In this world, strength is the most important thing.
Although he didn't have a "system", he still had his own reliance!
With a thought, an ancient scripture flowed out from his sea of knowledge.
Around Xue Yi's body, five illusory shadows condensed rapidly, which were: the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Qilin.
The Five Great Holy Beasts surrounded him, opening their mouths and looking up to absorb the free-flowing spiritual energy between heaven and earth, before transferring it to Xue Yi.
At this time, Xue Yi's cultivation speed was at least five times faster than ordinary people!
"Illusory Shadows of the Five Sacred Beasts! What kind of mystic art is this!"
Seeing this scene, Xiao Qingruo's eyes widened.
She observed for a while and found that not only could these Five Sacred Beasts help accelerate Xue Yi's absorption of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, they also carried some special aura, as if transferring the quintessence of the sacred beasts to him as well.
If cultivated to profound realms, Xue Yi might simultaneously possess the powers of the Five Sacred Beasts!
"This dog is quite formidable..."
Xiao Qingruo's eyes flickered as she thought of many things.
She wasn't someone to be kneaded softly... although she was quite soft now, she would definitely become tough in the future!
Xue Yi being formidable was a double-edged sword to her. She was glad that she could order him around in front of others and use him as a lackey. But in the future, it would also be even harder to break free from his control.
Fortunately, her trump card was more advanced than the Five Sacred Beasts. She would definitely be able to trample this dog of a man under her feet in the future!
With anticipation for the future, Xiao Qingruo took out a book and quietly started reading.
...
A few hours passed and it was almost dark.
Xue Yi stopped cultivating and opened his eyes.
The illusory shadows of the Five Sacred Beasts faded away as strands of pure gang qi circulated within his body.
"My realm has been consolidated at the eighth layer of the Primordial Qi Realm. At this rate, I should be able to reach the ninth layer in half a month and catch up to Xu Lingzhi in two months," Xue Yi thought to himself.
Cultivation Realms: Body Refining, Dragon Tiger, Primordial Qi, Cave Heaven, Long Life, Dharma Form, Yin Yang, Unity...
Apart from the foundational Body Refining Realm, each realm had ten layers, from first to ninth, then the "peak". The later it was, the more formidable it became.
Below Primordial Qi Realm, they were only "martial artists", formidable but still ordinary people.
Above Cave Heaven Realm were "cultivators", with abundant true essence and extraordinary means.
And when they reached the Yin Yang Realm, they would become "sages", each possessing earth-shattering divine powers rarely seen in the world.
To cultivate to profound realms, mystic arts were indispensable.
Ordinary mystic arts could only cultivate to the peak of Primordial Qi Realm at most. The mystic art he was cultivating now, the Imperial Five Spirit Formula, was an "imperial" mystic art that could be used for a lifetime!
From the first day Xue Yi arrived in this world, this mystic art had been stored in his mind.
It was abstruse and Xue Yi spent a full three years before finally comprehending it completely. He had just started cultivating it recently.
The Imperial Five Spirit Formula contained the essences of the Five Sacred Beasts and could control the powers of the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth. It also came with many peerless skills.
But these weren't the most important.
The most important was the word "imperial"!
This was a mystic art pointing straight to the Heavenly Emperor Realm. The power of the Five Sacred Beasts was just the initial manifestation. The true core was actually a strand of "imperial qi".
Starting from the Cave Heaven Realm, apart from a cultivator's innate true essence, his body would also contain more imperial qi than others.
Imperial qi was profound and extraordinary, capable of tempering one's flesh to make the body even more powerful. It could also temper weapons, turning ordinary weapons into divine weapons. Additionally, it could be used to cast spells - spells unleashed with imperial qi were dozens of times more powerful than common martial arts, possessing astonishing might that shocked the world!
However... imperial qi was consumable.
Even if a cultivator's true essence was depleted, he could restore it to peak state after meditating for a while.
But once imperial qi was consumed, it could not be regenerated. So it could not be used recklessly.
This mystic art was Xue Yi's biggest secret. He had no plans to let anyone know about it initially. But now, he had no choice but to reveal it to Xiao Qingruo.
