A single grade three spirit stone was apparently sufficient to refine one Grade Five Spirit Dan, whereas grade four and five spirit stones could be used to refine a Grade Four Spirit Dan and below. Grade two and grade one spirit stones were used in refining Grade Six and Grade Seven Spirit Dans.

However, the price of spirit stones did not come cheap: just one grade three spirit stone would usually cost somewhere around thirty thousand gold coins.

Considering a grade three spirit stone’s price was thirty thousand gold coins, grade two spirit stones were a little intimidating, going up to fifty thousand gold coins.

Rather than feeling fear, Huang Xiaolong was actually relieved instead. Grade two spirit stones at a price of fifty thousand gold coins sounded colossal, but for Huang Xiaolong’s Nine Tripod Commerce, lacking gold coins was the least of his worries.

Thus without further delay, the four of them continued onwards in their journey.

Ten days passed and they were closer to their destination − the Duanren Empire.

Over the past ten days, Huang Xiaolong swallowed one high Grade Four Spirit Dan and Fire Dragon Pearl per day, cultivating in the ancient battlefield.

Stabilizing his recent breakthrough, Huang Xiaolong diligently practiced Asura Tactics and the Body Metamorphosis Scripture at the same time, enhancing both of them simultaneously.

It was now night.

Huang Xiaolong stood on a small barren hill. His right leg stepped out to the right and he lowered his body in a squat while his upper torso leaned forward. Both hands pressed down, supporting his weight. His head tilted up, breathing rhythmically the whole time.

This was the Body Metamorphosis Scripture Stage Ten: Crouching Tiger.

As he breathed in and out, spiritual energy rolled and surged towards Huang Xiaolong. Multiple layers of white fog shrouded his figure. As time wore on, these layers of white fog became denser, as if they would solidify the within next moment. From far away, all anyone could see was an enormous pool of white fog.

“This is what Sovereign mentioned before, the so-called internal force cultivation technique?” Zhao Shu asked, standing some distance away.

Fei Hou promptly responded, “That’s right, Left Custodian Zhao Shu.”

Yu Ming sighed in awe, “Is this internal force cultivation technique something that was created by Sovereign? It actually allows someone to cultivate without possessing a martial spirit. If news about such a cultivation technique existed, it would cause a bloody storm in Martial Spirit World.”

Zhao Shu nodded in agreement, “That’s true. Fei Hou, since Sovereign was willing to pass that Liquid Thunder Arts cultivation technique to you, you must take care not to leak it out.”

“Yes, Left Custodian Zhao.” Fei Hou acknowledged respectfully, and then said, “Sovereign said he is working to improve two sets of internal force cultivation techniques. Once they are complete, he will pass them to Left Custodian Zhao Shu and Master.”

Zhao Shu and Yu Ming trembled hearing that-- the excitement was evident from their eyes.

Both had already come to the conclusion that the main reason Fei Hou’s cultivation increased with such drastic speed was because he practiced both battle qi and internal force simultaneously.

The darkness of night gradually receded.

At the first ray of light, Huang Xiaolong ended his practice.

As he ended his Body Metamorphosis Scripture practice, Huang Xiaolong fell into a ponderous mood. Although cultivating Asura Tactics and Body Metamorphosis at the same time greatly enhanced his strength, practicing the methods individually was too troublesome and time consuming.

Inadvertently, this line of thought may be helpful for him to reduce the time it took to practice battle skills.

There were twenty-four hours in a day. Other than rushing on the road, most of Huang Xiaolong’s time was divided between practicing Asura Tactics and Body Metamorphosis Scripture.

“I wonder if the Asura Tactics and Body Metamorphosis Scripture could be initiated simultaneously, practicing both at the same time?” this thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

If it was possible, then he could save a lot of time.

Thus, Huang Xiaolong stood there trying to run Asura Tactics and Body Metamorphosis Scripture at the same time.

However, as he ran Asura Tactics and started to adjust his breathing, his battle qi stopped flowing. At the same time, the gathering of his internal force was met with a certain degree of unknown resistance.

About an hour later, Huang Xiaolong stopped.

After experimenting for more than an hour, Huang Xiaolong was pleasantly surprised to find that both battle qi and internal force could be circulated simultaneously. Unfortunately, the duration did not last long.

Although the duration was short, Huang Xiaolong believed that if he persevered in this direction, he would definitely be able to circulate both Asura Tactics battle qi and Body Metamorphosis internal force unimpeded at the same time.

