The Ling family.
By the time the two finished their tasks, they had already missed dinner, but Bai Jingzhi had asked for food to be kept for them.
The two were on their way to the flower hall.
Ling Luoyi asked, "Fuer, after seeing so many people, do you still want to cultivate?"
Ling Luofu was startled and said, "Yes, elder sister. I've never been so determined. If I can cultivate, the Ling family will have more fighting strength, right?"
Ling Luoyi smiled and said, "Fuer, the path of cultivation is like sailing against the current; one either advances or falls back. If you are determined to cultivate, you must persevere. If you hesitate, a heart demon will arise. You should know how formidable heart demons are, right?"
"Elder sister, I know. Heart demons can affect cultivation and are insidious. As long as there is a sliver of opportunity, they can lure people to fall into demonic ways."
"Therefore, you must be mentally prepared."
"Elder sister, after you asked me if I wanted to cultivate that day, I was already prepared. After today, my resolve has only strengthened. I want to become stronger."
Ling Luoyi smiled and said, "Fuer, as long as you persevere without hesitation, you will eventually become stronger."
"Yes, I know."
"Continue drinking the tea I gave you."
"I am drinking it."
As the sisters were talking, they arrived at the flower hall.
Ling Luoyi found everyone else present after entering.
"You also finished so late," Ling Luoyi said after sitting down.
"There's no other way, there were too many people."
"You must be hungry. Second aunt saved food for us. Let's eat first."
"Okay."
After the meal, the maids cleared the dishes.
"Elder sister, these are the medicinal ingredients we bought. As you instructed, we bought everything available on the market."
"Well done."
Ling Luoyi took them, stored them in the Fengxi Realm, and asked Guanyue to handle them properly.
"And this too."
Ling Luoxian raised her left hand, revealing the 'bracelet' on her wrist.
Ling Luoyi looked at it, smiled, and said, "Chensha, you've worked hard. You may go."
In the next instant, Chensha disappeared from their sight.
Ling Luoxian felt as if she could finally breathe properly.
"Luo'er, I have sent the cultivation resources for the elders. I also told them to use them themselves and not worry about the younger generation."
"Luo'er, second brother has also sent the items over. As you instructed, he watched them take them."
"Luo'er, third brother has also notified them. They should have arrived by now."
Ling Luoyi clapped her hands and said, "Very good. Everyone has done well so far. We will need your help this afternoon as well."
"Elder sister, what about me? What about me?" Ling Luozhi asked, afraid of being forgotten.
Ling Luoyi tapped her head and said, "Don't worry, there's something you can help with."
After speaking, she looked at everyone and said, "Let's go over as well."
Training grounds.
When Ling Luoyi and her group arrived, they saw the younger generation waiting for them under the sun.
Ling Luoyi stepped forward and said, "You should all know what day it is in a month. The Ling family will announce to the world then that we are returning to our peak. Therefore, we have called you here today to resolve any issues you are encountering in your cultivation. Before that, there is one more thing to do..."
Ling Luoyi took out a pile of porcelain bottles and placed them on a table she had prepared.
"You should have all heard of the 'Marrow Cleansing Pill,' right? Now, each of you come up and receive one. Dissolve it in water during your bath tonight and soak for an hour."
The younger generation erupted in exclamations. Someone asked, "Eldest Miss, is the Marrow Cleansing Pill real? Isn't it already lost?"
"Whether it's real or not, you'll find out when you try it."
She had no interest in explaining so much. Whether it was real or not, they would know after using it.
"But Eldest Miss, isn't the effect of cleansing the marrow and washing the bones greatest when the Marrow Cleansing Pill is taken directly? Why is it a medicinal bath?"
"Take it directly? With your current physique, taking it directly would be enough to kill you. Even if you survived, you would be crippled."
"Alright, stop the nonsense. Since Eldest Miss has asked you to do this, she must have thought it through carefully and it's the most suitable for your constitution. Come up and collect them. Remember to use them tonight. You don't need to worry about the elders," Ling Luochen stated.
In less than fifteen minutes, everyone had received their share.
"Alright! You've all got your items. Now, let's move on to the next item. I mentioned earlier that we would announce the Ling family's return to its peak during the genius selection. What you need to do is improve your strength as much as possible within a month. Now, demonstrate the martial skills you have learned to me, and I will explain them to you. I've had people replenish the martial skills in the Martial Skill Pavilion, and you can go learn them."
Upon hearing this, they became excited, and for a moment, no one stepped forward.
"Eldest Miss, I'll go first."
The one who stepped forward was the eldest elder's grandson, Ling Luozhe, who was twenty-five years old and the eldest among the younger generation of the Ling family.
"Mm," Ling Luoyi nodded.
Ling Luozhe demonstrated his martial skills.
Ling Luoyi watched, nodding occasionally.
After Ling Luozhe finished, he looked at Ling Luoyi.
"You've learned well. However, wind-element martial skills are known for their speed. Brother Luozhe, your speed is insufficient; you need to improve."
"Improve speed?"
"Yes."
"But this is already the fastest speed I can achieve."
"Brother Luozhe, and all of you, remember this: if you cannot improve externally, then improve internally!"
"Internally?"
"Integrate your spiritual energy with your flesh, blood, and bones, so that every part of your body is filled with spiritual energy. If you can achieve this, you will find that your bodies will advance by a level, although this process is very painful."
Ling Luoyi gave them time to process this.
After a while, Ling Luoyi clapped her hands and said, "Don't come one by one. Fight each other. Only by finding problems in combat can you remember them."
After several rounds of combat, Ling Luoyi said, "Your problems are basically consistent. The problems that are outwardly visible, I have already told you about, and I have also told you how to solve them. Now I will talk about other issues."
Ling Luoyi paused, allowing them to recover.
"First, the speed of releasing spiritual energy is too slow. The faster you release spiritual energy, the more time you save. Within the same amount of time, the more spiritual energy you release, the stronger your martial skills will be."
"Second, your control over spiritual energy is insufficient. It is also because of this insufficiency that you tend to injure others or yourselves during training."
"Third, the consumption of spiritual energy. When fighting against someone of the same cultivation level, whoever runs out of spiritual energy first loses. This is related to the second point, as insufficient control requires more spiritual energy to execute martial skills."
"Fourth, you have been cultivating in a safe environment and have not experienced actual combat, so your combat reactions are sluggish. This is also a problem. If you had experienced real battles, you would know how important this is."
"Fifth, and most importantly, you have all overlooked the importance of physical strength. You are all cultivators of spiritual energy, so you believe that spiritual energy is the most important thing for cultivators. But what if you are in a state of depleted spiritual energy or are unable to use spiritual energy at all, and you face a powerful opponent? How will you survive?"
"You will be unable to do anything because without spiritual energy, you are like cripples."
Everyone fell silent, unable to refute her, as everything she said was true.
In fact, on the Ancient Spirit Continent, cultivators were divided into two types: spiritual cultivators and martial cultivators.
Spiritual cultivators were those who cultivated spiritual energy, while martial cultivators forged their bodies and used their bodies to attack.
Because martial cultivators of the same age were not as powerful as spiritual cultivators, martial cultivators were generally those who could not cultivate spiritual energy but were unwilling to remain ordinary.
Therefore, there was a hierarchy on the Ancient Spirit Continent: spiritual cultivators looked down on martial cultivators, and martial cultivators disdained ordinary people.
It was also because of this that most spiritual cultivators did not train their bodies, relying solely on spiritual energy to strengthen themselves.