In the blink of an eye, a huge golden palm smashed down on Li Lingtian. Li Lingtian took a stand that since Yang Xiaotian was out to kill him, he had to pay the price with his life.
Just as he was about to launch the Ice Vitality Divine Fist, a wave of destructive repression descended upon the atmosphere.
This repression was a lot more robust than Yang Xiaotian's and the difference was definitely worlds apart. The descent of the repression imprisoned every disciple in the Life or Death Canyon, disabling them from any motion.
Meanwhile, the golden palm was stuck in the air, unable to move an inch as if time had frozen. Everyone held their breath in.
"Are you trying to revolt?"
A deafening sonorous voice rang in everyone's eardrums and it was extremely painful.
Suspended in the air, an elder coldly stared into the canyon. His red mane reminded Li Lingtian of a golden-maned lion king in his past life.
"Pst tzh."
Both Li Lingtian and Yang Xiaotian spat blood at the same time. With pale faces, Yang Xiaotian collapsed on the ground while Li Lingtian stumbled backward by a couple of yards before falling on his bottom.
Xue Da and the rest were pressed onto the ground and their movements were restricted.
"Do you have that much time on your hands? All of you, face the wall and reflect for a month."
The red-haired elder shouted before he dispersed his repression. Immediately, the onlooking disciples outside the Life or Death Canyon scattered as fast as their legs could carry them.
Any slower and they would be made to face the wall in reflection for a month. It would be more suffering than death itself.
"You're still here?"
The red-haired elder raised his voice at Yang Xiaotian, Li Lingtian and the lot. His thundering voice shook the earth.
"Don't ever let me see you or it'll be doomsday."
As Yang Xiaotian stared coldly at Li Lingtian, he wiped the blood trail on the corner of his mouth. He was frustrated. If it were not for the elder above who caught them at the most crucial moment, Li Lingtian would have been crippled.
"I'll say the same to you. Don't ever let me see you and stay away from me in the Grand Tournament."
Li Lingtian coldly snorted before he looked at the red-haired elder in the sky with gratitude. Had it not for the arrival of this red-haired elder, he would have unleashed Ice Vitality Divine Fist.
The Ice Vitality Divine Fist might be powerful but he would end up wounded in pain by hurting his meridians.
Casting a scornful side glance to Yang Xiaotian and Yang Tianchen, Li Lingtian then led Xue Da, Chen Yun, and Shangguan Linger out the Life or Death Canyon.
Soon, Li Lingtian's group left the Life or Death Canyon. Although Xue Da and the other two had suffered the crushing repression, the red-haired elder acted with a sense of propriety and did not cause them any harm.
Shangguan Linger had long recovered. She did not expect that Li Lingtian would kill Lan Binhui and the rest for her sake, even offending Yang Xiaotian in the process.
"Senior Brother Li, thank you," Shangguan Linger bashfully said with a blushing face as she trod towards Li Lingtian for a salute.
"It's best to stay indoors to avoid Yang Tianchen and the rest. I'll be leaving now. It's only a month of reflection."
Li Lingtian smiled. Shangguan Linger would not be picked by Lan Hai if it were not for him. Through this event, he had come to an understanding that he needed to be more powerful.
Since a Warrior Spirit was enough to put him in a difficult position, it would be the end of him if he encountered an even stronger opponent.
With this, his desire for strength grew stronger. An Ice Vitality Warrior Soul and Flaming Sacred Body alone were not enough, he had to raise his cultivation level.
Wall-facing Cliff.
This was the punishment of Sky Cloud Sect disciples who had committed faults that were not a cause for banishment or crippling of cultivation level. It was a place where disciples with potential came to reflect by facing the wall.
In other words, it provided a chance to disciples with potential. Although the place was rich with Spiritual Qi, it was a solitary one. Every disciple who was in reflection was on their own.
Arriving at the Wall-facing Cliff, Li Lingtian entered a room. With his legs crossed, he sat facing a stone wall and closed his eyes in cultivation. However, this was only for a month.
As time went on day by day, the excitement was written all over Li Lingtian's face.
During this period, he focused on cultivation. The frequent use of Vitality Pills throughout his cultivation had brought him to Tier Six. However, the usual Vitality Pill would not have such an effect.
Putting aside his advancement in cultivation level, the leading cause of his excitement was the apprehension of the mysterious jade slip.
Pill Art.
"Ancient Pill Art, it's the Ancient Pill Art. I can't believe my luck."
Li Lingtian gazed at the jade slip in his hands. This jade slip was obtained from killing Zhou Yun, a Wind-path Warrior Soul when he was hunted in the woods. For a long period of time, he did not recognize that this jade slip was, in fact, a Pill Art.
It had never crossed his mind that, with the support of a powerful soul over his Divine Mindfulness, having a calm mind would turn on this jade slip.
It was a joke because, unlike him, Zhou Yun did not realize this Ancient Pill Art and thought that it was trash instead. Was it a joke?
"It's no wonder. This jade slip can't be opened by a Tier Six or Seven disciple. If it weren't for my powerful soul and Divine Mindfulness, this jade slip would not have been activated."
On second thought, he came to the conclusion that Zhou Yun, who was killed in a single move, was only a Tier Seven Warrior and that was why he could not activate the jade slip.
