Spirit Cultivation

Xuefeng gave everyone a cheering kiss and grasped Ling's waist as they flew away from the training grounds. She refused to return to her world and instead hugged into his body shamelessly. He would never say no to her softness so he let her cuddle into his arms as she wished.

Though, Ling's goal was different from his thoughts. Just as they distanced themselves from the girls' sights, Ling hid into Xuefeng's neck mid-air and apologized with guilt, "I'm sorry... I am not a good Spirit…"

"What are you talking about?" Xuefeng was totally dumbfounded, not understanding her sudden change. "Did something happen?"

"Because of me, you are lagging behind everyone… I should have been the one to correct your path long time ago yet I failed to notice anything... I'm so useless…" Ling muttered ashamed, squeezing his neck in regret. "I want you to be the very best. Like no one ever was."

"Hey, hey… It's not your fault," Xuefeng disagreed right away as he rubbed her back to cheer her up yet Ling was firm.

She pulled away and caught his face with her hands. Ling's looked angry at herself as she shook her head, "No. I am here to support you but I didn't lead you well. You are not familiar with cultivation like everyone else is so I should have been the one to correct your path."

'You forgot about me. You are not the only one at fault,' Little Ming suddenly joined their conversation, sharing part of the blame. To top it off, her small body appeared right in front of them and hugged Xuefeng for the first time in the outside world.

Ling made space for Little Ming and they both cuddled into his chest while looking at him pitifully. They looked as if they waited for his punishment, willing to accept it no matter what he asks them to do.

"Sigh… Girls," Xuefeng started as he took a deep breath, "Listen, we are a team. All of us put effort to improve. If you are guilty of something then it's my fault as well. If either one of us fails, everyone fails. Right now it's not the time to blame anyone but find solutions, okay?"

He embraced Little Ming as well, holding onto her slim waist that he could feel clearly despite her pink hoodie and smiled, "I'm glad you finally came out."

Little Ming immediately blushed and avoided his gaze before hugging him, something she wanted to do for a long time. "I'm going to swap with my sister now so I wanted to say my goodbyes…" Little Ming muttered out of nowhere.

"Huh? Why?" Xuefeng asked in surprise but Little Ming's reasoning was simple.

"I don't know any high ranked Arts but my sister does. I want her to help you…"

Xuefeng could figure that she really wanted to stay with him so giving that up for the better good was really admirable.

"Thank you—" Xuefeng said as he leaned over to kiss her on the head when Little Ming suddenly looked up.

Mhmm…

She closed the distance between their faces before Xuefeng could react and kissed him lightly on the lips. Xuefeng's eyes widened immediately but the sensation on his lips didn't last for long.

"Little Ming…?" Xuefeng asked surprised as his lips were freed but she didn't respond right away, suddenly disappearing.

'I wanted to have a kiss before I leave... See you later," Little Ming explained sweetly in his mind before her voice was replaced by that of Ming. 'If you wanted to learn some arts, you could have told me earlier.'

"Ah, she left so fast…" Xuefeng muttered focusing his attention of Ling and greeted in his mind, 'Welcome back Ming. I would be glad to learn from you,'

He didn't comment on the kiss, choosing to wait for Little Ming to come back first.

'Sure, anytime,' Ming replied casually. 'Just call me when you are ready. I'm still tired so I will rest now.'

"I can learn Arts from Ming and attack inheritance grounds to get skills for my other elements," Xuefeng shared his plans as he once again swung with his wings and flew towards the palace.

"The highest ranked skills I know came from Thunder Goddess… I can share those with you…" Ling reported softly, still cuddling into his chest with her hands slipping underneath his jacket when she stopped, turning her head in the direction of the palace.

"Did something happen?" Xuefeng asked alarmed, noticing her sudden change.

"Someone is breaking through to the God Stage in the palace," Ling explained and pointed in a certain direction. "Look, isn't it Jiao on the balcony?"

Xuefeng followed her hand with his gaze and spotted the blonde beauty Jiao on one of the balconies, sitting cross legged as if she was cultivating.

"She didn't tell me anything about it…" Xuefeng replied and instinctively flew towards Jiao, wanting to talk to her. He knew she would leave to Heaven Realm once she broke through.

Ling didn't question his decision and simply entered inside him to not disturb him. The closer he got, the more pressure he felt, crushing against his body from Jiao's direction.

To his surprise, there were no phenomenons in the sky which meant that Jiao didn't absorb natural Essence from the air but instead used a supplement to advance. Recalling Lisa's Ascension Pill, he could easily guess what Jiao took.

Bang!

Just as he got closer to her, able to see her face clearly, he heard an explosion and in the next second was hit by a wave of explosive energy which pushed him back. At the same time, Jiao's eyes snapped open and she looked at the sky. It was all black due to late hours but something was slowly changing.

A white light appeared a few hundred meters above the palace and it started enlarging to the size of one meter in diameter, just enough for one person to pass through it.

'She succeeded and Heaven Realm opened its door for her. Being a God Stage cultivator, she can't stay in the Earth Realm for too long,' Ling explained just before Xuefeng called out from the distance.

"Jiao!"

She was about to fly to the sky when she heard Xuefeng's shout and stopped herself midway, glancing in his direction. A complicated emotions appeared on her face as her mouth opened to say something only to close right after. Instead, she bent her knees and launched herself in the sky, heading straight towards the door of light.

"Damn it," Xuefeng cursed under his breath and exploded forth, chasing after her. He would it hard to believe that even with his Golden Wings, he couldn't catch up with her, their gap only getting bigger.

He didn't plan on giving up this easily and suddenly turned into living rocket, bursting with both Air and Fire Qi out of his limbs. He quickly gained momentum and surpassed Jiao speed, closing the gap momentarily. Too bad, the door weren't far to begin with.

"Jiao! Wait!" Xuefeng cried out for the last time, right when she was about to enter through the door but she didn't stop, forcing Xuefeng to go on the extreme.

He extended his arm in the last moment and teleported himself right behind her with all leftover Spirit Qi he had. He grabbed blindly right after and caught her slim ankle. Unfortunately, the momentum he built up was too much, pushing the two of them right through the door of light.