by Shian Jeen
Huwang Xiao reassured Feng Yang, “Master, rest assured, your disciple will work hard to break through to God Realm within these three years.”
Feng Yang nodded, “Other than Gudu Leng, you must also be careful of that Wang Biaoyuan. I received news that the kid found a piece of pure metal essence and he’s in closed-door practice, refining it this very moment. Three years later, he too will most likely challenge you.”
As for Huwang Xiao’s reassurance that he will work hard to break through to God Realm within three years, Feng Yang did not pay it any attention. Although he acknowledged Huwang Xiao’s excellent talent, from his perspective, breaking through from half-step God Realm to peak half-step God Realm then to God Realm in just three years was impossible.
Ch.549
Huwang Xiao did not expect that Wang Biaoyuan was lucky enough to come across a piece of pure metal essence, but despite knowing that, Huwang Xiao threw the matter to the back of his mind.
Institute Principal Feng Yang went on, “The twenty thousand Black Warrior Greater Strength Pellets I gave you are enough to last you one year, when you’ve finished them, Master will give you more.”
Huwang Xiao nodded yes, the image of obedience.
Following that, Feng Yang imparted some cultivation knowledge to Huwang Xiao. By the time Huwang Xiao returned to his yard, one hour had passed.
Watching Huwang Xiao’s leaving silhouette, Feng Yang smiled shaking his head, he was aware that this disciple of his put neither Gudu Leng nor Wang Biaoyuan in his eyes. Then again, given his disciple’s monstrous talent, this much arrogance was nothing.
Back in his yard, Huwang Xiao opened the seal on the spatial ring containing today’s congratulatory gifts. Looking into the spatial ring, Huwang Xiao was instantly dumbfounded. Every inch inside the ring was stuff to the brim with precious treasures, lustrous precious divine pellets, shining elixirs that were hundreds of thousands of years old!
Huwang Xiao was bedazzled at the sight, gulping nervously.
If the items inside the spatial ring were taken out to auction, it’d be like striking it filthy rich overnight, becoming the galaxy’s wealthiest nouveau riche.
His spiritual sense swept inside the space, a small cluster of golden pellets in a corner caught his interest. Taking out one of the golden pellets, a bright aureate light glowed from the golden pellet as it sat quietly in his palm.
“This is an ancient Grandmist Desire Golden Pill!” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi exclaimed in astonishment. “It’s good stuff ah! Even during the ancient times, this Grandmist Desire Golden Pill was hard to come by, one of these is several times better than refining a God Realm beast core. I didn’t expect there to be people who would be willing to take this out!”
Grandmist Desire Golden Pill! Huwang Xiao’s eyes instantly brightened. He had heard of this Grandmist Desire Golden Pills, where Gods of ancient times gathered hundreds of one hundred thousand years old medicinal herbs and refined them using innate fire.
He immediately entered the Xumi Temple, sitting in a cross-legged position. His mouth opened and inhaled ten golden pellets into his body. Muffled popping sounds could be heard coming from the insides of Huwang Xiao’s body.
A few hours later, Huwang Xiao finally refined all ten Grandmist Desire Golden Pills. His body felt lighter and comfortable, something he did not feel when refining the Black Warrior Greater Strength Pellets.
Inside the spatial ring, there was a little over thirty Grandmist Desire Golden Pills. In one sitting, Huwang Xiao had refined thirty pellets, keeping the remaining few for his family.
He spent the next one month inside the Xumi Temple, either refining divine pellets or one hundred thousand years old elixirs received from the congratulatory gifts. Although not all the divine pellets were on par with the Grandmist Desire Golden Pills, they were still rare and precious medicinal pellets in the galaxy. In this one month, his strength rose steadily, bringing him infinitely closer to peak half-step God Realm. Signs of an imminent breakthrough became more apparent as time passed.
In the course of one month, eldest Senior-Apprentice Brother Liu Yun and Third-Apprentice Sister Qi Wen had visited him a few times, and he was able to get along amiably with both of them.
