Chapter Twenty-One Shock

  The warm sunshine shines brightly, and the training ground is filled with a cacophony of voices.

  Nie Kong gazed around, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of those Spiritual Masters sweating profusely and cultivating diligently. The clear blue Water Spiritual Energy, the fiery red Fire Spiritual Energy, the pale yellow Earth Spiritual Energy, the deep green Wind Spiritual Energy, and the dark purple Lightning Spiritual Energy - Spiritual Masters cultivating these five types of Spiritual Energies could be seen everywhere.

  All the way, the rumbling sound was endless, and the aurora was shining brightly. Nie Kong's eyes were dazzled by the spectacular scene before him. For the past few days, Nie Kong had been cultivating in seclusion, and this was his first time witnessing such a grand cultivation scene with his own eyes. He couldn't help but stop and watch from time to time, and those diverse and exquisite spiritual techniques made his heart itch.

  Unfortunately, since ancient times, the number of wood-elemental spirit masters on the entire Tianling Continent can be counted on two palms, and those who surpass the Spirit Masters are almost non-existent. In the Nie family, it is even more so.

  The Nie family has been living in the city of Jie for three hundred years. Nie Kong is the only wood-type spiritual master to have appeared, and his older brother Nie Feng is also a wood-type, but he has never cultivated before.

  As he watched, Nie Kong became somewhat worried. The only spiritual technique he currently possessed was "Petal Explosion", but this combat skill that Xiangxiang had comprehended during her ascension must be used in conjunction with hers. If Xiangxiang were to suddenly fall asleep or something unexpected happened, he would be unable to use his spiritual technique, wouldn't that be dangerous when facing an enemy?

  After a long while, Nie Kong finally calmed down and arrived at the northwest corner of the training grounds.

  This is a sparse small forest, with many round woods the size of a face basin inserted in the gaps between the trees. This wood is called "red birch", which is both hard and tough, can withstand thousands of full-strength attacks from fusion masters without cracking. The most wonderful thing is that this red birch wood has been specially treated by Nie's spiritual pattern master, and the spiritual patterns carved on the surface of the wood can faithfully reflect the intensity of each attack it has withstood.

  Like the spiritual pharmacist, the spiritual pattern master is also derived from the spiritual master. The so-called spiritual pattern, Nie Kong currently doesn't understand very well, only knowing that it's a kind of extremely mysterious pattern, the spiritual patterns carved out by the spiritual pattern master can communicate with the spiritual power of heaven and earth, having an extremely wondrous effect.

  The weapons used by the Ling Shi, after being engraved with spiritual patterns by the Ling Wen Shi, can increase their power several times. However, the Ling Wen Shi is extremely rare, and there is only one second elder in the entire Nie family. The weapons used by important figures in the Nie family are basically all made by the second elder himself. Occasionally, the second elder will also take some engraved spiritual pattern weapons to reward clan members who have made outstanding contributions to the family, and those clan members are honored by this.

  Of course, these are still a bit far away for Nie Kong. What he needs to do now is quickly raise his cultivation level so that he can gain enough attention from the Nie family. In the Nie family, the higher one's cultivation level, the more resources they can get, such as those spiritual medicines in the Spiritual Medicine Hall. Once reaching the Spiritual Soul Realm, one can enter the second floor of the Spiritual Medicine Hall and also enter the Ice Flame Cave behind the mountain to cultivate. With these conditions, the speed of cultivation can be accelerated again.

  ……

  A moment later, a red birch tree appeared in front of him.

  "Fireworks!"

  Two words flashed through his mind, Nie Kong's right palm slapped out, and the moment his palm was about to touch the Honglian tree, a small green flower emerged and burst open with a loud bang.

  With a loud crash, the surface of the red sandalwood suddenly lit up with those mysterious patterns, and a faint green glow burst out. The weaker the light, the lower the intensity of the attack that the red sandalwood can withstand.

  Nie Kong didn't disappoint this time. The "Blossoming Boom" was much stronger than yesterday's, mainly due to his cultivation having reached the sixth grade of Gathering Spirit.

  After a moment of contemplation, Nie Kong's right palm struck out once again.

  The process of bursting into bloom is relatively complex. First, Nie Kong must run the Five Stars Go technique to make his spiritual senses vibrate. Then, his spiritual power enters the small tender shoots through the three roots attached to the orifices, converges at one point, and bursts out of the Jade Pond orifice like a wave pattern, extending along the meridians to the right palm. During this process, Nie Kong must concentrate his spiritual power as much as possible. When the spiritual power bursts out of his palm in the shape of a flower, Nie Kong suddenly releases it, and the flower explodes immediately.

