by Shian Jeen
But Huwang Xiao calmed down very quickly, deadly as this multicolored fog was, it probably could not enter Godly Mt. Xumi’s space. Despite his confidence, Huwang Xiao took out two Jasper Lotus elixirs from the Asura Ring, giving one to Feng Yang. They each swallowed one Jasper Lotus.
This Jasper Lotus was one of the many elixirs he found at the bottom of the Broken Tiger Rift in the Eminent Holiness’ secret space. It was able to solve hundreds of the world’s toxic poisons.
After both had swallowed the Jasper Lotus elixir, Huwang Xiao once again guided the Godly Mt. Xumi into the sea of colorful Ghostfog with caution.
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But, Huwang Xiao’s extra precaution was proved to be superfluous. Travelling in the sea of ghostfog, nary a wisp managed to seep inside the Godly Mt. Xumi. Half an hour later, Huwang Xiao breathed out in relief.
Inside the ghostfog, Huwang Xiao’s sharp eyesight could only determine the situation in an area less than a hundred zhang, stretching the distance slightly up to a thousand zhang with the Eye of Hell.
The Godly Mt. Xumi flew across the ghostfog without any surprises other than the occasional strange cries from unknown sources far away, raising goosebumps down the neck.
Huwang Xiao was surprised that something actually lived within the Seven Color Ghostfog. He asked giant ghost Feng Yang about it, but the giant ghost shook his head, ignorant of what it could be.
Though they continued to hear strange cries throughout the flight, they did not meet with any attack. The entire crossing was calm and peaceful, in half a day’s time, Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang reached the doorway to the fifth floor.
Like the entrance of the fourth floor, there was nothing guarding the entrance towards the fifth floor, thus Huwang Xiao passed through the entrance without any surprises onto the fifth floor.
On the fifth floor, the magnificent splendor of a palace came into sight, towering above a mountain peak.
A massive palace on a towering mountain.
A contradiction to the darkness Huwang Xiao had seen on the way here, the fifth floor was like a celestial wonderland. On the mountain peak, the refreshing scent of elixirs wafted out, from ganoderma, herb elixirs, and spiritual trees shrouded in mesmerizing halos.
Huwang Xiao even suspected he arrived at the wrong place for a second. Staring at the grandiose palace, Huwang Xiao reined in the excitement bubbling in his heart, together with giant ghost Feng Yang, both of them exited the Godly Mt. Xumi, flying straight for the palace.
Soon, Huwang Xiao stood on the same peak as the palace, powerful spiritual energy surged from the surrounding elixirs and ganoderma, enveloping Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang as if they dove into an ocean of spiritual energy.
Feeling this, Huwang Xiao was overjoyed. These elixirs on this peak were no worse compared to the ones he found at the bottom of Broken Tiger Rift, some of these elixirs were even more precious and rare.
“Golden Sky Infant Fruit!”
“Jade Gold Pearl Flower!”
“Nine Nodes Grass!”
Not missing a beat, with a gentle wave of both hands, all the nearby elixirs flew towards Huwang Xiao and into the Asura Ring. In less than the time it took to sip tea, all elixirs on the entire mountain peak were cleaned out by him. Not even the corner of a root was left behind for Zhao Chen’s group.
After collecting the precious elixirs, Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang stood in front of the palace gates. The gates were ten zhang tall, five zhang wide, and were opened.
The surroundings were quiet.
Huwang Xiao spread out his spiritual sense and opened the Eye of Hell at the same time. Confirming that the gates were not rigged or placed with any curse, a moment later he stepped in together with giant ghost Feng Yang.
One step into the palace grounds, both Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang felt a whelming pressure enveloped them. Before this momentum, Feng Yang’s knees went soft, falling into a kneeling position.
Huwang Xiao too nearly fell to his knees, but the twin primordial divine dragons flew out from his body. An ancient dragon atmosphere, seemingly in slumber, awakened, surging out from Huwang Xiao’s body, indirectly helping him withstand the pressure.