His Eldest Senior-Apprentice Brother Liu Yun had a gentle personality, whereas Third Senior-Apprentice Sister was generous and considerate, they both looked after this Junior Apprentice-Brother in their own way. They appeared at his doorstep every other week, offering cultivation advice to Huwang Xiao.
Both of them had been disciples of the Institute Principal for more than twenty thousand years and were high experts of Tenth Order God Realm and above. Thus, Huwang Xiao greatly benefited from their guidance.
However, never once did his Second Senior-Apprentice Brother appeared.
On this day, Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi was talking to Huwang Xiao, “Two months after passing the new disciple selection assessment, there will be an outdoor task delegated to all new disciples, and that’s tomorrow. You should join together with the other new disciples.”
Huwang Xiao nodded. As the Institute Principal’s personal disciple, he could decline to participate in this new disciple outdoor task, however, he preferred not to stand out due to special treatment. Other than that, participating in the new disciple task would be beneficial to his cultivation.
From his understanding, most new disciple tasks were hunting demonic beasts, bandits, or ghostly creatures. Making a short calculation in his head, Huwang Xiao estimated that he’d be able to advance to peak half-step God Realm with another one hundred First Order God Realm beast cores or a hundred souls of First Order God Realm ghost creatures.
The night passed.
On the next morning, Huwang Xiao went to inform the Institute Principal before making his way out from the manor, arriving at the Supreme Harmony Hall a short while later.
By the time Huwang Xiao arrived, most of the new disciples were already assembled at the square. With a quick scan around, he quickly spotted both Gudu Leng and Jiang Shaoze. Honestly, he was surprised seeing them both here, for he never expected they too would participate in this new disciple task. Based on these two people’s identities, they needn’t participate if they weren't interested.
As time passed, more and more new disciples arrived at the square.
“It’s Wang Biaoyuan!”
Someone suddenly shouted.
Huwang Xiao’s gaze trailed behind the crowd’s, falling onto a figure flying at breakneck speed from afar, whistling through the wind, leaving a tail of golden flames behind him. This person was none other than Wang Biaoyuan.
In seconds, Wang Biaoyuan already arrived in front of the crowd of new disciples as he descended to the square. When his feet touched the pavement, it felt like a thousand catties of heavy metal falling down, one could feel the ground shaking underneath their feet. As his feet touched the ground, Wang Biaoyuan shot a cold gaze in Huwang Xiao’s direction before looking away without a word.
Huwang Xiao noticed that Wang Biaoyuan’s temperament could barely be considered as having grown more steady, with his aura better controlled, different from the arrogant tyrant exuding a sharp aura two months ago. It seems like the other side’s strength had enhanced a large degree from refining the pure metal essence.
This was also another person Huwang Xiao did not expect to show up and participate in the new disciple task.
In general, refining treasures such as the pure metal essence was better done without interruptions in between until it was fully refined. Stopping in between could greatly reduce its benefits.
It didn’t take long for all the one hundred new disciples to assemble. When all were present, Elder Zhang Tianchuan finally appeared in front of them. He was overseeing this round of new disciples tasks.
Standing at the front of the square, Zhang Tianchuan’s eyes swept over these new faces, stopping a second longer on Huwang Xiao with a slight nod and faint smile.
“I’ll be overseeing this
round’s new disciple task. Later on, we’ll be heading to the Undead World to hunt ghost creatures.” Zhang Tianchuan continued, “After we arrive in the Undead World, everyone should pay attention to their safety, the ghost creatures there are not the same as the ones on the Deepwood Star. These ghost creatures in the Undead World possess tremendous recovery power, making it that much harder to kill them.”
Zhang Tianchuan reminded everyone things they needed to pay attention to during the task. Of course, there were rewards for any tasks taken, including this one. However, only for the top three places.
Huwang Xiao memorized everything Zhang Tianchuan reminded them to take note of. Since Zhang Tianchuan took the trouble to remind them, remembering it was better than not knowing.
A short while later, Zhang Tianchuan led the group to the transmission array on the North Star Square and started it up. A flash of light appeared, and after feeling as if the universe flipped upside down, they arrived at a bleak and barren desert.
