by Shian Jeen
Many of these talks also entered the Wangu Clan Elders’ ears and they turned to look at the 93rd position on the ranking list.
“Go find out what this Huwang Xiao’s ranking was before this.” Elder Wangu Yuan suddenly instructed the two high-ranked stewards beside him.
The two attendants respectfully complied and went off to their task.
The Wangu Clan disciples would make a copy of the ranking list every one hour, and if Huwang Xiao was amongst the top three thousand before this, the Wangu Clan attendants would be able to find out his prior ranking.
It didn’t take long for the two attendants to return, however, the report they brought back made the twelve Wangu Clan Elders’ jaws drop.
“What? An hour before, this Huwang Xiao was in the 921st place?!” All the Elders almost blurted out the same sentence.
The two high-level attendants nodded their heads and affirmed the result.
The Wangu Clan Elders silently exchanged looks between themselves.
A sudden great leap from 921st to 93rd place!
There was only one possibility that could explain it—Huwang Xiao killed a disciple of with a very high ranking on the list and received half of that disciple’s points. Only this could explain his abrupt entry into the top one hundred.
Among the top one hundred disciples, only Xiang Mingzhi who was ranked 67th had fallen.
Xiang Mingzhi was killed by Huwang Xiao!
“This Huwang Xiao, why does his name sound so familiar?” Wangu Changqing wondered out loud.
“Huwang Xiao? Could it be that little guy we made a bet on some time ago? That little guy’s name is also Huwang Xiao.” Wangu Shuo’s eyes glimmered.
“Bet?” Wangu Zhi looked at Wangu Changqing and Wangu Shuo with curiosity.
This matter wasn't a secret that needed to be concealed, hence Wangu Shuo briefly told everyone about the bet he made with Wangu Changqing during the registration.
When the other ten Elders heard that Huwang Xiao’s bone-age was only two hundred and fifty-eight, and he defeated a late-First Order Highgod Realm with a cultivation of perfection stage late-Tenth Order God Realm, their astonished expressions mirrored each other.
“A bone-age of 258, defeating a late-First Order Highgod Realm master while being a perfection stage late-Tenth Order God Realm cultivator, this talent is indeed monstrous even among top geniuses! Still, saying that a God Realm kid killed that Xiang Mingzhi who was ranked 67th, I cannot believe it. It’s impossible!” Wangu Zhi stated, shaking his head.
“The fact that Xiang Mingzhi could reach the 67th place proves that he has the strength of a late-Third Order Highgod Realm at the very least, only disciples in the top twenty could have killed him. As for that Huwang Xiao, a small God Realm brat, how could he have strength equivalent to the disciples in the top twenty? I agree, this is ridiculous!” Wangu Yuan also shook his head, refuting the possibility of that happening, “So, that brat you two made a bet on definitely cannot be the same as this Huwang Xiao.”
“I think so too, they most likely have the same name.” Wangu Changqing nodded.
Participating disciples having the same name was not uncommon.
Feng Yang’s group also saw Huwang Xiao’s great leap to the top one hundred. So did Qin Yi and others from the Azure Dragon Institute.
Although it was extremely hard for Qin Yi to believe that his personal disciple was killed by Huwang Xiao, there was a voice telling him that there was a ninety percent chance it was Huwang Xiao who did it!
Qin Yi was filled with grief, his scarlet eyes filled with fury and hatred were glaring at Feng Yang’s group. Still, he controlled himself not to act recklessly here.
If it weren’t for the fact there was a rule stating that fighting in the Aeon Square wasn't allowed, he would have thrown caution to the wind and lunged at Feng Yang, tearing him apart.
Feng Yang acted as if he did not notice Qin Yi’s killing intent, looking at Huwang Xiao’s name on the ranking list with astonishment, joy, and excitement.
Was this really his personal disciple, Huwang Xiao? There was a surreal feeling in his heart, as if he was walking in a dream. Never ever did he dare to imagine, to hope, that Huwang Xiao could enter the top one hundred. In the beginning, he already felt overwhelmed by good fortune when Huwang Xiao made it into the top one thousand.
