"We've entered Yellow Apple Town." The driver spoke. Everyone left the carriage and headed their own ways. Since everyone except Khoru was apart of the Water Lily Pavilion, they headed their first.
Khoru, unfortunately, decided to go home and cultivate despite wanting to get answers from Jin Xiang. The things he learned on that monster expedition shocked him and made him question Jin Xiang a lot.
There also seemed to be some type of underground organization in Yellow Apple Town.
'So she knew there was a mole in our party, yet she still sent us to our deaths?' Khoru had mixed feeling and didn't know whether he should mad or not.
Although they survived, they were still scapegoats for Jin Xiang.
How did that make Khoru feel?
Khoru brushed it off and went back home to cultivate. He thought he might've been stronger than the average cultivator, but his brief exchange of moves with Hao Jianyu made him quickly realize that he was far too weak.
'I need to get stronger!' He thought to himself as he rushed home. He didn't intend to tell his mother about what occurred during the expedition, or else she might not let him go back outside!
"How did the expedition go?" Xin Xuan asked Khoru the moment he got home.
"Great, yeah it was safe." Khoru quickly responded. His hair was disheveled and he had a few dirt patches on his face and clothes.
"Safe?" Xin Xuan asked strangely. She suddenly seemed suspicious of Khoru.
"I-I meant fun! Fun." Khoru corrected himself and ran to the courtyard as to not give his mother anymore time to ask questions.
When he entered the courtyard, he immediately started cultivating...
...
Two days passed and Khoru was still in the courtyard cultivating. He diligently circulated and refined his Spirit Qi until he felt that a lock inside his body was broken.
"All that fighting pushed me to the precipice of the third stage!" Khoru was delighted that the monster expedition yielded such rewards. Not only did he collect some monster cores, but he also advanced to the third stage of the foundation building realm shortly after!
His strength increased leaps and bounds and he felt his body brimming with power.
Despite that, Khoru didn't exit the courtyard just yet. He stood up and took out his Martial Spirits, which warped the air around them upon arrival.
'I want to reach the perfection level of the first level of this technique...' Khoru made a vow before practicing the Air Collapsing Yin-Yang Sword-Art. He had already reached a high level of proficiency with the sword-art.
To reach the perfect level of it would be basically doubling his power and strengthening his sword-art and sword skills...
...
"Haa... Haa... Haa... Haa..." Khoru's chest rose and fell heavily over and over as sweat ran down his face. On his hands were blood prints that looked as if he had held something with too much force for far too long.
His swords were embedded in the ground, but around them were faint traces of yin and yang energies that seemed far more powerful than before.
"The perfection level... I did... it..." Khoru's eyes grew heavy the moment he stopped practicing his sword-art and he collapsed in the courtyard...
"Khoru!" Xin Xuan's call came from just outside courtyard shortly after. She quickly picked him up and brought him inside...
...
Another day passed, and now it was the day of the start of the family tournament. Khoru's eyes quickly opened as if he had just been revived and he shot out of his bed. He got dressed with the quickest of speeds and ran out of his room.
"You're ready already?" Xin Xuan looked surprised as she watched Khoru run around the house with lightning speed. Then she realized that his cultivation base had increased to the 3rd stage!
"You're broken through to the next stage already? Weren't you just at the second stage almost a week ago?" Xin Xuan was dumbfounded and searched for answers, but Khoru never responded to her questions.
"The tournament is starting soon!" Khoru exclaimed. His eyes were filled with anticipation and he didn't stop for a moment.
He put on his grandest clothes, a.k.a the clothes he wore to the Martial Spirit Awakening Ceremony. This time, his muscles bulged even more out of the clothes were more defined than what should be allowed.
Xin Xuan quickly got ready and they departed to the middle of the mansion, where a giant fighting stadium was located, to attend the tournament...
...
"We're here. I can't wait!" Khoru's eyes burned with a flaming passion of fighting. He was so excited that he could barely stop himself from moving. From another person's point of view, he looked as if he had taken one too many pills...
"Calm down! I never taught you how to act like a fool!" Xin Xuan scolded Khoru in order to stop him from moving around.
A moment later, Xin Xuan was sitting amongst the crowd of spectators, while Khoru was sitting amidst the crowd of opponents and competitors. Each competitor eyed the other with intense hostility and looked as if they'd never back down from anything.
Khoru could feel powerful auras emanating from everyone's bodies.
'These people are so strong... It's only been a week but it looks like none of them have slacked off, as I expected.' Khoru observed all of the competitors, who were the same kids that awakened their Martial Spirits last week.
Despite only awakening their Martial Spirits last week, some of them had already been cultivating before that.
Well, actually, the only person who didn't do that was Khoru!
But yet, somehow, he managed to reach the 3rd stage of the foundation building realm in such a short time...
There was only one word for such a person...
Monster!
A wide grin appeared on Khoru's face when he recognized his half-sister sitting in the crowd as well. She had a ghostly aura around her as she stared forward with cold eyes...
'I'm gonna crush you soon...'