"Hmph!"
Qin Shi snorted angrily when he saw the demon's smug look. He simply sat outside the cold pond with nothing to do.
"Now that I think about it, four months have passed since I comprehended it in the Sword Pavilion. The Sword Sect's Annual Disciple Competition is in another two months, and I should make some preparations for it."
Thinking of the annual disciple competition, Qin Shi's eyes couldn't help but flash with murky light. One of them was a spark that could set a prairie ablaze. He knew that the enmity between him and Su Tiao would completely erupt during the competition. It would also be the time when he would truly become a disciple in seclusion.
Although he was nominally a closed door disciple of the Sword Sect, there were still many disciples and elders in the Sword Sect who were dissatisfied with him. After all, his qualifications in the Sword Sect were too shallow. Many people still approved of Su Tiao. Only by defeating Su Tiao could he suppress the others in the group. Otherwise, even if Fang Qing was the Sect Master, it would be difficult for him to protect him.
Although he didn't care about being a disciple in seclusion and had never thought of taking over the Sword Sect and becoming the Sect Leader, he had his own thoughts, the Qin Sect, and his responsibility towards the Qin Sect.
However, Su Tiao was Zhang Hun's man after all. For Fang Qing, he wouldn't let Su Tiao succeed. Therefore, he had a reason to win this disciple competition.
The other reason was that he was looking forward to the so-called Sword Tomb Saint Spirit Hall. The inheritance of the 36th Sword Sect Leader was too tempting. Even he couldn't help but be tempted.
What's more, as his strength increased, his conflict with the Ma Group became more direct and explosive. He needed power. He needed to become stronger. Only then would he be able to protect the people he cared about.
Even now, he still couldn't forget the threat from the Ming Group at the end of the Talisman Demon Competition.
Of course, the prerequisite for all of this was that he had to become the champion of the annual disciple competition.
Therefore, he clenched his fist. "I can't waste the last two months."
Facing Su Tiao, he didn't dare to be careless. Half a year ago, he had already lost to Su Tiao. Although he had improved a lot in this half a year, who could guarantee that Su Tiao hadn't improved?
Accurately speaking, it was impossible for Su Tiao to not improve. With Su Tiao's talent, his growth in this half a year would also be terrifying. Therefore, he had to put in more effort than Su Tiao.
"Hu …!
It's so hard. "Qin Shi couldn't help but feel bitter and helpless.
Right now, he had just broken through to the Fifth Level of the Heavenly Pinnacle Realm, and his Soul Energy had reached the Curse Domain Realm. Whether it was in terms of Spiritual Energy or Soul Energy, it was as difficult as ascending the heavens for him to make another breakthrough within two months.
Suddenly, Donkey Ruhua's voice rang out, "Kid, if you want to become stronger, why don't you look at the present?"
"Right now?" Qin Shi was stunned.
"That's right. It's so close, and you don't even consider the best way. Why do you have to think of those impractical ways? Are you crazy?"
"What do you mean by that?" Qin Shi couldn't figure it out, especially since it was so close. Was there anything around him that he could use?
Donkey Ruhua curled his lips. "Won't you know once you sense your surroundings?"
Qin Shi frowned, but he was not in a hurry to refute. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes, calmed his breathing, and sensed every molecule in his surroundings.
Suddenly, an extremely strange energy swam in his body like an exquisite spirit snake. In an instant, Qin Shi's eyes widened.
"You feel it?" Donkey Ruhua snorted.
After pondering for a moment, Qin Shi nodded and said, "You're talking about this Purgatory Force?"
"But of course! This sort of power is something that is extremely hard to come by in the world. If you're able to grasp a single one of them, you'll be able to raise your cultivation and strength by several folds. To think that you don't know how to cherish such a fortuitous encounter. You're truly wasting a heavenly treasure!" Donkey Ruhua said.
Hearing this, Qin Shi fell silent for a moment. Indeed, Purgatory Force was the energy he needed the most at the moment. It was also the best way to make him stronger, but … his expression was a little gloomy.
"What are you standing there for?
I've already said this much, don't tell me you still don't understand? "
"No!" Suddenly, Qin Shi rejected.
"Huh?" Donkey Ruhua was confused by Qin Shi's strange move. He said in exasperation, "What's wrong with that?
Do you know that even in ancient times, this kind of strange power was something that countless supreme beings of the world fought over? Now that it's right in front of you, you actually don't know how to cherish it? "
Qin Shi shook his head, "This Purgatory Force is indeed tempting, but I promised Wan Yue that this power was only used to save Lingsha. I won't use it anywhere else."
Donkey Ruhua stomped her foot angrily when she heard this. She used her fair hand to hit Qin Shi's head with all her might and said, "I, I, I really don't know what to say to you. You idiot, are you stupid?