At this time, in a certain valley in the Overflowing Lightning World, Huwang Xiao looked at Xiang Mingzhi’s corpse on the ground and extended a finger. A sliver of Black Tortoise Divine Fire flew out and fell on Xiang Mingzhi’s corpse, burning it away from this world.
Huwang Xiao collected Xiang Mingzhi’s spatial ring, godhead, and that Hallowed Nine-Colored Flower into his Asura Ring before turning his attention onto the Azure Dragon Divine Fire.
After Xiang Mingzhi’s death, the Azure Dragon Divine Fire became ownerless, making it easy for Huwang Xiao to trap it in the air with the Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger Divine Fires.
He lifted his hand and a powerful force pulled all four divine fires down to the Heavenly God’s mansion.
“I can finally condense my godhead and step into the Highgod Realm!” Huwang Xiao sat cross-legged in the main mansion, excitement bubbling in his heart looking at the four divine fires.
Huwang Xiao activated the central formation, causing every formation and array on the Heavenly Mountain to come to life. He then took a deep breath, sucking all four divine fires into his body.
Ch.860
As Huwang Xiao sucked all four divine fires into his body, the usually hidden Treasure Dragon diagram emerged, absorbing the essence force from the Azure Dragon Divine Fire at a frenzied speed.
The Azure Dragon Divine Fire’s vast essence force filled Huwang Xiao’s dantian and Qi Sea to the brim in the blink of an eye.
Like all the times before, Huwang Xiao began compressing the true immortal essence force in his dantian and god battle qi in his Qi Sea, but they quickly filled up again.
Filling up, compressing! Filling up again and being compressed!
Huwang Xiao had already lost count of the number of times he had been suppressing and compressing his true immortal essence and god battle qi. This continued until it reached a point where both his dantian and Qi Sea reached the limit, he could no longer compress the energies any further. His Qi Sea began to crack, faint lines of blood seeped out and began stretching longer.
Whereas in his dantian, the true immortal essence force was rolling violently, expanding chaotically like thorns piercing out in all directions.
At the same time, Huwang Xiao’s soul sea lit up with inexhaustible light, radiant and brilliant. As the essence from the Azure Dragon Divine Fire continued to temper his body and soul, the clarity of Huwang Xiao’s soul reached a pinnacle point.
Amidst everything, enormous hurricanes emerged in Huwang Xiao’s soul sea one after another. This was the first sign of a godhead’s condensation.
Sitting cross-legged inside the main mansion of the Heavenly God Mountain, Huwang Xiao was bathed in a sea of white luminance that grew more intense as time passed. The dragon qi inside his body rushed out, turning into a myriad of dragons, their thunderous roars resounding to the heavens.
Huwang Xiao’s body exuded boundless, majestic dragon might.
Subsequently, golden Buddha luminance lit up a part of the sky, flowing out endlessly from Huwang Xiao’s soul sea. Above the mansion, a great golden Buddha in meditation appeared, chanting a profound mantra. Buddhist force crashed outwards like the rising tide.
After the divine dragons and golden Buddhas, Asura qi rushed out, forming powerful and domineering archdevils, looking like the rulers of hell.
The myriad of dragons, countless golden Buddhas, and looming archdevils formed a strange diagram in the sky above the Heavenly God mansion. The three different energy lights were interacting and merging together.
More and more divine dragons, golden Buddhas, and archdevils appeared, the three different groups of light
grew more intense, spreading out. In a short amount of time, they had cast a veil over the entire Heavenly Mountain. Before long, the three groups of light had exceeded the Heavenly Mountain’s boundary, breaking past the layers of array formations, overtaking the valley and soaring into the sky outside.
Countless divine dragons, golden Buddhas and hell archdevils flickered in and out within the tri-colored sea of light.
Affected by the whelming presence of the three manifestations, the lightning force from the whole valley, within a radius of several thousand li, became volatile and intense. Furthermore, the Overflowing Lightning World’s ninth heaven lightning gathered ferociously toward the valley.
