Chapter 331
None of the radiance spread out, but one could clearly see that the golden light on Long Haochen’s body and the igniting purplish black flames on the crown prince Ah’Bao extinguished each other at the same time. Even the light in their eyes lost its radiance at the same time, dimming significantly.
Let alone the demons, even Long Haochen’s mates were dazed by this sight. No one expected that Long Haochen’s attack could persist against Ah’Bao’s.
Bzz.
A strange buzzing sound resounded from Ah’Bao’s forehead as well as Long Haochen’s sword at the same time.
Countless specks of blue and golden light sprinkled in front of Long Haochen, condensing into countless brilliant rays in the air. On the other side, a wrenching buzzing sound could be heard from Ah’Bao’s head, and a crack spread from its apex
“Hou!” As if suffering a fatal wound, Ah’Bao abruptly shouted in pain, throwing his immense head up in the air in an excruciating frenzy.
Right at that time, the attacks from Long Haochen’s mates reached him as well.
Hitting him first was Wang Yuanyuan’s Gigantic Divine Soul shield, the great axe-like shield carrying the threatening power from Asura Strike. Violently it slammed against Ah’Bao’s body.
Having lost the protection of those purplish black flames, a cut was forcibly inflicted on Ah’Bao’s body. Following that was the Asura Thrust from Han Yu combined with Storing Power, and although Ah’Bao did his best to defend himself, the wing on his left side was still penetrated by this Asura Thrust.
, the Energetic Ball of Light struck with a thundering sound, clashing violently against Ah’Bao’s body with a loud bang. The impact was strong enough to send his ten meters high body down to the ground. Crush and Ripples of Light were used by Sima Xian to their limit, and were additionally combined with other offensive abilities of a priest. On the places Ah’Bao’s body was hit, scales were smashed to pieces, and the flesh beyond badly mangled.
These were four fullpower stored attacks, right after the head-on collision with Long Haochen. Ah’Bao seemed to have been forced into an extremely weak state, to the extent that all his abilities to defend disappeared. This combination alone managed to inflict heavy wounds.
However, one had to admit that his willpower was truly unyielding. His inner determination was indomitable, and even in the instant his body was sent flying, a purplish black crystal emerged from his mouth, not to attack Long Haochen, but aiming directly at Ye Xiaolei behind them.
In the instant of the final explosion, Ah’Bao felt perhaps himself succumb to the pressure, but he was still absolutely unwilling to admit defeat. Since he couldn’t get the prize, no one would be allowed to get it. He had to destroy her, to destroy…
A pitch-black figure appeared noiselessly in front of Ah’Bao at this time, and countless ice-cold white glows mixed into her dark golden dagger. At once, ruthlessly penetrating into Ah’Bao’s nape, directly aiming at the center of his brain.
Cai’er finally appeared, exactly at Ah’Bao’s weakest spot.
This was the task Long Haochen had given her. Long Haochen had told her that, at exactly the time Ah’Bao would get repelled, she would have to
launch her attack.
This strike was the result of the extremely hard work spent on revision and improvement. After breaking through to the sixth step of cultivation, Cai’er’s Thousand Strikes Spiritual Strikes had also evolved, achieving its second level. The evolution enabled the words Thousand Strikes to finally take shape: this was the combination of thousand strikes as one. Relying on this attack and Cai’er’s Despotic Stab, her offensive power reached its pinnacle.
Among the Six Great Temples, the one with the greatest understanding of the demons’ weakest points was the Assassin Temple. The toughest part of a Devil Dragon was his head, but to kill one with certainty, the place one had to aim was their brain.
Only with a penetrating blow on their nape would one have the possibility to destroy the brain.
Forced into a state of weakness, Ah’Bao was abruptly hit by this piercing blow. He screamed as his massive body abruptly burst out with an indescribable surge of power. A crispy sound of shattering echoed, and a black tile turned into fragments in the air. Immediately afterwards, an ancient force abruptly burst forth, forcibly sending Cai’er’s body flying in the air, before her dagger had the opportunity of really penetrating his brain.
On the top of the mountain.
The instant Chen Ying’er’s spell was completed, her luck turned out pretty good and summoned a magical beast of the sixth rank.
This magical beast immediately rushed forward to block that black pearl, but only managed to stop it for an instant, before being incinerated to ashes.
A blazing light appeared brazenly, directly landing on the ground. This fiery light looked quite fantastic, taking on a human shape with a body made of energy. At the instant of its appearance, an indescribable force was set free. In his hand was a massive shield, even exceeding Wang Yuanyuan’s shield in size.
Taking a firm bow, it blocked the attack.
There wasn’t any exploding sound, only a fantastic seismic wave formed out of spiritual energy, before that red figure dissolved in the air.
This was something Lin Xin didn’t spare anything to use, a defensive spell of the seventh step he managed to cast after taking one of his pills, Vulcan’s Shield! This was a spell blessed with a certain intelligence, but it still ended up being destroyed by that purplish black pearl.
Nonetheless, Vulcan’s Shield wasn’t praised as the greatest defensive spell below the eighth step for nothing. After destroying it, the purplish black pearl clearly looked dimmer in color, and was already less destructive.
Wang Yuanyuan was the closest to Ye Xiaolei, and reacted without hesitation. She grabbed her Gigantic Divine Soul Shield tightly, blocking the path towards Ye Xiaolei. In truth, after having unleashed her entire strength with Storing Power, she didn’t even have enough spiritual energy left to support her Gigantic Divine Soul Shield.
Right at that time, everyone from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad was already unable to help her in any way. Ever since unleashing that blow, Long Haochen seemed to have become frozen, petrified by the rebound, whereas Sima Xian, Han Yu, Lin Xin, Chen Ying’er were all completely exhausted by the use of their abilities. None of them would have been able to help out in the least. Cai’er was also in the midst of chasing after the most powerful enemy Ah’Bao, and this just happened too fast. Who would have expected Ah’Bao to actually use such a terrifying attack?
Wang Yuanyuan clearly knew what she was confronting, but still blocked the path towards Ye Xiaolei. She couldn’t let her comrades’ effort turn to waste. She also relied on the Life Sharing effect of the Soul Linking Chains. She didn’t even know whether her body would be able to bear the attack, but what if she died in battle? This girl with her boyish temper didn’t ever have any fear.
Right at that time, a tall figure suddenly appeared, emitting numerous rays of light. It stood in front of Wang Yuanyuan, and all she saw were wide shoulders.
That was him!
Wang Yuanyuan looked dazed, and next, the robust man in front of her was already knocked violently against her Gigantic Divine Soul Shield, causing her to spout a surge of her own blood.
It was precisely Zhang Fangfang who had appeared to block the attack aimed at Wang Yuanyuan. The shield in his hand was instantly shattered to pieces, while both of his hands holding it were also broken. One could clearly see his thick bones peaking out of the broken skin, revealing the shape of ten ruined fingers. Only mere fractured bones remained of his knuckles, and his arms uselessly dangled down, completely paralysed. Even the armor before his chest was penetrated by the shattered pieces of his shield, and blood surged out madly from the severe wounds on his hands as well as his chest.
With the elapse of an intense golden light, Zhang Fangfang was pushing down Wang Yuanyuan’s body, his eyes growing wide at that time.
This time, Wang Yuanyuan looked truly lifeless. She wasn’t afraid of death at all, but it was the first time she experienced her life being saved like that.
The instant Zhang Fangfang blocked the attack for her, she clearly saw the transparent light released from the shield in his left hand. This was Brilliant Body, showing that he was already close to the seventh step in strength. But even so, he had blocked the attack in such a desperate way. What if this purplish black pearl had hit her own Divine Soul Shield instead?
Right at that instant, an incomparably imposing energy appeared in the Illusory Paradise, and the sky darkened at once. However, it only darkened for a short time, and an intense green radiance abruptly burst out from the ground, striking against this black light.
In the air, a crack appeared out of nowhere, from which a powerful pulling force instantly appeared, attracting the severely wounded Ah’Bao as well as the few leftover demons. They were all attracted by this force, before disappearing.
“Goddess of Nature, I will come back to take your godhead.” A soft voice filled the heavens with its majestic presence.
This was a voice all the members of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad were familiar with. It was because this was the voice of the Demon God Emperor! He actually managed to forcefully tear open the barrier of the Illusory Paradise, and save Ah’Bao’s group.
Seemingly provoked by that voice, the green light from within the Illusory Paradise became all the more rich, and the black crack disappeared in that process, sweeping the atmosphere with a black color. Only seven or eight white glows of light were left in the sky.
These were the spiritual stoves left by the few dead demons, falling down accompanied by a terrible roar.
All the nasty energy of darkness disappeared completely, and the magical beasts that were making series of indignant roars calmed down gradually, sadly looking at their dead comrades. The ascending green light vanished gradually, returning this land to its original appearance.
“Han Yu, Lin Xin, come and save him.” Wang Yuanyuan anxiously shouted, breaking this short silence.
Han Yu and Lin Xin rapidly turned around, and couldn’t help but gasp upon seeing Zhang Fangfang’s desperate state.
Zhang Fangfang didn’t lose consciousness, only looking very pale. He was now lying down on Wang Yuanyuan’s lap, forcing out a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t die from this.” Although he said that in a relaxed manner, his paleness and the incessantly twitching corners of his mouth betrayed him.
Chapter 332
Lin Xin hastily took out two pills, putting them in Zhang Fangfang’s hand, and Han Yu gathered the little spiritual energy left inside him for a healing spell directed at Zhang Fangfang. He tried helping him by stablizing the wounded knight for the time being. However, the two of them didn’t stay at his side after that. They nodded apologetically to Zhang Fangfang before returning to Long Haochen.
That’s right, they could all tell that Long Haochen wasn’t in a good state. After the end of the battle, his shocking attack had been what really stopped Ah’Bao from his quest for Ye Xiaolei, though they didn’t know how he did it.
Standing there, his eyes seemed totally empty, staring soullessly in the distance. He statically maintained his hacking posture. It was as if he had become a sculpture standing on the hill.
No one dared to touch him, because everyone was afraid that he would shatter to pieces in the same way as Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light did.
Yating was also hovering there, completely blank, but continuously launched one healing spell after another at him.
As a Light Elemental Fairy, although her magic couldn’t attack enemies or support others, she could directly use it on her master. However, no matter how intensively she kept healing him, Long Haochen’s body was only covered with a faint golden color, and remained motionless.
The only thing that put them at ease was that after Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light was broken, it had taken the shape of entangling specks of golden and blue colored light penetrating into his chest. In their eyes, this was a clear sign that he was still alive.
Cai’er, silently remained by Long Haochen’s side. She looked serene at first glance, but by paying careful attention, one would notice that her normally steady hands were actually trembling. Who else would show more concern than her regarding Long Haochen?
She had seen his attack very clearly, as if it had happened in slow motion. This attack had clearly exceeded the scope of Long Haochen’s capability. Not using any of Long Haochen’s original abilities, it was totally drawing power from his comprehension.
This was absolutely not an ability Long Haochen could possibly use in his normal state, and the only explanation for him being able to pull this stunt would be his state of mind at that time. The pressure, the environment, his level of comprehension and Ah’Bao’s incessant provocation had all added up, combined with the support of the Light Elemental Fairy Yating which had created a perfect level of harmony with the Illusory Paradise. All of these elements together had created this serene but world-shaking attack.
But no one knew what cost Long Haochen had to pay for this.
Everything in this world worked fairly; to obtain something, one had to lose something else. For instance, once one gained the power of a powerhouse, he would lose the chance of living an ordinary human life.
“What’s to be done Cai’er?” Chen Ying’er anxiously asked Cai’er.
