Chapter Thirty-Six: The Demonic Prodigy

  "Really? Ziyan sister, you've broken through again? You're now at Post-Heaven Ninth Layer?"

  This time, it was not Xu Li who shouted out, but Xu Qingxue. This little girl, who had always only known how to cultivate, looked at Xu Ziyuan with a mixture of shock and admiration, her eyes revealing a hint of loss.

  Xu Qingxue thought bitterly in her heart, thinking back to when she first entered the outer hall, she had competed with Xu Ziyuan before, at that time, both of them were at the sixth layer of post-heavenly cultivation, and she was only slightly inferior to him. She didn't expect that in just a few months, he would break through continuously, from the sixth layer of post-heavenly cultivation directly breaking through to the ninth layer of post-heavenly cultivation.

  Xu Ziyanyan nodded lightly and said: "Uh-huh!"

  "Wow! Sister Ziyan, you're so amazing! Just a few days ago, you broke through to the eighth layer of the Acquired Realm, and I didn't expect that after just a few days, you've broken through again!" Xu Li shook Xu Ziyans hand excitedly. In her heart, there was no sense of loss at all. She had long stopped comparing herself to Xu Ziyans. As she would say it, Xu Ziyans was simply an abnormal person, fundamentally different from ordinary people like herself. If she insisted on comparing herself to Xu Ziyans, that would be self-inflicted suffering.

  There are many people who share the same thoughts as Xu Li. Those outer sect disciples, except for Xu Qingxue, who felt a little lost, all had the same idea as Xu Li. However, the inner sect disciples standing beside them were different, each looking at Xu Ziyuan in shock.

  They also came from humble beginnings, first entering the outer hall and then going through countless hardships to enter the inner hall. Who hasn't experienced the difficulties of cultivation, the setbacks of breaking through bottlenecks? Which one didn't take several years, or even a decade or more, to go from the outer hall to the inner hall?

  Now hearing that Xu Ziyuan had just broken through from the Seventh Layer of the Post-Heaven to the Eighth Layer a few days ago, and then broke through from the Eighth Layer to the Ninth Layer in just a few days, everyone was left with nothing but shock.

  Xu Jin couldn't help but ask urgently: "You guys said that this Ziyan Shimei just broke through a few days ago?"

  "Really!" Before Xu Ziyuan could nod, Xu Li on the side hastily said: "It was just last night when we left Zhongdu that Sister Ziyuan had just made a breakthrough!"

  "Really?" Xǔ Jìn's eyes stared tightly at Xǔ Zǐyān, hoping to get a definite answer from her.

  Xu Ziyuan blamedly stared at Xu Li, saw Xu Li sticking her tongue out at her and making a cute face, then helplessly shook her head, turned around and smiled at Xu Jin:

  "It's true, Shifu X!"

  "Ah!" Xu Jin looked up and down at Xu Ziyuan, thinking to himself: "Perhaps it's because Xu Ziyuan has been cultivating for a few years without making a breakthrough, accumulating energy quietly, and now she's breaking through one after another!"

  With this thought, Xu Jin's mood immediately calmed down a lot, and he smiled at Xu Ziyuan:

  "Congratulations, Ziyan Shimei! The hardships of years of cultivation have finally paid off with consecutive breakthroughs, what a joyous occasion!"

  Before Xu Ziyanyan could finish speaking, Xu Li was about to open the back door, but a loud and clear voice came from beside him:

  "Senior brother is wrong, Ziyan didn't cultivate for many years. She was only at the sixth layer of the acquired stage when she entered the outer sect. We are all new disciples who just entered the outer sect a few months ago."

  "What?"

  Xu Jin and all the outer disciples were collectively stunned, looking at Xu Tie Niu in disbelief, their eyes fully revealing a meaning:

  "Old brother, aren't you overdoing it? Breaking through from the sixth layer of the Nascent Soul to the ninth layer in just a few months? Do you think breaking through is child's play?"

  Xu Tienniu naturally saw the meaning in their eyes. The stupid Xu Tienniou became unhappy and said to the disciples of the inner hall in a low voice:

  "I'm an honest man, I won't tell lies, don't believe me ask them!" He said, stretching out his thick finger pointing at the outer disciples beside him.

  The eyes of the inner disciples turned to those outer sect new disciples, who nodded in unison without hesitation. The hearts of the inner disciples still had doubts and their eyes turned to Xu Ziyuan again. Xu Ziyuan helplessly curled his lips and smiled wryly, saying:

  "Yes!"

  A simple "yes" made the disciples of the Inner Hall open their mouths wide. A few months' time? From breaking through to the sixth layer of the acquired realm to the ninth layer? This... this... is too monstrous!

  "How did you do it?" Xǔ Jìn asked in a dreamy tone.

  "This... I don't know either, just cultivating and cultivating, accidentally breaking through!"

  "...just one careless move..."

  All the inner disciples' hearts skipped a beat, and a mouthful of blood almost spurted out. Their gazes at Xu Ziyuan gradually turned resentful, each thinking to themselves:

  "Sister, don't be so discouraging! If you continue to cultivate at this speed, won't it take long before you surpass us?"

  Xu Ziyuan saw the expressions of the crowd and felt unnatural in her heart. Whoever was stared at by a group of people with that gaze full of resentment would not feel natural.

  Xu Ziyuan thought to herself, if they knew that we are now in the third layer of the Refining Qi period, I wonder if their eyeballs would fall out. However, Xu Ziyuan did not want to get entangled further at this time, and with a flicker of her mind, she pointed to the nearly thousand corpses of demonic beasts on the mountain slope below:

  "Xu Jin, let's go down and clean up those demon beast corpses!"

  "Oh, okay!"

  Xu Jinliu's six spirits responded vaguely, suddenly reacting from their trance-like state. He immediately raised his hand to stop the outer sect disciples who were about to go down and said:

  "No way!" Then he turned to Xu Ziyuan and asked urgently, "Sister Ziyuan, didn't you say that the demon beasts would come at any time, and we shouldn't bother with those demon beast corpses for now?"

  Xu Ziyanyan was taken aback, remembering that she had indeed said those words before. However, times have changed and all the demonic beasts must have gone to Guandao, Changri Valley, and Luofeng Ridge by now. There's no way any would come here. Xu Ziyanyan naturally wouldn't reveal what happened or mention the Beast-Calling Symbol, lest it spread to the City Master's Manor, the Xiao family, and the Wu family - those three families would tear her apart if they found out. So, with a gentle smile, Xu Ziyanyan said:

  "Xu Jin, my senior brother, I had a sudden realization last night when I saw the snowflakes filling the sky, and that's how I made the breakthrough. During my epiphany, I unknowingly walked in the direction of Chang Ri Valley. When I broke through and woke up, I found many demonic beasts rushing towards Chang Ri Valley."

  "On my way back, I didn't encounter any demonic beasts. I suppose they all went to the Long Day Valley. You also saw it, this place is quiet and doesn't seem like there are any demonic beasts around. Besides, last night was for resting and recovering from the fatigue of battle. Now that we've recovered, why don't we go clean up the demonic beast's corpse first? If a demonic beast comes, we'll hear its voice."

  New and old friends, if you feel that this book is still short of words, then just keep it for now. You can go take a look at my previous book "Phoenix Chirps in Song", the link is below.