In the beginning, only the valley’s surrounding several thousand li were affected, but the three groups of light soon passed ten thousand li, spreading towards twenty thousand li, thirty thousand li…
When three kinds of light reached as far as ten thousand li from the valley, it finally attracted the attention of many participating disciples, as well as their shock.
“What is this?! What caused this valley’s lightning force to become so volatile? Also, lightning force is gathering above that valley!” A Wangu Clan disciple that wasn't far from the valley exclaimed.
“Three kinds of bright light! Divine dragons, golden Buddhas, and archdevils appearing at the same time!” At this time, another Wangu Clan disciple arrived, standing high in the air, exuding a powerful divine might. “Is this the emergence of an extraordinary treasure?”
The present Wangu Clan disciples quickly saluted respectfully when they saw the owner of the voice, greeting, “Big brother Yanhui!”
The newly arrived person was none other than the Wangu Clan’s greatest genius, Wangu Yanhui.
“Extraordinary treasure? Not necessarily.” A voice sounded in response to Wangu Yanhui’s question.
“Big brother Mu Qi!” The surrounding Mu Clan disciples greeted enthusiastically when they saw this person, the currently ranked fourth on the ranking list, Mu Qi.
The phenomenon around the valley had already continued for a few days and news begin to spread, attracting even more disciples. Thus, there was a large number of disciples near the valley, and even disciples within the top ten like Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi rushed over to that location.
“Whether it is related to an extraordinary treasure or not, we just need to enter the valley and have a look.” Wangu Yanhui said in a matter-of-fact tone. He then disappeared in a flicker, whistling like an arrow as he flew toward the valley. In mere seconds, Wangu Yanhui broke past the layers of roiling lightning energy in the air, getting closer to the Heavenly Mountain.
Watching this, Mu Qi also flew forward.
The disciples around remained where they were. They had tried to enter the valley before this, however, shortly after they entered, most of them were injured by the lightning force in the atmosphere, forcing them to return in a sorry state.
“Will Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi be able to enter the depths of the valley?” Several Zhou Clan disciples whispered amongst themselves.
A Wangu Clan disciple heard what they were saying and harrumphed coldly, “‘You don’t even have the strength to enter the valley, so how could the lot of you be compared our Big brother Yanhui? With our Big brother Yanhui’s abilities, he can definitely reach the depths of the valley!”
“Our Big brother Mu Qi will also be able to reach the depths!” Mu Clan disciples strongly emphasized.
One minute, two minutes, twenty minutes ticked by.
The crowd of disciples was waiting outside when Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi’s figures were seen speeding out in a hurry. Scratches and dents could be seen on their divine armors, dust and dirt on their faces; Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi’s miserable state was no better than the previous disciples’.
Sensing the various gazes on them, both Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi felt awkward.
Ignoring these gazes, Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi each led the disciples of their own clan away.
The remaining disciples exchanged silent looks. The strange behavior of Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi raised some speculations.
…
In the Heavenly God’s mansion, three kinds of light continued to surge out from Huwang Xiao’s body. The energy contained in those three lights was too vast, causing his flesh to rupture and bleed inch by inch.
However, aided by the four divine fires’ essence, Huwang Xiao’s wounds mended themselves.
This process repeated many a time.
As Huwang Xiao continuously bleed and healed, a whirlpool formed above his head, expanding to an enormous size. The Overflowing Lightning World’s purest lightning force was devoured by this whirlpool, channeled into Huwang Xiao’s new body.
Above the valley, the huge amount of lightning force that previously gathered transformed into a horde of lightning flood dragons, possessing terrifying destructive power. Even disciples as far as ten thousand li away felt palpitations.
Then, an even more horrifying burst of energy rushed out from the depths of the valley like a tsunami, wave after wave.
When this horrifying energy rushed out, angry lightning rained down on the valley’s perimeter. Some disciples were too slow and were whipped into the air by lightning.
Above Huwang Xiao’s soul sea, the three lights were condensing, yet growing bigger at the same time. The space and time laws threads belonging to each of the three lights began transforming.
