Ling Xuan sat in the caravan oblivious to all the undercurrents that were occurring.
He then opened his eyes and looked at his hand, he took out a piece of metal and then breathed deeply. He then quickly closed his hand with the piece of metal inside.
CRACK
A small sound resounded and as Ling Xuan opened his fist, the small piece of metal had been reduced to look like a crumpled piece of paper.
“The Potential Transmutation Art is magnificent with it, I strongly doubt anyone in the Disciple Selections will be my match!” Ling Xuan was ecstatic seeing the improvements.
During the days when he was training along with Mu Feng, he had figured out that he could use The Inherent Potential to Kinetic Energy Converter technique repeatedly and there would be no reduction in power. The reason was simple after all as long as he changed his body’s position even a little bit he would be able to have Potential Energy which can then get converted to Kinetic Energy. The technique also made Ling Xuan 1.5x stronger when used, in other words it was probably the most powerful body enhancing martial technique in the world.
“Yet life is tit for tat, the drawbacks of this technique are quite restricting as well, the technique requires sufficient amounts of Qi and as well as a durable body that won’t collapse.” Carto was vigilant; after all he in terms of power in this world was at most in the average bracket and above that were the Grand Masters and Beasts of Myth, beings that he could not hope to match.
“Yet always being negative won’t do me very good. I have to stay optimistic and refine my power further. The Potential Transmutation Art is one of the keys in order for this to happen.” Ling Xuan's eyes shone.
“Brother Xuan! What are you doing?”
A voice called out to Ling Xuan who looked around for the speaker.
“I’m here Senior Brother!”
Ling Xuan looked towards the beasts of burden dragging the carriage and low and behold there sat a boy of about 5 years on it.
Ling Xuan had been travelling for a while now and during this he had acquainted himself with the others who were on their way to the capital as well.
“Xiao Er you should not be there, it is dangerous” Ling Xuan urged the boy.
Yet the boy seemed to ignore him and continued to sit on the horse, smiling.
Ling Xuan’s lips twitched and he coughed before saying
“If you don’t get down I will call your older brother.”
The child froze for a moment then quickly went to the caravan via crawling on the horses.
“Please don’t tell my brother about this.” The previously cheeky brat was now begging Ling Xuan to keep it’s secret.
“You are truly shameless aren’t you?” Ling Xuan shook his head and sighed.
This child was Xiao Si, one of the little brothers to another of the passengers.
“Fine, I won’t tell but now you tell me why did you call me?”
Xiao Si was confused for a while before revealing.
“Well, I could not see where you were. I searched the entire caravan and when I still could not find it I decided to just call you.”
Ling Xuan was shocked as he was sitting in the caravan and anyone could see him.
“Wait, when did you notice that I had disappeared ?” Ling Xuan asked seriously.
Just as Xiao Si was about to answer, someone picked him up and hugged him tightly.
“My brother I am back, don't be scared now, your big brother will be here now.” The teenager smiled and said.
He had brown hair and a mole near his mouth. His strength could be easily identified by looking at the bulging muscles of his limbs.
This was Xiao Si’s brother, Xiao Kang.
He was someone who planned to participate in the Disciple Selections. Xiao Si was brought along with him due to his almost genius intellect with the family hoping that perhaps one of the sects or clans might take interest in him.
Xiao Kang on the other hand was “almost” an average teenager, he had a normal personality along with an average potential for martial arts. Yet “almost” was the key word.
“Even his family shouldn’t know of his ‘ability’ if they had perhaps they would’ve thought more about making him the guardian of Xiao Si.” Ling Xuan inwardly was amused by the irony of the situation.
“Brother Ling, now that I have returned shall we spar? I really want to test my strength now that I have broken through to the Peak Apprentice Stage!” Xiao Kang asked.
