《I am the Young Master》


 Qi Cultivation Realms

    Qi Cultivation Realms 101, By Dong Zemin


    These are my notes from elder Han''s lectures, if you found it useful some spirit stone is appreciated.


    - Qi Gathering(9 small realms):


    This realm is the start of the cultivation road. In this realm, you will be collecting Qi into your body and in each realm, you gather more Qi in your body. The expected life span in these realms is about 200 years.


    These smaller realms consist of:


    i. Strengthening (1 small realm)


    ii. Flesh (1 small realm)


    iii. Bone (1 small realm)


    iv. Marrow (1 small realm)


    v. Internal Organs (2 small realms)


    vi. Nervous System (3 small realms)


    - Meridian Formation(12 realms):


    In this realm, you would try to open your meridian paths and strengthen them. In each small realm, you have 9 meridians to work with, in the end, you get a meridian formation of a maximum of 81 meridians. The first 9 realms are for opening the meridians and the last 3 are for forming the formation(s). The expected life span in these realms is about 300 years.


    - True Qi(9 small realms):


    In the Qi Gathering Realm, you would collect the world Qi inside your body; in the True Qi realm, you would purify the Qi in your body and in turn get more power. The expected life span in these realms is about 500 years.


    These smaller realms like Qi Gathering realm consist of:


    i. Strengthening (1 small realm)


    ii. Flesh (1 small realm)


    iii. Bone (1 small realm)


    iv. Marrow (1 small realm)


    v. Internal Organs (2 small realms)


    vi. Nervous System (3 small realms)


    - Core Formation(12 small realms):


    In this realm, you would have to make a core in each of your 12 main meridians. In each small realm, you would be making a new core. The quality(size) of the created core is determined by many things such as talent and quality of one''s Qi. The expected life span in these realms is about 800 years.


    - Golden Core(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you would polish your cores but once you fail you cannot try polishing the same core in the same small realm. In this realm size of cores would shrink considerably so having a bigger core in the Core Formation realm is a plus in this realm. The expected life span in these realms is about 1200 years.


    - Sage(9 small realms):


    Sage is someone who has an understanding of world rules. In each small realm, you have to infuse one core with your understanding of a rule, this way you change the attribute of the given core from Qi to rule Qi. The expected life span in these realms is about 1600 years.


    - Taoist Palace(9 small realms):


    In this realm, you would be building a Taoist palace that has nine rivers surrounding it. In each small realm, you have to fill one of the rivers with your understanding of rules, when the minimum requirements are met you can breakthrough to the next small realm. The expected life span in these realms is about 2200 years.


    - Dharma Form(9 small realms):


    In this realm, your Taoist palace and nine rivers would transform and reforms to yourself in a dharma form. This is the reason why many cultivators won''t breakthrough to the next realm in Taoist Palace so that they can fill the rule river more and in the end get a stronger dharma form. In small realms, you would improve your understanding of the rules and blend the rules in your dharma form. The expected life span in these realms is about 3000 years.


    - Nirvana(3 small realms):


    In this realm, you would reform your body wholly, from flesh to bones and inner organs. If you hear that this realm has 9 realms instead of 3, it is because of the level of hardness in advancements in these realms. The expected life span in these realms is about 4000 years.

 Body Cultivation Realms

    Body Cultivation Realms 101, By Dong Zemin


    These are my notes from elder Tian''s lectures, if you found it useful some spirit stone is appreciated.


    - Lead body(5 small realms):


    This realm is the start of the body cultivation road. In this realm, you will harden your body and in each small realm, you would make your body purer and at the peak fifth realm, your body would have the hardness of pure lead.


    The hardness is not as good as you might think but as this is the first step in body cultivation, it is necessary to be passed. The main advantage of this realm is that your body would be more accustomed to the heat as it can replicate a heavy metal and also because of its softness, you can use this in lower realms of Qi cultivation to your advantage and maneuver better than you have the capability of.


    - Silver body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you will harden your body by about 20 times and as before, in each small realm, you would make your body create a purer silver until at the peak fifth realm your body would have twice the hardness that it had in the Lead body realm. As a result, in this realm you can state with confidence that your body is much harder than a normal human, some even call this realm the real start of body cultivation.


    Apart from the additional hardness, you can handle even more heat and just like the hardness, you are three times more heat resistant. Although you can still use this realm to maneuver better as silver is still considered a soft metal but you will be losing much of the Lead body benefits in this realm so it is recommended to be more reliant on your Qi cultivation realm from now on.


    - Copper body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you will harden your body to be harder by 360 percent and your body will be 15 percent more resistant to the heat. As it stands you might think that this realm doesn''t add many benefits in terms of heat resistance but the main benefit of this realm lies elsewhere.


    The main benefit of this realm is its high thermal conductivity, meaning you can effectively transfer heat and readily take up heat from your environment. This could be useful in a fight and a disaster at the same time because if enough heat is produced it can break your defenses.


    - Iron body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you will harden your body about 3 times, and your body will be more resistant to heat for more than 40 percent. Same as anything else, the higher your realm you achieve, the harder is to improve so this 40 percent is a big improvement.


    The thermal conductivity in this realm is much lower and you can say that you have better isolation from the heat of your surroundings.


    - Titanium body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, your body will harden by 4 times and would be more resistant to heat by about 10 percent.


    One of the things that makes this realm hard to detect is that titanium and silver have the same color so before the fight, it might be a little hard to detect the opponent''s body cultivation realm.


    The thermal conductivity of titanium is 1/4 of iron and about 1/23 of copper and results in this realm being a realm that is the hardest realm so far to fight against with fire and the best one to ''play with fire''.


    - Topaz body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you will harden yourself by about 120 percent. This realm is the first realm that changes your body from metals to a gemstone.


    The thermal conductivity is nearly nonexistent and as long as you can activate the might of this body cultivation level, swimming in lava is feasible.


    - Diamond body(5 small realms):


    In this realm, you will harden your body 4 times more than before. This realm is known as the peak of mortal body cultivation and is the goal of many body cultivators.


    This realm is known as the last realm before the transcendent realms.

 Weapon Mastery levels

    Mastery levels 101, By Dong Zemin


    These are my notes from elder Gao''s lectures, if you found it useful some spirit stone is appreciated.


    �� Body Extension:


    When you have trained with the weapon for enough time and you can work with it naturally as if it is a part of your body, you can say that you have stepped in the way of that weapon.


    The time that it takes to get to this level is varied from person to person. As working with a weapon has a big reliant on one''s talent, some geniuses are in this level as soon as they train for a short while, and for some people, it might take decades to do the same.


    �� Qi Integration:


    At this level, the practitioner can use their Qi in their attack when using the weapon. Although using some martial arts you can replicate this effect without the need to be on this level, but when you are at this level you won''t be restricted to a set of moves and each and every move that you do can be combined with Qi for more effectiveness. To get to this level you have to train for a decade on average.


    �� Qi Transformation:


    After being able to use your Qi the next step is to transform a part of your Qi into the weapon Qi (e.g. sword Qi). In this level, high levels of Qi are needed to get the smallest amount of weapon Qi. Using weapon Qi while using that weapon would boost your attack and defense power to the next level. To be recognized as that weapon''s practitioner you have to be at least on this level.


    To get to this level you would usually need half a century of training. Some even go as far as calling this level the start of that weapon''s way (e.g. the way of the sword).


    �� Qi Reformation:


    As said before, in Qi transformation level you can produce some weapon Qi but very inefficiently. At the Qi Reformation level, you can create the weapon Qi in the most efficient way and because of this, you can use more weapon Qi in the fights. This would result in the practitioner being able to use the weapon Qi continuously instead of once in a while.


    This would on average take one century to achieve.


    �� Aura Creation:


    At this level, the practitioner has achieved such a high level that they can create weapon aura. A weapon aura is the result of weapon Qi condensation. To achieve this you need not only training but you need to use sword Qi daily to be able to condense it.


    The weapon aura is tens of times stronger than weapon Qi so the numerical comparison is not really helpful here. To see how powerful the weapon aura is in comparison to weapon Qi you can think of weapon Qi as a feather trying to scratch a diamond.


    At this level, you can create the aura but the creation process is hard and very Qi draining so it has to be used wisely. It is said that to achieve this level you would need 500 years of training.


    �� Aura Domination:


    As the name implies, in this level of weapon mastery the practitioner can create aura easily and with this, they can dominate all other practitioners below their level easily.


    From the records, you would need more than a millennium to reach this level of mastery.


    �� Weapon Unification:


    At this level, there is no weapon and there is no self. The practitioner is the weapon and the weapon is the practitioner.


    At this level, you can form weapons from weapon Qi or weapon aura on demand and you won''t need any form of physical weapon to rely on.


    The amount of time needed to reach this level of mastery is unknown to us. There are only some records about the existence of this level and we don''t know if it is possible to go beyond it.

 Money, tools, and martial arts

    Some common knowledge:


    -=Money=-


    10x silver coin == 1 gold coin


    100x gold coin == 1 low-grade spirit stone


    1000x low-grade spirit stone == 1 mid-grade spirit stone


    1000x mid-grade spirit stone == 1 high-grade spirit stone


    Note: the coinage before the silver coin is also known as peasant money so this young master doesn''t know about them.


    Fun fact: cultivators can create spirit stones using their Qi but the process is not fast and a minuscule number of cultivators would take the time to do so, so most of these spirit stones are the ones that were formed naturally.


    -=Tools=-


    Magic Tool, Spirit Tool, Treasure Tool, Spirit Treasure, True Spirit Treasures, and Fairy Artifacts (each grade has rank 1 to 9 with three sub ranks; low, mid, and peak).


    Fun fact: there are only seven known Fairy Artifacts in the world and they are in possession of the seven holy lands of the divine central continent.


    -=Martial arts=-


    Lower, Middle, Upper, Earth, and Heaven (each of them has ranks of 1 to 9).


    Fun fact: having a good martial art usually would paint a target on your back because others would also want to have it��

 Glossary: Chinese idioms and phrases

    �� The Weak are Prey to the Strong


    * Meaning: the law of the jungle; "Might makes Right"


    �� Didn''t know whether to Laugh or Cry


    * Meaning: to be in an awkward situation; something both funny and embarrassing


    �� As Steady as Mount Tai


    * Meaning: very stable and dependable


    �� Heavier than Mount Tai / Weightier than Mount Tai


    * Meaning: an extremely serious matter


    �� To have Eyes but fail to recognize Mount Tai


    * Meaning: to be ignorant or arrogant; to fail to recognize someone or something of great status


    �� To Put in one''s Eyes


    * Meaning: to pay attention to; to care about; to attach importance to


    * Note: Often used in the negative, meaning that someone is disregarding or looking down on someone else. (Example: "They didn''t put him in their eyes.")


    �� The time it takes an Incense Stick to burn


    * Meaning: a poetic way of referring to a short time span�� depending on the author, generally either 5 minutes or 30 minutes


    �� The time it takes to drink a Cup of Tea


    * Meaning: a poetic way of referring to a time span of about 10-15 minutes


    �� The time it takes to eat a Meal


    * Meaning: a poetic way of referring to a time span of about 30-45 minutes


    �� A Breath of time


    * Meaning: a poetic way of referring to a very short time span (how long it takes a person to inhale and exhale once)�� usually about 1-3 seconds


    �� All of this takes some time to describe, but actually happened in an Instant


    * Meaning: a cheeky comment by an author, usually made after writing a wordy action scene


    �� Twice the Results for Half the Effort


    * Meaning: the right approach saves effort and leads to better results


    �� Half the Results for Twice the Effort


    * Meaning: the wrong approach is wasteful and yields weaker results


    �� Advance by Leaps and Bounds


    * Meaning: to make remarkable progress; to improve very rapidly


    �� I, your Father / Grandfather


    * Meaning: pejorative slang �C a form of address which asserts the speaker''s seniority/authority over the person being spoken to, with the intention of demeaning them


    �� Courting Death


    * Meaning: said as a warning or insult to someone overstepping their bounds ("You''re courting death!"); said of someone taking serious risks with their life


    �� Hover between Life and Death


    * Meaning: to suffer terribly; to be within an inch of one''s life


    �� To Die a Dog''s Death


    * Meaning: to die miserably and dishonorably; to die in vain


    * Note: "To Die a Dog''s Death" isn''t actually a Chinese idiom, but some translators choose to use it for any kind of phrase with a meaning of "to die miserably".


    �� People die in pursuit of Money, just as Birds die in pursuit of Food


    * Meaning: people will do anything in their means to become rich


    �� Crushing Dry Weeds and Smashing Rotten Wood


    * Meaning: something done very easily �C illustrates the ease with which the strong dominate the weak


    �� Chop Nails and Sever Iron


    * Meaning: resolute and decisive; to get straight to the point


    �� If Gods block, kill the Gods; if Buddhas block, kill the Buddhas


    * Meaning: overcome every obstacle


    �� Mortal Dust / Red Dust of the Mortal World


    * Meaning: worldly affairs or existence; the world and things of mortals (Buddhist term emphasizing the transience and insignificance of this world)


    �� Under Heaven / Beneath the Heavens


    * Meaning: the world; the mortal world; in all the lands


    �� Unrivaled under Heaven


    * Meaning: #1 in the world; invincible; undefeated; a paragon


    �� Heaven and Earth


    * Meaning: the world; the universe; yin and yang; the sky and land; every manifestation of nature


    �� As different as Heaven and Earth


    * Meaning: a tremendous qualitative difference between two things


    �� To not know the Immensity of Heaven and Earth


    * Meaning: having an exaggerated opinion of one''s own abilities


    �� There are Heavens beyond the Heavens / There are People beyond People, and Heavens beyond the Heavens


    * Meaning: there''s always someone better than you


    �� Man proposes, Heaven disposes


    * Meaning: even the best-laid plans can go awry


    �� Heaven''s Net is wide, and none can escape its mesh


    * Meaning: criminals can''t evade justice forever; the way of Heaven is fair, and the guilty will not escape


    �� Reaching Heaven in a single bound / Ascending to the Skies with a single leap


    * Meaning: to attain instant success


    �� A Meat Pie falling from the Heavens


    * Meaning: an unexpected windfall


    �� To Rebuke Heaven and Earth


    * Meaning: to be extremely powerful; to shake the entire world


    �� Overturning Heaven and Earth


    * Meaning: causing a radical change


    �� Heaven and Earth turned upside down


    * Meaning: complete chaos/confusion


    �� Shrouding the Heavens / Hiding the Sky and Covering the Earth


    * Meaning: omnipresent; extremely powerful; world-changing


    �� Coughing up Blood


    * Meaning: a sign of serious internal injuries or extreme emotional disturbance


    �� Blood flowing in reverse


    * Meaning: a serious internal injury (generally caused by a cultivation-related backlash or by great physical or mental trauma)


    �� Injected with Chicken Blood


    * Meaning: to be very excited or energetic


    �� Gnashing Teeth


    * Meaning: displaying extreme anger or frustration


    �� To Suck in a Breath of Cold Air


    * Meaning: a reaction caused by shock or surprise


    �� A Flick of a Sleeve


    * Meaning: a flourish of a long sleeve; a gesture often done in a moment of passion or simply to add emphasis to a statement


    �� The Seven Orifices / The Seven Apertures


    * Meaning: the seven apertures of the human head (= 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth)


    �� The Five Viscera and Six Bowels


    * Meaning: the internal organs of the human body


    * Note: According to Traditional Chinese Medicine�� Five Viscera = heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Six Bowels = gall bladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, triple heater, and bladder.


    �� The Seven Emotions and Six Desires


    * Meaning: all of the various feelings which humans possess or can experience


    * Note: The Seven Emotions are happiness, anger, sorrow, joy, love, hate, and desire. The Six Desires are the sensory pleasures associated with the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, body, and mind.


    �� Three Views


    * Meaning: (slang) a person''s views about life, the world, and values


    �� The Blue Sea turned into Mulberry Fields


    * Meaning: the transformations of the world; time brings great changes


    �� Jade-like


    * Meaning: common descriptor for anything refined/elegant/beautiful; an unblemished, creamy white color (based on mutton-fat jade) when referring to skin/women


    �� Clear as Ice and Clean as Jade


    * Meaning: spotless; irreproachable; incorruptible


    �� Limpid Autumn Water


    * Meaning: traditional description of a girl''s beautiful eyes �C likening them to clear pools of water


    �� Rare as Phoenix Feathers and Qilin Horns


    * Meaning: extremely rare objects


    �� To Pick the Flowers and Trample the Grass


    * Meaning: to womanize; to frequent brothels; to "chase skirts"


    �� Pull up Grass by the Roots


    * Meaning: to completely eradicate; (figuratively) to destroy root and branch


    * Note: When referring to people, it means to kill off their entire family so that there''s no one left to take revenge in the future.


    �� The Rice is Cooked


    * Meaning: what is done cannot be undone


    �� As the Water recedes, the Rocks appear


    * Meaning: the truth comes to light


    �� Cleansing the Marrow and Replacing the Tendons


    * Meaning: to purify and strengthen the body


    �� Shed one''s Mortal Body and Exchange one''s Bones


    * Meaning: to change completely; to be reborn; to become an Immortal


    �� Shatter the Void / Shattering the Void


    * Meaning: to succeed in one''s cultivation; to reach the pinnacle of strength; to reach a brand new world and horizon


    �� As Easy as Lifting a Hand / As Easy as Turning over a Hand


    * Meaning: something requiring minimal effort


    �� Floating Clouds and Flowing Water


    * Meaning: natural and unforced; skillful and beautiful movement


    �� Experts as Common as the Clouds


    * Meaning: very many experts (comparing them to the number of clouds in the sky)


    �� Dispel the Clouds and See the Sun


    * Meaning: returning to normality after a period of hardship; to restore justice


    �� Produce Clouds with one turn of the Hand and Rain with another


    * Meaning: to possess great power or authority


    �� Call the Wind and Summon the Rain


    * Meaning: to exercise magical powers; to exert authority


    �� A Mountain of Blades and a Sea of Fire


    * Meaning: extreme danger


    �� Move Mountains and Drain Seas / Topple Mountains and Overturn Seas


    * Meaning: a great display of power


    �� Overturning Rivers and Seas


    * Meaning: overwhelming; earth-shattering; in a spectacular mess


    �� Four Ounces can repel a Thousand Pounds


    * Meaning: a Taichi martial arts concept about using a minimal amount of force to overcome a much greater opposing force, usually by exploiting leverage and the opponent''s momentum


    �� Three Heads, Six Arms


    * Meaning: to possess remarkable abilities or formidable power


    �� Throw Oneself into the Net


    * Meaning: to willingly walk into a trap


    �� To Bare Fangs and Brandish Claws


    * Meaning: to make threatening gestures


    �� With Swords drawn and Bows bent


    * Meaning: a state of mutual hostility


    �� Impervious to Blades and Spears


    * Meaning: invulnerable; impervious to mortal weapons


    �� A Kite with its String cut


    * Meaning: something gone without recall, blown away uncontrollably


    �� An Arrow at the end of its flight


    * Meaning: a spent/waning force; something which has very nearly exhausted its strength


    �� Stake All on One Throw


    * Meaning: to risk everything in a single venture


    �� Pass like Thunder and Move like the Wind


    * Meaning: swift and decisive reaction


    �� Thunder from a Clear Sky


    * Meaning: something completely unexpected


    �� Wind and Rain


    * Meaning: poor weather; trials and hardships


    �� Winds and Waves


    * Meaning: difficulties; tough experiences


    �� Add Oil to the Fire


    * Meaning: to aggravate a situation


    �� Loot a Burning House


    * Meaning: to profit from someone''s misfortune


    �� To Fish in Troubled Waters


    * Meaning: to take advantage of a crisis


    �� You''ll eat Meat, We''ll drink Soup


    * Meaning: giving up the lion''s share of benefits to someone else; begging for scraps


    �� Reap without Sowing


    * Meaning: to be rewarded without working for it


    �� Throwing Stones down a Well


    * Meaning: beating someone when they''re down


    �� A Frog in a Well / View the Sky from the Bottom of a Well


    * Meaning: to be ignorant/narrow-minded; to have a myopic perspective


    �� You Die, I Live / Cannot Live Under the Same Sky


    * Meaning: irreconcilable enmity


    �� Fight Poison with Poison


    * Meaning: to cure ills with poison; to fight fire with fire; to meet aggression with aggression


    �� Forget Favors and Violate Justice


    * Meaning: to show ingratitude to a friend or benefactor


    �� Treasuring a Jade Ring becomes a Crime


    * Meaning: having something precious invites disaster from the greed of others


    �� If one often walks by the Riverside, one''s Shoes will eventually get wet


    * Meaning: living dangerously or associating with the wrong people will eventually lead to consequences


    �� A Mantis trying to stop a Chariot


    * Meaning: to overrate oneself and attempt the impossible


    �� The Mantis stalks the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind


    * Meaning: to pursue a narrow gain while neglecting a greater danger


    �� When the Sandpiper and the Clam fight each other, it''s the Fisherman who benefits


    * Meaning: said when a third party profits from the struggle of others; neighbors who fight each other will lose out to a mutual enemy


    �� A Fire at the City Gates is also a Disaster to the Fish in the Pond


    * Meaning: a drastic action may unintentionally affect other people and harm innocent bystanders


    * Note: The idea is that while the fish might appear to be safe from the fire outside�� if the firefighters drain the pond-water to help put out the fire, then even the fish will suffer.


    �� A Carp leaping through the Dragon Gate


    * Meaning: to make a significant advancement after much effort; to undergo a great transformation (like a carp becoming a dragon)


    �� Where Fish swim with Dragons / Where Dragons and Snakes intermingle


    * Meaning: a place with a mixture of both strong and weak (or good and bad) people


    �� Even a Powerful Dragon cannot repress a Local Snake


    * Meaning: an outsider with great power/influence may not be a match for a gangster on his home turf


    �� Paint a Dragon and Dot the Eyes


    * Meaning: to add the vital finishing touch; the crucial point that brings the subject to life


    �� Dragon returning to the Sea


    * Meaning: in one''s element; "like a fish back in water"


    �� A Dragon among Men


    * Meaning: an exceptional and talented person who stands out among others


    �� Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons


    * Meaning: talented individuals in hiding; concealed talent


    �� A Fight between a Dragon and a Tiger


    * Meaning: a fierce battle between two powerful opponents


    �� Dragon''s Pool and Tiger''s Den


    * Meaning: a very dangerous location


    �� Paper Tiger


    * Meaning: something that seems fierce/threatening but is actually much weaker than it looks


    �� Like a Tiger that has grown Wings / Like giving Wings to a Tiger


    * Meaning: with redoubled power (a tiger is already fierce�� what if it could also fly?)


    �� Lure the Tiger away from the Mountain


    * Meaning: to lure an enemy out of his territory


    �� If you ride a Tiger, it''s hard to get off


    * Meaning: something difficult to stop halfway


    �� A Tiger Father will not beget a Dog Son


    * Meaning: a great/powerful father will not raise a worthless son (typically said as a compliment)


    �� Pretending to be a Pig to eat a Tiger


    * Meaning: to fake weakness to fool and defeat a strong foe


    �� The Newborn Calf does not fear the Tiger


    * Meaning: young or inexperienced people are often ignorant


    �� A Lion uses its full strength even when hunting a Rabbit


    * Meaning: you can''t relax even against a weak challenge


    �� A Toad lusting after a Swan''s Flesh


    * Meaning: aspiring after something one is not worthy of


    �� Play the Lute for a Cow


    * Meaning: to do something for the wrong audience; "discussing philosophy with a fool"


    �� Chef Ding carving the Ox


    * Meaning: performing a task effortlessly and with great skill


    �� A Single Hair from Nine Oxen


    * Meaning: an insignificant amount; "a drop in the bucket"


    �� A Clay Ox entering the Sea


    * Meaning: to disappear with no hope of returning (like a clay figurine dissolving in water)


    �� Beat the Grass and Scare the Snake


    * Meaning: to inadvertently alert an enemy; (less commonly) to punish someone as a warning to others


    �� Drawing Legs on a Snake


    * Meaning: wasted effort; to ruin something by adding unnecessary details


    �� The Dog acts fierce when his Master is present


    * Meaning: to use one''s position to bully others


    �� A starved Camel is still bigger than a Horse


    * Meaning: even weakened, someone strong is still strong


    �� A Crane in a Flock of Chickens


    * Meaning: someone exceptional who stands out among a crowd of lesser people


    �� Wanting to steal a Chicken, but instead losing the Bait


    * Meaning: trying to gain an advantage only to end up worse off


    �� Killing the Chicken to warn the Monkey


    * Meaning: to punish an individual as an example to others


    �� When the Tree falls, the Monkeys scatter


    * Meaning: opportunists will quickly abandon an unfavorable cause


    �� Tall Trees attract the Wind


    * Meaning: being outstanding brings adversity in itself


    �� Half a Day


    * Meaning: (metaphor) for a long time; for quite a while


    * Note: It literally means "half of a day", but often refers to a much shorter period of time. For example, if two people stare at each other for "half a day", it might have only been an awkwardly long moment.


    �� Side Dish


    * Meaning: (slang) Noob; a small appetizer�� in other words, "a piece of cake"


    �� Black Belly


    * Meaning: (slang) two-faced; outwardly kind but inwardly evil or manipulative


    �� Fart / Farting


    * Meaning: (slang) to talk nonsense; "Bullshit!"


    �� Wear a Green Hat


    * Meaning: a cuckold; to be cuckolded by one''s wife


    �� Intestines turning Green from Regret


    * Meaning: to be completely consumed with regret


    * Note: The idea is that intestines supposedly turn green in a decomposing body, so this idiom is about figuratively "dying from regret".


    �� Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals


    * Meaning: useless troops


    �� The Thirty-Six Stratagems


    * Meaning: a classic list of Chinese stratagems (plans/schemes) to be used in war


    * Note: A particularly famous idiom says "Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best". In other words: "If all else fails, retreat".


    �� Wash one''s Hands in a Golden Basin


    * Meaning: to retire from or leave the martial world


    �� When in the Jianghu, one cannot move freely


    * Meaning: you can''t always do as you like; one has to compromise in this world


    �� Fly across the Rooftops


    * Meaning: lit. "to leap the house and cross the roofridge"; often used to describe the superb movement skills of martial artists in Wuxia novels


    �� A Teacher for a Day, a Father for Life


    * Meaning: a student should revere and respect someone who was willing to mentor them, even if they could only teach for a short period of time�� similarly, a teacher should nurture and cherish their students as they would their own children


    �� A Thousand-mile Journey begins with the First Step


    * Meaning: great accomplishments come from an accumulation of small achievements made one by one

 Chapter 1: Well... shit.

    '' Hmmm... did I forget to close the curtains last night?... it''s like the sun is in my face...''


    Slowly I moved my body, I tried opening my eyes slowly so that I wouldn''t go blind with this god damn sun. Just as I was expecting the sun, what greeted me was the ''unfamiliar ceiling''.


    Keeping my cool, my mind started working fast, trying to find the last memory that I had but to no avail.


    A few moments later, I got up fast from where I was sleeping. You might be asking "chill bro, what''s wrong?" well to answer your question I remembered where I was yesterday.


    ''I was at the company doing the usual routine: check reports, send feedback, get to meetings if there is any, making some calls that I need to do personally, and the cycle repeats itself.'' And after the work hours, I headed to a restaurant. After the dinner with some business partners, all that I can remember is darkness...


    ''So they did something funny with the food.'' remembering the fail-safes that I placed on my person and in the staff to stop these plots from happening I was genuinely amazed by the level of dedication that they showed to implement their ploy. It shouldn''t have been easy to do all of this.


    Thinking so, there was a small smile forming on the corners of my mouth, but seconds later my face started looking a little funny. ''Why would they go to all this trouble just to recreate the famous "unfamiliar ceiling" scene?'' Even I could not think of a reason for these shenanigans...


    Shaking my head, I looked for a mirror in this room to fix myself up and on the side trying to come up with a plan to get out of here in one piece and with as much HP as possible.


    Locating the mirror, I walked toward it. After splashing some water on my face, I looked at the mirror. I lazily looked at my face, my deep blue eyes, my chiseled face, and my trimmed silver-white hair�� It was at that moment that I froze. The "Me" in the mirror not only was younger than "Me" but "My" hair was way longer than it should have been.


    Just as I was in a state of denial, I had a sense of overlapping in my brain and after that, it was like a fast roller coaster ride to 14 years worth of memories.


    I could see a child being born, learning how to crawl, starting walking, and his father and mother being with him almost all the time. His name was Li Huang, Li meaning power, and Huang meaning bright or shining.


    From the bits and pieces that I was watching, except his mother and father there was his grandpa and a young woman who was around him.


    Years passed doing what children do; eating, shitting, moving around, and sleeping.


    When he was around four years old something happened to his parents. The child didn''t get it at first but from my perspective, as an adult, it was clear that they somehow died.


    From then on it was his grandpa and the young lady from before; that now I know is his grandpa''s disciple, taking care of him.


    Years passed and soon he was 7 years old and his grandpa started training him. Well, I say training but if I didn''t see how much he loved his grandson for seven years I would think that he was torturing him. I mean the way I saw it Huang was like a sine/cosine function; imagine -1 edge of death and +1 being in your full health. So what was happening was Huang''s body alternating between -1 and +1 like a sine/cosine function.


    Well if he was recovering normally it would be fine but no, the loving grandpa make some sort of medicinal bath(?) and would drop him in there. Somehow this would make his body a bit stronger and help him make a fast recovery; although I''m not sure if "help" is the right wording for it.


    From what I gathered from their talks this is body cultivation and the bath was something that was made from some precious resources and it would help on recovery and also achieving higher realms in body cultivation.


    Also, body cultivation is harder and fewer cultivators are doing it; reasons? Well, it''s pretty much obvious.


    First, you have to have resources so that you can achieve results, or else you get the same result as one of Huang''s baths in 100 years or so. So buying this bathwater might not be a bad idea.


    The second is the pain. You have to go through hell and back in your training so there is that.


    The third is that you have to have a good training method because if you don''t, even good resources won''t be of help...


    This training went on for a couple of years and soon he was 9 years old. One of the fruits of training was that at the age of 9 he looked like 12 years old.


    At the age of 9, grandpa started training him on sword arts. Well so far I cannot say for the "art" part but he is definitely doing something with the sword. If I didn''t know better, I would think of it as a scam.


    According to grandpa, he has to first solidify his stances and then try to learn a technique because "you cannot build a house on muddy water".


    So with no other way around it, Huang was swinging a sword and taking bathes. Because of sword training, the bath sessions were becoming less frequent but according to grandpa this method of body tempering won''t have many effects on his body at his current body cultivation realm.


    You might be curious about body cultivation realms. No? Well too bad I''m going to tell you about it anyway. In body cultivation, there are two sections: mortal realms and transcendent realms.


    Mortal realms are the realms that make your body as hard as some element that can be found in nature but if you can reach the transcendent realms you can go further and beyond that and it would be like if you are an alloy of elements.


    Grandpa told Huang that there are not many transcendent body cultivators in the world and they can be summed up with ten fingers. This clearly shows how hard it is to train your body and how much time it would take to see results. You have to keep in mind that, unlike Qi cultivation, body cultivation doesn''t have the benefit of adding to your life span so as age progresses less and fewer cultivators would be willing to put their time on body cultivation when they need to cultivate so that they can keep their lives.


    There are seven great realms in Mortal realms; named Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron, Titanium, Topaz, and Diamond. Each of these great realms contains 5 smaller realms. On each great realm, your body will be imitating the hardness of that element and in smaller realms, the purity will be increasing.


    After two years of training Huang is at the fifth stage of the Lead body. The so-called bottleneck in body cultivation is more vivid and for that, you have to put more effort to overcome it.


    About transcendent realms when Huang asked grandpa he told him "don''t bite more than you can chew" and to think about how he can progress faster in mortal realms instead of daydreaming about transcendent realms...


    Three more years passed and Huang was really 12 this time, well he looked 16 but that''s not the point. In these three years, he advanced to the second stage of the Silver body that in itself was a big achievement but his biggest gain was something else that even make grandpa''s jaw drop.


    Just a month ago in his sword training, Huang was able to produce sword Qi. Sword Qi is the first step in the real swordsmanship path. To give you an impression of how great of a feat this is you have to know that a talented swordsman can generate sword Qi after 50 years of training. Even his grandpa''s disciple who is considered a once in a million years genius was able to generate sword Qi in 9 years but Huang did it in less than 3 years.


    This event was the cause of celebration in the sect. Huang as the patriarch''s grandson was the center of attention from a very young age and this achievement was a needed boost to his reputation.


    After the celebration was over and other sects and kingdoms send their representatives and gifts Huang was back to his training routine and 2 months passed like that.


    This time his grandpa came to see him and Yuan Jia, his disciple was with him. She was like a big sister to Huang and would always help him in his training if Grandpa wasn''t available.


    Grandpa told him that he is going to go into a deep sleep for some time to save his lifespan and would leave Huang''s training to Yuan Jia. This big sister has been in the sect''s matriarch position for about five years as of now.


    Heavenly sword sect has always had both patriarch and matriarch positions so that there won''t be any gender discrimination in the sect. With her talents, Yuan Jia easily was a valid candidate for this position and with her achievements sect elders were easily convinced about selecting her for this position.


    Now that after 5 years her position is as solid as it can be grandpa chose to go to deep sleep to save his life span and leave sect matters to her.


    The reason grandpa is going to deep sleep is that advancing in the Taoist Palace realms is too difficult and even after two hundred years of cultivating he just advanced to the second river of Taoist Palace and this is him who is known as the number one genius of his generation.


    In the Taoist Palace realms, you have to build a Taoist Palace and fill nine rivers with the understanding of rules. These rivers, in the end, will decide your future cultivation path.


    From what grandpa explained to Huang the way of heavenly Dao has gotten thinner so cultivation in the Taoist Palace realm is way more difficult and if you don''t want to wait for your death the only way is to go to deep sleep in the hope that in the meantime there would be some treasure of heaven and earth that could help in understanding the way of heavenly Dao and the sect can get his hands on it.


    From that day onwards he started his Qi cultivation under Yuan Jia and at the same time, he trained in one of the sect''s strongest and hardest sword techniques, [Eclipse Devourer Sword Art].


    This sword art focuses on lethality and the main goal in its creation was to kill the opponent as soon as possible. If you want to translate it to simpler terms, the goal is to "360 no scope" the fool before he finishes his trash talk.


    Like that 2 more years passed and Huang was 14 and last night after training and a bath he got in his bed and slept.


    This roller coaster ride came to an abrupt end and I was looking at Huang.


    "Li Huang..." I said.


    "...Heavenly sword sect" I added.


    Taking a deep breath, I talked to my reflection in the mirror.


    "Li Huang, The young master of heavenly sword sect."


    After all the memories that I experienced, I know for a fact that I have somehow transmigrated into this body and this is a world of cultivation.


    If I was naive I would be glad like some third-rate MC and would be vowing to heavens that "now that I got a second chance I will live my life to the fullest" but I have read too many Chinese novels to ignore the patterns.


    Have you ever seen a Chinese novel in that MC doesn''t face slap a young master from a powerful background for no reason at all? Not me!


    What about a Chinese novel in that MC doesn''t confront and trash talk to a genius and prove to the world that the other geniuses are trash compared to him? Not me!


    How about a Chinese novel in that MC doesn''t Fuck with Heavenly sword sect for a treasure/girl/not giving face or some other bullshit reason? Not me!


    Not only I am a "young master" but also a "genius" from the god damn "heavenly sword sect". Aren''t I the last villain of the lower realm or something? I''m just a stepping stone for the son of the plane aka the MC.


    In this situation, I could only say one thing.


    "Well... shit."


    [A/N: I''ll add an auxiliary chapter for Qi cultivation and body cultivation so worry not;


    Other auxiliary chapters about characters and whatnot would be added when needed. As of now, they would do no good except spoiling the story...]

 Chapter 2: Taking a stroll

    After calming down I know that panicking is not going to solve my problems so I got my shit together and tried to come up with some sort of plan.


    If this plane has a son of the plane that has the luck of plane I have to look at it smartly. With this in mind I came up with some points:


    1. I have to find him and find a way to kill him slowly; why slowly? Dude he is collecting treasures left and right, "you only butcher the fat sheep".


    2. He is probably starting from a weak continent, so I have to somehow convince the sect to let me go on a journey.


    3. He would probably find powerful backing from a lover/ghost teacher or something so I have to keep my eyes open for this situation.


    4. I have to form a team of myself; although I have the sect''s backing in the end I have to prove myself to get their loyalty so have to come up with a feasible plan of action.


    ...


    With this, I had a sketch of the plan. From what I can remember I have a day off today from training so it would be nice if I check the sect out.


    While I was putting my clothes on I checked my cultivation base.


    In his Qi cultivation, Huang got to the eighth stage of Qi Gathering. Qi Gathering is the first big realm in Qi cultivation and has 9 small realms.


    The fact that he is in the eighth stage of Qi Gathering is not that shocking; there are many geniuses that achieved this and even more. But what you have to remember is that he only trained in Qi cultivation for two years. I''m also at the third stage of Silver Body and in these past two years.


    Putting my chief disciple robes on I walked out of my room.


    Although I saw glimpses of this view from the memories but experiencing it is something else.


    The heavenly sword sect is divided into four main courts: outer court where outer disciples live; inner court where inner disciples live; core court where true disciples and core disciples live and finally Sword mountain where elders, grand elders, the patriarch, the matriarch, and also chief disciples live.


    No need to guess, my courtyard is in Sword mountain. The plus side is that here you have more privacy and also the heavenly spirit vein here is stronger so you can cultivate faster, But there is that all the big guys of the sect are on your ass.


    It''s not like I''m doing something but just imagine that your grand-grand-grandpa is watching you; won''t you be scared shitless about doing something somehow wrong that makes him disappointed in his descendant?


    Man having a cultivation world''s mentality really got to me. Nothing can be done about it; my transmigration is different from what I have read in my past; there is no border between Huang and me. It''s like "Li Huang" is "Me". The fact that we both have the same face and body also helped me to calmly accept this fact. If you must know, yes, even my "little brother" is the same, although the performance needs to be checked.


    Walking down from the Sword mountain I was smiling and greeting some elders until I heard a shout from my behind.


    "Junior Martial Uncle Li Huang." said the red blur.


    Looking closely I could distinguish two hands stretching out towards me.


    Now that I think about it Huang always had a problem with this "red blur" slamming to him in order to hug him.


    With a quick thought, I activate my third stage Silver body and try to match the "red blur" momentum but to the side.


    This shocked the assailant, thinking that I''m running away there was a momentary carelessness and I used that moment.


    Extending my own hands and taking the assailant''s wrists with my hands I recreated one of my favorite scenes in the history of cinema.


    My momentum made it so that we started rotating on the air hands-to-hand in the same place. We were rotating as one entity, always facing each other.


    After a few seconds, we landed on the ground. Thinking to myself smugly I told myself ''How many can say that they recreated "Neo''s subway fight" in a cultivation world?''. pleased with my achievement I did a mental check ''another check off my bucket list''.


    Running my finger through my hair to fix them, I looked at the figure in front of me. This "red blur" is Hu Anjing. She is Yuan Jia''s disciple. She is 25 and has been Yuan Jia''s disciple for about 6 years. She is at the twelfth stage of Meridian formation.


    In the past two years because I was training under Yuan Jia I got to know her. She is super-strong, in body cultivation she is already at the fourth stage of Iron body; two big realms above me.


    Huang achieved the third stage of the Silver body with the best methods and resources but she was at the first stage of the Copper body back then when she joined the sect, if this is not a genius I don''t know what is.


    From what I know she was trained to be some kind of soldier for an organization from childhood. To keep them in line they were fed some kind of pill and with a technique, they were unable to harm their masters.


    In one of her missions, her master had some beef with the target and opted to see his misery and trash talk to him like some shounen villain. This in turn gave Hu Anjing the chance to "let the target" give her master a fatal wound.


    A big flaw in the technique is that although she can''t harm her master, she can "choose" not to help him, this way he was soon dead, and the spell was broken.


    After that, she was on the run from the organization and after 6 months she found Yuan Jia by chance and assumed that she was someone after her head so she attacked her. Do I even have to say that she got her ass handed to her by Yuan Jia in no time? Well, she did.


    Seeing her talent and her will to fight Yuan Jia asked her why she attacked her. Hu Anjing seeing that she is not from the organization and she herself has no way out, told her everything.


    Hearing her tale, Yuan Jia''s motherly instincts came out and she hugged her tightly. After that, she helped Hu Anjing to heal and after a short contact with the sect, they stormed the organization''s locations. As a high-ranking soldier, Hu Anjing knew many branches of the organization and for the other hidden location, the sect had some experts in the art of "kindly tell us what you know" so there wasn''t much of a problem.


    After these night raids, the powers behind the organization were pale as a sheet. They were "powers" but they were like ants in front of Heavenly Sword Sect, one of the seven martial cultivation Holy Lands.


    They couldn''t fight Heavenly Sword Sect and they couldn''t deny their involvement with the organization because there were proofs of this in the raided locations. So they did the next best thing, they joined the crusade. They hold public execution for the secret operatives of the organization and sang songs of praise to the Heavenly Sword Sect.


    With this there was no need for the sect to do anything more, these powers did it for the sect. There was even a kingdom changing its ruling dynasty as a result of these tensions.


    Well, in short, the world was in turmoil but the sect was quiet and Hu Anjing joined the sect as Yuan Jia''s disciple.


    Coming back from my thoughts I tried to fix Hu Anjing''s robe. She had red eyes with wild red hair. There was a dragon tattoo on her right shoulder and arm. She doesn''t put on the right part of her outer robe, showing her tattoo.


    "Aiya, junior niece Hu Anjing are you set on breaking my bones?" I faked a pained expression and told her.


    She looked at me like an aggrieved child "How can I mean my dear uncle any harm? It''s just that I was so excited to see you that the only thing on my mind was to jump in your embrace." Saying so she closed the small distance between us and without care clung to my arm.


    I deadpan looked at her "you see me as a cuddle bear, don''t you?"


    "I don''t know what you mean, I''m just a small girl cuddling her uncle"


    Just as I wanted to say ''you know you are 25, right?'' I shut my mouth. I swear I saw her grinning. ''So it was her plan huh.''


    You know that you shouldn''t comment on a lady''s age and more so a single lady. Now let me tell you in a cultivation world all I can say is I hope you don''t do it.


    I still get goosebumps when I remember the face of the one who not only did so, but also insulted her when she was present.


    There was a guy who had a thing for Hu Anjing but she didn''t give a rat''s ass about him after ten or so times that he was rejected/ignored/thrown away with a punch he had enough of her and called her ''stupid old gorilla''.


    Well... he got fucked. The End.


    Feeling defeated I clicked my tongue "tsk, this is child abuse." I mean how can I free myself when she is stronger than me?


    She just hummed to herself.


    It''s not like I''m not getting good vibes from her, it''s just that she acts like a child when clearly I am the child... well if you count my past life I''m not a child either.


    Who cares? If nothing she is shooing away all the gold diggers- oh it should be "cultivation resource/manual digger".


    Just as I was thinking of useless translations for cultivation purposes, Hu Anjing exclaimed.


    "Ah, I just remembered that master had something to tell you, junior uncle."


    "Don''t you think you should have said it sooner? won''t senior sister Yuan Jia punish you?"


    She gave me a mischievous smile "don''t worry junior uncle if it came down to that I would tell the master that I was with you."


    "Sigh... I don''t know if you are stopping other junior sisters from using me or using me for yourself..."


    I continued after a few seconds "Anyway, let us go to senior sister Yuan Jia."


    It must be something about the sect that she asked for me to go to her otherwise she would give me a visit herself.

 Chapter 3: Is this a flag?

    Me and Hu Anjing walked together to see Yuan Jia, the matriarch.


    Sect''s main hall is not located in Sword Mountain if you expected so, it is located in a place named Sword Valley.


    Sword Valley is exactly what its name implies, it''s a valley full of swords. These swords were either made by my sect''s forge masters or were brought here by some means. There are a few precious swords there too, like swords from the previous generation of the sect and also one sword from each sect founder. There is also the mysterious sword, which was the reason that sect was founded in this place.


    This sword is told to have been dropped from a crack in the sky. About that day there are many legends but in the end, they are nothing but legends.


    After the sword was plunged into the ground it divulged its location with a strong sword Qi. This sword Qi was so strong that it was felt in all of Divine Central Continent. There are also some records about sea monster shrinking their borders and moving further from the divine central continent''s shores.


    The monster kind trusts their survival instincts and even after countless evolutions they know by their soul that they have come so far relying on this instinct.


    But the humankind is not driven by survival instincts but an insatiable greed that knows no bounds.


    Feeling this sword Qi, instead of fearing how easily they could die in close approximation to it, they started daydreaming about the power that it could bring them.


    Luckily for humankind, six other objects were dropping from the cracking sky on that day.


    Why was this good fortune? Because each of these objects was from different kinds of martial art practices. This made people come under a flag and fight for not only obtaining this treasure but to keep the treasure safe from other groups.


    When there was only one kind of treasure, a sword, the swordmasters were happy and the others were on edge to stop the swordsman from taking this sword and achieving new heights. But now everyone has something to gain and lose at the same time so there won''t be any rash movements.


    Each faction sets some rules so that they can choose the owner of these artifacts. How would one know which faction is where he/she belongs?


    Like how you can detect the density of Qi in the air, you can do the same with weapon Qi like sword Qi, saber Qi, etc. In the same way that there is an attraction to a place with rich Qi, there is an attraction to weapon Qi and it is said to be far more evident.


    So in no time, seven factions were made with little to no infighting. Why? Because as long as you can comprehend even a bit of profundity in the weapon Qi you can go far in your path.


    This way years passed and slowly factions turned to sects and with formations keeping most of the weapon Qi inside the weapons changed from a beacon who would attract people here to pillars for these newly established sects.


    As mentioned before there were seven weapons and so there were seven sects created, they are: Blue Bulls Sect and they practice the way of Axe, Divine Arrow Sect and they practice the way of Archery, Sky Pillar Sect and they practice the way of Staff, Heaven Reaching Spear Sect and they practice the way of Spear, Temple of Emptiness and they practice the way of Buddhism and the weapon they are fascinated by is a Horsetail Whisk, White Moon Sect and they practice the way of Fan and they are a female-only sect, and finally we have Heavenly Sword Sect and we practice the way of the sword.


    The name of our artifact is Mingyun; meaning fate, destiny, and weirdness. Fate because the day that this sword dropped to the divine central continent it changed the fate of its inhabitants. Destiny because it was destiny that brought the prideful swordsmen under the same banner and made it possible to create the heavenly sword sect.


    There was no one in the history of the divine central continent that could wield even one of these weapons. It is not like the world is short of geniuses who tried to claim them but these weapons have sapience and they chose who can wield them.


    So yeah there is no one as of now who can move them so we can use the sword Qi to train ourselves-


    Wait a minute.


    God fucking damn it.


    Isn''t this a flag?


    It is like these weapons are saying "Yo, handsome child of the plane. Can you pluck us from this cold earth and give us the warmth of your hand? Please?"


    I might have gone a little overboard in my choice of words but you get the gist of it.


    ''Hmmm... let me think to see what could this flag be...''


    ~~ inside Li Huang''s mind in his imagination ~~


    "Young master of heavenly sword sect, I, ****** am here to challenge you." said a black-haired youth.


    Li Huang snorted and looked at the youth and said nonchalantly "the fact that you need to tell me your name means you are not qualified to talk to me directly, much less challenge me."


    The youth gritted his teeth and said with fury evident in his eyes "Don''t you dare look down on me."


    Li Huang waved his hand dismissively "I''m just stating the facts."


    The youth -Uh- let''s call him tom. Tom was so angry that started his attack before speaking.


    After the attack hit the seemingly dazed Li Huang, Tom laughed while he said "Hahahahaha... what is it? Do I qualify now? Hahahaha."


    As the dust settled you could see Li Huang there, without a speck of dust on him and unharmed.


    He looked at Tom and said "OK, let me finish it soon I have places to be."


    Looking at Tom he pointed on a finger to him "Eclipse devourer sword art, piercing finger."


    A moment later there was a hole in Tom''s chest and he staggered backward.


    With trembling hands, he looked at Li Huang "Y-you ..!"


    After that, he dropped to the floor.


    Li Huang didn''t spare him even a glance and turned around.


    Just as he was about to order others to clean this up, the formation in the center of sword valley shock.


    Horrified everyone in the heavenly sword sect looked in the direction of sword valley.


    In a blink of an eye, the core formation was broken, and after that outer formations broke like paper in front of the power that was coming from within.


    From there came forth a sword that everyone in the sect knows about full too well.


    It was Mingyun. The artifact of Heavenly sword sect.


    Just as everyone thought it can''t be any more weird moved toward the black-haired youth.


    But it didn''t harm him, instead, Tom''s chest was getting repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    Seeing this Li Huang was staring wide-eyed at Mingyun.


    The moment that Tom was fully healed, he grasped the sword and looked at Li Huang coldly.


    Immediately after he attacked Li Huang.


    Looking at the attack Huang knows that he can not stop the power of this sword so instead of dying while struggling, he clasped his hands behind his back and there was a smile on his face ''Father, Mother I''ll be seeing you soon.''


    At that moment there was a shout from the sword mountain direction.


    "Stop!"


    But tom paid it no heed and continued his attack.


    In the next second, there was nothing left from Li Huang''s body.


    ~~~


    Coming back to reality from the overactive imagination he nodded to himself.


    ''Yeah something along these lines could happen and after that my grandpa can''t kill him because he is the wielder of Mingyun and other grand elders stop him or some other bullshit.''


    rolling his eyes he added in his mind ''Well I can''t say this is a flag... This is a fucking landmine.''


    ''The best way to look at it is "a known threat is no longer a threat", so I just have to be careful not to step on this land mine...''


    Well, I should be careful not to let this happen in reality.


    "Junior uncle, why are you so deep in your thoughts today?" Hu Anjing asked by the side.


    "It might be my puberty making me feel dazed when you press yourself to me." I answered absentmindedly.


    She was stunned for a moment and after that playfully answered "This can be a problem junior uncle, but worry not, I would add a dose of myself to your daily life so that you can adjust to womanly touch sooner."


    Now was my turn to be stunned ''give an inch and she''ll take a mile''.


    "I might overdose with you, how about you focus on your training and I find someone else to give me lessons on ''womanly touches and how to adjust to them''?"


    "...Now that I think more clearly this subject might be over my head, so how about we consult with my master about it?" she said with a caring face but you could see it in her eyes that she was grinning inside.


    ''So this is how you want to play?''


    "Let us first see what she has to say, after that, I will ask her about it..." I tried to play it cool but you have to know that although Yuan Jia is like my big sister she has a severe case of "brother" complex, so if she knows about it... Well, let''s not think about it...


    Entering the main hall we cupped our fists and bowed.


    "Meet the matriarch."


    "Meet the matriarch."


    Yuan Jia looked at us with no emotions and said to me "Junior brother, you are here at last. I have a mission for you."

 Chapter 4: First quest

    Yuan Jia looked at us with no emotions and said to me "Junior brother, you are here at last. I have a mission for you."


    Yuan Jia is the definition of cold beauty. Well, it is best to call her a "kuudere" as the weebs do.


    She is calm and collected on the outside and never shows any sign of panic. She doesn''t show her emotions in front of others and only shows them when we are alone.


    She seems to others as an indifferent, anti-social, loner, and cold-blooded person (not that they dare voice it out). But as someone who knows her well, I know she is the caring big sister that took care of Huang as her own little brother from childhood and loves him dearly.


    She has dark brown hair. She has a tattoo on her back and shoulders. How do I know? Well in Huang''s memories there was a couple of instances when they bath together when he was but a small child.


    Her face? Just let me tell you that she has the best face in this life and my last life altogether. In the divine central continent, she is one of the "Five fairies".


    "Your wish is my command matriarch, just tell me the directions."


    I could see her mouth twitching from my sly remark. Thankfully my cupped fists covered my smiling face so she didn''t notice it.


    "I''ll part the details with you in private, follow me." She told me.


    She looked at Hu Anjing and added "as for you, Anjing, you should go and start your training routine."


    Following her, I soon reached a courtyard. This is one of the places that Huang frequented for the last two years. Because he was training under Yuan Jia for the last two years there were times that she had meetings in the sect''s main hall, so he would come to this courtyard to train.


    After entering the courtyard, Yuan Jia turned around towards me. Looking at me she opened her arms. Without uttering a word she kept looking at me, waiting for my response.


    Looking at her it was obvious that she wants a hug, but doesn''t want to ask for it or more clearly her pride won''t allow it.


    Because she was an orphan from a very young age she didn''t have many interactions with others and even after grandpa Long [A/N: his grandpa''s name is Li Long] accepted her as her disciple she always looked at him as her master and not her family. But after Taking care of little Huang from age of four, she started looking at him as her family and has a bit of possessiveness about him. Even with this, she is naive when it comes to expressing her feelings to others, but oh well, it does make her look cute.


    Without further ado, I embraced her. "How are you, big sister? Is everything fine?"


    I know that she likes it when I call her big sister so I called her that way to make her a bit happier.


    "...Yes...How are you?" she answered after a bit.


    "I am also fine." After that, I kept quiet and let her have her fill of our hug.


    Time passed like that and after a minute or so we remembered that we had a mission to talk about so we begrudgingly got separated from each other.


    "By the way what was the mission that you wanted me to do, big sister Jia?" I asked her to start the conversation.


    "Yes, a new ancient sword mark is found, it would be a great help for you to comprehend it." She said straight to the point.


    The so-called ancient marks are the after-effects of seven artifacts dropping to the world. After these weapons dropped there were some slashes and marks left behind in the world.


    It is said that these marks are results of uncontrolled power of weapons when dropping down or marks left by some other weapon that dropped with these seven but destroyed in the process or was snatched away by someone.


    Anyways these sword marks are pretty much beneficial for a swordsman and with me comprehending them there is a chance for enlightenment.


    In my level using the Mingyun sword is nigh impossible. So the next best thing is using these sword marks to better my swordsmanship.


    This mission is more like a reward but there is also a reason for it to be called a mission. When something like a sword mark is found it has to be comprehended as soon as possible, if not there might be someone else finding it and trying to comprehend it.


    You might be thinking ''how dare they show no face to heavenly sword sect?'' Well, after some fights in the past the seven holy lands came to an agreement that the first one who comprehends an ancient mark is the destined one and no one can stop anyone who is comprehending a mark, and if done, it is a clear disrespect to all the holy lands. So yeah, that is a no-go.


    Looking at Yuan Jia I answered, "But wouldn''t it be better for you to comprehend this mark big sister?"


    Although I know this would benefit me very much, I know this could be useful to Yuan Jia too. The stronger she becomes the better it is for her position as sect matriarch.


    "It won''t benefit me as much as it would be beneficial for you, this way is better." She answered me with her unemotional face but the love and care in words were clear.


    I smiled at her and told her "Big sister... how can I ever make all this up to you?"


    "There is no reason for you to do anything. It is my duty as a big sister." She answered like it was nothing.


    "That can''t be. I have to find something good for your birthday to compensate..." giving her a birthday gift is the only way to make her accept the gift easily.


    As Yuan Jia was an orphan, she didn''t know her birthday so Huang when he was seven used the bone age test on her.


    This test show''s the age of the one who is touching it, but there is a problem. This is a test for accepting new disciples and it just shows the age, not the birthday.


    So Huang the little genius took Yuan Jia with him to the stone for 10 months every day until the number on the stone changed. This way he found her birthday.


    What he didn''t know at the time was that the formation on the stone was responsible for flooring the age meaning if your age was 14.20 it would only show 14. So if he asked someone else he could find the answer in a day instead of ten months.


    These ten months were one of the reasons that he and Yuan Jia became so close.


    "Okay." Yuan Jia answered, this time she had a smile on her face. It seems that she is remembering those times too.


    After a few seconds, I asked again "Is there any variable that I should keep in mind in this mission?"


    Yuan Jia pondered for a moment "Nothing special, just follow the family motto as always."


    I looked at her with a small frown on my face "...Will do."


    The family in her sentence is not the Li family, it''s me and Yuan Jia and lately, we added Hu Anjing as a ''beta tester''.


    Well about the motto, it is as simple as it gets: ''expect the worst, assume nothing, and always anticipate an attack.''


    The small frown on my face wasn''t because of this motto. No, it was because when I thought that I might end up killing someone in this mission, I was calm.


    I''m not one of those ''I can not kill'' guys but it was a bit of shock for me to feel that killing is only natural.


    It might be because my memories are mixed with these 14 years, meaning although a am an earthling but I also have the mentality of a person of this world. In a world where power is justice, you have to have the power and decisiveness to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.


    It may sound clich��, but this is the reality in a world where an expert''s fart can kill a person...


    "I have some preparation to do big sister, After that, I''ll be on my way to comprehend this sword mark."


    "No problem. Make sure you have your life-saving treasures on hand, okay?"


    "Will do big sister."


    Now that I know that I am a ''young master'', who knows what could happen? There might be an expert living as a beggar and I somehow offend him. The more protection that I have the better.


    There is also the fact that this is an ancient sword mark so I have to be more careful.


    Bidding farewell to Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing respectively, I headed toward my courtyard.


    On the way, I was thinking about my future plans. Deep in thoughts, suddenly I remembered someone.


    Taken aback, I muttered to myself "Why didn''t I think of him sooner."

 Chapter 5: Let the hunt begin…

    After I remembered him I muttered to myself "Why didn''t I think of him sooner."


    The person that I''m thinking about is known in the whole continent.


    ''The Floating Mask''


    He is known as the master of the biggest information network in the world. People in the divine central continent all know about this organization because they don''t even bother to hide their existence.


    But this fact is not consistent in the other continents. Here they cannot do it in shadows because the seven martial cultivation holy lands are shining like stars and there is no place that would be in shadows for long so they do business openly and they have a good relationship with holy lands.


    They are strong enough to fight one of the holy lands but an outsider attacking one of the holy lands would result in all the holy lands fighting that outsider; even if it is only to save face.


    It doesn''t mean that they don''t sell information on holy lands, they do in fact but the catch is that they sell it for the right price and you can imagine the price of angering and possibly fighting seven holy lands��


    In the Divine central continent, they are known to do business on selling and buying information but if you try to fight them or anger them they are more fearsome than most assassination organizations.


    Because of their information on everything they are also very rich and influential. There is a saying here that if you even think of harming them the next thing you see is the floating mask decapitating you.


    He is not the most powerful expert around but there is something that makes him the scariest expert around, Information. If you have a weakness that you know about it; he knows too, even if you don''t know about a weakness, he knows that too.


    As the saying goes ''no one knows everything, everyone knows something'' But here you have to add ''and the floating mask knows what everyone knows''. Meaning that if there is knowledge about something he has it.


    You might be asking "dude, isn''t he like one of the last bosses? What do you want with him?"


    Well, good question first of all. Second, did you forget that I am also one of the last bosses?


    Enemy of my enemy is my friend and this one, in particular, is a family friend.


    Close enough that I call him uncle.


    There is, obviously a story behind it��


    This story goes back a couple of centuries. At that time my parents got married and decided to go on honeymoon.


    If it was back on earth Paris would be a nice choice or a private island or something��


    But no, they traveled the whole world with a flying treasure, and most of the time they practiced the ''Dao of low-key'' when visiting the cities so that they could enjoy their stay and not attract attention.


    At a time, they were traveling in the Iwis continent in the northern part of the world. In this continent, there is a small kingdom named Sroi and its capital was Riverburn.


    The city of Riverburn was built at the base of an active volcano and is truly a state-of-the-art forging and smithing center. Its beauty is matched by the backdrop of majestic forests which have helped shape the city into what it is today. The active volcano made the capital''s soil one of the most fertile soils in the world resulting in the forest and its vegetations.


    The trading resources these forests brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings have been built alongside the trees and often incorporate many different forest elements.


    Because of the influx of smiths in the city, many different cultures are blending in the background. Countless cultures have left their mark not just on international relations, but also upon the city''s identity. What historically was a city of little diversity has grown into a fusion of everything and it''s this that unites millions to this day.


    It''s this multicultural identity that has truly left its mark. Hundreds of diners, restaurants, and bakeries offer a plethora of culinary choices and those who feel hungry for something else can enjoy city exploring, adventure in the capital''s surrounding, or one of the many other attractions.


    But there was ultimately one fact, they were but a small country.


    Anyways, during my parent''s tourist stay they come to a scene when this ''uncle'' of mine was about to be assassinated. If it was any sane couple they would mind their own business, but how can a ''young master of heavenly sword sect'' stay put in this situation.


    So yeah. That happened��


    Long story short, he told them about himself and my parents told him about themselves. From what I know, my uncle''s family was murdered and he was in hiding and fighting with assassins. This time he was getting some necessities for his pregnant wife when the assassins found him.


    As for why they were trying to kill him, it was because they want to remove the Aram family from the world and he, being the eldest son of the family obviously needed to die for their mission to get a ''3 star''.


    When my mother heard that he had a pregnant wife, she used puppy eyes on my dad and it was critical. This was an episode of the blood moon in their honeymoon.


    So they helped them and after everything come back to its calm they continued with their travels��


    Years passed and this uncle of mine made an organization for information gathering. He did what his Family, Aram family was known for but this time they worked from the shadows.


    After many years they come to the holy central continent to expand their influence, but this time Aram asked my father for advice.


    My father told him that there is no good result waiting for him if he wants to put the whole organization in shadows so it is better to come clean with the holy lands and do his thing after that.


    Following his advice, he established his branch here and ''gifted'' some information from other continents to these sects to show sincerity and also prove their worth.


    After years passed they got a foothold in the continent as information brokers.


    Now let me get back to why I thought about him.


    If I want to find any potential MCs in the world I need thousands of eyes but I have only two.


    If I use uncle Aram''s organization I can easily find these instances around the globe and ''take care'' of them��


    Using a communication device I contacted him so that we can meet to discuss my plan.


    "Uncle, is your daughter still single?" I teased the old man.


    "��Damn you brat. You almost gave me a heart attack. How can I have no information on my- I mean How can I as a father don''t know about her interactions?" he answered me after about 5 seconds.


    "Yes, yes. Uncle, I need to meet you, there is something that I need your help in it��"


    "What is it?"


    "What else can it be? I''m asking for your daughter''s hand in marriage." I rolled my eyes.


    Before he could come to beat me up I added.


    "I was jesting. What can I ask from ''The floating mask'' if not information?"


    "��Okay my ''dear'' niece. Where?"


    That sent some shivers down my spine.


    "I have a mission to do, I''ll see you in the coral city in two hours."


    "Okay."


    Ending my communication, I grinned to myself.


    This way I can easily find the MC wannabe.


    Stepping on my flying treasure followed by five elders, I moved toward the ancient sword mark.


    Looking at the sky with a broad smile I muttered to myself "let the hunt begin��"

 Chapter 6: Immortal everywhere

    Traveling to the coral city was fun, to say the least. It''s not every day that you get to fly somewhere and this time I was using a ''flying treasure''.


    This thing is really a luxury. Even in my past life, I was pretty much into flying and paragliding so this is like heaven for me.


    I mean the speed is like using a Bugatti and this is not the limit of the device but the hard limit determined by my meager cultivation in contrast to this flying treasure''s grade.


    In this world having or finding a treasure doesn''t mean that you can use it. First of all, you have to have the ability to keep the treasure because ''might makes right''. Second of all, you have to have the minimum requirement to use the treasure, and even having the minimum requirements doesn''t mean that you can use the treasure at its full capacity.


    Let me put it in simpler terms; it''s like when you want to install a game and it has minimal system requirements and recommended system requirements, in minimal setting you get to run the game in low graphics with ~30 FPS but if you have the recommended system you get to play the game at its best. These treasures are the same.


    Somehow I don''t doubt if I were to tell this analogy to other cultivators they would spurt out blood.


    The tools have 6 main categories here; Magic Tool, Spirit Tool, Treasure Tool, Spirit Treasure, True Spirit Treasures, and fairy artifacts. Each grade has 9 ranks with 3 sub ranks; low, mid, and peak.


    This baby that I''m using for transportation is a 5th rank low-grade treasure tool. It is a treasure even in the divine central continent and you can not easily buy it even if you have the money for it.


    With me goofing around we got to the coral city in an hour and forty minutes. Luckily for me, we got there in less than 2 hours.


    We got down from our flying treasures when we got close to the city wall.


    This city is close to the sea and because of its geographical properties got the name coral city as its name.


    Getting close to the guards I could see the agitation in the guards'' eyes.


    ''Ah! Of course, they know from our robes that we are from the heavenly sword sect��''


    "Young master, seniors welcome!" said one of the guards while cupping his fist and bowing to us. The other guard followed right after.


    I just nodded at him with a small smile on my face.


    "This is for our entry fee. You can keep the change." I throw him a high-grade spirit stone.


    His eyes shone like a lamp and he snatched the high-grade spirit stone as if I might take it back.


    With 100 golds, you can get a low-grade spirit stone.


    With a thousand low-grade spirit stones, you can get one mid-grade spirit stone.


    With a thousand mid-grade spirit stones, you can get one high-grade spirit stone.


    For your interest let me tell you the entry for the city for each cultivator is 10 gold. So I overpaid about one and a half million times if you include the elders with me.


    Why would I do that? Well�� I don''t want to waste time waiting for some change, so wasting money is better than wasting time.


    I mean I have a shitload of these so this is nothing for me and it would improve this guard''s life so yeah.


    "Thank you, young master! Forgive my brashness but I know the best inn in the city, allow me to guide you." He said with a face full of gratitude.


    Looking at him for a moment I chose to let him guide us.


    "Show the way��"


    Following him, we soon arrived at a large inn, if it can be called an inn ��


    "This is the place young master." The guard said politely.


    It looked like an Indian palace and was out of my expectation. I have seen better buildings in the sect but even so, this was beyond what I thought I would see in a city.


    In front of the inn, you could see a big sign ''naked immortal palace''.


    My mouth twitched.


    What the hell is this? Can''t you use something else other than immortal in the name? Does everything have to be immortal?


    Never mind that, why is the immortal naked? Is the immortal an exhibitionist? What the hell is going on here? Just who is the idiot who named it this way?


    At that time I remembered the guard who guided us here.


    What is this? Is this cultivation world version of the nude beach? I tried it once in my past life and I still have mental scars.


    I turned to face him. This little bastard better have a good reason for guiding us here.


    "Is the ''naked'' in this place''s name implies something that we should know?" I asked him with a ''kind'' smile on my face.


    I could see the guard visibly shaking in fear from my ''kind'' smile. He kowtowed immediately in front of me.


    "Y-young master, a misunderstanding! There is a misunderstanding!" he spoke so fast that I almost thought he is rapping something��


    "Continue��"


    "There is indeed a naked beach in this inn��" He continued fearfully.


    ''Well, I can donate him as a male prostitute to a brothel.''


    Just as I was looking for ropes in my space ring to tie him up he quickly added.


    "��But there is a normal part! That is why I brought you here, young master!"


    "Haaah�� get up and go."


    "Thank you for your magnanimity!"


    I think I got nude-beach-phobia. Just as I had a good day flying and flexing this had to shit on it. Well, we are already here, we might as well get a room.


    *sigh*


    "Elders, let us enter this inn, I have a matter to settle, so we will be going from here in approximately half an hour."


    After getting some rooms for our temporary stay here, I contacted uncle Aram.


    "Uncle, come to naked immortal palace��"


    Just as I uttered this unholy name I cursed the seven generations of this place owner''s ancestors.


    After a moment of silence, my uncle answered.


    "Brat, do you have one of those tendencies?"


    "Oh shut it old man! I just got a room nothing more! Enough about me, does aunt know that you know places like this? Tsk, tsk." I retorted.


    "Fuck you brat! I have information about everything, don''t spout nonsense!"


    "*sigh*Just get here uncle. I''m at room number 420."


    "��Okay."


    Five minutes later there was a knock on the door.


    Getting up I opened the door.


    "From when do doors stop you uncle." I told uncle Aram while getting back to sit on the chair.


    "I didn''t want to see something that I should not." He answered.


    There was a vein popping on my temple but I didn''t talk back.


    "Uncle I want you to find people with the conditions like the ones that I have written here." I handed him an information jade.


    "The combinations are important, for example, there has to be black hair plus a broken engagement from the girl part plus sudden increase in cultivation��" I started lecturing him.


    "Oh! If the engagement is broken from the boy part you have to check for a change in personality." I nodded to myself.


    "I don''t know about gender-bender or female lead ones so for that you have to wait a bit, I''ll give you the female version later. for now, focus on the male gender."


    "Anyway. Check this in all continents but smaller ones are more important because they start from a low-level zone to level up." I added with a smile.


    He just looked at me like I''m crazy.


    "Why are you looking at me like that?" I frowned.


    "Brat, do you do drugs?" he asked me with suspicion.


    "Old man just tell me you won''t help, I''ll ask aunt for help��" I answered him while sounding dejected.


    Now it was uncle Aram''s turn to pop a vein.


    "Brat, just tell me why you need these pieces of information?" he calmed himself down and asked me.


    "For now all I can say is that there might be someone with these specifications that will try to kill me." I answered him matter-of-factly.


    Just as he opened his mouth to ask more, I raised my hand.


    "Uncle, this is all I can tell you for now. I just hope that you can help me with finding people who check out these specifications��"


    There was silence in the room for a minute. After that uncle raised his head and looked at me.


    "Okay brat, I''ll help you with this but know that you owe me." He answered me smugly.


    "Don''t worry old man, if it works how I hope it does, you won''t be dissatisfied." Just thinking of getting the MC''s cheat made stars in my eyes.


    "We will see brat." He grinned. This old man can smell money anywhere.


    I grinned at him too.


    "Okay old man, you can go away now. I have places to be." I waved my hand in front of him dismissively.


    "Brat, you know there aren''t many that dare to talk to me this way? You think I won''t hit you?" He told me angrily.


    "Old man, you and I both know that If you touch me, aunt will kill you and use your blood for a ritual to bring me back even from the afterlife. Ah! but don''t let this affect your Dao heart��" I answered him with fake concern.


    I could feel his blood boiling, but he knows that I am right.


    "Anyway see you around old man, give me a call if you find someone from the list��" I hastily got out of the room and signaled the elders to go for the ancient sword mark.

 Chapter 7: Ancient sword mark

    Flying over to the seashore, Li Huang was trying to find the disposition of thing as it stands.


    Transmigrators, reincarnators, returners, and God knows what. With each one existing the equation of ''Li Huang''s Life Expectancy'' would be more complicated but there is no use in bitching about it.


    All I have to do is to take advantage of my past life readings and use this life''s personal position to maximize my gains and voila! Instead of a cheat, I might get a cheat sheet.


    As I was rubbing my hand together thinking about my grand scheme, we slowly got to the ruins where the sword mark is located.


    In the superficial waters of the gold sea lies the wreck of a ship, a ship that was once the prized possession of an up-and-coming trader hundreds of years ago. She is not in what you''d call a good shape; a broken mast and shattered planks litter the main deck.


    She''s no longer home to a crew, but there are creatures who enjoy the vast opportunities she has to offer them. It can be difficult to spot them all as they hide at the slightest movement. Each one of them is in no rush to claim the entire ship as their own.


    These creatures are what we call Boggard. They are frog-humanoid creatures that are one of the low-level sea creatures.


    As this place was left behind after the destruction of the ships and the port, these low-level creatures were roaming around in these parts.


    The shipwreck doesn''t make for a pretty sight, especially not from further away. Like discarded waste, she seems to not belong in these waters. She hangs heavily to one side and the paint of where her name used to be had all but faded to nothingness. A wide range of possessions and many different crates mark her true story up to her demise. Whatever contents were inside some of them have long been claimed by ocean creatures as all broken containers are empty.


    No bones or other human remains can be found, but it unfortunately doesn''t mean they made it out alive��


    One part of the destroyed port was covering the ancient sword mark for all these years. This is the reason for this mark being kept intact until now.


    Days ago a cultivator who was roaming around here was attracted by its sword Qi so he decided to tell our heavenly sword sect this piece of information, for a price.


    This is how we got to know about this mark.


    Arriving at the ancient sword mark I was astonished by its size. The mark stretched out for 500 meters and it was 3 meters deep.


    But what was more astonishing was the sword Qi and the vast profundities in the air.


    Looking back at the elders I spoke to them.


    "Elders, I''m going to comprehend this ancient sword mark, I''ll be leaving my back to you." Saying that I walked forward to the center of this commotion.


    Comprehending a sword mark of this level is like solving a maze when you are in it. Also, you have to speed up in each turn and if you can''t keep up with this increased rate you will face some backlash.


    These backlashes could be a simple internal injury to dropping dead. So yeah you have to be vigilant when comprehending and not be blinded by greed and choose something that is clearly over your head.


    There is a saying that ''swords don''t have eyes'' but for sword Qi you can say that even if sword Qi does have eyes that only means you should be more afraid.


    In an ancient sword mark, the sword Qi works in a pattern and shows you the way of the sword and how to better your sword art.


    But you have to know that this is not a teacher kindly guiding his disciple but is more like gaining enlightenment in a fight that very well could be a life and death situation.


    Closing my eyes I take out my sword from its scabbard. This sword is an ordinary sword that Li Huang is using from the start of his sword practice.


    I say ordinary but you have to know it is ''ordinary'' in a young master''s standard.


    Moving further toward the center I could feel my swordsmanship improve.


    It was as if I was doing a sword dance with the sword mark''s sword Qi.


    Each passing second was like months of training even for me who has a terrifying understanding and yielded astonishing results in the shortest of times. Well, you can say this is because of my terrifying understanding that I can benefit this much.


    If someone would tell me in my past life that I would be having fun in sword training I wouldn''t believe it but right now I''m clearly having fun.


    ''Let us dance, Lady luck.''


    Smiling to myself I continued on comprehending this ancient sword mark.


    ����(POV Core Elder of Heavenly Sword Sect, Guo Heng)����


    This time we got a mission to solve an ancient sword mark before others get to it. I say solve but we officially call it ''comprehending'' the ancient mark.


    The fateful encounter that you don''t get is the one that your enemy would get.


    Going with this logic we buy information on this kind of things more generously than others so that we can get these powers for our sect.


    This time is no different than other times only that the receiver part in this ''fateful encounter'' is someone special.


    Li Huang, the chief disciple of the sect and one of the main competitors for the patriarch position.


    The other four elders accompanying are outer elders and don''t have a high position in the sect but I, as a core elder, didn''t have to come out personally for this mission but I did and I have a good reason for it.


    The reason for me being here personally is to monitor this junior''s worth for myself. I didn''t choose anyone as of now for the patriarch position to support so this could be a good chance to check this one out.


    When we got to the ancient mark he went in like he was taking a stroll. I know this isn''t the best of sword marks but how can he look down on it this much?


    ''Too young and too arrogant.''


    I shook my head, the matriarch should have come here personally��


    As I was in my thoughts he takes out his sword and-


    Danced!?


    Rubbing my eyes to make sure that i didn''t see wrong, I looked at the scene again.


    "Is- is he really sword dancing with the ancient sword mark?" One of the elders beside me blurted out.


    "He is��" I answered absentmindedly.


    He went on for some moments and slowed down abruptly.


    ''He is very talented but alas! it seems that he overestimated himself-''


    Just as I thought he is going to face a backslash for slowing down he started moving his sword faster than before.


    "He was playing around before.." I couldn''t hide my shock this time.


    I have never heard of someone comprehending an ancient sword mark this way. Usually, you would try to counter the sword Qi from the mark but Li Huang is going with the flow and is literally sword dancing with it��


    This way he is going to have better gains than others comprehending the ancient marks, Why? Because he is experiencing the way of sword left behind by the mark instead of learning how to survive that level of attack.


    This went on for an hour and each minute the ''dance'' was getting fiercer and the sword Qi was getting more ferocious.


    But if this was going according to the script Li Huang should have failed to comprehend the mark and get a heavy backlash at this time, but he was absorbing the sword mark''s knowledge like a sponge.


    Every passing minute he was getting stronger with each clash and slash.


    Me and other elders just kept watching this scene, this could be what they call ''birth of a new monster''.


    Just as we were shocked out of our minds he finished comprehending the mark and the sword Qi dimmed.


    He put his sword in its scabbard and turned around.


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    Putting my sword back in its scabbard I turned to face the elders.


    "Well, that was fun!" I told them my genuine emotions.


    This time I have gained too much. After comprehending this ancient sword mark I can produce sword Qi as long as I have Qi in my body.


    The conversion ratio is not efficient right now meaning I have to use like a lot of my Qi to get a bit of sword Qi but this is a big step In the right direction.


    Just as I was thinking about my gains I saw something shining at the end of the ancient sword mark.


    "Hey, what is that over there��" I muttered to myself.


    As I got close to the pink shining thing, it moved.


    It didn''t even let me be surprised that it shot out towards my head.


    I reflexively put my hand in front of my face but it just got past my hand like my hand didn''t exist.


    ''Man, didn''t I just fall for the most basic trick in the scary movies?'' As this shining thing sunk in my head I was thinking to myself but it was a bit late to get away from the ''dark pit''.


    After that all I could see was darkness��

 Chapter 8: Is this reincarnation?

    ''Dude, that was anticlimactic��'' I thought.


    Looking around I couldn''t see anything. There might be some problem with my eyes��


    I tried to touch my face to check on my eyes condition but it was at that time that I found out that I don''t have hands, in fact, I didn''t even have a body.


    ''Don''t tell me��''


    Dark place.


    Doesn''t have a body.


    I Can talk to myself.


    ''Am I getting reincarnated?''


    I was always shitting on these novels where MC meets a god or whatever and gets some wishes and whatnot.


    Don''t tell me I have to go through this shit.


    Just burn my soul.


    I wanted to cry but I had no tears. Literally, I didn''t.


    But what I dreaded the most didn''t come.


    No old man was talking to me.


    This was a good development.


    Just as I was thinking about useless things I felt a strong suction absorbing my soul(?).


    What followed was years after years of information getting shoved into my head.


    I just skimmed through these memories and got the gist of it.


    You might ask what were those pieces of information?


    I got information on all kinds of treasures, physiques, bloodlines, pills, and�� well there is also a section for ''how to peep a lady''.


    I mean I can understand the first part of the information, these things are useful to detect treasures and more.


    But why the fuck would I need to know how to peep? What is this? Can''t you get a girl like a normal person?


    The curiosity made me take a look at the information. Maybe it was mislabeled, who knows?


    The result is that it wasn''t mislabeled, these memories are from a creep.


    The only use of this ''delicate art'' as described in these memories for me is to be able to prevent this kind of creep from getting close to my girls.


    This dude was probably the god of peepers.


    The dude in my memories even peeped on his wives so you get where I''m coming from.


    Is this me getting reincarnated as a creep? Hell no! If it was, why would I be this calm?


    I found out something in these memories.


    That shining thing is an artifact in the level of the seven founding artifacts that started the seven holy lands.


    When the seven artifacts dropped from the sky, they were screaming like ''Yo, we are here!''. They kept on releasing weapon Qi so everyone was able to locate them.


    But this artifact is different from others. The last owner of this tool was a legendary peeper so it learned some techniques from its past owner too.


    Like a peeper, it was looking for someone who it chooses as its master. When it saw me comprehending the ancient sword mark in an interesting way, this artifact chose me as its master and shot to my head.


    The space that I am in right now, is my soul sea. You are not supposed to interact with your soul sea in any way in a low cultivation level like me but the artifact guided me safely to enter here to give me the knowledge about itself and heaven and earth treasures.


    Thinking about this artifact I couldn''t keep my face from turning ugly. Why? Because of its name.


    This artifact is called ''Peeping Eye of Heaven''.


    Do I even need to explain more?


    You might think that this is only a name and no one would know why would I care?


    Well, other than my personal reason there are two real reasons for me to care about its name.


    First, is that the artifacts have sapience and take pride in their name so in simple terms they don''t give a damn if you don''t like it, because they are what they are and their name is selected when they get Sapience for the first time. So in short I can''t ask it to change its name��


    Second, you might read some novels that tell the name of the technique before executing it. I was always asking myself why would anyone do that? What are they? 5 years old?


    Well, from what I got from Li Huang''s memories, at least in this world you have to use the name of technique like a chant for it to form a mental image for you. This mental image will be helping you in circulating the Qi in your body in the exact way that you should do for this move.


    In other terms, when practicing a punching move you won''t just punch. You have to follow a careful circulation of Qi in your Qi paths for the move to be executed. This is the reason that it will take some time to master a move.


    On other hand imagining the Qi flowing in your Qi paths whenever using a technique if not impossible is not too far from it. To fix this problem in the past they come up with a solution, when using a technique you would shout its name.


    This way when you master the move, you don''t have to think of controlling your Qi paths to execute it, shouting the move''s name makes you move your Qi in the correct pattern by instinct.


    This is why I say this is like a mental image that makes you use the move better and faster.


    So what I want to say is that I have to use this damn name when I''m using this artifact.


    Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you what uses does this artifact have.


    Using this artifact you can find all kinds of treasures, medicinal herbs, pills, etc.


    This is really an OP artifact that can be of great help to me.


    But it can be said that this is a flag in itself. Why?


    Because this artifact could be the loot that the MC gets from killing me.


    That matters not. Because I will use this artifact to plunder the world when the MC is saving a damsel in distress.


    I would be finding the best things and talents to add to my camp and be ready for whatever that wants to bar my way.


    I know that banditry is the way to supremacy but didn''t think that peeping into treasures would yield better results.


    Exiting my soul sea I turned to face the elders to give them an explanation for me blacking out but I found out that only a few seconds have passed so I acted naturally.


    "Elders, I think we can get going in a minute. I have comprehended the ancient sword mark successfully." I told them with a small smile.


    "We are ready when you are." Elder Guo answered me politely.


    It seems that me comprehending the sword mark made him give me a plus in his mind because what I see from him is genuine politeness, not the socially required one.


    Just to be sure I checked the surroundings for a treasure or something.


    What I saw made me baffled.


    There were no treasures here but that is not the point, the way that I saw my surroundings was what caught my eyes.


    How can I describe it? It''s like I have installed ''wallhack'' in the real world. Everything that is of value can be seen highlighted even if it is obstructed by something.


    Now I see why this is called the ''peeping eye of heaven''. They don''t know about video games otherwise they would name it something like ''invisible wallhack 1.2''.


    Just as we were about to go back to sect we sensed some people coming to our location fast.


    Getting ready to fight we didn''t have to wait long that the other group got to where we were.


    The moment I saw the faces of these people I clicked my tongue.


    These are people from the Blue Bulls sect.


    And the one who is leading them is the chief disciple of the blue bull sect, Cai ZhenKang.


    The blue bull sect is a sect that follows the way of Axe. The artifact that they are keeping is named the ''golden ax''.


    They were on bad terms with us right from the start because we saw them as some strays from the sword path and they saw us as old-fashioned fools.


    When I was thinking to myself a voice pulled me away from my thoughts.


    "Hoho! If it ain''t the little brat from the heavenly sword sect." Cai ZhenKang tried to anger me by calling me a ''little brat''.


    But I got numb to this word because of uncle Aram, so there wasn''t any sign of me getting angry to Cai ZhenKang''s dismay.


    "Welcome, friends from the ''blue balls'' sect!" I greeted them full of joy.


    You could see their faces getting redder by the second.


    Well, it is not my fault that their faces look like someone ran over them. Even I find them unpleasant to look at, it wouldn''t surprise me even if they all got blue balls.


    "How dare you? I dare you to say it again." One of the elders around Cai ZhenKang shouted angrily.


    "What''s with this attitude? I just welcomed you people from the blue balls sect and you shout at me? Don''t tell me you don''t put our heavenly sword sect in your eyes?" I reacted to his shout with an angry face like I was wronged but didn''t forget to accidentally call them ''blue balls sect'', again. Using the sect''s name they can not retort and have to swallow their anger somehow. Also, the fact that I didn''t ''know'' that I was calling them wrongly, made it so that they don''t know how to call it out.


    "Good, good, good. Li Huang, I challenge you to a spar, do you dare to accept?" Cai ZhenKang asked me and didn''t even bother to hide his hatred.


    I looked at him as if he is an idiot.


    "Why should I give a damn about you and your challenge. Shoo, shoo." I told him while resuming my walk to get out of there.


    When treasures are waiting why would I waste my time fighting this brute? If it was a beauty challenging me that would be something else but right now I couldn''t care less.


    "Li Huang, If you run away from the challenge, would you have any face left?" Cai ZhenKang used the ''face'' and it was not very effective.


    I mean there are like ten people here and half of it is our own sect''s people so I don''t have to think about them, The other half is from the blue bulls sect who are hostile so it doesn''t make any difference what I do in this situation.


    Rolling my eyes I turned to face Cai ZhenKang.


    "If you want a challenge write a challenge letter or something to our heavenly sword sect, else don''t waste my time."


    Turning around we boarded our flying treasures and flew back.


    ...


    Back in the gold seashores, the team from the blue bulls sect were looking at our backs with ''O'' shaped mouths. They were here to cause problems but didn''t even dream of this kind of development.

 Chapter 9: My lost cousin

    *whoosh whoosh whoosh*


    Flying with my flying treasure back to the sect I was thinking that the air traffic could be a big problem if this world had the equivalent of automobile companies.


    Well, not that i care, my only problem is that I don''t have an obstacle path for me to ''train'' in flying, but oh well, nothing that money can''t solve.


    Moving my thoughts away from entertainment, I was thinking of a way to maximize the gains from my newly acquired artifact, the ''peeping eye of heaven''.


    You might be thinking ''won''t you just have to move around to find new shit?''


    You are not wrong but also not entirely right. Why? Well, the moving around part is right but this is clearly a brute force method and also in the millennia of cultivators searching for treasures in the holy central continent, I don''t think that there are many treasures left for me to find so the moving around solution is not feasible.


    Just as I was pondering to myself, I suddenly grinned.


    If the MC starts from the ''starting village'' won''t I be finding good things if I go to the same place?


    This is robbing the MC even before he got the chance to get the fateful encounter.


    ''Ahh! Just thinking about it has brought me immense pleasure.''


    Enjoying the sceneries we moved closer to the sect.


    ���� 2 hour later ����


    We got to the sect in 2 hours because I didn''t want to deplete all my Qi reserves, who knows what might have happened on the way? No one can ever be too cautious.


    Getting to the gates of the sect we got off our flying treasures to walk for a distance. This is a tradition in our heavenly sword sect; regardless of rank, cultivation, or status, you have to walk this path on foot to show respect to the sect.


    The reason for this act is an act of memorial. This was the path that the first generation of elders walked when they decided on creating the sect back in the time.


    Well, a bit walking is nothing to fuss about and in this world that you can fly in skies and breath in waters, might humble you a bit.


    As I started walking with the elders, core elder Guo turned to face me.


    "Chief disciple Li, I would leave the report of this mission to you. We would excuse ourselves." He told me while cupping his fists.


    By giving me the right to report the mission report and excusing himself, elder Guo first gives me face to be the one who reports the final results and by excusing himself made it appropriate for me as a junior to be the one to speak instead of the senior.


    Getting used to this kind of mind circuit would definitely take me some time. The amount of information in elder Guo''s sentence is really something. Well, this is why you don''t fuck with old people.


    With a gentle smile, I faced elder Guo.


    "Core elder Guo, you can rest assured I won''t miss a detail. Thank you for this time." I played the right cards to respond to him.


    First of all, I responded as a ''junior'' to please him with my ''respect for elders'', and secondly I thanked him for being in this mission. Although it was a sect mission, the way I responded to him made it sound like he did me a favor so it would make him think that I see it as he was there to ''guard'' me not ''observe'' me.


    This way I easily got the good impression of a core elder.


    And It has to be added that he is one of the elders responsible for the martial art repository of the sect.


    What? Shocked?


    Believe me when I say it, if you read enough Chinese novels you will be a natural in this.


    Elder Guo was clearly happy with my response and laughed while patting my shoulder.


    "Haha�� Good, good, good. If you need anything you know where to find me. I won''t be taking more of your time. Hahaha��" he was so happy that he didn''t even give a glance to the outer elders and went towards the martial art repository.


    Not gonna lie, this elder seems to be on easy mode.


    Well, whatever. Never hurts to have one more connection.


    Nodding to other elders I started walking.


    Walking once in a while is refreshing, also I have no memory of Li Huang touring the outer court so this is a new experience.


    Do you remember I said that walking is humbling? Scratch that, this is only satisfying my ego.


    Why? With every step, there are at least five outer disciples who salute me.


    Do they know me? No, but do they need to personally know me? My robes are of the core disciples with some small changes that show that I am a chief disciple.


    Other disciples are using this chance to curry favor to me.


    Their flattery continued and I answered them with smiles and nods. This is my home field, having a good relationship with them has no demerits if all I have to do is smiling and nodding.


    Suddenly I thought of something.


    My peeping eye of heaven can detect all kinds of treasures, so if I use it on living persons it can show me peoples with bloodlines, special bodies, and more��


    Won''t I be able to find geniuses like finding weeds this way?


    I could hardly maintain my facial feature to not show my grin.


    ''Peeping eye of heaven''


    I activated my artifact and started looking around. When I was testing this artifact on the way I found out that my eyes get a hue of pink when activating this skill.


    Looking around I could see that each person had a different amount of talent that was shown to me by the level of brightness that they showed.


    Obviously, even the outer disciples here are considered at top of the food chain in the world, but alas there are mountains behind mountains. Even the most extraordinary talent might find someone better than him.


    As I walked I looked for someone who could catch my eyes.


    I was almost a the edge of the outer court but didn''t find anyone good enough for me��


    Of course, I didn''t check the whole outer court I just walked on the main road.


    Just as I was looking around something caught my eyes. This is a new thing that I experienced when using this artifact.


    I could see a faint glow in my left direction. I quickly checked the artifact memories for this kind of development.


    What I found out surprised me; when you are close to a great treasure you can feel a faint aura from them even if you are not seeing it.


    It''s like when your goal is out of render distance but you have directions for it��


    My ''render distance'' is clearly a variable to my cultivation level so right now this distance of 20 meters is all I can check.


    The fact that I can feel the faint aura of the treasure means that the treasure is super close to me.


    Turning around to my left I followed the faint aura.


    These robes have an amazing effect, people would walk out of your way when they see you wearing them. This robe is a must for any introvert.


    Passing by some courtyards I arrived at my destination. The treasure was there, Well ''it'' was a girl.


    She had black hair with light pink eyes, a slim waist, long legs, and a beautiful face with a ''I don''t give a fuck'' written on her face. She was around my age and looked 13 or 14.


    Before I could figure out what was the nature of her body that emitted this much light in my eyes, the bickering of the people around her caught my attention.


    "Junior sister, you should have used up your seven life worth of karma to be able to warm master Li''s bed." One of the male outer court disciples who was surrounding her told her.


    "Yes, now that you have the young master''s favor getting into the inner court is only a matter of time��" The other lackey nodded with vigor.


    The girl just kept looking at them like they were insignificant.


    Just as I was looking for some junk food in my storage ring to watch the show, I suddenly noticed something.


    "Who is this young master Li?"I blurted out absentmindedly.


    The place was silent as I spoke so everyone heard what I said.


    The lackeys turned to me to shout at me but they all froze as they saw my core disciple robes.


    Only one of them didn''t freeze because he was ogling the girl and didn''t turn around.


    This however only lasted a few seconds, after that he shouted at me while turning to face me.


    "Bold! How dare you��" and he froze as he saw me.


    As the reality of the situation dawned on them, they dropped to their knees.


    This is the reason that I say the ''face'' is bullshit. 99% of people are like this, dropped to their knees when they see their situation is a little disadvantageous.


    "Who is this young master Li that you were talking about?" I asked the main question.


    I don''t know any relatives in the outer court. It is either someone impersonating us or some other Li family.


    Hearing me they got a bit of color back thinking that I don''t want to offend the ''young master''.


    "He is chief disciple Li Huang''s older cousin, Li Heng." The lackey said with pride.


    This time I was taken aback.


    "From when did I have a cousin?" I was really baffled, so much so that I didn''t even curse.


    "Y-You." Now others were shocked equally if not more.


    Now everyone took a closer look at me and noted the difference in my robes and core disciples.


    ''This is a chief disciple robe!'' everyone shouted in their minds.


    There are two chief disciples in the sect; Li Huang, and Hu Anjing.


    Clearly, the one in front of them is the patriarch''s disciple, Li Huang.


    A chief disciple is like a legend in the outer court and now they have seen one with their own eyes.


    When everyone was admiring the one and only Li Huang, he was in process of planning his cousin''s funeral.


    ''Oh cousin, you are fucking around using my name?''


    "Let me see this lost cousin of mine��" I chuckled to myself.

 Chapter 10: +title in the end+

    "Let me see this lost cousin of mine��" I chuckled to myself.


    A few seconds passed but no answer has come from the lackeys.


    With a small frown, I turned to the one who seemed to be the leader of this bunch of idiots.


    "Do I have to repeat myself again?"


    After hearing my voice he seemed to come out of his daze and kowtowed immediately.


    "Y-Yes young master! P-Please follow us��" he answered while stuttering.


    Just as I was thinking about the order of things to do, an intense gaze was pinned on me. Curious, I calmly turned to face that gaze.


    I was a little surprised to see the one who was looking at me intensely was non-other than our treasure girl.


    She was looking at me intensely but it was neither lust nor hate, it seems it is curiosity��


    But why curiosity? Trying to solve the puzzle I directly asked her.


    "Junior sister, you have stars in your eyes looking at me. Why is that?" I asked her tilting my head.


    She didn''t avert her gaze and answered me.


    "Senior brother, I want to spar with you." She told me without any fluctuation in her expression.


    I was taken aback. This girl is not only straightforward but also says what she thinks without a filter.


    To test if I guessed her personality right, I asked her a question.


    "Do you think you have the qualification to spar with me?" I raised my eyebrow.


    Without a delay, she answered me.


    "Senior brother, the qualification is earned not given. How can I earn the qualification if I don''t face a worthy opponent?" she answered calmly and matter-of-factly.


    "So what you are trying to say is that how can you get the qualification when you have no worthy opponents here, am I right?"I asked her with a smile.


    "Yes." She answered shortly and efficiently.


    I nodded to her. Well her logic doesn''t have a flaw.


    ''Peeping eye of heaven''


    With a hue of pink in my eyes, I looked at the girl in front of me.


    Looking at the girl and checking the artifact memories I was pleasantly shocked.


    This girl has a rare physique named [Fate Eluding Physique].


    The name says it all for this physique, having this physique you can evade weapon slashes, projectiles, and martial skills instinctively.


    The limitation is your speed and body power, meaning that you can evade what you are theoretically capable of evading.


    Even so, this physique is a powerful one.


    "Hmmm. I tell you what, this so-called Li Heng needs a beating, you will fight him and then you and I will have the spar that you were looking for, what do you say?" I answered her after some thoughts.


    Even though I want to chop him to pieces myself but I don''t want to shit on my image for a low-level mob. A slap or two from me should suffice, leaving the rest to this girl shouldn''t be a problem��


    Thinking for a bit she answered me.


    "Yes."


    I nodded.


    "Oh! Can you guide me to the outer court punishment hall?" remembering my plans I asked the girl.


    "Yes."


    I gestured to her to show the way and turned to the lackeys.


    "You lot also follow."


    "Yes." They answered and followed.


    "By the way, junior sister what is your name?" I just remembered that I didn''t ask her name.


    "My name is Lai Xinyue, Senior brother." She answered me.


    "And I am Li Huang." I nodded and introduced myself.


    She probably knows me but I still did tell her my name just to be clear.


    Besides, not introducing oneself is one of the classic moves of a traditional ''young master'' so I won''t be doing that��


    On the other hand, why would I even assume everyone would know me when I rarely show my face outside the sword mountain?


    Moving towards the outer court punishment hall we arrived at a big building. If you must know it is a Chinese-style building.


    I mean what did you expect? Statue of Liberty? Palace of Westminster?


    Don''t mind me, I''m just grumpy��


    As we got to the building a guard saw us and come at us almost running.


    "Senior brother, is there anything that we can do for you?" he saluted me while talking. He was an inner court disciple but in front of me, he was very polite and submissive.


    "Junior brother, can you tell the head elder here that Li Huang has an important matter to discuss that needs his attention?" I answered him with a smile.


    As he heard my name it was like his doubts have faded and his face lost color a little.


    "Yes. just a moment, I will relay the message to elder Yan." He bowed and answered hurriedly.


    The next moment he was running to the outer court punishment hall with large steps.


    Not a minute after, I saw elder Yan who is supposedly the head elder here, coming out of the building towards me.


    Seeing me he come in front of me and cupped his fists.


    "Chief disciple Li, to what do I owe the pleasure of you coming here in person?" he talked and greeted me politely and there was an undertone of fright in his sentence.


    If I was in his shoes I might have been the same. A ''child'' with a shitload of power backing him is probably finding fault in your work, who wouldn''t be frightened?


    "Well, as I was taking a stroll in the outer court, I come to understand that it seems that I have a cousin that I do not know." I told him calmly.


    He was visibly confused by my story but he let me continue.


    "But the problem is that my father doesn''t have a sibling so this means that either my grandfather or grandmother had illicit relationships." I continued calmly adding.


    Elder Yan now got the gist of things and he didn''t like where this was going.


    "My grandfather aside, you must know that my grandmother is the matriarch of White Moon Sect so this is a clear stain to her honor.." I hardly stopped my grin from showing on my face.


    "��When she get the wind of this, she would pass you before asking my grandfather for an answer, and even if you survive her in the first encounter, when she comes back with my grandfather after finding out that someone is using their name to gain benefits in the sect I don''t think it would end well for you as an elder who is clearly in charge of checking for these things��" I told him as if I was sad about what is to happen to him.


    In reality, I didn''t loath anyone more than the ones who don''t do the one thing that they are getting paid for it, so in my eyes, even if he is skinned alive it would serve him right.


    I think he was imagining what would be happening to him if it goes as I say��


    The blood was draining from his face at a fast speed as if a vampire was sucking him dry.


    Calming himself he looked at me with pleading eyes.


    "Chief disciple Li, do you have any plans on how to punish this bastard?" he could barely contain his anger.


    I, as one, was proud of him for cursing only once. I would curse as a way of communication if I was in the same situation.


    "But of course elder Yan, if not, I wouldn''t be wasting your time��" I smiled at him as a ''caring junior'' would.


    "Chief disciple Li, Please continue." He answered me with a smile that didn''t reach his frightened eyes.


    How the fuck did he anger not one but two sect leaders from the seven holy grounds? He vowed to himself to find the bastard who didn''t report this problem to him and punish him as hard as the rules would allow.


    Li Huang, who did not know what the elder was thinking about, continued.


    "Well, for starters, let us announce that whoever was wronged by the so-called ''Li Heng'' can come to the outer court''s punishment hall to get justice!" I almost throw up when I said justice��


    Every time I used this word even in my last life, it was like I would get a shounen protagonist halo.


    To distract myself from all the ''shounen protagonist'' bullshit on my mind I kept on talking to elder Yan.


    "In the meanwhile, we would go to his courtyard and give him a small greeting. What do you think, elder?" I looked so happy when suggesting a greeting that you could almost believe me and him being cousins.


    Elder Yan swallowed his saliva and nodded.


    "��Yes. This will do."


    You could see him getting ready to beat the shit out of him.


    After a few short calls to some people working for him to do as I told him, elder Yan joined us to go where ''Li Heng'' is living.


    As we were on the way I was thinking about my Grandmother.


    Qiao Shi.


    She is the matriarch of the White Moon sect and one of the most powerful experts in the world.


    The only problem is that I have never seen her. Why? The reason is my father.


    My grandmother wanted my father to marry her disciple but my father married someone with who he fell in love in his travels.


    As a result, my grandmother grow cold with my father and refused to see him. And time passed this way with my father asking his mother to accept his wife, and my grandmother telling him to fuck off.


    This continued until my parents died and she still didn''t come to see Huang, her grandchild.


    I mean I don''t fault her, when you are a couple of centuries old, 14 years is nothing to you so she could be waiting for me to age a bit. On another note, she might be waiting for me to go visit her because of her personality, so there is that��


    ''Now that I think about it, my father was an MC for himself with all these things happening��''


    Continuing on the road, I contacted Yuan Jia to tell her that the mission was successful and I will give her my report after I take care of some things.


    She just told me to be careful.


    Looking at the courtyard that the lackey was pointing at as Li Heng''s courtyard, I couldn''t help but smile.


    ''let''s get this over with...''


    ________


    Title: Fate Eluding Physique

 Chapter 11: is it a bird? is it a plane?

    Looking at the courtyard that the lackey was pointing at, I couldn''t help but smile.


    As I was smiling, Elder Yan was looking at me with a questioning gaze.


    "You can tell me what is on your mind, Elder Yan��" Noticing his gaze, without turning my head I told him.


    After a moment of hesitation, he chose to speak.


    "Chief disciple Li, Why did you change your robes to ones of the outer disciples? Wouldn''t it be more effective if you are to be seen in your core disciple robes?" there was a clear puzzlement in his tune.


    "Elder Yan, this is what they call Dao of low-key��" I answered him while stroking my chin. This so-called Li Heng should have some accomplices to even think of trying this.


    ''Having a disguise of an old man would be fun to have if nothing else��'' I thought to myself as I stroked my chin.


    On the other side, Elder Yan was looking for words to form a sentence in response to my ''sagely'' answer.


    "Dao of �� low-key?" in the end all he could come up with was repeating my words.


    I waived my hands dismissively.


    "You will understand it in a while Elder Yan, just look at me and you will know what I mean��" I told him as I was thinking of what could come out of this meeting.


    This time, elder Yan didn''t even try to answer me and weakly nodded to me.


    If you didn''t get my plan till now let me congratulate you first! Your IQ is below 70 and my congratulation was sarcastic.


    Okay, okay. I won''t be IQ-shaming you, I plan to do a low-key entry to his courtyard, and then I will try to use this chance to find the one behind this ploy.


    Alright, sure. I''m also doing it Because it would be a good measure of my power��


    As we got closer to the door I turned to elder Yan.


    "Elder Yan, I think it would be better if you check the inside with your spiritual sense and don''t show your face so that we can get more information out of him��" I told him.


    Well, in reality, I just wanted to have a stage to try my plan and if elder Yan is there from the beginning, I wouldn''t have any chance to do it as my plan involves a little self-harm so I had to tell him something that would stop him from interfering.


    After hearing what I said elder Yan''s eyes shone for a moment. After that, he cupped his fists to me and spoke.


    "Truly a marvelous plan. You have my admiration chief disciple Li." He told me, it seems that he now gets why I''m doing this.


    This was the right moment for enabling ''humble junior'' mode.


    "Elder overpraises me." I told him.


    After the elder got some distance away, I turned to the lackeys.


    "Now do as I have told you, that way you might get a lesser punishment." I told them with my ''no fuck is given'' attitude.


    The leader was clearly the best one of the bunch. He was a fast learner and was ready to do the plan according to the script.


    "Young master Li, we will go through hell and back to do your bidding. Please worry not." He answered wholeheartedly.


    ''This dude is way too good at bullshitting. When did it become my bidding? You are clearly doing it to save your lives. *sigh* No matter let''s just continue with the script��'' I shook my head to get past the useless thoughts.


    "Just do your part��" I told the lackeys.


    Turning to Lai Xinyue AKA our treasure girl I spoke apologetically.


    "Junior sister, I have to apologize for this time. Doing this plan would ensure that there is not a bigger plot in play��"


    Although I do want to have some fun I''m not a member of the below 70 IQ club, I have something else in mind.


    Impersonating someone from our Li family is not something that a simple outer disciple has the balls to do.


    And even if they did it, it wouldn''t be hidden for this long, so there has to be someone doing damage control here to silent the ones who show defiance.


    This is only my theory but from my past life experiences, I am almost certain about what and how of this.


    The only reason for me doing this is to find the ''who'' in this equation.


    "You don''t have to take it to mind Senior brother, this is but a small price to pay to be able to spar with you." She answered my inquiry.


    The corners of my mouth twitched.


    ''This girl is really the embodiment of using no filter while speaking. Can''t she be a little tactful while answering?'' I thought.


    "Whatever works for you junior sister��" I didn''t even try to find a good answer to this girl. I doubt if she even has the capability of understanding the meaning of courtesy or sarcasm.


    I ignored her confused face and looked at all of them.


    "Okay, start the play." I told them.


    While they went closer to the door I finally got the chance to use the junk food in my storage ring to watch a good show.


    ����(POV third person)����


    You could see a group of male outer court disciples surrounding a female disciple.


    The group got to the door of the courtyard and knocked politely.


    After a few seconds, the door opened showing the courtyard and a big guy who was blocking the path to the yard.


    The big guy showed a big smile when seeing the one leading the group and spoke.


    "Junior brother Xin, you seem to be successful this time around too��" the door guard told the one called ''Xin''.


    "Senior brother Gu, stop wasting my time I have to deliver this package to young master as soon as possible." Brother Xin answered him playfully.


    "HAHAHA, go on junior brother Xin, go on." He patted brother Xin''s shoulders.


    If not for the content of the conversation you could mistake this ''patting'' to ''slapping the soul out of him'' but brother Xin somehow was able to preserve his life.


    You could see brother Xin smiling with pain.


    He and his group walked inside and followed a path to someone sitting on a chair with two girls in his arms, one on each side.


    Brother Xin immediately bowed and cupped his fists and the other followed after him. Everyone in the group saluted except the girl, Lai Xinyue.


    "We have finished your assignment, young master Li." Brother Xin started explaining to the ''young master'' who sat on his chair.


    The young master Li was our MC''s fake cousin and at least had silver hair to be passable as a part of the Li Family��


    Li Heng was lazily eating grapes, as a classic third-rate womanizer would do in every fucking scene.


    As he saw the defiance in Lai Xinyue''s eyes instead of getting angry he was happy. Breaking this kind of face was one of the most satisfying things for him in the world.


    After a minute of ogling Lai Xinyue''s body, he looked at brother Xin and talked to him.


    "You did a good job this time, you can get twice of the monthly resources for yourself." He didn''t even put the others in his eyes and only awarded the leader.


    Of course, the others were not happy but when they remembered this is all a play and they might die for screwing up, they didn''t give a damn about whatever they would or would not get.


    ""Thank you, young master!"" They all answered Li Heng in unison.


    This even shocked Li Heng who wanted to see who in this bunch would show his greed in his face.


    After a few seconds, he didn''t think about them and dismissed them and looked at Lai Xinyue.


    "Junior sister, you will accompany this young master tonight. Count yourself blessed." Li Heng told Lai Xinyue and referred to himself in the third person to show that he is not new in playing the ''young master'' role.


    For this part, Li Huang didn''t write a script for Lai Xinyue to follow. Why? Because she is not one to follow a script so she is going to improvise.


    For the sake of controlling the flow of conversation, Li Huang told her about her supposed background in this play so that she could at least perform accordingly.


    "Just because your surname is Li, you think that you don''t have anyone to answer to under the heavens?" she told him righteously.


    It would have been a good line if her face wasn''t like a dead person, with no emotion. Li Huang has seen several artificial intelligences who had better facial expressions than this ''human''.


    In answer to her question, Li Heng grinned.


    "This is exactly because of my surname that I can do whatever that I want? Dissatisfied? Crawl back to your mother''s womb, maybe she can find a better background for you�� HAHAHA��" Li Heng answered her sarcastically.


    Li Huang who was eating junk food on the other side nearly choked on his food.


    ''God damn that was a good one!'' Li Huang thought to himself while taking a note from Li Heng''s answer for future reference.


    Unfortunately for Li Heng the one who he was against had no clue about sarcasm so she looked at him as if he was retarded.


    "The fertilized egg is the result of conception and this clearly shows that nothing you do can change its parents, do you not even know this simple fact?" She asked as if she was in front of a child.


    This time Li Huang and Li Heng had the same expression on their faces. Utter bewilderment.


    ''God damn, this girl is good!'' Li Huang thought while collecting himself.


    But this girl didn''t give him and Li Heng time to recover. She kept on dropping the next bomb.


    "That aside, how can I crawl back to my mother''s womb in my current size? I don''t know about your mother but I won''t fit in mine." She added with her usual face that lacked emotion.


    This time the reactions were different, Li Heng had his mouth wide open and Li Huang sprayed the water that he was drinking to clear his throat.


    ''This girl is better than I thought but she is shitting on my script with these roasts. I have to make a move fast��'' thought Li Huang.


    As the situation was getting out of Li Huang''s hands, he got to work. He ran to the door.


    On the other side as Li Heng was ready to beat Lai Xinyue for talking back you could see someone flying.


    This ''someone'' was the door guard, brother Gu.


    Instead of flying, it is better to say that he was thrown.


    As Li Heng tried to understand what was happening, brother Gu was crashed and embedded into the building.


    But Li Huang didn''t give them time to process what was happening, he shouted in the next moment.


    "LI. HENG. DIE. FOR. ME."

 Chapter 12: “Chu Feng” appears!

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    Running to the courtyard door I kicked the door with the power of my physical body. That is to say that because of my body cultivation, my kick was strong enough for what I wanted to see as a result.


    And�� results I got.


    The guard dude was sent flying and he was embedded on a building''s walls.


    I could swear that I have seen this pose on some Egyptian ancient artifact back on earth��


    Remembering that I had things to do I walked to the courtyard with heavy steps and shouted my line.


    "LI. HENG. DIE. FOR. ME."


    Li Heng who saw me for the first time was amused by my courage to shout at him. Remembering that his door and wall was destroyed, he got angry.


    "How dare you come to my doorsteps and cause trouble? Do you have a death wish?" he talked through gritted teethes.


    This question was a clever one, although it showed that he is angry, it also showed that he wants to know if I have any background that he should be wary of��


    I had to somehow make him relax so that he could play with ease of mind.


    How would I be able to do it?


    Just watch me go��


    "I, Chu Feng, have never been afraid to do what I had to do, what is a mere Li family''s descendent''s doorstep in front of me?" I answered him with my ego piercing the heavens.


    But why did I introduce myself as Chu Feng?


    Well first of all ''Feng'' is the go-to name for every Chinese novel written in the history.


    Specifically when the character is trash and no one gives a fuck about him even his family.


    You might be like okay but why ''Chu'' as my fake family name?


    For this one, I can understand your dissatisfaction. I was in a dilemma between ''Chu'' and ''Chen'' for surname but in the end, I choose ''Chu'' as the winner.


    Why? Well, they both could represent a family who was good and mighty but now has fallen from the grace and is equal to shit, or a family who is in a good situation but don''t give a shit about the MC although he is a member of the family��


    Well for more diversity you could use ''Feng'' for last name and ''Chen'' or ''Chu'' for the first name��


    This was one of the hardest decisions that I had to make but in the end, ''Chu'' won in a coin flip so there it is.


    What? This is the most fuck that I could have given to this, so sorry, not sorry.


    As I was having my internal struggle to prove to myself the genius behind my choice of fake name and reveling the nooks and crannies of this intricate process, Li Heng was looking at me.


    The way that Li Heng was looking at him was of shock and this in turn shocked ''Chu Feng''.


    "You are Chu Feng?" Li Heng asked after a little pause.


    His question was not on my script but I didn''t lose my composure.


    "I am, What of it? Afraid?" I tried to taunt him so that he might act extreme.


    But reality disappointed me like it often does.


    He ignored my taunt and asked again.


    "Chu Feng as Chu Feng, great-grandchild of grand elder Wan?" he asked with a sense of urgency in his voice.


    ''Grand Elder Wan? Great-grandchild? Chu Feng?'' I was stupefied.


    After a moment i remembered that grand elder Wan had only one daughter and she was married to someone surnamed�� Chu.


    ''Fuck!''


    How can my luck be this shitty? Do you mean to tell me there is one Chu Feng in the Omniverse that is not trash and has a good background with a loving family?


    I admit I didn''t see this coming��


    So this is karma. I shouldn''t have trash talked about the naming sense of some authors��


    As a wise man once said ''you either die shitting on others or you live long enough to be shat on��'' well in my experience I died and transmigrated but in essence, it is the same.


    Looking back at Li Heng I started talking.


    "I have no relation with this grand elder Wan, today I am here only as Chu Feng, not a word more and not a word less." I answered him with a smirk.


    After hearing my words Li Heng looked relieved.


    "Good. I was about to let you keep your life to give grand elder Wan some face but now that you have burned your only path out don''t even think of leaving behind a complete corpse." He grinned at me as if I was a country bumpkin for not seeing that I could flee if I used the grand elder''s name��


    "I do not intend to give you a path out, too." I readied myself for his attack.


    "I give you three moves if you can def��" as he was trash talking I jumped forward to attack him.


    It''s not like I have all day, and he is stronger than me on paper.


    He is in the first stage of the Meridian Formation realm while I am in the eighth stage of the Qi Gathering realm, so I am two small realms lower than him and there is also a big realm bordering between us that can not be breached easily.


    But who am I? I had the best of the best for everything as one of the top young masters in the world, so a peasant has nothing on me.


    So why don''t I finish it in the shortest time? Well, you remember that I''m doing all this to find the root of the problem so beating this trash is not my main problem.


    I have to make the one behind him scared for him so that he shows up.


    As I was revisiting my plan, my punch connected to his face.


    To my ''shock'' he didn''t move much.


    As my eyes widened as he seemed to be fine he grinned back to me.


    "You shouldn''t have touched my face with your dirty hands��" Li Heng told me as he cracked his knuckles.


    ''Welp, training time it is then.'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    With the first punch from Li Heng, Li Huang was lunched to the opposite wall and destroyed it.


    As I was trying hard to stand up, Li Heng comes towards me with short steps.


    "Did you think I am like the trash that you saw on your way inside here?" Li Heng told me while grabbing me by the collar.


    What followed was a brutal beating and our MC got the shit kicked out of him.


    After a few minutes of abusing ''Chu Feng'', he was dropped back to the floor by Li Heng.


    Li Heng looked at him contemptuously.


    "I have a beauty waiting for me so I will play with you later." He turned to Lai Xinyue and flashed a charming smile.


    To nobody''s surprise, Lai Xinyue just looked at him emotionlessly.


    Just at this moment, there was a movement from the rubbles.


    ''The punch was really light if you compare it to grandpa''s.'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    As he got up from the floor you could see a silver hue around Li Huang''s body. This was a sign of his body cultivation and you could count the layers as a sign for which stage he is currently at.


    Looking at Li Huang you could clearly see that he is currently at the fourth stage of Silver Body.


    Before this fight, he was at the peak of the third stage of Silver Body and needed a heavy push to break through to the next stage and ''getting beaten the shit out of'' was the plan that Li Huang came up with and as you can see from the results; it is effective!


    Showing Li Heng a toothy grin ''Chu Feng'' spoke.


    "Thanks to you I have broken through, young master Li." His smile would be normal if his mouth wasn''t full of blood and his teeth, bloody.


    To Li Heng, he was like a demon coming from the depth of the abyss to devour his soul.


    "Now let me return the favor��" This time Li Huang''s grin only got wider.


    In a blur ''Chu Feng'' was in front of Li Heng and punched him in the balls.


    Li Heng who was covering his face instinctively was nearly shocked to death.


    "Don''t��" was all he could say before he was blown away and hit the wall behind him.


    ''Oh that was his room''s wall��'' thought Li Huang.


    As I watched the style of his room, Li Heng was struggling to get out of the wreckage.


    Coughing up a mouthful of blood Li Heng tried to stand straight but the last uppercut to the balls made it harder for him to even move a little, not to say stand.


    ''Still not showing yourself? Well, there is one way to find out��'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    Getting close to Li Heng, I smiled at him.


    "Any last words?" I asked him.


    "D-Don''t come closer!" Li Heng answered back while trembling.


    "Not the wisest of words but oh well��" Li Huang shrugged.


    Just as I was about to go and kill the impostor a thunderous voice sounded!


    "How dare you touch a member of Li family!" the voice shouted and a sword light shot toward me.


    ''hypocrite bastard!'' I sneered.

 Chapter 13: A sudden entrance

    ����(POV Elder Zhong)����


    Today was like every other day.


    I was checking the progress of our little plan in outer court that I saw a scene that makes this day different from the others.


    There were a lot of disciples gathering in front of the punishment hall of the outer court and they were demanding justice?!


    ''Justice for what?'' I was deep in thoughts.


    Just to be sure I went closer to check on the situation so that It could not create unfavorable circumstances.


    I started to eavesdrop on them with my spiritual sense.


    The content of the conversations left me baffled.


    "Do you think that we can really get justice?" said a black-haired male disciple.


    "What are you talking about? Whoever it is, they have to investigate even if it is only for them to keep face. Who would put our heavenly sword sect in his eyes if it is managed like a family heirloom?" one other disciple who had a big build answered the black-haired disciple.


    "Hush! If you want to die just kill yourself! Why do you drop your poisonous words when others are close to you?" the third male disciple with brown hair joined the conversation while backing away from the other two��


    ''What in the world has happened here while I wasn''t paying attention?'' I was really perplexed about this development.


    Looking to the others in hope of finding some answers instead of more questions, I looked at a group of female disciples.


    "Senior sister, do you think that this time something would come out of us gathering here?" said a blond young girl.


    "We can only hope so. Heavens knows how long it has been that we had to either don''t put on makeups or do it to make our faces look horrendous so that lecher won''t put his eyes on us." The ''big'' sister answered in a sad tone.


    Looking at her face even her own sisters were clear about her not attracting anyone, but no one had the guts to come clean with it.


    "Even a day more is too much senior sister! I can not express how eager I am to see your fair face once again!" another one of the sisters chimed in excitedly.


    Not to say the other sisters, Even the Elder Zhong was amazed by the level of bootlicking shown by this junior.


    The ''big'' sister was happy by her words and patted her head.


    The conversation continued with more flattery that even had some new pointers for an old scholar like elder Zhong.


    But after a few minutes, he remembered that he was not here to learn how to flatter better but to find out what the hell is going on here!


    Seeing that with eavesdropping he can not find the root of this problem he opted for asking directly as the elder that he is.


    Appearing on top of the punishment hall, he looked to the disciples who were gathered down there, and feeling his gaze all the commotion cooled down and all of them looked at elder Zhong with reverence and awe.


    This in turn fed the elder''s ego and he was silent for a few moments more than necessary and basked in the admiring gazes.


    Resulting from this development, the gazes turned confused and the effect of the gazes changed and the elder discovered the awkward situation and tried to fix it with a cough.


    *Cough*


    "What is this gathering all about? Can someone tell me?" He asked as amiable as he could.


    One of the elders of the outer court punishment hall came forward and saluted elder Zhong.


    "Welcome elder Zhong, this right here is about one of the disciples in the outer court��" The elder didn''t add more, wishing that elder Zhong will get the hint.


    Alas, elder Zhong was not on the same wavelength with him and didn''t get his purpose in saying not anymore and he felt a little offended.


    ''How dare an outer court elder be this brazen!'' he thought.


    "And? Who is it? What is the reason? Give me the key information." I told him with an air of superiority in my tone.


    "I�� Uh�� Well��" the elder stammered a little bit, but in the end, he relented and gave in.


    "Well, Elder Zhong, this is about disciple Li Heng." The punishment hall elder answered while beads of sweat gathered on his forehead.


    Elder Zhong furrowed his brows.


    ''What made these disciples demand justice? Did Heng got out of line that much?'' Elder Zhong contemplated.


    "I''ll go and check on this matter, you will handle these disciples��" Elder Zhong told other elders.


    ""Yes!""


    Spreading his spiritual sense towards the courtyard of Li Heng, elder Zhong saw the scene of ''Chu Feng'' getting out of the rubbles and punching Li Heng.


    What he didn''t imagine happening was Li Heng getting blown away by that punch.


    But it seems that the opponent was going to attack Li Heng again.


    ''If this goes on, the Li family will know about this and our scheme would fall apart. I have to do something��'' Elder Zhong came to a decision.


    He shot to the courtyard where Li Heng was getting manhandled.


    ''If I finish this disciple fast, handling the aftermath will be nothing much...'' He thought reassuringly.


    "How dare you touch a member of Li family!" with a thunderous voice elder Zhong shouted and shot a sword light shot toward ''Chu Feng''.


    ����(POV Li Huang AKA ''Chu Feng'')����


    ''hypocrite bastard!'' I sneered.


    Well, my friends, let me tell you what is the best shit you get if you start as a young master; you get defensive treasures for your defensive treasure for your defensive armor.


    And the best part is that all your shit can ''deflect a move from X realm upper than you'' so you have almost nothing to be wary of except some technique that can nullify/move past the defenses or a soul attack.


    In the fraction of a second that I was thinking of my humble ''starting village'', the sword light got closer to me and was threatening to take me back to the wheel of Samsara.


    ''Too bad that I''m a rich third-generation tycoon.'' I thought to myself.


    At the same time, I took a defensive tool out of my storage ring to counter this attack.


    The tool is named [Mirror of reckoning]. As its name suggests, this tool mirrors the attack that it receives to its sender. Well, if it was me naming it I would name it [UNO reverse].


    But it isn''t broken. Why? It can not do the mirroring indefinitely. You have to refine it with Qi so that it can do the mirroring.


    This little monster was refined by grandpa Long for me for a couple of months and can receive about 20 of these kinds of attacks.


    Why did I use it now? Well, you can see it as a demo for using it in the future. You can imagine it as you getting a driver''s license before driving in different situations.


    Getting the mirror in front of myself and facing the attack I waited for it to hit.


    Aaaaand it hit.


    Well let me tell you, I didn''t feel shit! Zero, zilch, zip, nada, nothing.


    It should be because the suction is so strong that I didn''t feel an attack of this magnitude.


    From what I can feel from his attack he is at the Golden core realm, I can not say about his stage but this in itself is good enough and says about this tool''s capabilities.


    And the reversal is in motion.


    Okay, now I felt the effect of push from the mirror when shooting back the attack.


    Elder Zhong was shocked but he put on defensive measures to counter my attack.


    ''A defensive tool?!'' Elder Zhong thought in shock.


    He braced for impact and he was pushed back a couple of meters.


    His feet were sunken in the ground and his hands were shaking a little.


    I didn''t give him time to come to his senses.


    "Elder Zhong, which Li family are you helping now?" I told him with a sneer while I ripped apart the outer court disciple robes that were in rags now. Under that, I had my chief disciple robes.


    Elder Zhong''s eyes widened in shock and horror. Now he recognized me. Not only he attacked the young master of the Li family, but he also attacked a chief disciple. He couldn''t think of a way to walk away from responsibility.


    ''think, think fast!'' Elder Zhong struggled internally.


    If this was not enough, you could see a group of shadows coming to the scene and looking down at elder Zhong with menacing eyes.


    The one leading the group started talking.


    "Elder Zhong, you have a lot of explaining to do if you want to keep your life." The leader told him with a voice that promised to inflict suffering.


    The leader was no other than my grandpa, Li Long.


    How did he come here this fast? Are there such coincidences?


    Of course not!


    Well, it is really straightforward, using that mirror will send grandpa a mental message because he refined it with his own Qi.


    This, in fact, was my plan from the beginning. Well, the down side is that grandpa woke from his deep sleep, but this scheme is not something that I can resolve with only my planning and we probably have to use power.


    I just hope that grandpa goes back to deep sleep soon because if he starts to train me again, I don''t know how long I would survive.

 Chapter 14: Soft sword

    As the elders who came with grandpa Long were taking elder Zhong for interrogation, grandpa Long himself come to me and patted my shoulder.


    "Little Huang, you almost gave me a heart attack when I received the mental alarm for the [Mirror of Reckoning]." He told me while dusting off my robes.


    Well, I say dusting off, he just used his Qi to shot away anything which has a very low weight. So yeah, I got ''cleaned'' if you want to put it that way��


    Just when I wanted to complain, grandpa Long continued his monologue.


    "Nonetheless, you handled a family matter very well and found a plot that was going to be a pain in the backside in the future��" he nodded to himself.


    "Wel��" I tried to answer, with a heavy emphasis on trying.


    "Oh! And also you advanced in your body cultivation, and recently at that too!" he talked non-stop.


    "Don''t tell me that you got through your bottleneck in the battle? HAHAHA! As expected of my grandson! HAHAHA!" grandpa Long laughed wholeheartedly.


    While he was happy, I tried my best to don''t let my shoulder be dislocated.


    ''Who the fuck pats a person like this? Even when he is patting me I can feel that my body cultivation is getting minuscule improvements��'' I grunted inside my head.


    "Grandpa Long, you have many things to do, do not waste your precious time on me. I too will be on my way��" I was trying to be sneaky and walk away.


    Well, to no one''s surprise, a hand on my shoulder stopped me from moving an inch.


    "How can it be so? Of course, I have time for my one and only grandchild!" he told me while grinning.


    ''Dude, can''t you at least try to play the role of loving grandpa?'' I shook my head.


    "Grandpa, it was a long day and I have to report to sister Jia about a mission that I had to do, I would be grateful if I could have a rest without my body sore and aching." I honestly and deadpan told him.


    I know that if I had a training session with him I would end up having bruises all over so it was a no-no for me��


    Grandpa looked at me for a moment and with a ''tsk'' he answered me.


    "*tsk* don''t think you can run away from the training, you can have the rest of the day for yourself little one��" he shrugged and went to beat the shit out of elder Zhong, I presume.


    "Sure, sure��" I told him dismissively.


    Just as I was about to turn and go to the Matriarch I remembered someth�� I mean someone.


    Turning to Lai Xinyue I smiled a little.


    "Junior sister as you can see, the Li Heng is out of stock so you can''t fight him��" I told her while looking at the unconscious Li Heng.


    He lost his consciousness when he saw my core disciple robes.


    "But what about my spar Senior Brother Li?" Lai Xinyue answered with a tiny bit of emotion that I could see in her expression.


    ''Well, at least she cares about swords or something��'' I thought.


    "When an opponent is unavailable, you will win the fight automatically." I told her straightforwardly.


    This fight is what I was looking for from the beginning to get her interest hooked so there is no loss for me��


    "I see. So can we spar now?" she asked me after nodding.


    "We can but I have something to do so we have to finish it quickly this time��" I told her.


    Telling her ''this time'' was to give her a hint that there might be more sparring sessions.


    What? I''m giving her the sparring that she wants and In return, in the least favorable situation I have a good relationship with someone talented in the sect and this could be helpful for me in the future to get the patriarch position.


    "Yes." She nodded with stars in her eyes.


    ''She only has swords in her eyes. ��wait that didn''t sound right.'' I shook my head, At least I didn''t say it out loud.


    She followed me to a sparring ground in the outer court.


    Why not inner court or core court?


    Well, I''m not going to bring an outer court disciple to the core zone for a spar, when doing so is clearly against the rules.


    Nobody would stop me, but doing this would affect my image in the sect and shows me as an arbitrary person.


    I told you face is overrated but it doesn''t mean that it is not a variable in your worth in the eyes of others.


    Even on earth, the flow of opinions would show the correct way to many people and they would choose whichever had more believers.


    So I would rather fight in a more basic setting, without bending the rules and shit...


    Getting to the sparring grounds on the outer court, we stood in front of the entrance in line.


    Yes, I repeat. I was in a fucking line. Can you believe it?


    Okay, I take back my words about the importance of following the rules and the importance of face.


    As I was having a mental fight between cutting the line or standing here, an outer elder comes to me.


    "Chief disciple Li, welcome to sparring grounds. Allow me to assist you." He cupped his fists and talked passionately.


    "Thank you, elder. This junior sister asked me to spar with her and because she is an outer disciple, here we are." I told him while spreading my arms.


    The elder took a quick glance at Lai Xinyue and come up with some conclusions.


    "Chief disciple Li, I think it would be better for you to use our best training ground so that the training ground can withstand your moves." He suggested to me.


    This elder is a good one! This way I can legally cut the lines��


    "Then I thank the elder." I cupped my fists with new vigor.


    He nodded at me and that at Lai Xinyue.


    "Please follow me." He told us.


    Following right after him, we went to the training ground in the center of the sparring grounds. This is probably for the sect to conduct competitions or assessments.


