by Translator: Pokka; Author: 我本纯洁 (I Am Pure); Licensed From: Migu
"What an odd energy. Let me see how scary your destructiveness is," Xiang Shaoyun muttered as he formed a finger beam with the nine-colored fog. He jabbed at the wall in his cultivation room.
Bang!
A muffled sound rang out, and a hole appeared in the wall.
Chapter 390: Forming Nine-Colored Fog
In truth, Xiang Shaoyun was currently in a cultivation room normally allocated to the Dong Clan Emperors. Constructed from emperor-grade materials and protected by formations, the room was absolutely sturdy. Using the nine-colored fog, he was able to easily create a hole in the wall. It was an astonishing display of destructiveness, and even he himself was stunned for a bit.
"Was the quality of this room so bad?" Xiang Shaoyun mused as he mustered all his strength and punched a different part of the wall.
Bang!
It was a punch surpassing the strength of a fifth-stage King, yet it did nothing to the wall. It was now obvious there was no issue with the wall.
"Huu. Looks like it was really due to the nine-colored fog," muttered Xiang Shaoyun with a burning gaze in his eyes. If this new power was used in a battle, he would be able to catch his opponents by complete surprise, including those with higher cultivation levels.
Xiang Shaoyun was about to try something else with the nine-colored fog when he found that he had completely exhausted it. His astral cosmos sea was not producing it anymore either. It seemed to be a limited resource.
"I never did have much of this energy. After Money devoured a large portion of it and my test attack, it is understandable that I have none left. Looks like I need to think of a way to form more of it. Only then will I be able to start using it in battle," Xiang Shaoyun concluded.
He sank into deep thought, trying to think of a way to form more of the nine-colored fog. The fog had originated from the nine astral energies that had converged on him during his breakthrough when he had ignited his fate stars. Since it was still not the time for him to break through into the next stage, gathering more of the fog with the same method was out of the question.
Xiang Shaoyun came up with a different idea: "Since I don't have any means of gathering external astral energies, I should try it with my internal astral energies instead."
He then circulated his cultivation method and fully activated his nine stars, drawing strands of astral energy from the stars into his astral cosmos sea. Unfortunately, no new nine-colored fog formed. He felt somewhat discouraged at the possibility that he would only be able to form more of the fog through convergence of external astral energies during his next breakthrough.
"I'll try three more times. If I still fail, I'll forget about it," Xiang Shaoyun muttered.
He tried two more times and failed both attempts. During the final third attempt, he did not draw all the energies he had into the astral cosmos sea. Rather, he filtered out the unique energies he had received from the lightning bone, Yun Flame, and white tiger and only used the ordinary lightning, flame and gold astral energies contained within his first three stars, which were similar in level to his other six stars.
During Xiang Shaoyun's breakthrough into the King Realm, he had absorbed nine different energies into his nine stars. Since then, the wood, water, earth, light, dark, and wind energies had respectively gathered in his six other stars. However, they were much weaker in comparison to his first three stars' unique energies.
Xiang Shaoyun now possessed astral energy of nine different elements within him. Not using any of the special elemental astral energies in his first three stars, he channeled nine ordinary elemental astral energies into the astral cosmos sea, and this time, something changed.
The different energies started gathering together, forming a thin layer of nine-colored fog. There was only a tiny bit of it, even less than the amount Xiang Shaoyun had used for his finger beam attack, but it was undeniably there.
"Success!" Xiang Shaoyun cried out in excitement.
After repeated failure, he had finally found a way to form more of the nine-colored fog. He repeated what he did and drew more energy from the nine stars into the astral cosmos sea. Sure enough, more nine-colored fog appeared and combined with the fog he had generated earlier.
Xiang Shaoyun grew even more excited and started channeling more energy into the astral cosmos sea. After only a few more times, he found that six of his stars had been completely drained of energy.
He had only formed enough nine-colored fog to replenish what he had used earlier. That much fog was only enough for one finger beam attack. Hanging around to the side was the horned lightning snake, greatly longing to devour more of the nine-colored fog. In fact, he would have done so already if Xiang Shaoyun hadn't prevented him from doing so.