Taking a deep breath, Cai’er tried her best to compose herself, “Don’t worry everyone. Recover your own spiritual energy first. Han Yu, keep healing Zhang Fangfang until he recovers; no one is allowed to touch Haochen for now. All we can do is to wait.”
Sima Xian impetuously asked, “Then until when should we be waiting?”
Cai’er coldly swept her glance towards him, “Do you really think you are more anxious than me? This is the Illusory Paradise, so we will obviously have to wait for Ye Xiaolei to awaken. It was for her that we fought, and she’s the most familiar with this place.”
Sima Xian looked sluggish, and nodded without uttering a single word.
If Long Haochen could be said to have convinced the others into following him, Cai’er was the opposite. She was still the most dreaded by their teammates. Just like everyone admired Long Haochen the most, Cai’er was the person they feared the most.
Although Cai’er’s words were rebuking, Sima Xian didn’t mind them much. During the mission in the Desolate Hissing Cavern, it had been her who had saved them all when Long Haochen wasn’t present, bringing out an ultimate strength that had caused her to lose four of her senses for a total of seven months. This vice-captain thus had gained the absolute respect from the others. Maybe she didn’t appear as convincing as Long Haochen to everyone in the team, but in terms of authority, she didn’t lose in the slightest against Long Haochen. Every Time Long Haochen was unable to command the team, she would carry out his duties very smoothly.
The magical beasts gradually calmed down and their roars subsided. Slowly they crept towards the hilltop, though none approached them closely. Looking at Long Haochen and Cai’er’s group, they had peaceful looks, approving of them completely.
Time passed, and a strange deep green luster set off those seven or eight spiritual stoves, slowly carrying them in the air, and to the top of the hill.
No one went to assimilate any of these spiritual stoves, but everyone remained sitting there cross-legged. Looking at her comrades that didn’t covet these heavenly treasures, Cai’er’s look softened. This bunch was composed of absolutely trustworthy mates! Unconsciously, she looked at the one she reprimanded just before, “Sima.”
“Yes?” Sima Xian looked at her puzzled.
“I am in a bad mood, please don’t take offense.”
“Eh…” Sima Xian instantly couldn’t help but give Cai’er a bewildered look, the atmosphere immediately turned strange.
Cai’er quietly returned to looking after Long Haochen.
It took Sima Xian a moment to turn his head to look at Lin Xin, remarking in a low voice, “Have I heard it wrong? Did vice-captain just apologize to me?”
With disdain, Lin Xin glanced at him, “Looking at your immaturity, I believe that vice-captain should rather have scolded you.”
“She should have, right?! I’d be more at ease if she did that.” Sima Xian unusually didn’t retort to Lin Xin’s words, instead approving them as he nodded.
The Illusory Paradise slowly returned to its normal state, and the corpses from those magical beasts were gradually absorbed by the earth, while the leftover reek of blood was washed clean by the air.
Time passed minute by minute, but Long Haochen was still in the same state, without any change.
The orange colored cover surrounding Ye Xiaolei gradually wore off. Finally, with a sound cracking, the last remaining shell dispersed, turning into specks of light in the air.
Because of Long Haochen’s condition, no one had managed to have a steady time cultivating. At the time Ye Xiaolei broke the seal of the Great Prophecy technique, everyone immediately stood up.
Of course, Zhang Fangfang was an exception. Under the effects of Han Yu’s healing and Lin Xin’s pills, his wounds could be said to have stabilized, but he still was in a poor state. As for the wounds on his fingers and arms, even high-level priests would be helpless to treat snapped limbs. He would have to rely on proper medical treatment to recover from those
injuries. All Han Yu could do was to preserve the vitality on his snapped limbs, to avoid necrosis. As for the said party, he was currently sleeping in Wang Yuanyuan’s arms.
Wang Yuanyuan’s lips stayed pursed up tightly all along. She felt confused, as in her head, the scene of Zhang Fangfang placing himself in front her without hesitation was repeated in a loop. Including the calm look he had worn even after sustaining these heavy wounds. Given how critical the injuries on his hands were, this was a fatal blow to his future as a knight. But he was still the one comforting others.
Ye Xiaolei hopped to the ground, and without saying any words, her hands simultaneously reached out for Zhang Fangfang and Long Haochen. Two soft radiances of light shot out from her hands and reached those two.
Zhang Fangfang crooned lightly, rapidly awaking from his unconscious state. The delicate Ye Xiaolei then headed towards him, rhythmically moving her hand in his direction.
Her movements were very quick, but exceptionally harmonious. A dense green cover of light connected Zhang Fangfang’s snapped limbs to his body, and even more exceptionally, everywhere her hand passed, all injuries recovered rapidly, and the same went for his bones. Such serious injuries as those sustained by Zhang Fangfang were healed at an astonishing speed.
Lin Xin said in a low voice, full of astonishment, “This is life magic.”
Sima Xian asked him in low voice, “What’s life magic? How is it that I never heard of it before?”
Lin Xin replied, “Are there only muscles in your brain, to never know about anything like you do? Life magic is a type of extinct magic, that doesn’t have any offensive power, but enables one to use the power of life. In terms of healing power, you priests of the light element are just novices compared to mages of life.”
Sima Xian snorted, “You’re a bit cruel to another’s face! I’ll tell Teacher later, hmhm.” Ever since that day of the competition, he had
gained Ling Xiao’s approval, and could now call him teacher. He originally already had a teacher, who didn’t have any influence in the Priest Temple. It was the same situation as with Long Haochen who didn’t have Ye Hua as his sole teacher. Han Qian and his father could indeed be regarded as his teachers too.
While they were talking, Ye Xiaolei was already done treating Zhang Fangfang. She retracted the green ball of light that had previously entered his chest, and Zhang Fangfang fell unconscious once again.
Long Haochen was also bathed in the green light, but there was still no change in him; his condition was still the same as before.
Ye Xiaolie wrinkled her brows and headed towards him. Pointing her right hand forward, she made contact with Long Haochen’s chest.
Cai’er’s hands were unconsciously clenched. Seeing Long Haochen in such a state filled her with panic, it was just that she had been restraining herself all this time and didn’t show it. Now that Ye Xiaolei had finally dispelled the seal, if she didn’t have a solution, things would get complicated.
A soft green light lit up on Ye Xiaolei’s hand, but in the next instant, a rich golden light suddenly flashed out from Long Haochen’s chest, surprisingly shooting out against her finger.
“Wah.” Ye Xiaolei cried out in surprise, before getting closer. She attempted to take off the remaining torn parts of the Glorious Holy Armor on Long Haochen’s body, but her build was too short and small, and she was unable to reach them.
This scene was truly funny; an unpolished little girl trying to reach Long Haochen’s armor.
“Let me help you.” Cai’er said with haste, immediately taking off Long Haochen’s Glorious Holy Armor.
When Ye Xiaolei removed the front part of Long Haochen’s clothing and saw the Eternal Melody on Long Haochen’s chest, the expression on her face changed at once. Quickly, she raised her right hand.
Reaching out with her forefinger, a different type of green light appeared in the air. This was a green flame that pulsed between her and the pendant under her control, as she attempted once again to touch the Eternal Melody.
An intense golden light erupted once again, shooting at her finger, and Long Haochen who had been keeping this posture for so long shivered this time.
Ye Xiaolie’s complexion became unsightly, giving a look to the nearby Cai’er, “So the magnificent Scion of Light actually obtained that person’s inheritance…”
Chapter 333
Concerned for Long Haochen’s safety, Cai’er explained in a low voice,
“At that time, he had accepted it against his own will.”
But Ye Xiaolei didn’t buy that, “I am just looking at the actual facts! How troublesome, it looks as if this time, I won’t be able to leave this place.”
Hearing her words, Cai’er seemed unable to make head or tail of it, but still kept questioning, “How is Haochen?”
Ye Xiaolei replied, “He is alright; he has just used an ability exceeding the scope of his own capability. However, his current state is something you should be envying. This is a level of advanced comprehension, unrelated to his own attribute. Although there is some risk of his body collapsing, there should be no problem because of the assistance of my energy of life. Just let him stay this way. If I am not mistaken, he is very possibly about to awaken.”
“To awaken?” Cai’er looked at Ye Xiaolei with shock, “What do you mean by that?”
With a happy laugh, Ye Xiaolei said next, “I can tell you, but first, take off your veil and let me see who of us is the most beautiful.”
Cai’er was startled, somehow torn between laughter and tears. Nonetheless according to Ye Xiaolei’s words, Long Haochen’s current state was a good thing. Still, she took off her veil. Cai’er didn’t really understand
this matter of awakening, but it seemed that if this state was very useful to Long Haochen.
Seeing Cai’er’s pretty face, Ye Xiaolei blanked out, saying somewhat annoyed, “How annoying, I just cannot grow up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be lacking compared to you…” With those words, she acknowledged herself as being less beautiful than Cai’er.
Seeing her adorable appearance, Cai’er couldn’t help but scratch her own head, “Why are you unable to grow up?”
The expression on Ye Xiaolei’s face changed, “I’m not telling you; it’s a secret. However, I’ll keep my word, since you don’t know about the awakening. What a waste on someone with such great innate gifts. Aren’t the two of you blessed with heavenly physiques? How would the two of you be able to bring out these physical advantages without prior awakening?”
Heavenly physiques? This was yet another new piece of information to her. If Long Haochen heard about this, he would definitely remember the term ‘heavenly’ he had heard from Elux about himself in the Tower of Eternity.
“Are you saying that an internal spiritual energy above ninety gives one a heavenly physique?” Cai’er asked curiously. This was already related not only to Long Haochen but also to herself.
Ye Xiaolei felt somehow at a loss, “I don’t know about innate spiritual energy, but anyway, I can feel that you and him both have heavenly physiques. I may not have put it in a good way. A heavenly being is, as the name implies, one that received a god’s concern. It is the highest level of innate gifts you humans can get. However, a god’s chosen one needs an awakening to bring out his full ability. For instance, if he had already awakened his innate gifts before, that guy from before wouldn’t necessarily have been a match in a one against one fight. However, those vile and filthy creatures of darkness are truly disgusting, to actually have someone with a way to temporarily break through the space of this world.”
When she mentioned the Demon God Emperor, her eyes showed some terror in spite of her composed self.
Cai’er spoke again, “That was the Demon God Emperor of those demons. If my or Haochen’s physique awaken, what benefit would come of it?”
Ye Xiaolei replied, “Many benefits. One’s awakening as a god’s chosen one implies that the person can from then on borrow the power of the god who showed concern to him or her. Of course, depending on the personal strength, the degree of power one can borrow will vary. Wow, you are really an ignorant bunch. I’ll go in more detail then. The fact that you are gods’ chosen ones means that you have been chosen as successors of gods. If you cultivate to the supreme level, you will similarly ascend to the level of a god.”
“Gods? So gods really do exist?” Cai’er murmured.
Ye Xiaolei stuck out her tongue, “Of course they exist. However, becoming a god is nothing that great. A god has to act as a link between heaven and earth, fusing completely with the element he controls. It’s nowhere as good as freely acting as a person. Gods appear as if they can control and rule over everything, but aren’t they also unable to break the laws? Otherwise, their godhead would just be corrupted. How could they be as free and diverse as you living humans? For this reason, even if gods do exist, they can also be considered as nonexistent. Of course, to escape this fate of becoming a complete god, some will only stay in a state of being half-gods, to remain free and leisurely able to do as they please in the world. It’s just that these kinds of half-gods can be suppressed by complete gods, and will sooner or later still become gods themselves.”
“Ay, even by only speaking of it, I feel already totally confused. Just let me tell you that becoming a god is definitely not a good thing. As a god’s chosen one, you should better not become too strong, or else, when you will ascend to the level of god, only loneliness will be awaiting you. And you will be subject to very powerful laws and limitations. Simply saying, every elemental essence around you is part of a god. In this world, we are
the same as fusions of several gods. If you truly become a god, parts of your original memories might even disappear.”
