Chapter 251
Wang Yuanyuan made her own preparations to take over from him at any time, but at some point, Sima Xian’s voice suddenly rang, “Yuanyuan, let me be the second one to go.”
Wang Yuanyuan started, unconsciously glancing at him. Sima Xian’s face was filled with resolution, looking right into her face, “I’m a man.”
“Okay.” Wang Yuanyuan didn’t nag, only doing a thumbs up in his direction.
At this time, the others from the 21st Demon Hunt Squad could only think of Long Haochen. If he was present, perhaps everything would be different. He would definitely have been able to block the attack of this kind of enemy without needing to take any sort of pills.
Having lost its core, the team’s strength was bound to suffer a great loss.
An ice-cold killing intent once again arose, largely exceeding the last time in intensity. In the darkness, Cai’er slowly moved away, not concealing her own figure and advancing slowly in the Fiend Lord’s direction.
The others would temporarily be able to hold out against the Fiend Commander’s attacks, but the Fiend Lord was truly a deadly threat for them, the real threat.
Cai’er already had no other choice. With every step she took, the grey aura surrounding her body became stronger, and her pure killing intent gradually condensed into the shape of a sharp blade. Cai’er held in her right
hand a dark golden dagger inclined towards the ground, as her left hand was pressed against her chest. She walked slowly, but looking at her, the Fiend Lord clearly became panicked, grasping his blood-colored heavy sword with his two hands. Standing motionless on the ground, the dark-red radiance surrounding his body grew more intense.
This time, Cai’er was attacking seriously. If she couldn’t successfully assassinate the enemy, they would get wiped out on this day. She didn’t know when Long Haochen would come back, but right now, she was the temporary captain. She had to make a path for Long Haochen to come back safe and sound, for him to be able to come back without getting attacked by these Fiends. Making use of her strength to keep everyone alive was undoubtedly her duty as Long Haochen’s girlfriend.
Cai’er’s eyes had already turned completely grey, and around the sharp blade condensed at her back, six different symbols slowly appeared.
These symbols weren’t close to any letter or character, but at the time they appeared, they caused even the Fiend Lord to take a few steps back. The shock was so large that when Han Daosi made his move to the side, the rest of the Fiend Cavalry didn’t have any reaction to his attack, and their malevolent faces were just completely panic-stricken.
“My eyes for yours, first part of Six Paths of Samsara, Eye of Samsara.”
Cai’er made her move and all the intense killing intent surrounding her immediately disappeared. On her left hand was a pitch-black dagger shining with a dark purple brilliance. At her back, the first of the six symbols that was shaped like an eye suddenly enlarged, hiding her figure behind it.
At this time, Cai’er seemed totally different from her usual self. From the eyes of the Fiend Lord, she resembled a death god coming for him.
A bloody glow was shot and the Fiend Lord’s whole body and just turned it into a massive blood-colored ball. A multitude of blood-colored beams shot from his body, attempting to stop Cai’er’s attack from all directions.
This was because he abruptly found out that along with the killing intent that horrified him, his perception of Cai’er had also totally disappeared.
As the dark purple radiance intertwined, Cai’er was already thirty meters away, at the Fiend Lord’s back.
A miserable scream was heard from the Fiend Lord as a third of the heavy sword in his hand snapped. More importantly, from his eyes, black colored blood overflowed; against all expectations, he had turned blind. On his left shoulder, a deep scar could clearly be seen. The Nightmare Devil Horse’s four limbs were also broken, and it could only be crawling on the ground, letting out mournful shrieks of pain.
However, Cai’er’s eyes lost their ability to see at the same moment her opponent was hit.
“My ears for yours, second part of the Six Paths of Samsara, Ears of Samsara.”
Cai’er didn’t stop, as black as ink, her silhouette was surrounded in purple, and a poignant radiance burst forth from the Dagger of Samsara, before her body disappeared in the midst of the darkness, only leaving an odd symbol in the air.
Ever since she completed her assimilation of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara this was the first time Cai’er went all out using it. As the most powerful spiritual stove humans had ever discovered, it surpassed any other spiritual stove in power.
The Fiend Lord obviously wouldn’t wait for death helplessly. With a mad roar, his body suddenly became dark-red-colored, and from inside, a loud bang resounded. At this time, he was just like a human knight making use of the Brilliant Body. Holding a huge sword in his hands, he abruptly jumped off the Nightmare Devil Horse’s back, spiralling in the air as the terrible fluctuations of spiritual energy released from his body took the shape of flames from hell, causing the rocks on the ground to melt. Against all expectations, he immediately tried to dive underground to escape.
Pop
At the time she appeared in view, Cai’er was beside the Fiend Lord, whose hurried escape immediately came to an end. His entire right hand disappeared, covered in blood, and his pair of ears spouted out some black colored blood. Miserably screaming in pain, his massive body fell to the ground. His leftover left hand faced Cai’er’s direction, frantically punching at her.
A dark red-colored radiance abruptly passed through his fist, and under that dark red radiance, a hexagonal dark red crystal surprisingly appeared.
His magical crystal! In a state of total fear and pain, the Fiend Lord found out that his own magical crystal was the target of the fatal attack Cai’er launched. Even if his blow managed to successfully kill Cai’er, it would be difficult for him to survive from this.
“My tongue for yours, third path of the Six Paths of Samsara, Tongue of Samsara.”
The pitch-black brilliance gradually faded away, and the dark purple radiance extended like a rainbow, forming a single entity with Cai’er, appearing like the sword of the god of death. , she appeared once again at the Fiend Lord’s back.
The magical crystal condensed in the air, and following next, two “Ding, ding” sounds rang out, and that blow cut the Fiend Lord’s magical crystal in two, letting no room for him to display his brutal strength as he fell to the ground.
The Fiend Lord’s massive silhouette stopped moving, and the surrounding flames were burning, just as before. Underneath, the Nightmare Devil Horse seemed to be frozen, left with bloody scars. In the next instant, the head of this Fiend Lord fell next to the Nightmare Devil Horse abdomen.
“Puff-paff.” The split corpse suddenly fell down, but the strangest thing was that there wasn’t a single drop of blood falling down. Both the
Nightmare Devil Horse and the Fiend Lord’s flesh had completely turned ash grey-colored.
A blood red colored glow shone from the Fiend Lord’s body, and a bloody halo exploded in the air.
With the night wind blowing, Cai’er stayed completely motionless, just like a peaceful statue standing in the midst of darkness. All the terrifying aura faded away in that instant, but she was still standing there, completely motionless. However, none of the Grand Fiends had the courage to dare launch an attack against her.
While Cai’er released the full power of her Spiritual Stove of Samsara on this side of the battle, rapid changes happened in the general situation of the battlefield.
Han Daosi’s sneak attack from behind was successful, and the most important fact was the attack that was to be launched against the Grand Fiend Cavalry.
Li Xin had been waiting all this time for an opportunity. She knew clearly that when facing this Fiend Lord, she couldn’t carelessly attack, which would only be akin to suicide. In the instant Cai’er successfully suppressed that Fiend Lord, Li Xin finally started to move.
The Rose Unicorn fused perfectly with her own spiritual energy, and at the same time Han Daosi charged at them, a dazzling red light followed behind.
Li Xin’s blow put Storing Power to use. She was only a single step away from the fifth step, and barely managed to put Holy Sword in use with Storing Power’s assistance. With the further amplification she had from the Rose Unicorn, her pair of swords charged. A bright Light Thorn appeared in enemy’s view.
Her Light Thorn was completely different from Long Haochen’s: except from the body that was also filled in light essence, it was instead full of imposing fire essence. Her choice of location to attack was extremely
clever; it was the middle of the formation that enabled the Fiend Cavalry’s spiritual energy to be gathered and fused all together.
If she aimed too far behind, she wouldn’t even threaten the Fiend Commander, but if she aimed too far in the front, it would get instead blocked by his soldiers’ own initiative.
Bang.
Two Grand Fiends were sent flying by Li Xin’s all out attack, and only five Grand Fiends were left to supplement the Fiend Commander with spiritual energy. Afterwards, it was Han Daosi’s turn to intervene, and his dagger ferociously penetrated into the cervical vertebra of a Grand Fiend, perfectly severing his central nerve.
This operation on their side was enough to lower the pressure put on the defense, but even so, the situation on the cave’s side was quite desperate.
After three entire minutes, Han Yu was unable to resist anymore, and retreated, the shield and sword in his hand completely broken into pieces.
The following Sima Xian only resisted for three hits before being out, spouting blood, his staff broken in half.
Compared to Sima Xian, Wang Yuanyuan was still better off. Although she wasn’t an expert in defense, she still could meet force with force against this Fiend Commander. Under the joint effects of the Spiritual Bursting Pill and the Bloodthirsty Pill, she managed to hold him off for twice as long as Sima Xian. As long as she resisted these consecutive attacks, the Fiend Commander’s backup in spiritual energy coming from the rear declined, but there weren’t enough close quarter fighters left in the cave to defend against him.
At this crucial time, the silhouette glinting with the thunder of the Grand Birdy Demon appeared once again on the battlefield; the Mythic Mirror Image Treasure Pig had intervened once again.
However, even if that Fiend Commander’s backup of spiritual energy had lessened, he still exceeded the Grand Birdy Demon in strength. That was to say nothing of the fact that McDull could after all only imitate the Grand Birdy Demon. In the aspect of putting his abilities to use, he could obviously not compare to a true Grand Birdy Demon, in addition to this fact he didn’t have the Soul Sharing Shackles to share the damage. Retreating in defeat against that Fiend Commander’s powerful attacks, he was already pushed back to the inside of the cave.
At this moment, the situation inside of the cave was just too bad. Bai Xiaomo and Yi Jun had completely exhausted their spiritual energy, Luc Xi’s healing would be of no use to the Grand Birdy Demon, and from the Soul Sharing Shackles’ side-effects, Han Yu, Wang Yuanyuan, Sima Xian and Lin Xin suffered important wounds. Han Yu and Sima Xian even lost their own weapon.
Chapter 252
That Fiend Commander’s spiritual energy didn’t reach an amount so terrifying as 10,000, but it still reached 7,000 units. In case their front crumbled, both Demon Hunt Squads would be wiped out .
The Grand Birdy Demon, originating from the Mythic Mirror Image Treasure Pig’s Imitation ability, was sent flying with a single blow, fiercely ramming against the wall behind him. The enormous wound caused him to be unable to even maintain his mirror image appearance, and a heavily wounded Mythic Mirror Image Treasure Pig slumped to the ground.
Han Yu, Wang Yuanyuan, and Sima Xian agreed by chance to throw themselves at the enemy, but with only a single sweeping motion, the Fiend Commander sent the three of them flying, and deep wounds were left on Sima Xian and Han Yu’s bodies.
Inside of the cave, Lin Xin was the only one to maintain a relatively intact fighting strength.
Launching Fire Elemental Shields and Resisting Ring of Fire, the Fire Cloud Crystal Staff held in Lin Xin’s hand was shaking as he acted as the final vanguard of the team. But he was in the end no more but a mage who couldn’t attack!
“Ah–” A screech suddenly sounded behind Lin Xin’s back, and immediately, the noise of a body falling down could be heard. Then, a silvery light appeared with shock under the Fiend Commander’s feet, preventing this malevolent figure from any movement.
Lin Xin suddenly turned back, only to see Yi Jun’s body engulfed by a strong silvery white light, eagerly shouting, “Quick! Attack him, I cannot hold it for long.”
Flames of Life⽣命之⽕, that was the Flames of Life! What Yi Jun did was to ignite his own life, but when his life energy would run out, this spell would also end.
The Fiend Commander didn’t move in the slightest, fiercely standing close to Lin Xin, but Lin Xin was a mage that couldn’t attack!
The Soul Sharing Shackles couldn’t alleviate the side effects brought by the pills. When the Spiritual Bursting Pill and the Bloodthirsty Pill’s effects vanished, Han Yu, Wang Yuanyuan, and Sima Xian had all lost their fighting capability, remaining totally devoid of spiritual energy.
“I… I cannot use offensive magic!” Lin Xin declared with a foolish expression on his face.
Luc Xi put all his strength in releasing a last Sacred Bullet against that Fiend Commander, shouting in anger, “Bastard, don’t tell me you cannot even launch the simplest Fireball Technique?”
