…If you managed to steal the key, then wouldn’t that make you the target of scorn and provoke all the others to gang up on you? Moreover, perhaps not even the Half Moon Sect and the Blood Flame Valley dared to get into a direct a confrontation with the Alchemist Society and the Spirit Treasures Pavilion.
Anyways, the Jiang Clan had taken out the key as part of their daughter’s dowry, so they’d all have to fight on the tournament stage.
However, since it was a tournament for Jiang Le Xuan’s hand in marriage, there were naturally restrictions in place. The Jiang Clan had very clearly declared that challengers had to be at least below forty years old—the old grandfathers need not come join in on the excitement. Wouldn’t they feel embarrassed if they did?
The tournament would be held for three days consecutively. Three days later, at midnight, the Stage Master that was still standing on the tournament stage would be the ideal son-in-law of the Jiang Clan.
When Ling Han heard about this, his heart was naturally moved.
He had been worrying about where to get an entry place in the first place and now the chance was set in front of him—and there was even an additional key to the treasures in the Sagittarius Palace Hall in the bundle. What was the problem here, though, was that he did not have the slightest intention to marry Jiang Le Xuan.
He had thought of having Can Ye, or Zhu Wu Jiu go in his place, but with their ability… ai! Hu Niu was fierce enough, though, but the problem was, even if she was male, she’d be too little, wouldn’t she?
Chapter 440
Chapter 440: Enter the Spiritual Pedestal Tier
Translator: DarkAngel_ Editor: Kurisu
The reason why the Jiang Clan was willing to take out the key to the Sagittarius Palace Hall was because the Jiang Clan was getting increasingly weaker as generations passed and their power in Extreme Yang City was close to vanishing altogether. They were just barely surviving. Even if they had their clansmen bring the key into the Twelve Heaven Mystery Realms, they’d simply be swallowed whole and robbed blind by other stronger people since they were much, much too weak.
Thus, they decided to take the risk and find a most powerful son-in-law to turn the situation around with his help.
Just think, the Prodigy Tournament had just ended at this time, so this most powerful son-in-law had to be a member of the Prodigy Roll, so he’d have great potential in the first place. Added together with the inheritance inside the Sagittarius Palace Hall, it was practically guaranteed that he would break through and become an ultimate cultivator of the Shattering Void Tier.
And if some genius came forth and defeated all the members of the Prodigy Roll, that’d be even better—because it’d mean that he was even stronger!
In short, though the Jiang Clan had taken a dangerous step, it was also the last plan they had to turn their current circumstances around.
The Marriage Tournament would be held three days later.
Ling Han sighed. Though he had four members of the Prodigy Roll by his side, he could use none of them, so he could only make a move personally.
He began to break through to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier.
In the tournament this time, not only the male elite cultivators on the Prodigy Roll would participate. Even those senior geniuses that had just passed out of the Roll were qualified. The only requirement was for the participant to be below forty years old, and there were abundant numbers of young men that fit this category,
Yu Kun Lun, Cao Tian Yi, Bai He Shun; these first place holders from the last Prodigy Roll, or even the one before last, were all qualified to fight. Thankfully, the Flower Blossom Tier was a step that was too difficult to breach. Even the geniuses on the Roll would need to settle for about twenty to thirty years to accumulate enough martial arts comprehension and foundations to break through in one go.
For example, Ao Feng. When he was young, he, too, had naturally ranked on the Prodigy Roll as well, but it was only recently that he managed to break through to the Flower Blossom Tier. How could casting off one’s mortality be so easily done?
From this aspect, Yao Hui Yue was indeed awesome, and the martial arts in the middle state were indeed flourishing extremely well—according to rumors, Yao Hui Yue was not the only powerful young cultivator in that region and there were a few others who could equal him.
As long as there were no Flower Blossom Tier participants, once Ling Han broke through to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, who would be able to stand on equal footing with him at this cultivation level?
