After the three hours of constant training and only stopping to consume the energy grains, Xiao Lao got close to him.
"Senior brother, you are improving very fast! At this pace you may be able to reach small success before the end of the month."
"Junior brother, it was only possible thanks to you. If it wasn't because you helped me see my mistakes in the last week I wouldn't have been able to make this much progress."
"That was because you are a fast learner, the majority of people take at least three months of constant training to complete the entry level. But you are already going three times faster without the help of a master like those members from the big families back at Lesser Crimson Town. Even I had to take two months to achieve it."
Taking the encouragement from his junior brother, Ling Xu started to feel that his talent wasn't as bad as he initially thought.
He had also noticed the small improvements he was making every time he trained with the sword and felt a little proud of it.
"Although my current pace isn't bad, with my ability to enter enlightenment I can't get satisfied from this much." he thought as his desire to advance faster couldn't be stopped.
Planning to enter enlightenment after he had completed today's task.
After a few more minutes of chatting with his junior brother, they heard the sound of the bell sound and they separated to go to their respective tasks.
…
When the day's turn was already ending, Ling Xu sensed another small beast that was on the fourth stage of Blood Qi.
He and his partner He Xiao had already hunted three beasts as they had been pretty lucky.
After this week, it seemed that the number of beasts in the border of the sect's array was slowly increasing.
Usually, He Xiao would manage to find one or two beasts as maximum on one day if he was lucky.
But lately, there has never been a day that they didn't get to find one and they had even started to hunt two and three since two days ago.
This was new for He Xiao as he had already done this task for the last year since he entered the sect and he had never experienced something like this.
Truth be told, Ling Xu had some influence because with his strong blood qi which rivaled and even surpassed that of someone on the ninth stage, he had stronger senses and could sense the presence from weaker beasts in a larger radius.
After taking the fourth beast he hunted while sneaking away for a brief moment, he returned with his partner and started to go back to the guarding post.
The beast he found and put in his spatial ring was a fox, it was a bit smaller than the one He Xiaosheng had hunted on the second day.
Still, it was more than enough for him to eat for today.
After entering the sect and tasting the meat of the beasts once again, he hasn't been able to let a day pass without getting meat to eat from the beasts they hunted.
He Xiasheng had already become accustomed to Ling Xu's behavior of not caring about the points they could get and he even felt thankful as he always received a portion from what his partner hunted.
Back in the guarding center, they were about to exchange the corpses as they were the next in line.
Ling Xu was looking at the corpses that other groups had brought when he heard something that attracted his attention.
"This is the fifth day in a row that the guards return with at least a corpse from a beast and there are even cases where they bring four or five. Although they are able to hunt them for now, if the number increases they may suffer an accident."
Hearing the worry from the person who gave the rewards for the beasts corpses, Ling Xu wasn't surprised. "It makes sense, after all even someone like He Xiao who has only been in the sect for an year has noticed the increase in beasts."
"Senior brother, is it possible that one of the beasts has entered the Qi Refining Realm? It wouldn't be the first time that a beast that surpassed the rest in strength and became the ruler of the forest incited them to revolt and start actively attacking the menial workers."
"Yeah, you may be right. Fortunately we are talking about the beasts that are inside the sect's array, or else this wouldn't be the act of a few low level beasts in the Blood Qi and Qi Refining Realm but of Foundation Building ones or even stronger ones."
A chill run down the disciple that moved the beast corpses. "If that happened we would become cannon fodder. Only with the help from the disciples and elders from the inner sect would we be able to resolve this matter."
"You are right, but don't worry because that won't happen."
"Why do you say so?"
"That's because the sect's array is extremely strong and not even the attacks from the inner elders can make a scratch to it, so don't worry."
"That's good to hear."
"Still, in case a beast has actually broken through the Qi Refining Realm we need a few more outer disciples that can ensure the safety from the menial workers. Go to the Affairs Hall and ask to put a notice right away."
"I will follow your command, senior brother!"
Ling Xu saw the disciple who stood behind the one who gave the points leave as he was heading to the outer sect.
What followed next was his turn as He Xiao gave the three corpses from the beasts he killed and Ling Xu let him keep the points without any complaints.
Returning to his residence, he was interrupted by someone he was already quite familiar with.
"What a coincidence to meet you here."
Ling Xu looked at the strong build from the person he was already quite familiar with.
"What are you doing here, isn't your residence the other way?"