What promise? In the face of benefits, can you be more realistic and sober?
Let me tell you, if you don't look out for yourself, you will be destroyed by the heavens and the earth. "
However, no matter what Donkey Ruhua said, Qin Shi refused to change his mind, "Perhaps, in the eyes of outsiders, a promise is just a laughable lie, but to me, I will keep my word!"
"I-I-I'm really angered to death by you!" Donkey Ruhua shouted angrily, then turned around and pouted, ignoring Qin Shi.
Qin Shi simply ignored her. When it came to promises, Qin Shi was unable to agree with the rest of the world.
This was what he was obsessed with.
Seeing that he couldn't change Qin Shi's mind, Donkey Ruhua curled his lips and said, "Forget it, forget it. I really can't understand you. However, even if you don't plan on using this strange power, you can still use it to increase your cultivation."
"What do you mean?"
Qin Shi asked curiously. If he could use it to increase his cultivation without using the power of Purgatory, then it wouldn't be considered breaking his promise, right?
Donkey Ruhua curled his lips and said emotionally, "The power of the strange power is a variant of spiritual power. This kind of power is usually difficult for living beings to use, but once it is absorbed, it will definitely have a special power, and it will be very pure. Now that you can absorb the power of Purgatory, why don't you use it to improve your spiritual power cultivation?
Under normal circumstances, it is basically impossible for you to make another breakthrough in two months, but if you use the power of the strange power, it may not be so. "
"That works?" Qin Shi's black eyes glowed with a golden light.
"Of course!
You idiot! "Donkey Ruhua snorted.
Inexplicably, a flame ignited in Qin Shi's heart.
If he could make another breakthrough in his spiritual power, then he had some confidence that he could beat Su Tian in the annual disciple competition in two months' time.
At the thought of this, he quickly became spirited.
Doing what he said had always been his style. For this reason, he formed hand seals with both hands and quickly changed them. In the blink of an eye, he reached a state of selflessness.
Of course, this seclusion had a special meaning for him, and it was also a state that he had never experienced before. This was because what he activated and operated was not the Palace Crystal Core that he was familiar with, but the unfamiliar black crystal that he had never come into contact with before.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
When he activated it, the black crystal flickered slightly and rotated gently with a certain frequency. For a moment, a buzzing sound continuously circulated from Qin Shi's body, forming a vortex with him as the center, and an extremely large amount of energy from the surroundings surged into his body.
However, under this seemingly beautiful scene, Qin Shi suddenly frowned. His face darkened and he stared with all his might.
A heart-wrenching pain pierced through his heart.
It was really heart-wrenching, because that power seemed to draw all the negative energy in his body.
For a moment, he felt like he had fallen into hell. All the things that he had been most unwilling to face, endure, and see over the years were dug out in one go, making his mind feel like it was about to explode.
"Argh!"
He groaned in pain.
Bang!
In an instant, the black crystal dimmed and became dull.
Even so, he still took a few deep breaths before he gradually calmed down. His forehead was already covered in sweat.
"Just now, just now, what was that feeling?"
Now that he recalled it, he felt chills down his spine, as if he had really escaped from purgatory.
Donkey Ruhua was silent for a while, then said, "I think this should be the power of the heterogeneous power. I have said before that every heterogeneous power has its own unique power, and if one wants to absorb it, one has to pay the same price. This Purgatory power seems to dig out the deepest fear in one's heart, making one feel like they are in purgatory."
Qin Shi squinted his eyes. That seemed to be the case.
He couldn't help but recall what Qiu Hua said to him when he had just entered the Refinement Realm and mistakenly absorbed the Purgatory power.
"Little fella, this power isn't something you can casually absorb."
Qin Shi couldn't help but sigh, "This Purgatory power really isn't something that can be casually absorbed … No wonder the disciples of the Refinement Realm can't stand out in the other eight realms despite having such extraordinary resources."
"Of course, all gains are proportional to the effort you put in. Even if you guard the spiritual mine and enjoy all the treasures, if you stay where you are, all you can do is stare at them."
Qin Shi nodded in agreement. Then, he couldn't help but think of Qiu Hua and Zi Lingsha. He exclaimed in his heart, "I wonder how much pain they had to endure to have what they have today."
One should know that the most painful thing in the world was definitely not a physical injury. Instead, it was this kind of painful past that one was most unwilling to recall. Just think about it, how painful it was to have one's most painful scar forcefully torn open by someone else. What kind of pain was that?
Taking a deep breath, Qin Shi calmed down again. Though he didn't want to face it again, if even Zi Lingsha could make it this far, why couldn't he?
Because of this, he tried his best to calm himself down and slowly closed his eyes.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!