by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
That process of the flame appearing and disappearing had taken less than half a breath’s time, but Long Chen’s eyes had almost popped out of his head.
Earth Flame. It had to be an Earth Flame.
That was a flame formed from deep within the ground. Its power was enough to overturn the heavens, vaporize the seas, and melt away mountains. Long Chen only recognized this flame with his Pill Sovereign memories.
Clenching his fists, his heart was about to leap out. In front of an Earth Flame, the beast flame he had obtained was absolutely nothing.
More importantly, this flame had clearly only just been born. It had yet to become tyrannical. This was the absolute best moment to subdue it.
But Long Chen could only watch. According to his Pill Sovereign memories, even the most trash Earth Flames were not existences someone like him could subdue.
Even an expert like Tu Fang would immediately be burned to ashes as soon as he provoked this Earth Flame, let alone him.
“What kind of cruel joke is this?” Long Chen had an urge to cry. This absolutely ridiculously precious treasure was right in front of him, but he was unable to take it. That was an incredibly cruel punishment.
Looking at that lava pool that had once more become still, Long Chen took a deep breath. For him to want to obtain an Earth Flame was like a lunatic’s ravings. It was no different than asking for death.
He turned back and returned to Little Snow’s side. He was still just completely stunned. This place had given birth to an Earth Flame. That was news that would shock the world.
He absolutely could not let this news spread. Finders keepers.
Long Chen carefully examined the ground and the cave. Long Chen began to draw a diagram of the cave entrance’s exact form.
Checking to make sure that all of his measurements were exact, Long Chen went out and found a huge boulder. There were quite a few rocks around the barren hill, and those rocks had colors and vein lines identical to the hill.
Finding a suitable boulder, he began to carve it down to the exact size and shape he needed it to be.
Although his longsword couldn’t easily slice through the rock, as long as he was meticulous, he was still able to break off pieces with it. He slowly carved it into a stone door.
It had to be a stone door that would seamlessly fit with the cave’s entrance. Once he left, he would leave it here to seal the inside. That would offer a bit of security. Hopefully, others wouldn’t be able to notice it.
The stones were extremely hard, and Long Chen didn’t dare use his full strength in case he ended up breaking the longsword. That was why the process was extremely slow.
It took three days for Long Chen to form a perfect outline for the stone. Summoning out the FengFu Battle Armor, he carried the boulder which was several tons over to the cave entrance. Carefully examining it, he once more began to do some finer grinding.
On the fifth day, Long Chen wiped off his sweat. He finally had a boulder that would seamlessly block the entrance to the cave.
BOOM! Inside the cave, an explosive boom rang out as the hill shook. An incomparably powerful aura soared out.
“Little Snow advanced!” Long Chen celebrated and entered the cave to take a look. But when he did, he was given a fright. Little Snow was now almost three meters tall. His whole body’s fur was white as snow except for a tuft of red hair on his forehead. The colors had become even brighter and more magnificent.
“Ao!” Little Snow suddenly raised his head and roared. The entire cave trembled as the sound echoed throughout. Even Long Chen, who had been prepared, felt his ears ringing and his head felt as if it had turned into a paste.
“Hey, just because you’re big now, do you not acknowledge me?” Long Chen rubbed his shaken ears and indignantly shouted.
“Wu wu!” Little Snow acted just as cutely as he had back when he was a cub, trying to rub Long Chen’s head. But now that his body was so huge, his head was almost the size of Long Chen’s entire body, and his attempts knocked Long Chen back repeatedly.
“Okay, okay, I’m just joking. It’s time for us to go.” Long Chen rubbed Little Snow’s head and laughed.
He and Little Snow left the cave. Long Chen sealed the entrance of the cave and then also carefully used some smaller pebbles to seal up the cracks. Using his Pill Flame, he welded them on and then poured on another layer of rock fragments. Looking at it, it was impossible for anyone to notice that it was a stone door.
Finishing this, Long Chen was finally satisfied. Taking out the map, he figured out their position and made a mark on the map in order to avoid he himself being unable to find this place again.
After all, this was a huge desert. This small hill wasn’t that eye-catching. If Long Chen hadn’t been drawn over by the light it had been emitting, he wouldn’t have noticed it.
Finishing all this, Long Chen jumped onto Little Snow’s back. Little Snow roared and leaped forward. He was like a wild gust of wind as he charged across the land.
Half a month later, by following the map, they had finally reached the territory of the Xuantian Monastery and relaxed a bit.
That was because according to how much time had passed, they were more than early enough for the disciple test. Now they no longer rushed so quickly for the last few thousand miles.
Sitting on Little Snow’s back, they leisurely advanced. They had just entered a dense forest when suddenly there were people that blocked Long Chen’s path.
Chapter 124 Robbers Blocking the Way
In front of Long Chen were three people, two old and one young. The old ones were completely white-haired; however, they were very much alive and lively, not at all like ancient seniors who were about to be buried.
As for that youth, he looked to be around seventeen years old. His appearance was neat and not bad, but his nose pointed upwards, a distasteful look. That completely broke his otherwise acceptable appearance.