He said to ma Dongpil as he had already noticed that when Ma Dongpil ended his turn he would always go the opposite direction that he was taking.
But this time, he met him while he was halfway to his residence. This couldn't be a coincidence as there wasn't anything that he would have to do in this direction.
"Why so impatient, I only saw that my junior brother was going to practice in his sword technique and wanted to have a light spar."
Hearing what this person said, Ling Xu was startled, he never expected that Ma Dongpil would suddenly challenge him to a fight.
He called it light spar but it was obvious what he was trying to do.
After the last incident where he left ridiculed after being stopped by the worker from the guarding center, Ma Dongpil had figured everything that he could about Ling Xu.
Asking someone who came from the same residence as him, he was told about Ling Xu's hardworking schedule as it had already been noticed in just the short time he was in the sect.
After all, there weren't many unofficial disciples that trained as much as him.
Having to take an eight hour turn every day, the disciples became tired and they didn't dare to use the rest of their time only for training.
The average person would train an hour or two in the Three Purities Sword technique and then they would continue advancing in the Blood Qi Realm, but Ling Xu was different.
Hearing this from a single disciple, he was very surprised and he decided to verify as he didn't expect him to actually tell the truth.
But once a few others that knew about Ling Xu confirmed it, he was in awe.
Although he had also heard that Ling Xu was still using the first three stances from the sword technique, which belonged to the entry level, it was something he respected a lot.
Although his talent wasn't as bad as Yu Wenqian, he still trained very hard as he was always trying to catch up with Xie Lan.
But talent was something he couldn't fight against and he soon realized the difficulty of advancing even though he trained harder than him.
So, having thrown out the thought of making him one of his lackeys, he wanted to check the effect of Ling Xu's training and see how high his talent was.
And he was still a little angry about how that incident ended and he wanted to give him a lesson.
…
In the training ground at Ling Xu's residence, he was standing there with a wooden sword in his hand.
Remembering how the conversation progressed after that, he realized that he could have avoided it if he tried a bit more.
But he was so surprised by the change of attitude from Ma Dongpil that he couldn't say what he wanted.
"Senior Xu, are you sure you will be fine? If you want to stop this fight I will support you and make it so no one else dares to say something."
"It's okay, I'm just surprised by how everything unfolded, but I think that this may be able to help me progress faster in my sword technique. Going against someone like Ma Dongpil, who has already reached the small success level in the Three Purities Sword just like you."
Looking at Xiao Lao who had a face of pity, seeing his senior brother go against someone who not only had a higher level of mastery in his sword technique but was also two stages of cultivation above him.
He had already heard from someone else about the incident between them and that Ling Xu managed to resist his aura.
And even though he was very surprised about his senior's strength, being in the seventh stage of Blood Qi, one thing was to withstand his aura and the other was to fight against him.
Having to endure the attacks from someone who had refined his body two more times compared to him.
"And I also know that he won't go easy on me."
When he heard his senior brother, Xiao Lao had a face of embarrassment as he realized that Ling Xu had found out that he was holding back against him.
Still, he didn't know that Ling Xu had done the same.
Although he tried to use his sword technique to the best of his ability, he refrained from using his whole strength as he didn't plan on showing his real strength.
"Then please be careful, senior brother."
Leaving the small platform used for disciples to spar, Ling Xu was left facing Ma Dongpil on the other side of the square.
"Junior brother, are you ready?"
"Should I even prepare to fight against someone like you?" he answered, trying to provoke his anger so he wouldn't hold back.
The disciples that were gathered to see the fight were shocked at what their fellow brother just said.
Xiao Lao looked even more worried than before as he was afraid that his senior brother would come out of the fight seriously injured.
"Hahaha, I admire your confidence junior brother!"
The disciples were surprised as he didn't fall into his provocation, showing the demeanor of a senior brother.
But those who came from the same town were doubting what their ears perceived as they couldn't believe that the young master of the Ma family had actually let such a cheap provocation pass.
After all, among the famous figures from the younger generation, he was known for getting angry the most.
"Was my provocation not enough?" thinking that he didn't manage to anger him, Ling Xu thought.
"I was going to let you off the hook from the last time, but I won't show any mercy now." Ma Dongpil's eyes narrowed.
The next moment, everyone that was observing the square could feel the pressure increasing as the aura from his body erupted, displaying the full strength of someone who was about to complete the ninth stage of Blood Qi.