Even so, Huwang Xiao felt the oppressive pressure linger. Looking around, Huwang Xiao saw a stalwart statue not too far up front. From its appearance, Huwang Xiao couldn’t tell what material the statue was made from, but it was extremely life-like. The statue was of a robust middle-aged man with a short beard, thick brows, and a generous-sized mouth. Knots of unknown origin, resembling tiny black pythons, flowed from the man’s head like hair and the man’s feet were standing atop two dragon heads.
Two devil dragons with scarlet red eyes!
The horrifying oppressive atmosphere he felt earlier came from this statue.
A statue actually exuded this much oppression!
“Lord, Lord Ghost King!” Hearing Feng Yang’s shaky voice, he turned over to look, noticing the fear, worship, excitement, and trepidation in his eyes as he looked fixedly at the statue.
Ghost King! This extremely life-like statue really was a statue of the Ghost King!
Huwang Xiao drew a deep breath looking at the Ghost King’s statue, the shock in his heart undisguisable. Although he could hardly imagine the era when Ghost King’s prestige soared heaven high, deterring many other experts and ruling billions of powerful ghost and devils, Huwang Xiao felt the Ghost King’s majestic might exuding from the statue.
Even the devil dragons were mounts under his feet!
It was some time later that Huwang Xiao managed to suppress the sudden reverence, turning to check out the large hall. There were four main stone pillars in the hall, the top side of these pillars was decorated with carvings depicting evil spirits, while at the center of the ceiling was a pool of holy spirit clouds.
The aura of a devil mixed with holy spirit filled the large hall, half darkness and evil, half light and holiness, it gave off a weird feeling. There was nothing else in the large hall but the four stone pillars.
Huwang Xiao looked carefully several times, finding nothing, he frowned. It was a single floor hall, no second, third, or fourth floor nor did it have an inner or outer hall. Just one open large hall.
Then, where could the legendary Ghost King Sutra and Ghost King Dan be? All of a sudden, Huwang Xiao’s eyes looked over to the Ghost King statue, falling on the ring on the Ghost King’s finger.
Spatial ring!
This spatial ring blended well with the statue, if it weren’t for Huwang Xiao observing the statue in detail he wouldn’t have found any difference.
Huwang Xiao’s heart throbbed wildly. It seems like the Ghost King Sutra and Ghost King Dan were most likely in that spatial ring.
Huwang Xiao lifted his hand and a strong suction force pulled the spatial ring off the Ghost King’s hand, falling into his palm. The Ghost King’s spatial ring was very different from the Asura Ring, purple in color and almost translucent, with two devil dragons carved on its the body, closely resembling the two devil dragons under the Ghost King’s feet.
They were baring their fangs and claws, looking intimidating!
Running his battle qi, Huwang Xiao tried to open the Ghost King’s spatial ring, but just as he was about to infuse the spatial ring with battle qi, a monstrous swarm of evil spirits broke out from within, howling and wailing, an intense ghost aura engulfed Huwang Xiao. Alarmed, Huwang Xiao quickly released the Buddhism energy inside his body, gradually suppressing the mad group of evil spirits.
There was such an unnerving ban on the Ghost King’s ring!
Huwang Xiao once again looked at the Ghost King’s spatial ring in his hand. Recalling the monstrosity coming at him just seconds ago, the lingering fear in Huwang Xiao’s heart had yet to subside. Luckily, he reacted in a timely manner, and most of all, he was lucky to have been imparted with Buddhism energy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be standing there safely now.
Still, this level of curse on th
e Ghost King’s spatial ring was not something he could break at this moment.
‘Looks like, I need to figure out a way, but first, I have to leave this place.’ Huwang Xiao thought to himself, putting away the Ghost King Ring into the Asura Ring.
Then, Huwang Xiao circled the hall to confirm that he did not miss any treasures lying around before leaving the hall with giant ghost Feng Yang.
Once they were out of the hall, Huwang Xiao returned using the same route.
At this time, there were merely six to seven days left before the Ghost City disappeared, therefore he had to hurry back to the first floor, exit the Ghost King Palace and leave the Ghost City.
When he reached the fifth floor’s entrance, Huwang Xiao once again brought out the Godly Mt. Xumi, bringing giant ghost Feng Yang with him, both entering the Xumi Temple. Passing through the doorway, Godly Mt. Xumi disappeared into the ghostfog.
