Spirit Cultivation

"Nuwa, this is just sparring. I need to join a Sect anyway so that I can join the Empire Tournament. To be honest, I don't really care about which Sect I join, so I might as well enter one with my friend in it. White Lotus Sect seems like a good option." Xuefeng tried to calm Nuwa down, slowly explaining his motives.

Unfortunately, even with that Nuwa wasn't quite satisfied and asked, "Can't you join any other Sect then? I bet there are so many other Sects that can get you the pass as well."

Hearing her reject the offer this fast just because she disliked Jiao, Xuefeng couldn't help but smile helplessly, patting his silly girlfriend's head before finally saying, "Let's just wait and see if Shan can defeat me first." Even if Xuefeng wanted to be more assertive, he still had a soft spot for his women, always preferring to fix the issue in peace.

Turning to Princess Shan who was still excited to battle with him, Xuefeng asked with a smile, "What do you think Shan? Can you defeat me? If you do, I might become your Senior Brother in the Sect."

Of course, Princess Shan didn't hesitate and nodded right away, "I will do my best to win!" Thinking it was Jiao's idea to bring Xuefeng into their Sect so that the two of them could be together, Princess Shan quickly approached her and called out, while resisting the urge to hug her, "Thank you, Master!"

Jiao knew exactly what her student meant by that, but she didn't explain it to her, not exposing Xuefeng as well. Her Junior Sisters also stayed quiet, not saying anything about the real deal. They respected Xuefeng for turning it around so that Princess Shan would be much more motivated while at the same time providing himself with a harder opponent.

Patting Princess Shan's shoulder, Jiao encouraged her, not acknowledging Nuwa as Xuefeng's girlfriend on purpose to make her mad, "Hope you do well. Let's show Young Master Liu's friend the power of our White Lotus Sect. She doesn't seem to believe in our Sect." She was sure that Nuwa wouldn't kill her, having a connection to Princess Shan after all.

After hearing Nuwa comment, she would be satisfied with either of them winning. In one case she would be able to roast Nuwa and in the other, she would be able to poach Xuefeng which also worked for her. Even if Nuwa was stronger than her, when they come into their territory, the situation would look much different.

Glaring openly at Jiao, Nuwa leaned over and kissed Xuefeng on the cheek, calling out cooly, "Xuefeng, win this." It sounded more like an order than a good luck message but Xuefeng only smiled and nodded. Nuwa didn't know that if he won, they would still visit the Sect.

Nuwa was strong and could solve all of his problems if he asked her, but what would that make him? No one likes useless bastards so he didn't plan on becoming one.  He would rather work hard and defeat the prince of Sacred Sword Kingdom himself, keeping his word.

Having both parties ready, Xuefeng approached Shan and proposed with a smile,  "Let's visit the training grounds then? It's not far from here."

"Yes! I'm ready. It's best if we don't fight here. I don't want to make a mess of your courtyard." Princess Shan replied as she hopped to his side with confidence emanating from her body.

Princess Shan looked like she already won the fight but that was what Xuefeng could expect from her. She didn't change much in the end, being the same bold Princess he liked spending time with.

Seeing her excitement, Xuefeng couldn't be more happy. He was also eager to fight a strong opponent, so if Princess Shan could actually push him more in the battle, that would be the best.

As they walked out of the courtyard, Princess Shan looked gently at Xuefeng's new look and couldn't help but praise him, planning to start some conversation, "I like your new hair."

Xuefeng flipped his white hair as he looked away from Nuwa who walked next to him and patted Princess Shan's head as a reward, complementing her as well, "Thank you, you are also as pretty as always. How much did you advance since you went away? You seem to be very confident that you can beat me."

Princess Shan didn't actually mind that question thanks to the gentle pat she just received and also because she was more than happy to finally have a chance to talk with Xuefeng once again. She replied honestly after thinking for a moment, "Actually, not much in terms of the cultivation. I only advanced to Spirit Overlord stage. My main focus over the last few months was mostly towards my mastery over Water Element. I should be reaching full mastery any time soon. What about you?"