Due to the myriad Cultivation Techniques the existence of strength disparities were quite common between the same rank such as someone who cultivates the Emerald Throne’s mind refinement methods would be destroyed by someone who cultivates the 4 Pole Star who themselves can be beaten by the practitioners of The Thunder Visceral Refinement, this would go on and on until one reached the Peak Technique of the Xia Clan.
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Due to this factor Xiao Kang who practised a normal Cultivation Technique would not be able to defeat Ling Xuan even if Ling Xuan reduced his power.
Therefore Xiao Kang’s challenge was foolish and irrelevant of their respective powers.
However
“Sure, when do you want to fight?” Instead of refusing, Ling Xuan actually agreed!
“How about after the caravan stops for a break?”
“Sounds ok.” Ling Xuan agreed
With that matter settled Ling Xuan went back into The Library yet something bothered him even then.
Why could Xiao Si not see him before?
Perhaps Xiao Si just did not notice him? Yet that would make no sense for a child with the intellect of a 10 year old.
“I have to investigate further. Perhaps I can use this to my advantage.” With this in mind Ling Xuan opened one of the books that held his battle sessions with Mu Feng and started reading.
—-----------------------------
After 20 minutes, the caravan stopped for their break.
Ling Xuan and Xiao Kang had already separated themselves from the group and were now currently in an area filled with trees.
“Let’s begin!”
Xiao Kang shouted and adopted a stance seen in wrestling.
Ling Xuan readied his stance as well which was the position of an olympic athlete before running with the only difference being that his left hand was touching the ground whereas his right hand was behind his back.
BANG
Ling Xuan attacked first using The Potential Transmutation attack to strengthen his right arm.
Xiao Kang, seeing this, tensed up his muscles and prepared to block Ling Xuan’s attack.
“If I dodge left, then he will twist his body and use his left arm instead. If I dodge right then he will again move his body to my side so the only way I have to nullify his attack is to block it head on!”
Ling Xuan’s right hand clashed with Xiao Kang’s hands and a terrifying boom rang out alongside the sound of cracking.
Xiao Kang was pushed back a bit and using this opportunity Ling Xuan seeing this performed a roundhouse to Xiao Kang’s face.
Xiao Kang, ignoring the pain in his hands, quickly grabbed Ling Xuan’s leg and pushed it aside and aimed for a blow.
This was an ordinary punch yet even with Xiao Kang’s broken hands it posed a significant threat to any apprentice.
Even Ling Xuan knew if he got hit he would be quite injured.
“I can’t parry it or else he’ll use that moment to launch another attack. The best thing I can do is to dodge!” Ling Xuan quickly calculated.
He then used small amounts of Hidden Serpent Pills and redirected a bit of Energy to his legs.
Using the momentary enhancement, Ling Xuan jumped and moved out of Xiao Kang’s attack.
“You are quite a smart fellow.” Ling Xuan praised Xiao Kang.
He realised that during their previous bouts Xiao Kang was analysing Ling Xuan every single moment to find a weakness which he had found.
“I may not know what the technique is but I recognise it’s type as an enhancement technique which empowers him enough to become a Intermediate Adept yet he only uses it on his arms and not his legs from this two reasons can pop up either he is not efficient in the technique and is therefore limited to his arms or his arms are the only refined limbs he has. Knowing that he is a Ling Clan member also means he trains in the 4 Pole Star Method thus only his arms are powerful enough to handle the energy. So if I force him to constantly use his legs it would inadvertently weaken him further allowing me to defeat him!”
Although Xiao Kang was a warrior, calling him a musclehead would be a disservice to all strategists. He was always around Xiao Si and thus to handle his little brother he always studied diligently and slowly he himself became a person with the ability to find out his opponent’s weakness only through battling them.
‘Truly a brilliant warrior! No one who is at the Apprentice Rank can beat without themselves being a prodigy among prodigies. He only has to continue attacking me repeatedly and force me to use my legs and I will be defeated!” Ling Xuan praised.
