"You're finally here." 

Lin Xiao turned his head and saw Prince Lin Yan stood there. He leaned on the wall and looked a bit tired but other than that, he still looked the same. Probably he also earned some benefit when he was passing the two stages but he didn't show it in his face.

Beside Prince Lin Yan was Prince Lin San and Xia Ye. The two of them looked different from before when they parted ways. Prince Lin San looked far sharper and there was even hint of danger from him. On the other hand, Xia Ye looked like his presence was growing lower and that there was also a hint of danger.

'They're improving so much.'

"Xiao Hua is not here yet?" Lin Xiao asked.

"She's over there."

Hearing that, Lin Xiao quickly turned his head around and he noticed Princess Lan Yi Hua standing while staring at the front. Her figure looked as beautiful as he could remember. After the torture in the training room for the past few days, which Lin Xiao didn't know for sure, he missed the others greatly.

Of course, the one he missed the most was Princess Lan Yi Hua.

As if sensing someone looking at her, Princess Lan Yi Hua turned her head around. She was still wearing the same cloak that covered most of her figure. The hood was partially covering her face, but Lin Xiao seemed to be able to see her beneath that hood.

A smile bloomed on Princess Lan Yi Hua's face.

"Xiao."

Lin Xiao could feel his heart thumped when he heard Princess Lan Yi Hua called him that way. He smiled back and initiated his movement technique to reach Princess Lan Yi Hua's side right away.

Swish!

With just a moment's time, he reached her side and looked at her face. She didn't look much different from before but Lin Xiao knew that something had changed.

From an ordinary glance, of course, she was still a Foundation Establishment Stage. However, there was faint feeling that Lin Xiao could detect the Ancient power within Princess Lan Yi Hua's body.

It was similar to him.

And Princess Lan Yi Hua was also using it to hide the power within her body as if there was a great secret that she needed to hide.

The thought crossed Lin Xiao's head for a moment before he chuckled and raised his hand. He touched Princess Lan Yi Hua's cheek. It felt soft and cold. "You work hard."

Princess Lan Yi Hua smiled sweetly. "So did you."

"Did you find the treasure room."

"En." Princess Lan Yi Hua nodded, her eyes flashed for a moment when she recalled those treasure rooms. Those might be the most dangerous moment in her entire life. "I found it through coincidence."

"Coincidence?"

"The ancient power within me are attracted to one side and I tried to tread inside carefully. Who would have thought that it'll lead me to treasure room?" Princess Lan Yi Hua sighed but there was a glint in her eyes.

"You seem to receive great benefit."

"Mhm." Princess Lan Yi Hua's eyes were full of confidence. Of course, she had grown stronger and this time, she would not lose easily. She eyed Lin Xiao from the corner of her eyes. "When we return, shall we have a duel?"

Duel?

Lin Xiao naturally smiled and nodded. "Sure!"

He was not afraid of dueling with his friends. They had already sparred with each other a lot during the time they were in the cave since there was nothing much that they could do aside from absorbing the Qi.

And it was not like they could absorb the Qi from the lake all day long. There was a limit to how much their body could take.

During the time they needed to rest, they would either spar with each other or Lin Xiao had his lessons regarding knowledge with Princess Lan Yi Hua. She helped him to understand more of this world from time to time, allowing to catch up to many knowledge lessons he had missed.

Still, there were a lot of them and it was not every single day that Lin Xiao could possibly have lessons. As a result, he still had a lot of gap in his knowledge, which Princess Lan Yi Hua helped to fill little by little.

Cultivators couldn't possibly live by simply secluding themselves and completely unaware of how the world worked.

He had to learn.

Lin Xiao turned his gaze to the front as he could see the beam of light in the middle of the room that he naturally ignored when he saw the others. It looked like a pillar that seemed to stem from the middle of the earth up to the sky.

But of course, there was a ceiling in this Grand hall.

Across the room, there were many other people but from the way it looked like, those people were younger than them and yet, their ranks were naturally higher.

Foundation Establishment Stage.

Golden Core Stage 1

Golden Core Stage 2

Their ages ranged from 12 to 20.

If many of them didn't know that most cultivators could only start their cultivator's journey when they were 12 years old after building enough physical foundation, they would think that they were seeing wrongly.

After all, a kid at 12 years old and had reached the Foundation Establishment… how in the world they cultivated?

Lin Xiao would naturally be as stumped as many others if only he didn't see Ye Jian and Long Hao not long ago. But still, looking so many of them being younger and only some of them seemed to be in their twenties from other group… still caused him to be feeling highly competitive.

Eh, wait…

"That's Long Hao?" Lin Xiao muttered to herself.

Princess Lan Yi Hua nodded and smiled bitterly. "It seemed that somehow we all still meet each other again."

Lin Xiao's lips twitched. He got the urge to summon Lin Hu right now and questioned that dragon furiously.