    "Thank you, elder." Looking to my side, I thanked the elder again. He was a young elder and he was witty enough to try and make connections with me with a simple move.


    As we got to the stage, many disciples gathered and eagerly watched the stage to gain personal benefits in watching these fights. There were also some who were trying to see if this junior sister has some skills or is close to me only because of her beauty.


    Either way, we got to the center of the stage and I took two swords out of my storage ring.


    "Junior sister, these are soft swords, have you heard about them?" I asked Lai Xinyue while handing her one of the swords.


    "I have not, senior brother." She shook her head.


    "Okay, so let me tell you." I could see the others listening with a focus to learn something new.


    Well, this is nothing to be stingy about so I used Qi to increase the volume of my voice so that everyone can easily hear me.


    "Soft swords are a kind of training sword that is a little expensive�� Well maybe a little more than a little expensive but that is not the point."


    "These swords are soft as you can guess, meaning you can train without worry about injuries and try your all in training. Well, you get bruises but that''s it."


    "The main benefit is that you have is the counter on these swords that will record the number of hits on the opponent. This way you can use it as a metric to see how much you have improved in attacking by checking the number on your sword and in defense with checking the number on the opponent''s sword." I continued.


    "When fighting this way you would purely focus on technique and don''t mind the flashy moves and powerful but not so insightful moves��"


    "Anyway, I think this is enough about the sword. Let us get to the spar��" I swung my sword to get a hang of the weight of it.


    "Yes, thank you, senior brother." Lai Xinyue cupped her fist.


    ""Thank you, senior brother!"" the others thanked me too.

 Chapter 15: The spar

    "Anyway, I think this is enough about the sword. Let us get to the spar��" I swung my sword to get a hang of the weight of it.


    "Yes, thank you, senior brother." Lai Xinyue cupped her fist.


    "Just for clarification, I have to add that we don''t use our Qi outside our bodies other than powering the soft sword. Usually, we would allow sword Qi in this kind of spars but this time we would only use pure swordsmanship to spar. Is that clear for you?" I asked Lai Xinyue.


    "I understand senior brother. How do we determine the winner?" Lai Xinyue asked back.


    ''If I didn''t know that this girl is simple-minded, I would have thought that she is implying that she would win and is asking for assurance.'' I thought to myself.


    "That is easy. We use the number that is recorded on the swords as measurement." I answered her inquiry.


    She nodded and looked at me.


    "I am ready, senior brother."She told me.


    "Then let us begin."I nodded back.


    This spar Is not a good place to use [Eclipse Devourer Sword Art], because that sword art is for maximizing lethality and this is a friendly spar so yeah��


    When Li Huang was training with grandpa Long, he didn''t have to be afraid of hurting grandpa Long with his attacks. Grandpa Long was strong enough that Li Huang''s full force couldn''t scratch his robes, to say nothing of his body.


    But this is someone with lower power and technique than him and using [Eclipse Devourer Sword Art] is simply overkill. Well if her physique was too strong that is another situation.


    Lai Xinyue got in the stance and was ready to receive my attack.


    I don''t mean to look down at Lai Xinyue but I see this spar as an experiment and don''t think that she can do much out of my expectations.


    You might ask what am I experimenting on? Well, with [Peeping Eye of Heaven] I can not see information on myself. As for why, I think it is because this artifact is using my Qi resulting in me being unable to use it on myself, meaning that we have the same ''Qi signature'' and do not identify as two distinct entities.


    Getting back to my reason to experiment, I want to find out that how is my physique in comparison to [Fate Eluding Physique].


    I don''t know if I have a physique, but I know for a fact that my attainments in the way of the sword are way too much for my age and this can only show my talent. But where does one''s talent originate from? Is it blood? Is it luck? There are many factors that could affect talent, and physiques are one of the important factors in this equation.


    So yeah, that is the experiment. I hope I can get some satisfying results.


    Doing a simple slash I attacked Lai Xinyue.


    As my slash got close to her she moved her body in an impressive way and evaded my attack.


    I didn''t give her any time to rest and followed with another slash that she evaded with body movements.


    This way more than 50 moves passed. The disciples who were watching the scene were gobsmacked.


    "This�� is this junior sister that strong?" a disciple asked no one in particular.


    "If this is not talent what is?" another one chimed in.


    "Don''t tell me that senior brother would lose!" a junior sister asked her friends.


    "Nonsense! How can it be so? Senior brother is merely playing around and is not fighting seriously." Her friend answered her, more to convince herself��


    This time the elder who helped Li Huang to cut the line snorted and spoke.


    "Chief disciple Li is the brightest genius of the past 1000 years, how can this be the height of his capabilities? He is clearly trying to find the limits of that junior sister��" the elder nodded to himself.


    The disciples came to a sudden realization. It is exactly as the elder says, how can someone who could produce sword Qi at the age of 12 have problems in this fight? If it is so, what is next? The sun comes up from west? There were clearly shortsighted moments ago��


    ""Thank the elder for his teachings."" They said with gratitude.


    As they were analyzing the fight, Li Huang and Lai Xinyue exchanged the 100th move. Well, an exchange may not be the appropriate word for this one-sided attack from Li Huang.


    After the 100th move, Li Huang stopped for a moment.


    "Junior sister, I am going to step up my attacks now, be careful." I told her and even used the ''be careful'' line.


    Even after these 100 moves, there wasn''t any sign of fatigue on Li Huang but you could see Lai Xinyue panting a little.


    She just nodded and gripped her sword harder.


    This time, I did not only use simple slashes.


    No, this time I used my understanding of the sword, as I did in comprehending the ancient sword mark, and used my knowledge to do consecutive attacks and find an opening.


    After I closed my eyes and attacked Lai Xinyue, she didn''t have the leisure of parrying my attacks with body movements and had to use her sword more often to change the trajectory of my attack.


    As I was having fun attacking Lai Xinyue, the audience was in an uproar.


    "Is this the true power of senior brother?"


    "Too strong."


    "To think that we doubted senior brother''s strength. Ashamed, ashamed��"


    "Beat that vixen to death, senior brother Li!!!"


    The ''senior brother Li'' on the stage almost lost his footing and nearly tripped.


    ''What did this girl do to you to call her a vixen? That aside this is a spar, not a deathmatch.'' I shook my head and continued attacking.


    The fun fact about this spar is that so far I didn''t even land a fucking attack on her, meaning they were either parried or evaded.


    It is not like I''m doing my best in this fight but this is more than I expected from her and it shows the potential of her physique if it is trained vigorously.


    This way 100 more moves passed and Lai Xinyue was panting heavily but she was successful in stopping Li Huang from gaining any points by hitting her with his attacks.


    On the other hand, Li Huang was as healthy as he was at the start of the fight and these 200 moves didn''t even make him break a sweat.


    "Junior sister, you have to work on your stamina, in an even fight, stamina is your key to the victory and in a losing fight would be your shot to flee." I told Lai Xinyue as I looked at her panting.


    "I�� have�� never needed�� this much�� time�� to defeat�� someone�� so I didn''t�� see�� this flaw��" she told me between her breaths.


    "Hmmm, understandable. With your technique in sword fights, you would win the fight with the first mistake from your opponent��" I nodded.


    She kept on trying to stabilize her breathing��


    "As your level of swordsmanship was lower than mine, this method to only evade to make me hasty to get a hit was a good one, that way I was prone to make mistakes and you could use them to your advantage��" I explained further.


    The disciples who were watching our fight listened intently.


    "But there was a couple of flaws in your plan. First, you didn''t consider that you might not have the necessary stamina to see your plan come to fruition. This was your first mistake." I begin to lecture her.


    "Second, you didn''t take into account that I could fight with full power from the beginning and don''t leave you a room to maneuver resulting in your plan to backfire and make you the one who is prone to failure." I continued.


    You could see the disciples nodding here and there as if they were coming up with some results in their heads.


    "Third and the biggest one, you underestimated your opponent. you assumed that your opponent could not finish you with one move." I smiled at her.


    Not only Lai Xinyue but all the disciples who were watching the fight were also shocked by my claims.


    I could see from their gazes that they were thinking that this is my ego talking and me being boastful.


    I didn''t try to prove them wrong by talking and decided to show them.


    "Junior sister this is the final attack of this spar, I recommend you use Qi to protect yourself. If I can''t touch you even with this attack, this will be your win." I told her to give out a hint that this attack is going to hit, and hit hard.


    "Yes, senior brother." Lai Xinyue answered.


    Using this time that I was telling her the flaws of her method, she stabilized her breathing.


    I nodded to her and readied myself.


    "Eclipse devourer sword art, needlework." I used a move that is near impossible if not impossible to dodge.


    In this move, just like embroidery, a needle getting in and out of fabric, it consists of fast thrusts that make ''needles'' out of air pressure.


    The force behind these air needles is clearly related to your power in executing the move.


    The more force you use, the more air pressure would these needles have.


    Executing the move, the needles shot towards Lai Xinyue.


    Lai Xinyue tried to dodge the attack but soon came to the conclusion that dodging is impossible so she started with parrying the needles and dodging one or two that was barely possible.


    As my move was coming to the end, I could see Lai Xinyue struggling more and more.


    It has to be said that the last wave of air needles are the hardest of them all and she is going to face them.


    As I executed the last wave of needlework, Lai Xinyue had barely come out unscathed from the previous waves.


    Well, I didn''t use all of my power in this move but I know this last wave is enough to finish her.


    Just to taunt her a little, I sheathed my sword right after finishing my move, showing that this marks the end of the spar.


    As the air needles got closer to Lai Xinyue, she was looking for a way to parry them, but alas, there was no way to do that.


    Just at that moment, she remembered Li Huang''s words.


    -I recommend you use Qi to protect yourself.-


    ''So this is what senior brother meant by that��'' she thought.


    The two needles which were closer hit her on her sword and her Qi armor. As a result, her sword broke and her Qi armor was nearly broken.


    Her eyes widened in shock. She still underestimated the power of this move. Do not talk about parrying this move, keeping her life was a great achievement in itself.


    ''It seems that I didn''t underestimate anything, but I overestimated myself��'' she nodded to herself.


    She was almost sure that she would die. Even though she was on the eighth stage of Qi Gathering, the same realm as Li Huang, the gap in technique and power was too much.


    Just as the air needles were going to kill her and she didn''t have the power to do anything about it, something happened.


    "DON''T!" Someone shouted.

 Chapter 16: Is that you?

    Just as the air needles were going to kill her and she didn''t have the power to do anything about it, something happened.


    "DON''T!" Someone shouted.


    And a new Qi armor stopped and dissipated the air needles.


    They dissipated like they never were there. Everyone was shocked, who did it? Who saved this junior sister? Was it the guy who shouted?


    Turning towards the person who ran to the stage while shouting, you could see him. A youth with black hair and yellow eyes was there. But the shock on his face was showing that this was not his doing��


    Then what was it? Who was it?


    The crowd was going crazy with speculations.


    Li Huang was also stupefied. Who wouldn''t be?


    This was like the newest issue of ''saving the damsel in distress'' except there was a difference here! There was no fucking damsel ''in distress'' here��


    The shield that protected Lai Xinyue was the defense mechanism of the soft sword. No hero was saving her and I had no reason to do any harm to a future powerhouse of the sect.


    Okay, I''m not going to lie. I did hide this mechanism of the sword, but I didn''t think this would be the result.


    Then what was my reason to hide it?


    Simple. Revenge. No, not from Lai Xinyue, she did nothing to me but this is some sort of personal wish fulfillment.


    It all goes back to the first time that I used the soft sword to train, 2 years ago.


    At that time I was subjected to the same treatment by grandpa Long. Imagine Li Huang''s shell-shocked face when his grandpa was going to kill him in cold blood.


    Just thinking about that time is boiling my blood. That shitty grandfather of mine, not only did this shit but also captured the ''video'' of this scene with a [event recorder] that is the equivalent of a video recording device in this world with the difference that with this you get a 360-degree view of the event. You can say that this device will record what you see with your spiritual sense, with some limitations of course.


    I think one of the main reasons for Li Huang to train as he did was to be strong enough to beat the shit out of his grandpa. A noble cause indeed.


    And oh! If you are thinking that am I that petty to do the same shit to others to feel better the answer is yes but this time I swear that I had more in mind in doing so.


    Let me first get back to the aftermath of my spar with Lai Xinyue.


    To defuse this tense situation I addressed the crowd.


    "This defensive armor that manifested at the end of the spar was a defensive mechanism of the soft sword." I told no one in particular.


    Going in front of the Lai Xinyue who was sitting on her ass on the floor of the sparring stage, I extended my hands to her.


    "Junior sister, I''m sorry for not telling you about this mechanism beforehand. I too have been in the same shoes as you with the difference being that my opponent was my blood grandfather, so you can guess my shock at that time. Hahaha��" A dry chuckle left my mouth.


    Lai Xinyue who was still shocked took my hands and got up. When she heard what I went through she had one of her rare moments of showing a standard level of emotion on her face.


    It was a mix of shock, fear, guilt, sympathy, and understanding. Leaving aside the fact that this many emotions can be mixed in an expression, how the hell I was able to figure them out is another mystery.


    Putting on a face of ''don''t worry, I don''t care.'' I went back to talking.


    "From what I experienced and what My grandfather told me, having this kind of close death encounter would show you the main flaws in your techniques and also temper your fighting will and makes you think about your life in general��" I added more explanations.


    "This was a safe way to experience a close death call and gain the benefits of it without any of the bad effects such as�� well, death." I continued.


    Lai Xinyue looked at me and her eyes widened a little and nodded.


    "From the look on your face, I think you have gained from this spar, junior sister." I told her with a smile.


    She came to her senses and nodded to me.


    "Yes, thank you for this, senior brother." She answered.


    "You are welcome, this is what I have to do as a senior brother." My smile was so bright that if you weren''t here minutes ago, you wouldn''t believe that I almost got her killed.


    Is Li Huang shameless or shameless is trying to imitate Li Huang?


    The crowd was so silent that you could hear even a sweat bead dropping to the ground.


    ''Can you even answer this kind of shameless reply?'' Was what everyone in the crowd thought but didn''t have the guts to voice it out.


    But apparently, the shock was not done and the next words from Lai Xinyue made them almost spat blood.


    "No one has done something like this for me, thank you, thank you. Can I be bold to ask for more spars from you, senior brother?" she asked with stars in her eyes.


    ''Is this a new kind of fetish?''


    ''Are you a masochist?''


    ''No one has ever almost killed you? You want more?''


    ''��''


    The thought of the onlookers was chaotic, if they could, they would open this junior sister''s head to see how is it wired��


    ''*sigh* This junior sister is like a training bot.'' Li Huang thought to himself. ''Not that I didn''t enjoy myself in this spar��'' He added.


    "Of course junior sister, I too enjoyed myself in this spar." I nodded with a smile.


    Taking a jade from my storage ring, I gave it to her.


    "This is my contact formation, you can contact me with this although I might not be always available." I told her.


    This world''s technology is not inferior to my past life''s earth, but the direction of improvement is different. In this world, the main ingredient for making anything is Qi instead of Electricity. Instead of the circuits, we have formations that control the flow of the Qi and create different results��


    If you think about it, it makes sense. I mean why did humankind use Electricity as its main power source? Because it was accessible. You eventually could convert everything to electricity with some kind of mechanism.


    Now imagine you had something like Qi that didn''t need a mechanism to be converted and you had access to it naturally. Just thinking about it a little shows that the possibilities are endless.


    Too bad that I don''t have time to start a company when I can be killed by an MC��


    Speaking of MC, didn''t a dude shout ''DON''T'' with all caps when Lai Xinyue was about to be ''killed''?


    Who is he? Is he an acquaintance of Lai Xinyue?


    Don''t tell me��


    I turned my head slowly to look at the one who shouted before.


    How did I locate him? Easy. He is on the stairs that lead to the stage and didn''t move after these developments. Probably he is too shocked by these events, I mean, who wouldn''t?


    The problem that I have with this is what would happen if I wasn''t here? If Li Huang was not taking a stroll in the outer sect; if Li Huang didn''t have the [Peeping eye of heaven] to be attracted to were Lai Xinyue was getting harassed by Li Heng lackeys; If Li Huang would have accepted the challenge of Cai ZhenKang from Blue Bull sect and returned later��


    These ifs and more make it look like that the result of this day could be way different and this dude shouting here could be the main player of these events and that smells of trouble.


    This smells of MC''s plot armor. Finding a damsel in distress who is a genius that will be and remain loyal to the MC and will be a great support for him.


    If the script is as I understand, this Lai Xinyue is one of the heroines.


    I turned to face her.


    ''Her looks are really on par with being a heroine!'' I thought internally.


    You can not blame me, her personality was a barrier in front of her facial appeal so I didn''t give her much attention.


    Trying to give myself hope, I asked Lai Xinyue a question.


    "Junior sister, do you know this disciple?" I pointed at that boy.


    If she knows him it would mean that there is a high chance that he is not the MC who has chanced upon this girl in need of a hero to save her.


    Well if she knows him and he is a childhood friend there is also a chance of him being the MC but let us hope not.


    Her next words shattered my hopes.


    "I do not know him, senior brother." She shook her head.


    ''Goddamn it! Are you meaning to tell me that the MC is here? As a member of the heavenly sword sect?'' this was not a path that I was ready for.


    ''No! I shouldn''t panic. There is still a chance that he is not a cultivation MC material��'' I gave myself more hope.


    I walked to that junior brother who had black hair and yellow eyes.


    Without any delay, I asked him the important question.


    "Are you a simp?"

 Chapter 17: Simpification

    I walked to that junior brother who had black hair and yellow eyes.


    Without any delay, I asked him the important question.


    "Are you a simp?"


    "��"


    Silence.


    There was only silence.


    You might be asking, dude why did you ask him if he is a simp? Are you playing around?


    To answer you I have to say that first of all I am always serious.


    Second of all, if you can''t even see the importance of this question, you wouldn''t go far in life.


    Okay, let me educate you this time. Asking him if he is a simp is the best way to find out if he is from earth or not. If he has some reaction to this would I might be working with a reincarnator or a transmigrator from earth but if he doesn''t show any reaction that shows that he is at the very least not from earth and that is for the best.


    He being from the earth is bad in many ways, he might know the plot of this world if this world is based on a novel or something. Or he can be one of those ones who got reincarnated by a R.O.B and probably has some cheat and shit��


    Looking at his face, it was evident that he was confused.


    It seems that he has no clue about what simp means, and now, with 99.98 percent accuracy, I can say that he is not from the earth and I don''t have the problem of him knowing the future or having OP cheats��


    After a few more seconds of silence, he started talking.


    "What is a ��simp?" he asked hesitantly.


    "Oh! So you do not know the legend of the simps?" I asked him.


    "I�� do not��" he answered me with more hesitation.


    Clasping my hands behind my back, I took the form of a sage giving instruction and advice.


    "There was a legend of a far far away times, when heroes of old would save the people in need and they were the hope of the ones in desperation." I told them as if I was a bard.


    "If there was a damsel in need of help, they would be there!" I added with vigor.


    "If there was a girl being bullied, you could find them trashing the bully and giving the girl a hand!" I added with even more vigor.


    "And when the others would see them or hear about their deeds, there was but one word that came to their minds��" I paused for a more dramatic effect.


    "SIMP." You could see sparks in my eyes.


    "When a girl doesn''t need any help but he is helping her, he is a SIMP!"


    "When you are having an argument with your partner and he takes the girl''s side without hesitation, he is a SIMP!"


    I was acting so believable that this could be the start of a social movement.


    And yet the youth was looking at me with sparkling eyes, and now I could be 100 percent sure that this dude is not from the earth.


    I mean how the fuck is he not breaking character in this situation? If he is this good, I would gladly let him kill me.


    Okay, time to finish this shit show.


    "There are many stories about the meaning behind this word but one shines brighter and that says that simp stands for a ''sympathetic individual who mourns for people''." I nodded and stroked my chin.


    The crowd was a little conflicted about my story but didn''t put much thought into it.


    "Anyway, are you a simp? Because you were going to intervene in this junior sister''s spar without care for rules of the sect in conducting spars��" I asked him with a smile that didn''t reach my eyes.


    "No, but I don''t let the rules define me and I do what I have to do!" he answered arrogantly.


    ''Oof, dude the cringe is real! How the fuck is he saying these shitty lines with his head held high?'' I was disappointed with this beta MC.


    That aside, who gave him the courage to talk to a chief disciple this way?


    "Good for you, I guess." I told him dismissively.


    and like any idiot who thinks he is important, he was shocked that i was ignoring him.


    Before I walk past him, I tried to see what kind of opponent he is.


    ''Peeping eye of heaven'' I gave a mental command.


    As I looked at him what I saw left me shocked for a moment.


    When I use this ability I could see the worth of anything with colors, the more colorful the more precious that thing/person is.


    But this boy is not emitting the slightest of colors when I look at him, it was like he was Vantablack, not reflecting the slightest of lights.


    ''Even a piece of shit is worth more than him��'' I narrowed my eyes.


    No, I''m thinking about it backward.


    He is the closest thing to an MC that I have ever seen. That aside, he has got into the heavenly sword sect as a disciple, and that in itself shows that he can''t be worthless.


    So, it leaves two more reasons.


    One, the peeping eye of heaven is defective and doesn''t work. Well, this is just downright impossible.


    So that one is crossed too.


    The final thing that I could come up with is that something or someone is cloaking him from prying eyes and that is the reason for this weird behavior from the peeping eye of heaven.


    ''So�� I can almost be sure that he is the one.'' I thought.


    Well, Nothing that I can do about it now so I just keep monitoring him so that I can finish him discreetly.


    Even as the grandchild of the patriarch, I am not above the law.


    If any one of the younger generations was free to do as he/she pleases, the sect wouldn''t have any stability and wouldn''t be going strong through the centuries��


    He has to be handled with care and I should not be hasty about it. Killing him is one thing and handling the aftermath are two different matters and I can''t just kill him and hope for the best��


    I have to be smart about it.


    Moving past him I was going to get back to the sword valley, but I remembered something.


    ''I don''t know his fucking name!'' I clicked my tongue. ''Well, I don''t want to waste any more time with that guy. Finding someone who made all these commotions is not a hard thing afterward.'' I reassured myself.


    When I was about to turn back to be on my way, I remembered about Lai Xinyue who was following me.


    Remembering that I only gave her a contact and not a device to contact me with, I turned to face her.


    "Junior sister, do you have a communication device that accepts contact formations?" I asked her.


    The basic kind of communication device is basically a walkie-talkie. You can not add formation to it and you can only contact the other end.


    This device is cheaper and is more available for common people.


    The other type of communication devices are the ones that accept contact formations and based on the quality of their creation they can hold many contact formations In themselves, but clearly, they are much more expensive.


    For someone who just came to the sect and is an outer disciple of the sect this expense is too much and she has to use fewer cultivation resources to be able to save money to buy this communication device.


    "No, I do not have one, senior brother." She shook her head.


    "If I may ask, do you have the money to buy one, junior sister?" I asked her kindly.


    "I do not have it right now, senior brother, but I can save the necessary money in a short time, and then I will contact you." She told me.


    ''It would be a waste if she use her saving on something that is only used to contact me��'' I thought.


    "That can''t be. The only use of this communication device for you is to contact me. How can I let you waste money on this?" I told her.


    While I spoke, I took a spare communication device out of my storage ring and tried to hand it to Lai Xinyue.


    "Take this one, junior sister. It was my spare one and I have no use for it." I told her reassuringly.


    "Senior brother, I can not accept something for nothing." Although you could see that she was happy with my gesture but she still tried to refuse.


    "Don''t be burdened by it. You can pay me later when you get to the core court." I tried to ease her mind about it.


    She had stars in her eyes when I told her that she has a chance on getting into core court.


    "I tell you what, until you pay me for this communication device, you can only use it to contact me. Think of it as me giving it to you for my convenience so that I don''t have to carry multiple communication devices. Is that fine?" I added as the final point.


    After a moment of silence, she nodded with her head down and took the communication device from my hand.


    "Thank you, senior brother." She told meekly.


    "Don''t mention it. I''ll be on my way then. Elder, junior sister, farewell." I said my goodbyes and started moving.


    ''Next stop, sword valley. Hopefully.'' I muttered to myself.

 Chapter 18: The report

    "Don''t mention it. I''ll be on my way then. Elder, junior sister, farewell." I said my goodbyes and started moving.


    ''Next stop, sword valley. Hopefully.'' I muttered to myself.


    The reason that I am going to go to the sword valley is none other than Yuan Jia, the matriarch.


    Well, If you remember, I was going to report to her about the result of my mission on the ancient sword mark.


    After returning to the sect, things kept on happening. Core elder Guo gave me the opportunity of reporting the result of this mission. After that, I found our treasure girl who was about to be ''gifted'' to someone who was supposedly my cousin. After that, I tried to reveal the scheme that was on the play and even grandpa Long make an entrance to handle things.


    As if this many events were not enough for one day, I had to have a training spar with the ''treasure girl''. you might say that this is the normal part of the day and I am on your side on this one, but if it was all that happened, I wouldn''t be putting this one on this list.


    After the spar, I think I have found the MC. Well, you can never be sure but now that I have marked him as a threat I can be ready for whatever is to come from him.


    Now that I have time, I have to do the first thing that I was about to do when I entered the sect.


    I have to just report this before senior sister Yuan Jia comes to me herself. She coming to fetch me is not as pleasant as you think, she would lecture me to death and to that, I have to say thanks but no thanks.


    Don''t get me wrong she is an angel but when she gets in her big sister mode, you are in it for a judgment on your whole life decisions��


    As I was thinking of the possibility of me getting a lecture, I was closing on the sword valley.


    For a moment I was intrigued by the idea of using [Peeping eye of heaven] on the sword valley and check on the swords here but as quickly as it came to me, I throw it out of my mind. Why? Well, for one, I don''t have a plan to go blind by the color that this valley would surely emit.


    But just thinking about it I know with all the treasure swords gathered here, it would be like taking a look at the sun, directly, and when you are on its surface.


    From the artifact memories, I know that you can control the level of emitted colors to some extent. If I want to describe it better, it''s like when you do a filtered search and set some factors for your desired results. This is a possibility, but for now, I don''t have enough control over the artifact to minimize the intensity and the brightness so I have to do a bit of training with it to get the hang of it.


    Getting to the main door of the main hall, I nodded to the guards who cupped their fists to me and entered the building.


    Inside the building, I could see the elders going about their meetings and whatnot. Smiling and nodding I greeted the elders who greeted me and moved toward the matriarch chambers. This room is a temporary place for the matriarch to stay in when she is in the main hall and at the end of the day, she would go to her private living place.


    Going past another level of guards who were most likely for added protection to a young matriarch, I got to her doors.


    Knocking twice I heard Yuan Jia''s voice.


    "Come in." She said.


    Opening the door, I got into her room.


    "You are finally here, Huang." She told me with a smile.


    "Yes, there were some complications when I got in the sect so I couldn''t come here sooner��" I told her with a tired face.


    When she heard my words she frowned a little.


    "I have heard about it. The disturbing point is that we did not get a wind of this operation going on and that means there are some powerful players doing dirty work in this scheme��" she told me.


    "I am afraid it is as you think, big sister." I nodded at her words.


    "This was the reason that I used the [Mirror of reckoning] to get the old man there. With him investigating things, at the very least we can expect that the other party goes to the shadows for a while and there won''t be such schemes for a time." I told her my estimations.


    "Well, I too don''t think that they would do anything out of desperation now. They must have more cards to play and this was but a childish scheme." She acknowledged my words.


    "That would be a good time for us to prepare for whatever they throw at us." I continued "Although I have no plans at the moment, with more information from the interrogation of elder Zhong, we can come up with something."


    "You are right." Yuan Jia nodded to me with a pondering look on her face.


    "Oh! About the ancient sword mark, I have to say that was a very pleasant experience for me, I have gained more than what I thought I would." I told her enthusiastically.


    "Is that so? I am glad for you." She told me with a genuine smile on her face and touched my hand with hers.


    For now, I would keep the existence of the [Peeping eye of heaven] a secret. I''m not trying to imitate the MCs who hide their powers and whatnot but this is an artifact that is on the level of seven big artifacts. This is not something that I can show without getting into a war for its ownership.


    If any of the holy lands hear about its existence, waging a war is the least that could come out of it.


    So for her sake and mine, I would keep this secret for a while, until I deem it safe to reveal it to big sister.


    "But alas, now I have to find something really good for you to compensate��" I faked sadness.


    She rolled her eyes at my remark.


    "Anything is fine." She told me dismissively.


    "But let me tell you one thing, you are not allowed to do this kind of stupid thing again. Do you understand?" she sternly demanded from me.


    "I promise." Well, she is right about my plan to fight an elder being stupid so I have nothing else to say.


    "Good. For now, go get some rest, tomorrow I will come to see you." She nodded.


    "I understand. Good night." I said my goodbyes and walked out of her room.


    Going back to the sword mountain, I thought about my day.


    Well, for a guy who is transmigrated for only a day I sure had a blast. I got some shit done, beat some shitty character, and have found a possible ally and a possible foe. So yeah, if I have to rate my day it would be 9/10 and the one point that is missing is just my style. I believe that no matter how good something is, it could be better so there is always room for improvement.


    You can look at it from the other perspective too. No matter how bad something is, it could be worst.


    In my past life, when I was at a low point, my dad would always say ''when a pigeon poops on you, thank god that a cow doesn''t fly''.


    With this mentality, you would always think of how to make things better and how they could be worse at the same time. From my point of view, it is a healthy habit for maximizing the results.


    Now let''s think about what comes next��

 Chapter 19: A new day...

    Sleep is one of the best things in the world. Even if I didn''t need power and strength, I would still cultivate just to live longer and sleep more.


    Don''t get me wrong. I am not a lazy bum. I sleep only on nights and I sleep for 6 or 7 hours but that 6 or 7 hours is the shit. From my personal experience, the more you sleep the sleepier you will get so you have to balance your sleep to be able to have a good sleep and don''t get shit faced from sleeping for too long. believe me, it can happen.


    So yeah, I love my sleeping time, and this is something that I won''t move in my schedule for anything no matter how important it is.


    Now, imagine my shock when my body clock woke me up at 4 AM when I only had 4 hours of sleep.


    The worst part is that Li Huang''s body has got used to getting up at 4 AM when he sleeps at midnight, without a problem whatsoever.


    I have read all sorts of transmigration stories and novels in my past life, but not even one of them discussed the issue of your body clock getting fucked up and in turn, you getting fucked up.


    Who cares about trying to play as the ''previous host of this body'' when you can''t even have your fucking sleep? I am so pissed off that I don''t give a fuck about the MC, world, and any of these horse shits��


    Look, my inner animal is a Koala so the fact that I want only my 6 hours back is not excessive at all! For your interest a Koala sleep for up to 18-20 hours each day.


    Now I have a body that is set on 4 hours of sleep and I can''t do shit about it.


    ''Deep breath, deep breath��'' I tried to calm down.


    ''Well this is how it is, nothing that I do would change it.'' I shook my head. ''Well, with 4 hours of sleep I am fully recharged so I can guess that in this world these 4 hours are enough for me and more sleep would only make me sleepier��'' I gave myself some reasons for this change.


    If you somehow till now didn''t get the memo; I am a little short-tempered.


    Putting my changed sleep pattern aside I thought about the daily plans that Li Huang would go through.


    After waking up at 4 AM he would do some basic sword training for 2 hours, after that he would eat breakfast.


    After breakfast, he would go and meet Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing. This was something that they would do every day to know about their daily plans or to give support where needed��


    After that, he would go back to his sword training with higher intensity. Usually, he would train with Hu Anjing and sometimes with Yuan Jia.


    The training sessions with Hu Anjing are one of the most competitive things that Li Huang has experienced in his life.


    Hu Anjing even keeps a book about the results of these spars and me and Yuan Jia also have our version of the book. When we want to check the results, we would accept the result that is reported in at least more than half of the records meaning it is reported in two books so that no one would be able to cheat.


    [A/N: and that my guys, is how blockchain works in simple terms��]


    I still don''t get why would anyone want to cheat in this, but oh well, this makes the competition more fun.


    After his training and eating lunch, he would go to train in his martial arts and hone his skills.


    As I told you before, making a good mental image of a move would make it so that you can execute it faster, and ultimately after a long time of training and exactitude, you would be able to use the move without making a mental image with a chant.


    This coupled with Li Huang using one of the best martial arts and techniques, makes his skill training more important because the more fearsome a technique is, the harder you have to train to master it.


    After that, he will do some cultivation and for rest of the day, he would do as he wants.


    Of course, these plans won''t be followed if there is something more important like the ancient sword mark that I comprehended yesterday.


    Getting out of my room in my training clothes, I walked to my basic training setup.


    Ah! Let me remind you again that it is basic from a young master''s standard so don''t take me too seriously, it might be a top-notch training setup.


    Getting my sword in my hand I started my morning training and immersed myself in the feeling of being one with the sword.


    Before I know it time passed and I had to get ready to see Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing.


    Taking a quick shower, I was on my way to see them.


    On the way, I took out my communication device and contacted uncle Aram.


    "What is it brat?" he grunted.


    "What do you mean by what is it, old man? Didn''t I commission you to find someone?" I retorted.


    Without giving him time to answer I continued.


    "*sigh* old man, It seems the old age is getting to you and you already forgot about it. I suggest that you give your position to a successor while your mind can still make a sane decision��" fucking with this old man never gets old. I know for a fact that even in the past, Li Huang would enjoy this too.


    "Fuck you brat! It is less than a day that you told me about it and you want me to search the whole world! Even with teleportation formations, there are some places that still didn''t get the news about this mission. Also, what commission? You didn''t give me anything for it!" he was so angry that I could swear that the communication device was getting hotter.


    ''Nonetheless, it was refreshing��'' I thought to myself.


    "Okay, okay. I was playing with you old man. I needed a little thing this time." I told him. One has to know when to stop and now was the right time.


    After a few seconds of silence, he started talking.


    "What is it?" he asked "This time I won''t be doing a worldwide information gathering for you��" he added hastily.


    I hardly suppressed my laugh. Well, I can''t say that he is wrong to add this condition.


    "Don''t worry old man. This time I have a local task for you." I internally smirked.


    "��local task?" uncle Aram asked unsurely.


    "Yes. local as inside of the heavenly sword sect��" I told him casually.


    "��I don''t have any inform��" he began to speak but I cut him short.


    "Don''t be like this, I know you have informants in all the holy lands. And don''t worry I have nothing against it, if I could I would do the same to ensure my gains in the long term." I told him so that he knows that I have no intention of using this information against him.


    But how did I know? In reality, I didn''t know and bet on my intuition about this. How can the best information gathering guild in the world don''t know the inner working of seven big sects that could decide the future of the whole world? It seems my bet played out.


    "Brat, if you were not like a nephew to me I would have killed you." He told me straightforwardly.


    I wasn''t unnerved by his words.


    "Well, I would do the same to you old man. You are too strong to kill directly so I had to play dirty, but that is not the point now. I need information, and this time, I will pay." I told him.


    He snorted.


    "Keep your pocket money. Tell me what you want��"


    "I know that your agents are staying low-key so I won''t make it hard for you. I need all the information that you can gather from an outer disciple who interrupted my spar yesterday." I could ask him to investigate about Li Heng''s case, but that would be hard to keep low-key and there was a chance of his agents being detected and I don''t want that��


    "Hmmm, okay but I didn''t know you were that petty to look for someone just for this��" he tried to sound disappointed but if I could see him I could verify that he was grinning.


    "Yea, yea. Anyway, thank you, old man. Give me the information today. Also, give aunt my regards." I told him and a few moments later we finished the call.


    As the call finished I soon got to our meeting place.


    With a knock to inform them of my arrival, I entered the courtyard.


    And immediately after, I got thrown outside.

 Chapter 20: Anjing is not Anjing

    With a knock to inform them of my arrival, I entered the courtyard.


    And immediately after I got thrown outside.


    No. It wasn''t an attack.


    It was Hu Anjing. And she was hugging me, or so she tried.


    A moment later, I could feel the ground on my back and Hu Anjing on top of me.


    ''Can you even call this a hug?'' I thought dumbfoundedly.


    Looking at her eyes I spoke to her.


    "This kind of hug is very beneficial for breaking through in body cultivation, but I would still rather not to be thrown to the ground, little Anjing." I told her with emphasis on little.


    "Uncle Huang, I had no intention of throwing you to the ground. It''s just that you were not strong enough to receive all my love." She told me without getting up from the top of me. She was inches away from my face and was looking straight into my eyes. If someone would see us in this exact moment, they would think that Hu Anjing ''pushed me down''.


    If I was really 14 or maybe a dense protagonist I might have got frustrated or something but the reality is different than those options.


    Lifting my hand to her face, I brushed her face with my fingers and in the same motion, tenderly tuck a strand of hair behind her left ear.


    "Then I guess I have to get stronger, for receiving more love��" While doing so, I spoke to her.


    She didn''t expect this and her reaction made this all worth doing.


    For a moment her cheeks got as red as her hair but she got her composure back the next moment.


    "Was that a confession?" she teased soon after.


    "Was your last words a confession too?" instead of answering I teased back.


    Hearing my words she had an amused smirk on her face.


    "You are getting bolder and bolder, Junior Uncle." She had a predatory smile on her face.


    "Says the one who is on top of me." I told her nonchalantly.


    As she heard my words she started laughing and now she was sitting on me with one of her hands on my chest and the other one on her own stomach.


    After a few seconds she calmed down and she gave me a hand to get up from the ground.


    "But Uncle Huang, I have always been this bold so it has to be you that is getting bolder��" she told me with a pondering look on her face.


    After dusting off my robes a little with help of my Qi, I answered her.


    "Well, time after time I have interacted with you, so in the end, I have also started to learn the method." I shamelessly declared.


    But Hu Anjing was not someone who would lose when it comes to shamelessness.


    "So�� what you are saying is that I am your master, are you not, junior uncle?" she tried to look like a confused kitten but no matter how you looked at it, she was the feisty lion.


    But I didn''t care about it and continued.


    "This disciple greets the master." I cupped my fist to her.


    Well, I could do the extreme and kowtow to her but we are just joking around and even if you don''t talk about my willingness, doing so just makes her uncomfortable and also Yuan Jia would kill her so we better not��


    Laughing a little, we got back to the courtyard.


    "Where is sister Jia?" I asked Hu Anjing when I saw that Yuan Jia is not there.


    Hu Anjing stopped in her tracks and looked at me.


    "Master had some matters to finish in the main hall and from what i know, she will be here soon��" she answered.


    "I see��" I nodded.


    "By the way Anjing, who named you Anjing?" I asked her.


    She was taken aback by my question.


    "Why this sudden question?" she asked back.


    "Well, to be completely honest with you, you don''t fit with neither ''An'' nor ''Jing'' meanings��" I shrugged. [A/N: (An) meaning "peace, quiet" and (Jing) meaning "quiet, gentle, still".]


    "Junior uncle, are you calling me wild?" she raised her eyebrow.


    "I''m not calling you wild, you are literally called wild." I told her with my hands raised in surrender. [A/N: (Hu) meaning "recklessly, wildly, barbarian".]


    We looked at each other for a few seconds and then burst out laughing.


    "I''m not saying I''m living up to my name, but for someone whose name means ''still'' and ''gentle'' you look like a huge ball of energy��" I added after we stopped laughing. [A/N: (Huang) meaning "bright, shining, luminous".]


    "Well to be fair, how could they know it when I was in my crib?" Anjing answered while she was wiping her tears from laughing.


    "That is surprisingly convincing��" I didn''t think about it this way.


    As we were talking about our names, the door to the courtyard opened and Yuan Jia entered.


    Seeing us there, a small smile formed on her face.


    Although Yuan Jia is the master of Hu Anjing and she is her disciple, they act like a big sister and a small sister with each other. Well, at least they act so when they are not in public so that they don''t cause a commotion.


    "Did you wait long for me?" she asked.


    Me and Hu Anjing shook our heads almost at the same time.


    "No, we were talking about useless things.." I told her with a smile of my own.


    Hu Anjing who heard my words put a hand on her chest as if she was hurt by my words.


    "Uncle Huang, di��did you just call my name useless." You could even see her eyes tearing up. What can I say, she is a natural.


    Seeing the flow of conversation, I didn''t delay and cupped her cheeks with my hands.


    "How can it be? The useless part was the talking, here, here." I played the part of an over-dramatic uncle. As I finished my words I took out a lollipop and some candies from my storage ring and put them in Anjing''s hands.


    "There, there." I continued by patting her head.


    On the other side, the corner of Yuan Jia''s mouth twitched.


    She couldn''t stop herself and asked.


    "Who is the adult here?" she asked both of them.


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing looked at her and then looked at themselves for a moment and turned back to face her.


    ""It is you, big sister."" They said in unison.


    This answer however didn''t help to quench Yuan Jia''s dissatisfaction and she just narrowed her eyes at them.


    This time, Li Huang moved faster than Hu Anjing to answer.


    "In my defense, I have to say that she started it." I told her with my finger pointing at Hu Anjing.


    Did I sell her? Yes.


    Do I feel bad? Not at all.


    Hu Anjing opened her mouth but couldn''t form words to defend herself or reprimand me.


    Yuan Jia on the other side looked at our interactions and sighed.


    "*sigh* do you two even plan to grow up?" she asked.


    "Big sister Jia, this is my inner child so it won''t grow up at all." I nodded to my own words.


    This time not only Yuan Jia, but Hu Anjing was confused.


    "��inner child? What is that?" Yuan Jia asked.


    "Is it something like an inner demon?" Hu Anjing asked and shuddered at the thought.


    It was at this time that I remembered that here they probably have a different type of psychology and they don''t know about the inner child so my clever answer doesn''t mean shit to them.


    As an intellectual, what I did was to explain to them about ''modern psychology'' and what is ''inner child'' for more than an hour.


    You might be asking how did I know these? Well, a couple of my past girlfriends were into these kinds of things so I have learned a bit.


    "So do you understand what I meant by my words when I said my inner child won''t grow?" I asked the main reason for my explanation.


    "Yes, now I get what you meant." Yuan Jia smiled and said.


    "I still don''t but it might be because I didn''t listen." Hu Anjing shrugged.


    In turn, I ignored her.


    "Oh! Now I remembered. I had something to tell you two." Yuan Jia suddenly told us.


    We looked at her with full attention as if to tell her ''go on'' with our eyes.


    "There is an expedition next week and the two of you would be participating in it." She told us.

 Chapter 21: Eternal wail chasm

    "Oh! Now I remembered. I had something to tell you two." Yuan Jia suddenly told us.


    We looked at her with full attention as if to tell her ''go on'' with our eyes.


    "There is an expedition next week and I choose the two of you as one of its participants." She told us.


    "What is this expedition all about?" I asked her straightforwardly.


    "Well, I''ll tell you about it��" Yuan Jia acted like she was waiting for us to ask her about it.


    There is a region in the divine central continent name [Eternal Wail Chasm].


    As its name suggests it is a place that is not for the faint-hearted. For as long as there is history on the divine central continent, this chasm was here and no one knows what made it or how it was made. Well, it can be said that everyone is glad to not know how it was made because if something artificially made this kind of chasm to the center of the planet, you can''t be expecting to know its creator and leave with your life after that��


    This chasm is so deep that some even say that you can travel to the other side of the world if you jump in it and of course, survive in it.


    There was not even one report of anyone who has survived from falling in there and so the ''wail'' part of its name makes sense.


    When you fall in a chasm as deep as [Eternal Wail Chasm], you don''t just die. Some say that you would be falling for days and months until you hit the floor or whatever is waiting at the end of the chasm.


    The gravity is much lower in the chasm so you would fall slower but the chaotic Qi is far far stronger than anywhere in the chasm so you would be slowly shredded into nothingness when you are falling slowly, and because of that there is always sound of screams and wails coming from the inside of the chasm, be it humans or beasts or others...


    This dangerous place is hailed as one of the 9 forbidden places in the divine central continent.


    At this point of explanation, I was scared shitless of what an ''MC'' could find in this seemingly death trap and how he can use it to kill me. i mean this place details screams ''i have treasures for the MC''. Just thinking about it made me shudder.


    Looking at Yuan Jia I couldn''t stop myself and voiced my thoughts.


    "Big sister Jia, if you want to kill me and Anjing there are simpler ways to do it. Why go to such lengths?" I asked with narrowed eyes.


    To my words, Hu Anjing also nodded.


    But Yuan Jia''s answer was a little different and me and Hu Anjing each received a chop to our heads.


    "When did I ever make you two suffer?" she told us as we were touching our heads to ease the pain.


    "Um�� like 10 seconds ago?" Hu Anjing told her with eyes that showed that she was wronged.


    Yuan Jia narrowed her eyes at her and Hu Anjing hid behind me.


    Shaking my head to her antics, I looked at Yuan Jia.


    "The most Lovely and caring big sister of the world, can you enlighten me on the reason for this expedition to one of the forbidden places?" I asked her with a good dose of sarcasm.


    She rolled her eyes at my sarcasm and continued her explanation.


    For years some fearless people or those who were near to the end of their life spans tried to find a fortune in the [Eternal Wail Chasm] and failed until a young man tried this chasm a little unwillingly.


    Well, a little more than a little. He was thrown in there for some stupid reason like talking to someone who he shouldn''t or something��


    But to his surprise, he didn''t fall to the chasm and he was teleported to a trial of some sort and he had huge gains after that.


    After the assailants saw the seen they contacted their elders and the news reached the seven holy lands soon enough and guess what, the seven holy lands come there to monopolize this chance and use it to further their power and influence.


    After using some ''willing'' test subjects they come to know that only those under the age of 30 and at most in the Meridian Formation realm could enter this place and the others would be repelled.


    I say repelled but in reality, when they can''t enter the ''trial'' they would fall to their death in the chasm.


    After that, the seven holy lands made some plans and quotas for each one and they would use this place once every five years and each one of them could bring 10 disciples to enter the trial and 30 more places would be given to smaller powers by fights before the day of the entrance, this way they have given a ''fair'' chance to others to use this trial.


    Why every five years? As the kind ''test subjects'' proved to the holy land experts, there is a limit on the number of uses on the teleportation of the trial and that would be around 113 and it would take five years for it to regain its power from heaven and earth.


    The trial of the [Eternal Wail Chasm], which now is known as [Trial of the Chasm] is one of the good chances that could be used by the younger generation of the divine central continent and you can expect to find all kinds of geniuses in this trial.


    You might ask what is the reason for Li Huang and Hu Anjing not knowing of these trials? This is very easy to explain; Li Huang was a sheltered child from a very young age so he didn''t know of something that only happened twice in his life span so far and he wasn''t strong enough for any of them at the time so nobody told him anything as to not make him disheartened because of it. As for Hu Anjing, she was a killer for the organization and all she was thinking at the time was how to flee and she didn''t know anything of this chance, and even if she know, she couldn''t participate in it so she didn''t lose much at the time��


    This would be the 83rd time that this trial would be tested and Li Huang and Hu Anjing are in the expedition to be selected as one of the 10 participates in this trial.


    For fairness (you read gaining face), the seven holy lands would select their 10 participates with spars in the location of the trial after the 6th trial.


    This way everybody would ensure the fairness of the choices and it would also serve as a reminder to the smaller powers that the seven holy lands have 10 constant quotas because they are way stronger than them. This way they would be more grateful for their 30 quotas and would try to send more geniuses to the holy lands.


    As they call it one arrow, multiple goals; and this way they could achieve it all with this single move.


    "I see. So how do we decide on the 10 final participates?" I nodded and asked Yuan Jia.


    "This is pretty much straightforward." Yuan Jia began explaining.


    From what she said you have 10 ''thrones'' and you have to challenge for the chairs. Every time that there are chief disciples in the participates, they would be sitting on the chairs first, and then the others start challenging.


    If a chair is empty you would occupy it without a fight, If someone is on the chair you have to win against him/her to get his/her position and after that, you will be subject to challenges.


    If you didn''t use self-harming methods, the sect will provide you with the necessary pills and potions to get you back to around 100% so that you can continue fighting.


    But there is a penalty for the challenger, if you lose you have to wait at the end of the line until you get your chance to fight again.


    This will go on for about 3 days and after that, for 3 days the smaller powers fight for the other 30 places under the gazes of seven holy lands and after that, there are two days of rest and recuperation and after that, you would tackle the trial.


    The reason behind the 2 days of recuperation is that even with pills and potions some things need time to get fixed so these days are for more rest and in turn getting better results.


    "Well you can say that the seven holy lands are resting for 5 days, but no one would tell it to our faces so you can rest with peace of mind��" Yuan Jia finished her explanation.


    ''Of course, they wouldn''t��'' Li Huang snorted.

 Chapter 22: Dont

    The competition for seven holy lands will go on for about 3 days and after that, for 3 days the smaller powers fight for the other 30 places under the gazes of seven holy lands and after that, there are two days of rest and recuperation and after that, you would tackle the trial.


    The reason behind the 2 days of recuperation is that even with pills and potions some things need time to get fixed so these days are for more rest and in turn getting better results.


    "Well you can say that the seven holy lands are resting for 5 days, but no one would tell it to their faces so you can rest with peace of mind��" Yuan Jia finished her explanation.


    ''Of course, they wouldn''t��'' Li Huang snorted.


    Thinking about the competition, I had some questions about the process of selecting participants.


    "By the way big sister Jia, how do the others get selected to participate in these challenges for 10 positions?" I asked her. Although it doesn''t affect me, I want to know who I will be going against.


    "With spars. In each court, top candidates would be selected that of course are in the valid criteria and they would travel to the [Eternal Wail Chasm] and there they would select the final 10." Yuan Jia explained.


    So they would select the best in the outer court, inner court, and core court. After this selection, they would be competing with each other in the [Eternal Wail Chasm] to gain one of the 10 places.


    It might seem unfair to bundle up outer court, inner court, and core court disciples in a competition but you have to remember that they are all in the same age range and same cultivation range. The only thing that could be out of the equation is the level of body cultivation, but because the age range is constant, there is a hard limit on this factor too.


    If you look at it this way, there is a high chance of some outer court disciples having some gains from this. In this competition, they can show their talent and get to be chosen for inner or core courts.


    Even if you don''t get to go to the trials you have gained from watching the spars of the best geniuses of your generation so this is a very sought-after thing for every disciple in the sect.


    In fact, there are many disciples who don''t fight for the so-called thrones but they try to gain some insights from the fights and further their way of the sword, and in all honesty that is one of the best things that you could get from the trial even before the trial starts.


    Many cultivators from the smaller powers do this too. Each of them might be using a weapon that is the main pillar of one of the seven holy lands, so by watching their fights they can also further their understanding and gain a very valuable improvement to their techniques.


    As I was using my paranoia to think of the worst shit that could happen, Hu Anjing spoke and took me out of my thoughts.


    "But sister Jia, why don''t the seven holy lands get more places? Are there really 30 geniuses as good as our holy land disciples?" she asked with a confused look.


    "Well, we could do that but that would affect our face in the minds of ordinary peoples and it is not like we let them have it without any leverage." Yuan Jia answered and shrugged.


    This revelation intrigued me.


    "What kind of leverage do we have over them?" I couldn''t help but ask her.


    "A leverage that would let us get their thrones��" she grinned.


    "What the fuck?" I muttered unconsciously, I was dumbfounded that we could just take their thrones.


    "Language, Huang." Yuan Jia lectured sternly.


    "My apologies milady." Putting my right hand on my chest I bowed a little.


    "Whatever." This time she didn''t even bother to ask about what the hell ''milady'' is supposed to mean.


    "Well, the rule is that if the 11th place of one of the holy lands can defeat at least more than half of the top 7 disciples of the smaller powers, we can also fight for their thrones." She continued with her explanation.


    She told us that there is an 11th throne and the one on it has to fight one of the top 7 disciples that are from the smaller powers and in case that 4 or more of them win against their foes we can challenge them for their 30 thrones too.


    This is us giving them an opportunity and then telling them you are not strong enough so we use it instead.


    Well, it is not like we would win all the time and they have some good geniuses so they can keep their positions most of the time.


    "It is a good rule to have. If they can''t even win our reserve team, they could not hope for any gains in the trials and it is better to give this chance to someone who is worthy of it��" I nodded at Yuan Jia.


    In a world that strength is everything, you can''t expect to keep something valuable without having the necessary power to do so.


    Feeling eager to train I slapped my knee and stood up.


    "So it is better that we start training." I told them to get them to train.


    What? I''m not a training maniac but let me give you a hint. What is going to happen to a poorly trained ''young master'' in a big gathering?


    Yes. He gets face slapped and I have no intention of letting it happen.


    Nodding to myself for my genius in foreseeing this event I looked at Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing, waiting for their answers.


    "Umm�� there is no ''we'' this time��" Yuan Jia said with a dry smile.


    "What?" shocked, I narrowed my eyes.


    "I mean that�� you won''t be training with Anjing this time." She said while she averted her eyes.


    "I know that Anjing needs to grow up independent but what the hell is ''this time'' all about?" I asked her with my eyes narrowed more. Something isn''t right here��


    Hu Anjing looked at me to tell me that she is not a child but Yuan Jia spoke before her.


    "I am not supposed to tell you this��" Yuan Jia looked at me with�� pity?


    "But?" I urged her to continue.


    "You will be training with the master." She told me in one breath.


    ''Well, Fuck my life.'' I thought.


    "For the whole week?" Trying to look calm and failing miserably I asked Yuan Jia.


    I know the answer would be yes but I needed to make sure. There is always hope.


    "��Yes." Yuan Jia answered.


    There is no hope.


    Grandpa Long trained Yuan Jia Hard too but my training was a level harder. Why? Some bullshit about being a descendant of the Li family and making him proud and something about my parents only leaving me for him and I have to be better and shit...


    "I know I should have gone to closed-door cultivation when the old man woke up." I shook my head and blurted out.


    I just hope that the old man won''t train me so hard that I go over and past the qualification of the trial��


    Looking at Hu Anjing I put my hand on her shoulder.


    "I never thought I say this, but I think I am going to miss your throwing hugs." I told her as if I was leaving my will with her.


    Hu Anjing was shellshocked. She never saw me in this way and that was new to her and she didn''t know how to respond.


    As she was struggling internally to say something I turned around and walked toward the door.


    "Let us meet again�� if fate allows it��" I raised my hand as a sign of goodbye.


    As I walked out of the courtyard I could feel a familiar Qi signature from the sky.


    Yes, above me in the air, there was my grandpa looking at me while floating in the sky.

 Chapter 23: Taking a bath

    "Let us meet again�� if fate allows it��" I raised my hand as a sign of goodbye.


    As I walked out of the courtyard I could feel a familiar Qi signature from the sky.


    Yes, above me in the air, there was my grandpa looking at me while floating in the sky.


    Grandpa long was looking at me while hovering and the look on his face was one of contempt.


    "Did you really have to act like you are going toward your death when we are just going to train?" Li Long asked me with a little frown on his face.


    I looked at him with dead eyes.


    "We are going to ''just train''? Do you even believe your own words, old man? How about you train elder Zhong to get more answers from him? I bet this will be more effective than whatever sort of torture you are doing on him." I couldn''t hide my anger and shouted at him. sure the training is effective, but no one would like to get beaten constantly.


    Grandpa Long just shook his head.


    "*tsk* do you know how many peoples would die to get a training session under me? But I understand that you are young and rebellious so I won''t take it to heart and won''t take you accountable for it. When you grow up you would be thankful for my care and training." He nodded to his own words as if he was really a caring grandparent.


    This old man knows how to make one angry. I should be grateful? For getting the shit kicked out of me for days?


    The level of ego in that statement is something that I don''t know if I can achieve in this lifetime.


    I couldn''t stop myself from answering him back.


    "Old man, just tell me that I don''t have a choice, why do you have to give me some kind of reasoning that results in you doing whatever you wanted to do in the first place? Just tell me I have no choice." I snapped at him.


    Grandpa Long squinted his eyes at my response and then laughed wholeheartedly.


    "HAHAHA, that reminded me of your father. It is true that they say, an apple doesn''t fall far from the tree trunk." He laughed while getting to the ground and patting my shoulder.


    Well, If you could call it ''patting'' that is.


    Seeing no point in further talking, I just grumbled and mumbled along the way and that damn old man only laughed while saying that my reactions are the same as my father''s.


    ''I can feel you father. But fuck you for leaving me with this devil of grandfather.'' I send my silent prayers. I hope it can reach him.


    ��


    You could see Li Huang panting while he was on the floor sweaty and bloody. It has been four hours after the start of his training.


    The fact that he could go on for four hours in this hellhole of a training ground was a new record for him. Even in the past best record that Li Huang had was three hours and twenty minutes.


    You might ask wow, how did you improve this much? It was easy in fact. I just cursed that old man on my mind and imagined him getting the shit kicked out of him by multiple things and people that I refrain from telling just to keep it PG-13.


    This small step helped me to calm my mind and don''t feel my muscles getting torn each second and my bones aching with a deep and penetrating pain.


    Yes, I could go on for four hours but at the fourth hour, it was like I was a puppet who has his strings cut. I dropped to the ground and couldn''t do anything.


    And you know what was the worst part?


    "If you give this kind of opening in a real fight, you might die." The ''kind'' grandpa Long told me as if he was pointing to something hard to figure out.


    I mean no shit sherlock. How the fuck could I even do anything if a sadistic and crazy old man in the second river of Taoist Palace decided to beat me senseless? If you ask anyone with the smallest sign of intelligence they would concur that the only way out is death but this shitty old man has the audacity to remind me that I am showing a fucking opening?


    I could hardly breathe so I couldn''t answer him, else I would tell him to go fuck himself with a sword technique or something��


    I miss earth. I could at least report child abuse or put a lumped-out image of myself on social media. That ought to work, right?


    Oh! And also don''t think that I am resting or anything. No, the old man is making a medicinal bath for me so that i can get back in shape... for more abuse.


    This is my fucking life and I miss how they could use time skips in novels.


    There is no fucking time skip in real life.


    You are in a shitty time of your life? Do you want it to pass? Well, tough luck. You have to let it pass naturally, there is no alternative that can fast forward this shit��


    All I can do is to think of the next week, when this old man would let me be if I can get past this hurdle. Well, that is a big if, if I say so myself.


    Just as I was giving myself a motivational speech, grandpa Long picked me up from the ground and carried me like a sack of potatoes.


    "Before I couldn''t use a bath this strong for you, but now that you have a basic enough Qi cultivation, you can use this bath that is more beneficial." Grandpa Long told me and you could see that he was proud of himself for making this bath in a short time.


    I couldn''t speak so I just looked at him with dead fish eyes.


    ''Old man, you don''t have an inner demon, you are the demon itself.'' I thought.


    Unfortunately for me, he got a different meaning from my look. Well, not that he would care, even if he knows what I meant anyway.


    "Don''t worry. For the next few days, I would make these medicinal mixes beforehand so you don''t have to waste time waiting for me to finish the preparations." He told me with a kind smile that was very comforting if you were deaf and didn''t know what sinister words he said just now.


    ''give me a break you god damn psychopath!'' i narrowed my eyes at him.


    As he finished talking he put me down in the basin of water and the medicinal mix. He put me down gently to avoid the possibility of me drowning.


    ''Maybe he is not as shitty as I thin��'' I couldn''t finish my thoughts as a pain like no other assaulted my whole body.


    ''FUCK!'' I shouted on my mind as I was In excruciating pain.

 Chapter 24: The herbal mix

    Grandpa Long put me down in the basin of water and the medicinal mix. He put me down gently to avoid the possibility of me drowning.


    ''Maybe he is not as shitty as I thin��'' I couldn''t finish my thoughts as a pain like no other assaulted my whole body.


    ''FUCK!'' I shouted on my mind as I was In excruciating pain.


    It was like countless needles were pistoning in and out of my body. The medicinal mix was getting absorbed at an astonishing speed, visible to the naked eye.


    As this was going on, I couldn''t keep my voice down and screamed at the top of my lungs.


    "ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH."


    At that time I lost my consciousness and fall face-first into the basin.


    ����(POV Li Long a.k.a best grandpa in the world, moments ago)����


    "Don''t worry. For the next few days, I would make these medicinal mixes beforehand so you don''t have to waste time waiting for me to finish the preparations." I told him.


    This medicine is not something that can be bought with money. The recipe to make it is sort of a family heirloom. This mix would help you in absorbing more Qi when you have spent all your body''s Qi.


    For this reason, I pushed Huang as hard as he could endure so that he would deplete all his Qi and be ready to use this herbal mix to break through his Qi cultivation or at least take a step to gain more power.


    From the text that the ancestors left behind about this herbal mix, I have known that the best time for using this herbal mix is in the Qi Gathering realm and preferably in the ninth stage so that the one who is receiving this herbal mix could benefit much more.


    My plan for Huang is to use this herbal mix to break through to the next big realm, Meridian Formation. If he can do it in this one week''s time, I can rest assured that he would pass the [Trial of Eternal Chasm] and he won''t meet anything that would challenge his life.


    Gently, I put Huang down in the basin of water and the herbal mix. As I know this is a bit painful, I did my best to ensure that he is sitting firmly in the basin.


    Just as I put him down, you could see the herbal mix getting absorbed in his body slowly. Nodding to myself I was glad that the herbal mix is doing its thing and there is no problem in the absorption process.


    Looking closely at the basin suddenly a change occurred.


    "This��" my eyes widened.


    The speed of absorption increased so much so that you could see the clear water without any sign of herbal mix in it and all of the mix getting absorbed fast into Huang''s body.


    ''This is bad! Why did it happen?'' I was thinking hard to find a reason and a solution for this situation. I can not just stop this process without knowing if it could leave permanent damage on Huang''s body.


    At that moment I figured out the root of the problem. In the notes about this herbal mix was some words about it having some side effect on some people with particular physiques. One of the ancestors of our Li family had used this herbal mix and experienced excruciating pain but achieved better results and his gains were far more than his other peers.


    It was said that after he absorbed all of the herbal mix in the water, he had lost his consciousness for a couple of hours.


    Suddenly I heard Huang screaming.


    "ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH."


    As he was about to fall into the water I float him out of the water and carried him in my arms toward a room in the courtyard.


    To calm my anxiety, I started examining his body with my Qi. This was very hard because he had almost no Qi and I had to make sure my Qi won''t be left in his body or else there would be permanent damages to his meridians and Qi paths so I had to be more careful.


    But who do you think Li Long is? I can say that my level of control on my Qi is in the top 10 in the world so this is nothing much for me.


    After a few moments of examination, I was shocked. Not only he didn''t have any problem but you could see that his Qi paths have gotten firmer and his body stronger in general. So this was the gain that was talked about in the notes.


    But why did he was in such pain?


    If I had to guess, I think it is because of his cultivation level. He is at the eighth stage of Qi Gathering. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth stages of the Qi Gathering, you would strengthen your nervous system. Feeling more pain when your nervous system is getting stronger while your whole body is also getting improved is very logical. I have to write this down for future generations.


    As Li Long was writing on the notes and tending to Li Huang, hours passed, and before he could feel it, six hours were past.


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    Feeling my whole body ache, I opened my eyes with a grunt.


    "Argh."


    This was my second time seeing the unfamiliar ceiling but I didn''t panic. Why? Well, how could that demon of grandfather leave me to die? There is just no way. He is sadistic, so I have to be alive to feel pain for him to enjoy or something��


    "Oh! You are finally awake! Hope you rested well because we have more training." Speaking of the devil, I heard grandpa Long''s voice.


    "Old man, you must be blind to ask me to train more in this condition. That aside, what the hell was that medicinal mix that you mixed in the water? Are you sure that wasn''t poisoned?" I asked him with a sarcastic tone.


    He clicked his tongue to my words.


    "*tsk* do you think I need poison to kill you?" he asked back.


    "Fair point." I accepted his logic easily. He really doesn''t need poison to kill me but that was not the point.


    "Than what?" I asked him again.


    "Well, it was a secret recipe of our Li family that would help one to expand their Qi faster. With this, I was hoping that you could breakthrough in this week." He told me honestly.


    "I see�� was that supposed to be this painful?" I asked him again. Even with the level of training that Li Huang went through, this was a fucking torture.


    "��No, it wasn''t. You, my grandchild, are a special case." He smirked while answering me.


    "What do you mean by that?" I furrowed my eyebrows. I have no time for new bullshit.


    "Well, It is like this��" he told me about the cause and the ancestor that was like me and had better gains from the others.


    "I see. By the way who was that ancestor?" I got curious about that ancestor that had the same situation as me.


    "Good question. I don''t know it myself, let me check the notes about his name��" he got up and opened the notes on the herbal mix and looked for the name of this ancestor.


    "It is written here that he was Li�� Bao." His voice trailed off at the end of his sentence.


    I was shocked beyond what I thought was possible.


    "you mean Li Bao, as THE Li Bao?" I asked him to clarify. This is just too shocking.


    There was silence in the room for some moments.


    "��Yes, it seems so." Grandpa answered me as he was also shocked by this development.

 Chapter 25: Li Bao

    "Li Bao as THE Li Bao?" I asked him to clarify. This is just too shocking.


    There was silence in the room for some moments.


    "��Yes, it seems so." Grandpa answered me as he was also shocked by this development.


    Li Bao.


    A name that is too well known in the divine central continent. Even the children know about him and his deeds. This level of famousness is not something that even the current heads of the seven holy lands could enjoy, so you can say that this is a sign of his greatness.


    He is the biggest ''celebrity'' on the continent so it is not a surprise that in the Li family he is some sort of god. Purging an entire family or destroying whole sects, is one of the smallest things that could be the result of insulting this figure that was active years ago in the divine central continent.


    The common people only know myths and legends from him and the powerful places like the seven holy lands know him by heart. He was such a bright genius that if he would declare himself the second in the world, no one would dare call himself/herself thefirst.


    ''This is clearly a fucking MC if ever there was one.'' Even at this point in the story, I could see that this ancestor of mine was definitely a child of the plane.


    As I was bitching about Li Bao on my mind, grandpa Long continued his explanation.


    His story was what you would find in any Chinese novel that you read.


    He started as an unfavored son of the Li family. He had a hard childhood and was bullied repeatedly. Because of his standing in the family, he didn''t receive many resources from the family and didn''t improve his cultivation and in turn, the family cut his resources because he was a ''trash'' as they said.


    But the fact was that, because of his special physique he had to intake more resources to gain the same cultivation as others. But this special physique helped him in having a more stable and powerful foundation in contrast to others. This was a treasure for the Li family that wasn''t found and probably wouldn''t ever be��


    But something happened that changed everything. One time that Li Bao was hunting in the mountains to hone his skills and kill beasts for money and food, he comes face to face with a powerful beast that was way beyond his power and could kill him easily.


    He tried to run away but the beast was too fast to leave behind and was too clever to deceive. After an hour of pursuit, the beast cornered Li Bao and was about to kill him. As the beast attacked him, Li Bao used all his remaining power to sidestep and preserve his life.


    He succeeded in keeping his life and the beast''s attack hit the ground. But there was one fact that Li Bao forgot. The beast was very angry after one hour of chasing him and used all his power in this attack.


    The ground shook and caved in, swallowing Li Bao and the beast in it.


    This fall could be fatal for anyone but Li Bao used the beast''s body as a shield for the impact and in turn exchanged the beast''s life for his own.


    ''What the��'' I was looking at grandpa Long with wide eyes. In Li Huang''s memories, there was some general information about Li Bao but nothing from his origin and with this many details��


    Oblivious to my thought, grandpa Long continued his storytelling.


    The fact that Li Bao kept his life doesn''t mean that he didn''t sustain any injuries. He was injured and used all the herbs that he was collecting to fix himself up. Although he didn''t heal fully, he could move easier and ventured into the cave that he was fallen into to find a way out of here.


    After some exploration, he found a corner with many precious herbs that was in some sort of ancient place, because you could feel that no one has found it in a long while.


    I couldn''t contain my emotions anymore.


    "*tsk* God damn plot armor!" I blurted out.


    I mean he just happened to be in a place of the cave that was close to the ground and the damn beast attacked the exact place and boom, he found a treasure trove.


    Grandpa Long stopped his story and looked at me.


    "��What?" he asked me with narrowed eyes.


    "You wouldn''t get it��" I shook my head and gestured for him to continue with the story.


    At first, he wanted to sell these herbs to help his mother with the expenses but he soon came to a conclusion. He has no power to keep these herbs in his position and if anyone sees them, they would snatch them and possibly kill him to silence him to keep their face.


    So he had no other option other than to use them for himself. ''even if I am a trash, I would become more powerful with these herbs.'' was what he thought. Using the herbs that he found he began to cultivate and before long he broke through continuously.


    After just a short month he was like another person and was at the level of an elder of the Li family in terms of cultivation.


    The outside world had already deemed him dead and his mother was mourning for him. He came out of the cave and showed the whole family how strong he has gotten and shocked everyone. Some of the elders wanted to kill him but the grand elder protected him because he know that he was an unparalleled genius and would be the gem of the Li family in the following years.


    After that, he got a better standing in the family and joined the heavenly sword sect''s examination.


    "At the examination for heavenly swor��" grandpa Long was going to continue that I cut him short.


    "Wait for a minute old man. Do you want to give me his whole biography? I would rather you train me��" I didn''t have the necessary patience to listen to a story that is clearly ripped off multiple times with a tweak or two.


    Grandpa Long was shocked by my attitude but didn''t care about it too much.


    "Are you sure about that?" It was a question about the training and not about the story.


    I just shrugged in response.


    "Well, from your notes we know that I have the special physique of Li Bao and I could gain from this kind of training so it is better that I use this week to gain more benefits." I told him straightforwardly.


    Although I nag about his hellish training regime, but I can''t deny that it is effective and now with this herbal mix added to the equation I can be gaining more than I bargained for.


    "You are not wrong about that." Grandpa Long nodded to my words.


    "I''m expecting that you can give me his methods, training, routines, and whatever you could find on Li Bao. Right old man?" I asked him.


    He looked at me for a few seconds.


    "You know that most of these are family secrets, yes?" he asked me back.


    "Naturally. But I also know that they have no use for anyone other than me, so you have nothing to be afraid of by disclosing them to me." I told him logically.


    Grandpa Long contemplated for a minute and then nodded to himself.


    "Alright. I''ll make them ready for you but you will get it after you come back from the trial so you have to work hard." He told me.


    ''This sadistic tsundere, he can''t say stay safe or something...'' I thought to myself.


    "Yeah yeah, I know." I told him dismissively.


    "Good. Now be ready for more training in ten minutes, I''ll go and make more of the herbal mix." He told me and got out of the room right after that.


    As soon as he was out of the building I took out my communication device from my storage ring and contacted uncle Aram.


    "Uncle there is some training that I am doing so I would be grateful if you could give me the information next week." I told him as soon as the connection was established.


    There was a few seconds of delay before he answered me.


    "Okay brat, call me when you need it." He told me without asking further and ended the call.


    "Efficient as always��" I muttered to myself.


    Standing up, I went to the courtyard to continue the training.

 Chapter 26: Training suit

    Have you ever had one of those moments where you thought to yourself that you should have shut your mouth?


    These past days there wasn''t a moment that I didn''t tell myself that I shouldn''t have told the grandpa to train me ''now that I gain more benefits'' or something��


    Grandpa Long would train Li Huang so hard that I didn''t think that there is a higher level to that training, but apparently, I was wrong.


    The intensity of this training was so much that I wished for the past training to come back. I think that explains the level of shit that I went through.


    You might think that I''m being a drama queen but let me tell you a bit about past days so that you know that my words are true��


    Grandpa Long who was happy that I could train more went and made some preparations. After he came back he had a suit that was like one of those latex suits, if you know what I mean��


    The moment I saw it I took out my defensive treasures out and got in a fighting stance.


    "Don''t take another step. What the hell is that in your hand?" I asked him sternly. I didn''t want to have anything to do with that unholy thing and more so when the other person is also a male. I am as straight as Ed Sheeran is white.


    "What the hell is wrong with you? This is a training suit." Grandpa Long was looking at me to check if I have hit my head somewhere.


    I was dumbfounded. Why the hell did they create it this way.


    "I have you know that I would put on my robes on them��" I told him to reassure myself but it backfired.


    "Even if you didn''t I would beat you until you put them on." He looked at me with disgust on his face.


    "Hey, it was you who brought this unholy suit here, don''t look at me that way!" I snatched the suit and went into the room and put it on.


    After putting my robes on them I got out of the room.


    "By the way, you didn''t tell me, why do I even have to put these on?" I asked grandpa Long.


    Grandpa Long just smiled and gestured me to start my spar with him.


    At that time I shrugged it off, but I should have known better.


    The suit was one of the most expensive training equipment in the world, if not the most expensive one.


    The reason for it, is because of the runes that are carved on it. This suit can apply healing potions to the area that was hit and help you heal faster in training. You must be thinking that this was so kind of grandpa Long to do this, but let me remind you that he is the devil.


    He didn''t put healing liquid in the suit''s storage. No, he put the herbal mix so that each time he hits me I get a dose of the mix on my skin that would strengthen my body but also would give me a shit load of pain.


    Why didn''t he give this suit to me from the beginning? Well, absorbing the herbal mix takes time, this is the reason that they use it in baths, where you can take your time. But as I have the special physique that Li Bao had, I can absorb it very fast and my genius (read psychopath) grandpa thought of this method to let me absorb it passively.


    But there was a small thing that he didn''t consider. This fucking hurts. I mean how the fuck am I to fight in this situation?


    The first day I was just thrown away like I was a dodgeball ball. I couldn''t do shit when my whole body was in pain.


    On the second day, training started at 4 AM and my daily routine was changed to train, train, and train some more.


    On the second day, I could at least control the trajectory of me getting thrown left and right. I was in such pain that even grandpa Long was second-guessing his training regime.


    Unfortunately for me, I couldn''t get away from this training because he found out that this training is effective. How? Well, my sorry ass broke through to the ninth stage of the Qi Gathering.


    I would have never thought that I could be this heartbroken about something that others would celebrate.


    Seeing that his method is working, grandpa Long continued my training and unbeknown to me he was adding more herbal mix to the liquid that would be applied to my skin.


    Days passed and it was the fifth day. I think I have aged 50 years in these past days. The only high point in these is that I am not getting thrown away all the time now. I can defend myself in some of the attacks.


    Of course, it is not like grandpa Long is using all his power. This is but a fraction of his powers but I can say that my technique has improved in this short time.


    My improvements are also another factor that made this possible. As my cultivation stage is in the nervous system part, my reaction speed is improving exponentially and I can react to grandpa Long attacks faster and better.


    As the day was about to end I felt that I am about to get past a bottleneck. I was so close to the Meridian Formation realm on this day that I could smell it.


    When I felt that I am about to break through, I sat on the ground cross-legged. Although it was in the middle of our spar, I know that an old monster like grandpa Long could easily see that I am about to break through so he would stop the spar.


    I wasn''t wrong. Not only he stopped his move but also activated an isolation formation so that no one can interfere with even spiritual sense and hindrance my breakthrough.


    He also activated a Qi gathering formation so that I can get more Qi in the shortest of times. Because we were fighting my Qi was not something that could be said to be in a good state so I sucked the Qi into my body greedily.


    I could feel most of the Qi in my pathways for the first time, with this level of clarity. This was a sign that I am infinitely close to the Meridian Formation realm.


    This is the realm where you have to create, or in better terms stabilize your meridians first and foremost and after that use them to make an internal formation that could help you in the future.


    Stabilizing the meridians could be only done in this realm so you have to try to open the most that you can from your 108 meridians and use them to create a formation. The more meridians that you open, the more options you have for the internal formation.


    The formations are created by strengthening the pathways between the meridians. They can act for defense, offense, Qi gathering, and many more things if you have enough stable meridians.


    At this moment I could feel one of the meridians in my body. I tried to stabilize it but that is not something easy as you might think. The Qi is flowing in my body and I have to keep the size and form of the meridian stable for a period of time so that it take form and become a ''stable meridian''.


    Minutes passed and beads of sweat gathered on my brow. But I didn''t give up, if I fail this time, it would lead to some backslashes that, I don''t have the time to be struggling with.


    Suddenly I had a stroke of inspiration.


    Using other pathways in my body I let a violent stream of Qi toward my palms. This way two orbs of Qi gathered on top of my palms. When the violent stream was controlled this way a steady stream of Qi was going in and out of my meridian so I could easily handle it and soon my first meridian was stabilized.


    Opening my eyes, I saw grandpa Long looking at me.


    "Old man, I think I deserve a vacation." I told him with a smile.

 Chapter 27: Prohibition

    ����(POV Li Long a.k.a the Demon, moments ago)����


    It was on the fifth day of Huang''s training that I felt the change in him. I immediately stopped my attack and he on other hand sat cross-legged on the floor.


    He was about to breakthrough and it was a big breakthrough into the Meridian Formation realm. If he can be successful in his breakthrough I can say with certainty that he would be one of the pillars of the whole world in the years to come.


    With this, he would be one of the best of the best in the current generation and he could gain the best advantage against others. Meridian Formation realm needs resources that Li family and the heavenly sword sect can make available for him easily and the other variables are in his own hand to tune.


    He was trying to condense his first meridian but the process was not going smoothly. The reason for this was that he was in the middle of an intense training session and he didn''t have a stable Qi so this was to be expected.


    I tried to make it easier for him by applying an isolation formation and a Qi gathering formation so that he would be able to go on unhindered and also be able to recover his Qi in the fastest time.


    These formations and more are some of the facilities that we have ready in this training courtyard. It is just so that in these unexpected situations like this I can execute the best solutions on the go.


    Minutes passed but Huang wasn''t able to condense his meridian. This was making it so that, it was more probable for him to fail this time.


    I have to be ready in case that he fails, he had never failed until now so it can be a big heart demon for him.


    As I was thinking of ways to tackle this issue, there were new developments in Huang''s breakthrough to the meridian formation realm.


    He was channeling his Qi that was destabilizing his Meridian form toward his palms and this was he how was stabilizing his meridian.


    ''Simply genius.'' I thought.


    Here I was thinking of him failing and he found a way to guide himself toward success.


    After a few more moments he succeeds in breaking through to the next big realm. Right after he opened his eyes and looked at me.


    "Old man, I think I deserve a vacation." Huang told me with a smile.


    I was stupefied. How lazy can a person be?


    "You know that this is only the second realm in Qi cultivation and you dare to ask for vacation already?" I asked him with judgmental eyes.


    "What is wrong with you old man? Do I not need time to stabilize my realm? Do you want me to have a shitty foundation or something" Huang answered back without missing a bit.


    I just looked at him for a few seconds. I know he is trying to run away from the training but his words also hold some truths.


    I was unwilling but I couldn''t come up with a good enough reason to hold him back.


    "*sigh* Fine you can go. I suggest that you would go and check on the inner competitions for the eternal wail trial and see your opponents beforehand." I told him. Well if he does as I told him he wouldn''t at least waste his time.


    "That is a good idea! Okay, I will do so tomorrow." Huang told me and got up to go out of the courtyard.


    It seems that he is elated to be able to go out of this place.


    Shaking my head, I too went to check on the interrogation process.


    ����(POV Li Huang a.k.a The one who lived)����


    Now I can say with all my heart that I am truly delighted by my sudden breakthrough. Last time my breakthrough was the cause of many pains and sufferings but now, it was the salvation.


    Although I won''t deny that grandpa Long methods work, I also have to add that this shit is not something that you would want to experience in long term.


    ''I can''t wait for grandpa Long to go back to his deep sleep��'' I thought to myself and smiled just thinking about it.


    This is the afternoon of the fifth day of training and there are still two days left until the trip to the [Eternal Wail Chasm].


    On these two days, we would have two rounds of competitions and the final 100 competitors would be selected.


    The first day of competition is not something that I would be willing to waste time watching. I''m not looking down on them but in reality, those competitions would not add anything to me and I rather meditate to make my realm stable so that I would be in top form for the [Eternal Wail Trial].


    Going toward my courtyard I smiled and nodded to some core disciples and elders on the way. As I got to my room, I took a shower and after eating I sat down and circulated my Qi to stabilize my realm.


    Now that I am in the meridian formation realm I have to think about my internal formation. It is necessary to find one or more formations that I can implement into my body and with the Li family and the sect at my disposal, I think I have almost the best internal formations in my hands.


    Well, this is a problem that I have to think about for the long term and I can start doing it after the [Eternal Wail Trial] when I have no big plans on the way.


    As I was immersed in meditation, the night passed and it was already morning. Getting up from my sitting position I stretched my limbs.


    Putting on my robes, I went and started my daily routine. After two hours of training, I went back to my room to take a bath.


    Thinking about how easy this training was for me I couldn''t stop myself from laughing. In my past life when I had limited time and had to watch some courses, I would put the video on 3x and after a few seconds that my mind would struggle to figure out the words I would slow it down to 2.5x and my mind would adapt easily to this new and slower speed.


    On the other hand, if I had put the speed on 2.5x from the start, my mind wouldn''t adapt this easily to the high speed of speech.


    This is just like me right now. Grandpa Long''s training was so intense that now that I am doing my version of the training, my body can easily adapt to it and it seems to me that this training is very basic.


    The point that you can get from this is that our mind is always bitching about the situation so give it a harder push at the beginning so that it would accept the hard situation easier.


    Before i forget about it, I also contacted uncle Aram to send someone to give me the information about the MC dude.


    After my breakfast, I went to see Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing after all this time. I hope they are at the usual place so that I wouldn''t have to look for them around the sect.


    Getting to the location I knocked and entered.


    "It''s me." I told no one in particular.


    There was a sound of fighting coming from the inside. I went towards the source of the sounds.


    It was coming from the training grounds so I walked leisurely. As I entered, I could see Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing sparing with each other.


    They were so immersed in their fight that they didn''t see me coming in. I didn''t want to distract them so I hid my presence or more realistically minimized it.


    The fighting still of Yuan Jia is more direct and refined, on the other hand Hu Anjing''s attacks are more unrestrained and toward the vitals, it could be a habit from the time that she was an assassin.


    Their fight had some similitude to a fight between a Phoenix and a Lioness.


    After some time their spar comes to an end and I spoke to them.


    "That was a good warm-up." I teased them. as I was training with the devil himself, this is really a warm-up in my eyes.


    Yuan Jia only smiled at me. She knows that I was just nagging about the harshness of my own training so she didn''t take it to heart.


    Hu Anjing on other hand was different.


    "Junior Uncle, do you want me to warm you up too?" she told me while she was cracking her knuckles.


    I was stunned.


    ''how did I forget that Hu Anjing would always have something to answer...'' I thought.


    Yuan Jia started laughing at my reaction.


    "No thank you. Right now I am in my prohibition period." I flatly rejected her. Seriously I need a break from spars and whatnot.

 Chapter 28: Take her as a disciple

    "That was a good warm-up." I teased them. as I was training with the devil himself, this is really a warm-up in my eyes.


    Yuan Jia only smiled at me. She knows that I was just nagging about the harshness of my own training so she didn''t take it to heart.


    Hu Anjing on other hand was different.


    "Junior Uncle, do you want me to warm you up too?" she told me while she was cracking her knuckles.


    I was stunned.


    ''How did I forget that Hu Anjing would always have something to answer...'' I thought.


    Yuan Jia started laughing at my reaction.


    "No thank you. Right now I am in my prohibition period." I flatly rejected her. Seriously I need a break from spars and whatnot.


    "Don''t be like that junior uncle, let''s��" Hu Anjing started to retort but her words stopped suddenly.


    She kept looking at me with her mouth open. After a few seconds, she closed her mouth just to open it right after.


    "Junior uncle, what realm are you in right now?" Hu Anjing asked me in a flat tone.


    After her question, Yuan Jia looked at me and even she had a shocked reaction. She had her eyes widen a little with a frown evident on her face.


    This amused me a little. Looking at Hu Anjing I spoke.


    "I am at the first stage of the Meridian Formation realm." I told her.


    There was silence in the surroundings for a few seconds. Hu Anjing was dumbfounded and Yuan Jia''s frown deepened.


    "��How?" Hu Anjing could only utter a word.


    "Well, do you remember that I was training with my grandpa? That''s how��" I gave her a vague answer. I can not disclose the family secret on the herbal mix and Li Bao.


    Yuan Jia only sighed and patted me on the shoulder.


    Hu Anjing who had no idea of this training had stars in her eyes.


    "Junior uncle, you should share the good things, no? Count me in next time." She told me with a toothy grin.


    Yuan Jia stopped patting my shoulder and looked at Hu Anjing weirdly.


    I couldn''t stop myself from breaking into loud laughter.


    "HAHAHA, of course. My lovely junior niece, you can have it all to yourself next time." I told her while I cupped her cheeks ''lovingly''.


    Hu Anjing was taken aback. Shouldn''t Lu Huang tell her that he can''t take her? Why did it turn out this way?


    I didn''t want her to get the same fate as me so after a bit of laughter I composed myself. Looking at Hu Anjing I put my hand on her shoulder.


    "Do you know what they call my grandpa, Li Long?" I asked her to give her some clue.


    She looked at me with confusion.


    "��I don''t know." She shook her head. It seems that because of her past she didn''t know much of world''s common knowledge.


    I smile at her and spoke.


    "They call him the heavenly sword demon."I told her.


    Before Hu Anjing could come up with an answer I resumed my words.


    "As his grandson, I can assure you that the demon part of his nickname is true." I only told her that much and let her imagination guide her more��


    Yuan Jia nodded and Hu Anjing was in thoughts for a couple of seconds.


    "Let me give you a hug to uplift your mood junior uncle." Hu Anjing told me in her childish tune.


    ''As expected, she won''t back down in teasing��'' I thought.


    Without any resistance, I took her into an embrace. Although I am pretty much way younger, I''m not short for my age and I am only 10 or 15 centimeters shorter than Hu Anjing, so the hug wasn''t a ''boob to my face'' one if you must know.


    As I was repairing my mental scars in Hu Anjing''s embrace, I turned to Yuan Jia who was looking at us.


    "By the way, I might have found a good disciple material for you, big sister Jia." I told her.


    "Oh, really? Who is that?" she asked me and from her look it was evident that she was interested.


    I could even feel Hu Anjing was waiting for me to continue while we were hugging.


    "At the time of the ''Li Heng'' incident, I came across a junior sister on the outer court. She was supposed to warm his bed or something. Anyway, after we took care of that problem she wanted for us to spar so I did so just to satisfy my curiosity. To my surprise, she was very talented and could react to my moves very fast." I told her some half-truths.


    "She was that strong?" Yuan Jia asked with amusement.


    "Not really. From what I think she must have some physique that lets her react to attacks faster or something." I shrugged while answering.


    My shoulder hit Hu Anjing''s chin and she looked at me with anger.


    "Sorry, sorry." I told her while stroking her chin with my thumb.


    This time I didn''t even realize that we were taking our play to another level until big sister Jia couldn''t stop herself and throw a pillow at our face.


    With that, we come out of our ''uncle and nephew'' play and looked at Yuan Jia.


    I only had one question.


    "Where did that pillow come from?" I asked her with a straight face.


    "From my storage ring." She told me.


    "You keep a pillow in your storage ring?" I was stupefied. Isn''t it a waste of space?


    "Do you want me to use a sword next time?" she asked back with a raised eyebrow.


    "Ah! Now I understand. Truly a must-have item for one''s personal storage ring." I accepted her logic fast. Even if it is only to hit me and Anjing, it is worth the space it occupies. On other hand, you can sleep anywhere, anytime with this. Truly a must-have.


    "Back to the topic, I think you can do this girl a favor and accept her as your disciple before grandpa Long gets the wind of her." I got back to my serious mode.


    "You think that she is good enough to be my disciple?" she asked me with the same amount of seriousness.


    "Hmmm, She has to prove herself in the eternal wail trial��" I wasn''t going to give Lai Xinyue a free meal. All I''m doing is a contingency plan. If she becomes Yuan Jia''s disciple even if we have no good relations, there won''t be any bad blood between us as well.


    "Good. Don''t tell me her name, let me see if she would come in my eyes naturally." Yuan Jia told me with a small smile.


    After that, I told them a little about my last days and asked about theirs.


    It was at that time that I got a message from uncle Aram that he has sent the information to my room.


    He probably was cautious so that I don''t know about the identity of his informants. Well, it doesn''t matter to me as long as I get the result that I am looking for.


    After I told Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing that I have some matters to attend to we had our goodbyes, after that, I went toward my courtyard.


    Inside my room, I could see an information jade.


    Taking the information jade into my hands I took a deep breath.


    What would the back story of this MC be? Well, there is no point in speculations when I can find the truth right after.


    Injecting my Qi into the jade I looked at its contents.

 Chapter 29: Xu Fen

    [A/N: this might be some heavy shit for some of you. Just wanted to give a heads up.]


    Inside my room, I could see an information jade.


    Taking the information jade into my hands I took a deep breath.


    What would the back story of this MC be? Well, there is no point in speculations when I can find the truth right after.


    Injecting my Qi into the jade I looked at its contents.


    The person that he was looking for is named Xu Fen.


    He is one of the descendants of a branch of the Xu family. Xu family is one of the top families in the divine central continent.


    Xu family, as a big family naturally has many branch families around the continent and this Xu Fen is from a branch of the Xu family in the Resha [A/N: meaning hot desert] city. Although he is from a branch of the Xu family his life was good enough to be wished by others.


    His father was the branch family head in the past. At that time he was living happily with his family but things soon changed for the worst.


    One time a young master of the main family come to the city for the yearly investigation. Big families like Xu and Li would send yearly investigations to branch families so that they won''t sully the name of the main family and take taxes and check on their problems��


    This way they would keep them in line while ensuring that no one is doing something to the branch family. If something happens to a branch family it is like a spit in the face of the main family so they have to check on them constantly with some methods, and these yearly visits are one of those methods.


    As a young master was selected to come for this year''s investigation, the branch family soon know about the identity of this young master. He was the grandchild of the Xu family patriarch and a womanizer.


    This caused the branch family to be in an uproar. How are they supposed to handle this young master who would ask for women to be sent to him on a daily basis.


    As the family head, Xu Fen''s father ordered the family members to send away or hide their young daughters so that nothing could be done to them.


    At the time that he ordered this, he thought that this was the best course of action but soon he would come to know that he had been digging his own grave.


    Time passed and the young master from the main family come for the yearly investigation. Things went smoothly until it was the first night of the young master''s stay at the branch family.


    At that time, one of his retainers told him that all the young females are not present in the family residents and this is probably intentional.


    After thinking about it, the young master ordered his guard to demand some women for night service from the branch family head.


    The family head could only give out excuses that the young maidens are outside of resident on a journey so they don''t have anyone worthy of the young master to offer. He was hinting that the married are not worthy enough for the young master so they would refrain from insulting the young master by presenting them.


    Alas that the family head didn''t know about the new generation fetishes.


    The young master who had foreseen this kind of development had already told his retainers what to do.


    The retainers told the family head that the young master knows about this matter and won''t make it hard for him. As Xu Fen was happy that his plan was working they added that the young master asked for recently married women in the family.


    The branch family head dug his nails in his palms from anger. He would not yield and ask them ''what is the meaning of this'' but the retainers only shrugged and told him not to forget the position of the young master.


    It was at that moment that he knew he fucked up. How had he found the courage to plan this when the other side''s strength and influence are much more than him.


    He asked them to wait for a little for him to chose the woman for the young master but they told him that they know the young master''s tastes better and they would be doing so themselves.


    It was clearly a move to make the young generation of the branch family angry to attack the young master of the main family and give the young master valid reason to wipe them from the family.


    He couldn''t do anything but meekly nod.


    He called the branch family elders and told them about the situation. They were also enraged but could only swallow their anger. They thought that it''s only some young ones who now are getting the green hat so they didn''t pressure any decision at that time��


    Days passed and each day the young master would call for new women and each time they would be of higher standing in the branch family.


    It wasn''t like they would hand their wives in, but they could do nothing to stop it and the wives were threatened by the lives of their children, husband, and family so they couldn''t put any resistance.


    It went on with each day more and more family members being gloomy and incidents of people committing suicides were a common occurrence.


    On one of the last days of the young master''s stay in the branch family, it was time for the wives of elders and they could do nothing, because they did nothing when it was others turn and now that it is their turn, no one is left to help them��


    If they started to protest at the first day they might have achieved something, but now nothing would come out of it because a rift has been created in the family.


    The family head who was gloomier than ever know where this was going and tomorrow was his turn so he steeled himself to let her wife flee so that she won''t be subject to this end.


    Alas, there was one thing that he didn''t consider and that was an internal betrayal.


    When he was about to get her wife out of the family courtyard, the other elders appeared to stop him. They told him that this was all his plan that destroyed the family, and now he dares to run from the consequences when everyone else had to pay for his doing?


    With that reasoning, they captured them both and didn''t let her wife run away.


    Tomorrow, it happened as they thought and the family head''s wife, Xu Fen''s mother was taken to the young master''s chamber.


    Feeling the weight of guilt on his shoulders, the family head couldn''t go on and killed himself on that day. This made her wife''s sacrifice for his life and their son''s to be for naught.


    Although the young master would threaten them with other''s life, but a branch''s family head''s death could be bad for his image so he was angry enough to kill everyone and be done with it but the elders pleaded to him to let them live and they would cover this incident themselves.


    After that, the young master killed Xu Fen''s mother to make this foolproof.


    As his lackeys were about to kill Xu Fen, he stopped them.


    He thought it would be a waste if this incident were to be deleted from the history, so he let him live to be an example of why you wouldn''t scheme against him.


    He also forbids them from giving Xu Fen any kind of help and if he were to find out they did, he would make them wish for death.


    After that Xu Fen had to find food by himself and at the age of 8 he was all by himself. He did what he had to do to survive and after he was more mature to understand things, he left the family to find his own way.


    Nobody stopped him because everyone looked at him as a reminder of those days and wished for him to die but couldn''t act on it because that was against the young master''s will.


    If he was to disappear by himself that would be for the best. Also, they could be sure that he would die because how can a 10-year-old survive in that desert.


    Against all odds, he somehow survived and cultivated so much so that now he is a disciple of the heavenly sword sect.


    In the sect, he goes by the name Jin Fen. Jin was his mother''s last name.


    ��


    ''Damn��'' I thought.


    That was a hell of a back-story. I won''t even ask how the fuck did uncle Aram find all of these out. If I ask him he would flex about his organization again.


    That young master was a piece of shit for real. Well, he would get his retribution soon enough from Jin Fen if he is the MC.


    Now I have to find out what makes Jin Fen special. How did he get to where he is in 5 short years��

 Chapter 30: Junior sister

    ''Damn��'' I thought.


    That was a hell of a back-story. I won''t even ask how the fuck did uncle Aram find all of these out. If I ask him he would flex about his organization again.


    That young master was a piece of shit for real. Well, he would get his retribution soon enough from Jin Fen if he is the MC.


    Now I have to find out what makes Jin Fen special. How did he get to where he is in 5 short years��


    That aside, although my interaction with him was not long but he was too prideful for someone who had such a life.


    There are two possibilities for his actions at that time in my eyes. One is that he saw his mother in Lai Xinyue and the big bad young master in me and as a result shouted ''stop'' unconsciously.


    This option could not be true in my opinion, why? Well, his prideful act after his shout was not of someone who had just remembered a traumatizing memory so I think it is safe to say that this is not the correct reason for his action.


    The other thing that I can think of is the so-called protagonist halo. No, I don''t think he has a halo or something, I''m just using the metaphor. What I mean is that he is prideful because of what he has as his cheat or fruitful encounter. He was no one when he was in the Xu family and now he is a disciple of the heavenly sword sect. That speaks of his rapid growth in the past years and I think this is the root of his pride.


    He thinks that he is the best talent that the world has ever seen and because of whatever power/item/old ghost he has, he believes himself to be destined for greatness but it can all end in a tragedy of a young genius withering too soon.


    I think that this is a more probable option. Which child of the plane is not prideful? For all I know he has some powerful thing that can mask him even from the [Peeping eye of heaven] so I can''t take his luck in life lightly. Well, maybe except when he was 8 years old but that is not the point.


    Nodding to myself I was going to go back to my relaxation and meditation to solidify my realm that my communication device glowed, unfortunately, they do not vibrate here. Maybe I can ask for a custom one with vibration, that would be the best.


    I come back from my thought when the communication device glowed again. Taking it into my hands I looked at the caller''s formation to see who is it. To my shock it was myself.


    ''What the�� oh! I see��'' I was thinking of schemes that could be in play when I finally remembered that I gave one of my spare communication devices to Lai Xinyue.


    "Yes." Answering the call I spoke.


    "Senior brother it''s me, Lai Xinyue." She told me in answer.


    "How are you, junior sister? Is everything fine?" I asked her just to be polite.


    "I am fine, yes thank you. I wanted to ask you if you could come to see my fight." She got straight to the point.


    Man, I love this straightforwardness in a phone call. I had so many occasions in my past life that an acquaintance would call me and after half an hour of asking bullshit about my life or telling me about theirs, they would get to the point that they needed something from me.


    Would it kill them to say it from the start? Just thinking about it irritates me.


    As I was remembering my past there was a moment of silence and Lai Xinyue thought I was going to tell her I do not want to come, so she hurriedly added.


    "I just wanted to show senior brother my improvements in the past days��" she told me with a stoic voice. If I didn''t know her better, I would think that she is saying ''I''m inviting you but I don''t give a fuck if you come or not''. Thankfully I know her way of speech so I wasn''t bothered by it.


    "Sure, I am free today. What is this fight about?" I shrugged mentally and asked her.


    "It is for the selection of the [Eternal wail trial]." She answered.


    "I see. Where are they doing these selections?" I asked her for the location.


    "Because all the disciples are permitted to participate in it, the selection is on the Sword Valley." She answered back.


    It seems the sect is using these spars as a show of unity in the sect. Choosing a place like the Sword valley, as a historical ground of the sect would ignite a sense of pride in the disciples and would unite them to be better and do bigger for the sect. A pretty useful strategy if I say so myself.


    "I see. When is your fight, junior sister?" I asked her. I didn''t want to see every fight on the first day of the competition where there are many disciples and so many fights when I can laze around for once.


    "In 15 minutes." She told me.


    I was lost for words for a moment. There is almost no time left as it seems.


    "Junior sister, why did you call me this late then?" I couldn''t stop myself from asking her. I mean she could have told me much sooner��


    "��I was contemplating to call senior brother or not, and also I thought if you don''t want to come I could tell myself that there was not enough time for senior brother to come here��" she told me.


    "Well�� that was quite some thinking process there��" I muttered. I didn''t even think about her mind working in this way. It seems that she might be idolizing me.


    "Alright, I''ll be there in less than fifteen minutes." I told her and ended the call after that.


    Putting on a clean robe, I walked out of my courtyard and headed toward the nearest teleportation formation.


    There are many teleportation stations in the sect that could teleport you to the different parts of the sect very fast and everybody can use them for free. But there is a catch, you have to power up the formation yourself, meaning that you have to use spirit stones to activate them.


    Well, that is really negligible for my pockets so I don''t have any problems with that.


    Getting into the formation I tossed a low-grade spirit stone into the designated place and the formation glowed and on the next second, I was on the other side of the formation.


    Teleporting is different from what I know about it in novels. It is not nauseating as I had read, it is like getting shrunk into almost nothing and getting back to your real size.


    Well, to be honest, some might find it nauseating so I can''t be sure.


    Anyway, I walked to the competition grounds and tried to locate Lai Xinyue. I come here in just five minutes so I had enough time. Well, my chief disciple robes would help her to find me at least.


    After a few minutes of walking around, a voice called out to me.


    "Senior brother."


    As I know the owner of that voice I turned to face her.


    "Junior sister." I greeted her.

 Chapter 31: The opening

    I walked to the competition grounds and tried to locate Lai Xinyue. I come here in just five minutes so I had enough time. Well, my chief disciple robes would help her to find me at least.


    After a few minutes of walking around, a voice called out to me.


    "Senior brother."


    As I know the owner of that voice I turned to face her.


    "Junior sister." I greeted her with a nod.


    "So, who are you going to fight?" I asked her. I wanted to see how was her luck in this competition.


    "I am fighting a true disciple from the core court." She told me with a stoic face.


    ''Well, her luck is shit��'' I thought to myself. To fight a true disciple right of the bat could only be described as bad luck.


    "Well, that would probably be an intense fight. I''m looking forward to it." I told her with a business smile on my face.


    It is not like I don''t give a shit about her fight but it is more like that I don''t want to give her the wrong impression that I am overly excited and invested in it. This is the easiest way to show her that on which level of closeness we are.


    If I reacted to her the same way that I react to Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing that would be plain stupid so yeah��


    "Yes, I will be going to go to the sparring stage now." She gave me a nod and went toward the stage where her fight was going to happen.


    As she went on her own was, I too found a good location to watch the spar. I wished that I had some beer to drink while watching the fight, I mean sports and beer just went together by default, especially if it is a sport that involves fighting.


    But I had to keep my image as the young master of the sect so I couldn''t do that even if I had the beer, or so I consulted myself.


    As my hands were itching to get some popcorn at least, the contestants of this fight went on the stage.


    On one side was Lai Xinyue and on the other side was a dude with short spiky brown hair, with one short lock of hair behind his head, and light brown eyes. His looks were kind of ordinary. He comes to the stage with a sly smile on his face.


    ''What is with that dude?'' I thought.


    One elder got to the stage and spoke to the two sides.


    "I would be the referee for this match." The elder told them.


    Taking a closer look the elder seems familiar. In a second I remember him, he was the elder that let me cut the line in the sparring grounds of the outer court.


    He is a good man in my book. As he was looking around the crowd he saw me and cupped his fists and I cupped my fists back.


    I would normally only nod as an answer but for one this is a very public place with all the young geniuses of the sect so if I only nod that would be interpreted as me having no respect for my elders or some other bullshit, on the other side this dude saved my time on that time by letting me cut the line legitimately so this is the least I could do.


    The reality of being in a cultivation world hits you when you are thinking about the implications of you giving a simple greeting to someone.


    After our short interaction, the referee turned to the two disciples on the stage and spoke.


    "Introduce yourselves." He said.


    "I am true disciple Han Qiang." The spiky boy introduced himself proudly.


    "Outer disciple, Lai Xinyue." Lai Xinyue followed up.


    You could see a sneer on Han Qiang''s face at the mention of Lai Xinyue being an outer disciple.


    When I saw it, I couldn''t help myself but grin.


    ''Oh boy, you are going to get fucked.'' I was very, very eagerly looking forward to the fight now.


    "The fight will go on until one of you is deemed unable to continue or forfeit, do you understand?" The elder asked to both sides.


    They both nodded to his words.


    "You can begin now." The elder told them and backed away from the stage.


    As soon as the elder backed away, Han Qiang spoke to Lai Xinyue.


    "Junior sister, I will give you the chance to forfeit now before it is too late." He spoke as smugly as he could.


    Lai Xinyue looked at him weirdly.


    "Didn''t you hear the rules? I can forfeit anytime that I want, as long as the fight is continuing it is not late." She told him as if instructing a child.


    Circulating my Qi I stopped myself from laughing but others didn''t and Han Qiang got red on the stage.


    "You dare to mock me, a true disciple?" he asked through clenched teethes.


    Lai Xinyue looked at him with her emotionless face.


    "You misunderstood. I didn''t say you have low intelligence, I thought that you forgot the rules." She said.


    ''i''m sure that this is not how you clear a misunderstanding.'' i thought.


    Han Qiang was so angry that I could assure you that his blood pressure had no way to go any higher.


    "Enough. We will fight." Han Qiang had enough and attacked Lai Xinyue.


    To my surprise, Lai Xinyue didn''t even unsheathe her sword.


    She easily sidestepped Han Qiang''s first attack. Han Qiang who was shocked got angrier by Lai Xinyue''s nonchalant attitude and attacked with reckless abandon.


    This was what Lai Xinyue was looking for, with a swift action she unsheathed her sword and attacked at Han Qiang''s opening.


    Unfortunately for Han Qiang, that opening was between his legs. Before he could react to this new development and change the trajectory of the attack with his sword, he was hit, and oh boy let me tell you, he was hit hard.


    As all the male disciples shivered from this display, Han Qiang had lost consciousness after he was hit in the family jewels.


    When you think your opponent is trash, you are prone to make stupid mistakes like this.


    As we were giving a silent prayer to this man the referee came back to the stage.


    "As you can see, disciple Han Qiang is unable to continue the fight and so, disciple Lai Xinyue would go to the next round." The elder told the crowd.


    After that, there were other fights and Lai Xinyue fought two more times and won to go to the final round that would be held tomorrow in the style of the ten throne selection.


    With this, I was pretty sure that Lai Xinyue would be on the trial grounds so after a quick congratulation to Lai Xinyue I got back to my courtyard.


    I have to be prepared for the trials so that I can gain good results there or at least gain a sufficient amount of loot from there.


    As I thought about these things, I start my meditation to ease my mind more.

 Chapter 32: Grand elder Wan

    Day passed by me meditating and soon it was the second day of the sect''s selection trial, which means that today we are going to have 98 places for the other disciples.


    Why 98 when we have 100 places In total? Because there are two chief disciples participating in the eternal wail trial so they are automatically qualified to go to the final round so the others are going to fight for the remaining positions. I say ''they'' but in reality, I''m talking about Hu Anjing and myself.


    We don''t have to fight in this round and Hu Anjing is probably training for the main event and won''t come to see the selection, but I have my own reasons to check these fights.


    One reason is to simply see who I would be facing in the final round but that is not my main reason. I want to see if Jin Fen would show some of his powers so that I can be ready for him, he might be just trying to cultivate and I won''t be that petty to kill him just so that I think he might be a danger, but I have to be ready for any possibilities.


    If today I can get a better grasp of his power and personality I can be more certain of my future so wasting my time for today''s competition is more of an investment that I can be sure about its positive outcome.


    Getting out of my room I didn''t go on with my usual daily plans and went straight to the sword valley to see the competition.


    Going through the same route, I used the teleportation station to get there. Teleporting is a good way to avoid unnecessary social interactions.


    As I arrived at the sword valley and the location of the selection, I saw that the decoration has changed drastically.


    There were 100 thrones on the stage that represents the 100 final places with two of them having a sword on top of them. This is probably to show that this seat is already taken.


    There was a total of 200 participants for today and only less than a half of them would get the chance to see the [Eternal Wail Chasm].


    Looking around I could see all kinds of disciples in the mix. Some from the outer court, some from the inner court, and to no one''s surprise most from the core court. In fact, it could be said that seeing disciples from the outer courts here, shows that they have immense potential for teaching and being future pillars of the sect.


    As I was thinking with my business mindset to maximize the sect''s gains, a group of elders walk to the stage.


    All of them were walking at least a step behind the one leading them as a sign of reverence for the leading elder.


    The elder who was in front was none other than grand elder Wan. He is one of the top elders of the sect and is from an older generation even compared to my grandfather who has lived for 674 years already.


    (A/N: if you have forgotten, "Chu Feng" was the great-grandchild of grand elder Wan��)


    Even from this much information, you can see that the importance of this event is very high in the eyes of the sect and even a grand elder showed up to supervise this event.


    The sect is showing a big favor to the young disciples who are here, by letting them meet one of the grand elders.


    This is a good method to give them one more push to be more hardworking and gain a sense of pride that a big shot like grand elder Wan is giving them face by showing up here.


    When grand elder Wan stopped on the stage and looked at the crowd, there was no one that uttered a word for a few seconds.


    As grand elder Wan was scanning the crowd, he saw me and gave me a smile and i gave him a small bow to show my respect.


    After a few more seconds the disciples were coming back to their senses. They immediately cupped their fist and greeted the grand elder.


    ""Disciple greets the grand elder."" We all said in unison.


    There was no one who didn''t greet the grand elder, this shows how much respect there is for the position of grand elder in the heart of the disciples.


    Grand elder wan smiled amiably to the disciples.


    "Today we are having a selection on the 100 places that would go to the eternal wail chasm to compete for the final 10 quota that the sect has for the eternal wail trial." He spoke to all of the participants.


    "Two places are filled from the start because we have two core disciples that are qualified to go to the trials. you can not challenge them on this round but on the finals, you are free to do so." As he was saying this, he looked at me.


    "At the start we would fill the 98 places by luck. After that, you are free to challenge for the seats, but keep it in mind that if you lose a challenge as the challenger you have to wait at the end of the queue for your turn to challenge again so choose your opponent wisely." He continued with his explanation.


    "Now, let us see who are the 98 disciples who have the fate with them this time." He waved his hand and 98 nameplates were chosen from all of the names.


    After that with another wave of his hand, grand elder Wan sent the nameplates to the disciples. It seems these plates had the corresponding disciple''s Qi, so grand elder Wan could easily find its owner and send these plates to them.


    Evidently, Lai Xinyue was one of the lucky ones. As I looked around I found Jin Fen and he seems to be unlucky and didn''t get a head start so he had to challenge for a seat.


    After everyone who was given their nameplate got on the stage, grand elder Wan spoke again.


    "Now you can choose the one you want to challenge and get in line for the challenge. Keep this in mind that you are challenging for the seat so even if the owner of the seat changes, you are still on the queue of that seat challengers��" he clarified for the disciples.


    As he finished speaking he gestured to the other elders to continue the selection process. The disciples also started choosing their opponent to fight.


    As Lai Xinyue had a small frame, many who didn''t see her fights on last round chose her to fight and without exception, they lost. Even I won against her with a bit of complication.


    The fights were going on and after half a day (A/N: a metaphor for a long time) Jin Fen choose someone to fight and that was to fight one of the core disciples that no one had challenged until now.


    This core disciple is named Dai Bao. He is one of the influential disciples of the sect and some even consider him a good candidate for the patriarch position. This means that he is kind of my rival��


    But the fun part is that Jin Fen had the balls to challenge him when no one challenged him from the beginning.


    ''Ah, so this is how I protagonist would act. I have a long way to go��'' I thought to myself.


    When Dai Bao heard that he had a challenger he only smirked at the foolishness of the challenger to choose him.


    And Jin Fen on the other hand was waiting in the queue to fight on a free stage.


    ''This is going to be fun��'' for some reason that I didn''t know myself I was rooting for Jin Fen. I mean this is always fun to cheer for the underdog, right?

 Chapter 33: Jin Fen’s power

    When Dai Bao heard that he had a challenger he only smirked at the foolishness of the challenger to choose him.


    And Jin Fen on the other hand was waiting in the queue to fight on a free stage.


    ''This is going to be fun��'' for some reason that I didn''t know myself I was rooting for Jin Fen. I mean this is always fun to cheer for the underdog, right?


    More time passed and Li Huang was waiting in anticipation. This fight could be the start of Jin Fen''s ''arc'' against the heavenly sword sect. Somebody would do something and Jin Fen gets a set back so he thinks that all the sect members are pieces of shit or something.


    ''This is how it went on the novels, right?'' Li Huang thought with a pondering look on his face.


    ''Let''s just wait and see��'' Li Huang shrugged.


    After a few more minutes one of the stages got empty and it was Dai Bao and Jin Fen turns to fight for the seat.


    Just as they got on the stage the trash talk started. But Dai Bao was not the one who started it but one of his lackeys.


    "An outer court disciple dares to challenge young master Dai Bao! You better kowtow and plead for mercy." The lackey snickered.


    Jin Fen didn''t even look at the lackey and looked straight at Dai Bao who was in front of him.


    "Even a dog acts fierce when his Master is present��" He nonchalantly told Dai Bao.


    If you looked carefully you could see Dai Bao''s eyebrow twitch.


    "Are you here to fight or to talk nonsense?" Dai Bao talked back dismissively.


    "Good that you want to fight, I am a bit tired so I would be seating after this." Jin Fen told Dai Bao with a smirk.


    This was a blatant hint to the throne that Dai Bao was occupying. What he said could be interpreted to him saying that he would be winning this fight and after that he would be seating for a while because no one would be able to win against him to replace him on that seat.


    This didn''t go unnoticed by Dai Bao and his face twisted in anger. No one had ever disrespected him in this way so he easily lost control of his emotion and his emotions showed on his face.


    "Good, good, good. You talk big but let me see if you have any qualifications to talk nonsense this much." Dai Bao said with a visible frown on his face.


    They didn''t waste any more time and attacked at the same time.


    From what I know Dai Bao is on the second stage of the meridian formation realm with 10 of 12 meridians unlocked in the first stage. This shows he is talented but it also has to be said that unlocking meridians in lower stages is easier but none the less it is a great feat.


    Dai Bao slashed his sword at Jin Fen''s face without a care for the latter''s safety.


    Jin Fen used the side of his sword to parry Dai Bao''s attack and with the gained momentum tried to land an attack of his own.


    As the swords were sparking in contact with each other, Jin Fen continued moving his sword toward the hilt of Dai Bao''s sword to land an unexpected attack on Dai Bao.


    But Dai Bao was one of the best core disciples of this generation so how can he not see what Jin Fen was trying to achieve. He has trained for fights like this for as long as he could remember so this was nothing for him.


    Raising his leg, Dai Bao kicked Jin Fen on the chest, and Jin Fen flew backward and hit the ground on the edge of the stage. If he was thrown out of the stage he would lose automatically so it was a good thing for him, or so you would have thought.


    Getting himself in front of Jin Fen who was trying to get up from where he landed, Dai Bao looked down at him.


    "Do not worry, I controlled my power so that you won''t be thrown out of the stage so soon." Dai Bao smiled evilly.


    "That wouldn''t be fun, don''t you agree?" Dai Bao''s smile grows wider.


    After a few more tries, Jin Fen was able to stand up.


    "Is this how you should be talking to your grandfather?" Jin Fen also smiled, but his smile was more terrifying because his teethes were all bloody so he looked like a demon.


    ''Damn, he used the grandfather line!'' Li Huang thought to himself while eating some dried fruits.


    Dai Bao who saw the smug look on Jin Fen''s face got angrier and got ready to attack ''this trash'' again.


    This time Dai Bao didn''t bother with techniques or whatnot, he lifted Jin Fen from his collar and throw him to the opposite side of the arena.


    Jin Fen who had hardly stood up had no chance to counter this attack and without any sign of resistance hit the stage on the other side.


    When Jin Fen''s whole body was in pain, Dai Bao was walking leisurely toward him.


    "What happened? You were talking about me having dogs, but you are not even qualified to be this young master''s dog." Dai Bao spoke while opening his arms to show that he is wide open to receive an attack.


    After that, you could see Jin Fen getting up with more difficulty than before.


    But on his face instead of despair was�� a smile.


    Yes, a wide smile.


    When everyone was following the fight with eyes that would say that this fight is already decided, Li Huang on other hand was watching with eyes full of stars.


    ''This must be the moment. It has to be!'' Li Huang thought.


    "Let me end this fight then." Jin Fen said while wiping his bloody mouth with his sleeves.


    Dai Bao was confused by this development. You can say that he didn''t expect this so he had nothing ready in his mind to answer this.


    Before Dai Bao could think of some cool line to answer, Jin Fen continued.


    "Evil God transformation, the First form." Jin Fen only mumbled, but Li Huang heard him clearly because he had all of his focus on him.


    "You would be on a bed lying down after this, so I would be taking the seat." Jin Fen arrogantly declared.


    Just as Jin Fen finished speaking you could feel a powerful energy forming and gathering inside him very fast.


    Dai Bao who was the one who was the closest person to this phenomenon know that if he doesn''t do anything now, he would be the one losing so he acted fast and attacked Jin Fen.


    But alas, it was late and Jin Fen had gathered enough energy.


    With just a punch Dai Bao was shot out of the stage and lost the fight.


    The spectators were in awe of this result. Jin Fen on other hand went to his seat and sat down. He took a glance at Lai Xinyue on the way.


    This didn''t go unnoticed by Li Huang who was looking at Jin Fen but he didn''t see that Lai Xinyue was sneaking a glance at himself.


    "This was a clear example of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger." One of the disciples of the crowd blurted out.

 Chapter 34: End of the selection

    ''Pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger?'' I smirked.


    ''Or a pig with cheat skill?'' I thought. I mean he was nothing much before he used that skill.


    The [Evil God transformation], when he used it his power skyrocketed and Jin Fen was able to finish Dai Bao in a single move and secure a seat for himself.


    So when he was in the Resha he had his lucky encounter and found this technique which let him gain a temporary power-up. Well, all I can say is about its first form that he showed in this fight so there might be other forms in this technique that have different effects.


    In my memories (or you can say Li Huang''s) I didn''t see any sign of this technique, and without reading it I can not see the level of this martial arts with [Peeping eye of heaven], because the peeping eye of heaven is an analyzing tool so I can''t say for sure, but from what i saw from the fight, I can say that it is at least an earth grade martial art.


    The martial arts in this world have five major grades; lower, middle, upper, earth, and heaven. Each of them has ranks of 1 to 9. Obviously, the higher the grade and rank, the better the martial art is.


    For example, my sword art, [Eclipse Devourer Sword Art] is a 9th rank earth-grade martial art. Keep that in mind that this is one of the main and best martial arts in the sect, and the heavenly sword sect is one of the seven holy lands so it shows the level of martial arts in the world.


    For a kingdom''s royal family having an upper-grade martial art is a must so that they can govern the land, but usually they don''t have higher techniques, why? Because the higher powers would snatch it away one way or another. It is on a level that if they have found an earth grade technique they would present it to a holy land for some favors rather than keeping it and facing the problem that comes with it.


    So Jin Fen having a technique that is an earth-grade technique is really shocking and if people know about it he would be ''persuaded'' to part with it��


    But detecting an earth-grade technique just from its first form is not easy and if I didn''t have the peeping eye of the heaven in my arsenal, I would be also in dark about it. The easiest way to find out that a technique is on which level is to read its manual, as easy as that.


    Well, the problem here is that neither Jin Fen would willingly give the manual away nor the elders stoop so low to ask a junior to give out his martial art manual.


    So I think for some time no one would figure out that he has such a method. Lucky him, I guess��


    But there is something that shouldn''t be left aside. If he had this technique from the start why in the seven hells he didn''t use it from the start? Wouldn''t that be a better ''slapping the young master'' episode?


    I have thought about it deep�� as deep as you can in ten minutes but that''s not important. I think there are two possibilities for this.


    First, he is a masochist so he endured this beating because it was enjoyable for him or something? But this is not very plausible. True, most of the MCs in Chinese novels have masochistic tendencies in training but they would fight with all they got and are too prideful to let themselves get beaten to the mud.


    Their family might have left them and they have no backing but they are somehow still prideful and won''t let an opponent trample on them so this possibility couldn''t be further from the truth.


    So it has to be something beyond that. Something that needs him to stall for time��


    You might say that this method probably needs some time to be charged or whatever you want to call it, so he had to face the beatings as he had no other options other than waiting.


    But this just shows that your IQ is lower than 70. For the technique to activate you need the chant so it can not be that he was waiting for the technique to ''charge'' because he chanted the chant right before using it.


    So it only leaves us with one obvious reason. He had to be beaten for the technique.


    What I have come up with is that this technique probably needs you to either get beaten so much that a certain level of internal and external injuries was sustained, or you need to have a certain level of blood loss for it to activate.


    Both are possible, but from what I saw none of them can be ''the one'' with certainty. So I have to keep them both in mind. In case that I fought with him, I can put this theory to the test.


    The fight analytics are done and now I can think about the other thing that came up after the fight.


    The sneaky glances of Jin Fen toward Lai Xinyue and him shouting ''STOP'' at that time couldn''t be a coincidence. The fact that he is looking out for her, if you can even call it that, shows that there is a story behind it.


    What I can be sure of is that Lai Xinyue has nothing to do with it. So what I think is that she resembles someone to Jin Fen and so he has this attraction toward her. If you look at it this way, his reaction to my spar with Lai Xinyue would make sense.


    The fact that he unconsciously moved to ''save'' her and shouted STOP shows that he was not in the best state in terms of his mental state at that time.


    I have to check this to be sure about it. This might come in handy in the future.


    I couldn''t help but grin at the prospect of using this to my advantage.


    As I was using my paranoia to solve some questions that popped into my mind the selection continued.


    Dai Bao who had lost his seat and was injured, used some pills and came back to take a seat for himself after half an hour.


    Unfortunately for him, he can''t challenge for his seat as the rules don''t allow it. According to the rules, if you lose a seat, you have lost it forever so you have to challenge other seats.


    This rule is to stop disciples from forming enmities between each other by forbidding them from challenging their lost seats. Well, from the looks that Dai Bao is giving Jin Fen I don''t think that it worked, at least this time��


    On the other hand, his pride as a ''young master'' wouldn''t let him to send one of his lackeys to beat Jin Fen. well, i think he doesn''t want to lose face by doing so...


    Dai Bao went and challenged another disciple and won easily this time. I think if he didn''t underestimate Jin Fen the result would be in his favor last time too.


    Anyway, he won and soon after the selection was finished and all of the 98 seats were selected and we had to go to the [Eternal Wail Chasm] tomorrow.


    Dai Bao, Jin Fen, and Lai Xinyue kept their seats and went to the final round.


    The competition there would be something to look forward to. The other powerhouses in the continent are there too so you can say that this is the biggest gathering of the young generation��

 Chapter 35: Hidden delight

    (A/N: thank you for the gifts: Eroos and akserhy.


    By the way, if you haven''t already, give the novel a review. You can always write a new one in the future if you think that the rating should be changed or if you need the XP.


    Anyway thank you for all the support, go ahead and read the story��)


    ����


    The rest of the day passed in relative quiet. I went back to my room and well, wasted my time doing absolutely nothing of importance. What I did was to write all of the plots that I remembered from the novels that I have read in the past. Who knows, they might come in handy one day.


    For your interest, I didn''t write them in English like an idiot. Why? What if another person from earth finds my notes? Isn''t it the same as me drawing a target on my face? That is just plain stupid.


    So I did what a true intellectual would do.


    I wrote all of my notes in Galactic Basic. If you don''t know, Galactic Basic is the most prevalent language of the Star Wars.


    Don''t look at me with your judgmental eyes. This was from a time that I was young and needed a way to hide my written thoughts from my parents so this was the best alternative that I came up with at the time.


    Say anything you want, no one is going to know it even if they are reincarnated/transmigrated here. The chances of a star wars fan who knows Galactic Basic to reincarnate in a cultivation world is so negligible that I would take my chances with this one��


    You can argue that ''aren''t you a star wars fan tho?''. Well, I have no answer to that so yeah, the weather is nice today��


    Anyway, the day passed and we had to gather to go to the [Eternal Wail Chasm].


    The place for this gathering is in front of the sect''s entrance.


    As I have said before, flying in the starting part of the sect''s entry is forbidden because the sect''s founding ancestors walked this path so this has a symbolic meaning to it. Because of this, when there is a big gathering that needs a big transport, it would take place outside of the sect as to not disrespect the founding ancestors.


    I have always liked a walk so I have no problem with this situation, but it might not be the same with others.


    If the huffing and puffing that I hear around me could be considered an indication, I can be sure that some don''t like it.


    Well, I can''t blame them. I mean not only us 100 selected have to get there but there are also other disciples who are walking toward the same destination as us, some for sightseeing, some for wishing luck for their lovers or masters��


    All of a sudden I could see my surroundings clear a bit, I thought my young master halo finally worked and they put some distance so that they would not disrespect me or something.


    As I was basking in my young master privileges, I missed a crucial fact.


    That fact was ''But why would they do it suddenly?''.


    Just as this thought was surfacing in my mind, It didn''t get the chance to be processed and i was hugged.


    I didn''t even need to look to find out who was the assailant. Well, I have to add the fact that I couldn''t look if I wanted to because I was pressed against the assailant''s boobs.


    Who was it? Well, who could it be other than Hu Anjing?


    This development could lead to many protagonists getting a nose bleed but thankfully I had my fair share of experience so this much was not a problem for me and my little brother was relatively calm.


    After a few seconds, I could see the hands around my head loosening.


    Reluctantly I parted with those pair of firm cushions, but I had no other options.


    What? I said I had experience, but I didn''t say that I was a eunuch.


    As I looked at Hu Anjing I could see her glaring at other disciples so that they don''t dare look at us.


    Sensing my look on her she turned to me with a mischievous smile.


    "How are you junior uncle?" she asked with expectation evident in her eyes.


    "Well, with that kind of greeting I have to say I am feeling pretty good," I told her and turned around.


    "But, I can''t say the same for others��" I looked at other disciples.


    The male disciples were red, either because they were angry that I got Hu Anjing ''all for myself'' or they were ashamed of this intimate gesture.


    The female disciples were the same with one difference. The angry ones were angry at Hu Anjing for ''hoarding young master Li'' all for herself.


    Well, except Lai Xinyue who was looking with no emotion on her face, and Jin Fen who was looking at Lai Xinyue''s reaction.


    ''As expected of them��'' I thought and mentally shrugged.


    Hu Anjing who looked at the disciples only smirked as a response. Without any hesitation she took my hand we walked toward the sect''s entrance.


    I just looked at her with an amused look on my face.


    "You know that taking my hand in public would create some rumors, right?" I asked her. I don''t care about it but the society in a cultivation world is like this. Even the smallest intimate gestures between husband and wife shouldn''t be done in public.


    Well, I might have been a little too harsh, but the reality is that the physical touches are something that at the very least start rumors.


    Hu Anjing looked at me and spoke with her usual attitude.


    "What rumors can be about a niece and her uncle?" she had her grin on her face as she got closer to me.


    ''Oh, my poor Hu Anjing. Thank god you don''t know about the Internet and its dark sides��'' I thought.


    "But we are not ''a niece and her uncle'' we are ''a martial niece and her martial uncle''��" I tried to reason with her although I know it was a futile effort.


    "It''s okay, what is the worst that can happen." Hu Anjing told me dismissively.


    I was thinking about it for a little and couldn''t help but to agree with her.


    "True." I nodded to her words.


    We walked and soon we reached the entrance of the sect. Outside you could see some elders waiting and as I thought grand elder Wan was also standing there.


    As this is a gathering of the seven holy lands, they have to send someone important to show their superiority to each other and other smaller powerhouses.


    As the 100 selected disciples got out of the sect and the other disciples waited inside the sect, all of the disciples cupped their fists and greeted the grand elder Wan, after a nod grand elder Wan spoke to the disciples.


    "I hope you had a pleasant rest last night." He smiled amiably.


    After a few seconds, he continued.


    "As the distance is not very close, we would have to go today to be there the next day, so we will be using a flying treasure." As he said that he materialized a flying treasure from his storage pouch.


    Why do I say from his storage pouch instead of his storage ring? Because this thing is huge as fuck!


    It is not a flying treasure, it is a flying fortress.


    It was built in the style of Chinese ships. The closest thing to this is Zheng He''s flagship. it was very big and luxurious. the ship masts were in the form of a sword and that created a nice view.


    Seeing this ship even my jaw almost dropped. The style and the side aside, How did they make this huge ass ship fly? The formations that were worked in it were a work of art without a doubt and the spirit stones that were used in it had to sum up to an astronomical amount.


    This is clearly in overkill for transporting 100 disciples and 20 elders but one can see that this is a power move from the sect to the others in these trials.


    My mortal self couldn''t comprehend this level of flexing until I remembered that back in my past life it was the same if we exclude the Qi.


    As my mind was on the loading screen, the grand elder pointed to the ship and spoke.


    "This is one of the sect''s flying treasures, Yin Xi." He spoke with a small smile. It was obvious to him that we were awed by this ship.


    When I heard the name I got out of my stupor and the corners of my mouth twitched. (A/N: Yin Xi here means hidden delight.)


    ''Yin Xi? Really? Which part of it looks like a hidden delight? How the hell can you even hide it?'' I grumbled to myself about its creator''s naming sense.

 Chapter 36: Bijouterie

    Well, no one can fault me for trashing this flying treasure''s creator for his naming sense. I mean why would you name it this way it''s not lik��


    Suddenly I remembered the last time that I was trashing this hard. It was that time on ''Chu Feng'' topic and the poor naming sense of authors. That was when karma revealed itself and shat on me...


    I shouldn''t be haste in trash talk, who knows it might have some cloaking technology that I''m not aware of and with that, the name of the ship makes total sense.