Furthermore, he could even obtain another chance for the instillation of power from the Black Tower, and if he really came up against an opponent in the Flower Blossom Tier, he was still qualified to fight equally with such a character for at least a short period of time.
He went into the Black Tower, entered seclusion and began cultivating.
Beside him, various alchemical pills were set out. After returning to Extreme Yang City, he had been concocting alchemical pills everyday. Firstly, to earn money, and secondly, to make preparations for his breakthrough to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier.
At this stage, a Spiritual Pedestal that could reach the heavens would be built in the Spiritual Ocean, and that required the support of endless energy. Thus, it was naturally necessary for a large amount of alchemical pills as well as a large number of Origin Crystals to be prepared. Anyone else might need ten-plus days or even a month to break through to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, but Ling Han only planned to spend one day to complete the breakthrough.
He sat down and released the restrictions on his cultivation level. Instantly, raging waves appeared in his Spiritual Oceans. Hong long long , they shook endlessly.
Ling Han had already perfected his cultivation at the Spiritual Ocean Tier and expanded his Dantian to its limits. It was the same for his Spiritual Oceans; the Origin Power they contained was extremely pure, without the slightest contamination. Under such conditions, even though he did not actively circulate it and only released the restrictions on his cultivation, the Spiritual Oceans actually automatically began the construction of the Spiritual Pedestals, which was proof of how harshly he had suppressed his cultivation.
Hong , Origin Power condensed and five-colored divine light flickered, forming an incredibly wide foundation, sturdily enrooted at the bottom of the Spiritual Ocean. Then, the second foundation level, and the third. The foundations of the Spiritual Pedestal were rapidly being constructed.
Not one, but two.
Both the Spiritual Ocean on top and at the bottom were rapidly constructing the foundations for the Spiritual Pedestal. Hong long long, there was a resonant sound within his body. Around him, it seemed that Liu Yu Tong and the others had all heard it, and all entered into a meditative state.
Constructing the Spiritual Pedestal to connect the heaven and earth was a process in which one could interact with the heavens and the sound of Dao would circulate within one’s body, which could help other martial artists understand Dao. Thus, Ling Han had Liu Yu Tong and the others all wait inside the Black Tower to bask in his reflected glory.
Only Hu Niu was restless. She grabbed a piece of dried meat and chewed. She was a little monster and her cultivation need only depend on the food she ate. What was comprehension? Could she eat it?
Inside Ling Han’s Spiritual Oceans, furious waves roared. They were as tall as a hundred feet tall, manically crashing as if they intended to break apart the Spiritual Ocean.
Breaking through to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier was naturally risky, and the raging waves of the Spiritual Ocean were the danger of this stage. If they managed to break apart the Spiritual Ocean, then one’s Origin Power would dissipate completely. Putting aside ascending to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, one’s cultivation level might even degrade back to the Gushing Spring Tier.
But for Ling Han, this was a piece of cake. He had solidified and strengthened his cultivation level too perfectly. His Spiritual Oceans were sturdy and there was absolutely no need f
or him to fear this kind of storm.
On the contrary, his Spiritual Pedestals were being built more and more rapidly.
If anyone else in the Spiritual Pedestal Tier was able to see the foundations of the Spiritual Pedestals in his mind, they would definitely dissolve into eye-popping shock.
It was too huge, wasn’t it!
Ling Han’s Spiritual Pedestal had practically occupied one third of the space in his Spiritual Ocean!
How large the Spiritual Pedestal was for others? Ling Han was not sure, but he knew that in his last life, his Spiritual Pedestal had only occupied one hundredth of the space of his Spiritual Ocean.
One could clearly imagine how shockingly sturdy he had made his cultivation in this life.
The foundations of the Spiritual Pedestal were built level by level, and rose form the ocean’s bed. After it reached a height of about a thousand metres above the ocean’s level, it finally stopped.
The first layer of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier!
In the future, he would need to build a nine-level Spiritual Pedestal, which would mean he had reached the ninth layer of the Spiritual Pedestal. Then, when divine flowers bloomed on the Spiritual Pedestal, he would have broken through to the Flower Blossom Tier.
