Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Wu with some confusion. How did this little girl get a spirit ring? When she left the academy earlier, she was clearly just a tenth-level spirit scholar, wasn't she?
Could it be that I sensed wrong?
No, that shouldn't be.
Even if there was a mistake in perception, with Xiao Wu's competitive personality, if she had a spirit ring, there's no way she would've resisted showing it off.
Being observant, Xiao Yan also noticed some changes in Xiao Wu's body.
Her originally flat figure now had a subtle curve—developed in just the few days he was away?
Can a body really grow this much in just a few days?
Xiao Yan was deeply skeptical.
Compared to random factors, the acceleration in growth after fusing with a spirit ring was a more likely explanation.
Unable to find a clear answer for now, Xiao Yan raised his hand and pinched Xiao Wu's delicate cheek.
"You want to be the boss? Beat me first, then we'll talk."
"You…" It was the first time she had ever been touched by a boy. Xiao Wu's pretty face turned red. She raised her hand to strike, but Xiao Yan had already turned and walked away.
"We've already wasted enough time here. Let's go to the cafeteria and eat."
As he walked, Xiao Yan waved a hand behind him.
"Wait for me, Boss Xiao Yan! I'll treat you to the second floor!"
Xiao Chenyu quickly chased after him.
Xiao Wu stomped her foot and also ran after them:
"Xiao Yan! You haven't paid me my wages yet. I'm going to eat on the second floor too!"
The moon hung like a silver plate in the sky, surrounded by countless stars.
In the back mountain of Notting Academy, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on the grass, chewing a stalk of Blue Silver Emperor in his mouth, letting its faint bitterness spread across his tongue.
Looking at the school uniform laid out in front of him, Xiao Yan opened his right hand, and with a thought, blue-gold light slowly lit up, revealing an elegant little plant.
After fusing with the Golden Vine Spirit Ring, the golden veins in the Blue Silver Emperor Martial Spirit now shimmered with the color of amber crystal, appearing even more refined and luxurious.
Then, two black spirit rings appeared on his body.
"First time trying weighted training. Still in the development phase, so let's not overdo it—start with 100 pounds and see how it feels."
Thinking of the powerful effects of weighted training in Dragon Ball, Xiao Yan rubbed his hands in excitement.
This was a key method for universal-level powerhouses to boost their strength.
Even though it came from an anime, long-term weighted training—once the weight is removed—greatly enhances both speed and strength.
With a thought, the second black spirit ring on Xiao Yan's body suddenly lit up.
The Blue Silver Emperor Martial Spirit in his palm instantly turned into several thread-like silk strands and spread over the uniform on the ground, wrapping it tightly.
With the uniform as a mold, Xiao Yan only needed to control the weight of the silk strands and weave them precisely.
This kind of mentally taxing task would be difficult for most people, but Xiao Yan had unusually strong spiritual power since childhood. On top of that, he practiced an advanced version of the Purple Demon Eye, which improved his spiritual power daily.
If it weren't for the fact that Purple Demon Eye could only be trained briefly in the early morning—unlike Xuan Tian Gong, which could auto-cultivate 24/7—Xiao Yan's spiritual strength might already exceed his internal power.
After an hour, Xiao Yan picked up the brand-new uniform and tried it on.
Though 100 pounds wasn't exactly light, it didn't put excessive pressure on Xiao Yan.
Under the suppression of this weighted outfit, Xiao Yan sharply noticed that his Xuan Tian Gong—which usually ran non-stop—was now circulating at a slower speed.
Since modifying Xuan Tian Gong into an auto-cultivating method, he rarely paid attention to it.
Closing his eyes, Xiao Yan carefully sensed the effects of the weighted clothing.
After a while, he fully understood how beneficial this was.
Under pressure, the internal power in his meridians flowed less smoothly—but in doing so, it became noticeably more refined.
The white internal energy, usually cloud-like or misty, was gradually thickening, showing signs of turning liquid.
Moreover, the newly cultivated internal power was also purer than before.
If it used to take 10 parts of old internal power to refine 1 part of pure power, now it only took about 8 parts to get the same result.
Xiao Yan moved his limbs to adapt to the weight, then sat cross-legged back on the ground and began actively cultivating Xuan Tian Gong.
Though the internal energy was now purer, he couldn't allow its speed to drop!
With his conscious control, the sluggish energy—previously lazing about in comfort—suddenly sped up and quickly returned to its former full-speed flow.
Internal power is the foundation of everything. If you can cultivate it to a peak, earth-shattering level, then even the simplest move can wield terrifying force.
But cultivating internal power is dry and tedious work. Aside from the quality of the internal technique and a few rare herbs, most of it came down to grinding day in and day out.
Now, he had the ability to make weighted clothing.
With its suppressive effect, both newly cultivated internal power and his accumulated reserves were being refined into something purer.
While the day still only had 24 hours, the quality of his internal power would now continuously improve.
And this was just 100 pounds of base weight. If he kept increasing the load, Xiao Yan believed his training speed would eventually surpass many martial seniors.
Also, the benefits of weighted clothing weren't limited to internal power—it greatly enhanced speed and strength too.
With extra weight on him, every step, every motion in daily life required more force.
While it might not show results in a day or two, after long-term adaptation, the body would gain significant strength, and muscle endurance would far exceed someone who grew under normal conditions.
Once the weight was removed, the sudden feeling of lightness would make him feel agile as a swallow, and his speed would increase dramatically.
These effects might seem subtle, but their actual impact was massive. When he first imagined weighted training, Xiao Yan already predicted at least 80–90% of this.
At dawn, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes.
"Auto-cultivating Xuan Tian Gong at full speed—it's back."
During those hours, he hadn't just been blindly increasing the speed of his cultivation.
Throughout the process, he had been fine-tuning the mechanics of Xuan Tian Gong between weighted and unweighted states, gradually modifying it to perfection.
Since he had rewritten Xuan Tian Gong himself and cultivated it for years, fine-tuning it wasn't too difficult.
Now, even while wearing weighted clothing, he could still maintain full-speed cultivation.
Standing up and glancing at the fading moonlight, Xiao Yan calculated:
"Still an hour or two till sunrise… time to head to Holy Soul Village and catch some rabbits. My rabbit meat deli should be opening soon."
....