    As always I was drowning in my own thoughts when grand elder Wan''s voice brought me back to reality.


    "This flying treasure, Yin Xi, is one of the smallest ships on the sect so it is a good choice for this journey." Grand elder Wan said and from his face, it was clear that he was enjoying the flabbergasted expressions that disciples had.


    It wasn''t only us 100 disciples. The others who had followed us to the sect''s entrance were also shell-shocked.


    ''Damn, he is flexing on us!'' I know the sect was powerful and all but I couldn''t even imagine that this behemoth was ''one of the smallest ships on the sect''. If this is small what is my flying treasure? A pocket-flying-treasure?


    Grand elder Wan who was enjoying the reactions that he was receiving, didn''t stop there.


    "As this flying treasure has some defensive formation to stop others from entering it without authorization and the fact that you can not fly, we will be using this to enter the ship." As he spoke he channeled some Qi into a device that was in his left hand, and after a second a portal formed in front of him.


    Portals are a form of one-way teleportation, meaning that when you enter them you would exit on a predefined teleportation formation that is the exit node. If you want to have two-way teleportation with the portals, you would have to create two separate exit nodes with two corresponding portals.


    But the most important fact about portals is that they are a temporary method of transportation, meaning that after its creation if its Qi were to be used or enough time passes for its Qi to be slowly dissipated, the portal would be destabilized and the portal is no more.


    Using this method is very useful in situations like this one. You can open a temporary ''door'' to a place and if you have a good level of experience as grand elder Wan, you know how much Qi to use for the portal to last only as long as you need it to be.


    As the disciples went through the portal one by one, it was my turn to go to the ship. After a small greeting to grand elder Wan, I used the portal.


    I cupped my fists and bowed a little and grand elder Wan smiled and nodded.


    In my past life, I always had problems with the MCs who didn''t give a shit about anyone and had a cliche line like ''I only bow to my parents'' or ''not even heavens can make me bow''. I mean is it that hard to not be a dick?


    In my book, respect should be earned and a grand elder who has seen the world time and time over at least deserves this much of respect from a nobody like me��


    The feeling of passing through the portal was new, to say the least. When I used the teleportation formation I felt my body compressing and decompressing fast but my experience with the portal was like passing a thick layer of liquid that applied some pressure to your body. I estimate that the pressure is variable to the distance of teleportation.


    After me, Hu Anjing went through the same process and we were both on the Yin Xi ship. The view from the top of the ship was beautiful. No, I''m not talking about the landscape, the ship itself was astonishing. The level of dedication that they put in its creation is praiseworthy.


    "This is hell of a ship��" I thought out loud.


    "It is." Hu Anjing seconded.


    Turning to her I spoke.


    "We have to get as ready as possible so remember to use multiple storage rings so that if one of them were to be lost or destroyed you wouldn''t face a big problem. Also, distribute your pills in each storage ring in equal portions, you don''t want to lose a ring and lose all your antidotes for example. Have one of each important potion or pill on your person, who knows there might be some sort of space lock in some stage��" I told Hu Anjing seriously. This girl is strong but you don''t know what could happen in the trial.


    Seeing my serious expression Hu Anjing nodded.


    "I will do as you say, Junior uncle." She answered me with the same level of seriousness.


    "Good, then we will talk more on the trial grounds." I smiled back at her and patted her shoulder.


    Call me paranoid for my advice, but you won''t believe the amount of the stories that I have read where the MC gets wrecked just because he had lost his storage ring or it was destroyed. There is also the possibility of a space lock formation that would stop one from accessing storage devices��


    Of course, I know that in the novels the author wanted to build tension and ''challenge'' the MC but I can''t hope for luck to be on my side when I can die in each one of these so-called challenges. This is my life now so I have to be vigilant.


    After we got to our rooms I started sorting my storage rings and I even added two storage pouches.


    Before you judge me, I have my reasons for using storage pouches. When you fight, the part that is the most prone to receive damage is your hands so the storage rings are created from more resistant materials, but that doesn''t mean they won''t break with enough force. So even if you have more storage rings, they might get destroyed all together so having storage pouches is a good assurance that in the worst case you have a way out.


    What if that was destroyed too? Well, in that case maybe you are destined to die��


    ��


    Night soon came and I was done with my fail-proof storage configuration. It''s all good and nice but having this many rings I feel like if I wanted I could publish my first album.


    Thankfully, I would only put them on in the trials so I don''t look like someone who looted corpses.


    Imagine walking around with 9 storage rings on your hands when people would only use one themselves. If you fill your storage ring you would buy a new one, you don''t stack them��


    So from this world''s perspective, I must have looted some poor bastards to have this many rings on me��


    And oh! If you wanted to ask, the answer is no, You can''t put a storage ring in a storage ring. From what I know doing so means putting a space inside another space that is theoretically impossible unless you access a hyperspace.


    In simpler terms, it''s not possible so don''t try it.


    Shaking my head to get rid of these useless thoughts I got out of my room to see the night''s sky.


    I have read it in many novels but seeing the nights sky in a world that the fossil fuels were not used as there was another alternative, is a luxury in itself.


    Now, as I stand on a ship that is flying, the passing stars are a sight to be seen.


    "Are you sightseeing, chief disciple Li?" a male voice from my right spoke.


    ''No, I was fishing.'' I badly wanted to roll my eyes but luckily stopped myself.


    Turning towards the voice I saw the outer elder who let me cut the line.


    ''Did I ask his name?'' I tried to remember his name but I couldn''t, all I remember of him is his face and the fact that he let me cut the line.


    Putting on my best business smile, I spoke.


    "Yes. What about you, elder?" I asked him.


    He chuckled a little.


    "Not exactly, I am looking to see if there would be any emergency." he answered.


    "I see, but I don''t think anyone would have the guts to attack a flying ship of the heavenly sword sect��" I shrugged.


    "True, but no amount of safety is safe enough." The elder told Li Huang with seriousness.


    After a few seconds of silence, I spoke.


    "Couldn''t have said it better myself." I nodded to him and started seeing him in a new light.


    It was at that moment that two extremely paranoid individuals found each other. This was one insignificant event if you look at it solely but it had a great impact on future events��

 Chapter 37: Three special seats

    We talked a little more and at the end of our small talk, the outer elder introduced himself as Zhong Zedong. To be honest it was getting a little awkward for me while talking and knowing that I don''t even know his name.


    Thankfully this awkward situation was fixed soon after and I asked outer elder Zhong Zedong about himself. Me and him both know that if I wanted to, I could easily find information about him but the fact that I asked him directly not only didn''t create any unease, it was received as a good sign by elder Zhong Zedong.


    Zhong Zedong is 36 years old and he is in the first stage of the golden core realm. He just recently was appointed as an outer elder but according to him he like his position.


    Well, being an elder of the heavenly sword sect at this young age is a good thing however you look at it��


    From what he told me is from the same generation of disciples as the matriarch, Yuan Jia. After he saw that he likes his environment in the sect, he applied for the position of outer elder so that he can ''start a new chapter in his life'' as he likes to call it.


    After that, we said our goodbyes, and I went back to my temporary room on the ship and spent the night meditating.


    I''m really grateful for the fact that I got the cultivation world mentality when my memories and Li Huang''s merged, otherwise I couldn''t just sit and meditate like it''s a normal thing to do.


    As the first rays of sunlight hit the ship, you could feel the speed of the flying treasure decrease slowly.


    Immediately, I put my chief disciple robes on and got ready to get off the ship.


    "Disciples should be on the deck in 5 minutes." At that moment, I heard grand elder Wan''s voice. It wasn''t loud or anything but I am sure that everyone else heard him without any problem.


    Getting to the deck I saw other disciples, nodding to Lai Xinyue who was looking at me I felt Hu Anjing nudging me.


    "Hm?" I looked at her.


    "Is it her?" She asked me.


    It took me a moment to get what she meant by that.


    "Oh right! Yes, she is the one that I think has good talent��" I answered her. I remembered that I had talked about Lai Xinyue to Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing but until now they don''t know her name as Yuan Jia wanted it to be a surprise or something.


    "You seem very fond of her, Junior uncle." Hu Anjing said with a smirk.


    I just rolled my eyes.


    "If just nodding to her means that I am fond of her, me and you should be considered married already." I retorted.


    Hu Anjing was taken aback for a moment but soon responded.


    "Than you have to take responsibility, junior uncle." She told me with puppy eyes.


    ''I should have known better to back and forth with this girl��'' I shook my head.


    "Sure." I told her dismissively.


    "For now put your mind on the trial." I added after a second.


    She nodded and we looked at the grand elder Wan who entered the deck right on time for the five-minute notice.


    After the pleasantries, the grand elder started speaking.


    "You are the geniuses among the geniuses. In the younger generation, you are the best that there is in our heavenly sword sect." Grand elder Wan started with some words of encouragement.


    "But you have to know that behind the mountain there are mountains. No matter how talented you are, there is always someone with more talent." He continued with humbling words.


    "In these final selections we would only choose 10 amongst you to represent the sect and be our face." He paused to let the weight of his words sink in.


    "So you have to try and grasp this opportunity not only for yourself but for the sect. But do not forget that right now, these selections are still inside of the sect, so I do not wish for any infighting��" After a few seconds, he continued.


    "In this final selection, you would fight based on the time that you got your seat. Meaning the first one who got a seat would fight against the last one who got a seat, and so on��" Grand elder Wan explained this round''s rules.


    "After that, we have 50 disciples who lost and 50 who won. The 50 who won would get to fight for the 10 thrones first and the 50 who lost would have to fight in a one against all setting, the final five of that fight would get to fight for the throne from the second day." He added.


    ''This would make the initial round the most important. If you lose the road ahead would not be an easy one to tread��'' I was pondering about the implications of this rule.


    ''On the other hand, if you can make teams in the battle royale round, that would be too easy.'' I thought.


    "There are some minor rules that I would explain when the time comes." He told us and I know that these rules are probably to counter some flaws which disciples would try to abuse.


    "For the winning team, you can sit on any seat that you want. If the space is empty you can get it without a fight. But keep it in mind that three seats are special." He held up three fingers.


    "There is the main seat. This seat represents the best of this generation and the disciple who gets this seat would be the leader in this trial. Well, I will tell you the exact details when you are the leader." Grand elder Wan smiled.


    "The other two seats would show the status of vice leader. As you might know, there is always the possibility of getting separated when you are in the trials so you can look up to the ones on these two seats for commands when the leader is not with you." He explained the reason for these seats'' existence.


    "I know this is soon to say but I want to know that I wouldn''t accept any of you dying in there, so make sure you don''t get too greedy." He sternly looked at each one of us.


    He let the silence resume for a while and then spoke again.


    "Good. Now we will get off the Yin Xi and we will have the first series of spars." He nodded and opened a portal.


    It was at this time that I know I was played.


    ''So I have to get this shitty leader seat because I am someone who is a candidate for the next patriarch position. Haaa, what a chore��'' I know this would be a pain in the ass but that sly old fox, grand elder Wan set me up for this.

 Chapter 38: Buxom lady

    Now that I got off the ship, my mind was free enough to look around. It was just now that I saw the other holy lands and smaller powers who were gathered here just like us.


    Do you still remember that I said we were flexing when we were using Yin Xi as our method of transportation? Well, looking at other sects I can tell you with certainty that my assumption was wrong.


    All of the other six holy lands have this kind of transports and it seems to be the normal thing here.


    All in all, I can say that it is a power move nonetheless.


    When I saw the smaller powerhouses and their flying treasures, I know that we had to use this kind of ship to at the very least show that we are a holy land. I mean you don''t expect that we would use a ship smaller than others, do you?


    The scene of all these sects and powerhouses gathering here is surreal. it is not everyday that you could see such a thing.


    The smaller powers were all gathered in a joint location and the seven holy lands each had a stage for themselves.


    The configuration of these stages was in a circular fashion. The reason behind it is very simple, this way others could see all of the trials from the center and didn''t need to move constantly.


    But don''t think that the seven holy lands did so to make it easier for the smaller powers to watch the fights. No, they did it only to see how many ''fans'' each one of them has and this way flex on each other again.


    The better environment to watch these fights is only a by-product of this mentality, not that I care too much either way��


    Looking around I could see the Divine arrow sect to our right and the White moon sect to our left. The Sky pillar sect was to the further right and the Temple of emptiness was to the further left of us. As for the Heaven reaching spear and the Blue bulls sect, they were in front of our stage.


    ''Thank god we are not close to those lunatics��'' I was relieved that the Blue bulls sect is as far as possible from us, otherwise, we were bound to have conflicts.


    ''Well, I think this much foresight is expected after 83 iterations of this trials��'' I mentally shrugged.


    As I was looking around, grand elder Wan was talking with elders (presumably also grand elders) from the Divine arrow sect and the White moon sect.


    We have very good relations with these two holy land so this is only natural. Thankfully I can rest assured that my grandmother isn''t here as no sect leader is here.


    All of a sudden grand elder Wan pointed at me and then the elder from the White looked at me and after a few seconds walked toward me.


    ''Fuck you elder Wan! What is it this time?'' this grand elder Wan is doing his all to put me on the spot.


    I mean I get that he wants to test me or something but I don''t think I am ready for my grandma. If I didn''t have to keep myself calm on the outside, I would have banged my head to a wall or something.


    After a few seconds, I focused on the elder who was coming toward me, I could see a buxom lady who looked in her late thirties.


    As I looked at her, I now know that all the talks about the beauties of the white moon sect not only were not exaggerated but didn''t do them justice.


    Of course, I didn''t look at her like a horny teenager, but for my trained eyes just a moment was enough to conclude that she is a solid 10.


    "So you are Yaner''s grandchild��" The voluptuous lady asked me while moving her eyes up and down like she was sizing me up.


    I was confused at first but soon it clicked inside my mind.


    ''Someone who calls my grandmother Yaner. This level of intimacy with the matriarch of the White moon sect, Shen Yan, shows that she has a high standing in their sect.'' I quickly know that she is definitely a grand elder.


    Without any hesitation, I cupped my fist and spoke.


    "Yes elder, you know my grandmother?" I asked her politely.


    She smiled at my response.


    "Well, she is my disciple." She casually answered.


    I couldn''t hide my shock that this sexy lady is my grandmother''s master.


    ''They say never judge a book by its cover but this is something else��'' I had an inner struggle with myself. On one side my dick was telling me that she is a 10 so there is nothing more to think about, but on the other side my mind was telling me to get a grip on my self and she is older than my grandma��


    Well, after a heated debate, I come to a conclusion. Because in this world cultivators age much longer and they can keep their youthful appearance, you can say that there is no problem with wooing her.


    Yes, this is definitely not an excuse.


    So without further ado, I tried to score some points with her.


    "Forgive my earlier rudeness, I thought you were one of the participants��" I said the second part with a smaller voice but know that she could easily hear me with her heightened senses.


    I wasn''t particularly rude but the fact that I waited for her to talk to me and then salute her could be seen as rudeness if you were to nitpick.


    Also, to be honest, I would have thought she was a participant if I didn''t see her talking to grand elder Wan, so it wasn''t a complete lie.


    This time she was shocked by my words and giggled softly behind her fan.


    As I said the second part in a lower voice she acted like she didn''t hear me.


    Tapping my forehead with her folding fan, she spoke to me.


    "Come to White moon sect when you got the time��" she said and went back.


    ''Well, I would have to go there to fix the problem with my grandma anyway��'' I nodded to myself. this also helped that she is the best mature beauty that I have ever seen so naturally, I would listen to her.


    Shaking my head to get rid of these hormonal thoughts, I went to see who is my opponent in the first round.


    There was a list of fights being projected in the center of our stage so I went closer to take a look.


    While checking the list I saw that Hu Anjing is going to fight someone from the core court but I doubt that this fight would be much to her.


    Even if I fight her, I would lose more than I win. So I know that others would be having a hard time trying to fight her��


    As I looked at the names, I finally found my own name at the end of the list.


    [Li Huang vs. Dai Bao]


    ''��really?'' I narrowed my eyes.


    Now that I think about it, Dai Bao was the last person to fight for a seat so I should have known that he would be fighting me, who was the first one to get a seat.


    Thinking about it a little, I think I have to crush him. No, not because he is my rival in getting the position of patriarch. I''m going to crush him just to flex in front of my grandma''s master.


    With a new fire in my eyes, I was super motivated for this fight.

 Chapter 39: Drunken Fighter

    As I was on the first seat in the last round of competition, my fight with Dai Bao is going to be the first fight of the day for our sect.


    ''I mean it was supposed to be an easy win for me who has the first seat but who would have thought that Jin Fen, that shit head fuck this whole thing up��'' I now know why in the novels others hate the MCs, they have a tendency to fuck with your plans.


    ''Well, no matter. I had to have a fight like this sooner or later anyway��'' in the end, it wasn''t much different for me so I didn''t dwell on it too much.


    ��


    After a short rest, we were ready to start the first elimination round of the fights. My fight with Dai Bao was the first fight and because of its importance, many spectators were looking at our fighting stage.


    They might have never seen these two youngsters but they know of their standings so they know this fight had a big significance for the future of one of the holy lands, the heavenly sword sect.


    Each side who wins the fight gains a huge prestige in the eyes of ''common'' cultivators and because of that his future road to be the next patriarch would be much smoother and the who would fail to win would have a harder time in the future.


    Because this is a public event, the news would travel far and wide and within a month all of the peoples of the holy divine continent would know of this fight and its result. People might not have the guts to trash a figure like Li Huang or Dai Bao to their face but when they are not in front of them they would talk easily. And like that their reputation would plummet so it would be hard to get a high position as patriarch of one of the holy lands��


    If you look at it from these angles you would see that this is not just a simple ''spar'' of two disciples from the same sect, no matter how much grand elder Wan wants to portrait it so.


    Of course, Li Huang knows about it too but as he has his priorities straight, he cares more about appearing ''dashing'' to a specific someone.


    This just goes to show what would happen if you listen to your dick once in a while��


    Li Huang got to the stage in the midst of all the stares from the crowd, who wanted to see the number one genius of the heavenly sword sect for the first time. As this was the first time that Li Huang was appearing in public, this was a good chance for them to see him, who knows, they might be able to brag about it later.


    Many others were also looking at his face. Males were mostly were engraving his face in their memories as to not offend him in the future, who knows what would be the outcome if they were to offend a ''young master''. His face was memorized like many other faces by the crowd in the ''try not to offend'' folder.


    This problem wouldn''t be a problem if they could stop themselves from trash talking to anyone that they see, but unfortunately they didn''t think about it this way��


    Most of the females were ''charmed'' by his face and started fangirling about him. Well, the level of praise was still low as they didn''t know how strong he truly is, so they didn''t go all out. In a world that might makes right, you have to be strong first and foremost.


    On the other side of the stage, Dai Bao was standing with a complicated expression on his face, he didn''t want to fight Li Huang this soon but it seems he has no choice now that things went this way. He knows that he was played in his fight with that brat, Jun Fen, but he couldn''t do anything about it now. He had to win this fight for his future.


    He knows that losing this fight would mean that he would be in a hard situation to get the patriarch position. There was nothing to consider at this time, he just has to win.


    Li Huang who was looking at Dai Bao, showed a stumped expression. He didn''t understand why Dai Bao was looking at him like he was pep-talking himself.


    Nevertheless, Li Huang carried out his plan to start the fight.


    "Junior brother Dai Bao, it seems that we have to fight early in the competition." Li Huang told him with a smile that didn''t reach his eyes.


    "Yes, senior brother Li. Please forgive me in advance." Dai Bao answered in the same style. The way he said it was as if he knows that he is going to win so he is asking for forgiveness.


    Li Huang who was on auto-response mode didn''t think about it much and answered him.


    "You are forgiven." He beamed a smile at Dai Bao.


    Even the youngest amongst the audience know full well that Dai Bao''s remark was sarcastic, so they didn''t expect Li Huang to shamelessly accept his apology.


    Dai Bao was also shocked but he couldn''t change the past, could he? So he had no other option but to stiffly nod to Li Huang.


    "��Thank you senior brother Li." Dai Bao answered.


    "No problem, let us fight now��" Li Huang who was thinking about the fight didn''t know of Dai Bao''s struggles and continued smiling to be more friendly toward a fellow disciple.


    Well, his efforts only backfired and Dai Bao was getting more and more enraged inside.


    Without wasting any more time Dai Bao attacked Li Huang head-on.


    Thrusting his sword toward Li Huang''s shoulder, Dai Bao intended to use this opening to his advantage and hit Li Huang in his first move and as fast as possible.


    To Li Huang who was trained (read abused) by Li Long for a week recently, this level of speed and technique is nothing and if he wanted he could have fought Dai Bao with his eye closed and by only relying on his senses.


    But he didn''t do it the easy way. Why? Well, he wanted to show off so finishing it fast would be counterproductive.


    Without using his sword he moved his shoulder out of the hitting zone of Dai Bao''s sword and calmly waited for his opponent''s next move.


    Dai Bao didn''t expect to fail this miserably when he had clearly an upper hand from his point of view.


    For a moment he thought that Li Huang might have used some item to move fast and cheated but he quickly throw that thought away. Even if Li Huang wanted to cheat, with grand elder Wan present he couldn''t be successful in doing so.


    Thinking that this must be a fluke he fixed his stance and got ready to continue his attacks against Li Huang.


    Li Huang who was seemingly wide open beckoned Dai Bao to attack.


    As both sides fought each other, they both progressively got more serious. At this point, this fight was the sole fight that was being watched by the spectators. The level of swordsmanship was high enough for many in the crowd to widen their horizons.


    Almost everyone sat cross-legged in preparation for a breakthrough in their way of the sword. As all of the crowd were from the same generation of Li Huang and Dai Bao, this was very beneficial for them and they wouldn''t lose this chance for a final push before their competition.


    You might think that Li Huang was playing around but shockingly, he wasn''t. He was using this fight to train more as according to him ''you can''t say what would happen in the eternal wail trials''.


    The reason behind his wide-open stance was the method of his training. This method of training was named [Drunken Sword Master].


    When you are training with this technique you would see illusions of your opponent attacking you simultaneously. In a situation like that, an open stance is the best option because having so many openings would only make it harder for your opponent to find the real one(s).


    Meanwhile having so many illusions attacking you make it harder for you to make mistake and you have to not only defend against the real opponent but also defend against the fake ones.


    This way Li Huang fought with Dai Bao for 20 more minutes until he was sure that this fight wouldn''t give him any more benefits and decided to finish it.


    "Junior brother, it was a good fight." Li Huang said to Dai Bao while dodging his sword attacks.


    Dai Bao on other hand was out of breath after this much attack and his arms were sore.


    ''Is he still human?'' was what Dai Bao thought to himself.


    But soon he knows that if he let Li Huang attack him he would lose more face than he already has so he opted to surrender.


    "I surrender." He said and it was only at that moment that he saw Li Huang''s sword in front of his chest, ready to slash at his ribs.


    It was only at that moment that he knows it was the best choice to surrender here.


    Opposite him, Li Huang only shrugged and sheathed his sword.


    ''Now that is what I call a good showoff and a good training.'' I thought.

 Chapter 40: Reactions

    ��(POV third person, minutes back)����


    The fight was just starting between Li Huang and Dai Bao. Even before the fight many had placed bets on each of them and there was a huge amount of money gambled by the crowd, but it wasn''t like the seven holy lands would stop it so there was no repercussion about it.


    As the fight started you could see Dai Bao attacking Li Huang and many who bet on Dai Bao were ecstatic about this.


    "Yes, today would be my lucky day��" one of the spectators who bet on Dai Bao winning shouted happily, but alas, this day would be one of his unluckiest days.


    As he was praying to luck deity, Dai Bao just�� missed.


    Well to be fair, Li Huang sidestepped but the audience was so absorbed in their thought about Dai Bao''s attack hitting that they didn''t notice Li Huang moving.


    "What was that?" one disciple blurted out.


    "Did Dai Bao just miss?" another one of Dai Bao''s ''fans'' asked in disbelief.


    If Li Huang would defend it was understandable but the fact that Li Huang sidestepped means that his technique and speed are superior to Dai Bao. But this was not all, he was also on a lower realm than Dai Bao. This was a hard pill for them to swallow.


    On the other hand, Li Huang''s ''fan club'' was elated.


    "HAHA, young master Li is showing a bit of his skills��" one of Li Huang''s fans said. The level of bootlicking was so high that for many this feature would be locked.


    Even Li Huang himself wouldn''t dare to say that this was only ''a bit of his skills'' but to Dai Bao fans it was like adding salt to the injury.


    After that, the fight continued with Dai Bao attacking and Li Huang literally moving through them like a snake. Even the disciples who bet on Li Huang didn''t think this kind of development would be possible.


    As they both hailed as geniuses by everyone, this performance only goes to show that Li Huang is on another level compared to Dai Bao.


    But as always, some were not going to accept the obvious and argued.


    "If Li Huang is that capable, why doesn''t he attack back?" someone asked with sarcasm.


    The others raised their eyebrows and people near him moved away from him fast. This level of guts to trash talk someone in front of their whole sect was some rare talent that would often result in shortened life span.


    As some of Li Huang fans were to retort with ''how dare you'' and whatnot someone who had more experience spoke.


    "He is clearly training. If I''m not mistaken he is using a training method of Li family, named [Drunken Sword Master]." He said as he touched his chin.


    Everybody was fixated on him to know more about this technique. Although they won''t get to train with this method but just being able to detect a method is a valuable lesson to them so they didn''t want to miss this explanation.


    After a few seconds, the same person continued with his explanation.


    "Using this technique would make you see some illusions of your opponent attacking you. From what i can guess, he is using this method to fight against a dozen or so of Dai Bao at the same time." He said without a pause.


    Then he turned toward the guy who was trying to say that Li Huang is not capable enough.


    "Let''s not talk about a dozen, do you think you can even fight against only one Dai Bao?" he asked in a natural tone but it was clear as day that he was mocking the other person with his words.


    The other disciple could only clench his fists and get red in anger but he didn''t have any good comebacks in mind. He only wanted to appear intimidating to others so that he would have an easier time in the selection but now he was turning into a joke so he decides on keeping his silence.


    But the other side didn''t let him be and throw a final jab at him.


    "*humph* thought so��" and he turned to the stage and didn''t speak again.


    As their ''talk'' finished the fight was also on the verge of finishing.


    Li Huang attacked for the first time in this whole fight and right before his attack would land on Dai Bao, you could hear Dai Bao surrendering.


    "I surrender."


    Everybody heard it clear but they had a hard time believing their own ears. They just looked at the stage dumbfounded until Li Huang sheathes his sword and slowly walked to get down the stage.


    This and the sound of the referee brought them back to reality.


    "The winner of this fight is disciple Li Huang."The referee said.


    When her voice subsided, the crowd all broke into cheers.


    "As expected of a chief disciple from one of the holy lands."


    "What is a frog leap challenge to someone like Li Huang?!"


    "Simply genius!"


    All kinds of praises were being said but Li Huang was not paying attention to them. Was he that unaffected by praises and cheers? The short answer is no, he simply was thinking of something else...


    ����(POV Li Huang a.k.a advocate of ''age is only a number'')����


    Well, me winning this fight was in all honesty set in stone but this way of fighting was an impulsive improvisation. But I know that this was the best course of action for a situation like this.


    Let me clarify more; as Jin Fen also fought against Dai Bao and won with one move in the end, if I were to do anything less than that it would give him good limelight and he would be seen as someone who is a suitable candidate for the patriarch position and I would be in a shitty position in the future if I wanted to get rid of him. So you can say that this way, i showed that i am far better that Jin Fen in an easy way...


    Looking around us to check on the other fights my eyes looked at the White moon sect stage and I saw that their first fight was also finished and they were getting ready to start their second fight of the day.


    Looking around I easily located my grandma''s master and to my surprise, she was looking straight at me.


    As smooth as possible, I just nodded to her and went back to my chair to see the other fights.


    What? Did you expect me to blow her a kiss or something? If yes, then I have to say you are an amateur, my friend.


    When wooing a self-conscious person you have to be innovative in your approach to not seem like mob#138 in her eyes.


    On the other hand, when she is older than you this innovation and freshness are more important just to leave a lasting impression on her.


    Well to be honest I have never dated someone with this much age difference, but it can not be that different, right?


    Anyway, now that Dai Bao is out of the way this is Hu Anjing''s turn to fight.


    Praying silently for the poor soul who is going to fight Hu Anjing I got ready to watch it.


    What I didn''t to know was that the crowd was giving silent prayers to Dai Bao who had the shitty luck to face me.

 Chapter 41: Foot-work

    Hu Anjing was going to fight a core disciple named Cui Tai. From what I know about him he is on the eighth stage of the meridian formation realm but compared to Hu Anjing who is at the twelfth stage of the meridian formation realm, I don''t think he has even the slightest chance of winning in this fight.


    If I remember correctly, Cui Tai is proud of his mastery in footwork technique so he might think that he has a chance but as someone who had fought with Hu Anjing almost daily, I wouldn''t think much of his mastery in anything against the raw strength of the fifth stage of the Iron body.


    With her level of body cultivation, you would be punching yourself out before you can do anything effective to her with your attacks.


    I just hope he won''t try to show off in front of Hu Anjing or she would easily shit on his pride, no doubt about it.


    After a minute or two, the stage got slightly repaired and reinforced with some formation runes again to ensure its resistance against the attacks. The last fight wasn''t on a scale to do much damage but this is a normal procedure for these kinds of things. After they checked and double-checked everything, they allowed for the next fight to proceed.


    Hu Anjing from one side and from the other side Cui Tai come to the stage to fight. Hu Anjing had her playful personality as always and winked at me as she was going on the stage. Of course, I winked back at her to not lose in the teasing game.


    Seeing my reaction as if she was satisfied, she looked at her opponent.


    Cui Tai was a short man with a bald head and a constant smile on his face. He looked like the first evil boss in an anime.


    Cui Tai who was standing straight, used this moment to speak. In these kinds of fights, the rules state that you can start your fight the moment you set your foot on the main stage, but it''s common courtesy to talk a little to show that you are not using your opponent''s unawareness about the start of the fight to land a hit...


    Not that it is a friendly talk, you can think about it as the trash talks that the UFC fighters do before their fights.


    "Senior sister, it''s an honor to fight against you." Cui Tai said as he bowed a little.


    This was a good method to talk to your opponent to make them see you as a friendly figure and in turn, make them don''t go all out when fighting you. If successful, your chance of winning would increase a lot.


    But to Cui Tai''s dismay, Hu Anjing wasn''t that type of person who would give a rat''s ass about these types of schemes. She was the type who would fuck you up if you dare to play tricks on her.


    ''Oh boy, now you have done it��'' I shook my head. Couldn''t he fight like a normal person and don''t play these petty tricks? Now he is definitely going to get wrecked.


    "Sure." Hu Anjing''s answer was short. Well, I think she could easily see Cui Tai''s plan in between his words. After many years of being an assassin, she could see this ploy from miles away��


    Hu Anjing''s answer was not something that Cui Tai expected so he didn''t have an answer ready to respond. Because of this, he couldn''t say anything for a few seconds. Just as he was about to talk Hu Anjing beat him to it.


    "Let''s waste no more time, show me what you got." Hu Anjing said with a grin on her face.


    As someone who is very familiar with Hu Anjing''s grin, I couldn''t help but shudder when remembering our training sessions.


    Cui Tai who was oblivious to this fact didn''t react to Hu Anjing''s grin and spoke.


    "My footwork mastery is on the top five in our heavenly sword sect, if not the top one." He said proudly.


    Hu Anjing only had a small smile on her face and just listened to his boasting.


    "So I wanted to give you a warning before I make a move." His tone was warm but his words were cold. Not that it mattered to Hu Anjing. She was looking at him like he was an idiot.


    "Good, then let me see the so-called top five��" Hu Anjing didn''t hide her mocking remarks and ridiculed him openly.


    Cui Tai didn''t talk anymore and started doing his move to attack Hu Anjing. With his movement technique, he was many times harder to detect, but it didn''t work on me and obviously didn''t affect Hu Anjing.


    But the audience didn''t know about it and were shocked by this speed and technique.


    "How fast!"


    "So this is his strong point!"


    "No wonder he was prideful about it��"


    The crowd talk as they always would and at the same time, they glued their eyes to the stage to not miss a single detail.


    But what was shocking more was that as Cui Tai was performing his movement technique around Hu Anjing in search of an opening, Hu Anjing was as calm and carefree as always.


    Because of this, the crowd was not that sure anymore about Cui Tai''s technique effectiveness��


    "Why is she so carefree?"


    "Do you think she can''t discern him from her surroundings?"


    "Fart, how can a chief disciple be that easy for the like of us to figure out?"


    Like this, the discussion continued amongst the spectators and Cui Tai was circling Hu Anjing.


    The spectators could only see that Cui Tai was circling Hu Anjing and she wasn''t doing anything about it. But Cui Tai himself knew how grim his situation was at this moment.


    The reason for his constant movement around Hu Anjing was to find an opening, but despite his best attempts and seemingly wide-open posture of Hu Anjing, he couldn''t find any opening.


    Meaning that, although it seemed Hu Anjing was wide-open to any attack, when you were closer to her you would know that there wasn''t any opening that you could use.


    And that resulted in him constantly moving in fear of Hu Anjing''s retaliation if he were to lower his speed.


    So this fight that to others looked like Cui Tai having an upper hand, to himself looked like a devastating situation.


    Just as he was losing all his confidence he finally spotted an opening on Hu Anjing''s back.


    Without any hesitation, he decided to use this chance and attack. He knew that if he didn''t use it, he might not find any more openings in the near future.


    As he was attacking Hu Anjing''s back, he didn''t see the devilish grin on her face. If he saw that, he would have at the very least surrendered on the spot.


    Within a fraction of a second Cui Tai was ready to lunge his sword into Hu Anjing''s back but all of a sudden everything went black.


    The moment that Cui Tai wanted to land his attack, Hu Anjing did a roundhouse kick into his face and after flying for a second, his head was embedded into the stage floor.


    Keep that in mind that the floor was reinforced a couple of times so Hu Anjing''s attack should have been a very powerful one to make a dent on it.


    As if nothing had happened, Hu Anjing slowly put her foot down.


    The crowd could only follow her movement as she looked at the unconscious Cui Tai.


    "Well, it seems that my foot-work was stronger��" Hu Anjing smirked.


    The audience broke into cheers and the sound of the referee announcing Hu Anjing as the winner was buried in the sea of sounds.

 Chapter 42: I know nothing

    (A/N: thank you for the gift: ArrogantDisciple.


    I really like the ''interactions'' in comments so if there is any question/suggestion don''t hesitate to speak out.


    P.S.: webnovel would auto-delete comments containing curse words so have creativity when typing your shit :D


    P.P.S.: yeah only I can curse freely and this is fucking awesome...)


    ����


    ''That was a hell of a kick��'' I thought.


    Well, what else would you expect from Hu Anjing? She has this competitive personality and when someone tries to show her they are better at something, she would try to prove them wrong.


    Well, I can''t fault her because I have the same mentality and I would try to get the best result at any and every chance.


    Looking in front of me, I saw Hu Anjing coming this way with a big smile on her face. That smile was so sweet that I almost forgot that she one-hit K.O.-ed someone moments ago.


    I say almost because as Hu Anjing was getting closer, the other disciples around me subconsciously got away from me as to not get in Hu Anjing''s way. At that moment I remembered her performance again.


    "Are you trying to keep up with my record of finishing with one move?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow.


    "Junior Uncle, why does everything has to be about you?" she answered back playfully.


    I was stunned for a moment.


    "Fair enough." I nodded at her.


    ''Does that mean I am narcissistic?'' I was thinking about it.


    ''Nah, I don''t think so��'' I throw the thought away.


    Hu Anjing who saw me sitting on the chair, sat on the chair on my side and unbeknown to me, just kept looking at me as she tried to figure out my inner monologue.


    I turned to face her and saw that she was looking straight into my eyes.


    I was taken aback.


    "Why are you looking at me like this?" I asked her with a little unease. I mean I have nothing against her but ''looking at him when he is in thought'' is one of the first symptoms of going full-on yandere, so yeah I have to pay attention.


    "Is ''I fell for your charms'' an acceptable answer?" Hu Anjing answered me with her teasing tone.


    ''Thank god, she is the same as always.'' I could finally breathe out with some peace of mind.


    "No, but I let it slide this time��" I shrugged.


    After a few seconds, I remembered something.


    "By the way, do you know anything about the inside of this [Eternal wail trial]?" I asked her. The funny thing is that until now I didn''t think about the ''how to pass the trial'' and just know about ''how to get into the trial''.


    As someone who has plan B for his plan B, I feel ashamed about myself in this particular scenario.


    I mean how am I going to progress inside the trial as I am now? I don''t know anything and all of my storage rings have basic materials.


    What if the inside of the trial is snowy? What if it is always raining or it''s a desert? I think the way I am now, I honestly have a low chance of survival in there.


    I need every bit of information that I can get my hands on.


    "Now that you asked, I just know that it''s a good opportunity for the younger generation��" Hu Anjing answered. From her expression, I know that she too get my intent and she too was thinking of gathering information.


    As an assassin, the worst environment to be in is one that you didn''t study and don''t know about. It is a basic fact in that profession. You have to know at least two ways out to enter a room so the fact that we know nothing of this trial is a red flag to her.


    "We need to gather info and fast." I told her and she nodded with seriousness.


    I looked a the next matches and I didn''t care about any of them except the one with Lai Xinyue and the other one with Jin Fen. Their fights were toward the end of the day so I had enough ''free'' time before that.


    "The best method that I can think of it is that each of us would ask around about the eternal wail trial and we get back together and combine our information with each other, what do you think?" I asked Hu Anjing for her opinion.


    "Let''s do that." She nodded.


    After that, we went to ask about the details that could be helpful for us in the trial. As I was looking to ask someone, outer elder Zhong Zedong came into my eyes and I went ahead to ask him about it��


    "Elder Zhong." I called out his name.


    "Chief disciple Li, is there anything that I can help you with?" He saw me and we greeted each other.


    "There is." I nodded.


    "Have you entered the eternal wail trials by yourself?" I asked him the important question. If he doesn''t have the hands-on information, it would be for the best that I ask someone else for this.


    "Yes I have, why?" he asked back.


    "Great, I wanted to ask about the trial itself as I know nothing about it." I urged him to continue.


    "Oh! I see. Well, this is one of those situations that having prior knowledge won''t be that much of help but I can say the basic details if you want." He said and waited for my confirmation.


    "By all means." I nodded.


    "Well, it''s like this��" he started his explanation.


    From his words, I got to know that there was a reason for the sect and even Yuan Jia to not give out any information about this trial. Why? because it wouldn''t be relevant.


    [Eternal wail trial] has random entry points for everyone and as the trial is in a subspace, it has all seasons like a planet would and because of that, you have to be ready for anything.


    So there are all kinds of climates there that could be where you find yourself in after you enter the trial and randomly teleport to a spot. Meaning that you don''t know what would be your situation until you get inside it and luck would choose for you.


    Well, if I know something, it''s that RNG is a bitch so I have to be ready to have the worst possible outcome of all.


    "After all these years, why didn''t we map this place?" I asked him. I mean wouldn''t it be super easy if we did so?


    "The short answer is that it''s not possible." Elder Zhong Zedong said.


    He further explained that this inner world is constantly changing to the point that even the information of 5 years ago won''t be of any use so after a while and finding no pattern at all, they decided to not waste time on doing so.


    Now you have an ever-changing world with harsh climates that you would be thrown in, It can''t get any worse, does it?


    Well, it can and it does. There are beasts in this inner world that you would have to fight in order to get treasures, techniques, etc.


    The way it works is that we think this inner space was created by a powerful entity that left some treasures waiting for worthy successors. The beasts are not real and are some kind of high-level illusion or something along those lines that would give you points according to their cultivation level when you kill them.


    Using these points you would be able to open some formations with a predefined amount of gathered points. Behind these formations, you could possibly find all kinds of treasures from pills to martial art manuals and weapons.


    At this point of explanation, I was utterly dumbfounded.


    ''This is like an MMORPG and the formations are the level restrictions��''

 Chapter 43: Inner workings of eternal wail trial

    From what I have gathered so far, this is like some of the games back in my last life. You farm for XP to lift the level restrictions from the items, but this is not all of it.


    You don''t know what is in each formation so this trial not only tests your talent and qualifications but also checks your luck. According to what everybody thinks, although talent is one of the key things in your success, having what everyone calls ''heaven-defying luck'' would be appreciated.


    So to sum it up, you can say that the beasts would test your natural talent and the formations would test your supernatural luck or strings of fate or whatever the fuck you want to call it��


    ''Call it what you want but this is the classic move of online games to make you spend more money��'' I shrugged.


    What''s more, there are hundreds of these formations scattered around the inner space of the trial so you can easily choose whichever formation that catches your eyes so I think the game is not rigged and you do have a good chance of winning if lady luck decides to smile upon you.


    At this point of the conversation, I was convinced that this trial is a fair game and would be fun to be a part of. Who wouldn''t like this kind of game, right?


    Well, I thought so until outer elder Zhong told me that some of these formations may not lead you to a treasure and instead you would face a horde of beasts that would be hard to compete against. A very small number of disciples who were in these kinds of situations lived long enough to tell its tale, this in itself shows how frightening these formations could be.


    Yeah! There are trap formations in this trial��


    So you mean to tell me that they put ''mimic chest'' in there?


    What is this? Dark soul or some shit? Who is the fucker who created this trial? Just tell me that you don''t want to give out your treasures, why do it like this?


    After a few seconds of meditating while thinking about feeding the expert behind this trial to a mimic chest, I calmed down.


    At the end of the day, if I was in a situation like that I just had to spam-attack them with some scrolls and I could easily get a shit-ton of points on the side.


    Nodding to myself I asked elder Zhong.


    "Is there anything else that could be important to me in there?" it was like a fact to me that I could easily be on the 10 disciple list of the sect so there was no point in speaking with ifs��


    Outer elder Zhong nodded to my words and fell into contemplation.


    After a couple of seconds, he opened his mouth and spoke.


    "There is that big massacre that happened 300 years ago��" he started explaining.


    Apparently, 300 years ago there was a massive beast horde inside the trial''s space and many disciples died because of the size and sheer power of those beasts.


    From the 100 participants, only 4 got out from the trials. Because of these constant fights there, they got very strong but at the same time they carried mental traumas from their experience��


    The point of elder Zhong was to warn me about the slim possibility of this massive horde forming again but my thoughts were on another issue.


    ''These beasts are not real beasts, meaning they have no individuality and work according to the will of its creator, so they won''t form hordes for the heck of it��'' I thought.


    So there has to be something or someone that triggered this event and made this horde form and attack all of the disciples. I''m not suggesting they did it consciously, but still, there is that possibility.


    But what would make the whole trial participants the enemy of the trial itself? What was the trigger for it?


    If you look at this trial throughout history, you can easily conclude that this is the will of its creator to find a successor, so why would he kill them all?


    Did they try something that they shouldn''t? But if they did why there are disciples who survived? I mean with what I heard from the scale of this trial wouldn''t it be easy as breathing to kill all of them there?


    Why them? Could it be something that nobody thought about these past 300 years? Well, if those four did something shady it is believable that they kept quiet about it��


    I would do some research about it after our selection is over and I have time to think with ease.


    "Thank you, elder." I thanked him for his information and also cursed him in my mind.


    You might be like ''why? He is a chill dude''. True, but you forgot something, he raised a flag about this massacre, and now I can''t stop thinking about it.


    I just hope that I would be ready for whatever the fuck this trial has in store for us.


    Getting back to my chair I sat down and watched the rest of the fights, waiting for Hu Anjing to come back.


    The fight was between two dudes. One of them was using broadsword and the other one was using twin blades. They were fighting pretty evenly and the crowd was also divided on who going to win.


    I really tried to give a fuck about this fight but as soon as I saw Hu Anjing coming this way, that thought was out of the window.


    "How was your talk?" I asked her as soon as she was close to me.


    "Actually, I think I now know enough about the trial." She said proudly.


    After half an hour of trading information with each other, we both got to know new things about the trial and its environment.


    I got to know that each climate is replicating the real world, meaning that you face the same situations as you would in the real world and also the beasts are different in each part. So fighting one of them and getting to know its strong and weak points wouldn''t help you in fighting other types of beasts because they have fundamental differences.


    This means that if you change your spot into a new one, you would have to study it first, Or you can work as a functioning sect and share basic information that you have gathered each.


    You might ask why doesn''t the sect give the disciples the information on the beasts that they have classified in all these years?


    Good question.


    The sect wouldn''t give out the information on the beasts for two main reasons; first, there are way too many beast types in there so it would only serve to make you confused with a lot of information that you won''t need again in your life as these beasts only exist in this trial ground. Second, they want the disciples to be tempered in the trial, and giving them a handicap like this would be counterproductive.


    Another thing that i didn''t know about the trials is that disciples can kill each other to gain the other one''s points.


    ''Yeah, PK is enabled��'' (A/N: for you non-gamers; it means player kill)


    I don''t know why elder Zhong didn''t think it was necessary to tell me that other than beasts, my fellow human could also kill me for some points.


    Well, no matter. Now that I know I can plan accordingly. Most importantly, I have to think of a way to keep everyone from our heavenly sword sect alive, maybe except Jin Fen.

 Chapter 44: The last boss

    After we spoke about everything we knew about the trial, we concluded that this could be a very hard trial for anyone who is a participator, even the ones from our sect.


    Now I get the meaning behind grand elder Wan''s words when he said that ''I wouldn''t accept any of you dying in there, so make sure you don''t get too greedy''. You would probably die if you decide to test each and every formation because there are some traps.


    And even if the traps don''t kill you, there is a chance of others killing you. Well, I don''t think anyone has the guts to even try to kill any of us, but the fact that they ''can'' is still there.


    You might think that no one would try to kill us because we are from one of the seven holy lands, but no, this kind of bullshit only happens in novels. If you really wanted someone dead, you would do it regardless of their background and would only do it more covertly so that you don''t get discovered.


    So why did I tell you they don''t dare to attack us?


    It''s because of an open secret about seven holy lands. All of the disciples in the seven holy lands have an artifact that captures its master''s last moments and in case you die, would send them to a central node that is the sect.


    But how does it know these are your last moments? The short answer is that it doesn''t. The artifact would store the events for as long as it can and in each passing moment, it would add the new events and delete the oldest event that was stored.


    In the event of your death, the artifact would simply send back the information that has been stored to the main node that is predefined in the time of its creation.


    And these artifacts also have grades, meaning that the higher that their grade are, the more information they store. Obviously, the higher grade artifacts would be given to the most important disciples so that in event of an attempt on their lives, the sect would be able to find more clues in the data.


    If you want to look at it simpler, you can compare it with having a GoPro with you all the time��


    Anyway, I can say that they won''t try to kill us with high certainty. Why? One, because of the existence of this artifact, and two, because they can''t send anyone to kill us in the trial. All of the participants are disciples so they are not that good of an option when it comes to killing someone.


    ''Well, Hu Anjing can kill easily but she is a teammate so there is no problem.'' I nodded to my own thoughts.


    So what could be our main problem is small beast hordes that can easily be baited to surround us. I have to think of something for this possibility when I have the time.


    I don''t have time right now because this fight is Lai Xinyue''s fight. I need to watch this and Jin Fen''s reactions so that I can find some hints about Jin Fen''s attraction to Lai Xinyue.


    "Junior niece, watch this fight. This will be a good one��" I told Hu Anjing to watch the game before she could throw some sly remarks about me looking at Lai Xinyue.


    Hu Anjing was looking at me with an amused look on her face. It seems that she didn''t think that I would act like this and stop her from teasing me.


    But her face slowly morphed into the face of a wronged puppy.


    "Don''t worry junior niece, there will be more chances for you in the future��" I consoled her in an over-exaggerated manner while I put my hand on her shoulder.


    We both laughed a little and then focused on the stage to see the fight. Each of us had a reason to stay focused, I was focused to find some clues about Jin Fen and as for Hu Anjing, she was focused to see the potential of her future junior sister.


    Two participants got to the stage, one was Lia Xinyue and the other one was a female disciple from the inner court and had neck-length black hair. She was one of those people who had a permanent mildly angry face.


    After they got to the stage the referee also got on stage and introduced them. From this I got to know the other girl''s name, she is called Ye Ling. Now that I know her name, I remember that I have heard a fare share about her before.


    Lia Xinyue was at the eighth stage of the Qi Gathering when we sparred but now she is almost at peak of the ninth stage of the Qi Gathering.


    This was a surprise to me. I trained with grandpa long but she trained by herself and reached the next small realm. I don''t know if she was at the peak of the eighth stage of the Qi Gathering or not, but either way, her achievement shows her dedication to her cultivation this past week.


    Well, to be fair reaching the next big realm, the Meridian Formation realm, is a big step that would take some time even if you are at the peak of the ninth stage of the Qi Gathering so I think she would be needing way more time for her next breakthrough.


    The only reason that i could break through this fast was because i had that medicinal mix that helped me greatly.


    Her speed in cultivation was fast and there was no problem with that. The problem was her opponent, to be more precise her level of cultivation was higher than Lai Xinyue.


    Ye Ling was at the second stage of the Meridian Formation realm and that in itself was a clear indication of this fight''s level of difficulty. You can''t simply say that you can fight people with a higher level than you and win, even more so when you can''t use external resources to boost your chance like using scrolls or treasures.


    A fight like this is purely based on one''s strength and technique.


    You might think that Lai Xinyue has a rare physique so she would be fine but don''t forget that I have also won against her in the same realm, so if the opponent has enough technique winning against her physique is not that much of a problem.


    That aside, her opponent is not only on higher levels in comparison to her but also is one of the brightest talents in the sect. Many core elders wanted to accept her as a disciple but she politely declined. So if it wasn''t because of her decision, she would be already in the core court as a core disciple.


    You might be thinking why would she decline such an offer? Well, her reasoning was that she wanted to test herself by getting into the core court by her own power using the yearly competitions. She said that she would accept a master after she got into the core court.


    In just two years, she got from a new outer court disciple to the top inner disciple of the sect. The yearly competition to get into the core court is going to be held in a month and almost no one in the sect has a doubt that she would get the first place without much difficulty.


    Now that you know the strength of both sides, you know that this is going to be an interesting and exciting fight.


    It wouldn''t be wrong to call Ye Ling one of the last bosses of this competition for the 10 thrones. After all, she and Hu Anjing are the ones that I can see having a good chance of winning against me��

 Chapter 45: Socially awkward

    "Ye Ling has higher chances of winning this fight." Hu Anjing suddenly said.


    "True, I think so too." I nodded at her words.


    I mean it would be unrealistic if Lai Xinyue could win easily.


    I wish I could check to see if Ye Ling has any special talent but as this is a crowded place I don''t want to go blind or sensory overload when I activate the [Peeping eye of Heaven], so I would try it later in a more private setting.


    To say the least, I don''t think she can be an ordinary person if she has this much talent even without a master to back her up.


    Anyway, the fight is about to start.


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Senior sister, this is an honor for me to spar with you." Lai Xinyue said with her stoic face. If her eyes were not shining as she spoke, no one would believe that her words were genuine.


    Luckily for her, the other person was somewhat similar to her when it comes to human interactions so no misunderstandings were formed between them.


    "Thank you, junior sister. I hope our fight would be satisfactory." Ye Ling said with a scowl on her face. This wasn''t because she had a problem with Lai Xinyue but she was scowling because she was thinking if her answer was good and friendly or not.


    Fortunately for her, Lai Xinyue was not one to be known for her understanding of facial emotions so she didn''t misunderstand her scowl to be about her. Well, to be more clear, Lai Xinyue didn''t even see her scowl at her so it''s only natural to not be misunderstood.


    However, for the crowd and the other disciples from the heavenly sword sect, this only created more misunderstandings and confusion.


    They were saying kind words with wrong facial expressions, Isn''t this a bit�� ingenuine?


    ''Are they taunting each other?''


    ''They must have personal problems with each other to be this blunt.''


    ''Are they crazy?''


    ''How can they look this calm when saying this kinds of words?''


    These were some of the things that were going through the audience''s minds. They were all silent, waiting for the fight to start and their waves of anger to unleash. They wouldn''t think in their wildest dreams that these so-called geniuses didn''t have the ability to hold a simple conversation.


    But there was one person who knew the truth.


    Li Huang was massaging his temples. He knows that this conversation was the result of their unique personalities and they had no problems with each other, in fact, it seems that Lai Xinyue even idolizes Ye Ling.


    "They are truly shit when it comes to communication." He muttered with a dumbfounded look on his face.


    "I can''t think of anything to make it more awkward��" Hu Anjing added with a puzzled look on her face.


    Li Huang just nodded at her words.


    "At least they can fight without any need to talk so it would be watchable��" Li Huang took a deep breath.


    "That''s�� true." Hu Anjing said.


    Back on stage, the two female disciples were staring at each other. The tension was high in the audience, they were watching in anticipation of the explosive start of the fight.


    They knew that in this situation the starting move can decide many factors about the fight so they don''t want to miss even a moment of it.


    A few more seconds of silence passed and the natural frown on Ye Ling''s face deepened.


    "Don''t you want to attack?" she asked Lai Xinyue while frowning. She was confused about Lai Xinyue not attacking because everyone she has fought until now wouldn''t lose a chance like this and would attack first.


    The crowd all gasped.


    Her frown was a show of confusion by her, but to the crowd, it looked like she was angry that Lai Xinyue is wasting her time by not doing anything until now.


    They soon quieted down to hear Lai Xinyue''s reaction to this obvious provocation from Ye Ling.


    It didn''t take much time for Lai Xinyue to answer back.


    "Senior sister, I am better at defending." She said with no emotion on her face.


    Li Huang almost fell from his chair.


    He then looked at Hu Anjing.


    They both could see the ''what the fuck is going on'' in each other''s eyes.


    But the crowd almost had stars in their eyes. Why wouldn''t they? This fight is one of the most exciting so far, if not the most exciting one and it is yet to start!


    The audience thought that Lai Xinyue was hinting at Ye Ling to attack as much as she wants but, she can''t pass her defenses.


    Ye Ling and Lai Xinyue who didn''t know about the commotion that they were creating, continued to bicker.


    "Are you sure you want that?" Ye Ling asked with a big frown on her face. She was more confused about this junior sister, does she really want me to attack first?


    The crowd didn''t even breathe and waited for Lai Xinyue to taunt back.


    "Yes, I would be grateful if you can attack me, senior sister." She said it the same way she did until now, with little to no emotion. But this time you could see the eagerness in her eyes.


    The crowd translated this as Lai Xinyue showing her fangs to Ye Ling without restriction.


    On the other side, Ye Ling eased her frown and nodded.


    "Very well." She said. This was one of the most successful talks that she had with another person, others usually won''t talk long with her.


    Because of this, she decided to not fight like she usually did. She would usually attack with all her power but she wanted to test this junior sister first, so she started attacking with half of her power.


    Their fight started and you could see the sparks flying as their swords clashed. Ye Ling was surprised at first that this girl can fight with her. true, she is using only half of her power but even half of her power is too much for a Qi Gathering practitioner. They kept fighting for 15 more minutes and then she used more power in her attacks.


    She wanted to find the limit of this junior sister.


    The crowd was all cheers all the time. You could say that this was one of the best fights with almost equal sides. Well, at least so far they were equally matched.


    The fight went on for 10 more minutes and Lai Xinyue still could parry Ye Ling''s attacks, albeit hardly. This time Ye Ling wasted no more time and used her full power and attacked Lai Xinyue with pure sword mastery.


    Lai Xinyue could defend at first but it didn''t take long for her to be unable to fight more. After 5 more minutes, she was so exhausted that she couldn''t even move her sword.


    She was barely standing and seeing this, Ye Ling stopped attacking and frown�� looked at the referee.


    Seeing this the referee assessed the situation quickly and ended the fight in favor of Ye Ling because Lai Xinyue was unable to continue fighting.


    After the referee announced the winner the crowd broke into cheers again.


    Meanwhile, Ye Ling went in front of Lai Xinyue and looked at her with her signature frown.


    "I will carry you." She said and immediately lifted Lai Xinyue and carried her bridal style.


    Seeing this, the men and women of culture in the crowd cheered louder and some even cried while clapping.


    Li Huang was baffled.


    "What the fuck was this?" he unconsciously muttered.

 Chapter 46: I surrender

    "What the fuck was that?" I asked no one in particular.


    How did it suddenly turn into a ''girls love''?


    To distract myself from the last fight, I looked at the place that I last saw Jin Fen. He was still standing there and he too was shocked.


    His reaction to the fight was not something that I thought I would see and I wasn''t able to use it in order to get some hints. He was simply shocked by this development.


    I wasn''t willing to accept that I won''t be able to find anything from this fight, so I looked at his posture and looked for his subconscious movements.


    His eye was moving in his eye sockets without any pattern or any sign of reason to it. This showed me that he was in deep thoughts and wasn''t aware of his surrounding.


    You could see that one of his hands was clenched and from time to time, he would experience a nervous hand tic.


    I tried to put these puzzle pieces together. He is clearly anxious about something...


    ''Is he thinking about Lai Xinyue''s well-being?'' I asked myself.


    ''��No that can''t be it, the sect would ensure of every disciple''s safety.'' I didn''t think this could be possible. Even if it was possible for Lai Xinyue to be hurt, I know for a fact that Ye Ling wouldn''t let anything happen to her.


    ''He might be thinking about Lai Xinyue having a hard time getting into the final battle now that she is on the losing side��'' I hypothesized about his reasoning.


    This is possible, but I still don''t know why he has such an interest in Lai Xinyue''s affairs. She said she doesn''t know him and he didn''t refute at the time so I don''t think there is any possibility that they know each other. There might be a chance that Jin Fen ''knows'' her but Lai Xinyue doesn''t know him.


    ''As I thought before, Jin Fen either knows Lai Xinyue one-sidedly or he is seeing someone else in Lai Xinyue''s face.'' I think these two are the more plausible reasons among all the shit that I thought about.


    Well, I can find out more about it in the near future so knowing this much right now is good enough for me.


    Coming out of my thought I saw Hu Anjing looking at my face with slightly narrowed eyes. Before I could ask her about it, she spoke.


    "That was your definition of a good fight?" she asked sarcastically.


    She is talking about when I told her to watch this fight because it would be a good one��


    "Well, to be fair the part that there were fighting was good." I shrugged.


    Without talking back, she just leaned back in her chair.


    "How many fights are left for today?" she asked. It was clear that she was getting bored of the same style of fights today��


    "If I''m not wrong, this is going to be the final fight of the day." I was also getting tired of these fights but I had to be on the sect''s platform because of the rules regarding these events��


    "Is it going to be another good fight, junior uncle?" Hu Anjing teased.


    "Honestly, I think it wouldn''t be interesting at all��" I answered her giving the impression that I was oblivious to her tease. Of course, this wouldn''t fool Hu Anjing but it could get on her nerves.


    She answered me by pinching my arm. It was a pinch with the power of the fifth stage of the Iron body. I hardened my arm with my meager body cultivation but it still fucking hurt in the end.


    There was no point in talking back and forth with Hu Anjing about this so I didn''t complain to her.


    But I really was honest when I said this fight wouldn''t be much fun. Why? One side of this fight is Jin Fen. He would probably anger the dude again to attack him and suddenly power-up in the lowest point of the fight.


    The only redeeming point to this fight is that the one who is going to fight Jin Fen is one of Dai Bao''s lackeys so this might have some drama to it��


    His opponent is named Peng Chun and he is from the inner court. I guess he must be one of the top lackeys or a head minion to be able to be here for the selection round.


    I think Dai Bao didn''t fight his own lackey at that time so that he won''t lose more face than he already did. On the other hand, now he can use his lackey to show Jin Fen that he is nothing if he didn''t have that technique at their fight.


    After this fight, we would have the rest of the day for ourselves and tomorrow the winners would fight for 10 thrones and the losers would fight a battle royale to decide which five would be going to challenge for the 10 thrones.


    After our selection is finished I can use my time to find interesting things and improve my control on the [Peeping eye of heaven].


    As I was thinking about what would come after this fight, the fighters set foot onto the stage. Peng Chun was holding his head high with arrogance and on the opposite side, Jin Fen was in deep thoughts and had a small frown on his face.


    Seeing that Jin Fen didn''t speak, Peng Chun decided to use this moment to do some classic UFC style trash talk.


    "Jin Fen, today our fight has only one meaning to it, I''m going to kill the chicken to warn the monkey��" he declared. (A/N: meaning to punish an individual to set an example to others.)


    The crowd started talking and soon everyone knows about the back-story of these two disciples and the reason for this hostility.


    Even I was taken aback.


    ''This fucker is not only calling Jin Fen chicken but is calling me a monkey.'' I was really amused with how ballsy this Peng Chun showed himself to be.


    Hearing Peng Chun''s words, Jin Fen got out of his thoughts and looked at him as if looking at an insignificant bug.


    ''Now I get why the MCs would act like that. I mean I barely know this guy and already want to punch his face.'' I nodded to myself.


    "A Mantis trying to stop a chariot. Aren''t you thinking too highly of yourself?" Jin Fen answered with a raised eyebrow and the same amount of arrogance.


    Experiencing the fight before this, the crowd know that the hotter the trash talk, the better the fight is, so they waited patiently for them to start attacking each other.


    "I want to see if you have the face to practice martial art after this fight��" Peng Chun smirked as if he has already won this fight.


    Jin Fen took a step toward Peng Chun but stopped. He clenched his fists for a few moments and then slowly opened them. He turned around and started walking.


    Everyone was dumbfounded by this development, why is he turning his back to the enemy in the middle of the fight? No one could make sense of this.


    ''Don''t tell me��'' I thought.


    As Jin Fen got to the border of the fighting stage he stopped and turned toward the stunned Peng Chun.


    "I won''t be dirtying my hands with pig''s blood and would talk to your master directly." After he said that, he went off from the stage. By doing this he lost the fight and would face Dai Bao in tomorrow''s battle royale.


    Peng Chun who was played by Jin Fen was enraged but couldn''t do anything about it.

 Chapter 47: The fight is fixed

    I didn''t know what to say. The crowd who were watching in anticipation were stupefied.


    Who wouldn''t be? They thought that this fight would be a very interesting one as both sides had a beef with each other, but what they saw was one of them forfeiting without any hesitation before the fight even begin.


    Even the referee was shocked and it took him some moments to collect himself and announce the winner of this fight.


    "The winner of this fight is Peng Chun." The referee announced.


    Peng Chun left the stage while cursing about not being able to show him his place and other sentences like that.


    The crowd really didn''t give a shit about showing face at this point and didn''t make any sound that could even remotely be considered cheering. There was dead silence in the crowd because of this last fight.


    ''Why come all this way to surrender?''


    ''Is this the might of the young generation of the heavenly sword sect?''


    ''Was he threatened so that he surrender in this fight?''


    ''They do this openly as if people have no eyes��''


    Murmurs like these were spoken all around the crowd and this made some of the elders to frown at this development. The actions of a disciple in a big gathering like this could easily affect the whole sect''s image in the minds of other practitioners and in turn, affect the whole continent''s residents.


    In a society that word of mouth is a very important factor, even a seemingly small matter like this could start a domino effect. This would drop the sect''s image by a level as the crowd now thinks that the sect turned a blind eye to someone forcing a disciple to forfeit from a position that could be very beneficial to him.


    No one put much importance on Jin Fen''s last words. Yes, he said big words but everyone thought that he is saying this as a last jab to his opponent before he forfeits��


    Only I know that this little shit is doing this to go where Lai Xinyue is. He could at least play as he was losing but no, he had to do it in the worst way possible and just leave as if he owns the place.


    His fight was finished in a way that easily gave the crowd the impression of the ''wronged genius who fought a young master''.


    When you do shit like that, you can''t expect that the sect doesn''t react to your blunder. But the funny thing is that I don''t think that Jin Fen has the slightest idea of what storm he created.


    Now even I wish that he can be in the final 5 of tomorrow''s battle royale so that the suspicion on sect would be reduced and this won''t affect the overall image of the sect that much.


    I couldn''t stay here any longer and now that the fights were over, I didn''t have to.


    "Let''s get some rest." I said to Hu Anjing. Well, tomorrow will be more exciting hopefully.


    "Hopefully tomorrow would be more exciting��" Hu Anjing said all of a sudden.


    I stopped in my tracks for a moment.


    ''Did she just�� I hope she didn''t jinx it.'' I thought.


    Shaking my head, I started walking. I can''t let these superstitions affect my mental state. Yeah, let''s not think about it.


    We got back to our temporary rooms on the competition site and separated.


    I needed a rest badly after thinking about all these things today. From the [Eternal wail trial] itself to Lai Xinyue and Jin Fen, a lot happened today and I need time to process all these things.


    The night passed peacefully and it was the second day of the competition.


    Today we were going to have two sets of fights. The first one is the battle royale one where the 50 losing parties would fight each other until they get to the final 5 participants. Those five would get a chance to fight for the thrones on the final day which is tomorrow.


    After they have finished this fight and the final five were selected, the 55 winners would fight for the 10 thrones. The order of fighting is the same as the fights we had last round.


    If you ask me, this is the best possible configuration because the order shows a relative power for most of the participants.


    The new rule in these fights is that even if you are on a throne, you can still fight for the three special thrones. This would create pressure on anyone who is occupying those seats and would make the fight more competitive.


    The main thing on my mind at this point is the rules and the setting of the battle royale that they have in store for us.


    I didn''t have to dwell on it for long before grand elder Wan went on the stage and explained to us and the crowd.


    The location for this fight is not here and there is some distance between us, but to make the travel easier there are already teleport formations ready to be used. using these, we can get there fast without wasting time.


    Outside of the competition ground, there are 50 portals that will be sending disciples to a predefined location inside of the competition ground.


    You can think of it as a semi-random spawn in a game.


    On the site, the 50 participants would each draw a lot and that would decide on which portal they will be going through. This way at least at the start they can''t team up on others and they have to explore to find each other.


    After they entered the fighting zone, it is free for all. You can scheme, team up, or go solo. Everything is up to you and you can decide how you want to proceed.


    The main rule is that you can''t kill each other and doing permanent damage to a fellow disciple results in disqualification and also you would get a punishment that the sect''s punishment hall deems necessary.


    The moment that the final 5 are selected, all the fighting should be stopped. If anyone continues fighting after the end of the competition, according to the situation the involved parties would be punished.


    After that, we went to the fighting ground that was selected for this battle royale. Even the audience came there to watch the fight. As I said before, these peoples are the disciples of the smaller powers and they are mainly sword practitioners so these fights would be useful to them so they have no qualms against coming here.


    "Now, each of you can draw a lot." Grand elder Wan gestured to the participating disciples.


    Jin Fen as everybody expected was sneaking glances at Lai Xinyue. On the other hand, Dai Bao was also glancing at someone, that someone being Jin Fen himself. Lai Xinyue herself was calm and collected and seemingly was ready for this fight.


    After a few more moments, they know which portal is theirs and walked through it.


    ''Fuck you Jin Fen, you have to win this.'' I prayed for his victory.

 Chapter 48: Bane of campers

    (A/N: I''m back, thank you for the patience. READ THE AUX CHAPTERS BEFORE CONTINUING!)


    As soon as they walked into the portals, the portals closed behind them and you could see them in different places of the fighting ground.


    You might be asking how can you see what they do? Well, there is some sort of artifact that works as a streaming tool, and with it, we are able to see all of the participants.


    I wanted to call bullshit when they used this but I remembered that they can create sub-spaces so this is child''s play to them��


    Anyway, we could see the fight easily this way and for now, I don''t care about anything else other than this.


    Each participant had their own method for the fight. Some hid for the time being, some randomly explored. Lai Xinyue was one of the random explorers, at the same time you could see that she was looking for clues of another participant on her tracks.


    On the other hand, Dai Bao was running to the east. At first, I thought that he is also one of the random explorers but soon I thought of something.


    I looked at the two disciples who were talking with Dai Bao before they got here for the battle royale and I am pretty sure that they are his lackeys. They were also running to the east. Now I get what is happening here.


    This fighting ground is dome-shaped so if they keep running in the same direction they could at least be sure that they are in the same half of the dome. After that, they would probably go toward the north or the south and meet there to team up.


    This is a good plan from a brain dead like Dai Bao, I can''t say I expected this. But oh well, this could be me reading too much into it.


    Leaving Dai Bao and his plan aside, we had Jin Fen. He wasn''t moving at all and just stood where he was, contemplating about something.


    I was about to think of a reason for it but he suddenly used a martial art technique to attack�� the sky?!


    ''What the hell?'' I was shocked for a moment.


    ''��is he that stupid?'' All of a sudden a thought flashed through my mind.


    ''Did he punch the sky, to attract others to his location?''


    He really thinks highly of himself to challenge everyone on the field, Or he has another card up his sleeves.


    I mean if he has anything more, I would be delighted to know about it but it would be bullshit if he somehow keeps pulling trump cards out of his ass.


    ''Nah, this is not some fiction, this is real, and even if he is a child of the plane he still has a long way to go to be the only one with all the power��'' I nodded to myself.


    Focusing on the fights I saw that Lai Xinyue was the first one to find someone�� Well, the accurate term is to be found.


    The other participant who found Lai Xinyue was hiding in waiting and was ready to jump anyone who shows up in this location.


    To his bad luck, the one who comes his way was Lai Xinyue. If Lai Xinyue was on earth, she would be one of those that would never lose in dodge ball.


    With an acrobatic move, she dodged the incoming sneak attack and at the same time unsheathed her sword. Without any sign of delay or hesitation, she attacked the one who was going to attack her.


    With just that, the protective gear on her attacker''s body activated and showed that he was out of the competition.


    These protective gears are to ensure the disciples safety and also act as solid evidence of someone being in the game or not.


    The protective gear is not some sort of groundbreaking technology, it is a gear that has a great amount (great amount for my level) of a high-level practitioner''s Qi. Using that Qi, the device can easily evade our attacks so there is nothing complicated going on here.


    Let''s get back to Lai Xinyue, she is taking out the campers. This is one of the most fulfilling things that the humanity ever had.


    As she is running around, she eventually meet some lone camper who decides to attack her from their ambush. Unfortunately for the attacker, she has her physique, [Fate Eluding Physique] that makes it near impossible for others on the same level as her to land an attack on her, much less anyone who is not even on her level.


    Her attacks marked the first and the second elimination of the fight and the unconventional way of these fights make the crowd cheer in anticipation. On the fighting ground, Lai Xinyue continued on her crusade without any stops because she didn''t know about her fans infatuation.


    ''Well, even if she knew about it, I don''t think she would show any reactions.'' I thought.


    ��


    As the minutes passed some small fights happened, in these fights 8 more participants were eliminated that 2 of them were eliminated by Lai Xinyue, letting her reach the record of 4 elimination.


    Jin Fen could only eliminate one participant who had answered his ''call'' and went to his location to fight him. The fight was not something that was worth watching, you could say that it was pretty bland and Jin Fen didn''t use any flashy movements or techniques and as the fight closed to its end, he emerged victorious.


    On the other hand, Dai Bao and his two lackeys finally meet and they were looking for someone who I presume is Jin Fen. They also had eliminated one participant who, as luck would have it was on their way.


    With 40 participants left, the fights continued. Although 10 participants were eliminated the stakes were still high so no one was reckless, except maybe Jin Fen.


    Reading about someone who acted this way might have been fun but experiencing it, is really not something that is pleasant. I think being realistic is always the best option, even I don''t think I can win a 1 vs. 49 on this level without any external help.


    Just as I was thinking about the importance of being a realist, the cheers from the crowd brought me back to reality.


    Apparently, Lai Xinyue was ambushed by someone who was being tailed by someone else and this resulted in a three-way fight.


    The three disciples looked at each other with vigilance. The other two could see the anxiety in each other''s eyes but all that they could see and feel from Lai Xinyue was calmness.


    This lead them to think that she knows that she would win easily against them and no matter what they do they can''t stop her. On the other hand, they had similar power level so they know if they wanted to have a chance of winning they had to work to gather to win Lai Xinyue and after that decide the winner amongst themselves.


    With a nod to each other, they signaled the other that they would be teaming to win against Lai Xinyue.


    But what they didn''t know was that Lai Xinyue having a calm face didn''t mean that she is relaxed and calm, it simply shows that she doesn''t show many emotions��


    ''This is going to be fun.'' I got excited about this fight.

 Chapter 49: Knee strike

    Lai Xinyue who was surrounded by two other participants just kept on looking at them. She was trying to figure out their plans and come up with countermeasures.


    On the other side of this stand-off, Fan Jian and Liang Qing were also looking for openings in Lai Xinyue''s posture to make a move and hopefully do some damage.


    This was all good and well, but there was a slight problem, none of them was willing to make the first move.


    Lai Xinyue was naturally in a disadvantageous position as this was a 1 vs 2 fight so it was expected of her to be more vigilant and don''t act rashly because any mistake could cost her the competition.


    Fan Jian and Liang Qing were also in a dilemma. They have seen her fights before so they knew they wouldn''t have an easy time and they needed to do something and do it fast to have a chance, but the problem is that they didn''t have any plans and the more time passed the more insecure they become.


    So for the sake of it, they decided to attack, this way they at least wouldn''t lose the surprise factor.


    From the left and right of Lai Xinyue, they started making their move. In their mind, they deduced that this is the best plan of action to surprise her and try to land at least one attack on her.


    Well, they didn''t know about Lai Xinyue''s physique that allowed her to move in the most optimal way in order to avoid an incoming attack. With her physique, landing an attack is a difficult thing to do but defending is not hard. They could have just sat there and she wouldn''t have the necessary power to fight both of them at the same time so it would be a deadlock for her and would put her in a difficult spot.


    But for some reason they thought attacking her head-on was a good idea and they acted on it.


    With her [Fate Eluding Physique] she could have easily moved to counter each one of these attacks but now that these attacks are almost simultaneous, this couldn''t be solved with a simple dodge or sidestep, there had to be a bit more body movement and acrobatics involved.


    The significance and value of this physique are shown in situations that are hard to counter and with this physique, you would instantly know how to counter it, so attacking harder against this physique could only result in a more disadvantageous situation for you.


    As the sword attacks closed on Lai Xinyue, she expertly moved and Fan Jian''s and Liang Qing''s swords barely missed her.


    Fan Jian and Liang Qing were shocked by this development as they didn''t expect her to be able to dodge with a amazing body movement that freed her from the clutches of their sword. But that wasn''t important right now, what is important is the fact that their swords will hit each other if they don''t stop it in time.


    As they were very close to land an attack on Lai Xinyue, they don''t have a large distance between themselves, so they had to focus fully to be able to deflect the swords.


    Using this chance, Lai Xinyue closed on both of them and decided to attack. Just as they successfully deflected their swords, Lai Xinyue jumped into the air and bent her knees up toward her chest, she then put a hand on the back of each of her opponents'' heads.


    It was at this moment that Fan Jian and Liang Qing know what was happening but unfortunately for them, Lai Xinyue didn''t give them a chance to do anything to counter their situation.


    Exerting force to her hands, Lai Xinyue forced their heads to move and in a quick move kneed their heads at the same time.


    Her fight with these two took some time to describe, but all of it actually happened in a matter of seconds.


    The crowd was also so absorbed in the fight that no one even breathes until a second or two after Lai Xinyue''s attack. at that moment, you could see the Fan Jian and Liang Qing''s protective gear activating. With this, they both were out of the competition and they both lost in a single move despite them teaming up��


    The crowd broke in cheers. This fight didn''t follow the script that everyone thought it would. They thought that Lai Xinyue would have to fight desperately in order to win this fight as she is being teamed up against, but against all odds, she used their own sword attack to force them to show an opening and she didn''t hesitate for a fraction of second to execute her knee strike.


    Li Huang was probably one of the only people who know that she would be having an easy time in this fight but even he didn''t think it would be to this extent.


    ''That was some Muay Thai shit.'' Li Huang touched his nose uneasily. When Lai Xinyue kneed them, if you were paying close attention as Li Huang did, you could hear the *crunch* sound of their noses.


    Without a doubt, this was a brutal move from Lai Xinyue but she only thought that this would be the most efficient way to finish the fight and didn''t put any thought on the attack itself. Fortunately for her, this wasn''t deemed as permanent damage to them, and her movements were not considered to be against any laws.


    Lai Xinyue soon moved from the location to find new opponents and also get away from the place that her last fight was at to avoid anyone who might jump her. Although she has a relatively easy time handling the campers because of her physique, if she to be is surrounded that advantage might be lost and that would result in her loss.


    As Lai Xinyue was looking for new hiding places, the others were also doing their best to fight for the finals. Dai Bao''s team found and eliminated 3 more disciples and were on high alert for any sighting of Jin Fen.


    Jin Fen also continued with his own strategy of blasting the sky until it falls down. In this past time, he also did fight against a disciple who was angry about him making noise pollution. As that disciple wasn''t that lucky, what he faced was more noise continued with him losing the chance to continue the competition.


    With all of the fights going on, the number of remaining participants decreased to 20. It seems as time passed, more disciples were gathering at the center and more fights were happening.


    There is a logical reason for that, to be qualified to be one of the 5 winners of this round you have to at least have one elimination in the battle royale, and in the end, the one with the higher elimination number would fight sooner tomorrow. Also as the number of fighters decreases to 10, everyone would be notified about each other''s location so there is no use in hiding.


    20 disciple means that a quarter of them would get to the finals, this results in a more reckless fight from now on��

 Chapter 50: The stand-off

    (A/N: okay, a question about the pacing of the story. Just use like 10 seconds of your time and check this paragraph''s comment and like the one that you think is better. Thank you.


    To the guys from the future: don''t waste your time liking the comments about pacing, I don''t think I will come back to this and even if I do, the result is already in action so there is no point to it. Read more and get up to date with the novel so that your opinion would have an effect.)


    Now that we only have 20 ''players'' left, the intensity would be higher and hopefully, the fight would soon be finished so that we can get back to our own fights for the day��


    ����(POV third person)����


    Just in half of an hour the number dropped to 9 and in the same way from the start of the fights Lai Xinyue got most of the eliminations but the others were also active and tried to at the very least get the quota for the qualification. This resulted in an ''all or nothing'' situation that makes the fights more interesting to the audience.


    Jin Fen still blasted the sky every once in a while. At this point, it looked like some kind of signal so the number of people who would go after him decreased more because they thought this was a signal for other ''teammates'' and they might be ambushed. This resulted in even fewer eliminations for Jin Fen.


    If you are interested in Dai Bao and his boy band, they are still looking for Jin Fen but they somehow always miss him or are in different parts of the battleground so they were unable to locate him until now. They had one encounter with a participant and defeated him but that''s it.


    But now everything would change. Now everyone knows each other''s location and can find each other and fight faster. There is something that you don''t know, the participants know the location of each other but there is no name tag there so they don''t know who is there.


    For someone like Dai Bao who is looking for someone specific, this is an inconvenience. Well, this is exactly the reason they didn''t put names there, doing so would only defeat the purpose.


    In just only 5 minutes, the number dropped to 6, and finally, Dai Bao and Jin Fen found each other.


    ''Finally!'' Li Huang thought.


    "I thought you would never show up!" Jin Fen contemptuously looked at Dai Bao and his boy band and spoke before Dai Bao had a chance to speak first.


    Dai Bao shook his head in ridicule.


    "And I thought you would never come out of the hole that you had dug to hide yourself." Dai Bao said.


    There was silence in the crowd as they know about these two or at least they thought they know. They were waiting for the epic stand-off.


    "Don''t talk as if you didn''t bring your dogs here too, you don''t seem as confident as you speak��" Jin Fen talked back to Dai Bao and made fun of him for using this scheme to fight against him.


    "*hmph* What is wrong with taking care of a pig with dogs?"Dai Bao didn''t even hesitate for a second to shit on Jin Fen and his own teammates at the same time.


    The fun fact was that Dai Bao''s lackeys didn''t even flinch a little as if it was nothing.


    ''I have to applaud them for this performance, but is it really necessary to have all these talking before every fight? Can''t you just start already?'' Li Huang was internally cursing both sides for wasting time.


    At the same time that Dai Bao and Jin Fen just found each other, the two other participants also were closing on each other.


    From the location, they both know that a fight of 4 is definitely bloodier than this 1 vs 1 fight and also there is a high chance of teaming in there, so they decided to go toward the easier option.


    Right the moment that Jin Fen started taunting Dai Bao, these two parties stood in front of each other.


    One of them was Lai Xinyue and the other was a female disciple named Yi Zhihao. They started clashing without any unnecessary talks. The fight was in Lai Xinyue''s favor as Yi Zhihao wasn''t much stronger than her and Lai Xinyue''s physique would help her here.


    Back where Jin Fen and Dai Bao were trash-talking, they were almost ready to fight.


    "There is no point in talking anymore, you have made me lose way too much time, don''t expect to be able to walk away from here." Jin Fen said. He was going to find Lai Xinyue after quickly taking care of Dai Bao, but he didn''t show up until now and Lai Xinyue didn''t come to him even after all these ''signals''.


    Somehow in Jin Fen''s mind, going to the place that the explosions come from is logical and Lai Xinyue should have done so.


    "For once, I agree with you." Dai Bao sneered and said.


    The moment that they started to make a move, a sound resonated in the battleground.


    "The round is finished. Stop all hostilities." The referee said.


    It seems Lai Xinyue was victorious in her fight against Yi Zhihao and now with 5 remaining disciples, the competition is done.


    Jin Fen and Dai Bao were red with shame. They didn''t consider that the fight would stop the moment that there are only 5 participants left and they account for 4. If they talked less they could have at least fought a little but now they are laughing stock of everyone as they were all bark and no bite.


    Li Huang among the audience couldn''t stop his face from twisting.


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "All this horse shit and no fight in the end?" I said without any care about someone hearing me.


    "I think we have to get revenge for our wasted time in the finals." Hu Anjing chimed in.


    "That�� is a brilliant idea." I couldn''t agree more with her on this. I mean even the crowd is giving face to the heavenly sword sect by not openly cursing these two assholes.


    With this anticlimactic ending to the battle royale competition, we were ready to go back and have the first day of fights for 10 thrones.


    In just a few minutes, the portals were ready and we got back to the heavenly sword sect stage that now had 10 thrones on it.


    As I was going on stage for the fight I remembered something.


    ''Hu Anjing really jinxed the battle royale round��'' I touched my temples. No point in thinking about it, whatever it was, it is done now��


    After a short reminder about the rules of this round by grand elder Wan, we were ready to start. We got to choose the thrones in order of our fights so I was first and after me, it was Hu Anjing''s turn.


    To be honest about it, I have been thinking about what throne to choose for the past day and I think I now know what is the best course of action for me, I''m going to get one of the vice leader thrones.


    There are a couple of reasons for me to do so. No one can argue that Hu Anjing is the strongest in this competition without a doubt so she can easily get this throne from anyone who is settled in it. But if I am the one on it, she would let me have it and this doesn''t leave a good taste in my mouth. The other way is for me to fight with her for it and that is also not something that I want because it would be first and foremost draining for both of us before the trial so that is also not an option.


    Now if she is on that throne, she has no problem keeping it and there is no excuse for her to not take it.


    Okay, I admit that I don''t have the patience for this responsibility, are you happy now?


    I mean, I want to loot in the trial, I don''t have time to think about others��

 Chapter 51: One Slap Man

    (A/N: okay, from what I have read in your comments so far, I can get a good grasp of what you do like and what you would like. I will check the results for a couple of days to see and read everyone''s thoughts.


    A solution that I think would work with my current workload is to go from daily updates to 3 chapters per week, this way I can put more thoughts in chapters and longer chapters (2.5k+), that is if you think the quality of writing is dropping. For now I will go for 1.5k+ chapters. Give me your thoughts on this.


    I will finish this selection soon, hopefully, it won''t be boring.)


    ����(POV third person)����


    With a hand gesture from one of the elders who was one of the referees for today, Li Huang and others could now start their fight for the thrones. There were 50 participants today and the 5 winners of the battle royale round would compete from tomorrow.


    Without any delay, Li Huang started walking and hopped on the right vice-leader''s throne.


    The audience didn''t expect this kind of development. They thought that Li Huang as a chief disciple and the grandson of the heavenly sword sect''s patriarch, Li Long, would act more arrogantly and go for the leader''s throne but he didn''t.


    Looking at the other participants, the audience soon understood that Li Huang would show arrogance without anything to back it with if he chose the leader''s throne. Although everyone knows him as a genius there is also Hu Anjing who is also a genius but with way more cultivation power in Qi and body. She is at the twelfth stage of the Meridian formation whilst Li Huang is only at the first stage of the Meridian formation realm.


    If you only look at his age he is very good, but when put in this competition, choosing the main throne would be too much arrogance that can not be justified.


    Even the elders were satisfied by his course of action. Having all these options and still choosing to not bite off more than one can chew is a virtue that is rare in the younger generation. This small act gave him some points in the minds of the present elders.


    If only they know that Li Huang was only selfish and didn''t want to be taking care of others, they wouldn''t be this happy about his decision. Luckily or unluckily for them and Li Huang, they couldn''t read minds so they come up with this explanation for it.


    Hu Anjing on the other hand was smiling evilly. If anyone in the crowd knows Li Huang it was her and she knows he wasn''t being humble or something along these lines, he just didn''t want to do the bothersome work of thinking about others.


    As the good niece that she was, she decided to ruin Li Huang''s plan. (A/N: I change martial nephew to martial niece after it caused some misunderstandings. Shizhi (martial nephew), despite the literal translation, is used for both martial nephews and martial nieces. I tried to stick with the martial nephew, thinking the readers who read this novel after they got into the cultivation novels from some translated works would feel easier reading it, but it backfired and the new readers of the genre got confused instead. Sorry about that. Going forward I will use martial niece for Hu Anjing.)


    Her grin faded as fast as it appeared on her face and almost no one saw it, almost.


    Li Huang watched the grin fade from her face and nothing could scare him more than this scene.


    ''Fuck, she is going to shit on my plan!'' Li Huang thought and tried to come up with a solution fast.


    Why fast? Because Hu Anjing was already walking toward the thrones and it was apparent that she was going to choose the left vice-leader''s throne.


    Without much time left, Li Huang chooses the route that the hentai artists would choose to build their plots.


    ~''Don''t, I will do anything!''~ Li Huang quickly sent a sound transmission to Hu Anjing. (A/N: ~''sound transmissions''~)


    Hu Anjing stopped in her tracks, she looked at Li Huang and sent a sound transmission back.


    ~''Anything you say?''~ her grin was back on her face.


    It was just now that Li Huang knew that he fucked up. If Hu Anjing wasn''t a beautiful girl, this could have been much scarier. Luckily Huang knew that she wouldn''t ask for something outrageous so he wasn''t that worried to use this card.


    Gulping down his saliva, he subconsciously nodded to Hu Anjing.


    ~''Sure.''~ he said to her.


    With a broad smile on her face, Hu Anjing went and sat on the leader''s throne. She was happy that she got a ''you can do anything'' pass from Li Huang for almost nothing. True, she was going to sit on the vice-leader throne but it was only to play with Li Huang, otherwise, she knew her master would beat her if she did that and lost face for her master.


    Soon the others choose thrones and all the 10 thrones were filled. If you are curious about the eleventh place, the selection for that would start tomorrow as it is not something that you would aim for from the start.


    Now that the thrones are filled by the first 10 participants, there will be a challenge each time that a new disciple comes to the stage so it is going to be more interesting.


    ��


    Well, you can say it was interesting for the crowd but for Li Huang and Hu Anjing it couldn''t be more boring. Why? Because no one challenged any of them even after 30 fights. No, it wasn''t because of their status in the sect or anything like that, the others wanted to solidify their throne position first and then think about trying their luck with the three special thrones.


    This totally made sense to both of them but that didn''t mean that they wouldn''t get frustrated just sitting and doing nothing.


    "This sucks." Li Huang said to Hu Anjing.


    "Yeah, it is starting to get boring." She nodded.


    There was silence between them for a few seconds.


    "Oh! I know what to do!" Hu Anjing exclaimed.


    "And what is that?" Li Huang asked disinterestedly.


    "I can ask you for anything, right?" Hu Anjing got closer to him and said.


    Li Huang felt uneasy but nodded nonetheless.


    "��where are you going with this?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "I can ask you to kill me so I can get out of here!" Hu Anjing said as if she was talking about the weather.


    Li Huang only looked at her with a deadpan.


    "You shouldn''t joke about that." He said and quickly took out some defensive treasures from his storage ring and throw them at Hu Anjing.


    "If you say bullshits like that again, I would tell Yuan Jia. At that time you would really wish that you could die, am I clear?" Li Huang went in his uncle mode without knowing and reprimanded Hu Anjing.


    She was startled by Li Huang''s serious attitude and quickly nodded a couple of times.


    "I understand junior uncle." Hu Anjing said while stashing the defensive treasures. You can''t blame her, who wouldn''t like free stuff?


    After that Li Huang took out some snacks from his storage ring and handed half of it to Hu Anjing.


    "With this, we at least can entertain ourselves��" He said.


    Hu Anjing just nodded and decided to give this method a chance.


    ��


    Almost all the participants for the day were done and only two were left to have their fights, Ye Ling and Peng Chun. The former is in the second stage of the Meridian formation and the latter is in the ninth stage of the Qi gathering.


    Ye Ling didn''t hesitate and fought the person on the left vice-leader position and won easily. This way she secured her position for the rest of the day as today everyone had one chance to fight for the thrones so no one can challenge her until tomorrow except Peng Chun, but he hopefully knows better to pick a fight with her��


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing were chilling on their thrones and Li Huang was introducing the snacks to Hu Anjing. This was almost the end of the day so they were enjoying their time.


    "These are called dried apricots, it was a little hard to find them here in the divine central continent." He was explaining about the dried fruits to Hu Anjing.


    Meanwhile, Peng Chun come to the stage and was choosing someone to challenge.


    "In fact, these dried fruits traveled for��" Li Huang couldn''t finish his words because a loud voice caught his attention.


    "I want to challenge senior brother Li." Peng Chun loudly announced.


    Li Huang was stunned for a moment.


    ''Is he an idiot?'' He thought. There is no way that a sane person would choose this fight when taking all the disadvantages into account.


    "I''ll be right back." Li Huang said and stood and went toward the stage to fight Peng Chun.


    Hu Anjing who was just introduced to the culture of seeing sport with snacks, chewed a dried fruit while pitying Peng Chun for his stupidity to challenge Li Huang when he was immersed in explaining something.


    Just as Li Huang got into the fighting stage, Peng Chun started talking.


    "Please forgive me for being disrespectful, senior brother." Peng Chun said with no sincerity in his voice.


    Li Huang didn''t even bother to go back and forth with him.


    "Everyone is tired from a long day, let''s wrap this up fast." Li Huang said and waited for Peng Chun to attack.


    Peng Chun could feel Li Huang ridiculing him so he didn''t want to waste any more time and attack Li Huang directly.


    Just as he got in front of Li Huang and was ready to attack him, Li Huang looked at him with contempt and raised his right hand in a fraction of a second, and slapped him hard.


    The slap was so powerful that he was thrown outside of the fighting ring and fell to the ground between the audience who moved away as if their lives depended on it.


    ''Brain dead jester.'' Li Huang thought.

 Chapter 52: Giving some advice

    (A/N: thank you for all the comments on the previous chapters. for now, I will continue with daily updates��)


    ����(POV third person)����


    The crowd was gathering where Peng Chun fell to the ground and lay there unconscious. True, Peng Chun is one realm lower than Li Huang but to lose a fight with only one slap, is not something that anyone predicted to happen. They know that Li Huang was a powerful genius but no one expected such a performance from him. In the last fight that they saw from Li Huang, although he won in the end, many thought that he was studying the opponent and not that he was using some technique named [Drunken Sword Master] that the fight was that long.


    There is a difference between knowing and seeing with one''s own eyes, and now the crowd saw with their own eyes that Li Huang was strong enough to even finish Dai Bao in one move but with the way he fought he was giving face to Dai Bao and if this Peng Chun wouldn''t think himself worthy of challenging him, he wouldn''t show his true powers.


    They were not exaggerating that much about the second part of their conclusion but couldn''t be more wrong about the first part. Li Huang didn''t give a shit about giving face to Dai Bao, he was simply trying to impress his grandmother''s master, the grand elder of the White Moon Sect, Su Zhi(A/N: this is the first time her name is mentioned so memorize it��).


    If the audience knew that the noble cause that they thought about was not true at all, most of them would end up coughing up blood. Luckily for them, they didn''t know about this fact.


    Li Huang who was oblivious to this, just now noticed that he has to give an excuse for using his full power, and Peng Chun ending up unconscious.


    ''I mean I didn''t do anything against the laws but I can at least say a few words��'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    "My apologies, I thought he was strong enough to challenge for one of the vice-leader thrones so i didn''t think that this would happen��" he said matter of factly but to everyone else it sounded arrogant.


    But everybody know that it is only arrogance if you can''t back it, and he has already shown his qualifications to say these words. Peng Chun must have been blind to challenge Li Huang, a chief disciple, and expect any other result.


    The referee soon announced the winner after sending Peng Chun for some checkups.


    "The winner of this challenge is Li Huang." He said.


    Li Huang got back to his throne while the crowd was cheering him for the fight, a fight that lasted about a second.


    After sitting in his seat, Hu Anjing started speaking to him.


    "Junior uncle, you really didn''t go easy on him��" she said with a knowing smile.


    Li Huang waved his hand dismissively.


    "He made me walk all this way to him, how could I be so insensitive to not give him a good fight?" He asked her sarcastically.


    "You truly are the most sensible one!" Hu Anjing said and they both laughed a little.


    Right about that time, grand elder Wan got to the stage and announced the end of the second day of the heavenly sword sect''s selection. He then continued with some explanation about tomorrow''s plan.


    "Tomorrow the 55 participants would fight for the 10 thrones that would represent the sect in the [Eternal wail trial] and also they can fight for the eleventh throne." He said and looked at the crowd.


    The eleventh throne would fight with the best of the smaller powers, meaning the crowd here. Because of that, they were paying extra attention to this throne because it could result in destroying their chance of getting into the [Eternal Wail Trial].


    The seven holy lands would each select the eleventh place and in the end, create a team of seven. After the selection of the smaller powers of the 30 places is done, this team will fight the top seven disciples of the smaller powers and if they can win more than half of the fights, the holy lands can fight for these 30 places too, else the smaller powers can keep it for themselves.


    It might seem like a harsh rule but it is logical to send the best of the best in this trial to have better gains.


    Grand elder Wan said this part to build tension in the crowd and this way make them aware that the heavenly sword sect and the other holy lands are not giving away 30 spots as a charity and you have to be strong to be respected.


    Without any more delay, grand elder Wan spoke again.


    "Tomorrow the disciples also can only challenge three times so you better keep that in mind when choosing your opponents. Also know that only the challenger is limited and there is no limit on the one who is getting challenged and they can be challenged as many times as the challengers desire.." He said while looking at all of the heavenly sword sect disciples.


    The fact that they can only challenge three times is a good thing as it makes it more serious when choosing someone to challenge and no one would do the same as Peng Chun did today.


    But the second part of the news wasn''t a good thing for everyone.


    ''What the hell. This way they can spam challenge me tomorrow.'' Li Huang wasn''t happy with this.


    He knows that many youngsters might want to show that they are good enough and gain some recognition and reputation. To Li Huang''s delight, one of the best ways to do so is challenging one of the candidates of the next patriarch position and the current patriarch''s grandson, Li Huang himself.


    ''Hopefully, they don''t challenge me as much because of what happened to Peng Chun today.'' Li Huang prayed for it to be so.


    What Li Huang didn''t take into consideration was that many would do high-risk things so that they can have the slightest chances of being successful. So even if it seems impossible but there is a chance greater than zero, they would jump ship for that minuscule chance of success.


    After a few more minutes of grand elder Wan speaking to the crowd, the selection officially was finished on the second day and Li Huang and others could get back and have some rest before tomorrow.


    Along the way, Li Huang gave some advice to Hu Anjing as the sensible paranoid that he is.


    "Try to finish your fights fast, Don''t let them buy time by talking, talk to them with your swords." Li Huang said as if painting a specific situation.


    Hu Anjing only nodded at his words.


    "Don''t think of Dai Bao as the idiot that he is. He simply lost to that Jin Fen because he was too full of himself and didn''t finish the fight fast." Li Huang tried to come up with an example.


    Hu Anjing put her hand on Huang''s shoulder to stop him.


    "I will be fine." She said with a smile.


    "And also don''t forget that I was a killer for many years��" she added with a grin after a few seconds.


    Li Huang felt embarrassed. He was giving a piece of advice to a professional.


    "Okay, so get some rest because tomorrow could get hectic very soon. What''s more, we are in the center of it." He said as they were reaching the temporary rooms.


    "We will be fine." Hu Anjing lightly punched Huang''s chest and went to her room.


    After a few seconds, Li Huang likewise went to his room and rested for the night.

 Chapter 53: The Untouchables

    ����(POV Li Huang a.k.a Larry the slap king)����


    I had a pleasant night''s sleep with no weird dreams. Hopefully today we would be having a nice series of fights and nothing unexpected will happen.


    Something that I didn''t have time to do is to find some good potentials in the disciples who are not from the seven holy lands or in other words are from the smaller powers. Who knows, there might be some hidden gems there and I can help them and make them indebted to myself.


    As a ''young master'' the fact that I don''t have any lackeys is a dark point but what I want is to find useful ''retainers'' for myself that are not as brain dead as Dai Bao''s lackeys. The amount of times that an MC would fight a family because of the actions of a lackey is uncountable, I don''t want to be an addition to that list, to say the least.


    I put my robes back on and went outside of my room to start the new day and the last day for the selection process of the seven holy lands.


    On the way, I could see all of our sect disciples getting out of their rooms. Regardless of whether they are in the final selection or not, they didn''t want to miss the chance of gaining some insights into the higher levels of swordsmanship.


    The walk back to the stage of our heavenly sword sect was peaceful and I only had some small talks with Hu Anjing and others.


    Ye Ling was still as socially awkward as she was two days ago. After I gave her a nod with a smile as she was looking at my face for a few second, she could only stiffly nod back like a robot. Well, you can argue that at least she tried to interact so that''s a plus.


    As we got to the stage, we broke into three groups. One group went toward the sect''s audience seats to see the fights as they were not in the finals, another group went to one side of the stage to line up for challenges. The last group consisted of me and nine other disciples who were occupying a throne each, we went and sat on our designated place waiting for the start of the selection.


    Getting some snacks out of my storage ring, I handed some to Hu Anjing and also handed some to Ye Ling because she kept on looking at me, and to be honest I''m one of those people who can''t eat when someone''s gaze is fixated on their face so sharing was the best course of action here.


    As I predicted her attention was redirected at the snacks and I could feel the weight of her gaze lifting from me.


    ����(POV third person)����


    One of the elders went on stage and reminded the audience and the participants about the rules and after that, the challenges started.


    The layout of the seats was like the starting players in a sport and one could see that this is almost the best that sect has so it wasn''t easy for anyone to get any position now. So the challengers decided to fight for the special thrones so that maybe they can tire them out and win eventually.


    At first two disciples decided to try their luck by challenging Hu Anjing for the leader''s throne. There is no doubt about how it played out; they were simply overpowered with a single move and needed medical attention so that they can continue the selection as a challenger.


    After that, the other challengers know that there is no way to win against someone at the twelfth stage of the Meridian formation even if they challenge her constantly. So they decided to change the target of their attacks to someone else, and that someone else was Ye Ling.


    The reason that they didn''t go for Li Huang was that they were afraid that he might retaliate as he not only has a big influence in the sect but he is also the number one genius of the younger generation in the Li family so if he were to use his backing, they would be having a hard time.


    There was no communication between the challengers, but almost all of them made a judgment call to target Ye Ling.


    Ye Ling who just started to understand the wonders of nuts and dried fruits was munching them like a squirrel. For the first time ever, if anyone looked at her face as Li Huang was doing with wide eyes, they could see that she was having a blissful expression on her face without knowing it.


    Just as she was starting to enjoy herself, the next disciple announced the target of his challenge.


    "I want to challenge senior sister Ye." He said.


    The blissful expression on Ye Ling''s face turned into a frown fast as she heard the challenger''s voice. With a frown on her face, she put the rest of the snacks in her storage ring and went to the fighting ring on the stage.


    In less than ten moves, you could see the challenger was on the floor and unconscious. Hu Anjing finished the fight fast and in one move but Ye Ling didn''t and the way she used her sword was as if she was playing her opponent.


    Although if one thinks about it, this is scarier than what Hu Anjing did, the other challengers saw this as a clear provocation from Ye Ling and wanted to show her that she won''t be able to win against all of them.


    After that, Ye Ling was happily going back to her throne to continue eating but regrettably, she would be the target of the next couple of challenges and wouldn''t have time to relax and eat.


    The sect would provide recovery potions and pills if anyone would request them so there was no problem with a high number of fights except the mental fatigue. With this option available, the only chance of getting this throne was that the mental fatigue would take a toll on Ye Ling.


    Nine more fights went on like this until someone decided to break the sequence of fighting Ye Ling and fought for one of the seven ordinary thrones and surprisingly won. This made the next 20 fights pass like this but only two more changes happened on the thrones so the plan to tire someone out resurfaced in the minds of the challengers.


    But there was a problem, now that Ye Ling has rested, they can hardly make any impact on her and would have to waste 10 more challenges on her.


    If you count the five participants who are from the battle royale, there are 23 challenges left on this round and not many would be willing to gamble with their second and third chances so they have to gain results in this round.


    Hu Anjing was too strong so she was out of the equation, Ye Ling was also rested so the chance of victory was close to none and someone might decide that it is not worth it and break the momentum again.


    The only option was Li Huang and winning against him would bring the highest prestige so they thought this was the option and was worth giving a shot.


    Li Huang wasn''t oblivious to their internal thoughts and from yesterday he was expecting this kind of development so it wasn''t shocking to him that he was the next target for challenging.


    "I want to challenge senior brother Li." A disciple said with cupped fists.


    As Li Huang know that he is going to get challenged at least a couple of times, he didn''t want to waste time and directly jumped down to the stage. Dusting off his robes, he started to speak.


    "As this will be a long day for everyone, I will be using the same technique as I did yesterday so that the fights don''t take too much time��" He opened his arms.


    The crowd hardly controlled their laughter. What technique? He slapped his last challenger out of his shoes. Li Huang clearly was playing with words.


    The disciple who challenged Li Huang paled as he remembered what happened to Peng Chun but shook his head to clear his thoughts.


    He started his moves and�� within the next second lost consciousness because of Li Huang''s slap.


    The crowd was silent and soon cheered.


    Everyone expected that Li Huang would go back to his throne but he stood there in the fighting ring.


    Even the referee was confused a little and looked at Li Huang waiting for an explanation.


    "Elder, as I will be the one who is going to be challenged again, it would waste time and energy if I go back and forth constantly. Please continue." He cupped his fists to the referee.


    This move was logical but humiliating to the other challengers who wanted to benefit from his accumulated mental fatigue to win against him.


    With that said the fights continued and for 15 more fights, Li Huang won against each and everyone with only one slap. Some didn''t lose consciousness but lost the fight nonetheless. In total, he won 16 fights.


    With only 7 challenges remaining in the first round, the position of leader and two vice-leaders was looking untouchable.

 Chapter 54: Jin Fen’s decision

    ����(POV third person)����


    Two more fights were done and it was now the turn for the winners of the battle royale round to challenge someone.


    The first one to challenge was Lai Xinyue. She was the first one as she had the most number of eliminations in the battle royale.


    It didn''t take much time for her to choose an opponent to fight as she was very preceptive while the other challengers fought and found the best option for herself.


    Jin Fen who was also in the line was nervously looking at Lai Xinyue''s back.


    "I want to challenge senior brother Mo." Lai Xinyue declared with her stoic face.


    The brother Mo that she is talking about is Mo Hui. He is at the first stage of the meridian formation realm and is a fairly strong disciple of the inner court but here he is on the weaker half of the 10 thrones.


    He was soon in the fighting ring and ready to fight.


    ��


    The fight went on for more than 20 minutes and in the end, Lai Xinyue comes out victorious. As Mo Hui is one of the sect''s best twin blade practitioners in the younger generation, Lai Xinyue had a hard time finding an opening in his moves and as a result, needed more time to adjust to the pressure of this level of attacks.


    Twin blades are best at attacks and Lai Xinyue is best at defending so this was a good match for both of them and in the end both needed pills to recover from their fights.


    After Lai Xinyue, it was Dai Bao''s turn to challenge someone. He got all of the eliminations that their team got other than the first for each of them so he is second after Lai Xinyue.


    Li Huang who was sitting on his throne sent an amused look to Dai Bao in order to provoke him to choose him for the challenge.


    But this time Dai Bao unboxed his brain and used it. He has lost face all this selection along, so he desperately needs to gain a small victory to pacify the tension that started to create around him.


    He throws a glance at Jin Fen who was looking at Lai Xinyue.


    ''It all started when this bastard played me that time.'' Dai Bao cursed under his breath.


    If he wouldn''t lose to Jin Fen at the beginning, he wouldn''t have to fight Li Huang and lose while being humiliated.


    He chooses someone who he could easily fight against and went into the ring.


    Within five minutes, Dai Bao finished the fight and won. It was an easy win for him and the crowd liked the fight so he achieved his goal with this and was able to clear his name a little.


    He sat on his throne proudly and waited for the next round.


    ''At least he used his head this time and didn''t waste challenge unnecessarily��'' Li Huang applauded mentally for Dai Bao.


    The next person on the line was none other than Jin Fen. He wanted nothing more than outright challenging Li Huang and fighting him.


    But there was something that stopped him from doing so. He wanted to fight Li Huang but he also wanted to make sure to be there for Lai Xinyue this time.


    It took a lot out of him, but in the end, he stopped himself from challenging Li Huang or even Dai Bao and went for the safe route and challenged someone else.


    "Senior brother Sun, I want to challenge you." Jin Fen said with clasped hands.


    If one were to focus on his hands, they could see that his hands were gripping hard and it was clear as day that making this decision was not something that he himself was happy about.


    Li Huang who thought that He had a good chance of being chosen this time was confused.


    ''What makes Jin Fen make this decision? It is obvious that he is not happy with his decision��'' Li Huang pondered.


    As he was looking and Jin Fen and the one who was going to be challenged, he suddenly thought of something.


    ''You can''t be serious.'' Li Huang was really flabbergasted.


    The reason for Li Huang''s surprise was the location of the throne that Jin Fen was challenging for, that throne was right beside Lai Xinyue''s throne.


    ''��is it right to call him a simp or he is just overly compassionate?'' Li Huang thought.


    On the fighting ring, Jin Fen was already fighting with his opponent for the throne that he wanted.


    As it seemed, Jin Fen didn''t want to use any of his trump cards and was fighting with pure technique. The fact that you can get pills to recover without any sort of limit was also made it easier for him to use this tactic without that much of reprecaution.


    Li Huang was paying close attention to this fight but he also saw that Jin Fen is not using any fancy moves so he probably doesn''t want to show his cards.


    ''That makes sense. Although he has his stupid moments he has to have a minimum amount of intellect to be favored by the heavens.'' Li Huang knows that he has to fight with him to gain a insight into his methods.


    Jin Fen soon finished his fight and without much of surprise, got the throne next to Lai Xinyue.


    Unfortunately, he was too shy to start a conversation with Lai Xinyue or it could have been a good opportunity for him.


    The two last disciples on the line were Dai Bao''s lackeys and they fought the weakest person on the 10 thrones continuously. the first fight was finished with challenger losing and it was only when the second lackey fought that he was able to win and get a position for himself.


    With this, the first round of challenges finished and after a short break, the second round started. After the end of the second round, the ones on the thrones can challenge each other and that will be where all the excitement happens.


    ��


    Soon the 55 challenges of the second round were done with their challenges and each of the disciples on the thrones had their fair share of fights.


    After all these fights only two more thrones changed ownership and the rest stayed the same.


    Funny enough, in this round, the number of disciples who directly challenged for the three special seats decreased drastically. 4 challenges for Ye Ling, 3 for Li Huang, and none for Hu Anjing.


    Now that all the regular challenges were done, it was time to challenge for the special thrones. Each of the seven occupants of the ''non-special'' thrones can challenge for one of the special thrones, or they can simply pass on this opportunity.


    With this, now the best of the sect can fight for the leading positions.


    ''Come on Jin Fen. Challenge me.'' Li Huang tried to put thoughts in Jin Fen''s mind.

 Chapter 55: Ten thrones

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    There are some days that everything goes as you planned and you feel good about yourself because you had predicted all these scenarios. It is like playing a game of chess when you have thought of all possible moves.


    Well, today wasn''t one of those days. Today was a testament to Murphy''s law; Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And let me tell you, when I first woke up today, I didn''t think this would be the result at the end of the day and consequently the end of the selection.


    You might be thinking that I am exaggerating and you are probably right, but I can assure you that even with all my plans, I didn''t see this coming.


    To give you a good summary of the events, I have to go back to when we were going to conduct challenges for the three special thrones after the second round of challenges.


    At that time I thought that at least I would be challenged by Dai Bao or Jin Fen, but no, that didn''t happen. I got challenged once by someone who I have already forgotten his name but that was it.


    Dai Bao didn''t challenge me, or anyone for that matter, and only watched as if he was an audience. Jin Fen on other hand was also watching, watching Lai Xinyue. Not gonna lie, this was getting creepy at this point, Lai Xinyue acted as if he didn''t exist so at least her personality worked well for this situation.


    The point is that none of them challenged me and honestly I was baffled. Don''t they want to be on a special throne and have glory or something?


    Jin Fen''s move was somewhat predictable because he would probably only move when Lai Xinyue moves from there so after thinking a little about it, I didn''t find it surprising anymore.


    But Dai Bao was another story, why did he decide to sit out the challenges for the special thrones? Well, I think it might have something with that shit show that he and Jin Fen created in the battle royale round and he simply wants to get himself out of everyone''s mind because, any publicity is not good publicity in a cultivation world.


    So with this, these challenges also passed and the next round only one disciple got to win herself a position on the thrones and that was it for the ten thrones, and the eleventh position was given to the disciple who just got ''dethroned''.


    With this, the 10 disciples of the heavenly sword sect were selected and now was the only chance for any of us to change our thrones but only one challenge happened and that was from the new female disciple who got into the final ten and she challenged Ye Ling. Well, I say challenge but it was more like that she was a fan and wanted to use this chance to have a spar��


    Anyway, I thought maybe now something would happen but again I was wrong and the selection just finished with Ye Ling getting another easy win.


    Amongst us ten, Hu Anjing is the leader, Me and Ye Ling are the vice-leaders, and others like Jin Fen, Dai Bao, and Lai Xinyue are members of this team.


    "What are you thinking about, junior uncle?" Hu Anjing''s voice brought me out of my thoughts.


    "Nothing much, I''m just thinking that it was weird that fewer and fewer disciples challenged us for our thrones��" I said.


    She looked at me for a few seconds while giving me a ''are you an idiot'' look.


    "��isn''t it just more work if you get this position?" she said.


    "��" I couldn''t refute it. I mean sure, there is the temporary fame that comes with it but in the trial, you have real obligations.


    "Than I can only be happy that we have a competent leader." I dumped all the works on Hu Anjing as one should and nodded sagely.


    She was speechless for a moment.


    "I still have the ''I will do anything'' card��" Hu Anjing said with a raised eyebrow.


    "You can''t use that on the same thing that you got it for." It was my turn to be speechless.


    she kept looking at me so that maybe I back down.


    "*tsk* Fair enough." She said.


    "Let''s check the other trials tomorrow." I told her. I want to look for some ''hidden gems'' to support in these upcoming challenges from the disciples who might have humble origins.


    "Sure." Hu Anjing shrugged her shoulder.


    Now that the selection was done, I could rest easy and train a bit with that herbal mix that grandpa long created for me. I didn''t use it in these last days so that I don''t get tired before the challenges but now I don''t have to worry about that.


    ��


    The night passed with a light training if you compare it with grandpa Long''s training. Now that the sun has risen, I can go and check out the first day of the smaller powers competition.


    I won''t be checking it later but I want to check on the participants before the start.


    Getting out of my room I went toward the predetermined location for these fights, along the way I started using the [Peeping eye of heaven]. With my cultivation rising, I could now control this artifact better and the danger of sensory overload was now smaller, to say the least.


    As I was looking around, the disciples with all sorts of robes were gathering. As this is a competition between multiple sects, there is almost a guaranty that tensions would happen and there will be fights even outside of the selection.


    So far I have checked about 200 disciples but none of them catches my eyes. They obviously have some talent but nothing extraordinary like Lai Xinyue.


    True, it might be too much to ask for someone at her level of innate talent but if I am looking for someone to support, it''s better to start with the best option that I can think of and that is to compare them with the light that Lai Xinyue emitted at that time.


    I didn''t dare to use it on grandpa Long in fear of him finding it out so I don''t have him as a reference and honestly using him would be too much.


    Minutes passed and I didn''t find anyone at the level that I was hoping for. Hu Anjing would join me here in a little and because of my low level of cultivation I didn''t know if she could find out about the [Peeping eye of heaven] or not, so I have to finish this soon.


    As if heavens heard my plea, I found not only one, but two candidates that were on Lai Xinyue''s level.


    It was a girl and a boy around my own age�� physically at least.


    Without wasting any more time, I went toward them and stopped in front of them.


    "Hello brother and sister, if I may ask, which sect are you from?" I asked them politely. Opening lines in a conversation is important and I can''t act like a classic young master and start with some cheesy line.


    They were startled at first but the boy soon regained his composure and stepped forward and at the same time shielded the girl. If they weren''t that similar I would have thought they are lovers.


    "Hello big brother, we are from the green lake sect (A/N: luhumen)." He cupped his fists and answered.


    Now I didn''t know how to continue. I mean how does one ask in a cultivation world if someone needs a sponsor?

 Chapter 56: Humble young master

    (A/N: quick question; are you guys interested in having a bonus chapter if the novel gets the 200th in power ranking? Right now it is like 300ish��)


    ����(POV Li Huang a.k.a the idolmaster)����


    As I was struggling internally for a moment about how I can approach this topic, I remembered something.


    "The green lake sect is in the vicinity of the gold sea, right?" I asked the boy.


    The boy only nodded to my question because he didn''t know where I was going with this.


    "I have been to the gold sea not so long ago, how far is your sect to the coral city?" I tried to find out more about them and in the meantime also get a grasp of their personality.


    I went to the coral city for the ancient sword mark that was in the destroyed old port of the city. As that region is under the jurisdiction of our heavenly sword sect, I can connect to these guys easier.


    As the seven holy lands are the de facto powerhouses of the divine continent, the smaller powers started asking them for help to solve their conflicts and act as judges. Time passed like this and more and more of these kinds of events happened.


    This resulted in talks about these issues between the seven holy lands and they come up with some solutions. To stop favoritism and creating new conflicts, they divided the continent into seven parts and each part would be under the jurisdiction of one of the holy lands. If something is presumed to have been handled unfairly, then a court of all the holy lands would be gathered to judge on that issue.


    Now if the green lake sect is where I think it is, they are under our sect''s jurisdiction so me supporting them doesn''t seem weird even from an outside perspective.


    "Oh, if you go along the golden coastal road, our green lake sect is located in the next city." The boy explained enthusiastically.


    ''He seems to like his sect. Their elders did this right at least��'' I tried to gain insights from his choice of words.


    "I see. I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Li Huang." I just now remembered that I don''t know their name. Well, I could have asked them sooner but in my defense, I couldn''t bring myself to start the conversation with ''you there, what is your name?'' so this is for the best.


    That would be something that a classic young master would do but let me tell you that my method is definitely more effective.


    The boy paled as he heard my name and started introducing himself fast.


    "Big brother, my name is Ren Tai and this is my twin sister Ren Ru." He pulled her sister to his side from his behind and introduced her too.


    She kept her head lowered and would sneak a glance at me once in a while. I smiled at both of them and gave an acknowledgment nod.


    The brother, Ren Tai was a bit restless but finally decided to speak.


    "Big brother, which sect are you from?" he asked reluctantly. He seems to know about my name and he is only asking to make sure about my identity.


    He couldn''t figure it out by himself because although my robes are of the heavenly sword sect, they are for the chief disciples so they are different from the regular one, and only people who have been in contact with a chief disciple know about its design as it is not used that much.


    When you don''t know the answer to something, asking it is the next best thing after knowing it; and he just did that.


    "I''m from the heavenly sword sect." I said with a small smile.


    I looked at them as the brother, Ren Tai got visibly paler and the shy sister, Ren Ru moved her head and looked at my eyes with shock.


    ''Now I get why all the MCs did all those things and introduced themselves in the end, the feeling is just exhilarating.'' I had my Eureka moment here.


    Ren Tai cupped his fists and spoke.


    "Young master, I apologize if we have offended you just now." He looked grim and her sister was also worried. He knows he wasn''t anything more than an ant in front of the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect, so apologizing fast was the safest option.


    My expression changed and I frowned at him. This resulted in Ren Tai being more sure that they have somehow offended me.


    "What happened to big brother? Am I that petty in your eyes?"I asked him. Sometimes when you want someone to be relaxed around you, using this technique is the best option.


    Hearing my words the twins eased their chaotic minds a little. Still, Ren Tai tried to resist.


    "But how can I��" he tried to say that he can''t but I stopped him with a raised eyebrow.


    "I understand, big brother." He said after a moment.


    "Good, now let''s sit and talk a bit more." I suggested. I would like to get to know them better a little.


    ��


    We talked a little and I got to know that they have lost their family when they were 3 and after that, they were in the care of their father''s friend that is an elder of the green lake sect. Because of this, they have a strong attachment to the sect as it was their home for as long as they can remember.


    They are 13 years old and in terms of cultivation, they are at the peak of the seventh stage of the Qi gathering realm. They can not be considered geniuses but they are top disciples of their sect so they are here in hope of gaining the chance of entering the [Eternal Wail Trial].


    "So how much chance do you think you two have?" I asked them while eating some snacks. Don''t worry, I gave them both some. They wanted to refuse but didn''t dare to do so.


    "Not that much if I''m being honest, big brother." Ren Tai said. He is like the spokesperson of the twins from what I have seen so far.


    To change the subject, Ren Tai spoke again.


    "Big brother, you have finished your selection right?" he said like a child asking about fairy tales.


    "Yes, it was long but it is finished now." I nodded at him. Ren Ru slowly warmed up to me until now and she doesn''t keep her head down all the time as she did at the start. Okay I admit, the snacks also helped��


    "But me aside, I can''t accept that you won''t be in the trials." I said and acted like I am in deep thoughts.


    Ren Tai and Ren Ru were waiting for me to speak again as they were confused about my words.


    Taking out two storage rings from my pocket (yes I have spares in my pockets, go ahead, judge me.) I played with them a little.


    "Use the pills and potions to win and get into the final 30." I told them as I handed them a ring each.


    "But��" Ren Tai tried to come up with a reason to refuse but I stopped him.


    "Stop it. You call me big brother, won''t you be losing face for me if you are not in the final 30?" I told him and this time Ren Tai understood that I was only saying this to make him feel at ease.


    "Thank you, big brother, we will definitely repay this favor." He said and Ren Ru just nodded in confirmation.


    "Sure, sure. I can take a portion of your loot in the trial." I told them.

 Chapter 57: Amiable smile

    (A/N: Nice! Now the ranking is 270ish so push HARDER!)


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Thank you, big brother, we will definitely repay this favor." Ren Tai said and Ren Ru nodded in confirmation of his brother''s words.


    "Sure, sure. I can take a portion of your loot in the trial." Li Huang told them.


    Li Huang was internally laughing, the only way that some of their loot would be of use to him is in the scenario that they draw SSR from the formations, so even he knows that this was only a joke, mostly.


    As they were having fun talking and laughing, a group of disciples got closer to them. They were coming from behind Li Huang.


    "Ren Tai, didn''t you tell me that you will give us anything you have? So what is this portion talks about?" the one who was walking in front said arrogantly. They were walking around trashing others and they suddenly located this twin brother and sister. At first, they wanted to humiliate them for a while and then leave them to their own devices.


    That was the plan, but they overheard their conversation with someone and it seems that someone is going to get a portion of their loot. This was unacceptable to them. If anyone had the right to extort these twins, it is them and no one else!


    With a blinding sense of self-righteousness, they walked to Ren Tai and Ren Ru to right this wrong and the leading one spoke those words.


    Li Huang who was unaware of the intricate inner working of these disciples minds was really shocked. But he didn''t have enough time to remain shocked, because the leader of the bunch started speaking again.


    "Doesn''t one have to own something first to be able to portion it?" the leading disciple turned to face his friends and asked them. He meant to say that whatever that loot was, the twins didn''t own it.


    "True."


    "Young master Huo is right!"


    "As expected, young master has a bottomless wisdom!"


    They naturally nodded and concurred with his words while praising him for being able to form a sentence.


    ''Oh! It seems that this dude is called Hou and is a young master of some sort��'' Li Huang now understood the situation a little better.


    On the other hand, Ren Tai was getting paler by the second. For the first time in his life, he wasn''t afraid for himself and his sister when Hou Liangjun was in front of him. No, this time he was afraid for Hou Liangjun because he might provoke someone that he can''t even dream of handling.


    The problem is that as Hou Liangjun is a disciple of the green lake sect, if he were to provoke Li Huang, their sect would also face the consequences.


    He didn''t think that a day would come that he would try to save Hou Liangjun''s ass but here we are.


    "Senior brother Hou, let us talk another time." He tried to give some hints with his eyes to make Hou Liangjun aware of Li Huang''s identity.


    To his disappointment, all Hou Liangjun understood from this was the fact that Ren Tai was looking down at him just because an outsider was here.


    ''You think I won''t teach you a lesson just because an outsider is here?'' Hou Liangjun sneered.


    Hou Liangjun walked closer and sat beside Li Huang and spoke without looking at Li Huang''s face.


    "Why another time? Don''t we have plenty of time n��" Hou Liangjun was going to give a good lecture to Ren Tai but as he looked at Li Huang, he figured out who he was and for a moment he couldn''t say a word more.


    Seeing this, Li Huang couldn''t help but smile. This development was too funny for him.


    Opposite to him, for Hou Liangjun this development was nothing short of horrifying.


    He is the second son of the city lord of Green city. As he is the second son, he decided to join a sect to further his chances in life. When he joined the green lake sect, he realized that he can use his position to force others to do his bidding and really enjoyed this feeling.


    Today wasn''t anything different from the rest of his days. He was playing around as he would do and was ready for the selection.


    When he found the Ren twins, he didn''t think it would be anything different than what would happen every time. But as luck would have it, he played his cards badly and probably offended one of the most powerful individuals here, Li Huang.


    As he knows he fucked up he decided to flee as soon as possible.


    "Now that I think about it, I have things to do so I will talk to you later junior brother and junior sister." He gave an amiable smile. If one only heard these words and saw this expression without knowing the history, they couldn''t be seeing him as anything other than a caring senior martial brother.


    Li Huang was amused by this young master Hou''s performance.


    ''I have to give it to him, he is good at controlling his facial expressions.'' Li Huang thought.


    Hou Liangjun was happy internally that none of the Ren twins or The Li Huang stopped him and his lackeys were also starting to move, but his happiness didn''t last long.


    To take credit for ''staying strong'' where he was, one of the lackeys started speaking.


    "Young master must be jesting, why are you moving?" he snarled at other lackeys who didn''t know that the young master was only ''acting''.


    Well, to his credit, the young master was acting, but for a different reason than what he thought.


    Hou Liangjun got so angry that he couldn''t control himself. He turned back and kicked the lackey who spoke just now.


    "I jest with your mother! When have I ever jest?" He shouted at his lackey. The lackey felt wronged but didn''t say anything to minimize the possibility of getting beaten again.


    Some of the others who thought this was a good chance to flatter their young master started speaking again.


    "Young master Hou is speaking the truth."


    "Yes."


    "How dare you."


    Li Huang could hardly suppress his laughter, this is why you don''t accept everyone as your followers and should at least set a minimum required IQ.


    "SHUT UP!" Hou Liangjun shouted to others.


    He was red with anger and shame. Anger because these idiots are destroying his plan to get out of Li Huang''s vicinity, and shame because they are making him look like a fool.


    He then turned to leave as fast as he could.


    Just as he was speeding up, a voice stopped him.


    "Wait!" Li Huang said softly but to Hou Liangjun, it was like a soul-piercing shout.


    He slowly turned in the hope that he heard wrong and it was his mind playing with him, but alas it wasn''t. When he turned, he saw Li Huang looking directly at his face.


    "��What can I do for you young master?" he cupped his fist and spoke politely.


    The twins and the lackey were both shocked, but for different reasons.


    The twins were shocked because they have never seen this side of Hou Liangjun and it was new to them. The lackeys were shocked because they now know they fucked up, now they know why their young master was so determined to flee from here.


    "Let us drink some tea together in the future." Li Huang said with the same amiable smile that Hou Liangjun showed a minute ago.


    The lackeys were more or less at ease and thought that this young master didn''t take offense and everything is okay, but to Hou Liangjun this smile held other meanings.


    He knows that he has to lay low for the duration of this trial if he wants to get out of this situation intact.


    "It would be my pleasure, young master Li." For the first time, Hou Liangjun said Li Huang''s surname and his lackeys now understood the depth of the situation.


    Li Huang didn''t want to waste any more time on them and only nodded.


    As Hou Liangjun and his lackeys were on their way, Li Huang was sure that with his words just now, Ren Tai and Ren Ru won''t have any more problems while they are in this selection.

 Chapter 58: Mortal body transcendence formation

    (A/N: about character info (like a reference to each chapter where they had a breakthrough and important events etc.) and images, do you guys rather have multiple aux chapters or a discord? Personally, I think a discord server would be a good method of communication (votes for example) but it''s your call, let me know.


    By the way GIVE. ME. MORE. PAWAH!)


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang just nodded and turned his back to Hou Liangjun and his lackeys.


    Facing him was the baffled Ren twin. They didn''t have the young master mentality so they didn''t know what the hell was that last part about. They were waiting to hear some clarification from Li Huang himself.


    Li Huang who was oblivious to their inner thoughts spoke again. Luckily for the twins, his words were exactly what they wanted to hear.


    "Well, they won''t be bothering you for a while��" He said while shrugging.


    Ren Tai and Ren Ru were stunned for a moment, they didn''t think that this simple meeting would have such a miraculous effect on them. Hou Liangjun and his lackeys were bothering and bullying them for as long as they can remember so this sudden revelation was too shocking to them.


    "��H-How?" for the first time since they started speaking with each other, Ren Ru spoke with a soft voice.


    If there were more sounds around, you might have missed it but fortunately, the surrounding was relatively silent.


    Li Huang was also shocked for a moment but soon was able to collect himself and was able to answer her question.


    "Hmm, let''s just say that they are more afraid of me than you are afraid of them." He gave a small smile.


    The twins were shocked again that he knows that they were afraid of Hou Liangjun but to Li Huang, this wasn''t anything extraordinary. He just listened and paid attention to every single facial reaction that they had and cross-referenced it with Hou Liangjun''s reaction and come to the conclusion. Easy, right?


    As it was getting closer and closer to the time of the selection, Li Huang decided to finish his outing and get back to his training.


    ''If I''m forced to sit through one more of these selections, I''ll hang myself.'' He vowed to himself.


    "Anyway, I have high expectations for you. Let''s meet each other on the [Eternal wail trial]." Li Huang said to give them more confidence. It would be hard to get into the final 30, but not impossible.


    He also handed each of them a communication device so that they can be in contact.


    "Contact me if anything happened, anything. Do you understand?" He asked them. With this type of questioning, they had no way of refusing the communication devices.


    "Yes. Thank you, big brother." Ren Tai said and Ren Ru also nodded while hugging the communication device closer to herself.


    "Okay, I will be off then." Li Huang said and said his goodbyes.


    Just as he was getting far from the selection ground, a hand on his shoulder stopped him.


