Time passed swiftly, Lin Xiao's room.

Chilling Lake Sword, Sixth Stance!

The chilling air completely spread across the room and freeze everything in front of the sword. Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction. The seventh stance up to the ninth stance was very similar to the fourth up to sixth. However, the demand of the Qi and the profound skill behind it was much more.

"Hmm?" Lin Xiao could sense that the Qi inside his body had started to overflow. The corner of his lips curled up to form a smile. 

It was time.

Golden Core Stage was the stage where the cultivator would condense their Qi to form a ball in their dantian. The ball would be the source of their Qi in their battle. It was also capable to condense Qi better and eventually, it would be able to be purified further so that they would be able to use lesser Qi for same result.

Lin Xiao sat down cross legged and focused on his dantian, further condensing the Qi in his body to form a sphere.

The Qi around his body began to flow towards him. 

The movement attracted those who were staying near his room. But since they were all his friends, no one made their move. They only knew that Lin Xiao was in the midst of breaking through, so they have to protect him.

Lin Xiao focused on his cultivation. The feeling of the Qi that was coming towards him and filled his body, focusing in his dantian, felt so wonderful. It was really a good feeling but then he felt as if he was bloated.

The amount of Qi was clearly too much for such a small place.

It was time for him to condense the Qi to form a ball. The ball would be called Golden Core, which was the core of their entire martial arts. It contained all the essence of their martial art that they had thorough the years. 

Bang!

As the surge of Qi flew outwards, the others knew that Lin Xiao had successful. They didn't bother him and just stayed still in their room and continued their training. However, it was clear that everyone was in happy mood.

They were also feeling a bit more motivated to hurry and get stronger as fast as possible. 

"So this is Golden Core Stage."

Lin Xiao smiled in satisfaction at his newfound strength. Now that he had grown stronger, he felt that he would be ready to face other people.

'You're still fairly weak. Also, don't forget that once you're already three years in Sun Dragon Academy, there'll be ranking battle with the other seniors.'

'Ah…'

Those who were not present would naturally be placed at the bottom. While Lin Xiao himself didn't care much about that, he knew that he had to show himself. There were already some people who were following Lu Jian for the past few weeks, asking to join Lin Xiao's groups.

Of course, Lu Jian had to eliminate those who were not true to their words.

With his voice, it was easy for him to make them talk the truth after some tries. Only those whom they could trust would be accepted.

'Don't you want to help him out too?'

'Well, I don't think that I'll be able to do anything to help them in terms of skills. Many of us have different skill. Also, it's not possible for me to suddenly create a lake out of nowhere, right?'

'Seniors have their own residence. The higher the ranking, the bigger….'

'Let's go out now.'

Lin Hu was speechless and felt like spanking this idiotic master of his. 'Stabilize your power first, idiot! You won't be able to do anything even if you go out in this state! Also, that princess of yours is about to make her breakthrough too.'

'Ah…'

Lin Xiao slumped on the chair once more and grinned sheepishly. He sat down cross legged and focused on his cultivation.

Other matter aside from his cultivation could be pushed back. It was not as important as his own training. Besides, it would still take some time before he could participate in the ranking arena since they were not three years in Sun Dragon Academy yet.

After a few more days, Lin Xiao noticed faint ripples from the room next door. His lips curled up to form a smile.

Princess Lan Yi Hua had reached Golden Core Stage 1.

The two of them were already close to break through before they returned to Sun Dragon Academy, so this was only a matter of time before they could finally advance.

As Lin Xiao felt that his cultivation was already good enough, he walked out and visited Lin Yun's room. 

"Bro, what is it?"

"I want to know your progress in your other skills."

Lin Yun had picked the three skills that others recommended to him back in the cave, which was Moon Treasure, Splitting Water Sword, and Water Wave Punch. The first one was defensive skill, the second one was attack skill with sword while the last one was an attack skill with his punch.

Since he would be learning from the beginning again, it was clear that Lin Yun would take some time to master the skills.

"I only manage to comprehend a little bit." Lin Yun looked at Lin Xiao curiously. "Brother, are you going to teach me Sword River Bearing?"

"Yes." Lin Xiao had practiced that Sword River Bearing a few times but didn't really focus in it. After all, it was not going to be his main skill or anything like that. He only learned a little bit in order to teach his younger brother.

Lin Yun's eyes shone. "Really?"

"Pay attention."

With that, Lin Yun clamped his mouth shut and his eyes were completely focused on his brother, afraid that he would miss even a single move. 

Lin Xiao smiled and began to move. The skill relied on its fluency just like the water current that flowed unobstructed. Several slashes were formed at the wall and at the end, Lin Xiao moved the sword horizontally as if he was cutting off someone's neck.

Bang!