This was akin to the time he summoned the twin dragon martial spirits separately.

When he first attempted the separate summoning, both of his twin dragons appeared at once. Only with time and practice, over and over again, did he successfully control their appearance, whether it was summoning a single martial spirit or both of them together.

“Sovereign!” Seeing Huang Xiaolong had ended his practice, Zhao Shu and the rest flew over from where they were waiting.

Huang Xiaolong nodded, and then his voice grew serious: “Zhao Shu, Yu Ming, I have two internal force cultivation techniques that I made with some revisions; I’m willing to pass them to you, are you willing to cultivate them?”

Zhao Shu and Yu Ming blanked for a second and were flooded with joy while nodding their heads in unison to show their willingness to learn. Both knelt down to thank their Sovereign’s kindness.

Huang Xiaolong told them to get up and passed two different sets of cultivation techniques to Zhao Shu and Yu Ming.

The internal force cultivation techniques Huang Xiaolong passed to Zhao Shu and Yu Ming were things he had obtained by luck in his previous life on Earth. As a whole, these two cultivation techniques could not be compared to the Body Metamorphosis Scripture, but in some aspects they weren’t any worse either.

While passing an internal force cultivation technique to each of them, Huang Xiaolong explained the problems that might be difficult to understand during their cultivation. The two took everything he said with utmost seriousness.

It was a few hours later before the group of four continued their journey.

Three days passed in roughly the same manner.

For the past three days, Zhao Shu and Yu Ming practiced according to the internal force cultivation techniques Huang Xiaolong taught them. After a few short days of practice, to their delight, Zhao Shu and Yu Ming noticed that their battle qi cultivation speed did indeed increase significantly.

Whenever they had questions about the techniques, they would seek advice and guidance from Huang Xiaolong, helping to easily solve things that baffled them. It was as if his answers were a bright light at the end of a tunnel.

Today, the sun shone brightly in the sky, and Huang Xiaolong and the other three were riding on beast mounts as they made their way through the mountains.

“Sovereign, estimating our speed, it will be one more day before we arrive in Duanren Empire.” Zhao Shu informed to Huang Xiaolong.

Huang Xiaolong nodded.

One more day!

Even though they were arriving in Duanren Empire tomorrow, it would take another half a month for them to reach the Imperial City.

They were in the seventh lunar month. By the time they made it to the Imperial City, there would be about ten days left before the battle commenced, so the timing was just right.

I hope things in Luo Tong Royal City are fine. Huang Xiaolong thought to himself.

With these several months of travel, the places they passed were mostly barren hills or the wilderness, and there hadn’t been any contact with Luo Tong Royal City.

But, the Big Sword Sect, Martial Ning Family, and Clear Cloud Pavilion were already destroyed, and there was still Marshal Haotian keeping an eye over things in Luo Tong Kingdom. Since that was the case, the safety of the Huang Family should not be an issue.

One day later, the group finally arrived in Duanren Empire!

Entering Duanren Empire, Huang Xiaolong could see many other people from other kingdoms that came to participate in the Imperial City Battle just like him. Additionally, there were also experts from different forces that came to watch the battle.

The Imperial City Battle of Duanren Empire was an open event, therefore, royal families and forces nearby would come to watch the event.

Entering Duanren Empire, Huang Xiaolong, Zhao Shu, Yu Ming, and Fei Hou did not dally, rushing onward straight to Duanren Empire’s Imperial City.

Two weeks later, Huang Xiaolong’s group arrived at their destination.

Standing in front of the Imperial City walls, Huang Xiaolong’s mind went blank as he stared at the grand sight in front of him − the behemoth city gates and the colossal walls.

The Luo Tong Royal City, Yuwai Royal City, and all the royal cities he had seen along the way while passing through some other kingdoms were nothing compared to the Imperial City gates standing before his eyes. It was similar to comparing a small mud brick house seated next to a palace.

The walls of Duanren Empire’s Imperial City boast a height of over a hundred zhang!

Exceeding one hundred zhang! Stupendous! The people walking below the city walls were akin to ants that were crawling on the ground. Yes, ants that crawled on the floor.

Looking at Duanren Imperial City gates, Huang Xiaolong felt very small. This feeling wasn’t limited to Huang Xiaolong though, Fei Hou did as well.

Even though this was the second time Fei Hou saw the Imperial City gates, the shock he felt was still just as strong.