    Li Huang thought that the ''young master Hou'' must be too full of himself to even try to stop him so he turned to face the assailant with a frown.


    But the moment he saw the ''assailant'' his frown disappeared and was replaced with a sheepish smile.


    "Little Anjing, I was looking for you. Where have you been?" Li Huang said shamelessly.


    ''There is no way that I admit I forgot about her��'' He steeled himself internally.


    "I thought you were late so I was walking around a little." Hu Anjing said. she was a little conflicted by ''little Anjing'' but put it in the back of her mind.


    "I see. You did the right thing by walking, these last few days you were practically only sitting on your throne��" Li Huang thought out loud.


    Hu Anjing raised an eyebrow at this.


    "��Junior uncle, do you mean to say I''m lazy?" she asked or better interpreted, dared Li Huang to confirm her claim.


    Li Huang was confused.


    "When did I say that? That aside, how can you be lazy with that strong legs that you have?" He asked back innocently.


    There are some words you can say to a woman and there are some that you shouldn''t, regardless of the universe and world. This here was clearly from the ''this content is restricted'' area.


    Li Huang was infinitely close to getting beaten by Hu Anjing.


    He suddenly remembered that his wording was shit and that came out wrong.


    "Don''t get me wrong, I mean you have a well-trained body. I like your type, okay?" he shamelessly declared as he was explaining.


    Well, he got beaten anyway but it was because he was shameless and not because Hu Anjing was angry, so this can be considered a win for Li Huang.


    Because they made a ''small'' scene, they decided to get back to their rooms for the day. This also was what Li Huang wanted, as he didn''t want to hang himself this soon just because he had to see this selection.


    Along the way, they had more small talks and as time passed, soon they were close to their destination.


    "Oh, I have something for you." Li Huang said and tossed a storage ring to Hu Anjing.


    "What is it?" Hu Anjing asked as she was interested.


    "Calmly check it with your Qi sense and don''t shout." Li Huang sternly instructed.


    Hu Anjing rolled her eyes at this. This junior uncle of hers was always like this.


    Looking inside the ring there was only one scroll there. Its name was written on it, reading it Hu Anjing couldn''t contain her shock and excitement.


    Seeing this, Li Huang could only internally curse.


    ''Fuck!'' he popped three pills as fast as his speed would allow it.


    One pill was for regeneration and would fix the damaged body, another one was for giving a temporary boost to your body''s toughness, the last one would dull your senses and is usually used as a sort of pain killer.


    You might be thinking this is excessive, but you are wrong.


    In the next second, Hu Anjing hugged Li Huang so hard that a couple of his ribs were broken and some were fractured. It wasn''t because Hu Anjing wanted to harm him or such, No, it was because she was so happy that she didn''t control her strength and used all of her cultivation power.


    As soon as she understood the situation, she loosened the hug and apologized.


    "I''m so sorry, are you alright." She asked with a worried tone.


    It took a few seconds for Li Huang to answer.


    "I''m fine, luckily I have expected this." Li Huang got relaxed as his body was already healed.


    ''Paranoia can save lives, this should be my motto.'' He thought to himself.


    "Anyway, I assume you liked it?" Li Huang said smiling smugly.


    Hu Anjing shook her head.


    "I don''t like it, I love it!" she exclaimed like a child.


    After a second or two, she continued.


    "But wouldn''t you be in trouble by doing this?" She asked feeling despondent.


    What Li Huang gave to Hu Anjing was a training scroll for a body formation that can be used in the Meridian formation realm to create an inner formation. This formation is called [Mortal body transcendence formation].


    This formation is one of the most powerful known formations for this realm and is in possession of the Li family and that''s how Li Huang got his hand on it.


    Using this formation you can enhance your body to the next level. If two body cultivation practitioners of the same level fought only with physical power and one of them had this body formation, he/she could easily win the fight.


    This formation is said to be one of the keys to be able to get into the transcendent realm of body cultivation, although nothing is proven and this is more of a myth. What you can say with certainty is that having this formation is the next best thing after that legendary realm.


    Li Huang just shrugged at Hu Anjing''s words.


    "What is the worst that can happen? Would they disown me? If that happen, I can be assured that grandpa Long won''t train me anymore��" Li Huang laughed at his own words. Obviously, the family wouldn''t treat their best genius badly so there is no chance of such a big punishment happening.


    Hu Anjing thought a little and nodded, she too could see Li Huang''s reasons.


    "��but what if patriarch Li decides to train you more?" Hu Anjing said without knowing the horror that her words have brought to Li Huang.


    Li Huang shuddered and looked at Hu Anjing.


    "Let us hope that they just disown me��" Li Huang said with a smile that didn''t reach his eyes.

 Chapter 59: The Ren Twin

    (A/N: Don''t forget to vote on the previous chapter''s author note for discord vs aux chapter.


    GIMI PAWAH!)


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "Let us hope that they just disown me��" I said and wholeheartedly wished that this doesn''t come back to bite me in the ass.


    I gave the scroll to Hu Anjing and I know she is one of the best if not the best persons to use this scroll with her topnotch talent in body cultivation.


    She can reach new heights in body cultivation with this and I know that she wouldn''t let this scroll get out of her own hands so there is no risk of it getting out so there is nothing to worry about on that part.


    The only worry that I have is about the time that she has left. She is already at the twelfth stage of Meridian formation so she has to learn this scroll fast before her next breakthrough.


    As the last three stages of the meridian formation realm are for you to form your inner formations, if she were to be unable to do so in this realm, the chance of creating a formation after this realm is nigh impossible.


    What she can do is suppressing her next breakthrough until she has mastered this but this is not something that is recommended and often would result in backlashes.


    "Go and train with this scroll as much as you can so that you won''t miss this chance." I told Hu Anjing with seriousness and she also seriously nodded.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t let your sacrifice be in vain��" she said a little overdramatic.


    I nodded subconsciously for a moment and a second later I stopped.


    ''Wait, what?'' I thought.


    "What do you mean by my sacrifice?" I asked her with a sense of emergency in my voice.


    Without answering my question or giving any indication that she even heard me, she spoke again.


    "I will be going into a close door training for a couple of days, let''s talk again later!" she said that and got back to her room with a fast pace.


    I was really shocked by her behavior, why would she do that?


    ''She is trying to get into your head, get over it��'' I tried to calm myself internally.


    Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and went toward my room.


    ''Now everything relies on her own resilience��'' I thought about Hu Anjing for the last time and then entered my room.


    Today was a good day. For one there was no competition and two, I had done everything that I had planned for today so that is something to celebrate.


    What was my plan? I wanted to find some good lackey candidates and also give Hu Anjing the scroll for [Mortal body transcendence formation].


    The second part went off without a hitch and the first part was also smoothly done.


    The twins, Ren Tai and Ren Ru were both great geniuses if one were to find out their physiques.


    Ren Tai has the [Absolute Yang Body] and Ren Ru has the [Absolute Yin Body]. This physique is one of the rarest physiques that are in the [Peeping eye of heaven] database. The reason behind its rareness is that having anything at a level that it can be called absolute is pretty much unattainable, but as this example shows, near impossible is not impossible.


    Men and women have both yin and yang, although men are known to be mainly yang and women to be mainly yin. This rule of nature is seldom broken, seldom.


    As Ren Tai and Ren Ru are twins, they were together from the womb. From what I got from my artifact, they probably had a high-level yin/yang physique.


    That physique would help them absorb that corresponding element fast. Because they were together in the womb, each of them started to absorb from the other one and this process continued for 9 months.


    After such a long time, their physiques mutated from a high level one to [Absolute Yin/Yang Body].


    If even one of them didn''t have high-level yin or yang physique, this process would result in one of them dying, many things had to go ''absolutely'' right for this absolute physique to form.


    You can say that this was one of the near impossible things in the world that somehow happened despite its almost none existent chance of happening.


    The physique is not very powerful but is so rare that most of the people don''t even know about it.


    The main usage of this physique is when training because you can absorb yin/yang treasures very fast and cultivate fast.


    The reason that the twins didn''t know about this is probably that they never had a treasure of yin or yang to absorb so there weren''t any instances that they saw this phenomenon in action as it was too pricey for them to use.


    But how can I even call myself a young master when I can''t buy some yin/yang treasures?


    If I give them enough treasures, they can easily breakthrough and I get two OP teammates.


    Their physique is like a pay-to-win game. Although it is pay to win and you have to pay, but the rates are so high that you are almost guaranteed to get good results. In fact, you can say that the normal cultivation resources are a waste on them in the long run, because they can get better results easier.


    As I was thinking happily about the prospect of having these two with me, I got ready to do some training and tried to go for my second meridian.


    After the first time, I can say that I have a good method in my mind to tackle these meridians. I have to train with a high level of intensity and then bathe with that herbal mix and use my ''Qi ball'' technique to stabilize a meridian.


    ��


    Time passed and I was about to stabilize my second meridian.


    You don''t get to choose which meridian you get to stabilize each time. It all depends on your own body because it shows the place that your Qi is stagnating or is moving slowly.


    While meditating, I found my second meridian and tried to stabilize it. With the same technique as before, I gathered the excess Qi to my palms and let the Qi in my body to flow stably.


    This time it was harder to control but as I wasn''t dead tired from the training (tank you grandpa Long), I could handle this pressure easier.


    Within half an hour I was able to stabilize my second meridian and get another step closer to the next stage.

 Chapter 60: Main Meridians

    (A/N: Vote on chapter 58 for discord vs aux chapter. do not forget to waste your powerstones *~*)


    ����(POV third person)����


    Now that Li Huang had two stable meridians, He could confidently say that he is on schedule for his next breakthrough to the next stage.


    As you stabilize your meridians, the next one would need more work and in each stage, the ninth meridian is the most important one and that would be the hardest one to stabilize, and most won''t be able to do so.


    The ninth meridian is a sort of main meridian that connects to your other eight meridians that you had access to in this stage. Opening this meridian would help you to use your Qi more efficiently and in the final three stages, you can form some obsolete formations that need one or more of these types of meridians to exist so that you can form them.


    There is this known fact that each person has 12 of these meridians in their bodies but with cultivation, you can only open 9 of them in total. The three meridians that can not be unlocked by training are is the unfair advantage that some people have from birth.


    To feel these main meridians, you have to at least form one of them yourself so that you know what you should be looking for. There are two ways to do this, you have to either stabilize one of the main meridians as mentioned or ask someone who has formed one to check your body.


    Li Huang naturally had his main meridians checked even before he could speak as the normal procedure in families of his standing.


    The only difference is that his grandfather, Li Long, decided to stop his parents from telling him even if he asked and after a bit of persuasion they agreed with his logic.


    He said that knowing this could have one of these two effects: the first one is that you think that you are trash and makes you lose motivation for trying harder and adds to your mental pressure. The second possibility is that you will get overconfident in your talent and will slack in your training.


    Because of this, to this day Li Huang doesn''t know the number of his naturally stable main meridians.


    Well, after he got a bit older and wasn''t just a child he also knows that it wouldn''t matter much to know this so he didn''t care about it anymore. As grandpa Long has said, knowing it for now at best has no effect and mostly could have detrimental effects on his mentality.


    The night passed and for this day Li Huang continued on training to be in the best shape possible before the main event.


    His main focus of training for today was his sword training.


    One flaw that he found in the way that Li Huang is trained is his style of swordsmanship. Meaning that his focus might create problems in the future.


    Li Huang''s main focus is to finish the opponent as fast as possible but you only need this type of mentality when you are in a life and death situation.


    In competitions like this one, all Li Huang could do was to use simple moves like different slashes, parries, guards, and other simple movements to counter whatever his opponents throw at him.


    This resulted in his fights being fast but without any fancy sword arts that could make it harder for his opponents. He just used the simplest movements and with his speed, that sufficed to win the fight.


    Using simple moves is also a technique that will help you in deepening your understanding of the way of the sword, but they don''t have the element of surprise that using a sword technique has. You can follow simple moves and partially know what to expect next but a technique would be confusing at first until you get the hang of it and can use any flaw or opening that you have found; if there is any.


    Li Huang didn''t have anything on hand to train on so he decided to ask grandpa Long after he got back from this trial and has the time to train diligently.


    Using his time left he trained in his sword and meditated more to get his body accustomed to the new stabilized meridian.


    ����(Li Huang a.k.a The worrywart)����


    ��


    One more day passed and when I was training I remembered that today is going to be the last day of competition for the smaller powers so I decided to give myself a small break and take a look at the results of Ren Tai and Ren Ru in this selection.


    ''With the pills that I gave them, they have to be in the eighth stage of the Qi gathering realm and shouldn''t have any big problems getting into the final spots but it doesn''t hurt to be careful and to be on the safe side, check on them.'' I shrugged.


    Putting on a new chief disciple robe to look clean and pristine, I went out of my room sword in hand.


    There is an unspoken rule in these kinds of events that it is better to have your holy land symbol, in my case sword, when you are going somewhere as your sect''s disciple.


    The last time that I went out I didn''t bring a sword because I had no thoughts of staying there and you could say that I wasn''t representing my sect, but this time I want it to be a little more formal and bring a standard heavenly sword sect sword with me.


    ''No, I didn''t forget to put my training sword in my training ring in my room and I''m not bringing it with myself just to not mess the sorting that I have done for my other storage rings. Yes, it''s because of that unspoken rule that I care about very much.'' I nodded to myself.


    Getting to the selection ground was easy and getting closer to the stage to see better was easier because of my training sword. The crowd would automatically give way, being a young master is really a blessing.


    Checking the winners so far, I could easily locate Ren Tai and Ren Ru there, sitting in 25th and 26th position.


    ''Good enough. Now if they somehow do not get eliminated, they can use this to hopefully find some good treasures for themselves in the trial.'' They have a really good chance.


    Looking around I didn''t see any sign of discomfort on the twin''s faces so that young master Hou shouldn''t have created any more problems for them.


    Feeling good that nothing has deviated from my expectations, I started walking back to my room to resume my training.


    I didn''t want to lose these last days for training before the trial and because the trial would be held in three days after today, I had mostly today and tomorrow to train and for the last day, I could only meditate.


    Having lighter training before an event is always recommended, or so I have read in a blog post in my last life.


    As I was getting inside my room I looked at Hu Anjing''s room for a moment.


    ''It would also be great if Hu Anjing is successful in forming the formation to its initial state before the competition.'' Wishing luck for her, I got back to my training.

 Chapter 61: The jump

    ����(POV third person)����


    Days passed slowly and soon it was the day of trial. The smaller powers were able to keep their quota so the 30 thrones belonging to them didn''t get challenged further.


    Some small talks happened here and there in these days, elders were educating the sect disciples who were selected and disciples were talking with each other about the trial and tried to form small teams for the trials.


    The trial is not that small that you can find each other easily but this would give the participants ease of mind to get in the trial despite the fact that this ''team'' might not see each other until the end.


    There are some things that the sects have find out about this trial after all these years that helps in this situation. The disciples can''t use teleportation and such methods inside it but you can sense the space, meaning that you can use this to your advantage to find your fellow disciples.


    The way it works is that all of the disciples have an artifact on them that would activate if there is another of such artifacts in its surrounding. This way if you are in range, you can cluster together and move as a team.


    As there is no guidebook for the trial, no one knows for sure if this is allowed or not so the range that they have been working with is not that large. This way, they won''t unknowingly trigger any hidden mechanism of the trial.


    Of course the holy lands first ''gifted'' these artifacts to other powers to use them as guinea pigs to test this theory. As it worked, this is now a common practice between the disciples so that they can have a higher level of security. The distance that this devices can detect each other in is about 10 km (~6 miles).


    As today was the day, all of the selected disciples were gathered here, on the edge of the [Eternal wail Chasm].


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    We got to the location of the main event. Of course like every other event, some asshole had to talk for half an hour before we were able to continue with the event.


    Well as someone who uses his time very efficiently I checked my storage rings to pass time.


    Even with this many storage rings, the speeches were not finished by the time I was finished.


    Looking around for something to do, I remembered that I didn''t get the chance to speak with Hu Anjing as we were engrossed in the preparation for this trial.


    ~''Hello there!''~ without any hesitation, I sent her a sound transmission.


    She was surprised for a moment as she seemed to be paying attention to the speech.


    ~''Junior uncle, why aren''t you paying attention?''~ she asked me.


    ~''this is nothing but formalities from the holy lands. All we needed to know has already been told to us.''~ I just shrugged. This is all to show that they are the big guys here.


    ~''well, I can''t say that you are wrong.''~ Hu Anjing nodded to my words.


    ~''never mind this, how did your training with that inner formation go?''~ I asked her my main concern. Having that inner formation is more effective than having plot armor in this trial.


    Hearing my question, Anjing puffed out her chest a little.


    ~''The training went great. Right now I''m only one step away from forming the formation to the initial state.''~ she answered smugly.


    ~''That''s amazing! With this, you can breeze through the trial.''~ I was genuinely happy for her. I know that she was one of the best talents in body cultivation and this inner formation would work best on someone like her, but honestly, Anjing reaching the initial state was nothing other than my wishful thinking but she is not far from making it true.


    ~''don''t worry junior uncle, I will give you some of my spoils later.''~ she said and giggled a little.


    I know that she gets flustered if you praise her so I didn''t continue and let her change the subject.


    ~''I can even pay for them, after all, if I have something in abundance, that is money.''~ I shamelessly told her.


    She nodded enthusiastically.


    ~''Yes. This plan is better, I will sell them to you and make some good money��''~ Hu Anjing said and his eyes were shining.


    To the surrounding disciple who didn''t know about our talk, she just looked scary and no one dared to look at her, in fear of facing her ire.


    I couldn''t help but laugh. This is one of the habits that she has had from the time she was an assassin, she likes making money a little too much��


    ''Well, not that anything is wrong with it��'' I thought.


    Luckily for us, the speech was finally done and disciples were getting ready to enter the trial. I say enter but we are literally going to jump into the chasm and wait for the trial to teleport us in.


    First thing first, I located Ren twins and walked to them.


    "Good to see you here." the twin were talking to each other as I got close to them.


    Turning toward me, Ren Tai spoke.


    "Big brother." He greeted me and Ren Ru did the same with a nod.


    "I have to get ready so I don''t have much time. Here, use these items if you needed them and read the notes that I have left for you in the rings."I gave them some essentials and also some information about the trial that might become handy for them, I didn''t find them just to let them die in the trial.


    Ren Tai wanted to say something but I really didn''t have time to go back and forth with him so I just wave my hand dismissively to stop him.


    "Just accept it, we will talk later. Take care of yourselves." I told them and went back to our sect''s place to get ready for the jump.


    When I got back I saw every one of the disciples who got here with us and the ones who are going to jump with me.


    Nodding to Ye Ling and Lai Xinyue and some other disciples who greeted me, I got to the front of the queue, right behind Hu Anjing.


    After the grand elders of each holy land draw a lot to decide each holy land''s turn, we got to go first.


    ''And here I was about to bitch about our luck��'' I shook my head.


    Going to the edge of the chasm I couldn''t hide my amazement about its size and depth. It was so vast that you could even see some sort of ecosystem was created in it and some ''big'' birds were moving here and there. One couldn''t see how deep this chasm goes down but the clouds that were formed in its depth were a testimony for its sheer size.


    "This is beautiful." I heard Hu Anjing''s voice.


    "It truly is��" I seconded.


    It was our turn to jump so we had to do it fast before the other sects start getting restless.


    "See you there, Junior uncle."


    Hu Anjing went forward and jumped without any hesitation.


    I went after her but not before giving a small nod to my grandmother''s master, Su Zhi, who was looking at me.


    The way down was thrilling. Well, only because you know you will be safe, otherwise, you would be shitting yourself. After a few more seconds of free falling, i saw that Hu Anjing got teleported and Ye Ling also got teleported a second later.


    "��"


    ''...I''m safe, right?''

 Chapter 62: How to peep a formation

    ����(POV third person, on the edge of the [Eternal Wail Chasm])����


    As the heavenly sword sect disciples started jumping into the chasm, the other disciples also followed and soon all of the holy lands had already entered the trial. Now it was the time for the 30 disciples from smaller powers to start their ''jump session''.


    The elders from the seven holy lands started erecting a massive protective formation around the trial''s entry location so that no one can enter it after this.


    As verified in the past, the elders from the seven holy lands who were adequate and well-qualified in the art of formation figured out that this formation can only allow the entry for 113 living entities in each time interval.


    But what they forgot to consider is that, like any other field, theoretical results will not always match with the practical observations.


    When they did test the trial with its full capacity of 113 participants, the trial formation got so unstable that they thought they have lost all of the disciples in the [Eternal Wail Trial] and everybody was on high alert.


    That year, many disciples were literally thrown out of the trial space until the main formation was stable again.


    After that, many more researches were done on the trial formation to come up with a feasible solution for this predicament and they found one.


    Using the formation''s full capacity makes the power in the formation deplete faster than it can recover, so they calculated again and come up with a hundred as the golden number for the number of participants.


    Now, after all these years, to stop anyone who might try and jump in and as a result, ruin the trial for others, the seven holy lands always use a one-way protective formation that stops everyone under the True Qi realm from entering the chasm.


    What about ones above the True Qi realm? Well, as the trial ground doesn''t accept them, the [Eternal wail chasm] would kill them so there is no need for anything extra for the formation.


    ����(POV Li Huang, on the edge of losing his shit)����


    ''I''m safe, right?''


    I was dropping like a sack of potatoes and I was thinking about what could have gone wrong.


    I fit the cultivation requirement so there shouldn''t be any problem with that.


    I''m also under the age of 30 however you look at it so it can''t be the prob�� Suddenly I thought of something.


    ''You can''t be serious.''


    If this trial checks the soul age somehow, I don''t fit the requirement so that might be the case.


    ''If it is, this is going to be awkward.'' I thought.


    You might be thinking that I''m too relaxed, but this is only natural. As a certified and well-known paranoid, I am ready for anything and everything.


    Even right now I have an artifact ready that can teleport me almost instantly to the place that I was a minute ago.


    ''With this in my hands, there is no way that something can happen to m��'' The moment I was thinking about it, a strong wind blow from a canyon in the edge of the chasm and the damn artifact slipped out of my hand.


    ''��now I think this is a good time to panic.'' I didn''t have any spares for this artifact, even I''m not that paranoid to do that.


    Okay I admit, I''m not that rich to do so and buy spares for this kind of artifact that is high priced even for me.


    As I was looking for the damn artifact so that maybe I would be able to find it despite every law of physic denying the possibility, I found myself face-planted to the ground.


    Getting up I looked at my surroundings and found out that I''m not in the [Eternal wail chasm] anymore and presumingly got teleported to the trial space.


    The timing of teleportation was a little off for me, but I can''t really complain to anyone about it.


    ''Note to self; don''t put your lifeline in your hand when you might drop it.'' They say that you live and you learn, and I can assure you that I have learned a great lesson.


    Around me, I could see sand as far as the eye could reach. Not the beach kind of sand, the desert kind of sand. It was hot, sandy and hot again.


    In normal cases everyone would say that this location is not the best for them, but honestly, this is great for my plan.


    This place is hard to live in so fewer people were here in all of the trials that were held here and this time too, not many disciples should be interested in this location so I can loot everything here.


    "Let''s see what we have here." I mumbled while grinning.


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang was going around his entry location in the trial and was using an artifact to make a simple map of the locations that he has been to so far.


    This artifact is simply called [Bird eye]. Maybe a name like [Eye of the Phoenix] would be more classy but it seems that this tool is too ordinary for such a lofty name.


    The way this artifact work is simple, using your Qi sense you survey your surroundings and this artifact stores the information so that you can review it later.


    With this Li Huang could easily have a map on his person and lookup for any type of structure that he might find odd in retrospective.


    Luckily for him, his relative location wasn''t infested with beasts so he didn''t have to fight immediately.


    ''Now let me see if the [Peeping eye of heaven] can help me here!'' Li Huang was grinning madly. If his idea work, he is going to sweep the trial.


    Looking around him, he found some locations that might contain formations as they were emitting light when he looked at them.


    The [Peeping eye of heaven] is an artifact in the level of seven holy land''s weapons but it can''t do the impossible. This means that you can''t see inside of a formation using this so using it like that is not possible.


    What you can do is to check the formation itself. Why would you do that?


    ''The better the gem inside, the better the security.'' Li Huang thought while going to a point of interest that he found.


    If the formation is stronger, this means that loot inside should be more precious. Each high-grade treasure, from pills to weapons to the medicinal herbs would attract people and beasts with their natural aura so to conceal that you would need better formation.


    Of course, the outside part of the formation is the same for all of them, but the true intricate of a formation is not hidden to the [Peeping eye of heaven].


    If this plan works, Li Huang can find the best items in the shortest time.


    Li Huang now was in front of a formation that would take you to a small test inside it and would reward you if you finish it successfully.


    Looking at the blinding brightness of the formation, Li Huang was almost sure that he hit the jackpot.


    ''Now I can become filthy rich.'' His eyes were shining when he stepped into the formation, partly because of using the [Peeping eye of heaven] and partly because of his excitement.

 Chapter 63: How not to peep a formation

    (A/N: did someone ask for a bonus chapter? As the caring author that I am, I decided to drop a bonus chapter for all the powerstones that you have wasted on the novel last week. *~*)


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    The formation was in front of me and without hesitation, I stepped inside.


    After a flash of light, I was inside the test location. It was a small room with no decoration in it, there were only two doors here and an oil lamp there.


    ''It seems that I have to choose one of these rooms and from what I can see, the doors are created and reinforced in a way that you can''t use Qi sense to see behind them.'' I thought.


    Using the peeping eye of heaven, I looked at the doors but they were not different and both emitted the same amount of light so I can''t cheese my way as I did with the formation.


    Turning my head, I looked at the only clue that was placed in this room, the oil lamp. It was a double-nozzle bronze-colored oil lamp. It wasn''t anything extraordinary at a glance and looked ornamental, but I decided to take a look at it with the peeping eye of heaven so that I don''t miss a clue.


    The moment that I looked at it, I was shocked beyond my expectations. It wasn''t ordinary at all and was a unique oil lamp that could be used to burn medicinal herbs that are resistant to fire and need higher temperatures. This oil lamp is so resistant that our sect''s standard disciple sword wouldn''t even scratch it, I reckon that the sword would probably even chip In the collision.


    ''This is something that grandpa Long would really need as he needs to absorb many medicinal herbs.'' Giving this to grandpa would be for the best.


    If you process the herbs the absorption speed would increase but you would need the necessary tool to do so and this lamp is one such tool.


    As these tools would be damaged after a couple of uses, they cost a lot so having such a lamp that from what I can see doesn''t have a single sign of deterioration on it after all these years, is significantly effective.


    ''This is why they say never judge a book by its cover��'' I thought.


    Looking closer at the oil lamp, I tried to see if the peeping eye of heaven can detect this oil, while I readied an antidote just to be safe.


    From the memories of the artifact, I detected that this oil is from the [red snake tongue] herb. This herb is one of the herbs that form in extreme conditions. The herb looks like a snake''s tongue, hence the name and as this herb was formed near lava, it is called red snake tongue.


    This herb''s oil burns very slowly so this has to be burning for a very long time. This shows the quality of this oil lamp and frankly, I can''t be happier with this.


    Now it doesn''t really matter if I get anything else from either of these doors, I''m content with what I have.


    As I was going to enter the right door aimlessly, I stopped on my track suddenly.


    There is another reason for naming these herbs snake tongue. When you have one type of this herb, using its oil you can find any snake tongue herb nearby.


    What I figured out just now is that the oil lamp is leading me to the other door, and there have to be more snake tongue herbs there for this reaction to happen.


    Shrugging, I changed my target to the other room. I had the oil lamp in my hands but if I can get more, why not?


    Opening the door, I got pushed into the room by some power and the door closed behind me. I didn''t know about this until later because my attention was somewhere else.


    The room was full of alchemical herbs and tools. All of them were top quality and would give me a good sandbox to learn alchemy.


    After a moment of silence to give my thanks to the generous senior who left these items, I started packing them into one of the storage rings.


    I have some storage rings for storing the loot ready. They are arranged like prayer beads, where, instead of beads you have storage rings.


    I have to commission a custom modular storage ring when I get back to the sect, this is a really ugly way of managing my inventory.


    After I cleaned the room, I again thanked the generous senior and went toward the formation in the back of the room and stepped on it.


    Just as I imagined, I got teleported back to the trial where I entered the ''test''.


    I didn''t waste time and started running to find new loots.


    ��


    Do you remember that I thought my plan to judge the loot by the strength of the formation was brilliant?


    Yeah, that. Scratch that.


    I didn''t think that the formation might be there to hid a creature and not the loot. So a strong formation could mean a strong beast and that is not okay.


    I had good gains in a couple more formations until I came across another very bright formation. When I got inside, instead of big loot, a big alchemical golem was waiting for me.


    Alchemical golems are artificially created humanoids that have high physical power. Creating these golems involves the employment of intensive care to its formation runes and Qi control. What makes them harder to counter is their ability to nullify Qi.


    You can''t attack them with your Qi because it is like charging them with more power as they have cores that store Qi.


    Although I was shocked from seeing it, it was sad that I had to destroy such high-quality creation to survive.


    From what I know from my artifact''s memory, there is an unwritten rule amongst golem creators that they carve their own face on their creation to leave a legacy behind.


    This golem had a beautiful face and the character ''He'' on its chest, showcasing its creator''s name.


    As I was marveling at its creation, the golem decided to attack me without wasting any more time.


    The moment I know of his plan, I didn''t even think of retaliation, all I did was rolling on the ground to move out of his hitting range.


    As the golem''s fist hit the ground, tremors spread in the room in an instant, and the floor beneath the fist caved in.


    Looking at the spider web cracks in the floor and imagining myself there, I couldn''t help but shudder.


    ''Now I can say for sure that my plan to loot everything has some minor flaws��'' I thought.


    The golem got on his feet again swiftly and attacked me with what I could presume is its full power.


    Without any pause, I reacted to this development and used the [Mirror of Reckoning] to reflect the golem''s physical attack back to it.


    The golem hit the mirror and I could feel my leg bones breaking under the pressure but I persevered.


    ''You can break my bones but not my storage rings.'' I laughed at my own thoughts.


    Luckily for me, the mirror was able to absorb all of its attack power.


    The golem was shocked and I was also shocked but for different reasons.


    The golem didn''t understand how his attack was completely ineffective and I was shocked because nothing happened.


    ''��why isn''t it reflectin��'' I wasn''t able to finish my thought because a powerful physical attack came out of the [Mirror of Reckoning] and blasted me and the golem to the opposite sides of this room.

 Chapter 64: Worm nest

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    My back hit the wall of the room and I slumped to the floor.


    I could have died with this much impact but my defensive gear absorbed most of the damage. I was lucky that my defensive gear was able to withstand this attack, or else I could have faced severe consequences.


    ''Using a defensive gear to save my life is worth it, I have a couple of spares ready so there is no problem there.'' I thought while grunting as I tried to move myself.


    The moment that I used the [Mirror of Reckoning] as a defensive measure, I didn''t think about the backlashes that reflecting this much power could have on my own body and well, I paid the price for my recklessness.


    Popping a pill, my body started healing fast and while my body healed, I looked for the remains of the golem.


    The golem was embedded into the same wall that he was thrown at. To make sure, I quickly checked it with my Qi sense and to my shock, this golem was slowly getting filled with Qi and soon would be able to fight me again.


    This golem might be able to fight soon, but I can''t say the same for myself. I need at least an hour until I can say with certainty that I am in optimal conditions for a fight of this level. the fact that i can''t use Qi on it, is a big hurdle that is not easy to pass.


    I was lucky that two of its five cores had cracks on them so for now it was losing more power than what it was gaining.


    I didn''t think about anything else and walked toward the golem as fast as I could. Before I reach it, I contemplated every possible scenario that could happen and result in me destroying this golem. From destroying its core to detaching its limbs so that it won''t be able to attack again, each of them had a flag that could create some problems for me so I went with the safest and most attractive option.


    Now that the golem is powerless, I can simply store it in a storage ring. If it had enough Qi, I couldn''t just store him because the golem could resist the space transportation, but now, nothing is stopping me to do just that.


    Before the golem could start moving again, I had already stored it in one of my storage rings. After making sure that everything is safe now, I released the breath that I was holding in.


    Sitting in a corner, I tried to collect myself.


    This was the closest that I have come to death in this life and now I can see why there is a power-based mentality in this world, because it is the natural order of things.


    Moments ago, a ''thing'' almost got me killed.


    I let my thoughts sync in with my plans and rested there for a while.


    ��


    After half an hour I got back on my feet and started looking at the room. There wasn''t much in the room except for some maps that were probably for golem creation.


    The maps about the golems could be a great help for me and maybe I can even repair this golem somehow.


    There were also some bones and armor to one side. I guess that these are the remains of the previous challengers of this test that were unlucky enough to meet this golem.


    After sorting the items and remains, I decided to take them with me, maybe someone outside would be happier if they can bury their loved ones in a grave.


    Soon, I was done with this test and went toward the exit of this room.


    ''It was dangerous but now I know that fighting a golem is a no-no, at least on my level.'' I dusted off my robes while thinking.


    Running in the sands I tried to find more formations, but this time I wouldn''t only go for the best ones and also check some of the others so that I can balance the risk and gains.


    ��


    ����(POV third person)����


    Two weeks passed for the disciples who are in the [Eternal wail trial] and the trial continued. The formation that control''s the [Eternal wail trial] would usually continue working for a month so you can say that half of the trial is now passed...


    Most of the participants started working in groups but some like Li Huang and Hu Anjing either didn''t work with a group or were the leader and gave advice but would act solo.


    In these two weeks, many disciples have gained many treasures and had their fortuitous encounter in the trial.


    Among the 100 disciples, 4 of them perished in these two past weeks. For a trial at this level, this number is small and anything less than 10 is acceptable to the holy lands and sects. Of course, each sect has some disciples who are called the future of the sect but the chance of something happening to them is minuscule.


    Now that two weeks have passed, many places were mapped by each sect''s disciples and much information was shared. In the beginning, you could enter many formations without any need to gather points for it, but now you have to eliminate beasts in order to get the points necessary to enter one.


    For this reason, the disciples gathered in teams and were working that way. This way, they can gain more points faster and in the end, each of them would be able to enter a formation.


    There is one more benefit. The formations that don''t need points to enter are mostly trapped or were in places that were never explored but the formations that need points to enter are almost all tests that would reward you if you are able to finish them. so like this, they would minimize the chance of getting into a trap while gaining some rewards.


    Li Huang ''looted'' the first kind of formations in two days and after that, he started looking for beasts to gain points as much as he can so that he can use them in the ''pay to enter'' formations.


    At first, he was hunting but didn''t know about these beasts lifestyle and habits so it took him more than it should have.


    In this desert area that Li Huang was in, the main beast was some sort of large gray worm that was mostly living underground. Its attack pattern consisted of going in and out of the ground and trying to swallow you whole, from any angle possible.


    Li Huang analyzed their life and found out their habits in a day and after that, he started skirmishing against small groups of these giant worms to minimize the chance of injury.


    After doing this for 5 days, Li Huang was confident in his knowledge and skill to start the grand pest extermination.


    Locating their underground base, Li Huang lay in ambush and waited for the day, as they were less active in daytime.


    What followed was a long battle for two days that marked the end of Li Huang''s first two weeks in the trial.


    During these two days, Li Huang ''killed'' more than 10,000 giant worms until the horde of worms stopped coming to devour him.


    "I hope I never have to do this again��" Li Huang said with a disgusted look on his face.

 Chapter 65: Soul and body mirror

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    I have eliminated around eleven thousand giant gray worms these past days and that amounted to half a million points.


    To put this number Into perspective, the formations that activate with points need at least 10,000 points, so with this much points you can see that I can enter 50 of them.


    Entering fifty of them might sound good but in reality, it is not worth the time that I have invested in eliminating these worms.


    As these formation don''t yield the results that I am looking for, the best plan of action is to go and tackle the formations that need a high amount of points because they would give better rewards on completion.


    That aside, there is one other reason that I want to use these points fast here, I want to get out of this region. I have been here for two weeks now and I honestly got tired of sand and the giant worms who want to eat your face off.


    As I have the [Peeping eye of heaven], it didn''t take me long to locate all the formations in the region and with [Bird eye] I have already mapped all the parts so I can easily maneuver to each of them.


    The only flaw of my map is that I don''t know how many points each formation needs but this isn''t something that I can''t solve within a short time. Now that there are not many giant gray worms in the area, I can move fast and unhindered to get to these locations and check the entry fee for each one.


    In just four hours I had all the prices mapped and I was ready to dive into one of them.


    ''It''s funny that my perception of time has changed in this life as people live longer. If it was my past life, four hours of running around would be considered too much but now it is normal to me��'' I shrugged my shoulders.


    Looking at my updated map, the top formations in this region cost more than 100,000 points each to enter.


    The top three goes like this: 200,000 points, 250,000 points, and the best one would cost 500,000 points.


    ''This formation is a scam.'' If I enter this formation I would only have about 50,000 points left. It is like the trial is out to get my points.


    I was complaining about it, but I was really intrigued by this formation. This formation is twice as expensive as other ones and that can only show one thing; this formation is at least twice as important as the other one.


    I didn''t dilly dally on it and went toward this formation. Getting the loot that is labeled half a million points would make killing all those giant gray worms worth it.


    Standing in front of the formation, I didn''t contemplate my decision anymore and walked right into it. The way these formations work is simple, as the points are not physical objects and are assigned to each participant by the trial''s formation, you don''t need to do anything extra and the points will be deducted from you automatically. To check how many points you have, you also have to use these formations like an ATM.


    By the time I had blinked once, I was in the test location. The test area was a corridor that leads to two doors which were separated by a stone pillar that had some carvings on it.


    Without many options other than going forward, I walked toward the end of the corridor. As I got closer to the stone pillar I could now see more clearly that those carvings were words.


    Soon I was standing in front of the two doors and the stone pillar. Looking at the stone pillar I read its contents.


    _____________


    ~~ to the young pup who has come here to challenge for fortunes;


    If you have a weak will, save your life by exiting from the door to the left.


    But if you are confident in your skills, the door to the right is the one you want to go in.


    Your demise and fortune are in your own hands. ~~


    _____________


    I was stunned a little. So this test could result in you losing your life, interesting.


    ''I have the confidence in myself to finish whatever test there is here and it''s not like they would give my points back if I decide to get out of the test��'' With a mixture of greed and confidence fueling my mind, I choose the right door and continued with the test.


    Entering the door, what greeted me was a big room with nothing in it except a mirror in the center of it and a chair in front of it.


    I didn''t see any other thing of significance here so my best shot was the mirror and the chair so I walked toward them.


    As I arrived in front of the mirror, a carving on the chair caught my eyes.


    ~~ touch the mirror. ~~


    ''That''s�� a little ominous.'' I thought after reading it.


    Because there is a chair here, I sat down comfortably and extended my arm with my palm facing toward the mirror.


    I hold my hand for a moment but after a second I moved my hand again and soon my fingertips were gently touching the mirror.


    The moment I touched the mirror, the surrounding changed and I was looking at another version of myself and he was also looking at me.


    ����(POV third person)����


    What Li Huang didn''t know was that his consciousness was now in the mirror''s space and outside of the mirror his body lay lifelessly on the same chair that he sat on earlier.


    This mirror is called the [Soul and body mirror] and makes you face your inner fears or the so-called heart demons.


    Li Huang who wasn''t aware of this tried to gain some understanding of this test so that he can come out successful.


    Looking at his double, Li Huang started speaking.


    "So, you are me?" He asked the double in a relaxed manner.


    The double on the other hand smirked a little and peered right into Li Huang''s eyes.


    "I am Li Huang. Tell me, can you say the same?" the double returned Li Huang''s question to him.


    Hearing this tone Li Huang flinched a little.


    He knows it best that he wasn''t always Li Huang. It is just more than a month that he is calling himself Li Huang and this problem was something that he often thought about.


    He has been asking himself if he deserves to get this life that rightfully belonged to someone else, this thought has been in the back of his mind for as long as he can remember. Deep down he always felt guilt for this even though he didn''t choose this body to reside in.


    What made him remember this was the look on the double''s face. This look was the same look that the ''Li Huang'' had in his memories.


    He knows this was a test but he couldn''t stop this look from affecting his mentality.


    Taking a deep breath, He opened his mouth and spoke.


    "I''m��"

 Chapter 66: Self-Confrontation

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "I''m��" I wanted to say that I''m not Li Huang but the words wouldn''t come out of my mouth.


    Saying it this way is not fair to me because I have been Li Huang from the moment that I have woken up in this world, and I have lived through his memories from the beginning to the last moments before my arrival. So I can''t convince myself to say that I''m not Li Huang.


    The problem is that I have no idea what was the reason for my arrival in this body and don''t know if Li Huang was killed or even died for that matter. Everything was fine before he went to sleep the night before, but I woke up instead of him.


    I couldn''t accept the look that the double was giving me and I answered him with what I believed to be true.


    "I''m Li Huang, as much as you are." I have gone through all of Li Huang''s memories as him so there is nothing that I don''t know about him at this point. Even my actions are not that different from the past, I just have some scattered knowledge about some things from my past life.


    The double in front of me raised an eyebrow at my words. Tilting his head, the double spoke again.


    "You are not just Li Huang, you are a little�� more." The double said with a smile that was aimed to irritate me.


    But to me, those words carried what I wanted to hear and I accepted it with open arms.


    "Wouldn''t that make me the superior Li Huang?" I asked the double while showing him a smile of my own.


    Without knowing it, my smile was exactly the same smile that the double had on his face.


    The double looked at me for a few seconds and then nodded in confirmation.


    "That is true." He said.


    For the next minute or so we just kept on looking at each other.


    Knowing myself and consequently, the double''s personality, I know that this staring contest would be a long one if one of us do not relent first.


    Before I could say anything, the double spoke again.


    "Why do you think I am in front of you and not ''your past self''?" The double asked me.


    I was taken aback by this question. I haven''t thought about it until he asked about it now.


    From all that I have seen from this test so far, I know that what I''m facing is my fear or a flaw in my mentality but why don''t I see my past self here? Why do I have to face a double of ''Li Huang''.


    At that time, I didn''t know the name of the mirror, or else it could have helped me in knowing the reason behind it.


    Just as I was in deep thoughts, the double''s voice resounded again.


    "What was your name before you were Li Huang?" the double asked again. The way that he was asking me the question was as if he was giving me a hint despite this being a test.


    This intrigued me but I focused on the questions for now.


    For this type of basic question I don''t need to think and as the double clearly knows what I know, there is no reason to hide anything.


    "In my past life, I was called��" I started answering but halfway in the answer, I found out that I couldn''t remember my name in my last life.


    I thought that this news would shock me and create a sense of loss in my heart but to my shock, I didn''t feel anything like that.


    I was struggling to understand this but the double clicked his tongue in irritation.


    "*tsk* Why do you think that you have transmigrated?" The double asked. Before I could comprehend what he said, he continued.


    "If you don''t get it with this, you deserve to perish here." The double said with annoyance evident in his tone.


    It was at that moment that something clicked in my mind and an old memory of Li Huang and grandpa Long resurfaced in my mind.


    In the memory, grandpa Long was telling Huang a story about the 12th patriarch of the sect who was said to be the reincarnation of the sect''s founder. From what grandpa explained, the 12th patriarch one day recalled his past life as the sect founder of the heavenly sword sect. Grandpa said that this happens very rarely when someone can remember their past lives, but it is not impossible.


    "��" I was stunned.


    Why didn''t I think of it until now? Li Huang didn''t die before I woke up in ''his'' body so there is no way that his soul got out of his body and two souls can''t coexist in a body so that option is also not possible.


    If somehow I throw his soul out of his body, his brain would be dead and there was no fancy cultivation way that I could access his memories with neither his brain nor soul accessible. So the fact that I have his memories denies this possibility.


    The only explanation left is that I didn''t transmigrate, I was reincarnated and that day remembered my past life.


    ''There is no usurper here, I was Li Huang from the beginning.'' I couldn''t help but laugh. I was really blinded by all those ''novel'' knowledge and didn''t see this simple fact.


    But there is one thing yet unanswered, why did I need to go through memories of my current life?


    What I think happened is that the 12th patriarch of the sect remembered his past life when he was at high levels of cultivation but I remembered them at the beginning of my cultivation road. This had to be too much for my mind to handle so I have experienced it in a way that my mind could handle it easier.


    I think the fact that I can''t remember my own name in my past life is that I have been subconsciously deleting useless memories to ease the burden on my mind.


    When I first thought I was transmigrated, I was shocked by the fact that ''my'' personality got mixed with Li Huang''s but now I get that what happened was my past life having some small effects on my mentality and nothing more��


    All these thoughts happened in a few seconds. Looking at the double, I saw that he was also looking at me intently.


    "Don''t worry, we won''t perish here." I grinned and told him.


    The double grinned back at me.


    "So you finally know who I am?" the double said.


    "You are me and I am you." I told my double and we both laughed.


    After a few seconds, we looked at each other and spoke.


    ""Thank you."" We both said at the same time.


    I thanked him for the hint and he probably thanked me for not being that stupid to let us die here.


    Soon, the room that I was in shattered in countless pieces and I was back on the chair in front of the mirror.


    Taking a deep breath, I stood up from the chair. Now that the test was done, A double door was revealed at the end of the room.


    I walked toward it, and seconds later, I was in front of it.


    Taking a last look at the room, I opened the door and stepped in.

 Chapter 67: Reward time

    ����(POV Li Huang a.k.a the original)����


    Stepping on the hard floor of this new room, I couldn''t hide my excitement anymore. After the test, I know that this is going to be the reward time, but I can''t even comprehend what to expect from a trial that costs 500,000 points.


    I am also interested in knowing a bit more about this test. My own double was kind of cooperating with me instead of trying to stop me. Although clearly there were some lines that my double wouldn''t cross and would only hint me vaguely, it was too kind of the test creator to allow it and I don''t think an old ''senior'' would create a test like this.


    What greeted me in this new room was a new stone pillar with writings on it.


    ''Why didn''t this senior use a residual soul or something?'' for all I could think of, I couldn''t find out any solid reason for the usage of stone pillars to leave a message. True, the residual soul could eventually extinguish but you can say the same about the stone pillar because the pillar too can crumble if enough time is passed.


    Shaking my head to get rid of these useless thoughts, I started reading the contents on the stone pillar.


    ~~ the fact that you are here reading this means that you have successfully finished the test. ~~


    "No shit, Sherlock!" I couldn''t help but mutter when I read the first line. Chastising myself internally, i continued reading.


    _____________


    ~~ The mirror that you have touched is called [Soul and body mirror]. This mirror helps in making ones body and soul one.


    As I have said before, this test, or more precisely the mirror might result in death. The reason for it is simple, it is because of the way you are being tested with this mirror.


    When touching this mirror you would face your inner demon. If your inner demon is originated from something or someone other than you, the inner demon has no good feelings toward you so it would clash with you and this fight might result in you losing your life.


    But if you have a problem with yourself, your inner demon could even go so far as to help you fix it.


    The first type of test is almost impossible to win, but the odds for the second type are fifty-fifty.


    As you are in this room, it means that you have had the second type of test.


    There is a reason behind the name of [Soul and body mirror], having passed its test you can say that you have achieved soul and body unison.


    Having this constitution is the prerequisite to practice the reward of this test.


    I hope I can see the heights that you can achieve with this technique. ~~


    _____________


    ''So there was another reward if I had to fight my inner demon.'' I was interested in knowing what the reward was but I wasn''t stupid enough to think that I could win a fight that this senior described as ''almost impossible to win''.


    That aside, the whole reason behind this test was to find participants with [Soul and Body Unison] so I think it is safe to say that this is the main reward.


    In a corner of this room, on a table, was a sophisticated information jade.


    This information jade is levels higher than any and every information jade that I have ever seen in my life.


    ''This must contain the technique that this pillar talked about.'' I thought.


    Slowly I began to walk toward this information jade. Just by looking at it, you can rest assured that this technique is a high-grade one��


    With slightly trembling hands, I picked up the information jade.


    I just marveled at its creation and the detail that was put into it for a few seconds and then I absorbed the information without any hesitation.


    If my future self could time travel, he would kick my ass because of this move.


    These information jades are higher-level information jades as I have suspected and as one would expect, they hold a higher level of information than what normally is stored in an information jade.


    The fact that I absorbed all of it at once could have resulted in consequences that I am not going to talk about but luckily for me, I was only in pain for a couple of minutes.


    ''Being a young master doesn''t make you immune from being a country bumpkin��'' I thought. I didn''t have any idea that I couldn''t download all the information in one go because it would be too much for me.


    Now that the pain has subsided, I could check the technique with ease of mind.


    The moment that I checked it a little and skimmed through some of its explanations, I was shocked senseless.


    "This is a heaven-grade technique��" This is really above and beyond my expectations for this reward.


    "��It''s a rank 6 heaven grade technique." Not only this technique is of heaven grade, but it is also a high-ranked one at that.


    To just put it in perspective, my [Eclipse Devourer Sword Art] is only a 9th rank earth-grade martial art and it is regarded as one of the main martial arts of the sect so saying that this technique is priceless is not an exaggeration in any sense.


    Calming my emotions, I checked the technique properly this time.


    The technique is called [Soul splitting scripture].


    This technique is similar to a cloning technique that allows you to clone yourself when needed but has many advantages in comparison to cloning techniques.


    For one, this technique does not create a clone and as its name suggests, all of the doubles have split from the original so you can say that they are all one.


    The second advantage is that, when creating a clone, if you were to be defeated the clones would be also automatically cease to function but here, as they are all one there is no original to defeat so that problem wouldn''t occur here.


    ''Now I get why this is called a heaven grade technique��'' After just reading this much about the technique, I can see that this technique is leagues above its peers.


    The next hours passed with me studying the training method of this technique and checking the information for any item or ingredient that might be necessary for the process. I checked on it so that I can be ready to learn the [Soul splitting scripture] as soon as possible.


    What do I need to learn this technique? Well, the short answer is a lot. I have to use two-third of my monthly allowance for these practices but it would be well worth it.


    If you think two-thirds is not that much, let me tell you that I have never hit the half mark all these years no matter how much I spent so this is really a lot!


    Now the next question is that how long do I have to train to be able to use it in its initial level of mastery? More than a year. Well, this is to be expected from a heaven-grade martial art but knowing something is different from accepting it easily.


    Anyway, I''m going to practice as hard as I can to get it done in a year or even less.

 Chapter 68: Meeting acquaintances

    (A/N: psst, read the author''s notes <_<)


    Now that I know quite a bit about this technique, I think I know why this senior didn''t put a clone here.


    As this technique would do soul splitting, first you would lose a tiny bit of your soul that as far as I know is impossible to repair and secondly, you would be sharing the experience of all these years of loneliness and that could create some mental issues down the line.


    ''Or it could be that he didn''t care enough to do so.'' I shrugged my shoulders. You can never be sure about what is going on in someone else''s mind.


    After storing this luxurious information jade inside my storage ring, I looked at the room for the last time so that I won''t miss anything of importance.


    Looking around myself, there is really nothing here that I could have missed so I walked toward the exit formation.


    Just as I was passing the stone pillar, something caught my eyes and I stopped in my tracks.


    No, there wasn''t any well-hidden item there that one could easily miss if you were not looking for it. Nothing as clich�� as that happened, I was just looking at the stone pillar itself.


    A line on the stone pillar to be more specific.


    _____________


    ~~ I hope I can see the heights that you can achieve with this technique. ~~


    _____________


    ''What does this senior mean by seeing the heights that I can achieve?'' This part of the writing slipped my mind the first time that I have read it because I was too excited for the reward.


    But now that I''m reading it with ease of mind, I can say that this is indeed a flag if I have ever seen one.


    But what does this mean? Is he looking at me from the afterlife or something? That can''t be. But if he is not dead doesn''t that mean he is here and he is looking at the trial? No this is also not possible because he said ''I hope I can see'' so he is not here but he is somewhere? But the question is where?


    And it is also open to debate whether it''s a he or a she?


    My mind worked in overclock mode to solve this question and I also used all my novel knowledge to see if this could be somehow the same as some other plots.


    What I can be sure of is that this senior is somewhere out there but I don''t know where.


    The thing that boggles my mind is that anyone who was able to create this massive space with its own rules can''t be someone ordinary because no one in the world can recreate even a fraction of this space so the origin of this expert and his reasons for creating this trial here are the real questions.


    If this kind of powerhouse is walking around the world, I have to say that this really redefines the meaning of hidden expert.


    Shuddering a little I vowed to myself to be courteous to every old beggar or old person in tattered and ragged robes.


    ''The world is really a scary place now that I think about it��'' I thought.


    With this new revelation, I stepped on the exit formation and appeared outside of the test space on the same hill that I entered the test from.


    The location of this formation was on the outskirts of the desert so I was at the edge of this region so I didn''t have to walk far to get out of the never-ending desert.


    Moving toward where my [Bird eye] had mapped a location that wasn''t a desert, I soon came to a woodlands biome.


    I was impressed once again by this trial space. The fact that they have recreated this place like the real world and the biomes are not random and change with logic just goes to show the level of expertise of the trial creator or creators.


    At the same time that I was marveling at the details of this place, I heard a sound that I forgot about In these past two weeks.


    It was the alarm sound of the tool that we would use to locate other disciples from our sect. After two weeks of silence as there was no one in my vicinity, now it was alarming like crazy.


    It could only mean one thing, there is a big group of our heavenly sect disciples near this region.


    ''Well, it makes sense to meet up to see what Hu Anjing and others were going through.'' I was interested in what they were up to when I was killing giant worms��


    ����(POV Hu Anjing)����


    The moment I entered the trial I was in a mountain region. There were many beasts there that had tough skins and high defensive capabilities but none of them made me unsheathe my sword and a punch or a kick would solve them so there was really no need to take them seriously.


    If Huang was here he would probably scold me for not taking an unknown enemy seriously or something but honestly, I could say with a glance that these beasts can pose no threat to me so it was fine.


    As I was accumulating points and occasionally found some formations and entered them, I was also mapping these locations with the tool that Huang gave me in those sorted storage rings that he readied for me.


    Honestly, it was a great help when moving in these terrains that you can easily get lost in. You can use your mind to keep track of your surroundings but it would occupy a part of the brain and you would have to always be consciously thinking about it so this would ultimately result in worse decision making because you are not using your brain in its full capacity.


    While I was running around and killing beasts I located some of our disciples so as the leader I decided to gather everyone slowly so that we can sweep regions faster and safer because you would always have allies nearby.


    In just five days we have found three other disciples and now we were a group of four.


    To find other disciples easier I devised a plan, we would put enough distance between each other that we were almost on the edge of this tool''s detection range. With this, we know about each other''s whereabouts and also covered a bigger distance so that we can find others who also entered the trial with us.


    This proved to be effective and in the next days, we found many disciples from different sects but didn''t care that much about them so no friction happened there.


    After a week we had found almost all of our 10 participants as luckily we were able to traverse a large distance and cover a bigger land as we had larger numbers.


    Now 9 of 10 disciples were found and the only one who wasn''t here was Li Huang.


    Two days passed after this and there was still no clue about him and at some point, even I started to get worried but I soon calmed down.


    Why? Because Li Huang is the most over-suspicious person that I have ever known, so even if he is in a tough spot, he would have something ready for the unlikely event that he was put in that situation and can counter it. So in reality, there was nothing to worry about.


    We have been looking around for him until one of the disciples who was near the desert biome said that he located someone.


    ''So he was there��''


    I told everyone to move toward the signal, with this we would have every disciple gathered.

 Chapter 69: Hu Anjing’s formation

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    Within a minute, I got surrounded by other disciples of our sect. If I didn''t have my own tool that assured me that these are from the heavenly sword sect, I would have to use the ''attack first, ask questions later'' policy.


    ''I mean who wouldn''t if they got surrounded by 9 strong opponents.''


    The moment that they come close to me and looked more like a group of paparazzi instead of a group of assassins they greeted me.


    ""Senior brother!""


    I greeted them back simply with a nod.


    Well, not everybody was enthusiastic about greeting me in this group but in all honesty, I couldn''t care less about them at this moment.


    Looking around to locate Hu Anjing, I heard her voice before I could see her.


    "Junior uncle, you have finally shown up!" Her sarcastic tone was the same as always.


    Turning to look at her face I talked back.


    "What can I say, the sunbath was just that good." I shrugged at her words.


    She gave a light punch to my arm and pointed in a direction.


    "Let us talk there junior uncle." She gestured me to follow her.


    "Sure." I nodded and followed her.


    "Junior sister Ye Ling, you too should follow me." Hu Anjing said as she was passing Ye Ling.


    She just nodded and followed.


    Now that Ye Ling is also added to this ''talk'' I think this is going to be a meeting between the leader and the vice leaders.


    Feeling an intense gaze locked to my face I turned to see who is the perpetrator, to my bewilderment, it was Ye Ling.


    It didn''t take me long to figure out what she wanted and before her gaze bore a hole in my skull, I gave her some snacks.


    "Take these, junior sister." I know that it is her personality so I didn''t take her actions to heart.


    "Anjing do you want some too?" before Hu Anjing could use this chance to throw a sly remark I extended the offer to her.


    "��sure, why not." She looked as she knows what I did but didn''t care much about it.


    In a few minutes, we were at the temporary camp that they had made. Most of the things here were unloaded from storage rings so it isn''t that hard to set up something like this.


    Sitting down on a chair I looked at Hu Anjing to start this meeting.


    She didn''t disappoint and soon started talking.


    "First of all, junior uncle, where have you been these past two weeks?" she asked me.


    "I was in the desert next door from the moment that I entered the trial." I told her. It may seem a waste of time from someone else''s perspective but to me who could see the location of all the formation it was all profit and I think I have gained more than all of our disciples combined.


    I''m not planning to tell anyone about the [Soul splitting scripture] for the simple reason that it would create many problems if it is known so I rather keep it to myself.


    As Hu Anjing knows me on a personal level, she knows that my answer also meant that I won''t be sharing any more details so she didn''t bother asking further and nodded.


    She took out her [Bird eye] and put it on the table.


    "This is the area that we have covered in these past weeks." With a hand gesture, she made the map appear and she proceeded to tell me how she gathered everyone and how it went.


    "That is actually smart to search this way." I told her.


    "Now, you can add this map to it too." I projected my own [Bird eye] map beside their map.


    The distance that I have traversed was one-twentieth of them but I was satisfied with it.


    With the map now containing new areas, I told them what I know about the topology and the beasts of the desert area.


    Hu Anjing also asked a few questions about the region after my explanations to clarify some things but nothing complicated for me who knows every nook and cranny of it.


    Now it was Hu Anjing''s turn to tell me about the points of interest in their map and the types of beasts that they have come in contact with so far.


    They have been into 8 different terrains so far and there was a lot of information to share but I know that it could be very useful for me so I didn''t slack off and even took a note from the things that I thought were super important.


    Luckily, all these talks were done before Ye Ling finished her snacks so I didn''t have to refill them for her.


    "So what is the next plan of action?" I asked Hu Anjing the main question. If there is nothing specific planned, I''d rather take my chances going solo as I have done for the past two weeks.


    "��Actually I located a formation and I want you to go with me for the test, junior uncle." Hu Anjing said.


    As I have known her for a long time, I know when she uses ''actually'' to start a sentence that might seem sudden, there is no suddenness in it. In fact, she most likely created all the other topics to talk about so that she can talk about this specific topic.


    I didn''t mind it, I just wanted to know the reason behind it so I tried to pry for more information.


    "There is a formation that accepts multiple entries at once?!" I didn''t see anything like that in the desert region.


    "It is not that it accepts multiple entries, it needs two persons to enter simultaneously to work." Hu Anjing said and I got really interested in this formation.


    "Interesting, how many points does it need?" I asked her. What I was short on right now was points so if we have to go to a place like this I need to get some points as I have 48,366 points now.


    "Don''t worry junior uncle, it is only 75,000 points for each of us." She said to reassure me but all it did was lowering my spirit.


    "I��uh. Well, I need a little point as I have used them on the way��" I told her with an apologetic look on my face but contrary to my expectation, she didn''t get dejected because of this setback but got more invigorated.


    "I have a plan for that too." She had one of her battle-crazed smiles on her face and now I know that she was expecting this too.


    "I''m all ears��" I laid back in the chair and waited for her explanation.


    "You see junior uncle when I have just entered the trial, I was in a mountain area." She started explaining.


    "��so after I had killed about two hundred of these beasts, I felt a strong presence near me and I followed it and found a bigger version of these beasts." The more she explained the more my brows were furrowed.


    What she was saying was in essence the plot of many scary movies; ''OMG! A dark and deep hole in the ground where sounds of excruciating screams are coming out. I guess I have to get inside.''


    Why do people even do these kinds of things? As I was deep in my thoughts, Hu Anjing''s explanation continued.


    "That monster was hard to kill but when I killed it, I got 4,000 points from it!" she said and got my full attention back.

 Chapter 70: Li Huang got conned

    ����(POV third person)����


    Before Hu Anjing could continue talking, Li Huang cut her off.


    "Wait, wait, wait." She stopped her from continuing professionally.


    Hu Anjing didn''t know what made Li Huang so agitated but she waited for him to speak again.


    "Let me ask you again just to make sure, you are telling me each of those beasts was worth 4,000 points?" Li Huang was on the verge of crying.


    "��Yes." She wasn''t sure if answering with the truth was the best option here, but in the end, she answered truthfully.


    "��I see. There must be a very limited number of them there, right?" Li Huang was trying to find something that makes these beasts unprofitable to calm himself.


    Why is Li Huang so fixated on asking about the points? The reason is simple.


    Li Huang has eliminated almost 11,000 giant gray worms that yielded him 548,366 points. Meaning on average he got less than 50 points from each of them.


    Now these beasts that Hu Anjing is talking about are 80 times more efficient than the gray worms so it is natural for Li Huang to feel pained by this.


    Hu Anjing now got why Li Huang was agitated so he tried to calm him down.


    ''He must be thinking that there are many of these beasts��'' Hu Anjing thought.


    "No junior uncle, there is only about 200 to 250 of them there��" She said. If only she knew that this number was not as comforting as she thought for Li Huang.


    "��I see." Li Huang said but his mind was somewhere else.


    ''So I hunted eleven fucking thousands worms for 50 points each when I could be killing these beasts and gain 800,000 points��'' he was trying to think of something positive about wasting his time like that.


    ''Well, no wonder I could find this many loots in there, clearly, no one has explored it before because the point given by these worms was small compared to other places.'' Li Huang now knows why there were many formations untouched there.


    ''But�� the worms were really disgusting, it was truly a traumatic experience.'' Li Huang was really angry with himself for sticking to one region without knowing how it was compared to other regions.


    "The giant gray worms in the desert biome worth 50 points at most��" Li Huang said all of a sudden and Not only Hu Anjing but also Ye Ling understood what it meant.


    ''He had to kill thousands of worms to get points��'' they both thought.


    Unbeknown to Li Huang, a tear was forming in his left eye.


    "Ar��Are you crying?"Hu Anjing asked Li Huang. She has never seen him cry so far so it was a bit shocking to her.


    Li Huang now got conscious of it and wiped the single tear with his thumb.


    "No, it was a sweat." Li Huang said.


    ""��"" Ye Ling and Hu Anjing were lost for words.


    Li Huang stood from where he was and instinctively dusted off his robes.


    "What are you waiting for? Let''s go and hunt some beasts��" Li Huang said to Hu Anjing. He was itching for some action after he understood that he suppressed his helminthphobia (A/N: phobia of worms) for almost nothing if you put [Soul splitting scripture] aside.


    Hu Anjing also stood and spoke.


    "We can start moving to the mountain range after I tell other disciples the plan." She was also very eager to fight together with Li Huang.


    "Excuse me, senior sister and senior brother, can I also come and fight alongside you?" For the first time in this meeting, Ye Ling said something.


    As the number one inner disciple in the sect, she was famous but she knows that someone like Hu Anjing was way beyond her league in power and experience. So she would love to use this chance to fight alongside the two of them, that are each hailed to be one of the sect''s bests in this generation.


    "I Have no problem with it if you are okay with it." Li Huang didn''t need to think much before giving his answer. He knows despite how bitter he was about these beasts, they are strong so having a strong member added to the team could make things easier and way faster. In a timed trial gaining the points faster is all that matters.


    He looked at Hu Anjing and waited for her answer.


    "I don''t have a problem with it but if you can''t carry your own weight you have to go back, are you fine with that?" She didn''t beat around the bush and directly told Ye Ling what she expects of her.


    Ye Ling frowned a little because she was thinking.


    "I understand senior sister, I won''t let you down��" She said and this showed that she is not going to be a burden.


    "Good." Hu Anjing nodded and we walked toward the other disciples.


    After talking a bit, Hu Anjing told them the new plan and told them that they will be there for at least 4 days so if anyone is going to do something solo or in smaller groups, they can do it before the group moves again.


    Within an hour everyone was ready and the disciples of the heavenly sword sect walked to the mountain area.


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    We got on the way and it didn''t take long for us to arrive at our destination.


    Along the way, I chatted a little about the trial with Lai Xinyue and so far she seemed to had a good run from what she said. Needless to say, Jin Fen wasn''t happy about me talking to her but well, I didn''t care if he was happy or not.


    ''If he really likes to die, I''m not that heartless to deny it from him��'' if he decides to clash with me, I will use everything I have in my arsenal to destroy him but for now, I''m chill.


    When we got to the foot of the mountain, we set up a temporary camp for anyone who would like to have a place to rest and gather at night. This also acted as our center of command as we further improved our map day by day.


    ��


    "So, how does this beast look like?" I asked Hu Anjing as we eliminated some mob beast that we called giant apes.


    "You see these giant apes? They are like giant, giant apes." Hu Anjing said while cutting down a giant ape with ease.


    "I see." I said as I didn''t want to tell her my inner thoughts. Internally I thought that giant giant ape is one of the laziest names that anyone has ever come up with.

 Chapter 71: Giant giant ape massacre

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    After Hu Anjing introduced me to the giant giant ape, we continued killing giant apes for half an hour until we got to the place Hu Anjing last saw the giant giant apes.


    ''I can''t think about the situation without thinking about this stupid name.'' I was struggling internally while I was pressing on my temples.


    "This was the place that I fought one giant giant ape last time." Hu Anjing pointed out while we were hiding behind a boulder.


    ''She says as if the destruction in the vicinity is not evident that the fight happened here.'' The trees were uprooted and chunks of the mountain''s surface were scattered in the surrounding. the boulder that we were behind was one such example.


    ''At least she didn''t underestimate the beast and used her full power��'' I was thinking that maybe the ape jump-scared her for her to have this reaction.


    Ye Ling was also looking at the destruction and was awed by it. The power of someone who is at the peak of the twelfth stage of Meridian formation is not something to trifle with.


    "Amazing��" Ye Ling muttered subconsciously.


    I just nodded a little. This isn''t something that is easy to achieve so it deserves getting recognition.


    "Do you know the location of their lair?" I asked Hu Anjing. If we know where they live, we can easily eliminate them all.


    "No, at that time I was going to find others fast so I didn''t put much time on it but I did see a couple of them so I know they live nearby��" She said a little apologetic.


    "It''s okay. Now we will wait for them to pass by so that we find their lair, right?" I knew deep down that she has taken this position as the leader because I told her to do so, so being understanding toward her is the least I can do.


    "That is a good plan." Hu Anjing said and Ye Ling also nodded.


    "Good, let''s put a small distance between each other so that we can find them easier." I told them and everyone was in agreement with my plan.


    ~''Send a sound transmission if you find anything��''~ I told them and waited in ambush.


    ��


    ~''I have found two of them, I think��''~ Ye Ling''s sound was heard by us after half an hour of waiting.


    ~''I am coming toward your location.''~ I answered to her voice.


    ~''I''m on my way too.''~ Hu Anjing also answered.


    A minute later we were at the location that Ye Ling was hiding but as she was tailing the beasts, she wasn''t there so we used our Qi sense to locate her and a minute later we were beside her following these giant giant apes.


    ''Now I get why Hu Anjing is calling them giant giant apes, they are really giant!'' They looked like the extra-large version of the giant apes that we had eliminated and their height was about 30 meters (A/N: ~100 ft).


    ��


    One more hour passed and luckily for us, the giant giant apes finally decided to get back to their lair and stop moving around aimlessly.


    ''aimless to me at least...'' I thought.


    The lair was a dome-shaped cave that housed at least two hundred of these giants so you can imagine how massive it is!


    Luckily each of us could handle ten of them if we go all out so there was nothing to worry about as they are big and we can move between them easily.


    "What is the plan?" Ye Ling asked us.


    Hu Anjing grinned and looked at me.


    "We will blast their faces!" I grinned back at her and said.


    Ye Ling was stunned by the simplicity of our plan but me and Anjing were already rushing the giant giant apes.


    The first ape that discovered me tried to pummel me with his fist. But as I was faster than him I stopped at the right moment and his fist passed inches away from my face and hit the ground in front of me.


    Without wasting any time, I jumped on his hand and moved on his arm, in a fraction of a second, I was on his shoulder. With a swift move of my sword, the beast was decapitated.


    Before the blood could splash on my robes I jumped to the shoulder of the next unsuspecting giant giant ape and took his life too.


    Continuing with my actions, six more beasts were slain by me in the next minute. I was satisfied with my efficiency and looked around to see how Hu Anjing and Ye Ling were doing.


    Ye Ling was creating deep wounds on their legs and hands in order to make them unable to move and then she would stab her sword through their eye socket and into their brains.


    This method was slower than mine but needed less energy overall as I had to decapitate them in a swing but she didn''t.


    *Boom*


    A loud sound made me come out of my thoughts and I hurriedly look at the origin of the sound to see if anything has happened to Hu Anjing, but the scene that I saw made me unable to say anything.


    Hu Anjing threw a 30-meter beast over her shoulder and the poor beast got face planted into the ground and narrowly missed death as his spine nearly broke because of the impact. But Hu Anjing come toward the beast and finished the beast soon after so there was no salvation for the beast.


    ''Well, god damn.'' That was all I could think of after seeing this move by Hu Anjing.


    Now that I was sure that everyone was safe and sound, I continued my work to gather more points as I clearly needed them more than others.


    Locating five new beasts coming this way I rushed at them. Seeing me on the ground they tried to stump me with their feet but I dodged and slashed at their Achilles tendons one after another, this resulted in their legs becoming useless and they dropped to their knees one by one.


    Now that they have lost one-third of their heights I just jumped to each of them easily and stabbed them through the mouth to kill them faster as their internals didn''t have the same resistance that their skin and fur had.


    Looking at the horde of tens of giant giant apes that were rushing to our location to avenge their brethren, I know that we still had a long way to go until we are done with this lair.

 Chapter 72: Giantness is relative

    ����(POV third person)����


    Forty minutes passed and Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling were still fighting the horde of apes.


    The giant giant apes kept coming to take their life as compensation for their lost fellow apes but all they could achieve was gifting more points to the trio.


    As the number of beasts kept on increasing Li Huang, Hu Anjing and Ye Ling decided to attack as a team to minimize the chance of something happening to any of them.


    In a team, they were sharper and stronger in comparison to when they acted solo because they have defined roles each.


    There was three positions in the fighting formation that they were using. One of them would be the vanguard and would lead the group and would distract the enemy. One would be responsible to make the enemy unable to pose any danger and the last one would finish the defenseless beast. These roles would change between them after some time.


    Hu Anjing who was the vanguard this time stopped a fist from an ape with her hand. Li Huang jumped on the fist and cut the beast''s main tendons like nobody''s business and Ye Ling put the final nail on the ape''s coffin by lounging her sword in its brain.


    Meanwhile, Li Huang changed his target and slit the ape''s throat before he could do anything. He didn''t do anything, but his other friend tried to punch Li Huang but as Li Huang jumped from there, the ape only hit his dying friend''s face and killed him as a result. Before the ape could understand what he has done or morn for his friend, Hu Anjing was in front of him and with a powerful slash cut the beast in half and let him join his friend.


    Ye Ling knows she was the weakest here so she used her head and tried to use the horde against themselves.


    She was jumping from an ape to another and would stab them in the spine to disconnect their spinal cord. This way, they would be nearly stumped to death by their own kind. She would finish any one of these apes that were easy to finish and wouldn''t waste her time on tougher ones that needed way too much energy, the energy that she needed to preserve for this prolonged fight.


    Left and right, the giant giant apes would drop down and die. This was to the point that a natural fortress was created by the corpses of the apes piled together.


    Any time that these corpses would pile to a level that would be more disadvantageous than it was convenient, Li Huang and Hu Anjing would throw them to other apes so that they can clear the space a little.


    The corpses of the beasts would disappear in the trial after an hour, but that hour is too long for this group that is constantly fighting 30-meter apes.


    ��


    As the battle continued, the team also started feeling the fatigue taking effect on their bodies.


    "Let''s attack with less intensity for a while so we can regain our energy." Li Huang said. He was thinking of the possibility of them being very tired to do anything and a single giant giant ape coming out of nowhere and killing them so he proposed this plan.


    Ye Ling and Hu Anjing were both okay with this because they were feeling the fatigue slowly build up so active recovery was a welcome idea to them.


    About a hundred and fifty apes were killed until now and less than a hundred of them were left.


    It took the team four more hours to finish these remaining apes as they were preserving their energy.


    "That was really a good fight." Hu Anjing said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. As she likes fights an Li Huang, this combined these two together for her.


    "Well, them being really ''giant'' also helped." Li Huang said. The fact that the beasts were big helped them move with more ease between them and attack their vitals.


    "This was a great experience for me, thank you, senior brother, thank you, senior sister." Ye Ling said and bowed to Li Huang and Hu Anjing.


    Li Huang waved her hand dismissively.


    "Don''t mention it, you have done great in this fight so be proud of your performance." He said. The way that Ye Ling analyzed the situation and acted on it showed her mature sense of fighting.


    "Yes, get to core court as fast as you can. We can train with each other��" Hu Anjing also added. As Ye Ling was talented and hardworking, she could be a great training partner for her.


    "Thank you, I will work harder." Ye Ling said with a small frown. After this fight, she knows why these two were everyone''s talk in the sect. Even if you put talent and experience aside, their coordination was unbelievable to her. She now set a bigger goal for herself than simply getting into the core court.


    "The points were too much though��" Li Huang suddenly said.


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "From what you have told me, these beasts are not that much stronger in comparison to other beasts in different regions so why are they so profitable?" I couldn''t help but ask.


    Hu Anjing and Ye Ling were thinking about my question.


    "Yes, I too think it''s a bit weird." Ye Ling said.


    "Maybe the trial is being generous because the way to here is hard to pass?" Hu Anjing added nonchalantly.


    "Well, it might be that��" I just shrugged. I''m not going to say no to this many points so the reason doesn''t matter that much.


    "Okay, let''s get going after a few minutes of resting." I told them and they nodded.


    From the corner of my eyes I saw a half-dead giant giant ape, Ye Ling also saw that and with a simple sword move, she put it out of its misery.


    The moment she did that, the ground shook and we barely stopped ourselves from falling to the ground.


    From the origin of the sounds and vibrations, a bigger version of these apes came out and growled at us.


    ''What the hell is this?'' I was stunned. The beast was over 100 meters tall (A/N: ~330 ft) and honestly was intimidating.


    "Heavens! It''s a GIANT gia��" Hu Anjing was going to go with her naming theme but I stopped her.


    "Don''t you dare! It''s a gargantuan ape, nothing more, nothing less." I told her. I wasn''t going to let this one be called a giant giant giant ape.


    She looked a little dejected but nodded to my words nonetheless.


    Ye Ling on other hand was shaking a little as she didn''t think there would be something like this here.


    Putting a hand on her shoulder I tried to calm her down.


    "Don''t worry, I have a lot ready that I can throw at it!" I told her.


    "Just think about safety first in this fight and we all will be fine." I told them both.


    Ye Ling who now was calmer and Hu Anjing nodded to my words and got ready for the battle.


    ''No wonder the points were this high, it was a test of greed��'' A smirk formed on my face.

 Chapter 73: Result of greed

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    These beasts were worth more points but it seems the trial was created this way as a test of greed. When Ye Ling finished the last remaining giant giant ape, the trial summoned this gargantuan ape to deal with us.


    Well, unfortunately for the trial, I am always ready for whatever that could go wrong, to go wrong.


    "Eat these pills and keep this storage ring on you." I threw Hu Anjing and Ye Ling recovery pills and a storage ring each. I gave them the pills so that they can handle it easier even if they got hit and I also popped one at the same time.


    "Spread out to increase the beast''s attack options." I Added. If we stay close to each other the gargantuan ape can attack all of us while only using one hand so spreading out is the best option.


    When I gave them the pills, I gave them a storage ring. That storage ring is the key to our victory.


    "Use the scrolls in the storage ring to attack the beast, there are also [Qi replenishment] pills in the ring." I told them as we were moving into a loose formation.


    ����(POV third person)����


    The scrolls that Li Huang have on him were also called [Law scrolls] and were an effective but expensive method of attacking.


    In the path of cultivation, when a person reaches the Sage realm they can use the natural laws to their advantage. For example, if someone practices in the law of fire, they can create fire with their Qi.


    This fire is different from the fire that one could create using martial arts because this has traces of the fire law so every fire would feel like a warm breeze in front of it. The more you get proficient in the law, the stronger your attacks with that law would be.


    Laws are exactly the very aspect that governs the universe so the same rules would apply to them. For example, the law of fire would counter the law of wood so in fights choosing the best law to attack and defend is very important.


    As the laws would create a big advantage for the users many would love to have this advantage but alas, getting to the Sage realm is not something that can be done just because one wants to do it.


    To reach this realm you would need years and years of training so some genius inscribers found a way to overcome this obstacle.


    What if they form a rune on a parchment that can hold the specific law in it, this way anyone can use it as long as they inject enough Qi into the parchment.


    With this, these [Law scrolls] were created and now anyone with enough money can buy them.


    But like anything precious, they don''t come in large quantities so you can''t use them in abundance.


    Or so it should have been.


    Li Huang has bought a large amount of these scrolls for years now, so his personal stock can be said to be fuller than many auction houses.


    Taking a [Law scroll] out of his storage ring, Li Huang didn''t waste time and activated it and throw it toward the beast''s face.


    This scroll was one of the more expensive ones as the law that was used in it was one of the rare laws, [Law of Darkness].


    The moment that the rune got activated, it was in the face of the ape and all that the beast could do was closing his eyes before his face was affected by the law of darkness.


    Now the beast couldn''t see anything as the law of darkness affected the area of his face and consequently, his eyes were in a temporary blind state.


    Li Huang didn''t waste time and activated the second scroll the moment he threw the first one. This time he used a scroll with the [Law of Swiftness] and the target was himself.


    Hu Anjing also got to work and activated two scrolls with [Law of Swiftness] and [Law of Strength] on herself.


    Although the effect of each scroll is subject to the level of proficiency of the one who injected the law in the rune, do not forget that the power of laws belongs to the Sage realm. The power of laws is strong enough that it could multiply your power ten folds for someone on Li Huang''s level.


    To Ye Ling, these scrolls were completely new as she only knew about them and didn''t ever use or see one before, but she didn''t let this distract her and used a scroll with the [Law of Swiftness] on herself and two scrolls with the [Law of Slowness] on the beast''s legs.


    With the law of swiftness, you can control how fast something is and with the law of slowness, you can control how slow something is. Some laws are essentially the exact same but making something go fast only using the law of slowness means that you have to make everything slow in comparison to that so it requires a high level of understanding in the law of slowness, so it is easier to use the law of swiftness to achieve it.


    Now that the beast was blind and slow, the team didn''t have to worry about anything else except finishing it fast before the laws become ineffective.


    Li Huang unsheathed his sword and attacked the beast''s throat.


    "Eclipse devourer sword art, piercing touch." Li Huang muttered. This technique was the superior version of the [Piercing Finger] technique and would need a sword to execute.


    "Sword of the seven, second move." Hu Anjing also used her sword to lunch a horizontal sword strike toward the beasts eyes to at least gift the beast permanent blindness.


    "Heavenly sword art, snake god''s wrath." Ye Ling also attacked using the signature technique of the heavenly sword sect toward the gap between the ape''s ribs. As the name suggests, the attack is hard to follow because like a snake it would change its trajectory multiple times before hitting the target.


    Although the beast is technically blind now, his senses are not dull so this attack can take care of that and distract him.


    Soon three attacks landed on the beast and the beast lost his life without being able to do anything.


    But the reality was that the trio was panting heavily as they have used their strongest moves each and if it wouldn''t work they would have to run away until they can try something again with the help of the pills and potions.


    Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling were still vigilant until the beast''s body hit the ground with a loud boom.


    "That could have��gone wrong fast��" Hu Anjing said between breaths. She has also overexerted her body with the strength law so she was the most tired one out of the trio.


    Li Huang used almost all his remaining Qi and attacked the gargantuan ape for the last time and decapitated the beast.


    "Now we can rest assured that it wouldn''t go wrong." Li Huang said as he sheathed his sword and drank some potions to get back in the fighting shape.


    "��I wonder��how many points would��this give us��" Ye Ling said.


    "It would probably give us only 4,000 points as a lesson for us to be content and less greedy or something like that��" Li Huang said.


    "Let''s get out of here as soon as we can, who knows, there might be a bigger version to this ape." Li Huang chuckled but Ye Ling shuddered and Hu Anjing was looking at him with daggers in her eyes.

 Chapter 74: Beast cores

    ����(POV third person)����


    Raising his hands in surrender, Li Huang spoke.


    "Okay, okay. I won''t joke about it anymore��" he said. He would also be mad if there was another stage to this boss so he was just trying to lift the mood by joking around.


    ''If this ape isn''t a half hydra or something, I don''t think he can do anything about his severed head so we should be safe.'' Looking at the dead beast, Li Huang thought.


    Ye Ling''s sound made him turn to face her.


    "Senior brother, how much do these [Law scrolls] worth each?" she asked. She looked interested in this topic as she only know what these scrolls were but didn''t know much else about them.


    "I don''t know it exactly but on average a hundred or so high-grade spirit stones��" Li Huang said. What he didn''t know was that this was one of the moments that he was looking exactly like the young master that he is.


    True, a hundred high-grade spirit stones are nothing to him but to everybody else, this is a large number and even considered a small fortune.


    Cultivators, in general, are wealthier than common people but even to them, this is not a small sum.


    To paint a clear picture about this we can compare this sum to something else, an inner disciple of one of the holy lands, like Ye Ling, would get 100 high-grade spirit stones as their monthly salary so you can imagine Ye Ling''s shock when she now understood that she has used three months worth of her salary in the span of seconds.


    She didn''t know what to say, she has been saving money to buy a treasure from an auction house, but if Li Huang were to ask her to pay for those scrolls, she would truly be penniless.


    "Senior brother, I��" Ye Ling couldn''t form a complete sentence as her thoughts were chaotic at this moment.


    Li Huang who didn''t know about the world view of Ye Ling and the thoughts that were going on in her mind thought that she was thinking that she used too many scrolls as she used three of them and not the fact that she is thinking about the price of it.


    "Nothing is more important than our lives so it''s okay, also there are many more of them in the storage ring so this is nothing to worry about��" Li Huang said to calm down Ye Ling but his words only made her look paler.


    With trembling hands, she quickly took out the storage ring from her finger and slowly moved to Li Huang.


    She was relieved that Li Huang didn''t ask her to pay for the scrolls but was terrified when she checked the contents of the storage ring for herself. She didn''t count them but let''s just say they were piles of these scrolls there.


    Li Huang was confused by this development but Hu Anjing was on the verge of bursting into laughter as she found it harder and harder to stop herself from laughing.


    "Here is the ring senior brother." She politely tried to hand the storage ring to Li Huang as now she know that this storage ring was worth more than what she can get as her monthly salary for about a century.


    Li Huang wasn''t going to give it to her as a gift or such, but now was not the time to take the storage ring back..


    "Keep it for now junior sister. As me and Hu Anjing are going to go to that formation together you will be the only one controlling our disciples so if anything happens, you would be needing these." Li Huang stopped her and Ye Ling thought a little about it.


    The words sounded reasonable to her but she didn''t know if she should accept it or not.


    At this time, Hu Anjing gave Ye Ling the final push.


    "Don''t forget that his surname is Li." She nudged Ye Ling and said.


    Ye Ling nodded seriously and put the ring back on.


    ''What does my surname has to do with anything?'' Li Huang was simply too rich to know the reference.


    As the Li family is one of the most influential families in the divine central continent, their name is also an indicator of their wealth to others so now Ye Ling understood that this storage ring is a small part of Li Huang''s wealth.


    "Okay, let''s meditate to maximize the effect of the pills and recover fast." Li Huang said and Hu Anjing and Ye Ling nodded to his words.


    They didn''t rest much on the way and they didn''t rest after fighting the giant giant apes so the mental fatigue has accumulated all this time.


    ��


    Near an hour passed and luckily there weren''t any more beasts that came out so they got back to their best shape with ease.


    Now that an hour passed the gargantuan ape''s corpse was about to disappear so the group was looking at the corpse.


    The moment that the corpse disappeared, the group saw something that was left out from the beast''s corpse.


    There were 8 spherical gems in size of a table tennis ball.


    Seeing this instead of being happy to get a reward for defeating the beast, the trio all sucked in a breath of cold air.


    Their complexions were a little pale and you could see that they were shocked by these gems.


    Why? Because these 8 gems were the cores that one would form in one''s body in the Golden Core realm and this beast had 8 meaning that he was successful in forming 8 of the 12 cores to this level that would manifest physically in the body.


    The beast was only one realm behind the sage realm and knowing this just made them know that finishing the beast before it could do anything was the best course of action at that time.


    "Now that is a reward that I would appreciate." Li Huang said to break the tension.


    "Didn''t the beast in the trial suppose to be high-level illusions or something?" Hu Anjing asked while she was frowning. She couldn''t understand what this meant.


    Ye Ling also had some questions about it that all could be summed up in Hu Anjing''s question.


    "You are right��" Li Huang was puzzled as well.


    "It might be just the reward that has summoned here and we mistook it for this beast''s cores or the fact that this beast was a real one and other beasts were created based on it." Li Huang guessed.


    The next moment, he walked to the ''gems'' and stored them in his storage ring.


    "I will sell them and divide the profit between us��" He said.


    "They would give you better prices so I''m okay with it." Hu Anjing said. She knew that Li Huang would share the profit so she accepted it without saying anything else.


    Ye Ling wanted to say something but a look from Hu Anjing made her stop.


    "Thank you, senior brother." She said in the end.


    "It''s nothing, now let''s go to that formation that you talked about��" Li Huang said and looked at Hu Anjing.

 Chapter 75: Couple’s formation

    ����(POV third person)����


    Hu Anjing looked at Li Huang and nodded with a smile on her face.


    "Yes, now you definitely have enough points to get into the formation with me." She said.


    "I think so too. Let''s give the sect disciples a heads up and then be on our way." Li Huang said to her. As they can''t use long-distance sound transmission methods in the trial, telling them about their departure in person is the most effective method to go with.


    Hu Anjing nodded to his words. After that, the trio went back toward the sect''s temporary camp.


    On the way, they came across a medium-sized horde of giant apes that now to them looked like miniature apes.


    Needless to say, after what they had experienced for the past hours, they were hacking out a path between them easily and cut them as if they were cutting cabbage.


    It didn''t take long for the giant apes to lose their will to fight and run away.


    "We have eliminated so many apes that I''m starting to miss the giant gray worms��" Li Huang said sarcastically as he sheathed his sword.


    "Yeah, it is getting repetitive��" Hu Anjing said.


    "Their attack patterns are all the same��" Ye Ling also added.


    As these beasts were all from the same race and only differed in size the battle excitement was almost nonexistent for the trio when they were fighting them for the umpteenth time.


    Soon they reached the temporary camp of the heavenly sword sect and the other disciples greeted them.


    After exchanging the pleasantries, Hu Anjing started telling them about her plan.


    "Me and senior brother Li will go to a test formation that I have found, so junior sister Ye will be solely in charge for the period of time that we are in the formation, is that clear?" Hu Anjing said as she looked at all of the disciples present there.


    ""We understand, senior sister."" They cupped their fists and said.


    She gave a few more pieces of advice to them about the other sects and how to interact with them and then dismissed them.


    Now that the three of them were alone, Li Huang decided to give Ye Ling one more piece of advice.


    "Keep an eye open for the Blue Bulls sect. If anyone would be brazen enough to cause a problem for us it is them. There is no reason to take drastic measures against them, they want us to start the war so just play with them if you come across them. The scrolls would be a good method of playing with them." Li Huang said.


    As he was in the sect the longest, he knows quite a lot about the chemistry and the dynamics of the holy lands. The blue bulls sect would love to have a war with us but they don''t want to be starting it so they are looking for an excuse for years.


    "Thank you, senior brother." Ye Ling cupped her fist and said. She wasn''t very good at talking with others but that didn''t mean she is stupid. She knew that she has to be ready for the worst-case where they meet with blue bulls sect disciples.


    "��Also make sure that Jin Fen doesn''t ruin your plan as he has a tendency to choose the most stupid option available in any given situation��" Li Huang said after some contemplation.


    If anyone could be a dangerous factor here, it is Jin Fen as he is like a ticking bomb, ready to explode.


    ''From what I can tell, almost everyone who gains a sudden leap in power, be it money, standing, or cultivation thinks that they are the center of the world and would be always arrogant. Now if you put someone like Jin Fen in a situation that he deems disrespectful to him, conflict is the only outcome possible.'' Li Huang thought about why Jin Fen acts as he does.


    Ye Ling frowned as she didn''t know what Li Huang meant by this but she nodded and thanked him nonetheless.


    Li Huang wasn''t worried about Ye Ling''s reaction because she would soon understand Jin Fen''s mentality.


    "We better go now so that we can finish it faster." He turned to face Hu Anjing and said.


    She nodded to him and looked at Ye Ling.


    "Be careful until we get back." She said sternly to her. As she and Huang were the strongest here, with them away, this is the best chance to inflict a heavy blow to the heavenly sword sect.


    "I will, senior sister." Ye Ling said with the same amount of seriousness.


    With this, Li Huang and Hu Anjing got on the way to go to the formation that Hu Anjing got her eyes on.


    ��


    "So, where is this formation exactly?" Li Huang couldn''t hide his curiosity and asked as they were ''walking'' toward the formation, it was a walking speed in this world''s standard.


    "Oh! I forgot to tell you, it is in the tundra biome that we had mapped before." Hu Anjing said. Actually, she didn''t find this one by herself and one of the sect''s disciples found it but as she was interested in doing a duo activity with Li Huang she checked it and decided to go here after she found him.


    They were almost going the same way that they went to fight the apes and if they didn''t want to talk to the other disciples they could have got there faster, but that was something necessary to do.


    In just half an hour they reached the formation as they increased their pace.


    "So this is the formation?" Li Huang said as he was looking around the place. The land was barren and permafrost could be seen everywhere. If this group didn''t only consist of Qi cultivators, the climate could easily result in someone''s death as it was so cold that nothing could grow on this soil.


    On a frosted ground, two formations could be seen that were placed close together as a hint of it being a test for two persons. The formations were so entwined that they looked like an infinity symbol (A/N: ��).


    "Yes, at first one of the disciples wanted to enter it but when she got to know the entry cost and the rule that it has to be a group of two entering it, she just reported it as she didn''t have enough points to enter it and didn''t have a team." Hu Anjing explained.


    "How did she come to know this rule?" Li Huang asked.


    Hu Anjing just looked at him and pointed at the stone pillar behind the formations that had some words on it.


    _____________


    ~~ The formation only works when two people are participating.


    Choose your partner wisely. ~~


    _____________


    "I see. One more thing��" Li Huang said as he was looking at the stone pillar.


    "Yes?" Hu Anjing said.


    "Don''t you think this is a formation for couples? Like a romantic couple��" Li Huang said as he continued to look at the stone pillar trying to decipher something new.


    Hu Anjing was stunned for a second but answered him soon after.


    "Well, we won''t know until we try it��" She said shamelessly without looking at Li Huang.


    Li Huang raised an eyebrow at that remark.


    "That''s true." He shrugged and walked on one of the formations.


    "Let''s try it then��" He said and gestured for her to do the same.

 Chapter 76: Anjing’s plan

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    The moment that we both stepped into the formation and the points were deducted from us, we instantly got teleported to the test location.


    The test location was nothing special. It looked like an underground room, just that the room was very large and it was dimly lit, just enough that we could see the surroundings. The biggest light source was in the center of the room where two cushions were placed at a small distance from each other.


    Like the tests that I have known about so far, there was another stone pillar there that would tell us what to do.


    "It seems that we have to go there��" I told Anjing.


    "I don''t see any other options here��" She answered as she started walking to the center of the room. I followed after her.


    Standing in front of the stone pillar I start reading it.


    _____________


    ~~Sit here to know your partner better. ~~


    _____________


    I couldn''t help but smirk at that.


    ''What is this? A show or something?'' I thought. Whoever write on this pillar tried their best to sound mysterious.


    "Let''s sit here as I don''t want to waste 75,000 points for nothing��" I told Hu Anjing.


    "Yes, who knows what I can learn here, maybe I can blackmail you with it��" She said with a devilish smirk.


    I just rolled my eyes at her.


    Sitting down on the cushions, we immediately felt some sort of energy invading our bodies, we wanted to resist it and stand up but the moment we sat down, it was already too late to do anything.


    The feeling was a little like what I experienced in the [Soul and body mirror], I felt like that I couldn''t hide anything from whatever that is watching me as if I was living in a glasshouse.


    Now that I looked around, I saw that a spiritual form of Hu Anjing is also here. If I''m not wrong this is supposed to be her soul form.


    "Well, hello there��" I said as Hu Anjing was looking around her with confusion.


    She didn''t expect me so her first reaction was to try and kick whoever was behind her. Luckily for me, she stopped inches away from my face.


    ''I don''t know if I can feel pain in this form or not but that would have hurt anyway��'' I just gave her a small smile as I looked into her eyes.


    "You scared me!" She pointed at me after she calmed down.


    "And you almost kicked me in the face so��" I shrugged my shoulders.


    "That was the natural defensive reaction of my body!" Anjing continued looking for an apology from me.


    "That was because you couldn''t figure out that it was my voice��" I argued back, if only she was focused more, she would be able to easily know that I was talking to her. I wasn''t going to give her what she wanted.


    She looked at me with narrowed eyes for a few seconds and sighed.


    "Okay, it was my fault��" she relented in the end.


    "It''s okay." I didn''t mind really, I just wanted to banter with her a little.


    "Now tell me honestly, why did you choose this test?" I asked her as I didn''t know why she did so and I was really interested in it.


    "Because I thought it would be fun?"She tried to change the topic by looking at other directions but I didn''t let her until she finally decided to come clean.


    "Okay, I was going to use this chance to get closer with you." She said and I was baffled.


    Don''t get me wrong, I don''t have a problem with her getting closer to me as I like her, but was there a reason to do it the hard way?


    "But why like this? Wouldn''t it be easier to do it in a normal situation?" I asked her what I had on my mind.


    She clicked her tongue.


    "*tsk* I thought this would be easier to explain to master if I blamed the trial for it." She said with a scowl on her face.


    I was stunned for a few seconds.


    "HAHAHA, that is genius and stupid at the same time." I couldn''t stop my laughter. She was going to use this trial to get physical with me and tell Yuan Jia that we were forced by the trial so that she couldn''t blame her.


    ''Well, as Yuan Jia is a bit of a bro-con, this is really a good plan.'' I thought.


    She punched me in the head. Luckily it seems that physical attacks don''t have any effects when you are in your soul form so I didn''t feel pain.


    "Okay, that aside, what should we do now?" laughing a little, I said as nothing happened so far in the test. I asked, but wasn''t really expecting an answer.


    Before Hu Anjing could say anything, an unknown female voice spoke.


    "Now you can go on with the test��" She said.


    To my utter horror, it looked like Hu Anjing heard it too.


    Why am I horrified? Because I don''t know if she would squash us just for the sake of it or not��


    ''Please be voice-activated, please be voice-activated��'' I was saying under my breath like a mantra.


    Looking around I was vigilant but that was it, I didn''t have access to any sort of item in my soul form and don''t know how I should act now. I haven''t even heard about something that can make you materialize in your soul form and in this trial, I came across two of them already.


    "I left this recording here to explain what you should do��" the female voice continued.


    This should have made me feel more at ease but I didn''t drop my guard just yet. Why? Because the most suspicious person is the one who says something like ''Oh! I''m not a bad person''.


    "In this test, you will know more about the person that you have entered with." The voice said seemingly unaware of my worries.


    "There is always something that we are hiding. Be it something that is immoral, shameful, or dark, we are hiding it for a reason." The female voice continued and me and Anjing were all ears, I was checking for sudden movements too.


    "Now imagine the other person knowing about it. Would it change how they view you or not?" You could hear in her voice that she was grinning.


    "Well, you will soon find out��" the voice said and now I was almost sure that this was recorded before. The only thing I was worried about was the thing that I was hiding, I didn''t know what I was hiding the most.


    Looking at Hu Anjing I saw that she was stunned by this and she didn''t seem confident at all. She seemed worried that I would look at her differently.


    "Don''t worry��" was all I could say before my vision got dark and the environment changed.

 Chapter 77: Things you hide, things you find

    (A/N: Who would have thought I come back in a week? Not me��


    Anyway, everything went well with my thesis but something else happened that almost made all my works for the past years come to naught, I won''t go into the details as everyone have their own problems IRL but luckily it is getting resolved or you can say the losses are minimized.


    So here I am, back and writing this snail-paced novel again. I will try my best to stick with the plan that I had and release it daily.


    About discord, as I won''t be able to control it now I won''t share any links. Hopefully, I will be done with IRL issues in a week and then you can join there to talk and interact more. Aux chapters will be out at the same time.


    I wanted you all to read this so I added it at the beginning of the chapter, smaller things are talked about at the end of the chapter��


    Okay, go on and read the chapter.)


    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "Don''t worry��" was all I could say before my vision got dark and the environment changed.


    I was afloat somewhere and something was guiding my movements toward a place. I think this is supposed to be moving me toward the memory or memories that Anjing is hiding the most.


    I know that she was an assassin, but I don''t know what is it that she is consciously or subconsciously hiding.


    As I was drifting, I was also thinking about what I am hiding the most. What could Hu Anjing get out of this test and how dangerous could it be for me. I just hope that this is not going to dig so deep that something unexpected would come out of it.


    After minutes of roving in a place that I could only guess to be a representation of Anjing''s memories, I come to a stop in front of a memory fragment.


    How do I know that this is a memory fragment? Because I can see glimpses of what is stored inside.


    Instinctively, I reached out to the fragment and as soon as I touched it, I was seeing the world as Anjing saw years ago.


    ��


    What I saw was one of her memories of when she was 5 or 6 years old.


    She had a bloody knife in her hand and a corpse lay in front of her who was the same age as her.


    I saw from her eyes and felt what she was feeling at the time. She was horrified and didn''t know what was happening. This must be the first time that the organization used the controlling technique to make them kill someone.


    She wanted to drop the knife and rush to the half-dead body of her friend but couldn''t because she was under the control of her instructor.


    As she was thinking about what and how of the events her instructor spoke.


    "Wushisi (A/N: number 54) you have passed the first series of tests��" the organization''s instructor said but I doubt that Anjing heard anything at all.


    "�� as for Liushiqi (A/N: number 67), dispose of the body." The instructor waved his hand dismissively and Anjing started moving to fulfill her given task.


    With her eyes welled up with tears she picked up the body absentmindedly and followed a path that she was told about before.


    After a minute or so she was in front of a pit and was using every ounce of her willpower to stop herself from dropping the body in the pit, as she should have according to the order she have received.


    The instructor who was in her line of sight nodded to himself and wrote down something.


    ''they probably monitored them this way to set the right dosage of pills to completely control them��'' I thought. The fact that she was struggling to stop herself would only come back to bite her in the near future as they can control her better.


    ''She is at most 6 years old, it is too much to expect cunningness from her��'' I now get why they choose children to train. Children are like a blank slate and they can form them easily as opposed to someone who has a personality of their own beforehand.


    The instructor gave the final push to collapse Anjing''s willpower.


    "Drop the body in the pit." He gave a new order to her.


    She dropped the body without much resistance and only stood there, crying her heart out.


    ''Giving them something and taking it to show that they are the ones in control, this is the oldest trick in the book.'' I couldn''t help but feel bad for her.


    Just as I was thinking about that, I was back outside of that memory and got into the next one without any delay.


    The memories that continued after were some of the most gruesome kills that she had in her time in the organization.


    ''It seems that the test shows a series of memories to each of us.'' I thought.


    ��


    This time it was a memory from years later when she was 19, and only joined the sect recently after Yuan Jia found her and the organization was destroyed.


    She was training under Yuan Jia''s supervision until a knock was heard and someone entered the training ground.


    The person who entered was the 8-year-old Li Huang.


    Seeing the unfamiliar face He cupped his fists toward Yuan Jia and spoke.


    "Senior sister." He said and Yuan Jia gestured to him to come closer. Meanwhile, Hu Anjing was curious about this boy''s identity as she had never seen her master this open.


    ''Seeing your memory from a different perspective is interesting and weird at the same time.'' I know how I felt at that time and now I also know how Anjing felt.


    "Come here Huang, let me introduce you to someone��" Yuan Jia said and I went and stood beside her.


    "This is Hu Anjing, my disciple." she said as she pointed to Anjing.


    "��And this is your junior martial uncle, Li Huang." She said to Anjing as she pointed at me.


    The eyes of the 8-year-old Huang shone upon this revelation as he would have one more person to interact with.


    Being born with a golden spoon in my mouth in a world that is strength-based is not as good as it sounds. I had to be safeguarded from a very young age from assassins and ones who wanted to take advantage of me, so there wasn''t many people that i could talk to on a daily basis.


    Hu Anjing cupped her fists to show her respect but Huang was too excited at the moment to give her the appropriate response and only gave her a nod before turning to Yuan Jia to ask her a question.


    "Senior sister Jia, I don''t know how to interact with one''s martial niece, can you guide me?" Huang asked with seriousness and tried to act formally but He called Yuan Jia by her first name so that defeated the purpose.


    ''I was 8, I was 8, ��'' Seeing this memory now, I didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, so I just reminded myself that I was 8 at the time like a mantra.


    "Yes, this is what a big sister should do." Yuan Jia nodded. She was normal as she had perfect control over her facial expressions but Hu Anjing was far from normal and was this close to pulling Huang''s cheeks.


    Luckily, Yuan Jia saw this and show her her place.


    "Anjing, you can go and do 10,000 basic sword slashes until I''m done talking with Huang." She said and Anjing''s mood changed but she couldn''t refute.


    "Yes, master." She said and started her ''training''.


    ''I don''t know why this memory is here. Is this like the first memory? To create a context for the other memories that are coming after this?'' after I was done with my mantra I asked myself.


    ��


    It didn''t take long before I knew why that memory was there.


    ''Honestly, I couldn''t see that coming.'' I thought but before I could put much thought into it, I was back to the place that we were before we entered the memories.


    Looking around, I saw Anjing and before I could call her, she ran toward me. If a soul could cry, their expression would look like her at this moment.


    When she reached me she punched my chest a couple of times with her face down and looked at my face soon after.


    "What did you see?" was what she said first.


    I was thinking about the same thing but if this is her first question she shouldn''t have seen something important, right?


    "��And why did you hide that you have your past life''s memories?" She said and I know that the cat is out of the bag.

 Chapter 78: souls and worldly pleasures

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    Well, I knew that she had to find out something in this test and it was inevitable, but still, it was a bit of surprise for me that what I hid the most was the fact that I have my last life''s memories.


    But if I think about it a little it is not that weird because I was always thinking about this and tried to uncover the mystery of my ''transmigration''. If you look at it this way, the only possible outcome is this memory surfacing and showing itself in this test.


    With this in my mind, I looked at Anjing''s eyes.


    "Which question do you want me to answer first?" I asked her.


    She was confused for a moment but soon remembered that she asked two questions.


    "Of course tell me first what you saw." She said with no hesitation.


    Her response showed me that she was more worried about what I saw and if I''m being honest with myself, the second part of what I saw was something that one would be worried about.


    But this also showed me something else, she didn''t put much importance on my past life memories. I almost forgot the fact that in this world remembering your past life''s memories is not something that is unheard of and happens every once in a while.


    I was hiding it because I didn''t know who I was until a short while ago and also the fact that my last life was not on this planet or even possibly, in the same universe as this one.


    Putting these thoughts aside, I got back to answering Anjing.


    "..Well, I saw some of your past in the organization��" I said. She looked a little expectant of my reaction to those memories but seemed somewhat relieved.


    I couldn''t help but smirk a little because I know exactly what she was afraid of��


    "��There were also some memories that showed me you like me�� maybe a little too much." I shrugged and waited for her reaction.


    The second part of the memories I saw started with our first meeting but soon evolved to Anjing''s possessiveness about me. Not that she wanted to dominate me, she was more like a guard that would stop everyone and anyone who would try to get close to me with ulterior motives, and by stop, I mean beating the shit out of them on multiple occasions��


    As I said this she paled so much that she could pass off as a vampire.


    "I..uh, well I��" Anjing tried to say something but she was unable to form a sentence as her mind was too chaotic.


    If you just look at it from one point of view, it might seem that she is crazy or something but honestly, I can''t see it as anything other than Anjing being overprotective of me because she likes me. Then again, I can be biased as I like her too.


    I wanted to tease her a little more, but she was on the verge of a mental breakdown so I stopped myself.


    "I don''t mind it, it is just that you can be more open with it instead of hiding it." I told her to ease her mind.


    As if my words broke her last barrier, she eyed me with a resolute look on her face that just made me more confused. But soon I know why she was like that as she kissed me on the lips amateurishly. Maybe the fact that we were not in our physical forms also added to its simpleness but it showed her love nonetheless.


    After that, she backed away after a second or two and was waiting for my reaction.


    "That was pretty open, but I guess it would be better if we tried it again after we got back to our bodies." I said and she just punched me on my head that didn''t hurt at all but helped her to hide her embarrassment.


    "By the way, what did you see?" I asked her.


    "Oh! You didn''t answer my question about your last life''s memories��" she said as she just remembered about it.


    I nodded at her and started explaining.


    "Well, I don''t know what you know but for the most part I don''t remember most of it now as I did on the first day but I think as I''m getting stronger, it is coming back to me��" I told her. I thought that I only forgot my name in my last life, but I don''t have any full memory of it and it is all scattered pieces of information.


    I don''t remember the cultivation novels too. If I didn''t write about them in my ''secret'' notes, I don''t think I would know about them much now.


    Hu Anjing was attentively listening to me as I continued.


    "��I think this happened as I remembered these memories when I am only at the start of the meridian formation realm so my mind is not strong enough to store this size of information so they are not distinct as of now." I said.


    "All I can say is that in my past life, I was not someone from here��meaning this world." I shrugged as I finished my explanation.


    "I didn''t say anything about it as I was struggling with my sense of self at the time��" I answered honestly.


    If it wasn''t for this trial I might have been still struggling with myself about my self definition.


    I now know that having your past life''s memory is seen as a favor of the heavens and people would disclose this to gain recognition. I don''t plan to tattoo it on my chest but I would be willing to let a select few like grandpa Lung, Yuan Jia, and Hu Anjing know about it.


    If I can''t trust the ones who are closest to me, can I even call it closeness��


    As I was thinking about this, Hu Anjing also was trying to digest my words.


    After a few more moments she decided to speak again.


    "I understand, thank you for telling me." She said.


    I come out of my reverie as I heard her.


    "It is okay. What else did you see?" I asked her as I was really interested in knowing what she found out.


    "Well, there wasn''t much more. Just some small things here and there." She said with a mischievous smile.


    ''So she doesn''t know about the [Peeping eye of heaven] or the training manual that I found here. It seems as I wasn''t actively hiding them and they were more of a trump card to me, the test didn''t detect them as what I was hiding and didn''t show it to her��'' I concluded. This coincidence is in my favor as I know about the dangers that this piece of information could bring all of us.


    "Is that so?" I said. I wanted to know why she is smiling like that.


    "Yes, I figured out that you are actually lazy." She said cheerfully.


    "What..?" It was my turn to be lost for words.

 Chapter 79: Back on the camp

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "What..?" I didn''t know what to say.


    As I knew Hu Anjing''s personality, I know that there is a good chance that she is playing with me.


    "Yeah, yeah. Can you name another twelve year old who can create sword Qi? Huh? I thought so��" I couldn''t accept being called lazy because although I wouldn''t cultivate until birds nest on my head, I do train diligently.


    Okay, I might be nagging a little to grandpa Long but that''s it, I won''t shy away from the training.


    Hu Anjing laughed at my reaction and I just looked at her resentfully as now I know for a fact that she was playing with me.


    "Sorry, I couldn''t stop myself��" Hu Anjing said as she collected herself.


    This time I didn''t even bother answering her as I remembered something more important.


    Shouldn''t the trial be over or something? It didn''t take long for my question to be answered.


    "You got to know what the other one is hiding from you the most and didn''t resent each other. You pass the test." The female voice from before spoke again.


    I was more composed this time as I was sure that the female voice couldn''t/wouldn''t do anything against us.


    "Let''s get the reward then!" I didn''t want to waste more time here as we had limited time in the trial so I gestured Anjing to follow me to get our rewards.


    It was only at that moment that I remembered that we can''t get anything in our current forms. Luckily, I didn''t need to think much because we were back to our physical forms the next moment.


    Unlike the last formation that I entered, this one didn''t finish in an instant so our bodies were on the floor and sore because of the weird angle that our body was in. From how my body feels, the test should have at least take a day to finish.


    ����(POV third person)����


    With a grunt Li Huang lift himself from the floor and Hu Anjing did the same.


    "This test really didn''t care about our physical bodies��" He said with displeasure. Last time he was sitting on a chair but now he was unconscious on the hard floor.


    "��" Hu Anjing just looked at him. This was one of the moments that she remembered that he is a young master. To her, this floor was way better than most of the environments that she was in before joining the sect.


    To be fair, Li Huang also had his past life''s mentality so being on a hard floor in an uncomfortable position is not something that he can accept with open arms but Hu Anjing doesn''t know about that��


    Looking around them, they located the reward of this formation on a podium.


    The podium was almost empty except for two iron rings on it. They looked like simple training equipment if you disregarded their high-class craftsmanship.


    There was also a small note beside the iron rings. Li Huang opened the note and he and Hu Anjing started reading it.


    _____________


    ~~ Rings of trust.


    When the wearer is in mortal danger, you will be teleported to the other ring''s location. ~~


    _____________


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing looked at each other and could see the disappointment in each other''s eyes.


    Although these rings seem interesting, they are not practical. When you are in mortal danger, all this can do is to deliver your body to the other side so this is not very useful for us and mostly can be used for a couple as a show of trust between them.


    "I think it would sell well��" Hu Anjing said.


    "I think so too. Let''s sell it later." Li Huang nodded to her words. He also didn''t think this would be useful so it is better to use the money they can gain from it to buy something useful. Now that he has new training expenses, he has to do something to gain more money and this could be the first step.


    As they collected the rings, Li Huang gave his ''thanks'' to the creator of this test and got ready to exit.


    "Let''s get out as we have to get back to others soon." Li Huang said. He trusted Jin Fen to do something stupid so getting back soon was one of his priorities.


    "Yes, let''s go." Hu Anjing didn''t know about this but trusted his judgment so she didn''t ask much.


    A few seconds later, they stepped on the exit formation together and got back on the cold terrain that the formation was on.


    ''Not only the test was lackluster, but the terrain around it is also dull and dead.'' Li Huang thought. The previous formation gave him such reward that anything else would seem like trash in front of it, so he was a bit salty about this formation.


    Getting back toward the temporary camp of the heavenly sword sect was uneventful for the most part as no one was insane enough to traverse these lands except Li Huang and Hu Anjing who had a destination and to them, this was only the path.


    Half an hour passed and they had less than half of the way to go. From what they have understood, the test took a day to finish as they were seeing memories, the memories didn''t take that long to watch so they think that the test took some time to find what they were hiding before they got to see it.


    ����(POV Ye Ling, temporary camp of the heavenly sword sect)����


    A day has passed from the time senior brother and senior sister went out of the camp. They told me that this could take a while but I hope that they come back faster as they could really help if something happens.


    Fortunately, everything was fine in the past 24 hours so I didn''t have much to do other than some routine inspections. We had two disciples who were injured but it wasn''t anything that couldn''t be solved with some pills and rest.


    Today, three of our disciples decided to go and try their lucks in finding a fortune on the trial grounds. I would like to try my luck next when senior brother and senior sister are back as I have to be here now.


    Looking to a corner of camp I located the disciple named Jin Fen that senior brother Li Huang warned me about.


    Contrary to what I thought he was very stable this past day and I don''t think he has done anything other than staring into the distance and thinking.


    Ye Ling was naive or else she would know that Jin Fen is not staring into the distance but is looking at Lai Xinyue��


    From what I know they should be back by tomorrow at most so I am confident in being able to wait one more day and then go on with my own adventure.


    I was thinking about where to go after this, that suddenly a shadow passed my eyes. I thought it was an attack but soon I was proven to be wrong.


    The shadow was one of our disciples who went out today, Hou Junxiong. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was happening, someone dared to not only act like this but also show it to our face without any hesitation.


    There is only one possibility for the culprit�� Blue Bull Sect.


    "Li Huang, I, Cai ZhenKang, have brought you the challenge letter, do you still dare to run away?" a hoarse voice said.

 Chapter 80: I think you are done

    ����(POV third person)����


    The moment Ye Ling heard the name, She knew who they were up against. Cai ZhenKang is the chief disciple of the blue bulls sect.


    He is a powerful person with equally powerful backing and as his actions didn''t result in anyone''s death, the elders from their sect would brush it off as youngsters being energetic, and Heavenly sword sect elders can''t meddle in youngsters affairs so nothing will come out of reporting it as the sects are not in a good relationship, to begin with.


    Looking at the ring that Li Huang gave her, Ye Ling was thinking of a plan of action.


    ''I wish I could just blast him in the face, but if I do that, it would create more problems as I don''t have a strong backing like him.'' Ye Ling thought as she was forming a plan.


    Without any delay, she gave the injured disciple some pills to ease his pain and turned to Cai ZhenKang.


    He was looking around the camp and studied the tents. Every disciple who was present at this moment was vigilant.


    "Now I get where the ''bull'' in your sect''s name comes from��" Ye Ling said to open a conversation. Well, at least her understanding of a conversation as what she said could only be interpreted as a provocation.


    Everyone was stunned by her words and only Lai Xinyue nodded as she would be blunter given the chance.


    Cai ZhenKang was just amused by this as he didn''t put any disciple here in his eyes. If he can create a deep hatred it would be the best for his plans so he accepted this provocation with open arms.


    "Is that supposed to mean something when it is coming from a little chicken?" He answered back with a snort. To him, this is all a play, but he is also good at playing. The common belief about the blue bulls sect is that they are simple-minded but ZhenKang is one of the exceptionally cunning ones among them.


    With these words, he tried to invigorate the prideful disciples to act against him so he can retaliate easily.


    Ye Ling who was thinking why she was called a ''little chicken'' when all she did was opening a conversation, didn''t react fast to Cai ZhenKang''s words and he used this chance to talk again.


    "Where is Li Huang hiding? Behind another woman?" He said as he tried to humiliate Li Huang. Looking around he found the female disciple with the smallest build to compare her with Li Huang as a joke so he unknowingly walked to Lai Xinyue and pointed at her.


    Pointing his finger at Lai Xinyue was all it took for Jin Fen to unsheathe his sword and swing it toward his neck.


    To others, it seemed that Jin Fen really respects his senior brother Li Huang and couldn''t stop himself as Cai ZhenKang kept on disrespecting him, but we know that he didn''t care about that at all��


    Cai ZhenKang who was trained for years in the most brute ways of training wasn''t one to be played by such an amateur move but he didn''t even try to stop the attack or move away.


    Instead of putting any defense in front of it, Cai ZhenKang just grinned madly and waited for the sword to hit him.


    Ye Ling now understood why Li Huang warned him about Jin Fen but she was too far from the commotion to do anything at this moment.


    Jin Fen was happy about his attack and its suddenness until it hit the mark.


    When the sword hit Cai ZhenKang''s neck, it didn''t sound like a sword hitting flesh but sounded like metal hitting metal.


    *clang*


    Jin Fen who used all his power didn''t expect this outcome at all and was shell-shocked. Not only he didn''t deal a big injury to ZhenKang, he couldn''t even leave a scratch on his neck.


    Without hesitation, he backed away and got into a defensive stance.


    Cai ZhenKang who had his vanity satisfied laughed wholeheartedly.


    "HAHAHA, I use more force on my toothbrush than what you used with your sword, HAHAHA��" he said and rubbed salt in Jin Fen''s wound.


    ''Do you call that brushing your teeth if you use that much power?'' was what everyone thought about but didn''t voice it out.


    ����(POV Li Huang, near the temporary camp of the heavenly sword sect)����


    "Finally we are back!" I said dramatically.


    "You know that it is not that long that we went out?" Hu Anjing said while rolling her eyes.


    "True, but I think even a day is��" I couldn''t finish my words as a loud *clang* sound was heard from the camp''s location.


    "Well, good to be back��" I said as I doubled my speed toward the camp as I know that something was happening there, Hu Anjing also increased her speed.


    ����(POV third person, temporary camp of the heavenly sword sect)����


    "But it is good that you have the courage to attack me, now I hope you have the quality to face my retaliation." Cai ZhenKang said as he readied his axe in his hands.


    Li Huang who just got here got the gist of events and knew that he has to step in. No, not for Jin Fen. He could die for all he cared, he had to step in because it was a sect matter first and foremost and if Jin Fen continues to be the idiot that he is, he would finish him here without mercy.


    Before Cai ZhenKang could make his move, Li Huang come out and let everyone know that he is back. Hu Anjing was also walking behind him.


    "Cai ZhenKang, why are you fighting one of our outer disciples if you want to fight me?" Li Huang said and Cai ZhenKang turned to him.


    "Little brat of heavenly sword sect, so you decided to show yourself at last?" Cai ZhenKang said mockingly.


    "Your voice is so loud that I heard it from miles away and was forced to come here��" Li Huang said matter-of-factly.


    "HAHAHA, so you don''t plan on running away this time?" Cai ZhenKang asked Li Huang.


    "Last time I was out on a mission so I couldn''t waste time, now I am free as I can be." Li Huang shook his head and explained calmly.


    "Good, good." Cai ZhenKang was genuinely happy. Sure, he liked to defeat Li Huang but he liked fighting strong opponents more so this was a win-win situation for him.


    Li Huang nodded to him as he understood Cai ZhenKang''s mentality.


    Jin Fen who was ignored by both of them, couldn''t stay silent anymore and decided to speak.


    "And who said I am done fighting?" he said arrogantly.


    This made Cai ZhenKang grin like a madman and Li Huang frown.


    Li Huang unsheathed his sword in a fraction of a second and after pointing it toward Jin Fen shot some sword Qi his way and put his sword back in its sheathe.


    This all happened so fast that the only sign of it happening was the fresh blood and the scar on Jin Fen''s right cheek.


    ��And the tree behind him that fell down soon after.


    "I think you are done." Li Huang said without looking at Jin Fen, he was fed up with his haughty attitude.

 Chapter 81: A friendly spar in the past

    ����(POV third person)����


    ''I really don''t care about his stupid attitude but he keeps pushing his luck��'' Li Huang thought as he looked at Cai ZhenKang''s face who was still grinning.


    Cai ZhenKang didn''t put Jin Fen in his eyes at all but he was interested in fighting Li Huang more because of the move he used moments ago. True, he can also use the weapon Qi but the level of control that Li Huang showed when he grazed Jin Fen''s cheek showed him that he has precise control over his power and this fight would be more interesting than what he anticipated.


    Jin Fen on the other side felt like he was carrying a mountain on his shoulders as he was subjected to an attack he could hardly register and he could have lost his life at the will of others, like what happened years ago.


    Having the fortune that he had in the last years made him think that there is nothing that can stop him on the same generation but still wealth and background and talent were the things that one needed to progress.


    What is righteousness without power? What is talent without resources? What is a genius without backing?


    He resentfully looked at Li Huang.


    ''Heaven''s favorite. So what if you have the favor of the heavens? I will even crush the heavens if they dare come in between me and my goal.'' Jin Fen concluded internally.


    He clenched his shaking hands into a fist and vowed to train more to stop this day from happening again and this humiliation to repeat itself.


    If Li Huang was aware of this internal monologue of Jin Fen He would slip and fall headfirst. Even in his dreams, he wouldn''t be able to create a scenario that Jin Fen would come to this conclusion, luckily for him, he didn''t know about this so he calmly continued his talk with Cai ZhenKang.


    "We will be using our weapon Qi as well�� or do you want me to give you a handicap?" Li Huang said as naturally as he could but he was taunting Cai ZhenKang.


    "Heh, Li Huang do you want us to spar or play house? Of course, we will be using our weapon Qi." Cai ZhenKang said with a smirk. For him, any fight without Axe Qi was child''s play so he didn''t hesitate to dismiss Li Huang''s suggestion.


    "Okay then let''s move a little further, as you can see this is not a suitable location for a fight." Li Huang said. He didn''t plan to fight where they had all their tents and let Cai ZhenKang destroy them ''accidentally''.


    Cai ZhenKang nodded a little and decided to taunt Li Huang a little more.


    "It is surprising that you are not hiding behind a woman this time��" He said. He was talking about what happened 5 years ago when Grandpa Long and Yuan Jia went out for a meeting of seven holy lands and took Li Huang and Hu Anjing with them.


    At the time Cai ZhenKang tried to spar with Li Huang who wasn''t a Qi practitioner at the time and was still training with the sword so any sane person would call it a beating instead of a ''spar''.


    So Hu Anjing who is a couple of years younger than Cai ZhenKang told him that she would spar with him in Li Huang''s stead. Cai ZhenKang at first tried to ignore her by reminding her that she is a woman but Hu Anjing told him that the fact that he is backing away from the spar only shows that he has a small genitalia.


    This resulted in Cai ZhenKang accepting the spar and as expected of someone who struggled daily to stay alive, Hu Anjing won without much difficulty in half an hour where Cai ZhenKang mostly felt like he was doing body cultivation. Meanwhile, Hu Anjing didn''t forget to ''unintentionally'' kick him in the balls on multiple occasions throughout the spar.


    Li Huang was surprised that Cai ZhenKang even dared to use that spar to taunt him as it was clearly a traumatizing experience for Cai ZhenKang himself.


    Hu Anjing who was beside Ye Ling and was asking her about the situation raised an eyebrow at this and couldn''t stop herself from talking.


    "I am always ready for another spar��" She said with a smirk and Cai ZhenKang shuddered involuntarily.


    Not only the spar was painful for him, the training that he had to go through after that was also hell. He had multiple sessions of intense training as he ''lost face for the sect'' as his master told him.


    He decided to stay silent and Li Huang also decided to let him be.


    After they got a little distance between themselves and the tents, Li Huang stopped.


    They were surrounded by trees and the location was somewhat unsuitable for a fight of this scale.


    When Cai ZhenKang who felt down all the way saw this, didn''t miss this chance to throw a sly remark at Li Huang.


    "Little Huang, you might be able to fight here but my body��" he was going to say how he isn''t going to be able to fight here but couldn''t finish what he was saying.


    The moment Li Huang saw that Cai ZhenKang is going to trash-talk him, he first checked to see that the others are at a safe distance and then took out a scroll from his storage ring containing the [Law of wind] and activated it at the spot he was.


    This was one of the powerful scrolls that Li Huang had and when activated, uprooted all the trees in the 500 meters (A/N: 547 yards) diameter. With this simple move, the place was now suitable for the spar.


    Cai ZhenKang who understood what was happening fast, could hardly hold himself on the ground even after he stabbed his axe in the ground to gain an additional foothold. When the ''wind'' passed he was rooted in the ground up to his knees.


    He looked at Li Huang who was smiling at him and freed his legs from the ground.


    "HAHA��HAHAHAHA��HAHA��HA, that was a good warm-up." He said as he dusted off his clothes.


    "So the only rule is that we can''t kill each other?" Li Huang asked him to make sure. Fights in the blue bulls sect are not bound by petty rules as they call them, the only rule is that killing is prohibited until said otherwise.


    By saying this Li Huang showed ''hospitality'' to his opponent and followed their local rules.


    "Yes, but an inch away from death is still alive, HAHAHA." Cai ZhenKang said as he picked up his axe.

 Chapter 82: A not so friendly spar now

    ����(POV third person)����


    ''An inch away from death��'' Li Huang thought to himself with a smirk.


    He might not be as strong as Cai ZhenKang on the paper but he can fight him on an equal footing.


    ''I don''t know his exact Qi Cultivation realm but I am almost certain that he is at least at the tenth stage of Meridian formation as I had news of his breakthrough a year ago but a lot could happen this year so I wouldn''t put money on it.'' Li Huang tried to get a grasp of his opponent.


    ''He is also at the copper body in body cultivation so I might have to overexert myself��'' Li Huang deduced as he looked at the dim glow of Cai ZhenKang''s body.


    Cai ZhenKang started the fight by rushing toward Li Huang and delivering the first attack.


    He swing his axe in diagonal lines and formed an ''X'' with his Axe Qi that was going straight toward Li Huang''s chest. He didn''t wait there and was running after the Axe Qi to meet Li Huang right after the weapon Qi.


    This move was a pure show of his personal power as he didn''t use any martial art to amplify his power.


    This attack made Li Huang think about a way to counter it efficiently and something told him that the [Peeping eye of heaven] is the answer to it.


    Deciding to trust his guts, he activated the artifact and what he saw made him grin like Cai ZhenKang. He could see the strong points and the weak points of this Axe Qi attack as it was closing in on him.


    ''This��changes everything��'' Li Huang muttered with a grin on his face. With this new discovery, he could use the minimal amount of Qi and counter this attack.


    Without wasting any time Li Huang got into an offensive stance like a fencing Olympic athlete and attacked the 5 weak points that he found with his Sword Qi in consecutive thrusts.


    The Axe Qi dispersed the moment that the strands of sword Qi touched it and Li Huang couldn''t be happier about it. No, this attack didn''t have any significance in itself but the discovery about the newfound application of [Peeping eye of heaven] opened new doors for him.


    Cai ZhenKang was surprised by how good Li Huang handled the situation, but didn''t let it distract him and used his axe to attack with a heavy-hitting overhead chop to Li Huang''s face.


    The full force of Cai ZhenKang''s body was backing this attack, so Li Huang couldn''t afford to react to it lightly.


    Li Huang sidestepped and brought his sword''s hilt above his head as he was gripping it with two hands in a way that his sword was pointing to the ground in a slopping manner as to cover his body.


    Like this he met Cai ZhenKang''s incoming downward strike with his blade, offering just enough resistance to divert its course from his body. While diverting the axe he slowly changed the position of his sword by lifting his sword up until Cai ZhenKang''s attack passed him and Li Huang could easily aim for his neck.


    Without any care for Cai ZhenKang''s safety, as he was sure he wouldn''t die (hopefully), he tried to chop his head off. With his sword now over his rear shoulder as the flat was touching his front shoulder and angled slightly backward, he now used his full force against Cai ZhenKang and performed a powerful strike.


    Cai ZhenKang who felt the attack coming toward his neck, didn''t hesitate and kicked the ground and repelled himself backward. His experience told him that he shouldn''t try his luck with this attack.


    To slow Li Huang down a little so that he can collect himself, he took out some throwing-axes from his storage ring and throw them toward him one after another.


    Li Huang who saw that his path to advance was barred as Cai ZhenKang was throwing hurlbats expertly, had no choice but to deflect them. With a couple of precise sword slashes, Li Huang was done with the hurlbats but Cai ZhenKang was able to land safely.