Inside of the cavern, only Lin Xin had enough spiritual energy left to launch an attack. But at this time, his face was deathly pale, and flames were spouting from the staff in his hand, but he still appeared to be unable to launch a single offensive spell.
“I cannot hold it.” Yi Jun loudly shouted as blood oozed from the seven apertures of his head.
“Ah–” Lin Xin frantically yelled, releasing a Resisting Ring of Fire. With a loud bang, that Fiend Demon was sent flying out of the cave, which also terminated Yi Jun’s magical suppression.
“You…” Yi Jun gave Lin Xin an unresigned look, before sinking in a deep coma.
After the Fiend Commander was sent flying out of the cavern and right as he was prepared to once again launch an attack to massacre everyone inside, a bright light appeared from nowhere, extending to him and producing an ear-piercing hissing sound accompanied by a powerful aura. A surge of an incredible offensive power swept over the place.
The air was compressed, and even if that Fiend Commander possessed 6,000 units of spiritual energy, the last thing he saw in his life was a gigantic three-headed figure appearing out of nowhere, whose body was completely golden.
Bam—
A sword blow struck the enemy directly, whereas the second sword’s blow cut him in two.
The Fiend Commander was cut in half with a single blow, along with the Nightmare Devil Horse underneath. Both halves of his split corpse slowly fell to the ground.
From the backlash of their consumption of spiritual energy, the five Grand Fiends at his back spouted out black blood at the same time.
“Houu—” Haoyue’s released a bellow from his three heads at the same time, immediately sending the five Grand Fiends flying. On his back, Long Haochen’s figure flickered, and on his shoulder, the Light Elemental Fairy Yating incessantly released white rings of light, using Spiritual Gathering Halo to replenish Long Haochen’s spiritual energy at lightning speed.
That’s right! At this situation of life and death, Long Haochen was back. At this moment, as he was holding the two separated parts of Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light in his hands, his body released a glorious halo covering the surroundings. With the help of the Light Elemental Fairy Yating, even without Haoyue, he had confidence to put up a fight against any powerhouse of the sixth step.
Clearly, this attack that hit the Fiend Commander was Asura Strike. Just think of the power an Asura Strike that was released without preparation
already possessed. And then, what about an Asura Strike prepared in a state of Storing Power?
On Haoyue’s back, Long Haochen had been focusing on understanding Asura Strike, and quickly found out that his newly learnt Asura Strike could complement his Storing Power. This way, Asura Strike’s offensive power would become even more terrifying.
If he was by himself, he wouldn’t possibly use Storing Power in the midst of a battle against many enemies; that would be a suicidal move. However, never forget that Long Haochen also could rely on Haoyue’s assistance. Sitting on Haoyue’s back, he had a enough time to complete Storing Power, and managed to use this Fiend Commander as the very first offering to his Asura Strike.
With close to 3,000 units of spiritual energy stored inside, this Asura Strike was so powerful that even Long Haochen couldn’t help but be in shock. Only, at the current time, he couldn’t possibly wallow in this feeling.
During his return, he noticed with astonishment that the Soul Sharing Shackles caused him to suffer intense pain. As a knight, he naturally could heal his own injuries along with Haoyue’s, but how couldn’t he have guessed that his companions had met with danger? Hurrying Haoyue on to return at full speed, he started storing power in preparation for Asura Strike even before coming out of the cave. Long Haochen was convinced that the enemies were bound to have powerhouses among their ranks, so the top priority was to inflict serious damage to the other side’s leader.
Furthermore, the appearance of the Pendant of Eternal Melody could be said to have brought Long Haochen the ability to use the spiritual cavity of a knight at the sixth step. After fully using any offensive ability, his speed of recovery was thrice as fast as before. Further adding Yating’s assistance, he could recover his spiritual energy at a monstrous rate of twenty units per second. Long Haochen was completely sure that this Pendant of Eternal Melody was at least a piece of equipment at the Legendary Tier, and this was only his most conservative estimate.
Putting the Nine Long Steps into use, Long Haochen’s silhouette went back and forth the enemies’ ranks. He was currently extremely anxious because he had an ominous restless feeling ever since he exited the cavern, and that feeling of anxiety caused him to feel extremely nervous.
Lightning Thrust spread like illusory reflections on water. This wasn’t the original Lightning Thrust, but a Lightning Thrust that used the supplement Ripples of Light. Considering Long Haochen’s current cultivation, how could these mere Grand Fiends resist him?
Brilliant World glinted from the back, and Little Light’s backup of spiritual energy entered Long Haochen’s body. Little Flame and Little Wind also kept chanting one lower ranked spell after another to cover his flanks.
None of the Grand Fiends managed to block Long Haochen’s Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light. As its radiance spread, Pop Pop sounds unceasingly rung out.
To a Retribution Knight, Lightning Thrust was nothing more than a low ranked skill, one that a powerhouse of a higher step would generally only use against an enemy of lower step, or when combining it along with other abilities. This was because Lightning Thrust scattered strength, enabling one to launch numerous series of attacks without consuming too much spiritual energy. Thus, higher ranked knights would in reality rarely use it.
However, this skill was completely changed in Long Haochen’s hands. After obtaining Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, Lightning Thrust underwent a huge increase in power. Keeping its dazzling power as a pure light technique, while gaining the piercing power of water. Adding on to the power of Ripples of Light, this attack’s strength reached a whole new level.
Long Haochen comprehended the Ripples of Light just recently, and hadn’t really had the time to improve Lightning Thrust until now, but even so, these ordinary Grand Fiends and their mounts couldn’t possibly stop him.
Cooperating with Han Daosi and Li Xin, the rest of the battle rapidly concluded, and the entirety of the Grand Fiend Cavalry was wiped out. If
some had wanted to escape, what could they do against the aerial persecution of the Rose Unicorn? Each and any of them was easily disposed of by Li Xin.
“Haochen, you’re finally back!” Li Xin dismounted her Rose Unicorn and returned to the ground, but at the time she arrived before Long Haochen, she discovered with astonishment that Long Haochen’s body was trembling as he stood there.
Following Long Haochen’s gaze, she discovered that close ahead, Cai’er was standing still like a sculpture. Even with the intense battle that was occurring nearby, she didn’t have any reaction. She just motionlessly stood there like a human-sized puppet.
“Cai’er…” Long Haochen’s voice was shaking, and with a glint, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light autonomously disappeared from his hand. Taking a few steps while using the Assault technique, he arrived in front of Cai’er in a split second.
With a dark golden glint of radiance, Cai’er attempted to lift her right hand, but remained unsuccessful, as she directly collapsed into Long Haochen’s embrace.
Tightly holding her, Long Haochen instantly launched a Holy Mantle without hesitation, enveloping Cai’er and himself in it. However, he quickly discovered that Cai’er’s life wasn’t endangered in any way, only her consumption of spiritual energy was massive; it was the case for both her internal and external spiritual energy. After falling in Long Haochen’s warm embrace, she couldn’t even move a finger.
“How could this happen? How could this happen! It’s all because I arrived so late!” Long Haochen felt regretful that he didn’t get back earlier. With his intelligence, even in a state of total confusion, he could still clearly realize why his teammates had fought this battle of life and death.
This was all because of my mistake of judgment! I believed that no demons would come here for the time being, which was why I stayed away for so long. It’s all my fault!
Long Haochen was filled with self-reproach, before finally seeing the massacred corpse of the Fiend Lord.
Such an enormous Fiend accompanied by a Nightmare Devil Horse? Long Haochen gently caressed Cai’er’s head, “Idiot, how could you use the Stove of Samsara again? It’s all my fault…” Tightly pulling Cai’er in his embrace, Long Haochen felt distressed to the point that he couldn’t breath. As he held Cai’er tightly, his eyes became totally red.
Chapter 253
Long Haochen put a Great Recovery Pill in his own mouth, and lowered his head after chewing it slightly, pulling the veil covering Cai’er’s face and letting the pill’s liquid flow into Cai’er’s mouth.
Cai’er’s lips truly felt soft, but at this moment, how could Long Haochen have the leisure to realize that?
Kissed by Long Haochen’s lips and feeling his familiar breath, Cai’er’s body trembled slightly.
Some reaction! Long Haochen loosened his breath, very carefully using his spiritual energy to let the liquid pill spread into Cai’er’s body.
Tightly hugging her, Long Haochen let out glistening teardrops from his eyes, and his body couldn’t resist from shivering.
“Cai’er, which ones of your senses have you lost this time?”
Perhaps was this because of the Great Spiritual Recovery Pill, but Cai’er seemed to feel Long Haochen’s kind intentions this time, and her finger slightly moved.
Quickly, a great change appeared on Long Haochen’s face.
“Sense of smell, sense of vision, sense of hearing, and, sense of taste?”
Out of the six senses, she actually lost four of them?
Cai’er formerly told Long Haochen a simple explanation on the functioning of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara. The more of its formidable offensive power she would want to bring out, the greater the price. The fact she lost four senses already meant that she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara close to its peak power.
If… If the enemy was just a little stronger, and if she had activated the last two paths of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, then she could very possibly never have recovered from it.
One month would be needed to recover from the loss of one sense, unless she had a spiritual stove that would prevent her from losing one of her six senses at any time. Having launched her spiritual stove third activation, she needed two more months to recover her second sense, and these numbers overlayed.
For the loss of three senses, four more months would be needed. It meant that just to recover her hearing, her sight and her taste, she’d need seven months! And if she kept using the Spiritual Stove of Samsara during this period of time, she’d need eight more months just to recover the last sense.
If she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara’s fifth activation, which is also the last one, then all of her six senses would forever be lost, leaving her as a zombie in one breath. Of course, if she came to use that move, the killing power coming out from it would be just like what the Scion of Samsara relied on to heavily wound the Demon God Emperor of that time.
And furthermore, over the next seven months, Cai’er senses wouldn’t be coming back one after another, but she would have to wait seven months first before recovering it all at once. The formidable destructive power came with the incomparably terrifying backlash of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
In the midst of his sharp pain, Cai’er seemed to be unaware of how she should try to console him, when suddenly, he lifted up his head to look afar.
On the opposite mountain, a hoard of Grand Fiends were coming out from the other side of the mountain, mounted on Nightmare Devil Horses
and headed in their direction.
From the looks of it, they were a total of roughly thirty riders, though their strength was at the moment unknown.
Long Haochen gently put Cai’er on the side, before slowly standing up, looking at Li Xin and Han Daosi, “The two of you, guard the cave. Leave everything else to me.”
Seeing Long Haochen’s expression, Li Xin couldn’t help but feel blank. Within the two Demon Hunt Squads, she was the one that knew Long Haochen for the longest time, but aside from his kindhearted side, she had never seen any other expression of such intensity.
The current Long Haochen had very red eyes, and from his body came a biting cold killing intent, with unstable light essence being released from it. These sharp eyes seemed to be currently filled with blood-thirst and nothing else.
The serious wound Cai’er received from using the Spiritual Stove of Samsara caused Long Haochen to completely explode. He needed to vent his anger, to use the enemy’s blood to wash this wrath exploding from his heart.
Li Xin and Han Daosi didn’t say anything, immediately returning to the cave’s entrance to guard it, and Long Haochen took of the Holy Spirit Armor on his body.
At this very moment, Long Haochen had a sudden cool feeling coming out from the Pendant of Eternal Melody on his chest, as if calming down the pain and the wrath coming out of him. At this very moment, Long Haochen found out with astonishment that it was as if the surroundings were filled with some bizarre energy. This energy seemed to spread into the Eternal Melody, before disappearing noiselessly.
What is it? With his senses being sharper than ordinary people, Long Haochen followed the direction of this energy, finding out to his
astonishment that this energy originated from the deceased Grand Fiends as well as their mounts.
Soul energy, this is soul energy!
Long Haochen’s brain came to this judgment almost immediately. The Pendant of Eternal Melody was replenishing the Tower of Eternal Rest using the soul of the deceased.
This knowledge seemed to flow out naturally from Long Haochen’s brain. When he would enter in the Tower of Eternity again, his future training would need a massive amount of soul energy to be carried out. Although the Tower of Eternal was already filled with massive energy, if he only kept consuming it, it would sooner or later be completely exhausted. And as the owner of the Pendant of Eternal Melody, which in itself is the entrance to the Tower of Eternity, he was the one to collect this soul energy. As such, every corpse that died recently, regardless of the race to which it belongs, would have its soul taken by the Pendant of Eternal Melody.
