Chapter 371
At the time the fog of ice casted by the blue skeleton came in contact with Long Haochen’s body, he simply felt a breeze covering his whole body, which suppressed his sunlight fire. Additionally, his movements clearly became slower, and an ice cold feeling filled his mind, as if making his soul sluggish from the cold.
However, this feeling only lasted for an instant until Lin Xin’s Heart of Flames managed to block it. When the fog of ice touched the flames, with a puffing sound, the fire from the Heart of Flames and the fog of ice started to cancel each other out.
Without a doubt, that skeleton wasn’t using ordinary ice, but Lin Xin’s Heart of Flames didn’t use ordinary fire either. Both sides counteracted each other and Lin Xin’s fire actually held an advantage. But of course, this was because the effects of Long Haochen’s sunlight fire had already weakened the attack from the skeleton to some extent.
The flame in the eyes of the blue skeleton pulsed slightly, and the staff in his hand moved in a mysterious trajectory. As he acted that way, he chanted some unknown incantation, and a sparkling and translucent ice crystal emerged from his staff, floating above him. This ice crystal didn’t really appear fast, but Long Haochen felt some change on the scenery before his eyes, before all the surroundings turned ice blue.
From the others point of view, Long Haochen’s body abruptly came to a stop before immediately being immersed by a large ice crystal
What strong magic!
At that time, the other members of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad naturally didn’t keep waiting, and launched their attacks against that blue skeleton.
The fire from Lin Xin Heart of Flames clashed against that immense ice crystal, immediately attempting to melt it, while Cai’er, Wang Yuanyuan, and Sima Xian, as well as Han Yu simultaneously dashed towards the blue skeleton. Their movements were filled with tacit understanding. The four of them had dashed forward and separated to encircle the skeleton, and although they were not able to attack from all four directions, their coordinated attack made that blue skeleton totally unable to resist the encirclement.
Chen Ying’er was seated on the ground, both her hands on her crystal ball as she chanted a slow incantation. Two bizarre radiances of gold and a dark color quietly emerged, revolving around her like fireballs. The fluctuation of spiritual energy surrounding Chen Ying’er’s body produced a white thread from the space between her eyebrows, radiating a white light.
Facing this combined assault, that blue skeleton actually didn’t retreat, and suddenly pointed his staff to the ground.
Bang.
With a violent explosion, the immense crystal that had frozen Long Haochen split, producing a brutal explosive force hurling innumerable ice shards into all directions. These fragments of ice were not only directed at them all, but also stopped everyone in their track. Even given their current cultivation, they were unable to resist.
Cai’er’s dark golden dagger could be seen, changing into many sparks of light in the air. At every thrust, a ball of ice would be destroyed, yet her look was concentrated on Long Haochen.
It was not only her: Wang Yuanyuan, Sima Xian and Han Yu also did the same. Seeing the strong explosive power of this ice, was Long Haochen alright…?
Nothing seemed wrong with Long Haochen. At least, he didn’t seem harmed on the surface. It was just that his golden red flames and the fire from Lin Xin’s Heart of Flames had disappeared completely.
His expression looked pale, and his body was distinctly covered with ice.
An intense cold air covered the surroundings densely. It could be clearly seen that everyone felt their whole bodies numbing. In fact, their external spiritual energy had increased by a large degree after being soaked in the liquid using the dragon crystals as main ingredient. Even so, their external spiritual energy that now exceeded 3,000 units didn’t stop their hands from going stiff.
Seventh step! Without a doubt, this was the level of cultivation this blue skeleton reached. And furthermore, its control over magic was the same as the battle skills of the red skeleton from the ancient times, something one could only describe as perfect.
A resonant phoenix cry rang right at that instant, and the red-hot fire from the Heart of Flames lashed out instantly, rapidly counteracting the coldness in the air. Meanwhile, the blue fire phoenix soared in the sky, going past everyone to throw itself at that blue skeleton.
Lin Xin was already unable to give any more consideration about the backlash. Because of how strong this blue skeleton was, all his mates were affected by him. If he was allowed free reign, it would be very hard for them to pass this trial.
The members of the 64th Demon Hunt Squad coordinated perfectly. In Han Yu’s hands, the golden red legendary sword was lifted, and with a shout, an intense golden red shine covered his whole body. This shine immediately freed his body from the stiffness affecting it. Being covered by a golden red shade, he went straight for that blue skeleton.
In a rush, Sima Xian placed himself in front of Long Haochen, using his Energetic Ball of Light, which was finally finished being re-modelled in the previous month, to get in the opponent’s way.
Compared to before, there was no apparent change in the size of the Energetic Ball of Light, but it’s appearance had changed into a darker golden color, faintly emitting a kind of terrible aura. Originally at the Glorious Tier, the Energetic Ball of Light now easily reached the Legendary Tier, and if not for the increase of external spiritual energy Sima Xian had gained from the dragon crystal, he would currently be unable to use this terrible weapon.
With a glint of silver light, Wang Yuanyuan disappeared without a sound, and Cai’er also vanished instantly.
Four people attacking and one staying behind to defend Long Haochen; this was true tacit understanding.
In front of the blue fire phoenix, the blue skeleton finally lost his tranquility. His chant appeared more rushed, and his staff pointed to the ground. With three ear-piercing whoosh sounds, three immense ice crystals, reaching a diameter of one meter, suddenly dug their way from the ground, intertwining with each other towards the blue fire phoenix. In the meanwhile, an ice blue radiance was spread out from the blue skeleton, forming a blue transparent barrier.
Bang.
The three thick ice crystals simultaneously smashed to pieces, and the coldness that filled the air disappeared in that instant. Lin Xin’s blue fire phoenix showed a truly terrible attack power, and furthermore, the intensity of the Heart of Flames was stronger than the ice of the blue skeleton. However, the gap between the two was mostly based on their spiritual energy level. The blue fire phoenix couldn’t keep pushing forward, and turned back with a muffled phoenix cry, returning to Lin Xin’s side.
With a glint of silver light, the first to attack was Wang Yuanyuan. Her Gigantic Divine Soul Shield was wielded like an axe. Relying on the power of the Spiritual Stove of Spatial Gate, Wang Yuanyuan’s attack was instantaneous, clashing violently against the barrier protecting that blue skeleton.
The spatial crystal obtained from the auction house was refined into two pieces for Wang Yuanyuan to use. Nonetheless, in her current state, she could only add a supplementary one, otherwise the power would exceed her limits. But even so, the Gigantic Divine Soul Shield directly ascended to the Legendary Tier just from the addition of one spatial crystal.
As this shield blow was delivered, an immense and terrifying silver figure arose behind Wang Yuanyuan’s back. With a violent bang, the blue barrier was smashed to pieces from the impact.
Nonetheless, that blue skeleton kept showing exceptional reactions. In such an unfavorable situation, it suddenly lowered its stance, in the same fashion as a skater, using the force from the barrier to avoid Wang Yuanyuan’s axe-attack. In the meanwhile, a pure white ice ring suddenly extended, forcefully pushing Wang Yuanyuan back.
Han Yu arrived at this time. Fully clad in gold red, he appeared to have gotten in an extraordinary state. Aiming a violent cut with the pure golden heavy sword in his hand, he engulfed the blue skeleton like a reddish golden hurricane.
Zhii A sharp whistling sound came out from the blue skeleton’s mouth, and an ice wall suddenly appeared in front of Han Yu to stop him. However, that ice wall was reduced to fragments in the next instant by Han Yu’s immense golden red sword.
A white ring appeared under Han Yu’s feet, provoking an instant explosion and sweeping him with an intense frozen airstream. However, when covered in this pure golden color, Han Yu seemed unequalled, actually disregarding all the effects from the frozen airstream on his body and still aiming his sword at that blue skeleton.
The blue skeleton finally seemed close to his limits, the soulfire in his eye was fluctuating violently. Waving the magic staff in his hand, it erected a defensive armor around itself.
The fact it had great ability in magic didn’t necessarily mean that this blue skeleton would be as strong as the red skeleton in close range.
Although it had the defense from the ice armor, it still ended up sent flying while its magic staff was cut in half. More terrifyingly, the scarlet radiance shining on Han Yu’s heavy sword actually gained in viscosity, as the blue skeleton suddenly stopped in its flight backwards.
Following next was Han Yu’s performance time. As the blood red colored heavy sword swirled in the air, at every attack, that blue skeleton would get covered with a layer of imposing red, and it took only three blows to smash his ice armor with a loud bang.
Han Yu’s last strike directly aimed at the shoulder of the blue skeleton, slashing it in half.
In a state of invisibility, Cai’er didn’t intervene. Since Han Yu managed to deal the fatal blow against the blue skeleton, she naturally had no need to act.
Long Haochen gradually returned to his senses. After sustaining the icy effects, only his face still looked pale. The damage from the attack of the blue skeleton was truly terrible. It was fortunate that he had the Holy Fire brought to him by Yating, along with the addition from the sunlight fire and the Heart of Flames as well as the Sacred Holy Protection from his Glorious Holy Armor, annihilating the greater part of the damage from the explosion. However, even then, it took Long Haochen nearly twenty seconds to expel the chilliness from his whole body.