"This is far from enough. Looks like I need to increase the speed I absorb the energies of the other elements if I want to form more nine-colored fog," Xiang Shaoyun decided.
Although six of his stars had been emptied, he wasn't exactly exhausted because the special elemental energies in his first three stars were still supporting him. Since he had already learned a lot about the nine-colored fog, he shifted his focus to the Nether Soul Domain.
He found that the ghostrune patriarch had transformed into a ghostrune emperor. Apart from that, a bunch of new ghostrune kings had appeared as well. He also found that more than half of the ghostrunes had gone missing, which confused him greatly.
After all, each ghostrune in his Nether Soul Domain had been living comfortably. How would they die? Even if they had died, where were the corpses? After some observation, Xiang Shaoyun finally noticed something.
He found that the strong ghostrunes were actually consuming the weaker ghostrunes to strengthen themselves. Even weirder was the fact that the weaker ghostrunes did not even resist and allowed the stronger ghostrunes to gobble them up. Xiang Shaoyun could not understand what was going on.
"Gui Qi, come out," Xiang Shaoyun summoned the ghostrune patriarch.
Gui Qi flew out and greeted respectfully, "Gui Qi greets the master."
He was speaking the ghostrune language. Even if someone was eavesdropping, they would not understand what was being said.
"Is consuming your own the way your race grows?" Xiang Shaoyun asked directly.
Gui Qi replied, "No. Most of us have only advanced because of you, master. Consuming our companions has only been for the sake of strengthening the power of our bloodline. We need to grow as quickly as possible to repay the favor you have shown us, master."
"My favor? Tell me more," Xiang Shaoyun said.
"Master, the place you are letting us live is filled with pure nether soul energy, which is the energy our race thirsts for. It is capable of helping us grow, yet our bloodline is not strong enough to support our growth. That is why we have to consume our companions to strengthen our own bloodline. It is the fastest way our race can upgrade our bloodline. In any case, all sacrifices have been on a voluntary basis," said Gui Qi.
"That...works?" Xiang Shaoyun was dumbstruck. He had never expected that the ghostrunes would actually strengthen their bloodline with such a method. The combination of their strengthened bloodline and the nether soul energy was letting them grow even faster.
Chapter 391: I'll Be Making the Decision to Betroth Little Wan to You
After talking with Gui Qi for a bit, Xiang Shaoyun found out that the stronger a ghostrune was, the faster the ghostrune would be able to breed. For example, a ghostrune queen could give birth to about a dozen ghostrunes per day, whereas a ghostrune empress could give birth to over 100 ghostrunes per day. After one month, a large number of new ghostrunes could be created.
But doing so would also exhaust some of the bloodline strength of the female ghostrunes and would slow their advancement. In short, the ghostrune was an extremely peculiar race that was incredibly odd compared to other races.
Since their current focus was strength, they would have to first reduce their numbers to increase their strength. Breeding was never something they were wor
ried about. As for the nether soul energy within the Nether Soul Domain, it would grow along with Xiang Shaoyun.
In fact, the only reason Gui Qi had become an Emperor was because he had benefited from Xiang Shaoyun's breakthrough into the Skysoar Realm. His Nether Soul Domain had expanded, and the nether soul energy had become thicker, further increasing the speed at which the ghostrunes could grow.
Xiang Shaoyun even started wondering if the ghostrunes had a unique relationship with the Imperial Nether Clan. Otherwise, why would the ghostrunes be akin to fish back in water in the Nether Soul Domain, living such a good life? In fact, he no longer needed to worry about finding a place to keep them. He had enough space in his Nether Soul Domain for all of them now.
"With your current soul power, how strong is your attack?" Xiang Shaoyun asked. Ghostrune kings were able to launch direct attacks at anyone's soul. What about a ghostrune emperor?
Gui Qi laughed sinisterly and said, "I can instantly kill any life forms with a soul and consume their soul to grow myself. Of course, that is on the basis that my target is not too strong. On top of that, I can also take control of weaker souls and make them do whatever I want."
"I see." Xiang Shaoyun's eyes lit up. "With your current living environment, how many more Emperors will appear among you?"