Cai’er asked next, “Right now, when the Demon God Emperor ripped the Illusory Paradise open to save those demons, he also used the term godhead that you just mentioned. He seemed to be really intent to obtain a godhead. Why are you saying that becoming a god is no good?”
Ye Xiaolei’s eyes were filled with some fear, “That guy is not the same. His aura clearly doesn’t originate from this world of ours, so he isn’t affected by its rules and restrictions. But it also means that he cannot get one godhead here like you could. If he would truly manage to obtain a godhead, and if his strength breaks through to the sufficient level, he will very possibly become the eternal ruler of this world. At that time, no one will ever be able to stop him.”
Arriving at this point, Ye Xiaolei’s look suddenly became all the more concerned. Staring at Cai’er before looking at the nearby Long Haochen, she tightened her brows, seemingly pondering deeply over something.
Cai’er could tell that this little girl didn’t tell her everything about this important matter, but to her, although becoming a god had its perks as well as its disadvantages, it was still a very distant matter.
“Isn’t a godhead part of being a god? Then how could something like that be plundered?” Cai’er asked, filled with doubts.
Ye Xiaolei suddenly became somewhat irascible, “It could be under some particular circumstances. Okay, don’t ask further, I already told you everything I should tell you. Anyway, in the future, you’d better not become gods and that’s it. As for that one guy, he is merely following a delusion. How could it be so easy to steal a godhead? If the worst comes to the worst, I can just…” Arriving at this point, her words suddenly came to a stop, and she didn’t say anything more after giving Cai’er a vigilant look.
However, Cai’er didn’t just stop there and kept asking, “Then, what would be the boundary to becoming a god?”
Ye Xiaolei shot her a glance, but didn’t reply this time.
Cai’er suddenly revealed a little smile, “Actually, I already know about that.”
Ye Xiaolei snorted with disdain, “With your current strength, how could you know?”
“The boundary is a million units of internal spiritual energy, isn’t it?”
Cai’er said with a smile.
“Ehm…” Ye Xiaolei looked at her with a start, her expression already revealing her thoughts.
At that point, Cai’er didn’t keep asking any further. She simply returned to Long Haochen’s side, before sitting cross-legged, and shutting her eyes to start cultivating. Since Long Haochen was alright, she didn’t keep worrying.
The others who had been listening to the conversation between Cai’er and Ye Xiaolei all wore different expressions. Nonetheless, this only lasted for a brief time, after all, the distance before ascending to the rank of a god was still too far in the future.
Time passed gradually in the Illusory Paradise, and Ye Xiaolei seemed somewhat bored as she sat to a side, with a total of eight spiritual stoves revolving around her quietly, as if obeying her will.
She didn’t express the intention to let anyone from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad absorb these spiritual stoves, but didn’t retake them either. Who knew what she was currently thinking about? She only occasionally gave a look in Long Haochen’s direction, thus the matter she was thinking about was bound to be related to him.
A whole day passed this way, and in the end, when dawn arrived on the third day, a change happened on Long Haochen’s body.
Daybreak filled the world with new life and joy, and when that gentle light emerged on the horizon, Long Haochen’s body accordingly lit up. Like the rising of a second sun in the sky, a pair of resplendent radiant wings unfolded on his back.
Soft wings spread, seemingly larger than before. They seemed to appear in coordination with the rising of dawn, that actually illuminated him alone. Be it the inhabitants of the Illusory Paradise or his comrades, everyone felt that the horizon, which should technically light up, darkened instead, with a straight line of golden light gradually connecting Long Haochen and the sun.
Ye Xiaolei sat on the branch of a tree, as if she was weightless. Her eyes shone in response to the changes that were happening on Long Haochen’s body.
“That’s right, he’s really awakening!”
Bathed in golden light, Long Haochen gradually left the hacking posture and stood straight as his pair of wings spread to his sides. The sunlight bathing him intensified as time passed, embellishing him in an entirely golden radiance.
A dense golden mist spread out from him, taking the shape of golden ripples twirling around his body.
As if it was very natural, Sima Xian and Han Yu came to sit cross-legged a dozen meters away from Long Haochen. On their forehead, golden patterns appeared. This was clearly a result from the influence of their retainer contract, and it was absolutely a good sign.
The spiritual wings on their backs spread out rapidly, and were bathed in light. Long Haochen emitted a faint golden colored radiance which fluctuated between the three of them.
Zhang Fangfang’s body had fundamentally already recovered, but he was still feeling a bit weak. Assisted by Wang Yuanyuan, he looked at the three
of them with envy. After a moment, he also closed his eyes, sensing the changes in the light essence filling the air.
At this very moment, he only felt his own body being soaked in an ocean, with an endless surge of gentle light tapping against his body. This wonderful feeling was something he had never experienced before, causing waves of comprehension to reach his thoughts one after another. A transparent golden radiance also slowly spread from his body. As he also sat cross-legged with haste, a pair of spiritual wings far larger than Sima Xian and Han Yu’s appeared on his back.
Chapter 334
On Long Haochen’s forehead, nine patterns emerged. They appeared purple at first, but rapidly turned golden. The surface of his skin shimmered like a gem, making his appearance unclear and hazy.
The sunshine was growing more and more intense, as the golden color on Long Haochen’s body grew stronger. At his feet, a diverging golden halo started to take shape as well.
This halo was extremely peculiar. In the magnificent golden light, the patterns on its edge were like brilliant pieces of the sun. The resplendent center of this manifestation was at Long Haochen’s feet.
An illusory golden luster slowly spread from his head. This figure seemed similar to the Light Elemental Fairy Yating, but looked very translucent and unclear to the eyes. It reached three meters in size, spread a soft light and descended slowly to gradually dissolve into Long Haochen’s body.
A low chant was issued from Yating’s mouth. Ever since Long Haochen had entered the state of awakening, she had been floating in the air, and now that Long Haochen had formally entered the state of awakening, her face was filled with absolute joy.
As the golden brilliance was merging into Long Haochen’s body, Yating’s body also started to change. Drops of golden streamed out from Long Haochen’s body, and enveloped Yating. Under their influence, her whole body was remodeled. Her size changed, and the past illusory impression disappeared completely. Not only that, but Yating now carried a
compact golden staff in her right hand. It was perfectly straight and similar to Yating in size. On its caltrop-shaped top, a dazzling golden gem was embedded.
In addition to this, a gem also appeared on Yating’s forehead. At her feet was now another small halo, with the same appearance as the one under Long Haochen. But this wasn’t the biggest change on her. The biggest change was the aura that she radiated. Originally, she only had had a holy aura, but now, her body emitted an aura of life. She was now not merely an intelligent light elemental fairy, but a real fairy, a fairy of light.
From this moment onward, she wasn’t just Long Haochen’s supportive spiritual stove, but also possessed the ability to attack enemies and boost allies. She had completely regained her life as a fairy.
Of course, she was still Long Haochen’s spiritual stove by contract, and this was an unchangeable reality. By leaving Long Haochen, she would lose the benediction from the Scion of Light’s heavenly physique, and would perhaps return to her former state.
Long Haochen started a long chant, and Yating looked up at him. She softly murmured something before an odd scene happened, starting first of all with the little fairy.
Under her original pair of wings appeared another pair. These new delicate wings gradually unfolded, and her whole body’s presence underwent a total change. It gained in length until she was close to a meter. From the gem on her forehead emerged a horn and on her staff appeared some magnificent designs.
Exactly, receiving the gains from Long Haochen’s awakening, Yating evolved once again, and this was her third evolution ever since following Long Haochen.
But she wasn’t the only one to undergo a change. At the same time, an even more astonishing change took place on Long Haochen’s back. His originally enormous wings slowly stretched, and another pair surprisingly appeared right under his main wings. This change was similarly to what
happened to Yating, and it was still not over. The golden feathers that covered his wings were now a lot thicker than before, indistinctly emitting some exceptionally beautiful golden spheres of light.
So the wings of a human powerhouse could actually come in double pairs?
Along with this, a golden pillar of light suddenly rose behind Long Haochen.
It was Zhang Fangfang, whose body slowly floated upwards, enveloped by the golden pillar of light. On his back, the golden feathers suddenly appeared more substantial, and his whole body instantly became brilliant, before returning to its normal state. His right fist still maintained that transparent look, just like a golden crystal sculpture.
Brilliant Body! It was exactly the influence from Long Haochen’s awakening as a god’s chosen one, which, added up with his own efforts and the stimulation from the past battle, enabled Zhang Fangfang to finally break through the bottleneck, reaching the threshold of the seventh step which had blocked him for so long. He was now a Temple Knight at the seventh step, which could be called unexpected happy news.
Although Han Yu and Sima Xian, who also possessed the same light element didn’t make a cool progress like a breakthrough, the light element surrounding their bodies had clearly gained in substance.
This perfectly straight golden pillar of light slowly dissipated, and the sunshine illuminated the whole earth anew, bringing its radiance to the Illusory Paradise.
Long Haochen slowly opened his eyes.
The instant his eyes opened, the air was torn by two bolts of lightning, but the atmosphere quickly returned to normal. Turning his head to look at the deeply concerned Cai’er at his side, Long Haochen said apologetically, “I made you worry.”
Cai’er didn’t say anything, only silently leaned on his shoulder, and grabbed his hand tightly.
Long Haochen didn’t anticipate this surprising change. Witnessing Ah’Bao’s desperate attack on the hilltop under the influence of the dense breath of life in the air, and the fog of light that Yating had absorbed before, he had only felt himself going in a fantastic state.
When seeing Ah’Bao transform into a Devil Dragon, he had thought of retreating, conscientious of his comrades. For this reason, he had already been prepared to launch the Eternal Melody to bring his comrades and Ye Xiaolei back to the Tower of Eternity.
However, at the time he entered that fantastic state, he suddenly gained the realization that if he were to retreat here, he would definitely lose something important. Led by that fantastic surge of comprehension, he didn’t cower and led his comrades to welcome this trial, launching his own Storing Power. That blow was completely exploiting Long Haochen’s comprehension in that fantastic state. At that time, he had only felt his own energy dissolving at once as his formidable mental strength and his spiritual energy, as well as all the light essence he could draw support from, all fused into that blow. It went to the extent that at the time he had used that heaven- shattering attack, Long Haochen had felt himself becoming one with the world, being miraculously embraced by the sunshine.
Borrowing strength from the world for this attack, he had fallen completely into a flash of realization, and had started the process of his awakening as the Scion of Light. Countless fantastic scenes had appeared without pause in his head, surges of comprehension hovering around in his mind.
At the time he woke up, the mysteries concerning his identity as the Scion of Light were sealed deeply into his brain.
The Scion of Light was the person who had the blessing of the Goddess of Light, he was the spokesperson of the sun. He was the one who would be loved by the entire brilliance of the sun, and thus be able to borrow strength from the sun and the goddess of light to make up for all his deficiencies.
This was the true legend of the Scion of Light. If not for this, it would just be his cultivation that was a bit faster than that of ordinary people, and his comprehension over light element that would be a bit stronger. Wouldn’t that make the Scion of Light just too weak?
At the time he awakened as the real Scion of Light, his internal spiritual energy also rose to a great extent, totalling a hundred. Now, it was truly perfect.
Long Haochen finally understood how the Scion of Samsara had managed to wound the Demon God Emperor heavily while only reaching a third of his level of cultivation, causing the death of that generation’s Demon God Emperor. This was surely because the Scion of Samsara of those times had been awakened. If Long Haochen could be said to draw support from light, then the Scion of Samsara’s power could be said to be the power of slaughter. He as the person blessed by the god of war.
