Time flies like a shuttle, and three years passed quietly.
During these three years, many things happened.
But the most shocking among them was undoubtedly the heaven-defying growth speed of the Seven-Person Squad.
In particular, the transformation of the squad's core, Xu Tianhao, was even more shocking, breaking countless perceptions and records in the Spirit Master's world.
Three years ago, Xu Tianhao was only seven years old, and his spirit power was only Rank 18.
Today, three years later, he is already ten years old, and his spirit power level has directly soared to a terrifying Rank 44.
In just three years, he crossed three entire spirit ring realms, breaking through from a one-ring Spirit Master all the way to a four-ring Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
Such speed has never had a precedent, even in the tens of thousands of years of history in the Spirit Master's world.
Rank 44, a level that countless adult Spirit Masters find beyond reach, appeared on a mere ten-year-old child. How terrifying, how astonishing!
One must know that for an ordinary Spirit Master to break through from one ring to four rings, even with decent talent, it would require over a decade or even decades of bitter cultivation.
Yet Xu Tianhao used only three years to complete a leap that others could hardly achieve in a lifetime.
A surge of twenty-six ranks of spirit power in three years—this rate of improvement has long exceeded the scope of the word "genius" and can be called a rare miracle in the Spirit Master's world.
Even more unbelievable was that Xu Tianhao's increase of twenty-six ranks of spirit power never relied on any external force.
He did not proactively absorb any Spirit Bone, nor did he use any heaven-defying natural treasures (whale glue and medicinal baths don't count, as these are normal resources).
He relied entirely on his own heaven-defying talent, day after day of hard cultivation, and willpower far exceeding that of ordinary people, breaking through one step at a time.
Of course, aside from the two core factors of talent and effort...
Xu Tianhao's courage to absorb top-tier spirit rings above his level also contributed greatly to the rapid increase of his spirit power.
As a peerless genius possessing twin spirits, Xu Tianhao's physical foundation and soul strength were far beyond what Spirit Masters of the same rank could compare to.
From the very beginning of his Spirit awakening, he broke the conventions regarding the age limit of spirit rings a Spirit Master could absorb.
For every single spirit ring, he chose a top-tier age that far exceeded his own endurance limit. Every absorption allowed his spirit power to achieve a leap-style explosion.
Especially after Poison Immortal created a more detailed cultivation plan for his Body Martial Soul,
his second spirit ring reached a full four thousand five hundred years, bringing him a four-rank increase in spirit power.
When it came time to break through Rank 30 and absorb his third spirit ring, Xu Tianhao's foundation had reached a higher level. He challenged his limits again, choosing a top-tier spirit ring with an age as high as nine thousand years.
A nine-thousand-year spirit ring is already close to the ten-thousand-year threshold, something many Spirit Masters at the Rank 50 bottleneck would not dare to try easily.
But Xu Tianhao still absorbed it steadily. The boost from this single spirit ring caused his spirit power to explode from Rank 30 directly to Rank 33, achieving another triple jump.
At that time, Xu Tianhao even harbored the thought of directly attempting to absorb a ten-thousand-year spirit ring, wanting to create an unprecedented record with his third spirit ring.
However, for the sake of stability, he eventually restrained his adventurous heart and chose a nine-thousand-year third spirit ring.
And when breaking through Rank 40 to absorb his fourth spirit ring, Xu Tianhao completely released his heaven-defying talent, directly absorbing a terrifying ten-thousand-year spirit ring with an age as high as fifteen thousand years.
However, as his spirit power foundation grew deeper and his body became stronger,
the direct spirit power increase brought by the ten-thousand-year spirit ring weakened. Even so, it still raised his spirit power by three ranks, reaching Rank 43.
After several more months of hard cultivation, he easily broke through to Rank 44.
Currently, Xu Tianhao appears to be just a Rank 44 Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, but the solidity of his spirit power foundation and the purity of his spirit power quality have long surpassed all Spirit Masters of the same rank.
It is even more profound than many Spirit Emperor experts above Rank 60.
His current spirit ring configuration is three purple and one black.
Such a configuration is enough to make any Spirit Master's jaw drop in shock.
Therefore, even though Xu Tianhao only has four spirit rings now, his true combat power can no longer be measured by simple spirit power levels.
The heaven-defying ability of the Sun Moon Divine Pupils, combined with the terrifying boost from absorbing spirit rings above his level and his extremely profound spirit power foundation,
allowed him to challenge those at higher ranks. Even facing a Spirit King or Spirit Emperor above Rank 50, he would not feel the slightest fear.
Even Xiao Hongchen, who cultivated as if he had a cheat code, could only feel beyond reach and sigh in inadequacy before Xu Tianhao's terrifying growth speed and strength.
Xu Tianhao's heaven-defying growth was already world-shaking.
And the other six members of the Seven-Person Squad, under the nourishment of three years of healthy competition, also improved at a speed that could be called divine. Every single one of them completed a bone-deep transformation.
Three years ago, Xu Tianzhen sat firmly at the head of the squad with Rank 27 spirit power, being the target for everyone to chase.
Three years later, under the frantic pursuit of those two cultivation monsters, Long Aotian and Xiao Hongchen, Xu Tianzhen's lead has been overtaken.
Currently, within the Seven-Person Squad, the ones with the highest spirit power levels are Long Aotian and Xiao Hongchen; both are now Rank 45.
Next is Xu Tianhao at Rank 44.
After Xu Tianhao is Xu Tianzhen, with a spirit power level of Rank 42.
The remaining three—Ye Guyi, Meng Hongchen, and Nana—are all at Rank 38 spirit power.
Over the three years, even the three who improved the least, like Ye Guyi, increased their spirit power by an average of about five ranks per year.
Among them, Xiao Hongchen and Long Aotian progressed even more rapidly, and both absorbed a ten-thousand-year fourth spirit ring for their fourth ring!
Long Aotian's talent goes without saying; he had such a spirit ring configuration in the original work, but because of Xu Tianhao, Long Aotian's improvement speed became even faster.
Xiao Hongchen, however, truly changed because of Xu Tianhao, becoming very different from the original work.
A ten-thousand-year level fourth spirit ring was enough to take his talent and strength to the next level!
Although Xu Tianzhen's fourth spirit ring was not ten thousand years, it reached a terrifying nine-thousand-year level, much stronger than in the original work.
The same was true for Ye Guyi and the others; their strength saw huge progress and improvement.
In three years, the seven geniuses grew from the ignorant youths who first gathered at Haoyu Palace into paragons that are one in a million on the entire continent.
Xu Tianhao, with his heaven-defying cultivation as a ten-year-old Rank 44 Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, stood at the top of the Seven-Person Squad, becoming the undisputed core.
The other six were not far behind either, their combat power far exceeding their peers.
As Kong Deming and Poison Immortal watched these youngsters who were improving by leaps and bounds, gratified smiles often appeared on the two old men's faces.
These seven little fellows were like seven rising stars, radiating increasingly dazzling light in the Spirit Master's world.
And their legend was only just beginning.
Future Spirit Master tournaments and future continental conflicts would all become the stage for them to shine.
The accumulation and growth of these three years would be the most solid foundation for their steps toward the peak.
...
Inside the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Xu Tianhao's Seven-Person Squad occupied a training hall all to themselves.
At this time, the people in the training hall were either sitting or standing, playing around and chatting with each other while waiting for Xu Tianhao to return.
After Xu Tianhao broke through to three rings, he brought the small squad into the academy for more systematic study and further training.
After three years of getting used to each other, not only did the small squad's strength improve rapidly, but they were now also full of chemistry.