    This all happened in a span of few seconds, but to the disciples who were watching felt like minutes as each small move had to be done precisely correctly or the fight could have been ended at any moment.


    Heavenly sword sect disciples now know why Li Huang wasn''t taking the selection seriously as he is obviously on a level of his own, well all disciples except Jin Fen who was cursing the heavens for playing favorites.


    They also all felt something else; if Li Huang is this strong, how strong is Hu Anjing? Their respect for their leader rose to another level right there.


    "HAHA, I think I can''t call you little brat anymore." Cai ZhenKang said as he dusted off his robes by slamming the side of his axe to his chest.


    "��So should I call you a chicken now?" Li Huang said with a raised eyebrow as he taunted Cai ZhenKang for running away. He was leisurely walking forward as he carried his sword''s blade on his shoulder.


    "You could call me stupid if I were to leave myself open to your attack, HAHAHA." Cai ZhenKang said as he pointed his axe at Li Huang.


    Li Huang just laughed and continued the fight by lunging forward.


    He held his sword in front of him with two hands, pointing at Cai ZhenKang''s face. Cai ZhenKang who analyzed this move didn''t think much of it and tried to block it with his axe handle. If he was a swordsman like other disciples of the heavenly sword sect, he would see the error of his move right this instant, but unfortunately, he wasn''t.


    He blocked the move but Li Huang''s goal was not to land a hit with this slash. Li Huang moved his hand that was gripping the pommel of his sword and when his sword was completely horizontal, he stabbed with the point of his sword (A/N: head of the sword) toward Cai ZhenKang face.


    Cai ZhenKang was shocked as he thought Li Huang was testing him by his move and wasn''t aiming to finish the fight but he was proven wrong.


    Their distance was short and the stab was so fast that all Cai ZhenKang could do was to move his head to the side to avoid his vitals. The stab still grazed his neck and drew his blood for the first time in a while.

 Chapter 83: New formation to explore

    ����(POV third person)����


    Cai ZhenKang Let the blood dye his robe as he saw the fault of his action here. He wasn''t knowledgeable enough about sword techniques so Li Huang outwitted him easily because although he was an expert in fighting with an axe, he wasn''t an expert when it came to using it against a sword. If he wants to win against Li Huang, he has to first know how he fights.


    Li Huang who saw Cai ZhenKang was in deep thought, took out a pill bottle from his storage ring and throw it at him.


    Cai ZhenKang came out of his reverie and caught the bottle with one hand. Seeing that it was a pill, he was reluctant to take it because if he were to do that he would be admitting defeat but even if he continue fighting like this, he has almost no chance of winning.


    Li Huang who could see what he was thinking about, pointed at his own neck and spoke.


    "An inch away from death." And then he pointed at Cai ZhenKang''s neck. If he wasn''t careful even an inch could prove fatal so Li Huang''s words were not baseless and also created a reason for Cai ZhenKang to accept that he has lost this time.


    Cai ZhenKang popped the pill and looked at Li Huang.


    "*tsk* I will fight you again in the tournament." He said and walked in the direction that he had come from.


    The tournament that he was talking about was the divine central continent''s tournament, which was held every ten years and everyone under the age of thirty could participate in it. The next one will be held in 7 months so Cai ZhenKang decided to get ready for a fight there.


    "Sure." Li Huang said as he really didn''t mind fighting Cai ZhenKang again as he was a good fighter.


    The main reasons for his victory were [Peeping eye of heaven] and his weapon. The effect of [Peeping eye of heaven] is evident so there is no reason to talk about it but why was his weapon also important? As his sword has a higher reach than Cai ZhenKang''s axe, he could fight with more ease and from a relatively safe distance.


    Although they didn''t trade many blows, even this was enough for them to know the result of the prolonged version of this fight.


    When Li Huang turned around he was faced with other disciples who greeted him, although one did a bit reluctantly. Li Huang just nodded to them and went toward Hu Anjing and Ye Ling.


    "How is junior brother Hou Junxiong?" when he got in front of them, he asked Ye Ling about the disciple that Cai ZhenKang had beaten. Li Huang only saw him laying in front of the main tent but could guess what happened.


    Ye Ling frowned a little at the mention of Hou Junxiong.


    "From what I saw, he would recover in about half a day." She said with her signature frown.


    Li Huang nodded and faced Hu Anjing.


    "We have to change our camp''s location now that Cai ZhenKang knows where we are." He said to her, as the leader it is her call to do it.


    Hu Anjing also know that so he had no qualms about it.


    "Yes, I think so too. How many disciples are out now?" She agreed and asked Ye Ling a question.


    Ye Ling took a moment to answer.


    "��Only one disciple is out." She said.


    "Than we gather our belongings as we are waiting for our last member." Hu Anjing said and Li Huang and Ye Ling nodded to her words.


    "You also should rest a little, junior uncle." She then turned and spoke to Li Huang.


    "Yes, yes." Li Huang said and sat on a chair that he took out of his storage ring. He knew that Hu Anjing was worried about an all-out fight with the blue bulls sect disciples so he tried to use every second to get back on his optimal form.


    ��


    It didn''t take long for the last disciple to get back, but the news he brought with him stopped the group from departing right that instant.


    "Junior brother, are you sure about this formation?" Li Huang asked the disciple, Kong Chin, with doubt and excitement.


    "Yes senior brother, I have checked and double-checked it and then rushed back to inform you." Kong Chin cupped his fists and confirmed his previous words.


    Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling looked at each other for a moment, and then Hu Anjing spoke.


    "If this formation is as he says, we have to check it." Hu Anjing said.


    "I also think that this is the best course of action." Li Huang seconded her words.


    Ye Ling also nodded and after a few seconds asked a question.


    "Why wasn''t there any information about this kind of formation in what the sect told us?" She asked.


    Hu Anjing and Li Huang were confused for a moment until they both understood.


    "That is simple, you just didn''t have the clearance to know about it as you are yet to become a core disciple." Li Huang said with a smile. Kong Chin who was in a corner acted as he was deaf and didn''t hear anything.


    "I see. For it to be a secret, that formation must contain a great fortune." Ye Ling said.


    "Indeed, let''s depart as fast as we can." Li Huang nodded.


    Hu Anjing and Ye Ling gave a slight nod and went to inform others of the new plan.


    Li Huang walked to Kong Chin and put a hand on his shoulder. Kong Chin who was still thinking of the secret that he accidentally heard, got scared stiff as he didn''t know what Li Huang wanted to talk about.


    Li Huang didn''t care about the secret, because they will know about it when they enter that formation as they are automatically eligible to know it.


    "Don''t worry junior brother. If this goes well, you will get a big reward from the sect��" Li Huang said to Kong Chin and walked out of the last remaining tent.


    What Kong Chin found was a formation that only accepted team entries, meaning all heavenly sword sect disciples can enter it at the same time.


    This type of formation is special because they are usually the hardest in the trial but their reward is the biggest and the sect would automatically claim the ownership of such reward. The main reward would belong to the sect but the sect would in turn reward the participants handsomely.


    This is only known to core disciples as they know that treasures should be given to someone with enough power to keep them, so it is only natural for the sect to ask for something like this when they are practically paying for it.


    Aside from the final reward of the formation, they are usually other things that can be obtained so there is no shortage of fortunes there.

 Chapter 84: Aptitude and ability

    ����(POV third person)����


    As they were moving in numbers, they could map the place easier so they did just that. With this, they also could detect large beasts faster and were able to avoid them. Li Huang and Hu Anjing know what this formation meant to the sect, so even a second loss here could mean a second that another group could find the formation.


    It didn''t take long and in only 4 hours they were in front of the massive formation. The formation was located in a cave, right after its entrance. The cave was probably a lava tube, which is formed by volcanic activities but the team didn''t need to explore it so they didn''t investigate.


    "Okay, we rest a little here until all of us are in fighting shape." Hu Anjing said as she stood in front of the formation. The disciple that Cai ZhenKang had beaten was getting better very fast as Li Huang donated more pills to him, but he still needed an hour or two more to completely get back on his feet.


    Hu Anjing Looked at Li Huang and sent him a sound transmission.


    ~''Do we distribute pills to everyone?''~ she asked as she wasn''t sure if it was a good idea.


    ~''Yes, it is important that everyone is in their top form all the time so I don''t think the sect would have any problem paying us for those pills��''~ Li Huang said. He know that the sect wouldn''t have a problem with that, these are just necessary expenses.


    Hu Anjing nodded to his words.


    "Before we start, each of you has to get some pills from junior sister Ye Ling so get in line." She said and with the help of Li Huang, they decided on a reasonable portion of the pills for each person, and soon everybody had enough pills to come back from death''s door.


    Li Huang used only a tiny bit of his reserves here as he had multiple storage rings of pills as backups.


    ''Now no one can say that I brought them with me for nothing.'' Li Huang was happy about the massive storage that he has with him.


    ��


    One hour later, Hou Junxiong was good to go and the team was ready to enter this formation.


    As they stepped on the formation they all got to know how many points were needed for the formation to activate. It needed one million points to open.


    "Does everyone have 100,000 points?" Li Huang asked other disciples. It didn''t take long for him to know that many of them didn''t have enough points.


    Luckily the trio of Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling gained enough points from giant giant apes that they could easily put in the required points.


    After the 1,000,000 points were deducted, the formation glowed for a second, and all ten disciples of the heavenly sword sect disappeared from the cave.


    ��


    All the disciples were gathered inside the test location. It was a simple room with one large pillar at the end of it.


    "Let''s go toward the pillar with vigilance." Hu Anjing said and everyone else nodded.


    As they got closer to the pillar, suddenly a ghost-like figure appeared that made everyone other than Li Huang and Hu Anjing, alert. They didn''t panic as they have seen such a thing before in the formation that they have gone to recently.


    This ghost-like old man waited for a second and after that spoke.


    "Welcome. In this test, you will test your innate talent or aptitude. Regardless of how you score, you will pass this test but higher scores result in harder tests but better fortune. " He explained this round''s test.


    "To test your aptitude, all you have to do is to simply touch the pillar, and the number of stars that will light up show your result." The old man said and vanished like how he suddenly appeared.


    ''This old man really likes to act all mysterious��'' Li Huang thought.


    The disciples decided to touch the pillar in the same order that they were selected.


    Hu Anjing went up and touched the pillar without any hesitation. The stars slowly lit one after another until all ten stars were shining.


    She got back from the pillar as she eyed Li Huang.


    ~''what do you think?''~ she asked with pride.


    ~''Even I could say that you are a ten.''~ Li Huang didn''t play her game and answered her playfully.


    Before she could hit Li Huang, he got close to the pillar to test his aptitude.


    ''The fact that it has only ten grades shows that there is an upper limit to this device.'' Li Huang thought.


    Putting his hands on the pillar, the stars started lighting up slowly.


    One star�� four stars�� nine stars�� ten stars.


    Li Huang got back as he send Hu Anjing a sound transmission.


    ~''Apparently I''m a ten too.''~ He said.


    Hu Anjing used all her willpower to stop herself from punching Li Huang in front of others.


    Now it was Ye Ling''s turn and she got nine stars.


    After that others also went up. Dai Bao got eight, Lai Xinyue got nine and it was Jin Fen''s turn.


    He looked at Lai Xinyue for a second and then frowned at Li Huang and walked toward the pillar.


    Taking a breath, he put his hand on the surface of the pillar and the stars started shining.


    One star��one star�� still one star.


    The next stars didn''t shine at all, meaning that Jin Fen''s aptitude was only one.


    Dai Bao snickered and used this chance to humiliate Jin Fen.


    Li Huang narrowed his eyes at this revelation.


    ''I mean he has a trashy personality but he is not trash. So it only leaves one possibility��'' Li Huang analyzed this and didn''t like what he got to know.


    ''Huh, so one star. Fine by me, the sun is one star too but is the brightest.'' Jin Fen smirked and using his unimpeachable logic used the sun as a metaphor.


    If earth''s scientists come to know this, they could experience firsthand how does one coughs up blood.


    Even Li Huang who didn''t know what was going on inside Jin Fen''s head, was surprised when Jin Fen looked confident instead of heartbroken when he got away from the pillar.


    After that, all the other disciples also finished this test with 71 points out of 100 possible points.


    When all of them were done with the test, a portal opened at the end of the room.


    "Enter this portal to get to the next test." The old man only talked this time and didn''t show himself.


    They all entered the portal now that they had the confirmation to do so.


    In the next room, the style was the same, just that the pillar was bigger.


    The old man entered the scene again.


    "This test is is on ones ability. It shows how strong you are when it comes to using that innate talent of yours." The old man said.


    "For this test, all you have to do is to punch the pillar as hard as you can and you will be graded again from one to ten." The old man said and faded into the floor.


    ''I can swear I have seen something like this.'' Li Huang thought but couldn''t put his finger on it.


    Hu Anjing was the first one again. As she was going in front of the pillar, Li Huang send her a sound transmission.


    ~''Just don''t break it.''~ He said.


    Hu Anjing didn''t answer him and just punched the pillar with her full power.


    Even before the full force of the impact was felt, the device was showing the number 10.


    After that Li Huang went up and tested himself.


    He punched with his full force and although it was weaker than Hu Anjing''s punch, he still got 10.


    After him, Ye Ling went and also scored 10.


    Others went and Bao Bao got 5 while Lai Xinyue got 6.


    The confident Jin Fen also went up and punched using his [Evil God transformation] technique and also got a 10.


    ''Now tell me if I have only one star.'' Jin Fen thought to himself and missed the whole point of this test. It didn''t mean that all 10 stars are equal, it showed how much of your ''aptitude'' you are using, so his ten showed that he is using all of his 1 star aptitude potential.


    Regardless of how Jin Fen thought, this test finished with a total of 65 points.

 Chapter 85: Fight the beasts

    ����(POV third person)����


    The moment this stage of the test was over, the old man appeared again.


    "Well done. Now that you are finished with the entry tests, you can get to the real action. Enter the portal and be ready." The old man said and while he faded a portal appeared where he stood previously.


    ''The visuals are something else in this formation.'' Li Huang nodded approvingly.


    Taking turns, everyone entered the next stage. No one took the old man''s words lightly and they were ready to fight on a moment''s notice.


    The next stage location was a grass field as far as eyes could see without using Qi to enhance your eyesight.


    The old man this time entered from the sky and walked on an imaginary staircase downward. On the way, he also started speaking.


    "The points that you have gained in the last two stages sum up to 136 points. As I explained beforehand, the higher you score the harder challenges you face." The old man smiled. For a moment Li Huang thought that he is one of his ancestors as his smile really looked like how grandpa Long would smile while training him.


    "Now for each point, you will face a beast with the power equivalent of the ninth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm." The old man said and let his words sink in.


    "Now it is you against 136 beasts. Let''s see how you handle it." The old man said and went back up those none-existent stairs.


    The disciples were shocked, most of them are at the ninth stage of the Qi Gathering realm so fighting these many beasts on the same level as them is a far-fetched idea.


    To Li Huang and Hu Anjing, it wasn''t that hard but they tried to ease the tension that was building up in the team.


    "I will get 30." Li Huang said to Hu Anjing. Pointwise he was responsible for 20 of them but he choose 30 to create a competitive atmosphere.


    "I will get 40." Hu Anjing said as she unsheathe her Chinese broadsword.


    Now everyone relaxed, they forgot that Li Huang and Hu Anjing were their teammates. For Hu Anjing who is at the peak of the twelfth stage of the Meridian formation, these beasts are not much and 40 of them could really only count as a warm-up.


    But Li Huang and Hu Anjing know better to aim higher as you never know how hard the next stage is so they have to preserve their energy.


    From the surrounding plains, hordes of beasts come charging toward the group.


    "Junior sister Ye Ling, form a defensive formation. Anyone who stays out is responsible for their life so don''t rush to the fight." Li Huang said a few words. On the other hand, Hu Anjing was long gone and was charging toward a big horde of the beasts.


    Li Huang also rushed out to use this time and deal with more beasts before they get surrounded.


    ''Now is a good chance to use what I have learned.'' Li Huang thought.


    He was talking about the sword mastery that he gained from the sword mark. That was some sort of sword dance that would go with the flow of your opponent''s movement at first and after a few moves, you will be the one who is controlling their movement.


    From his limited understanding of the sword dance, Li Huang knew that this was a great method for crowd management.


    For the first time, Li Huang choose twin blades as they would work better in this situation.


    Getting in front of the beasts he stabbed two of them that were in front of the horde simultaneously in the head as he used his sword Qi on his blades.


    As the blades placed themselves in the beast''s skulls, with a rhythmic motion, he threw them at the beasts that were using the chance to sneak on him.


    Crouching low, he attacked the next group that surrounded him and detached their front limbs with a circular motion of his twin blades.


    As the beasts in front fell, the others who were behind them tried their luck by jumping on the fallen ones who were still alive but lacked their front legs.


    Li Huang would take a turn and each time would kill two beasts; one with a sword held high as the beast was jumping, the other with his other sword that would finish the beasts that were trying to get up from the ground. With each diagonal alignment of his arms, two beasts would die and as he was faster than them he could handle a handful of them at the same time.


    Done with the 14 beasts here, he joined Hu Anjing back were other disciples were and there started blazing through the beasts. As Ye Ling was also well accustomed with Li Huang and Hu Anjing, their teamwork was good enough to have no problem fighting against these numbers.


    ��


    "They were weaker than the giant giant apes." Hu Anjing said after they were done with all 136 beasts. Everybody at least had two kills so you could say it was a successful team training.


    "Yes. They were stronger and they were a lot more." Ye Ling also nodded. That fight was her hardest fight and she learned a lot from it so you can say she has improved from that time.


    "The huge number of them at that time helped us today." Li Huang also agreed. Not only they could create a good level of teamwork with Ye Ling but they also got many points that helped them in opening this formation.


    As everyone was getting back in shape with pills on Hu Anjing''s suggestion, the old man showed himself again.


    "Your teamwork here helped you to pass this part of this stage''s test." The old man said and everyone got to know that there is at least one more part to this stage.


    "Your fighting style has been analyzed in this round. Now you have to fight your clone with the same aptitude as you but with only this last fight''s knowledge." The old man explained.


    "This is the last part of this stage so I wish you all good luck." The old man said and vanished in his usual style.

 Chapter 86: Fight yourself

    ����(POV third person)����


    In front of the group, 10 clones of them stood at a distance and were ready to attack at any time. The disciples were also ready to lunch forward to attack themselves.


    "Anyone who can use sword Qi, attack all the clones before they get close enough." Hu Anjing said to the group.


    "You each know your weak points, try abusing them." Li Huang also said before starting channeling sword Qi to the point of his sword.


    "Now you can start." The old man''s voice could be heard announcing the start of this fight.


    Li Huang shot many sword Qi from his swords like bullets toward the clone of his fellow disciples without any hesitation.


    Hu Anjing on the other hand also was sending out arcs of sword Qi toward the clones that hindered their movement and increased their chance to collide with Li Huang''s sword Qi bullets.


    Needless to say, Lai Xinyue''s clone was dodging the attacks easily. The formation didn''t duplicate her physique but translated it to having great evasion skills.


    Before they could get close, 3 of the clones were already eliminated by the projectiles. Now that they were close enough for a direct confrontation, They had to change strategies.


    "Me, junior sister Ye Ling, and junior uncle Li Huang will fight our clones. The rest of you also fight together��" Hu Anjing said. She was trying to get the main powers of the clone forces busy with themselves so that the others could use their numerical advantage against rest of the clones.


    Li Huang showed off his skills in sword dance in the last fight so now his clone should know that but that can be handled as Ye Ling and Hu Anjing only showed a normal level of mastery in the last fight.


    There wasn''t any need for planning between them as they could read the situation well so they didn''t waste time and attacked the trio of clones.


    "How do I look?" Li Huang asked Hu Anjing as he was trading blows with her clone.


    "Hmm, you look like a dead person." Hu Anjing who was fighting with Li Huang''s clone said.


    "You could have worded it better��" Li Huang said. Sure the clone was emotionless but still��


    "Like what?" Hu Anjing said as she deflected a blow from Li Huang''s clone twin blades.


    Li Huang know she was playing with him but decided to continue.


    "You could say that the real me looks more attractive." Li Huang said without shame. He then had to dodge a sword Qi arc that came from where Hu Anjing was�� The real Hu Anjing.


    "Oh, sorry about that. Your less attractive clone dodged that one." Hu Anjing said in a similar shameless manner.


    Li Huang wisely decided to stay silent.


    Ye Ling who was fighting her clone couldn''t believe that Hu Anjing and Li Huang have taken the test this lightly but didn''t know what to say so she focused on her fight.


    On the other side, Jin Fen was fighting his own clone who was still alive.


    ''The test is to put me against myself? How ironic, how can this cheap imitation be comparable to me?'' Jin Fen thought as he was slowly overpowering his clone.


    Aside from him, the one that was creating the most problems was Lai Xinyue''s clone as it was near impossible to hit. When you can''t land a hit, it doesn''t matter how powerful you are.


    ��


    It only took the trio minutes to solve their clones as none of them wanted to use their trump cards to save energy. Getting back to the group, only two clones were left.


    Lai Xinyue''s clone and Dai Bao''s clone.


    Making short work of those two now that they could easily overwhelm them, the group finished the second part of this stage.


    As usual, the old man appeared again after they finished this fight.


    "Good work so far. Now that you have finished this stage, you can go to the next one��" the old man said as he pointed at somewhere behind him. The moment he vanished, a portal formed exactly where he pointed at.


    Entering the next test location, they could see tens of mediation setups in the room. It was like a training ground of the heavenly sword sect.


    "This is your next test." The old man said from behind the group as he walked right through them. Everybody gives him way despite the fact that this is a projection of sorts with high certainty.


    But no one hesitated in this, even Jin Fen. Who knows what can happen if you touch this old ghost or worst, let it pass through your body.


    After the old man walked a distance he turned and spoke.


    "These meditation spots are special. If you sit on them they will improve your cultivation speed by tenfold for as long as you are sitting there." The old man said and let his words sink in.


    All 10 disciples of the heavenly sword sect were shocked beyond their cognition. The reason for the continent being number one in the world is that they have the densest Qi here but imagining something that can amplify the densest Qi by tenfold is something straight out of fiction.


    "You can see this meditation session as your reward for passing previous stages." The old man said to everyone''s delight.


    "But remember, you only have half a day here��" The old man said and vanished again.


    One might think that only ten times improvement is not important in a long term but it couldn''t be further from the truth.


    Almost all the time, cultivation is based on external Qi sources so this tenfold improvement in Qi quality means that you can for example form your meridians faster. No, it is not only ten times faster because the Qi density is the variable that limits your efforts, and now that it is improved your result would improve more than tenfold.


    Knowing this, no one wasted time and choose a place to meditate.


    ~''Are you thinking about what I''m thinking?''~ Li Huang send a sound transmission to Hu Anjing while he sat in one empty position.


    ~''You bet.''~ Hu Anjing said as she sat beside Li Huang and gave him a toothy smile.

 Chapter 87: Cheating couple

    ����(POV Li Huang, while thinking about what Hu Anjing was thinking)����


    This sort of training is honestly good but there is a problem here; Hu Anjing can''t use it much as she is in the twelfth stage of Meridian formation so if she were to break through to the next realm there might be dire consequences.


    The trial doesn''t allow anyone who is in the True Qi realm to enter it, so if Hu Anjing were to break through to the next realm she is not qualified to enter this test. You might think that now that she entered it shouldn''t matter that much but this is not proven, so there is the risk that she might get ejected from the trial space at the moment she succeeds in breaking through to the next realm.


    ''Who knows what kind of fail-safes they have created to assure that anyone who is on the trial has a cultivation lower than the first stage of the True Qi realm.'' I thought.


    So, in short, she shouldn''t use it to break through but it is almost impossible because you are passively getting closer to the next realm, in other terms you are always cultivating like how you keep breathing. So if she were to sit here she would definitely breakthrough as the power of this Qi is too much to even try and suppress your breakthrough.


    So the logical thing to do is to say ''oh well, I guess I won''t meditate here'' but she could gain too much here to leave it aside. She can use this time to solidify her [Mortal body transcendence formation] as she would get a very pure Qi that she can use to better the paths that she has created for this formation.


    From what I can say, this half a day could equal half a year of training for her so this is big enough to tempt you to give it a try.


    What we were both thinking about was a solution to this problem that would benefit both of us at the same time.


    If I were to absorb all the excess Qi in Hu Anjing''s body she won''t break through but she could use them to shape the pathways as they are passing through her body. So in short she would get all the benefits from this condensed Qi without risking her trial and I would also gain twice the dense Qi that can help me stabilize my meridians way easier and in a shorter time.


    "You know, this feels a little like cheating��" I couldn''t help but voice out.


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Well, it is more of an exploit." Hu Anjing said. They were using the meditation session in an unintended way but it wasn''t against any rules.


    "True, in a normal situation no one would give out their Qi to another person so it makes sense that there is no rule against it. Our situation made it a win-win for both of us." Li Huang agreed. If Hu Anjing didn''t have the [Mortal body transcendence formation] to work on, she wouldn''t have any gains from this.


    "You better be grateful for this." Hu Anjing said to him.


    "That I am." Li Huang cupped his fists and said over dramatically.


    "Okay, let''s do this." Hu Anjing said as she stretched her hands toward Li Huang.


    Li Huang also did the same and put his hands on hers. They did so to create a bridge between their body so that their Qi can connect from there. Of course, this technique wasn''t created for this, it was used for a master to teach their disciples how to work with their Qi but it would work for this purpose nonetheless.


    Theoretically, if they hugged each other they could move Qi easier but there were two problems with that. First that the space between meditation setups wouldn''t allow it and second that Hu Anjing couldn''t handle doing so for half a day and would pass out from embarrassment long before that. Luckily for her, the first reason trumped any thought about this matter.


    Hu Anjing intertwined her fingers with Li Huang''s.


    Li Huang who didn''t expect this raised an eyebrow subconsciously.


    Hu Anjing got a little flustered but came up with an excuse fast.


    "��This makes the connection stronger so this way we won''t separate easily when meditating." She said as she herself nodded, seeming to convince herself too.


    "That�� is actually clever." Li Huang said. He could read Hu Anjing like an open book and understood what was going on but feigned ignorance and while closing his eyes, held her hands a little tighter.


    Hu Anjing was getting redder by the second but she calmed herself down as she heard Li Huang''s words.


    "Okay, let''s start." He said.


    "Yes." Taking a deep breath, Hu Anjing also started her meditation.


    ��


    Within minutes Li Huang could feel the intense Qi moving throughout his body. Usually one would have to try and stabilize a meridian by forcing Qi through that path, but now there wasn''t really a need to do so.


    Why? Because there was so much Qi in Li Huang''s body that the meridians were getting stabilized almost at the same time. Before this meditation session, he had already stabilized two of the nine meridians that he can stabilized in his current cultivation stage. Except for the ninth meridian that is the hardest one to open in all the stages of the Meridian formation realm, all other 6 meridians were getting simultaneously stabilized as his body was getting more Qi pumped in it by Hu Anjing.


    Now that he was one step away from opening those meridians, he only had to make the Qi in his body calm. To do so, he had to create an output stream for all the excess Qi in his body so that the meridians can be stabilized.


    Last time he used his hands to do so but as his hands were busy, he had to do something different this time. making a quick decision, he used his head as a safe place to output Qi from. Everyone was in meditation but if one were to see Li Huang at this moment they would think his head was on fire.


    On the other hand, Hu Anjing was also improving her formation path every second as the paths were becoming smoother with each iteration.


    This was only the start of the half-day training for this duo.

 Chapter 88: Getting a nose bleed

    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang kept trying to stabilize his meridians and Hu Anjing was also trying hard to gain the most out of this meditation session.


    If one were to talk about benefits, contrary to what it may seem, Hu Anjing has the most gains because of her talent with body cultivation. Although it might look as this has nothing to do with body cultivation, it most certainly does. As she is forming a body formation, her high talent in body cultivation would also help her to improve faster in improving her formation.


    It took Li Huang only the first hour of this half-day meditation to stabilize 6 meridians. If others were to know of this record, they wouldn''t believe it as it is far too unrealistic.


    Having eight out of nine meridians might be enough for some but not to Li Huang. He had this great chance so he had to use it to stabilize his main meridians. As things stood he could binge about 8 stages with only 8 meridians stabilized but that would be suicide and would destroy his future in cultivation.


    So he went for it and tried to stabilize his ninth meridian. This process took him half an hour and was much harder than what he experienced so far, even stabilizing 6 meridians simultaneously didn''t come near to this. He had to not only stabilize the meridian itself, but he had to establish the connection or path between this meridian and the other 8 meridians from this stage of the meridian formation realm.


    The good news is that he was able to do it after some trial and error in half an hour but he could feel that the fatigue was getting to him. Luckily, he had experienced the real fatigue in grandpa Long training sessions so he wasn''t winded by this much.


    ''Come on! I can handle this��'' Li Huang tried to motivate himself as only an hour and a half has passed from the half-day reward.


    ��


    The half-day time was done and there was no need for the old man to show up to announce it as everybody found out soon because the dense Qi was no more.


    Hu Anjing was really happy as she was now way stronger than half a day ago as she was half step from intermediate mastery of the [Mortal body transcendence formation].


    Li Huang too was happy as he was now in the fifth stage of the meridian formation realm. Yes, he had broken through 4 stages in this meditation session and it was something beyond his wildest dreams. Although the Qi that he was getting was worth what he could get in a year''s training, it was still a shocking thing to improve this fast. And if that is not enough to shock some, he stabilized all his meridians in the first four stages of the meridian formation realm.


    Trying to share his happiness, he opened his eyes to look at Hu Anjing.


    "Anjing��" he tried to say how much he improved but couldn''t even start saying what was on his mind that Hu Anjing spoke with panic evident on her face.


    "Heavens, what have you done to yourself?" She asked with a shaky voice as she touched Li Huang''s face with caution as to not hurt him.


    Other disciples were also happy about their gains but Hu Anjing''s voice made them turn to face the commotion and what they saw shocked them.


    It took Li Huang a moment to register what Hu Anjing was saying but he understood it as he could detect the metal taste of blood in his mouth and he also saw the blood on Anjing''s fingers.


    "I seem to have a small nose bleed." He tried to break the tension but when he had blood running from his nose, ears, eyes, and corners of his mouth, it wasn''t really working.


    "Just don''t. Don''t talk for a minute." Hu Anjing would have none of it. She took out a napkin from her storage ring and started cleaning the blood on Li Huang''s face. As he was using his head to channel the excess Qi outside, his body and mainly his head went through too much pressure and the constant breakthroughs didn''t help as well. He was lucky that the reward was only half a day or else he might have died if he didn''t do anything about this issue.


    Hu Anjing soon got to know that some of the blood was dry as it is a while that Li Huang was bleeding, so she started using water to make it easier for her to clean his face.


    Li Huang felt like a child getting his face washed by his mother but didn''t stop Anjing as he know she needed to do this to come down.


    "Why did this happen? Is it because of me?" Hu Anjing said as she was wiping his face. She was afraid that Li Huang was like this because he absorbed her Qi and she was half right about it.


    Other disciples were also looking but didn''t dare to come too close as Hu Anjing might lash out at them. Well, Jin Fen and Dai Bao would be glad if something were to happen to Li Huang but others didn''t have such thoughts and were genuinely worried.


    "No, I think I have broken through too fast and��" Li Huang tried to explain what he thought was the reason for his bleedings but a bottle to his lips stopped him from continuing.


    "Drink this, It will help for your blood loss." Hu Anjing didn''t let him say more and gave him a potion that would help in his recovery.


    ''Do you want me to answer or not?'' Li Huang was amused by this but didn''t reject her and drank the potion.


    Meanwhile, The old man choose the best time to show himself.


    "Good. Now that you have got your reward you can rest for an hour and then you will head to the final stage." The old man said and faded away again.


    "We have a bit of time now." Li Huang said and looked at Hu Anjing who was barely holding her tears.


    "I''m sorry." Li Huang said as he put a hand on her hand that was cleaning his face. He knew that she is blaming herself for this and if something serious were to happen to him here, she wouldn''t be able to forgive herself.


    "Don''t you dare��" She didn''t finish her words but the meaning came across to Li Huang who hugged her.


    "I promise." Li Huang said and pat her back.


    The moment that Li Huang hugged Hu Anjing, she turned toward the spectators and there was no sign of the previous Anjing left. She looked at other disciples in a way that dared them to keep looking. Understandably, no one stayed and they scattered so fast that you wouldn''t believe they were here seconds ago. When others were in a distance she turned back to how she was.


    "By the way, I have broken through several times��" Trying to change the subject, Li Huang said. The situation got so hectic that no one thought about checking his realm so nobody know about it.


    "Shush, let me have this moment to myself." Hu Anjing said as she didn''t care about anything else other than the hug at this moment.


    "��" Li Huang who felt wronged couldn''t say anything as Hu Anjing continued hugging him like a teddy bear.

 Chapter 89: Personal reward stage

    ����(POV third person)����


    It took Hu Anjing better part of an hour to calm down enough to listen to Li Huang.


    "So, why were you exactly bleeding?" Hu Anjing asked Li Huang as she reluctantly separated from him.


    "Well, it is like this��" Li Huang started explaining what happened in detail, more to remind himself what he did wrong so that he won''t repeat them in the future.


    "��In the end, I broke through to the fifth stage of the Meridian formation realm and opened four main meridians on the way." Li Huang said and couldn''t hide his happiness. He achieved something that many can only dream about.


    Hu Anjing was shocked by this too, this rate of breaking through is unheard of. Well, a Qi with this density is also unheard of but handling this dense Qi is also a talent.


    "What? You have broken through four times in half a day? No wonder you were bleeding��" She started talking shocked but finished angrily because Li Huang was too careless. She didn''t forget to punch Li Huang to show her displeasure.


    "��Come on, it is not like I could do something else. I had to use the Qi somehow��" Li Huang said as he felt wronged. To his credit, he choose the best course of action because he couldn''t stop Hu Anjing from meditating and couldn''t get rid of that much Qi fast enough so he had to use it like this.


    Hu Anjing narrowed her eyes at him for a few seconds.


    "��Fair enough." She said at the end as she too knew that this was the best way to handle the situation.


    "How about you? How was it for you?" Li Huang asked her as he was really intrigued to know about her gains in this half day meditation session.


    Hearing this, Hu Anjing grinned and puffed up her chest with pride.


    "Well, I have to tell you that I am only half step away from the intermediate mastery of [Mortal body transcendence formation] and I think I can break through to the next realm right after this trial." She said while grinning and didn''t forget to lower her voice when she was saying the formation''s name so no one else hears it.


    "Great! Now you are unbeatable in the trial!" Li Huang was really happy for her. Also, it was reassuring to have her around as now she was overpowered for this trial.


    They talked a bit more and then when it was near one hour mark, they decided to go toward other disciples.


    Seeing Li Huang and Hu Anjing coming toward them they stood in attention and cupped their fist.


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing also gave them a nod in greeting.


    "How are you, senior brother?" as soon as they stopped in front of the group, Lai Xinyue asked Li Huang and didn''t give others a chance to ask about it themselves. This also made Jin Fen angry. No, he wasn''t angry that he couldn''t ask about Li Huang''s well-being. He was angry that Lai Xinyue asked about Li Huang''s well-being. He cursed under his breath and clenched his fists, as one would expect of him.


    Li Huang who could see the worry in his fellow disciples'' faces waved his hand dismissively.


    "I am fine now. I broke through too fast so that pressured my body a little." Li Huang said to reassure them that he is fine.


    Ye Ling who was now at the third stage of the Meridian Formation realm, frowned as she couldn''t see what Qi realm Li Huang was at. Although her frown had nothing to do with the topic and was her natural reaction.


    "Senior brother, may I ask what stage you are at?" Ye Ling decided to ask him directly so that she can ease her mind.


    "Yes, I am now in the fifth stage of the Meridian Formation realm." Li Huang said and everyone was baffled as he was clearly in the first stage of the meridian formation realm just a day ago.


    ''Is there such heaven-defying cultivation speed?'' was what everyone was thinking about.


    ''There is no way. He must have a shallow foundation as he has broken through too fast.'' That was what Jin Fen and Dai Bao thought. This time they were thinking the same thing.


    "Senior brother, forgive me for asking again but are you saying you have broken through four stages in half a day?" this time Kong Chin, who found this formation asked. Everyone has improved one stage in their Qi cultivation but Li Huang improving four times as them was just too shocking.


    "Yes, that is why I say I was bleeding as I had broken through too fast." Li Huang nodded and said matter-of-factly.


    ''Bleeding because you broke through stages too fast? Are you still human when you can breakthrough four realms in one go?'' everyone had some things to say but thought it was wiser to keep it to themselves and just nodded.


    "Anyway, I think it is about time." Li Huang said. It is about time for the old man to show himself.


    And the old man didn''t disappoint him as he appeared with his hands behind his back as he was looking down at them from where he stood.


    "Now that you are well-rested, it is time for the final stage of this formation." The old man said.


    "To enter the next stage, go through the portal." The old man said as he pointed his right hand''s index finger toward the disciples and rotated his left hand clockwise and created a portal right in front of them.


    ''I swear this old man loves to show off.'' Li Huang thought as he walked inside the portal. Hu Anjing and others followed after him.


    ��


    On the other side of the portal what awaited them was a big room filled with doors that were connected to nothing. These hundreds of doors had different designs but had one thing in common, they were not connected to any structure.


    Li Huang and others were confused by this development but the old man came to the rescue.


    "This is where we conduct the first part of our final stage." The old man said and everyone understood that this stage also consists of two parts.


    "This part is where each of you can find your personal rewards." The old man explained about this test''s reward first.


    "Close your eyes and you can feel some of these doors calling toward you. It can be one or more." The old man instructed.


    "When you felt the callings you have to choose one and open the door to enter its test. Yes, although each reward is calling to you they have their standards so you have to be tested." The old man said as he stroked his beard.


    "Now you can start but remember that you can only open a door if it is calling to you, otherwise it won''t budge." The fading old man said and faded with his last word.


    Looking around him, Li Huang was thinking about what each of his fellow disciples would get, until his vision stopped on Jin Fen.


    ''What would this guy get?'' Li Huang contemplated for a moment. Shaking his head He closed his mind and concentrated to find out if anything is calling to him.

 Chapter 90: Pneumatic powered flight

    ����(POV Li Huang, Thinking about nothing so that he can focus)����


    ''Come on. Heaven-defying stuff, heaven-defying stuff, ��'' I tried to attract good stuff to myself so that I can benefit the most.


    It didn''t take long before I could feel some sort of attraction to dozen doors as I was focusing on it.


    Opening my eyes I was glad that there are a high number of doors calling to me. I couldn''t be sure about what this meant but the least I can say is that I have a high affinity with whatever is behind these doors.


    Like one should do in this situation, I decided to cheat my way into the best door using the [Peeping eye of heaven]. I mean if you have something like this and decide to leave it to fate or some other bullshit like that you are a certified dumb ass.


    Looking at each and every door that had created a connection to me, I checked them with [Peeping eye of heaven] and memorized their worth so that I can compare them to each other.


    When I checked the last door and was ready to compare all of them, I saw that Hu Anjing was also standing beside me, in deep thought.


    "What are you thinking about?" I asked her.


    My voice seem to bring her out of her thoughts as she looked at me.


    "I was thinking which door to choose. You see, I have a strong connection to these two doors so I don''t know which one I should choose��" Hu Anjing said as she pointed to the doors and showed them to me.


    "Hmm, let me see." I said and turned to the doors that were close to each other. Within a fraction of a second, I checked them with the peeping eye of heaven.


    "I think the left one is the better choice. Don''t forget to be ready for everything in there." I said as I pointed her to the better one between these two doors.


    "Okay, but if it wasn''t a good reward you have to buy something for me in return." She said. The way she said it, I could swear that she would love it if the reward turn out to be garbage.


    "Sure." I didn''t even need to think about it as I was sure that the reward is good.


    She didn''t hesitate any more and opened the door. The moment she opened the door, nothing happened from my point of view but when she stepped in, she wasn''t anywhere to be seen.


    ''So it only shows what lay behind the door to the one who opened it��'' That was the logical conclusion that I came up with.


    Now it was my turn to go toward my door. For me the choice was simple, only one of them was truly worthy of entering.


    No, all of the doors were worthy enough if you looked at them one by one but one of them is worth more than all of them combined. Yes, all of them combined! If this is not a treasure I don''t know what is��


    It took all my willpower from me to stay calm because this door could really contain the biggest treasure in this room.


    ''Hard work is good and all but cheating these tests of luck and fate is something else.'' I thought as I was imagining the creator of this room coughing up blood.


    I was about to open the door that I suddenly remembered something.


    ''Better the reward, harder the test. I can''t believe that I forgot that!'' I didn''t waste time and put on different types of protective items and readied my best recovery pills and potions.


    A minute later I was ready to get into whatever this test is. Opening the door I entered it without any more delay.


    ����(POV third person)����


    The moment Li Huang entered the test location, he found himself afloat in relative darkness. It was a location with no gravity and nothing to see as far as the eye could see.


    ''Thankfully the creator of this test was not enough of an asshole to remove air from here or else I had nothing to do against it.'' Li Huang thought as he added a storage ring filled with air to his to-do list.


    Looking around he used Qi in his eyes to improve them a little but still, he couldn''t see any structures and all he found was emptiness.


    He tried expanding his Qi sense as far as he could but this didn''t give him any different results, still no sign of a structure.


    Seeing that this plan was futile, he come up with something else. What if he sent a pulse with his Qi sense to all sides? If there is a structure on its way before the pulse loses its power, it will bounce back and come back to him so he can find out where to go easily.


    So he did just that. It didn''t take him long to get a response from some structure. He was so glad that his idea worked that he forgot to plan about what to do when he found a structure.


    He was in a no gravity space so it wasn''t exactly a motion-friendly environment so he had to think of something to move toward the structure that he found.


    If he was someone from the Chinese novels that he read before, he could attack himself to create an impact that would launch him backward, but Li Huang is not a masochist so that option doesn''t exist for him.


    What he came up with was using his scrolls to his advantage. If he uses a scroll to create air and activate it in the opposite direction of his destination, he can use the impact to move backward. In this place that gravity doesn''t exist, he can move faster and easier using this method.


    ��


    After using two scrolls to create air pressure for him like an engine, he reached his destination. Along the way, he didn''t forget to use his [Bird Eye] to map the surroundings if this structure wasn''t what he was looking for.


    What he found was a corpse. It was the corpse of someone who he didn''t think he would ever see. The corpse belonged to Han Junhui, twin brother of the current patriarch of the Sky Pillar Sect. It was easy to find out it was him as they looked the same and the story about his death in this trial is known to many. But Li Huang didn''t think it had happened right here, in this formation.


    The story goes like this, they were in a formation together but the situation made it so that they were separated from each other. After Han Junhui didn''t come out of his test, his brother Han Junxiong tried his best to enter that specific test to look for his brother but he couldn''t. That was the day that the world lost one of the Han twins.


    ''I could never think that someone like him died here. I guess you can never be ready enough��'' Li Huang thought. It could have been the same for him if he didn''t have those scrolls or didn''t think of the pulsing Qi sense to locate structures.


    He didn''t think much and put Han Junhui''s body in a storage ring and put his storage rings in a pouch, because it was a corpse he could put it in a storage ring but he couldn''t do the same with his storage rings. He intended to return the body and his belongings to his family after the trial.


    Sending out a new pulse of Qi sense out, he moved toward the next structure and left a chair floating here as a sign for his future structure detection.

 Chapter 91: It is going to be a while

    (A/N: going premium from October 7th. Just wanted to give you a heads up to have one fast pass ready��


    Now let me tell you why I am going to do it: because I''m a bit lazy and this makes me committed to writing the novel, also some extra bucks never hurt��


    What do you get out of it? I''m writing 1.1K to 1.5K long chapters daily now. After going premium I will write 1.5K+ chapters daily.


    Also, I will write for the next five months with no break so you can say you will get at least 150 chapters.


    Okay go on and read the chapter.)


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang moved toward the new structure that he found on his map, it only took him a couple of minutes to get there. When he reached his destination, what he found wasn''t really a structure, it was a small box.


    Li Huang caught the box with his hands and looked at it for a few seconds. The box itself was a high-grade medicine box that one would use for herbs that are too precious, so Li Huang was more interested in the contents of this box.


    He decided to open the box to take a peek at this treasure. Slowly opening the box, as to not damage it, Li Huang looked at the herb with [Peeking eye of heaven] just to make sure that he can detect it but what he saw was so well-known that Li Huang wouldn''t even need a hint.


    The moment he know what this herb was, Li Huang sealed the box and put it in his storage ring. This was one of his great finds in this trial even when you consider the [Soul splitting scripture].


    This herb is called [Phoenix Ash]. It does not really have anything to do with a Phoenix but they still call it this way. The conditions for this herb to grow are so strict that one can only hope to find them and you can not cultivate them. The only fact that is known about it is that it can be found in the soils that were created and nurtured by flowing lava, other than that little is known about how one grows them so it is more like fate to find one.


    When these herbs mature they slowly turn into ash, hence the name [Phoenix Ash]. This herb is very important if one wants to improve in the law of fire.


    And Li Huang knows someone who is practicing this law.


    "Old man, you are really lucky." Li Huang said with a grin. The old man that Li Huang was talking about was obviously his grandpa, Li Long.


    The reason for grandpa Long''s deep sleep is the rarity of herbs like this so now that Li Huang not only has this herb but has the oil lamp that he found at the beginning of the trial, the old man can really get back to training.


    Li Huang was happy for his grandpa but suddenly remembered something.


    ''Wait a minute, if grandpa gets stronger, won''t I get beaten more in training?'' Li Huang shuddered at the thought. He was really glad that he is now much stronger and he can train while sustaining fewer bruises but if grandpa Long get stronger too it won''t change anything.


    ''No, he will be training himself so there will be less training for me.'' Li Huang nodded to himself sagely and didn''t hesitate anymore about the herb and tried to find something else as he sent out a pulse of Qi sense.


    He also didn''t forget to leave a random item here. He continued his search for the meaning of this test and possibly more treasures.


    ��


    Li Huang found one more herb in his next location but it wasn''t as rare as the last one, still, it was there so he stored it in his personal collection.


    He continued his search and located 23 more items but not a clue about the test and it was slowly affecting his mental health.


    ''Maybe I have to collect all the treasures.'' Li Huang thought. Based on this he decided to collect whatever he can find here. Well, he didn''t have any other options as things stood.


    ��


    More than a week passed from that time and Li Huang was still searching for a clue about the test. Somewhere along with his search, he found a flying treasure so he didn''t have to use any more scrolls to move around and could use his Qi directly, that is the good news but the bad news is that everything he found was emptiness and occasional treasures.


    In the beginning, he was really afraid because time was passing and he didn''t know how Hu Anjing and others were, but when he hit the one week mark in this test , he relaxed for the first time in a while.


    Why? Because less than a week is remaining from the trial so if he is here for more than a week it can only mean one thing, time in this space moves slower. No matter where you are in the trial you will get ejected in a month so it wouldn''t make sense for him to be here.


    ''Now that I think about it, this makes sense because Han Junhui wasn''t someone that would die just because he was in this place for a month.'' Li Huang thought and found this very plausible for Han Junhui to be trapped here for years��


    ''��for years.'' Li Huang thought. He didn''t let this discourage him as he know that no matter how long he is here, his body won''t age�� just like Han Junhui''s body.


    ''Well, for the best treasure in this formation, it is a hell of a test��'' Li Huang could only think that the reward would be worth the hassle.


    ��


    Many weeks passed from that time and now it was exactly two years and seven months and twenty-five days that Li Huang was in this test. He was very close to giving up multiple times but as a certified hoarder, he would gain energy each time he found a treasure and there were a lot of treasures here which mostly consist of herbs and other alchemical ingredients.


    Luckily for him, his paranoia helped him here as he had everything in his multiple storage rings to make this time here less tedious.


    He persevered and he finally found it! A white portal on the edge of this huge space.


    ''Found you, you piece of shit!'' Li Huang couldn''t be happier as his efforts bore fruit in the end. He wouldn''t find this if it wasn''t for the [Bird Eye] map as the portal wouldn''t bounce back his Qi sense but the portal was pretty obvious on the map.


    "Not gonna lie, I won''t miss this place." Li Huang didn''t hesitate to step into the portal the moment he stood in front of it. He knew he stayed here too long when he started missing grandpa Long''s training sessions��


    Stepping outside of the portal what he come to see was a small room. The moment he got out of the portal, it closed and Li Huang couldn''t go back, not that he wanted to.


    "Ah! Colors!" Li Huang said over dramatically. As he had many items on him he wasn''t as miserable as one might think but the lack of human interaction was still there��


    The only thing in the room was a table with a ring on it. He didn''t think twice and activated the [Peeping eye of heaven] as it was his routine these past years.


    What he saw and the information that he got from the peeping eye of heaven made him forget the bitterness of the two-year search for this item.


    "Holy mother of god!"

 Chapter 92: A ring and a sword

    ����(POV third person)����


    The ring on the table didn''t look any different from what you might find as a base ring that they use in creating all sorts of artifacts. What was extraordinary about it was what the [Peeping eye of heaven] showed Li Huang.


    This ring was created from a metal that Li Huang has never heard of, and he is pretty sure that this metal is either unknown to the world or doesn''t exist here at all. The metal is called living metal, this metal is so rare that even with memories that peeping eye of heaven has from all sorts of treasures, it is still considered a rare treasure.


    This metal is very resilient and is really hard to destroy and even if you can destroy it, it has the ability to heal itself as if it is living. This makes this metal the best option for creating a defensive gear if one has enough of it to do so and that is a big if.


    The ring on the table with the living metal as its base ingredient houses many inscriptions that Li Huang knows by heart. No, Li Huang has no experience or knowledge in this profession but he has something else that provided him with the necessary knowledge. He has so many storage rings that he knows what inscriptions are the basic components in a formation that creates the storage space.


    Knowing that much, he didn''t doubt that this ring is a storage ring. For him who was paranoid about his storage rings breaking or something, this reward is more valuable than whatever else he could get.


    "Hehehe." Li Huang couldn''t hide the creepy smile that was forming on his face. He didn''t hesitate and put the ring on his finger. He bound the storage ring to him by injecting a strand of Qi into it and then he proceeded to check the ring''s contents.


    ''Who knows, maybe there is some good stuff there��'' Li Huang thought and checked the ring''s contents and he was astonished by the sheer capacity of this storage ring as it was many times more spacious than all his backup rings combined. After the initial astonishment, he couldn''t be more disappointed about the content of the ring as it was garbage, to say the least.


    ''What are these? Did they put these here as a prank? I mean what is the purpose of this chair��'' Li Huang was thinking about the items that he found in this ring when he suddenly remembered something. Every item that he found in it are the exact same items that he put in place of the treasures that he pocketed when he was in the test.


    ''So I was inside this ring all the time that I was in that empty space.'' Li Huang thought with shock and a wide smile. Although it was ironic to be inside the ring all this time this also proved to him two important things.


    "I can store living things in this ring��" He was almost sure about it but he could put it to test later so it wasn''t something that was hard to figure out.


    "��Also I can put storage rings inside it." He couldn''t be happier with this. He knows that he can put storage rings in there because he had his storage rings on him when he was in that so-called test. This feature might not be so useful as you can''t work with the items that you are carrying as easily as you could when there were all in a single storage. Still, this could come in handy in some situations like when you have lots of food; it is better to have a single storage ring in there instead of a mountain of food.


    Looking around this small room, Li Huang didn''t see anything else that was of importance so he went toward the door to finish his long test.


    "I wonder how are Hu Anjing and the others." He said and he got out of that room.


    The moment he walked out he was back in this stage''s main room that was filled with all these doors. From the corner of his eyes he saw that one of the disciples opened a door and went inside. It was just now that Li Huang understood that only a fraction of a second has passed from the time he entered his door and no one other than him has finished their test.


    ''Well, look at the bright side, two years could have passed for real��'' He thought as he decided to practice throwing some shurikens in the meantime.


    ����(POV Hu Anjing, inside the test)����


    Right at the moment I put my feet down, my surrounding change to one filled with swords. The swords around me were planted in the ground. It looked like our heavenly sword sect''s Sword Valley.


    Looking at all these swords, I could see that they were not in the best conditions as most of them were chipped or on the verge of breaking. There was only one sword that caught my eyes and that was a Dadao sword (A/N: Chinese great sword) on top of a hill.


    ''That would be great for me.'' My eyes practically shone when I saw it as if it was fate for me to wield it. Now I understand why this room was calling to me.


    The moment I moved one step I felt pressure on my body. Looking around now I understood that these swords are forming a sword formation that applies pressure on you until you can''t move anymore. From what I can guess the pressure is only going to increase as I get closer to the Dadao sword.


    ''So this is my test��'' I thought with a grin. This test couldn''t be easier for me.


    Using the full force of my body cultivation I walked as if I was taking a stroll. The pressure increased each step but for me, it wasn''t even worth noting as it was insignificant no matter how much it increased.


    It went like that until I was 10 steps away from the sword. Suddenly the pressure increase at least a hundredfold and I could feel my knee bending a little.


    ''Now it is getting interesting.'' With every step, the pressure was getting heavier and heavier.


    Only one step was left and I could touch the sword but the pressure was so much that I wasn''t sure if I could make it�� at least I couldn''t do it like this.


    It was obvious that the sword was hard to get but Hu Anjing was also a tough nut to crack.


    This is the time for my training in [Mortal body transcendence formation] to show results. I moved my Qi into the body formation paths and the pressure was lifted from my body as if it wasn''t there to begin with.


    Taking the final step I reached the sword and gripped the hilt of the sword with my hands. The sword seemed planted firmly in the ground but I didn''t give up and used all my power.


    My feet sank to the ground but I did it, I had the sword in my hand. From what I could guess this sword was at least a rank 1 True Spirit Treasure.


    Looking around I located the exit door and walked toward it. This sword was all I cared for so I didn''t want to waste any more time here.

 Chapter 93: Jin Fen’s Selfishness

    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang didn''t have to wait long as in half an hour, half of the disciples came out of their chosen doors and he could engage in a conversation for the first time in a long while. He talked about random topics from the sect to various auctions that he found interesting and even gave them a few pointers for cultivation.


    He was always an open person to his fellow disciples but now he was like a friendly neighborhood grandpa that everybody knew about. Two years of having no human interactions might have a hand in his behavior too.


    "Thank you, senior brother, I honestly didn''t know how to train this move." One of the disciples said with gratitude as he cupped his fists.


    "It''s nothing. Some of the written materials are hard to understand if you have no example to follow��" Li Huang said as he knew all too well that some of the teaching materials that is available to the outer disciples are practically written like a riddle.


    "Senior brother, are there any good auctions coming up?" One other disciple asked him. Li Huang wasn''t an information broker but didn''t mind answering it.


    "Actually there is going to be one a couple of weeks after this trial. I will go there so if anyone wants to come I don''t mind." Li Huang said. He had many items to sell and many more to buy for his training so he really count on this auction.


    The disciple cupped his fists and thanked him. At the same time, Hu Anjing came out of her test with her new sword and noticed the crowd around Li Huang.


    "What did I miss, junior uncle?" she asked as she got closer.


    "Oh nothing much, I was answering some questions." Li Huang said and others also greeted Hu Anjing.


    Hu Anjing just nodded and from her posture, Li Huang understood that she had something to tell him in private.


    "I think it is better if we rest a little as we still have the second part of this stage left��" Li Huang said to other disciples and they all agreed and left after some small talks.


    ~''How was your test?''~ Li Huang sent her a sound transmission now that they were alone.


    ~''It was good. I got a new sword that I know is at least a rank 1 True Spirit treasure.''~ She said with excitement.


    ~''Nice! Let me take a look��''~ Li Huang said. He knows that this sword is really valuable if it is really a True Spirit treasure. Even in the heavenly sword sect, not many disciples have such weapons as they are hard to make and harder to obtain.


    Hu Anjing handed the sword to Li Huang after she took it out of her storage ring. She remembered Li Huang''s ''teachings'' when she was about to get back here so she put it in her storage ring just to be on the safe side.


    Li Huang who saw that she took out the sword from her storage ring gave a nod of approval to her and used [Peeping eye of heaven] on the sword right after that.


    The moment Li Huang saw the grade of this sword he sent a sound transmission to Hu Anjing as he handed the sword back to her.


    ~''Put it back in your storage ring.''~ He said.


    Hu Anjing didn''t hesitate and complied without asking any useless questions as she trusted Li Huang''s judgment.


    The moment the sword was back in the storage ring Li Huang relaxed a bit. Hu Anjing just looked at him and waited for his explanation.


    ~''That sword is not a rank 1 True Spirit treasure, it is a peak rank 9 True Spirit treasure��''~ Li Huang sent this sound transmission to Hu Anjing and she now understood why Li Huang asked her to hide it.


    ~''��This is the closest thing to a Fairy artifact.''~ He continued. Yes, the same Fairy artifact that are the pillars of the seven holy lands. Although this sword is obviously much weaker when compared to a Fairy artifact, it is the next best thing.


    ~''If some expert were to know you have this, they will kill you and take this from your corpse.''~ Li Huang didn''t sugarcoat his words and told her bluntly.


    ~''So only use it when you either have no other choice or when you are sure that you are going to kill everyone who is at the scene.''~ Li Huang looked at Hu Anjing to get a confirmation out of her.


    ~''I understand.''~ Hu Anjing nodded with seriousness as she knew how the world worked. If they killed her, the heavenly sword sect would try to get revenge but revenge wouldn''t bring her back to life so being a member of the heavenly sword sect doesn''t mean much when you don''t have enough power to keep your life.


    Li Huang who know what was on her mind, gave her a few moments to collect her thoughts.


    ~''How was your test?''~ Hu Anjing asked Li Huang after a minute.


    ~''The reward was great but I was on the test for two and half years��''~ Li Huang said with a straight face as he was really not that bitter about it now that he had this storage ring.


    ~''What? How is that possible?''~ Hu Anjing was baffled.


    ~''Time passed faster there. Anyway, I got a storage ring that is so hard to break that if they attack me for days, they can still find the ring in my ashes!''~ Li Huang only said this much as he didn''t want to make the existence of this ring known so he only gave Hu Anjing some small details.


    ~''That must have been hard but you seem happy about the reward��''~ Hu Anjing said as she too didn''t want to dig deeper.


    ~''I mean come on, this is really what I needed!''~ Li Huang said as he was really in need of such a treasure. He was this close to ordering some custom storage rings.


    They bantered for a little longer and waited for other disciples to come out of their doors.


    ��


    It didn''t take long and in less than half an hour all the disciples were back from their tests and luckily none of them perished in their test, not even Jin Fen.


    Right about this time, the old man graced the disciples with his presence as he appeared again.


    "Good. Now, you have only the final battle to finish." The old man said.


    "Follow me to get to the final test." The old man said as he entered the door right behind him.


    Following the old man, everyone entered a grassland like where they were in the past. The old man started climbing invisible stairs and after some time he turned to face the disciples.


    "Now you have to fight a beast horde as you did before but this time you can''t use your storage rings and you can''t use your weapons." The old man said with a smile.


    "Good luck." The old man said and faded away.


    "This is going to be fun." Hu Anjing said.


    "I can''t agree more." Li Huang said and launched toward the nearest group of beasts that he found.


    ��


    It didn''t take them more than 20 minutes to finish all the beasts. They were not very strong but they had a huge advantage in numbers.


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing used their sword Qi even when they didn''t use their weapons. This made it easier for them to finish off the beasts fast and efficiently.


    Although the number of the beasts was bigger when compared to the last time, everyone did way better this time. They did better because they have improved in their cultivation.


    Happy with their performance, everyone waited for the old man to appear again. The old man didn''t disappoint and showed up moments later.


    "You have passed all the tests, now you can get the final reward." The old man said and pointed toward the entrance of this round, where they started this test.


    ~''Go and put it in your storage ring.''~ Li Huang said to Hu Anjing and she did so. As the leader of the heavenly sword sect disciples, she was responsible for things like this.


    Hu Anjing started moving toward the reward and others didn''t try to do anything as they knew this was the sect''s property. Even Jin Fen knew better than to try anything here.


    "This is a palm technique that is very effective in close range��" The old man explained a bit about the technique that was the reward of this formation.


    "Now that you have finished the test, you can exit the formation. To exit, you have to go back to the first stage of these tests��" The old man said after some explanation and pointed to the portal that would take them to the previous stage.


    ''Why didn''t they just use a teleportation formation to send us there? Is there some lesson about laziness here?'' Li Huang thought it was weird to walk back but ultimately come to the conclusion that he might be lazy.


    Walking back they first entered the room of doors and then got back to the meditation room.


    When everyone was using this chance to ask Li Huang for some pointers Jin Fen slowed down and looked at one of the meditation setups.


    Examining it, he found a blue orb by its side that seemed to power this whole contraption.


    ''Old man, so this is why you told us to walk back? You wanted me to have this?'' Jin Fen thought and in a swift move pocketed the unknown blue orb.


    He increased his pace and looked at Li Huang''s back.


    ''With this, I can suppress you in no time. Let me see if you dare to be arrogant at that time.'' Jin Fen thought. If he were to use this blue orb to cultivate, no amount of talent can stop him.


    The group continued their walk until they were outside of the formation.

 Chapter 94: This is fine

    ����(POV Li Huang, in front of the cave)����


    It has been really a while that i was in this formation and I am really glad about what I got and also what sect got there. Neither I nor Hu Anjing checked the palm technique but it has to be a high-grade one as it was the final reward of this formation. Hu Anjing didn''t check it as she didn''t have the knowledge to do so and I didn''t want to use [Peeping eye of heaven] right now as it might attract attention.


    Seeing my surrounding I took a deep breath. Although the storage ring had air it felt�� old? I don''t know if that even makes sense but that''s how I felt.


    "This is fine." I muttered. With five or so days left, I can call this trial a stunning success for our sect as we achieved much and didn''t lose anyone.


    Right at this time, a thunderous voice broke my reverie.


    "Stop what you are doing and listen." Said a voice that I was all too familiar with. The old man appeared in a gigantic form in the sky and looked down on everyone. I did not doubt that every disciple in this trial space, regardless of where they were heard him.


    What I didn''t know at the time was that not only the disciples stopped what they were doing, the beasts also stopped and didn''t dare to make the slightest of movements.


    An eerie atmosphere was created as the old man didn''t say a word for a few seconds and kept gazing at different parts of the trial space. It was as if he was looking at someone who didn''t stop when he said stop.


    "Being ambitious is one of the key traits for anyone who wants to go far in the way of cultivation. With ambition, one would embrace challenges and hardships��knowing that they are necessary to move forward and learn. Ambitious people take charge of their destiny and don''t let the situations define them." The old man explained like how a master teaches their disciple.


    Hearing these words I was confused a little but it also made me more relaxed because the old man was teaching something to everyone and everything seemed to be fine.


    "On the other hand, we have greed." The old man said and paused for a few seconds.


    "Greed is the insatiable desire of wanting something. Most of the time it wouldn''t stop with one or two things and one wants anything and everything. You must know that one can not have everything just because they desire so. The difference between ambition and greed is that while ambition can be fulfilled, greed can not be satisfied." The old man further explained his point.


    "Now that you know what is the difference between ambition and greed, we can move on to the main point. Some of the things in this trial are to be rewarded and some are here to stay here." The old man said and a blue orb appeared in his hand.


    I narrowed my eyes the moment I saw the orb as I could somewhat remember seeing this orb somewhere��


    ''Wait a minute, wasn''t this orb in that meditation setup?'' I thought but didn''t know where the old man was going with this.


    "Someone has stolen one such orb from one of the formations in this trial." The old man said.


    ''Who could have been that stupid��'' I thought but suddenly I remembered that even our group has someone that stupid.


    The old man didn''t give me time to think this through and continued.


    "I have always had a rule, reward for one and the punishment for all." The old man said with an amiable smile.


    "Now because of one person''s actions everyone would receive the punishment. You will fight what your predecessors have fought before. I hope you can overcome this challenge." The old man said and vanished.


    ''What the? It is not like a shampoo that you can take from your hotel room. Luckily it wasn''t from our group as I can clearly remember that we were walking together on the way back��'' I trusted my memory about recent events and it was at that moment that it hit me. Jin Fen was the only one who wasn''t walking with us in the meditation room.


    ''Fuck.'' I thought.


    ����(POV third person)����


    Everyone was shocked by the old man''s words and didn''t know what to say. Jin Fen who was the center of this show didn''t think much of the old man''s words.


    ''He is only testing me with this challenge, otherwise, he wouldn''t let me have it, to begin with.'' He thought and smirked.


    Hu Anjing was about to say something to Li Huang as they needed to plan for whatever this punishment is going to be but Li Huang stopped her with a raised hand before she could start speaking. He walked past Other disciples and went toward Jin Fen who was on the back.


    "Jin Fen, you wouldn''t have that blue orb if I were to search your storage ring, right?" Li Huang said as he got ready to subdue Jin Fen. He know that the situation was grim as he got the hint from the old man''s words.


    The sentence ''you will fight what your predecessors have fought before'' can only mean one thing and that is the big massacre that happened 300 years ago. Out of the 100 participants at that time, only 4 of them got out of the trials alive. With that hint, even Li Huang who always had a backup plan for his backup plan felt underprepared.


    Because of this, getting that orb back was the first thing that he thought of.


    Jin Fen who heard this knew that he couldn''t fight with Li Huang directly so he tried to stall for time so that he can put what he got in this formation to use.


    "And what makes you think I would let you check my storage ring?" Jin Fen raised an eyebrow and asked Li Huang back.


    At this moment Hu Anjing and others also understood what was going on and got ready to engage in battle. They were fellow disciples but Jin Fen is probably the thief that has put their lives in danger so no one would even bat an eyelid if it comes to fighting him.


    "Oh, you would let me." Li Huang said with a hand on his sword''s hilt. He was ready to kill Jin Fen if it is what it takes to save his life and others.


    "We will see about that." Jin Fen smirked as his plan worked and the ring in his left hand was ready to use. The reward that he found in the trial was a ring that let him teleport almost instantly the moment it was charged with Qi. Having this ring gave him the confidence to snatch the blue orb from the meditation room as he was sure he could get away from anyone who would want to get this orb from him.


    But the truth is that almost instantly is not the same as instantly. The moment that Jin Fen''s body started to fade, Li Huang knew what was going on and unsheathed his sword and slashed toward Jin Fen''s right hand where he saw a ring that he guessed was responsible for his teleportation. Right before Jin Fen was fully transported to his destination Li Huang''s heavy sword slash meet his skin and without much resistance severed his hand from a little above his wrist.


    Jin Fen didn''t have the time to even scream as he teleported away right that instant.


    "Damn it." Li Huang muttered as Jin Fen could teleport away and that meant he choose the wrong hand.


    Hu Anjing was the fastest to get here after Li Huang and looked at him who was going toward the dismembered hand.


    "What now?" She asked. She also understood the severity of the situation so she wanted to have a plan for when it gets really hard to handle.


    Li Huang took the storage ring out of Jin Fen''s severed hand''s finger. He then erased Jin Fen''s Qi strand by using his own Qi to overwrite it.


    "Let me see��" Li Huang said and looked through the contents of the storage ring. After a few moments, he found out that there is no blue orb in there and there is also no sign of the pills he distributed previously. This could only mean one thing, Jin Fen has at least one other storage ring where he stored the blue orb and the pills.


    "There is no blue orb here so I can only assume it was on his other hand��" Li Huang said as he tried to stay calm and analyze the situation.


    "What should we do now?" Hu Anjing said as Ye Ling was by her side and other disciples were also right behind them.


    "If this is the same as what happened 300 years ago, there is only one logical thing to do." Li Huang said.

 Chapter 95: Disciples, assemble.

    ����(POV Li Huang)����


    "The best course of action now is to stick together. If the beasts act in hordes, we will also fight in numbers. Let''s check out the map for the best location to set up a makeshift fort." I told them the plan that I had.


    "Yes, I agree." Hu Anjing said and with Ye Ling, they got the map ready.


    It was because of my negligence that Jin Fen could run away. I should have thought of the possibility that he might have a teleportation treasure. Although I tried to cancel his teleportation by cutting the hand with the teleportation ring, I didn''t choose the right hand and he was successful.


    ''It seems I got a little rusty as I spent two years in that trial.'' I should have seen it coming when he started talking back but I just interpreted it as Jin Fen being arrogant as he always is and not that he is stalling for time.


    Nevertheless, he is still in the trial so I have the chance to finish him off for good. I didn''t go for the kill as I was trying to stick with the sect''s protocols in these kinds of situations but now I can kill him as he is now a traitor to the sect and has put everyone in danger.


    ''I have enough time to think about my statement to the punishment hall later��'' I put these thoughts aside for now and focused on the map.


    "These are all the locations that we have traveled through." Hu Anjing said.


    Looking at the map I could locate multiple locations that were suitable for building a fort.


    "Here, here, and here. They are suitable for the fort as they are in higher grounds." I pointed at locations that caught my eyes.


    "But we have to take others into account too��" Ye Ling said. As I planned to cooperate with other participants, it was natural to choose a location that was relatively near to everyone.


    "True, we have to take that into account." Hu Anjing also seconded her words.


    I also nodded as this was important to consider.


    "Yes, but we have a more important factor to consider. What are the beasts around these parts?" I asked. If the surrounding beasts are too powerful, we won''t have the time to build a fort as we are constantly busy fighting those beasts.


    Hu Anjing got what I was saying and checked a book where we logged such informations about each location.


    "This is near where we fought giant giant apes." Hu Anjing pointed at one of the locations that I choose.


    "Okay, what about the next one?" I crossed that option out immediately. If the number that we fought that time was normal, I don''t want to know what a horde of them looks like.


    "This location is near the giant gray worm nest that you located." Hu Anjing said after flipping a few pages.


    "��what about the last one?" I didn''t like to fight giant gray worms from the get-go. They can destroy the structure of our fort easily when we are in the initial stages of building it.


    "Hmmm, the last one is really good as there are not any beast nests there." Hu Anjing said.


    "Good. This is also almost in the center of the map so it will be a good location for everyone." I said.


    "But�� how are we going to contact others?" Ye Ling said with a frown. We had to talk to others to let them know we have this plan, otherwise, there would be no point.


    Hu Anjing looked at me as she knew I wouldn''t suggest this plan if I didn''t have the necessary means to do it.


    "Well, let me show you how��" I didn''t plan to waste more time so I took out my most precious treasure from my storage ring.


    This item was a communication device that my parents left for me to contact them. It was so powerful that you could use it to contact anyone on the planet and the distance didn''t matter. It was supposed to be my way to contact them as I get older, well, before they disappeared��


    This communication device has another useful feature, you can use it as a broadcasting device that would send messages to everyone in the vicinity. As this device can work fine when sending a message across the whole planet, I do not doubt that I can use it to cover this trial''s space.


    With the communication device in my hands, I started speaking.


    ~''This is Li Huang, the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect.''~


    ~''I have evidence that suggests this punishment is the same thing that caused the massacre 300 years ago.''~ I said.


    ~''At that time only four disciples were able to come out of this trial alive. To avoid that same fate happening to us, I suggest that we enter a temporary alliance to overcome this hurdle.''~ I continued.


    ~''Our sect is on the move to the best location that we found to make a fort. When we are at the location we will set up a beacon to guide you there. This place is near the center of this space so I suggest you move toward the center for now��''~ I said and signaled Hu Anjing to get ready to move out.


    ~''As the time is short, we will talk more in person.''~ I ended the communication like this.


    "Will it work?" Hu Anjing asked as we were running toward the fort''s location.


    "It will. The holy lands will gather as they knew about the massacre the best and smaller powers would also come as they want to have the protection of our holy land." I said as I ran.


    ����(POV third person, camp of the Blue Bulls sect)����


    "What should we do, senior brother?" asked the second in command of the blue bulls sect disciples.


    "Of course we will go. What is there to lose? In the best case we get to fight the heavenly sword sect''s disciples and in the worst case, we will get to fight hordes upon hordes of beasts. I see this as a win-win situation." Cai ZhenKang said as he picked up his axe. He wouldn''t mind a rematch with Li Huang.


    ����(POV third person, camp of the White Moon sect)����


    "What do you think about this, Yunyu?" He Junli, leader of the White Moon sect''s disciples asked her best friend.


    "I think he has no reason to lie about it. That aside, I too think this could be the same as the beast horde of 300 years ago." Yuan Yunyu said as she too thought the old man was hinting at that year''s tragedy.


    "Good. This is a chance to see my Martial Grandmother''s grandson��" He Junli said as she got ready to move out.


    ����(POV third person, Ren twins)����


    "Big brother said that we need to gather, let''s go Ru." Ren Tai said to his sister who nodded.


    ����(POV third person, on the way toward the fort''s location)����


    Li Huang and others were running toward the location that they were going to build the fort for everyone. This time they were in a tighter formation as they didn''t need to map anything, also more beasts would attack them so being closer to each other helped.


    Li Huang didn''t stay idle and used his Qi sense in order to find Jin Fen. He also asked Hu Anjing to use her Qi sense to help him as she had the strongest Qi sense.


    What he didn''t know was all of the sects and disciples were coming toward them as they decided to believe him for one reason or another.


    Obviously, Jin Fen wasn''t that much of an idiot to come near the center of the trial space after Li Huang''s message but Li Huang was counting on his stupidity to lose direction��


    In half an hour they reached their destination as they were running at full speed.


    As a paranoid, Li Huang also had an artifact that would work as a beacon. You only had to put some high-grade spirit stones in the device and you were good to go for a day.


    "Now we have to start creating a fort. Four disciples would be on guard duty and the others would help in building the fort." Li Huang said to the team.


    Everyone nodded to his words.


    "We also have to create multiple towers for aerial attacks." Li Huang added. If Divine Arrow Sect disciples decide to show up, this would give everyone a great advantage in fights as they are the best in the ranged attacks.


    "For material, the guard team would collect wood and rocks in these storage rings." Li Huang put some empty storage rings on the table in front of him. These rings were full before but Li Huang moved their contents to his new storage ring.


    "But senior brother, wouldn''t using those materials make the structure weak to attacks?" Ye Ling asked as she couldn''t see how wood and rock would hold on against even a beast much less a horde.


    "We only need the structure, most of the work will be handled with formation and scrolls." Li Huang answered as he saw it was everyone''s question.

 Chapter 96: Fortress with a custom Keep

    (A/N: There was a duplicate chapter here before, sorry about that.)


    ����(POV third person)����


    "But senior brother, ��how do we get that many scrolls and formations?" Kong Chin asked as he didn''t have any of those so he was unsure about the feasibility of this plan.


    Li Huang chuckled a little. He was the last person that you wanted to ask such a question from as he had more than what a small sect has in their treasury on his personal storage rings.


    "You don''t have to worry about that, I have those on me." Li Huang said.


    The other disciples who didn''t know about Li Huang''s ''resourcefulness'' were shocked that he had this many necessities on him and couldn''t help but praise him for his foresight.


    "As expected of senior brother Li." Kong Chin said and cupped his fists.


    Li Huang only smiled at him and took out his communication device.


    ~''We have set up our beacon, you can follow the light to get to us.''~ Li Huang said.


    ~''Hope you have a safe journey.''~ Li Huang finished the communication with this and turned to his fellow disciples.


    "Okay let''s get to work, we don''t have time to waste." Li Huang said as he took one of the storage rings to get some materials.


    He also took out a storage ring from his pocket and handed it to Hu Anjing. Well, it was in his living metal storage ring but he took it out in his pocket so that he won''t attract attention.


    "These are the materials that I have on me. They are of high grade, so use them to create the innermost layer of defense. There is also a map in there, use it and build according to that because that was created by a professional." Li Huang told her. Li Huang got this whole package from an auction where this portable keep was introduced. The design of this keep is the most sophisticated one that Li Huang has ever seen so he bought it at the time because he thought it might be useful.


    This kind of item is considered a luxury and no one would think of it as a really practical item because it is too expensive for a new sect to buy and it won''t be of much use to a big sect that has built everything already.


    Hu Anjing was shell-shocked that Li Huang has such a thing. Even for her who know him quite well, this was beyond what she thought was possible.


    "Why did you even think of buying this?" She asked Li Huang with a deadpan.


    "Come on, it comes in handy now so it is money well spent. The only regret that I have is that I didn''t commission a fort or we would have everything ready��" Li Huang said as he shrugged his shoulders. If he had the fort from the same creator, the situation would be much much better.


    "I can''t refute that." Hu Anjing said as she looked at the blueprint for this keep. As someone who has her fair share of assassinations, she could testify that this keep was very well designed, and not only it is hard to infiltrate but also besieging it would be futile.


    "Use this time to build some parts of this. I will go and gather some materials to create two layers of walls." Li Huang said. He was thinking of creating a fortress with two layers of walls for maximum defensive capability.


    Li Huang created a team of four as the guards. The team consisted of Li Huang, Dai Bao, Lai Xinyue, and Mo Hui. Dai Bao was here so that Li Huang could use his power while fighting the beasts as he is one of the powerful disciples. Lai Xinyue is here as she is great in evasion because of her [Fate Eluding Physique], she is also here to attract Jin Fen to this group. Li Huang knew that for some reason Jin Fen is super attracted to Lai Xinyue so he would definitely come back for her, so by doing this he is trying to bait him into doing so. Mo Hui is in the team as he is one of the best twin blade practitioners of the sect. His power is good enough to be in the guard team.


    Other disciples are in control of the building process. The reason Li Huang didn''t add Ye Ling and/or Hu Anjing to the guard team is that they are needed in managing the tasks and they are powerful enough to handle any horde of beasts that might attack while they are building the fort.


    With his team, Li Huang ventured around the temporary camp to find resources to build at least two sets of walls. They needed more because there might be some breaches that would occur after a horde attack the fort and they need to fix the walls. At that time, any additional resources help in handling the situation faster and easier.


    "Senior brother, how many more woods do we need?" Mo Hui asked as he was chopping down trees.


    "We need as much as we can get. The more trees that we cut, the easier we can see the beast hordes from our watchtowers so let''s continue for two more hours and then deliver these and repeat." Li Huang said as he was cutting stone into cubic shapes with his sword Qi. If one of the old sword practitioners were to know that someone is using sword Qi to do stone cutting, they would cough up blood.


    "Senior brother, a little help here." Lai Xinyue said. She and Dai Bao were fighting a medium-size horde of wolves. They were okay at first but as time passed the fight got harder for them because more wolves attacked them. Dai Bao was trying to hold on but Lai Xinyue knew that they would soon get overwhelmed by wolves so she asked for help.


    Li Huang looked at them and shot a couple of sword Qi strands toward the strongest wolves and killed them in a single move. He was able to do so as he used the [Peeping eye of heaven]. He was getting more proficient with the fairy artifact as time passes, his breakthroughs also played a part in it. The recent developments showed him that he is only using a fraction of the power that this artifact possesses and to access more of its power he needs to be more powerful.


    When you compare this fairy artifact with other fairy artifacts that are known to the world, this one is more mysterious as you can not compare it with anything that has been ever seen. No item has such capabilities and as such, Li Huang can only figure out how to work with it along the way.


    Li Huang continued cutting the stones and storing them in his storage ring. On the other hand, Mo Hui too worked hard to cut more trees.


    ��


    Like this two hours passed and they started getting back toward the fort''s location to deliver the logs and stones. On the way, Lai Xinyue and Dai Bao switched tasks with Li Huang and Mo Hui. This time Li Huang and and Mo Hui were the vanguards and the other two were guarding behind them.


    Although they were cutting trees and stones all the time, Dai Bao and Lai Xinyue were the tired ones as they had to constantly fight hordes of beasts. Even though the beasts were not that strong if you only looked at their powers individually, they had high numbers that made them hard to handle.


    It didn''t take them that long to get back, in only 20 minutes, they were back on their camp. 3 hours has passed from the time they left and a big part of the keep was built. This was an astonishing fact in itself but if you added the fact that it was just as described in the blueprint down to a T, shows the dedication that Hu Anjing and others have while building this keep.


    For a keep that is going to be their last line of defense, this quality would really show itself if it comes to falling back to the last line. Nobody would like to think of such a possibility but having a plan for such an event is Li Huang''s specialty.


    Li Huang saw Hu Anjing from a distance and went toward her. She was looking at the blueprints and would tell other disciples what they were doing wrong and she would also help in moving the materials with her Qi as she was the strongest here.


    "I see that you have been working hard." Li Huang said as he got closer to Hu Anjing.

 Chapter 97: The arrival of a new group

    (A/N: psst, read the previous chapter if you have seen the duplicate one earlier.)


    Hu Anjing turned around and looked at Li Huang.


    "Well, it is not like we have a choice." Hu Anjing said. They had to do this to survive and most importantly they had to do it right.


    "That is true. I have the woods in this storage ring and the stones in this one." Li Huang smiled and handed her the storage rings. Although the storage rings were far from getting full it was better to keep the items in there before it has been decided about the place that they are going to use them.


    Hu Anjing took the rings and mentally checked the contents of the rings. She was surprised By the amount that they had gathered in just 3 hours.


    "Junior uncle, you also worked hard." Hu Anjing said.


    "Yeah, we found a good balance in the team." Li Huang said.


    "How is the keep so far?" Li Huang asked after looking at the building that was taking shape slowly.


    "It is really one of the best designs that I have ever seen. It is even better than what I thought about it when I saw the blueprint. Giant giant apes can''t even scratch it." She said with stars in her eyes. Although she didn''t like this type of manual labor work still it is always interesting to build something and see it take form.


    "You seem to have fun." Li Huang smirked. The fact that Hu Anjing can be this relaxed and at the same time serious in her work is really something.


    "What can I say? Someone told me to be the leader and now I have to do all these works��" She said and slumped her shoulders over-dramatically.


    "There, there��" Li Huang said and rubbed her back.


    They were playing around like this until they both felt a group enter their Qi sense. They both turned in a direction at the same time.


    "We seem to have visitors��" Li Huang said.


    "They seem to be from the White Moon sect." Hu Anjing said as she recognized the disciple robes. Li Huang was also aware of this but didn''t care who they were, as long as they are one of the participants and their name isn''t Jin Fen, they are welcome to enter this fort.


    "Do we have a good tent that we can use for a meeting?" Li Huang asked without turning to Hu Anjing as he kept looking at the white moon disciples'' movements.


    "We have exactly what you want��" Hu Anjing said as she understood what Li Huang wanted. In these kinds of meetings, although it is only on the level of the disciples, you have to keep in mind that your presentation can gain or lose face for the sect so Li Huang wanted them to have them use the best tent for this meeting. That aside White Moon sect is also an ally sect so this mattered more.


    "Good, send a disciple to welcome them. Tell them we will meet their leaders." Li Huang said to Hu Anjing.


    "Okay, I''ll be on it." Hu Anjing said and walked toward one of the disciples.


    Li Huang also got back to the other guards to tell them his next plans.


    "The disciples from the white moon sect are near here so I have to meet them soon. You three have to guard without me for a time. As it would make it hard for you to collect materials with only you three, you should only focus on the guarding aspect of the job for now as we will get new members soon." Li Huang explained to them the situation. He was positive that the white moon sect would join them.


    ����(POV third person, White Moon sect''s group)����


    He Junli was in front of her fellow disciples and was leading the way. By her side, you could see her friend Yuan Yunyu looking around with vigilance.


    "There is someone coming toward us, he is alone." Yuan Yunyu told He Junli as she kept looking at the location that she sensed the new presence.


    "I know. It must be one of the heavenly sword sect disciples that came here to guide us." He Junli said.


    "What should we do, senior sister?" Yuan Yunyu asked her leader and best friend.


    He Junli asked her best friend to call her by her name but she refused from doing so as she deem it inappropriate. After many failed attempts she learned to just ignore this and consider it her friend''s personality.


    "Nothing, how can they have any ill intents when they have only sent one person?" He Junli said and dismissed her friend''s worries. She is the disciple of the next matriarch of the sect so she knows that their sect and the heavenly sword sect are closer than what is known to the public. Well, if they decided to send Li Huang or Hu Anjing they both could be a serious danger to all of them if they wanted to, but she didn''t know that.


    "I understand." Yuan Yunyu said and nodded.


    Moments later the messenger was in front of the group and cupped his fists.


    "Greetings, fellow disciples from the White Moon sect. I will guide you to where we are building the fort. Our leaders are eager to see you." The messenger, Kong Chin said the exact words that were told to him.


    He Junli wasn''t one to miss such obvious hints and understood the intention behind these words.


    "As are we." She said and gestured for Kong Chin to show the way. Kong Chin who was told about how to act let the leaders of the white moon sect walk one step ahead of him and didn''t let this small thing be used to make a scene.


    As he was an outer disciple, it could be interpreted as an insult to the other party if he were to walk in front. This kind of thing only happens when the younger generation are in contact as the older ones don''t care about such useless formalities but alas, all of the disciples in this trial are from the younger generation so this kind of action can easily prevent a confrontation.


    On the other hand, if they were to send an inner disciple or a core disciple, they would be losing face for the heavenly sword sect because such a disciple is used as a mere messenger. It is really important to know what action to take as each small thing could be seen as an indication about you and the sect you represent.


    Kong Chin was a far better option in the outer court disciples as the other option would be Lai Xinyue. As she is too blunt and from Li Huang''s experience, doesn''t like to follow a script, she would be a ticking bomb in this situation.


    ��


    After a few minutes, the group of the White Moon sect''s disciples entered the vicinity of the keep that was under construction. Hu Anjing and Ye Ling gave the to-do list for the keep to the disciples so that they can continue with their work while the leaders are in the meeting. This would also work as a move to show the white moon disciples that they are taking these beast hordes seriously.


    To no one''s surprise, the White Moon sect''s disciples were impressed by the design of this keep that could rival some of their sect''s structures. This was an unintentional flex from Li Huang.


    "The leaders will go to this tent, I will guide others to their temporary stay." Kong Chin said his line. Hospitality and being subservient are different. This sentence was chosen to show the leaders of the white moon sect disciples that although the heavenly sword sect is showing hospitality, they are no pushovers.


    He Junli raised an eyebrow at this but didn''t say anything as she would have done the same in Li Huang''s shoes. Unfortunately, Yuan Yunyu wasn''t the same as her. Although she is very smart, but when she feels someone is disrespecting her best friend, she wouldn''t care about anything and would give them a piece of her mind.


    "How d��" she wanted to start her sentence with ''how dare you'' but He Junli stopped her as it was really overreacting to a sentence with no malice behind it.


    "Thank you. You can go, we will continue on this way." He Junli said and went toward the tent that was the meeting place. Behind her, two of her fellow disciples who were in the vice-leader position followed in her tracks.


    The moment they got near the tent, Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling got out of the tent and stood in front of them.


    "Hu Anjing, chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect." Hu Anjing cupped her fist and introduced herself out of politeness.


    He Junli followed her example and introduced herself.


    "He Junli, core disciple of the white moon sect." She said and cupped her fists.


    "These are Yuan Yunyu and Zhan Xinyi, my other fellow disciples." She continued with an introduction of her fellow disciples. This seemingly harmless sentence was not meant to be that harmless. She meant for Hu Anjing to do the same and with this, put Li Huang out of the conversations that are ahead.


    ''Why is this girl being hostile to me? The hell did I ever do to her?'' Li Huang was surprised by this. As far as he can remember, he hasn''t ever seen this He Junli before today.

 Chapter 98: Father’s debt

    ����(POV third person, in front of the meeting''s tent)����


    Hu Anjing wasn''t new to the game of the words, she was trained by Yuan Jia in this art so she could detect He Junli''s intentions from a mile away. She didn''t know what was He Junli''s reason to be hostile to Li Huang but she wouldn''t let her have her way like this.


    Hu Anjing turned to face Li Huang and prompted him to speak.


    Li Huang didn''t want to get into any sort of conflict at this point in time but didn''t reject Hu Anjing''s offer to talk.


    "Li Huang, the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect." Li Huang said. He Junli didn''t like it that her plan didn''t work but Hu Anjing didn''t give her time to do anything as she spoke right after Li Huang.


    "You might not know as you are very young but junior uncle Li Huang is the only grandchild of your Grandmaster." Hu Anjing said. She reminded He Junli that she was being hostile with one of her grandmaster''s family members and contributed her inability to see this fact to her young age. In reality, He Junli is older than Li Huang, and Hu Anjing was taunting her.


    ''You mess with Li Huang, you are messing with me��'' Hu Anjing thought while she had a kind smile on her face. She then turned to face Ye Ling.


    "Ye Ling, an inner disciple of the heavenly sword sect." Ye Ling said with a frown. He Junli who thought her plan would work didn''t think it would backfire like this. Not only she couldn''t put Li Huang out of the conversations, but she had also degraded her fellow disciples to mere followers with what she did.


    Well, you can''t say that she is to blame because it was her opponent, Hu Anjing, who is very superior in this field as she was trained by a matriarch when He Junli''s master is only a chief disciple and doesn''t have that much experience when it comes to scheming with words.


    Li Huang could see that the situation is getting awkward so he decided to speak again.


    "Let''s enter the tent to discuss our thoughts on this matter." Li Huang said as he knew that they didn''t really have the time to be doing this. The beast hordes are getting bigger and bigger by the second so anything other than working toward survival is a waste of time.


    He Junli didn''t say anything else and walked into the tent after the trio of Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling. Her vice-leaders also followed her.


    ��


    "So, are you interested in the alliance?" Hu Anjing got to the point as soon as everyone was sitting on their chairs. They had many tasks to accomplish so the faster they finish this meeting, the faster the fort would be complete.


    "We wouldn''t be here if we were not, but we need to know your reasons for believing this is the same event of 300 years ago?" He Junli asked. She is determined in joining the heavenly sword sect''s alliance but she has to make sure that they know what they are talking about.


    Hu Anjing and Ye Ling turned to Li Huang.


    "Well, as the holy lands know, last time that the massacre happened it was said that it was a punishment, and the one who announced it also finished his words with ''I hope you can overcome this challenge''. If you check the reports most of the things are similar to our situation but one thing. The announcer said that we will fight what our predecessors fought against. This can only mean one thing and that is the massacre of 300 years ago." Li Huang said. When they were resting before entering the trial, he asked grand elder Wan about the massacre and he told him about the punishment and such.


    At that time no one saw the old man. It is probably because the team that had the ''guilty person'' in their group couldn''t come out alive so only the old man''s sound was heard.


    He Junli pondered a little. She didn''t have such highly detailed pieces of information about the event itself but she couldn''t deny that the things she knew were confirming Li Huang''s claims. She looked at her friend Yuan Yunyu to hear her thoughts on the matter.


    Seeing that He Junli was asking for her opinion, Yuan Yunyu didn''t hesitate to talk about things she had doubts about.


    "Forgive me for being blunt but although these assumptions could be true, why should we join your sect?" Yuan Yunyu asked. Her thoughts were the same on the matter but she wanted to see why the heavenly sword sect is doing this.


    "That is really simple to answer, I want us to fight numbers with numbers. The problem with what they did 300 years ago is that every sect fought for themselves. How did that work for them? Only four survived from the one hundred participants." Li Huang explained.


    "Our sects are allied for a long time so I don''t think you should have any reason to doubt our intentions." Hu Anjing added after Li Huang.


    He Junli was thinking for a few seconds and then gave them an answer.


    "I agree, but with one condition. I want to fight Li Huang. The result of this fight doesn''t matter, we will join you either way." She said resolutely.


    Ye Ling and Hu Anjing were shocked by this and Ye Ling thought that there should be a history between them. Hu Anjing was closer to Li Huang and knew that this was impossible as they had no interactions.


    Li Huang put a hand on his forehead and sighed.


    "Why?" He asked after a few seconds.


    "Because I want to fight you." He Junli answered back.


    "��No, I mean why do you want to fight me?" Li Huang asked with a poker face.


    "Your father was to marry my master but he not only didn''t do so, but he also married someone else and shamed my master. Today I can avenge my master by defeating you." He Junli said with a straight face.


    Li Huang''s eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets because of her words.


    ''What kind of dumb-ass reasoning is this?'' Li Huang couldn''t really believe that He Junli herself believed in her words.


    Ye Ling was really confused as she couldn''t follow He Junli''s words and Hu Anjing who now understood the reason for He Junli''s hostility against Li Huang was trying her hardest to stop herself from burst out laughing.


    "Let me ask you just to make sure. You want to fight me to avenge your master because my father didn''t marry her and shamed her?" Li Huang could feel himself losing a few brain cells just repeating her logic.


    "Yes." He Junli nodded.


    "Can I be honest?" Li Huang asked.


    "��Yes." He Junli didn''t know why Li Huang asked this but she answered.


    "This fight is not well thought at all and is not a good idea." Li Huang said while he tried to stop himself from calling it stupid. The reason that this was not the most stupid thing that Li Huang heard was that Jin Fen always had a better one��


    "The reasoning aside, what kind of message would that send to our teams? How can the leaders be fighting each other and expect the ones under their leadership to work together?" Li Huang explained. If they were to fight, regardless of the result, the harmonious relationship between the disciples would suffer.


    "I don''t have any problem in fighting with you but I think it is selfish to do so when every minute that we are wasting time could cost us a life. I''m sure grand elder Su Zhi wouldn''t be happy about this." Li Huang said. He even used the name of their grand elder to make He Junli think a little more about this.


    He Junli was shocked by this as she didn''t think of the implications that this fight would have in a time like this. She really wanted to do this, but she wasn''t that stupid to not accept that she is in the wrong and she was wrong now.


    "I understand, But I will ask for this fight at a later date." She nodded and added the last part to show she isn''t backing away from the fight.


    "Sure, I see no problem with that." Li Huang also nodded. He was glad that she wasn''t stubborn and didn''t insist on a fight that would only create a rift between the disciples.


    "Now that you have joined the fort, let us distribute the works." Hu Anjing said and changed the subject of the talks back to the main point.


    ��


    After that, they talked about the things that are in progress like collecting wood and stones and the tasks that need to start like building walls and towers.


    After a 20 minutes discussion, they decided to add 4 disciples to the guard team and 6 to the builder team to increase their speed.

 Chapter 99: Larger teams

    ����(POV Li Huang, a few minutes later)����


    "What do you think, junior uncle?" Hu Anjing asked me after the leaders of the White Moon sect disciples left the tent to inform their fellow disciples about the tasks assigned to them.


    "This is great that we are now twice as big, this way we can attract other holy lands easier��" I told her. Ye Ling also nodded to my words.


    "That is true, but you know I wasn''t asking about that��" Hu Anjing said and hinted with her eyes to the outside of the tent.


    "Well, she is a spoiled brat, to say the least. Although she is like that, we don''t need to like each other to work together in a situation like this��" I told her. He Junli was really the personification of what a ''young miss'' from a powerful clan would look like, she is not someone that is fun to interact with but I would rather occasionally have some small talks with her and fight beast hordes easier than to not having her and her fellow disciples around and fight the hordes with more difficulty.


    "You are right. Don''t worry about her, I will handle her." Hu Anjing said. She had no intention of letting that girl get close to Li Huang. She started by asking him to fight her for his father''s ''debt'' today, who knows what she might come up with next��


    "Thank you for that." I couldn''t be happier about it. When Hu Anjing is keeping her in line I don''t have anything to worry about.


    "Take these scrolls and formations. Now that we have more manpower, I think we have to start laying some formations all over the place." I said as I put a couple of storage rings on the table. If a horde of gray worms attack the fort, the ground would have so many holes that the whole fort would crumble. By using formations we can strengthen the ground so that no such thing can happen, the scrolls are mostly used to repel beast attacks to a part of the buildings, secondary to the formations that are protecting them.


    "��Junior uncle, isn''t it too much?" Hu Anjing said. She wasn''t talking about the amount that Li Huang gave them, she was talking about the cost of these items and how much Li Huang is spending for this trial. Although it was to save their lives, it was all coming from Li Huang''s pockets.


    "Don''t worry about that. We can not hide that it was someone from our sect that created this mess to begin with, so when I do this it can be seen as our sect giving a hand to others. I am sure that I can get some sort of compensation from my grandpa." I told her. When we get out of here, if we do, the grand elders would surely check everyone''s minds to see how this happened so We can''t hide this for long. Me using my resources here not only improve our survival chances, but it also improves the sect''s reputation in the minds of other participants.


    Hu Anjing nodded as she understood what I was talking about.


    "Okay, let''s get back to work as we have a lot to do." I said as I stood up.


    I got separated from Hu Anjing and Ye Ling and went toward where the new members of the guard team were gathered.


    As I got closer to the meeting place, I could see four female disciples waiting there.


    A few moments later I got in front of them and as they recognized me, they cupped their fists toward me.


    I also did the same.


    "I am Li Huang, chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect. As we are going to work together from now on, I think it would be better if we introduce ourselves first." I said and looked at them. As our group would only get larger over time, it is essential to have good chemistry between us.


    The girls looked at each other for a second and then one of them stepped forward to introduce herself.


    "I am Lang Yingmin , core disciple of the white moon sect." She said as she cupped her fists again. Lang Yingmin is a tall woman with long black hair and black eyes. Her build does suggest that she has experience in body cultivation.


    She went back one step and the girl by her side come forward to introduce herself.


    "My name is Tao Zhou. I am an inner disciple of the white moon sect." She said and cupped her fists like the one before her. She had average height with neck-length dark blue hair.


    "I am called Cao Shuren and I am a core disciple of the white moon sect." The next girl said with enthusiasm. She was younger than others and was shorter too. She had light gray hair. From what I could guess, she was about 12 years old.


    "�� Wei Yimu, outer disciple of the white moon sect." The last girl introduced herself shyly. She also had an average height and had long black hair.


    "Good, now I have only one question. Can anyone of you produce weapon Qi?" I asked them, if they can not use the weapon Qi to cut stones, I have to let them cut trees as the stones need to be cut precisely.


    "I can but I am not very proficient with it yet." Lang Yingmin  raised her hand and said. Saying that I was surprised was an understatement. The fact that she is this powerful and isn''t among the three leading figures of this group is really a mystery in itself.


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Great! We have to gather wood and stone. For wood we don''t have much to do other than cutting down the tree as most of the work will be done back here but for stones, we will use weapon Qi to cut them in a consistent size and shape." Li Huang said and the girls nodded to him but were confused a little because he said that he is using his weapon Qi to cut stones. Lang Yingmin  who said that she can use the weapon Qi now was shocked because she couldn''t do such a thing with her weapon Qi.


    "Okay, let''s go toward others in this team as we have to get materials fast." Li Huang said and started running toward other members of the guard group. As he was wary of Jin Fen trying to get close to them when he was meeting with White Moon sect''s disciples, he was monitoring them with his Qi sense all the time.


    ''As they say, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.'' Li Huang thought. He didn''t have any plan to let Jin Fen walk away from this trial alive as he would clearly create more problems for him and the sect in the future.


    It didn''t take Li Huang and four disciples from the White Moon sect to reach the guard team who were fighting a small beast horde of monkeys.


    Li Huang also attacked the monkeys as he got closer, using his sword Qi he finished off the majority of them from a distance. Disciples from the white moon sect now understood what he meant when he said he is going to use the weapon Qi to cut stones.


    Lia Xinyue, Mo Hui, and Dai Bao turned and greeted Li Huang.


    ""Senior brother."" Even Dai Bao learnt a lesson on humbleness during this trial so he wasn''t faking his respect to Li Huang.


    Li Huang also greeted them and then pointed toward the four new faces.


    "These four are our friends from the white moon sect. They will join our guard team to help and speed up our work." Li Huang explained and after a short greeting from both sides, they started moving to a location that they could collect wood and stone in a relatively close proximity.


    As they started working, Lang Yingmin  walked to Li Huang.


    "Young master Li, I am not at a level that I can do as you do, what should I do?" She asked Li Huang who was cutting multiple stones at once.


    "Oh, don''t worry about it. Just do it at your own pace and if you needed some help just tell me." Li Huang answered her.


    "Yes, I will." Lang Yingmin  said and nodded.


    ��


    Time passed like that and only half an hour later Li Huang could feel a new group getting close to him and other members of the guard team.


    "HAHA, Li Huang, you didn''t think you would see me this soon, did you?" Cai ZhenKang said with a big grin on his face as he and his fellow disciples from the Blue Bulls sect got closer to Li Huang and others.


    Li Huang stopped and turned to face Cai ZhenKang.


    "Cai ZhenKang, I can''t say I missed you but it is good to see you." Li Huang said with a smile of his own.


    "Are you here to join us?" Li Huang asked him straight.


    "At first I wanted a rematch but now I think I will fight alongside you." Cai ZhenKang said. He didn''t come to this decision arbitrarily. After he saw on the way that the beasts were acting strange, he knew that this alliance was the way to go. Even if he could survive this so-called ''punishment'' by himself, his master would kill him because he failed to get others out alive so he will definitely go with this option.


    Li Huang couldn''t help but smile. Who would have thought that when they had problems wanting to work with their ally, the White Moon sect, they could work with their enemy, the Blue Bulls sect, with no problem?


    "That would be a first for our sects." Li Huang said with a smirk.


    "And the last I hope." Cai ZhenKang said as he too was smirking.


    Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang both laughed and after a while, Li Huang explained to him their plans briefly.

 Chapter 100: Legendary stone cutters

    ����(POV third person, the fort)����


    "We have to create towers here, here, and here. After that, we will create that side of the wall." Ye Ling explained to Yuan Yunyu their plan for the inner wall and the watchtowers as it was decided to let this new group of six handle one side of the wall and its towers to see how they work. The keep would be done in the time they are building the towers and walls so that the heavenly sword sect''s disciples can join them and work on the walls so that they can build easier inside and also, fight the beasts easier.


    "But why are we creating two-layer of walls?" Yuan Yunyu asked. She was thinking that it would be better if they were putting all their energy on one wall and strengthen that.


    Ye Ling turned to face her with a deep frown.


    "Are you testing me or is that really your question?" Ye Ling said as she was confused. Well, although she was confused her facial features showed anger and annoyance so Yuan Yunyu thought she felt offended by her question.


    Yuan Yunyu knew that although they are allies they have created some tensions in the meeting and it is better to stop adding misunderstandings to it so she tried to explain herself.


    "No, I am not well-versed in the art of war so I asked to know the reason, I didn''t mean to offend you." Yuan Yunyu said.


    ''So she didn''t want to test me.'' Ye Ling nodded as she learned something new about social interactions. She then showed a map for the fort to Yuan Yunyu.


    "Look at this map." Ye Ling pointed at the map. The map detailed every wall and tower that was to be built.


    "We need this wall as our last resort, If I want to tell you in simplest of terms why having two layers of walls is necessary." Ye Ling said but frowned a little when even she could understand that Yuan Yunyu didn''t get her point. She decided to give her an example, like how Li Huang explained to other disciples.


    "Imagine that we have only one wall as you had in your mind. If the beast hordes attack from all directions, eventually there will be a side that is overwhelmed by the sheer number of the beasts and they can breach the wall." Ye Ling said almost word to word what Li Huang had said.


    "If that were to happen, you would be surrounded by beasts from front and back, and just like that the fort is lost." Ye Ling used the map to show Yuan Yunyu what could happen.


    "Now, if we have two walls, the inner walls can help us repel the beast quickly and with that support, we can fix the breach in our outer wall fast." Ye Ling said and she was proud of her memory that she could remember all this.


    Yuan Yunyu understood it better now but something new came to her mind.


    "Then why don''t we build more walls?" Yuan Yunyu was now thinking that more walls mean more security.


    "Because one, having more security might make us lazy when we lose one wall as we have many more walls and two, we don''t have enough manpower to fill more than this so it wouldn''t help in any way to have more walls and lastly, we don''t have the time to do that." Ye Ling said the shorter version of what Li Huang said.


    "Thank you, I understand it now." Yuan Yunyu said as she cupped her fists. With this, she reached enlightenment in the art of war.


    "Good, now we can get back to work." Ye Ling nodded and said.


    Now with twice the manpower, one can only expect at least twice the speed in building the fort.


    ����(POV third person, where Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang are working)����


    "HAHAHA, Li Huang, you have to increase your speed." Cai ZhenKang said as he was cutting stones left and right.


    "Cai ZhenKang, my speed is not the problem, you have to increase your accuracy." Li Huang said as he could see that some of the stones were not cut in the most perfect shape. Of course, Li Huang was nitpicking, but so was Cai ZhenKang.


    Cai ZhenKang looked at the stones that Li Huang pointed at.


    "Didn''t you say you are building towers too? I was cutting those for the cornerstones." Cai ZhenKang said shamelessly.


    "Is that so? Then my speed is lower than you because I''m detecting the cornerstones for future uses��" Li Huang said as he too could play the shameless part well.


    "HAHAHA. Let''s get all the stones that are around here before we get back." Cai ZhenKang said as he got back to cutting stones as fast as he could.


    "Let''s make it a bit more challenging. Let''s finish this in half an hour." Li Huang also grinned and cut stones into big cubic shapes and then cut them into smaller sizes as he moved them with his Qi.


    "Now we are talking!" Cai ZhenKang said and cut stones as if he was cutting butter.


    The disciples who saw this couldn''t help but be shocked by the gap between themselves and these two.


    "They are terrifying opponents to have��" Dai Bao said as he looked at the duo.


    "That I can confirm." the second in command of the blue bulls sect disciples, Kong Zexi, said as he had his fair share of spars with Cai ZhenKang.


    Dai Bao and Kong Zexi looked at each other and sensed a sense of familiarity amongst one another.


    All the disciples that were here had one thought in common, Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang are monsters. This was the first time that disciples from the heavenly sword sect and disciples from the blue bulls sect were unified on a subject.


    ��


    Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang worked like a machine for the next half an hour. They worked so hard that no beast dared come near the group as the ground kept trembling because of how much Qi they kept blasting toward it. Other disciples were also working hard to show that they can keep up with Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang.


    True to their words, they gathered all the collectible stones in the area in that half an hour.


    "I think we have done it." Li Huang said as he looked around him.


    "That felt good." Cai ZhenKang was happy that they could finish the work in time as he is very competitive.


    "Yeah. Let''s go to the fort so that we can deliver these materials." Li Huang said and walked toward other members of the guard team.


    Everybody looked at him and greeted him and Cai ZhenKang who was also walking behind him.


    "Good work everyone, we will go back for now." Li Huang said and collected the storage rings containing wood.


    At the same time, Kong Zexi walked toward Cai ZhenKang and cupped his fists.


    "Senior brother, we are not going to work with them, right?" he said with a low voice.


    Cai ZhenKang turned to face him and smacked him on the head.


    "Are you retarded Zexi? We have to prioritize getting out of here with all members to whatever the hell you are talking about." Cai ZhenKang left Kong Zexi there as he was shaking his head.


    The group come together fast and ran to the fort''s location. When they got there they could see that one side of the inner wall was almost built and the keep was already finished and even some of the formations were set around it.


    Hu Anjing who saw Cai ZhenKang and other blue bulls sect disciples with Li Huang was surprised that they don''t seem to be here to fight.


    "Cai ZhenKang, did you come here to ask me for a spar?" Hu Anjing knew that they were probably here for the alliance but throw a jab at Cai ZhenKang anyway.


    "Hahaha, no, no. We are here as an ally so that we can overcome this challenge together." Cai ZhenKang said while laughing nervously. Not only Hu Anjing was scary to him, but he had also used too much energy in the past hour so he wasn''t ready in any shape or form for a spar.


    "Good. Your sect contributes to the building process, is that alright?" Hu Anjing asked. She knows that they need to work faster as more and more beasts are coming together and form bigger hordes.


    "I��uh, well I don''t have a problem with that. It is only that I think I can work better in the guard team." Cai ZhenKang said as he really didn''t want to work where Hu Anjing can boss him around and oddly enough, he really liked cutting stones with axe Qi.


    Hu Anjing looked at Li Huang to see if he need him there.


    "He is right. He is good at cutting stone with axe Qi." Li Huang said. It was easier to collect the much-needed stones with Cai ZhenKang around.


    "Alright, then it is settled. Nine of you would work with the building team and you work with the guard team." Hu Anjing said and Cai ZhenKang nodded. He was more than happy to get a chance to get away from Hu Anjing, even if it costs him his fellow disciples.


    Suddenly, everyone at the fifth stage of the Meridian formation realm and above felt a group of 20 people enter their Qi sense range.

 Chapter 101: Building the wall

    ����(POV third person)����


    At this point in time, 29 disciples were here in the fort and 20 new disciples would soon enter the vicinity. It wasn''t hard to guess that these twenty were representing two holy lands as it is harder for disciples from the smaller powers to work together in such a large group when they don''t have something that binds them together like the sect''s disciples have.


    Group leaders gathered to welcome the newcomers who entered the fort.


    The newcomers were from the Temple of Emptiness and the Divine Arrow sect. The Buddhist monks were easy to locate and the bows that the Divine Arrow sect''s disciples were carrying were hard to miss.


    "Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya." Xuan Muni, the leader of the disciples from the Temple of Emptiness said as he bowed a little. (A/N: lit: Bow for the sake of Amitabha Buddha)


    "Greetings, fellow cultivators. I am Hou Shuqing from the Divine Arrow sect." Hou Shuqing introduced himself. He is the chief disciple of the Divine Arrow sect and he is close to the current patriarch.


    "Welcome, am I right to assume that you are here to join the alliance?" Li Huang asked them. It was no secret that the Temple of Emptiness was known to try to stay out of the conflicts but it wouldn''t hurt to make sure that everything is in perfect condition between them.


    "Yes. No one saves us but ourselves. This is a test to show us we have to rely on each other and I am glad to see that you too understand it." Xuan Muni said with closed eyes.


    Li Huang cupped his fists to him and then turned to Hou Shuqing to see what he had to say.


    "Our sect is here to help too. When I heard the punishment I thought of building towers to handle the beasts easier but when I heard your plan to build a fort, I couldn''t help myself but come here." Hou Shuqing said. He had a hobby that involved reading a lot of books about the art of war so he was really excited about this ''punishment'' and how they can use the fort to their advantage.


    "Great. With this, now five of the seven holy lands have gathered here. I would like to ask Temple of Emptiness to help with some formations around the fort and some of the disciples of the Divine Arrow sect to man the towers." Li Huang said. Using Buddhist formations would help them greatly in the upcoming fights as they have high healing capabilities.


    "That is what we planned to do." Xuan Muni said with a small nod.


    "My fellow disciples are ready for this." Hou Shuqing also nodded enthusiastically.


    "Than I will have to ask you to finalize the plans with our group''s leader, Junior sister Hu Anjing." Li Huang pointed at Hu Anjing who was surprised that he called him junior sister.


    Sensing her surprise, Li Huang sent her a sound transmission.


    ~''I didn''t want to explain that your master is my senior martial sister and so on��''~ Li Huang said as this would happen every once in a while and Li Huang had to explain it again.


    ~''I don''t care about the reasoning but the result was nice�� kind of.''~ Hu Anjing sent a sound transmission back.


    After a short talk, they separated and Li Huang, Cai ZhenKang, and other members of the guard team went toward other sides of the inner wall that were yet to be built.


    "Okay, let''s start building a little. This is the map for this side, study it and start working. We will be back out after we finish the inner wall. I have a feeling that we have to hurry and get one of the defensive layers finished sooner." Li Huang said and handed the team members a couple of maps so that they can understand the designs better.


    He then turned to Cai ZhenKang and looked at him.


    "I just wanted to remind you that Hu Anjing is supervising the building process." Li Huang said to let Cai ZhenKang know that he has to work with focus and don''t play around when they are building.


    Cai ZhenKang nodded a couple of times. He didn''t need Li Huang to say more as he knew what would await him if he were to mess up in the building process.


    "Let''s get to work." Li Huang said. There was one more reason for Li Huang to insist on finishing these walls fast, he wanted to make it harder for Jin Fen to come and go unnoticed. Li Huang looked at Lai Xinyue and was thinking about what was Jin Fen''s story for having this big of a crush on her.


    Shaking his head, Li Huang got back to building the wall.


    ����(POV third person, back at the meeting tent)����


    ��


    "So all of the disciples from the Temple of Emptiness would first help us with the formations and then they will help with the walls and towers." Hu Anjing asked Xuan Muni to finalize their talks.


    "Yes. We can finish this work in a few hours." Xuan Muni said. A monks lifestyle was such that these sort of works was nothing much to them so he had no problem with this. That aside if they were to stop trying their hardest it would go against their teachings.


    "About Divine arrow sect, all your disciples will stay at the fort to help in the defenses. Is that alright with you?" Hu Anjing asked. They come up with this plan in this meeting. Some beast hordes attack the fort every once in a while and although the guard team is working on these beasts, many of the beasts would go straight toward the fort so the guard team can''t do anything about them. Having these ranged attackers decrease the burden on the building team and they can fully focus on building and they won''t have to fight the beasts every 5 minutes.


    "Yes. I also like to know more about our strategy for fighting the beasts." Hou Shuqing nodded and asked. He wanted to integrate his plans into the strategy to make it more smooth and effective.


    "For now, you can handle your team with your previous strategies but when all the building processes are finished we will talk about an integrated strategy." Hu Anjing said. At this stage having a strategy that was created for 100 people and applying it only on 10 people would only create flaws so she refrained from explaining this any further.


    "Let us get back to work." Hu Anjing said. Everyone walked out of the tent. Xuan Muni and Hou Shuqing walked to their fellow disciples to explain their roles and Hu Anjing went toward the building team.


    Along the way, she could see Ye Ling coming toward her.


    "Did something happen Ye Ling?" Hu Anjing asked.


    "Senior sister, a group of seven people are getting near the fort from the west side." Ye Ling explained. As she was working on that part she felt them entering her Qi sense and then she came to Hu Anjing to report.


    "I see. Let''s go together." Hu Anjing said. She was only trying to make sure that nothing unexpected would happen as Li Huang had warned her about Jin Fen and what he might do, because of that she was trying to stay vigilant at all times.


    ��


    Although the distance wasn''t short, it didn''t take Li Huang and Ye Ling more than a minute to get there. The participants that saw two strangers appear in front of them got on guard but when they saw the robes that they were wearing they felt a little more at ease.


    Hu Anjing gave them time to say something and checked the surrounding for any sign of Jin Fen but unfortunately, she didn''t find anything and it seemed that he is not here, or at least is not here now.


    After a few seconds, one of them came forward and cupped his fists while bowing.


    "Greetings, we are disciples that entered the trial from the smaller sects. We came here to join the fort if that is possible." That disciple, Kang Guanyu said politely as he didn''t want to offend these two ladies in any way.


    "You have come to the right place. Follow us, the fort is further this way." Hu Anjing nodded and said as she pointed toward the fort.


    Hu Anjing and Ye Ling had to decrease their speed to let the new disciples follow them without falling behind. In five minutes they were inside the fort and Ye Ling told the new members what to do and put them under the supervision of the white moon sect vice-leader, Yuan Yunyu.


    "Ye Ling, go and tell Hou Shuqing from the Divine Arrow sect that I want reports regularly and if they felt someone entering their Qi sense they have to report it." Hu Anjing told Ye Ling after she reported to her that she has handled the new members.


    "I understand." Ye Ling nodded and said.

 Chapter 102: Li Wanrou

    ����(POV Li Huang, the construction worker)����


    I think the training with grandpa long was at least more fun as we would bicker with each other from time to time, but construction is really a hard job as you have to focus on all the details because this is a fort that is supposed to help us fend off the horde of thousands of beasts that would soon gather to ''punish'' us.


    Their fort has to be perfect for that to happen and to achieve perfection, having complete focus on the building process is a must.


    "Cai ZhenKang, those stairs are really badly put together. Let''s put them together again." I told Cai ZhenKang when I saw one of the stairs that lead to the top of the wall.


    "��Do we really have to?" Cai ZhenKang said as he was sulking. The sulking face on such a big guy was just weird, to say the least.


    "You look disgusting." I couldn''t help but say to his face. I don''t know why but when I saw him sulk, I had this unbelievable urge to punch him in the face.


    Controlling myself so that I won''t punch him, I pointed at the stairs.


    "Do you see that stone there? That would be the weak point for this wall and would make this part of the wall collapse if enough pressure is applied." I told him. Well, I don''t have any experience in constructing a fort but I have something better, the [Peeping eye of heaven]. Using the trick that I learned in the spar with Cai ZhenKang himself, I could see the weak points in the walls that we were building so we could fix them before they cause major issues.


    "Ugh, can''t we go back to cutting stones?" Cai ZhenKang could move materials around easily but the focusing part was getting to him.


    "Stop complaining and get back to work. The faster we finish these walls, the sooner we can get back out there." I knew that we won''t be much out even at that time but I omitted that part to not shit on Cai ZhenKang''s mood any further.


    "HAHA, you should have said it sooner. Let''s finish this wall in the next half an hour." Cai ZhenKang said as he stacked stones on top of each other to increase his speed.


    "Hey, slow down. I don''t want to rebuild the whole thing just because you wanted to finish it faster��" I told him. Cai ZhenKang is really not built for this kind of work as he easily gets frustrated.


    "Heh, no one is more dedicated to the work than me." Cai ZhenKang said that and ran to build a tower.


    "��But dedication has nothing to do with it." I said but he was already far from me.


    Taking a breath to calm down, I got to work as we really needed to finish these walls.


    ��


    ����(POV third person, around the keep)����


    Hu Anjing was working on some final touches to the keep when she saw one of the disciples from the Divine Arrow sect that was running toward her.


    The disciple got to her as fast as she could and stopped in front of her and cupped her fists.


    "I have a report. A group of 39 are getting close to us from the north side of the fort." The disciple said and waited for Hu Anjing''s instruction. As their leader was someone that is very passionate about the arts of war, almost all of her fellow disciples knew how to act as military personnel so she acted like how one should in front of a high-ranking officer.


    "Ye Ling, follow me." Hu Anjing told Ye Ling and nodded to Divine Arrow sect''s disciple to lead the way.


    ��


    "Is your leader also there?" Hu Anjing asked the female disciple as they were on the way.


    "Yes, senior brother should be there now." The disciple answered. Just like how she was sent to inform Hu Anjing about this, one of the other disciples was sent to inform Hou Shuqing about this situation.


    "Good." Hu Anjing nodded. She didn''t inform Li Huang as she knew that he is building the inner wall so she didn''t want to disrupt him.


    In a few seconds, they reached the location of the northern watchtower. Four directional towers were to help them survey the surroundings and this was one of them. As the team is now big enough they can man more towers like these so the speed up in the building process is necessary.


    "What do you think about it, senior sister?" Ye Ling asked as Hu Anjing was sensing the group with her Qi sense. At the same time she checked for Jin Fen but she didn''t find him in there. It seems he isn''t that stupid to come with this group.


    ''Well, Huang is convinced that he will come back so it is better to be cautious.'' Hu Anjing thought.


    "They are from the Sky Pillar sect and the Heaven Reaching Spear sect. Others are from the smaller powers." Hu Anjing explained to Ye Ling.


    When  Hu Anjing saw Hou Shuqing she gave him a small nod as a greeting.


    "Have your fellow disciples ready for a possible conflict although the chance of such thing happening is minuscule." Hu Anjing told Hou Shuqing as the new group was getting closer to them.


    "They are ready." Hou Shuqing said. He wouldn''t show it but he would love for a fight to happen as so far the beast hordes were of small size and he is looking for something that would be fun to be a part of. If Hu Anjing were to know his inner thoughts, she would blast him in the face for the added excitement.


    The new group got in front of Hu Anjing and Hou Shuqing and introduced themselves.


    "Zheng Jingyi, the chief disciple of the Sky Pillar sect." Zheng Jingyi said as he cupped his fists.


    "I am Li Wanrou of the Heaven Reaching Spear sect." Li Wanrou introduced herself. She is from the Li family just like Li Huang but is a spear practitioner, unlike Li Huang who is training in the way of the sword. Agewise, she is four years older than Li Huang.


    She is a member of the main Li family and her grandfather and Li Long are brothers. The relation between Li Huang and her was good in the short interaction that they had over the years.


    When she heard Li Huang calling for an alliance she didn''t care about the reason and came here without any hesitation. She would have loved for them to have more interactions at the selection but all they could do was sending a sound transmission that promised a talk after they were done with the trial. As Li Wanrou and Li Huang both had responsibilities at the time, they put this small talk for later but now was as good as any chance to talk.


    "Where is Huang? Shouldn''t he be here?" Li Wanrou said nonchalantly. She was a little upset that Li Huang didn''t come to greet her in person so she asked about him from the get-go. Zheng Jingyi didn''t want to get into a fight with her so he let her ask away whatever was on her mind.


    Hou Shuqing felt weird that he wasn''t given the chance to introduce himself but stayed silent as he was excited by the prospect of an upcoming conflict.


    Hu Anjing who knew about Li Wanrou a little, didn''t mind her actions and decided to be friendly to her.


    "Junior uncle is working on the eastern inner walls right now." Hu Anjing said as she cupped her fist to return the gesture.


    "Junior uncle��" Li Wanrou muttered.


    "You should be Hu Anjing then��" Li Wanrou said with a nod.


    Hu Anjing wanted to confirm her words but Li Wanrou continued without giving her a chance to speak.


    "��We will work on that wall too." Li Wanrou said and passed Hu Anjing and Hou Shuqing and her fellow disciples also followed after their leader.


    Hu Anjing did her best to stay calm as the corner of her eye twitched. Hou Shuqing could feel Hu Anjing''s rich Qi oozing out of her body but didn''t dare to point it out as all the books and scrolls that he has read about the art of war would disapprove of this action.


    Li Wanrou who didn''t know about this was long gone from the vicinity as she wanted to get to the wall sooner.


    Zheng Jingyi knew better to speak when Li Wanrou was there but didn''t know about Hu Anjing enough to be wary of her too so he did the unthinkable and broke this silence.


    "We too want to join the fort, should we go to the wall too?" Zheng Jingyi asked as he didn''t want to stay idle when the danger of beast hordes is near.


    Everyone at the scene except Ye Ling could see the error in this action and timing but wasn''t dumb enough to address it so all they could do was send him a silent prayer.

 Chapter 103: Even Cai ZhenKang might learn

    ����(POV third person)����


    Zheng Jingyi was waiting for the answer unaware of the grave mistake that he made. Well, it didn''t take long for him to know that he did something wrong.


    How did he know? When Hu Anjing released her pressure on him, there was no way that he could miss this obvious hint.


    Hu Anjing didn''t do it on purpose and released her full cultivation power on Zheng Jingyi subconsciously. The moment this happened Zheng Jingyi could feel that his knees were almost giving out even though he too used his Qi cultivation and body cultivation power to stop this sudden aggression. Needless to say, he wasn''t successful at all and he was moments away from getting planted to the ground. Luckily Hu Anjing came back to her senses and suppressed the pressure that she was applying on Zheng Jingyi subconsciously.


    This happened in a span of a second so most of the disciples didn''t know about this small episode between Hu Anjing and Zheng Jingyi, all they saw was that Zheng Jingyi almost fell to his knees.


    Hou Shuqing on the other hand understood everything and cold sweat formed on his forehead. He knew that he would be the same if he were under the same pressure. Hu Anjing is easily the strongest person here as she is at the peak of the twelfth stage of the meridian formation realm.


    "Sorry about that, you and your fellow disciples can start working on the outer layer of the walls." Hu Anjing said and she wasn''t really sorry about it. If they didn''t need to work together right now, she would probably act differently even before Li Wanrou could walk away from here.


    "��Uh, yes. We will do so." Zheng Jingyi said as he was wondering how he has offended Hu Anjing.


    "Junior sister Ye Ling, please let them know how to work." Hu Anjing told Ye Ling.


    ~''And make sure they know how to build it right��''~ Hu Anjing said in sound transmission. The last time that the White Moon sect disciples worked on one side of the walls, some of it were not up to standards and they needed to rebuild them. Hu Anjing doesn''t want to repeat the same mistake by leaving Zheng Jingyi to his own devices.


    "I understand, senior sister." Ye Ling cupped her fists to Hu Anjing and walked toward Sky Pillar sect disciples.


    "Please follow me." Ye Ling said and guided them toward one part of the outer walls. Zheng Jingyi was glad to follow her as it would place a distance between him and Hu Anjing. He didn''t know what he did wrong but he was sure that he did something wrong and he wasn''t willing to interact with Hu Anjing before he could figure that out.


    Now that the Sky Pillar sect''s disciples left, only the 19 disciples from the smaller powers were waiting for instructions.


    "You are also welcome to stay at the fort but everyone has to work for it here as there is no such thing as a free lunch��" Hu Anjing said to the group of disciples. They might think that they can seek protection from the holy lands and stay at the side so Hu Anjing gave them a warning so that they know what they are signing up for.


    "If you have changed your mind, you can turn back now but if you are willing to help just like everyone else in the fort, follow us��" Hu Anjing said. As the holy lands have a leader in their groups, it is easier to convince them about such work but in the smaller powers, the participants come from different backgrounds so it is hard to convince all of them to work together.


    Hu Anjing turned around and started walking. Behind her, all of the disciples from the smaller powers were following her. The disciples from the smaller powers are usually more arrogant as many of them got to where they are through connections, something that is almost impossible to happen in the holy lands as the holy lands has anything that they want so they can''t be bought easily. Despite that, they know that what happened 300 years ago was not a laughing matter so even the most arrogant person in the group of 19 disciples didn''t hesitate to follow Hu Anjing to enter the fort.


    "Please assign anyone that you think would be of help to your group and man the new towers." Hu Anjing told Hou Shuqing.


    "Yes, I will." Hou Shuqing said and started analyzing each and everyone to find the suitable personnel for his group. He was trying to find out their weapon of choice by focusing on the lines on their hands or how they walked and their posture, like what one of the books he read explained. The effectiveness of this method is not known.


    ����(POV third person, the eastern inner walls)����


    Li Huang was building the walls and fixing Cai ZhenKang''s mistakes that kept happening. Surprisingly, using Hu Anjing to scare him helped and the mistakes were less frequent from then on.


    ''He said let''s finish it in half an hour but I thought it will take way more time. Although we will be done in about an hour it is still impressive, to say the least.'' Li Huang thought. To finish this much work was an achievement in itself. After the walls are built and checked, the formations will be placed on them to improve their durability and resilience.


    "Huang, I came here to help you." Suddenly Li Huang heard a familiar voice. Turning around, he saw Li Wanrou who was standing near him with her fellow disciples.


    "Wanrou, good to see you here. How was your trial so far?" Li Huang went in front of her and asked her. As he knew that she was really hard working and invested in her training, he asked about her trial first.


    "We had a good time this year. Well, if you factor out the fact that we might be facing what resulted in the eternal wail trial''s massacre." Li Wanrou said as she tilted her head at the end.


    "True." Li Huang nodded to her. He kind of missed Li Wanrou and her personality. She has always been like this, she would answer your question but wouldn''t even try to continue the conversation. Not that she is not interested, no, most of the times she thinks that the conversation is already over.


    Cai ZhenKang who saw that Li Huang wasn''t following him like he always would and kept telling him he is doing this or that wrong, turned back to see why he wasn''t there. It was at that moment that he saw Li Huang and Li Wanrou talking together.


    Even after all these years, Cai ZhenKang didn''t learn his lesson and made the same mistake that he made the first time that he saw Hu Anjing.


    "Li Huang, are you playing with a girl when you should be working? HAHA��ha?" Cai ZhenKang was laughing at Li Huang that a spear was planted to the ground dangerously close to his crotch area. Cai ZhenKang followed the end of the spear and his eyes landed on Li Wanrou who took out a new spear from her storage ring.


    "Is that brick head an acquaintance of yours?" Li Wanrou asked Li Huang as she got ready to throw the next spear Cai ZhenKang.


    "Wanrou, he has some problems when it comes to talking to humans in general, you don''t have to dirty your hands." Li Huang tried to deescalate the situation by saying that Cai ZhenKang is an idiot. Well, most of the time this is true so he wasn''t lying.


    "Is that true?" Li Wanrou asked Li Huang.


    "Yes." Li Huang said and looked at the stupefied Cai ZhenKang.