Long Haochen’s awakening had happened in the Illusory Paradise, a place filled with light, which was intimately connected to nature. But if Cai’er wanted to awaken as the Saint Daughter of Samsara, she would have to do it in a battlefield filled with slaughter and the reeking of blood. Only through unceasing battles in a place filled with the odor of slaughter would she truly comprehend the mysteries as the Saint Daughter of Samsara.
All the golden light finally vanished, and the two pairs of spiritual wings on Long Haochen’s back flapped once. This caused his body to rise a sixth of meter above the ground, before returning to the ground. He still seemed unaccustomed to his new four wings.
A dense essence of light circulated around him, and Long Haochen appeared even calmer in temper and more mature. He also seemed to have gained a bit in size, and now, only by looking at his appearance, no one would be able to tell that he was only fifteen. He looked closer to a man in his twenties.
After awakening, the Scion of Light wasn’t only astonishingly handsome, but also gained a fantastic attractiveness. Just from seeing him, anyone
would unawarely feel somehow attracted by the kind of warmth radiated by him.
“Hey, let’s have a chat.” Ye Xiaolei’s voice was heard from the side. Long Haochen turned around, the four wings on his back vanishing.
Yating threw herself at Long Haochen’s chest with a voice full of excitement, before vanishing into his chest. After his awakening, Long Haochen was now to her the same as the mother of light that helped her grow.
Seeing those eight spiritual stoves revolving around Ye Xiaolei, Long Haochen nodded in response.
“Follow me.” Ye Xiaolei waved to him, heading to a lower part of the hill.
Long Haochen made a gesture to tell his comrades to wait, before immediately following her.
Ye Xiaolei didn’t go too far away, but she seemed to have something important to say. It was truly strange to see that expression on a six or seven year-old looking girl.
Somewhere halfway down the hill, Ye Xiaolei turned around. A green luster full of the essence of life spread out, enveloping Long Haochen and herself inside.
“Younger sister, what do you want to tell me?” Long Haochen asked with a smile.
Even with the appearance of an only six or seven years old girl, the instant Ye Xiaolei discerned that sunshine-like smile, she couldn’t help but blank out. The words that came out next from her mouth were, “You’re so nice-looking, even a fairy wouldn’t be as pretty as you.”
The corner of Long Haochen’s mouth twitched in response to that,
“Please use the word handsome, pretty is a word used to describe girls.”
Chapter 335
Ye Xiaolei stuck out her tongue, “… What does it have to do with that? Based on the human way to count age, I am at least ten thousand years old. In front of me, you’re no more but a damn little kid.”
“…” Long Haochen remained silent as he looked at her. He believed the girl’s words, but saying that she would be a senior from ancient times felt unrealistic, because this girl’s appearance was pretty much the same as a little girl.
Seeing his stoic appearance, Ye Xiaolei seemed satisfied, as the worries filling her eased up by a lot. However, she quickly became aggravated, declaring in anger, “You’re really annoying.”
Long Haochen replied with a bitter smile, “If I’m not mistaken, we have just been helping you. How is that annoying?”
Ye Xiaolei replied as a matter of course, “Of course you’re annoying. You are the Scion of Light, so why are you letting yourself be infected with a power of necromancer, the magic of quite a powerful necromancer. Are you mad? Aren’t you afraid of your own heart of light becoming corrupted?”
Long Haochen gave her a serious look, “If you have a method to help me remove my connection with him, I will be extremely grateful towards you.”
Ye Xiaolie was startled for a bit, “Tell me how you crossed paths with that necromancer. I am listening.”
Long Haochen then told his story in the Desolate Hissing Cavern as well as the matters that happened in the Tower of Eternity.
Hearing his words, Ye Xiaolei became speechless for a while, looking at him in a daze.
“How… How is that possible? A necromancer of light element? Oh my god! Could this guy have been the same as you, a god’s chosen one of the Goddess of Light? This is too unbelievable. Since a chosen of the Goddess of Light has become a necromancer, something deep definitely has happened to him.”
Long Haochen asked in astonishment, “Is it that only a light element user with the physique of a Scion of Light can train in light elemental necromancy?”
Ye Xiaolie gave him a serious nod, “Yes. Necromancer is a filthy vocation, coming into contacts with corpses and death. It’s the highest possible blasphemy to light, and only the purest body of the Scion of Light can avoid being corrupted by this filthiness, keeping his pure heart while cultivating as a holy necromancer. But this is even more difficult to accomplish than it would be for you to succeed the Goddess of Nature. This guy is simply the greatest genius among humans.”
Regarding the definition of a god’s chosen one, Long Haochen had gotten its entire understanding and didn’t need her to explain it any further. However, this still shocked him to the greatest extent. Could that holy necromancer, the Slumbering Calamity Elux also be a god’s chosen one? And one that appeared thousands of years ago.
Long Haochen and Ye Xiaolei looked at each other. Looking lifeless, they were filled with total shock. They had a common subject of curiosity, and this was the reason why the Slumbering Calamity, Scion of Light of that time, chose to become a necromancer.
“I cannot help you.” Ye Xiaolei said with some bitterness, “Given that this Slumbering Calamity Elux was powerful enough to leave a spatially connected tower, he ought to have reached the level of half-god. This is
far from what I can handle. Even if my sister was still there, she wouldn’t be able to remove your connection with him either. I just wonder what happened to him. I believe that when you will be able to reach the top of that tower and receive his true inheritance, you should get some of his memories.”
Reaching this point, she let out a light sigh, “But even a light elemental necromancer is still a necromancer! Necromancy being the counterpart of life, and since I am of life element, I cannot leave this place with you. It’s such a shame after I’ve been waiting for so many years, and finally found a god’s chosen one such as you, that I still cannot leave. Just tell me whether you are annoying. I’ve been already waiting for more than ten thousand years you know!”
Long Haochen was left speechless, and just didn’t know how he should reply to her, only giving her a helpless look.
After giving him a long disatisfied look, Ye Xiaolei finally proposed,
“Okay, how about making a deal with me; how does that sound?”
“What kind of deal?” Long Haochen gave her an alarmed look. This girl shouldn’t be judged by her appearance of six or seven years-old girl, and was probably the guardian of this Illusory Paradise.
Ye Xiaolei unhappily continued, “Why are you being so tense? This will not be harmful to you, you will only profit. Do you see these?” She pointed the eight spiritual stoves at her side.
Long Haochen gave a serious nod.
Ye Xiaolei said next, “These spiritual stoves are all for you, and I can exempt you from having to pass the next test before leaving the Illusory Paradise. You’ll just have to directly go through the last test. This way, as long as these guys aren’t too greedy and do not have too many spiritual stoves assimilated, there will fundamentally not be any problem, and the benefits will be enormous.”
Seeing her somehow exaggerated expression, with her hands extended widely, Long Haochen remained unmoved, and asked very seriously, “Then, what will I have to do?”
“Hey, are you okay with that or not? You don’t have the drive of a man at all. Will it kill you to give me a direct answer?” Ye Xiaolei responded in great dissatisfaction.
Long Haochen’s shoulders appeared stiff, “It is not only for myself that I have to take responsibility, but for my comrades too.”
Ye Xiaolei said, “But this is unrelated to them. I only want to keep contact with you, by mental connection, for the future, when I will need your help. Only a monkey would refuse.”
“For example?” Long Haochen didn’t relax, and kept asking.
Ye Xiaolei opened her eyes wide, “What kind of example do you want?”
Long Haochen replied, “I want to know about the worse kind of situation that would happen to need my help.”
Ye Xiaolei suddenly looked angered, “If it really comes to the worst, it will only be convenient for you. This won’t come out with any loss for you. Don’t tell me that you not only look like a girl, but your nature is just as dawdling too? If you don’t want to make a deal then let’s leave it at that.”
“Ehm.” Long Haochen didn’t get angry, but just turned around and headed to the direction of the hilltop.
“You…” Ye Xiaolei had been really angered by him, stamping her own feet on the ground, but followed him in the end, “If it really comes to the worst possible situation and you don’t help me, you humans are done for.”
Long Haochen turned back again, looking at her with a smile before doing a gesture to hint her that he would like to know about the details.
About half an hour later, when Long Haochen and Ye Xiaolei returned to the hilltop, their expressions returned to normal.
It looked as if nothing had happened.
Long Haochen smiled while looking at the others, including Zhang Fangfang who was sitting in a cultivating state, “Everyone, let’s share the spiritual stoves.”
The eight spiritual stoves that were originally gathered close to Ye Xiaolei now revolved above Long Haochen’s head.
Everyone from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad looked at each other, before suddenly crying out in cheers.
Long Haochen turned around to look at Ye Xiaolei, expressing, “I’ll be troubling you.”
Ye Xiaolei unhappily replied, “I know, I know.” Saying that, she did movements of her finger causing a bunch of green lights to head for everyone. Feeling as if their bodies were stuck into a sticky liquid, the others felt unable to move, and immediately, they saw spiritual stoves fly towards their direction.
However, this didn’t mean that everyone got spiritual stoves. Long Haochen didn’t get any, Cai’er obtained one, and out of the others, Wang Yuanyuan didn’t get any more spiritual stoves. On the contrary, Han Yu who didn’t obtain any before instead got two and two of those were left appeared in front of Zhang Fangfang.
Ye Xiaolei waved her hand, declaring, “I am doing the best distribution based on your own compatibilities. Everyone, absorb your respective spiritual stoves. Then you can leave from this place.”
Cai’er gave Long Haochen a pondering look, as if asking why he didn’t get any spiritual stove at all.
Long Haochen shook his head with a smile, “I obtained enough from this trip.”
Ye Xiaolei said with a snort, “There were just none fitting him and that’s all. Just hurry up and do it.”
All the others rapidly went to absorb their own spiritual stoves. Wang Yuanyuan who stayed idle unconsciously looked at Zhang Fangfang who was cultivating far from them.
At that time, Zhang Fangfang opened his eyes little by little. His eyes emitted a faint golden light, happening to look right at her. Wang Yuanyuan’s face looked totally stiff in reaction to that look, before she nodded to him.
Long Haochen declared, “Brother Zhang, hurry up to assimilate them.
These two spiritual stoves are for you.”
Of course, it wasn’t that among these spiritual stoves, none were suited for Long Haochen. A total of five belonged to the light element. Sima Xian got one of these, while Han Yu, and Zhang Fangfang also got two each. These could all be absorbed by Long Haochen, but according to Ye Xiaolei’s words, absorbing too many of these spiritual stoves of low grade would instead be limiting his future possibilities. And in addition, along with his awakening as a god’s chosen one, the Scion of Light, Long Haochen sensed a new gap that formed between his comrades and himself. He also thought about helping his comrades grow as fast as possible, everyone was after all part of the same team, and too wide gap within the team would be very harmful to the future growth of the whole group. For this reason, he expressed to Ye Xiaolei his will to renounce on these before returning, and borrowed her mouth to tell the others that none of the spiritual stoves were suitable for him.
Because this was just a preliminary absorption, the process was very simple, then everyone had happy expressions after accomplishing this initial assimilation.
When the last person finished to assimilate his spiritual stove, Ye Xiaolei declared, “Okay, you can return to the shrine now. Remember that the last test of the Illusory Paradise cannot be avoided, and it will consist of fusing spiritual stoves. Those in your group who gained two or more spiritual stoves will need a great willpower to manage that. In case you fail, the better result will be the dispersion of the spiritual stoves, but it is highly possible that you will lose your life. ”
That’s right, this was the greatest mystery of the Illusory Paradise. No matter how many spiritual stoves one obtained here, in the end all of them are fused as one, but this great danger is also an opportunity. The finally fused spiritual stoves will be bound to gain an enormous boost in power, but in case of failure, it will also come with an enormous cost.
