by Shian Jeen
“Yes, Young Lord.” The silver-haired old man answered respectfully.
Zhao Chen nodded as a light gleamed in his eye. ‘Little punk, as long as you come out from the town of Myriad Gods, I’ll let you know the consequences of defying my, Zhao Chen’s orders! Don’t assume just because there is certainly He Yunxiong, that old fogey, shielding you that I won’t dare to eliminate you!’
As for Huwang Xiao, he entered the Godly Mt. Xumi upon arriving back to the courtyard. Swallowing all three stalks of Life Spirit Lawn in the Xumi Temple hall, he concentrated on exercising the Old Puppetry Art and Soul Mandate.
Due to He Yunxiong’s intervention, Huwang Xiao believed that Zhao Chen wouldn’t act against him in public areas, at least not while he was still inside the city.
Sitting cross-legged in the center of the Xumi Temple, Huwang Xiao distinctively felt waves spreading out from his soul sea as his spiritual power gathered into a twister of energy, rotating just like a violently howling storm, with strands of azure energy multiplying constantly. Sensing this, Huwang Xiao quickly ran the Ancient Puppetry Artwork and Spirit Mandate to absorb this energy.
Ten times passed.
Under constant refinement, the power inside all three stalks of Life Soul Lawn was absorbed by Huwang Xiao. Finally, his spirit sea came back to its prior calm, while in the space above his soul sea, the black and blue dragons hovered, dragons roars echoed endlessly, exuding dragon might in every path.
At exactly the same time Huwang Xiao opened his eyes, the Eye of Hell of the center of his forehead opened as well and two beams of deep scarlet glow materialized such as a thunderstorm.
After refining the three stalks of Life Spirit Grass, Huwang Xiao’s Old Puppetry Art finally broke to the 3rd level, greatly enhancing his spiritual force, and combined with his Eye of Hell, his spiritual attack was even stronger than before. Huwang Xiao astutely felt that after this time’s practice, even his fight qi and internal drive benefited.
‘It’s time to visit the Broken Tiger Rift again.’ Huwang Xiao decided.
Huwang Xiao had a solid feeling that the Broken Tiger Rift was the said Four Seas Hill. In the depth of this rift was where that Ancient God Tribe master’s dwelling was, he was as sure as he could be.
Despite his rapid increase in strength over these years, Huwang Xiao still felt that he was too weak. Disregarding experts like He Yunxiong, merely facing Yao Fei or Zhao Chen at his current level of power, it would be a tough battle to battle. Therefore, he had to break through to the Saint realm as soon as possible.
Ch.295
Exiting the Xumi Temple, Huwang Xiao summoned Qin Yang, Lifei, Jie Dong, and Fan Encheng, telling them that he would be absent for another few days, and for the reason that period, they should stay and wait for him in the residence. After giving them certain tasks, Huwang Xiao took out Godly Mt. Xumi, controlling it to fly in direction of Broken Tiger Rift, he stealthily still left the City of Myriad Gods.
Leaving the city using the Godly Mt. Xumi, Huwang Xiao needn’t worry about being found by Zhao Chen. Very soon, Huwang Xiao arrived at Broken Tiger Rift, position at the advantage of the same sharpened rift, looking down.
Staring down at the dark, endless bottom, Huwang Xiao initiated his battle qi and internal force, cautiously adjusting his speed as his body fell. Because of the earlier experience, this time, his speed was much faster than before.
However, six hundred meters down, Huwang Xiao was forced to transform in to the Asura Physique and soul changed with the dark dragon martial spirit simultaneously, and by one thousand meters, he summoned his blue dragon martial spirit and fused with it as well.
Soul transforming with the twin dragon martial spirits, layers of black and blue dragon scales covered Huwang Xiao like an armor, yet he still felt the frigid cold breeze blowing up, invading his body through the dragon scales.
Regardless of the spherical barrier of vigor qi around him, the wind still affected him, its effect was minimum.
The frigid cold energy steadily spread through Huwang Xiao’s body, freezing the blood in his veins, even the fight qi within his Qi Sea showed signs of solidifying.