Pill Art was an Apothecary's bible of various pill refining techniques and miraculous refinery methods. Divine Martial Continent was rich with resources yet it was short in pill refining skills.
A great genius would never part from pills. No matter how skillful a genius was, there was a need for pill supplements. Pills were required in breaking through a bottleneck, treatment of wounds as well as the growth of cultivation level.
An apothecary ranked high in this world. It was also the most magical profession in the Divine Martial Continent, surpassing even a Blacksmith.
Warriors could only look up to them and unless necessary, a Warrior would not offend an Apothecary.
A Warrior Spirit and Warrior King would not stir trouble with a regular Apothecary, let alone a powerful one. However, there were only a handful of superior Apothecaries in this world as a slight advancement was easier said than done.
Apothecaries were divided into nine tiers. Tier One to Two Apothecaries refined grade one to two pills while Tier Three to Four Apothecaries were called Great Apothecaries and they refined grade three to four pills. Tier Five to Six Spiritual Apothecaries refined grade five to six pills whereas Tier Seven and Eight Apothecaries are called Sacred Apothecaries. A Sacred Apothecary was capable of refining grade seven and eight pills.
A Tier Nine Divine Apothecary could refine pills that were miracle cures. There was an even stronger existence called Apothecary Master but this was only in the legends.
The strongest in Sky Dragon Empire was a Tier Five Spiritual Apothecary while the rest were merely Apothecaries of the two primary tiers, making the majority Great Apothecaries.
Even a Warrior King and Ascendant dared not step on a Great Apothecary's toes. This was the standing of an Apothecary, a supreme standing.
"I was concerned that I didn't have any pills but with this Pill Art, I don't have to worry about having no pills."
Other Apothecary Warriors may be concerned about grasping the techniques but this was not a problem for Li Lingtian. After all, he was a man of wisdom from the twenty-first century.
"Although I don't know how powerful this Pill Art is, the technique in it doesn't seem to be of this world. I should take my time to grasp it in the next five days."
Li Lingtian instilled his Divine Mindfulness into the jade slip to receive the information. The information entered his mind and after the message sending was complete, the jade slip turned into ashes.
"Oh b*gger, the lowest is a grade three pill. Just my luck, I suppose."
Li Lingtian cursed after he had gone through the information in the Pill Art for a while. Profound with techniques ranging in thousands, the varying magical techniques were harder to fathom than sword techniques.
His omnipotent Divine Mindfulness and wisdom got him through the first half of the information. The first pill was a grade three and it was also the lousiest pill in Pill Art.
He would be digging a hole for himself if he refined a grade three pill without any foundation in pill refinery.
"How silly am I? I can first refine low graded, grade one and two pills with the techniques and knowledge in this before slowly making my way to refining higher graded pills."
He smacked a palm to his face. He had a blond moment and forgot the simple solution to it.
A month later, Li Lingtian left the Wall-facing Cliff with a sense of thrill in his eyes. A month of wall facing had not only boosted his cultivation level by leaps and bounds but he had racked up a Pill Art as well. It was indeed a huge gain.
Humming a tune along the way, he walked towards the sect's Welfare Chamber. He had familiarized himself with a few of the techniques in the past few days but he still had to get a few things before he began to refine pills.
To dig a hole in the ground, a hoe would be needed and likewise, pill refinery too could not be accomplished with bare hands. Instead, a Pill Tripod and formula were required, as well as various ingredients.
There were many disciples who did business alongside Sky Cloud Sect. These disciples specifically operated restaurants, pill shops, and supply shops inside the sect. Anything other cities in Sky Dragon Empire had, Sky Cloud Sect had it too.
The Welfare Chamber may be a place where the sect worked for the wellbeing of disciples but there were some private businesses. However, it was still fairer than in other places.
"Huh, if it isn't Senior Brother Li Lingtian?"
He came to the Welfare Chamber and greeted that same Warrior he had met before with a smile. Throughout this period, word had spread on Li Lingtian's deeds.
A peripheral disciple, a former good-for-nothing had turned the tables in a month and defeated Yang Tianfeng, a Tier Four Warrior.
He then crippled Lan Hai, an outer sect genius before killing the outer sect's sixth place, Lan Binhui in the Life or Death Canyon. He had also engaged in battle with Yang Xiaotian who was an inner sect Tier Three Warrior Spirit.
He penetrated the Warrior Spirit's repression in a single move and although he sustained injuries, it was a slap in the face on Yang Xiaotian's part. In the end, a sect Elder was involved.
The two were told to reflect as the supposed punishment. All the disciples were clear that it was the sect's way of protecting these two genius disciples.
With that being said, Li Lingtian's cultivation level and strength shocked many disciples. Now, no one dared to mess with these low-tiered disciples as they would not know what would hit them.
"Oh, you remember me. Give me a good Pill Tripod, a grade one Vitality Pill formula, and a grade two Spirit Binding formula."
Flashing a carefree smile, Li Lingtian paced towards the counter with an innocent-looking face. With this face, no one would be able to associate him with the weirdo that defeated a Tier Nine genius.
"Please wait for a moment, Senior Brother Li. I might not have some items but I do have a few grade one and two formulas." Zhu Zicheng chuckled before he headed in to rummage for the items.
These items were not considered a treasure in Sky Cloud Sect and with barely any Apothecaries in the sect, there would naturally be no lack of supplies.