Perhaps those who were taken away by the Demon God Emperor could rely on their particular methods to assimilate some spiritual stoves, but they would also lose the chance of fusion. This was actually the greatest secret known to the Priest Temple.
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The reason why the Temple Alliance dared agree to let those demons in was that they didn’t fear letting them obtain more spiritual stoves. When fusing more than three spiritual stoves, the danger would be enormously high and the chances of success infinitely low. And moreover, the Illusory Paradise in itself rejected the darkness element.
However, the Temple Alliance and the higher-ups of the Priest Temple didn’t expect that the Demon God Emperor could meddle in this way, saving those demon powerhouses and ruining their plans totally. And this time, the demon powerhouses killed the great majority of the Demon Hunters that entered. In terms of damage, both parties lost a lot, but the demons lost a lot more. It was after all only successors from various demon gods that died in this trip.
Lumps of feeble light set in movement autonomously, taking the shape of green balls floating behind everyone’s back. Following them were flickers of green light that covered their bodies, disappearing along.
Long Haochen was the last to disappear. Ye Xiaolei waved her hand to him, declaring gently the words, “Thank you.” How could she possibly be unable to differentiate good from evil? It was just that she was an extremely stubborn person who refused to acknowledge it out of her own mouth.
Bizarre changes happened on everyone, who became alone in a green space, only filled with endless green and applying an unsurpassable binding. Unable to leave from this place, everyone completed their own assimilations of spiritual stoves in a cross-legged position.
Since everyone absorbed a different amount of spiritual stoves, the process of assimilation was naturally different for all of them. The trial to start this process was directly cancelled by Ye Xiaolei, thus they were saved from this trial and would directly be brought to fuse their own spiritual stoves.
Among them, the one who had the most effortless time was undoubtedly Long Haochen. He didn’t get any new spiritual stoves in the Illusory Paradise, and thus only remained here for a bit, before leaving for the next space with a flicker of light in the midst of green undulations. Then, his last trial for the fusion of spiritual stoves began.
The others didn’t have such an easy time. For the process of the assimilation, Wang Yuanyuan and Cai’er obtained only one new spiritual stove, while the others all had two spiritual stoves to assimilate completely. Although it went by the sequential order, assimilating several spiritual stoves normally required one to pass through a quite considerable difficulty.
Cai’er rapidly fused with her spiritual stoves. As the wielder of the constitution as the Saint Daughter of Samsara, and the only other god’s chosen one apart from Long Haochen, fusing a spiritual stove of same attributes as hers was totally lacking in challenge, even if this was already the third spiritual stove that she absorbed.
The spiritual stove Cai’er absorbed this time could naturally not compare with her own Spiritual Stove of Samsara, but it was of the same tier as her Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stove.
This spiritual stove bore the name of Real Shadow.
It was only fitting to be used by assassins, because only assassins with the Doppleganger ability could display the full power of this spiritual stove. When used, Real Shadow would enable to make the afterimages created by an assassin real. In its original state, the Spiritual Stove of Real Shadow would produce these effects for a duration of roughly three seconds, but as it would keep evolving, this duration would increase.
Its greatest utility was the ability of making afterimages real, giving them the same fighting power as their user. Although only lasting for three seconds, its effects were undoubtedly game-changing in some crucial times.
Given Cai’er’s strength, with the addition of this True Shadow, the effectiveness of her attacks in the battlefield would undoubtedly increase several folds. Just imagine, if she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara while also using the Real Shadow, how frightful would that be? Of course, this spiritual stove wasn’t something that one could use as one pleases; three times a day would be the maximum number of times it could be used.
Unfortunately, this spiritual stove would have to fuse with Cai’er’s other two spiritual stoves shortly afterwards, and Cai’er’s greatest issue would be whether she’d manage to fuse the three of them together or not. She was also the only one person to fuse three spiritual stoves on this trip. The absorption of the Real Shadow was rapidly achieved, and next, Cai’er found herself soaked in a green pool, in the same way as it went for Long Haochen.
Wang Yuanyuan was only a bit slower than Cai’er to assimilate her spiritual stove. Since she only needed to fuse with a single spiritual stove, the Spatial Gate that corresponded to her attribute, fusing with it went rapidly. After that, she actually directly crossed over that green pool, and was the first to appear in the front of the shrine of nature. Only possessing a single spiritual stove, she didn’t need to undergo the fusing process, and thus became the first one to profit from this trip in the Illusory Paradise. Of course, she could currently not leave the Illusory Paradise yet, and still needed to wait for her comrades to come out, in particular Long Haochen. Directly leaving wouldn’t be convenient to them, so she had to pass through the Tower of Eternity to leave.
The process of fusing the spiritual stoves could be called fiery for Sima Xian’s case. His facial hair aside, all his body’s hairs stood by the effect of the ferocious thunder.
The Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder had a terrifyingly obvious offensive power, comparable to the second tier of the spiritual stoves. Its power was as one might imagine, and moreover, Sima Xian’s attribute of
mastery wasn’t thunder, after all practically no human with thunder as their natural attribute of mastery existed in this world.
For this reason, it became all the more difficult for him. The pain from the fusion with this mere Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder gave him such a pain that he would almost feel better dying, but Sima Xian’s tenacity wasn’t weaker than any other human. If he didn’t have this incredible dedication and tenacity, how would he choose to cross the path of violence as a priest?
This guy shouted loudly in invigoration while fusing with this Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder. Perhaps it was his intrepid side that finally conquered the heart of the Spiritual Stove of Purple Lightning, as he finally started to complete the process of this assimilation.
His other spiritual stove was a lot easier to fuse. This spiritual stove was called Light of Double Exposure, and was selected very carefully for him by Long Haochen after inquiring Ye Xiaolei about it. It was a supportive spiritual stove with a single use: to duplicate any attack after use. Its restriction was that the number of uses was three a day, and the choice of this Light of Double Exposure further added to the Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder was naturally oriented for the sake of Sima Xian’s pursuit of the path of burst power. His burst power was direct, and needed for the team.
Compared to Sima Xian, Lin Xin was a lot more blessed. His two spiritual stoves complied to ally with him to an astonishing degree, to the point that he didn’t have to take any initiative, and yet the two spiritual stoves started to be assimilated into his body at the same time. Given how Lin Xin’s control over fire element was astonishingly high, this assimilation was as comfortable as a fish swimming in water, only taking less than half an hour more than Wang Yuanyuan. After completing the assimilation of the two spiritual stoves, he became transported to the green pool.
The Heart of Flames aside, the other spiritual stove he obtained was called Spiritual Stove of Flame Eagle, an exceptional offensive and defensive oriented dual spiritual stove. The Spiritual Stove of Flame Eagle can set free an immense eagle of flames to help him in attack and defense, and can be controlled entirely by the user The Spiritual Stove of Flame Eagle and the Spiritual Stove of Heart of Flames attained a high level of
compatibility, which was the important reason that enabled him to assimilate the two at the same time.
The assimilation went smoothly for Han Yu too, who gained the two spiritual stoves known as Spiritual Stove of Guardian of Light and Spiritual Stove of Light Assemblage. One was mainly a defensive spiritual stove while the other one was mainly a supportive spiritual stove, and both were relatively peaceful spiritual stoves. In addition, these two spiritual stove he assimilated directly increased the user’s cultivation. Thus, in the process of fusion, Han Yu felt his own strength rise gradually, while his innate internal spiritual energy reached the level of eighty, which he vaguely felt. In the later fusion of the spiritual stoves, he would most likely become the one for whom it would go the most smoothly.
Chen Ying’er’s assimilation was actually quite harder than expected. The Scapegoat Spiritual Stove aside, she gained another spiritual stove fit for summoners called Time-Producing Spiritual Stove. Relying on it, one could extend the duration of a summon’s ability and its persisting time. Simply said, used on McDull, his strength would persist for twenty minutes instead of ten after absorbing a magical crystal. This was a very useful ability, and with its addition atop of the dual summoning ability of the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove, Chen Ying’er’s strength was bound to gain an enormous increase. However, assimilating these two spiritual stoves was far from an easy matter, and they weren’t even of congenial attribute, naturally making their absorption difficult. However, Chen Ying’er’s temper was actually relatively opposite to Wang Yuanyuan. Wang Yuanyuan was a strong person on the surface but actually soft and sensitive inside, whereas Chen Ying’er looked weak on the surface while being tough in temper.
After obtaining the little pig McDull, her utility for the team increased, but until now, she was only capable of providing some assistance or accomplishing some particular crucial tasks. She had been always minding her performance in the team, and felt from beginning to end that she never fulfilled properly her duty as a summoner. The better she was treated by her comrades, the more she blamed herself deep inside. At this very moment, the absorption of these two spiritual stoves gave her an extreme pain, but she bit her teeth tightly and bore it, not cowering in the slightest. Her eyes
were full of resolution, and it was on the basis of this willpower that she completed the successive assimilations of these spiritual stoves.
Everyone had different luck, but they invested equal effort.
In their lives, people would always get different degree of luck, but everyone would get some opportunities. However, it was up to themselves whether to catch these opportunities or not.
Without a doubt, this was the best chance to grab this opportunity for everyone in the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad. As long as they smoothly came out from this trip in the Illusory Paradise, they were bound to distinguish themselves from the other Demon Hunt Squads.
Fusing spiritual stoves was something Long Haochen’s group had never experienced before, let alone hearing about the details. Even in the stories about the mysteries of the spiritual stoves that Long Xingyu told him, the act of fusing spiritual stoves was only mentioned in a single sentence.
In theory, there was no limit in the number of spiritual stove one could absorb. As long as his body could bear it, he would be able to go on with absorbing those. But how did it go in practice? Generally speaking, a powerhouse would normally be able to absorb three spiritual stoves, before fundamentally reaching his limits.
But acquiring three spiritual stoves first of all required a lot of good luck.
Chapter 337
If one kept assimilating spiritual stoves even after that, there could be complications for his body. Only with a very deep understanding of spiritual stoves, and in particular, a perfect understanding of the properties of his own spiritual stoves, was it possible for a human to wield four or even five spiritual stoves.
In the history of the Temple Alliance, there existed some past records of powerhouses who fused with a particularly high number of spiritual stoves, and all had left significant traces in history. However, even more records described cases of an excessive number of absorbed spiritual stoves negatively influencing their wielders lives. To really absorb more spiritual stoves, there existed another method, and that was to fuse spiritual stoves with each other. Fusing already assimilated spiritual stoves would lessen the number of spiritual stoves in one’s body, and thus create more space available to absorb other spiritual stoves.
After fusing, spiritual stoves would produce an effect of accumulation, and this would increase their efficiency. This was absolutely a good thing for anyone, but was it really so easy to fuse spiritual stoves? Getting the opportunity to fuse spiritual stoves was first of all extremely hard, to say nothing about the fact that the fusion itself involved an enormous part of uncertainty and risk.
Long Haochen’s group had obtained such a great opportunity, but it was still too early to say whether they would be able to benefit from it.
Soaked in the green pool, Long Haochen was in a sudden calm state of mind. After his awakening as a god’s chosen one, his mind was even more
focused, and reached an optimum state very easily.
Immediately, he sensed his own body being wrapped in the vital energy, permeating him gently.
This energy of life entered his body slowly, or at least it felt like it. This harmless and beneficial energy merged with Long Haochen’s liquid spiritual energy, enforcing his body and mind, and soon he reached a complete level of relaxation. All his muscles and energy channels actually went all limp at this time.
Gradually, this soft vital energy covered his whole body, before slowly rushing into his chest. There, it slowly subsided.