One day, ten days, one month, two months…
By now, the center of the three groups of light had reached ten li in diameter, but it still didn't stop expanding. There seemed to be something gestating within these lights, pulsating like a heart. Every beat was akin to lightning strikes, shaking the whole valley.
The weaker disciples among those watching outside the valley vomited blood, their state of mind greatly affected. Faces paled and everyone scrambled away in fear. At this point, they finally understood why Wangu Yanhui and Mu Qi led their clans’ disciples away from here.
This was not some extraordinary treasure waiting to be born, this valley was shackling an extremely fierce beast!
Ch.861
While all the disciples gathered outside the valley were running away in fear, the three groups of light in the space above Huwang Xiao’s soul sea continued to enlarge at a rapid speed, exceeding a diameter of twenty li in a short time.
His flesh continued to rupture and bleed, then it was mended by the four divine fires’ essence as he continued to absorb the Overflowing Lightning World’s purest lightning force into his body.
From the distance, Huwang Xiao himself seemed to be born of lightning. First, his veins and meridians disappeared, then it was his internal organs, bones and flesh, completely turning into one of the most powerful masses of energy under the heavens.
Three months passed.
The three groups of light above Huwang Xiao’s soul sea now exceeded thirty li in diameter.
As the three groups of light continued to pulsate, ten thousand li radius of land shook at it beats. At this point, no one dared to be within a hundred thousand li from the valley.
While Huwang Xiao was condensing his godhead to breakthrough into the Highgod Realm, out on the Aeon Square, Feng Yang, Liu Yun, and the rest stared fixedly at the ranking list, nervous like ants on a hot pan.
It had been ten months without any changes to Huwang Xiao’s points. Ten months ago, Huwang Xiao was ranked 93rd, while a month later his name fell outside of the top one hundred. In the second month, Huwang Xiao’s ranking had fallen outside of the top two hundred, and now, he was already out of the top three hundred!
Watching more and more disciple gain more points than Huwang Xiao, kicking him further down on the ranking list, it raised speculations from the observing crowd.
And because of the previous bet, despite not believing the Huwang Xiao on the ranking list to be that black-haired young man they saw, Wangu Shuo and Wangu Changqing also checked Huwang Xiao’s progress from time to time.
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p; “Ten months, there haven't been any changes to his points. Could this kid be injured, hence he had been hiding to recuperate?” Wangu Shuo had been watching Huwang Xiao’s name sliding down the ranks with a frown.
“That’s very likely. When he shot up to the 93rd spot, it must have been when he killed Xiang Mingzhi. Although he succeeded in killing Xiang Mingzhi, it is inevitable that he would be gravely injured.” Wangu Changqing nodded at his own words, “That Xiang Mingzhi was a ranked 67th, there’s no doubt he was quite strong, even disciples in the top twenty would be injured in order to kill him.”
“It’s a pity,” Wangu Shuo shook his head, “If it is as you’ve said, then forget the top one hundred, he won’t even be able to stay within the top one thousand. At his current rate, he’ll be kicked out from the top one thousand by the time the competition ends.”
Wangu Changqing also showed a reluctant expression. Initially, he had been looking forward to the unexpected surprise this Huwang Xiao might give him by making it to the top thirty, but that probability didn't look so promising right now.
Therefore, Wangu Shuo, Wangu Changqing, and the other Wangu Clan Elders no longer paid any attention to Huwang Xiao. Disciples worthy of their attention were naturally those in the top one hundred.
This ‘Huwang Xiao’ had lost his only chance to reach the top one hundred in the tournament.
Watching Huwang Xiao fall down the ranks, Qin Yi was inwardly sneering with glee. Even if his personal disciple died and no longer had any part in this tournament, Huwang Xiao would be the same, destined to fall out of the top thousand!
Qin Yi’s conclusion was similar to Wangu Shuo’s, assuming that Huwang Xiao must have been gravely injured after killing Xiang Mingzhi, thus he hid somewhere to heal, that’s why his points did not change at all.
In fact, Qin Yi had been desperately praying that other disciples or lightning beasts would discover the place where Huwang Xiao was healing and kill him!