    ~''He is from the Blue Bulls sect, they say their training affects the mind��''~ Li Huang sent this last part as sound transmission. Li Wanrou who heard it nodded a couple of times as she understood.


    "You should have said it sooner." Li Wanrou said as she put her spare spear back in the storage ring. One of her fellow disciples ran toward Cai ZhenKang and retrieved the other spear for her.


    Cai ZhenKang now understood that she was like Hu Anjing so he didn''t even think of retaliating. He was thankful to Li Huang for saving him from this crazy lady just now.


    Well, if he could stop himself from making jokes about doing girly things, none of these things would happen to him but it would take him more time to come to know that crucial fact.


    "I keep that in mind for the next time." Li Huang said. He didn''t want to bring out that Li Wanrou didn''t even give him a chance to do so in the first place as she attacked Cai ZhenKang without hesitation.


    "What should I do to help?" Li Wanrou asked Li Huang.


    "We are building the walls and the towers like this��" Li Huang explained the plan to her and the architecture that they were going with.


    "Good. We will help to finish it faster." Li Wanrou said and they got back to work.

 Chapter 104: One layer done, one to go

    ����(POV third person, the eastern wall)����


    Working with Li Wanrou was a blast for Li Huang because Cai ZhenKang was more ''dedicated'' to work and there were an even lower amount of mistakes on his part. This was an intelligent move on his part as he didn''t want to get into Li Wanrou''s radar again.


    With the addition of 10 new members, the wall was built fast. Having Qi in this kind of construction work is like having more hands as you can move materials with your Qi and based on your cultivation realm and stage, you can move even  more items at the same time.


    Li Huang had a group of 9 if you include him in it, so when Li Wanrou got here the group size more than doubled and the work sped up. In a short time, everything started to take shape and soon they were going to build the adjacent walls.


    "Cai ZhenKang, help me rebuild this part." Li Huang said. He was nitpicking but when it can save lives, this is not that much of a nuisance to do.


    "Alright!" Cai ZhenKang said and you could feel how energetic he was from his voice. No, he didn''t change his mind about the construction work being boring to him but Li Huang found a workaround for it.


    When they had to rebuild a part of the wall, they had to extract the stone cubes if it was in the middle of the wall and you didn''t want to rebuild everything that came after that. So Li Huang told Cai ZhenKang to use his Axe Qi to disconnect the parts that were a problem from the wall. This small thing changed Cai ZhenKang''s perspective on the work completely. Li Huang was almost sure that if Cai ZhenKang wasn''t afraid of Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou, he would make more mistakes just to get to do some ''stone cutting''.


    ''Let''s just hope that he won''t develop a habit out of cutting stones.'' Li Huang thought.


    Cai ZhenKang cut the stones out of the wall and Li Huang stored the whole thing in his storage ring to free the space. The first time that they did this, Cai ZhenKang started punching the disconnected part to get it out of there. Needless to say, that was a stupid plan as it destroyed more walls than it should have because the walls are not strengthened yet. Well, Cai ZhenKang got his lesson there and so did Li Huang. After that time, Li Huang would store that part of the wall before Cai ZhenKang could get an impulse to punch it out.


    "Okay, let''s fix it now." Li Huang said as he filled the hole with new stones that didn''t have the issues that the previous ones had. Their method was rudimentary but it would work so they went with it as none of them was an architect.


    Cai ZhenKang started using his Axe Qi like a laser to make it easier for the new stones to fit there. As the stones were almost identical it wasn''t that hard of a job but it was tedious for him.


    In less than a minute they were done with this repair and got back to building more walls.


    ��


    "What is your plan now, Huang?" Li Wanrou asked Li Huang as they were done with the inner walls and she didn''t know how Li Huang had planned the future process.


    "Hmm, it would be for the best that we continue building until we have finished this batch of materials. Now that we got the hang of it I think it is better that we continue with outer walls and let others start fortifying these walls with scrolls and formations��" Li Huang shared his thoughts. Cai ZhenKang didn''t comment on it as he know that going out for materials when they have materials is just plain stupid. Well, the fact that Li Wanrou was also there played a part in it too.


    "Alright, we will follow your lead." Li Wanrou nodded and said. Giving her fellow disciples a nod, she let them know that they will be moving soon.


    "Thank you, let''s finish this." Li Huang said and he too got ready to move to the outer walls.


    ��


    As life is usually, nothing goes as planned and you always have something unexpected that happens. This time it wasn''t an unforeseen event but it was certainly something that changed the plans.


    Li Huang, Li Wanrou, and Cai ZhenKang sensed a big beast horde getting close on them as they were going to start building the walls. As the horde was heading toward the fort, they had to stop it and do it fast because the inner walls can not hold these beasts as they are not strengthened yet.


    "Get ready for the engagement." Li Huang shouted to make everyone aware of the upcoming enemy forces.


    "Everyone other than Li Wanrou and Cai ZhenKang gets into a linear formation. We three will eliminate as much beast as possible, you have to deal with whatever that is left of them." Li Huang added. He looked at Li Wanrou and Cai ZhenKang to see their reactions.


    "HAHAHA, Li Huang mark this day because you had the fortune to fight alongside me! HAHAHA��" Cai ZhenKang said as he lunged forward toward the beast horde.


    "My body got a little stiff with all these works, this would be a good stretch." Li Wanrou said and she also followed Cai ZhenKang to meet the beasts head-on.


    ''Well, it is good that we have a good team with high confidence in themselves.'' Li Huang thought and he too didn''t waste time and ran forward toward the beasts. The horde consists of some sort of four-legged beasts that have two horns. Their physique showed that they have strong bodies and their body was covered by furs that were mostly colored black.


    As they got closer to the beasts Cai ZhenKang was the first target for the ferocious beasts.


    The beast tried to kill Cai ZhenKang by attacking him with its two horns. Seeing this, Cai ZhenKang grabbed the beast from its horns and threw the beast back to his friends. The beast was soon stomped to death by the running horde of his comrades.


    "HAHAHAHA, this is how you should spend your days, you have been living in vain Li Huang!" Cai ZhenKang turned to taunt Li Huang like he always would.


    The moment Cai ZhenKang turned to face Li Huang a beast tried to use this chance to sneak attack him. Li Huang who saw this didn''t hesitate and shot a sword Qi bullet toward the beast that was right behind Cai ZhenKang.


    To Cai ZhenKang it looked like Li Huang was attacking him but the moment that the attack passed him, he heard a *thump* sound. Turning around he saw the beast that was trying to sneak attack him when he wasn''t paying attention, laying lifeless on the ground.


    "Cai ZhenKang, you were about to die in vain��" Li Huang said with a smirk.


    "��What death? It wouldn''t even leave a scratch on me." Cai ZhenKang said as confidently as he could but Li Huang knew that the beast could definitely scratch him so he didn''t pay attention to Cai ZhenKang''s answer.


    "Sure, sure��" Li Huang said and attacked the next beast.


    "YOU ARE JUST JEALOUS OF MY BODY''S RESILIENCE." Cai ZhenKang shouted at the top of his lungs. He wanted to make sure that Li Huang heard him. Li Huang tried his hardest to not show any reaction to his shout.


    ��


    Li Wanrou was using her main spear with her weapon Qi to attack them from a distance. Her spear was created from a special material that made it super easy to control from a distance. With a secondary spear, she would attack any beast that could pass her main spear''s attacks.


    Li Huang would throw shurikens every once in a while to eliminate the beasts that he couldn''t kill with only a sword Qi bullet. His main method of fighting was the sword dance he tried in the team formation.


    Cai ZhenKang on the other hand was fighting like a savage. You could see body parts being thrown everywhere. This was one of the famous fighting techniques of the Blue Bulls sect that imitate many ferocious beasts and let the practitioner fight like them.


    It is said that this technique has 999 forms and one can only learn them one after another so there is no shortcut in learning this technique. The first patriarch of the Blue Bulls sect is said to be able to master 902 forms of this technique in his time.


    The method for training each of the forms is connected to the one before it for all the forms except the 999th form. The page that teaches this form only has the name of this form on it and it is said that once you know all other forms, you can gain enlightenment about this final form. This final form is called ''Blue Bull''.

 Chapter 105: Bloody Cai ZhenKang

    ����(POV third person, where Li Huang and the others are fighting)����


    Although that Li Huang, Li Wanrou, and Cai ZhenKang kept killing the beasts left and right, as the number of the beasts was very high, they couldn''t finish them all and some of them would rush past them before they could finish them off.


    This is where the last line of defense has been created. Other disciples of this group formed a linear defensive formation to stop the beasts from advancing any further. The disciples from the Heaven Reaching Spear sect were a step back so that they can use their weapon''s reach advantage to attack the beasts that are focused on the person closest to them.


    One of the advantages of this group was that they had one person who could use the weapon Qi to an extent. This person is Lang Yingmin, the disciple from the White Moon sect that helped Li Huang in cutting stones before Cai ZhenKang got there. She learned how to use her weapon Qi better from Li Huang so that she could help the team to collect stones faster.


    And no, he didn''t help her so that she can beat He Junli in their sect, and this way Li Huang could get back at her for being a spoiled brat. Well, maybe a little��


    As she was now more proficient in using her weapon Qi, she could attack with more power and it would have less effect on her Qi reserves.


    Lai Xinyue was also next to Lang Yingmin, she was ready for this as she was now more confident than when she started the trial. She is now at the first stage of the meridian formation realm and she was able to stabilize one meridian in their last formation when they got a half-day reward in that meditation room.


    The disciples in the linear formation would attack and switch with the person behind them so that no beast could pass them. Despite them being successful in handling the horde so far, Li Huang didn''t take any chances and contacted Hu Anjing and let her know about the situation.


    ~''How many are there? Can you handle them?''~ Hu Anjing send a sound transmission back to Li Huang who was killing beasts. She wanted to see how many are there and how many reinforcements she should send.


    ~''From what I can guess they must be at least 10,000 of them. We can handle them but I am afraid that they might pass us and damage the walls��''~ Li Huang sent a sound transmission with his communication device while he was attacking more beasts.


    ~''Okay, we will station some of the disciples on the walls and outside them to handle whatever leftover there might be.''~ Hu Anjing said after thinking for a moment. She also knew that if the beast could reach the walls, all of their works would be for naught as they would have to build the walls again.


    ~''Okay, after that put anyone you can onto building the outer walls, we can''t have these kinds of beast hordes happen again so finishing the walls is a must��''~ Li Huang said. As Hu Anjing was handling the management of the fort and the participants, she was the one who would arrange them.


    ~''I Agree. Don''t worry about it. Be careful.''~ Hu Anjing said.


    ~''That I am.''~ Li Huang said and turned his focus on the beasts.


    "I will get to the other disciples for a minute. There will be a backup team on the walls and I''m going to let them know." Li Huang said as he moved backward to get closer to the next line of defense.


    "Good idea, some would panic if they think they have let down everyone when a beast can pass them." Li Wanrou nodded and continued moving her spear in the air with her weapon Qi like a flying broom. The beast wouldn''t see it coming when the spear would pass through five skulls in a span of a second.


    Li Huang turned to see what jab would Cai ZhenKang throw at him this time, but he didn''t say anything. Cai ZhenKang was so engrossed in tearing the beasts to shreds that he probably didn''t even hear him say a thing.


    Li Huang didn''t even try to talk to him as he didn''t want to disturb him. Who would want to disturb someone who is covered in blood up to his elbows?


    It didn''t take him more than a few seconds to get in front of the group. They felt worried for a moment because they thought he was pushed back by the horde this much and if he was pushed back this much, what could they do in a situation like this. Their worries proved to be unfounded as Li Huang could handle the beasts with ease and not like someone who was getting pushed back.


    Li Huang who didn''t know about this tried to clear the surrounding with a quick move so that he can talk with them for a bit. Throwing a handful of shurikens he infused them with his sword Qi and he copied the way Li Wanrou controlled her spear to control these shurikens and attacked the surrounding beasts. The shurikens would visit each beast''s skull for a few milliseconds and would leave from the opposite side.


    One second they were fighting beasts, the next second the beasts were all dead. Well, as Li Huang shurikens were not created to handle weapon Qi for such a long time, they broke down and turned to dust soon after but they finished the job nonetheless.


    The group of disciples that were doing everything they could to stop the beasts felt that they were trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.


    "There are some disciples stationed on the walls behind you so if some beasts passed you, you shouldn''t lose your focus." Li Huang said and threw some shurikens to do a cleanup. Li Huang had some ideas about how these hordes are attracted to this place


    "I think they are attracted to where participants are and the stronger the beast the better is their senses��" Li Huang hypothesized.


    "Well, I should go back, take care." Li Huang said and turned back and ran toward Li Wanrou and Cai ZhenKang.


    The other disciples couldn''t understand how he could be this carefree and thought that he is this composed in front of this horde as he has a great sense of planning. Well, they were not that far from the truth but Li Huang wasn''t good at planning, it would be more accurate to call him a planning enthusiast because he would plan and plan for his plans.


    ��Okay, you can call him paranoid but I prefer ''planning enthusiast''.


    "Let''s try to catch as most beasts that we can." Dai Bao said as he didn''t want to leave the work to whoever that is at the wall. His ego wouldn''t let him let others do what he can finish himself. Wouldn''t he lose face for the heavenly sword sect if he were to let beasts pass him just like that?


    Dai Bao obviously didn''t get Li Huang''s message when he said that you can let them pass you if you find it impossible to stop them, but a little more motivation could help their group.


    With this newfound energy, the group did their best in this fight as if their life was dependent on it. There is something that makes you work with less intensity if you know that you won''t face a serious problem if you don''t put your 100% in a work. This is something that can happen subconsciously and most people don''t know that they are not doing their best but when it is a do or die kind of situation, you find out that you not only have more energy but you are more powerful than usual.


    ��


    More than 10,000 beasts take the team half an hour to kill but they have done it. Li Huang gave some pills and potions to whoever didn''t have them and then contacted Hu Anjing to see if any wall was damaged in the process, luckily everything was fine as only a small number of beasts could get to the walls and they were dealt with easily.


    From what Hu Anjing explained they were able to strengthen all the locations in the inner wall until now so they can put more disciples on the outer wall''s construction task.


    "Li Huang, this punishment is not as bad as you thought, is it?" Cai ZhenKang said as he grinned. It would have seemed normal if his face wasn''t covered in the blood of the beasts.


    "��Clean your face before you talk again." Li Huang told him with a deadpan and threw him a towel to wipe his face with.


    Cai ZhenKang just laughed and used the towel to clean his face and hands. The towel was soon covered in blood.


    "Huang, we should get back to building as fast as possible." Li Wanrou said. The beast horde was large but not strong so they could handle them but if they were stronger they had to really fight the beasts and that would take time, time that they don''t have. Completing the fort gives them the advantage that the beasts should stop and pass the moat somehow, then attack the walls and then attack them. In this scenario, they would have enough time to think, strategize, and act on it.


    "Yeah, but let us give other disciples a few more minutes of rest before we get back to work." Li Huang nodded and said.

 Chapter 106: The reddening eyes

    ����(POV third person, the outer walls)����


    Li Huang, Li Wanrou, and Cai ZhenKang got up after a few minutes and asked the disciples to continue building the outer walls. Other disciples also came to join them in the time that they were resting. With the addition of 40 disciples that were reassigned to build the other walls, the team consisted of 59 disciples that were ready to work.


    With these numbers, it wasn''t hard to finish the work on the outer walls fast. Spreading out the disciples, the team got to building.


    Within two hours the walls were finished and the strengthening formations for the outer walls was also half done as the formation team finished the work on the inner wall. Because of the large beast horde that attacked the fort, everyone worked with more energy as no one could rest easy knowing that the beasts could surround them the next minute.


    When the outer walls were complete and inspected by Li Huang and others, they had to dig the moat. Most of the disciples were assigned to the formation team to speed up that process so only a group of five were assigned to the newly formed digging group.


    ����(Somewhere in the trial''s space, the moment Jin Fen ran)����


    "MY HAAAAND!" Jin Fen screamed at the top of his lungs. Jin Fen was full of rage as now he had lost his dominant hand, his right hand. Gritting his teeth, Jin Fen popped a couple of pills that he ironically got from Li Huang himself, the one who inflicted this pain on him.


    His mind was full of ways that he wanted to torture Li Huang and kill him slowly. Oh, how he would love to tear him to pieces just to put the pieces back together. As he was deep in thoughts, his eyes gained a red hue. The more he would think of Li Huang, the more this hue intensified.


    "That bastard! How dare he attack me? ME?" Jin Fen shouted. He couldn''t believe that Li Huang not only dared to attack him, he also dared to maim him.


    "And what did others do? Nothing. They might have as well attacked me too. Ungrateful dogs, I could have killed them anytime that I wished so but let them keep their miserable lives and what do I get in return? Backstabbing bastards! All of them!" Jin Fen spits on the ground as he finished shouting. Somehow, he didn''t find himself at fault for this situation. He didn''t find himself at fault for stealing the blue orb, he didn''t find himself at fault for putting everyone in the trial in danger by his actions, and he didn''t find himself at fault that his action could result in a serious problem for the heavenly sword sect. Why would he? Isn''t it natural for an ant to be stepped on? So how is it any different for him and others? They obviously should be glad that they can be his stepping stones, this way they might occupy a line or two in his legend��


    Jin Fen who was angry because of the audacity that Li Huang and others have shown him, punched a tree to calm himself down. That unfortunate tree was torn to pieces.


    After a few moments, he calmed down a bit and his eyes lost the red hue that they had gained in the past minute.


    He now could think more clearly and was calm enough to come up with a plan. He wanted revenge and he wanted it yesterday. He didn''t care about Li Huang''s backing or any such things. As they say, what is an army in front of absolute might?


    What was surprising was that Jin Fen really believed himself to be almighty in this world and wouldn''t put anyone in his eyes. Ever since that he found the [Evil God Scripture], he knew that he is not comparable to anyone in the world as they are but dust in front of him.


    Well, one of those specks of dust just maimed him but he was so focused on himself that he somehow missed this significant fact that would deny his claims.


    "��I have to get back, I have to get Lai Xinyue back." Jin Fen muttered to himself. He wasn''t going to leave her to anyone else as she was already her woman, she just doesn''t know it yet.


    ''She might complain and resist at first but she would come to know her position if I keep her as one of my maids for a couple of years��'' Jin Fen thought and smirked. For some reason, Jin Fen''s thoughts got more frantic as time passed and after he lost his hand, he reached new heights.


    Jin Fen was interested in her as she looked exactly like his childhood sweetheart and he believed Lai Xinyue to be her reincarnation. The moment he saw her in the sect, he was so infatuated with her that he thought it was a dream but When Li Huang tried to kill her, he couldn''t stand still even if it was a dream so he went on stage and stopped Li Huang with one move. After that Li Huang who was humiliated, left the scene red from embarrassment and that was where Li Huang started making problems for Jin Fen.


    ��Or at least that is how Jin Fen remembers that event.


    Jin Fen was in a good mood as he was thinking of Lai Xinyue but this didn''t go on for long as he heard a voice.


    ~''This is Li Huang, the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect.''~ He heard the sound transmission of Li Huang that was sent to everyone in the trial space.


    ~''I have evidence that suggests this punishment is the same thing that caused the massacre 300 years ago.''~ Li Huang said and Jin Fen clenched his fists. He couldn''t believe that Li Huang would be shameless enough to use this method.


    ~''At that time only four disciples were able to come out of this trial alive. To avoid that same fate happening to us, I suggest that we enter a temporary alliance to overcome this hurdle.''~ He said.


    ''That bastard wants to use this chance to get everyone together to fight me like that. Does he think he could maim me if I wasn''t careless for a moment?'' Jin Fen thought. He wasn''t afraid at all as he knew that he could defeat them all, something told him that he has the power to do so if he wishes it.


    ~''Our sect is on the move to the best location that we found to make a fort. When we are at the location we will set up a beacon to guide you there. This place is near the center of this space so I suggest you move toward the center for now��''~ Li Huang said. Although it was disgusting to Jin Fen to hear Li Huang''s voice he was glad that he told him where they are going to go. This way Jin Fen can easily go to that location and finish any and every participant that is with Li Huang. Of course, except Lai Xinyue as she is probably tricked into following them.


    "Li Huang, your days are numbered from now on��" Jin Fen said as he grinned. He was confident that he can kill Li Huang if they were to fight again.


    ��


    Jin Fen used his time to find this fort of Li Huang and his lackeys. As they had a beacon there it was hard to miss it so Jin Fen found it easily. He kept his distance to observe how many disciples would enter the fort and to his surprise, almost everyone who entered the trial joined them in a couple of hours and they also built some walls and buildings at the time.


    Jin Fen was furious that Almost everyone joined that bastard and now he can not be sure that he can come out of this situation alive. Something was telling him that this was not a good plan to barge into the fort and kill Li Huang as he might have some difficulties getting out of there.


    Trying to calm down he thought about the situation a little more as he could always find the best way to act when he pondered on it for a while.


    He soon came up with a plan. If he can not attack now, he will wait for an opportunity to attack Li Huang when he is not ready for it and then he can also take Lai Xinyue away.


    This idea came to him when he saw a beast horde attacking the fort and how they had to fight them when also thinking about the fort itself at the same time. This would provide the opening that he was looking for and give him the edge to kill Li Huang with ease.


    Jin Fen was happily waiting for that opening, unaware that his eyes now had a pale red hue covering them.

 Chapter 107: So you like punishment?

    ����(POV Li Huang, digging the moat)����


    "This wouldn''t stop any powerful beast but it can trap a portion of weaker beasts." I told my fellow diggers after we were done digging the moat. My plan was to use this moat as a crowd handling method so that the corpses that will pile up behind the walls don''t create a platform for the beasts to enter the fort. Of course, this too can fill up given enough time but we will use the same method that me, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling used when fighting the horde of giant giant apes, we will store the bodies in storage rings regularly.


    "Li Huang, I think others are giving you face by being silent but I have to tell you. This pitfall is not deep enough to kill any of the beasts in this trial." Cai ZhenKang said like how a big brother points out his younger brother''s errors. Cai ZhenKang really felt proud that he was pointing out this flaw in Li Huang''s plan. What he didn''t see were the odd looks that others were giving him because of his words.


    "��Did you think we are going to kill the beasts just with the fall?" I didn''t want to be the bad guy by judging him so I opted to ask him straight.


    "Than what else?" Cai ZhenKang said and made a weird expression as he looked around to show that nothing here can damage the beasts other than the gravity.


    "We are going to place formations here that would aid us in killing them in different manners��" I told him. Others seem to know this from the beginning so it was only Cai ZhenKang that looked surprised.


    "Ohhh! And how in the world we find enough material for this many formations?" Cai ZhenKang said with the same face as before. I think I would rather he bicker with me like usual to this big brother persona that he has going on.


    "Yes, didn''t we already use many formations for the fort?" Hou Shuqing, the chief disciple of the Divine Arrow sect asked. He and others also donated formation to the cause as they didn''t want our heavenly sword sect to get all the recognition and didn''t think what we had would be enough. My pockets appreciate their kind gesture as they have lessened the burden on me but I do have enough materials for all the formations that are in place and will be placed and some change.


    "Don''t worry about that, I have the necessary materials all we need to do is place them." I told them. It wasn''t like I wanted to extort them when they donated materials, I just didn''t want them to think that we want all the glory to ourselves. But now that there is no need for such thoughts, I can use my resources to finish this fort, and then we can rest�� probably.


    "Okay then, let us finish this part too." Li Wanrou said and started walking toward me.


    She stretched out her hand toward me and looked at my face. No, she didn''t want to hold my hand or anything like that. She wanted to take some materials so that she can start working on the formations.


    I also did the same and materialized the necessary materials from my storage ring right above her hand. The moment they would appear, she would store them in her ring, so from an observer''s perspective, it was like the material was flicking in and out of existence.


    "I will get to work." Li Wanrou said and walked away to start her work.


    Others kept looking at me as they didn''t know what to do. Should they do the same or was that a family-only sort of thing? To put an end to their thoughts I spoke to them.


    "Everybody can come and take a portion of the materials as this way we can work faster." To make it even easier, I start pouring the materials on the ground so that they don''t have to do it the same way Wanrou did.


    All the members came and took a portion with them and we got back to work. I think I have to ask for a vacation after this trial.


    ��


    Everything went well and we were making progress steadily. In 40 minutes we were done with two-thirds of the moat. The formations got easier to form as we got the hang of it and the material placement wouldn''t take as long as it used to at the beginning.


    "Good work everyone, at this pace we can finish this in 15 minu��*BOOM*" I said, and suddenly the sound of an explosion could be heard really close to me and a big projectile was heading toward me. Thinking that Jin Fen was finally out of patience, I decided to finish it once and for all.


    Without thinking much about it I just sidestepped so that the projectile won''t hit me. Soon the projectile passed my face and smashed into one side of the moat.


    After the clouds of dust settled a little, we could see the projectile was a human being, a human being that we were all too familiar with.


    "��Cai ZhenKang?" I muttered. I couldn''t believe it was him.


    "What happened to you?" I asked him as I was really confused. I couldn''t find anything or anyone in the surroundings so it couldn''t be an attack and even if it was I can''t believe that someone could smash Cai ZhenKang to the wall this easily.


    ''��well, There is Hu Anjing but that is beside the point��'' I thought.


    Cai ZhenKang got out of the wall and scratched his head awkwardly.


    "Hahaha, it was nothing. I only confused [Shadow Bittercress] and [Devil''s Bitterweed] so this happened." He said as he pointed to the two herbs in his hand. He has placed the wrong materials in the formation and that resulted in this explosion.


    "��You are still confusing them. That one is the [Shadow Bittercress] and the other one is the [Devil''s Bitterweed] ." I told him with a deadpan. I didn''t consider the fact that Cai ZhenKang is often careless or else I wouldn''t put him in the team when we were going to set formations, a task that needs focus.


    "Oh! Then this wasn''t what made the explosion. Hahaha." Cai ZhenKang laughed nervously in the end as he saw the eyes on him. This explosion could damage all the formations so no one was fine with it.


    "Okay, you can sit this one out." I told him with the best-forced smile that I could muster. Keeping him could only result in more explosions.


    "But�� But what would I do then?" Cai ZhenKang said as if he was lost because now he didn''t have a task.


    "Why don''t you go and cut the trees that are near the fort so that we could have a better watch over those regions?" Li Wanrou said. She didn''t know that Cai ZhenKang would die to swing his axe at something, she just said the first thing that she could think of that would make Cai ZhenKang move away from anywhere that they were setting formations.


    "Yes, yes. That would be a great help!" I enthusiastically nodded to her words as I know Cai ZhenKang would be occupied with it until we finish every formation in the fort.


    "HAHAHA, you should have told me that there was such a task. Don''t worry as the pillar of this fort I will carry this task all by myself." Cai ZhenKang said and jumped out of the moat and ran toward the nearest tree that he could locate.


    "HAHAHA." I could still hear him laughing as he was running.


    ''Oh boy. I hope his master don''t hold me accountable for this habit that Cai ZhenKang has formed.'' I thought and honestly I was more afraid of this than what Jin Fen would do.


    "Okay, now we can work with ease." I could almost see Cai ZhenKang destroying the fort before the beasts could even try if he were to continue with the formations.


    Everyone nodded to my words and we soon start working again.


    ����(POV Hu Anjing, the outer wall)����


    "Ye Ling, go and check if there is no big problem." I asked Ye Ling to do a routine check on everyone who was helping with the various formations.


    "Yes, senior sister." Ye Ling said and went to do her task.


    Looking around I found the disciples of the White Moon sect and He Junli. They were all working but He Junli was seemingly supervising them. I say seemingly because there was no sign of supervision there, she was just resting while others worked. Although I''m not working with everyone else right now, I do check every formation around so it is not like I am passing time here.


    ''This He Junli is really a spoiled brat as Huang said.'' I thought. I would like to say something to her but it wasn''t something that I could meddle in as they were not from our sect and as long as others finished their sect''s assigned work portion, I couldn''t say anything as the fort leader.


    ��


    "Senior sister, every formation is set and the fort is fully fortified." Ye Ling gave me the report on the tasks. Now we can sit and wait for the beast hordes to come knocking at our doors.

 Chapter 108: Patrol teams

    ����(POV third person, meeting tent)����


    "Now that everything is ready in the fort, we can talk about our strategy for these fights." Hu Anjing said. The representatives of the seven holy lands were here. A couple of disciples from the smaller powers were also selected as the representatives of those participants. Other disciples were standing around the table to hear the meeting as this would affect everyone and having first-hand information on these sorts of things is the key to having a successful operation.


    "Junior uncle, please." Hu Anjing said and asked Li Huang to continue the talks as he came up with the plan for everyone present here.


    "There is no one here that is not suitable to fight so my plan is not to tell you how to fight because if you were not able to fight, you wouldn''t be able to reach the final 100 that entered the [Eternal Wail Trial]."  Li Huang said and glanced at everyone at the table. He didn''t want to teach them fighting and also didn''t want to wound their pride by suggesting so.


    "But what I want you to do is to do everything in your power when you are fighting. Some things are natural so I don''t waste time on them. Divine Arrow sect disciples and White Moon sect disciples will man the towers as they are best suited for this task." Li Huang said and looked at Hou Shuqing who nodded at him and He Junli who frowned.


    "Why should we do that?" He Junli said as she didn''t like to be bossed around. Well, more like she liked to boss others, not the other way.


    This didn''t go unnoticed by Li Huang who didn''t like the attitude that He Junli had from the very beginning.


    "What advantages would you have in a close-range fight?" Li Huang said and gave a second to He Junli to answer.


    "If you don''t have some solid reasoning and logic to refute my words, please don''t interrupt me again as every minute that is wasted could result in someone''s death." Li Huang said and with his words made others also look at He Junli with a bit of resentment. Truly she shouldn''t have said anything when she didn''t have anything to back it with.


    He Junli clenched her fists under the table and didn''t say anything. She wasn''t stupid and knew that if she continued talking like this she would only lose face for the White Moon sect. Also in truth, she wasn''t opposed to manning the towers but she didn''t want others to tell her what to do.


    Li Huang could see that He Junli didn''t plan to continue so he continued with his plan.


    "Other sects can also join these holy lands if they are good at ranged attacks. You have to work under the supervision of one of these holy lands as they are responsible for you." Li Huang told the disciples of smaller powers that they can choose how to act as they know their sect''s strength the best. He didn''t want to waste time getting to know each and every sect that these disciples came from.


    "Other holy lands like our heavenly sword sect are most effective at close-ranged fights so that is what we do, except the Temple of Emptiness." Li Huang said and looked at Xuan Muni who had his eyes closed the whole time.


    "I have heard about the [True Dharma Eye] formation of the Temple of Emptiness, it would help us greatly if you can do this for everyone." Li Huang asked Xuan Muni. If they could use this formation, the fight with the beasts will get much easier.


    "Yes, I would have suggested that we do the same. Our temple will create this formation but we might need some materials��" Xuan Muni said. This setup would need the monks to create a formation first and then sit in some locations of it to activate it. Once activated, you could sense a very big space and this would help everyone to know what is going on in the surroundings so that they can act fast when a beast horde is just on the edge of the [True Dharma Eye] formation''s detection range.


    "You don''t have to worry about that, we will set this formation in the keep and project the Qi sense map on top of the keep so that everyone can see it." Li Huang said and everyone nodded as they too were okay with this plan.


    "So with this, all the assignments are done. Let''s get out of here alive." Li Huang said and got out of the tent.


    The other also stood up and the disciples that were from the smaller powers talked to holy land representatives to get into their teams. Hu Anjing got out of the tent and stood beside Li Huang.


    "What are you thinking about?" Hu Anjing asked Li Huang who was looking at the horizon.


    "��I''m thinking that the old man could have killed us all if he wanted too but why didn''t he?" Li Huang asked. He was puzzled about this from the beginning. He knows that someone who can create such a thing like this trial, is not an ordinary person and even if this is only a projection, he must be able to inflict pain on someone as weak as them.


    "Maybe he doesn''t have enough energy to do so?" Hu Anjing said unsure. She didn''t think about this until now and if you look at it it is weird to say this is your punishment and all they face in a day was about 20,000 beasts that could barely count as a threat to the number of disciples in the fort. Well, if they were not united that would be another story.


    "That could be it but I think this too might be a test of sorts��" Li Huang said.


    "Anyway, let''s make some teams to patrol the outer walls." Li Huang said and changed the subject. It is not a good practice to talk about hypotheses when you don''t have enough evidence to build on them. When someone as paranoid as Li Huang thinks like that, there must be some truth to it.


    ''I think I am forgetting something but I don''t know what��'' Li Huang thought.


    ����(POV third person, somewhere outside the fort)����


    Sound of heavy objects hitting the ground one after another could be heard in the surrounding. The beasts wouldn''t come close to here if they didn''t number in the thousands as these sounds to them showed that this was the territory of a powerful beast. What''s more, the maniacal laughter that could be heard every once in a while added to the scariness of this place.


    This powerful beast was none other than Cai ZhenKang who was cutting down tree after tree left and right. As he learned from Li Huang he would collect the logs as he went so he didn''t have to go back on the path that he already was.


    What Li Huang forgot about was Cai ZhenKang. Even his fellow disciples didn''t say anything as they thought their senior brother was being cool by not showing up for an official meeting. They would giggle every once in a while but that was it.


    On the other hand, Cai ZhenKang didn''t know about the meeting and collected so much wood that he filled a storage ring to the brim with logs. There was so much wood there that even if they were to rebuild everything they wouldn''t run out of logs.


    "I think I have to go back, they surely would struggle to handle things when I am not around." Cai ZhenKang nodded to himself and started walking back toward the fort.


    ����(POV third person, inside the fort)����


    It was decided that every holy land that is going to go outside, would create two teams of four so that they can distribute the strong participants somewhat evenly. From the heavenly sword sect, Li Huang and Hu Anjing decided to form a team as they were the strongest disciples there. Hu Anjing took Ye Ling into her team at the first moment so Li Huang had to explore his options. He chose Mo Hui, the twin blade user, and Lai Xinyue as his team''s members. He was looking for the forth member that he heard someone.


    "Young master Li, can I join your team?" Lang Yingmin said as she stood in front of Li Huang. She was the disciple that learned a bit of the weapon Qi control from Li Huang.


    Li Huang turned to face her. Lang Yingmin is one of the strong disciples here so he didn''t have any problems adding her to his team.


    "I don''t have a problem with that, but isn''t your sect supposed to man the walls and towers?" Li Huang couldn''t find a reason for Lang Yingmin''s request to be on a patrol team when her fellow disciples would occupy the walls.


    "I was told that I can go and find some other place to be as they have a replacement for me." Lang Yingmin said with a straight face.


    ''Damn, White Moon sect disciples are scary...'' Li Huang couldn''t believe his ears.

 Chapter 109: Countdown begins

    ����(POV third person, the fort, three days left from the trial)����


    "Does the east side have enough manpower?" Hou Shuqing asked no one in particular. He shouted so that his voice could be heard over the fights that were happening just outside the outer walls. He was on the west side of the fort and from the projection that was displayed in the center of the fort, right above the keep, he could see that many beasts were also attacking the east side so he wanted to know if they need reinforcement for their operations or not.


    The formation that the monks of the Temple of Emptiness created, [True Dharma Eye], was the best thing that could happen to them as it would act as a centralized watchtower that was much much stronger than other watchtowers that they had. With this formation distributing the disciples to where ever they were needed was very easy as everyone could see where the beasts were attacking and where every other disciple was��


    "From what I have heard, Heavenly Sword sect and the Blue Bulls sect teams are there, they shouldn''t have much difficulty." One of the disciples answered Hou Shuqing. They had implemented a rotation system that would make everyone switch places every once in a while so there is always someone with fresh information about each side in a group on the walls. This would help them handle situations like this with more ease.


    "Good, next one who is going to the east side tell them that we could use their help here if they are finished with their side��" Hou Shuqing said and at the same time, he draw his bowstring without notching the arrow to it. He then injected some of his weapon Qi into the bow and an arrow was formed from his Qi and after finding his target, he let the arrow loose.


    This technique was really hard to execute as you had to solidify your weapon Qi to a level that it can be used as the arrow itself. Those who can''t do such a thing would often use an arrow as a base and infuse it with Qi or the weapon Qi to add to its power.


    The weapon Qi arrow hit several beasts as it was still under the control of Hou Shuqing. This too was a show of his talent as you have to reach a good level of comprehension to be able to control your Qi outside your body to this level.


    ""Yes."" Every disciple in the surroundings said in unison. They could see that the beasts here number in tens of thousands so they knew that the reinforcement could help with the situation immensely.


    ��


    On the other side of the battlefield, the situation was the same as the beasts kept on coming toward the wall even though the disciples kept killing them. The fortunate thing was that for each beast that would die, only one new beast would enter the battlefield so the disciples were not getting overwhelmed.


    "Junior uncle, I think you should use some of your resources now��" Hu Anjing said as she was fighting the beasts with twin blades.


    "Alright." Li Huang said and got ready to attack the beasts again. He was using the [Eclipse Devourer] sword art to finish off the beasts fast as he really didn''t have much time on his hand to think about using this fight as learning material.


    Checking out the projection of the battlefield to see if the horde is near its end, Li Huang smiled because it was indeed so. They only had 45,000 or so beasts to defeat and that was it. It was at that moment that his communication device and others around him received a message from the walls.


    ~''The west side needs reinforcement, please head there when this horde is finished.''~ the disciple on the wall said. They had set up these sorts of communication devices so that the walls and the ''infantry unit'' could get the news easily as they are fighting.


    "Now we really have to finish them fast." Cai ZhenKang said with a grunt. He still couldn''t believe that Li Huang and others forgot about him. When he was getting back to the fort a beast horde attacked the fort and he was caught in the fight with them.


    Li Huang and others who just finished and tested the [True Dharma Eye] formation and the projection system, found out about the beast horde and rushed to handle it as it could become a big problem if it got closer. It was then that they found Cai ZhenKang who was fighting the beasts before them. They helped him get out of the encirclement that he was in and they fought the beasts together after that.


    Cai ZhenKang was a little grumpy after that as he couldn''t believe that everyone forgot about him and he had to fight for his life in that beast horde. Deep down he was glad that they joined this alliance because they couldn''t fight all the beasts on their own but that wouldn''t change the fact that he was left behind.


    "Well, let''s do it then." Li Huang said. Cai ZhenKang kept on telling him and others that they should fight with more intensity but Li Huang and Hu Anjing didn''t agree with him. They had 3 more days to fight so they have to fight in a way that they can keep going for 3 days. If they were to fight with their 100%, they couldn''t make it to the third day.


    What they also talked about was using scrolls. This plan was really good but as they had a finite number of scrolls they didn''t want to waste them for a fight that they can finish eventually. So the policy to use them is like this; you will only use scrolls when there is a major benefit in finishing the fight early or their fight would be lost without using them.


    This was one of those cases because they had to finish this fight as the west side needed reinforcement. Everyone in the four groups that were here took a scroll out of their storage rings, got in a line and targeted the beasts and activated the scrolls.


    The poor beasts didn''t see this coming and were swept away by different rules that each scroll had. Some died with fire and some by thunder, the only constant was that they all died.


    "HAHAHA, it is almost as satisfying as when we collected materials." Cai ZhenKang laughed and rushed toward the couple of thousands of beasts that were lucky enough to stay alive. Well, with the way Cai ZhenKang was looking at them, maybe lucky is not the right word to describe them��


    "Time for a cleanup." Li Huang said and he too went to finish these beasts.


    The north side and the south side are fighting small numbers of beasts. They have less than 20,000 beasts to handle so their work is easier but from what Li Huang saw on the projection, the west side was facing at least 60,000 beasts and counting.


    ��


    "My team, Hu Anjing''s, and Cai ZhenKang''s team will go to reinforce the others at the western outer walls." Li Huang said. He didn''t want to leave this wall empty so he opted to leave one team of the Blue Bull sect here while taking the team with Cai ZhenKang with him as he could really help when fighting large numbers.


    "Let''s finish it fast and come back. I really like the view here." Cai ZhenKang said and beckoned his team to follow him. The view that he was talking about was a forest that could be seen from the eastern walls and it wasn''t hard to guess why he liked this view��


    Li Huang just shook his head and walked toward the wall with Hu Anjing and their teams.


    Giving a sign to the disciples on the wall, they activated a portal for them to get to the western outer wall. Walking inside the portal the teams found themselves on the west side of the wall.


    Everyone on this side was fighting as the number of the beasts was very high. Li Huang and others didn''t waste time and opened a portal to the outside of the fort and ran inside it.


    What greeted them on the other side was the beasts who tried to enter this portal. Lai Xinyue dodged an attack and sank her sword into the eye of the closest beast.


    Li Huang killed another one and was going for the second kill that he felt an incoming attack toward his head. Tilting his head, he let the attack pass him, and now he could see that this attack was one of Cai ZhenKang''s throwing axes. The hurlbat hit a beast right between the eyes.


    Li Huang knew that Cai ZhenKang was still angry because of the beast horde incident, so he let this one slide. As they say; no harm, no foul.

 Chapter 110: Living in the moment

    ����(POV third person, western outer walls)����


    "HAHAHA, if they are going to keep coming like this, I think we might die before the trial is finished, HAHAHA." Cai ZhenKang said after they cleaned the western battlefield from the beasts. Nearly 90,000 beasts created this horde that took them a few hours to fight as they didn''t want to waste precious scrolls. Other sides of the fort also fought small hordes that numbered in the thousands of beasts but it was nothing that they couldn''t handle.


    "Why are you laughing when thinking about our death?" Li Huang said as he looked at Cai ZhenKang with a raised eyebrow. They were sitting for a while to regain their strength as the disciples on the walls were taking care of any beast who would come.


    "It would be really funny to die here, fighting alongside disciples of the heavenly sword sect." Cai ZhenKang said and laughed as he slapped his knee.


    Li Huang too laughed a little as he too didn''t think a day would come that he would be fighting and joking with a blue bulls sect disciple.


    Hu Anjing who too was resting with everyone pointed one of her swords that were still in its scabbard toward Cai ZhenKang.


    "Also don''t think I have forgotten that you aimed for Li Huang a dozen times in this fight��" Hu Anjing said. She just wanted to remind Cai ZhenKang that she is paying attention as she knew Li Huang would have done something if these attacks were really dangerous to him.


    Cai ZhenKang raised his hands in surrender.


    "Misunderstanding, it is a misunderstanding. At those moments, I didn''t attack Li Huang, it was Li Huang''s head that moved toward my attacks." Cai ZhenKang said and he acted in a very convincing way. Well, if you don''t consider his reasoning that is��


    "��What?" Hu Anjing couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang would come up with such a stupid reason but apparently, she underestimated him.


    "Well��uh��I mean as there were many beasts where ever that I attacked��so��" Cai ZhenKang was looking for words to form a sentence as he clearly didn''t want an angry Hu Anjing near him.


    Li Huang who was impressed by Cai ZhenKang''s impeccable logic didn''t say anything until now but he decided to put a stop to this conversation before Hu Anjing beat Cai ZhenKang. They still needed his power to fight the beasts.


    "Okay, let''s get back to our side of the wall, we can''t keep sitting here." Li Huang said and everyone got up to get back to the eastern wall. Hu Anjing didn''t let this matter go but for now, she didn''t pursue it further.


    ��


    ����(POV Li Huang, the northern walls, throwing money at the beasts)����


    After we went back to the east side of the fort, some beasts attacked the fort but it wasn''t something that we couldn''t handle easily so you could say that we were doing mild exercises.


    We were happy to continue like this but the trial seemed to have other plans for us. A horde of at least 100,000 beasts was getting near to the northern walls and we had to change position to there as the number was way bigger than what we have seen so far and as their main goal was to get to the fort, where they could sense most disciples, we couldn''t count on them stopping to fight us and then go toward the fort. Because of these circumstances, we had to stop them before they could get to the walls and breach them.


    When our teams got there, we saw that Li Wanrou''s team and the other team from the Heaven Reaching Spear sect were stationed there too. The east side of the fort has more teams as the geological location makes it a better place for beast attacks, so we decided to put more teams there.


    This time we didn''t think about the cost and number of the scrolls, we used them as the fort would be lost if we didn''t stop these beasts. The terrifying thing was the fact that these beasts kept coming toward the fort like there was no end to them. In fact, we did focus all the power of the [True Dharma Eye] formation on the northern side so that we can see how many beasts there are, and what we saw was a sea of beasts coming toward the fort with full force. At that moment we knew that this is one of those do-or-die situations so we started using scrolls in crowded locations to maximize the gains from each use.


    The horde was so dense that with each usage of the scrolls we could get rid of five to seven hundred beasts. We were doing great as far as battle results were the subject, the only problem with this fight was that we couldn''t see the end of this horde and as a result, everyone was getting nervous about this fight and whether we can win the battle or not.


    "Huang, do you remember that I said maybe the old man didn''t have the power to kill us?" Hu Anjing told me as we were fighting the scattered beasts after the last round of scroll attacks.


    "Yeah, what about it?" I asked her as I was using the sword dance to avoid the beasts'' claws and [Eclipse Devourer] sword art to kill them in the shortest time possible.


    "I take it back, whoever that old man is, he can kill us easily." Hu Anjing said. She was right about this, we have been fighting the beasts for about two hours now and there is no sign of any decrease in their numbers.


    "Thank you for the heartwarming words." Li Wanrou chimed in with a sarcastic remark.


    "Anytime." Hu Anjing also answered with sarcasm.


    "I''ll give you one better, this is only the first day, imagine the third��" I told them the best uplifting words that I could find.


    "Was that supposed to be heartwarming?" Li Wanrou said with a deadpan expression and tone.


    "Did you really have to remind us?" Hu Anjing said. She really would rather to be oblivious to this fact.


    "HAHAHA, that was good." Cai ZhenKang laughed after a few seconds. "Look at it as every moment from now on is the best moment as everything after that is worst. Isn''t it uplifting to know that this is your best moment going forward?" He said and I really couldn''t see this coming from Cai ZhenKang.


    "Cai ZhenKang, you have your moments too." I told him and threw a shuriken toward him. The shuriken hit a beast that was going to take a bite of Cai ZhenKang''s back.


    Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing didn''t expect this from Cai ZhenKang too. This was one of the few things that these two didn''t bicker about.


    "HAHAHA, Li Huang, I think I have a stupid plan that will help us in this situation." Cai ZhenKang said and waited for my answer.


    "No offense but when YOU call it stupid, it should be really stupid��" I didn''t know what was the plan that Cai ZhenKang was talking about but something that even he calls stupid should be really bad.


    "Just listen. What if we run into the horde beasts and keep running to the end of the horde?" Cai ZhenKang said as he tried to sound mysterious.


    "So far I can agree on it being stupid��" I couldn''t tell him anything else other than this. Why would we willingly rush toward their horde when we have created a solid defensive line here?


    "*tsk* I said listen. We go in with the horde using a scroll with the [Law of Swiftness] and after that, it is only a matter of time before we finish the horde��" Cai ZhenKang said with a toothy grin.


    Hearing him I could see us doing it and it was really effective, after getting in the horde we can just drop some scrolls every once in a while and 80% or so of the horde would be done for��


    "Cai ZhenKang, let me correct myself, this is a brilliant stupid plan." I answered him with a grin of my own. Cai ZhenKang just laughed at my response.


    "Anjing, Wanrou, we have a plan that you are not going to like." I told Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou about the plan. Unsurprisingly, their reaction was within my expectation.


    ""Are you crazy?"" they both said at the same time. This seem to surprise them too as they looked at each other for a second and then they looked back at me.


    "Who came up with this plan?" Li Wanrou asked me.


    "Cai ZhenKang." I gave credit where credit was due or threw Cai ZhenKang under the bus based on how you look at it.


    "Of course he came up with it." Hu Anjing said as she was slicing the beasts in halves now.


    "But this is going to work and the risk is minimal��" I told them to ease their minds.


    "And why would you go and not someone else?" Hu Anjing asked and I could feel that Wanrou had the same question.


    "Maybe because I am one of the strongest people here?" I answered back.


    "Look, I get that you are worried but you two should be here as you can handle the beasts better until we are back." I told them. I didn''t want to leave them worried so I explained it to them with more logic.


    ~''What if Jin Fen tries to attack you in there?''~ Hu Anjing sent me a sound transmission.


    ~''He wouldn''t. If he were to get in the middle of the horde he would only show that he has a death wish.''~ I told her. Jin Fen would probably go for a surprise attack that is impossible when I''m running into the beast horde with high vigilance.


    "Alright, go and finish it fast." Li Wanrou said after thinking a little.


    "Use Cai ZhenKang as a human shield if you are in danger." Hu Anjing said.


    "Okay." I told them.


    Cai ZhenKang didn''t say anything as he had learned his lesson those last times. Despite that, he wasn''t safe from Hu Anjing.


    ''What did I do this time?'' Cai ZhenKang thought to himself. He wanted to cry but had no tears.

 Chapter 111: Turtles all the way down

    ����(POV third person, the northern walls)����


    "Let me remind us what we are going to do, first��" Li Huang Was talking to Cai ZhenKang as they were using their Qi to stop the beasts from getting too close to them. Although this method was crude and would deplete their Qi fast, as they didn''t plan on holding it up for long, it was alright. Li Huang was going to check the plan once over with Cai ZhenKang just to make sure but he didn''t get to finish his sentence as Cai ZhenKang stopped him.


    "Heavens! I was the one who came up with the plan, I don''t think I need to go over it once again." Cai ZhenKang said.


    Li Huang wanted to refute his words, but he couldn''t come up with anything.


    "Fair point. Alright, let''s get to it." Li Huang said as he got ready to attack the beasts and apply the scrolls.


    "Now let''s make it more interesting." Cai ZhenKang nodded and then grinned.


    "How would you make it more interesting?" Li Huang asked sarcastically. He didn''t think anything could make jumping into the beast horde more interesting than it is.


    "500 high-grade spirit stones for who gets to the end of this horde first." Cai ZhenKang said and used a scroll and ran into the horde.


    "And of course you would cheat like always." Li Huang said and activated a scroll too.


    ��


    For the next ten minutes, every disciple in the fort could hear the sounds of explosion as Cai ZhenKang and Li Huang were taking out the beast horde.


    "He is taking too long to finish this." Li Wanrou said. Hu Anjing and her were cleaning the rest of the beasts that have survived the explosions.


    "The horde is very big, should we do something?" Hu Anjing asked as she wasn''t sure herself. on one hand, the fact that there were still explosions happening would prove that everything was fine on Li Huang''s side, and on the other hand, the same thing would prove that there are many beasts and so everything shouldn''t be alright.


    "It would be hard to find them like this, it is better to wait and act if the explosions stopped for a while." Li Wanrou pondered on it a little and said. She didn''t want to act carelessly right now.


    "You are right." Hu Anjing said.


    ��


    "Cai ZhenKang, I won!" Li Huang said as he got out of the horde first.


    Cai ZhenKang reached him soon as he was just a few steps away from him.


    "How is this even possible?" Cai ZhenKang couldn''t believe that he lost. He was sure that Li Huang couldn''t beat him with his first stage of meridian formation realm cultivation. There was no way, unless ��.


    "You�� How did you break through this fast?" Cai ZhenKang couldn''t believe his eyes when he checked Li Huang''s cultivation and he was at the fifth stage of the meridian formation realm. After their fight, it only took a day or so for them to see each other again, so it is almost impossible to improve this much in such a short while.


    "Well, I meditated rigorously." Li Huang didn''t lie to him. He did meditate, for 12 hours.


    "This is cheating, how is this even possible?" Cai ZhenKang said as he pointed a finger at Li Huang. He wanted to make some easy money, not to lose like this. Sure it wouldn''t make him penniless but it is still a large sum of money to him.


    "And it is not cheating that you got a head start? Come on, give me my spirit stones." Li Huang said and gestured to Cai ZhenKang to give him the money.


    "*tsk* I will remember this." Cai ZhenKang said as he handed a pouch to Li Huang.


    "Sure, you can remind me when I forget about it." Li Huang said with the best smile he could muster.


    Cai ZhenKang thought that if he said this, Li Huang wouldn''t take his money but he had no clue that Li Huang had a lot to buy for his new training and wouldn''t say no to any additional funds.


    The stunned Cai ZhenKang just stood there and looked at Li Huang.


    "Let''s get back my friend." Li Huang put a hand on Cai ZhenKang''s shoulder and told him.


    "What friends you schemer?" Cai ZhenKang said as he removed Li Huang''s hand from his shoulder.


    "Don''t be like that, let''s see who gets back faster." Li Huang said.


    "I''m not in the mo��" Cai ZhenKang started talking but Li Huang didn''t let him finish.


    "If you win you get 500 high-grade spirit stones and if I win I get half of that? Good?" Li Huang said and used one of the oldest tricks in the book.


    Cai ZhenKang thought about it a little and saw this as a light that would give him his money back. Surely Li Huang would let him win so that he can give him his money back, right?


    "HAHAHA, good, I''m in." Cai ZhenKang said and started running back without waiting for Li Huang.


    ��


    It didn''t take them long to get back to the northern walls of the fort where Li Wanrou, Hu Anjing, and their teams were fighting the small number of the beasts that were still alive.


    "How was your side?" Li Huang asked Li Wanrou after some small talks with Hu Anjing and her.


    "Nothing that we couldn''t handle." Li Wanrou said as she checked Li Huang with her eyes for any sign of injuries.


    "Good, I think the leftover is easy to handle for other disciples too." Li Huang nodded.


    "��What is wrong with him?" Hu Anjing asked about Cai ZhenKang who was taking his anger and grief out on the poor beasts.


    Li Huang turned to see what Hu Anjing was talking about and saw Cai ZhenKang more ferocious than he usually was.


    "Hmm, let''s just say he is a sore loser." Li Huang said with a smile. Not only did Cai ZhenKang give him money to sponsor his training but Li Huang also taught Cai ZhenKang a lesson about bullying him and the outcome of doing so.


    Hu Anjing looked at Li Huang for a moment and shook her head.


    "How many beasts do you think we were facing this time?" Li Wanrou asked. She was moving her right hand to control her spear from a distance as she was talking.


    "I can''t give you an accurate number but I can estimate that it was at least a quarter of a million beasts." Li Huang said. The gravity of this punishment and the flaw of their plan got more clear to him.


    Although they have the numerical advantage as they have gathered all the participants in a single place, this had a side effect. 300 years ago, the beasts couldn''t create hordes this large as the participants were scattered around the trial space and each smaller horde would target one of them but now that all of the disciples are in one location, all of those small hordes would come together along the way and this would create these big hordes.


    And the worst part is that it will only get larger.


    "We need to change our plans, we have to let the disciples on the wall start using scrolls. We can''t come out unscathed if we have to fight on two or more fronts." Li Huang said.


    "Let''s have an emergency meeting then. We have to let every leader know what we will be going through." Hu Anjing said and contacted the wall so that they can coordinate a meeting.


    ��


    "Good thing that we know this now, we can arrange the scrolls better this way. I suggest that we double the quota from the last time." Hou Shuqing, the chief disciple of the Divine Arrow sect said.


    "I too agree, there is no point in having resources when you are not alive." Li Wanrou said and put a storage ring on the table.


    After that other holy lands added their quota to the table.


    "Only a day and a half are left, let''s show why our sects are the powerhouses of the world." Li Huang said to remind everyone what and who they represent.


    ��


    "Li Huang, why did you do that?" Cai ZhenKang asked Li Huang as he didn''t understand. Li Huang have given him a storage ring with scrolls before the meeting and there he told him to use that as their sect''s quota.


    "Well, first is that I know that your sect doesn''t believe in scrolls so you wouldn''t have that much on you." Li Huang explained. The Blue Bulls sect values personal strength the most so they rather not use scrolls that are an external source of power, "the other reason is that I didn''t want your master to kill you for losing face for your sect if you didn''t have the necessary number of scrolls." Li Huang said. He also felt a little bad that he emptied Cai ZhenKang''s pockets.

 Chapter 112: Unexpected beast

    ����(POV third person)����


    "HAHAHA, now that is what I call a friend." Cai ZhenKang said and slapped Li Huang''s back a couple of times with a force that could be considered spine shattering. Fortunately, Li Huang was trained by Li Long so he wasn''t winded by this level of friendliness.


    "Sure, sure. Just don''t cling to me." Li Huang said. He didn''t think Cai ZhenKang would be this grateful.


    ''It seems that his master would have really killed him if he were to lose face for their sect��'' Li Huang thought.


    "How about you give me some spirit stones as we are friends?" Cai ZhenKang asked Li Huang. He tried to use a friend card here to get his money back.


    "Cai ZhenKang, as your friend of course I would not give you money." Li Huang said with a friendly smile.


    "Why wouldn''t you?" Cai ZhenKang was confused. He thought that maybe Li Huang would say no to him but he didn''t think that he would word it this way.


    "Because you have a gambling addiction." Li Huang said with a sad tone.


    "Horse shit! I don''t have a gambling addiction!" Cai ZhenKang answered angrily. He knew he wasn''t addicted at all so he couldn''t believe that Li Huang would assume such a thing.


    "I tell you what, I give you 600 high-grade spirit stones if you kill more beasts than me in the next hour, how about it?" Li Huang said.


    "Great! I''m in." Cai ZhenKang said excitedly.


    "See, you have a gambling addiction." Li Huang said and shook his head. The fact that Cai ZhenKang took the bait this time showed him that he definitely is addicted.


    "��" Cai ZhenKang was stunned. He never thought he was addicted to gambling but apparently, he is.


    "Come on, let''s get back outside." Li Huang called to Cai ZhenKang. It was ironic that they have created a fort to be safe inside it but they have to go outside to keep it safe.


    ��


    "They just keep coming!" Cai ZhenKang said as he too switched to dual-wielding as they needed more speed in fights and the defense was less important in front of beasts of this level.


    The mix of the beasts also increased as time passed and now hordes would contain at least 10 species and it would make it harder to fight them as each of them had their own fighting style and their own strong and weak points.


    As a learning material, it was a great thing to every participant here as they have learned much from these fights but as it was real and not training, there wasn''t anyone that would stop the training if you were going to get hurt. The old man didn''t seem to care even if everyone here died.


    "There is no rest for the wicked��" Li Huang said with a smirk. He didn''t know where he heard it from, but this sentence really reflected their situation.


    Meanwhile, Jin Fen was teleporting every time that a horde got near him and had plenty of rest so maybe this sentence is not that right.


    "You can rest here forever, Li Huang." Cai ZhenKang laughed and said.


    ��


    "Did we have any casualty so far?" Zheng Jingyi, the chief disciple of the Sky Pillar sect asked his fellow disciples as he was fighting the beast horde in the southern side of the fort.


    "No, senior brother. From the latest news that I got we only have 3 disciples that have some injuries that need a little rest and other than that we don''t have any big issues." One of his teammates answered his question from what he heard from the wall.


    "Good. Let us use 50 scrolls each and make the horde a little less crowded." Zheng Jingyi said to his team. They had a finite number of scrolls so the decision-making was left to the team leaders such as Zheng Jingyi.


    ""Yes, senior brother."" The team members said in unison and got ready to attack. This is going to be a long day.


    ��


    "Senior sister, do you need anything else?" Yuan Yunyu, vice-leader of the White Moon sect disciples asked her leader, He Junli.


    "Thank you Yunyu. Just tell them to keep it down a little as I didn''t sleep for more than a day." He Junli said as she closed her eyes to sleep. She wanted to sleep as she has heard that lack of sleep can harm one''s skin and she didn''t want to strain her skin.


    Yuan Yunyu just cupped her fists as she didn''t want to disturb He Junli and got back to overseeing the southern outer wall.


    Every disciple there had to attack with less sound as Yuan Yunyu told them so and in turn, this resulted in decreasing the number of attacks from the walls to the beast horde.


    ��


    Li Huang and others were fighting for quite some time and tried the hit and run technique of Cai ZhenKang but this time they didn''t go to the end of the horde as the horde was much denser as they got further inside it so it was almost impossible to open a path forward with sheer power and it would be too wasteful to do so with scrolls.


    After two hours of going back and forth every ten minutes, the horde was getting less crowded and everyone thought that the horde was coming to an end.


    ��How wrong they were.


    From behind the horde, you could see some silhouettes coming toward the fort and with each of their steps, the ground would shake. Now everyone understood why these beasts were so hellbent on coming toward the fort. Their desire to kill the participants was one of the reasons but running away from these silhouettes was the main reason.


    Almost 200 or so of these silhouettes were coming toward the fort and even from their shape, Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling guessed what these beasts were.


    Everyone got to see the giant figures clearly as it didn''t take long for the silhouettes to enter their field of view.


    "It is the Giant giant giant apes!" Hu Anjing exclaimed.


    "200 of them at that too��" Li Huang was so deep in thought that he didn''t even respond to Hu Anjing when she called the gargantuan apes with the wrong name. He was thinking of a plan that would help them win this battle with the least energy used. They still had 15 hours to go and Li Huang didn''t like how the trial was throwing bigger monsters at them. If this trend continues, they soon would run out of scrolls to use on them.


    Ye Ling who also remembered the fight with these 100-meter giants (A/N: ~330 ft) had a deep frown on her face as she knew first hand that these beasts are strong and they should be stopped before they can get to the walls.


    "How big are they?" Li Wanrou who understood that Li Huang and others somehow faced this kind of beast, asked the main question as she was worried that they could pass the walls.


    "Let''s just say that they are big enough that our walls won''t stop them at all." Li Huang said as he was still formulating a plan in his mind. As he likes to plan for the possibilities, he obviously thought that some gargantuan apes might be in a horde but even in his wildest dreams, he couldn''t think of a scenario where 200 of them would show up together and in a single horde. Their walls stood at 120 meters but that height clearly wouldn''t stop any gargantuan ape from entering the fort.


    "What is the plan?" Cai ZhenKang asked with seriousness for the first time as he knew the gravity of the situation and he knew from how fast Li Huang came up with the plan for this fort, he could find a plan to handle these gargantuan apes too.


    Li Huang looked around him and thought of a plan for each disciple on this side of the wall. He had to work with what he had and finish the gargantuan apes before they could get to the walls.


    "Hu Anjing, Cai ZhenKang, you two come with me." Li Huang said and pointed at Hu Anjing and Cai ZhenKang.


    "Wanrou, Ye Ling, and you there, you will be the second line and will kill any beast that we couldn''t kill." Li Huang continued. The ''you there'' was the second in command of the Heaven Reaching Spear sect disciples.


    "Dai Bao, you will be in charge of our sect''s disciples until we are back." Li Huang told Dai Bao who cupped his fists with seriousness evident in his eyes.


    Li Wanrou got closer to Li Huang and he turned to face her.


    "Wanrou, put someone in control of your fellow disciples when we charge forward." Li Huang said although he know what she wanted to talk about.


    "��Why didn''t you choose me for your team?" She asked as she knew that she is stronger than Cai ZhenKang.


    "Because without you the second line won''t be able to get the result that they should��" Li Huang calmly explained.


    Li Wanrou nodded.


    "Good answer." She said.

 Chapter 113: Where is that bastard?

    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang nodded and turned to face Cai ZhenKang.


    "Cai ZhenKang, you too put someone in charge of your sect''s disciples before you forget about it��" Li Huang said as he was sure that Cai ZhenKang could forget this easily.


    "Oh!" Cai ZhenKang nodded and turned toward Kong Zexi.


    "Kong Zexi you are in charge when I''m gone. If even one of you is slightly injured I will hack your bones until they turn into sawdust, understood?" Cai ZhenKang said. He motivated his fellow disciples with the best method that he knew; death threats.


    The Blue Bulls sect disciples could only nod repeatedly to let their senior brother know that they understood.


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing were stunned by this.


    "What?" Cai ZhenKang said as he didn''t understand why they were looking at him like that.


    "��You need to work on your human skills." Li Huang shook his head. In what world ''don''t get injured or else I will kill you'' is considered motivational?


    Cai ZhenKang didn''t say anything as he didn''t even know what these ''human skills'' were��


    "You should follow us from a distance so that we can have enough maneuvering space." Li Huang told Li Wanrou and others and after some more minor details, they start running toward the gargantuan apes.


    ��


    Along the way, Li Huang sent a sound transmission to Hu Anjing.


    ~''Use the sword you got in the formation for this fight.''~ He didn''t want to waste such a good sword and not use it in this situation.


    ~''Is that the reason you told Li Wanrou that she should be in the second team?''~ Hu Anjing asked him as she had some thoughts about this. She remembered that Li Huang told him that she shouldn''t use this sword in front of any crowd as that might create problems for her so it was weird if he changed his mind all of the sudden.


    ~''It was one of the reasons, Li Wanrou and others could detect the grade of that sword if they see it in action, especially Li Wanrou but Cai ZhenKang doesn''t know anything about swords so there isn''t any problem when using it in front of him.''~ Li Huang said. He didn''t want to take chances when this sword is very precious. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Li Wanrou, even if Li Wanrou and others do not tell anyone about it, if the elders were to check their memories they could see it in their thoughts.


    ~''yes. Let''s start killing these apes.''~ Hu Anjing nodded and said.


    "Let''s use scrolls as much as we can!" Li Huang said. He didn''t plan on getting overwhelmed by the apes so it was better to waste some scrolls just to finish the fight a little faster.


    "HAHAHA, Li Huang, this time you can see me fight with all my power." Cai ZhenKang said and took out a new axe from his storage ring. The axe was clearly from a higher grade than what he was using normally.


    "With this axe in my hands, I can cut mountains. These oversize monkeys have no chance at all." Cai ZhenKang said and charge toward the closest gargantuan ape that he found after he activated a few auxiliary scrolls for speed, healing, and more.


    Cai ZhenKang in normal situations is destructive enough but now he was on a completely new level.


    A blur moved toward the gargantuan ape''s head and just as the beast felt his movement, Cai ZhenKang slashed his axe and decapitated the beast in a swift motion. Although the other apes got more vigilant, this had no use for the dead beast.


    "HAHAHAHA. ZhenKang, one!" Cai ZhenKang laughed and started counting his kills.


    "We should start too." Li Huang said and he too used a couple of auxiliary scrolls to up his performance. Hu Anjing too started by using scrolls and followed that with taking out her new sword from her storage ring.


    Li Huang had an easier time as he was getting help from the [Peeping eye of heaven] to attack their weak points and finish a beast in less than a minute.


    Cai ZhenKang''s kill was fast because the beasts didn''t expect this puny creature to pose any danger to them but now that they felt insulted, it was way harder to attack them.


    ��


    Forty minutes passed and the team was successful in dealing with all the gargantuan apes before they could get to the walls and pose any danger to the fort. They were panting and exhausted but it was a good victory for them as they didn''t lose even a single person in this front.


    "HAHA, Li Huang�� I had 45 kills." Cai ZhenKang said between breaths.


    "I guess you win this time��" Li Huang said as he had 44 kills in this fight. The truth of the matter is that Li Huang had fewer kills because he found something out. He found out that some of these beasts had higher power than their other siblings and they also had fewer weak points. Because of this, Li Huang put his effort into eliminating these ''mutated'' beasts before they could surprise anyone with their higher power and resilience.


    Hu Anjing was also there and throw a jab at Cai ZhenKang.


    "Do I need to remind you that I had 90 kills?" She declared proudly. Hu Anjing plus her new sword were a terrifying duo that you wouldn''t want to go up against. Li Huang thought that using her new sword could add to her power by a percentage but he never thought that their compatibility would be this high.


    ''I guess this is why the formation called to her��'' Li Huang thought.


    Cai ZhenKang who was showing off to Li Huang didn''t dare to do the same with Hu Anjing. He saw firsthand how strong she was in this fight so going against her would only show stupidity.


    "Ahahaha, as expected of the leader!" he said and cupped his fists toward Hu Anjing. He tried to imitate his fellow disciples when he would perform well.


    "��" Hu Anjing who was weirded out, didn''t know what to say so she just looked at Li Huang to see his reaction. Li Huang was hardly controlling his laughter as he knew how much Cai ZhenKang was afraid of Hu Anjing.


    "Let''s go back." Hu Anjing just shook her head and gestured to both of them.


    ����(POV third person, second line of defense)����


    "Your name was Ye Ling, right? Your knowledge on these beasts was helpful." Li Wanrou said. They only had to handle 34 gargantuan apes but the information that Ye Ling had made it much easier for them to fight the apes.


    "Yes, thank you." Ye Ling said with a small frown. She didn''t know how she should act with a chief disciple of another sect.


    "How did you know all this information?" Li Wanrou asked. She guessed that Li Huang had fought this beast before but she wanted to make sure.


    Ye Ling wasn''t stupid and knew that Li Wanrou was getting information from her but as long as it was public knowledge she didn''t have a problem with answering it.


    "Me and senior brother and senior sister fought one of them in the trial." Ye Ling said.


    "I see." Li Wanrou nodded and said.


    ��


    "Senior brother, senior sister." Dai Bao cupped his fists when he saw Li Huang and others.


    Li Huang and others who fought the gargantuan apes got together soon after the fight was finished and ran back toward the walls after some small talks.


    "No problems on your side?" Li Huang asked Dai Bao. Cai ZhenKang and Li Wanrou too went toward their fellow disciples to ask about their fights. As all the smaller beasts would run from the gargantuan apes, these disciples had to fight them with all they had so their work wasn''t easy.


    "Nothing much, some small injuries here and there but we can continue fighting." Dai Bao said. He and others worked together to stop the horde of the smaller beasts.


    "Good job, only a few more hours it left." Li Huang said. He could feel that fatigue was building up in everyone.


    "Thank y��" Dai Bao was about to thank Li Huang that Cai ZhenKang''s shout stopped him.


    "What? Where is that bastard? How dare he get injured?" Cai ZhenKang shouted at his fellow disciples. He was looking for Kong Zexi and got a little angry because he didn''t come here to greet him as he wanted to brag that he won against Li Huang in the number of kills and gained face for their sect. The disciples hesitated at first but when Cai ZhenKang told them that he might accidentally crush their skulls, they told him that Kong Zexi had an injury that made him unable to fight for an hour. At that moment, Cai ZhenKang snapped.


    The truth of the matter is that Cai ZhenKang was only worried for Kong Zexi but didn''t want to appear weak so he started cursing him so that no one can see his true feelings.

 Chapter 114: Last stand

    ����(POV third person, the eastern walls)����


    As the situation was getting out of hand Li Huang tried to stop Cai ZhenKang. He could see that Cai ZhenKang was acting weird.


    "What is wrong with you? Calm down a little." Li Huang told him as he stopped him from barging toward the wall to see Kong Zexi.


    Cai ZhenKang didn''t think that others would take him this seriously and try to stop him so he was lost for words as he didn''t know what to say.


    "*ahem* It is nothing, I just need to see Kong Zexi." Cai ZhenKang said and explained in a very civilized manner.


    Li Huang was stunned by this reaction. What he didn''t know was that Cai ZhenKang saw Hu Anjing behind him and remembered that he is not the big guy here so he changed his approach.


    Li Huang wanted to say something but the projection at the center of the fort, above the keep, turned red and he didn''t care about this matter anymore.


    "It is the southern outer wall, let''s go." Li Huang said as he looked at the same five who came with him to fight the gargantuan beasts.


    "Others follow the same plan as before��" Li Huang told others as they really didn''t have much time.


    They didn''t have time because a wall was breached. The southern outer wall where He Junli and her fellow disciples were guarding the walls.


    ����(POV third person, the southern wall, minutes ago)����


    "Why has the wall''s support decreased in this past hour?" Zheng Jingyi, the chief disciple of the Sky Pillar sect asked his teammates.


    "I don''t know senior brother. All I can say is that they have been taking their time, there might be a problem on their part��" His second in command answered him. They had multiple communications with the disciples on the wall and they told them that this was all they could do in this situation and refrained from explaining it anymore.


    "What if we ask other fronts for reinforcement?" One other disciple asked. It was common these days for them to get reinforcement from other sides of the fort when there was a dire need.


    "We can''t. Other sides have big problems like us, I am surprised that the eastern wall didn''t need any reinforcement when those big beasts appeared." Zheng Jingyi said as he too saw in the projection that some big beasts appeared on the eastern wall side. He even contacted the wall to see if they need help as those beasts looked hard to handle but there wasn''t any need for reinforcement as they said and a few seconds ago, they have finished all those beasts.


    "Than what is the plan senior brother?" His second in command asked him as the horde was pushing them back every minute and they would have their backs to the wall soon enough.


    "We don''t have much of a plan, we will fight with all we have because we can''t just let this wall be captured." Zheng Jingyi told his teammates with a smile. They had to do what they had to do until they could get some reinforcement.


    ~''This is Zheng Jingyi of the Sky Pillar sect.''~ Zheng Jingyi sent a sound transmission to the wall.


    ~''This is Yuan Yunyu of the White Moon sect, what can I do for you?''~ Yuan Yunyu said. She was the one in charge of the communication on their side of the wall.


    ~''Give the communication device to your superior.''~ Zheng Jingyi didn''t want to talk to someone who doesn''t have enough authority to do what he wanted.


    ~''I''m afraid that is not possible right now.''~ Yuan Yunyu said as her superior, He Junli was resting at the moment.


    Zheng Jingyi didn''t like that this Yuan Yunyu was talking back to him instead of doing what he was asked. He wasn''t playing on the field, he was fighting a beast horde and this girl had the audacity to go back and forth with him.


    ~''And why is that?''~ Zheng Jingyi asked as calmly as he could.


    ~''Senior sister is resting right now so if you have anything to say, you have to say it to me.''~ Yuan Yunyu thought it was only natural for her senior sister to be resting so she didn''t hide it.


    Zheng Jingyi didn''t answer as he thought this might be some sort of a tasteless joke but the other side didn''t add any further explanation. This lead him to the conclusion that Yuan Yunyu meant what she said.


    ~''She is resting when we are showering in blood and gore?''~ Zheng Jingyi tried his best to stay calm but the fact that he was smashing the beasts into a pulp gave his true feelings away to his teammates.


    ~''I do not understand what you mean by that.''~ Yuan Yunyu said. She didn''t know what relation there was between what her senior sister was doing and what this Zheng Jingyi was doing.


    ~''Pray that I die here, or else I will show you what I mean.''~ Zheng Jingyi said and crush the communication device in his hand. He couldn''t believe that the white moon sect could act this brazen. They were in a difficult situation and had to do whatever they can until this horde is dealt with and Zheng Jingyi can talk some sense to the white moon sect disciples.


    "Brothers and sisters, don''t hold back on any resources, we have to finish these beasts ourselves." Zheng Jingyi shouted so that everyone on the battlefield could hear him.


    With a battle cry, everyone charged forward to stop the beasts from making any more advances.


    ��


    "Fall back, fall back!" Zheng Jingyi kept shouting. They started strong but after a few minutes with the addition of a very fast beast to the horde they got overwhelmed fast and they had to retreat toward the walls. But that too wasn''t enough as the beasts wouldn''t stop and the support from the walls could only stop the beasts momentarily.


    It all went downhill when the wall stopped supporting them as they had to fall back to the inner wall themselves. This was under He Junli''s order when she woke up from her sleep when the fight reached the wall and her noise cancellation formation couldn''t keep all the sounds out. The way she saw it, this fight was a lost cause so she ordered her team to fall back to the inner wall as this wall would be breached any moment now.


    After the support from the wall was completely gone, it didn''t take long for a part of the wall to crumble under the constant assault of the beasts.


    Zheng Jingyi could see that death was really near but he wouldn''t go down without a fight and that was what he did, fight.


    "If we are going to go down here, let''s take as many beasts as we can with us!" Zheng Jingyi shouted again and got ready for their last stance.


    ����(POV third person, the southern inner walls)����


    "Will this be okay, senior sister?" Yuan Yunyu asked her senior sister as she looked toward the outer walls. She was worried that they get in trouble because they left the wall defenseless.


    "Yes. They can fall back too so it is not like we left them to die there." He Junli said.


    "That aside, anyone who is important will have some life-saving treasures so it is not like something can happen." He Junli further explained as she was sure that other than second grade disciples, all the geniuses had these sort of treasures with them.

 Chapter 115: First death in the fort

    ����(POV third person, Li Huang and others)����


    The teleportation system of the fort was created based on Li Huang''s plans for it and he didn''t set any permanent gate as it was possible for a beast to enter one of them and get around the fort just like that. To handle this they had used portals that would close after you have used them. This way no beast or any wild Jin Fen could get into the fort and move around easily but there is also a slight problem with this method. When you want to open a temporary portal you have to use a bit of time to power up the system and when you get out you can''t just walk back because not only it is a one-way transportation method, the portal itself would close fast so there is no chance for changing your mind after teleporting to somewhere, meaning that you have to commit to it.


    This is what happened to Li Huang and others. The moment they saw the number of beasts everyone had an impulse to get back to their wall as the situation was hectic. Despite that, they jumped off the wall to help the disciples that were fighting the horde on the ground. The moat of this side was a flat ground at this point as the beast corpses filled it and the formation didn''t have much of an effect at this height.


    Hu Anjing set out a sword Qi arc toward the beast horde and killed hundreds of them in a single move. She was the strongest participant here and this was the proof. She didn''t stop and attacked the beasts left and right. This lifted the pressure from the disciples that were on the battlefield and helped them regroup in a safe perimeter.


    Cai ZhenKang too didn''t need anything else other than the sight of the beasts to start attacking them so the perimeter got safer. Li Wanrou''s spear was doing its magic as she stood beside Li Huang.


    The beasts surrounded the group as the wall had a big hole in it now.


    "What happened here? How did the wall get breached?" Li Huang asked Zheng Jingyi as he remembered that he was in charge on this side of the wall.


    "These beasts happened!" Zheng Jingyi attacked a cat-like beast that was one of the main sources of their problems. These beasts were fast and cunning so fighting them was hard for all the disciples here.


    Li Huang didn''t care about Zheng Jingyi''s tone as he knew that he must have thought that he is going to die here so it was understandable.


    "What happened to the disciples on the wall?" Li Huang asked another question. He saw that no disciple was stationed on the walls when they teleported over here but as the horde was too big they didn''t waste time investigating.


    "Those bastards! They left us here and retreated to the inner walls." Zheng Jingyi said with venom in his voice. He really didn''t expect that the white moon sect disciples would be this shameless.


    Li Huang and others who came with him were stunned that such a thing happened here. They should have first helped the ground units to teleport back and then fall back, not to leave them to fend for themselves.


    "Those cowards." Li Huang said and clicked his tongue. He tried to be impartial by giving He Junli the responsibility of this wall so that she can see for herself that the world is different from what she thought it to be but from how she cast out her fellow disciple Lang Yingmin and now this, it appears that she didn''t see anything.


    "Did you have any casualties?" Li Wanrou asked as she knew that if someone''s death is involved, this is going to get harder to handle.


    "��Two disciples have died. They have fought valiantly to the very end." Zheng Jingyi said as he clenched his fists. Those two disciples were from the smaller powers and not the holy lands so they didn''t have powerful defensive treasure and this resulted in their deaths. The moment that these new beasts surprised them made it harder for Zheng Jingyi to control and command the battlefield and when the support from the walls was gone he lost his tempo for a few moments and couldn''t save everyone��


    "Let''s finish this fight before any more blood has shed from our side." Li Huang said and patted Zheng Jingyi''s back. He knew that he is blaming himself for their deaths but they have to finish this fight first before they could find the one at fault.


    Li Huang then started killing those cat-like beasts with his shurikens. As he was analyzing them with the peeping eye of heaven, he found their weak points and used them to his advantage. This horde wouldn''t be a problem without these beasts so he tried to eliminate them first.


    Others too went for the beasts with a higher power as they could see that the main team that was supposed to fight for the southern side is exhausted as they have fought beyond their bodies capacity.


    ��


    "Cai ZhenKang, help with this side." Li Huang called to Cai ZhenKang. They were rebuilding the wall that was destroyed. They have defeated every beast in the horde and cleared the moat so this was their last task before they could confront He Junli.


    "Alright, let me cut this part." Cai ZhenKang said. He was using his weapon Qi in the wrong way again.


    Their fight with the horde lasted less than an hour as they were able to handle the cat-like beasts somewhat easily after Li Huang pointed out some of their weak spots.


    Zheng Jingyi also got a little calmer now and he was helping anyone who needed medical attention.


    After the fight, he told everyone about how the fight with this horde went and how this wall was breached. It was then that everyone got to know that not only He Junli didn''t support the group from the start, she was also resting according to her fellow disciple.


    This enraged everyone as they couldn''t believe that she looks at everyone as they are her servants and the ironic thing is that most of these participants are young misses and young masters of their family, city, or clan so this was a big insult to everyone.


    ��


    It didn''t take long for them to finish this wall and place the formations on it as at this point it was a recreational activity to them.


    The walk to the southern inner walls wasn''t long as they had a goal in mind so the time passed fast for them.


    When a group of frowning disciples stood in front of the inner wall, Yuan Yunyu could guess what this was about.


    Li Huang didn''t even bother asking for a portal to the top of the wall, he created a staircase for him and others with the stones that he had in his storage ring. This took White Moon sect disciples by surprise as they now knew the gravity of the situation.


    When everyone got up the stair, Li Huang floated the stones that he used for the stair and stored them in his storage ring.


    He Junli who was watching this from a distance got in front of her fellow disciples and looked at Li Huang and others.


    "Why have you all gathered here?" She asked. To her, her actions were justified so she didn''t know what this was all about.

 Chapter 116: He Junli’s punishment

    ����(POV Li Huang, about to show a spoiled brat her place)����


    "Why have you all gathered here?" He Junli said. The way she asked us showed me that she doesn''t have a shred of guilt about her actions.


    I could sense that Zheng Jingyi''s blood was boiling because of her answer. He was about to use his staff to show He Junli her place but I stopped him as it wasn''t the right thing to do at the moment.


    ~''Let me handle her, you are angry and will only make it worse for yourself.''~ I sent him a sound transmission. I hoped that he would at least consider my offer, luckily he did.


    ~''And what if I am not satisfied with the result?''~ Zheng Jingyi asked back. I couldn''t blame him as he might have thought I''m taking her side as our sects are allied but he couldn''t be more wrong about this. This girl started her bullshit by throwing shade at my father and now have proved herself to be a complete idiot.


    ~''You can throw her in the beast horde for all I care.''~ I told him with a shrug. I wanted to make it impossible for He Junli to use Zheng Jingyi''s anger to her advantage and show herself as the victim.


    Zheng Jingyi looked at me and gave me a small nod.


    Seeing that he was calmer now, I started with my own plan.


    "Was your rest sufficient?" I answered her question with one of my own. As most of the holy lands had someone here I wanted her to lose reputation and lose face for the White Moon sect.


    He Junli looked at me weirdly for a moment as she thought I might have come here to reprehend her not to have a small talk.


    "��It was good.?" she answered but wasn''t sure if I was asking her seriously.


    "I see. Was that the reason that your support decreased? They wanted you to have a nice sleep?" I asked her with the kindest smile that I could muster. Well, given the situation it wasn''t my best smile.


    Her fellow disciples tensed up for a moment and that gave everyone the answer to my question.


    ''So they really did do that��'' I really couldn''t comprehend what was going on He Junli''s mind to come up with this plan. A cultivator needs less sleep so she must have some stupid reason for needing rest when she could have waited just a few more hours.


    ����(POV third person)����


    Yuan Yunyu who couldn''t just stand and see her senior sister get questioned decided to stand up for her by talking back.


    "Ho��" She wanted to tell Li Huang that he shouldn''t talk to her senior sister like that and he would have to pay for doing so, but the words got stuck in her throat.


    The moment she wanted to insert herself into the conversation, a powerful pressure was put on her. The source of this pressure was Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou who looked at her simultaneously. They didn''t like that this girl thought she has the qualification to talk in this situation so they didn''t go easy on her. The sound that Yuan Yunyu made was interpreted as a funny noise by others as they didn''t know that she was scared.


    She knew that those two won''t hesitate to strike her if she dared to talk again so she closed her mouth.


    "Is that why you have come here?" He Junli who was unaware of this continued answering Li Huang. She didn''t like that she was being questioned like she has done something wrong.


    Li Huang who have felt that Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing were ready to attack moments ago didn''t beat around the bushes anymore and got to the point.


    "Two disciples have died in this beast horde attack because you retreated to the inner wall when you should have stayed and let the others retreat first." Li Huang said. He told her what part of the rules she has broken so that she can understand it easier.


    "How is that possible? All the disciples from the seven holy lands should have been carrying life-saving treasures." He Junli was baffled as she didn''t expect this. She knew that if it is a disciple from one of the holy lands she would be in big trouble.


    Li Huang was stunned by how He Junli''s mind worked. She didn''t even care that she broke a rule, she just wanted to make sure that she can handle that backlash easily.


    "��They were not from the seven holy lands." Li Huang said and he knew where He Junli was going with this question. He would not call himself a righteous person but what he could see in He Junli was a scum.


    "A shame. Our White Moon sect would send their families some compensation, is that enough for you?" He Junli said like it was nothing. She was glad that this matter is easily handled using some money and she is not in trouble.


    Zheng Jingyi who heard this was about to lash out at her but Cai ZhenKang stopped him this time. Cai ZhenKang wasn''t one known for being logical but he saw something that guaranteed to him that He Junli would get her punishment.


    "Wait a moment." He said.


    Cai ZhenKang saw Li Huang laughing softly. From all the interactions that Cai ZhenKang had with Li Huang in all these years, he knew that Li Huang would only laugh softly like this when he is pissed off.


    Well, Cai ZhenKang would know this because he was the number one thing that would piss Li Huang off all these years.


    "Compensation huh��" Li Huang said and started walking toward He Junli.


    ''So she thinks she can do whatever the fuck she wants just because she can pay the compensation?'' Li Huang thought, He also had enough money.


    "W��What are you doing?" He Junli got scared a little as he could see that Li Huang was angry.


    Her fellow disciples tried to defend their senior sister as they took out their weapons, but they were subdued by the pressure that Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing put on them. They gave Yuan Yunyu special treatment as they both had their weapons on her neck and were ready to finish her if it came to that.


    "So you are saying that I can kill you and I just have to pay the compensation?" Li Huang said with a pondering look on his face.


    He Junli was dumbfounded by this development, she would have never thought that her fellow disciples would be stopped this easily but she didn''t lose her cool.


    "You can''t, our white moon sect wouldn''t let you go after you dare to touch me." He Junli said.


    Li Huang didn''t let her continue with her self-absorbed words. As he is way stronger than her, he easily stood in front of her and lifted her from her neck. He was using Qi to help lift her so that she can feel the suffocation build up slowly but do not actually suffocate.


    "What about now?" Li Huang said with the same smile that he had a minute ago. He wanted to let her know who she was talking to.


    "Y��You. My grandmaster wouldn''t let you go if you don''t put me down!" He Junli didn''t know what to do. Her best bet was to use her grandmaster or Li Huang''s grandmother as she knew that they didn''t have a good relationship.


    Li Huang gave her a ''really, bitch?'' look.


    "Me and my grandmother don''t have a good relationship but what do you think would happen when my grandmother finds out that her own grand disciple could have gotten her grandson killed?" Li Huang said.


    "At that time would I have to compensate your family and sect for your death or she has to compensate me for your existence in this trial? Either way, it is not a problem for me." Li Huang didn''t let her retort him and continued. If there was a list of the top 100 richest people in the world, Li Huang would be on that list.


    He waited for a few seconds and let his words sink in.


    "But don''t worry, I won''t kill you." Li Huang said with an amiable smile.


    "I will let you see how all you have built can crumble with this mistake." Li Huang told her. Now that all the geniuses of the younger generation of the divine central continent knew about what she did, the future didn''t look bright for her. Taking the means to be arrogant from someone like her is the best punishment for them.


    Li Huang let go of her neck and started walking back to get to the outer walls. After a couple of steps, he stopped and turned to He Junli.


    "Oh, and if your mistake cost one more life you can be sure that I will be coming for you." He said and went back with others to the other walls.

 Chapter 117: Jin Fen’s fiery entrance

    ����(POV third person, Li Huang and others)����


    ~''Are you sure she won''t use this to cause you trouble after the trial?''~ Hu Anjing asked Li Huang. She didn''t want He Junli to use this to her advantage. She knew that Li Huang had a plan so she asked him directly.


    ~''She can''t. It is not the matter of our sect, there were three other groups from the holy lands with us so it won''t be something that their sect can handle easily and that aside, this is going to be known by others and even if they don''t want to, they have to do something about it.''~ Li Huang answered her. He knew that He Junli would try to do something after the trial but he had a plan in action for that even now. With what he had in mind, He Junli would be so preoccupied that she can''t come after him.


    When Li Huang and Hu Anjing were talking with sound transmission, Cai ZhenKang got near Li Huang and put a hand on his shoulder.


    "Li Huang, you have a problem communicating with women but don''t worry, I can teach you." Cai ZhenKang said. He wanted to change the gloomy atmosphere as they still had a few hours and having this mood wouldn''t help them at all.


    Li Huang couldn''t help but laugh, the fact that someone like Cai ZhenKang is telling him that he can''t communicate with the opposite gender was really funny to him.


    "It would be an honor to learn from the legendary ZhenKang the lady killer himself." Li Huang cupped his fists and said.


    ��


    They had some conversations about the white moon sect before they got separated but they didn''t talk much as they knew that these final hours will be hectic. Along the way, Cai ZhenKang also checked on Kong Zexi who was ready to get back on the battlefield. Well, he was ready before Cai ZhenKang punched him on the head for getting injured.


    "Doesn''t the lack of beasts show that the punishment is finished?" Cai ZhenKang said. It has been 20 minutes that they have been back to their wall but there is no sign of new beasts as if the punishment has finished.


    "No, it can''t be that, if it was so the old man would show up and he would give us a life lesson." Li Huang shook his head and said. That old man wouldn''t be happy with just this and Li Huang didn''t think that they would be having an easy time as a result of that.


    "What is the plan now?" Li Wanrou asked.


    "��I think there is a change in these beasts'' behavior. They might have understood that they can''t fight us from all fronts so they are getting ready to attack us from one flank but with full force." Li Huang said and he was ready for remarks that Cai ZhenKang would throw at him.


    "HAHAHA, what is next? Do the beasts come and drink tea with us?" Cai ZhenKang said. He didn''t think that the beasts have enough intelligence to do such a thing.


    Li Huang rolled his eyes at Cai ZhenKang.


    "Just look at the beast hordes. Throughout the time that we were fighting them, they kept on getting better. With each horde, they got bigger, better, and stronger so it is not weird if there is a few of them who can control the horde." Li Huang explained as he dabbled in conspiracy theory. He was ready for this possibility from day one of the punishment but didn''t tell anyone as he didn''t want to give it more chance of happening.


    "��And there is also the old man who can be the one guiding the beast and act as their general so this possibility is a danger that we should consider." Li Huang finished with this. He was almost sure that they had to fight until the very end of the trial so this free time didn''t sit well with him.


    "If that were to happen we have to get ready for it." Hu Anjing said.


    "Yes, arrange the meeting and let everyone know that we might have to fight in a united front in these last hours." Li Huang said and wanted Hu Anjing to get the disciples updated on the new developments but the old man had different plans for them.


    Behind Li Huang, the horizon started getting filled with black dots as the beasts were getting closer to the fort and they numbered in hundreds of thousands. Seeing this scene Cai ZhenKang gulped his saliva as he was the one who saw this first hand.


    "I think everyone would get to know about it themselves." Cai ZhenKang said as he pointed a finger toward the beast horde.


    Li Huang turned and saw the size of the horde that was getting toward the fort.


    "��Shit." Li Huang said as he was putting on storage rings and different defensive treasures as he was looking at the horde that would reach the fort in a minute or so.


    "This is Hu Anjing, relocate to eastern walls. Everyone, relocate to the eastern walls." Hu Anjing used the emergency communication device to let everyone in the fort know that they have to get their asses here as soon as possible.


    "Li Huang, if we get out of here alive, I will invite you to spar with me." Cai ZhenKang said. He wanted to motivate Li Huang to fight with all his power.


    Li Huang who heard Cai ZhenKang stopped for a second as he felt weird by this.


    "Suddenly I have less motivation to fight the horde." Li Huang said and they both laughed.


    Li Wanrou who was readying her spears and defensive gear stood beside Li Huang and spoke to Cai ZhenKang.


    "If Huang has an injury after this fight, the Li Family will hold you responsible." She said and the smile on Cai ZhenKang''s face turned stiff. He didn''t know how in the world Li Huang''s injury has anything to do with him but he couldn''t say anything to Li Wanrou as he was afraid of her.


    Seeing this Li Huang laughed more as he knew that Li Wanrou was playing with Cai ZhenKang. Li Wanrou also smiled a little.


    Hu Anjing who teleported to the wall to let them know what is going on and what to expect just got back and looked at everyone.


    "This is a battle that I can use my full power in." Hu Anjing said. She was restraining herself so that she doesn''t break through to the next realm all along the trial and after the last formation, she had to do so actively because she was at the peak of the twelfth stage of the Meridian formation realm.


    "It is certainly so��" Li Huang said. He too was ready for a fight as he was sure that Jin Fen would show up in this battle if he has any thoughts of showing up.


    Ye Ling, Lai Xinyue, Dai Bao, Mo Hui, and every other disciple on the battlefield were ready to fight these beasts as they only had 4 hours left on the trial itself so holding on for that long was their plan.


    "On a side note, if anyone saw Jin Fen, kill him." Li Huang said and every disciple from the heavenly sword sect nodded with a frown. With Li Huang''s words, they were reminded that all these fights were because of that idiot, Jin Fen. And not only did he create all these problems he ran like it has nothing to do with him.


    "Who the hell is Jin Fen?" Cai ZhenKang asked. This was the question of everyone who was not from the heavenly sword sect.


    "I will tell you later, it is a waste of time to talk about him now��" Li Huang didn''t say anything as he didn''t want to create a distraction when everyone needs to focus on the upcoming fight.


    From behind them, every disciple who participated in the trial and was a member of close-range fighters got out of portals one by one.


    Even He Junli could be seen on the wall. She didn''t want to be here but Li Huang''s threats were fresh on her mind so she didn''t resist coming here.


    "Wha��" Zheng Jingyi wanted to ask what is going on but he saw with his own eyes that the horde was getting near the fort at a high speed.


    "Yes, it seems to be the last horde. Let us finish this." Li Huang said and everyone who just got here started gearing up more than they had before this.


    ��


    Four hours passed and everyone fought the horde with all they got. The horde was strong but they were stronger. Well, for the most part, they were richer as they could use expensive items and defensive treasures that would be akin to having a second life.


    The prolonged fight and the high number of the beasts made it so that every disciple had to cover an area and the stronger participants, mostly the leaders and vice leaders had to cover even larger areas.


    When the fight was drawing close Jin Fen saw his chance to attack the exhausted Li Huang who has been fighting none stop.


    Teleporting behind him, he slashed his sword toward Li Huang''s neck.


    "Li Huang, yo��" He tried to trash talk but Li Huang who have been faking exhaustion was ready for him and attacked him with twenty different scrolls and ten attacks with piercing fingers of the [Eclipse devourer] sword art to make sure that he is dead. He used two-thirds of his Qi reserves with these attacks so he swallowed the pill that he had in his mouth to replenish his Qi.


    He also used a treasure that he had acquired before the trial as he was paranoid that a heaven''s favorite might be able to survive with only his soul and somehow reform a body or something. This artifact is called [Soul Scorcher] as it will destroy the soul of however that is hit with it. Li Huang used this as an icing on the cake so that there is no way that Jin Fen could even remotely be a problem in the future.


    He also didn''t wait for the dust to settle and used Qi to clear the area and see Jin Fen''s remains. Li Huang didn''t want to wait and let Jin Fen have a chance to surprise him.


    When the dust was no longer obscuring the view Li Huang could see Jin Fen''s body. He had lost one shoulder and half of his skull and his heart was pierced by the piercing finger attacks so there was now a hole there.


    ''Might have used too many resources but it is always better to be safe than sorry��''  Li Huang thought as he looked at Jin Fen''s lifeless body. Even now that he was dead you could see that arrogant look on his half-destroyed face.

 Chapter 118: Guanyu

    ����(POV third person, where Li Huang blasted Jin Fen)����


    Li Huang handled Jin Fen easily but it was because he went for the overkill. He used 20 scrolls for him whilst even a gargantuan ape would be dead by the time he is blasting the fourth scroll at it. Scrolls aside, the piercing finger of the [Eclipse devourer] sword art is nothing to scoff at as even one could prove to be fatal if it is directed to the right location on the body.


    [Soul Scorcher] was the last thing that Li Huang used and he used it to seal Jin Fen''s fate. He got his hands on it just before the trial as the Li family contacted him to provide him with anything that he might need and Li Huang used that chance to get his hands on this treasure.


    The Li Family has a couple of these treasures but it is not something that they use normally so Li Huang was lucky that the family is holding him in high regard and easily complied with his request without asking much. Li Huang could buy such treasure in an auction but the situation wouldn''t give him enough time so he went with using his family.


    ''Let''s see what we have here.'' With a motion of his hand, Li Huang moved Jin Fen''s rings into his palm. As he didn''t like to touch a dead body he did so with the help of his Qi to move the rings.


    The first ring was the teleportation ring that Jin Fen got in the trial. Examining the runes on it Li Huang could guess how this ring worked and it was a really good harvest as this ring was capable of teleporting you to anywhere in ten times the radius of your Qi sense.


    ''So that is why we couldn''t find him when he ran away.'' Li Huang thought. At that time his Qi sense could locate at least twice as far as Jin Fen could but if this ring teleported him to that sort of distance it is natural for him to go undetected.


    There is of course a limitation on this ring as you can only teleport every half an hour or so. So you can''t just spam teleport to get away from dangers one after another. There is also a charge phase for it to work but Li Huang understood that this phase only happens when your cultivation realm is not sufficient. For Li Huang who is on the fifth stage of the meridian formation realm and has stabilized four main meridians, this phase was almost nonexistent and he only had to worry about the delay between each use.


    Li Huang put the ring on for now as he had free fingers. Now his eyes went to the storage ring that Jin Fen had on him. Jin Fen had only one storage ring on him and this was it.


    Looking through the ring Li Huang found some basic stuff that he didn''t care much about. It didn''t take long for him to find the rewards that Jin Fen has found in this trial and he was glad that Jin Fen had this luck as all the things that he found in this trial are from a high grade and can help him in the future. Li Huang didn''t waste much time on checking every single item in the ring as he could do so in the future and checked other parts of the storage ring until he found the blue orb that Jin Fen had stolen from the formation.


    Li Huang didn''t risk taking it out as he was sure that the trial would detect it so he put this ring on his finger too as he still needed to sort the items inside.


    Right at this moment, he felt pressure from where Jin Fen''s corpse was laying on the ground, and without any delay, he took out the [Mirror of Reckoning] to stop whatever attack was coming toward him. The attack was so fast that this was all Li Huang could do before the Qi of that attack slammed to the mirror.


    Li Huang was thrown backward from the sheer power of this attack and he only dropped on the ground a couple of hundred meters away from his original spot.


    The mirror did its work and reflected a big chunk of the attack back to the sender but it couldn''t reflect all of it as Li Huang couldn''t control it.


    The sound of this attack and the reflection was heard throughout the battlefield and everyone heard it. They were resting as they just finished the horde so this powerful attack made everyone worried that a powerful beast is still alive so they got up and ran toward the source of the explosion.


    Li Huang who was literally shot through the battlefield got up as the defensive treasures that he had on absorbed most of the impact and he was relatively fine. He was weirded out by the fact that Jin Fen didn''t die even after he destroyed his soul.


    ''How in the world?'' He thought.


    ����(POV third person, Heavenly sword sect, Li Long)����


    Li Long was meditating to calm his mind when he felt that a large portion of the Qi that he used to refine the [Mirror of Reckoning] for Li Huang was used. He opened his eyes and got out of his courtyard with haste.


    The [Mirror of Reckoning] is an item that is very strong and anything that can make the mirror use such a big portion of Qi is really strong and leagues beyond Li Huang so Li Long was really worried and couldn''t just sit and let this proceed.


    He had done so once before when Li Huang''s parents were in trouble that he thought would prove to be something routine and after that, they couldn''t find even a trace of them in the whole world no matter how much money and experts they used throughout these years. The only reason that Li Long can go on is that he knows that his son and his daughter-in-law are still alive from what their soul jade has shown him all these years.


    But he can''t be careless this time too as he doesn''t know how he can go on if something were to happen to Li Huang.


    "Patriarch!" some of the elders that saw Li Long running through the sect cupped their fists and bowed to him. They were shell-shocked by this as they didn''t know what could make their always calm patriarch act this way.


    "I am going to the [Eternal Wail Chasm], handle the sect matters in my absence." Li Long said as he moved as fast as he could and once he was outside the sect he used his personal flying treasure to get there as fast as possible.


    ����(POV third person, eternal wail trial, Li Huang)����


    Li Huang got ready for the follow-up of the previous attack but nothing came.


    On the other side, Jin Fen''s corpse slowly stood as the hole in his chest started filling up with a dark red substance. His hand and face were slowly growing back in the same manner and Jin Fen''s eye changed color to red and even the way he carried himself changed.


    It didn''t take a genius to know that this wasn''t Jin Fen but someone else. Jin Fen was arrogant but his arrogance was baseless but this new person act as if it is only natural for others to bow down to him.


    Li Huang was thinking about a plan to defeat this new enemy as he could see that he is more powerful than him and he can''t just blast him with scrolls and hope for the best.


    The person with Jin Fen''s body grinned as he was walking slowly toward Li Huang.


    "That little toy of yours could affect that boy''s soul but all it did to mine was to give me a chance to gain control." The man said. He used the moment that Jin Fen''s soul was erased to gain control of the body and come back to life.


    "Who are you?" Li Huang asked as he was on guard. He was stalling for time as he knew others would come here too and he might find an opening in this man''s guard at that time. With the way this man carried himself, Li Huang was sure that he would answer his question as this man could see himself winning regardless of any tricks that Li Huang would try to pull.


    "As you have made it easier for me to come back to life I guess I can answer your question." The man nodded to himself.


    "I am known as Guanyu the evil god." Guanyu spread his hands and said.


    "Years ago some bastards tried to kill me and as a result, a part of my soul was thrown into this plane where you live." Guanyu said with venom in his words.

 Chapter 119: Ant

    (A/N: okay, I''m better and back! I thought I have to put writing and work aside for a while as I was feeling like shit even after I got out of hospital but here I am ranting to you guys :D


    Aaaaanyway hope you enjoy this chapter, going back to consistent daily releases from today.


    And like always;


    *inhales*


    GI. ME. PAWAH.)


    ����(POV third person, eternal wail trial)����


    Li Huang wasn''t stupid enough to not see the signs and he was too paranoid to not see the patterns. This so-called ''Guanyu the evil god'' was not from his plane and only survived as a soul fragment after a battle that he had with a group of assailants.


    Just thinking about it Li Huang could link some events together and come up with some theories.


    ''Guanyu probably sealed a part of his soul in the martial art that Jin Fen was training and that way he continued living even though he seemingly lost that battle.'' Li Huang thought. If it is like that it would make sense for Jin Fen to act that way because Guanyu''s soul was affecting him and his mentality.


    ''Guanyu didn''t give that technique away, it was a trap to lure in a new body.'' Just thinking about this Li Huang could imagine a reason or two for someone to target his life. Now the problem is that Li Huang knows that this Guanyu has no good intention toward him as he is one of the reasons that Jin Fen acted that way so he has to be careful.


    Li Huang was sure of one thing, even if this Guanyu has shown himself to be powerful it is not his cultivation base as a soul doesn''t have a Qi cultivation realm and this Guanyu is only a soul fraction. On the other hand, even if Guanyu is powerful right now the trial would most definitely throw him out as he is breaking a couple of rules by his existence.


    This was just what Li Huang assumed but he didn''t have much choice other than to put this to a test. Other disciples were yet to come here so Li Huang would have to fight this Guanyu by himself and because Guanyu attacked him first, there is no room for negotiation.


    "I see. Why did you attack me?" Li Huang nodded and asked. He was trying to understand why this man had enmity with him. He could understand that Guanyu has used Jin Fen''s arrogance to his advantage but he couldn''t understand why he was coming after him.


    Guanyu smiled weakly and nodded. His facial features were changing slowly as if he was molding the body to his liking.


    "Hmmm, let me explain it like this, when you step on an ant do you need a reason for it? It is the same with me attacking you. I did so because I could." Guanyu said and spread his arms.


    Li Huang couldn''t help but laugh at this.


    "Now I get why you and Jin Fen were compatible." Li Huang said. This level of looking down at others is something unique that only Jin Fen and Guanyu have shown.


    "But you forgot something, even a horse will get eaten if he dares enter an ant''s colony." Li Huang grinned and said. He was now sure that this Guanyu didn''t have enough power to finish him off with a snap of his fingers so he was going to use all the treasures that he had to defeat him.


    "Then let us test it." Guanyu also grinned. He had seen the world from Jin Fen''s eyes and knew quite a bit about Li Huang so he didn''t want to give him any chance to surprise him. What Li Huang assumed is true and Guanyu can''t kill him as he needs to recover his cultivation first but he doesn''t see a problem with this fight as he has an ace up his sleeves.


    Guanyu has a technique that lets him have a high attack power for a short while and he will face a backlash after that, but now that he is almost powerless using that technique is the logical route to take.


    In fact, the first attack that he had against Li Huang was the result of this technique''s initial power and he was testing the power against Li Huang to see how he would fare in a fight.


    Li Huang readied himself and planed the order of the treasures that he is going to use against Guanyu''s attacks. He knew from the previous attack that he either has to dodge it or use a treasure or two to lessen the impact as he is not on that level to fight this type of enemy head-on.


    Guanyu attacked Li Huang with a simple movement of his hand. An arc of Qi burst out toward Li Huang from the tip of Guanyu''s fingers. He was still looking down on Li Huang as he was someone from a lower plane so he didn''t go with any fancy technique to fight him.


    By sending an arc to attack Li Huang, Guanyu wanted to minimize his chance of dodging this attack. Li Huang used the peeping eye of heaven to find a weak point to this attack as he didn''t want to use all his treasures from the get-go.


    Finding a couple of small flaws, Li Huang used some simple yet powerful attacks toward them and destabilized the arc and soon the Qi dispersed in the air and the attack didn''t reach Li Huang.


    Guanyu looked surprised and Li Huang looked disappointed.


    "Come on, I know you can do better." Li Huang taunted Guanyu in a way that would make Cai ZhenKang proud. Li Huang knew from the way that Guanyu came out of [Mirror of reckoning] reflection, that he can not harm him but he had a better idea.


    ''I can''t do anything to harm you as it is now but I won''t let you harm me either��'' Li Huang thought.


    The corner of Guanyu''s mouth twitched as he didn''t think that Li Huang would dare to taunt him.


    "You are lucky that I don''t have my previous body��" Guanyu said and got ready to rip this insolent brat to shreds.


    "Sure old man, whatever you say." Li Huang said and tried to tick off Guanyu. It is a cheap trick to try and gain an upper hand like this but Li Huang didn''t care as long as he could somehow defeat Guanyu.


    ��


    Li Huang knew that only a couple of minutes is left from the trial but that too was long when you are fighting a powered-up Guanyu who has decades of experience under his belt. Li Huang fought him for 3 minutes and he parried more than 100 attacks so you could say he was successful in pissing off Guanyu.


    He could also send out a message to whoever was coming toward them to warn them about Guanyu. In all honesty, only the leaders and the vice leaders of the holy lands might have a chance at fighting Guanyu and keeping their lives for a while.


    With this in mind, Li Huang told them to come together if they want to help so that they can have some sort of impact.


    Hu Anjing, Li Wanrou and Cai ZhenKang were waiting for one or two more members so that they can attack Guanyu.


    "You knew that I can sense your friends coming here, right?" Guanyu said as he wanted to crush Li Huang''s spirit. He was stunned by the number of treasures and scrolls that Li Huang had as he never thought that someone would carry a vault with them. If it wasn''t for the numerous countermeasures that Li Huang had in his arsenal, he would have turned to ashes in the first 30 seconds of this fight.


    Li Huang knew why Guanyu was saying that so he didn''t mind it much. Of course, he knew that Guanyu was aware of others that are going to come here but he also was aware of something else, the fact that Guanyu didn''t do anything about it shows that he doesn''t have enough energy to do so.


    "And you know that I can see that your power-up is near its end?" Li Huang said. The fact that Guanyu is not thrown out of the trial showed him that he is using a technique to power up temporarily.


    Guanyu was tired of this fight so he didn''t waste any more time talking and attacked Li Huang multiple times. He was waiting for the moment that Li Huang uses the teleportation ring to surprise him.


    Li Huang didn''t use the teleportation ring so far but he decided to use it now as he was surrounded by attacks that rained on him.


    But before he did, he first contacted Hu Anjing to tell her his plan.


    ~''Get here as soon as you can.''~ He sent this through the sound transmission, if his plan doesn''t work, he will need every bit of help that he can get.

 Chapter 120: Cast it into the fire

    ����(POV third person, eternal wail trial, Hu Anjing, and others)����


    "Let''s go." The moment Hu Anjing got Li Huang''s message she didn''t waste any time and started running toward where Li Huang and that mysterious attacker were fighting.


    Hu Anjing, Li Wanrou, Cai ZhenKang, and Ye Ling were the four that decided to run and fight with this third party. Others were on the lookout for any more danger as they didn''t know when the trial would be over exactly.


    ����(POV third person, eternal wail trial, Li Huang)����


    From the corners of his eyes, Li Huang checked Guanyu''s face to see if he can decipher what he is planning to do. Seeing as he didn''t have any time to waste, Li Huang went with his original plan.


    He was going to use the ring that he got from Jin Fen''s corpse to teleport to Guanyu and deliver a surprise attack to him.


    Unbeknown to Li Huang, Guanyu was waiting for exactly this to happen as he knew that Li Huang had Jin Fen''s teleportation ring and he didn''t use it until now so Guanyu was waiting for him to use it and using that chance, finish off Li Huang once and for all.


    Li Huang started charging up the ring slowly and Guanyu couldn''t hide his grin when he saw this. Opposite to him Li Huang also grinned as he too was looking for this.


    The moment that the teleportation ring activated, Guanyu could feel the space behind him destabilize for a moment and that was the cue that Li Huang was going to exit from there. How could a mere teleportation ring make it hard for an old monster like Guanyu to detect someone''s movement? He didn''t want to stay here and fight the newcomers that were getting closer by the second so he decided to finish this fight with this move.


    "You are a million years too early to be facing me." Guanyu said and turned toward where Li Huang would come out of. He used three-fourths of all his Qi to finish this pest, also known as Li Huang.


    To Guanyu''s dismay, the moment that his attack was near the space fluctuation location, what came out of it was not Li Huang.


    Li Huang knew from the beginning that he can''t face Guanyu easily so he came up with a plan. What if he made Guanyu think that he is going to do something and that would lead to Guanyu showing an opening.


    It was a good and seemingly effective plan but the problem was that Li Huang had to somehow let Guanyu know of his next move without directly telling him. If an old monster like Guanyu were to see the smallest glimpses that Li Huang is plotting something, this whole plan would fall apart.


    With that in mind, how could Li Huang let Guanyu know his next move without telling him when he has no idea what trump cards Li Huang has? The answer was using what he knew about, Jin Fen''s belongings. Guanyu would know them best as he was with Jin Fen every step of the way.


    Thinking about one thing that is obvious and practical, Li Huang choose the teleportation ring as it was in plain view and there was no way Guanyu didn''t know about it as it was the reason Jin Fen was alive for so long.


    The thing that came out of the space fluctuation was the alchemical golem that Li Huang pocketed at the beginning of the trial. He had a hard time fighting it because of its Qi negation property and was able to get out of that situation by sheer luck.


    Now that he sent this golem instead of himself with the teleportation ring, Guanyu had lost most of his Qi and this was the opening that Li Huang was waiting for. Applying a couple of scrolls on the run, Li Huang got close to Guanyu who had his back to him.


    Guanyu''s attack landed on the alchemical golem and as expected, the golem absorbed all of it and no damage was done to it.


    ''What is this doing in this backwater world?'' Guanyu was shell-shocked for the first time in a while. The face of the golem was enough to instill fear in him, no matter how many years pass, he wouldn''t be able to forget him, the one who killed him. The fear and rage were so intense that Guanyu forgot the current situation and was looking around to find ''him'' in the surrounding.


    It was logical to think when his golem is here, he is here too but the truth was that Li Huang found this golem in a formation in this trial but Guanyu didn''t know about this and thought that he has sensed him and come to finish him off for good this time��


    Li Huang didn''t expect that Guanyu would show him such an opening and expected only a small window of action but this was a highway in itself. Li Huang wasn''t one to look a gift horse in the mouth but he didn''t let his guard down so that even if Guanyu has a plan he won''t be surprised.


    For this attack, he had to use one of the most expensive items that he had, it was also one of the most dangerous items. It was simply called [Black menace powder] and did one simple thing; it would cripple a person''s cultivation when their Qi is almost depleted.


    This powder works on everyone so it can even cripple oneself if you are not careful. Other than the danger, the price tag for this powder is high enough that even Li Huang was almost having second thoughts when using it as the small amount that Li Huang has cost him about a year''s worth of pocket money. Well, it is worth saying that this small amount can kill two or three more people so you can say that Li Huang''s reluctance is understandable when he wanted to use this.


    Scattering the [Black menace powder] in the air Li Huang used the needlework technique of the eclipse devourer sword art to send a barrage of attacks toward Guanyu so that there is no way that he can come out of this attack unscathed.


    In the short time that the attacks were reaching Guanyu, Li Huang used the peeping eye of heaven to collect any and every [Black menace powder] that was still on the air.


    Finishing this in a few nanoseconds he breathe a sigh of relief as now there was no chance for him to somehow inhale this powder.


    Guanyu who felt the attacks coming from his back, defended them as much as he could because he was of a mind that this is ''him'' attacking him so he had to defend desperately. Alas, the needlework technique is not one that you can defend from. As Guanyu had less and less Qi the attacks started hitting his body and the [Black menace powder] started taking effect.


    The moment that [Black menace powder] started working Guanyu knew that there was no way out but his instinct was to struggle. It didn''t take long for the powder to work its magic and soon Guanyu was on his knees with hallow eyes, it was too much for him to accept that he is now a cripple in a world that has probably no way of fixing his meridians.


    "I guess you are a million years too old to be facing me." Li Huang said after finishing off Guanyu.


    He burned the body to ashes and stored them in vials just to be safe. He also stored the golem in his storage ring. As the golem had a crack in its formation, it was practically useless but he could still study it and possibly repair it.


    Hu Anjing and others who just got here just saw the burned ground and Li Huang storing a couple of vials in his storage rings.


    "What happened?" Hu Anjing asked as she didn''t expect to find Li Huang standing by himself as she could feel another person here until a few seconds ago.


    Li Huang turned to face them.


    "Well, let''s just say he returned to dust��" Li Huang said. He was glad that he could salvage this situation somehow but he also learned a lesson.


    ''Burn the corpse too��'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    "*tsk* Next time leave some fight for me." Cai ZhenKang said as he was really disappointed that he didn''t get to fight with this mysterious person. If he wasn''t afraid that Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou would beat him, he would rush to fight here sooner.


    Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou who were checking to see if Li Huang was alright or not, had an urge to punch Cai ZhenKang in the face. They were fighting non-stop for the past few days and he still wants more.


    "Don''t worry, not only I will let you have all the fight for yourself, but I will also promise to avenge you." Li Huang said as he was smiling.

 Chapter 121: Empty promises

    ����(POV third person, eternal wail trial)����


    Cai ZhenKang looked at Li Huang with a wide smile and stars in his eyes.


    "Li Huang you are a true friend if ever there was one." Cai ZhenKang said as he was really glad that Li Huang would be willing to give him such a chance to fight a hard opponent in the future. The part that Li Huang suggested Cai ZhenKang would die and he has to get revenge for him went right over his head.


    Li Huang was conflicted on how to respond as he meant it as a sarcastic remark and nothing else. Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou who also understood what Li Huang was saying were also shocked by the lack of comprehension that Cai ZhenKang showed.


    Luckily for them, the old man showed up this time and stopped them from talking any further. Each time that the old man had shown himself before, he choose the worst timings but this one was one that Li Huang would appreciate.


    The old man slowly materialized on the sky in his giant form and looked at every disciple.


    "��the punishment is over." The old man said these simple words and everyone could now breathe a sigh of relief, some even collapsed on the ground as their knees gave out. They were running and fighting like a machine so that they can distract themselves from the fact that they might die any second and now that the punishment is over, they could rest easy.


    This was unbelievable to most of them as this was not a common cold that they survived, it was the horde that killed 96 disciples 300 years ago and they have now survived such a calamity. From the initial 95 disciples in the fort, only 2 lost their lives and the other 93 participants would live to see another day.


    Li Huang thought about the two disciples that lost their lives due to He Junli''s incompetence and remembered his plan for her after this trial. He doesn''t need to do much as almost all of the disciples from the other six holy lands have a problem with her so she would definitely face the consequences of her actions but Li Huang would be there to make sure of it too.


    After a few seconds of silence, the old man decided to continue.


    "You have defeated all the beast hordes that were unleashed to punish you and because of this you will pass this test too." The old man said and ignited hope in everyone that as this is a test, having a reward is only natural.


    "��But do not forget that the only reward that you get is that you can leave the trial alive." The old man crushed everyone''s hope with a single sentence.


    ''Of course, you wouldn''t reward us with anything��'' Li Huang thought and got ready for another life lesson.


    The old man also didn''t disappoint and gave them a life lesson.


    "In life, one should not always look for rewards in each and every action. This would be an unhealthy practice that would result in laziness because one would not move a step if it is not for profit. Of course, I''m not saying that everyone should forget profits but what I''m saying is that many times a result that seems without a profit, would lead one to many profits in the future." The old man said. Every participant was listening to him and almost everyone forgot that this old man was the same person that announced the start of the punishments.


    "Take your situation as an example, if you were to die here, there would be no profit to be gained in the future so this is also a reward in a sense as you can continue gaining profit in your life." The old man said. Everyone had an urge to vomit blood as the old man was simply telling them to be grateful that you are still alive, but thinking about it a little they could all see his point as he could have dropped more beasts on them so they didn''t look at it like the old man was berating them.


    "I wish you luck in your lives." The old man said and disappeared from the sky. After a few seconds when everyone was sure that they were now safe, cheers could be heard from all around the eastern side of the fort.


    Li Huang nodded a couple of times to himself as everything went as how he planned for them. Well, everything except Jin Fen, He Junli, and Guanyu.


    "Li Huang, I think this fort would be a nice addition to the eternal wail trial." Cai ZhenKang said as he looked toward the fort. He didn''t know the weight that this had to Li Huang.


    "I don''t think it would be here the next time that there is a trial��" Li Huang said and looked sad as all these materials would go to waste when they get out of the trial.


    Li Huang was rich but knowing that all this fort would turn into nothing was too much for him, it was like burning money when there was no reason to do so.


    Although, Li Huang wasn''t desperate enough to go and pocket the fort into his storage ring. A part of him knew that he would be compensated for this so he wasn''t worried.


    "I think this is the end." Li Wanrou said as she was looking at the surroundings. This past month felt like an eternity for her and she wanted to engrave this place to her mind.


    "Despite how it was minutes ago, now there is no sign of the beasts." Li Huang said as he too looked at the surrounding. If you removed the beasts that wanted to bite your head off, this place was really beautiful.


    Hu Anjing nodded as she too had her fill with fighting the beasts. She was still angry that this punishment made it so that she and Li Huang couldn''t have some alone time and had to fight constantly.


    She had this on her mind, but she didn''t want to be the one to bring it up so she was hoping that Li Huang would remember that.


    Moments later everyone could feel a pull on their bodies but no one panicked as they knew what this meant. This pull was the sign that they were getting teleported outside of the eternal wail trial.


    Li Huang was the only one that also felt something else. He felt a change in his storage ring, he didn''t know how and why but it was the same feeling of accessing one''s storage ring so he checked the ring quickly.


    The ring itself was fine and the items were where they should be. Li Huang almost believed it to be the truth but something came to his mind and he looked for the blue orb that was in Jin Fen''s ''belongings''. No matter how much he checked, the orb wasn''t there.


    The next moment he was at the edge of the eternal wail chasm like every other participant of eternal wail trial that was still alive.


    It was now that he understood, the orb wouldn''t leave the trial ground in any case because every storage ring would be checked before the trial would let you out and would stop you from taking what you shouldn''t have.


    ''This would make all these fights more pointless.'' Li Huang thought as he shook his head. It was simply stupid to think that you can con the one who created such sub-space by just storing the object in a storage ring.


    ''Now I really wish I could have seen Jin Fen''s face if he were to come out of the trial.'' Li Huang chuckled as he thought about Jin Fen''s reaction.


    The moment that he looked in front of him he could see that all the holy lands had been waiting here and from their faces, he could see the anxiousness. At first, he was surprised but soon he understood that many disciples must have used some treasure that would alert their masters about it so everyone is worried about their disciples.


    ''Thinking about it, grandpa should have also known about this last fight.'' Li Huang thought. As he used the [Mirror of Reckoning] grandpa Long would have been notified about it.


    The moment that he was thinking about it he heard a familiar voice.


    "Huang!" Li Long that sensed Li Huang with his Qi sense rushed here and checked Li Huang for any possible injury.


    Li Huang couldn''t help but smile at this. He knew that grandpa Long was blaming himself for his parents and because of that he trained him with more harshness so that he can come out of any situation unscathed.


    "I''m alright grandpa, it was a hard situation but luckily I had a lot of treasures on me that helped me in the fight." Li Huang explained briefly.


    "What happened in there?" Li Long asked as he calmed down a little.

 Chapter 122: My master should not know

    ����(POV third person, on the edge of the eternal wail chasm)����


    "��Luckily I was able to finish the fight." Li Huang explained the events to grandpa Long mostly in sound transmissions for privacy and speed as you could convey messages faster with this method.


    "So that Jin Fen not only stole from the trial but he also wanted to kill you." Li Long couldn''t be angrier. How could his own grandson be in danger from his own sect disciples? It was unrealistic to want to monitor everyone in the sect and hope to find what they are thinking about if you don''t wish to make the sect into a cult and make the grand elders beat him for it, but Li Long was thinking that he should have paid more attention to this issue so that no such thing could happen in the future.


    ''If you can''t trust your back to your fellow disciples, then who can you trust?'' Li Long thought. He then remembered something else.


    "��And that He Junli��" Li Long snorted coldly.


    "Good, good, good. It seems that I have been too lenient these past years that the young generation has forgotten about me." Li Long cracked his knuckles. If it was his younger years he would have broken every bone in her body and made the sects go into a rough patch because of it.


    Alas, now that he can see the bigger picture he knows that this would only make unnecessary tensions that wouldn''t give you the result that you are looking for, much more when they are allied with the White Moon sect.


    Li Huang wanted to say that the world might have forgotten about that but Li Huang himself was reminded of it each time that they train, but he stopped himself.


    "You did well not killing her." Li Long said with a warm smile, unlike the subject that he was talking about. He patted Li Huang''s shoulder a couple of times.


    "When we can punish her by doing less why even bother doing more?" Li Huang said as he also smiled. It was one of his mottoes that ''do less unless there is a clear advantage in doing more''.


    "I like how you think." Grandpa Long said and laughed but soon composed himself.


    "Gather everyone and come after me, I have to relay these pieces of information to grand elder Wan." He said and started walking away with light steps as he was now sure that Li Huang was alright.


    ~''We have some things to talk about later, important things��''~ Li Huang sent a sound transmission to grandpa Long who already was at a distance.


    Li Long paused for a moment and tried to think what could Li Huang want to talk about but ultimately just nodded and continued going toward grand elder Wan.


    Although Li Long is the patriarch but a grand elder''s position is only second to him and as they have seniority over him, it is only polite to counsel with them and that was exactly what Li Long was going to do.


    Li Huang Looked around him and started looking for his fellow disciples. It was at that time that he heard a familiar voice.


    "Young Master Li." The voice said and there was only one person who called him this way these past few days. It was Lang Yingmin, the ''outcast disciple'' of the white moon sect that was on his team. She cupped her fists to him.


    "Miss Lang, what can I do for you?" Li Huang said as he greeted her too. From what he saw from her in the trial, she was at least stronger than He Junli so it was really a mystery that she wasn''t the leader and He Junli was.


    ''Well, thinking about the fact that He Junli had something of a cult in their sect, it is not that surprising��'' Li Huang thought.


    "I wanted to thank you for helping me with the weapon Qi training in the trial." She said and bowed a little.


    "You are welcome, it was nothing special." Li Huang said as he really didn''t help her selectively as she was the only option that could produce the weapon Qi. He helped her so that she can help him in gathering the materials, that simple.


    Li Huang now remembered that she might get more isolated in the sect in the future as she is talking with him who choke He Junli so he added a few words.


    "Miss Lang, I think you might be in a bit of problem in your sect if you are seen talking to me." Li Huang said and hinted at the disciples who were looking at them. She knew about what happened with He Junli but she didn''t say anything in the trial so Li Huang left it at that but now he decided to tell her directly.


    Lang Yingmin looked around and the disciples who were looking at them looked away, she then turned to face Li Huang again.


    "Thank you for your concern but I will be fine." She said with a small smile.


    Li Huang nodded as he didn''t want to pry further. Soon after she excused herself to go and see her master and Li Huang went to gather his fellow disciples as his grandpa instructed him to.


    ����(POV third person, Li Long and grand elder Wan)����


    "I see." Grand elder Wan nodded a couple of times. Li Long told him what happened in the trial in detail.


    "Li Huang has done us a great favor with his quick decision making and resourcefulness, you have done well raising him, patriarch." Grand elder Wan added and smiled at Li Long. He was from the generation of Li Long''s master so he naturally knew Li Long from a young age and the fact that a haughty person like Li Long has raised a level-headed person was a surprise to him, to say the least.


    Well, let''s just say that grand elder Wan didn''t know Li Huang completely or his verdict might have been a little different.


    "Haha, grand elder overpraises me." Li Long said as he was proud that Li Huang didn''t do what he had in mind or else he didn''t know if grand elder Wan would have the same reaction now.


    "Putting the matter about Li Huang and how he helped everyone get out of there alive aside for now, we need to do something about white moon sect disciple��" Grand elder Wan said and Li Long nodded.


    "Yes, although we are allied this is not something that we can let go of as she clearly put everyone in danger for herself." Li Long said as he couldn''t believe that there would be such a spoiled person in one of the holy lands.


    ''If the disciple is this way, how is the master��'' Li Long thought and now he could understand why his son didn''t want anything to do with that girl.


    "Grand elder Su Zhi is a reasonable and disciplined person, we can make sure that she would punish her if she were to know about this." Grand elder Wan said.


    "Yes, other holy lands would also have something to say from what Huang told me." Li Long said and after talking about a few more small matters they got out of their tents to go toward the white moon sect''s tent.


    As they got out they saw Li Huang and others coming toward them.


    ""Disciple greets the patriarch, disciple greets grand elder."" Everyone said in unison as they saw them.


    Li Long and grand elder Wan nodded to them.


    "You all did exceptionally well this time." Li Long said and showed them an amiable smile. Everyone cupped their fists again in awe as some of them haven''t seen the patriarch this close and this was a new achievement for them.


    They went toward the white moon sects tent together and along the way, other holy lands also joined them as they too heard about this from their disciples and found it unacceptable. Zheng Jingyi was the disciple who even put his core disciple identity on the line as he was the one who led the two disciples that have died to the battlefield and if he can''t make this right he might not be able to continue cultivation in this life as this could become his heart demon.


    Li Huang talked to Zheng Jingyi after they left He Junli and told him his plans and because of that Zheng Jingyi kept calm at that time.


    As the elders and some patriarchs were walking in front, the disciples walked slower to put a distance between them out of respect.


    "Li Huang, I dare you to fight me!" Cai ZhenKang said with a haughty attitude.


    Li Huang who didn''t expect this raised an eyebrow as he looked at Cai ZhenKang.