The whole battle didn’t last a long time, but this victory against the blue skeleton wasn’t an easy win at all. In fact, Long Haochen’s individual strength was enough for him to match a powerhouse of the seventh step in a duel. And it took their whole strength to take out this blue skeleton. If not for the enormous effects Lin Xin’s blue phoenix had in weakening this blue skeleton, defeating this opponent would have been very hard to them.
Chapter 372
Just before Chen Ying’er’s chant was cut-off midway, there appeared three Summoning Gates behind her, but they disappeared before being activated as she didn’t complete her spell.
This was the great gain obtained from the fusion between the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove and the Spiritual Stove of Time. Of course, this was an ability that could only be used once a day, and which fortunately had no huge backlash.
To summoners, a triple summoning ability was something going completely against nature. Still, the current Chen Ying’er was unable to display its full strength yet due to her special situation.
From the smashed parts of the blue skeleton gradually appeared a blue mass of light, and a slightly tapered voice could be heard from it, “The Eleventh Holy Guard reports to Master.” Then, it’s two severed halves fluttered along in a wind, transforming into two rays of light heading straight for Long Haochen. As it happened with the Red Skeleton, it fused into the Eternal Melody on Long Haochen’s chest.
The gem above the Eternal Melody now took the shape of a white skull, and beside the traces of red flame on the surface of the skull, appeared traces of a blue flame.
Right at that moment, the Tower of Eternity trembled suddenly, and Long Haochen’s group of seven clearly felt the quiver of a great earthquake. Everyone quickly gathered, vigilantly observing the surrounding changes.
Ripples of soft golden color appeared on the Eternal Melody resting on Long Haochen’s chest. In a golden light, illusory traces of air dispersed, making everything look hazy. This soft and golden color rippled in the air, and everything became distinct to their eyes.
Right ahead of Long Haochen’s group of seven, an immense sculpture appeared. Although it was only a sculpture, the looks of the seven were focused on it, because it emanated an inexhaustible awe-inspiring presence.
The sculpture roughly reached ten meters in height, and stood completely still. It was clad in a vivid and gorgeous black gown, on which some golden symbols appeared. On top of the gown the sculpture wore a large white cloak and a white hat, which provided a bold contrast of bright and dark with the black gown. The combination made the real appearance of the man behind this sculpture completely indistinct.
Its right hand was holding a two meters long magic staff, which was a mixture of black, white and gold. These three colors entangled with each other. The black symbolized pure death, while the gold stood for the meaning of purity and holiness, and that white color was seemingly related with the summoning power used by summoners.
Three kinds of metals coiled together, forming this mystical staff. On its top sat a large crystal that seemed to look like the sculpture of a skull. It was entirely white, and looked like an enlarged version of the Eternal Melody.
Looking at this sculpture, everyone quivered. Although it was merely a sculpture, and everyone knew it wasn’t a living being, every member of the squad still felt stunned to sense a profound, wise, and awe inspiring aura being released by it.
Although Long Haochen never acknowledged himself as the disciple of the Slumbering Calamity Elux, he still gave a knight salute in front of this sculpture. He didn’t feel any particular liking towards necromancers, but had no choice but to admire this powerhouse from the ancient times. From the Tower of Eternity alone, one could see how terrible this person had to
be, probably standing as an existence comparable to the Demon God Emperor.
“Congratulations, my child. Did you like the gift I left you for completing the first set of trials? The twelve holy guards were my twelve guards in the past, all of them chose to take on this duty voluntarily. Unfortunately, human life is in the end limited, so I could only let them continue to exist as departed spirits. This is one of the most precious things I prepared for you. What you faced before was their suppressed strength. If you keep advancing, for every floor you clear, a part of the Holy Guard’s strength will be restored. Keep going forward, my child, and one day, you will let my twelve holy guards reappear in their full splendor.”
A pure white pillar of light appeared, spraying out from the peak of his staff, and growing in size in front of everyone’s eyes. Reaching a diameter of three meters, it emitted faint spatial fluctuations.
Lin Xin mumbled to himself, “This Holy Necromancer is too stingy. We have just cleared all the trials on the first floor, yet didn’t gain much rewards.”
Han Yu chuckled in response, “What more do you want as reward? Without the trials on the first floor of the Tower of Eternity, would our spiritual energy have grown so fast? I’m afraid that we would still be far from the sixth step. What’s more, we gained skills, combat training, and also obtained two holy guards. Didn’t this holy necromancer also say that the holy guards can still have more of their power restored? Just think about it, if the red and the blue skeleton we encountered can regain their spiritual energy, and maybe even more power, how terrifying would that be?! And this is only the first floor of the Tower of Eternity. To us, the chance of coming here is even more valuable than any weapon. After all, with our current cultivation, we still have no way to wield divine weapons in their full splendor, but the Tower of Eternity permits us to keep gaining power without limits, and that counts for all of us.”
Everyone could see the truth in Han Yu’s words, and nodded without restraint.
Long Haochen said next, “Once entering this pillar of light, we should reach the second floor. Do you want to keep going forward?”
Wang Yuanyuan replied, “Captain, you make the decision. However, I think that Ying’er shouldn’t be coming. She has just consumed her whole spiritual energy, so coming along would be too dangerous for her.”
Long Haochen gave her comment some thoughts, and replied, “Let’s do it like this then. You will all stay here and I will go scout first. With Haoyue here, no matter what I encounter, I can return without delay.”
Haoyue was now lazily lying on his stomach, since Long Haochen hadn’t told him to participate in the previous battle.
As they spent more time in the Tower of Eternity, Long Haochen started to value this place more and more. If not for the fact that their future operations would very possibly confront them with even more danger, he would actually not have led their group to defeat that blue skeleton here, providing them with the final reward of the first floor.
Taking a step forward, Long Haochen stepped into the white holy light. Bathed in that pure and holy light, he found out with surprise that all his spiritual energy that was consumed before was being replenished, and with a white glow of light, he appeared in another place.
After stepping onto the second floor of the Tower of Eternity for the first time, Long Haochen was alarmed, because there was nothing below his feet.
Before his eyes was a dazzling scene, and at both sides were two pillars arching forward. However, there was no substance under his feet, only illusory clouds and mist. At that time, he was inside the white light. As soon as he stepped out of it, he would officially enter the second floor of the tower.
Giving it a try, he stepped forward, treading on those white clouds. But in the next moment, Long Haochen couldn’t help but let out a shocked cry,
because he felt his body falling instantly, as a weightless feeling filled him entirely.
With a white flash of light, the surrounding scenery returned to darkness, and a steady feeling reappeared under his feet. However, Long Haochen found out with astonishment that he was back to the place he left his comrades, in the hall of the first floor of the Tower of Eternity.
Why did this happen? Long Haochen had a slight start.
“Boss, were things dangerous? How is it that you are back so quickly?”
Sima Xian inquired curiously.
Long Haochen slowly shook his head, returning to that white light.
In a flash of white light, he returned once again to the second floor of the Tower of Eternity, and came to understand that in this floor, sustaining flight would be necessary. Where the first floor forbade flight, the second floor made it absolutely necessary, since it was impossible to touch the ground.
This time, having learned from experience, he extended the four wings on his back, and stepped on the white light.
As expected, relying on the flight ability of his Spiritual Wings, he didn’t drop down immediately.
Flying forward with patience, Long Haochen calmly sensed the surroundings, finding out to his surprise that since coming to the second floor, the deathly aura suddenly became weaker, and instead, the holy aura strengthened. However, even with his perception, he actually didn’t manage to scout a range of more than hundred meters. It seemed that a powerful spiritual blockade was present.
Without a doubt, passing through this second level would need him to keep going forward, until being subjected to the trials of the second floor.
Faintly, Long Haochen started to understand the circumstances on this second floor, and had a rough guess of what the trial was going to be.
His four wings stretched, and with a flash of bright light, Long Haochen called out Yating.
After fusing with the Saint Spiritual Stove, Yating wasn’t suppressed inside the Tower of Eternity any longer. Unfolding her six wings, she dexterously floated above Long Haochen’s shoulder.
“Don’t rush forward. I just need you to stay close to support me.” Long Haochen murmured to Yating, before continuing his slow advance.
One meter, two meters, three meters… When advancing ten meters forward, a white fog suddenly rushed him, and suddenly, six figures appeared all around Long Haochen, surrounding him before throwing themselves at him like bolts of lightning.
As before, these were skeletons, only looking relatively small while carrying wings on their back. Their flapping wings appeared transparent, showing their incredible speed. Right after appearing, they rushed straight towards Long Haochen in a flash of white light.
Long Haochen who had been extremely vigilant, didn’t panic in front of this sudden ambush. He simply used his shield in a flash. Then, a golden barrier of light abruptly enveloped him from all around.
Guardian Knight skill of the sixth step, Shield Wall.