As the Scion of Light, Long Haochen felt unwell from having to bear this sort of feeling. But he had no other choice, because the Eternal Melody was already such a complete part of him that he was unable to get rid of. Furthermore, this was something he couldn’t rashly reveal to others. Only to his father or his teacher could he possibly reveal this secret.
After thinking of this solution, Long Haochen couldn’t help but furrow his brows. At that time, he wouldn’t give it any further thoughts, and rapidly removing the outer part of his armor, Long Haochen tore a part of his martial attire, hooking Cai’er’s back to his own, before putting on his Holy Spirit Armor that could change shape according to its owner. That was to say, Cai’er was now completely linked with his own body.
Long Haochen knew that the current Cai’er wasn’t capable of hearing, so he pulled Cai’er’s arms around his neck, before using a piece of cloth to secure her tightly. Afterwards, he wrote the following words on her palm, “Starting from now on, until you recover thoroughly, I will never let you leave my side and will carry you along with me in battle. I won’t abandon you neither will I separate from you.”
Cai’er’s forehead was leaned against Long Haochen’s neck, as two clear drops of tears slowly fell down.
Today was the first time she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara to such an extent. After unleashing it for the third time, killing the Fiend Lord, it was as if she returned to the terrifying cavern where she was put during the most terrible period of her life.
Almost being broken by helplessness and loneliness, further adding the weak state of her body, Cai’er seemed to be sensing that death had come for her. The only thing that caused her to keep hope was her wish that Long Haochen would make it back alive.
He came back, he made it back in the end. In this desolate place, Cai’er felt helpless. There was no voice, no taste, no sight, no smell, and in the midst of the pain, he came back.
When this familiar smell appeared in Cai’er’s perception, she immediately trembled upon realization. The hope she had deep inside became an inferno, about to burst out from her.
When Long Haochen kissed her lips, giving her the Great Recovery Spiritual Pill, the feeling she received from the warmth this pill together with Long Haochen’s familiar breath brought her, pulled her back from her memories of those days she was forced into cultivating the Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
And at this very moment, right after she felt those words Long Haochen had written on her palm, those feelings finally disappeared from Cai’er’s heart, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of happiness.
I’m such a fool. As long as I have him, even if the whole world abandons me, I am still not alone anymore.
There is a single reason that could lead a woman to be willing to selflessly pay any price for a man, and that reason is love.
Feeling Cai’er pressed against his back, her legs surrounding his waist, Long Haochen felt his pain lighten from the soft feeling he had. However, when he lifted up his head, looking at the Fiend Cavalry quickly approaching, this feeling of need to vent his anger appeared once again in his heart.
It’s those bastards, it’s them. It’s those demons who caused my Cai’er to need seven more months before recovering her normal state.
In the midst of a buzzing sound, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light appeared in Long Haochen’s hand, and with a flash of light, the Holy Spirit Sword appeared in his left hand. His body flashed, landing on Haoyue’s back, and the Light Elemental Fairy Yating stayed loyal to the end, still releasing a Spiritual Gathering Halo to help him recover his spiritual energy.
Able to recover twenty units of his spiritual energy per second, Long Haochen had already recovered close to half of his spiritual energy over this little period of time.
The enemies were drawing closer and closer, and inside of the cave, Li Xin opened her eyes wide, glowering at Lin Xin.
“Are you nothing more but crap? Don’t tell me you cannot even put a single Fireball Technique to use? Do you know how much of his life force Yi Jun exhausted to confine that Fiend Commander. If not for Haochen’s prompt arrival, we would all be dead here today. Are you really a mage of the fifth step? You are clearly not fit to be called a Demon Hunter.”
It wasn’t surprising that Li Xin was so furious. She clearly saw the previous situation inside of the cavern, and was on her way to return as fast as possible. But at the last instant, Lin Xin only released a Defying Ring of Fire, thoroughly angering that resolute and upright Retribution Knight.
As everyone else was staking everything and going all out, but Lin Xin was the only one that didn’t launch any attack at all. Considering his level of cultivation, if he had launched a powerful spell of fire magic at that time, maybe he would have wounded that Fiend Commander seriously.
Lin Xin’s face was somewhat blank, listening to Li Xin’s indignant speech without saying a word.
“Why don’t you speak back!? Are you a man or not? With such powerful controlling power, and as a mage of the fifth step, why can’t you unleash a single offensive spell? I’m really regretting that I didn’t stop Haochen at that time.”
“Enough, Li Xin.” Han Yu stood before him with difficulty, and Wang Yuanyuan, Sima Xian as well as Chen Ying’er gathered at his side.
“Li Xin, you should know that Lin Xin is an alchemist. Why do you think we managed to hold out for so much longer than Dian Yan, to resist for such a long time? It was because we took the pills Lin Xin offered us. Lin Xin cannot attack, but if not for him, we wouldn’t have lasted long enough for Haochen to get back. Lin Xin is an important part of our 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad. His investment is clear to all of us, and he is a part our team cannot part with. Everyone has his own weaknesses, so why shouldn’t it be the same for him?”
Li Xin furiously replied, “Yes, everyone has weaknesses, but attacking is a mage’s duty. As a extremely destructive fire element mage, how can he be unable to launch a single fireball, why is that? I am just hoping for him to give me a clear explanation for that. If one day, Haochen cannot withstand the enemy’s attacks and finally has to rely on his attacks to dispose of the enemy, what will happen? Why does he have to be so strong if he isn’t able to increase your strength to such an extent? I don’t wish for my little brother to give up all hope upon seeing him.”
“Alright, I will tell you.” Lin Xin yelled back in response.
Taking a rapid step forward, he arrived at Han Yu’s side. His body was trembling violently, and his original pale face became totally flushed.
“I am a mage that cannot attack, one that cannot do it at all. You are all right, my situation is completely different from Sima’s. He is unable to learn healing magic, but it’s not as if I was unable to learn. As long as I
was willing, I could learn to use fire element magic without bounds, but I didn’t learn it. I couldn’t bring myself to learn it.”
Coming to a pause, Lin Xin was already soaked in tears.
“At those time, my mother was an even greater genius of the Mage Temple than me. At the time she was thirty, she already broke through from the sixth step to the seventh step, acclaimed as the greatest genius of her generation. My father was an expert at using offensive magic, and he spent his whole life studying the most powerful fire spell, but one day, he made a mistake. His mistake caused his own body to burn with in a massive fire, and at that time, my mother happened to bring me to see him. And to protect me, mother used her own body to block that terrifying exploding force, meeting with a violent death along with my father. Although I was only five years-old that year, I will never be able to forget that terrible explosion of fire. If not for offensive magic, how would I have lost my mother? If not for offensive magic, I would still have a blessed family.”
“I cannot learn offensive magic, and will never step across it in my life. I don’t wish to see my companions or relatives die by my own hands, because of my magic. From that day onwards, no mater how my grandfather tried to force me, I never agreed to learn any offensive magic, up until now. But I’m not crap, I am using everything I can to help my team. If one day, this situation really arises, then I will definitely be the first of everyone to die, and I will use my corpse to prove everything I just said!”
Done with his words, Lin Xin was silently crying, and Han Yu let out a sigh, lightly patting his shoulder, telling Li Xin, “I can comprehend your state of mind, but did you really have to let his scars come out of his heart? If not for some extraordinary reason of this kind, why would he be unable to learn offensive spells? It wasn’t because we didn’t care about these matters that we have never asked him until now, but because we chose to trust our companions. Lin Xin will forever remain a part of our Demon Hunt Squad.”
Chapter 254
Long Haochen calmly stood on Haoyue’s back, gazing at the approaching Grand Fiend Cavalry. His unprecedented urge to vent his anger on the enemies grew increasingly stronger, and at the same time, he felt a sharp pain upon feeling the warmth coming out from Cai’er’s body.
Never before had he felt hatred towards anything, but now, the hatred he felt towards this Grand Fiend Cavalry reached was unbearable.
For my sake! For my sake Cai’er had to suffer such an intense pain again. Even if I have to sacrifice the last drop of my blood, I won’t let them harm Cai’er anymore. I will kill all these demons!
The enemies drew closer and closer, and although Long Haochen didn’t have any ability to enhance his eyesight, his vision was already at a level where he could distinctly discern the strength of the enemy.
It was a Grand Fiend Cavalry of thirty, the same size as the previous one. Leading them was a Fiend Commander of the sixth step, but this group didn’t have any powerhouse other than him. Obviously, this Grand Fiend Cavalry of thirty was a reserve team just like the one they ran across, responsible for providing support. Having gotten the Fiend Lord’s signal, they came at the fastest speed possible.
A golden fog emanated from Long Haochen. It spread through the night sky, producing a bright and dazzling light similar to a lighthouse.
The Fiend Cavalry obviously saw it; they sensed this bright light filled with holy aura the same as Long Haochen sensed darkness type spiritual
energy.
Storing Power.
Long Haochen could clearly sense the fast speed at which the liquid spiritual energy in him concentrated. The Holy Spirit Sword in his left hand was pushed into the ground next to Haoyue, and in his other hand, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light was changed into dual swords. At this time, he entered an eerie state of mind.
Along with his progress in cultivation, his speed of gathering spiritual power using Storing Power was a lot faster than before, and a great amount of powerful spiritual energy was poured into his dual blades Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light at high speed.
Haoyue also started chanting with his three heads, each one chanting a different incantation in a melodious tempo that didn’t impact Long Haochen’s Storing Power. It rather had an harmonious mutual influence on it.
At this time, the cave at his back had returned to its calm, and only Li Xin was standing outside. At times, changes appeared on her countenance. Sometimes it was filled with regret, sometimes with guilt, but she still carried her two swords firmly and steadily.
Inside the cave, all the eyes were focused on Long Haochen, looking at his small yet sharp figure displaying the force of a man that could match ten thousand.
Although Long Haochen was facing the enemy battalion alone, the most unusual thing was that both the members of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad and 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad felt secure. It was as if, as long as Long Haochen was present, no one would be able to threaten them.
Everyone put effort into recovering their own spiritual energy. After recovering a bit, Luc Xi released a healing spell, focusing his healing with priority on the unconscious Dian Yan, whose injuries were most critical.
Receiving the blow of a Fiend Commander with close to ten thousand units of spiritual energy, was like being struck by a mountain. Let alone his shield, both of his arms were shattered, and even his breastbone and his ribs were damaged to some extent. His internal organs were unharmed, but if not for Luc Xi’s prompt healing, he would undoubtedly have sequelae due to his internal fractures.
“Haochen, be careful of their ability to combine their spiritual energies.” Li Xin shouted in Long Haochen’s direction.
They had already been confronting Grand Fiend Cavalries twice: the first time, while under the effects of Haoyue’s Essence of Disorder, the Grand Fiend Cavalry didn’t have the occasion to bring out its full power. And the second time, it had been thanks to Cai’er’s formidable move that the Grand Fiend Cavalry’s attack ended with the death of the Fiend Lord, the cornerstone of their cavalry.
At that time, if not for the release of Cai’er’s sharp killing intent that terrified the Fiend Lord to the point of preventing him from being the focus point of their gathered spiritual energy union, no one could possibly have been able to block this blow.
And now, they were facing a Grand Fiend Cavalry for the very first time without Cai’er present to attract the enemy’s attention, and without the possibility of having Haoyue mount a magical sneak attack, Long Haochen was facing this Grand Fiend Cavalry alone, but would he be able to prevail over them on his own?
At the Fiend Cavalry’s back were a dozen of mounted Grand Fiends making preparation for conjoining their spiritual energy. The other twenty Grand Fiends were separated in two groups, one for each side, and surrounding him from three sides. The powerful oppressive force rose sharply. However one looked at the situation, they would say that Long Haochen cannot possibly resist them all.
Just at this time, Haoyue set in motion, his massive figure launching Long Haochen, charging at the direction of the Fiend Commander that was the target for the conjoined spiritual energy.
As a powerhouse of the sixth step, the Fiend Commander was fairly experienced and knowledgeable. Seeing the intensity of the light elemental spiritual energy surrounding Long Haochen, he determined that this human’s spiritual energy couldn’t compare to his own, to say nothing of the fact that he was in a state of conjoined spiritual energy.