  This explosion is from the center of the flower bud to the surrounding petals, and the more spiritual power is condensed before the explosion, the stronger the explosive force will be. At present, Nie Kong's twelve meridians have not been unblocked, and the transmission of spiritual power is quite troublesome, which requires Nie Kong to have better control ability.

  The whole process sounds complicated, but when it's actually carried out, it's just a matter of a single thought.

  "Bang bang bang bang......"

  Nie Kong's right palm slapped out one after another.

  The red maple seemed to have become a light bulb of Nie Kong's past life, and Nie Kong's palm was the switch of that light bulb. With a buzzing sound, the red maple began to flash in an extremely regular manner. The faint green halo among those red maples that were emitting blue, red, yellow, cyan, and purple glows all around appeared exceptionally eye-catching.

  "Look, the red sandalwood is emitting green light, that guy is cultivating wood spirit power."

  A fifteen or sixteen year old boy looked as if he had discovered a rare treasure, and with a mixture of curiosity and astonishment, he nudged his companion beside him.

  "Huh, it's really Mu Ling's power." His companion stopped his cultivation and opened his eyes wide in surprise.

  "Isn't it said that only one of the Nie family is wood-attributed? I heard that person has been ill since childhood, and even the Ninth Elder couldn't do anything about it. His older brother died from illness."

  "I know the person you're talking about, I think his name is Nie...Nie Konglai or something. After being detected to have a wooden attribute body, he still didn't give up on cultivating and until now, he's still only at Gathering Spirit First Rank, it's really pitiful."

  "So that's Nie Kong, I knew it. Tsk tsk, his sister-in-law is really beautiful, so delicate and lovely. Every time I see her, I get a little excited. You guys say, how did that useless Nie Qiong manage to marry such a beautiful wife? It's such a waste, honestly."

  “……”

  Unbeknownst to him, nearly ten people had appeared about ten meters behind Nie Kong. However, no one went up to disturb him. It was forbidden to disturb the tribe's cultivation, a rule that the Nie family's spiritual masters had drummed into them since their days at the Spiritual Temple.

  Listening to others' gossip, a well-informed young man smiled complacently: "Heh heh, you guys are too out of touch, this news is outdated. I heard that Nie Kong's cultivation has already broken through to Gathering Spirit First Grade. This month, he even entered the Spiritual Medicine Hall twice. The first time was two days ago, and at that time his cultivation was only Gathering Spirit Third Grade."

  "Yesterday, he went to the Lingyao Hall again. Before entering, he slapped his palm on the 'Trial Spirit Stone', shocking both Qingfeng and Qinghong, two of his clan uncles." Looking at the crowd with a face full of surprise, the young man's eyes rolled around and he said mysteriously, "Can you guess why?"

  "Why?"

  "Impossible! What virtue and ability does he have to stun two of his uncles?"

  "Go ahead and make it up, who believes you!"

  “……”

  "Otherwise, how can you say that you are ignorant and inexperienced? After Nie Kong's palm strike, the stone lion showed 'Ji Ling Wu Pin'!" The young man glanced at the crowd with disdain.

  The sound had just fallen, and the surroundings were suddenly in an uproar:

  "Two ranks in one night? How is that possible? You're definitely cheating us."

  "What's going on? Has he eaten some kind of magical medicine?"

  "What kind of spiritual medicine can continuously upgrade two levels? The Rejuvenating Dew can upgrade one level, the Snow Spirit Pill can also upgrade one level, could it be that he took these two consecutively?"

  "You should think before speaking, can this kind of spiritual medicine that enhances cultivation be taken continuously? At least it needs to be spaced out by three months to have an effect."

  "This is strange, he cultivated for ten years and only gathered one spiritual product, how can he suddenly make rapid progress now? Is the momentum of a wood attribute spiritual master's cultivation really this strong?"

  "You guys said, isn't this guy Nie Kong?"

  "It shouldn't be, judging from the reaction of the Red Maple Tree, his cultivation is at least at the sixth rank of Gathering Spirit. But he's not Nie Kong, so who could it be? I've never heard that our Nie family has another Wood Spirit Master."

  "Let me see, let me see... Ah, you guys guessed it right, he is indeed Nie Kong. My house and his are just separated by a narrow alley, and I even saw him running past my door yesterday morning..."

  "Hiss! Hsss..."

  A sudden gasp of cold air rose, and the sixteen or seventeen people who had gathered looked at each other in dismay, their eyes wide with shock.

  Yesterday, in front of the Lingyao Hall, it was still Gathering Spirit Fifth Rank, but now it has become Gathering Spirit Sixth Rank. Doesn't this mean that within just one night, Nie Kong's cultivation has increased by another rank? Previously slow to the point of being shocking, now fast to the point of being frightening, Mu Liu's cultivation speed is actually so... abnormal?

  ……