There’s actually such terrible snow energy in this Martial Soul World! Huwang Xiao made every effort to regulate his rate of falling, feeling shocked in his heart. The Asura Tactics required him to soak up the netherworld’s religious energy, and the netherworld’s spiritual energy was deemed the coldest and most yin energy in this heaven and earth, but now, this unfamiliar chilly wind actually surpassed the netherworld’s religious energy by at least ten times.
I cannot continue like this, otherwise I’d turn into an icicle before reaching the bottom! Huwang Xiao thought to himself.
Now, he was 1000 and three hundred meters down, yet there was still no sign of the bottom. Perhaps he might not view it even after another two or three hundred meters further down. Relying on Huwang Xiao’s current degree of strength, he previously no hope of succeeding.
What do I do?!
Leave...? Come back when he breaks to Xiantian 8th Order?
But, how long will it take for him to discovery to Xiantian Eighth Order? It might be half a year, or even longer. Ever since he broke through to Xiantian Seventh Order, Huwang Xiao clearly felt his cultivation speed slowing down drastically.
Huwang Xiao’s feet landed on a protruded boulder on the rift wall structure, his brows furrowed deeply in thought as he stared downward. There were less than three years before next Deities Templar disciple selection, he didn't have much time to waste. Furthermore, Yao Fei came searching for him in the Bedlam Lands and found him, this would very likely lead more people belonging to Deities Templar over here.
Therefore, no matter what, he had to find that ancient God Tribe master’s dwelling. But, how could he resist this unknown cool blowing wind?! Then, a thought flashed in Huwang Xiao’s mind―Godly Mt. Xumi!
Godly Mt. Xumi was the Buddhist World’s heavenly treasure, as terrifying as this frosty blowing wind was, it shouldn’t be able to penetrate into Godly Mt. Xumi’s space… right? Immediately, Huwang Xiao brought out the Godly Mt. Xumi and proceeded to go inside the Xumi Temple hall in a flicker.
Stepping into the center of the Ten Buddha Formation, Huwang Xiao initiated his battle qi and guided it to travel down slowly. Several gusts of cold wind flow blew up, wrapping on the Godly Mt. Xumi, and moments later, Huwang Xiao verified that this chilly wind could not penetrate in to the Godly Mt. Xumi’s space. This finding greatly relieved him.
At last, he found something that could block this damn nameless cold wind. Nevertheless, Huwang Xiao was still surprised, although the cool wind failed to penetrate into the Godly Mt. Xumi space, it shaped a layer of crystallized dark azure-colored glaciers round the outer exterior! And this layer of dark azure ice actually affected the acceleration of Godly Mt. Xumi.
Huwang Xiao immediately pushed the Ten Buddha Formation, Buddhism energy poured down from the void above, spreading away inside the temple hall and outwards, slowly melting away the dark azure snow enveloping the Godly Mt. Xumi. When all is done, Huwang Xiao continuing to travel down further, ever more cautious as he tried to avoid the increasing number of nameless frosty winds blowing up, covering the Godly Mt. Xumi with another coating of ice.
Further and further down, reaching two thousand meters down, Huwang Xiao finally caught a glimpse of the bottom.
The sand and stones in the bottom of the rift were a brownish azure, barren so far as the eyes could see, not a leaf of grass growing, it gave a desolate and gloomy atmosphere.
Huwang Xiao surveyed the spacious surroundings. On both sides, the rock walls were thickly layered with crystallized dark azure-colored glaciers, and above, a dark azure blue twister rotated in a never-ending cycle, with howling winds that left the hearts of these who noticed it full of apprehension.
Not just that, this dark azure wind twister’s form was ever changing, sometimes it was a dragon, next it was a serpent, a tiger, and other times it w
as shaped like a phoenix.
This cold wind actually gave birth to intelligence! Huwang Xiao was stunned. And his first thought was impossible!
Between Heaven and Earth, it was not easy for living beings like trees and flowers to grow intelligence, something that cannot be achieved without tens of thousands of years, and that required fulfilling strict conditions. For elements like blowing wind, it was even harder compared to trees or flowers.
Like this wind, in another few thousand years or even a few hundred years, it might evolve into a real solid entity of existence, such as an ice element dragon or phoenix.
A short while later, Huwang Xiao calmed down, his eyes gradually brightened as he studied the ever-changing azure wind.