The ability Shield Wall would defend the user from all angles. Although it was not useable in combination with Divine Obstruction, its defensive power was also immense.
Chapter 373
With a strident exploding sound, the six figures glowing in white withdrew just as fast as they came. And they followed a concerted rhythm, as if forming a single entity, rendering Long Haochen’s swings fruitless.
Long Haochen’s attacks, originally extremely natural and unforced on the ground, were clearly limited in the air. However, he still looked very excited. This was because he clearly understood that he and his comrades lacked training in aerial combat. Undoubtedly, the Tower of Eternity would give them an opportunity to change that.
Of course, Long Haochen’s discomfort in the air was an impediment, but it wasn’t bad enough to make this first trial unfeasible for him.
Three white glows shot out from Yating’s body, shaped like eyes, and landed on three of the white skeletons. Immediately, a powerful force pulled them in Long Haochen’s direction. It was quite baffling that while Yating was the one using the power of the Saint Spiritual Stove, the effect was the same as when Long Haochen himself was the one using it. The enemies would always get attracted or pulled towards Long Haochen.
Pulled by the Saint Spiritual Stove, these white skeletons naturally lost their greatest asset, their agility and speed. In front of the powerful force of Ripples of Light, it took Long Haochen less than five seconds to reduce them to pieces. The three other flying skeletons were struck by Long Haochen in the same way, and like this the first trial on the second floor was passed.
However, Long Haochen felt at a loss that killing these skeletons didn’t gain him any of the high purity spiritual energy nor any technique they gained before. It looked that after reaching this point, there would only be pure trials waiting for them.
Long Haochen didn’t complain though. Anyway, ten units of pure spiritual energy would not be of much use in his current state.
After reaching the sixth step of cultivation, Long Haochen had developed his spiritual cavities, and this was followed by his awakening as a god’s chosen one, Yating’s evolution, and the fusion of spiritual stoves. All of this didn’t only increase his strength as a whole, but also his assimilating ability of the light essence.
As a god’s chosen one, Long Haochen could say without reservation that he became the person with the highest affinity to the light element in the whole world.
During the past four months, his internal spiritual energy had astonishingly increased by more than a thousand units, now reaching a total of 8,500 units, getting closer and closer to the seventh step.
Other than him, the progression speed of his comrades’ internal spiritual energy wasn’t bad either. But the gap separating him from the rest was becoming larger and larger. Even Cai’er was the same, after all, she had yet to have her awakening as a god’s chosen one.
After passing through the first trial, Long Haochen didn’t continue to advance, but withdrew to the first floor, where he told the others about his encounters in detail.
With everyone gaining their spiritual wings by breaking through to the sixth step, training their aerial combat ability also became a pressing matter. Having such a rare training platform, they would naturally not let this opportunity slip. With every bit of strength they gained, their survivability during missions would also increase.
After pondering carefully, Long Haochen came to a decision. While advancing to the tests on the second floor, everyone aside from Chen Ying’er would have to pass every test with their own power, and without the use of the abilities from any spiritual stove or mount. As for Chen Ying’er, the target of her training would be of course to toughen her contracted beast Mcdull. —–
It was a large hall filled with darkness, covering at least a square kilometer. At an altitude of over ten meters, it was surrounded with walls on all eight sides.
Inside the hall were dark light rays, and on each of the rooms’ eight sides a purple flame was pulsing, providing this mysterious hall with some lighting and an extremely rich aura of darkness.
Right in the center of this dark hall stood a man. With black hair spreading on his back, his eyes shone with a blood-red colored brilliance.
Advancing, launching a punch. Terrible fluctuations of darkness spiritual energy instantly surged out from him, and with every punch of that person, terrible exploding sounds would ripple in the air.
This hall was made of some unknown material, allowing him to wreak such havoc, yet staying unmoved and unaffected.
With every explosion of the spiritual energy he unleashed came a flash of purple light, barely enlightening his appearance. A handsome face with a grave and stern expression, along with a bare upper body which could be seen. With each attack of his, his whole body would be covered with a layer of dark purple scales. And the bloodlust in his eyes was frighteningly intense.
Right when his grandeur seemed to reached its supreme peak, a figure soundlessly appeared behind him. This figure was tall and slender, the body shrouded in a black gown, and long black hair rested on both of its shoulders. Its appearance was shaded and unclear.
Seemingly sensing the sudden menace on his back, the bare-chested man suddenly turned around, launching his fist at the figure that suddenly appeared in the dark.
This punch was concentrated with his powerful strength at peak state, reaching a terrifying level of burst power. The whole dark hall was lit up because of this punch, and all the spiritual energy he used in his previous attacks seemed to have gathered at once in this area, compressing the space with distortions that seemed almost able to destroy this whole hall.
However, the figure that appeared so suddenly didn’t move in response to such a terrible punch. The only reaction from the other side was to lift one white finger and point it at that tyrannical fist.
Pop
Time seemed to freeze right then, without any sound. That slender- looking finger actually didn’t emit any fluctuations of spiritual energy. Still, the robust bare-chested man was reduced to the same state as a shell launched from a Magic Cannon. Crashing against the distant wall, he let out a dazzling brilliance all around his body.
Pam. After being pressed up against the wall, his body fell to the ground.
The slender-looking person placed his hands behind his back, “Forcing too much power. This will only make you lack in flexibility, and if you keep this up, you’ll never reach the defying state.”
This voice sounded gentle. If some familiar person were to hear it, there would only be two possible results. Either would he or she kowtow on the ground, or be astonished without limits.
The man slowly rose from the ground, but didn’t stand up. He remained kneeling and lowered his head with respect, “Father.”
“Your injuries are already pretty much healed, so why are you still not leaving this place? What about your all-out struggle for the matter of this
marriage?” The slender looking man slowly raised his head, letting his long hair scatter and revealed his ultimately handsome face.
That was Feng Xiu, the Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu.
And the one kneeling down in front of the wall, with traces of blood running from the corners of his mouth, was actually Ah’Bao, the Devil Dragon prince who ended up seriously wounded from his fierce battle against Long Haochen in the Illusory Paradise.
Bowing his head, Ah’Bao replied enthusiastically, “I don’t have the face to take Yue Ye as my wife.”
The Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu gave the indifferent answer, “So you’re unable to endure after such a small setback?”
Ah’Bao lifted his head, looking at his father, “But that’s not simply a setback. This time, some successors of demon gods died in the Illusory Paradise, and we finally failed at our main objective. Although esteemed father has absolute authority, this time we caused too big a crisis. Even Huang Shuo was extorted of ten dragon crystals. The blame is all on me. I knew how great of a pressure esteemed father had to confront to protect me. I am the sinner of our clan. I failed to live up to your expectations, and I….”
The Demon God Emperor waved his hand, cutting in, “Okay, okay, no need to say all this. As one at the top, you cannot bother so much with the benefits and demerits behind every single little thing. Thinking too much will only increase your worries.
Why don’t you try to use a different reasoning? Like humans would say, no need to get entangled with past matters. This time, your loss was no injustice, and it was mainly a matter of luck. In the whole course of events, you didn’t make any mistake. If I were in your stead, I wouldn’t have done any better. You were just unfortunate to encounter a god’s chosen one, a being that didn’t appear for the past ten thousand years, and confronted him right at the instant of his awakening. Even if he were to try hundreds and thousands of times, he wouldn’t be able to reproduce that blow.”
“Esteemed father, I am unresigned. I am not ready to accept my defeat against a weak human. What’s with the nonsense of a god’s chosen one, I…” Ah’Bao’s two eyes were blood red. In front of others, he would always appear calm, but only when confronting the Demon God Emperor, he would expose his true self.
“Shut up.” Feng Xiu’s voice once again became strict.
Even as the successor of the Demon God Emperor, Ah’Bao felt the anger of his father, and couldn’t help but immediately bow to him. He didn’t dare utter any more words.
The Demon God Emperor coldly continued, “If you keep this attitude, you will only lose when facing him the next time, and even more miserably. I cannot possibly come to save you in time every time. Do you know, that this time, when I tore the space to get you back, those annoying Demon God Slayers took advantage of that to kill three of our clansmen? They were warning me. They are real idiots, and there are other existences like the Demon God Slayers. Humans are becoming harder and harder to handle. As my successor, if you cannot admit the strength of humans, you are not qualified to succeed to the title of emperor.
I know that you are not convinced because you believe that this human is a lot weaker than you. However, did you calm down to analyse the true reasons of your loss? Except for the fact that this person is a god’s chosen one, which permitted him to use such a powerful blow at death’s door, is there no other reason?”
Ah’Bao raised his head, looking at his father, “Because they got the support of the Illusory Paradise, and his attribute was compatible with the Illusory Paradise. And afterwards, he joined hands with the spokesperson of that goddess of nature to fight against us.”
The Demon God Emperor asked in a calm voice, “Then why is it that he managed to accomplish that?”
Ah’Bao was startled, and couldn’t come up with an answer.