He opened his eyes, his gaze brilliant. Within his right eye, there was a shocking scene of multiple big stars from coming into being all the way to perishing before returning to peace. The Black Tower trembled slightly. Ling Han’s skin shone, and multiple patterns were formed on it.
The Body of Iron Sheet!
Ling Han was astonished. In his cultivation of the Indestructible Heaven Scroll, he had long surpassed the Body of Rock Cliff, but there should still be some distance before he reached the third tier, which was the Body of Iron Sheet. He had never imagined that when he broke through to the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, it’d actually upgrade his body’s physique as well.
The Heavenly Luck Stone.
Ling Han immediately thought of it. Only the Heavenly Luck Stone could bring about this kind of effect.
Previously, when he refined the Heavenly Luck Stone, he had not obtained any benefits at all. However, the essence of nature did accumulate inside his body, and the instillation of power from the Black Tower also improved the quality of his body. These benefits had completely exploded when he broke through to the next major Tier.
These two factors combined allowed him to ascend to the Iron Sheet Tier in his cultivation of the Indestructible Heaven Scroll!
His current physique was as sturdy as the forging materials at the same level, which meant that he could use his body’s sturdiness to stand firm against Spirit Tools and not be hurt. Aside from that, the maximum amount of Indestructible True Fluid had risen to six drops, which increased his ability to protect himself.
Not bad, not bad.
Ling Han smiled. He had been planning to change his appearance to look like Han Lin and take part in the Marriage Tournament. Now that his physique had reached the level of iron sheet, he needed not worry about not having good glove-form Spirit Tools for him to use. Instead, he could use his bare fists to parry against his opponents’ Spirit Tools.
“My current battle prowess… has reached how many Stars?” he mumbled.
Before he broke through, his battle prowess was at about eleven Stars of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, and now that he had broken through, even if it was a bit difficult for a Spiritual Pedestal Tier cultivator to challenge a stronger foe, but there should be an addition of at least five Battle Stars, right? Furthermore, the Heavenly Luck Stone had taken effect, so no matter what, there should be a further addition of five Stars.
Twenty Stars of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, that was the minimum.
However, twenty Stars was the recognized limit of the cultivation level. There was no such battle prowess like twenty-one Stars or twenty-two Stars. Thus, when Ling Han was in the ninth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, his battle prowess directly soared all the way up to eleven Stars of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier.
And the Flower Blossom Tier meant casting off one’s mortal chains, and was definitely not something that a Spiritual Pedestal Tier cultivator could compare with. This thus formed a strange phenomenon. Ling Han definitely did not have the battle prowess of the Flower Blossom Tier, yet had exceeded the limits of Spiritual Pedestal Tier!
And this was merely his battle prowess at the first layer of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier.
Chapter 441
Chapter 441: Where Did She Experience the Dao Injury?
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
“This is really troublesome. Then, after I reach the ninth layer of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, how many Stars of battle prowess would I have?” Ling Han scratched his head in wonder. With his current battle prowess, how many times would he be able to kill the Ling Han who was at this level in his last life?
“A thousand, or maybe ten thousand times.”
Ling Han could not help but think, how strong had Sword Emperor and Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden been, then?
The problem was that though his ability to challenge a stronger person than himself was incredible, the price he had to pay was the slowing down of his cultivation rate. At the same time, for every step he took forward, the amount of Origin Power that he needed to accumulate could be several tens of times of any other person’s!
“Thankfully, I have an Immortal Grade Spirit Base, and am an alchemist as well. Otherwise, if I had to strengthen my foundations to such a strong, firm extent, I may not be able to reach the Flower Blossom Tier in this lifetime!” He shivered at the thought.
“Congratulations, Young Master Han!” When they saw Ling Han stand up, Liu Yu Tong and the others all offered him their congratulations.
Ling Han nodded and said, “You all must continue to persevere, and cannot fall too far behind me.”