    "Did you hit your head somewhere? What is wrong with you?" Li Huang said as he thought that he must have had a concussion.


    Cai ZhenKang got closer to Li Huang and got near to his ear.


    "Hahaha, it''s nothing. I''m keeping our friendship a secret from my master." Cai ZhenKang said like it was a brilliant plan.


    Li Huang had a blank look on his face when he heard Cai ZhenKang''s reasoning.

 Chapter 123: He Junli meets the grand elder

    Li Huang looked at Cai ZhenKang, maybe if he looked long enough, he would say that he was joking but his wish didn''t come true as Cai ZhenKang kept looking at him with a proud look on his face.


    "��Are you serious?" Li Huang asked him as he couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang could be this blockheaded.


    Cai ZhenKang nodded sagely.


    "Of course, how else would we interact when our sects are not in good relations?" Cai ZhenKang said with his bigger brother expression.


    "��And you think someone at the level of your master can''t hear you just because you are talking quietly?" Li Huang said and he narrowed his eyes as he looked at Cai ZhenKang. He couldn''t understand how this was going to fool someone that has one of the seven holy lands in the palm of his hand.


    Hearing this Cai ZhenKang''s face lost color and he stiffly turned to look at his master who also came here after Cai ZhenKang used a few treasures that signaled him. Most of Cai ZhenKang''s treasures would signal his master because in the blue bulls sect they rather not use any sort of outside power so if a disciple is too reliant on them he or she would be punished. In fact, his master came here to punish him at first but soon came to know the gravity of the situation that they were in so he didn''t mind this minor thing.


    When Cai ZhenKang looked at his master''s back he heard a snort from his master.


    ''He heard me.'' Cai ZhenKang thought as he was now as white as a sheet. He almost lost his footing and fell but Li Huang helped him.


    ~''You idiot, of course, he knows about it he would have beaten you already if he had a problem with it.''~ Li Huang sent him a sound transmission as he thought Cai ZhenKang might pass out from fear if he didn''t.


    Cai ZhenKang who heard him looked at him with a little hope in his eyes. He was ready for a nonstop hellish training because he formed a friendship with Li Huang.


    ~''A sect''s politic is decided by the sect''s head and grand elders but it doesn''t mean that we are in a war. If our sects were to start fighting each other then you shouldn''t have a friendly relation with me but now we are not at that point yet.''~ Li Huang further explained to ease Cai ZhenKang''s unease.


    Cai ZhenKang thought about it a little and remembered that his master wouldn''t care about anything if he wanted to beat him and he would have already beaten him without a care about the situation. Laughing a little Cai ZhenKang collected himself.


    "Hahaha, I thought I was going to die, haha��" Cai ZhenKang said. Li Huang thought that at least grandpa Long wouldn''t beat him for such a thing.


    ��


    When everyone got close to the White Moon sect''s tent and the elders were to step closer they heard a crisp sound.


    *slap* *thud*


    "And you dare to act as you wish in the trials? Get up." The female voice said. For anyone familiar with the White Moon sect it was easy to detect that this voice belonged to grand elder Su Zhi.


    *slap* *thud*


    A few seconds later this sound was heard again. And to anyone who had high enough cultivation level to see a little past the defensive formation of the tent, it was clear that grand elder Su Zhi was slapping He Junli who had a look of disobedience on her face that didn''t amuse grand elder Su Zhi at all.


    When the disciples got back no one said anything about how He Junli handled the situation in the trial so grand elder Su Zhi didn''t say much but once she heard about how she lost face for their sect and her actions could have created a war against them and other holy lands she couldn''t be more furious.


    How she could be so short-sighted to let such a thing happen was beyond her comprehension. If only one person from a holy land were to lose their life because of her there was no salvaging this situation.


    "Be happy that I''m not stripping your disciple status right here and right now." Grand elder Su Zhi said and walked toward the tent''s exit. She could detect that the other head figures of the other holy lands were looking inside the tent but she didn''t stop it as she didn''t want them to think this was only a show and there would be no punishment for her. Near the tent''s exit, she turned and looked at other disciples.


    "The rest of you will also face a punishment." She said and left the other disciples. If they didn''t follow He Junli''s every word no such thing would happen.


    ''Nice! I knew I could leave this matter to grand elder Su Zhi.'' Li Huang thought like a lovestruck teenager.


    Getting out of the tent and seeing that everyone was gathered here she now knew that if she didn''t slap He Junli herself, these elders and disciples would want a valid explanation.


    Su Zhi cupped her fists and bowed a little.


    "Fellow Daoists, the matter about our disciple, He Junli, is a stain in our sect''s reputation and we would punish her and others who followed her blindly with utmost care so that this mistake won''t happen ever again." She said.


    Although some who know her well took these words at face value some didn''t look pleased. As someone who was at the highest levels of this world''s cultivation, this wasn''t surprising to her so she continued.


    "Of course, we will invite every holy land to be the witness to these punishments." She said and those who thought this to be a ploy at the beginning didn''t have anything else to say.


    "Two disciples lost their lives in the trial because of that mistake. Alas, no treasure in the world can bring back the dead but our White Moon sect would do its utmost to alleviate their families'' pains as much as we can." She said and finished her words. She handled this matter in the best way and didn''t let this matter do any major damage to the White Moon sect as a whole.


    Other leaders of each sect got closer to her and they talked about this matter and other things.


    ''I have to say, she handled the situation expertly.'' Li Huang thought.


    "So this is what they call the experience that comes with age." Cai ZhenKang said as he was looking at grand elder Su Zhi.


    Li Huang who was beside him punched him in the head.


    "Don''t talk about a woman''s age." Li Huang said as he didn''t want his stupid friend to destroy his chances, no matter how minuscule they are.


    "Oh! I see��" Cai ZhenKang said as he took note.


    ��


    Minutes passed and elders talked with each other and the disciples did so too. Grand elder Su Zhi was now talking with Li Long.


    "How have you been these years?" She asked with a warm smile. She had seen him when he was young with her disciple, Shen Yan. As she was his wife''s master they had many interactions over the years but after Li Huang was born they haven''t seen each other until now.


    "I have been good grand elder Su, thank you. How is your health?" Li Long said as politely as he could as grand elder Su was like a mother to his wife and a mother-in-law to him.


    "I would have been good if this matter didn''t happen. *sigh* The young generation has got too arrogant it seems��" she said as she knew handling this would be a headache as He Junli must have a following in the sect too.


    "Enough of this, how is your grandson?" Su Zhi asked as she needed to hear something positive. She heard how Li Huang handled the punishment as they call it and she was amazed by how alert he was.


    "He too is good." Li Long said and cupped his fists.


    "Good, lead the way to him. Yan''er didn''t see this child all these years so at least I can talk with him this way." Su Zhi said as she shook her head.


    Li Long didn''t need to hear anymore and acted as a guide for Su Zhi. Although he was now a patriarch he wasn''t one to get drunk on mere titles.


    "Please, this way." He said.


    It didn''t take long for them to reach where Li Huang was and he too was surrounded by disciples from different sects, from the holy lands and smaller powers. As he was the one who created the fort every disciple felt that they should show their gratitude to him.


    When Li Long and Su Zhi came near them the disciples naturally gave way to them. Seeing this Li Huang also noticed grandpa Long and grand elder Su Zhi who were seemingly coming toward him.

 Chapter 124: Even Li Long was young one day

    ����(POV third person, Li Huang, in front of his crush)����


    Li Huang wasn''t sure that grand elder Su Zhi wanted to talk to him or not. Because of that he didn''t start talking to her when he saw her so that he won''t come off as rude. As they say, a junior shouldn''t talk to his senior before they start speaking to them.


    Grand elder Su Zhi and Li Long came closer to Li Huang and other disciples slowly scattered and waited for a drama to happen. To many of them, it was logical for grand elder Su Zhi to be at odds with Li Huang as every participant knew that he told He Junli that he would make sure that she faces severe punishment. But to the ones who were more knowledgeable and knew about grand elder Su Zhi''s relation to Li Huang, it was more of a family meeting of sorts.


    "How are you, Huang?" Grand elder Su Zhi asked with a smile and addressed Li Huang with his first name. This way she wanted to show him that he can forgo the formalities with her and also tell him that she doesn''t think he did anything wrong when he handled the situation that He Junli created in the trial.


    Li Huang could understand what grand elder Su Zhi wanted to convey. He also used this chance to throw some cheesy lines at her.


    "I was a little exhausted, but seeing the elder I already feel better." Li Huang said and cupped his fists and bowed.


    Grand elder Su Zhi raised a brow at this as she unfolded her fan. She had a small smile on her face behind it.


    Li Long was staring daggers at Li Huang as even in his wildest of imaginations he would have never thought that Li Huang would act this way. Li Huang acted as he didn''t even notice grandpa Long''s existence, much less his piercing glare.


    "Flattery will get you nowhere young man." Grand elder Su Zhi said with a playful tone. She didn''t mind it but she couldn''t stop herself from teasing Li Huang a little.


    Unfortunately, Li Huang wasn''t one to get flustered by just this much as his age would suggest.


    "I was merely stating how I felt." Li Huang said. He was walking on a thin line so he tried to tread carefully.


    Grand elder Su Zhi was stunned for a second.


    "Alright then, I believe you." She said as she giggled a little. She had many suitors over the years and wasn''t a young girl with no social experience that would get beet red hearing this. She interpreted this as Li Huang being polite and friendly.


    She turned to face Li Long who was still in a daze from Li Huang''s words and actions.


    "He is certainly better than you when it comes to talking to women at his age, do you remember when you used to come to our White Moon sect?" Grand elder Su Zhi said and laughed softly as she remembered those years.


    Li Long who was looking at Li Huang, lost all color in his face as he heard grand elder Su Zhi''s words. If Li Huang were to know about those memories, he wouldn''t have a face in front of his own grandson anymore so he tried to stop her from saying a thing about this.


    "Ahaha, yes I was young and immature." He said as he couldn''t just go and say ''we should move on.'' and expect grand elder Su Zhi to do as he says.


    Li Huang who saw this as a chance to stop his grandfather from beating him looked with curiosity toward grand elder Su Zhi.


    "Oh, you don''t know about this Huang?" Grand elder Su Zhi said as she saw the curiosity in his eyes. Hearing this Li Long almost felt that his soul is leaving his body.


    She thought this could be a good chance to improve her relationship with Li Huang so she wanted to continue but as this was a meeting in public it would be too careless to disclose such things so she came up with another idea.


    "��How about you come to our White Moon sect. We can talk more and I can tell you more about these memories?" She said. She thought this could be a good chance to mend Li Huang and Shen Yan''s relationships a little.


    "I will most certainly be there soon." Li Huang said as he couldn''t let go of such a trump card against grandpa Long. Well, this being a meeting with grand elder Su Zhi also helped in his decisive decision making.


    "Good." Grand elder Su Zhi nodded as she was glad that Li Huang accepted her offer.


    "I also wanted to thank you for helping my disciple." She added after a second.


    Li Huang didn''t know that grand elder Su Zhi had another disciple other than his grandmother and he didn''t think he helped such a person so he decided to ask her directly.


    "Your disciple, elder?" He asked.


    "You didn''t know? Yingmin is my disciple, she said that you helped her with his weapon Qi training." She explained. She thought that Li Huang knew about who her master was.


    It wasn''t hard for Li Huang to link Yingmin to Lang Yingmin who he called the outcast of the White Moon sect. Now he understood why she wasn''t afraid about how she was going to be received by her fellow disciples.


    Thinking a bit more Li Huang knew that it must be Lang Yingmin who let grand elder Su Zhi know about what had really happened in the trial. Now it makes sense why she didn''t go for the leader position.


    "Elder overpraises me, what could I offer that you have not offered at least a thousandfold better?" Li Huang said and there was not an ounce of flattery in his words. He didn''t think he with his meager experience in cultivation could say a word that someone at the level of grand elder Su Zhi doesn''t know a book''s worth of knowledge about it.


    Grand elder Su Zhi too didn''t refute this because it was clear as day and doing so would only be an insult to Li Huang''s intelligence.


    "*sigh* That child is too stubborn and if she doesn''t hit a wall she would try to solve any and all problems herself so it has also come as a surprise to me that she was willing to ask for pointers from somebody else." Grand elder Su Zhi said as she shook her head. Lang Yingmin was really hard-working but she wanted to find her own path instead of walking on the same path as her predecessors. Su Zhi was sure that she wouldn''t ask Li Huang for help if he were using the same weapon as her as she couldn''t translate this knowledge to her weapon and add her tweaks this way.


    Li Huang cupped his fists and accepted this gratitude from grand elder Su Zhi.


    After some more small talks, grand elder Su Zhi said her farewells and left toward her sect''s tent. It was now only Li Huang and Li Long there.


    ~''Huang, don''t tell me that you are trying to court grand elder Su?''~ Li Long asked in a sound transmission as there are words that one shouldn''t say and this was one of them.


    ~''What if I am grandpa?''~ Li Huang asked with a smirk on his face as he was sure that grandpa Long would have to call him grandpa that way.


    ~''Well, I say good luck because your chance is almost nonexistent.''~ Li Long said as he too smirked at Li Huang''s naivety.


    Li Huang who could feel that there was something that he didn''t know about grand elder Su Zhi asked Li Long directly.


    ~''Why is that?''~ Li Huang asked as he turned to face Li Long.


    ~''Well, it is like this��''~ Grandpa Long started to explain.


    He said how grand elder Su Zhi was not only the brightest talent of her generation but the brightest in the hundreds of years. She had many suitors from a young age, many came after her for her beauty, many for her talent, many for her position, and many were simply lovestruck.


    Needless to say, Su Zhi was focused on her training and didn''t want such things to stop her. When you can live for centuries if you train hard enough, it is not too late to decide about a partner at that time.


    This logic was accepted by her suitors for a while but those young masters and top talents lost their patience slowly as the years passed and Su Zhi didn''t stop training and didn''t give them a chance.


    Seeing this they came up with a good method to marry Su Zhi, political marriage. They used their sect/house as the bargainer with the White Moon sect to arrange a marriage between them and Su Zhi who had no family other than the sect. Seeing this the sect grand elders were under pressure to give a valid reason to the suitors.


    So Su Zhi told them that she would fight every suitor and if they can beat her in a fight in the same cultivation, she would accept their marriage proposal. The suitors were ecstatic about this news and started getting into lines to challenge her.


    What followed was a decade of duels where Su Zhi won every single one of them.

 Chapter 125: When Li Huang asks for training

    ����(POV third person, Li Long and Li Huang)����


    Even if you have a heart of steel, when no one could best her in a decade, you would think twice before challenging Su Zhi again. The cultivators of the divine central continent all knew about this event that was a daily routine now, to the point that it was harder to find some who didn''t know about this than to find a cultivator at the Nirvana Realm.


    Many would bet on the results and it was now an established entertainment across the whole continent. No one was betting on the winner as after the first fifty fights there was no doubt about Su Zhi being the winner, they were betting on how long the challenger would last in the fight before he would be knocked out.


    It was such a big event that they created a leaderboard for it after the second month of the challenges. The leaderboard ranked the challengers by the time that they had lasted in the fight. On top of the leaderboard letters ''Su Zhi'' were engraved and in front of it, her winning strike was shown. This leaderboard was shown in every major city in the divine central continent and the White Moon sect''s reputation was at an all-time high in that decade.


    As these fights were also considered training, Su Zhi''s technique and movements were getting more refined by the day as these challengers were not your common cultivator with no backing and secret techniques.


    Because of this, she accepted more challenges daily so that she can gain more from this and unknowingly wounded her challengers'' pride more. The existence of a leaderboard that ranked the ''losers'' also didn''t help as even if you were ranked first you would only be the best loser, that is to say nothing of those ''geniuses'' at the end of the leaderboard.


    Luckily for those top geniuses of the other holy lands, they had fought with Su Zhi in multiple competitions so they knew better to even try challenging her so their pride was intact.


    They could be angry all they wanted, It wouldn''t change the fact that Su Zhi could fight multiple battles per day and still win. Many even would come to challenge again, not to win but to improve their record so that they won''t be on the bottom ranks of the rankings. Being a loser amongst thousands of losers was fine but being the loser of the losers was too much for many to accept.


    Years passed this way and every month less and less new challengers would be added to the rankings and only the veterans kept fighting to improve their scores and the hype around it slowly disappeared. At this point, marrying Su Zhi would be impossible and she was undoubtedly the top expert of her era so all these fights were getting more meaningless by the day.


    The challenge still exists to this day but no one has tried it again as they don''t feel confident to do so.


    ~''��After ten years Su Zhi had fought more than 20,000 times and she didn''t even come close to losing a single one of them. Now are you still going to try and court her?''~ Li Long said as he was giving Li Huang a challenging look.


    It would be an understatement to say that Li Huang was surprised by these pieces of information, but it didn''t matter to him much that the others couldn''t do it. When it is a fight in the same cultivation realm it all comes down to your skill so whoever lost to her simply had inferior skills when compared to Su Zhi.


    ''From what grandpa said, they couldn''t even fight her for a couple of minutes in such a fair setting that shows her skills are top-notch.'' Li Huang thought. It was clear to him that after this many fights Su Zhi would pick up a trick or two, so it wasn''t shocking for her to be on the highest levels of martial arts in the world.


    ~''What is it, grandpa? Now that I want to train more, you of all people have something against it?''~ Li Huang sent this sound transmission as he looked at grandpa Long expectedly.


    Li Long who saw that Huang didn''t back away after this was somewhat proud as his grandson didn''t deem it impossible just because others couldn''t do it. Well, he can use this chance to train him with way more intensity so even if he were to lose that fight with grand elder Su Zhi, he has won because of how hard he has trained his body.


    "Good, good, good. Then I will give you the best training so that you can get stronger in the shortest time possible." Li Long gave Li Huang a toothy grin as he slapped his back multiple times.


    Li Huang laughed as he knew when it ended with him training more, his grandpa would agree to anything that he asks.


    "We will talk later, I have to think of the hars�� I mean the most effective training method��" Li Long said and left Li Huang as fast as he could because he almost had a slip of tongue.


    Li Huang''s smile froze on his lips as he hardly stopped himself from cursing his grandpa. He obviously knew that the most effective methods are usually the harshest methods but the way grandpa Long said it is implied that he was putting the harshness in front of the effectiveness.


    Taking a deep breath Li Huang calmed himself and remembered something that he put in the back of his mind in the trials, the Ren twins.


    When Li Huang saw them in the trial they didn''t have the time to talk leisurely so he told them that they will be talking after the trial and told them to be careful. As they were stationed on the walls Li Huang had no interactions with them when they were fighting the beast hordes in the trial.


    Looking around Li Huang tried to locate them. Passing by some other participants Li Huang used his Qi sense to locate the twins easier.


    After a few seconds, he was able to find them as it seemed that they were waiting for an opportunity to come closer and talk to him. Now that they showed the storage ring that Li Huang gave them to their sect elders, they knew that this gift would cost more than they can ever pay for. Seeing this their master told them to go to ''young master Li'' and ask him about it politely.


    Li Huang went toward them and before he could say anything they bowed when they saw him.


    "Young Master Li." Ren Tai said and Ren Ru was silent just like before the trial.


    It wasn''t hard for Li Huang to guess what had happened for them to act this way so he wasn''t surprised by this. It was natural for them to panic a little as they didn''t know his motivation for helping them after they got to know the real value of it.


    Li Huang didn''t do anything extra for them as all he gave them was the standard items that heavenly sword sect disciples had for this trial but that is above and beyond what a relatively small sect like the Green lake sect could offer their disciples.


    "What happened to big brother, huh?" Li Huang asked as a joke because they called him big brother before.


    This seemed to make them panic more as Ren Tai was thinking of a word to say.


    "I��We��Uh��" he tried to form a sentence but his thoughts were so chaotic that he was unable to do so.


    Seeing this Li Huang raised a hand to stop Ren Tai. He didn''t want to create a drama as he still needed to do a few more things here so he directly told them his proposal.


    "From what I have seen from you two, you are both very talented so I want you to be under my tutelage, what do you say?" Li Huang said. He wanted to give them training materials and cultivation resources so that they improve faster and in the end, he can gain two powerful followers.


    The Ren twins were shell-shocked as they didn''t see this coming at all. Getting this offer is what many disciples in the smaller sects strive for because if they were to get this offer from a big family they would gain many resources and their future in that family is guaranteed. Li Huang who saw this didn''t give them time to comprehend the situation and continued.


    "I will start by giving you the same amount of allowance as an inner core disciple of our heavenly sword sect. Your training will be also under my care as you would have to come and live with me." Li Huang further explained. When a disciple gets a tutelage offer they would mostly have to train where they are getting tutelage from and Li Huang wanted to monitor their training so he told them to come and live with him.


    Tutelage is a common occurrence and the disciple doesn''t need to leave the sect to do so. They can continue their tutelage as the members of their sect so there isn''t any complication there for Li Huang to handle.


    "If you have any other things that you might need, you can ask for them now." Li Huang said with a smile.


    The twins just looked at Li Huang as to them, this was too good to be true. Ren Ru pinched Ren Tai''s cheek to see if they were dreaming or not.

 Chapter 126: Get out, NOW

    Li Huang looked at them and waited for their answer until he remembered something.


    "Oh, and you will be under ''my'' tutelage not my family, but I have enough money so you don''t have to think much of it." Li Huang said. He didn''t want the Li family to be responsible for them as he wanted them to be his followers not the young master of the Li family''s followers. For Li Huang who likes to plan for everything, getting into a problem with the Li family is also accounted for so this could be another fail-safe for that unlikely, but not impossible situation.


    Ren Tai was still shocked but the usually silent Ren Ru cupped her fists, bowed, and came a step forward.


    "We of course accept your generous offer, young master Li." She said with a small voice as she wasn''t one to talk much and elbowed her brother while she had her fists cupped. Ren Tai who just now came out of his thoughts bowed hastily and cupped his fists.


    "Good, you can keep calling me big brother when we are not in public. I will send the letters to your sect for finalizing the tutelage. For now, continue cultivating." Li Huang said and gave each of them a couple of pills that would help them in cultivation. He was positive that if he asked for it, their sect, the Green Lake sect would even expel them so this letter was only a matter of formality and when Li Huang told them that he wants to tutelage them and they accepted, it was a forgone conclusion.


    "Young master, this��" Ren Tai wanted to refuse the pills somehow as he felt that it was too much and they would be wasted on them.


    Li Huang just raised a hand to stop him. He knew that in these type of situations the best course of action is to somehow force them to accept it.


    "Just take it, those pills are better used to make you two stronger, or are you going to stay this weak and lose face for me?" Li Huang said with a raised eyebrow. This forceful method would work better as they would not only use the pills but they will train as hard as they can so that they won''t be losing face for him.


    "Thank you, young master." Ren Tai nodded with a small smile and said.


    "Don''t mention it. I will be seeing you soon." Li Huang said and went toward his next destination.


    He was going toward the Sky Pillar Sect''s tent to talk to their patriarch. Li Huang needed to give his brother''s body to him so that he can rest easy that his brother is back and Li Huang could also score some brownie points with them.


    As he was getting near the tent he is called by someone.


    "Li Huang!" Zheng Jingyi, the chief disciple of the Sky Pillar sect said as he walked toward him. He didn''t know why Li Huang has came here so he wanted to see if he can help him in any way. As they say, the best way to know a cultivator is to fight alongside them and they have fought together so their relationship was friendly.


    "Zheng Jingyi, it is actually perfect that I saw you right now." Li Huang said as it would make it simpler for him to see the patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect if he were to go with Zheng Jingyi.


    "If you need anything just tell me." Zheng Jingyi said as he punched his own chest. The things that he was unable to do in their Sky Pillar sect could be counted with one hand so he wasn''t afraid that Li Huang could be asking something that he is unable to satisfy. One should not forget that Zheng Jingyi is a young master himself so showing off to his friend was only natural.


    Li Huang nodded as he accepted the gesture. This ''punishment'' in the trial made every participant closer to each other and this in itself was worth all the hassle that they had gone through as this generation would be the leaders of their respective sects in the future and a harmonious relationship could be expected from them. Well, maybe not He Junli but that is beside the point and her getting into a leading position of her sect despite what happened here is near impossible.


    "I want to see your master, patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect." Li Huang said.


    Zheng Jingyi was just mildly surprised because even if Li Huang were to request an audience without telling him he wouldn''t have a problem because of his title and lineage. He was more interested in the reason.


    "No problem but what is the reason for this visit?" Zheng Jingyi asked as he thought there might have been some sort of new problem so he wanted to know so that he can better prepare himself.


    Li Huang shook his head as he couldn''t say what this was about.


    "I am sorry but unfortunately I can''t say it as it is your master''s choice to disclose this or not." Li Huang said. He didn''t know if Han Junxiong, the current patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect would want to open the closed wound by bringing his brother''s body to light so he didn''t say anything as it would be better to let the victim''s family decide about these matters.


    Zheng Jingyi could understand that this is most probably a personal matter of his master so he didn''t ask anymore. He nodded and spoke again.


    "Alright, follow me. I will take you to my master." Zheng Jingyi said as he gestured to Li Huang to follow him. Li Huang too didn''t waste any more time and followed.


    In front of the tent the disciples guarding saluted Zheng Jingyi as he was entering the tent with Li Huang and didn''t pry about why Zheng Jingyi was bringing someone else with him. As they were not the participants of the trial, they didn''t know Li Huang''s face.


    Li Huang looked at this with a little bit of interest as until now, he stood in Zheng Jingyi''s shoes so experiencing it as an observer was completely new to him.


    Like this, they continued on the way as Zheng Jingyi would get greeted every few steps. The tents of the holy lands were spacious enough that sect leaders would conduct their meetings there too.


    When they got to a room that Li Huang could assume was where Han Junxiong, the current patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect was, Zheng Jingyi turned to a guard who greeted him.


    "Senior brother." The guard cupped his fists at Zheng Jingyi.


    Zheng Jingyi nodded at him to return his greeting.


    "Is the sect patriarch inside?" Zheng Jingyi asked the guard.


    "Yes but the patriarch is currently in a meeting with some of the elders." The guard calmly answered.


    "I see. Announce that I am here with the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect, Li Huang who wishes to have an audience with our sect master." Zheng Jingyi nodded and said. He was sure that his master would understand it is not a simple matter if he personally guided Li Huang here.


    "Of course, senior brother." The guard said and entered the room without making a noise.


    Han Junxiong knew that the guard would not dare enter if it is not an urgent matter so he gestured for him to speak and all the elders looked at the guard.


    The guard used all his will to not quiver under their gazes and relayed the message.


    Han Junxiong was in thoughts as to what meaning this sudden visit could have. Seeing this, one of the elders talked to the guard.


    "Didn''t chief disciple Zheng Jingyi say anything about the nature of this visit?" the elder asked as he felt this is weird that no details were given.


    "He did not, elder." The guard bowed and said.


    "Let them enter." Han Junxiong looked at the guard and said. He understood why Zheng Jingyi didn''t say anything so this matter couldn''t be delayed, whatever it is.


    The guard bowed again and left the room to inform Zheng Jingyi and Li Huang about the patriarch''s decision.


    "The patriarch said you can enter." The guard bowed and opened the door for them.


    Entering the room Zheng Jingyi and Li Huang were looking at two rows of elders that were looking at them and the patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect who was sitting at the end of the room.


    Zheng Jingyi just cupped his fists and bowed as he too was an observer here and didn''t want to delay Li Huang''s talks by chiming in.


    Li Huang too cupped his fists and bowed a little.


    "Li Huang, chief disciple of the Heavenly Sword sect greets the patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect and the elders." Li Huang said politely.


    Han Junxiong nodded as he could see that Li Huang carried himself well but wasn''t arrogant.


    "Welcome, what is that you wish to talk with us about?" Han Junxiong asked as he had no clue what this was about.


    Looking around the room for a moment Li Huang sent a sound transmission to Han Junxiong as he didn''t want to let everyone know about this.


    ''Who knows what secrets there might be, it is better to tell him privately.'' Li Huang thought before sending the message.


    ~''It is about your twin brother, Han Junhui.''~ Li Huang said.


    Hearing this Han Junxiong gripped the handle of his chair so hard that it broke into countless pieces. This surprised everyone as no one has ever seen their patriarch this way, Li Huang too wasn''t expecting this.


    "Everyone get out except Li Huang. NOW." Standing from where he was sitting, Han Junxiong shouted.


    ''��'' Li Huang didn''t know what to think about this situation.

 Chapter 127: Han Junxiong and Han Junhui

    (A/N:  Update: Read the chapter as it is edited now!


    Today we had a product launch and I''m kind of the CTO of the company so I was busy af. Anyway, I''ll edit this chapter later so you won''t lose coins even if you have unlocked it as I have to upload the new one with the same length otherwise WebNovel wouldn''t let me. Sorry about this but you will get two chapters tomorrow so nothing would change really. The rest of the chapter is a copy of the previous one so that I can update it tomorrow so don''t mind it.)


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    ����(POV Li Huang, Sky Pillar sect''s tent)����


    There are some things that are fundamental to every intelligent organism in the world and almost all of them are stemmed from necessity; the necessity of survival created the need to eat, the need to sleep, and so on.


    Now one of those fundamental principles was pressuring me to act and act fast. The years of human survival and evolution created an instinct to sense a danger that is far too great to contend, a danger that no matter how you struggle or the trump cards that you used, you were destined to grovel in front of it as you were nothing but an ant.


    This was one such moment for me. My instincts screamed to me to run, to flee despite the fact that I didn''t have anything that would pin this anger at me but being here, the possibility that it was pointed at me directly still was something that I couldn''t ignore.


    I nearly took a step back despite myself. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was my will. Yes, the iron will that would not bend against anyone or anything.


    ��Who am I kidding? Of course, I wasn''t stupid enough to let myself be carried away by something as idiotic as unbending will. Doing so would only prove that I am nothing better than someone like Jin Fen who didn''t care what the situation entailed and would act as blind as a bat. I wasn''t that naive to think that I had some power that would let me come out relatively unscathed from any and every situation.


    But I still didn''t move an inch as I was sure that I can come out of any situation at the very least alive.


    Why? Because I was sure that even someone like Han Junxiong would not dare kill me because of who I am. A chief disciple of one of the holy land and a heir to Li family is not something to scoff at. There weren''t many people that would dare to do so and even fewer who would dare do so openly as the backlash wouldn''t be something that can be handled easily.


    But I also didn''t want to just get out of this alive as I wouldn''t let myself be defenseless in any situation so I of course have contingency plans for this meeting. If I didn''t have such a plan I wouldn''t come here alone.


    First, I have the teleportation ring that would let me get out of here. Although a sect''s tent is usually teleport-proof but the meeting room is different as it is always guarded and no one can enter it without having to gain permission and now that I am inside I can teleport in and out of this place easily. I really would love to take credit for figuring this out but I had used the [Peeping eye of heaven] on the way to check the formation of this tent and I can say with 99% percent certainty that I can at the very least teleport out of this place.


    The experience that I have gained in this past month on the formations can prove crucial in the future. I can see how helpful it can be when is combined with the [Peeping eye of heaven] that can help me discern the formation with ease and minimal efforts.


    Second, I had given one of those stupid [Rings of trust] to Hu Anjing when we were on that last fight of the trial so that it would give us an edge if it came to that. This ring would teleport you to the other ring''s location when you are in fatal danger and if Han Junxiong were to have the smallest intentions of attacking me, I can say that I am definitely in such a danger.


    But you have to know that almost nothing is certain.


    These two would be helpful for me if that 1 percent didn''t stop me. If this room didn''t let me teleport, these rings would be only some decorative rings and wouldn''t have any use to me so my last plan was to use the [Mirror of Reckoning] to alert grandpa Long so that he can come and help me. When he get the message that I used the mirror I am sure that he could rush here as there is no reason for me to use the mirror other than when I am in real danger.


    Well, these are just plans and I would much rather that Han Junxiong wouldn''t have any thoughts about attacking me.


    ����(POV third person)����


    Taking a deep breath Li Huang looked at Han Junxiong''s face and what he saw wasn''t what he expected.


    Han Junxiong had a look of someone who could burst out crying any moment now. He didn''t shout to everyone to get out so that he can confront Li Huang or anything of that manor, he told them to get out so that even if he were to cry he wouldn''t lose face in front of the elders of his Sky Pillar sect.


    "Do you have anything of my brother?" Han Junxiong said. He wasn''t stupid and he knew that Li Huang must have found something belonging to his brother when he came to see him and he was anxious about what he found in there.


    Li Huang now confirmed that he wasn''t in any trouble so he relaxed a little but not completely as he didn''t want to get deceived by this if it was an act.


    "Yes." Li Huang said and without saying anything else he retrieved Han Junhui''s body from his storage ring and put it on a bed that he also took from his storage ring. He didn''t want to disrespect the deceased by putting the body on a table or worse on the floor.


    Seeing this patriarch of the Sky Pillar sect, Han Junxiong couldn''t stay still anymore and rushed to his twin''s body and touched his brother''s face as he was bawling his eyes out.


    "Brother." Han Junxiong said as he couldn''t believe that after all these years he could see his brother again.


    Li Huang who was seeing this familial love couldn''t stop his mind from wandering toward his own parents, who he didn''t get to know much but was sure of one thing and that was the fact that they loved him.


    As Li Huang was thinking about this and was looking at Han Junxiong who was crying, he couldn''t help but smile a little as he felt that this was worth it, even if it only was for this moment as he could see the brotherly affection between Han Junxiong and Han Junhui. He would see that it was like a weight was lifted from Han Junxiong''s chest after all these years.


    While Li Huang was seeing this wholesome situation, Han Junxiong was still crying and he suddenly started laughing while crying.


    "HAHAHA, Junhui, you goddamn bastard, HAHAHA." He said as he punched his brother''s bed a couple of times.


    Li Huang who was smiling could feel his smile turn stiff as he heard this. He couldn''t understand what was going on. How did Han Junxiong go from crying to laughing and crying while cursing his late brother?


    Unfortunately for Li Huang, Han Junxiong didn''t give him time to figure this out as he throw the next insult at his brother.


    "You couldn''t even die like a normal person, HAHAHA." Han Junxiong said and wiped his tears.


    Li Huang couldn''t keep his professional expression anymore as his mouth was open when he heard this.


    ''Thi��This Han Junxiong is crazy!'' Li Huang thought as this was the only conclusion that he could come up with. If he wasn''t crazy what could make him go through these mood swings?


    Li Huang who now only wanted to get out of here and didn''t give a shit about any brownie points was looking for an excuse to get out of there when Han Junxiong stood and looked at him.


    "HAHAHA, Li Huang, from this day on you are a brother to me!" Han Junxiong said and the joy was evident in his voice.


    Li Huang who heard this could only stiffly smile.


    ''What brother? Are you going to laugh at my corpse too?'' Li Huang said in his mind as he was really thinking that maybe he should have just pocketed the corpse''s belongings and left the body there, at least that way this crazy Han Junxiong wouldn''t call him his brother!

 Chapter 128: See you, monkey

    (A/N: join the discord, I need more members to satisfy my ego. ^~^


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~~


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang was still shocked by this and didn''t know what to say when Han Junxiong started acting this way.


    Han Junxiong seemed to get happier with each passing second. He was franticly looking around the room as he was mumbling something to himself. After a few seconds, he exclaimed as he looked at Li Huang.


    "Ah! Did you perhaps have my brother''s storage rings?" Han Junxiong asked as he was looking at Li Huang intently.


    Hearing this Li Huang came out of his thoughts.


    "Yes." Li Huang said as he put a hand in his pocket. He planned to give the rings back from the beginning so it wasn''t something that he was against, it was just that he forgot about it when Han Junxiong started to act crazy. The rings were stored in his main storage ring but as no other storage ring should be able to store storage rings, he put a hand in his pocket to give the impression that he had them in his pocket.


    "These are all I have found." Li Huang handed the rings to Han Junxiong who took them fast. He dropped the ''patriarch'' from his sentences for a simple reason.


    ''He said we are brothers so at least I can talk a little more casually.'' Li Huang thought.


    "Great! Thank you!" Han Junxiong said enthusiastically. He started going through the storage rings to find something. Li Huang gave him three rings so he had plenty to go through.


    "Not here��" Han Junxiong muttered as he finished going through the first ring.


    Li Huang who had no idea what Han Junxiong was looking for, had a small frown on his face as he couldn''t understand how Han Junxiong''s mind worked. How could he be this relaxed in front of his twin''s corpse?


    ''I mean I did do the same when I killed Jin Fen but he had no relation to me so I couldn''t care less about him��'' Li Huang thought as Han Junxiong was going through the second storage ring.


    "There it is! Junhui you assface! HAHAHA!" Han Junxiong said and laughed as he took out an item from the ring.


    Seeing the item that Han Junxiong took out of the storage ring, Li Huang narrowed his eyes and used the [Peeping eye of heaven] to detect the needle that Han Junxiong was so happy to see.


    It didn''t take long before Li Huang was looking at the item with wide eyes.


    Han Junxiong shook his head as he looked at his twin''s lifeless body.


    "You always knew how to make me want to beat the life out of you��" Han Junxiong said as he snorted. A smile formed on his face soon after.


    ����(Flashback)����


    "Junxiong, just move your ass over here I have no time to waste." Han Junhui said as he looked for his brother.


    They were now fighting in the trial and this was a formation that they had to enter with their fellow disciples. This was one of those formations that had a big reward at the end so everyone had to be in their best forms as it would only prove to be a problem if even one of them were to act out of sync.


    This was also what Han Junhui was worried about as his brother was acting like the idiot that he was. In the last fight, he was careless, his carelessness could have resulted in his death if the stage and the test were harder.


    Although he didn''t have any injury after that Han Junhui knew that his twin was hotheaded so he had to straighten him now or he could get himself killed one of these days.


    "Junhui, don''t shout at me!" Han Junxiong said as he got closer to his brother. He knew what his brother meant by his shout but he was sure that nothing would have happened to him so he didn''t really care that he was angry.


    "��Or what?" Han Junhui said as he was sure that Han Junxiong was not as strong as him so his words were empty.


    "*tch* Or nothing��" Han Junxiong said as he knew that there was no or. He couldn''t do anything when Han Junhui was not only stronger but more cunning too.


    Han Junhui smiled and nodded as he came closer to his brother, Han Junxiong. Han Junxiong only looked at him with no idea of what his twin had in mind but he didn''t have to wait long to know.


    Han Junhui punched him in the head the next moment and didn''t stop for a few seconds. Other disciples of the sect were used to the dynamic of Han twins so they were not fazed by it.


    "I know you are an idiot, but don''t bring your idiocy into the teamwork, or else I will kill you myself before the tests can." Han Junhui said as he dusted off his robes.


    "You assface! You didn''t have to punch me in the face!" Han Junxiong said as he looked at his twin, Han Junhui with resentment.


    "Don''t worry you can''t get any uglier than you already are. Besides, you and I both know who is the assface in the ''Han twins''." Han Junhui said with a smirk as he know how to agitate his brother.


    "Just because you are sleeping around doesn''t mean they find you attractive!" Han Junxiong shouted as he didn''t like how smug his twin was. Even he didn''t deny that his brother was a little more good-looking than him but they were identical twins for god''s sake!


    "HAHAHA." Han Junhui laughed as he heard his brother who was fuming with anger. He then entered the portal to the next test that the old man pointed to.


    "I swear I will beat you one day, Junhui!" Han Junxiong said although Han Junhui wasn''t here anymore. Although he said that, there was no malice behind his words. He only wanted to wipe that smug look from Han Junhui''s face.


    Shaking his head, he too went in the portal toward the next test as that old man called it.


    ��


    "Now you can start but remember that you can only open a door if it is calling to you, otherwise it won''t budge." The old man said and faded away.


    This stage was the one that they could get some personal reward so everyone was excited about this.


    Han Junxiong stood by his brother''s side who had his eyes closed and were looking for the rooms that called to him. Han Junxiong elbowed his brother to garner his attention.


    "Junhui, how about I choose a door for you and you choose a door for me?" Han Junxiong said as he thought it might be fun to do so as this was something that they would have to leave to fate anyway.


    Han Junhui opened his eyes and looked at his twin with a deadpan.


    "And why would I do so? Your birth is the unluckiest thing that happened to the world, why would I gamble with my reward like that?" Han Junhui said as he didn''t see any point in doing so.


    "You do know that we are twins? How can you exist if I didn''t?" Han Junxiong said as he rolled his eyes.


    Han Junhui nodded sagely and touched his non-existent beard.


    "If that is what it takes, I am willing to sacrifice myself for this cause��" He said over-dramatically.


    Han Junxiong looked at his brother and they both laughed. After they calmed down, Han Junhui punched his brother and walked toward the doors that called to him.


    "Come on little brother, I will let you choose for me this time��" Han Junhui said and walked away. He was the bigger one as he was born 2 minutes earlier.


    Han Junxiong was happy that he got what he wanted so he didn''t care that Han Junhui reminded him that he is the younger one.


    ��


    "Alright, I will go inside this one." Han Junhui nodded.


    "And I will go inside this one." Han Junxiong said as he was waiting for his brother to enter.


    "See you in a while, monkey." Han Junhui said and entered the same door that Li Huang would enter years later.


    ��


    "Where is Junhui?" Han Junxiong asked with anxiousness evident in his voice.

 Chapter 129: Peng Borong

    (A/N: Join the discord, I need more members to satisfy my ego. ^~^


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~~


    "Where is Junhui?" Han Junxiong asked with anxiousness evident in his voice. He was looking around to see if his brother was playing a game with him or not.


    ''Maybe he is just hiding somewhere to see how I react��'' He thought to himself.


    "Maybe senior brother is still in the trial��" one of the disciples said to somehow calm Han Junxiong.


    Han Junxiong looked at that disciple like how one would look at an idiot.


    "Do you even hear your own words?" Han Junxiong said.


    "How can an idiot like you be out here and my brother be still in the trial?" Han Junxiong said. He was refuting that argument but deep down he wanted it to be true as he didn''t want to imagine what would it mean if his brother somehow failed the test��


    The disciple didn''t say anything as he too couldn''t find a valid argument to continue so he choose to close his mouth before Han Junxiong would decide that he has had enough of his logic and introduce him to his fists.


    ��


    Han Junxiong was still pacing back and forth in the room as he was waiting for his twin brother, Han Junhui.


    Other disciples were also worried about their senior brother but no one was as worried as Han Junxiong.


    The time passed slower than one would think and every minute was like an hour to Han Junxiong who was constantly checking the room which his brother entered for any sign that might be there about him.


    Han Junxiong wasn''t one to lose hope easily so he was waiting but when the old man came back and told them that they can enter the portal to go to the next test, it was like someone poured cold water on his head. In reality, he didn''t hear even a single word of what the old man said as when the old man showed up it could only mean one thing; the test is finished, and if it was so then something has happened to his brother who was still in the door that he choose for him.


    Every other disciple who also knew what this meant looked at Han Junxiong, their elder brother as they were also filled with sadness from losing their other senior brother.


    Han Junxiong mindlessly moved toward the door that his brother entered, the same door that he choose for him.


    He tried to open the door as he pushed it but the door wouldn''t budge no matter how much power he used.


    Other disciples thought that he was saying his goodbyes to his brother so they hung their heads low as they decided to give their elder brother a minute or two to collect himself.


    There was also a female disciple in the team who stood there petrified. Peng Borong couldn''t even fathom how could this happen to Han Junhui. It wasn''t known to many but she and Han Junhui had an intimate relationship for a while now and because of that Han Junhui stopped playing around with other women as of late. Well, it is more like that he wouldn''t dare do so because Peng Borong was the strongest female disciple of their generation and she could go toe to toe with him if it came to a fight and an angry female has a buff in a fight, so an angry Peng Borong could beat him easily.


    As someone who loves Han Junhui, Peng Borong was also in the same situation as Han Junxiong who was overwhelmed with grief but unlike Han Junxiong, she just stood there and couldn''t accept that this is real.


    "I see��" Han Junxiong said after his attempt to open the door failed. He turned around and everyone thought that he accepted the reality but they couldn''t be more wrong.


    Han Junxiong faced the door again and start punching the door with Qi to break it. If pushing doesn''t work then punching should work, or so Han Junxiong thought.


    Seeing this everyone other than Peng Borong rushed to stop Han Junxiong as they didn''t want to let Han Junxiong destroy the door and the old man punished them as a result. Nobody knew what kind of punishment would await them if they were to do such a thing but no one would like to wait and see the results for themselves.


    Han Junxiong wouldn''t stop even if his master was in front of him so his fellow disciples who were also less powerful than him couldn''t stop him.


    "Get away you bastards!" Han Junxiong said as he threw a disciple who tried to stop him aside. He also took his staff and used that to attack the door and stop others from stopping him.


    Peng Borong was still deep in thoughts and didn''t react to all the commotion.


    ����(POV third person, seconds ago, inside the test space)����


    Years passed from the moment that Han Junhui entered the test space and the vast nothingness was slowly affecting his sanity. At first, he was happy because he would find a treasure in every part of the space but he slowly came to know that much like the treasures, this space is endless too.


    He was using smaller rations so that he can find the test or even an exit before he die here.


    This was fine for the first couple of years but as he was only using his sense of direction and his Qi sense to locate his surroundings, it wasn''t a good enough measure for him to find anything other than floating treasures.


    Later on, Li Huang would come to know that the exit portal wouldn''t bounce off the Qi sense so it was understandable why Han Junhui didn''t find the exit portal despite all these attempts.


    More years passed and Han Junhui was running out of food as even his storage rings were not that filled to supply him with years and years of provision.


    He now knows that he won''t be able to get out of here if he were to continue going around aimlessly so as a last-ditch effort he decided to go in one direction and keep going until he found an edge.


    This plan which seemed genius didn''t work as this space was seemingly wrapped into a sphere and no matter how much Han Junhui continued, he didn''t see an end to this so he hypothesized that this space should be sphere-shaped.


    Although he found this out, it was too late as he had been looking for this edge of the world for years now and he didn''t have enough food to continue and the loneliness was affecting him.


    Seeing this he decided to choose something that he had on him for an unforeseen event like this.


    Looking at the item that would kill him, he was thinking about his stupid brother and his lovely Peng Borong for a moment. He thought how they would act if they knew what he did but he shook his head to get rid of these thoughts.


    Taking a deep breath, he lunged the item onto his chest and waited for it to start working.


    Just when Han Junhui started thinking that something was wrong with the item, the agonizing pain started and he felt like he was getting shredded to pieces.


    It didn''t take long that he stopped screaming and now his body was moving in the space without any control and completely lifeless. The item that he used was now in his clenched hand.


    ����(Outside the door)����


    Peng Borong got out of her thoughts and walked toward Han Junxiong who was trying to use a couple of scrolls on the door and the other disciples were trying to stop him.


    Peng Borong was the only one who could stop Han Junxiong as she had the same amount of strength as Han Junhui. She used her own Qi to stop Han Junxiong from blasting the door with the scrolls.


    "Stop it!" Peng Borong shouted. She couldn''t let Han Junxiong do anything to that door.


    Han Junxiong who heard her stopped as he couldn''t believe that Peng Borong of all people would stop him.


    "How can you? You snake of a woman! How can you just watch and let him die?" Han Junxiong shouted as he couldn''t believe that her brother''s lover would stop him from destroying what held his brother prisoner.

 Chapter 130: Soul needle

    (A/N: Join the discord, I need more members to satisfy my ego. ^~^


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~~


    Han Junxiong knew that Peng Borong was stronger than him but he didn''t care. If saying the truth would mean that Peng Borong is going to attack him so be it. He wouldn''t let this wench stop him from saving his brother.


    Peng Borong who heard this wiped her tears and glared at Han Junxiong. She couldn''t believe that he would even think that she was saying this to let him die.


    "How can destroying the door that holds the test''s space help in freeing him?" She said with a deep frown. She know that Han Junxiong would act stupid every now and then but this was a new record even for someone like him.


    Han Junxiong who heard this couldn''t utter another word as he didn''t think about this. If this was a gateway to the test space, wouldn''t he close the door forever by doing this?


    He was now ashamed of what he said before but Peng Borong didn''t give him a chance to apologize as she continued.


    "Doing so could even result in the destruction of the test space itself, is that what you want you dimwit moron?" Peng Borong said as she didn''t forget how Han Junxiong insulted her moments ago.


    Han Junxiong who was now looking down didn''t know what to say so he just stood there in silence. The disciples who were trying to stop him also moved away as they could see that Han Junxiong wouldn''t try this again.


    "Then�� Then what should we do?" Han Junxiong asked as he didn''t know what would be the right thing to do.


    Peng Borong got closer to the door and touched it. Wiping the single tear that gathered in her eye she turned and looked at Han Junxiong .


    "Junhui has a lot of tricks up his sleeves, we don''t have to worry. If there is a way to come out of there alive, he will find it." Peng Borong said with a small smile as she looked at Han Junxiong. She didn''t want to think about what would happen if there is no way to come out of there alive.


    Han Junxiong also nodded as he now knew that destroying the door is plain stupid.


    "The time in there could pass slower so maybe it is only a few seconds that he entered the test��" Peng Borong said as she was thinking about the reasons behind this.


    Han Junxiong''s eyes lit up as he thought about it.


    "Yes! That could be it!" he said.


    After a few more minutes they both stopped talking about this and left this room toward the next test. They both knew that there was no way that Han Junhui could die there.


    This was their method to cope with it as they couldn''t move forward if they lost hope. To their dismay, when they got out of the trial they got to know that Han Junhui''s life candle went out and there was no doubt that he is dead.


    This affected both of them but they still had the smallest hope that he might be alive and the eternal wail trial is somehow affecting the life candle''s flame.


    Alas, years passed but no one was able to find Han Junhui''s body and he too didn''t come out of the trial. This continued until today when Li Huang sent a sound transmission to Han Junxiong.


    ��


    Han Junxiong shook his head as now he understood that Peng Borong was right about his brother having an ace up his sleeves. He wouldn''t ever think that his ace was such a stupid thing but he was glad for it nonetheless.


    Li Huang who didn''t know the back-story was shell-shocked by what he saw in Han Junxiong''s hand and couldn''t stop himself anymore and shouted at him.


    "Enough! Why would you have to go that far?" Li Huang said. What Han Junxiong found in his twin''s storage ring was something called [Soul Needle].


    A [Soul Needle] is a treasure that is used to inject a soul into a body, but the body has to be compatible with the original host of the body. So in the past many would use their own children for inbreeding to maximize the comparability of the newborn''s body to move their souls there.


    With this, they could cheat the heavens and select their natural talent from the children that they had with their own descendants.


    This method was frowned upon and no one would dare do it openly as if found, they would be dealt with as soon as possible. Not only the act was heinous, as this was going against the heavens, no one would accept this and the perpetrator would be struck down with prodigious.


    Now such a thing was in Han Junxiong and Li Huang couldn''t let this continue. The fact that Han Junxiong was showing him this openly could also mean that he had no plan to let Li Huang leave after this so Li Huang tried to gain some information from him this way, so that he can run away depending on the situation.


    Han Junxiong was taken aback at first but when he looked at the soul needle in his hand he understood what Li Huang was saying.


    "HAHAHA, did you think I was going to use it that way? HAHAHA." He couldn''t stop himself from laughing for a few seconds after he understood what Li Huang had in his mind. Of course, he wasn''t going to claim his brother''s body or something like that.


    Li Huang was now almost sure that Han Junxiong is crazy. He waited for him to explain himself.


    Han Junxiong went close to his brother''s body and lifted his left hand.


    "You didn''t see this in my brother''s hand?" Han Junxiong asked Li Huang now that he has calmed down.


    "I did not." Li Huang said and looked at the item intently but didn''t use the [Peeping eye of heaven] as Han Junxiong was looking straight at his face.


    "This is what they call [Soul Cage]��" Han Junxiong started explaining.


    This [Soul Cage] was also an item that had some sinister uses. You could cage a soul in it as the name suggests and with this, you could torture someone forever as there was not a chance for a soul to die in there.


    The basic version of the cage would only put you in an empty place and you would have to face the void but there were also versions of this device that would torture the soul in a more literal way.


    From what Han Junxiong said his brother thought that the combination of these two items, soul cage, and soul needle, could be used as a life-saving treasure if used on one person.


    "I admit, at the time I thought he was just saying nonsense and I didn''t think that he had such items on him." Han Junxiong said as he shook his head.


    Li Huang was now experiencing new levels of shock as he couldn''t believe that someone would dare to risk such a thing as Han Junhui has done.


    Li Huang thought that Han Junhui was probably in the test for a way longer time than him and he had to resort to such a method when he would have died if he was in his physical form. He probably hoped that someone would stumble upon his body in the future as the family and sect wouldn''t let this matter be and he would be saved eventually.


    A crazy act, but an ingeniously crazy act that deserved respect.


    However, he probably didn''t take into account that the time in the test space was moving faster so he had to be in his soul form for many many years.


    ''Although a soul would experience the time differently, he has been in the soul cage for long enough��'' Li Huang thought to himself.


    "Alright! Let''s bring him back then!" Li Huang said as he was excited to talk to this mad genius.


    "HAHAHA, yes. Let us do so!" Han Junxiong said as this was the happiest day of his life as he could see his brother again and he could stop blaming himself for choosing that damn door.


    It didn''t take long that he had the cage and needle ready with some herbs that were needed for this thing to work.


    When everything was ready, Han Junxiong looked at Li Huang.


    "Come on, activate the needle." Han Junxiong said with an amiable smile.


    Li Huang was taken aback. He thought that Han Junxiong would definitely do it himself as he could brag to his brother about it or something but he didn''t, that seemed weird to him.


    "Are you sure you want to let me do this?" Li Huang said. He knew that this wasn''t harmful to him so he wasn''t worried about that but he still asked him again.


    "Of course! You found him so it should be you." Han Junxiong said with a smile. In truth, he didn''t want to be the one who did it so that Peng Borong can''t beat him for not telling her about it first.

 Chapter 131: Tell me about it!

    (A/N: Join the discord, I need more members to satisfy my ego. ^~^


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~~


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang still didn''t think that Han Junxiong was being completely honest with him, but he saw no problem doing so as he thought that Han Junxiong must want him to do it, as he has some silly reason for not doing it.


    As Li Huang didn''t know about Peng Borong, no one could blame him when he thought this was only a small matter��


    Li Huang looked at Han Junhui''s chest where he was supposed to stab the needle and then looked at Han Junxiong who gave him a thumb''s up. Li Huang shook his head and focused on his task.


    Taking a deep breath Li Huang readied himself for the seemingly simple operation that would decide Han Junhui''s future. If he wasn''t sure that Han Junxiong had put everything in place and he also checked everything twice, he wouldn''t be willing to risk someone''s life by accepting this task.


    *Hooo*


    Li Huang exhaled and lunged the needle in Han Junhui''s chest without hesitation. This needle has took Han Junhui''s soul out of the cage before, and now it will place it back in his body as the soul and body are 100% compatible.


    The needle needs time to fix the soul into the body, so you should not take it out before it has assimilated the soul to the body. This is why Li Huang had to use his Qi and body cultivation power to stab the needle into Han Junhui''s chest all the way in.


    Luckily Han Junxiong knew where one should stab it so that it won''t cause internal injury, so it wasn''t hard for Li Huang to do so when he knew where exactly to stab it.


    After that, Li Huang stood with his gaze fixated on Han Junhui like Han Junxiong. They were both waiting for the result as it was not certain that this would work and even if it worked Han Junhui might have gone completely crazy after all these years in the soul cage.


    The soul cage has to inflict pain on the soul not because it is created to torture that individual but it has to inflict pain because souls are fickle and if one is left alone for long enough the soul would lose the original personality and awareness and wouldn''t be much different than an empty shell. Exactly because of that, even the simplest of soul cages have to have some sort of torture to keep the soul aware enough so that they won''t become mindless.


    This goes to show that Han Junhui had to endure all these tortures all these years and stop himself from going crazy somehow. Also, these cages are not fail-proof and there is a good chance that the individual would lose their personality if they are not strong-willed enough for such a situation.


    Well, from how Han Junhui planed to keep his life there is no doubt that he is as strong-willed as it comes. Li Huang really hoped that Han Junhui didn''t lose his mind in there as it would be such a shame that someone like him would be removed from the world.


    Seconds passed in anxiety and anticipation of the result until Han Junhui''s body moved.


    *Heeew*


    Han Junhui took in oxygen hungrily, as it was the first time in years that he could breathe. It was so long ago when he last took a breath, that he didn''t breathe first as he thought that he was still a soul. He was so used to not needing any oxygen that he even stopped his body from doing so subconsciously.


    He opened his eyes with difficulty and blinked a couple of times to adjust his eyes.


    Li Huang and Han Junxiong were too shocked to react so they just looked at Han Junhui with wide eyes and waited for him to say something.


    Han Junhui tried to move his right hand and after a few tries, he was able to do so. Moving the hand in front of his face he tested his vision for a couple of seconds as he moved his hand. When he was sure that nothing is wrong with his eyes and hands, he touched his chest, where Li Huang had stabbed him with the needle.


    Examining the needle he made sure that it was in the correct position and there was no problem with it. As the one who came up with this plan, he is the most qualified person to judge this as he knew everything about this needle.


    "��" He opened his mouth to say something but no voice came out of it as he nearly forgot how to speak after all these years. So many years have passed from when he went inside the soul cage and even he doesn''t know how long it has been. All he did was think about what mattered about him in life to stop himself from going crazy.


    Closing his mouth he moisturized his buccal cavity so that it might help in his quest to speak.


    "S��" Han Junhui said with a hoarse voice.


    "So�� this�� is�� not�� an illusion��" he said as he spoke again with more focus. He had experienced so many things like this in his time in the soul cage that he wouldn''t be surprised if it was also an illusion again. He lost count of how many times he has seen his brother and how many times he embraced Peng Borong just to find out that it was all fake and he would be tortured more the following days�� or years.


    Some tears gathered in Han Junhui''s eyes as he was finally free from that cage and he could live his life again. Luckily for his pride, his body didn''t have many fluids to waste so he only shed a couple of tears.


    Han Junhui did train martial arts in there to pass time but as he didn''t have a body to execute the moves he only mastered them by soul and didn''t build the muscle memory for it. He also revisited his memories so that he won''t lose anything when he is caged in there. More than anyone he knew that this cage could prove to be fatal if he were to stay there long so he tried to make it more bearable for himself by doing these activities.


    As he was thinking about Peng Borong''s face with a smile, Han Junxiong entered his view and turned the smile into a frown.


    "Browder!" Han Junxiong said as he was crying his eyes out and his nose was running.


    Instinctively Han Junhui blasted him away with his palm and as Han Junxiong didn''t put up any defenses he stumbled backward.


    This Qi blast would have thrown him at least 50 meters away before but, now that Han Junxiong had trained for years and years and Han Junhui was locked in a soul cage, there was a big gap between them. If Han Junxiong wasn''t careless in front of his brother he wouldn''t even need to take a step backward as this much couldn''t even move him.


    "Thank heavens you are fine!" Han Junxiong said as he couldn''t be happier. He didn''t want to admit it but he even missed getting beaten up by his brother.


    "Haha, you got old, monkey." Han Junhui said as he looked at his twin with a smile. He thought many times about their reunion but this was not on the list.


    "HAHAHA! I did!" Han Junxiong laughed and said. Although Han Junhui''s body has aged a little he is relatively the same as when he entered that door.


    Han Junhui now looked around to see if Peng Borong is also here or not when he located Li Huang and no one else in the room.


    ''��I can not blame her as it has been years that I have literally died it that test��'' Han Junhui thought to himself. Opening his eyes again he slowly pointed at Li Huang and asked Han Junxiong about him.


    "Who�� is he?" Han Junhui asked as he wanted to know why was someone else in the room that he didn''t know.


    ''He doesn''t look like Han Junxiong at all, so it is not possible for him to be his son��'' Han Junhui thought. He was so distracted by thoughts about Peng Borong that he didn''t think that it is natural that someone must have found his body in the test.


    "Ah! He is Li Huang, the one who found your body!" Han Junxiong said as he too was pointing at Li Huang. Li Huang cupped his fists as Han Junhui was looking at him.


    Han Junhui''s eyes lit up as he thought about what this implied.


    ''He has cleared the test!'' Han Junhui thought and now he was interested in how.


    "How did you�� get out�� of there?" Han Junhui asked.


    Li Huang was shocked that this was Han Junhui''s first question but he too understood that it was the most important one to ask.


    "There was an exit portal but it wouldn''t respond to Qi sense so it was harder to locate��" Li Huang started explaining and Han Junxiong just looked at these two shocked.

 Chapter 132: The candle is lit again!

    (A/N: Join the discord, to curse freely where Webnovel can''t remove your comments!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~~


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang and Han Junhui kept talking about the test space and Han Junxiong on the side just kept looking at them. Like this, a minute passed.


    "I see. It was unfortunate that at that year, we were not using the bird eye artifact or else I might have come out of there without the need to resort to this method." Han Junhui said and shook his head. As the trial''s rules were not something that anybody knew for sure, the sects had to conduct tests and find the boundaries little by little so it was not shocking that in Han Junhui''s time, they didn''t know that they can map the place without getting thrown out of the trial space.


    Li Huang didn''t say anything as he knew that he was not the only one in the world that could come out of that test and from what he understood from Han Junhui''s personality in this short time he was sure that he too could finish the trial given the appropriate tools.


    Han Junhui was thinking about his time in the soul cage and the things that he probably lost because he was in there. Li Huang who saw the gloomy expression on Han Junhui''s face tried to change the subject.


    "I have also given your storage rings to your brother." Li Huang said. In the minute that they talked Han Junhui too asked him to set aside the formalities as they could be considered in the same age from their appearance.


    "Oh, this brother of mine wouldn''t give them back if you wouldn''t tell me��" Han Junhui said as he shook his head over-dramatically. He understood that Li Huang was trying to change the subject but he didn''t have anything against it as thinking about the past could only cause him problems in the future. The fact that he didn''t develop a heart demon after all these years shows that he has a firm foundation that wouldn''t shake with even the strongest of winds.


    "*tsk* Why would I��" Han Junxiong wanted to say that now he is the patriarch and doesn''t need such a storage ring but couldn''t finish his sentence as someone teleported to the room that they were in.


    This room was the meeting room in their Sky Pillar sect so only someone at the level of patriarch or the grand elders could teleport here without restriction so they were shocked to see someone enter unceremoniously.


    "His candle is lit! We have to start��" The figure who entered the room was none other than Peng Borong who now had the position of the grand elder in the sect. She was always considered a bright star of the sky pillar sect but after what happened to Han Junhui and his ''death'' she shone even brighter as she dedicated herself to training as she wanted to get into the trial again even if it is by force and find him. She would be content to even find his body so it wasn''t like she was hoping for a miracle.


    After years of training, she was strong enough to lead the sect but she didn''t accept this position and decided to continue her training to reach the highest heights possible to free her beloved.


    When Han Junhui''s soul candle went out, the sect moved the candle out of the room that held soul candles for every disciple of the sect. She pleaded to her master to let her keep it and she would train without a stop. Her master who could see the earnestness in her tone accepted her request and gave the candle to her.


    She put this candle in her cultivation room to remind herself why she trained this much. Today too was nothing new as she kept on training and meditating but something made her lose focus when she was meditating. It was the chill of the soul candle.


    A soul candle has a chill to it when it is lit, unlike an ordinary candle. Peng Borong was all too familiar with this chill and what could have caused it but she didn''t open her eyes for a minute as she was afraid that this would be all an illusion, a mistake.


    When she finally opened her eyes and looked at the lit candle, she couldn''t stop the tears from gathering in her eyes. She didn''t waste any time as she stormed toward their sect''s teleport formation that would teleport them to any location that belonged to their sect as they all were connected to this central point.


    She didn''t even hear her master calling for her as she couldn''t think of anything else other than her Junhui.


    Before her master could stop her she stepped onto the teleportation formation and teleported to the tent. When her master saw Peng Borong''s fading figure, she turned around and saw that Peng Borong''s door was open so she decided to enter her room and maybe understand what caused her disciple that much distress.


    When she looked at the room she didn''t find anything as everything was like it was years ago. Peng Borong wasn''t one to decorate her room as she was too invested in her training.


    "Heavens!" As her master thought that nothing was out of the ordinary, she saw the soul candle that was now lit and she exclaimed. After all these years, to see this candle lit again even she was shocked beyond her cognition so it was well within the expectation that Peng Borong would react like that.


    She soon collected herself and went to talk to other grand elders as what happened to Han Junhui was a mystery and now the soul candle is lit again and that is something unprecedented.


    On the other hand, Peng Borong teleported into the meeting room of the Sky Pillar sect''s tent. She wanted to tell Han Junxiong that Han Junhui is still alive and they have to do anything they can to save him as now they have an assurance that he is alive but he might not be well.


    She saw Han Junxiong but she soon saw Han Junhui from the corner of her eyes and she couldn''t continue talking as she couldn''t believe her eyes. Han Junhui, not much older than when they were in the trial together, was on a bed that was placed in the middle of the meeting room.


    She didn''t say a word more as she start walking toward Han Junhui as she was fixated on his face. She was worried that if she looked away even for a moment, he wouldn''t be there anymore. She didn''t even question the absurdness of this bed''s placement in the middle of the room.


    Han Junhui on the other hand was also equally surprised as he thought that Peng Borong must have forgotten about him after all these years and moved past him in her life but the way she entered the room proved him otherwise. The way that she looked at him was as lovingly as when they last were together.


    Han Junhui smiled at her as he couldn''t think how hard it must have been for her all these years. His situation was hard and almost unbearable but he had hope that he could see them again but Peng Borong was waiting for a dead man to come back.


    When Peng Borong saw his smile she didn''t walk anymore and ran so fast that to Li Huang''s eyes it looked like teleportation. She slowly put a hand on Han Junhui''s face and then moved her hand with care as if Han Junhui was as fragile as glass. She couldn''t control her tears anymore and cried with joy. Han Junhui wiped the tears which stained her face with his fingers as he too had tears in his eyes.


    "I''m back rong''er." Han Junhui said with the brightest smile he could muster.


    "��I won''t let you leave again." Peng Borong said as she didn''t want to be in this situation again. She then embraced him as hard as she could without harming him, explanations could wait but this couldn''t. She didn''t even care about other occupants of the room but no one could blame her for it.


    Li Huang was touched by this reunion and tried to even breathe with the smallest amount of noise so that he won''t be the one ruining this moment but Han Junxiong was not enjoying this like him. Sure, he was glad his brother and Peng Borong had their reunion but now he had to explain to Peng Borong why he didn''t send her a message about this immediately or she would beat him black and blue. So he thought that it is wiser to say something before she decides to ask him herself.


    "Grand elder P��" Han Junxiong tried to say but he couldn''t finish as he was hit with a series of attacks that came from Peng Borong''s open palm as she was still embracing Han Junhui.


    Li Huang now understood that he did a good job by being silent as he could and now, he even actively breathed less to attract less attention.

 Chapter 133: Han Caiyi

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    ����(POV third person, inside the meeting room)����


    Han Junxiong who got blasted in the face got smashed into the chair that he was sitting on. Unsurprisingly, the chair broke into tiny pieces as it was not designed to be subjected to such a power.


    Han Junxiong got up and dusted off his robes as he scratched the back of his head.


    "Ahaha, sister-in-law how about w��" Han Junxiong tried to say something but Peng Borong didn''t give him the chance to do so. Last time she blasted him in the face but this time she smashed him to the floor as she was still angry that he dared to hide Han Junhui''s return from her.


    Li Huang was baffled by how thick-skinned Han Junxiong was. Even Cai ZhenKang would stop speaking after the initial failure so he couldn''t understand why Han Junxiong decided that it was wise to talk when these two love birds were having their moment.


    To Han Junxiong''s credit, he didn''t even activate the might of his body cultivation to stop these attacks as he knew that if he were to put up a defense against them, it is like challenging Peng Borong and heaven knows that he doesn''t want that. If that were to happen he wouldn''t lose in a couple of moves, but the sect''s tent would be razed to the ground and they would have no face left in front of other holy lands.


    All these years that Peng Borong has trained to attack the [Eternal wail trial] and free Han Junhui was not for naught as she is now one of the strongest martial art masters of the Sky Pillar sect.


    What Li Huang didn''t know was that Han Junxiong was letting Peng Borong attack him like this, so that she may calm down as he knew he was at fault here. He was so surprised when he saw Han Junhui''s body that he forgot about everything else and just wanted to have a moment with his brother''s corpse, but when he found the soul cage everything changed and he knew that there is now a chance that his brother could come back.


    This was when he consciously choose to keep Peng Borong in dark until they could make sure that his brother is fine. If he were to contact her and his brother has gone crazy or worst in that soul cage, it would be too much for Peng Borong to handle and he couldn''t bear to give her hope just to crush it the next instant. He could handle Peng Borong''s anger at him but he couldn''t let that to be her last interaction with his brother, he just couldn''t.


    "I can expla��" Han Junxiong tried to say but the thrashing continued for a couple of more blows. Han Junhui too understood why his brother didn''t call for her now and he couldn''t agree more with him as the last thing he wanted was to cause her more pain. Even Li Huang who didn''t know the context enough to come up with a concrete conclusion guessed Han Junxiong''s reasonings and he was stunned by how thoughtful he was.


    "Han Junxiong, you and I are not done yet." Peng Borong said as she didn''t want to waste time on Han Junxiong when she had Han Junhui in her arms.


    When this wholesome situation was happening inside the room, outside of the room was anything but wholesome.


    ����(moments ago, outside of the meeting room)����


    The elders outside of the room who heard these sounds thought that Li Huang has been thrown like a rag doll. They shuddered at the thought but couldn''t do anything but wait for their patriarch to allow them to enter the room. All these elders were inner or core elders so they couldn''t barge in the room like how a grand elder could. What they could do was to think of something for handling this situation as this would not be a common issue.


    The more thoughtful ones in them already contacted the grand elders of the sect about this and requested their assistance in this matter, because even if they wanted they could not do anything in front of the patriarch''s power as they knew they would not fare better than Li Huang in a fight with him.


    They were waiting for the grand elders to come before the Heavenly sword sect get''s a wind of this and attack the tent. At least they were sure that their patriarch wouldn''t harm Li Huang severely so this situation was still salvageable.


    On the other hand, Zheng Jingyi lost all color on his face as he heard the sound of something getting torn to pieces in the meeting room. He was the one who guided Li Huang here and introduced him to his master, and Li Huang was the one that helped everyone in the trial to get out of there alive so he owed him more than he could pay back but alas, he was powerless in this situation. Although he wanted to rush into the meeting room and beg his master for forgiveness he knew that this wouldn''t work as he knew his master better and doing so would only fuel his anger. He was conflicted on what to do as on one hand there was a chance that he could stop his master and on the other hand, he might make the situation worse.


    His hands were clenched into fists and his nails were digging into his skin. Gathering his resolve he rushed toward the room as he couldn''t look at Li Huang''s face if he were to wait here without doing anything.


    The elders who saw this tried to stop him but as they were waiting in a distance, they couldn''t stop him in time and he entered the meeting room unceremoniously.


    ����(moments ago, inside the Sky Pillar sect)����


    Inside the sect, a couple of grand elders who received the message about what Han Junxiong was doing went toward the previous sect''s patriarch''s tent, Han Caiyi, father of Han twins.


    This situation was something that needed him to interfere. As he was from the same generation as Li Long, when they have to talk to the other party it is better for a familiar face to be there and Han Caiyi would be that face in this case.


    The moment the grand elders saw Han Caiyi, one of them sent a sound transmission to him to explain the situation and Han Caiyi was frowning the next second.


    "That brat! He still acts like a street thug." Han Caiyi said as he was rushing toward the teleportation formation. The other grand elders were also following him so that maybe they could also help de-escalate the situation.


    If Han Junxiong were to know that what kind of misunderstanding he created by focusing on Peng Borong, he would bash his head to the wall. He was thinking so much about how to calm Peng Borong that he forgot that the elders outside would have a misunderstanding about this situation because no one saw Peng Borong get into the room as she teleported there directly.


    Well, he would come to know that but he wouldn''t be the one to bash his head to the wall as this role will be filled by someone else.


    Han Caiyi didn''t waste time and entered the teleportation formation and teleported to the meeting room of their sect in the eternal wail chasm.


    ����(inside the meeting room)����


    The moment that Zheng Jingyi entered the room he started shouting to his master, as he didn''t know how much time he had before the elders start dragging him out of the room.


    "Master, please stop! This is��" Zheng Jingyi shouted but stopped mid-sentence as he didn''t know what to say. It wasn''t his master that was beating Li Huang, Li Huang was standing still and it was the grand elder Peng who was beating his master while she was hugging someone.


    This was too much for him to process. Shouldn''t Li Huang be in a problem because of what he said?  Then why is grand elder Peng hitting the patriarch? Also, who is that person in her arms?


    Before his mind could explode from the sheer absurdity of the situation, a new group entered the room via teleportation.


    Peng Borong wasn''t hugging Han Junhui anymore as she didn''t want to be this open in front of this many people. It was just now that she saw Li Huang who was just standing there without moving. Li Huang cupped his fists to her when they made eye contact and Peng Borong absentmindedly nodded to him.


    It was then that Han Caiyi appeared in the room with other grand elders.


    "Junxiong! Why are you always creating problems?" Han Caiyi said as he looked at his son.

 Chapter 134: Uncle Han

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    ����(POV third person, inside the meeting room)����


    "Junxiong! Why are you always creating problems?" Han Caiyi said as he looked at his son. He didn''t have such a problem with Junxiong these past years so he couldn''t understand why he acted this rashly and fought a junior.


    Han Junxiong who was dusting off his robes was going to explain the situation to his disciple and the elders who entered the room as he could see that they were puzzled by this situation, but then he heard his father''s voice and his face lost all color.


    He didn''t know what in the seven hells happened that his father decided to show up personally but whatever it is, it couldn''t be good for him. He was thinking of what to say as it was important that he defuse the situation before it can create a bigger problem.


    ''B-But what is this situation?'' Han Junxiong thought as he really didn''t know what he has done that made his father angry.


    From the corner of his eye, Han Caiyi saw someone getting up from a bed that was in the middle of the meeting room. He thought that his stupid son was using the sect''s meeting room like his personal room and was sure that the person on the bed was female, but when he looked at ''her'' he froze and forgot that he was going to scold Han Junxiong.


    "Father." Han Junhui stood in front of the bed and bowed to his father. His father, Han Caiyi was the one who guided him in the way of cultivation and he has learned all he knows from him.


    Han Caiyi was stunned as he heard the voice of his eldest after all these years and he didn''t look older than when he entered the trial. He looked at him who was bowing to him but thought that this might be some sort of illusion so he looked around to make sure that he isn''t seeing wrong. Although he was checking his surroundings he didn''t stop walking toward Han Junhui.


    The other grand elders were almost as shocked as he was so he knew that they were watching him too. He then looked at Han Junxiong who was looking at him with the same look that he had whenever he would find one of his slip-ups, then his attention went toward the one who stood beside Han Junhui. She was none other than Peng Borong who was with his son back then and the one his wife calls daughter-in-law. She gave him a warm smile and also bowed.


    Seeing her Han Caiyi didn''t have any more doubts about this and quickened his steps toward Han Junhui.


    Han Junhui didn''t raise his head and kept bowing. Han Caiyi stood in front of him and clasped his shoulders and straighten his back. Han Caiyi hardly controlled himself so that he don''t cry this instant.


    After what happened to his eldest son, he tried his all to find what happened to him or at least retrieve his body. ''How could I call myself a father if I can not even do that?'' He used to say to himself. He did all he could, told each and every disciple that would enter the trial about this test with the full detail about the formation, this test, and that door. Years passed but no one was able to find anything. They either weren''t able to find the formation or even when it was found, no one was able to enter that specific door as it would not call to them.


    They even conducted small tests to see if they can somehow bypass the requirement to enter that room but that too was fruitless. That damn test seemed to be created flawless so he could only wait and see if there will be a day that he can either enter it himself or someone could enter the trial and not only find the formation and get into that door, they could also finish a test that his son was unable to finish.


    As unlikely as it was, the chances of the second case happening was more than his chances to break into such a space and find his son but he would try if he could.


    "I am back, father." Han Junhui said as he looked at his father. Seeing his father''s face up close, he understood that his disappearance had a bigger effect on others around him than himself.


    "Good." Han Caiyi said and patted Han Junhui on his arms a couple of times. He didn''t add a word as he knew that if he were to say anything else he might start crying.


    Everyone had happy expressions on their faces as they understood what this meant, only that Li Huang''s smile was a little stiff.


    ''��What the hell am I doing here?'' Li Huang thought to himself as this seemed to be something that would take some time. He couldn''t just walk away from here but he couldn''t keep staying here too.


    He looked around to see if he can get out of here with an excuse, when Han Junxiong decided to use him to calm his father''s anger.


    "Father, this is Li Huang who found Junhui''s body in that test." Han Junxiong said as he put a hand on Li Huang''s shoulder and walked closer to his father.


    Li Huang kept his smile as he was thinking about the appropriate ''words'' to describe Han Junxiong. He couldn''t believe that Han Junxiong just used him like this.


    "Oh?" Han Caiyi said as he looked at Li Huang.


    "Greetings grand elder, I am Li Huang, the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect." Li Huang introduced himself politely. Now that he was put in this situation he decided to milk it as much as he can. Having good relations with the family head of the Han family, one of the big families of the divine central continent is always welcome.


    "So you are Li Long''s grandchild, am I right?" Han Caiyi nodded and asked.


    "Yes, grand elder." Li Huang nodded as he still held his fists cupped. From what he knows about this Han Caiyi, he is from the same generation as his grandpa so this much humility is a must.


    "What grand elder? Call me uncle! Me and your grandfather were like brothers back in the day!" Han Caiyi said as he smiled at Li Huang.


    Li Huang wanted to say that his grandfather''s brother is not called uncle, but he knows better so he complied.


    "Yes, uncle." Li Huang said. He now looked at it from a different angle, not many can say they can call the head of the Han family uncle, so this has to be some sort of achievement.


    "HAHA, good. I can''t give you anything from our sect but if you want anything from my personal items or the Han family''s vault, say the word and it shall be yours." Han Caiyi said without any sign of hesitation.


    Li Huang was shocked by this as he didn''t think of asking for a reward for what he has done and he thought that this would at most gain him some goodwill from the Sky Pillar sect.


    "Uncle, I can''t accept��" Li Huang said as he didn''t want to be the one who has put a price on Han Junhui''s life but Han Caiyi stopped him from completing his sentence.


    "This is my personal request, don''t be hasty on your answer. We can talk about this later." Han Caiyi said and Li Huang nodded to his words.


    When Han Caiyi has said this much, it would only be rude for Li Huang to continue where he left off.


    "Also, know that you are invited to these two''s wedding!" Han Caiyi said as he pointed at His eldest son and Peng Borong who turned red as soon as she heard his voice.


    Han Caiyi laughed and contacted his wife to come here without telling her about Junhui''s return, because he knew that she would faint on the spot when she hears the news.


    Well, it didn''t change things much as when she got here, she fainted on the spot, as she saw her son back and alive.


    What followed was Han Junhui getting a full checkup by her mother right there in the room that was embarrassing for everyone, and more so for Han Junhui himself.


    Li Huang who wanted to get away from there had to stay for a little longer now that he was with his ''uncle''.


    Nearly half an hour later Han Junhui came to Li Huang and put a hand on his shoulder.


    "Thank you." Han Junhui only said this much but the meaning was clear to Li Huang who nodded to him.

 Chapter 135: Training plan

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    ����(POV third person, inside the meeting room)����


    Han Junhui put a hand in his pocket and retrieved a storage ring and handed it to Li Huang. Li Huang looked at him and waited for his explanation as he didn''t know why he gave him this storage ring all of a sudden.


    "This storage ring contains everything that I have gathered in that space and as you have completed the test, that makes you the rightful owner of it." Han Junhui said as he could see that Li Huang had some questions about this.


    "I will always be in your debt. You could have left my body there but you didn''t, and I got the chance to see everyone again��" Han Junhui said as he looked at his father, mother, brother, Borong, and others.


    Li Huang talked to him a little more but let him get back and talk to his family as he had a lot to catch up on, after all, he wasn''t here for years and everyone would have a story or two to say.


    Saying his goodbyes, Li Huang left the Sky Pillar sect''s tent with the storage ring that Han Junhui gave him. His new ''uncle'' told him that he has to come and see them every once in a while and told him that he would send him the invitation for the wedding that would be on the way. Han Junxiong too told him that he can come to him if he needed anything as they are now brothers. Even Peng Borong came forward and thanked him personally and said that he can count on her if he needed any help as one would count on their bigger siblings.


    Li Huang thanked them all but he was confused with all the brother, sister, and uncle that he gained in a day. Nonetheless, he was happy for the Han family and most importantly for Han Junhui as he didn''t expect that he would be alive after all these years.


    On the way out, he also talked a little with Zheng Jingyi. They gave each other contact formations so that they can talk later if they wanted to.


    With a calm mind, he got out of the Sky Pillar''s tent and walked as he took a deep breath.


    ''Ahh, life can be really nice sometimes��'' He thought to himself as he was in a good mood after seeing the family interactions between Han Junxiong and others.


    He had his eyes closed and thought that maybe that person wouldn''t come toward him but he was wrong. Not only did he come toward him he also started shaking him to garner his attention.


    "Huang, we are going to die! Open your eyes!" Cai ZhenKang shouted at Li Huang as the situation was really urgent in his eyes.


    Li Huang didn''t open his eyes as he didn''t want to get himself into a new drama and he knew that Cai ZhenKang had the tendency to over-exaggerate.


    Unfortunately, this technique didn''t work as Cai ZhenKang continued shaking him.


    "Come on ZhenKang! I''m sure that whatever it is, it is not as bad as you think��" Li Huang said as he decided to at least say something that may put Cai ZhenKang at ease.


    Hearing this Cai ZhenKang stopped shaking Li Huang as he understood that Li Huang must have thought that he is going to tell him something stupid, so he cut the chase and told him the problem.


    "I saw my master and your master talking and laughing with each other." Cai ZhenKang said and Li Huang couldn''t say that he wasn''t shocked by this and his eyebrow even rose a little.


    ''These two would not interact that much but it wasn''t weird that they would be happy in private.'' Li Huang thought.


    "In public." Cai ZhenKang said. His words stunned Li Huang and he opened his eyes suddenly.


    It was an open secret that Heavenly Sword sect and Blue Bulls sect didn''t have a good relationship and they were always on the brink of war for the past hundreds of years, so seeing the leaders of these sects talking happily in public could not be a good sign for Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang.


    Yes, this couldn''t be a good sign for them because their masters were rivals back in the day. There are even stories about them where they fought for days only for the fight to finish in a draw as they both passed out while standing. Sometimes they would injure each other but no one would willing to accept defeat and as they couldn''t kill each other they would pass out because of blood loss and sometimes it was because of the fatigue that they would lose consciousness.


    Hao Changyin, sect master of the Blue Bulls sect, and Cai ZhenKang''s master was such an individual and when he and Li Long were laughing together this couldn''t be anything pleasant to their disciples, Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang.


    "But why would they?" Li Huang asked no one in particular. He was thinking what could be their reason to be so immersed in their thoughts that they didn''t even care about showing their emotions in public.


    It was at that moment that Li Huang remembered something.


    "��Than I will give you the best training so that you can get stronger in the shortest time possible��" these words of his grandfather played back on his mind, and he didn''t want to accept that this was the plan that he came up with.


    "He did not��" Li Huang said and Cai ZhenKang who saw Li Huang''s face lost all hope, as he knew that this has to have something with his being on friendly terms with Li Huang.


    "W��What is it?" Cai ZhenKang asked hesitantly. He wasn''t sure if he wanted to know what Li Huang had figured out but he asked anyway��


    "I think we are going to train together��" Li Huang said and Cai ZhenKang just looked at him weirdly. He wanted to ask what is so disheartening about training but a sound made them both turn toward it.


    "Good thing that you are here!" Li Long said as he came closer to the duo.


    Li Huang couldn''t believe that his grandpa choose this method to train him. He could guess what is going on but he let grandpa Long explain it himself.


    Cai ZhenKang didn''t know if he should stay or leave, but he cupped his fists so that he doesn''t come off as rude. He thought he could always leave after a simple greeting, right?


    ��How wrong he was.


    "I heard from Han Ciayi that you have found his son''s body and he is somehow alive. You have done well." Li Long said to Li Huang after he nodded at Cai ZhenKang. He didn''t get the details but he knew that much and that was how he knew Li Huang should be here.


    "Yes, I will give you the details later grandfather." Li Huang said. He knew that his grandpa wanted to train him so he didn''t appreciate him going off-topic like this.


    Li Long too understood this and didn''t beat around the bush anymore.


    "Good. For now, you two are going to get trained by me." Li Long said with an amiable smile on his face.


    ''This is why they say appearances can be deceiving'' Li Huang thought as he was now sure that Li Long and Hao Changyin were laughing together as they planned to train them.


    Cai ZhenKang was confused and didn''t know how Li Huang could see this coming so he asked directly.


    "��But, my master..." He wanted to say something but he stopped, as he now understood why his master was laughing and he shuddered.


    "Don''t worry, me and your master have already talked with each other so you have nothing to worry about." Li Long said as he looked at Cai ZhenKang.


    Seeing that they both were silent, Li Long decided to continue speaking.


    "For the next six months, you two will be trained by me and sect master Hao Changyin." Li Long said and looked at both of them. Li Huang who was looking for training was not worried at all as he got what he asked for but Cai ZhenKang felt like his knees would give out any minute now.


    "The first three months I will be training you, and the next three months would be done by sect master Hao Changyin. Any questions?" Li Long said and asked.


    "When do we start?" Li Huang asked. Now that he can be trained by not only one but two of the legendary figures in the divine central continent, he wanted to maximize his gains.


    ��Of course, the inevitable fight with grand elder Su Zhi helped in his resolve too.

 Chapter 136: You dare!

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    ����(POV Li Huang, thinking of good thoughts)����


    "Come on Huang, show me how much you have improved!" Grandpa Long said as he added more pressure on me and Cai ZhenKang.


    I got up one more time as grandpa slammed us to the ground when he upped the pressure in a spike. Cai ZhenKang who was on my side didn''t fare any better as he was now really weaker than me and couldn''t cope with this much pressure if I couldn''t.


    This all happened because grandpa Long was happy that I had found such a good fortune in the trial and now I was multiple stages stronger than before. He then went on a lecture about how bad this could be for my foundation as I have broken through too fast and didn''t stabilize my foundation, so he said the first thing that we should do is to make sure that we are in an optimal form for the stage that we are.


    The training that we are now going through is all about balance as we have to constantly experience pressure from grandpa Long and this way we will go toward the most optimal condition of our Qi circulation.


    The training works because people tend to find the errors easier if they have to do something periodically like how one would be able to find a shortcut when you travel to a place multiple times.


    This would exactly work in the same way as you would sense where you are wasting energy as you are constantly under pressure and your body has to work better for you to have a chance at success.


    If the pressure was bearable for our cultivation realm we could go on without a need to improve, but as the pressure would be able to crush us if we are careless for only a moment, we instinctively knew that we have to do our best and this pushes our body to fix the problems.


    This is also how you can gain from fights and spars but as we have grandpa Long who is way stronger than us, a percentage of his pressure can let us gain experience more than multiple fights, and the only aspect that we lose is the battle experience that we could have gained in that situations but grandpa told us that we can''t continue with this shaky foundation and expect that we are going to be successful in fixing it down the line.


    Well, this mostly affected me but grandpa told Cai ZhenKang to train in this way too as he would need this level of training to hone his skills.


    Cai ZhenKang who was still shaken that his master and my master decided to train us together for the next half a year, didn''t even question it and started the training. Although he was gloomy at first he got more cheerful as the training continued because his competitive side got out.


    "Huang, I will stay standing one more second than you this time!" Cai ZhenKang said as even he knew we can''t compete for higher numbers as this pressure was really hard to handle.


    Grandpa Long told us that as we get accustomed to the pressure he would send a more powerful pressure for a second toward us so that our bodies won''t get stiff after that stage of training.


    I didn''t know about the stiff part as my body was hurting all over after only 20 minutes of this training, but I didn''t say anything as this time not only did I need to train for the spar with grand elder Su Zhi, but I needed these training so that I can start training in the [Soul splitting scripture] art as it would need a solid foundation, for anyone who is going to try and start this art.


    There are herbs and materials that I need to buy for the main training but the basics are that I need to make my body more powerful as this technique is not something that should be tried with meager control or power.


    As I can''t suddenly make myself a few realms stronger I have to put more energy into improving the control of my power, and training like this can help in that regard.


    "ZhenKang, you have been saying this a couple of times now, are you sure you can do it?" I smirked at him. To be fair, it was unfair that he had to go through the same training with me as I had more power when compared to him but wasn''t he the one who challenged me when I didn''t even have the basic Qi training? Yeah, now that I think about it the world isn''t fair so I think it is a good training for him��


    "*tsk* We will see." Cai ZhenKang said.


    We both got up, as the spikes would make our knees give out under the pressure each time and this time was no different.


    Grandpa Long looked at us approvingly and put his pressure on us again. Focusing on it I could easily detect that it was a notch stronger than the pressure that he put on us the previous time.


    I looked at him and I saw that he was smirking as he sat down to take a sip of his tea. Seeing this I understood that grandpa Long intended to use this training as much as he can as I practically allowed him to make this training as hard as he can. Even that aside I knew all too well that even with this high-intensity training I can''t hope to hold a candle to grand elder Su Zhi so I can''t slack off.


    "ZhenKang, I think we are both going to pass out in this training." I said as Cai ZhenKang looked at me and we both laughed.


    At that time Me and Cai ZhenKang thought it to be a joke��


    ����(POV third person)����


    Two hours passed and by this time Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang both lost consciousness after Li Long constantly bombarded them with his Qi pressure and didn''t give them any rest.


    Now that they were both unable to continue Li Long decided to let them rest a little in a medicinal bath. Of course, he used the most beneficial medicinal bath for both of them as he would not be stingy when Hao Changyin could do the same in the near future.


    He carried Li Huang like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder and carried Cai ZhenKang with his Qi as he thought that he has to show favoritism to his own grandson. Well, the fact that getting carried like a sack of potato is a show of favoritism is debatable.


    "��haha�� just two more trees��" Cai ZhenKang mumbled in his sleep.


    Li Long who could clearly hear him decided it is better that he don''t put many thoughts on it and put Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang in the separate bathes that he readied for them.


    He separated them because each of them had a different rate of absorbing the medicinal mix and this could make it hard for the other one to get any benefits from the bath.


    Li Huang is thought to have the same physique as the Li Bao, the legendary figure of the Li family, and this is something that Li Long wants to keep a secret for now until they can find out enough about it in the near future.


    The moment he put them in the baths, they both gained their consciousness and groaned in pain. Li Huang who was used to this kind of situation didn''t show any discomfort other than the pain that he was feeling all over his body, but Cai ZhenKang wasn''t the same.


    "You dare!" he shouted and tried to get out of the basin that he was in as he thought this was a kidnapping and they tried to cook him as he felt hot all over his body.


    Li Long had never seen a junior this brazen so he punched him in the head, so that he can''t get out of the basin and talked to him sternly.


    "Sit right there or I will force you to drink all of that herbal mix in one go." Li Long said as he knew that a disciple of Hao Changyin can be unruly.


    Cai ZhenKang who now understood what happened, sat there obediently and didn''t move anymore.


    "I apologize patriarch Li, I thought I was dreaming." Cai ZhenKang said as he was sweating buckets. He might act tough but he wouldn''t dare do so in front of someone who his master calls his rival.


    "It is alright. For now, focus on absorbing the herbal mix into your body." Li Long said with a smile.

 Chapter 137: Secret behind the trial

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    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Long looked at his grandson and Cai ZhenKang who were absorbing the herbal mix without much difficulty. Of course, the rate Li Huang absorbed the herbal mix wasn''t comparable to Cai ZhenKang as no matter how fast Cai ZhenKang was, Li Huang was way ahead of him in that regard.


    ''Li Bao''s physique��'' Li Long thought. Before the trial, they found out that Li Huang might have the same physique as their ancestor, Li Bao, or at least a similar physique. Li Long didn''t have the full information on the matter at that time and told Huang that he would give him what the family knows about that matter after the trial, and now that he is here, it is the best time to do so.


    Li Long waited patiently for the bath to finish, and after a few more minutes Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang were done groaning and the herbal mix was fully absorbed by them.


    The moment they opened their eyes, Li Long was standing in front of the basins and he was smiling at them, a look that Li Huang knew all too well.


    "Good work for today." Li Long said as he looked at both of them.


    "You can go and rest in your sect''s tent for the night. Get anything that you might need and come back here first thing in the morning." Li Long continued as he faced Cai ZhenKang. As Cai ZhenKang would have to be trained by him, naturally he needed to be a guest in their sect for that period of time. That aside he would have to talk with his master so Li Long decided to give him the chance to do so before they get back to the Heavenly sword sect.


    "Ah, yes! Thank you, patriarch Li!" Cai ZhenKang said as he got out of the basin and after nodding to Li Huang who nodded back, he got out of the ''training ground'' as fast as he could because the memory of how he spoke in his sleep was still fresh and he didn''t want to make Li Long angry.


    Li Huang also knew the reasoning behind grandpa Long''s actions but he also knew that grandpa wanted them to be alone for the conversation that they were supposed to have.


    With that in mind, Li Huang too got out of the basin and he put a fresh set of robes on. He also took an item out of his storage ring. This item was a simple privacy artifact that would stop sounds from leaking outside of its small boundary of 10 meters (A/N: ~100 hamburgers).


    "Okay, let us talk!" Li Huang said with a smile, they had many things to talk about as one month has passed since their previous conversation.


    The smile that Li Long had on his face disappeared and he looked at the device with disdain.


    "What is this toy? Even the newlywed use better tools for their room!" Li Long said as he couldn''t believe that Li Huang would choose such a basic device to stop others from eavesdropping.


    "Exactly!" Li Huang nodded enthusiastically.


    "Then why would you use it?" Li Long asked as he really didn''t see the reason for such an act.


    "As you said this is practically trash, yes?" Li Huang said and grandpa Long nodded to his words.


    "��So if you sensed such a trashy concealment formation, would you try to eavesdrop?" Li Huang said with a smug look on his face.


    Li Long couldn''t refute Huang''s words as it would make sense for this tool to be used as something to stop the noise from going out of the room rather than something that is used for a secret meeting.


    This was also a time and place where many top experts of the world have gathered in a single spot, so placing a powerful concealment formation would only make this place stick out like a sore thumb to each and every expert in the vicinity.


    "Understandable, but I will also use my Qi." Li Long said as he put a layer of his Qi inside the boundary of the concealment tool that Li Huang had so that even if someone were to enter the boundary to eavesdrop, he could detect them first.


    "Of course, now let me start��" Li Huang nodded as he too would have suggested this extra layer to be sure about the security. After that, he talked about his theories about the trial, the old man, and Guanyu.


    Li Huang decided to tell grandpa long about what he heard from Guanyu and how he said he had fallen into this ''backwater plane''.


    "I know this might sound crazy, but the fact that he could do all that with only a small part of his soul remaining shows that he was really powerful and with our standards, he is- was a real powerhouse." Li Huang said after he explained the fight to grandpa Long.


    "Although everything that he said can not be trusted, I don''t think he had any reason to lie because he thought he could kill me so there was no way that I could disclose anything to others from his standpoint��" Li Huang continued. He knew that he might think too much into it so he decided to let Li Long analyze everything.


    Li Long was frowning for a minute as he didn''t think what Huang needed to talk about was this.


    "What I''m about to tell you is a secret that only the family heads in the Li family ever known." Li Long said with his eyes closed. Taking a deep breath he continued.


    "There are some very old transcripts in the family vault that talk about the existence of the higher planes." Li Long said as he was looking at Li Huang.


    Li Huang wasn''t that surprised as there had to be a record of it somewhere but the question was that why did the existence of higher planes were known back then but not now?


    Seeing the pondering look on Li Huang''s face, Li long decided to tell him more.


    "You must know that Li Bao was the family head who gave his position away, right?" He asked and Li Huang nodded.


    Li Huang did some basic research on him and found out that Li Bao gave his position away even when he was by far the strongest in the family but couldn''t find the reason as there were only speculations about it. Some said that he had a problem with how he was treated in his childhood, some said that he wanted to wander the world as he was at the peak of strength, and many more such things.


    "It was written on a note from him that he was looking for a path to a higher plane, and he wouldn''t stop before finding it��" Li Long said and Huang couldn''t be more surprised.


    "So from the time of my ancestors, they were looking for higher planes��" Li Huang said. Now it made sense that Li Bao and his wife were not seen anymore as they either found the path to ascension or died trying.


    Li Huang was trying to link the information that he had with the new information that he found now.


    ''It was understandable that someone like Li Bao wouldn''t die that easily, and the fact that he left the family to the younger generation meant that he had a goal in mind but didn''t want his absence to create a rift in the family, so he decided to handle the matters before heading out to search for the higher plane.'' Li Huang thought.


    ''Now it makes more sense that he didn''t have a child as he might have been getting ready for this search for a long time, he probably didn''t want to leave an orphan behind if he were to lose his life on the way.'' Li Huang mused.


    "So, the sects probably guess that this trial is also the work of someone from the higher planes?" Li Huang said as now he understood why the holy lands were hellbent on getting bigger rewards in the trial. It wasn''t about the face or the rewards, they wanted to know if the trial contained any secret about the higher planes.

 Chapter 138: Folded Steel

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    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Long was a little surprised that Huang deduced why the holy lands put this much importance on the [Eternal wail trial], but it wasn''t much out of his expectation that he could see the connection given the sufficient clues.


    "Yes, that is one of the main things that attracted the holy lands but the high-grade techniques and treasures are also tempting��" Li Long honestly answered Li Huang''s inquiry.


    "Oh yeah! Hu Anjing has the palm technique that we got for the sect in that formation." Li Huang said as he just now remembered about it as he had too many things on his mind.


    "Good, we will check that later." Li Long said as he knew that they must have won something in that team trial, but he didn''t ask at the time as he was too furious about that girl from the White Moon sect who put his grandson in danger.


    Li Huang also nodded and put the matter aside for another time, as they had more important matters to discuss.


    "Grandpa, from what we discussed I can assume that you have the information on Li Bao?" Li Huang asked. He wanted to know if he could figure out something about his physique this way. For some reason, Li Huang couldn''t find any information on his physique using the peeping eye of heaven.


    ''It might be because you can''t use the artifact on yourself or for some reason there is no information on this physique in the artifact''s memories��'' Li Huang speculated.


    "It is better if you read them yourself, but from what I have understood this physique is like folded steel." Li Long said as he handed a couple of parchments to Li Huang. As these are notes written by Li Bao, it would create some problems if he were to give them to Li Huang, but as he had copied them himself it wouldn''t create any problems if he were to hand them to Li Huang.


    "Folded steel?" Li Huang said as he took the parchments from grandpa Long. He didn''t know what could folded steel have to do with his physique, but he trusted grandpa Long enough to know that there must be a resemblance.


    "Do you know how folded steel is made?" Li Long nodded as he asked his grandson a question. He wanted to know how much he knew before he starts explaining.


    Li Huang thought a little and came up with an answer.


    "I think it is made by the repetition of heating, hammering, and folding the metal over itself." Li Huang said as this was what he knew about this forging method.


    "Yes, it is as you say." Li Long smiled and nodded.


    "Now imagine that your body is the metal and this physique is the process for folding the metal. Each time that you train, you have fewer imperfections, just like a folded metal. Each time that you train, you are more powerful, just like a folded metal." Li Long explained. This was what he thought about when he read all those notes from Li Bao.


    Li Huang easily understood what his grandpa meant by this but couldn''t stop himself from voicing his doubt.


    "But how is it any different from what you can normally achieve? Isn''t anyone who trains fix their imperfections in that method and get stronger?" Li Huang said. He didn''t see how his supposed physique made him any different from others.


    Li Long shook his head.


    "Of course there are differences, we just didn''t pay attention to them until now." Li Long said. Li Huang listened intently to grandpa Long''s explanation.


    "When you were training on your sword as a child, you shouldn''t be able to do what you did that fast, but you could as your physique made it possible for you to do so." Li Long said. He was talking about how Li Huang was able to produce the sword Qi in less than 3 years.


    "You were even able to breakthrough 4 stages when you were in the trial. Normally it shouldn''t be possible to do such a thing but you did it anyway." Li Long said. Li Huang broke through 4 stages in the span of half a day and even if you take the Qi quality into account, this is something extraordinary.


    "Hmm, that makes sense, kind of��" Li Huang said. He knew that those examples could fit the description but he still needed to know more to come to a conclusion.


    Li Huang went through some of the notes at the same time. They were mostly about how Li Bao has spent his day and how he trained. At a glance, this information could seem useless but can be used if you were to find patterns in his breakthroughs and his training intensity.


    "I will read them later." Li Huang said and put the parchments into his storage ring. He didn''t want to go through them when they are talking as it would distract him.


    Li Long nodded and after a few seconds looked at Li Huang''s eyes.


    "There is also something else that I want to tell you." Grandpa Long said with a seriousness that Li Huang has seen very rarely.


    Li Huang nodded as he too got serious.


    ''Anything that can make grandpa Long look this serious has to be important.'' Li Huang thought as even the news about the higher planes didn''t make grandpa Long like this.


    "It is about your parents." Li Long said and Li Huang got all the wrong signals about this. Just when Li Huang was about to drown in useless thoughts, Li Long continued and didn''t let him go down that rabbit hole.


    "They are alive." Li Long said and closed his eyes as he was sure that Li Huang would lash out at him because he hid this fact from him.


    "��Huh?" Li Huang''s reaction was nothing like what he expected. To be fair, Li Long wouldn''t have an idea that Li Huang was ready for a fucked up back-story and this was nothing like what he expected.


    Li Long thought that Li Huang was shocked so he decided to explain further.


    "We only know that they are alive but I have no idea where they are. I have searched all these years but I didn''t find any clue about where they are." Li Long said. He didn''t want Li Huang to think that he didn''t try to find his parents.


    Li Huang who now was out of his delusions thought about the matter seriously.


    "How did that happen?" Li Huang asked. Of course, he knew that grandpa Long had looked for them so he had no question about that.


    Li Long breathe a sigh of relief because Li Huang didn''t lash out at him.


    "Your father and mother were traveling the world in search of rare treasures that could help us improve faster." Li Long said. They were looking for something for Huang''s sixth birthday as they told Li Long that it has to have a story behind it or else it wouldn''t mean much if they just bought something for him.


    Li Long didn''t say the whole truth as he was afraid Li Huang might blame himself.


    Li Huang put a palm on his face as he was thinking about this situation.


    "They are alive so they either are in a separate space like the trial or they somehow found their way to another plane��" Li Huang thought out loud.


    "��Is that why you are telling me about it now?" Li Huang asked his grandpa as he looked at his face.


    "Yes. Now that you know about this possibility, there is no harm in telling you and I think you are mature enough to stop yourself from acting rashly." Li Long said. Now that Li Huang knew about the existence of other planes it made sense for him to also know about his parents.


    Li Huang nodded.


    "Why didn''t you tell me sooner?" Li Huang asked the question that Li Long was waiting for. He wanted to know why he was led to believe that his parents were dead despite the fact that they were missing.


    "*sigh* If I were to tell you sooner without telling you that they might be in a different plane, you would have tried to find them when you couldn''t do anything as they might not be anywhere that you look." Li Long said. He didn''t want to give him hope and let the unknown reality crush him. Now that he knew Huang wouldn''t act rashly, there was no issue in letting him know about this.

 Chapter 139: You gave away a family secret!

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    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang was silent for a minute as he was thinking about what grandpa Long has said. It wasn''t wrong that he would have tried to do something about his parents but it still didn''t make it right for grandpa Long to hide such a thing from him.


    Despite this, he wasn''t going to react immaturely as he could understand why Li Long choose to hide this from a four-year-old child. Naturally, as time passed it got harder and harder to tell him the truth so if Li Huang were to put himself in his grandpa''s shoes he didn''t think he could find a better time to tell him about this matter.


    "I see." Was all Li Huang said as the fact that he understood the why and how didn''t change his displeasure.


    Li Long too could see this and he was relieved that Li Huang could understand his point.


    Seeing that grandpa Long was still sitting there, Li Huang faced him again.


    "Grandpa, don''t tell me that you still have something to tell me��" Li Huang said this as a tease and he didn''t expect Li Long to nod to him.


    "There are still some matters that we should talk about." Li Long said.


    Li Huang took a more comfortable chair out of his storage ring and sat on it.


    "I don''t think anything can top your previous news, grandpa." Li Huang said as he honestly didn''t think anything could be more surprising than the news about his parents.


    He needed to talk to uncle Aram about it but he doubted he didn''t know about the matter as he was sure that grandpa Long has pulled every string to find his son and daughter-in-law.


    ''Getting a few points of interest in the continent and the world could also help me in searching with more efficiency.'' Li Huang thought. He knew that he could gain better results if he were to add the [Peeping eye of Heaven] to the equation.


    Grandpa Long looked at his grandchild sternly. Li Huang was quick to understand that Li Long wasn''t his grandpa at this moment and he was looking at the Heavenly Sword Sect''s patriarch�� or the Li family''s head.


    Fixing his posture he waited for Li Long to continue.


    "Did you think that I wouldn''t understand what you have done? You have given a family secret to an outsider. What do you have to say?" Li Long said. He could easily detect the [Mortal body transcendence formation] in Hu Anjing''s body and no one other than Li Huang could have been the one who gave her the training method for it as only direct members of the main Li family had access to it and Li Huang was the only one with the qualification and motive to do so.


    "As you have seen, Anjing is so talented that it would be a waste if she didn''t train in this method. I don''t think even the best geniuses of our family could achieve what she achieved. Keep that in mind that she is at this level when she was in the trial fighting for her life and known the method for less than a month." Li Huang explained. Of course, he knew that if they didn''t ''cheat'' in that meditation she wouldn''t be able to reach this level but it didn''t stop him from bragging about it. Also, if it wasn''t because of her accomplishments in the method, Li Long wouldn''t be able to detect it so it was only fair for him to use this to his advantage.


    Li Long couldn''t deny this as he too was too surprised about her developments in the [Mortal body transcendence formation] and from what Li Huang said, she only trained for the span of the trial so it was really impressive that she could do so, but that was no reason to give away a family secret.


    "While I can not deny the fact that Hu Anjing is really talented, more talented than any of our Li family''s geniuses, you seem to forget an important factor��" Li Long said and leaned forward.


    "No matter how bright of a star she is, she doesn''t belong to our Li family. As a result, the comparison is not valid." Li Long said with a frown. These sorts of methods were what made their Li family what it is today so if they were to hand away their advantage to others, there is nothing that let their family keep their position as one of the big families.


    "I understand your concern, but this can be solved easily��" Li Huang said and now it was his turn to lean forward.


    "��If I marry her this problem will be solved." Li Huang said as nonchalantly as he could. Li Long on the other side didn''t expect this and didn''t know what to say.


    "The family will also get a new genius, I see this as an absolute win." Li Huang said with a shrug.


    Li Long couldn''t deny that this was the best course of action as the family head but he was worried as a grandfather so he decided to ask Li Huang directly.


    "Was this your plan to add Hu Anjing to the family this way?" Li Long asked. As unlikely that his assumption was, he couldn''t help but voice it out.


    Li Huang frowned as he heard this.


    "Don''t insult me like this grandpa. If I cared about what my family would gain from my marriage, I would have already gone to your wife and apologized for my father''s behavior." Li Huang said with venom in his voice as he didn''t want grandpa Long to even think that he cared about that sort of thing when it comes to a relationship.


    Li Long understood what Li Huang meant by his words and didn''t miss how he addressed Shen Yan as ''your wife'' and not ''my grandmother''. As much as he wanted he couldn''t fault him for this behavior as Shen Yan was far from being the model grandmother.


    Li Long leaned and put a hand on Li Huang''s shoulder as he smiled.


    "Good, we will do that." He said and got up.


    Li Huang too got up and stored his comfy chair in his storage ring.


    "Now you have to get ready for a war." Li Long said as he turned to face Li Huang.


    "Can you repeat that again grandpa?" Li Huang asked after a few seconds as he didn''t know how the conversation took this turn all of a sudden.


    "Do you remember the elder Zhong?" Li Long asked instead of answering.


    Li Huang thought a little as the name was familiar and he suddenly remembered.


    "That elder Zhong who wanted to defend the Li family?" Li Huang asked. The only elder Zhong that he remembered was the one that was helping his fake cousin and attacked him to defend their cover.


    "Yes, that elder Zhong." Li Long nodded as he laughed a little. That ''bastard'' dared to sully their family''s name so Li Long didn''t go easy on him.


    Li Huang only knew that elder Zhong was supposed to be interrogated but he didn''t know what was going on exactly, as grandpa Long kept him in the dark in the beginning and this past month he was in the trial space and didn''t know about the outside world.


    "We looked into his memories but it was hard as they were ready for such a thing and his memories got scrambled after our attempt." Li Long said as he shook his head.


    Li Huang couldn''t believe that they didn''t check for this as this was really something that they should have been ready for.


    Li Long who could see from Li Huang''s expression what he was thinking about, didn''t like what he saw.


    "Don''t look at me like that. Everyone there was an expert, but we didn''t think there was a martial art that could trigger a hardly visible formation on his skull that scrambled his memories." Li Long said as he was angry.  They overlooked this tiny variable at the time and could lose all the information this way.


    Li Huang nodded as he didn''t think something like this to be possible.

 Chapter 140: Xu family

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    ����(POV third person)����


    "Are you going to tell me how you have failed, grandpa?" Li Huang asked as innocently as he could but he was smirking inside.


    Li Long looked at his grandson and suddenly had an urge to make his training harsher, but then he remembered that he is already giving him the harshest training possible that doesn''t result in his death.


    Li Long took a deep breath and answered.


    "No. We were able to recover the memories but that wasn''t very helpful as most of the contacts that he had were masked and no one could detect their insignia." Li Long said, this was a variable that was out of his control and he didn''t like this at all.


    "Even the Floating Mask didn''t have info on it?" Li Huang said as he didn''t want to say uncle Aram''s name in public, no matter how secure their conversation was.


    "We put a request there but it will take some time as they didn''t have anything on them other than the fact that they are a rising power in the smaller continents and so far avoided their observations." Li Long said with a sigh.


    ''If that brat and his information-gathering organization don''t know about something, they are either lying or the other party is really good.'' Li Long thought. Of course, he knew his son''s friend from the time that he came to the divine central continent so he was sure that he wasn''t lying to him and that made the situation worse.


    Li Huang was also thinking of the same thing with different wording. He couldn''t help but frown when he thought that they don''t know anything about the group that has targeted them.


    "Did we have an enemy that we didn''t terminate fully? Someone who could develop a grudge with our Li family? Preferably at least 500 years ago as they needed to develop their forces somewhere else that we were not paying attention, and now they are going to attack us as they are strong enough��" Li Huang was thinking out loud about the matter and tried to find out who could be the culprit.


    Li Long kept looking at his grandson and now he understood why he was ready for the massacre to happen in the trial.


    Li Huang who felt the stare on him stopped talking.


    "��Sorry, I was trying to find out the one behind this new group." He said as he smiled sheepishly.


    "I will give you the information that we have in the family archives." Li Long said as he could see that Li Huang could prove helpful here. Li Huang nodded to his words.


    "That aside, we were able to detect someone else who had a hand in this." Li Long said and Li Huang''s ears perked up.


    "It was the Xu family." Li Long said and Li Huang''s frown intensified. Xu family was one of the 9 big families in the divine central continent alongside the Li Family. The fact that they are involved in this makes the situation worse as it shows that their enemy is strong enough to work with the Xu family.


    �� Or so Li Huang thought but Li Long''s next words shattered that thought.


    "From what we have seen the Xu family is working for that group of masked individuals who call themselves the [Fire Cult]." Li Long said and Li Huang now could see that the situation was even worse than he thought.


    "If the Xu family is answering to them they are either very powerful or they have a leverage that let the so-called [Fire Cult] control the Xu family." Li Huang said.


    Li Long nodded.


    "In the memories, the Xu family was trying to double-cross the [Fire Cult], so I guess that they too are not happy with how the things are progressing." Li Long said.


    "Do we know anything else?" Li Huang asked.


    "From what they talked about, they were getting ready to abduct heirs of the Li family." Li Long said and Li Huang was stunned by how gutsy the Xu family was to think they can get away with this.


    "Does Wanrou know about this?" Li Huang asked as he remembered that Li Wanrou was here and she might be in danger.


    "Don''t worry about her, my brother is with her right now��" Li Long said as he calmed Li Huang.


    "Good. But why would they do something like this?" Li Huang asked now that he was sure about Li Wanrou''s safety. It didn''t make sense to him that the Xu family wanted to double-cross the [Fire Cult] by confronting them and doing exactly what the [Fire Cult] has done so far.


    "Exactly! What we came up with is that the [Fire Cult] is going for a slow burn conflict but the Xu family wants to draw them into the matters by creating this tension between our families." Li Long explained.


    "If we start to fight, the Fire cult has to do something before their cover is blown and this way the Xu family can use this chance to fish in the muddy water." Li Long continued. This was really a genius plan and if they didn''t have the information that they have, it might have been a big problem for the whole family.


    Li Huang nodded and then raised a question.


    "We are going to do so even though we know what they are planning, right?" Li Huang asked as he would have done so to give the opponent the illusion that they have the upper hand.


    Li long grinned and nodded.


    "That is right. We are going to get ready to fight them and remove them from the divine central continent." Li Long said. He wouldn''t let such a threat fester and cause real harm.


    Li Huang nodded and then remembered the information that he read on Jin Fen��or Xu Fen. There was a young master from the Xu family that liked to force whoever caught his eyes into a sexual relationship. In the past, he has done so with the branch family that Jin Fen was from and that made Jin Fen start his journey outside his hometown.


    ''Even after death, Jin Fen''s problems are following me.'' Li Huang thought. He was going to enjoy beating the shit out of that said young master though.


    "Good, what is my part in this war?" Li Huang asked as he knew that his grandpa had a role for him to play.


    "Of course, you would be fighting!" Li Long said with a smug face.


    Li Huang rolled his eyes to his grandpa''s answer.


    "You know what I mean��" He said with a deadpan look on his face.


    "You are probably the one who gets kidnapped, so I want you to be ready." Li Long said. This time his face was serious.


    Li Huang nodded as it would make sense for him to be on top of the list for abduction as not only he was hailed as a genius of the Li Family, he was the weakest one of the geniuses as he was still at the beginnings of his cultivation path.


    "You don''t expect me to let myself be taken, do you?" Li Huang asked with narrowed eyes. He wasn''t stupid enough to do something like this and think he can come out of the situation unscathed.


    "No, we only need them to attack you. Once we have the confirmation we start attacking them." Li Long said. He would never play with a family member''s life like this and much less when is Li Huang who has to be the one in danger.


    "Alright. I think we can give them a good time and place to abduct me." Li Huang said with a grin as he suddenly remembered something.


    "Oh? What do you have in mind?" Li Long asked as it would be better if they could guess when they are going to try and abduct Li Huang.


    "I''m going to go to that auction, it is going to be held in less than a month. I think that is a good time and place for that attack to happen, what do you think grandpa?" Li Huang asked. He was going to go there anyway and now he could take care of the other problem too.


    "If they take the bait, it would be fantastic." Li Long nodded with a smile.

 Chapter 141: Sniff it

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    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang looked at Li Long with a smile and waited for him to react.


    "What do you want?" Li Long said as he thought that Li Huang probably wanted more money or some rare cultivation resources.


    Li Huang could easily read from his grandpa''s eyes that he thought he is asking for something. He shook his head like a disappointed teacher and spoke.


    "I want to give you your birthday gift��" Li Huang said and looked through his storage rings for the oil lamp. It was a weird feeling to browse a storage ring''s contents when it is inside another storage ring.


    After he got this new storage ring, he put all his storage rings in this one to sort them later but he is yet to find the time to do so, so he had to search for it manually.


    "My birthday gift?" Li Long said with a raised eyebrow as it wasn''t his birthday. The last time that Huang gave him a birthday gift, was 7 months ago so it shouldn''t be his birthday.


    Li Huang found the old lamp and sorted the best herbs in a ring and took both of them out of the storage ring.


    "This oil lamp is one of the treasures that I found in the trial." Li Huang said as he handed the double-nozzle oil lamp to grandpa Long.


    Grandpa Long looked at the oil lamp with interest as he could see from a glance that this was a priceless treasure. As someone who would use multiple oil lamps a year for his training, he became something of an expert when It came to appraising these lamps.


    Seeing the interest in grandpa Long''s eyes, Li Huang continued his explanation.


    "This oil lamp can be used to burn medicinal herbs that are resistant to fire and need a higher temperature, like [red snake tongue]." Li Huang said with a smug look on his face. Unbeknown to grandpa Long, Li Huang was cheating with the information that the [Peeping eye of heaven] gave him to appear more knowledgeable.


    "How many times can you use it when you have [red snake tongue] in it?" Li Long asked as he didn''t think there was something that could handle a herb like [red snake tongue]. When he needed to use such a herb in meditation he would ask one or more grand elders to help him. They would use their Qi to form a furnace that would let them create an environment that would be suitable for this herb, but the drawback was that they couldn''t lose focus so they couldn''t meditate when they were using their Qi to control the furnace.


    Hearing this, even Li Huang''s eyes were smiling.


    "When I found this oil lamp, it was lit and there was some oil in it��" Li Huang said and paused to make it more dramatic.


    "��That herb inside it was the [red snake tongue]." Li Huang said and let his words sink in.


    Li Long was truly shocked by this. The fact that this oil lamp was lit shows that it has been burning [red snake tongue] for as long as this trial existed and that isn''t easy to comprehend. Even if the time in that formation passed slower, it is still beyond impressive that this oil lamp is not destroyed.


    "Are you sure?" Li Long couldn''t help but ask. As much as he wanted to believe that, a part of him told him that there shouldn''t exist such a powerful oil lamp.


    "Why don''t you sniff the oil lamp to make sure?" Li Huang said. The smell of the oil wouldn''t go away easily, even though the oil was stored separately in the storage ring.


    "Do you want me to die?" Li Long said with a frown. He couldn''t believe that Li Huang would suggest such a thing.


    Li Huang frowned for a moment but when he closed his eyes he went through the information that the peeping eye of heaven had on the [red snake tongue] and the next instant that he opened his eyes, he knew what grandpa Long meant by his words.


    Inhaling the [red snake tongue]''s odor is dangerous and could cause death. This is the main reason that they burn the herb in the first place. While getting burned, this property of the herb would be removed and you can get the benefits without having to think of the harmful parts.


    "Haha, I was joking. Here is the oil that was in the oil lamp." Li Huang covered his embarrassment with a laugh and showed the oil that he stored in a vial. He was glad that he was cautious at the time and didn''t try to smell anything before he made sure that it was safe.


    ''Good thing that I stored the oil separately or else it would be a problem when I took the oil lamp out.'' Li Huang thought. He took a mental note to make sure no such thing happen in the future.


    Li Long checked the oil and he could easily see that it was aged and that cleared any doubt that he could have. This oil lamp was genuine and a treasure that one couldn''t buy with money.


    "HAHA, this is the best gift that anyone has received in the world! Thank you, Huang." Li Long laughed as he patted Li Huang''s shoulder.


    After the disappearance of Li Huang''s parents, Li Long has done everything in his power to find them but he couldn''t find even a single clue and he always had this feeling that he might die without finding them. To make sure that he is alive he started using deep sleep so that he can preserve his life span for when it matters, like when he thought Li Huang was in danger.


    Now that he had this treasure, he could train easily and without delay as it wasn''t like you could buy the regular oil lamps if you had the money. There was a limited production of those lamps and one could only buy a few, even if one had enough money and connections. The price of the herbs is nothing in comparison to the limitation of the oil lamps.


    "Wait a moment grandpa, I''m not finished yet." Li Huang said. His voice brought Li Long back to the real world.


    "Do you need anything? Just name it and I will get it for you!" Li Long said as he thought that Li Huang wanted to ask for something. He didn''t have any problem with giving Li Huang whatever he asked for as he had gained enough that whatever Li Huang asks for, is small in comparison.


    "I meant that your gift is not complete yet." Li Huang said. He couldn''t believe that his grandpa would think that he is going to ask for something.


    He handed his grandpa a small box. This was the same medicinal box that he found in the test space where he found Han Junhui''s body.


    Li Long''s eyes were shining like a child who was waiting to open his gifts.


    "What is it?" Li Long said with excitement as he slowly opened the box to see its contents but as soon as he got a glimpse of the herb, he closed the box and looked at Li Huang. He wanted him to confirm that his eyes were not deceiving him.


    It wasn''t hard for Li Huang to understand those eyes and what Li Long wanted to hear.


    "Yes, it is the [Phoenix Ash]." Li Huang said.


    Li Long didn''t think that after the oil lamp, Huang could have such a thing ready for him. In fact, if it wasn''t for seeing this herb in the books he wouldn''t be able to identify it as it has been many years that this herb was seen. Whoever found them used them for themselves or gifted them directly to someone so no auction was held.


    "With this, you can break through to the next stage." Li Huang said with a grin. Now that they are on the brink of war, this one stage could make a huge difference.


    "Indeed." Li Long couldn''t help but mirror his grandson''s expression. If he could break through to the next stage before the war with the Xu family, their victory would be set in stone.


    "These are other high-grade herbs that I found��" Li Huang said as he handed the storage ring that contained the best herbs to grandpa Long.


    "You know that you are my favorite grandchild, right?" Li Long said as he put a hand on Li Huang''s head.


    "Of course, you are my favorite grandparent too." Li Huang said.


    Looking at each other, they both laughed and walked out of the training ground to rest for the night.

 Chapter 142: I need some spirit stones

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    ����(POV Li Huang, The Gift Bringer)����


    I think I have given grandpa Long everything that could help in his breakthrough so I knew that there won''t be a problem for his next breakthrough, and it would only be a matter of time before he is in a new cultivation stage.


    Now that he has the [Phoenix Ash] to train with, he can form a really strong comprehension of the rule of fire. From what I can estimate his rule will be the most powerful rule that grandpa has trained in.


    "Rule of fire really suits the heavenly sword demon." I said with a smirk.


    Grandpa who was in thought looked at me and laughed.


    "Of course it does!" He said with a grin. I think I saw the same grin that gave him this nickname.


    "I need to think of a suitable rule for the next river��" Grandpa Long said as he continued looking at the horizon.


    "*sigh* That won''t do." I told him as I looked a bit disappointed.


    Grandpa Long looked at me and wanted to say something, but I continued before he could say a thing.


    "In the path of cultivation, one should look at everything step by step. Rushing in these matters only results in shaky footing, and a shaky footing goes to show that you do not have a firm foundation." I said these words exactly the way grandpa Long has once said to me just to piss him off.


    "Cheeky brat." Grandpa Long said as he shook his head. I couldn''t help but laugh at his expense. It was beautiful as he couldn''t really deny my words as he acted like a junior who just stepped in the way of cultivation. To be fair, this treasure is something that would make any expert in the Taoist Palace realm salivate, so his reaction is only natural.


    After I stopped laughing at grandpa Long, as I could see that even these gifts wouldn''t stop him from punching me in the head, I cleared my throat to get his attention.


    "By the way grandpa, I am in need of some spirit stones." I told him with the most natural face that I could muster. Even though I had a lot of my allowance saved up from a young age, I might need more this time.


    Why? Because of the auction.


    This auction that is going to be held in a month is one of the most important auctions in the world, if not the most important one. It is called the [Golden phoenix auction] and this is the reason that the Feng family is one of the 9 big families in the divine central continent. This auction is a week-long event, and this goes to show how many items will be showcased there.


    The first five days are in a form of a pseudo-market. In this pseudo-market, you have to place a ''white bet'' on the item to show that you are interested in buying that item. When the market is on its final day, each item will have a small auction and only the ones who put a ''white bet'' can buy it and if you are the only one who is interested in that item, you can buy it for the base price.


    This pseudo-market is created so that the smaller families that have a hand in auctioning would have a chance to show their items in a big event like this and get higher prices and bigger profits. Of course, if there is an extraordinary item, the Feng family would put that item in the main event.


    The last two days are the main event and the ''real'' auction will be held on these two days. The first day is mostly a teaser of sorts as the items are at most rare, but the second and final day is different. On the final day, they at least showcase a couple of items that are considered family heirlooms for any family outside of the 9 big families.


    Considering the number of goods there, it is only logical for me to stockpile a little as my pockets are a little empty after the trial and all the items that we used there.


    Grandpa Long Looked at me and nodded.


    "Yes, I have also talked with other holy lands and they too think it is appropriate to give you compensation for the items that you have used there. Although because the instigator of this event was from our sect, we choose to pay a bigger part of this compensation. In the end, you get the same amount of spirit stones." Grandpa nodded. I didn''t think that he has done so much in the time that I was sorting my situation but, naturally, the other sects wouldn''t let us gain all the recognition so they have to do this at the very least to show that they have done their parts.


    "Thank you, grandpa." I said and grandpa Long just nodded.


    "��But I need more as I am going to buy some items in the upcoming auction." I added. If I''m going to get the best things there, even the wealth that I have accumulated all these 14 years won''t be enough. The biggest auction in the richest continent is no joke��


    Grandpa Long looked at me for a couple of seconds and then spoke.


    "Okay, how much do you need?" He said as it seemed that he had no problem with giving me the money that I needed. A couple of items that could catch my eyes could sum up to 3 or 4 months of my allowance.


    "About a year''s worth of allowance." I said with a straight face.


    Grandpa Long looked at me with an incredulous look on his face.


    "What do you want to buy that could cost you a year''s worth of your allowance?" He asked.


    "No, no. There is a misunderstanding��" I said and grandpa calmed down a little.


    "��I meant a year''s worth of your allowance grandpa, not mine." I said with a soft smile. I have a big chunk of what I have received in these 14 years and you can say that I have about 8 years worth of allowance, so this one year is not something that would make any big difference in my resources. Now if it was a year''s worth of what grandpa received from the sect as the patriarch and from the family as the family head, that would make a big difference.


    As I was imagining the satisfaction of that much money and the treasures that I could buy with it, Grandpa Long was just looking at me. He kept looking as he was seemingly lost for words.


    I gave him a minute to gather his thoughts as I could understand he really didn''t think I would ask for that much.


    "Huang." Grandpa Long said.


    "Yes." I answered him.


    "Don''t you think this is a little too much?" He said with a smile that wasn''t really a smile.


    "I thought I could get my birthday gift sooner too." I said nonchalantly.


    "You little��" Grandpa Long said with a low voice but I pretended that I didn''t hear him.


    "I think even that storage ring that I gave you as a ''gift'' would more or less worth that much��" I said with a pondering look on my face. If I''m being honest, they would at most worth a couple of months but if you add the oil lamp and the [Phoenix Ash] it would be worth more so I wasn''t really extorting grandpa Long or anything.


    ''They say it is only natural for the given gift to be comparable to the taken gift.'' I thought. There must be such a saying somewhere as it really makes sense.


    Grandpa touched his temples and then looked at me.


    "At least tell me why you would need this much money��" He asked. I could understand that from his point of view, it was weird that I asked for money as I have never done so.


    "Honestly, I have found a technique in the trial that needs a lot of herbs and material to master." I said as I could at least tell him a little.


    "And you call that honesty?" He looked at me to see if I explain further but I just shrugged.


    Grandpa Long looked at me for a few more seconds and sighed as he knew that I won''t say more for now.


    "*sigh* Two years'' worth of my ''allowance'' and we don''t talk about this again." Grandpa said.


    "Yes, grandpa." I accepted this offer fast as this was more than I bargained for.