The Light Elemental Fairy Yating was seated inside the Saint Spiritual Stove as this thin green-colored vital energy was poured into the Saint Spiritual Stove. Immediately, a mysterious change was produced.
Both of Yating hands started to adopt a particular pose. As her face revealed a happy expression, she entered a special state.
A soft white radiance was emanated by the Saint Spiritual Stove, producing white circles which spread inside Long Haochen who suddenly felt his own brain go dizzy. On his chest, he felt a heating sensation, but this didn’t affect his focused state. The liquid spiritual energy in his body was noiselessly consumed at an astonishing speed under this cozy feeling, and in this green pool, his vital energy kept strengthening. But this didn’t help in increasing his internal spiritual energy.
It seemed that time didn’t pass in this place, and Long Haochen felt the warmth in his chest increasing until it reached a burning hot level. After gradually reaching this state, it produced a blazing feeling, as if a fireball was violently ignited inside his chest.
However, he felt no worries at that time. If even after his awakening as a god’s chosen one and with his level of understanding regarding his two spiritual stoves, he was still unable to fuse them, who would be able to
achieve the fusion? This wasn’t arrogance but self-confidence. However, Long Haochen was still nervous; not for himself, but for his comrades.
This fusion of spiritual stoves brought forth pain that far exceeded his imagination. On top of that, since practically nothing of his internal spiritual energy was left for self-protection, after it had been totally absorbed in the process of fusion, all the pain was left for his body to bear.
Long Haochen actually looked forward to see what kind of change would appear after the fusion between Yating and the Saint Spiritual Stove. All he wished for was that the Pull ability of the Saint Spiritual Stove wouldn’t disappear.
In truth, even given his intelligence, Long Haochen forgot the fact that after completing his awakening, his mental state hadn’t recovered yet.
The pain he had to bear indeed grew stronger and stronger, reaching the point at which he had to clench his teeth to barely be able bear it. Don’t forget that although he only had two spiritual stoves, these were two evolved spiritual stoves!
Unevolved and evolved spiritual stoves were absolutely not the same.
As a simple example, a Saint Spiritual Stove that never evolved was only a spiritual stove of the fifth tier, but after evolving, it could already be called a spiritual stove of the fourth tier. After two evolutions, it even reached the peak of the fourth tier. And furthermore, these evolved spiritual stoves would become a lot more stable and intertwined with the body, making the process of the fusion a lot more difficult.
And moreover, he still had the fairy of light, Yating.
After following Long Haochen, Yating had already evolved three times. Let alone him, even a lot of powerhouses that reached the eighth or the ninth step didn’t necessarily make their spiritual stoves evolve that often.
Three evolutions gave Yating a nearly corporeal body, and in the Illusory Paradise, she had managed to obtain vital energy of her own. In some kind
of sense, she was already not as simple as a mere spiritual stove, and her intelligence was substantial. As long as she kept evolving, she would one day finally reach the level of an intelligent spiritual stove which Long Haochen had mentioned before. And that day, she would reach the highest possible tier as a spiritual stove.
For this reason, when Long Haochen fused his Saint Spiritual Stove and his fairy of light Yating, the difficulty was a lot harder than for anyone else.
Of course, the pain Long Haochen had to bear was absolutely not the fiercest; at least Cai’er had an even harder time than him. ……
At the same time, Cai’er was also seated in the green pool. She was a bit pale and sweat was rapidly dripping down from her face. Around her, some grey streams of air were undulating, and the breath of life felt somehow incompatible with the intense killing intent.
Under her terrifying killing intent, her clothes had actually completely faded away, and her pure white skin was continuously covered with sweat. It could be clearly seen that at the middle part of her chest a surge of ash- grey glitter emerged unceasingly, causing the surrounding killing intent to rise continuously.
Although Long Haochen’s spiritual stoves had both evolved several times, Cai’er after all had three stoves, of which one had just evolved.
The difficulty of fusing three spiritual stoves was exponentially higher than doing the same with two of them. Thus, even though Long Haochen’s two spiritual stoves had evolved for a total of five times, the pain he had to bear was far from the one endured by Cai’er. Different people were bound to have totally different experiences during the fusion of their spiritual stoves, and this was still valid even if two people didn’t differ so much in cultivation, or in the spiritual stoves they had assimilated. This was because the state of mind had a great impact on the process of fusion.
Cai’er was undoubtedly filled with an unswerving determination, and this became the case especially after she followed Long Haochen. The gloom in
her had gradually been illuminated by his radiance, which could be said to have improved her nature.
Indomitable when facing difficulties, she would keep fighting as long as it was for Long Haochen’s sake, and never slack off at anytime.
Her three spiritual stoves were the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, the Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stove and the newly obtained Spiritual Stove of True Shadow. Undoubtedly, the Spiritual Stove of Samsara occupied the leading position among the three. At the split second the process of fusion started, the terrifying power of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara burst out instantly, immediately overpowering and crushing the other two spiritual stoves, before starting to assimilate the other two. Absorbing the fragments and energy from the other two, the Spiritual Stove of Samsara was indeed tyrannical. One may well ask what sensation it would be to have two spiritual stoves breaking into pieces inside your body.
At that time, it wasn’t only Cai’er’s clothes that were annihilated, but even her whole body showed signs of not being capable of bearing it. It was fortunate that her assimilation of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara had taken place long before, and that she could fully use its devastating power. After passing through ten years of fusion, the Spiritual Stove of Samsara gained perfect harmony with her body, thus even when her body was breaking apart, the Spiritual Stove of Samsara gave off some energy to protect her.
However, even so, the Spiritual of Samsara was only protecting her body and didn’t lessen the pain.
Just think, what kind of pain would come out from having your own body being torn to shreds?
Thus, at that instant, Cai’er’s body felt extremely numb, before an incomparable pain hit her, plunging her in an even more terrifying state than at the time of her initial assimilation of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
Even if it was Long Haochen instead of Cai’er, he would perhaps have screamed miserably. However, Cai’er didn’t. Having been tormented by the Spiritual Stove of Samsara since being a three years old girl, she was
extremely tenacious, and kept clenching her teeth and bitterly bearing the pain.
The fusion between three spiritual stoves was just far too challenging. Even with the lead of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, she still faced an extreme and unavoidable danger.
Because the others had just absorbed their newly obtained spiritual stoves, the process of their fusion wasn’t as hard for them as for Long Haochen and Cai’er. However, this was the first time obtaining a spiritual stove for all of them, and the familiarity of their contract with their brand new stoves was limited. Thus, the process of fusion wasn’t a breeze for them either.
To the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad, this trial could only be described as an extreme challenge. Their strength, their willpower as well as their determination permitted them to face it, but in case of failure, they would very probably not only lose their spiritual stoves, but also their qualifications to remain a team of equal peers. Everyone clearly understood this, and thus absolutely didn’t give up.
Wang Yuanyuan was waiting silently, surrounded by a boundless sight of green, as a dense vitality was emerging from her body. She could even sense her own external spiritual energy being imperceptibly strengthened. However, she was not in the mood to immerse herself in enjoying the benefits from having her external spiritual energy go up.
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After not being able to undergo the third trial, she could only wait here and couldn’t do anything else.
Because she didn’t want to bring troubles to her mates, she didn’t attempt to leave. And close to three hours had already passed.
The Illusory Paradise would open for a total of only three days, thus after three hours of bitter wait, even Wang Yuanyuan couldn’t help but start cultivating. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to refrain from leaving. Loneliness was after all often an even greater torment than pain.
Finally, with a glint of golden light, a figure appeared near Wang Yuanyuan, surrounded by a green glow.
“Ah!” Right after appearing, this person couldn’t help but scream. As his body spasmed violently, he fell to the ground and landed on his butt.
“Are you okay?” Wang Yuanyuan hurried to ask with concern. The first one to appear was none other than Zhang Fangfang who had just broken through to the seventh step.
Zhang Fangfang opened his mouth wide, taking deep breaths. On his forehead, large amounts of sweat were flowing down. After a lot of difficulty, he finally relaxed, and after he took a deep breath, he replied to Wang Yuanyuan with a smile, “I’m alright.”
Wang Yuanyuan unhappily asked, “Are you really alright? The last time you said that, you were already close to becoming handicapped.”
Zhang Fangfang revealed a smile, scratching his own head, “I am really all right. However, the fusion of spiritual stoves was far too tormenting. If not for the fact that I had just reached the seventh step and had a sufficient amount of spiritual energy to accomplish the fusion, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t necessarily have managed this. Speaking of which, that Ye Xiaolei was really quite lenient, since my spiritual energy has reached 10,000 units after this breakthrough. It looks like she can really control and alter the regulations of the Illusory Paradise to some extent. ”
Wang Yuanyuan appeared pleasantly surprised, “The fusion was accomplished? How did the spiritual stoves change?”
Standing up, Zhang Fangfang gave her a smile, “Yes. I have given this spiritual stove I obtained after the fusion the name Spiritual Stove of Second Life. Take a look.”
Saying that casually, his eyes were lit up with a golden glint, and immediately afterwards, a golden brilliance appeared on his chest. Instantly, another Zhang Fangfang appeared in front of Wang Yuanyuan, but this one didn’t have any equipment on him, forming an existence only made of golden light.
“This me possesses an eighth of my total spiritual energy, and can even use any weapon I’ll give him. He’ll listen to all my orders. I can summon him once a day, and the summon will last for a hour. I can ascertain that the fusion of the spiritual stoves caused them to gain great power.”
Wang Yuanyuan looked startled at that golden figure, filled with envy. This sort of cloning spiritual stove was close to reaching the second tier as a spiritual stove. That was already an incredible amplification! And this clone also persisted for a long time, but more importantly, it was able to use equipment as well.
Although she didn’t know what tier the spiritual stoves Zhang Fangfang had just obtained reached, a spiritual stove of the second tier was bound to raise his strength greatly. Relying on this, he was already qualified for the challenge to obtain a Mythril Foundation Armor.
Seeing that Zhang Fangfang was already alright, she unconsciously drew back. When she was prepared to sit down again and keep waiting for her comrades’ return, Zhang Fangfang suddenly asked, “Yuanyuan, do you already have a boyfriend?”
“Eh?” Wang Yuanyuan turned around to look at him with a start. Seeing Zhang Fangfang’s scorching look and the manly spirit filling him, she was somewhat frenetic, unconsciously replying, “No, I don’t.”
“Then that’s good.” Zhang Fangfang visibly relaxed at that reply.
Wang Yuanyuan’s eyebrows went up, “Why is that good? Do you think this girl cannot find anyone to like her?”
Zhang Fangfang immediately looked panicked, “No, no, don’t misunderstand me. That’s not what I meant. I just like you.” When he said these last few words, the two of them looked dumbfounded at each other .
Wang Yuanyuan only felt a pain in her heart, but rapidly responded while carrying a serious face, “But I don’t like you. Did you think I would give my heart away just because you saved me? Let me tell you, I don’t like men. For the fact that you saved me, I will make it up to you in the future.” Saying that, she immediately turned her head away, and stopped looking at Zhang Fangfang. However, at the same time, she found out that her own heartbeat had gone wild, and when she finished giving this reply, a feeling of remorse totally unknown to her, instantly spread inside her.
Zhang Fangfang didn’t say anything and only looked at her silently. She didn’t turn her head either, and the atmosphere started to become awkward.
A good while later, Zhang Fangfang seemed to have cheered up a little, and declared in a rough and gloomy sounding voice, “Yuanyuan, I haven’t said that while believing that you came to like me. After all, we haven’t known each other for long, and regardless of whether you like me or whether you like men or women, my feelings for you won’t change. Letting you know about them is enough for me.”