"Soon, we will have at least 5 Emperors and 300 Kings. If the nether soul energy grows in both quantity and density, we can even breakthrough alongside you," said Gui Qi.
"Good. I don't care how you do it, but grow as quickly as you can. I will be needing your assistance in the future," said Xiang Shaoyun in excitement.
The changes of the ghostrunes had filled Xiang Shaoyun with hope that he could one day take back all he had lost. Soul attacks were extremely hard to guard against, and most regular people would have no means of defending against them.
Because of that, if the ghostrunes continued to grow, they would become a force to be reckoned with. In the past, he had always been aiming to retake what was once his through sheer stubbornness, using that as a source of motivation to keep himself working hard. In truth, he never had much confidence in succeeding.
Although he had constantly bragged that he was a super genius, he had no confidence he could reach the Sovereign Realm or beyond in 10 years. Taking everything back was definitely easier said than done.
But now, things were different. With an army of ghostrunes, his confidence had been boosted, and he now had the assistance of the likes of Devouring Ghost and Du Xuanhao. Everything was progressing smoothly, and taking back what was his no longer seemed so impossible.
After talking a bit more about the ghostrunes, Xiang Shaoyun sent Gui Qi back into the Nether Soul Domain.
"Looks like I need to think of a way to expand the Nether Soul Domain," Xiang Shaoyun decided.
From his conversation with Gui Qi, he was now clear that the growth of his Nether Soul Domain would be the equivalent of the growth of the ghostrunes. Thus, there was a need for him to take it seriously.
By the time Xiang Shaoyun ended his cultivation session, the Dong Clan people were returning in triumph. Dong Qinggu, Dong Zhongyuan, Dong Zhuoyue, and the other Dong Clan Emperors convened a meeting between the higher ups. Xiang Shaoyun, Devouring Ghost, and Du Xuanhao were also invited to the meeting.
In the meeting hall, Xiang Shaoyun was welcomed with the highest honors they could accord him. This welcoming ceremony was completely different from their previous welcoming ceremony. This time, the people from the Dong Clan were no longer gloomy. Rather, they were smiling with joy.
Dong Qinggu was the first to speak, "On behalf of the Dong Clan, I would like to thank Young Master Xiang and the two friends for your assistance. Our Dong Clan would not have survived this crisis otherwise."
He then bowed before Xiang Shaoyun. The other Dong Clan members also bowed without delay. The people gathered in this room were basically all Emperors, people of the most esteemed stature in the Five Denseforest Cities. Here they were, all bowing to a third-stage King like Xiang Shaoyun. If someone else saw this scene, they would mistake it for a declaration of allegiance. It was definitely shocking.
Xiang Shaoyun was overwhelmed, and he quickly said, "There is no need for this, everyone. How can I accept such honor?"
Dong Qinggu stood straight up and took out a storage ring before saying, "Young Master Xiang, this is a little gift from the Dong Clan to show our gratitude. Please accept it."
Xiang Shaoyun hesitated slightly before accepting the ring. He said, "This kid shall accept it, then."
"Haha, you deserve it, Young Master Xiang. I hereby declare that Young Master Xiang will forever be the honored guest of the Dong Clan. In the future, any Dong Clan member seeing you will have to accord you the greatest of honors," said Dong Qinggu.
The other Dong Clan people voiced their agreement, making it clear they would comply. After Xiang Shaoyun sat down, Devouring Ghost and Du Xuanhao remained standing behind him. The Dong Clan people noticed that detail and their opinion of Xiang Shaoyun grew even more.
At this time, Dong Zhongyuan signaled Dong Zhuoyue with his eyes. Dong Zhuoyue understood what he was getting at and immediately smiled at Xiang Shaoyun. "Young Master Xiang, we know that you have only helped us because of Little Wan. Now that our clan has survived this crisis safely, if you are willing, I'll be making the decision to betroth Little Wan to you. What do you think?"
The moment he said that, all the Dong Clan people focused on Xiang Shaoyun, their eyes filled with hope and expectation as they waited for his answer.