The Demon God Emperor continued with a heavy voice, “It is because of intelligence. We demons, often become conceited because of our superior strength, and this is the reason why you were defeated. It’s also good that you want to postpone the marriage. You know what you should be doing now, right?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 374
“What?” The Saint Knight Head Han Qian looked unable to take it anymore, his face filled with shock. In front of him stood a tall knight, who was respectfully bowing down before him.
Han Qian’s composure became obviously somewhat cracked, “These foolish kids, what are they doing?! And originally, I thought they were mature, training steadily for such a long time. Whatever they do, they are becoming overnight celebrities. When did they leave?”
The tall knight replied, “About half an hour ago.”
Han Qian instructed, “Go and bring them back to me, tell them that it is my order.”
The tall knight had an embarrassed expression, “Sir Saint Knight Head, this is no good. It’s going against the rules. Demon Hunt Squads are supposed to be independent, and even the Alliance cannot dispatch them as they please. And everything they did was according to the rules.”
Han Qian shouted in fury, “What bullshit! If something happens to these little guys, the whole Alliance will be in a total crisis.”
“Yes.” The tall knight didn’t dare violate the order of Han Qian for a second time, and turned back to the outside. Right when he arrived at the exit, Han Qian suddenly stopped him, “Come back!”
Startled, the knight stopped his steps and returned back to Han Qian.
Han Qian advanced towards him from behind his desk, pacing back and forth in his broad office, his brows gathered together.
After making that round trip for more than a dozen turns, his eyebrows finally smoothed. Letting out a sigh, he talked to himself, “This boy and that girl are already sixteen. Since they could stay in seclusion for so long, they should have advanced quite a lot. Little birds cannot forever stay under the protection of their parents, or they won’t become true supreme powerhouses. Let’s just let them tamper themselves. Long Haochen, you have to come back alive to me no matter what, little brat.”
Indeed, right before, this knight standing in front of him brought astonishing news. The members of the secluded 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad had suddenly shown themselves at the Demon Hunt Squads’ Mission Tower, accepting sixteen Slaughter Missions at once before immediately setting off, and leaving Holy City to go straight to the demon territory.
Those were sixteen Slaughter Missions, and all of them needed one to reach the commander grade to take them on! The simplest one required to kill a demon powerhouse of the seventh step and seize the crystal. And among the missions they took, three were directed against powerhouses of the eighth step, and the toughest one demanded to kill the last ranked of the seventy-two demon gods, the Devil Snake Andromalius. Despite being the seventy-second ranked, that was still a demon god! A powerhouse at the peak of the eighth step, and furthermore, in the range of his demon god pillar, his strength would match several powerhouses of the eighth step.
The mission to kill Andromalius was the hardest among all those at the commander grade. This mission was also directed to the King and Emperor Grade Demon Hunt Squads, and in fact, Andromalius wouldn’t stay alone in one place and let himself be killed. As a demon god, he was also in control of a large army of demons.
For Long Haochen’s group to actually dare accept such a mission was simply courting death! In fact, at the peak of the eighth step, one’s spiritual energy would get close to 100,000 units.
Because the Demon Hunt Squads’ Mission Tower was in Holy City, a long journey was necessary for them to return from their missions. Thus, the rules of the Demon Hunt Squads permitted them to accept several missions at once. But it was the first time a situation like this occurred, where one squad accepted sixteen missions at once. In fact, all missions had an allotted time, and if they couldn’t be cleared before the time limit, a penalty in the form of contribution points would be administered.
Of course, when taking more missions at once, the allotted time would extend to some extent. Long Haochen’s group was given a total of two years to complete all those missions, but given their current strength, would they really be able to defeat the seventy-second demon god 安度⻢⾥?
Even with all the confidence Han Qian had in Long Haochen, he still
believed this to be no more than nonsense.
However, since these little guys already left, could they really be chased back? This would be no more than a strike against them. Thinking of Long Haochen’s report of the truth behind what really happened in the Illusory Paradise, Han Qian gradually started to relax from his anxious state.
That’s right, Han Qian already knew about the true fortune Long Haochen’s team had gained in the Illusory Paradise, though he didn’t know how Long Haochen brought everyone in. All Long Haochen had said was that it was a secret that couldn’t be leaked.
With everyone possessing a spiritual stove, they should have no problem defending themselves. And furthermore, Long Haochen was young, but not reckless. It should be okay to just let them temper themselves. And furthermore, that person will make certain to protect them. Right, I should make haste to report this to him.
Reaching this point of thinking, Han Qian temporarily suppressed the anxiety in him, and had that tall knight withdraw first, before hastily leaving his office.
Right at that time, those youngsters who gave the Saint Knight Head such worries were seated cozily in a carriage, looking at the scenery on both sides, enjoying a rare time of relaxation.
Carriages were a special privilege for Demon Hunt Squads. In the past, Long Haochen’s group had shared one, but that was only once, during the compulsory mission.
But this time, they were moving as a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, with the right to have a carriage of their own, naturally making long journeys a lot more convenient.
At least, now they would get ample rest during their journey.
At that time, none of the seven members of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad were actually cultivating. On both sides, window curtains were extended high and with the addition of a layer of wood, the carriage didn’t shake.
Instead of cultivating, Long Haochen passed out orders. Since they were on the verge of going on a very long and difficult trip, and had just been staying in seclusion for so long, everyone needed to have some time of relaxation. After this time of repose, there would be some fierce battles against demons.
It had been a whole year since they exited the Illusory Paradise, and everyone was a year older. The youngest ones, Long Haochen and Cai’er were now both reached sixteen years of age. Compared to the year before, now everyone in the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad looked more introverted and less scatterbrained, they also were a lot steadier.
As for the level their fighting strength reached, even they didn’t know about that themselves. After all, it had been a year since they last fought any demons.
Their first stop was Starseeker City. Just like when they headed for the Desolate Hissing Cavern, they were once again heading to the Nareiks Province from the southeast, before penetrating deeper into the demon territory.
The carriage sped along on this trip, and soon, the group smoothly reached Starseeker City.
Over the past year, battles occurred frequently. Every human fort would be subjected one after another to the powerful demon attacks. The most desperate one was of course the Southern Mountain Pass’ City, which the demons had almost destroyed. If not for the prompt arrival of the reinforcements, the aftermath would have been too horrible to contemplate.
The Southeastern Fort belonging to the Warrior Temple was on the contrary the most peaceful one. Perhaps, it was because the Nareiks Province met with great re-assignations, but although the demons frequently launched some harassing attacks, they never launched a large scale battle since then.
Under these circumstances, the Starseeker City known as the garden behind the Southeastern Fort appeared tranquil. Business was boosted effectively, and the ordinary people lived in peace and worked happily. Actually, human ambition would generally be far from that of the demons’: as long they had a peaceful and steady life, they would be very easily satisfied.
Long Haochen’s group of seven didn’t alarm the Office Hall and the military from the Starseeker City. They quietly headed to a medium sized hotel, and arranged for the two carriage drivers to return to Holy City after two days of rest. After all, they wouldn’t be able to return for the duration of these missions, how could they be asked to wait here.
Permitting everyone to return to their rooms to get some rest, Long Haochen took Cai’er’s hand and led her out of the hotel. To avoid attracting everyone’s attention, the two of them were clad in sheltering veils. After all, astonishingly good looks would often attract people’s attention.
Strolling on the main street of the Starseeker City, Long Haochen pulled Cai’er’s hand, gently chuckling, “I’m suddenly recalling the time when we just met each other in Holy City. Actually, the tournament we should have given the top priority only served as a prop for our encounters, and instead of those matches, what I awaited the most was the time I could accompany you back home every day.”
Cai’er laughed back, “How is it that I can only remember your foolish sides of that time?”
Unconcerned, Long Haochen remarked with a smile, “Who wanted me to be your idiot? As long as you like it, I’ll be as idiotic as you want.”
Cai’er’s look immediately became softer, drawing closer to Long Haochen. The two of them were surrounded by a very warm atmosphere, while slowly advancing.
On their stroll, the two of them seemed extremely comfortable and at ease, advancing in a straight line until reaching a building. On this two floored building was written in large letters: Yue Ye Caravan.
Entering the demon territory implied that one had to take great risks, as the scouting on the frontier of the demon territory would be very tight. However, it wouldn’t be the same if they sneaked inside with the Yue Ye Caravan. The demon race and the Temple Alliance were the same in one aspect, which was their tight surveillance on the outside and their lax inspections on the inside. As long as they went in, and disguised themselves as demons from the Moon Demon Clan, carrying out their missions wouldn’t be so challenging. And furthermore, if they could get Yue Ye’s cooperation, their missions would naturally be a lot more convenient.
Approximately five months ago, Long Haochen and Cai’er secretly went once to Starseeker City, meeting Yue Ye in secret at this place.
This was to relieve her from the restriction, and to schedule the operations of this time.
When walking into the Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce, there were immediately some workers coming up to inquire about the reason for their presence. Long Haochen handed them a baby-hand-sized emblem, demanding them to look for the person in charge, and waited with Cai’er in the hall of the Yue Ye Caravan.