“Yes!” Including Guang Yuan, they all nodded. If they were unable to help Ling Han by sharing his burdens and help him in times of difficulty, they’d lose face too. They would have gained so many benefits from Ling Han but done nothing in return for his great generosity.
All of them exited the Black Tower, and exactly one day had passed since they entered. The Marriage Tournament that the Jiang Clan was holding had yet to begin.
After a day, Zhu Xuan’er came, but her face was filled with disappointment. She said, “Grandmaster Ling, can you change your condition?” Obviously, the sect had rejected using an entry place to exchange for a Level Seven Spirit Grass.
It was not that a Level Seven Spirit Grass was not valuable enough, but rather that the uses for the Crimson Red Chilling Ice Grass were quite limited. Aside for being the main medicinal ingredient for a pill to heal one’s Spirit Base, it could only be a supplementary ingredient for the Hidden Tiger Heavenly Luck Pill. Thus, only when it encountered a person that needed it would this kind of Spirit Grass show its incredible value.
If it was capable of increasing one’s cultivation level at the Spiritual Infant Tier or increase one’s comprehension of the Dao of martial arts, just see if those old monsters of the Half Moon Sect would be so incredibly proactive.
Ling Han thought for a moment, then said, “All right, then I’ll exchange it for some information.”
Zhu Xuan’er was surprised. Mere information was enough to exchange for a Level Seven Spirit Grass? Previously, Ling Han had fought so fiercely with her over it, so this did not seem logical.
Could it be, that actually, he bore a fondness for her, and so used the means of letting the reins loose only to grip them better?
“May I ask, what does Grandmaster Ling want to know?” she asked.
“How did your master get injured?” Ling Han was very curious. Logically speaking, there could not possibly be any powerful ultimate cultivators of the Shattering Void Tier in the north region, but if it was not the action of an ultimate cultivator at the level of the Shattering Void Tier, how had one in Spiritual Infant Tier had his Dao wounded?
&nb
sp; Anyways, he already had full confidence that he could get that key from the Jiang Clan, so he naturally no longer cared about getting an entry. He only hoped that the Jiang Clan’s key was not some other toy left from one of Jiang Yue Feng’s shenanigans. If that was the case, he’d really be horribly played by his own disciple.
Zhu Xuan’er could not resist a swift change in her expression. Even with a white silk veil covering half her face, the change in her eyes was still visible. After a while, she finally spoke, “My master… she discovered an ancient historical site. It was in the process of investigating it that she was wounded by the restrictions there.”
Ling Han clapped once and said, “So that was indeed the case!”
There were no Shattering Void Tier cultivators in the north region, so how could a powerful cultivator of the Spiritual Infant Tier experience a Dao injury? The only possibility left was being injured in an ancient historical site.
When she saw Ling Han’s excited expression, Zhu Xuan’er instantly felt displeased and said, “Grandmaster Ling, please show some respect to my master!”
Ling Han laughed, drew out a stalk of Crimson Red Chilling Ice Grass and placed it on the table. He had long since harvested two stalks of Crimson Red Chilling Ice Grass to prevent them bearing fruit which would make them unusable for medicine. The third stalk did bear fruit though, which he once again planted. In the future, three would become nine, nine would become twenty-seven, and soon enough, he would have overwhelming numbers of this particular Spirit Grass.
Zhu Xuan’er’s beautiful eyes immediately lit up, and she stretched out a hand to take it.
Ling Han raised his right hand, which caused her hand to miss its target.
“Grandmaster Ling, what is the meaning of this?”
Ling Han placed the stalk of the Crimson Red Chilling Ice Grass back onto the table and asked, “Where is that ancient historical site?”
Zhu Xuan’er hesitated slightly, but when she recalled that even her master incurred a Dao injury within, it was obvious that no matter how big the fateful opportunity there was within, it was not to be hers nor her master’s. Thus, she answered decisively, “Agriculture Enclosed Mountain, Eaglewood Valley.”
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 235