The two Supreme Elders looked at the nearly depleted Spiritual Paste in the Heavenly Sword Pool and let out a wail like pigs being led to slaughter.
"That damn brat actually absorbed so much of the Spiritual Paste from the Heavenly Sword Pool!"
"It's over. The Heavenly Sword Pool will take at least a year or two to recover to its original state. But the Four Sects Martial Meeting is near; Yun Ge won't be able to come here for seclusion anymore!"
"This won't do. We need to report to the Sect Leader!"
Deeply pained, they hurriedly abandoned the nearly emptied Heavenly Sword Pool and rushed towards the Sect Leader's residence after opening the restrictions.
Soon, they found the Sect Leader and informed him of the Heavenly Sword Pool disaster.
Upon hearing their report, the Sect Leader's face lit up with joy, showing no signs of annoyance or despair.
"Sect Leader, why are you..."
Seeing the Sect Leader's reaction, the two looked puzzled.
The Sect Leader suppressed his smile and softly said, "You two must be thinking that with the Four Sects Martial Meeting approaching, Yun Ge should have another seclusion in the Heavenly Sword Pool to secure the first place, right?"
"Isn't that so?"
"With the Spiritual Paste in the Heavenly Sword Pool gone, Yun Ge can't further improve his strength. This might affect our results in the Four Sects Martial Meeting!"
The two Supreme Elders said with worried expressions.
The Sect Leader chuckled, "You don't need to worry about that. Yun Ge is already at the Ninth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm. Even if he continued secluded cultivation in the Heavenly Sword Pool, he couldn't break through to the Fanxu Realm. So, whether he goes in again or not makes no difference."
Hearing this, the two Supreme Elders were stunned but gradually understood, their furrowed brows easing up.
The Sect Leader continued, "Instead, we should look at Mu Jinyu. He was originally only at the Fourth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm. Although he could leap levels and defeat Huang Daotian, who was at the Seventh Layer, his cultivation would have made it difficult to achieve anything significant in the Four Sects Martial Meeting. But now, he has broken through to the Eighth Layer, significantly changing the situation!"
"It's likely that an ordinary Ninth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm wouldn't be his opponent!"
"With both him and Yun Ge representing our Heavenly Sword Faction, this year's Four Sects Martial Meeting will undoubtedly be our stage!"
The Sect Leader laughed heartily.
It was as if he could already see the Heavenly Sword Faction securing the first place in the Four Sects Martial Meeting and being allocated the most resources in Yan Kingdom for the next ten years.
The two Supreme Elders, however, were left in a daze.
"Sect Leader, did you just say that he defeated Huang Daotian at the Seventh Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm while he was only at the Fourth Layer?"
"Did I hear that right?"
As Supreme Elders and custodians of the Heavenly Sword Pool, they rarely had visitors and knew about Mu Jinyu only because someone notified them when he obtained the token for three days of training in the Heavenly Sword Pool. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have heard of him!
Moreover, they hadn't heard about Mu Jinyu entering the Inner Gate and quickly climbing to the forty-fifth position on the List of Outstanding Talents.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so alarmed at seeing Mu Jinyu's cultivation rise to the Eighth Layer and depleting the Heavenly Sword Pool's Spiritual Paste.
"Yes..." The Sect Leader, hearing their questions, smiled and recounted Mu Jinyu's achievements in the Inner Gate.
After understanding, the worried expressions on the two elders completely disappeared, and they laughed heartily, "Excellent, excellent, truly heaven-blessed for our Heavenly Sword Faction. With such a prodigy joining us, we need not worry about the Four Sects Martial Meeting or even the Hidden Dragon Conference!"
They no longer cared that Mu Jinyu had depleted the Spiritual Paste of the Heavenly Sword Pool. Instead, they wished for another Heavenly Sword Pool for Mu Jinyu to train and breakthrough to the Ninth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm in one go!
...
Mu Jinyu had no idea that after he left, the two Supreme Elders went to the Sect Leader to complain.
Nor did he know that in just three days of training, he had emptied the Heavenly Sword Pool.
As he walked towards the Tianlan Peak summit, he checked the elixirs in his storage bag.
He wanted to see how many elixirs he had consumed during his cultivation.
But upon checking, he was stunned.
He found that out of more than five thousand second-grade elixirs in his storage bag, only a little over a hundred were left!
"I consumed so many elixirs just to break through to the Eighth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm? This is ridiculous!"
Mu Jinyu couldn't accept such consumption and murmured in confusion.
During his three days of continuous elixir refinement without rest, he had only made over seven thousand second-grade elixirs.
He had given Jian Ruyan and Wen Rou a thousand each and kept the remaining five thousand-plus for himself, thinking they'd last him a long time. But after three days, they were nearly gone.
"It doesn't make sense. With so many elixirs and training in the Heavenly Sword Pool, I should have broken through to a higher level than the Eighth Layer. Something must be off."
Mu Jinyu looked down at his arm. The muscle lines were incredibly smooth and elegant, exuding a captivating strength and beauty. His skin, white as snow with visible capillaries, bore a faint glow.
"Could it be that the 'Dragon-Elephant Prison Suppression Technique' used most of the elixir's spiritual power to refine my body?"
Mu Jinyu guessed, suspecting this to be the case.
Shaking his head slightly, Mu Jinyu decided to examine his physical body's strength later.
Soon, he reached his residence at the summit of Tianlan Peak, intending to inform Wen Rou and Jian Ruyan of his return, only to find that they, too, were in seclusion after receiving the elixirs.
"Never mind, since they're also cultivating, I won't disturb them. I'll head to the practice field to test my body's strength."
Mu Jinyu wasn't disappointed. After all, he couldn't get intimate with Wen Rou anyway.
Soon, Mu Jinyu left his residence and headed to the practice field!
The practice field, as the name suggests, is where cultivators come to test newly mastered martial techniques, spells, and divine skills without wrecking their homes.
The field is equipped with specialized tools for testing effects!
Mu Jinyu arrived at the practice field and saw many people demonstrating their techniques and divine skills, testing their effects.
When they noticed Mu Jinyu, they paused their actions to watch him.
One of them, a burly man with knotted muscles as strong as an ox, noticed Mu Jinyu's cultivation reaching the Eighth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm and showed a hint of astonishment!
"Unbelievable! He was just at the Fourth Layer a few days ago, and now he's at the Eighth? What kind of elixirs did he take to advance so rapidly?"
"Could he have been hiding his true strength all along? That's how he managed to knock out Huang Daotian with one strike?"
"I don't think so. If he had been concealing his cultivation, we wouldn't have missed it, and neither would the Sect Leader. Word has it that the first-place reward in the Outer Gate's recent examination was three days of training in the Heavenly Sword Pool. Maybe those three days did the trick."
"That's impossible!"
"They say he came from a small place with poor cultivation conditions. His first exposure to a Heaven Cave like the Heavenly Sword Pool might indeed have had a significant impact!"
Listening to the whispered discussions, the burly man realized Mu Jinyu's rapid rise couldn't be stopped. It wouldn't be long before he matched Yun Ge's fame or even surpassed him!
So, he thought it might be best to challenge Mu Jinyu now while he's still on the rise. That way, even if Mu Jinyu surpassed him later, he could boast about having once defeated him.