The caravan was bustling, with people going in and out constantly. This place was only the facade of the Yue Ye Merchant Group, and the goods
were not gathered here. But even so, it was very active.
Long Haochen was even more confident in Yue Ye than in the past, the main reason being naturally her performance in the Illusory Paradise. Her cooperation at that time was of great use, and permitted Long Haochen to see her utility for the team in a new light.
While Long Haochen reflected about the sixteen missions of this time, some clumsy steps suddenly sounded from the outside, and then, a group of soldiers entered.
Chapter 375
The soldiers of this group were clad in leather, and led by a low grade officer in chainmail. Seeing them hold their heads high, it could be seen that they didn’t come for pleasantries.
“Where’s your boss? Call him out!” The officer leading them drew a knife carried at his waist, while shouting this.
The ten soldiers he brought swiftly lined up in a row, the spears in their hands pointing at the inside of the caravan building, blocking its entrance.
Seeing these soldiers, some workers came to welcome them immediately, “Mister soldier, may I know what you came for?” The worker asked with special servitude.
That officer snorted coldly, “Your Yue Ye Caravan is suspected of entangling with the demons. This official came to arrest your boss and inquire about these circumstances.”
The worker was startled about that. It was the first time something like this was happening, “Mister soldier, we are freelance merchants, protected by the Alliance!”
Bang! With a slap, the officer replied to that, “What nonsensical freelance merchants. I’ll tell you that this group just went on a patrol, directed at this street. Reportedly, your Yue Ye Merchant Group was the richest on this street. Why is it like this? Is that not simply due to collaboration with the demons.”
Hearing his words, Long Haochen pulled Cai’er to the side, believing that the Yue Ye Merchant Group was going to handle the matter. As an employee of the Temple Alliance, he couldn’t control other people’s business. As long as this wouldn’t influence the fact that the Yue Ye Merchant Group would lead them into the demon territory, it didn’t concern him.
However, from the start, this affair clearly sounded quite nasty. What about the Yue Ye Merchant Group being the richest? Even Long Haochen who didn’t understand too much about these matters could roughly guess that these soldiers were up to no good.
This time, a manager from the Yue Ye Merchant Group hastily came from the rear. Seeing the soldiers that came this time, he also appeared startled, and gave a message to the worker, pointing at Long Haochen’s little group, and whispered some words in his ears.
Making his salutations to Long Haochen beforehand, the manager welcomed him before turning towards that officer, telling him with a smile, “Mister officer, I am the manager from the Yue Ye Merchant Group. I want to know what you are up to, blocking the entrance to our caravan? We are legal merchants protected by the Alliance.”
With a sneer that officer replied, “What legal merchants? Could it be that you’re not doing any business with the demons? Entangling with the demons, what kind of crime is that? Follow us now.” Saying that, he placed his hand on the shoulder of that manager.
The smile on the manager’s face remained unmoved. He shook slightly, but lightly dodged his hand, and gave the reply, “Mister officer, please conduct yourself with dignity. If this matter is heard about, it would be of no benefit to you. I think that I have means to prove our innocence.” Saying that, he took out a purse and handed it to the officer.
At first, the officer was infuriated when seeing the counterpart avoid his grab, and was about to explode, but seeing the purse handed over by that manager, the cold expression on his face immediately eased up.
Taking a look at the contents of the purse, he immediately appeared satisfied, “Seems that you understand things. You freelance merchants aren’t having an easy time doing business with the demons, please stay safe! All right, we are leaving now.”
Saying this, he waved his hand, and was about to lead the soldiers to the exit.
“Wait.” A clear and bright voice suddenly sounded from behind.
The officer was startled, turning his head to look at the one who spoke these words, only to see that it was one of the two people standing on a side of the room, wearing bamboo hats on their heads. Now, the person took his hat off conveniently.
“What’s the matter?” The officer’s voice suddenly became cold, and looking at the handsome and young sight of Long Haochen, he immediately tried to make a showoff of power.
Long Haochen indifferently spoke, “You are all staying here. Send someone to the Office Hall to call for the commanding officer or the military head of Starseeker City.”
The officer’s expression changed immediately, “Young man, are you insane?” Saying that, he raised the knife in his left hand. Taking off its scabbard he pointed it at Long Haochen’s head.
Long Haochen’s eyes flashed, and he let a surge of biting cold murderous intent burst out, “You dare?”
With this furious shout, the whole Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce was filled with shock. That officer was just a small fry, how could he be able to bear all the mental power contained in Long Haochen’s shout. Staring blank, he immediately fell to the ground, and one of his soldiers after another also fell in oblique trajectories.
Long Haochen lifted his right hand, and a gold light flashed up, enveloping one ordinary soldier, before a silver coloured light touched the
chest of that soldier, “Go, do as I say, or else, you won’t ever leave this place again.”
Seeing that a mere shout of fury made this officer and all these soldiers lose their fighting strength, they looked shocked. How would they dare resist now? And when the officer saw the appearance of this emblem, his face looked ashened. He was completely speechless.
Calmed from the shock with a healing technique from Long Haochen, the soldier clutched the commander grade Demon Hunt Squad tile thrown by Long Haochen and left hastily.
Long Haochen coldly looked at the other soldiers, “Get lost. Go kneel beside the entrance.”
These people had only fallen to the ground due to fright, but no one lost the ability to act. Seeing Long Haochen show his power, who would dare resist? In particular, that officer looked like an inoffensive cock. He absolutely didn’t dare utter a word, simply taking the initiative to kneel.
Until now, Long Haochen’s furious face didn’t ease up in the slightest, tightly clenching his fists. If these soldiers had resisted just before, perhaps he would have really raised his hand against them.
Ever since Long Haochen became a knight, all the enemies he faced had been demons. All the humans he interacted with were heroic people. Galloping onto the battlefield and advancing against the enemy troops. Why did he do that? It was to let the humans live in peace and work happily.
But while officers and soldiers were risking their life on the battlefield against demons, this kind of shameless acts would happen in the rear. Good and honest to the core, seeing such ruthless unfairness, how could Long Haochen not get furious? He was really controlling himself not to kill that officer directly. Otherwise, if he did raise his hand against him, he would be bound to take the life of this officer.
Seeing their terrified sight before thinking about the lost lives of all the soldiers of the Alliance who died on the battlefield bathed in hot blood,
Long Haochen felt his heart aching, wanting most of all to kill these worms.
Demon Hunt Squads’ obligations were not only directed against demons, but they also had some duties in the Temple Alliance. Demon Hunt Squads of any grade had a certain authority over people of any standing in the Alliance. The higher the grade of the Demon Hunt Squad, the greater would be their power of command.
To give a simple example, if a titled grade Demon Hunt Squad called the head of the Alliance into question, procedures of investigation for misconduct would immediately get started from the Alliance, with an unequalled degree of emergency. Given their innumerable military services, they perhaps didn’t have the power of commanding the army, but in terms of authority, they had the greatest power of the Alliance.
As the leader of a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, Long Haochen had the authority to ask for the presence of the head officer or the military head of Starseeker City. He even had the right to directly call these two top powers of the city into question, and in case fault was found, they would very likely lose all prospects of a prosperous future after a thorough investigation.
That manager from the Yue Ye Merchant Group stood calmly in the same place while Long Haochen was handling the matter. When Long Haochen’s shout came, he was terrified to the core. That murderous intent wasn’t something anyone could project, but only one who really went on the battlefield and killed countless enemy powerhouses could possibly gain such a sharp presence. It is no wonder that President gave the instruction to help them in any situation, they are really not ordinary people.
Long Haochen turned to look at this manager, “Hello, my name is Long Haochen. Do situations like the one right before happen often here.”
This manager from the Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce shook his head, and replied, “Generally, it happens very rarely. This officer should have reached this rank pretty recently, but his actions don’t mean anything for the military.”
Hearing his reply, Long Haochen’s expression relaxed slightly, “Then, why didn’t you call his actions just before into question?”
The manager gave a calm smile, “Mister Long, please know that we are merchants, and cannot battle with officials.”
Long Haochen gave him a calm nod. He knew that in this aspect, his age of only sixteen years made him inexperienced. However, since they encountered this situation today, he would alert the officials from Starseeker City. Soldiers were guarding their home at the front, while in the rear, some worms were committing such acts. He really found that unbearable.
“Is Miss Yue Ye well?” Long Haochen asked in a low voice.
The manager gave the respectful reply, “Miss is very well. However, she’s not here right now. Before leaving, she explained that if Mister Long has any need from us, we are to cooperate as much as we can. The next caravan will leave in three days, and its goods are already pretty much allocated.”
Long Haochen nodded, “Okay, we’ll be following your caravan to enter the demon territory.”
The manager nodded, and didn’t say anything more. Clearly, he was very prudent and calm. Indeed, to have obtained Yue Ye’s trust, he was surely not an ordinary person.