    "Give me a storage ring." Grandpa Long said as he knew I had a lot of them.


    After I gave him the storage ring, he quickly put two years'' worth of his salary in the ring and gave it to me. The moment I checked the ring, I understood that this amount was way bigger than what I thought I could get. I can say that this easily was more than what I could get in 100 years.


    ''I couldn''t see this coming.'' I thought.


    "Thank you, grandpa. This is the best gift that I have received!" I said as I couldn''t hide my excitement.


    ��At the time, I didn''t see how the corner of grandpa Long''s mouth twitched, and I certainly didn''t know that I almost said the same thing as grandpa.

 Chapter 143: Master is going to kill me

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    ����(POV Li Huang, The Negotiator)����


    "Get up! We still have 6 more hours to go!" The cheerful voice of grandpa Long could be heard when I and Cai ZhenKang were on the ground on the brink of exhaustion.


    Gathering all my willpower, I forced my knees to let me stand. Cai ZhenKang was trying to do the same as we both were spent.


    ''I don''t know how we can continue for 6 more hours.'' I thought. I was starting to think if it was wise to get that much money from grandpa Long as it seemed he was intending to make me work for it�� in a sense��


    "Good, Huang, you have the backbone." Grandpa Long looked at me and said. I was so tired that I didn''t even think of answering him and kept trying to stabilize my breathing.


    "Cai ZhenKang, stop that weird thing that you are doing and get up." He then turned to Cai ZhenKang who had difficulty standing up and said. The way Cai ZhenKang was moving was more like some sort of weird dance compared to someone trying to stand. Then again, he too is tired enough that this is acceptable.


    "Ha��Ha, yes." Cai ZhenKang said. I don''t know if he was trying to laugh or he was panting. Maybe a mixture of both?


    As I calmed my breathing, I thought about this past week. Yes, it has been a week that I have returned to our heavenly sword sect, and this past week was filled with constant training with grandpa. I think he somehow found a way to increase the difficulty of our training as we are unable to continue training after the third hour in this new training regime.


    The beast hordes in the trial now seem like a distant good memory, as they were far more forgiving and gentle.


    I thought about this past week as I defended my face and nose from the floor, it seems my knees gave out again��


    ����(POV third person, one week ago, eternal wail chasm)����


    Li Huang got back to their tents as he really needed some rest after that trial and all the information that he and Li Long exchanged minutes ago.


    As he was going toward his personal tent, he decided to go and have a talk with Hu Anjing. As their tents were close to each other it wasn''t difficult to locate her tent.


    Knocking on the door Li Huang waited for her to open the door. From the wait, he could guess that she was probably sleeping or at least going to.


    Hu Anjing came to the door after she put on her disciple robes. She liked to change her robes to something more comfortable when she sleeps and as this was the first time she would get to sleep after a while, this desire was stronger.


    "Huang!?" Hu Anjing said as she didn''t expect to see him there as she heard he was training with his grandfather.


    "Hey, sorry if I woke you up. Can I come inside?" Li Huang said with an apologetic tone as he too knew that they really needed some sleep.


    "Don''t worry, I was just trying to sleep." Hu Anjing said as she gestured to Li Huang to enter her tent.


    "Did something happen? What do you want to talk about?" She looked at Li Huang''s eyes and asked. she was searching in his eyes to see if she can find any clues there.


    Li Huang sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. Hu Anjing didn''t need to be told anything as she too sat on the bed beside Li Huang.


    "Well, I got to know a couple of things today��" Li Huang told Hu Anjing about his parents and how they were still alive and how his grandpa hid it from him. He needed to talk about it with someone and from what grandpa told him, it wasn''t much of a secret so there wasn''t a problem with telling Hu Anjing about it.


    "Why would he hid it from you?" Hu Anjing asked. She couldn''t understand the reason for this secrecy.


    "He said that as I couldn''t do anything about it, it would only make me feel frustrated."  Li Huang explained. He didn''t really think the logic was wrong or anything but he couldn''t say the way it was used was right.


    They talked about it for a few more minutes and Hu Anjing tried to comfort Li Huang in her own way.


    "That aside, I need to tell you something but as I can''t give you any details, you have to just take my words for it." Li Huang said after they talked about his parents. He knew that he couldn''t tell everything to Hu Anjing no matter how much he trusted her.


    Hu Anjing got more serious and nodded to him. She could understand that this was something that Li Huang couldn''t divulge, so she had to make her own conclusions from the hint that he is going to give her.


    "There is a war in the making." Li Huang said. The war wouldn''t have anything to do with Hu Anjing but he wasn''t going to take chances when it comes to her so he decided to give her a heads up.


    Hu Anjing couldn''t hide her shock when she heard this. She could easily understand that this war was something that involved Li Huang so she couldn''t help but worry for him.


    Li Huang who could somewhat guess what she was thinking about, put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.


    "By the way, my grandpa figured out that I gave you the [Mortal body transcendence formation]." Li Huang said with a smile as he knew that this would change the subject easily and change the thoughts in Hu Anjing''s mind.


    Hu Anjing was so shocked that she momentarily forgot the previous discussion.


    "Wha�� How?" she said. Halfway in her sentence, she remembered that the only thing that mattered was how he figured this out.


    Li Huang shrugged.


    "Well, you are just too eye-catching." He said. Hu Anjing wanted to punch him for his tease instead of giving her a straight answer but she decided to wait for him to continue.


    "You are almost at the intermediate mastery of the [Mortal body transcendence formation], it would be weird if someone at the level of my grandpa wouldn''t be able to detect a technique that he too uses��" Li Huang explained.


    Hu Anjing thought about it a little and could see that it wasn''t surprising that the patriarch could detect something like that in a short time, when she had already formed the formation between her meridians.


    "What did the patriarch say?" Hu Anjing asked as she was stressed about how Li Long reacted to it. She knew that it was not something that could be handled easily.


    "He admitted that you are talented, but that didn''t lessen my punishment." Li Huang said as he sighed exaggeratedly.


    Hu Anjing swallowed her saliva and looked at Li Huang to see if she could see any bruise on his face. From what she knew from Li Long, he wouldn''t mix family matters with personal ones, so he wouldn''t let Li Huang do as he pleases just because he is his grandson.


    "W-What is the punishment?" She asked after she couldn''t detect any bruises on his face. After the medicinal bath, Li Huang took a pill that would help his body''s healing factor, and this way his skin and internal organs were fully healed but his torn muscles needed more time to heal.


    "We have to get married." Li Huang said with a stoic face while he was controlling his body so that he could be this nonchalant.


    "Huh!?" Hu Anjing said as her mind stopped working for a moment. Li Huang''s answer was nothing like what she expected and this made her mind freeze as she had nothing to answer to that.


    "Yes, I told grandpa that if we were to get married there won''t be a problem with you having something that belongs to the Li family and he accepted." Li Huang nodded.


    Hu Anjing just now understood what is happening and despite that she would love to marry Li Huang and would have been jumping up and down if this situation was in her dreams, now that it was happening in reality, she had only one thought on her mind.


    ''Master is going to kill me.'' She thought as she was thinking about Yuan Jia''s reaction.

 Chapter 144: When grandpa is serious

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    ����(POV third person, Hu Anjing''s tent)����


    Hu Anjing was having an internal struggle after hearing that she is going to marry Li Huang. She tried to progress their relationship in the trial and she was successful in that regard but she knew that if the news of this matter reaches her master, she would be in one hell of a problem.


    As she was thinking of such things, Li Huang thought in silence about the problems that might happen and how he could handle them. Before he would go with having everything so that he can win the fight, but after the fight with the Evil God, Guanyu, Li Huang knew that he has to learn to improvise more as you can''t always solve your problems by throwing money at them.


    ��Well, you can but you might not have enough money to solve that problem.


    "��When are we going to get married?" Hu Anjing asked. She wanted to plan for it so it was important for her to know when it is going to happen.


    Li Huang looked at her face and with a simple look, he could understand that it was too sudden for her so he decided to clarify his words more.


    "We won''t get married right now but this is something that we should eventually do." Li Huang said. He planned to make Hu Anjing forget about the war and his involvement and that worked.


    Hu Anjing nodded as she was relieved that she had some time to convince Yuan Jia that she didn''t know that Li Huang would be ''forced'' to marry her because of the [Mortal body transcendence formation].


    "Alright, this is all I wanted to talk about. For now, get some rest." Li Huang smiled and put a hand on Hu Anjing''s back and patted her back lightly.


    "I will." She said with a bright smile.


    He then walked toward the door to exit her tent and Hu Anjing followed him to wave him goodbye.


    Just as he was about to open the door and walk outside, Li Huang turned and looked at Hu Anjing.


    "Oh, and there was this too!" Li Huang said.


    He looked at her face, when he moved his eyes to her lips, her lips were already parted like she wanted to ask him a question but he didn''t let her voice her thoughts. He locked lips with hers and didn''t push further and let the moment convey his feelings.


    Hu Anjing who didn''t expect this parted her lips more because of the shock and that helped Li Huang in his quest. It didn''t take a second for her to melt into the kiss as it was certainly different from what she had experienced in that formation.


    The kiss lasted a few seconds but to her, it was like an eternity. She only noticed that the moment has passed when she couldn''t feel Huang''s lips on hers. She didn''t even hear Li Huang saying goodbye as she just absentmindedly answered him.


    As Li Huang was going toward his tent, Hu Anjing was touching her lips with her fingers while she was looking at Li Huang''s back. Her cheeks couldn''t help but redden when she could think clearly about what happened.


    On the other side, Li Huang reached his tent.


    ''I need to grow a few more centimeters��'' was what Li Huang was thinking about when he entered his room. He was a few centimeters shorter than Hu Anjing and it made it a little hard for him to kiss her.


    Thinking about the training that would help him in gaining more height, Li Huang drifted to sleep.


    ����(POV third person, present day)����


    "I don''t know how, but�� this medicinal bath somehow feels more relaxing�� than how it used to be��" Li Huang said as he was neck-deep in the basin but you could not find the smallest signs of discomfort on his face, he seemed more at ease if anything.


    "HAHA, yes. After this training�� anything would be relaxing��" Cai ZhenKang said as he too seemed to be enjoying himself. In reality, he was in so much pain when they were training with Li Long that this pain is nothing but insignificant when compared to that. On the other hand, their pain receivers were so used to high amounts of pain that they wouldn''t even register this pain worthy to be received by them.


    "Couldn''t agree more!" Li Huang said as he too could feel that he almost doesn''t feel anything.


    The training was so harsh that in the earlier days they had difficulty accepting that a single training session was held on one day instead of a week or more. Even for Li Huang who had experienced slower time passage in the trial, it was hard to believe that they were training only for a couple of hours because his body would hardly respond to his commands.


    Their training consisted of getting beaten and then more beating. If it wasn''t for the improvement that Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang could see in themselves, they could swear that Li Long was just using this chance to beat them. At least Li Huang could name a reason or two for this so he didn''t think this was that unwarranted. Fortunately, his thoughts were not completely true as he could feel the Qi in his body moving with more ease after a week of training.


    ��


    After half an hour they had absorbed the herbal mix and now the bath was useless to them, they knew that staying in this bath any longer would have the opposite effect. Everything has to reach balance, this is one of the main principles in nature. Now that they have absorbed the effects of the herbal mix, the mix is now bare from any and every chemical that made it useful so if you were to stay here any longer it would try to balance this out by taking those chemicals from your body. Just like how distilled water would take minerals in a mix to create balance.


    "Let''s get some sleep��" Li Huang said as he walked toward a room in this training ground. His feet wouldn''t allow him to walk very long so he opted to put a room here and stay here. It wasn''t that he didn''t want the whole sect to know about his sorry state, he simply was unable to reach his destination if he had to walk to his courtyard.


    "Yeah, I''m a bit tired." Cai ZhenKang said and moved toward his own room. He asked Li Huang to give him a room too as he didn''t have such a thing in his storage ring. To no one''s surprise, Li Huang had a couple of portable rooms like this to spare so it wasn''t difficult for him to give one to Cai ZhenKang.


    They just nodded weakly to each other as they didn''t want to waste any more of their energy. Cai ZhenKang opened his door and the next instant, he was on the floor, snoring. He was so tired that he didn''t make it to his bed.


    Li Huang heard the noise but he too didn''t have enough energy to go and help Cai ZhenKang so he went and plopped on his bed. The last time that he had slept on his courtyard was the first day that they had returned to the heavenly sword sect.


    On that day, he talked to everyone from Ye Ling and Lai Xinyue to Dai Bao and Mo Hui. After what happened in the trials, everyone was motivated to train more as they didn''t want to ever feel the same way that they did in the face of the beast hordes.


    Li Huang also talked with her senior sister, Yuan Jia. She examined him to see if he is harmed in any way and demanded that he tell him everything that happened in the trial. Li Huang obliged but omitted everything that happened in the formations as there were some parts that he didn''t want to disclose right now. After getting her fill of hugging him, Yuan Jia let him go and train with Li Long.


    ''It has only been a week but that memory seems so distant��'' Li Huang thought as exhaustion overwhelmed him and he fell fast asleep.

 Chapter 145: My friend!

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    P.S.: No more E.A. in the novel, this is so sad. OG E.A. gang leave your mark in history.)


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Let us go over the plan once more." Li Long said.


    "Grandpa, I already know the plan by soul." Li Huang said exasperatedly.


    These past hours they had been doing the same thing over and over, they went through their plan for the supposed abduction attempt on Li Huang and Li Wanrou. She also decided to go with Li Huang to the auction after she understood the situation about the plausible abduction plan from the Xu family.


    Li Yong, Li Wanrou''s grandfather, and Li Long''s younger brother tried to reason with her that having them both on the same location might strengthen the enemy as they would need a bigger force to attack and capture them, and hence they would paint a bigger target on themselves but Li Wanrou didn''t relent. As a result, Li Wanrou will be going to the auctions with Li Huang.


    There are also others who decided to come with Li Huang to this auction when they were in the trial like Ye Ling and Mo Hui. Hu Anjing will also be there as she wanted to buy something as Li Huang bought some of the things that she found in the trial from her, and now she had money to spare.


    Cai ZhenKang practically begged Li Huang to come to wherever that he is going regardless of where it is, as it would let him get a rest from that hellish training. Li Huang didn''t accept at the beginning to play with him a little but Cai ZhenKang changed his plan of action soon after and tried to threaten Li Huang that if he wouldn''t take him to this vacation, as he would like to call it, he would tell patriarch Li that he should be training too. Li Huang let him do just that as he liked to see what his grandfather would do. To no one''s surprise, Li Long had to let Cai ZhenKang come to this auction with Li Huang, as he couldn''t say that they are creating a setup to lure the Xu family into the net.


    There were a couple more disciples from the sect that would also participate in this auction as they too had money to spend or they were from a background that would allow them to enter such auctions. Most of them didn''t have any concrete plan to buy anything but they would like to see this grand auction for themselves. Li Huang too was no different to them in this regard as he too was excited about [Golden phoenix auction], but he was also cautious about the possible attack from the Xu family.


    As luck would have it, Li Long too was cautious about it or worded better, he was too cautious. He spent hours letting Li Huang know about their counterplan for the abduction in multiple sound transmissions. Although that Li Huang could barely feel his limbs in this past month, he wouldn''t understand most of these messages, but when he was told about them more than a hundred times, he could even hear them in his sleep. If it wasn''t for the fact that he knew that thinking about something that you were doing/or hearing all day is natural, he would have thought that he has gone crazy.


    Now that grandpa Long has brought the plan up again, Li Huang couldn''t stand to hear it once more as he was sick of hearing it to the finest of details.


    "But Huang, we have to be really prepared about this matter." Li Long said with a worried look on his face. It was obvious that he was worried about this plan because they were using Li Huang and Li Wanrou as baits so that they can handle the threat of the Xu family and get to know who is behind that so-called [Fire Cult]. They did so to minimize the threat to the family as a whole as these two were strong enough that it was hard to abduct them but that would also mean that they would have enough power to do so when they decide to abduct them. As a grandparent, Li Long couldn''t help but worry when this plan could result in Li Huang getting harmed along the way.


    "Don''t worry grandpa. I have planned for different scenarios so we would be fine. This is something that someone had to do and I think I can do it." Li Huang said reassuringly. He knew that his grandpa''s concern came from a place of love and for that exact reason, he didn''t complain even once when he kept reminding him about the plan in his training. Now though, he was confident that he knew the plan even more than his grandpa as he had even dreamed about the plan for a couple of nights, and each night he experienced how and why it could go wrong, and he had to deal with it somehow.


    You could say that Li Huang didn''t rest even in his sleep as he was always coming up with countermeasures for his mind''s countermeasures and the cycle continued. Now he was on a level that he was confident that he could handle almost anything that they want to throw at him.


    "Alright, just know that if there was something that you couldn''t beat, I''m only 30 seconds away and will come to you and Wanrou as fast as I can." Li Long nodded and said. He was going to be in a distance so that they couldn''t detect him but if Li Huang were to give him the distress signal, he would fly through the sky as fast as his cultivation would allow him to reach him and Li Wanrou.


    After a few more pieces of advice on how to detect good tools in an auction, Li Long let Huang get ready to depart as they were going to depart with a few sect elders.


    These sect elders would have the responsibility to buy whatever that could prove to be useful for the sect from this auction. Although the chance of finding such an item is almost zero, they wouldn''t be willing to risk it.


    ��


    "Huang, what took you so long?" Cai ZhenKang said as soon as he saw Li Huang near the entrance of the heavenly sword sect.


    "Sorry, I was counting my spirit stones." Li Huang said with a smile.


    These past days they were getting used to the training as Li Long didn''t increase the difficulty on purpose, so that Li Huang could be in a good shape to go to the auction. This resulted in Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang having time to banter. One time Li Huang got challenged by Cai ZhenKang to show him how much wealth he has, so Li Huang kept pouring high-grade spirit stones out of his storage ring until he could see that Cai ZhenKang''s jaw couldn''t get any wider.


    "HAHA, come here my good friend!" Cai ZhenKang said as he remembered Li Huang''s show of wealth.


    "Don''t you mean my rich friend?" Li Huang said with a raised eyebrow as he couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang would dare to try bootlicking this obviously.


    "What are you saying, my brother? We were friends from the time that we only had some stones and woods in our storage rings. Don''t tell me that the wealth is trying to build a wall between us��" Cai ZhenKang said as he tried to look offended.


    Li Huang couldn''t believe his ears. It seemed that Cai ZhenKang learned to talk back a little after Li Huang kept going back and forth with Li Long. But Li Huang wasn''t one to back down easily so he continued.


    "You are right, we were friends from the trial." Li Huang said as if he was talking absentmindedly.


    "How long has it been? Ah, yes, it is just more than a month." Li Huang nodded to himself.


    "Haha, yes." Cai ZhenKang said nervously as other disciples could see that he was trying to leech off from their senior brother.


    "Let me just say that it was the best month of my life!" Cai ZhenKang said the second part louder than necessary so that the surrounding disciples could hear him. As soon as he said it, he saw flashes of this past month and not even of them could be even remotely close to pleasant.


    "Then let us wish for more months like this for you my friend!" Li Huang nodded as he was laughing.

 Chapter 146: Not the hidden delight

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang continued on their way to the entrance of the heavenly sword sect, where every disciple who wanted to come to this auction had gathered. They were going to use a flying treasure from the sect to get to the [Golden phoenix auction] as they had elders accompanying them and heavenly sword sect as one the seven holy lands had a reputation to uphold, so they couldn''t just send them to the auction.


    ""Senior brother!"" Mo Hui and Dai Bao said in unison. They have got to know each other after the trial as they both were training, so that if they were put in the same position as in the trial, they don''t get overwhelmed by the situation. This shared interest resulted in a bit of friendship as Dai Bao now had a better grasp on why Li Huang is hailed to be the number one candidate for the patriarch''s position. The trial humbled him a lot and he now focuses on his training first and thinks about the matters about the patriarch position when he has enough power to be considered an opponent to Li Huang and other candidates.


    Li Huang cupped his fists and smiled at them. This trial was a blessing in disguise as they now have forged a closer bond as they fought together in the trial space.


    Soon after them, Li Huang located Hu Anjing who was surrounded by her fellow female disciples, who were asking her questions on their sword training and cultivation. Hu Anjing was more of a natural so it was a little difficult for her to give them good pointers, but she would demonstrate her methods so that others could understand it easier in a visual representation.


    Some of the female disciples had some questions and some others just wanted to know their matriarch''s disciple who is known for her strength in the sect. As the entrance is near the outer court, these disciples are mostly those of the outer court who only heard stories about Hu Anjing.


    This is exactly why there is not a single male disciple near Hu Anjing as they know about other male disciples who tried to court her. They didn''t want to be near her, in the fear that she might think that they are trying to get near her emotionally.


    Around her were Ye Ling, who know her the best in this group as she worked with her in the fort, and Lai Xinyue who was going to the auction to see if she can sell some of her items. She wanted to sell them so that she can send more money to her parents. She has already exchanged some of her items at the sect as they could do so but the elder there suggested that she sell her remaining items in an auction as they might give her higher prices from what the sect would pay her.


    Li Huang gave a nod to Hu Anjing who had just seen him, and she returned the gesture. Within a couple of minutes, six elders came toward the sect''s entrance, and leading them was Zhong Zedong, the elder that Li Huang got to know in the outer court''s training grounds.


    He nodded to Li Huang as they made eye contact. He then turned to face every disciple who was standing in the surroundings to garner their attention.


    "Disciples, I will be the one in charge of this trip to the [Golden phoenix auction]." He said and you could see that almost every one of the disciples were shocked to see an outer elder having such a task.


    Almost everyone was shocked but Li Huang only raised an eyebrow as he was only surprised that elder Zhong Zedong is the one who is chosen for this matter. Li Huang and Li Long talked about their plan time and time and one of the main factors was to show a slight opening to the Xu family and one of such attempts was to use an elder with low authority and strength to lead this team. This was a good plan put if the elder was not chosen carefully, it would scream setup and the Xu family would know that the Li family somehow knows about this matter. Li Long said that he would find an outer elder that should have a bright future this chance and give him some pointers in the month so that it would seem to others that he is grooming that elder for the future. If he establishes such a picture, no one would be surprised when he is chosen to lead disciples on this trip.


    "Any one of you who has decided to come to this auction can enter our sect''s flying treasure." Zhong Zedong said as he lead the other elders outside of the sect. There, he took out a flying ship from his storage ring that was big enough for 200 people to travel with.


    About 30 disciples came forward to exit the sect and a big portion of them were the disciples who were from the core court as they had more money than others.


    Li Huang came closer to the flying ship and unknowingly stood close to elder Zhong Zedong.


    "This is no hidden delight��" Elder Zhong Zedong said as he remembered the flying treasure that they used to go to the eternal wail chasm.


    "It certainly isn''t." Li Huang could only nod. They both had the same opinion after they have experienced traveling with hidden delight, this ship can not even compare to that.


    Shaking their head, they both walked and entered the flying treasure and started going to the five river city that was home to the Feng family''s auction.


    ��


    The flying treasure was high-grade so it didn''t take long for them to get to the five river city and as everyone was training along the way, they didn''t feel much of time''s passage when they were on the flying treasure for 7 hours.


    The five river city is a city that is centered around commerce as ease of access, so the city is almost at the perfect location in the continent as it takes relatively the same amount of time to reach it from each and every corner of the continent.


    The city walls were not high but they were highly protected as the merchants could afford to pay for high-grade guards for their services.


    Some families who were experts in creating pills would use them to lure cultivators into their services as they would offer them pills that would help everyone in their cultivation. Like this, every single family in the five river city could employ the best practitioners for a very small fraction of what they create from pills and potions to weapons.


    There are also strict laws on fighting in this city as any fight could cause a big continental incident where multiple families would go to war to punish the ones who broke these rules. Even the big families would not break these laws as they need these products so although they are able to contest with these merchant families in a head to head fight and could even pinch them to death, if they were to use their products to absorb mercenaries even the big families would be in a problem.


    The city is controlled by all the families in the city and they have voting power based on how big their sales are in the city. In a merchants city, it doesn''t matter how much physical power you have as money is the real power.


    The flying ship entered the city and most of the disciples were looking at the five river city for the first time in their lives. The dense buildings in the city and the crowded streets didn''t fail to amaze the cultivators who were used to solitude. There were a few who were excited about this, Li Huang and Hu Anjing were from this group. Hu Anjing who had traveled far and wide for her assassination missions had experienced such cities, if not at this scale and grandeur. Li Huang on the other hand has never seen such a thing but could feel that he has seen something similar to this city before.


    ''It seems that my memories are slowly coming back��'' Li Huang said as he hypothesized that for him to have this sense of familiarity with this city, he must have seen such a thing in his previous life.

 Chapter 147: An unplanned event

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Usually, everyone has to enter the city on foot but the big brasses of the continent, be it the seven holy lands or nine big families can fly their ships into the city and get out of their ships after they are inside the city.


    Li Huang could see a ship that belonged to the Li Family close to their ship as their went toward where they were supposed to depart from their flying ships. This ship wasn''t flying close to them by a coincident as this was planned by Li Yong and Li Long so that Li Huang and Li Wanrou could be closer together and they can minimize the chance for them to get attacked separately.


    Obviously, the heavenly sword sect elders and even the Li family elders were in the dark about this as the smallest mistake could blow the whole mission. Well, despite not knowing about this, they didn''t have a problem moving forward together as Li Long was the heavenly sword sect''s patriarch and the Li family head, so both parties were on friendly terms, and with some quick


    communications between the two ships, they decided to continue on their path together as they both had the same destination.


    Like this, they both got to the city without anything unexpected happening on the way. Li Huang and others who were training when they were on the way didn''t see the Li Family ship and Li Huang only knew about it as he was told about the plan a couple of times.


    "Disciples, please get ready as we should leave the flying ship soon." elder Zhong Zedong said just to remind everyone that they have to get out of the flying treasure.


    The rule to stop flying by any means was created in the five river city to maximize the profits. They wanted everyone to at the very least do window shopping when they are in the city, but they couldn''t do so if everyone were flying left and right so they established this rule. At first, there were some ''how dare you to make me walk'' and ''I want to see who dares to stop me from flying'' but as the time passed and these individuals saw that they can''t do as they please�� at least in this city, the complains stopped but they soon saw that this was not an efficient way to handle this issue and not a single powerhouse in the continent would accept to walk all day and this was not a matter of pride, they simply didn''t want to waste that much of their time walking around the city for an item when they can pay someone to do it for them.


    To fix this, they created a network of teleportation formations in the city that could teleport you to other formations in the city, providing a small sum of money. Well, small in their standards but that fixed the issue as now the experts didn''t have to waste time getting around the city and the window shopping still existed as not everyone was willing to spend that ''small sum of money'' when they can walk in the city.


    "Huang, do you know a good place to eat here?" Cai ZhenKang asked as he put a hand on Li Huang''s shoulder. He was really looking at this travel as vacation and hence, he wanted to eat and drink as much as he could. No matter how fat he gets, he would lose them in a day''s worth of training, so why would he stop himself? Of course, he was counting on Li Huang to pay for the meals and drinks as he was the one with the money.


    Li Huang looked at him with narrowed eyes.


    "You know that this is my first time in the five river city, right?" Li Huang asked. He couldn''t understand why Cai ZhenKang thought that he knew some good restaurants here.


    "Well, you didn''t know that there was going to be a beast horde in the trial, but that didn''t stop you from being ready for it to happen." Cai ZhenKang just shrugged to show that it seemed obvious to him that Li Huang would know about it.


    Li Huang couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow as he couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang could deduct this much about him in this short amount of time.


    "Were you always this observant?" Li Huang nodded and asked.


    "Well, I couldn''t do much but observe this past month��" Cai ZhenKang said as after the training he could only use his eyes, ears, and mind as his body was spent.


    Li Huang started laughing as this couldn''t be more true.


    "Alright, we can go to a good restaurant after we got off the flying ship." Li Huang said while he was walking out of the ship. The flying ship had already stopped so it was clearly time for them to get off.


    "Junior uncle, what should we do for the night?" Hu Anjing got closer to Li Huang as they were getting off the ship. They had a day before the auction so they had to do something before the main event.


    "Well, I was going to eat something and see if I can find something useful in the shops." Li Huang said. This is a good chance to see if he could find some good items that no one has found yet��


    "Let us all go there together as I think we all deserve it after what we went through in the trial." Li Huang said as he could see that his fellow disciples were listening intently.


    "Of course, as I have invited you, I will also naturally pay." Li Huang added. He was planning to buy some high-quality food to store in his storage ring so paying for his fellow disciples on the side wouldn''t add a burden to his overflowing pockets. In reality, this was the reason he checked the restaurants in the five river city before they came here.


    ""Thank you, senior brother!"" Most of the disciples said in unison and some of the disciples from the previous generations politely declined as they had their own plans.


    Meanwhile, the elders from the heavenly sword sect were talking with the elders from the Li family. The members of the Li family slowly got out of their flying ship and leading them was none other than Li Wanrou. By the time she located Li Huang and his fellow disciples, they were done talking about the plan to go to a good restaurant.


    "Huang." Li Wanrou called to Li Huang as she got closer to his group.


    "Wanrou." Li Huang greeted her and the other disciples also paid attention. Many of them have seen Li Wanrou in the trial but for some who were not there, it was their first time seeing her.


    "These are your younger brothers and sisters from our family." Li Wanrou said with a tone that didn''t leave room for question.


    ""Big brother Huang."" Everyone in the group cupped their fists to Li Huang.


    Li Huang nodded to them with a warm smile as he could see that most of them had curiosity in their eyes because they have never seen him before. His smile became a little stiff as he could see that in this group of 12 family members, clearly five of them were older than him. But why did they call him big brother? Li Huang looked at them and could easily see that they had a hard time uttering the word but it seemed that Li Wanrou had put them in line before coming here.


    "Wanrou, do you have something planned for this afternoon?" Li Huang asked.


    "No, we wanted to walk in the city a little and then head to our lodgings." Li Wanrou said as she shook her head.


    Li Huang who heard this smiled and nodded.


    "Good then, why don''t we go together. We can also eat afterward as I know of a good restaurant here��" Li Huang said. The first part was their plan as they wanted whoever that is following them to think that they are in control as the moment they get out of the city, they are up for grabs. The second part was not in the plan but as Li Huang had made plans for eating with his fellow disciples it would be weird if he didn''t invite his family members.


    Li Wanrou could see that the others from the heavenly sword sect were not surprised, so it was easy for her to know that they had this planned before and she was invited out of necessity but that somehow didn''t sit well with her, so she decided to make Li Huang pay for this a little.


    "Okay, you are paying." Li Wanrou said with the same tone as before to show that Li Huang can''t change her mind.


    "But of course��" Li Huang said. He didn''t see this as an inconvenience because he would have done so either way.

 Chapter 148: Untapped talent

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person, unknown location)����


    In a well-lit room, a couple of figures could be seen looking at the only person in the room who was sitting.


    "Did you find out what the Xu family is up to?" Asked the one who was sitting on a chair.


    "Not yet, leader." Answered one of the subordinates.


    "��And why is that?" The one who was called the leader asked back as he gazed at the ones who were standing.


    The subordinates looked at each other and the one who answered the leader at first, opened his mouth to speak.


    "We have been facing some problems as the floating mask has been looking for our operators. We had to lay low for a while as his reach is far and wide." The subordinate answered. The other subordinates were quivering in fear of the leader''s anger, but this subordinate who seemed older than all of them combined didn''t show even a shred of fear as he was waiting for the leader''s reaction.


    The leader kept looking at the old subordinate for a few seconds and nodded lightly.


    "I see. Look into ways that we can contact the floating mask without seeming hostile. Also, check to see if you can find any relations between the Li family and the floating mask before making any definite moves." The leader ordered and all of the subordinates bowed and cupped their fists.


    "The Xu family is not to be trusted, they are a means to an end, eliminate them when we are sure that they are going to betray us." The leader continued.


    ""Yes, leader."" They said in unison. Everyone started to leave the room, except the older subordinate who looked at the leader for a few more seconds. He bowed deeper this time and left the room.


    The leader kept looking at the moon from the window of the room, as he was touching the right side of his neck.


    ����(POV third person, five river city)����


    Li Huang and others were walking in the city after they said their farewells to the elders. As the elders from the heavenly sword sect and the Li family, they had to go to some customary meetings as they were invited by the city lords. Youngsters like Li Huang were exempt from these meetings so they could enjoy their free time.


    "Big brother Huang, is it true that you and big sister Wanrou have built a fortress in the eternal wail trial?" asked Li Lan. He was ten years old and he heard about this from his teacher in the family. The Li family didn''t waste any time in promoting their young genius after it was known that Li Huang was the one who planned the fortress. The fact that Li Huang and others could stop something that wiped a generation of geniuses years ago, was something that brought a lot of prestige to Li Huang and anyone who got out of the trial. Well, it would be some time before Li Huang gets to know about this.


    "Yes, we did. Everyone from the seven holy lands and the smaller sects helped to build it as it was not something easy to do." Li Huang nodded and explained. This boy was so excited about this that Li Huang felt that he needs to give him the full story.


    Li Huang then pointed at Hu Anjing.


    "Do you see that big sister there?" Li Huang said and Li Lan nodded, "She was the one who was in charge of overseeing the construction." Li Huang didn''t miss this chance to tease Hu Anjing.


    "Wow!" Li Lan said. He was curious about how they could build a fort in such a short time.


    "You can tell him about me too." Cai ZhenKang nudged Li Huang. He tried to sound uncaring about it but he was looking for praise deep down.


    Li Huang couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang was looking for a child''s praise, he was about to ignore Cai ZhenKang that Li Lan spoke.


    "What did this big brother do?" Li Lan asked enthusiastically. Looking at Cai ZhenKang''s muscles and how confident he was, Li Lan thought that he should have at least built a quarter of the fort.


    Li Huang couldn''t ignore Cai ZhenKang anymore and he answered Li Lan.


    "He helped us by collecting wood." Li Huang said and downplayed Cai ZhenKang''s part as much as he could while being truthful.


    "Huh?" Li Lan muttered.


    "And��And also helped build the wall!" Cai ZhenKang added hastily.


    "Really?" Li Lan said as he was interested again.


    "Of course! I was so fast that the beasts were not even gathered to form a group by the time we were done with the wall, much less a horde!" Cai ZhenKang said as he puffed out his chest.


    Li Huang and others were hardly stopping themselves from laughing but Cai ZhenKang and Li Lan were not paying attention to them. Cai ZhenKang was showering in praises, and Li Lan was fanboying over him.


    ��


    "And don''t underestimate the materials! It is important to choose the best materials to have a good final result." Cai ZhenKang explained like a master to his disciple.


    Li Lan nodded and took note. Others let them be as Li Lan was having fun and Cai ZhenKang was not teaching him something weird or else, Li Wanrou would have asked him to slam his head to her spear. They couldn''t fight in the city so this was the logical method that Li Wanrou thought of.


    Li Huang too couldn''t believe that this Cai ZhenKang is the same one who asked him to spar with him, when he didn''t even know the simplest of Qi meditations.


    "Look at these woods and tell me what you think about them." Cai ZhenKang took 10 wood logs out of his storage ring and showed them to Li Lan. Everyone else couldn''t help but be shocked that Cai ZhenKang had logs in his storage ring, only Li Huang had this thought that Cai ZhenKang might like wood cutting a bit too much��


    Everyone was so absorbed in hearing Cai ZhenKang''s wisdom that they forgot that they were in the middle of the street and everyone around them could see them. Cai ZhenKang and Li Lan were in their own worlds so they didn''t even notice everyone''s gazes on them.


    "��I don''t know, big brother ZhenKang." Li Lan said after a few seconds. In these past minutes that they talked Cai ZhenKang told him that he can just call him big brother ZhenKang.


    Cai ZhenKang nodded a couple of times as he expected such an answer.


    "Well, if you interact with enough logs, you can hear the wood talking to you." Cai ZhenKang said.


    Li Huang was about to call bullshit that a middle-aged man got close to Cai ZhenKang and cupped his fists.


    "Forgive my intrusion young master, are you perhaps interested in selling these logs?" the middle-aged man asked Cai ZhenKang. Li Huang stopped himself in time as it seemed that either Cai ZhenKang was right about these logs, or this middle-aged man was nuts too.


    Cai ZhenKang looked at him for a moment to make sure that the middle-aged man was talking to him, and then he spoke.


    "Would you be willing to sell your child?" Cai ZhenKang asked back. Now more people were gathering around the group as this middle-aged man was a well-known merchant here.


    "My child for these ten logs or only one of them?" The middle-aged man asked back. Cai ZhenKang and he looked at each other for a couple of seconds. Cai ZhenKang burst out laughing and the middle-aged man followed soon after.


    "HAHA, old man I like you! Tell me why you want these logs." Cai ZhenKang said after he calmed down a little.


    "This log is from a tree that at least aged more them 900 years." The middle-aged man said and Li Huang couldn''t believe his ears. He closed his eyes and checked the logs with the peeping eye of heaven and although he couldn''t figure out the tree''s age he could estimate and the merchant was right. He felt stupid that he didn''t think about using the peeping eye of heaven on these sorts of things.


    "I did not know that! I have a couple of logs like this, take this one as my thanks." Cai ZhenKang said and offered the log to the merchant.


    "I can''t just accept it, let me at least offer you one of my children!" the merchant said.


    "Not interested. Show me your shop." Cai ZhenKang said flatly and they walked together inside the merchant''s shop.


    Others were standing in the same place as they couldn''t believe that Cai ZhenKang could really detect high-grade wood without prior training.


    "Well, that was certainly unexpected��" Li Huang said and others could only nod.

 Chapter 149: The rich friend

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Young master, You certainly have a magnificent collection, can I ask you where you acquired them?" the middle-aged man who introduced himself as Wen Mu asked Cai ZhenKang. After Wen Mu and Cai ZhenKang entered the shop, Cai ZhenKang kept showing him different trees that he had ''collected'' in the trial, and each time Wen Mu''s eyes would widen a little more. He decided to ask Cai ZhenKang directly as he couldn''t hide his curiosity anymore.


    Li Huang was looking around the shop to see if he can find something that catches his eyes. After this month''s training, he made a small breakthrough in using the peeping eye of heaven, he now could use the peeping eye of heaven with closed eyes. Before he had to look at something and because he didn''t have good control over the treasure, a purple glow could be seen in his eyes the moment he used the artifact so he tried to fix this with training.


    Alas, the peeping eye of heaven is not only an artifact in the name and it was very hard to control it, so in the short term training wouldn''t help Li Huang much. Because of that he changed his technique, he tried to use it with closed eyes but as expected he was seeing the Qi moving on his eyelids and couldn''t see past it. To Li Huang, this was a win as he could do something about the Qi on his eyelids, but he couldn''t do anything about his low cultivation level in comparison to the artifact''s level.


    After a month''s worth of training, he could safely almost completely close the small Qi passages that were on his eyelids and he could use the peeping eye of heaven in that window of time. It is needless to say that he could do almost irreversible damages to his eyes and brain if something were to go wrong, so Li Huang tried it on smaller scales to minimize the damage. This proved useful as a lot of things went wrong when he was testing this method.


    Luckily he was rich, or else his eyes would be a shade whiter now.


    Cai ZhenKang looked at the shopkeeper and smirked.


    "These are all handpicked from the eternal wail trial." Cai ZhenKang said proudly. Not many could say that they had collected wood in there.


    Wen Mu looked shocked and throw a glance at his assistant who had just come back to the shop, and his assistant''s nod was enough for him to know who was in front of him. As a well-known merchant, he could be called practically blind if he couldn''t even recognize the disciple robes of the heavenly sword sect and the blue bulls sect.


    The fact that someone from these two sects was walking together could mean that the rumor about the friendship between the chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect, Li Huang, and the chief disciple of the blue bulls sect, Cai ZhenKang, is true but he wasn''t going to call someone by name when he wasn''t one hundred percent sure about it. Who knows if these two were to take offense if they were not Li Huang and Cai ZhenKang.


    So he did the logical thing and sent his assistant to check if such individuals entered the city today. Such high-profile people would not come here and go unnoticed so it shouldn''t take long for his assistant to snoop around and find the information.


    What he didn''t expect was to find such antique woods that he would lose the track of time. He remembered about this matter just now that Cai ZhenKang talked about the trial. The nod from his assistant was the final thing that he needed to know to be sure that the one he is talking to is Cai ZhenKang and the other one with white hair who is browsing the shop is Li Huang. Li Wanrou had her personal robes like other members of the Li family, so there was no sect insignia on it so you could not blame Wen Mu for not recognizing them.


    "Forgive me young master Cai, it seems that old age has got to me. I should have known that such a fine log would be from the eternal wail chasm." Wen Mu said with his merchant way of humbling oneself.


    "HAHA, it''s fine, it''s fine." Cai ZhenKang accepted the flattery without hesitation but Li Huang knew better and could understand that Wen Mu wanted to redeem himself for not recognizing them. Naturally, Li Huang didn''t expect him to know him so he didn''t feel offended about it.


    Wen Mu cupped his fists to everyone who entered with Cai ZhenKang and Li Huang with a sheepish look to show his sincerity. Li Huang and others returned the gesture.


    ��


    A few minutes passed and Wen Mu convinced Cai ZhenKang to sell quite a few wood logs to him. In the meanwhile, Li Huang was looking through the shop. The shop was an antique shop so you could find all sorts of things here. Li Huang choose a few items as he could see their usage in daily life. He was mostly buying them to fill his portable rooms as he would like to have comfort even if he is in a simple room.


    He also used this chance to ask Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing about the items he choose. Li Wanrou gave her opinion on a few items and went to buy a few things for other family members that came with her to the five river city.


    With Li Wanrou shopping with others, Hu Anjing and Li Huang were alone and this made Hu Anjing embarrassed as it was like a young couple shopping for their marriage. Well, at least to her who knew about the marriage plan, it was like that.


    After a few minutes, her embarrassment faded and she participated more in choosing the items. She even choose a few items for herself unknowingly.


    "Junior uncle, what is that?" Hu Anjing asked as she pointed at something that looked like a tree branch in a glance. Li Huang took a closer look and he could see the metallic form of this ''branch''. He felt that he has seen something similar but couldn''t say for sure, with a blink of his eyes he knew where he saw this item and couldn''t help but smile.


    "This is the treasure of this shop, Anjing. Good eye." Li Huang said with a smile. This item was not a tree branch but a tree root of a rare tree that would gain this form after 500 years. The main property of this tree root is that it can absorb Qi at an astonishing rate. Because of this, almost all these trees were removed from the face of the world as they could make a place infeasible for Qi training.


    Li Huang saw this root used in the golem that he found in the trial and didn''t think that he could find such a thing in a shop.


    "Shopkeeper, how much for this tree root?" Li Huang asked Wen Mu.


    Wen Mu came to Li Huang and looked at the item he was pointing to.


    "Young master Li, this tree root is like the treasure of my shop. This tree root can absorb Qi indefinitely." Wan Mu tried to say that this tree root is not just a simple antique.


    "I know. For how much you will be willing to sell this tree root?" Li Huang nodded and asked again. He was going to buy this root as there was nothing as overpay for him right now.


    "Well, uh��" Wen Mu looked at Cai ZhenKang who was getting close to Li Huang.


    Li Huang didn''t need to see more and spoke.


    "How about that same 10 logs that you saw earlier?" Li Huang asked as he could see that Wen Mu was interested in an exchange.


    "How about 50, young master Li?" Wen Mu asked.


    "20." Li Huang said flatly.


    "41." Wen Mu said.


    "30. No more, no less." Li Huang said as Cai ZhenKang was looking at him with wide eyes. He couldn''t believe that Li Huang was using his logs to buy something.


    "Deal." Wen Mu said hastily as he was afraid Li Huang would change his mind.


    Li Huang nodded and turned to face Cai ZhenKang.


    "ZhenKang, how does it feel to be the rich friend?" He said with a smile.

 Chapter 150: Make it rain

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    P.S.: I''m back! For those of you who didn''t know, my SSD died and I lost some of the chapters like this one, and rewriting it was too hard. Added to that we had a hectic week at work and I couldn''t put the time needed for rewriting this. Anyway, I''m back and we will be back to daily chapters.


    P.P.S.: I want to thank everyone who dropped their powersones here despite no updates. Okay, I won''t rant anymore, read the chapter (might need to reread the previous one to refresh your memory.)


    )


    ����(POV Li Huang, The money-grabber)����


    "��" Cai ZhenKang just kept looking at me after we got out of the shop. To his credit, he didn''t say a thing and gave the woods to the shopkeeper when we were in the shop. I was honestly surprised that he didn''t break off the deal.


    I couldn''t handle the weight of his stare on me so I turned and faced him. Everyone had come out of the shop and we were walking aimlessly.


    "Come on, didn''t you see that Wen Mu for yourself? He wouldn''t sell this tree root if it wasn''t because he could make a lot of money with the logs that you gave him." I told him the reason I decided to give the merchant what he wanted. It wasn''t because I didn''t want to pay for it or because I wanted to mess with Cai ZhenKang. I gave the merchant something that had more value to him than the spirit stones, raw material. He could use the raw material and make it multiple times more than what I would be willing to give him.


    Well, I would be willing to pay him more but I doubt he would accept because overpricing too much leads to the other party thinking they are underselling.


    Cai ZhenKang looked at me for a few seconds and nodded, albeit a little reluctantly. His mood improved the next second significantly.


    "You have to pay for the logs though. I have heard that you should keep business and friendship separated or else you can harm the friendship." Cai ZhenKang said as he was talking in his ''big brother'' mode.


    I almost laughed at his attempt to make me pay him some money. Well, he wasn''t from a big family like mine and their sect was not one to give much money to their disciples in general, so it made sense for him to be looking for a bit more money as he was about to enter the best auction in the world.


    I nodded and looked at him.


    "I wanted to buy you an item of your choosing in the auction��" I said and Cai ZhenKang almost jumped out of his skin, "��But it seems that this might harm our friendship according to what you have heard��" I added. I just wanted to mess with him a little more.


    "Haha, of course, I accept it! Don''t think about what I have heard. This is why they say don''t believe whatever you hear. Yes, they were definitely wrong." Cai ZhenKang said and nodded to himself a couple of times.


    ����(POV third person)����


    ��


    "Let''s use the teleport formation." Li Huang said. They were going toward the restaurant that he had in mind for a few minutes and everyone was window shopping on the way. This was a new experience for them but no one could say that they have found something useful there.


    Li Huang could clearly see that this part of the city seemed to belong to the ''less useful'' items so he decided to use the teleport formation to get to the restaurant as they didn''t have all day to just walk around. They had to start their auction experience tomorrow, so a good night''s rest would help.


    "��Senior brother, would it be alright?" Dai Bao said as he was hinting at the price for this teleportation. Even as a core disciple of the heavenly sword sect he would have to think twice before spending this much on simple transportation, because of that he wanted to remind Li Huang that not only this is expensive, many of them might not have enough money to participate in the auction if they are going to spend this much money there.


    "Don''t worry about it. As I suggested to dine there, I should be the one that makes sure we get there in time." Li Huang said with a small smile. He appreciated that Dai Bao reminded him that not everyone can afford this teleportation. He wanted to pay for everyone from the beginning, but he didn''t say so clearly and Dai Bao did him a favor by giving him the chance to clear this misunderstanding.


    Hearing this Dai Bao could only nod but Li Wanrou frowned a little as she didn''t want Li Huang to waste all his money for a useless gesture.


    ~''Are you sure about this? Won''t you be short on money for the auction?''~ Li Wanrou sent a sound transmission to Li Huang as she didn''t want to question him openly.


    ~''It''s fine. Let''s just say that the family head had made a not-so-small donation.''~ Li Huang answered back with a tune that let Li Wanrou know that he was smiling inwardly.


    Li Wanrou now understood that Huang is loaded and she was worrying for nothing.


    "Listen to big brother Huang. Let''s go." Li Wanrou nodded and said to the other Li family members.


    Li Huang laughed a little at Li Wanrou''s reaction and then looked at his fellow disciples who were oblivious to his conversation with Wanrou.


    "Let us go too. We should get back to our resident in less than two hours to rest." Li Huang said and others nodded to his words. Although they liked to explore the city, no one wanted to lose the start of the auction tomorrow.


    ��


    When they reached the teleportation formation, or better called the teleport station, they didn''t meet anyone who would stop them and ask for money. The formation would work automatically and only one guard was standing in front of the formation.


    The guard just cupped his fists to them and didn''t pay them any more attention. Seeing this Li Huang raised an eyebrow.


    ''It seems that they handled the problem of looking down on others well in this city.'' Li Huang thought as he remembered all the notes that he had written before. In the past month, he read all the notes that he had written in galactic basic to help him be ready for the future. Li Huang knew that there are some truths in any fiction as human nature doesn''t change.


    He was waiting to hear the guard telling him that he doubts that they can pay for the formation and stop them but nothing happened and the guard was polite if anything. Well, the guards here are not one to judge a person as they have seen many ''hidden masters''. Also, Li Huang and his fellow disciples have the heavenly sword sect''s robes on so he had no excuse if he were to stop them.


    Li Huang and others got on the teleport formation and Li Huang went to deposit the payment. These formations would activate after the necessary amount of spirit stones is dropped into the payment location, meaning that the payment for everyone on the formation should be done before the activation.


    There was a note in front of the payment location that read "1000 high-grade spirit stones for each person". Seeing this Li Huang could understand why many would opt to walk when this is more than what some people earn in a year. For comparison, an inner disciple of the heavenly sword sect, like Ye Ling, would get 100 high-grade spirit stones a month as their salary.


    Li Huang did a quick scan with his Qi sense and counted the people with him. Nine disciples from the heavenly sword sect and six family members were here. He started pouring the spirit stones into the designated location. The stones seem to teleport to somewhere else as they entered the cylinder.


    After a few seconds, Li Huang was 16000 high-grade spirit stones lighter. Well, if you consider his wealth right now, he is not much different from before.


    Li Huang turned to the center of the formation and started the formation with a wave of his hand. He figured out how this formation worked after a few uses of the peeping eye of heaven, that coupled with his knowledge of the formations from the trial helped him to understand it in a matter of seconds.


    After activation, you had to move your Qi to that part of the formation that had your destination on it, and you are good to go.


    Within a blink of an eye, they were on the other side of the formation.


    "The restaurant should be near here." Li Huang said as he checked his map.

 Chapter 151: An unplanned event

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ~~~~~~~~~


    Li Huang and his fellow disciples and family members got out of the teleport station and almost all the eyes were fixated on them. It is something when one or two people use the teleport station, but to see 16 people come out of it was a first for many of the cultivators in the street.


    Even the merchants who have been working here for years found it surprising as the leading figure was a youngster. It was easy for them to get the news that four chief disciples from three holy lands have entered the city together. It was even easier for them to recognize Li Huang, Hu Anjing, Li Wanrou, and Cai ZhenKang in this crowd as they all had their set''s robes except for Li Wanrou but it was obvious who she was as she was with this group.


    If it was any other city, the merchants would try to appease these famous geniuses of the younger generation, but the merchants of the five river city knew better to do that. They could understand in a glance that Li Huang and others had plans so barring their path to flatter them could only bring the opposite effect where they would have a bad impression of them.


    With this in mind, they didn''t make a move and would only give a greeting if eye contact was made. In the meanwhile, they sent a few lackeys to find where Li Huang and company were before they came here. Knowing where they were, they could predict if Li Huang and others are interested in their products or not.


    Of course, Li Huang and others didn''t know how much their entrance caused a commotion in the crowd and the merchants. They were looking at the map that Li Huang was holding in his hands to locate the restaurant.


    The crowd thought this move of Li Huang who was holding the map in his hands instead of floating it with his Qi is an act of humility from him. While in all honesty, Li Huang only did so subconsciously without putting much thought into it, others too were so used to the trial where they had to do manual labor to save their Qi for the beast hordes that they deemed it natural.


    "This map is like the real thing!" Li Lan said excitedly when he saw that map looked too real like it was a picture taken from above the city.


    "Yes, this is the map that five river city leaders created themselves. Do you see these points?" Li Huang said and asked Li Lan a question as he pointed to the edges of the map.


    Li Lan nodded and Li Huang continued.


    "This map is in fact a formation, albeit a simple one." Li Huang said and he could see the astonished look on the younger family members, "They had flown above the city and captured this map with a device and then planted it onto this formation, This map is the final result of that." Li Huang explained as they were walking toward the restaurant.


    "Huang, is it what I think it is?" Cai ZhenKang asked with a sense of urgency in his voice.


    "What is what?" Li Huang asked him a little puzzled.


    "The restaurant Huang! The restaurant!" Cai ZhenKang said with a bit of excitement and expectation.


    Li Huang couldn''t comprehend why Cai ZhenKang was acting like this when they almost reached the restaurant, but he didn''t waste time thinking about the open problem that is Cai ZhenKang and answered him.


    "Uh, I think it is called the five river''s flavor." Li Huang said. He didn''t know if he said the name right or not as it has been some time that he has planned this, so he might be a word short as almost everything here has the ''five river'' in its name.


    Cai ZhenKang nodded a couple of times and you could see tears gathering in his eyes. Li Huang and others were shocked to see this reaction, Li Huang thought that this place has probably some sentimental value to Cai ZhenKang and he was thinking about going somewhere else so that Cai ZhenKang can be stable emotionally. Li Huang was so preoccupied with thinking of a way to change Cai ZhenKang''s mood that he forgot that it was Cai ZhenKang''s first time in the city too.


    "What is wrong? Do you want to change the restaurant?" Li Huang asked as he didn''t know what to do, the fact that others were looking at him to somehow fix Cai ZhenKang didn''t help either.


    Cai ZhenKang wiped his tears and shook his head.


    "No, no. This restaurant is great!" he said. He then smiled widely as he was looking at the restaurant that he was seeing for the first time.


    "When I had just started my training in the Qi cultivation at the age of 10, I didn''t like meditation as I thought it was boring. Well, I still do." Cai ZhenKang said and laughed a little. Li Huang and others were listening to see where he was going with it.


    "��I was also a bit of glutton back then so my master came up with a plan. He told me to taste a new meal that he got from the ''five river city'' and as I liked eating I didn''t hesitate, even though I knew this could be a test from my master." Cai ZhenKang continued.


    "The flavor was at a level that I had never even dreamed about! I asked for more but he said that he could only get his hands on a few of these dishes and it would be a waste if I were to eat them all at once. He said that good things should be experienced sparsely so that they won''t become repetitive and ordinary to us." Cai ZhenKang said with a fond look on his face.


    "I tried to talk him into giving me more of that food by telling him that I would train more and he accepted. He told me if I train diligently for a month he would give me one more dish." He said. Everyone was stunned that Cai ZhenKang''s master used this method to make him train more.


    "��I had 60 of such meals." Cai ZhenKang said and everyone was speechless. He had trained for five years for 60 meals.


    "��Well, tonight there is no limit so you can eat as much as you like." Li Huang said after thinking a little. He wanted to change the atmosphere so that no one is gloomy over this memory. Well, Cai ZhenKang wasn''t gloomy but others pitied him. Even Li Huang thought that at least his grandpa would just beat him until he couldn''t move and there was no food trap there.


    Cai ZhenKang grinned and elbowed Li Huang.


    "I''m going to buy some food for the future too��" He said. He wasn''t going to let go of this chance. Now that he was here and had quite a bit of money after selling a few logs he could afford to spend a little.


    Now it was Li Huang''s turn to grin.


    "I have already bought quite a few of their meals." Li Huang said. He had made some reservations before coming here, and as a result, the amount of food that he would get would last him a good few years.


    "HAHAHA, then we should go on a new adventure!" Cai ZhenKang laughed and said. Adventure and good food are two of the things that he likes the most so if there is a chance to have them together he would take it.


    Li Huang just laughed and nodded.


    Others who were thinking that Cai ZhenKang would be depressed were stupefied that he was only feeling nostalgia from that memory. Although they didn''t understand how Cai ZhenKang''s mind worked, they were glad that he wasn''t sad and the mood didn''t drop.


    Just as they were about to enter the restaurant, a voice called to them. Well, it called to Li Huang specifically.


    "I didn''t think I would find the bright star of the Li Family, Li Huang here!" the male voice said.


    Li Huang turned to see the man''s face and the moment he saw who it was, he cursed under his breath.

 Chapter 152: From that time in Resha city

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "I didn''t think I would find the bright star of the Li Family, Li Huang here!" when Li Huang heard this, he thought that it was simple flattery and nothing more but when he saw who was saying it, he knew it was anything but that.


    The smile on the face that was looking right at Li Huang was a well-trained one as you would think it to be genuine if you didn''t know enough people or you didn''t know about the identity of the person who was smiling at Li Huang.


    "I have heard many great things about you, young master Li Huang." The man continued without waiting for Li Huang''s reaction. Li Huang was not surprised at this as he knew that he was trying to show his superiority by controlling the flow of the conversation.


    Li Huang too put on his best business smile and nodded.


    "I too have heard many things about you, young master Xu Xian." Li Huang said with no hostility in his tone, the hostility was in his words.


    "I am flattered." Xu Xian said as if he couldn''t understand what Li Huang meant with his words.


    "I can''t help but be a little curious about what you have heard about me. I hope you can share this with me." He continued and said so with a humble tone in his voice.


    "Of course." Li Huang nodded and said.


    ����(Flashback)����


    Li Huang was sitting on a chair with almost no strength left in his body as this was just an hour after grandpa Long''s training. Hearing a small noise he opened his eyes and smiled a little. The small noise that he heard was not made accidentally and could be considered a knock from the other party.


    "Welcome uncle, how have you been?" Li Huang asked with sincerity. He knew that Aram too most have been working tirelessly to try and locate this so-called [Fire Cult] and its members.


    Aram too could see that Li Huang didn''t have much strength after his training so he too didn''t try to bicker with him as they usually did and answered him.


    "I can say that I have definitely been better��" Aram sighed deeply as he sat down on the chair that Li Huang had readied for him.


    Li Huang laughed a little. For someone like Aram who was the one who knew almost everything it sure was frustrating to find not one lead to the fire cult that was operating in the divine central continent, right under his nose.


    What Aram didn''t know was that the fire cult have removed almost all their operatives in the divine central continent as Aram started leaving no stone unturned in the whole continent. As this was the biggest information-gathering organization it didn''t seem weird to the fire cult that he was going to destroy the competitor.


    "I think you too had better days." Aram said as he didn''t like the fact that Li Huang was laughing at his misfortune.


    "What are you talking about uncle? I have never been this good." Li Huang said as he was pointing to his cultivation and power, not his body''s condition.


    Aram just rolled his eyes at Li Huang''s sly remark.


    After a few seconds of silence, Li Huang opened his mouth.


    "��Uncle, who should I be wary of in the Xu family?" Li Huang asked the main question that he wanted uncle Aram to answer.


    Aram looked at Li Huang a little. He didn''t want to put his friend''s child in danger but he knew that in this world, even death can''t guarantee that you are out of danger.


    He took an information jade out of his storage ring and floated it to Li Huang.


    "This information jade contains the details about the most dangerous people in the Xu family, examine it carefully." Uncle Aram said sternly and Li Huang nodded.


    "Now listen carefully, there are six people in the family that are strong enough that you should run even before you sense their presence." Aram didn''t sugarcoat his words and Li Huang too wasn''t delusional enough to think that he was somehow strong enough to take them on. This was something that Li Long and others from the family should do.


    "I have put some more information on each and every one of them in the information jade so that you can even know their habits, this way you will know where to avoid less they appear there." Uncle Aram further explained. He also included life-like images for each important figure so that Li Huang would have an easier time detecting them in the crowd.


    These images were created with the aid of a formation that has been created a few years back by the brightest talent of the world in the art of formations, Huili who is said to have a mysterious physique that allowed them to challenge the world-renown formation masters and win every time. No one knows this Huili as the other formation masters are always protecting them.


    Every once in a while a groundbreaking innovation would surface that was created by none other than Huili, Formation art''s grandmaster. Grandmaster is not only an empty title as only one person in the world could have it. If anyone would call themselves with such a title, it is deemed as a challenge for the title. Huili didn''t challenge for this title and the previous holder of this title gave this title to Huili of his own volition. The only thing that is clear about Huili is that he/she is only a teenager and this is why the other masters are so protective when it comes to them. Well, no one wants to offend the ones who create all the formations in the continent so this wish is respected and not even the floating mask would risk angering them for such useless information.


    The formation for taking pictures worked in a relatively simple way when you compared it to something grand like a defensive formation or the formation that controls the eternal wail trial.


    The person had to stand in front of this formation and the formation would catch the reflection of the light that was coming back from the body. After that, the formation would sort the reflections into different colors based on the strength of the reflection and now the formation had the image recreated but there was no physical representation for it.


    For this Huili used multiple storage rings that contained different colors and based on the detected color, the formation would splash a bit of that color from the storage ring onto a canvas and this is it, you have an image that is just like the real thing.


    "I don''t think they would send them to abduct you but it would be wise to be ready for such possibility." Aram said and started talking about the 6 people that were the biggest threats in the Xu family.


    ��


    "In the younger generation, there are 3 who could prove a challenge and have a bigger possibility to come after you." Aram said after he was done talking about those six''s habits and moves.


    "They are Xu Gang, Xu Shu, and Xu Xian." Aram continued, "From these three, Xu Gang is the most powerful, Xu Shu is the most cunning, and Xu Xian is the most vicious." He said and waited for Li Huang''s reaction.


    "Is the one from that time in the Resha city still around?" Li Huang asked as uncle Aram didn''t give him a name at that time. He was talking about the young master who was the cause for Jin Fen''s departure from the Resha city and finding the martial art that gave him more power and a parasite in his soul.


    Aram nodded and opened his mouth.


    "He is. He is Xu Xian." Aram said.


    ����(Back in the present)����


    "I have heard about how you recently subjugated a bandit group in the Raa mountains," Li Huang said and Xu Xian''s smile brightened, "I have also heard how you have single-handedly defeated a giant mountain bear there." Li Huang said. He didn''t miss a single piece of information from the information jade that uncle Aram gave him so it was only natural for him to know all of this about Xu Xian.


    "Haha, young master Li Huang, you seem to know quite a bit about me." Xu Xian said with a smile.


    "But of course, I have known about young master Xu Xian''s moves from that time in the Resha city." Li Huang said with the brightest smile that he could muster and watched how Xu Xian''s face changed.

 Chapter 153: Are you trying to set me up?

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! You can also get news about the novel there!


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Xu Xian''s smile faded for a small moment but it was enough for Li Huang who was looking for his reaction to see it. Xu Xian''s lackeys were looking at their young master as the ones who were here for a couple of years knew about that incident, when a new voice joined the conversation.


    "Are we going to eat, or are you going to keep talking with this Xu whatever his name is?" Cai ZhenKang said as he was eating an apple as he was quite tired of this useless conversation. He could see from a simple observation that the two sides didn''t have any love for each other so this was just stupid to him.


    Li Huang and Xu Xian just looked at him as they didn''t expect that someone would act like this. Li Huang was more shocked as he could see that Cai ZhenKang was making an intelligent move, something that he thought was improbable if not impossible.


    "Thought so." Cai ZhenKang said with a shrug and started walking toward the entrance of the five river flavor restaurant while he had a hand over Li Huang''s shoulder. After he took a few steps he threw the half-eaten apple toward Xu Xian with enough strength to dig a hole in a person''s skull. It should be said that Cai ZhenKang used the weapon Qi to reinforce the apple so it was way more lethal than it seemed.


    "You can have the rest." He said. Although they couldn''t fight in the city, he was sure that some ''stuck up pansy'' Like Xu Xian would not let his reputation be ruined just so that he can make a scene in the city. He was right as Xu Xian stopped the apple inches away from his face and gritted his teeth, he had experience in handling every kind of people, but Cai ZhenKang was one of a kind.


    Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou saw Cai ZhenKang in a new light as he detached that nuisance from Li Huang. They both were ready to attack Xu Xian at a moment''s notice if he were to do anything funny. Lai Xinyue on the side was nodding as she would have said the same if she was in Cai ZhenKang''s shoes.


    "What do you think about that?" Cai ZhenKang said with a smirk as he could feel that Xu Xian had turned around to avoid more embarrassment. The good thing about the blue bulls sect for Cai ZhenKang was that they didn''t give two shits about any family and they only cared about strength. In short, it wasn''t remotely an issue that Cai ZhenKang has insulted Xu Xian and his master would probably even praise him for it. Well, it was this and the fact that his grandmaster had fought with Xu Xian''s ancestor for the longest time.


    "Nice one." Li Huang grinned and said. Cai ZhenKang stopped the conversation at the best moment as Li Huang had said what he wanted to say and now it was time to let Xu Xian think of abducting him.


    "You are welcome, there is no need for formalities between friends." Cai ZhenKang said like an answering machine, without a care about what Li Huang have said.


    Li Huang wanted to punch Cai ZhenKang but distracted himself with happy thoughts. While he was in thought, the doorman came to greet them.


    "Welcome to five river flavor." The doorman bowed and said.


    "Forgive me for asking, do you have a reservation?" He continued in a polite tone.


    "I had ordered some meals but we haven''t reserved a table, is there any table available?" Li Huang said as he handed a metal plate to the doorman that indicated his order to the restaurant. The doorman took the metal plate politely and gestured them inside.


    "Please head inside, I will inform you about the order in a few minutes." He said and guided them inside. Soon he was gone to check on the order as a receptionist checked the tables for Li Huang and others.


    The receptionist was not stupid and he could clearly understand their background so he was looking for the best place for them as to not disrespect them, alas, there was no such place available.


    "Young masters and young misses, our top floor tables are all full at the moment and there are only a few tables available on the first floor��" The receptionist started explaining the situation to them.


    "You don''t have to worry about that, we will take the available table." Li Huang nodded and said. He was not going to trigger such a flag by asking for a table on a higher floor. He has read enough in his notes to know this would only cause unnecessary problems for him so he didn''t ask for such a thing, besides he was okay with the lowest floor as he didn''t care much about such things in the first place.


    "This. Maybe I can talk with a few of our guests��" the receptionist started talking but Cai ZhenKang stopped him.


    "Does the quality of the food change by the floors?" he asked.


    "No, of course not!" the receptionist said as they would not do such a thing around here.


    "Then we have no problem." Cai ZhenKang nodded with a smile as he had no worries anymore.


    Hu Anjing didn''t care about this from the beginning as she had been in the streets for years and this was a luxurious place for her even on the first floor.


    Ye Ling was trying to keep her image as a disciple of the heavenly sword sect and didn''t put many thoughts on these matters and she would follow Li Huang''s decision.


    Lai Xinyue was thinking that if the receptionist could get them a table on a different floor, he should have done so except making them the one to do it and risk offending someone.


    Dai Bao was learning from this experience as he would have asked for the top floor in the past but now he can see that it really doesn''t matter.


    Li Wanrou was talking with the younger members of the family and she was giving them reminders about the table manners. She was the one of the people that they looked up to in the family, so the children would listen to her easier.


    The receptionist nodded and after repeatedly apologizing to them, lead them to the tables that he had in mind for them.


    ��


    It didn''t take long for them to order. Everyone decided on one or two meals and Cai ZhenKang choose ten, ten of each item on the menu.


    "I said I would pay but you don''t have to kill yourself over it." Li Huang said. Money wasn''t his problem as health was the bigger issue here.


    "HAHAHA, if I died like this, write on my grave that he lived happily and died happier." Cai ZhenKang laughed and said. Hearing this Li Huang didn''t say more and let ZhenKang have his fun, In the worst-case scenario he has to punch him to empty his stomach.


    "Huang, do you have anything in mind to buy at this auction?" Li Wanrou asked.


    "Well, honestly I want to buy a lot of things as I would have to put much time in training for the coming years and I don''t want to find myself lacking in any material." Li Huang said. Li family was also about to start a war so it was the best time to gear up and get everything he possibly could.


    Li Wanrou looked at Huang as she was thinking how much money he had to be thinking about buying this many things, but she didn''t ask directly as she liked it to remain a surprise to her until the auction day.


    At this moment the manager of the five river flavor restaurant came to their tables and bowed while cupping his fists.


    "Young masters, young misses, forgive me for being late in receiving you." The man said as he didn''t want to insult Li Huang and the group further, his employee had already done enough by letting them sit on a table on the first floor.


    "Please. Thank you for the warm welcome." Li Huang said, "Is there any news about my order?" Li Huang tried to change the subject by talking about the foods that he ordered for his storage ring''s reserves.


    "Of course young master. It will be ready before you depart from the city." The man bowed again and said. The amount that Li Huang bought was the equivalent of a few months'' sales so it was only natural for him to be subservient.


    Li Huang nodded with a smile as it was all he needed to hear. The manager suddenly remembered the main issue and started talking again.


    "distinguished guests, please allow me to find you a better table on the top floor." The manager said with a bow.


    ''What the hell is this?'' Li Huang couldn''t believe that they were trying to force him to raise a flag like this.

 Chapter 154: Internal storage ring

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "There is no need for you to do that, we are perfectly fine where we are." Li Huang waved his hand dismissively and said.


    Li Huang meant every word in that sentence as he wanted to eat something and be on his way, but manager Zhi thought that Li Huang was being sarcastic as this floor was clearly not up to a young master''s standards, much less someone of Li Huang''s status.


    "Please rest assured young master Li, I will see to it personally this instant!" manager Zhi said and started walking after bowing to Li Huang and others.


    Li Huang was baffled, he couldn''t understand how his words could have the exact opposite effect from what he was going for. It seems that the restaurants are clearly a cursed place in a cultivation world.


    "Manager Zhi, there is no need." Li Huang said with a voice that promised pain if one were to disobey. Li Huang used half of the past month to convince grandpa Long to teach him the technique that would have such effects on a person. He wanted to be able to stop someone from doing something or at least make them hesitate a moment as it could be really helpful in a dire situation. Well, deep down he wanted to learn this technique as it was on his bucket list to do something like this at least once, but he wouldn''t admit it.


    The technique works by relaxing one''s muscles for a fraction of a second by injecting Qi into their nervous system, this makes them stop doing whatever they were doing. Of course, if one is strong enough or quick enough to dispel the Qi it would not be effective at all, but manager Zhi was neither strong nor fast enough so he stopped in his tracks.


    "Yes, young master Li." Was all he could muster to say as he now understood that Li Huang was angry that he was wasting his time and making them move from floor to floor. Well, he thought he understood.


    "Forgive me manager Zhi, it is just that we are comfortable here so there is no reason to change anything." Li Huang said with an apologetic look on his face as he didn''t want to seem too aggressive. His words only confirmed manager Zhi''s thoughts.


    "I understand. At least allow this old man to reserve a room on the top floor for you before you depart from the city." Manager Zhi said and tried to show his sincerity by inviting them to stay here on their last day. As this was the time for the auction, the city was filled with cultivators who have high influence in their circles, so this invitation was showing favor to Li Huang and others.


    "Thank you, manager Zhi." Li Huang cupped his fist and said.


    Manager Zhi smiled and said his farewells and left them be.


    There was only one small thing that he didn''t say to Li Huang, he had already sent an employee to check if anyone with a simple background is dining on the top floor and if there is, the employee would offer to give them a good sum of money while paying for their meals so that Li Huang and others could have that room. He just sent another employee to cancel this arrangement as it wasn''t necessary anymore.


    ��


    "I''ll be honest. I didn''t think you could do this." Li Huang said as he was astonished.


    "I think it would be fair to say that no one was expecting this." Li Wanrou said and nodded to Li Huang''s words, while everyone else was nodding to her words.


    "This is the normal amount that I eat when I''m given the chance to do so." Cai ZhenKang who was the center of attention, just shrugged and started his last plate. He did eat ten of each item on the menu and he could still continue. Li Huang always took pride in his appetite but he couldn''t imagine doing the same as Cai ZhenKang, even if he was starving for days.


    "There has to be an explanation for this." Lai Xinyue said. She was thinking about what could allow Cai ZhenKang to eat this much.


    "Like what?" Cai ZhenKang said as he was finishing his last plate. As long as Cai ZhenKang could remember, he could eat this much if he wanted but he didn''t know why.


    Lai Xinyue looked at her surroundings and just now she understood that she said those words out loud. Seeing that no one was reacting weirdly, she decided to continue.


    "It could be that you have eaten a storage ring mistakingly when you were a child��" Lai Xinyue said and Cai ZhenKang almost choked on his food. While he was coughing to clear his throat, Lai Xinyue continued.


    "��After you became a Qi practitioner you have unknowingly activated that storage ring each time your stomach was filled to free some space for more food��" Lai Xinyue said while pondering, while doing so she missed how horrified Cai ZhenKang was.


    "��You might be using that food after you have digested a portion of the food in your stomach as the storage ring would be filled by now otherwise." Lai Xinyue said her analysis about the situation and no matter how absurd it was, Cai ZhenKang was convinced that this was the case for him.


    Cai ZhenKang immediately turned to face Li Huang.


    "Huang! Check if I have a storage ring in my stomach! I don''t have the heart to check it myself!" Cai ZhenKang said while putting his hands on Li Huang''s shoulder.


    Li Huang didn''t want to banter with Cai ZhenKang so he injected some Qi into his body and checked his stomach. As far as he could check, there was no sign of a storage ring in there. He could even detect some of the earlier dishes that Cai ZhenKang had so there was no way that some of them were stored there.


    Li Huang shook his head to put this image out of his mind but he wasn''t successful in doing so.


    "There was no storage ring." Suppressing an urge to vomit, he said to Cai ZhenKang and then looked at Lai Xinyue "Junior sister, your theory was wrong��" he said and Lai Xinyue nodded to him. She continued thinking about the reason that Cai ZhenKang could eat this much. Cai ZhenKang felt more at ease now that a storage ring wasn''t stealing his food but he couldn''t shake the feeling of unease completely.


    Luckily for Li Huang, he was long done with his meal, or else he wouldn''t have any appetite left for food now. He waited a few more seconds and decided that it was a good time for them to get to their lodgings to rest for the night.


    "If everyone is ready, let us go back and sleep, we have to get to the auction first thing in the morning." Li Huang said. He had all the intention to get everything even remotely useful for him in this auction.


    ��


    They had to wait a few more minutes as some of them didn''t finish their meals as they were distracted by Cai ZhenKang''s speed and capacity.


    After everyone finished their meals, they started walking toward the lodgings that Li Huang selected for them beforehand. To avoid suspicion about the addition of Li Wanrou and others he reserved a wing of that building so no one could say that they planned to get in the same location with each other. In fact, Li Wanrou and other Li family members had a different place reserved but they ''decided'' to stay in this place to be closer to each other.


    As they were walking toward their resident for the week, a group of 12 were watching them closely. Well, most of the eyes were focused on Li Huang but others were getting evaluated too.


    "Big brother zheng, is it them?" A girl who was on the right side of ''big brother zheng'' asked. She was acting like a 15-year-old while looking 20.


    "Don''t cling to Huizheng like that. The description matches to what we heard." Said another girl to the first one without looking at her. She kept looking at Li Huang and others while she had a hand on her sword''s hilt.


    The man who was called Huizheng nodded and looked at Li Huang with a smirk.

 Chapter 155: Bandit attack

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "What is the plan, senior brother?" A silver-haired boy asked his senior brother. Only a part of his hair was visible as they were wearing hoods.


    "We will get in and we will burn everything." The senior brother said.


    The younger boy was clearly conflicted by this as this was his first time participating in a sabotage mission.


    "��Shouldn''t we at least��" the boy tried to say something but his senior brother stopped him with a raised hand. Other team members let them have this talk as they too understood that this talk is important and can not be delayed.


    "ShanNeng, this is war." The elder brother said and looked at his younger brother''s eyes to see if he could understand what he meant but his younger brother didn''t get what he was saying.


    "We are here to make the war easier for our side. Do you think if we don''t fight them now, we don''t have to face them if we walk away tonight?" he gave ShanNeng a moment to respond but when he saw that his brother wanted to argue back, he continued.


    "This is a matter of us or them. Don''t you see how our family members are using themselves as baits to give us the upper hand in the war?" he said in one breath, "The only crime in war is losing and I will do anything that I can to increase our chance in winning this war." This time he wasn''t only talking to ShanNeng, he was addressing everyone on their team.


    "Burning these warehouses is nothing, if it would help you survive, I would let my body be burned without hesitation." He said and looked at every team member that was with him. He waited a bit for his words to sink in and then changed his tone.


    "Burning these warehouses would decrease the Xu family''s supplies and in turn, we would have higher chances in the war so if anyone is unwilling, you could as well forget about being a Li family member." He said and stared into their eyes to see if they had even the smallest amount of hesitation.


    ""��"" Everyone cupped their fists to show that they have no problem with this. Even ShanNeng who had some questions at first now could see the bigger picture.


    "Thank you, ShanCai." ShanNeng said and thanked his elder brother.


    ShanCai nodded to him while he put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. He then covered his face completely and signaled the others to do the same and start the attack.


    ��


    They didn''t need much to finish this assignment without an issue. There were a couple of teams like this working around the continent and their main goal was to decrease the power that the Xu family held.


    They were all direct members of the Li family and they were trained enough that these tasks were a piece of cake for them. They had targeted different warehouses that the Xu family had and emptied their reserves and burned the buildings.


    To avoid suspicion, some teams attacked some bandit groups that were active and gave the impression that there was a bandit war going on in the continent. This way it wouldn''t be weird that they had attacked the ''seemingly unknown'' warehouses that belonged to the Xu family.


    To make it even more believable they attacked some empty warehouses that the floating mask owned. This made it look like these attacks were done without much of a pattern and you could not find a relation between the Li family and the assailants.


    These attacks started two days before Li Huang and others went to the five river city and it was still going on. As they were hidden warehouses, the Xu family couldn''t put many guards there, or else it would seem obvious but they did try to stop the attacks after the first day.


    Unfortunately for them, the teams were strong enough that these new guards were not doing much other than making the teams use a few more seconds to take care of them before pocketing the supplies.


    The Xu family knew that they couldn''t let their supplies be taken indefinitely, so they started sending high-level family members to retrieve those items from their not-so-hidden warehouses.


    This was something that made it harder for the sabotage teams to do their work but they had achieved what they were looking for.


    They made the Xu family act hastily and that was worth the effort even without the war supplies that they had gained.


    ��


    "What should we do, family head?" one of the elders in the room asked. They were pretty agitated that their warehouses were getting attacked and burned one after another. A group of 50 elders were in this room and they all knew about the coming war with the Li family.


    The family head just kept on stroking his beard as he was thinking on the matter deeply. Seeing this, the elders started giving their opinions on the matter.


    "I think we should send some elders to finish these bandit groups." One elder said. He thought that they could pay some money and the floating mask would give them the location of these lowly bandits and after that, it would be easy to get rid of them even with their eyes shut.


    Some of the elders thought this solution to be reasonable as they should not let their war supplies be used in another place and under a different banner. They didn''t know that not only they were being used under a different banner, but that banner was also the same one they were going to war with.


    The discussion continued and each elder had a point to add on. This continued to a point that everyone had spoken other than the family head of the Xu family, Xu Xue. He was still stroking his beard and his eyes were closed.


    The moment he opened his eyes, every elder in the room stopped talking and they were waiting for him to speak.


    "These attacks can not be from the bandits alone." Xu Xue said. He wasn''t naive enough to think that bandit could do something like this alone and he wasn''t impulsive enough to think that their enemies had a hand in it.


    "Assign someone to investigate this matter in depth." Xu Xue said and moved from this matter.


    "In any case, we have to start the war sooner as we don''t have enough time to be playing with bandits or whoever else is behind them." He said.


    Hearing this the elders knew that the time for war was closer than they thought.


    "Hasten the abduction plan." Xu Xue said and every elder in the room cupped their fists.


    "Also, give the youngsters freedom when it comes to what they want to do to them��" He said and started walking out of the meeting room.


    ��


    "100 high-grade spirit stones."


    "110 high-grade spirit stones." Li Huang raised his hand and said.


    "200 high-grade spirit stones." The first person said again.


    "510 high-grade spirit stones." Li Huang raised the price.


    He was betting on one of the items that he had put a ''white bet'' on in these past days. For the past two and a half days, he has been using his own knowledge plus the peeping eye of heaven to find the best items in all shops and this one that he is betting on right now, is one of the top items that he found.


    Li Huang could clearly see that the person that was competing with him wasn''t interested in the item and only wanted to bet to stop him from getting it. He tried to remember where he has seen him but he couldn''t find anything in his memories.


    The person competing with him was the same one who was called Huizheng. He put a bet on this item as one of his friends liked it but when he saw Li Huang betting on it it was no longer a matter of buying it, he had to have it.


    He and his group were on the top floor of the five river flavor restaurant that night and one of the employees offered them money if they were to change their table with a guest on the first floor. He wanted to beat the employee for looking down at him but then another employee came and apologized to him for the inconvenience and took the other employee with him.


    He then found out that Li Huang and others were that group on the first floor, so he wanted to give him a lesson on humility right now that the heavens have given him the perfect opportunity.

 Chapter 156: Far from home

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Huizheng wanted this item for his friend and partner who was here with him when he was searching for good items in the auction. This girl was the same one that was clinging to him in front of the restaurant.


    In fact, from that group of 12 who stood in front of the restaurant, 3 were his friends and the other 8 were either his partners or his potential partners.


    Huizheng has been traveling the world for some years and this was his first time in the divine central continent. By chance, he got to the continent only four weeks before the auction and as he was traveling, he got the news about the biggest auction of the whole world and he couldn''t stop himself from rushing here to see if the rumors about its grandeur were true or there were only empty words.


    To his surprise, it wasn''t an exaggeration when they said this city would be different from anything that he has seen before. From the moment he got into the city, one thing after another kept surprising him. The fact that you could not fight in the city was something that he thought impossible but it seems that this city could make it possible. There is also the matter with no flying inside the city that put a smile on his face, he couldn''t help but imagine the look on the face of those arrogant cultivators when they had to walk on the ground like a mortal.


    Alas, when he went to the restaurant to enjoy a meal with his companions, he almost lost his cool when a waiter tried to offer him money in exchange for his table on the top floor. He couldn''t believe that even though he had the money to pay for this place, there were still some people who looked down on him.


    Luckily for the waiter and him, another employee came and stopped the waiter from insulting him further by offering more money.


    He had been training for years so that no one would be able to look down on him but it seemed to him that no matter what he does, there will always be people who try to insult him like this.


    Although the matter was handled, he couldn''t let it go and tried to find out who was the young master that the waiter wanted his table for. After asking around a little, his friends found out that the one who he was looking for was named Li Huang and he is hailed as a genius of his generation and his family is one of the big families in the divine central continent.


    Of course, for Huizheng it didn''t matter which family Li Huang came from as he had been handling these types of spoiled brats for years, to him one more didn''t make much of a difference.


    When they saw the group that matched the description of Li Huang and his companions, Huizheng could only reconfirm his previous assessment of Li Huang. He was nothing but a brat in his eyes.


    He didn''t put him in his eyes at the moment because he knew that he would be facing him in the auctions and with the wealth that he has accumulated over the years, he could show him where he stood in comparison to him.


    Now, a few days after that, Huizheng had the perfect chance to get his revenge for that matter and give Li Huang a lesson so that he wouldn''t look down on people just because he doesn''t know them.


    Li Huang on the other hand had no idea that such a thing happened and Huizheng was bidding against him just because of that, but one thing was clear to him, he wasn''t going to let anyone else have this item.


    This item was seemingly a stone of unknown origins that would emit heat and keep you warm, but Li Huang had the peeping eye of heaven that helped him find out about the true use of this item. This stone is dark red in color and according to the memories that Li Huang checked from the peeping eye of heaven, it is called [Tribulation Blood Stone]. He didn''t know how this item was made but he knew that it could prove helpful for her senior sister and sect''s matriarch, Yuan Jia.


    From what he knows about Yuan Jia and bits and pieces that he found out with the help of the peeping eye of heaven, Yuan Jia has a special physique that allows her to have much higher power than her actual cultivation level. From what Li Huang could understand in the limited time that he examined her with the peeping eye of heaven, she has a physique that is a variant of the [Internal Furnace] body that helps one with giving them explosive powers when using their Qi.


    Li Huang researched more on this when he had free time in the sect (when he was trying to sleep after a long training session with grandpa Long), he found out that this type of physique will get stronger if you absorb different types of natural energies from multiple items and the better quality the item has, better the result.


    The [Tribulation Blood Stone] is one of those items and from the information that Li Huang could see on it, it is one of the most valuable items that a cultivator can use to nourish one''s physique. From what Li Huang could understand, absorbing this [Tribulation Blood Stone]''s natural energy would help Yuan Jia to improve her power at least twofold.


    If you also take into account that this item that Li Huang was bidding for was worth at least 100,000 times what they are bidding for, no matter how high the final price, it would be still worth it by a long shot.


    Huizheng who saw that Li Huang not only didn''t back down but increased the bid, had a small frown on his face. Without any hesitation, he also added to the bid.


    "1,000 high-grade spirit stones." He said and the surrounding people gasped. This sort of money was not something that one would be seeing many times if ever, so this reaction was not far from expectation.


    Unfortunately for Huizheng, this number was nothing to Li Huang even if he were to only use his personal reserves and don''t touch the money that he got as a ''gift'' from grandpa Long.


    "5,000 high-grade spirit stones." Li Huang said with a calm tone and despite that everyone heard him clearly.


    The auctioneer lost his cool for a moment but it didn''t take more than a second for him to regain his composure.


    "6,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng didn''t give the auctioneer time to say a word and increased the bid.


    Li Huang wanted to increase the bid once more but seeing the look on the auctioneer''s face he stopped and let him speak.


    "Forgive me, but for every bid higher than 5,000 high-grade spirit stones you will have to put that amount in the storage rings that are in front of you." The auctioneer said and two of the servants brought two tables with storage rings on them to Li Huang and Huizheng respectively.


    Huizheng shook his head as he thought that they were still looking down on him. In reality, this rule was added so that one would not be forced to overpay for something when the other party only want''s to increase the price and has no money to pay for it.


    Without batting an eye Huizheng deposited the 6,000 high-grade spirit stones in the storage ring on the table and the number 6,000 was shown on the podium.


    "If you don''t have this much money, it is not too late to apologize and walk away." Huizheng turned to Li Huang and said smugly. His words were only followed with snickering from his friends and partners, the other cultivators in the crowd were just looking at him wide-eyed. Nobody could believe that someone would try to show his wealth in front of a descendant of the Li family who is also a chief disciple of one of the holy lands.


    This silence continued for two or three more seconds before the sound of Cai ZhenKang''s laughter filled the surroundings.


    "HAHAHA, heavens, HAHAHA!" Cai ZhenKang couldn''t even form a sentence as he was thinking about the amount of money that Li Huang had shown him. If he were to remove this amount of spirit stones from Li Huang''s reserves, Li Huang wouldn''t even notice it.


    Li Huang too smiled a little and faced Huizheng.


    "You seem to be far from home." Li Huang said with a smile.

 Chapter 157: I’ll buy all of that

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang wasn''t one to create a problem with someone but if someone has a problem with him, he has no problem facing them.


    He didn''t know why, but for some reason, Huizheng was trying to go back and forth with him in this auction, and from the reaction that his group showed when he tried to mock Li Huang, it was obvious that they knew about the reason too.


    Li Huang kept this information in the back of his mind so that he can do some research on it later, now he had a bid to place.


    "10,000 high-grade spirit stones." Li Huang said and while he was talking, deposited the spirit stones into the storage ring.


    Huizheng who could see the number on the podium could understand that he was wrong to assume Li Huang didn''t have much money to play with. What was harder for him to accept was the fact that he became the laughing stock of everyone after what he said.


    It was not a matter of showing Li Huang that he shouldn''t look down at him, Huizheng wanted to win this auction at any cost.


    "11,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng said and added the 5,000 high-grade spirit stones to the storage ring.


    "This is going to take a while��" Li Huang muttered as he could see that Huizheng would not back down "15,000 high-grade spirit stones." He bid again.


    ��


    A few minutes passed and these two were still bidding on the [Tribulation Blood Stone]. There were still many items in the auction but the crowd was absorbed in this clash between an heir to one of the 9 big families and this unknown man. The identity of this man was one of the most asked questions in these minutes.


    "127,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng said as he was clenching his fists. Not even in his wildest dreams, he would be willing to waste this much money on an item that is not worth much in his eyes. At this point, he was just making the price higher so that Li Huang would be losing more money, and deep down, he didn''t want to win as this much money would go to waste.


    "130,000 high-grade spirit stones." Li Huang said and deposited the 3,000 high-grade spirit stones in the storage ring. Li Huang could see that this was way beyond Huizheng''s comfort zone when it comes to spending money so he was expecting him to step down any round now.


    Huizheng wanted to increase the price when one of her partners sent him a sound transmission. The next instant, Huizheng was grinning but he hid it fast and turned to face Li Huang to throw a jab at his pride as a man.


    "You can have this rock. It must be fun to play around with your father''s money." He said with a mocking smile. He knows that Li Huang is using his family''s money, or else he wouldn''t be wasting this much money on this item.


    Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing who have seen Li Huang from a young age and know about his situation wanted to rush there and shove Huizheng''s tongue in his arse. Li Huang on the other hand didn''t feel the need to get physical and calmly answered him.


    "Well, I come from a family of geniuses, my ancestors were geniuses, and even after all these years, we are still producing more geniuses. The fact that you can''t use your father''s money or your family''s for that matter, just goes to show that they were not�� that talented." Li Huang said.


    He had enough of Huizheng and didn''t let him continue insulting him like a child. After saying his he took the item from one of the auction servants as he was the winner for this item.


    Huizheng on the other hand was stunned by the answer that Li Huang gave him. He was about to lose control of his anger when a hand on his shoulder, one on his back, and the hand that was intertwining her left hand''s fingers with his right hand''s fingers cooled him down. After taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a few seconds he opened his mouth and said two words.


    "Thank you." He said. He knew that this was not the time to say anything and let Li Huang be for the time being, he had enough time to get back at him.


    "It is worth 130,000 high-grade spirit stones, right?" Cai ZhenKang couldn''t help but ask when Li Huang was storing the [Tribulation Blood Stone] in his storage ring. In fact, this was the question that everyone had in mind as the price started pretty low when you compare it to the final price.


    "Do I look like someone who would waste money?" Li Huang asked as he was pretty sure that he has never wasted money in his life.


    Those of the group who were with him in the [Eternal Wail Trial] looked at each other and remembered the number of items, pills, potions, and scrolls that Li Huang used there and couldn''t help but nod without any hesitation.


    "Wha�� When?" Seeing this Li Huang was taken aback and said.


    "Did you forget the trial?" Cai ZhenKang said. He couldn''t understand how Li Huang had forgotten such a thing.


    "Come on, we would have died there otherwise." Li Huang said a little disappointed as he couldn''t believe that they were calling that wasting money. Even the scrolls that he threw at Jin Fen were more of assurance and definitely were not a waste.


    "Well, I can''t argue on that." Hu Anjing said.


    "Money is useless to the dead." Li Wanrou also nodded and said.


    "��So was it worth it?" Cai ZhenKang asked with a bit of excitement as he kind of liked the auctions and the process of buying something when others are also competing for the same item.


    Li Huang grinned and looked at Cai ZhenKang.


    "Let''s just say that I would be willing to pay ten times what I have paid for this." Li Huang said and Cai ZhenKang grinned too.


    "Tell me that you are interested in more items." Cai ZhenKang said. He didn''t want the fun to end soon so he was hoping that Li Huang would have more items to bet on as he had no item in mind, and the only item that caught his eyes was already in his storage ring.


    "Of course I have! From this point on almost all of the items are mine." Li Huang said. He didn''t put many thoughts on his wording or else he could see that his wording would imply that those items are already his. Well, if you take his wealth into account, it is not far from the truth that he can win all of them.


    Cai ZhenKang laughed and nodded to his words.


    ��


    "10,000 high-grade spirit stones."


    ��


    "All of the scrolls for 90,000 high-grade spirit stones."


    ��


    "300 high-grade spirit stones."


    ��


    The last day of the open auction continued with Li Huang buying everything that he had his eyes on.


    At first, some of the people would try to compete with him to buy these items but when Li Huang let someone else win the overpriced auction, nobody would try to make Li Huang overpay for something if they were not really interested in the item.


    The next item was one that Li Huang had put for sale, it was [the rings of trust] that he and Hu Anjing got in that particular formation that pissed them off.


    "This next item is a set of two rings that would teleport you to the other person who is wearing it in the case of fatal danger. This is a great item for partners, the starting price is 10,000 high-grade spirit stones." The auctioneer said and the bidding started.


    "20,000 high-grade spirit stones."


    "23,000 high-grade spirit stones."


    "50,000 high-grade spirit stones." Said someone with the voice of a teenager. Everyone was silent for a few seconds and tried to locate the one who bid for this ring.

 Chapter 158: Getting a favor 101

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "50,000 high-grade spirit stones." When the new bid was heard, everyone turned to face the owner of that voice. It wasn''t every day that you could see someone who is this young and has this much money.


    Li Huang too was interested as this was what he was selling and the profit would go straight to him minus the auction fee. Every item that is auctioned would have 1% of the final price deducted from it and that would belong to the auction, the rest would be given to the person who auctioned the item.


    When everyone turned to see this person, they were stunned by what they were seeing.


    They were not stunned about the beauty of this person or such things, they were stunned by the people who were walking with the teenager.


    The teenager had his face covered by a strange device that made it hard to see their face. Surrounding the teenager, were some of the most well-known formation masters of the divine central continent.


    This in itself was surprising to see such people here before the main auction, but what was more surprising was how they were acting like the teenager''s guards. Looking at them, you could not find anything but respect for the teenager and that was when it all clicked into place.


    There is only one person in the whole world that could have these high and mighty formation masters as a guard without even asking for it and that was the current formation grandmaster, Huili.


    Li Huang who knew the basic knowledge about this grandmaster Huili was surprised as he didn''t expect them to be a teenager and thought that they were exaggerating when they said that he/she is just a child.


    The other disciples and family members were too interested in grandmaster Huili. In the whole divine central continent, Huili is known as the number one genius and for years, no one is second as it would be an insult to Huili to put someone only one rank before them. In fact, there is no one in the top ten as no one''s achievement can compare to a teenager formation grandmaster.


    Li Huang couldn''t stop himself from testing the peeping eye of heaven on the number one genius of the divine central continent. Of course, he wasn''t stupid enough to test it with his eyes open and tried it with his eyes closed.


    The instant he tried the peeping eye of heaven, he almost felt like he was going to lose his eyesight from the sheer amount of brightness he felt from that group of formation masters. Using his willpower he stopped his body from jolting and others didn''t sense anything from him when he opened his eyes the next instant.


    ''I shouldn''t have done that.'' Li Huang thought. He might not be stupid enough to try it with his eyes open but he was stupid enough to forget that these people are some of the top experts in the world and it would only be natural for the peeping eye of heaven to react violently to it.


    As Li Huang was adjusting his eyes after that light spike, he missed how Huili turned to look at his face for a few seconds. Although Li Huang missed it, the formation masters who were right beside Huili didn''t miss it and decided to check later and see what has made their grandmaster react this way.


    The auction continued and the auctioneer waited for someone to increase the price.


    "60,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng entered the competition once again. He didn''t think much of this item but he could use it to save a loved one. Usually, when someone wanted to hurt him, they went to harm his loved ones and that was the weak link in his life. If he had this item, most of this issue would be solved.


    Huili didn''t expect anyone to go against their bid and outbid them but it wasn''t something unmanageable.


    "100,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huili increased the bid once more. The formation masters around her were staring daggers at Huizheng who dared to bet on the same thing as Huili.


    Li Huang who was looking at this scene could see some semblance between this situation and the auction situations that he had written in his notes. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he decided to let the matter go for now and don''t overreact when nothing has happened.


    "200,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng said without hesitation. He wouldn''t put a price on his loved ones'' lives so this much was nothing when it came to a life-saving treasure. He would not be willing to pay this much for a shining rock, but this is justified in his book.


    "300,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huili said and everyone in the crowd was looking at Huili and Huizheng as this was the biggest item of the night.


    Li Huang and Hu Anjing were looking at each other with a smile in their eyes, as they would get half of the profit each.


    ~"I think I can buy anything that I want in the auction with this amount of spirit stones!"~ Hu Anjing said in sound transmission and Li Huang couldn''t help but nod. He has regained a percentage of his spendings tonight back, so it was a good thing for him.


    ~"Just tell me what you want in the auction, and I will give you the spirit stones. Keep this money for the future as we are going to need it."~ Li Huang said with a serious tone.


    ~"For what?"~ Hu Anjing didn''t get why would they need it so she asked Li Huang directly.


    ~"Marriage is expensive."~ Li Huang said with a straight face as he was looking at the ongoing back and forth of the bidding between Huili and Huizheng.


    "��" Hu Anjing was lost for words as she was yet to adjust to the fact that she was going to marry Li Huang.


    Unfortunately for her, Li Huang didn''t give her time to process everything as he continued.


    ~"The wedding expenses would be paid by me of course, I meant the money for our travels on the honeymoon."~ Li Huang continued to tease Hu Anjing and her face got a shade redder.


    After a few seconds, Hu Anjing calmed down enough to answer him.


    ~"��I see."~ She didn''t say much as she was afraid to show too many facial reactions and in results, someone from their group notices their ''hidden conversation''.


    "440,000 high-grade spirit stones." Huizheng said. He wanted these rings and from what he thought of it, it was worth it for even twice this price.


    Huili thought about this price a little. Of course, it wasn''t hard for them to pay this much as Huili would make this much in a week or so, but there was a reason to stop. From Huili''s inside information, there is going to be a mysterious formation in the main auction and the price for that would be so high that this much money could help them in winning it.


    Thinking about it, Huili came to a conclusion. They were going to ask for this item for a short time and the other person could have it after that.


    "Would you be willing to let me study these rings until the last day of the auctions?" Huili turned and faced Huizheng and said. As a formation grandmaster who had a dozen formation masters with them, it wouldn''t take long to check the formations on the rings.


    Huizheng could see that this person was important enough that many elders were guarding them so he decided to use this chance to get something in return.


    "I can do that, but�� what would I gain in return?" He said and you could see that the formation masters were hardly controlling themselves when Huizheng dared to ask for something in return.


    Li Huang on the other hand could not ignore this anymore as he could clearly see what was going on.


    ''He wants to get a favor in return!'' He screamed internally. He couldn''t let this happen as now he was thinking that maybe Huizheng is a heaven''s favorite.

 Chapter 159: Meeting invitation

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    It took Li Huang less than a second to understand what Huizheng wanted out of this exchange, and it took him less to know why Huili wanted to have the rings for a few days. As someone who dabbled in the art of formations, Li Huang was interested in almost every formation that he could get his hands on, so it was natural for a grandmaster in the art of formation to be interested in seeing how these rings work.


    Li Huang didn''t even need to waste time to think of a way to stop Huizheng from gaining favor with Huili as he had the perfect solution.


    ~"I am the one who is selling these rings and I am willing to give you the schematic for these rings."~ Li Huang sent a sound transmission to Huili without any hesitation. This move could backfire if Huili didn''t like that Li Huang has initiated a private conversation but Li Huang didn''t want to risk giving such a chance to someone else when he could stop it.


    What Li Huang said about the rings was the truth as he had been examining the rings for days before they came to the five river city. Li Huang could see the use in these kinds of formations but a one-to-one connection was not something that would make much sense to Li Huang so he decided to analyze the rings with the help of the peeping eye of heaven and try to understand how it works.


    Of course, as someone who is self-thought in the art of formations, Li Huang had a hard time understanding even a small part of the rings but he mapped them all in the span of 15 days. Now he could use those maps so that Huizheng would not get a favor from a formation grandmaster.


    Li Huang could see that this Huizheng was not someone who had just started walking in the path of cultivation so it would make him a bigger opponent as he had allies and experience. Now if he were to let him form a new friendship with the number one genius of the divine central continent when he could stop it and use this chance in his favor, he would be an idiot.


    With this in mind, he didn''t think twice when he decided to send a sound transmission to Huili and now he was thinking it might have not been a good idea. Why? Because Huili decided to turn and look him in the face and now everyone was looking at Li Huang.


    ''Come on! How tactless can you be?'' Li Huang was punching Huili in his mind. He couldn''t believe that Huili just turned to face him in the middle of a conversation like it was natural.


    Luckily, Li Huang was an expert when it came to these situations and his expression was so schooled that you would think that he had nothing to do with Huili suddenly turning to face him.


    ~"Alright."~ After a few seconds, Huili nodded and send Li Huang a simple answer through a sound transmission.


    Huili then turned to face Huizheng who was waiting for an answer and spoke.


    "I will think of a suitable compensation and contact you soon." Huili said and Huizheng nodded with a smile as now he was the owner of these rings.


    Li Huang on the other hand was surprised that Huili was smart enough to keep the other option while Li Huang had tried to strike a deal with them. Li Huang didn''t provide any proof about these maps so it was a wise move from Huili to not cross the bridge fully.


    Li Huang nodded as he saw that this Huili was well trained by the other formation masters and was not a one-dimensional person who is only good with formations.


    Now that Huili was no longer competing with Huizheng for the rings, Huizheng won them easily for 440,000 high-grade spirit stones.


    Hu Anjing who now forgot about how Li Huang reminded her of the wedding was almost jumping out of her skin. She has made almost 220,000 high-grade spirit stones in a span of a few minutes.


    Li Huang didn''t pay much attention to this as the next item was one of the items that he was looking for.


    Seeing how Li Huang''s eyes were fixated on the podium, Cai ZhenKang felt excited.


    "You want the next item too?" he asked as he had had some snacks ready for the show that was about to start.


    "Yeah, this and the 15 that follow after it." Li Huang said as he was taking note of the things that he has bought tonight. As he was now using one storage ring it was important to organize his items so that he can find them easier when he needs them.


    Others who heard this could only look at him strangely as they couldn''t see why he was spending this much of his wealth. Those of them who knew about the amount that Li Huang had in his storage ring couldn''t help but pity whoever has their eyes on the same items as Li Huang as they won''t be getting them.


    ��


    Li Huang continued to win every item that he had on his mind for the rest of the night, this continued to the point that the cultivators would first look to see if Li Huang is going to bid on an item or not before they even think about getting into the competition.


    Of course, there were some who would increase the price just to make Li Huang angry but he didn''t mind such a price increase, and instead, he welcomed it. If the price didn''t increase and Li Huang would win everything with the base price, the auction would think that there is something sketchy going on and that would be bad for Li Huang who wanted to buy more items in the coming days.


    After a few more hours of Li Huang buying whatever he wanted, the auction came to a close and everybody could go and get some rest before the main auction tomorrow.


    "This was really refreshing." Cai ZhenKang said. Although he didn''t do much of bidding, he enjoyed it every time Li Huang bid on an item.


    "Yes, it was refreshing." Hu Anjing also nodded to Cai ZhenKang''s words. This was one of the only times that she agreed with something that Cai ZhenKang said.


    Li Huang who was taking the last batch of the items from one of the auction employees nodded as he too felt more at ease after this auction. He had won almost everything that he wanted so he was ready to train more and he was ready for the war.


    Just as Li Huang and others were going to walk toward their residents, someone walked toward them and stopped in front of Li Huang.


    Li Huang didn''t need to think much to remember the man in front of him as one of the formation masters that were in the auction with the grandmaster Huili. Even if he didn''t remember such detail, he could easily recognize the symbol that was on his robes.


    "Formation master, how can I help you?" Li Huang cupped his fists and said to the formation master who kept looking at him.


    The formation master kept looking at Li Huang for a few more seconds but ultimately put a hand in his pockets and took out a parchment.


    "This is a letter from grandmaster Huili." The formation master pointed at the parchment and said. From his tone, it was easy for Li Huang to understand that he didn''t like him very much.


    Li Huang took the parchment and opened it. There were some formal words but it was an invite for a private talk with grandmaster Huili.


    "Grandmaster Huili is waiting for you, please get there as soon as you can." The formation master said and walked away. Li Huang now could understand why the formation masters were so sought after. With this level of arrogance, it is obvious that everyone is looking to have one or two formation masters in their family.

 Chapter 160: Huili is a she?

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    The moment the formation master walked away, everyone in the group turned to look at Li Huang. It wasn''t that they were surprised by how arrogant the formation master acted, it was something known to even children that a formation master is more respected than a cultivator. They were surprised because Li Huang was invited by the grandmaster to a meeting.


    As far as everyone knew, it was Li Huang''s first time seeing grandmaster Huili so it was expected that they would react like this.


    "What does grandmaster Huili want with you?" Li Wanrou was the first one to voice her question. Hu Anjing also nodded as this was an important question.


    "Let''s just say that I might have found a good business opportunity." Li Huang said. If he could get some pointers on the formation art from a grandmaster, it would be worth the map that he is providing. Well, his main objective was to stop Huizheng from gaining favor and he is almost sure that he will be successful in that regard.


    Li Wanrou frowned a little and it was Hu Anjing''s turn to say something.


    "I think at least one of us should go with you." Hu Anjing said with a straight face. Hearing this, Li Wanrou looked at Li Huang and nodded.


    Li Huang couldn''t understand what was going on. How could they not know that he was invited and it would be impolite to invite someone else on his accord? That aside, the other person was of higher standing than Li Huang, so this could create some huge backlashes for the Li family and now that they were approaching a war, this would be the last thing they want.


    "But why?" Li Huang said. He could see that Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing had their own reasons so he decided to at the very least hear them out.


    "Didn''t you see how she was looking at you?" Hu Anjing said. She looked at Li Huang as if her words had explained everything.


    "Wait, wait, wait." Li Huang didn''t know which part of this question should he address so he decided to break it down for more ease in answering.


    "How do you know that grandmaster Huili is a she?" Li Huang asked the main thing that was in his mind and not only Hu Anjing and Li Wanrou, but every girl in their group looked at him like he was an idiot. As far as Li Huang knew, Huili was a unisex name so he isn''t wrong to assume that Huili could be a girl or boy.


    For once Cai ZhenKang was glad that he didn''t ask the question that was in his mind, and Li Huang was the one who suffered this time. He didn''t want to get involved in this conversation because he knew that if they were looking at Li Huang like this, they would at the very least beat him.


    "Why would a boy need to cover his face?" Li Wanrou said but Li Huang didn''t get her point.


    "It''s obvious that the other formation masters are protecting her from an arranged marriage by hiding her identity." Li Wanrou said and Li Huang just now understood why they were looking at him like he is stupid.


    For someone of low status, it would be hard to reject a proposal from a big family, even if they are a formation grandmaster as it would affect the relations between that family and the formation masters. Other than that, as Huili is clearly young, she might get tricked into marrying someone that she thinks is a good option but in reality, is only looking to use her and her position.


    If Huili was a boy, he would be the one to propose so other girls might try to trick him but it could be handled easier by the other formation masters as they could keep his emotions in check as his father figures. Now, if Huili is a girl, they would all dote her and it would make it harder for them to say no to her wishes, no matter how much they are against it.


    "Now that you put it this way, it makes too much more sense for grandmaster Huili to be a she." Li Huang nodded and said. Li Wanrou and others didn''t continue talking about this as they could see that Li Huang understood it.


    Cai ZhenKang almost screamed from frustration. If it was him in Li Huang''s shoes, he wouldn''t hear the end of it.


    "��But it still doesn''t explain why you would have to be there." Li Huang said. Sure, he didn''t guess that Huili was female like them, but he could see from a hundred miles away that this wasn''t a good idea to go somewhere uninvited and this was exactly what Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing wanted to do.


    "Didn''t you listen? With the way she was looking at you, I''m sure she has something planned for you." Hu Anjing said and Li Huang did his best to not laugh.


    "Come on, she is just a teenager��" Li Huang said. He couldn''t believe that they thought a teenager could scheme this expertly.


    "And you are not?" Li Wanrou threw a meaningful look at Li Huang and said.


    Li Huang raised a finger to answer back, but he couldn''t think of anything that would help his case.


    "��Fair enough." Li Huang said. Even if you were to count his past life, he would still be a child in terms of the cultivation world.


    "But there is a reason that she was looking at me." Li Huang said and before they could ask him about the reason, he continued.


    "As you might know, that Rings were found in the trial by me and Hu Anjing. Seeing that grandmaster Huili was about to make a deal, I had sent her a sound transmission so that she wouldn''t do so. As a result, I have to go and see her and finalize the deal." Li Huang explained with as much detail as he could without giving the full information on the matter as they were in a public place.


    Li Huang had to use a few more tactics to persuade Li Wanrou and Hu Anjing that this was a bad idea to come to the meeting when they were not invited, but in the end, he was successful in doing so. With this matter settled Li Huang went toward the meeting place that was mentioned in the parchment.


    After a few minutes, Li Huang reached the place where the parchment pointed him to. The pavilion that Li Huang was standing in front of, was simple in design but even without the help of the peeping eye of heaven, Li Huang could feel the sheer amount of formations around him that were fortifying the mansion.


    Li Huang walked to the front door and showed the parchment to the guard that was standing there.


    Seeing the seal that was placed on the parchment, the guard bowed to Li Huang and guided him inside the pavilion.


    The inside of the pavilion was not as imposing as its outside but it was beautiful nonetheless. After a few meters, the guard stopped and politely turned to face Li Huang.


    "I am not allowed to walk further than this, please follow this path and you should reach the meeting room soon." The guard said.


    Li Huang nodded and thanked the guard. He started walking again and he soon understood why the guard was not allowed to walk further, it was impossible to walk in here if you didn''t know enough about formations.


    After Li Huang had taken a few steps he could feel that he has entered a near-perfect illusion that would dull his senses and made it hard for him to find the exit.


    Li Huang was surprised that they would let him walk into a trap and not even warn him about it.


    ''Are those formation masters testing me or something?'' Li Huang couldn''t help but sigh in exasperation.


    Luckily for him, he was in the eternal wail trial recently and he knew better than anyone what a perfect illusion is. This illusion in front of him is not even close to that level.

 Chapter 161: The grand play

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    "Master Tu, do you think it is wise to do something like this?" Asked a formation master who was looking At Li Huang. Li Huang had just entered the warding illusion formation and he was not sure that it was a good idea to throw someone in such formation without giving them any heads-ups.


    On the other hand, master Tu was not impressed by how he was being questioned for something that should be obvious.


    "Master Xinyi, you seem to be too young to understand my intention." Master Tu said as he was shaking his head side to side.


    "��What do you mean master Tu? How can this be justified?" Master Xinyi asked back. He couldn''t let others mock him just because he is younger.


    Master Tu nodded and looked at master Xinyi and spoke.


    "Grandmaster Huili is really talented in the art of formations, but she is too young. What if this Li Huang has some bad intentions? Are we going to act when it''s too late? Isn''t it better to check this Li Huang now that we have a chance and before anything has happened? I would much rather face scorn from the grandmaster, to see her feeling betrayed and played with." Master Tu said and looked at master Xinyi to see if she has anything to say.


    Master Xinyi couldn''t argue with the point as he too agreed with it, but he was not okay with the way this was getting executed.


    "I understand, but this is not something that we should handle casually. What if something were to happen to him? To an heir of the Li family? Are we going to ruin the grandmaster''s reputation by harming the guest that she invited personally?" Master Xinyi said and others in the room who were uncaring about this argument felt that it was fair to say that it would be bad for grandmaster Huili''s future if something were to happen to her guest.


    Unlike them, master Tu didn''t feel the same and waved his hand dismissively.


    "No such thing would happen if he is true to his words about those schematics." He said. If Li Huang really had the schematics for the rings, he would naturally have to have a good understanding of formation arts and thus this would be a worthy test for him.


    But if Li Huang doesn''t have the schematics��


    "Otherwise, we have made the right choice when we tested him because he would be looking to trick the grandmaster." He said and before master Xinyi could voice his question, he answered it.


    "We can always blame the guard for not conveying the message about his arrival to us." Master Tu said and master Xinyi was lost for words. He decided to stay put for now and only interfere when the situation calls for it.


    ''Nothing will happen.'' Master Xinyi said to himself and looked at Li Huang who seemed to figure out that this is an illusion.


    ��


    Li Huang could somewhat guess the thought process that they had when they decided to test him, but still, he didn''t find this acceptable. The only one who was allowed to make him partake in stupid tests was his grandpa as he was strong enough to do so and Li Huang had no real way of stopping him, but to let others do so too, was unacceptable to Li Huang.


    ''Let''s see who is testing who��'' Li Huang thought and internally smirked.


    Taking a deep breath, Li Huang sat on the ground in the lotus position with his eyes closed. He then took out a few high-grade spirit stones from his storage ring and afloat them around his body.


    As the next step, he meditated for 10 minutes without moving a muscle. The only thing he did was create the ''illusion'' that the spirit stone was vibrating in the air when he was actually the one who was moving them with his Qi.


    ''Enjoy the show��'' Li Huang thought. He was sure that the ones who were controlling the formation were looking at him with a method so he decided to put up a show.


    ��


    "What is he doing?" one of the masters said when Li Huang sat in the lotus position in the illusion.


    The next instant, Li Huang started floating tens of high-grade spirit stones around his body.


    "Is�� he creating a formation?" One of the masters said as he was in denial. Because they were watching Li Huang through the [Formation eye], they couldn''t detect that Li Huang was using Qi to move the spirit stones and thought that he was controlling them with a small formation.


    "But it is almost impossible to create a formation when there is a formation in place there." Another master said as he couldn''t believe his eyes.


    Master Tu who saw his colleagues were acting Like idiots couldn''t stop himself and spoke.


    "What kind of nonsense is this? Do you think he is grandmaster Huili to do such things?" Master Tu said with anger in his tone.


    Hearing him everybody nodded in understanding. They were so used to grandmaster Huili doing impossible feats that they forgot that not everybody is like her. Now that they knew this, they didn''t jump to any more conclusions.


    Minutes passed and Li Huang was still in meditation and the high-grade spirit stones would vibrate from time to time.


    "Maybe he is meditating there as he can''t find the way out and he doesn''t want to risk his life by moving around too much." Some of the masters were thinking that Li Huang might just be meditating as nothing has happened so far other than the spirit stones moving around a little.


    "Didn''t I tell you so?" Master Tu shook his head and said. He couldn''t understand why they thought that he could be creating a formation in the first place.


    Just as he said this, all the high-grade spirit stones around Li Huang turned to dust right there.


    Everyone was taken aback as this phenomenon was the same thing that would happen when you activate a formation. The spirit stones would turn to dust as they have lost all their power.


    Li Huang used his sword Qi to cut the spirit stones so small that they would turn to dust. He did this to give the illusion that he had created a formation right there.


    When the other masters were in awe of this, master Tu tried to talk some sense to them.


    "He has clearly used some Qi method to crush the spirit stones, or else what kind of formation would use this many spirit stones to activate?" Master Tu said but at this point, other masters wouldn''t believe a word that he was saying. Some even thought that master Tu might be doing all this because the grandmaster is interested in this Li Huang, but none dared to voice such thoughts.


    No one answered him as Li Huang stood up and started walking with his eyes closed.


    "Heavens! I��Is he walking toward the secret exit?" Master Xinyi said. The secret exit is an unconventional exit that is placed in most formations as a signature from its creator. If one were to use it, they can exit the formation unconditionally but as the path to it is very specific and you need to walk in a predefined pattern, it is hard to do so even if you know how to do it.


    No one said anything as they were fixated on Li Huang''s movement to see if he can exit the formation from the secret exit with the help of that mysterious formation that he created earlier.


    Li Huang was indeed getting help from a mysterious formation, that was the peeping eye of heaven. He wasn''t meditating in those minutes, he was examining the formation to find its weak points and these weak points were the path that you needed to walk to go through the secret exit.


    Li Huang kept walking and got closer and closer to the secret exit. With each right step that Li Huang would take, the formation masters would be more amazed by his methods.


    This walk continued until Li Huang had only one step to take and exit the formation but he wasn''t moving. The formation masters thought that he was calculating the right direction to take.


    After a few seconds, Li Huang turned but it was in the wrong direction. The formation masters thought that he was going to take a step but he did something that make every one of the formation masters gasp in shock.


    He looked directly at the [Formation eye] with his eyes closed, he looked at them.


    The next moment Li Huang walked in the correct direction and exited the formation.

 Chapter 162: Stressful walk

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang who was just about to step through the secret exit suddenly thought of something.


    ''Wouldn''t they be shocked if I looked at them directly?'' Li Huang knew that they were looking at him so he decided to waste a few seconds and locate the place of that artifact that was helping them in monitoring him.


    In a few seconds, he was able to find the artifact with the help of the peeping eye of heaven and he turned in that direction. He looked directly at it with his eyes closed and then turned to the exit to get out of that place.


    The masters who were seeing this all gasped in shock as they didn''t expect Li Huang to not only find the secret exit but find the [Formation eye] too.


    "He knew��" One of the masters said and he didn''t need to say more to convey his message. Every master in the room understood that Li Huang was aware that they were watching him.


    Some of the masters thought that Li Huang might come out of the illusion formation but no one thought that he might come out of the formation like this, and now that he did, they didn''t know how to face him. If Li Huang didn''t have much skill they could act like a senior and guide him so that he wouldn''t feel resentment toward them for the test, but now that he came out of the formation from the secret exit it would be shameless of them to look at him like that as he is already ahead of them in some aspects.


    Li Huang didn''t even give them time to come up with a plan as he started walking again as he got out of the formation, as far as he knew he was supposed to follow this path and he will reach the meeting place soon enough.


    Li Huang put on a good show before but even that wasn''t as shocking as him walking. Every single master who was watching Li Huang turned white as a sheet when they saw him walking.


    No, it wasn''t simply because he walked, that would be absurd. The reason for their shock was that Li Huang was walking toward the other formations that they had in the courtyard.


    They could somehow explain this last formation as a test but if Li Huang were to walk in one more, it would be interpreted as an attempt on his life.


    "Deactivate it! Do it fast!" one formation master shouted at his fellow formation master was panicking. Li Huang was only a step away from the formation when the master responsible for it deactivated it.


    "Haha, it was close." The formation master said as he was clutching the activation key of the formation with shaky hands.


    Just as the formation masters breathed a sigh of relief, one of them saw something that made his heart stop working for a fraction of a second.


    "Heavens! He is moving toward the next formation!" He shouted and the other formation masters all turned to see Li Huang. He was still walking and he was close to the next defensive formation.


    "Stop it! Destroy it! Just do something before it''s too late!" Master Xinyi shouted. He couldn''t understand why this was happening, but he didn''t have time to think about something like this.


    Again, they were able to deactivate the formation in time but they didn''t stop there as they could see that Li Huang was still moving.


    "What should we do?" One of the formation masters asked anxiously.


    "Deactivate every formation! We have no time! I will go there to stop him��" Master Xinyi said and marched outside of the room.


    Just as he left and the other masters were deactivating all the formations that were in his way, master Tu was frowning in a corner.


    "That brat��" He muttered.


    ��


    Li Huang who was peacefully walking toward the meeting place was really in dark about the situation that he was creating for the other masters. He was only following the path that the guard told him about and he was unaware of the tension that he had created for the formation masters who were mass deactivating the formations.


    His walk was interrupted by someone calling him.


    "Young master Li, please wait!" It was master Xinyi who called to Li Huang after getting close enough to him.


    Hearing the unknown voice, Li Huang turned to face him. At a glance, he could see that this formation master was an expert as the pattern on his robes suggested so.


    "Greetings formation master." Li Huang said as politely as he could. This formation master was not as rude as the last one so he had no problem with showing him the respect that he deserves for his accomplishments.


    Master Xinyi nodded with a smile but then remembered that he was here for another matter other than just talking to Li Huang.


    "Young master Li, forgive me for interrupting your walk but allow me to guide you to the meeting place��" Master Xinyi said. He didn''t want to outright assume that Li Huang was walking to the formations on purpose but even if he did, it was justified for him to do so.


    From what Xinyi could understand, they disrespected Li Huang first by throwing him in that formation so if he was looking to create a problem like this, they could only accept it and try to minimize their loss.


    "Of course, thank you." Li  Huang said and nodded. He didn''t mind someone who knew what is where guiding him to the meeting place. From Li Huang''s understanding, this formation master was probably not the one who wanted to test him, or he is really a good actor.


    Master Xinyi Pointed the direction to Li Huang and started walking toward the meeting place. Needless to say, this path was different from what Li Huang was taking before.


    "I thought the meeting was that way as the guard told me to follow this path��" Li Huang said as he couldn''t understand why the path is different from what he thought. At the same time, Li Huang thought that maybe this formation master is trying to kill or abduct him so he readied a couple of scrolls and explosions to defend himself as fast as he can.


    "Ah! I see." Master Xinyi said as he just now understood why Li Huang was walking to the formations one after another.


    "The exit that you found in the formation was the secret exit of the formation so you have got out of the formation in a different location. This path is the same as the one you should have taken but in a different direction." The formation master explained. He now knew that Li Huang wasn''t walking to the formations on purpose as he thought that this path was the one he had to take to the meeting.


    "Is that so? Then I have to thank the formation master again."  Li Huang cupped his fists and said. Although this story somewhat made sense to him, he didn''t drop his guard and held his defense high.


    ��


    "This is the meeting room, please go on." Master Xinyi said.


    "Thank you, master Xinyi." Li Huang said and thanked the formation master. Along the way, he got to know the name of the master Xinyi.


    Li Huang didn''t say a word about the formation that he was forced to go in and master Xinyi felt weird but he didn''t want to bring the matter up himself. Li Huang didn''t want to be hostile with a whole group as it was wartime and it would be counterproductive for the family to be against two groups, so he decided to make his moves with more consideration.


    The guards opened the door for him and Li Huang walked inside the meeting room.


    There was only the grandmaster and him here.


    "Grandmaster Huili." Li Huang said and cupped his fists.


    "Chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect, Li Huang. Welcome, please take a seat." Grandmaster Huili said and asked Li Huang to sit down.


    "Please wait a few minutes so that other formation masters could be here too." Grandmaster Huili said when Li Huang was seated and he nodded.

 Chapter 163: Please reconsider

    (A/N: Join the discord, to have intellectual conversations with your fellow cultivators! We have graphs and stats on the cultivation worlds there! Plus you can actually cultivate and go to closed-door cultivation.


    Link: discord.gg/SC9HNKVj5e


    )


    ����(POV third person)����


    Li Huang didn''t complain as he knew that the other formation masters were too interested in these schematics and besides that, grandmaster Huili has probably asked them to help her in checking the authenticity of the maps. Of course, Li Huang wasn''t looking down at grandmaster Huili and he knew that she could check them herself but it wouldn''t be as fast as getting help from the other formation masters.


    Li Huang thought that maybe Huili is using this chance to give face to the other formation masters but he might be reading too much into it.


    Luckily, Li Huang didn''t have enough time to think about this matter more as the other formation masters entered the room and all greeted grandmaster Huili.


    ""Grandmaster."" They said in unison.


    "Welcome, what took you so long?" Grandmaster Huili greeted them back and then asked them a question. She wasn''t happy with the way they entered the room after the guest. How could they be called the host if they arrive after the guest?


    "Forgive us, grandmaster, there was an issue with some of the formations that we had to solve." Master Tu said as he threw a subtle glance at Li Huang. He did so so expertly that you would think that he has done so subconsciously. Although he was subtle, he didn''t forget to make it recognizable for grandmaster Huili who was looking at him.


    Hearing this Li Huang tried to find out what the hell was going on in master Tu''s, head to maybe decipher the thought process that led him to utter this sentence when they were the ones who threw him in that first formation.


    Grandmaster Huili turned to look at Li Huang subconsciously. Although she is really good at the art of formations, she is not yet proficient in hiding one''s inner thoughts and hence she showed what was on her mind in her face.


    Li Huang could see the question in her eyes and decided to use this in his favor.


    "Yes, it seems there was a problem as I was forced to enter an illusion formation and had to find my way out of it." Li Huang said and nodded. He made it sound like that the incident that they were talking about was not the one where he was walking to the formations one after another.


    At that time Li Huang didn''t know that he was creating a panic in the formation masters room, but a quick scan of his surroundings made it clear to him that his path was full of formations. First, he thought that those masters wanted to continue testing him but soon he understood that they didn''t want to do so, but he feigned ignorance and continued walking at a somewhat fast pace. He had to make it to the meeting fast so it was reasonable for him to walk faster.


    The formation masters were stupefied and master Tu was stunned that Li Huang turned this back to them when he was trying to make it work against him.


    He was trying to find a good answer to Li Huang''s words but Li Huang didn''t give him the chance and continued.


    "Luckily the formation masters were hard at work to get me out of there as I could sense them watching my every move from outside of the formation." Li Huang said and smiled at master Tu. Li Huang didn''t doubt that the formation master who was talking had a hand in sending him into that formation and now he was trying to make him the bad guy. As a certified paranoid person, Li Huang was thinking about the reason that master Tu would try to make him the bad guy and he didn''t like any of the things that came to his mind.


    Other formation masters almost choked on air when they heard what Li Huang said. Now they couldn''t say a thing as they were the bad guy however you looked at it. They all collectively turned and looked at their colleague, master Tu and cursed him under their breath.


    On the other hand, grandmaster Huili was furious. She couldn''t understand how they could do this to her guest, no matter the reason this would be an insult to her authority first and foremost.


    She looked at all of the formation masters that were present in the room and said one word.


    "Explain." She didn''t have to say more to convey her message. She has been learning about her position as the formation grandmaster for the past years and she knew that this type of thing is well within her rights as the current leader of the Tianteng organization.


    Tianteng organization consists of the most elite formation masters in the world and as the best formation master around, Huili is appointed as their leader. She had been learning about her responsibilities for years and this wouldn''t be the first time that someone tried to play dirty in front of her.


    Seeing that no one was yet to explain the situation, formation master Xinyi walked a step forward and cupped his fists toward grandmaster Huili.


    "Grandmaster Huili, it was like this��" Master Xinyi started recalling the events from the time that Li Huang entered the resident. He said how master Tu said that they had to test Li Huang before he could get to meet the grandmaster and how some of the formation masters agreed with him. He talked about how he tried to stop this but no one was on his side so he decided to wait and act when it was necessary to do so.


    Other formation masters were all white as a sheet as they didn''t have anything to say in their defense but master Tu was oozing confidence as he was sure about his decision.


    Grandmaster Huili frowned as master Xinyi continued retelling the events that happened when Li Huang came here for the meeting. Her frown turned to shock when she heard the rest of the story.


    "��I wanted to interfere if the situation called for it but after a few minutes, I understood how wrong we were��" Master Xinyi talked about how Li Huang had created a formation in the formation and traced the secret exit. He didn''t forget to add that he also find out the location of the [Formation eye].


    Master Xinyi was talking so enthusiastically that you would forget that this matter was not about Li Huang''s mysterious techniques but as formation masters, they forgot about the matter and focused on this. Even master Tu was thinking about the method that Li Huang used and decided to try and recreate that formation that Li Huang built in the formation.


    ''If a brat could do it, a true master can do it with his eyes closed.'' Master Tu thought. It would be sometime before he comes to the understanding that either Li Huang is not just a brat or he is not a true master��


    Master Xinyi continued and told all the events that followed Li Huang''s exit from the formation.


    "That was everything, grandmaster." Master Xinyi said while he was bowing.


    Grandmaster Huili nodded and without giving a chance to master Tu, she spoke.


    "Every formation master who didn''t say a thing to stop this ''test'' as you have called it, will have to do 6 months of volunteer work." She said. The formation masters could only bow as they see the error in their actions. Master Tu was about to speak when Huili continued.


    "Formation master Tu, from this day forth, you are no longer a member of the Tianteng organization." She said and everyone was speechless, some even thought that they heard it wrong. Even Li Huang who was looking for such a thing didn''t expect such a result right away and his mind was warning him about the potential schemes.


    Master Tu who heard this felt as if the whole weight of the world just dropped on his back. Without knowing it, he was prostrating on the floor.


    "Grandmaster, please reconsider!" he shouted.


    "I did this to ensure your safety, please give me a lighter punishment." He added while he was pressing his forehead to the ground.