Revealing a malicious smile, the Fiend Commander strode over the Nightmare Devil Horse, standing perfectly straight and charging at Long Haochen’s direction. On his back were a dozen Grand Fiend Knights, spears at hand, linked through a dark red connection of spiritual energy, appearing like a single entity, and following the Fiend Commander as they charged.
In fact, these Grand Fiend from cavalries were the elite of elite of the Fiend Clan. Put on the battlefield after thorough training, they were an existence of the same degree as the human’s Brilliant Angel Knights. Drawing power from their ability of conjoined spiritual energy, they formerly caused a quite important loss to the Temple Knight’s side. Every time they ran across them in the battlefield, the Temple Alliance would pick some powerhouses to handle them.
Long Haochen was just a single individual, only riding Haoyue, on whose back he just stood, but faced that Fiend Commander whose dark red flames rose frantically, illuminating everything on a ten square meters range. When comparing the two sides’ power, Long Haochen was like a mere child. However, Haoyue’s charge was still straight and without hesitation, keeping a strong front. At this time, the incantation from his mouth just stopped, but if one took particular attention, he would notice that at this moment, Haoyue’s eyes all became purple. The scales on his body were furthermore covered in a thin layer of purple ripples.
The two parties drew closer to each other, from a distance of a hundred meters to fifty, thirty, twenty, ten meters. By now, they were already close enough to each other to launch attacks.
Just at this time Haoyue released an ear-splitting howl from his three heads. An intense purple color could be seen, bursting out from Haoyue’s three heads.
An earth-shaking scene happened right then.
Under the effects of Haoyue’s loud bellow, the whole body of the Fiend Commander which was entirely covered in a dark red flames, trembled violently, and the massive spiritual energy all around his body suddenly disappeared, and those Grand Fiends of the cavalry in his rear as well as their Nightmare Devil Horse looked as if they had suddenly gotten drunk swaying unsteadily from side to side, without the slightest trace left of using their ability of conjoined spiritual energy.
Golden light, suddenly ripping the vast sky, compressed the air with a violent exploding sound. In the next instant, the hissing resonance clearly caused the Nightmare Devil Horse rode by the Fiend Commander to feel dizzy. A surge of bright light suddenly spread in the surrounding air.
“Kill!” Long Haochen shouted and Haoyue violently struck the Fiend Commander from the front, but the strangest was that this Fiend Commander, suddenly covered in golden threads, suddenly became motionless, until Haoyue’s blow arrived. , the spear in his hand as well as his body and his Nightmare Devil Horse were knocked back, undergoing the same treatment as their master, cut in two by Long Haochen’s hand.
If the previous Fiend Commander could justify his death in Long Haochen’s hand from the fact that he was already weakened in strength plus the assault from Yi Jun’s magic suppression as well as Lin Xin’s Resisting Ring of Fire, causing Long Haochen’s sneak attack to be successful, this kill was however in no way a fluke, it was an instant kill upon collision, against a Fiend Commander at its peak condition, that didn’t get a chance to strike a single blow against Long Haochen
No one knew what kind of ability this howl was meant to be, but after Long Haochen crossed those ten Grand Fiends standing behind the Fiend Commander, all that was left was a land of corpses, including those belonging to the Nightmare Devil Horses; no corpse was left intact. And it was down to the extent that these Grand Fiends and their mounts didn’t have the slightest chance to resist.
Some time after launching this loud bellow, Haoyue’s entire body was entirely devoid of aura, his eyes recovering their natural color. Not releasing any more magic, he clearly seemed somewhat tired. However, he had sufficient use in the battle.
Having cut down the Fiend Ruler’s conjoined spiritual energy, Long Haochen took control of the flow of the battle.
Affected by the effects from Haoyue’s howl, the Fiend Commander didn’t have the chance to launch a single effective ability, cut in two parts in a state of total terror by Asura Strike.
The rest of the battle simply went as a one-sided slaughter, where Long Haochen only made use of a few abilities: Charge, Assault, Lightning Thrust and Instant Blast Cross Cut.
These were low ranked Retribution Knight abilities that broke out with exploding power in his hands. With the backing of the Light Elemental Fairy Yating on his shoulder, using these low consumption abilities was no burden at all to Long Haochen. After a stored up Asura Strike, he had only a few hundreds units spiritual energy left, but through the means of his massive recovery of spiritual energy, he had no problem handling the rest of the enemies. Don’t forget that the current Long Haochen was drawing nearer and nearer to the sixth step of cultivation.
Inside of the cave, everyone was dazzled and stunned looking at this scene. A golden silhouette was moving unrestrained as it crushed everything in its path, flickering with bright light, and blowing the enemies to pieces. Furthermore, he still carried on his back Cai’er who lost four of her senses.
A single person, he was just by himself, but against all expectations, he managed to massacre a powerful Grand Fiend Cavalry only with the help of his mount, instantly defeating a Fiend Commander of the sixth step as if it was nothing. This was already completely out of the scope of a knight of the fifth step.
Feeling the biting cold killing intent released from Long Haochen’s body, everyone from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad felt principally excited, in contrast the majority of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad members felt ashamed…
Chapter 255
After having come in contact for a rather long time, the members of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squads felt with great clarity the gap separating themselves from the 21st soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad. The pair of sweethearts and core of the team formed by Long Haochen and Cai’er had a sea-splitting impact. The other members also had powerful abilities to display, and moreover, were totally united.
This entire massacre lasted for only ten minutes, and Long Haochen didn’t let a single enemy escape. When the last enemy finally went down, slain by his Holy Spirit Sword while using Final Gambit.
All along, Long Haochen benefitted from the support of the loyal Light Element Fairy Yating, responding perfectly to her duty of helping him recuperate.
Not letting go of Cai’er on his back, Long Haochen dumped a pair of bloody crystals stuck to his heavy swords, heading back to the cave’s entrance along with Haoyue.
Long Haochen didn’t have any formidable recovery spell with crowd effect, but it didn’t mean that it was the same for Haoyue. From his initiative, an illumination of sacred light flooded every corner of the cavern.
“Prepare yourselves, everyone. I’ll clear the battlefield, so let’s depart from here at full speed.” Long Haochen’s voice sounded rough, and after he finished giving out these instructions, he turned back and walked out. While walking, he stored the corpses of every single Grand Fiend and their Nightmare Devil Horses inside Eternal Melody.
That’s right, the Pendant of Eternal Melody was also a storage tool. As for how large the space it encompassed, even with his current mental capacity, Long Haochen was unable to tell.
Having gone through the past massacre, Long Haochen had a more distinct feeling that every time he slaughtered a Grand Fiend, the counterpart’s soul would immediately be sucked into the Eternal Melody. And the soul energy he gained from the enemies he had just killed was even stronger than energy he received from the corpses of the previous battle. Since he couldn’t do anything about it, he could only ignore it right now. In truth, he didn’t have any real comprehension of the principle of soul energy.
Relying on the Eternal Melody, Long Haochen was fast to sweep through the battlefield. When he came back to the his comrades’ side, except from the still unconscious Dian Yan, everyone had recovered their ability to move.
After watching Long Haochen sweep through the battlefield without any difficulty, Lin Xin seemed to have recovered from remembering his painful memories. Having seen him collect all of the Grand Fiend’s and the Nightmare Devil Horses’ corpses, he couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes. When Haochen returned, he secretly signaled him to come over. With his back turned to the rest of the group, he waited for Haochen.
Long Haochen gave him a glance before silently looking down.
“How is everyone?” Long Haochen asked.
Han Yu replied, “Except from Dian Yan that suffered serious injuries, no one should have problems walking, only, to keep battling will be quite challenging. Yuanyuan, Sima and I took Bloodthirsty and Spiritual Bursting Pills. I’m also afraid that Ying’er’s little pig, McDull, is in quite a bad shape, and will not be able to keep absorbing magical crystals to join the battle. ”
Luc Xi replied, “Our side is in a better situation, Han Daosi and Li Xin can still keep fighting, but Yi Jun ignited his own vital force, and is thus unconscious and recovering his spiritual energy. I will need at least three
more hours to launch my crowd-effective healing spell again. Dian Yan will at least need seven days of treatment before barely recovering some fighting strength. Xiaomo is pretty much the same as me, and will regain some spiritual energy in approximately three more hours.”
Although this battle ended without any deaths, it could be said to have been a total tragedy for their side. The only ones that still had the strength to keep fighting were the trio of Long Haochen, Li Xin and Han Daosi’s. Cai’er, who had lost four of her senses for a full duration of seven months, was even more pitiful than the seriously injured Dian Yan.
Long Haochen calmly nodded, declaring after some time of reflection, “I will have Haoyue carry Dian Yan and Yi Jun, and we will immediately set off. After advancing more deeply into the mountains, without staying close to such a conspicuous spot as the Desolate Hissing Cavern, we should be able to easily conceal ourselves. There, we’ll wait for everyone to recover some strength before attempting to head back.”
Luc Xi silently nodded in response, looking at Long Haochen with some hesitation.
Long Haochen knew what he was thinking of, “Right before, I recorded my exploration of the Desolate Hissing Cavern, and this is clearly not a place we are able to explore thoroughly. After we find a place to settle down, I will share the records of the exploration with everyone.”
The Recording Gem’s contents couldn’t be counterfeited, or at least, no one had this ability among them. An incredible skill in alchemy was needed to make this possible.
Hearing Long Haochen say so, Luc Xi immediately felt embarrassed, and calmly nodded at Long Haochen.
Long Haochen spoke out, “Let’s leave from here then. Right now, I recovered the enemies’ corpses. A third of the magical crystals will be yours to keep.”
Luc Xi hurried to react, “There’s no need, we didn’t do much anyway.”
Long Haochen shook his head, and said in a clearly resolute tone, “We are now a single team, and we’ll share the gains in accordance to how we agreed on it. Without you, my teammates wouldn’t have lasted long enough for me to return, so let’s do it as I said. Time to set off! ”
The backlash from Cai’er’s spiritual stove caused Long Haochen to feel extremely fidgety. The gentleness he had during normal times was gone and replaced by some aggressiveness. But with the strength and ability he showed there, everything he said felt as a matter of course, at least the members of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad were secretly thankful. A third of the spoils from such a huge amount of Nightmare Devil Horses and Grand Fiends was no small figure.
Everyone once again set out for their journey, and although they were for the most part in a very weak state, having wounded people among them, their bodies far exceeded ordinary people’s in strength as fighters. As dawn touched upon the land, the party of thirteen didn’t make haste to leave the mountain ridge, instead penetrating even more deeply under Long Haochen’s lead. After crossing two mountain peaks, they finally stopped in an area full of shrubs.
It was a valley with a natural crevice in the midst of it, just the right place for them to temporarily stay at. When they decided to camp there, it was already the middle of the day.
Luc Xi became the most occupied member of the team, unceasingly recovering his spiritual energy as he took the duty of healing everyone.
What finally relaxed Long Haochen a bit was that Cai’er gradually recovered her ability to move. At this time, he was sitting close to the entrance of the crevice, letting Cai’er temporarily lean against his body.
Cai’er was seemingly very calm: she was now blind, mute, deaf, and unable to taste, but it appeared as though she didn’t care about all of this, only calmly nestling in Long Haochen’s embrace.
While the others were resting, Han Daosi took over the duty of keeping watch, and Haochen pulled Cai’er by the hand, using his thumb to form
some words in Cai’er’s palm. Slowly he wrote the narration of the whole course of the events that happened back in the Desolate Hissing Cavern.
Cai’er was unable to listen, but could sense and was actually rather enjoying this kind of feeling. As she let Long Haochen write characters on her palm, she nestled against him, just like the little big McDull was nestling in Chen Ying’er’s embrace
“Lin Xin, come here for a bit. I have something to tell you.” Li Xin suddenly waved to Lin Xin, hinting him to follow her.
Lin Xin blanked, slightly wrinkling his brows, but still chose to follow Li Xin inside of the crevice. Long Haochen just gave him a puzzled glance, but didn’t say anything about it. In his heart, Li Xin was one of the most trusted people he had. He comprehended the character of this big sister of his pretty well, and didn’t know what formerly happened inside of the cavern. Instead of keeping track of that, he continued to write some words in her palm.
The others were cultivating on the side, and didn’t pay attention to them.