Wang Yuanyuan’s shoulders trembled, but without turning around she asked, “What do you like in me?” Her voice had clearly softened, and at that time, she thought of the scene when this man had declared that he was alright even with two handicapped hands.
Zhang Fangfang’s reply was “Do you believe in love at first sight? This is my honest answer to this question. I can only say that I don’t know. However, I feel very glad that fate enabled me to meet you.”
Wang Yuanyuan fell silent once again, and Zhang Fangfang didn’t say anything further. As the expression on his face looked more relaxed, he sat cross-legged at the same place, attentively watching the tall and slender girl standing before him.
Right at that time, a second silhouette came out in a green light. His miserable appearance was even more unbearable than that of Zhang Fangfang. Immediately dropping flat on his face, he embraced the ground.
Surprised and scared by that sudden turn of events, Wang Yuanyuan hastily stood up to see that it was Han Yu who fell to the ground.
Han Yu wasn’t only gasping for breath, but immediately fell unconscious.
Without giving Wang Yuanyuan the time to step forward, a golden light fell accurately on Han Yu. It was Great Recovery, a single targeted healing spell of the light element.
Zhang Fangfang steadily pushed his hands on Han Yu’s chest, sensing the changes on his body. A bit later, Zhang Fangfang said with a relaxed voice, “He’s alright. If I am not mistaken, his fusion should have succeeded too. There’s a very gentle yet tenacious form of spiritual energy of light in his chest. It is certainly the power of a spiritual stove.”
Wang Yuanyuan nodded before looking at the serious Zhang Fangfang and said, “Then that’s good.”
The two of them looked at each other, but Wang Yuanyuan immediately escaped right after that, turning her head away again. She didn’t dare look
further at Zhang Fangfang, unexpectedly quite afraid to see the serious look in his eyes.
Roughly half an hour later, Han Yu gradually came back to his senses. Just like Zhang Fangfang said, his trial had been successful. After fusing, the two spiritual stoves became a brand new one, called Protection of Light.
This spiritual stove was a formidable one, and could be used under any circumstances, allowing Han Yu to unleash a protection of light over a range of five meters. This protection of light could reach a defensive power three times stronger than his own power, reaching the defensive strength of a Divine Obstruction. At the same time, when he would use the Protection of Light, in the covered area, except from those of darkness elemental properties, the spiritual energy from everyone inside would be recovered at a tenfold speed until reaching its peak.
Without a doubt, this spiritual stove would strengthen along with him. The only pity was that after this fusion, the Protection of Light seemed unable to evolve. As a whole, this spiritual stove was still a bit inferior to the Spiritual Stove of Second Life belonging to Zhang Fangfang.
Lin Xin was the next one to appear from a green mist of light, looking totally worn out.
“Hey, has-drugs bro, are you okay? If the fusion failed just let it be, it’s okay as long as you are alright.” Wang Yuanyuan said, trying to console him.
Han Yu said with a bitter face, “This fusion was just too hard, to the point that even his control over fire turned out insufficient.”
“Who said that I failed? I’m just pained over my hair.” Reaching this point, Lin Xin couldn’t help but keep crying. Nonetheless, his appearance was enough to cause anyone to feel sympathy. His magic gown was burnt to scrap, and on his head was just a large black swatch of hair. His graceful dark green hair was completely reduced to charcoal, and the same went for his eyebrows. Nonetheless, looking at him, he was in a better state than Han
Yu and Zhang Fangfang at that time. At least he didn’t collapse immediately.
Wang Yuanyuan declared unhappily, “Just let him cry, until he dies of it. What is there to feel sorry for the loss of your hair. This is good too; you’ll be bald just like Sima. It will make you look more like a man. Perhaps sister Xin’er will like you even more.”
“Really?” Lin Xin’s crying voice dissipated a little, as he raised his head, his eyes still hazy with tears, and asked.
Wang Yuanyuan shryly replied, “Nope, that was a lie.”
Zhang Fangfang said with a smile, “No matter what, we have so far at least all succeeded. I hope the others will clear their trials successfully too.”
After no less than half an hour, Chen Ying’er and Sima Xian appeared nearly at the same time. It was just that the two of them were in totally different shapes.
Chen Ying’er looked messy, and immediately fell unconscious in Wang Yuanyuan’s arms, her clothes were soaked with sweat and had gone completely transparent. She couldn’t bear it any longer and, and collapsed with great effect.
Sima Xian’s appearance was even more miserable than hers. At the time he appeared, he looked like a piece of barbecue meat. He smashed onto the ground, carrying a fragrant smell of burnt meat. His skin looked totally carbonized, and some parts of his flesh really looked roasted.
Han Yu and Zhang Fangfang healed him with their full strength, before Sima Xian could at last be considered to have come back to life. But the two of them were still unconscious, and didn’t wake up even after half an hour. In particular, Sima Xian had really sustained very serious damage to his body. Taking Lin Xin’s pills, and getting healed only kept him barely alive and no more. It was hard to say whether there would be sequelae form the aftermath.
A golden light ripped through the green light, and a golden figure emerged from the fog of light.
Of the light element, Sima Xian, Han Yu, and Zhang Fangfang had all already appeared, and Long Haochen was the last one left to appear.
However, right at that time, everyone looked simply lifeless. This was because from that green fog of light, a slender and smooth pure-white leg appeared.
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There was no mistake about the fact that they recognized the light element, but the last user of the light element left was Long Haochen. Could he just… have had a gender change?
Seeing that long and slender thigh, everyone felt sluggish. Their eyes wide open and their mouths agape, they looked about to cry out in total alarm.
Still, that slender thigh fortunately didn’t appear naked. After twenty centimeters of thigh had appeared in the midst of this green light, a mild golden battle-skirt promptly appeared and covered the remaining part above. This could at least prevent everyone from having wild and fancy thoughts.
In the midst of these lifeless stares, a sweet-looking beauty came out of the fog.
Fully grown, she reached a height of over a meter and seventy centimeters, approximately the size of Wang Yuanyuan, and carried a beauty that gave off the feeling of a divine existence.
A golden battle-skirt protected her most important places, but her chest aside, her arms and thighs, gave off the milky white precious feeling of a gem, and on her forehead was a golden caltrop-shaped gem.
This elegant face carried a dim smile, and in her right hand was a two meter long golden staff, embedded with a golden gem emitting a soft splendor.
Her beauty gave a sacred feeling without the slightest flaw, and her fair legs didn’t directly touch the ground, but floated around a fifth of a meter high in the air.
Sensing everyone’s sluggish gazes, the girl had a smile on her face,
“Don’t you recognize me?”
“You… You are…” Lin Xin cried out in shock.
The staff in the right hand of the girl lit up with light, as the upper part of her body bent forward. Immediately afterwards, three pairs of wings abruptly spread on her back, like petals of a flower. Each of the bright wings had the transparent look of butterfly wings, but was a lot larger. The instant they spread out, a sunlight-like halo immediately appeared under the girl, as a soft golden fog of light revolved around her body.
“Yating!” Everyone cried out simultaneously, looking foolishly at the fairy.
Was that really the Light Elemental Fairy they had robbed from the hands of the demons under Long Haochen’s lead? This… Was this for real?
It was no wonder that they were in such a state of shock as the current Yating looked nearly the same as a human. If she were to land on the ground and retract her wings, she would simply look the same as a normal human girl.
As she was now, she seemed nowhere close to an entity made of pure energy.
Wang Yuanyuan couldn’t help but move closer and touch Yating’s hand, feeling her softness, warmth and the satiny skin. It felt very good to the touch.
“You… obtained your adult form?”
“More accurately speaking, she should have become a real fairy, actually a different kind of fairy than she was before.” Long Haochen’s
voice resounded, and immediately afterwards, he stepped out from the same green fog in the air.
In comparison to the others, he appeared almost unaffected. Not looking exhausted in any way, he just gave a strange look to Yating.
The current Yating was the result from the fusion of the two spiritual stoves, and this could be called a fortuitous change.
The Illusory Paradise was undoubtedly the most fitting place for a fairy to live, and because of this coincidence of fate, Yating had absorbed a huge amount of vital and light essence. All her wounds had been completely healed , and she had obtained a corporeal body in the process.
Of course, she didn’t really become human. She still remained an entity made of energy. However, it was just that the energy reached such a high level of condensation that it produced an almost physical entity. Just like Long Haochen said, she was now a real fairy and not just an elemental fairy anymore.
The Saint Spiritual Stove was in comparison visibly weaker than Yating. Its attractive ability had been similarly absorbed by Yating, and even Long Haochen’s broken Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light was now incorporated into Yating’s body. Even if it got restored in the future, Long Haochen would need Yating to hand it to him to use it.
The case Long Haochen had worried over still happened, and the attractive ability of the Saint Spiritual Stove changed in the process of fusion, becoming a part of Yating’s abilities.
As a whole, the fusion could be said to be a benefit entirely for Yating.
Of course, Yating was still Long Haochen’s spiritual stove, and their agreement didn’t change, but only solidified the direct connection between their thoughts. The difference from before was that the current Yating was an individual of her own, blessed with the ability to think for herself and intelligence. Now, she could act as a real independent light mage. She was capable of accomplishing everything a light mage of the same rank could
accomplish, maybe even better than the latter. As for the growth of her strength, it all depended on Long Haochen.
To Yating, this change was truly very satisfying, and her view of Long Haochen had changed entirely. This was however the thing that gave Long Haochen the greatest headache. He was the most unwilling to see Cai’er become unhappy over Yating’s change. He would be happy to act as Yating’s friend, but there could never be anything more than that.
“How beautiful! If I didn’t already have Xin’er, I would have really fallen for you.” Lin Xin declared without any shame, carrying a pitiful expression that caused all the others to be unable to help but reveal a smile despite the situation.
Long Haochen told Yating, “Please change back to your original size.”
Yating pouted in response, “But master, this will reduce my strength.”
Long Haochen revealed a forced smile, “It should do if you go back to the size you had before. At the time we will need you to go all out, you can just come back to this form.”
Yating’s evolution gave her even the ability of human speech.
“Okay.” Yating nodded, somewhat dissatisfied, and under the regretful male gazes, the halo of light vanished as she returned rapidly to a small size. This reduction in size was very thorough, to the point that she was now only about a third of a meter in length, flying to Long Haochen’s shoulder where she sat.
Although she already returned to a small size, Long Haochen still felt a bit awkward about her sitting on his shoulder. But he had already ordered Yating to do something she didn’t want to do out of selfishness, so asking for more wouldn’t be good.
Turning around and looking at that dark green fog, Long Haochen’s gaze grew frantic, as he murmured the words, “Now we are only missing Cai’er.”
Indeed, currently everyone had already returned with the exception of Cai’er. Since Sima Xian and Chen Ying’er appeared to be seriously injured, he could temporarily not ask them about their trials. The possibility of the spiritual stoves being lost couldn’t be excluded.
Yating didn’t stay idle and released healing spells one after another, aiming them at Sima Xian and Chen Ying’er. Regarding healing, she was a lot more reliable than Han Yu and Zhang Fangfang. Having someone who could really heal also meant that the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad was no longer lacking a priest.
Time passed minute after minute, and Long Haochen’s look only became more and more frantic. Unconsciously clenching his fists, he prayed unceasingly: Cai’er, you can’t let something happen to you! You definitely have to be successful!
He was already filled with regrets, regretting that he added one more spiritual stove for Cai’er to take in. If this had been only about fusing the Spiritual Stove of Samsara and the Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stoves, the trial would have been easier for her.
While Long Haochen was filled with regrets, a sweet voice resounded in his mind, “Great fool, you’re worried aren’t you? Serves you right. I’ll bring you to her place, she’s already totally powerless, and needs you to bring her back.”
This was Ye Xiaolei’s voice! Long Haochen rejoiced at this statement and hurriedly nodded in response.