Surveying their surroundings, the barren desert seemed to have no edge, dry sand skittered across the dunes. Above the veil of sand, high in the sky, were pools of black energy that emitted a foul rancid stench and death aura.
“This is the Undead World.” Zhang Tianchuan’s voice sounded in everyone’s ears, “I hope all of you have remembered what I’ve said. We’ll assemble at this transmission array in one month’s time. Now, go and perform your task accordingly!”
Just as Zhang Tianchuan’s voice fell, Gudu Leng, Wang Biaoyuan, Jiang Shaoze, Xu Shaoqing, and the rest disappeared from the scene in a flicker.
Ch.550
As Gudu Leng, Wang Biaoyuan, and the others’ silhouettes disappeared from the transmission array location, Huwang Xiao too made his move.
Huwang Xiao was actually nonchalant about taking first place on this new disciples’ task. For him, the most important now was advancing to peak half-step God Realm. With the innate spiritual embryo, as long as he could reach peak half-step God Realm, breaking through to God Realm was an easy matter.
Three days later, Huwang Xiao hovered in the air above a valley, a deep frown etched on his forehead.
In the last three days, the majority of the ghost creatures he came across were either half-step God Realm or peak half-step God Realm. The number of God Realm ghost creatures were too low to meet Huwang Xiao’s expectations. In three days, he only managed to kill no more than twenty-something.
The average wasn’t even ten a day, which depressed Huwang Xiao.
If things continued to move at this rate, he’d be wasting ten days before he could advance to peak half-step God Realm.
“Ten days.” Huwang Xiao muttered.
The duration of the new disciples’ task was one month, minus the ten days needed to achieve peak half-step God Realm, only twenty days remained.
‘It seems I can only break through to God Realm when I return.’ Refining the innate spiritual embryo to break through to God Realm was not something that could be done in ten days or half a month. Hence, he had no other choice but to wait upon returning to the institute before refining the innate spiritual embryo.
Ten days passed by in the blink of an eye.
Hands bent like claws, Huwang Xiao crushed the God Realm ghost creature attacking him. His mouth opened and inhaled, swallowing the ghost creature’s soul into his body, and ran the Blood Deed Pact to refine its soul.
Just as Huwang Xiao finished refining the soul of his latest kill, his body suddenly shuddered. A low crisp noise sounded inside his body, followed by a surging current of energy exploding in his body.
Joy flooded his heart—peak half-step God Realm! Finally, he was at peak half-step God Realm!
A while later, Huwang Xiao suppressed the joy in his heart, taking out the new disciple task token. In the last ten days, he did not pay any attention to the points recorded, therefore he had no idea what was his current ranking was.
“Seventh place, 683.21 million points.” When a ray of his consciousness submerged into the little token, a message appeared in his mind.
‘Seventh place, still not too bad.’ Huwang Xiao thought.
He had been focusing on hunting God Realm ghost creatures, making moves occasionally when he came across half-step and peak half-step God Realms. Even so, being able to rank seventh place was better than he had expected. His worst assumption was that someone might have kicked him out of the top ten.
Currently, Gudu Leng reigned first place, however, this time Wang Biaoyuan was holding firm at the second place, whereas Jiang Shaoze was third.
Now that he had achieved his main objective of peak half-step God Realm, it was time to go all out.
Huwang Xiao leaped out, the true essence energy in his dantian spun, creating a layer of true essence fire on the surface of his skin that continued to expand, spreading out. The true essence fire transformed his immediate surroundings into a sea of fire, incinerating every ghost creature caught in its vivid flames.
Against these ghost creatures, the most effective method was his true essence fire, causing Huwang Xiao to put away his Asura Sword Skill or other battle skills for that matter.
The passage of time flowed by, and half a month passed.