The crevice was very deep, and they kept walking until they were over two hundred meters deep in the mountain. When gazing deep inside, one would be able to see a marvellous scene.
Li Xin kept walking in, until no one remained in her view, before finally stopping in her tracks.
Lin Xin stopped close behind with an apathetic face, simply using his fingers to comb his own dark green hair, plaiting a braid after putting it together and leaning on a stone of the wall, “What did you call me here for? Trying to kill me in order to silence me?”
Li Xin unhappily declared, “As a man, what are you doing with such long hair. You’re even doing something such as a plaiting it. In my opinion, you simply seem closer to a girl.”
Lin Xin curled his lips, replying, “Hey, it’s called being handsome, okay? Don’t talk drivel just because you don’t understand it.”
Li Xin disdainfully replied, “Handsome? What farts! Speak of it again when you are half as handsome as Long Haochen.”
A temporary change appeared in Lin Xin’s expression, and his muscles immediately hardened, “Did you just call me to bully me? Sure, Captain has better looks than me, but he looks even more like a girl than me!”
Li Xin suddenly became silent, looking at Lin Xin without saying any further words.
Feeling the strange atmosphere, Lin Xin couldn’t help but look at her, puzzled.
“Sorry.” Li Xin slightly lowered her head, “It was my bad, I shouldn’t have forced you into sharing a part of your past, much less recall those painful events to your mind.”
Lin Xin slightly trembled, and an unremovable pain filled the depths of his eyes. Lowering his head, he threw the hair he had been combing all this time to his back.
“It’s okay, someone would have questioned me sooner or later. To be honest, deep inside I feel much better now.” Lin Xin said in a pained expression.
Li Xin unhurriedly walked to his side, “I should get punishment for making such an error. Then, curse me back. Or else, strike me, and I’ll feel better.” Her expression was very serious. Standing by Lin Xin’s side, she offered her vigorous yet delicate figure as a sort of self-sacrifice.
Lin Xin’s expression changed, “Miss, stop joking, won’t you? Would I even be capable of hitting you?”
“I won’t hit back.” Li Xin hurried to emphasise.
“That’s it? I’m heading back then.” Lin Xin unhappily declared, and turned to head in the opposite direction to leave.
Li Xin stamped her foot, “I’m afraid of everyone else’s judgment. Don’t head back like that, or how would I even be able to face your teammates?”
“Enough.” Lin Xin abruptly turned back, furiously replying, ”What use will I have to hit you? You didn’t say anything wrong, I’m just a coward that didn’t have the guts to learn offensive magic. Even if I hit you and curse you, don’t tell me that you believe that it would be enough to lessen the pain in my heart? Hmpf…”
Lin Xin’s words ended with a grunting sound, and his originally large eyes appeared even larger as he glared at her.
If someone else was present, he would have described this scene as astonishing.
A pretty and vigorous knight was at this moment grabbing the head of a mage, pushing him against the stone wall behind him, before fiercely kissing his lips.
Chapter 256
At this time, Lin Xin’s brain almost short circuited. Li Xin’s ardent lips were like lava, melting all his anger and sad feelings. Currently, he just felt his whole body going soft, clearly turning pale as he sticked to the side of the wall, just as if he had turned into a sort of mural painting.
Separating her lips, Li Xin rapidly drew back until her armor knocked against the other side of the wall with a bang sound.
Her charming face appeared deep red, just like the color of her Rose Unicorn. Although she didn’t gasp for breath, her breast was heaving and she clearly wasn’t as undisturbed as usually.
“This should do!” Li Xin fiercely said, but gave off the impression that she could fall over at any given times now.
“You cannot beat me or curse me now! This young lady isn’t as wealthy as you, neither does she have anything precious she can give to compensate you. This will just do, now I don’t owe you anything anymore.” After she was finished, she rapidly bolted in the direction of the exit, before suddenly thinking of something. After taking a few steps, she turned back to look at Lin Xin’s painting-like-silhouette, and couldn’t help but speak out in anger, “Scoundrel, what’s up with this grieved appearance!? This was this lady’s first kiss!”
As she declared that, she picked up a small rock and threw it at Lin Xin, hitting his leg, before turning back and running away at a flying speed.
Lin Xin looked stiff and turned his head with an exaggerated motion, looking at Li Xin’s disappearing figure. His pale face suddenly became flushed, “I… Did she just forcefully kiss me?” Touching his own lips, he still felt the lingering presence of this ardent feeling.
Without awareness of the time that had passed, he walked back to the exit with the support of the stone wall, his legs still feeling unsteady and weak.
Running into Chen Ying’er, he was given a suspicious look, “What’s up with you, has-drug-bro? Have you caught a fever or what? How can your face be so red?”
“I’m alright.” Lin Xin touched his burning face, looking for a place to sit down with a sluggish face. As far as he could see, Li Xin wasn’t around.
Three whole day passed before the two Demon Hunt Squads recovered a minimal level of fighting strength, though this did not include Yi Jun and Dian Yan. The first had committed a great overdraft and needed to be nursed for some more time, whereas the second was seriously wounded and had yet to recover. But even so, they were ready to move again, and would just barely be unable to face the enemy but nothing more.
Over the past two days, Li Xin and Lin Xin seemed to be avoiding each other, but couldn’t help but occasionally steal a glance at the other party. The others weren’t blind, and naturally felt the strange atmosphere between the two of them. It was only that they were currently in a dangerous place, and everyone was focusing his energy on recovering strength, so no one payed close attention to them.
Their only thought was that the relation between the two of them was just rather awkward because of Li Xin’s forceful inquisition, but by paying good attention, one would discover that Lin Xin’s face was strangely flushed red whenever he caught a glimpse of Li Xin.
“Come here everyone!” Long Haochen stood at Cai’er’s side, raising his voice and calling them together.
Everyone immediately reacted, and rapidly gathered at his side.
“Over the past three days, everyone except from Cai’er, Yi Jun and Dian Yan have mostly recovered. I believe everyone is very curious about what I saw in the Desolate Hissing Cavern, what this cavern was in the end. I’ll show you everything.”
He was a bit ashamed of it, but Long Haochen couldn’t possibly disclose the secret of the Tower of Eternity because it would not necessarily be a good thing. Maybe it would even bring him great inconveniences.
Hearing Long Haochen’s words, everyone curiously glanced at him, but waited respectfully.
As the captain of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad, who explored the cavern by himself, if Long Haochen wanted to keep everything he discovered for himself, the members of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad would not be qualified to say anything against it. Without Long Haochen, they wouldn’t even be alive. But Long Haochen put his cards on the table and by openly revealing everything, he indicated that he didn’t have the desire of keeping everything for himself.
The Recording Gem displayed an image under the influence of the spiritual energy injected by Long Haochen, and the world existing inside of the Desolate Hissing Cavern appeared in everyone’s view.
It couldn’t be denied that this Recording Gem was indeed a rare type of treasure. Not only did it record the images, but even the incoming sounds.
Long Haochen appeared in the middle of the image, when the situation inside of the Desolate Hissing Cavern started to be displayed;
Because the whole record was very long, Long Haochen used his spiritual energy to regulate it, accelerating the whole process.
At the beginning of Long Haochen’s exploration, it could be seen that his body was surrounded by such violent fluctuations of spiritual energy, that everyone couldn’t help but feel a chill upon seeing it. Although they didn’t experience it for real, they could imagine how violent of a pressure Long Haochen had been subject to.
When Long Haochen suddenly released a Holy Mantle, his figure suddenly came to a stop and the record paused.
Under everyone’s amazement, Haochen declared in a serious tone, “The results of this exploration weren’t ideal, and I don’t know whether these images will be enough for us to get the mission approved as completed, but inside the Desolate Hissing Cavern, bearing those hissing sounds caused me to gain understanding of a new ability. Since we came here together, risking our life side by side to complete the mission, I am willing to share this ability with all of you. This way, this errand won’t have been for naught no matter how the Alliance decides. As for whether you’ll be able to understand it, it will depend on yourselves.”
Long Haochen’s words shoke everyone as one may imagine, particularly the six members of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad, whose expression changed completely.
Luc Xi retorted with almost no hesitation, “Captain Long, you don’t need to do this. Self created abilities don’t need to be shared with outsiders, it can be said to be a part of your own ability!”
In a different situation, perhaps Long Haochen wouldn’t reveal the secret of the ability he hardly gained comprehension of, but because of the secret he kept in the form of the Tower of Eternity, he felt a bit ashamed towards the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad. His kindhearted character made him do this as an attempt to make up for his insincerity.
Long Haochen revealed a smile, “This ability that I comprehended isn’t something anyone can learn. It is rather suited to a close quarters warrior. Don’t decline it, Captain Luc, since I said this much, I’ll do it. , please listen with attention everyone; I’ll tell you about the whole process of my understanding, and whether you manage to learn it or not will depend on your own abilities. I named this new ability ‘Ripples of Light’”
As he said this, a Holy Mantle was released from Long Haochen’s body, and he hinted Li Xin with a gesture, “Sis, launch an attack against my Holy Mantle. Do it slowly, to let everyone have a good look.”
Li Xin gave Long Haochen a helpless glance; the greatest weakness of this younger brother of her was just too clear. Don’t forget this is a precious self-created ability!
However, she still acted in accordance to Long Haochen’s instructions. In her eyes, his disposition as a leader was just improving with time, so since he chose to do this, he ought to have his own reasons.
A fiery red aura was directed against the Holy Mantle and Li Xin made use of her spiritual energy to send a cut towards the Holy Mantle.
But at the instant this cut came into contact with the Holy Mantle, a sudden buzzing sound could be heard, and Li Xin immediately opened her eyes wide. She was completely shocked to see that her cut was deflected without a chance to penetrate Long Haochen’s Holy Mantle.
Since everyone watched carefully, they clearly saw that at the instant Li Xin’s spiritual energy made its way into the Holy Mantle, the whole Holy Mantle emanated a kind of fierce ripples. Those ripples were the cause of the Holy Mantle’s sudden increase in defensive power, so that it was able to deflect Li Xin’s cut with ease.
Long Haochen continued to speak, “This ability called Ripples of Light is something I comprehended inside of the Desolate Hissing Cavern. You should know how powerful the impacts of the hissing sounds were, right? Well, Ripples of Light will bring this kind of amplification to your offensive and defensive abilities. It is able to strengthen our offensive and defensive ability greatly at the cost of an increased consumption of spiritual energy.”
, Long Haochen narrated without reservation his whole process of understanding that led to the creation of the Ripples of Light, and showed it once again to everyone else.
It was just as Long Haochen said: Ripples of Light wasn’t suited to magic vocations, and only close quarters combatants could use it. Everyone had a clear understanding of how great the utility of his ability could be. Han Daosi felt that Ripples of Light could produce an incredible increase to
his offensive power, whereas a Shield Warrior like Dian Yan felt that the benefits were rather to increase his defensive power by a large extent.
After the end of the record, Long Haochen gave his own narration, speaking of the Tower of Light that appeared in the very last instant before the specters threw themselves at him.
“At this time, I felt a great pain coming from my brain. It was as if these specters were trying to seize my body forcefully. It was at this time that Haoyue came, making use of a soul attack to drive them out. After this moment followed a period of stupor, and by the time I came back to my senses, the tower had already disappeared. From beginning to end, I haven’t seen it clearly enough to determine what it was. The recording ability of the Recording Gem also seems to have been affected, since it didn’t record anything that happened while I was in a state of stupor. However, I can be certain that even if that tower was still there, it’s not something that we could confront with our level of cultivation.”
Long Haochen had thought long before coming up with this story, and still felt guilty deep inside when telling it. But thinking of the shock the necromancers gave to the human world, he finally kept a strong front, telling this half-true story to his own comrades.
After he was done, the most spectacular thing to him was that no one called his report into question. It was clear that with the power of the hissing sound that appeared in the record, they wouldn’t possibly even have made it as far as him, and couldn’t possibly have done any better than Long Haochen. They had already gone as far as they could to accomplish the mission.
Han Daosi said in an embarrassed tone, “Captain Long, since it was as you said, these records should at least give us half the reward upon returning. That… That ability of yours, can we….”
Chapter 257
Han Daosi clearly expressed all the close quarters fighters’ thoughts. Seeing the ardent look in his eyes, Long Haochen nodded in response with a smile. “Yes. Then I’ll be giving everyone some pointers on how to master this skill. After some more time for rest, we will think of how to return to the Alliance.”