"I also focused on my Elements. I have a few more than you though. I also mastered them all already. I also got some tricks up my sleeve so you should be careful when we fight." Xuefeng tried to be nice and warn her a bit, planning to go all out on her from the start, but he didn't expect her to suddenly exclaim right after she heard him, "What?! Did you master them all?"

Princess Shan sounded shocked, but in a good way, happy for him if that was the truth as a hopeful smile appeared on her face, waiting for him to confirm it.

"Is it that strange?" Xuefeng couldn't help but look at her confused, not getting why she was so shocked. Even without being half-elf and half-human, Xuefeng still believed he would master his Elements pretty fast. Wasn't it just manipulating and transforming Qi?

"No no. That's very impressive actually. If that's true then I might really have a hard time winning." Princess Shan quickly shook her head, praising him instead before sighing a bit as her battle might end up a loss in such a situation. She still asked out of curiosity, "What is the stage of your Domain then? Did you maybe reach the second stage on at least one element already?"

Hearing her question, it was now Xuefeng's time to get confused, not understanding what Princess Shan was asking. What second stage? What domain? Did they master different elements?

"You don't know?" Princess Shan saw his confusion and asked with a playful smile, relaxing her tensed body after getting a scare from him earlier. Xuefeng saw her smirk and asked without thinking, "What is a Domain?"

"Hah, I guess I will have to show you. It would be really strange if you already mastered your Domain for every Element." Hearing his question, Princess Shan chuckled, confirming her guess and didn't expose anything else, deciding to impress Xuefeng with her skills.

'What is a Domain?' Having no patience to wait for later, Xuefeng quickly asked the same question in his mind and quickly received his answers.

Ling was the one who called out first, admitting her mistake before she got exposed by Ming, 'I was going to tell you about it after you have mastered all the basic skills of your Elements, but so many things happened that I actually forgot about it.'

Without wasting time she simply explained, 'The Domain is just another stage of Elemental Cultivation. After you achieve such stage, you are able to sync with your Element, creating an area around you which is completely filled with your Element, giving you a huge advantage in battle. Just as you can use nature as part of your attacks, when you activate your domain, you are able to use all the elements inside to attack from all sides. Shan is probably reaching the first complete stage of Water Element.'

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to find time for that anyway, Xuefeng wasn't actually that mad at Ling. He got the basic understanding thanks to her now but still needed to ask for more details, 'Is it hard to reach such mastery?'

'For normal cultivators, yes, it is hard. For half-elves like you, it should take you much less time. Your body is naturally closer to nature and elements. I think Nuwa should be able to teach you some special methods of hers. She should have already mastered her own Elements to this stage.' Ling proposed, knowing that Nuwa would be the best teacher for this subject.

Xuefeng didn't go straight to Nuwa for that but instead muttered to himself while tightening his grip on her hand, "I guess I will need to learn this Domain too." He used the grip to pass Nuwa the message and she quickly returned the grasp, returning the message while adding a small rub on his shoulder with her finger. Sometimes they didn't even need to talk to know what was on their minds.

"I guess we arrived. Are you ready for a battle?" Princess Shan asked after seeing the many Liu Clan Members training on the big training grounds.

Xuefeng nodded but frowned at the same time, knowing it would be hard to battle with so many people here, so he went in first, deciding to make this battle an event for everyone to learn, "Yup, let me clear everyone just in case we get too crazy."

Seeing Princess Shan watching Xuefeng's back patiently, her Junior sisters sighed with smiles on their faces, commenting among themselves, "Senior Sister Shan is so in love. The way she looks at him makes my heart throb happily…"

"Yeah, I think it would be great if Young Master joined our sect. Master, who do you think will win?"

They asked Jiao who was only observing recently, deciding to take a step back, watching from the side until it was her time to shine. Jiao could only guess, having some theory that Xuefeng wasn't as weak as she thought before, and replied to her pupil, "He might win actually…"