Being familiar with the route, Huwang Xiao took only two days to exit the Ghost King’s cultivation cave and continued onward to the Ghost City’s main gates without stopping.
Since the Ghost King Sutra and Ghost King Dan were already in his hands, he had no interest in exploring other areas of the city.
Before long, Huwang Xiao passed through the Ghost City gates, leaving the city behind.
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Huwang Xiao felt a sense of relief when he exited the Ghost City. His current strength was sufficient to deal with Zhao Chen, but it was still quite troublesome if they ran into each other for now.
Especially if Zhao Chen’s group realized that the Ghost King Sutra and Ghost King Dan fell into someone else’s hands and Huwang Xiao seemingly walked out safely from the Ghost King’s cultivation cave, they would be able to connect two and two together.
If the news ever leaked out, he would be targeted throughout the Bedlam Lands.
Strength! Huwang Xiao urgently needed to increase his strength!
Regardless if he could go against an early Saint realm expert such as Zhao Chen at his current peak late-Xiantian Tenth Order strength. Even against some mid-First Order Saint realm, it was far from sufficient. He would be powerless to do anything if he came across a Second Order Saint realm.
The same thought once again emerged in Huwang Xiao’s heartーbreak through to the Saint realm, as soon as possible!
Not to mention that there was only slightly more than a year’s time left until Deities Templars’ disciple selection. He had to break through to Saint realm before that, every ounce of strength was crucial, increasing his chances of rescuing Li Lu.
Huwang Xiao checked the directions and then sped away southward with giant ghost Feng Yang, all the way without stopping. Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang flew for three hours, landing in a quiet, secluded valley.
Leaving giant ghost Feng Yang as a lookout on the outside, Huwang Xiao entered the valley, brought out the Godly Mt. Xumi and entered the Xumi Temple. Even though he knew that refining the Ghost King’s Ring would be hard at this current strength, Huwang Xiao was determined to give it another try.
He was not someone who was willing to give up that easily.
As long as he could refine the ring and obtain the Ghost King Dan within, he had a high chance of breaking through to Saint realm in the next few months. Breaking through to Saint realm could not be achieved by merely swallowing some ten or hundred thousand year elixirs, otherwise, why would there be so many half-Saints stuck at that stage for a hundred years or so, unable to pierce through that slim barrier.
And divine grade spirit pellets, such as the Ghost King Dan, were highly beneficial in aiding the process of stepping into the Saint realm.
It was said the Ghost King spent many years and effort to refine the Ghost King Dan using more than a hundred precious elixirs, all for the sake of breaking into the God Realm.
Taking out the Ghost King Ring, Huwang Xiao observed for a moment the ring floating in front of him, glimmering in a soft purple glow. He sat down cross-legged in the center of the Ten Buddha Formation, fully releasing the Buddhism energy from his body, only then did he cautiously ran his battle qi, infusing it into the ring in an attempt to refine it.
Just like the first time, the moment Huwang Xiao’s battle qi came in contact with the ring, the howling cries of evil spirits rang out and a monstrous ghost aura enveloped Huwang Xiao. This time, it was even more powerful than before.
The intense ghost aura clashed against the Buddhism energy within the temple, raising an endless volley of explosions echoing throughout the Xumi Temple. A short while later, the monstrous ghost aura was suppressed by the Buddhism energy within the Ten Buddha Formation.
Nevertheless, Huwang Xiao’s back dampened with cold sweat at the sight. Fortunately, he prepared in advance or the result would have been devastating, especially because the second retaliation was more powerful than the first!
Huwang Xiao’s brows furrowed deeply; must he really give up here?!
Moments later, Huwang Xiao directed the true essence fire from his dantian, forming a protective barrier over his body. At the same time, he initiated the Ten Buddha Formation, combining the Buddhism energy from the array formation with his own, creating a vigor barrier out of Buddhism energy before infusing his battle qi into the Ghost King Ring again.
The same thing happened, just like the previous two times. When Huwang Xiao sent his battle qi into the ring, the ban inside was triggered, a soaring ghost aura rushed out from the ring, colliding with the Buddhism energy a second time.