For some time, everyone concentrated their attention on the ability Ripples of Light. Deep in their hearts, everyone was grateful towards Long Haochen .
An ability created from single individual’s comprehension being taught to a whole group was something that had never happened in the history of the Alliance.
At this time, their talent of comprehension was displayed to its fullest.
Han Yu was the first to understand the secrets of the Ripple of Lights, understanding it after a day, and the second was Sima Xian. Although Sima Xian was a priest, he was a berserker priest using his physical power, and mastered the Ripples of Light just like Han Yu did. In comparison, it was a lot harder for a priest like him to learn the self-created ability of a knight, so he was clearly slower in the process than Han Yu was.
Long Haochen laughed in spite of himself at seeing this scene. It showed that at the time someone lost things, he would earn others: Sima Xian was a priest that was unable to learn healing magic, but was really gifted in learning offensive abilities.
In contrast, on the side of the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad, the three close-quarters warriors didn’t have the slightest results, and the same went for Li Xin.
Long Haochen didn’t voice it, but understood that one’s individual comprehension was closely related to their innate internal spiritual energy. The fact Sima Xian and Han Yu could rapidly comprehend it was related to their internal spiritual energy, which reached eighty after the Innate Talent Sharing, and also because they possessed the light attribute. His whole comprehension was established in relation to the light element, so it naturally became easier for them to learn it than for the others.
After three days passed, Dian Yan and Han Daosi gave up on trying to understand Ripples of Light, and although Li Xin and Wang Yuanyuan didn’t succeed yet, they shared an incredible determination, painstakingly practicing everyday.
Seeking the enormous utility the offensive ability Ripples of Light could bring them, and seeing the concessions Long Haochen did to share it, they had already made the firm resolution not to give up no matter what.
Of course, determination wasn’t enough to complement for a difference in the power of understanding, so it was hard to say whether they would manage to learn it or not. But as long as they tried, they also had a chance to succeed.
As Luc Xi watched this whole process as a spectator, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. It looked that their Demon Hunt Squad would never catch up with Long Haochen’s no matter what.
At least unless they miraculously met with a fateful encounter or got a lifetime’s chance.
Since they arrived there, seven days already passed. Han Daosi scouted once more, determining that the side of the Desolate Hissing Cavern was already thoroughly controlled by the Fiend Army. He didn’t dare get closer, but reported the situation to everyone. Close to the Desolate Hissing Cavern, at least three Fiend Lords were present, and it was very likely that
other existences that even surpassed them were also close by. Clearly, the disappearance of over a hundred Grand Fiends led them to intervene personally. It also seemed as if they were very determined to gain the treasures from the Desolate Hissing Cavern.
Luc Xi found Long Haochen to directly report to him, “Captain Long, a Fiend Army is present outside, but shouldn’t come near us. Dian Yan and Yi Jun have already recovered mostly, and putting the destroyed equipment aside, our two teams are fundamentally at an optimum state. Shouldn’t we think of a way to return?”
Long Haochen nodded in response, “That’s right, we cannot stay in this place for too long. But my big sister and Yuanyuan are still trying to understand the Ripples of Light. If we interrupt them now, I’m afraid they won’t have future opportunities to comprehend it. Now, if we want to return to the Alliance the fastest possible, our best solution is to use the same method as on our way here. We will use the Moon Clan’s route.”
Luc Xi started, “Are you saying that we should look for that president of the Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce?”
Long Haochen looked up, “Since she is controlled by Cai’er, she cannot resort to any tricks. With her protection, we should be able to spare strength during our return to the Alliance.”
Luc Xi remarked, “But this is still dangerous. What if that Yue Ye recklessly tries to expose us? Wouldn’t it…”
Long Haochen replied, “I’ve already thought of this bit. Although the possibility is low, we cannot put it aside. I plan to head to the Moon Clan’s headquarters alone; Yue Ye has already told me its location. It’s the Moon Palace, located in the Demon God Palaces’ side of the Central Province. I will be looking for her by myself, and if everything goes well, I will bring her here. This will be the safest way. And with the blood connection between Haoyue and myself, even if I run into some danger, I’ll have no problem to escape.”
Luc Xi gave Long Haochen a glance, and revealed a bitter smile,
“Compared to you, captain, I’m simply a useless person.”
Long Haochen patted his shoulder, “Captain Luc, don’t say that. If not for your presence, we wouldn’t have made it so far. We are members of a same team, and managed to reap an important amount of contribution points. As a team, your healing is what everyone needs the most. Let’s leave it at that, I will set out tonight. I leave this side to you. Cai’er has lost four of her senses and cannot be teleported along with Haoyue, so I will have to leave her here. If you meet with danger here, Haoyue will immediately inform me and I’ll return instantly.”
Luc Xi nodded, “You travel with ease, I will properly take care of the measures to keep us hidden.”
By the means of a simple exchange of words, the two captains decided on the future plans of the team.
Long Haochen returned to Cai’er’s side, lightly pulling her hand, and writing a few words that he had decided on beforehand.
Cai’er was nestling against him, using her slim fingers to write in his palm the words, “Don’t be too late to come back.”
Not obstructing him the least, and not insisting on staying by his side, Cai’er was the same as usual, always giving consideration to Long Haochen.
Giving her a tender hug and feeling her softness, Long Haochen’s expression finally loosened. He was determined, that after coming back, he wouldn’t accept another mission until Cai’er recovered her four senses, and choose to accompany her in Holy City during this difficult period.
“Lin Xin, come here.” Long Haochen called Lin Xin, who was busy making pills nearby.
Lin Xin had to carry the burden of making pills, so Long Haochen set up a special space to let him refine it in a calm environment that suited him.
Hearing Long Haochen’s call, Lin Xin hastingly ran up to his side, “Captain, these last few days have been all right for me. Although this adventure turned out to be filled with many untold dangers and difficulties, we gained even more good materials than before. It’s just that this place is rather simple and crude, so I couldn’t start researching new products yet. But at least, I will have made some of the same pills as before. Most of my energy is directed at making Great Recovery Pills. I should be coming up with the first batch today. I estimate that there should be no problem to make seven or eight sets.”
Just as Long Haochen said it before, everyone was absolutely necessary in this team. The utility of Lin Xin’s pills, often at crucial times was something everyone experienced personally.
Of course, Spiritual Bursting Pills and Bloodthirsty Pills had a certain use, but what the team needed the most at this time was Great Recovery Pills. After all, they had already used up a good amount of the former two kinds. By making some more Great Recovery Pills, they could share some with the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad. Of course, this would be in exchange for some contribution points. A hundred contribution points per pill; this was the price Lin Xin concluded. In his own words, it was a rather low price.
Lin Xin had his absolute nature of an unscrupulous businessman. In the end, he didn’t collect the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad’s contribution points, guaranteeing three Great Recovery Pills per person in exchange for all the material from the beast corpses the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad had collected. This included the corpses of magical beasts they already had stored beforehand, the magical crystals they had. All the storage devices on Luc Xi’s side were emptied of the magical beast corpses in it.
It was a huge profit! But Lin Xin was the only one who knew how much profit this was.
Long Haochen nodded, responding, “I didn’t call you to ask about the situation regarding the pills. This is a field we don’t understand at all. Everything is left to you on this.”
Lin Xin was startled, asking with some hesitation, “Then what did you call me for, Captain?”
Long Haochen gave a glance to another nearby person, before lowering his voice, “I want to ask you what happened between my sis and you? Something is wrong between you these days.”
“Eeh?” Lin Xin jumped back, almost falling down, and on his face appeared a sort of boiling red trace.
“Was there really something?” Long Haochen asked.
“No… Nothing!” Lin Xin hurried to defend himself, “How could something happen between Miss Li Xin and myself? Nothing happened, really!”
Long Haochen unhappily replied, “Your show is really not up to much. Take a look at your face if you have a mirror, you’re blushing even more than the most girly little girl among little girls. Go, I’ll ask my sis later. If I learn that you tried to bully her, humpf, you’ll see.”
Lin Xin revealed a bitter face, “Captain, oh almighty captain, just let me off the hook this time. It’s such a loss of face, I really don’t want to say it.”
Long Haochen showed a serious face, “Lin Xin, my sis was the one in the wrong to reprimand you. But this is after all a joint mission between our two squads, where we have to help each other and trust the other party. I don’t wish for a grudge between you two, otherwise, this may have a catastrophic effect during the times we run into danger. You understand?”
Lin Xin was indeed quite helpless, “Boss, please don’t be so serious. I never bore a grudge towards miss Li Xin! I… I…”
Long Haochen looked straight at him, waiting for his next words.
Chapter 258
Lin Xin stared at him indecisively before finally stamping his feet on the ground, “… Okay, then I’ll tell you. Your sis took advantage of me and forcefully kissed me!”
“WHAAT!” Long Haochen never expected this, and this cry of surprise was so loud that it caused everyone to look over in alarm.
“Boss, keep quiet, or else, how do you expect me to have any shame left
?” Lin Xin said awkwardly, his face turning flaming red.
Long Haochen’s expression became somewhat unsightly, “Lin Xin, I don’t care about your narcissism, but how can you be narcissistic enough to claim something like that? How could my sis force a kiss on you? Don’t forget she’s a girl, and you’re slandering someone’s purity right now. ”
“I… I… I……” Lin Xin looked torn between laughter and tears, “Boss, how could I try to fool you? If not for you, I wouldn’t even be in this Demon Hunt Squad! Let me explain everything to you.”
He really couldn’t hide it anymore, and approached Long Haochen’s ear, telling him about the misunderstanding that happened between Li Xin and himself, how she came to look for him, and told him about everything that happened between the two of them.
Having heard his story, Long Haochen’s became stone-faced. Looking at Li Xin who was painstakingly focusing on training, he was simply speechless.
What’s this?! Sis, you’re too intrepid this time!
For fear that Long Haochen wouldn’t believe him, he imitated Li Xin’s motion, turning his hand over to cover his head along with Long Haochen’s ear, “Boss, you see, when Miss Xin did this, she had a hand holding the back of my head, that and don’t forget she’s a knight! I’m just a mage, even if I wanted to fight back, I couldn’t do anything more than struggle! And then…”
Looking at his grieved face, Long Haochen unhappily retorted back, “You’re the one taking advantage here! My sis is a girl you know, and it was her first kiss. How can you be unsatisfied after taking such great advantage?!”
Lin Xin said in a low voice, “Boss, I’m not unsatisfied or anything! It’s just that I’m not taking advantage at all! That was also my first kiss you know!”
“Eh?” Long Haochen gave him an unconvinced look, “Could you possibly still have something such as a first kiss? What about the young lady that seemed ready to eat you at the auction house? one can pretty much call you a womanizer with certainty, how could it be your first kiss! I wouldn’t be even surprised to hear that you’ve had ten thousand before.”
Lin Xin cried out in disatisfaction, “Boss, I’m telling the truth! I am at most a bit narcissistic, but I am pure to the core. Under grandfather’s tight watch, if I really dared to tangle with a girl, he would definitely not let me off. And you know, I am just a few years older than you, and I’m not even twenty now. I’m not so precocious you know! If I was doing dirty things to girls every day, how could I become such an outstanding alchemist!?”
Long Haochen’s expression turned into extreme surprise, and a long time later, he tried asking, “What do you plan on doing? Treat it as though nothing happened?”
Lin Xin unhappily spoke back, “This was my first kiss, my very first time! How can I treat it as though it didn’t happen? Plus that it has been taken like that. I… I…”
Long Haochen kneaded his head and responded, “It’s enough, go back to making your pills. There’s nothing I can do about this. Think of something by yourself. There’s just one thing I demand of you: you are not permitted to hurt my sis. Otherwise, I really won’t let you off.”
Lin Xin lightly nodded, suddenly lowering his voice, “Actually, I kind of prefer older girls. And Miss Xin is quite pretty. Boss, tell me, if I went after your big sister Xin’er, would I have a chance?”
“Don’t ask me that, I don’t really know either. But know that if you try, you may have a chance, but you won’t have any if you don’t. If you are really determined, just go for it. I’ll be heading to the Moon Clan’s place to look for a way out for us. Think well before you act.”