“Halt!” That youth coldly shouted, not at all bothering that Long Chen was riding upon Little Snow’s back.
“Is this how you greet newcomers?” Long Chen couldn’t help but feel this was a bit strange.
“Greeting newcomers? Hehe, right, we’re greeting newcomers. Kid, I don’t want to waste my time with your nonsense. Hand over your spatial ring and I won’t give you a world of pain,” ordered the youth arrogantly.
Long Chen was stunned. Having traveled this far and now being this close to the Xuantian Monastery, he now met robbers?
“Kid, are you stupid? This master’s words are clear. Hurry up and don’t hold up my work.” That youth was extremely impatient when he saw Long Chen was just staring blankly.
Long Chen saw that this youth’s aura was at the late Blood Condensation realm. As for the two seniors behind them, they were actually Tendon Transformation experts.
“To rob the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples within their territory, you really do have some nerves,” Long Chen said admiringly.
“Hmph, first of all, this still isn’t the Xuantian Monastery’s territory. You’re still at least fifty miles away.
“Second, you still haven’t passed the Xuantian Monastery’s trials, so you are not one of their disciples.
“Third, don’t even mention that trash monastery. They really had to be a pain and bring up something about registering. Even a genius like this master wasn’t accepted.
“As for a brat like you who is only at the mid Blood Condensation realm, for you to have the qualification to enter the Xuantian Monastery is a complete defiance of the heavens. Stop wasting my time and hand over your spatial ring.”
Towards the end, that youth’s voice became a roar filled with anger.
Long Chen finally realized that this youth must definitely have some kind of background with at least some power. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be two Tendon Transformation experts guarding him.
But it seemed only after coming here had he realized that all disciples needed the registration card to be allowed to take the t
est. From this youth’s indignant anger, he had probably been turned away.
For his anger to now spill onto others who had properly registered, that really was something that caused Long Chen to not know whether to laugh or cry.
“I’m sorry for your misfortune, but it’s good for young people to meet a couple of obstacles. You’re still young, so seeing the world is at least a bit better than just being a country bumpkin,” consoled Long Chen.
“Kid, you’re asking for it!” The youth raged. A sword appeared in his hand and he pointed it at Long Chen.
Long Chen turned icy. “Don’t point that scrap metal at me.”
“Don’t think that you can be arrogant just because your steed is a second rank Magical Beast. You’re just a country bumpkin who has yet to see the world!” the youth cursed and he suddenly appeared in front of Long Chen. Sword-light shot out coldly. Although his cultivation base was only in the Blood Condensation realm, his power had already reached the level of the Tendon Transformation realm.
Long Chen didn’t place this youth within his eyes at all.
But he was able to notice a certain problem from this. This youth was someone who was able to compare to Tendon Transformation experts at the Blood Condensation realm. His aura was extremely condensed with a firm foundation. He was definitely a genius.
But even such a genius didn’t have the qualifications to enter the Xuantian Monastery and was directly rejected. It could be seen just how strict the requirements for Xuantian Monastery disciples were.
If it was like that, then perhaps the Xuantian Monastery truly was a place filled with hidden geniuses. This was the first time Long Chen had felt some pressure, but he was also excited, looking forward to life in the Xuantian Monastery.
“You dare just stand there? Die!” That youth saw that Long Chen still didn’t have the slightest intention of moving and seemed to be deep in thought; in other words, he was ignoring him!
That caused his fury to explode. Originally, he had only just been planning on scaring Long Chen a bit, but suddenly his sword shifted to cut straight at Long Chen’s stomach. Now he would give him a heavy injury to teach him a lesson!
“Why bother with this?” Long Chen sighed with pity.
A huge claw swatted into the youth’s body, and he was immediately sent flying back.
He vomited blood as he flew through the air. Those two old seniors, who were just calmly observing him rob others, were shocked and quickly went out to catch him.
“You…!” That youth wanted to say something as he saw Long Chen just smiling on top of Little Snow, but he vomited more blood once more.
“You actually have a third rank Magical Beast as a steed?” Those two seniors were horrified.
Long Chen smiled. He had felt that entering the Xuantian Monastery on a third rank Magical Beast would be showing off too much, and so he had had Little Snow hide his aura. Then using some medicinal ingredients, he had dyed the red tuft of hair on Little Snow’s forehead to a white color. With all the obvious markings hidden, there were few people who could recognize Little Snow’s true identity.
To others, Little Snow would only look like a large second rank Magical Beast. But now that Little Snow had attacked, he immediately revealed his true cultivation base.
A third rank Magical Beast’s violent aura exploded, causing the two seniors to shiver as they complained inside.
This time, they had truly kicked an iron plate. Originally, they had come to help sign up their young master for the Xuantian Monastery’s disciple selection and had been full of high spirits. But they had then had to leave dejected. Let alone the youth, even the two of them had been extremely furious.
So when that youth had decided to bring up robbing the coming hopeful disciples, they had agreed. One reason was to help alleviate some of the young master’s anger, while the other reason was they wanted to see just how powerful the Xuantian Monastery’s registered hopefuls were. They wanted to see just why their young master had been rejected.