Fortunately Xiao Qingruo was a useless person. Even if she knew his secret, she couldn't do anything to him.
...
"Young miss, shall we go out for a walk?" Xue Yi finished cultivating and stood up to ask.
Although he had been cultivating these few hours, he had kept part of his awareness on his surroundings.
The young miss had been very well-behaved, not sneaking out to bring people to hack him to death. She had just sat there quietly reading her book, which surprised him a little.
"I don't usually go out if I have nothing to do. There are too many mad dogs outside." Xiao Qingruo replied.
Xue Yi laughed when he heard this.
Indeed, she was too famous and too beautiful, to the extent that some young men had already gone crazy and didn't even fear death. They just wanted to see her and touch her.
It was said that the previous time she went out, a youth had shouted "Xiao Qingruo, I want to marry you!" and recklessly charged forward, wanting to hug her.
The young miss had revealed an extremely terrifying aura at that moment, frightening everyone on the entire street.
At that dangerous moment, the youth's father happened to be passing by and quickly knocked his son unconscious and dragged him away. He also gifted three thousand taels of gold as compensation and broke one of his son's leg, crippling him for life. This was to avoid the Holy Might Residence getting angry and wiping out their entire family.
Now Xue Yi knew Xiao Qingruo's weaknesses. He thought that if the youth's father hadn't been present then, this young miss might have truly been groped on the street and her inability to resist would have thoroughly exposed the fact that she was useless.
"Alright, then we won't go out. I'll continue cultivating tonight." He was also happy to stay in, allowing him more time to improve himself.
The young miss nodded and said, "I'm hungry."
"Coming right up, miss!"
Xue Yi opened the room door and called for some maids.
The maids looked at him curiously and with surprise, as if guessing what he and the young miss had been doing alone in the room the entire afternoon.
"Xia Chan, where are my belongings?" Xue Yi asked.
"They're all here. I brought them earlier but didn't dare disturb Sir Xue Yi and the young miss." Xia Chan gave him a package and a box.
"Mm, go prepare dinner. The young miss still needs to continue cultivating tonight." Xue Yi instructed.
"Yes, Sir Xue Yi." Xia Chan left to carry out the order.
At this time, the maid Zi Die said, "Sir Xue Yi, this afternoon a few guards came to the garden outside saying they wanted to see you and the young miss. But you didn't come out so we didn't dare disturb you all. I think they're still waiting at the door."
"Oh? What were their names?" Xue Yi frowned slightly.
Zi Die replied, "The leader was called Zhao Xuan, quite a formidable second-rank guard. The others didn't give their names."
Zhao Xuan...
Xue Yi nodded slightly in understanding.
This guy had been his old rival, relying on his uncle who was a first-rank guard to throw his weight around arrogantly among the second-rank guards.
Xue Yi was quite strong so Zhao Xuan had always wanted to compete with him, but could never beat him. Thus he kept creating trouble for Xue Yi.
Now hearing Xue Yi was favored by the young miss to be her personal guard, he must be unhappy about it and came to stir up trouble.
But Xiao Qingruo was who?
She was the young miss of Holy Might!
Even with a hundred guts, Zhao Xuan didn't dare barge in. He could only loiter outside waiting.
Xue Yi was too lazy to bother with him. He told Zi Die, "Convey the young miss' order - tell them to scram themselves, otherwise call the law enforcement team to give each of them eighty heavy rods and dock three months of their wages."
"Ah, did... did the young miss really say that?" Zi Die asked softly.
Anything involving the "law enforcement team" was not to be spoken lightly.
They were existences ranked higher than the guards, only answering to the residence master and the elders.
It was only due to the young miss' special status that she had the authority to mobilize them.
"Yes, it's what the young miss said." Xue Yi affirmed resolutely.
Zi Die and the other maids looked towards the room.
Xiao Qingruo still had the secret manual in her hands reading it. Hearing this, she nodded slightly.
There was no other way. Xue Yi was the backbone now so she could only let this guy bluff and bluster for the time being.