“Mh.” Lin Xin continued speaking, “I’ve been thinking about something these days. I don’t know why, but ever since this kiss, I suddenly realized that Miss Xin is becoming prettier and prettier in my eyes. I am thinking of going after her, but I just don’t really know how I should. I’ve no experience on this, boss, can’t you teach me?”
Long Haochen showed an unhappy reaction, “How could I teach you? Seeing that you don’t have any firsthand experience, don’t tell me you think I have?”
Lin Xin didn’t have any hesitation to respond, “Of course you have some, just how old is Cai’er! Since you got hold of her, how can you say you have no experience?”
“Just get lost!” Kicking Lin Xin that carried a malicious smile, Long Haochen turned towards Cai’er without paying any further attention to him.
Along with the passage of time, Long Haochen understood Lin Xin’s characters gradually more and more. Be it in terms of looks, natural disposition, ability or background, he was completely above Li Xin. If he
was really sincere, this wouldn’t be something bad. But everything would depend on fate, and he didn’t plan on intervening in this. He believed that his own big sister’s judgment would be enough for her to make her own decision.
From the west, the night slowly engulfed the earth, and Long Haochen noiselessly left the ravine, heading down.
The Desolate Hissing Cavern in itself was located in the Central Province of the demon territory, and its location was marked long ago on his map. After passing from the side of the mountain range, he rushed to the Central Province.
Along with the increase of his cultivation, Long Haochen’s ability was boosted as a whole. Although he wasn’t riding Haoyue, when running at full strength, he was fast enough to match a speeding horse in the wilderness.
The current him had already put on the Demonic Eyes of the Moon Clan as well as the clothes given to him by Yue Ye, and made use of the darkness of the night to speed towards his destination while staying low-key.
The night sky was beautiful, bathed in resplendent starlight, with a half- moon spreading its hazy moonlight. This half-moon was partly hidden behind clouds, spreading a soft luster.
Although Long Haochen left, Cai’er still remained in his heart. This time, he gave Haoyue an order, that no matter what, he was not to take even half a step away from Cai’er. In case something happened, he would immediately recall Long Haochen to Cai’er’s side. He would definitely not permit anyone to injure his Cai’er again.
This quicktrip didn’t feel lonely for Long Haochen. Thinking about the whole process of the mission, he summed up the wins and the losses in his head.
Without a doubt, this mission was out of his capabilities from the very beginning. They had run into trouble right after trying to enter through the
Freelance Merchants. A series of battles had come one after another. But as a whole, they were still fortunate that at least no one died from all these misadventures.
Difficult battles would polish one’s willpower and ability. Long Haochen believed that as long as they could make it back alive from this trip, both the 21st general squad and the 4th soldier squad would make great progress.
Furthermore, this time’s rewards were plentiful. Having killed so many demon powerhouses, they could already figure out through simple calculations that the contribution points their 21st Demon Hunt Squad obtained through killing demons already exceeded 10,000, though they had yet to determine the total amount. But still, 10,000 was the most conservative estimate.
The stronger they were, the more they had to invest themselves in the team. Long Haochen and Cai’er were the typical examples of this. Cai’er’s case didn’t even need to be recalled: with her strength merely at the fifth step, she had beaten a Fiend Lord of the seventh step in a one on one battle, letting Long Haochen witness the absurd power of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara. Long Haochen had also portrayed sufficient strength as a leader. Be it as a commander or as the central pillar of his team, he was already close to perfection. And during this mission, he was also the one who reaped the most gains.
During the past days of rest, Long Haochen made use of the Spiritual Energy Examination Gem to check his internal spiritual energy, and it turned out that he was currently an Earth Knight of the ninth rank, reaching a spiritual energy of above 3,700. The Saint Spiritual Stove was also distinctly only a single step away from evolving once again, plus he had the Light Elemental Fairy Yating as well as the Pendant of Eternal Melody which he didn’t know the rank of. Long Haochen was certain that as long as he was given a steady environnement, he would at most need two months to reach and break through the bottleneck of the Radiant Knight’s rank.
In fact, when taking everything into account, less than half a year had passed since he broke through to the fifth step. Even Long Haochen himself found his cultivating speed to be quite terrifying.
And this was not his greatest harvest, that would be the Tower of Eternal Rest. Although he didn’t know what this tower would bring him, he was sure that this fantastic tower of mysteries was formidable enough to compare with a divine artifact.
He had to make it back alive no matter what! Long Haochen unconsciously clenched his fists. As long as he came back alive, he would be sure to possess the flight ability by the next time they would enter in the demon territory.
Roughly two hundred kilometers separated the Desolate Hissing Cavern from his current location. Considering his current speed, at sunrise of that day, he would already have reached his destination. The Central Province and its vast plains englobed a tenth of the whole demon territory, making it the biggest of the twenty-four provinces. The demons’ capital city was located in the core area of this Central Province. Though, it wasn’t called a demon capital, but rather a core city, in the meaning of being the core for the Demon Gods. This ‘Modu City’ used to be a huge imperial capital, before being seized and transformed by demons who changed it to this shape over several thousands years.
This Modu Core City was enormous, to the extent that no city in the Alliance was able to compare with it. Its size could be said to be twenty times that of the Exorcist City, following a square-shaped architecture. Within it, the Demon Emperor Palace was situated right at the center of Core City, acting as the central building of the city. The first ranked Demon God Pillar, belonging to the Demon God Emperor Fengxiu, was located in this Demon Emperor Palace.
The Demon Emperor Palace aside, four other palaces were situated at the four corners of the Modu Core City, belonging to the second, third, fourth and fifth Demon Gods. Their Demon God Pillars located inside of their respective palaces, they were dwelling in these places, making the importance of this city to the demon race clearly visible.
At the time this terrifying city appeared in Long Haochen’s sight, the day had already begun, but because this enormous city was completely pitch- black, he was unable to discern any traces of dawn’s daylight.
Chapter 259
In the sky of this enormous city, black clouds could be seen, forming a completely different environment from the one outside of the city. Not a single ray of sunlight illuminated this city’s insides.
From afar, Long Haochen vaguely discerned a hazy black fog, seemingly spreading in the air unchallenged.
Only by looking, he had the feeling of being stifled by this city. Apparently, the light elemental spiritual energy contained inside was being strongly suppressed, while the darkness elemental concentration was at least threefolds more than the external world.
Slowing down his pace, Long Haochen arranged his clothing, taking out the emblem given by Yue Ye in his hands. Rubbing his cheeks to loosen his facial expression, he advanced in the direction of Modu Core City.
After a whole night of travelling at his maximum pace on his way here, he needed some rest to alleviate the fatigue. Don’t forget that, because this place was in the core of the demon territory, he could not summon the Light Elemental Fairy Yating to help him, neither use the sunlight’s assistance, which terribly slowed down his recovery speed.
Long Haochen took half an hour to recover from his exertion after the city appeared to his view to reach it.
The Modu Core City was really wide. All the perimeter was ten times larger than normal city walls, making their length unmatched in the history of Shengmo Dalu.
Long Haochen’s chose to enter from the southern city gate, which was the one guarded by the Moon Demon Clan.
The four city gates were protected by the second, third, fourth and fifth demon gods, and the south of the city was the Moon Clan’s territory.
With his current appearance, Long Haochen looked like a nobleman from the Moon Clan, looking tired from his trip. After showing his viscount insignia, the guards immediately paid their respects, letting him enter in the city.
Nonetheless, Long Haochen’s back was drenched in sweat. This was because, these demons from the Moon Clans were only soldiers of lower rank, but seemed to have a strength at the fourth step, making them no inferior to Grand Fiends from the Fiend Clan. This caused him to think secretly that if not for the fact that Princess Yue Ye had some human blood, perhaps her strength would not be merely at the fifth step.
Unhurriedly entering the Modu Core City, Long Haochen found a rather remote corner of the city, assessing the central demon city.
Modu Core City’s roads were extremely broad, enough for a carriage of the size as the one Yue Ye used back then to be used without feeling crowded. On the two sides of the city, stores stood in great numbers. Most of the buildings were tall, and they had mostly simple designs on them, making it way different from the characteristics of the Glorious Era’s buildings.
6,000 thousand years ago, as demons brought a catastrophe upon humans, they made a huge part of the human knowledge theirs. If one was to take a quick look, this city seemed to be pretty much the same as a human city, if not even more flourishing than any other human city.
But upon taking a closer look, one can notice that this place was different as it is pitch-black and filled with coldness. Some humans occasionally showed up on the street, but the vast majority of the people present were demons of various kinds. Of course, lower ranked demons like Dual Bladed Demons of the Zelin Clan were unseen, and most of them were a lot more
powerful. Evidently, being able to enter the Modu Core City was an honor to any demon.
So this is the center of command of the demon race? Long Haochen pondered deeply, because he had already run across four powerhouses of the sixth step and even one at the seventh step since he entered. And, in the streets of Modu Core City, they simply appeared like average commoners that didn’t stand out at all.
After observing for a short time, Long Haochen didn’t stay in that place, but immediately headed for his current destination. With the map he possessed, it wasn’t possible for him to get lost after entering from the southern gate of this square-shaped city.
Modu Core City was really huge, and Long Haochen was still in the outer region, thus reaching the Moon Castle took him a whole hour.
Although he knew about the Core City in advance, Long Haochen couldn’t help but feel astonished upon standing in front of the Moon Castle.
This was simply like another mini-city.
The deep purple-colored walls were over thirty meters long and the wide palace had the shape of an inestimably large square. The walls of the palace were purple-colored, and from there, Long Haochen distinctly recognized an increase of the elemental fluctuations in the air. The elemental fluctuations in this place were several folds more intense.
The Alliance’s Great Stadium was not even close to that Moon Castle in size. And aside from the Demon Emperor’s Palace, there were three other places of this scale in the Modu Core City. Long Haochen suddenly felt powerless: seeing the scale of Modu Core City, what kind of strength could possibly break through it!? Had humanity really any hope of defeating demonkind one day?
This thought only flashed through his mind, but staunching his resolve, he rapidly came back to his senses.
Once he arrived in front of the Moon Castle, Long Haochen took out his viscount emblem of the Moon Clan, walking resolutely and going in.
Viscount of the Moon Clan was not a title that only applied to the Moon Clan, but to all demons clans. Being a nobleman from the Moon Clan was an honorable status. Only the Moon Clan’s Leader, Agares, was qualified to give someone this status as a direct order.
Seeing this young viscount, the guardsmen hurriedly bowed and made their salutations, not questioning Long Haochen’s status in the slightest.
Aside from this emblem, Long Haochen’s admirable face was his best proof of identity. In the Moon Clan, the greater was one’s status, the stronger was the branch he belonged to, and the more handsome he would be. And Long Haochen’s appearance was something even the Moon Demon God Agares wouldn’t necessarily match. As soon as the guards saw his purple eyes and his appearance, they immediately drew back without the slightest hesitation, not even daring to look at his emblem.
The Moon Castle was huge, and Long Haochen had to use the map given by Yue Ye to find his path. At the same time, he had to make his own aura vanish completely.
He clearly understood the danger of this place: with the Moon Demon God being the second most powerful demon god out of the seventy-two, no less than a dozen powerhouses of the ninth step would be be present in this Moon Castle. If he was exposed in this sort of place, his only choice would be to immediately leave through his blood connection with Haoyue. He couldn’t stay for a single second.
His handsome appearance having become his greatest asset, it surprisingly became easy for Long Haochen to advance: all the Moon clansmen, regardless of whether they were male or female, elderly or young, strong or weak, appeared extremely respectful, even taking the initiative to make their salutations to him and invite him to walk ahead of them.
Although Yue Ye described him the importance of one’s appearance for the Moon Clan, Long Haochen didn’t think it would have such utility. But no matter what one said, this was a good thing, avoiding him quite a few troubles.
The Moon Castle was separated into an inner part and an outer part. The outer part of the castle was for the powerhouses of the Moon Clan to reside in, whereas the inner part was only for the direct relatives of the Moon Demon God to enter. Compared to the already broad and luxurious outer part, the inner part was simply like a palace.
At the time Long Haochen tried to enter in the inner part, he was once again inspected. Still, his viscount emblem showed good utility, as the insignia carved in it permitted him to enter with no difficulty.
Stepping into the inner palace, Long Haochen suddenly felt that it became hard to breath.