Xiang Shaoyun blanked out slightly before frowning. "Dong Clan leader, I think you have misunderstood something. We are only friends. I helped her out of my free will and have never expected anything in return. I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it will be necessary."
"Little Wan does like you a lot. I am certain of that. Is our Little Wan not good enough for you, Young Master Xiang?" Dong Zhuoyue asked.
Dong Zhuoyue was afraid that Xiang Shaoyun would think he was forcing the marriage, so he had to explain himself.
With a firm tone, Xiang Shaoyun answered, "It's not that she is not good enough for me, but I have always seen her as a good friend and have never thought about anything else. In any case, I have a mission to accomplish. If you betroth Little Wan to me, it might bring destruction to your clan in the future. Therefore, do not mention this again. Since the Dong Clan's crisis is over, I will also be taking my leave. Goodbye."
The Dong Clan people were instantly stunned.
Chapter 392: Dong Clan's Generous Reward
Xiang Shaoyun left immediately, not giving the Dong Clan a chance to persuade him to stay, not even Dong Ziwan. Dong Qinggu offered to send them off with their teleportation portal, but even that was rejected.
Xiang Shaoyun did not wish to waste any time. His plan was to travel to the Bloodsin City and train on the way there. Only then would he have the ability to establish a footing for himself when he was finally at the Bloodsin City. As for Tai Kang, the King under his control, Xiang Shaoyun had left him behind.
When Dong Ziwan heard about their departure, she cried bitterly.
"Why are you so cruel?" weeped Dong Ziwan as she gazed at Xiang Shaoyun’s departing back in the distant horizon. She considered leaving without saying goodbye as the cruelest thing he could do to her and reached a conclusion that he never saw her as anything more than just a good friend.
Dong Qinggu patted her shoulder and comforted her. "He is not being cruel. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to help us solve our crisis. Perhaps he really has something he needs to do and does not wish for you to be his burden. He is in a sense a character with both ambition and ruthlessness."
"I am already a Skysoar Realm cultivator. How will I be his burden?" Dong Ziwan questioned indignantly.
"Didn't you see how only Emperors are by his side? In other words, one has to at least be an Emperor to be of help to him. If you want to be with him one day, listen to your father. Start
working hard in cultivation from now on. Only by possessing enough strength will you be able to prevent him from leaving without saying goodbye like this," Dong Qinggu said.
At that, the tears vanished from Dong Ziwan's eyes, replaced by a bright look of realization. She said, "Ok. From now onward, I will work even harder to become an Empress one day. No, I will become a Sovereign. I will ensure he can't escape me anymore!" She then bowed to Dong Qinggu and said, "Great-grandfather, I beg you to open the clan's forbidden zone for me. I wish to enter."
"What? You want to enter the forbidden zone? Do you even know how bad it is in there?" Dong Qinggu asked in shock.
"I know, but that is the only place that can increase my cultivation speed. I wish to give it a try," Dong Ziwan said resolutely.
"A lot of geniuses from our clan have perished there in the past. Otherwise, our clan wouldn't have stagnated all these years. If it wasn't for the records of the ancestors stating that the forbidden zone is linked to our clan through fate, we would have destroyed that place long ago. I will give you three days to think it through. If you still want to enter after three days, I will allow it," said Dong Qinggu. Fear could be seen in his eyes at his thought of the forbidden zone.
Once again, Dong Ziwan replied resolutely, "No, I don't need that. I will go right now. I'm afraid I will lose the courage if I wait. Even if I end up dying, I won't regret it."
Dong Qinggu gave her one long look before sighing, "Fine. Since you have decided, I will allow you entry. I hope you will become the Dong Clan's miracle."
...
Xiang Shaoyun was naturally unaware of the decision Dong Ziwan had made. Presently, he was seated on Jin Wo's back, constantly absorbing the spiritual energy around him. Even when flying high up in the sky, a certain degree of astral energy concentration could be found.
With the star congregation jade on him, he could increase his energy absorption rate by three times. He was trying to replenish the astral energies in his stars so as to create more nine-colored fog. He had a feeling the nine-colored fog would become his trump card. Thus, he had to take it seriously.