Huwang Xiao, who was initially at the seventh place began to catch up at rapid speed, like a déjà vu of the disciple selection assessment, taking over the first place. Gudu Leng fell to second place. Ten days prior, Gudu Leng, Wang Biaoyuan, Jiang Shaoze, and the others were secretly gleeful at Huwang Xiao’s less than ideal ranking, no one expected that within half a month, this person would pull the same trick he did during the assessment, overtaking them one by one until he stood at the top spot.
In the subsequent days, there was no suspense. Regardless of how Gudu Leng tried to narrow the difference in points, it only grew wider and further away until the allocated time of one month passed and they were required to assemble at the transmission array.
As expected, the first place once again went to Huwang Xiao.
When Zhang Tianchuan led the disciples back to the Black Tortoise World through the transmission array, Wang Biaoyuan and Jiang Shaoze didn’t look too good.
Wang Biaoyuan especially. He had followed the treasure map and found the pure metal essence and had been in closed-door practice for two months before this in order to refine the pure metal essence and he greatly benefitted, seeing a huge increase in his strength. Wang Biaoyuan’s sole motivation in participating in the new disciples’ task was to suppress Huwang Xiao’s limelight a little, but who knew that the points difference this time was even larger than the last!
Zhang Tianchuan brought everyone back to the Supreme Harmony Hall where he gave out the rewards for the top three places.
Wang Biaoyuan watched with a gloomy expression as Huwang Xiao went up to receive the first place reward. ‘Punk, enjoy this while it lasts! Wait till the next new disciple's assessment, let’s see if you can still act this arrogant!’
While passing the rewards to Huwang Xiao, Zhang Tianchuan spoke some courteous and amiable words. Barely half an hour later, Zhang Tianchuan dispersed the disciples from the square.
Leaving the Supreme Harmony Hall, Huwang Xiao made a beeline back to his Master’s manor and dove inside the Xumi Temple.
Inside the Xumi Temple, Huwang Xiao was flushed with excitement gazing at the innate spiritual embryo at the center of the Ten Buddha Formation, his heart raced.
Finally, the time had come to refine this innate spiritual embryo. Every day, he could only look but couldn't eat, his heart had been itching, long waiting for this day to arrive.
“Little rascal, don’t forget, this innate spiritual embryo has formed its own intelligence, you must be very careful when you refine it later.” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi’s voice reminded Huwang Xiao, “If you fail, its consciousness will seize your body instead.”
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi was unable to help Huwang Xiao during refining, everything depended on Huwang Xiao himself. Hence, Dragon Emperor Ao Tai
yi spoke to remind him of the risk.
Huwang Xiao nodded, calming his excitement and looking dignified. Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, he approached the innate spiritual embryo, sitting cross-legged across from it.
When his emotions were like the surface of a still lake, Huwang Xiao began to run the Asura Tactics, unsealing the embryo’s energy bit by bit.
A brief moment passed and Huwang Xiao opened his mouth, inhaling deeply. In that immediate instant, the terrifying amount of spiritual energy contained inside the embryo rushed out like a tsunami into his body.
Even his True Dragon Physique trembled with the sudden rush of energy from the innate spiritual embryo, causing prickling pain all over, which shocked Huwang Xiao.
Since he started to cultivate the Treasure Dragon Protective Shield Art, forming that diagram formation within his body, regardless of how many divine pellets or beast cores he refined at one time, pain was the furthest thing.
Yet, this innate spiritual embryo’s spiritual energy was actually pushing his True Dragon Physique close to the limit?!
Huwang Xiao quickly focused, running the Asura Tactics cycle after cycle as throbbing pain shot through him while he continued to absorb the horrifying amount of spiritual energy.
Again and again.
It was only several hours later that the pain eased. Despite that, Huwang Xiao dared not relax one second, nor make any mistakes, for he keenly felt that the embryo’s awareness resistance had been growing stronger, fiercer. If it weren’t for Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi’s powerful seal, it would have probably flown out from the jade stone.
One day later, not only did the embryo’s struggles not lessen, it was even more violent. The fiercer it struggled, the faster the violent spiritual energy flowed into Huwang Xiao, surpassing the Treasure Dragon Protective Shield Art’s current absorbing capacity.