The elemental fluctuations in this place were extremely dense, to the extent that it reached a viscous degree. Every breath he took, he felt that his body was being filled with elemental particles, fiercely confronting the light elemental energy in his body.
This feeling was truly hard to bear. Long Haochen came to understand that if he stayed here for a too long, his cultivation would probably take a huge blow and weaken from that.
Apparently, the Moon Demon God’s Demon God Pillar should be located inside of this Moon Castle. I wonder where it is…
This majestic purple palace extended endlessly. Noble, simple yet elegant, and carrying a prestigious feeling. This inner palace vastly exceeded the office house of the Temple Alliance in all regards.
After entering, Long Haochen didn’t dare to keep staring, rapidly made a detour to the side while avoiding the middle of the pathway and heading to a rather secluded part, into a palace of modest size.
Dense vegetation was surrounding it, and the palace clearly looked more simple than the others.
“Stand! Don’t you know that these are the princess’ quarters? And you still dare make your way inside?” Two tall female Moon clansmen blocked Long Haochen’s way.
With but a mere glance, Long Haochen couldn’t help but let out a gasp, because these two Moon clanswomen that looked below twenty were both at the sixth step of cultivation.
What kind of talent is that? Long Haochen couldn’t help but secretly smile bitterly. Although he knew that this was dependant on one’s innate capability, and that some of these demon clans couldn’t be compared to humans in this aspect, he still couldn’t refrain himself from feeling a bit jealous.
“Please show the princess this insignia.” Long Haochen passed his own viscount insignia to them, before taking a few steps back, unyieldingly standing straight.
Seeing the emblem, the look on the two ladies’ faces immediately softened, “Please wait a moment, mister viscount.”
After the conversation, one of the two figures flashed, and Long Haochen just saw a purple trail of moonlight in his line of sight, before that lady’s figure disappeared.
A short time later, the moonlight glowed once again, and that lady appeared in the former place once again, “Mister viscount, the princess invited you in.”
“Mh.” Long Haochen nodded calmly, entering in large strides.
The two Moon clanswomen looked at each other face to face, and one said in a low voice, “Wah, how handsome! It’s the first time that I see such a handsome viscount. Could he be milady’s husband-to-be?”
The other girl replied with envy, “That is highly possible. Only such a powerful and handsome clansman can be a match for our princess. You too saw his appearance, which was close to perfect. I estimate that he should at least be a powerhouse of the eighth step, that should shortly break through to the ninth step. And he is surely under fifty.”
The moon clansmen’s average age was fifty, but to them, fifty years-old was an extremely young age. The only backdraw was that the men from the Moon Clan were the same as the Devil Dragons on one aspect: their fertility was low.
Tightening the internal spiritual energy in his body, Long Haochen made certain that his connection with Haoyue was still strong, before heading into the princess’ chamber.
Chapter 260
Yue Ye’s palace was a two floored building. Compared to the lofty and luxurious palaces located in the Moon Demon Palace, her palace wasn’t very eye-catching. But the fact that she possessed a palace of her own in the inner part of the Moon Castle was ample proof of her position within the Moon Clan.
Yue Ye calmly stood in the living room, wearing a purple long skirt. Her long hair was set free, and she didn’t have any cosmetics put on her naturally beautiful face. Without any jewellery on her, she gave a gentle look to Long Haochen who slowly walked towards her.
“Your Highness.” Long Haochen looked at her, secretly shocked that outside of their previous predicament, her appearance was really refined.
Yue Ye waved her hand and ordered, “You can go.”
“Yes.” The four maids serving nearby rapidly retired from their post by the wide hall, leaving only Long Haochen and Yue Ye .
“I didn’t expect you to come so quickly.” Yue Ye said with a smile while hinting at him to come closer. Walking to her seat, she sat down before hinting Long Haochen to do the same.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, Your Highness.” Long Haochen calmly smiled. At this time, he appeared rather calm, and didn’t give off a single trace of anxiety.
Yue Ye looked straight at his face, asking in a soft voice, “Then, has Captain Long’s mission been completed?”
Long Haochen’s eyes suddenly flashed with cold light, immediately revealing a serious look. To him, this place was the den of the tiger and not to be trusted.
Yue Ye naturally understood his thought, and said with a smile, “Captain Long doesn’t need to worry, only confidents of mine are by my side. None of them would go on gossiping.”
Long Haochen deliberately calmed his expression. Calm again, he gave her a reply, “Yes, I don’t doubt your word. Considering President Yue Ye’s ability, I believe that she wouldn’t let the people at her side show disobedience for a second time.”
A sullen look of danger appeared on Yue Ye’s face, “Are you mocking me?”
“I don’t dare, I am just speaking honestly. We could not accomplish this mission, but it won’t be necessary for us to proceed with it. I am planning on returning to the Alliance, could you help me?” Long Haochen didn’t plan to nag at her, and got right to the point.
Yue Ye wrinkled her brows, and replied, “This isn’t a problem. The last time I made a report to my father, he was infuriated, to the misfortune of the guys at the side of the Nareiks Province. After his Majesty’s order to conduct a thorough investigation, their three Demon Gods were immediately put on trial by our Demon God Emperor, deprived of command over their subordinates. But the thing is, I can temporarily not leave the Moon Demon Castle as I still have some matters to handle here. If you want to head back, I can arrange a merchant group acting in the name of our Yue Ye Merchant Group for you. After the retribution suffered by those who attacked us the last time, I estimate that no one would dare act against our merchant group again. Moreover, you will be able to leave unharmed for the Temple Alliance. ”
Long Haochen nodded in response, “Thanks a lot. When can we set off?”
Yue Ye gave an unhappy reply, “I am not a god. I need some time to prepare all of this. It will take at least three days, and at most ten days. I have to make a good amount of preparation for this.”
“Alright.” Long Haochen then asked, “How will Your Highness inform me?”
Yue Ye said, “The best would be to have you stay here for now, as you wait for me to finish all preparations before you leave. I have a lot of free rooms where you can stay, and this isn’t a place where anyone would dare to rashly enter.”
“You want me to stay here?” Long Haochen was immediately cautious.
Yue Ye was unable to stifle her laughter, “How can such a wise and farsighted person as Captain Long ask such a silly question? Don’t tell me you are afraid that I may have some bad intentions towards you? If this was my intention, I could simply have refused to meet you. But still, your friend’s methods are really too savage. Since committing a bad act of any kind against you would prevent the restriction in my body from being relieved, this would just be the same as asking for death. Is this the attitude you should have as a collaborator?”
Long Haochen’s expression came back to normal, giving an indifferent reply, “Collaborator? You are a demon princess, and our relationship is at most one where we make use of each other, nothing more. Speaking of collaboration is out of question. If I haven’t guessed wrong, the resources you brought back last time were transported to Modu Core City. Can you really say that you are staying neutral?”
Yue Ye nodded without any hesitation, “Of course I can. This is the most important motto we, freelance merchants, have. You just saw the things I transported back, but didn’t get to see what I usually bring to the humans’ side. This time when you follow my caravan back to the Temple Alliance, I will let you see it.”
Long Haochen replied, “That would be great.”
Yue Ye gave him an ardent look, suddenly standing up and heading in his direction, “Then, if I may ask, when will you have your friend remove the restriction she placed on my body? I am sincerely collaborating with you here. But having this thing in my body, makes me feel uneasy and nervous, and is really a great pain.”
As she said so, she softened her body, about to sit on his lap.
Long Haochen had been on high alert since he entered the city, so his reaction was naturally fast. His body flashed, leaving its seat, and Yue Ye’s flexible body only barely came into contact with his thigh, before falling on the seat where Long Haochen previously sat.
“Am I so scary?” Yue Ye asked with hidden bitterness.
Long Haochen’s face appeared colder, “Your Highness, please conduct yourself with dignity. I believe that considering your position, finding a place in Modu Core City for me to stay will not be hard for you. After having prepared the caravan, you may just send someone to notify me.”
Yue Ye wrinkled her brows and declared, “You are really a rigid person, aren’t you?. Which side of mine cannot compare with that girl?”
Long Haochen indifferently replied, “Delicious delicacies won’t arouse the appetite of an already full stomach.”
A change suddenly appeared in Yue Ye’s eyes, “Is that really so? But from what I know, all of you men, be it humans or demons, are in general greedy and never satisfied in this regard. My father has hundreds of concubines, with no lack of humans among them, in addition to plenty of beautiful women from demon clans. And I heard that His Majesty the Demon God Emperor has over a thousand of them. Don’t tell me you think they have still not eaten until they were full?”
After a little pause, Yue Ye gave him a provocative look, “Or is it that you are no good in this regard?”
Unfortunately, she picked the wrong target for this provocation, and Long Haochen immediately looked distracted, “No good in this regard? Which regard are you speaking of?”
Seeing his pure look, Yue Ye immediately felt embarrassed, and couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you this year?”
Although Long Haochen had an increasingly tall build and an progressively steady temperament, he was after all still young, and his face was still carrying traces of childishness .
“I’m not telling you.” A very hard rejection was given to her.
Yue Ye replied with a ‘humpf’, “Let it be then. Look at this thing, do you know what it is?” As she said so, a radiance flashed from her hand, and a one-third of a meter long metal stick appeared, which she passed to Long Haochen.
Unconsciously Long Haochen stretched his hand and took it. The moment he touched the stick, the spiritual energy in his body appeared to be stirred up, and that little stick lightened up slightly before giving off a purple glint, condensing two digits in the air.
Seeing those two digits, Long Haochen and Yue Ye were both startled.
“Fifteen.”
“You fooled me!” Long Haochen shouted furiously. Clearly, this little metallic stick was used to measure people’s age. He had been duped.
Yue Ye sluggishly looked at him, “You… You are only fifteen… Heavens! This can’t be for real.”
Long Haochen snorted coldly, “It will be in one month though”, he grumbled. “You fooled me… I’m confiscating this thing!” As he said so, his chest released a golden glint, and the metallic stick was sucked in the Pendant of Eternity n a grandiose way.
“Hey! This thing was very expensive, and is quite rare at that!” Yue Ye extended her hand, demanding it back.
Long Haochen ignored her and turned back to the exit, “I believe that considering your status, finding the place where I will stay won’t be hard. I will look for an inn by myself. Send me news as soon as you can, or don’t blame me for becoming blunt. Since I dared come, I’m not afraid of any tricks you may have up your sleeves.” He didn’t want to keep being in tangle with that girl.
“Okay, okay. I will prepare a place for you to stay. What if you get trapped when looking for a place?” Yue Ye said with hidden bitterness. After such a realization, she was currently incredibly shocked.
Pertaining to Long Haochen, she had always felt very curious. She naturally could tell that Long Haochen was less than twenty, but she didn’t expect him to be so young as fifteen. Humans and demons were different: demon powerhouses all had natural powerful abilities, though it would be very difficult for them to cultivate. Only a few powerful clans were relatively good at cultivating, but aside from them, even a demon god would find it hard to improve his cultivation.
But humans were different: humans didn’t possess the same kind of innate ability, but their postnatal growth capability was boundless. Although it was influenced by their innate talent, their creativity and growth, it was still something demons couldn’t compare to. Otherwise, how could humanity have lasted for so long against the continuous attacks of the demon armies without falling?
Reaching the fifth step at fifteen years old – Yue Ye had never heard of such a feat till this day. Furthermore, Long Haochen was already the captain of his own Demon Hunt Squad. Given Yue Ye’s intelligence, she could tell that given Long Haochen’s age and ability, his innate talent ought to reach the most supreme peak attainable by humans. If enough time was given to allow him to grow, he was bound to become a great threat to the demon’s side.
However, there was one bit where she didn’t deceive Long Haochen, regarding her personal inclination. Regardless of whichever side – demon or human, she didn’t have any preference. To her, profit and strength were the most important things. Thus, although she discovered Long Haochen’s terrifying potential, it didn’t cause her a troubled mind. She only secretly determined that this was all the more of a reason for her to make good friends with this little guy.
At this very moment, a maid suddenly came in haste, “Your Highness, the Demon God Emperor has come. He wants everyone in the inner quarters to go out to meet him.”
“What?” Yue Ye was shocked, and her expression changed greatly.
Long Haochen was even more stressed, and unconsciously clenched both his fists.
“Please go down first. I have to change clothes.” After being briefly shaken, Yue Ye waved her hand, ordering the maid to retire.