A short time later, rushed noises of horseshoe were heard, and kept increasing until reaching the entrance of the caravan building. Two middle- aged men hastily came with large strides, among which one was a man clad in a gown and another man in plate armor.
These two looked like a warrior and an intellectual.
Reaching the entrance, these two looked at the soldiers kneeling on the ground, their expressions clearly turning unsightly. That soldier clad in plate armor stepped forward, and kicked that officer against the head, “Scoundrel, you’re making the whole Starseeker City lose face.”
These two were the consul and the military head from Starseeker City. By chance, it happened that when the message was sent, the two of them were present. When receiving this commander grade Demon Hunt Squad tile, these two almost had a heart-attack.
Starseeker City was a large city, and on the edge of the territory, making these two far more influential than the consul and the military head of a small town such as Haoyue Town. But still, offending Demon Hunt Squads was something they couldn’t afford.
Chapter 376
Demon Hunt Squads were a separate group with authority over all officials. And furthermore, these were existences tempered by facing perils on the battlefield against demons. In the past, there had been a statistic portraying that every member of a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad would have at least killed thousands of demons on the battlefield.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every Demon Hunter was a hero of humanity. Thus, even officials of such high standing didn’t dare be careless in the slightest when dealing with them. This was also the reason why the two of them arrived together.
“Where is that person?”, the military head asked with an enraged look after shouting at the officer.
That officer didn’t dare utter a word by now, and simply raised his hand, pointing in the direction of Long Haochen.
The consul and the military head looked at Long Haochen, and appeared startled. It wasn’t as if they didn’t see Long Haochen and Cai’er, only that Long Haochen was indeed too young. How could he look the slightest bit like a Demon Hunter from a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad? To say nothing about the fact that he would be their captain!
Seeing these two, Long Haochen’s expression once again became serious. Although he looked quite young, he had experienced life or death situations many times. As the captain of a Demon Hunt Squad, commanding it with experience, he saw many things, and even the Demon God Emperor wouldn’t scare him. And much less those two before his eyes.
“I am the one who called the two of you. I still didn’t consult you.” Long Haochen also knew that his appearance wasn’t very convincing, and didn’t want to waste too much time here. Saying that, he moved his right hand in the direction of that military head, who saw with shock that Long Haochen’s right hand suddenly turned transparent, a clear sign of Brilliant Body, used by Temple Knights at the seventh step.
At the seventh step? That person is at the seventh step?! Isn’t he too young? That’s not right, he’s surely in disguise or using some extraordinary pill.
The military head and the consul exchanged glances, before stepping forward in a rush. The consul clad in his gown declared, “Hello, Respected Demon Hunter. I am the consul of Starseeker City, Shui Mu, and this person is the military head of the city, Han Qianyu.”
Long Haochen nodded, “Hello, you two. The two of you should know about what happened right before. I hope you two will appropriately handle the situation here. I don’t want to see any situation like this appear here ever again, or else, I will be sure to file a complaint to the Alliance, asking to remove you from your positions.”
Without the slightest formality, Long Haochen directly expressed his thoughts.
The consul Shui Mu was still better off, his expression only changed for a bit before returning to normal, but that military head Han Qianyu wrinkled his brows, “I didn’t ask for your name yet, sir?”
“Captain of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, Long Haochen.” Before saying this, he paid attention to release a golden barrier of light, covering himself and the two officials of Starseeker City, isolating all sound.
Regarding Long Haochen’s status, Shui Mu and Han Qianyu didn’t have the slightest doubt. His light attribute, and Brilliant Body of the seventh step said a lot. This was plenty as a proof, thus this couldn’t possibly be a fake.
“Hello, Captain Long. These scoundrels truly ruined the face of the people from Starseeker City today. After heading back, I will naturally handle the matter appropriately. Since your distinguished self is a Demon Hunt Squad Captain, your own missions are all you need to worry about. My commanding of Starseeker City doesn’t need to be criticized to such lengths. The high standings of my humble self in Starseeker City isn’t anything you can relieve with a mere report.” Han Qianyu’s words clearly carried some anger, and Shui Mu was the one pulling his sleeve, without stopping his speech.
Long Haochen was originally keeping his anger suppressed, but hearing that, his complexion turned quite unsightly, and he gave the cold reply, “It seems that those subordinates are merely imitating their superiors’ vices. Demon Hunt Squads possess authority, and you surely know about that sir. Since your distinguished self doesn’t seem to consider the fault in your subordinates behavior, this matter will be reported to the higher-ups. Cai’er, we are leaving.”
Saying that, Long Haochen pulled Cai’er’s hand, leading her to the exit, disregarding these two top higher-ups from Starseeker City.
“Peh, what rubbish!” Looking at the leaving figures of Long Haochen and Cai’er, Han Qianyu couldn’t help but curse in rage.
On the side, Shui Mu gave a bitter smile, “Old Han, why bother that much? Demon Hunters are nowhere so easy to handle. And you know, this time it was your subordinate that was in the wrong. You didn’t need to say that just now, and the matter would have passed.”
Han Qianyu, laughed grimly, “What is he going to do to me? Didn’t the soldier only take some money from this chamber of commerce? This trash, even the money in their hands is not in its fitting place! Let’s just go back and let them do whatever they want. Demon Hunt Squads are merely supervisors and no more, and they are only at the commander grade. They would need to be at least at the king grade to be on equal footing with us. Just what are they? They think they are outstanding just after killing some demons?”
Given how sensitive Long Haochen’s hearing was, and the deliberate loud voice Han Qianyu used while arguing with Shui Mu, every single of his words was heard by Long Haochen. This was not simply a provocation anymore, and the depiction of subordinates imitating their superiors’ vices clearly infuriated Long Haochen even further. What Shui Mu thought to himself was, Aren’t you just giving the other party a hold on yourself? However, he also knew Han Qianyu had some basis for what he said. Who let him be the son of the auxiliary head of the Warrior Temple? Otherwise, his position as the military head of Starseeker City wouldn’t be stable like that.
Originally, Long Haochen felt regretful about his exaggerated blaming of the other party. Although Han Qianyu’s previous words weren’t pleasant, it was a fact that he didn’t have the authority to meddle in the military affairs of the city. This matter would be reported up, but his complaint wouldn’t cause much interference.
However, Han Qianyu’s arrogance completely infuriated Long Haochen, to say nothing of the fact that he supported these soldiers in accepting bribes.
Sensing the change in Long Haochen’s mood, Cai’er emitted a cold intent, “Should I go?”
Long Haochen shook his head and replied, “You cannot act against them. They are administrators of the Alliance, so if you act, you will be the one in the wrong. We have to follow through official channels. Let’s go back for now. I have a way to handle this matter. This person is truly obstinate and self-opinionated to the core, and isn’t fit as the military head of this city.”
Finished speaking, he pulled Cai’er back to the hotel.
On the morning of the second day, Long Haochen went on a walk with Sima Xian to tell the people from the Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce that they would be passing by the Southeastern Fort. Then, the group of seven took the initiative to leave Starseeker City, directly heading for the Southeastern Fort.
Long Haochen didn’t tell his comrades about everything that happened the day before, determined to handle this matter on his own. When reaching the Southeastern Fort, and arriving at the hotel arranged for them by the Yue Ye Chamber of Commerce, Long Haochen left by himself. Cai’er originally wanted to come along, but was stopped by Long Haochen.
With simple inquiries, Long Haochen looked for his destination, the headquarters of the Warrior Temple.
“Please forward the message that the captain of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, Long Haochen, seeks for an interview with the head of the Warrior Temple.” Long Haochen told the guard on duty at the Warrior Temple while showing his own Demon Hunt Squad’s tile.
To be capable of becoming a guard of the Warrior Temple, he naturally was prudent and hastened to give Long Haochen a warrior salute, before taking his tile and making a report.
Seeing that at this age, Long Haochen was the captain of a Demon Hunt Squad that managed to rise to the commander grade, it was clear that their Demon Hunt Squad would very possibly reach the king or even the emperor grade in the future. This kind of commander grade Demon Hunt Squad was treated quite differently.
The six Temples were all assigned to guard a fort, forming the defensive line of the Temple Alliance. On the southeastern border, the Warrior Temple had the absolute authority. And because the Southeastern Fort was the closest to the central province of the demon territory, Demon Hunt Squads would frequently be stopping here and visiting the higher-ups of the Warrior Temple, communicating with each other or even seeking for help sometimes. Thus, Long Haochen’s request for a meeting was a very normal thing, though it wouldn’t be easy to tell whether the head of the Warrior Temple would be willing to meet him.
Long Haochen’s look was very peaceful, and today, he specifically changed into the Glorious Holy Armor to come to this place.
A short time later, that guard was already back, and with him came a forty-something middle-aged man.
This middle-aged man was clad in red, extremely tall and bulky. His build actually made Sima Xian pale in comparison. Looking at Long Haochen, he was also startled, “Whoa, really young! So you’re the captain of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, Long Haochen.”
Long Haochen nodded, “Hello, yes I am.”