They had then met a seemingly weak youth and were happy to have the young master oppress that person a bit. But now the situation had developed to this point.
“You guys should know how to act, right?” Long Chen indifferently indicated a hidden meaning.
“We’re sorry; we’ll immediately leave,” said one of the seniors hastily. He then glanced at his fellow, his meaning obviously being that they should hurry up and leave.
But that other senior hesitated and icily glared at Long Chen. Suddenly he said, “Kid, do you think you can trick me this easy? Although you have a third rank Magical Beast, as long as the two of us control your dog, you’re just a piece of trash. How dare you try threatening us?!”
Long Chen frowned. Looking at that senior who thought he had analyzed everything perfectly, he replied, “Then what do you want?”
“Kid, my family’s young master doesn’t care about the trash you poor people in this area possess. He was just messing around for fun.
“Since your Magical Beast injured the young master, you should normally die. However, since we’re near the Xuantian Monastery, we don’t want to kill anyone.
“But even if you can escape death, you can’t escape your punishment. Obediently hand over your spatial ring and kowtow to the young master as an apology. Then it’ll be fine.”
Then he suddenly pointed at Little Snow and added, “This brute injured the young master, so it must also die.”
Long Chen looked at that senior as if he were looking at a fool and shook his head. “You really are an idiot. Is the only thing in your head crap?”
“You rude kid!” That senior raged and his aura exploded, locking Long Chen in place.
Long Chen acted as if he didn’t even sense it and just indifferently looked at him. After just cultivating for a short time, he had already advanced from the fourth Heavenstage to the sixth Heavenstage of Blood Condensation.
Perhaps it was due to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, but every time he advanced, Long Chen could sense his body changing completely.
Following the increase in strength of his physical body, his self-confidence also soared. That wasn’t conceit, but a kind of unrivaled Dao-heart. In the face of life and death, even if the heavens were to collapse, he would not bat an eye.
As soon as he had seen these three, Long Chen had already formed a preliminary estimation of their cultivation bases and combat abilities.
Those two should be around the same level as Xia Youyu. Even back then, Long Chen hadn’t placed that kind of level in his eyes, let alone now.
As for that senior, when his aura exploded out and locked onto Long Chen, he immediately felt something was strange. Long Chen was clearly right there, locked in place by his aura.
But he somehow sensed that Long Chen had become illusionary. It felt like he was locked, but it also felt as if he wasn’t.
That senior suddenly moved, leaving behind an afterimage as he appeared right above Long Chen’s head, punching down.
“You arrogant kid, today I’ll teach you a lesson on how to respect your elders!”
Long Chen sneered in ridicule, also extending a hand. When the two hands collided, an explosive bang rang out as qi waves surged.
But what shocked them was that facing a Tendon Transformation expert’s attack, Long Chen’s body didn’t move in the slightest.
“I really don’t see what part of an idiot like you that I, Long Chen, need to show respect for.”
His hand tightened, and that senior’s expression greatly changed as he realized that his fist was completely caught by Long Chen’s hand. Intense pain wracked his hand, and it almost broke.
Long Chen used a bit of force and threw him away like he was just a sandbag.
He thudded to the ground and spat out blood. Long Chen’s toss was so powerful that he repeatedly crashed through multiple trees, in the end only stopping due to slamming into a huge boulder.
Everyone was deathly silent. The heavily injured youth h
ad forgotten his own wounds, staring at Long Chen in shock.
“Now you should know how to act, right?” A bashful smile appeared on Long Chen’s face, but a crafty light shone within his eyes.
Chapter 125 Little Snow's Might
The three of them quickly recovered their wits when they heard Long Chen. They realized they had underestimated the Xuantian Monastery. Just someone who had signed up for their disciple test already possessed such terrifying strength. They truly had just been frogs in a well.
That youth was especially convinced of this. His cultivation base was higher than Long Chen’s, but his actual combat strength was far, far too lacking in comparison to him.
Although he hadn’t directly exchanged blows with Long Chen, seeing that Long Chen was able to indifferently ignore an attack from a Tendon Transformation expert without using any energy, even heavily injuring him, he could easily tell how powerful he was.
“We’re really sorry. Please forgive us. We’ll leave immediately.” The Tendon Transformation expert who wasn’t injured hastily apologized. He then picked up the two injured men and was about to leave.
“Oh? Hey, why are you leaving just like this?” frowned Long Chen.
“Does sir have anything else?” He quickly asked.
Long Chen curled his lips and unhappily said, “Were all your years wasted? Do you really need me to say it clearly?”
The three of them were startled and the youth angrily said, “Kid, we’re already like this, so what else do you want? If you want us to kowtow in apology, that’s impossible.”
“Tch, who would want you to kowtow? Now that you’ve failed to rob me, don’t you think you should express some apology in recompense?” Long Chen disdainfully said.
“What do you mean?” raged the youth.
“Idiot, is the only thing in your head crap? Then I’ll say it directly. Hand over your spatial rings right now. That’s right, hand them all over!” Long Chen explained word by word.
“What?!” The three of them were enraged and humiliated. That was definitely taking unfair advantage out of them! Having failed to rob, they would instead be robbed themselves.