Chapter Eighteen: Difficulty in Advancement

  Under the guidance of Yue Changsheng, Li Xiaoping concentrated his mind and spirit.

  Suddenly, a strong will came rolling in, like thunder at the horizon, rumbling loudly.

  Li Xiao's spirit was drawn to this will, and he had a slow feeling of leaving his body. His entire body was just a shell, Li Xiao's spirit used his body as a bridge, connecting with the heavens and the earth.

  "Boom——"

  Like the most primitive cosmic Big Bang, Li Xiao's spiritual power was ignited, and with the spiritual power of heaven and earth, it rubbed out colorful sparks!

  In the midst of heaven and earth, countless mysterious powers wandered about. Li Xiao's spirit transformed into a blazing flame, incinerating all the powers that came into contact with it. As Li Xiao's spirit extended further out, the more external powers he absorbed, and the burning spiritual spark grew even more vigorous.

  However, the consequence of doing so is that his connection with his own body becomes weaker and weaker. Li Xiao even believes that once he leaves his body at a certain distance, his connection with his body will be completely cut off, causing him to become a strand of spiritual power without roots, until his will disappears in the world.

  This discovery also gave Li Xiao a strange idea, whether the spiritual power of someone who had already dissipated their self-consciousness was also hidden in the heaven and earth energy he absorbed.

  Of course, this idea flashed through Li Xiao's mind and was thrown to the back of his brain. After wandering around for a while within a certain range, Li Xiao's spirit returned to his body.

  Li Xiao felt that his spiritual power was a bit empty, but his will seemed to have increased by several points. He opened his eyes and saw that Yue Changsheng was staring at him, so he immediately withdrew his gaze.

  "Your spiritual power is indeed weak, so you must cultivate it well and not slack off."

  Just now with the help of Yue Changsheng's power, Li Xiao's spirit was not able to explore much further, enough to prove that in terms of spiritual willpower, Li Xiao's talent is quite ordinary.

  "Yes, Master."

  Li Xiao replied with reverence.

  "The secret to connecting with the divine has already been passed on to you, from now on it's up to your own long-term cultivation. The path of Tao has no shortcuts, although innate talent has great limitations, effort is the key that can break through everything."

  Yue Changsheng put the Tong Shen Secret back on the bookshelf. Li Xiao savored Yue Changsheng's words, deeply moved.

  "Thank you for your guidance, Master."

  "Alright, I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave. You focus on your cultivation, and as a newcomer, you will undergo an assessment in a year's time. Don't worry about the outcome, just cultivate with an open heart and mind, and everything will unfold naturally."

  Yue Changsheng did not set any goals for Li Xiao, nor did he care about the assessment a year later, an important test to determine new students' qualifications. He just let Li Xiao go with the flow, and this kind of teaching method made even Li Xiao himself feel somewhat bewildered, not to mention in the academy.

  "Yes, I understand."

  As Li Xiao finished his bow, Yue Changsheng's figure disappeared into the Secret Pavilion.

  Li Xiao thought for a moment and decided to go back home first before making any further plans.

  After inquiring about his senior fellow apprentice Wang Ziyuan for a while, Li Xiao bid him farewell and walked towards the residence.

  It's still early now, and all the disciples are in the school. However, Li Xiao got the guidance of Yue Changsheng, and it is not necessary to enter the school to practice, just continue to cultivate yourself.

  After returning to his residence, Li Xiao sat cross-legged on a bamboo bed and began to practice the Tong Shen Jue.

  Following the guidance of Yue Changsheng, Li Xiao slowly drew out his spiritual energy from his body and connected it with heaven and earth. Only then did Li Xiao, who had been practicing alone, discover the difficulties of not having a renowned master to assist him.

  His spiritual power could only slightly probe out of his body and was completely unable to move forward, unlike when he was assisted by Yue Changsheng, where his spirit could move within a certain range.

  "It seems that cultivating the truth is not an easy thing. As Master said, accumulating day by day and month by month is the right way."

  Li Xiao understood the difficulty of cultivation in his heart, but without a doubt, two years later, he had to directly bear the threat from the Wang family. Before that, strength was everything, and without it, there was nothing.

  Straighten up his mentality, Li Xiao slowly tempered his spirit, making it bigger and stronger bit by bit.

  At noon, Li Xiao went out and arrived at the cafeteria according to Wang Ziyuan's directions. There were many students here, so Li Xiao took his food and returned to his dormitory to enjoy it.

  In the afternoon, Li Xiao began to cast a spell on his body, changing his physique over and over again.

  However, that belongs to the power of self-mutilation, which absorbs and transports the curse seal power produced by Li Xiao's cultivation into the Shaochong acupoint in his body.

  For a month, Li Xiao has been staying in seclusion, cultivating his spiritual power in the morning and applying seals to his body in the afternoon. As his spiritual power grew stronger, the number of seals he could apply in one day increased from three to four, five, and eventually reached ten!

  However, Li Xiao found that every time he applied the seal's power, it was completely absorbed by the Shaozhong acupoint. At the same time, the Shaozhong acupoint on his other arm was also absorbing power.