‘This is some good stuff, ah!’ Although this azure wind hadn’t fully evolved and taken form into dragon or phoenix, if he could absorb it, someone practicing the Asura Techniques like Huwang Xiao would definitely reap an unimaginable harvest. But… this azure cold wind that acquired given birth to intelligence was no doubt extremely frigid, with Huwang Xiao’s current strength, merely coming in close contact was enough to turn him into an ice sculpture.
Lights flickered in his eye when he thought about the 1000 Beast Cauldron on the next level of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda.
“I question if the Thousands of Beast Cauldron could absorb this chilly azure blowing wind that has cleverness, if it's possible, then I can absorb it!” Instantly, with a single thought, the Linglong Treasure Pagoda that was combined in to the Godly Mt. Xumi flew out into midair, led by Huwang Xiao, it slowly contacted the gales of the azure chilly breeze.
However, the nearer the Linglong Treasure Pagoda got, the more terrifying the frigid coldness became, the encompassing space turned into a domain of ice.
The battle qi and internal force within Huwang Xiao’s body spurred madly to support the Linglong Treasure Pagoda getting nearer to the azure cold wind until it was within a ten meters range. Then, he initiated the array inside the Thousand Beast Cauldron to absorb the azure cool wind.
Huwang Xiao dared not devour the azure cool wind all at one time, bidding his time, slowly absorbing tiny strands, but even at this rate, the Linglong Treasure Pagoda was covered by a coating of snow on the outside. Seeing this, he previously no choice but to divide a portion of fight qi and inner force to initiate the Ten Buddha Development, using Buddism energy to melt the layer of glaciers away.
In this manner, Huwang Xiao stayed there for more than two hours, absorbing the azure frosty wind until he felt it was enough and retrieved the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. He then focused his battle qi and internal pressure on the 1000 Demon Engulfing Destruction Array to refine the azure cold wind, expelling the extreme chilly element.
Ch.296
One hour passed and Huwang Xiao was delighted, the extreme cool component of the dark azure wind was steadily dispelled by the Thousand Demon Engulfing Damage Array inside the Thousand Beast Cauldron.
The refinement process went on for ten long hours before all the extreme cold element was expelled. When it finally ended, Huwang Xiao was ecstatic and relieved at the same time, his eyes sparkled staring at the cloud of refined azure green wind inside the Thousands of Beast Cauldron. Although the cold element had been separated, it didn't affect the spiritual benefits it would bring.
Then, Huwang Xiao opened the lid of the Thousand Beast Cauldron, revealing in an azure snake about ten meters long and thick as an adult’s arm that flew out, trying to escape. Dazzling azure energy flashed in midair, filling up an area of a hundred zhang in azure light, emanating a pulsating vibrant spiritual energy.
Such a dense natural religious energy!
Huwang Xiao’s eye lit up as he quickly sat down in a meditative pose, running the Asura Strategies. He opened up his mouth and sucked in comparable to a whale drinking water, swallowing the frosty azure energy flow into his body.
Not only did Huwang Xiao not feel cold when the azure energy entered his body, instead, he thought extremely warm and comfortable, to the point of almost groaning aloud. Huwang Xiao made every work to run the Asura Methods, managing it to refine the azure natural spiritual energy. Instantly, Huwang Xiao experienced the fog pool of fight qi accumulated within his Qi Sea rumble violently.
Above his Qi Sea, the three mandate shapes―golden Primordial Divine Dragon, Archdemon, and the Golden Buddha shone brightly, while battle qi roared inside every inch of his meridians and veins.
Further down, Huwang Xiao’s dantian glowed a hazy aureate as the internal push in his dantian increased quickly.
1 hour, two hours…
In a mere two hours, Huwang Xiao’s battle qi cultivation broke through a small order. Gold, azure, midnight ink, and ember colored glows whirled endlessly around him.
Three days and three nights passed.
Huwang Xiao, who had been sitting in a meditative pose, suddenly opened his eyes, a dark azure light flashed and disappeared in midair as the four-colored lamps of gold, midnight printer ink, azure, and ember dissipated.
Huwang Xiao immersed his religious sense internally to check the problem inside his body and cultivation and was delighted to discover that after three times of refining and absorbing the azure energy, his cultivation broke through from mid-Xiantian Seventh Order to peak mid-Xiantian Seventh Order.