In the spacious hall, a scrimmage between the rumbling ghost aura and the sacred Buddha luminescence took place. It took some time before the Buddhism energy managed to suppress the ghost aura, taking a longer time than the first time.
The process repeated again and again until Huwang Xiao’s fifth attempt to refine the Ghost King Ring, the ghost aura inside suddenly rushed out like an endless raging tsunami, shattering the vigor barrier erected from the Ten Buddha Formation, shooting straight towards Huwang Xiao.
When it rammed into the true essence fire shield burning around Huwang Xiao, it reacted like water overboiling, black fumes of smoke filled the temple hall.
Lasting until the end, the true essence fire barely succeeded in burning away all the ghost aura that aimed at him, but Huwang Xiao’s face paled considerably. Although his true essence fire burned away all the ghost aura, he was overdrawing the true essence in his dantian at the same time.
Focusing his thoughts, Huwang Xiao executed his third martial spirit ability, Instant Recovery. Mottled blue lights spread up beginning from his feet, returning the ruddiness to his face, but it took several hours for the true essence in his dantian to recover.
Having recovered from his true essence exhaustion, Huwang Xiao breathed out turbid qi from his mouth. He stared at the Ghost King Ring before him and sighed helplessly. It seems that relying on his current level of strength, it was simply insufficient to refine the Ghost King Ring, even considering the help of an early Saint realm giant ghost Feng Yang’s assistance, the task had a very low chance of success.
A light flickered as thoughts ran through his mind swiftly. ‘Then, the only option was to make a trip back to Duanren Empire. Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu were both high-level Saint realm, with their help, the possibility of refining the Ghost King Ring was much higher,’ Huwang Xiao contemplated.
Once Huwang Xiao made his decision, he exited the Xumi Temple and called giant ghost Feng Yang over. Both of them left the valley, speeding at breakneck speed towards the Duanren Empire.
As for Black Demon City, Huwang Xiao wouldn’t be returning for the time being. The most crucial matter now was to refine the Ghost King Ring so that he could refine the Ghost King Dan and break through to Saint realm.
Speeding up all the way, Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang were out of the Ghost Domain territory in three days’ time. They came across many other ghost creatures, but all were killed by Huwang Xiao and Feng Yang, their ghost souls were refined by Huwang Xiao usi
ng the Blood Pact Mandate. Hence, by the time Huwang Xiao left the Ghost Domain, his strength further enhanced significantly, approaching half-Saint.
Ten days later, Huwang Xiao and Feng Yang reached Duanren Empire’s border. Seeing that the sky was already dark, he decided to rest for the night in the small town up ahead before traveling again.
‘Not far from here is the Luo Tong Kingdom.’ The thought crossed Huwang Xiao’s mind when he arrived at this small town called Thousand Spring, close to Duanren Empire’s territory.
‘Luo Tong Kingdom! I wonder how Lu Kai is doing now. It has been five years, that guy should have probably advanced to Houtian Eighth Order…’
A smile appeared on Huwang Xiao’s face at the thought of Lu Kai, that little guy most likely ascended the throne by now! He couldn’t resist chuckling imagining Lu Kai’s expression as he sat on the royal throne of the Luo Tong Kingdom.
The Luo Tong Kingdom held many of Huwang Xiao’s memories of this life.
Although the Huwang Clan Manor no longer existed, in Huwang Xiao’s heart, the Luo Tong Kingdom had always been his starting place, a hometown so to speak. The best memories of his childhood were spent there.
…
At this time, deep inside the Luo Tong Kingdom Palace, in an underground dungeon, sounds of whip cracking against the flesh resounded.
“Hehe, Lu Kai, I didn’t expect you to be so stubborn judging from your tender appearance.” A cold sinister voice spoke.
“Ptui! There will be a day when I chop you old dog into pieces and feed you to the pigs!” An angry roar echoed in through the dungeon, and this was none other than Lu Kai’s voice.
Inside the dungeon, Lu Kai’s appearance was disheveled, his white robe stained with blood, both his arms and legs were chained to a thick iron column.
Standing in front of Lu Kai was an old man in a gray robe.
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