As he suddenly began to run toward her, the water splashed. Gradually, his speed increased to the extent that he almost became a blur in her eyes.
Swoosh—!
As Xu Kai landed on top of the boulder, her hair blew up. A large smile adorned his handsome face.
"Qing Xian, I'm at the Founding Building Realm! Can you imagine what this feels like? I feel like all the power in the world flows inside my veins." While Xu Kai rambled, Mo Qingxian listened to him with a sweet smile.
"Brother Kai, can you do this?" She opened the hollow in her palm, and a sphere of water appeared. She made it spin slowly.
Xu Kai imitated her, but his water sphere was unstable. His eyebrows knit together as he concentrated.
Eventually, it started spinning similarly to Mo Qingxian's, causing his lips to curl upward once more.
He lifted his head and noticed a water bird flapping its wings in Mo Qingxian's palm.
"Qing Xian, you're amazing," he said sincerely, praising her.
"You too. You're more amazing!" Mo Qingxian smiled sweetly, revealing her dimples.
"Qing Xian, they said you're a spirit beast and not human. Do you feel bad?" Xu Kai sat cross legged and she sat beside him; both of them faced the sea.
Mo Qingxian shook her head.
"Do you know what spirit beasts are?" He turned his head to see her reaction.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a flicker of remembrance. Rather, she shook her head and gazed at him with curiosity. Clearly, Qing Xian expected him to tell her what a spirit beast was.
"I think spirit beasts are the only beasts able to change forms." After much thought, Xu Kai said this.
"Like this?" Mo Qingxian transformed into a snow white fox with nine fluffy tails.
Her innocent, violet eyes met his astonished ones.
Xu Kai was aware of her form, but he was unaware of how simple it was to transition between them. It was almost as easy as his switch into his beast soul form.
Abruptly, she sprayed the conjured water onto his face and fled. Xu Kai cleaned his face and identified the small fox running towards the treehouse.
"You think you can escape?" He sneered. With a powerful leap, he crossed a large distance and landed stably.
Spirit Qi nourished his muscles, allowing them to withstand the tremor that traveled through his body.
"Come here, you little fox!"
****
Nightfall.
Emerald Mountain.
Xu Kai made sure everyone was gone, including Uncle Lan, before he came to check out his strength.
He glanced back at the town illuminated by lanterns and cracked his fingers.
"A Foundation Building Realm practitioner should be able to lift a 500 kg stone." He muttered to himself and approached a stone that could reach his chest's level.
The stone bore three characters.
500
He exhaled loudly, squatted, grabbed the stone, and puffed out air. Gathering his strength, he lifted it with all his might.
Shockingly, he found the 500-kg stone lighter than he thought!
"What's going on?"
He went to the 600-kg stone and lifted it. His muscles bulged, vines appeared, and his neck turned red. This proved that he had reached his limit of strength.
Grunting heavily, he dropped the stone and burst into laughter. "600 kg! On the island, only Shui Long Yan has been able to reach the peak of each stage in every realm. No one else has ever reached the peak of a single stage."
Even he couldn't believe his eyes. However, a minute later, he discovered it was because the jade mushroom had nourished his body, which had been hampered by a lack of proper food nutrients and body tonics.
He switched the water soul column to the platform, and his muscles wriggled subtly. Xu Kai noticed that his sensitivity increase was more pronounced, as he could smell much better than before.
Even the soil beneath his feet had a certain smell.
With tremendous ease, he lifted up the stone, weighing 600 kg, and casually dropped it.
"Double the strength. Hmm, so I should be able to lift a stone weighing over a thousand kg."
His eyes blazed. That was a Bodiless Realm practitioner's strength!
Filled with yearning, he lifted up a stone weighing 1200 kg. Looking at the stone above him and his bulging arms, Xu Kai couldn't believe his eyes.
He had never experienced such strength before.
'I might be able to possess the same physical strength as a Bodiless Realm practitioner, but their expertise, deep knowledge of techniques and advantage of the Bodiless Realm are still gulfs I need to surpass.'
Naturally, every realm has advantages. A Marrow Cleansing Realm practitioner cannot store Spirit Qi like a Foundation Building Realm practitioner. It was the same for a Foundation Building Realm practitioner and a Bodiless Realm practitioner.
After testing his strength, Xu Kai began to practice the Raging Tide Technique, Second Form: Raging Kicks Splitting the Tide.
This form was more complex than the first and had two stances. The first was 'Raging Kicks.'
Xu Kai firmly locked one leg on the ground and lifted the other. The leg that he raised flung out, unleashing swift, unending kicks that tore through the air.
His foot was raging, merciless, and air-tearing!
The wind at his feet demonstrated his adept mastery of the stance.
Retrieving his leg, he placed it on the ground and felt his knee ache. The ache was subtle but it grew to become more worrying.
Instead of looking after it, he suspended himself and kicked with the other leg.
According to his past experiences, mastering both legs will make him more versatile and protect him in certain situations.
The sound of his feet whipping the air resounded till the middle of the night.
With the crescent moon high in the sky, its glow illuminated a sweating boy diligently practicing the 'Raging Tide Technique' when everyone was asleep.
When Xu Kai discovered his entire body was aching, he sat cross-legged, and Spirit Qi gushed into his body.
The body was prone to absorb more after proper exercise. This was exclusive to those who pursued the knight path. Mediating without pushing the body to exhaustion would only boost the practitioner's Qi, not nourish their muscles and bones.
In the early hours of the morning, he left for his secret shore, removed his clothes, and jumped into the sea for a bath.
Unbeknownst to him, a boat was heading toward his secret shore and in the middle of the boat was a piece of rice paper with a painting of him and Mo Qingxian.