Moreover, the inner power in his dantian was more abundant, with signs of transforming into a liquid state. This was the precursor to inner force evolving into true essence drive! This made Huwang Xiao struggling to calm down for a long period.
If his internal force could evolve into true essence force, it meant that he could successfully step into a stage where generations of Huwang Family ancestors had failed, becoming ‘Immortal’ as civilization on the planet would term it.
An atmosphere of strong confidence burst forth from Huwang Xiao’s body.
Huwang Xiao turned to go through the remaining azure cold blowing wind hovering in the space above. ly, the 1000 Beast Cauldron only sucked and processed in a tenth of the extreme cold wind flow. Once again Huwang Xiao guided the Linglong Treasure Pagoda to approach the hovering azure chilly breeze and initiated the Thousands of Demon Engulfing Devastation Array inside the Thousand Beast Cauldron to expel the cool element within.
Once the chilly component was eliminated, Huwang Xiao absorbed and refined the Xiantian spiritual energy within, time and again, repeating the same steps.
It was slightly over a month later that Huwang Xiao finally finished refining the azure cool wind, propelling him to break to Xiantian 8th Order, reaching maximum early-Xiantian Eighth Order at the end.
If word got out that someone broke through to peak early-Xiantian Eighth Order from a peak mid-Xiantian Seventh Order in slightly over a month’s time, it might be hard to imagine the stir it could cause in the cultivation world.
Before arriving at underneath of the rift, even Huwang Xiao would find it hard to believe it himself.
Not merely his fight qi, even his internal force took a great leap forward, the fog-like internal force in his dantian turned dense and viscous, floating above his dantian.
This is definitely a sign that his internal force was on the verge of turning into liquid form! Just a little bit more was had a need to succeed.
Nourished by the half-formed true origin force in his dantian, Huwang Xiao sensed that with every breath he required, his flesh and body grew more powerful visibly. Once the pressure in his dantian was fully converted into true origin push, his flesh and body would continue to be nourished at all times, every minute, every second, being strengthened. This was more beneficial and effective to Huwang Xiao than taking grade eight or quality nine nature pellets that enhanced physical strength.
'Now that I’ve advanced to Xiantian 8th Order, I wonder how many giant puppets I could control now.' Huwang Xiao mused. Not wasting time, he disappeared from the location, entering the third coating of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. Running the Old Puppetry Artwork, he started gathering sp
iritual power to brand the seventh giant puppet’s brain. It didn’t take miss him to succeed.
He then moved on to the eighth puppet. When Huwang Xiao finished branding the tenth puppet and wished to control the eleventh puppet, his religious force was unable to support him and the attempt failed. Only then was Huwang Xiao willing to stop, but he was still satisfied with the result.
He realized that to fully control all nineteen large puppets, he had to break to the Saint world. After branding the tenth huge puppet, Huwang Xiao appeared inside the rift, exploring the ground by flying with Godly Mt. Xumi.
After soaring gradually for around 30 minutes, all he could see was barren ground the whole way. Not a single leaf of green grass. In an environment dominated by the azure frosty wind, not forgetting plants, even a Saint realm expert cannot survive in such conditions for long. Still, the path stretched further, the finish had yet to be seen even after an hour of flight.
Although Huwang Xiao had sophisticated the azure cold wind, the frigid chilly air remained, thus he continued to explore using the Godly Mt. Xumi. What baffled Huwang Xiao was, the deeper he went, the stronger the cool atmosphere appeared to grow.
Another half an hour passed before Huwang Xiao detected a little lake, perhaps a chilly spring would be more accurate. The water bubbling up from the spring was dark green in color, whereas above the spring were flows of azure frosty air that produced endlessly.
“This, could it be…?!” Huwang Xiao was stunned. Did the azure cold wind at the bottom of this rift originate from this cold springtime?!
What was this cold spring exactly! There was 100 zhang distance between them and he was inside the Godly Mt. Xumi, yet Huwang Xiao felt the terrifying extreme frigid air coming from the cold spring.
However, just as terrifying the extreme frigid air was, it also contained abundant spiritual energy. Huwang Xiao activated the attention of Hell to search within the tiny lake and saw that there were actually fish swimming within!