  A person's left and right hands each have a corresponding Shaochong acupoint. Today, Li Xiao infused ten kinds of mantra seals with one breath, unexpectedly causing the Shaochong acupoints on both hands to be completely opened up. A faint vibration remained at the Shaochong acupoint, leaving Li Xiao somewhat astonished.

  After feeling the power in his body, Li Xiao found that it hadn't increased by even a bit, which made him feel extremely depressed.

  On the second day, when Li Xiao once again added the seal of the mantra, this time the power of the mantra began to disperse and slowly surged into the Shao Fu hole above the Shao Chong hole. The left and right arms corresponded to each other, dividing the power of the mantra into two strands, which fell separately into the Shao Fu holes in the left and right arms.

  After cultivating for a month, Li Xiao's spiritual power had grown significantly, but his physique hadn't even reached the first level of Connecting Spirit.

  Seeing his three neighbors, Nai Liang, all stably entering the first realm of Tongling, Li Xiao couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

  Later, Yue Changsheng personally visited Li Xiao's place and saw that he hadn't even entered the first realm of Tongling. After observing him carefully, he only asked one question:

  "These days, have you felt like there's something wrong with your body?"

  After Li Xiao shook his head, Yue Changsheng didn't say another word. He only reminded Li Xiao of some matters concerning the Tong Shen Jue before leaving again.

  After March, Li Xiao's Shaofu Hole was thoroughly opened, and a weak fluctuation remained in it. Li Xiao's strength still had no progress, and even the first level of Tongling had not been broken through.

  Yue Changsheng also came once in March and asked the same questions as before.

  After Li Xiao shook his head, Yue Changsheng didn't say much more, only reminding Li Xiao to relax and then leaving again.

  In mid-April, Li Xiao's Shendong acupoint was opened, but his power remained unchanged. It wasn't until June that the Yinxia acupoint behind the Shendong acupoint was opened by the power of the cursed seal. At this point, Li Xiao could already cast 15 cursed seals at once, and his spiritual power had grown exponentially. However, his realm still hadn't broken through to Tongling First Order. Even Nie Lian and the others in the neighboring courtyard no longer looked highly on Li Xiao. At this rate, it would be a surprise if he reached Tongling First Order by the end of the year. Among all the new students, his level was completely at the bottom.

  These past few months, Yue Changsheng hadn't come over again, as if he had already understood Li Xiao's situation.

  In mid-July, Tongli Hole was opened. In September, Lingdao Hole was opened. In mid-October, Shaohai Hole was opened, and until the last few days of the annual assessment, Li Xiao successfully opened Qingling Hole.

  Until now, the entire Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian had been unblocked, with only the extreme spring point at the axillary artery pulsation site not being opened. And Li Xiao's strength still hadn't broken through to Tongling First Layer, causing the three neighbors to be greatly shocked.

  They had already broken through to the second stage of Tongling several months ago, and Nanmen Ao had even reached the third stage of Tongling a month ago, and is truly a genius in Guo Xueyuan!

  Li Xiao's spiritual power has already been able to summon twenty curse seals to reinforce his body. In fact, each curse seal requires a tiered increase in spiritual power; otherwise, relying on Li Xiao's spiritual power, which had increased by who-knows-how-many times, just using the Bull Demon Technique wouldn't be difficult even for hundreds of seals.

  On this day, Yue Changsheng, who had not appeared for nearly half a year, re-entered Li Xiao's house. Yue Changsheng's eyes were like electricity, and in his pupils, seven-colored divine light was shining brightly, as if he could see through Li Xiao's entire body.

  "Master, I'm so stupid, it's been a year already, and yet I still haven't even broken through the first level of Tongling."

  Even with Li Xiao's proud and arrogant heart, at this moment he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

  In a year's time, he not only failed to reach the second-order spiritual awakening that an ordinary person could achieve through cultivation, but also didn't even step into the first-order spiritual awakening, which is the entry point. In the eyes of ordinary people, it can be said that he completely lacks the qualifications for cultivation and is simply a waste of resources.

  "I've said it before, don't mind the assessment results. You must relax your mindset, your qualifications are not bad, believe me."

  Yue Changsheng withdrew his gaze and nodded at Li Xiao.

  If it weren't for Yue Changsheng's repeated encouragement, Li Xiao might have given up by now.

  "Don't bother coming for the assessment, I'll talk to your college tutors, just focus on your studies."

  Yue Changsheng's words made Li Xiao pause for a moment, and then he shook his head.

  "Master, although I haven't reached the first level of spiritual enlightenment, facing the assessment, I cannot give up. Even if the result is not satisfactory, but if I don't participate, it will have an impact on my willpower, so please help me, Master."

  Li Xiao's expression was solemn and respectful, and he bowed deeply to Yue Changsheng.

  Yue Changsheng nodded slightly as he stared intently at Li Xiao:

  "Alright, I understand."

  Looking at this only disciple, it is so similar to the year when I first entered the national academy, whether it is that determined gaze or that unyielding will, as if returning to my own youthful years.

  "These days, take a good rest. The year-end assessment is not only an evaluation of your cultivation, but also the college's martial arts arena will be open to test the students' actual combat skills. You don't have to be too arrogant, as long as you are fearless for yourself and fearless for the heart of cultivation."