absolutely fear remaining unknown and unnoticed by the leadership.
This was not a simple question of choosing sides or political allegiance. Being born into a major sect in the Douluo World naturally came with various restrictions and obligations, but it also provided numerous significant benefits. To put it bluntly, simply possessing the identity of an inner disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was sufficient to ensure that very few people in Heaven Dou City would dare to provoke him casually. Even a powerful Spirit Sage with high spirit power would think twice before moving against Yang Xiong. This represented the true power and deep-rooted foundation that the sect had built over many generations.
Additionally, there was an important long-term consideration for his future development. Attempting to advance alone was not a sustainable solution indefinitely, and he would eventually need to find a powerful master to guide his continued growth and provide access to even higher levels of cultivation knowledge.
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