The middle-aged man laughed out loud, “Captain Long is really young! I am the auxiliary head of the Warrior Temple named Xu Zhongliang. Welcome, Captain Long.” Saying this, he made a gesture in the direction of Long Haochen.
With a nod, Long Haochen followed this auxiliary head inside the Warrior Temple.
The Warrior Temple looked less elegant compared to the Priest Temple, and more simple and awe-inspiring. After the entrance was an immense hall. The roof, reaching a height of thirty meters, gave a very wide feeling. And right in front of the door, in the middle position of the hall of the Warrior Temple, stood a sculpture.
Seeing it, Long Haochen couldn’t help but stop his advance, giving a respectful look to this sculpture before performing a knight salute. His right fist placed against the chest of his Glorious Holy Armor made a metallic colliding sound.
Xu Zhongliang couldn’t help but stop his steps, seeing Long Haochen in a new light, with an increasingly good opinion.
To the Warrior Temple, this sculpture was a sign of supreme glory. Since this person was clad in knight armor, he was clearly a knight. But by giving such respectful salutations to this sculpture in his first moments here, how would he not have gained the favorable opinion of this auxiliary head of the Warrior Temple? And furthermore, Xu Zhongliang appeared straightforward, but was actually pretty meticulous, and had a good
eyesight to judge people. He was entirely certain that the respect Long Haochen paid to this sculpture came from the depths of his heart.
It was a matter of course that Long Haochen was sincere. Beside this sculpture stood a horizontal inscribed board. On it the words: A sword of thousand years.
That’s right, this was the sculpture of the holy sword wielder Ye Wushang. It could be said that over the past several decades, the greatest genius that had ever appeared in the Six Great Temples was Ye Wushang. He even sparked the hope that the Warrior Temple could gain the leading position among the Six Great Temples and that they would all get gathered under his command. Unfortunately, this holy sword wielder died too early.
Chapter 377
Back then, when Ye Wushang died in battle against the Demon God Emperor, all the warriors from the Temple Alliance had worn a white cloth as a sign of mourning. And because of that battle, the Warrior Temple gained enormously in status. But unfortunately, since that time, no other genius of Ye Wushang’s scale had ever appeared again in the Warrior Temple.
It was the first time Long Haochen saw a sculpture of Ye Wushang. His appearance wasn’t as outstanding as his fame. Actually, he looked rather close to an ordinary person. The stone Ye Wushang was inclined, his sword held horizontally in front of him. Faintly, his great spirit could be perceived.
However, after watching it for a short time, Long Haochen lightly shook his head.
The expression on Xu Zhongliang’s face changed, “Captain Long, so you…”
Long Haochen sighed with sorrow, “It’s a pity that this sculpture doesn’t portray the sword intent of Ancestor Ye Wushang. The sculpture seems close to an empty shell.”
In fact, this sculpture of Ye Wushang was already a masterpiece, yet Long Haochen couldn’t help but want it to look even better! On the first floor of the Tower of Eternity, the sculpture of the Slumbering Calamity, the Holy Necromancer Elux, had given him a too shocking impression of perfection. Depicting even his powerful bearing and his expressions, it was
basically a perfect reproduction. In comparison, this sculpture of Ye Wushang naturally seemed imperfect.
From hearing Long Haochen’s last words, the good impression Xu Zhongliang just had of him seemed to have vanished completely, “Captain Long, please don’t be over-critical on the sculpture of our Warrior Temple’s hero. Otherwise, even if you are a Demon Hunter, I will still want to challenge you, to defend the honor of our Warrior Temple.”
Long Haochen looked slightly startled. This made him realize that his words were indeed quite rude, “Sorry, I need to apologize towards you. I was impetuous. It’s just that in those years, Ancestor Ye Wushang was called the sword of a thousand years, yet it’s a shame that his sword intent isn’t expressed by this sculpture. If this could be done, perhaps someone would come to gain some understanding because of it.”
Xu Zhongliang gave Long Haochen an earnest look, thinking secretly to himself that this youngster was really a sincere one. With a sigh, he declared, “It would just be too hard to let the sword intent of commander Ye appear in the sculpture. Even in those days, no one n the faction of commander Ye could really imitate his sword intent, to say nothing of now.”
“Commander Ye?” Long Haochen asked curiously.
Xu Zhongliang replied, “Commander Ye was not only the master of our Warrior Temple, but also the commander in chief of the three armies in the Southeastern Fort. The ancestors all addressed him as a venerable mister.”
Long Haochen nodded in silence, replying, “Hall Master Xu, do you know when I could meet the noble head of the Warrior Temple?”
Xu Zhongliang was startled, thinking to himself, This kid really wants to meet the head!? Doesn’t he seem to see himself too much like a great character?
Long Haochen naturally anticipated his thoughts, and earnestly explained, “Hall Master Xu, this time, I came to the Warrior Temple for three matters, and among them, I can ask for your help for two of them. But I will need to meet the Temple Head for the most important one.”
Xu Zhongliang wrinkled his brows, “I’m afraid that meeting the Temple Head will be a bit difficult since he’s busy with matters.”
Long Haochen faced the sculpture right in front, declaring calmly, “What if I said it relates to ancestor Ye Wushang?”
“What?” Xu Zhongliang was shocked, “Related to Commander Ye?
Captain Long, can you tell me what this is about?”
Long Haochen didn’t try to beat around the bush and nodded, “It is about the suggestion I just gave. I should be able to accomplish it. I can bestow this sculpture with the sword intent belonging to Commander Ye.”
Xu Zhongliang gasped, and didn’t believe that no matter what. However, he didn’t question Long Haochen because he understood clearly that even the captain of an emperor grade Demon Hunt Squad wouldn’t possibly do this sort of joke in the Warrior Temple. If this was really a joke, this act would really be too condescending toward the Warrior Temple, and no one would dare assume the consequences.
“Captain Long, you… you….” Xu Zhongliang felt unable to express his feelings. He certainly wished for all this too be real, but this Captain Long before his eyes was really too young.
Long Haochen lifted his right hand, and earnestly said, “I have just arrived with my squad from Holy City. I don’t know whether your Warrior Temple has already received the news about the awakening of the divine sword, formerly belonging to ancestor Ye, that happened several months ago.”
Xu Zhongliang clearly felt his own heartbeat quicken. Of course, he heard of that matter, and the Warrior Temple had already dispatched an auxiliary head to investigate. However, when looking for Commander Ye’s
descendant Ye Weiyang, she only told them that she didn’t agree to disclose the identity of the person who obtained the sword of Commander Ye. If that person was willing, he would naturally get in touch with the Warrior Temple. She also told them that the new master accepted by the divine sword was a knight, therefore, it wasn’t likely that it would return to the Warrior Temple.
This matter shook the higher-ups of the Warrior Temple, but since Ye Weiyang was the descendant of Commander Ye, they couldn’t force her no matter what. All they could do was secretly search for the knight who had inherited Ye Wushang’s Aria of the Goddess of Light of. They actually even made contact with the Knight Temple.
Only, after several months passed, that person never showed himself.
In the meanwhile, hearing Long Haochen mention that, Xu Zhongliang’s shock was as one might well imagine.
Xu Zhongliang saw Long Haochen’s right hand that appeared to be of a brilliant golden color emit a soft golden light. It materialized quietly, and immediately, a cold sword intent flashed from it.
A gigantic golden sword was held high above his head, the bead on its tip sending out a bright light. The sword intent was not only projected from the divine sword, but also from Long Haochen’s body. In that instant, Xu Zhongliang’s shock was just too great. Only by standing there, Long Hoachen gave him the unsurpassed feeling of a man being one with his sword.
In fact, as an Auxiliary Hall Master of the Warrior Temple, Xu Zhongliang already surpassed 90,000 units of spiritual energy, standing as a powerhouse at the peak of the eighth step. But right at this moment, he actually felt insignificant in front of Long Haochen.
It wasn’t only him: all those people in the hall of the Warrior Temple stopped due to sensing the golden light. Of course, they didn’t have any hostility. That was the light attribute, which couldn’t belong to an enemy. Afterwards, that overflowing sword intent made everyone feel dull.
In that instant, they actually felt a misconception. It was as if the figure releasing all that light was really the sculpture of Commander Ye. But this was just an object.
The comparison was too intense. That tyrannical sword intent seemed to pierce the Warrior Temple, and that figure being in perfect unison with its sword appeared to be really extremely tall.
During the year he spent in seclusion, Long Haochen’s progress was earth-shattering as one might well imagine. Naturally, he didn’t only succeed the divine sword Aria of the Goddess of Light, but also its sword intent. In the meanwhile, he managed to combine it with the comprehension he gained at the time he repelled Ah’Bao while having his awakening as a god’s chosen one. Now, it was his own sword intent that took shape.
Undoubtedly, this was accomplished with the help from his great attributes as a god’s chosen one. Accurately speaking, the sword intent Long Haochen emitted had a specific difference from Ye Wushang’s all those years ago, and also his understanding of the swords was far from being able to compare with Ye Wushang at that time. However, in his hand was the Aria of the Goddess of Light, and he received the assistance from its sword intent. How could it not shock everyone present in the Warrior Temple.