In a flash of green light, he twisted his own body anew, and immediately afterwards, Long Haochen disappeared into the green light. However, Yating was repelled by that green light and was not able to enter alongside Long Haochen.
When his sight cleared again, he found himself in the same green pool where the fusion of spiritual stoves took place. The water here was actually not so deep, and purely made of vital energy. Regardless of the situation, he just felt as cozy as when soaking in this deep water.
According to Ye Xiaolei’s words, this was not the same place where he had been, but the place where Cai’er’s fusion of spiritual stoves took place. But just where was Cai’er?
Although Long Haochen felt agitated deep inside, he still calmed himself down, and didn’t search blindly. Slowly closing his eyes, he relied on his mental strength to strengthen his own perception, looking for traces of Cai’er’s presence.
This deep green space looked endless, but Long Haochen very rapidly found traces of her with his great mental strength. Immediately, a weak living energy was sensed by him.
Without the slightest hesitation, he opened his eyes and headed to the place where his senses led him, toward that living presence.
It was Cai’er!
Coming closer, Long Haochen discovered Cai’er with a mere glance. At her current state, her body was completely soaked into the green liquid, with only her face floating above the water, looking pale to a threatening degree. If not for the weak living pulse that still remained, she would perhaps look like a corpse floating above the water.
“Cai’er!” Long Haochen called out grudgingly, and hurriedly threw himself at her, giving her a hug.
This hug wasn’t anything serious, but he immediately looked sluggish.
Entering in contact with her delicate skin, even with the presence of the deep green liquid, he clearly felt this tender tactile sensation. Her exquisite curves and all parts of her were bare. Under this touch, Long Haochen felt something similar to an electric shock.
Although Cai’er and he had been together for quite long now, the two of them were after all of young age and ignorant regarding things between males and females. With the fear of harming her, Long Haochen had been
staying reserved and only gave her at most kisses and hugs. But he had never directly touched her skin like that.
At this very moment, although he didn’t even carry Cai’er out of the water, he could feel every single part of her body. This was his first time having such a kind of “feeling of closeness”.
However, Long Haochen’s sluggishness only lasted for a short moment, and in spite of the intense changes in his heart and his embarrassment, Cai’er’s safety mattered the most to him.
He bit the tip of his own tongue that caused a sharp pain, to awaken his own mind and slowly poured his own soft holy spiritual energy into Cai’er’s body.
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Long Haochen infused her very slowly with his spiritual energy, out of fear to cause harm to Cai’er’s body. After some of his spiritual energy had streamed into Cai’er’s body, he managed to sense her condition through his spiritual energy.
Cai’er’s body was in a terrible state, many of her energy channels were destroyed and some of the most important meridians were almost severed. Only the fantastic dark green vital energy barely kept them attached.
Using the words ‘hanging by a thread’ to describe Cai’er’s condition would be no exaggeration. If not for the immersion in the vitalizing green pool, it would have taken her merely a little instant to die.
Sensing the danger Cai’er was in, Long Haochen was shaken even more violently deep inside, and his steady stream of spiritual energy was released even more carefully.
A gentle Holy Mantle spread onwards, wrapping Cai’er and him inside.
It wasn’t that Long Haochen wasn’t capable of using more powerful healing spells, but Cai’er’s current state was just too weak. Therefore, he didn’t dare to use high intensity spells to heal her, only prudently restoring her body. He couldn’t be overly hasty or else, he would very possibly produce the opposite effect.
After an unknown amount of time passed, Cai’er’s damaged energy channels were finally restored, and although this couldn’t be called a complete healing, it was at least guaranteed that all her energy channels
were reconnected. Deep inside, he thanked Ye Xiaolei from his heart. Cai’er’s energy channels had been severely damaged, but because of the care given by the Illusory Paradise, those damaged channels were barely preserved by the gentle energy of life, that not only saved Cai’er’s life but also made it a lot easier for him to treat her.
The Holy Mantle that surrounded Cai’er didn’t cease its healing effect from beginning to end. As Cai’er’s body gradually recovered, one surge of energy after another entered her energy channels, and was absorbed along with the vital energy from the surroundings. With the help from Long Haochen’s healing magic, Cai’er’s recovery sped up.
“Eh…” A long time later, Cai’er’s body shook slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.
However, Long Haochen once again wore a sluggish look, and it was exactly because of Cai’er’s shaking. It was strong enough to affect him and caused the careless move that followed. His right hand slipped on her chest, and grabbed a mellow and soft rising mound. His fingers and palm cupped it, and even if he had been more ignorant in this regard, he would still have known what he was touching! At the instant that happened, Cai’er’s eyes were already open and she happened to feel the warmth of his large hand on her. Staring at each other, the two looked just as dull as their counterpart.
“You…” Cai’er’s trembling voice was light, and a rose-colored blush appeared on her face, spreading smoothly even to her neck.
“I… I…” Long Haochen didn’t know how to react. Moving his hand wasn’t the solution, and getting out of the way wasn’t right either. And his astonishing impulse actually urged him to continue.
Raising her arms with an exaggerated movement, Cai’er’s pearly white teeth bit her own lips as she held Long Haochen with both of her hands, pressing her own body even closer to his. Not daring to look at him any further, she could feel her own heartbeat accelerate as her level of panic increased. However, her panic and shyness aside, she felt more satisfied than anything else.
Cai’er’s past experience was only filled with darkness and loneliness, but ever since meeting Long Haochen, her heart kept changing ceaselessly. Every time she encountered dangers or difficulty, her idiot was the first to join her side every time. In Long Haochen’s eyes, this was just natural, but in Cai’er’s eyes, this was the greatest happiness.
After experiencing the inhuman pain from the fusion of her spiritual stoves, the first one she saw after regaining consciousness was him. The feeling of intimacy from her body reached an embarrassing level, but first of all, the first one she got to see after experiencing all this pain was her beloved man. What could please her more than that? Thus, she didn’t blame Long Haochen in any way, and on top of that, she trusted in Long Haochen not being the kind of person to take advantage of somebody’s weaknesses. The gentle light essence filling her body was already proof that he was just healing her. Or perhaps did he happen to heal her at that place?
When one really loved another person exceedingly, no matter what mistakes the loved one would make, the lover would often only see their good points.
However, this in turn brought Long Haochen a totally different sensation. At every special place of his body, Long Haochen felt his willpower being exposed to an even more terrible trial than at the time of the fusion between his spiritual stoves. His whole body was stiff from that. Never forget that he is after all a young and vigorous little virgin. Furthermore, he matured a lot faster than the others of his age, and his level of maturity was….
“Idiot, why are you still not giving me clothes to put on?” Cai’er’s face was buried in his chest as she spoke these words in a small voice.
“Oh, yeah.” Hearing Cai’er’s words, Long Haochen hurried to take out some of his own clothes from the Eternal Melody. Not worrying about the clothes she was given to wear, Cai’er already stood up from the pool of water.
Her movement was very fast, and with a turn of her body, Long Haochen’s clothing already covered up her figure. However, because she was only clad in upper garment, the sight of her slender thighs was
unavoidable, and in spite of the cover that it formed at the crucial area, this gave off an all the more mysterious alluring feeling.
Long Haochen foolishly looked at her. His eyesight was incomparably good, and although he only had a glance at Cai’er’s changing, he still saw what he shouldn’t have seen, and seemed to have seen everything.
Now, he didn’t even dare move, for fear that the fiery feeling in his heart would surge out. Not daring to show any affectionate movement towards Cai’er, he was currently like a fire surrounded by surges of oil, ready to turn into raging flames anytime.
Seeing his thoroughly red face, Cai’er only sneaked a glance at him before running to his back, “You are not permitted to peep.”
“Oh, yeah.” Long Haochen gave an answer with difficulty, but the sight of his adam’s apple gulping back his saliva sold him off.
Cai’er’ thighs looked different than Yating’s. Long Haochen found out to his shock that a certain thought reached his brain.
This thought was that Yating was certainly beautiful, from her long and slender legs to her perfectly straight, rich and flawless figure, but although Cai’er lacked a lot in comparison, her leg had a sleek curve and her body a sweet scent very unique to young human girls. More importantly, seeing her leg, although Long Haochen felt bashful, it felt like releasing him of all burdens.
“Alright, time for us to go now.” Cai’er’s soft voice sounded at his back.
In a mechanical motion, Long Haochen turned around, immediately seeing that Cai’er had changed back into some of her own black clothing that covered all of her body’s beauty. She also handed Long Haochen’s clothes back to him.
Loosening his own breath, Long Haochen recovered his own clothes, but when he touched Cai’er’s fingertips, he became unable to hold back the burning feeling in his chest, and immediately drew himself closer to her to
capture her lips with a kiss. His hand also fell carelessly on the same place where he had touched her back then in the water, carelessly kneading the tender swelling in spite of the clothes.
The Scion of Light was not a saint! And even if he had been a saint, there would surely still have been times when he would have been unable to hold back to some extent.
Because Cai’er’s injuries had been critically severe, so Long Haochen had wanted to stabilize her for the time being. Thus, even if the feelings filling his heart were burning, he only let them emerge for a bit before leading Cai’er back to the Illusory Shrine in a rush.
“Yating, heal Cai’er!” Long Haochen landed, and told Yating who felt still a bit unsatisfied about having been abandoned by him just before.
The current Cai’er was still weak, and didn’t notice any difference about Yating.
Long Haochen turned in Zhang Fangfang’s direction, “Brother Zhang, please stay here for a bit longer, I have to send off my comrades first of all. This method is our team’s greatest secret, so please don’t ask or tell others about it.”
Zhang Fangfan nodded in response, “Be at ease.” Saying that he directly walked in front of Wang Yuanyuan, “Hit me.”
Wang Yuanyuan became blank.
With a deep look at her, Zhang Fangfang continued, “This way I won’t see, nor hear or sense anything. Isn’t that the best way to guard this secret?”
Long Haochen said with haste, “Brother Zhang, there’s no need to go to such…”
Before he even finished, Wang Yuanyuan’s hand hit Zhang Fangfang’s side with a cutting motion. Instantly, his body became limp and fell to the
ground under Wang Yuanyuan’s support.
Lin Xin couldn’t help but react by saying, “Yuanyuan, so you really put your hands to use like that!”
Wang Yuanyuan shot him a glance, asking, “Do you want me to do the same to you.”
“Don’t, there’s no need.” Lin Xin repeatedly waved his hands with haste.
Wang Yuanyuan gave a look to the unconscious Zhang Fangfang thinking secretly in rage, Serves you right, to perturb my heart!
Since it was already getting late, Long Haochen didn’t dare waste any more time. Leaving Zhang Fangfang, Cai’er and Yating there, he triggered the Eternal Melody and transported his comrades back. Sima Xian and Chen Ying’er’s injuries were already stabilized; it was just that they were still in deep sleep. Their wounds were actually not as critical as Cai’er’s, and after some prolonged healing, they just needed some nursing for the time being.
With a glint of golden light, Long Haochen returned to the Illusory Shrine. Sensing the changes on the light essence in the air, he couldn’t help but let some surprise show from his eyes.
After his awakening as a god’s chosen one, his control over the light element was visibly a lot stronger, to the extent that he managed to manipulate the Eternal Melody all the more smoothly. Atop of that, he was already back to the Illusory Shrine, and wasn’t in the Illusory Paradise anymore. Thus, getting transported back didn’t take up so much spiritual energy.
After waking Zhang Fangfang and letting Yating return into his own body, Long Haochen led the group of three out of the Illusory Shrine.
Three days wasn’t a long period but it wasn’t short either. Both the Temple Alliance and the demons were waiting impatiently outside the
shrine. After all, this time, very important figures from both sides had participated.