What Xiao Kang had surmised about was indeed true Carto could only use his arms when activating Potential Transmutation Art due to the 4 Pole Star technique completely refining his arms musculoskeletal structure else it would’ve broken down.
“Yet this will not be my defeat for if I lose here what will I achieve in the Disciple Selections!” Ling Xuan grinned maniacally.
His eyes wandered around the forest until it rested at one spot, a tree whose branches had fallen due to their ongoing bout.
“Perfect.” Ling Xuan thought and ran towards the tree.
This confused Xiao Kang as he had never seen Ling Xuan do this.
“It seems this time he has been forced to use his martial arts against me.” Xiao Kang was nervous as he had never seen Ling Xuan do this and so therefore didn’t know what to expect.
“The only thing I can do is to continue fighting.” Xiao Kang’s eyes burned with the ambition of the martial world. Ever since he was young he was seen as a normal individual which had been fine until his brother was born. After that he was delegated to a guard of his toddler brother. Xiao Kang wished for more, he like everyone else didn’t want to be ordinary.
“With my new ability I shall become special!” As Xiao Kang thought of this Ling Xuan had reached the tree.
He breathed deeply before thrusting his left hand into the tree and taking out a piece of wood.
It was of an irregular shape yet this didn’t matter to Ling Xuan who in a moment tore off some pieces and fashioned the piece of wood into a crude staff.
Xiao Kang then dashed towards Ling Xuan using his own martial technique.
Asura’s Grip!
Xiao Kang swung his hand towards Ling Xuan who used his martial technique as well.
Crimson Barrage Pole!
The two attacks met each other head on and what followed was the sound of bones cracking.
CRACK
The shockwaves of the attack were powerful enough to make the dust rise up and hide the result.
Yet in that very moment suddenly numerous sounds were produced.
BANG
BANG
BANG
The sounds continued for some time before dissipating along with the dust.
Xiao Kang was lying on the ground whereas Ling Xuan stood.
“I had to use my martial art, be proud that you could force an Adept while an Apprentice. You're strong, remember that.”
Soon something occurred. Huge amounts of Qi were directed towards Xiao Kang as his wounds started healing quickly.
This would’ve shocked anybody but Ling Xuan who after battling with Xiao Kang repeatedly for the last 2 days had grown used to this.
“The Boon of The Dragon eh”
Ling Xuan had used the Hidden Serpent Pill during the fierce exchange which resulted in several parts of Xiao Kang’s body to suffer internal injury.
Yet right now all injury was quickly being healed even a Master Rank being could not achieve this let alone a mere Apprentice.
Only one explanation could be there.
“The Boon of The Dragon is a genetic factor which gives special properties to the body including Enhanced Perception , Rapid Synapse Growth and of course Regeneration. The Xiao brothers each possess The Boon and thus Xiao Si’s genius and Xiao Kang’s ambition.” Ling Xuan remembered reading a book about this very subject.
As Ling Xuan carried Xiao Kang who was regenerating on his back and headed to the caravan he grew more convinced of the reason why the Xiao Clan had sent Xiao Si along with Xiao Kang instead of someone else.
After 2 minutes Ling Xuan arrived where the caravan was and dropped Xiao Kang down.
Nobody asked anything about where they disappeared to as they had been travelling for two days after all.
Soon the caravan began its final leg and in 3 hours they would finally reach The Capital.
As Ling Xuan sat in the caravan, he contemplated about the Xiao Clan’s intention.
“They had already figured out that the two brothers had The Boon, so not only were they sending Xiao Si in hopes of him getting spotted by some expert for his intellect but Xiao Kang as well for his unnatural strength. Soon they would be found to have The Boon and thus would receive preferential treatment, this would give the Clan more than enough standing to become powerful.This is a full proof plan as there is no force in the Continent that will refuse a bastard of the Royal Family of Xia.”
Ling Xuan chuckled, amused at the irony of the situation.
“A common Clan possessing a bastard of The Royal Family, truly magnificent!”