The first time Xu Zhongliang saw the Aria of the Goddess of Light, he showed the greatest warrior salute as etiquette, before every warrior present immediately followed suit to present their respectful salute jointly.
The golden light vanished, and the Aria of the Goddess of Light disappeared back into Long Haochen’s hand. The unyielding sword intent disappeared accordingly, and ardent looks were directed at Long Haochen. Xu Zhongliang nodded with force, “Captain Long, please wait a moment. I will immediately report to the head.” After saying that, he swiftly turned around and left.
Long Haochen remained at the same place, looking at the sculpture before him without speaking. Although this sculpture didn’t contain the sword intent of the holy sword wielder Ye Wushang, in his heart, Long
Haochen could feel the free and domineering aura of desperation he had on the battlefield. He vaguely felt a different understanding regarding sword intent on him.
This trip to the Warrior Temple was obviously not only to handle that military head of Starseeker City. That was just some side errand. The most important objective for him was to deliver the sword intent of Ye Wushang. That was the primary reason for his trip to the Warrior Temple.
A short time later, a dozen men entered the hall from the staircase. In front of them was an elder clad in a deep golden gown. This elder had a shock of silver hair, but gave off immense pressure, standing as domineering as a mountain.
Xu Zhongliang and the others, some of them possessing a tyrannical presence, followed at the back of this elder, and directly headed towards Long Haochen.
The elder in the golden gown revealed an excited expression, heading towards Long Haochen’s side in large strides. However, just as if he didn’t see him, Long Haochen was still staring fervently at that sculpture of the sword of a thousand years.
Xu Zhongliang was about to say something, only to be stopped by the elder’s hand. His eyes flashing with an extraordinary splendor, he murmured some words telling him not to disturb Long Haochen as he stood near him, scrutinizing this handsome youth closely.
No less than half an hour later, Long Haochen suddenly opened his eyes wide, and stepped forward with his left foot, as his right hand moved forward like a bolt of lightning. Indistinctly, a faint golden radiance followed his movement.
With a very carefree feeling a sigh escaped from his mouth, and instantly, sharp hissing sounds rang out in the whole hall. The hissing disappeared in a flashing second, but the higher-ups of the Warrior Temple standing nearby were still filled with surprise. They had distinctly perceived the power in
Long Haochen’s right hand. Without any fluctuation of spiritual energy, it was merely filled with pure sword intent. Just who was this youth?
“You’re Long Haochen?” The elder in the golden gown finally spoke, though his voice surprisingly seemed to be shaking slightly.
Long Haochen had a fright, discovering that another person stood at his side. Turning around, he happened to face the enraged elder in the golden gown.
Chapter 378
“Senior, you…”
On his side, Xu Zhongliang hastened to say, “This person is the head of our Warrior Temple, Temple Head Qiu Yonghao.”
Long Haochen stamped the ground with his left foot, placing his right fist on his chest, “Captain of the 64th commander grade Long Haochen salutes, Temple Head.”
After observing him for quite a long time, Qiu Yonghao spoke, “You’re the son of the old pal Xingyu, aren’t you? As expected, a young hero. I really didn’t think that the divine sword of Commander Ye actually chose you as its master. Can you let me see the Aria of the Goddess of Light of Ancestor Ye?” He truly felt very impatient.
“Okay.” Long Haochen raised his right hand once again, and when that brilliant golden light appeared in front of all the leaders of the Warrior Temple, they all had foolish looks, especially, those older powerhouses from the Warrior Temple. All of them were in tears in front of this sight. Among them, the most affected was the Head of the Warrior Temple, Qiu Yonghao.
“Boss, boss, I can finally see your divine sword again! I finally see it reappear to the light. Boss, why is it that at that time you didn’t listen to my dissuasion, you became the hero of humans and the hero of the Warrior Temple. Don’t you know that I lost this good elder brother at that time.”
Qiu Yonghao rushed forward, firmly grasping the Aria of the Goddess of Light. He even lost his voice due to crying bitterly.
All the powerhouses of the Warrior Temple repeated the same action as before once again, giving a warrior salute to the divine sword in the hands of Long Hoachen.
Sensing their sadness and reminiscence, Long Haochen’s eyes turned gradually red in spite of himself.
The most shocking was that the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his hands seemed to have understood the words of Qiu Yonghao and actually emitted a buzzing sound. It appeared as if this divine sword was also mourning with grief.
After a long time, Qiu Yonghao recovered from his sadness, and wiped the tears on his face away. This silver-haired elder looked at Long Haochen with red eyes, “Kid, did you come specifically to return the sword of commander Ye? I want to thank you on behalf of the Warrior Temple.”
Long Haochen lightly nodded, “Temple head, I happened to be about to address this subject. The divine sword reappeared, and is indeed of too great importance to the Warrior Temple. Thus, although I gained the acknowledgement of the divine sword as its owner, I want to seek approval from you and all seniors from the Warrior Temple to use it as my weapon. I pledge to you and everyone present here that I won’t let this divine sword of Ancestor Ye collect dust in my hands.”
Qiu Yonghao appeared sluggish. Although he felt extremely excited, he still kept himself from insisting on the matter. What he thought was that Long Haochen was returning the divine sword, but he didn’t look ready to deliver it. This meant he really had the intention to take possession of the Aria of the Goddess of Light. Long Haochen also didn’t seem resigned but showed his categorical attitude towards the divine sword, as its true owner.
“Long Haochen! Then what did you come for today?” Qiu Yonghao asked calmly.
Long Haochen replied with a respectful tone, “Today, I came for three things. The most important one is that I need you and the Warrior Temple to accept that although I cannot leave the divine sword here, I wish to let the sword intent of Ancestor Ye remain in the Warrior Temple, because this is something that should belong to your Warrior Temple.”
Qiu Yonghao was startled, “To leave the sword intent of Commander Ye? How are you thinking of doing this?” He felt more and more curious about this young man. Of course, his deepest wish was to see the Aria of the Goddess of Light remain here. It was only that he clearly understood the position of Long Haochen for the Knight Temple. Han Qian designated this kid as the sole successor of the Knight Temple, which meant he would be the future Temple head of the Knight Temple. Forcing him to leave the divine sword was thus no good thing. To say nothing of the rest, that old man wasn’t easy to handle.
Long Haochen looked at the sculpture of Ye Wushang, telling him in a deep voice, “Hall Master, if you agree, I wish to leave it in this sculpture, so that every powerhouse of the Warrior Temple can see it, and perhaps get some enlightenment from it. This is the only thing I can do for the Warrior Temple.”
If Long Haochen had said such words right off the bat when seeing him, Qiu Yonghao would definitely not have seen this young man in a good light. This was just too hard to believe. In those years, among so many powerhouses of the Warrior Temple, none managed to bring out the sword intent of Commander Ye. But how about this young guy? Qiu Yonghao didn’t know Long Haochen’s exact age, but he guessed he wasn’t even twenty years old.
But right before, the sword intent released from Long Haochen’s right hand had shocked Qiu Yonghao enormously. He was completely certain that even Commander Ye couldn’t have shown such attainment in swordplay at this age. This young guy was as expected a genius among geniuses.
After pondering slightly, Qiu Yonghao slowly turned around, looking at the higher-ups, and inquired from them, “What are your views?”
An elder looking approximately the same age as Qiu Yonghao replied in a deep tone, “Not proper. Commander Ye’s sculpture already stood untouched for hundred years. How could it be changed so lightly? This isn’t something we can decide on. In case the sculpture gets broken, we’ll be unable to explain that to the thousands upon thousands of warriors from the Temple.”
Xu Zhongliang spoke next, “Head, auxiliary head, I believe we should let him try. Long Haochen managed to succeed Commander Ye’s divine sword, and this already proves the trust the divine sword placed in him. Only he can possibly have gotten some understanding pertaining to Commander Ye’s sword intent. If…”
“That won’t do.” The elder addressed as an auxiliary head by him cut in with a categorical shout, “What’s to be done if he fails? Could we bear the loss? Before doing anything, you have to consider the aftermath first. Then, only if the worst possibilities can be withstood can you act.
Undoubtedly, this elder could be considered as quite a conservative person.
, the powerhouses from the Warrior Temple expressed their views, though the overwhelming majority wasn’t willing to let Long Haochen alter the sculpture of Ye Wushang without further discussion.
Of course, the problem wasn’t that they didn’t want the sword intent of Commander Ye to reappear, but just that Long Haochen was really too young. In their eyes, the successor of Commander Ye was still a mere child. How could they possibly be at ease when letting him handle such an important task?
Seeing everyone argue, Long Haochen secretly sighed, and told Qiu Yonghao, “Temple Head, how about this? I will not act directly on the sculpture but instead, you can bring me a large stone, where I’ll try to leave the sword intent of Commander Ye. Nonetheless, I can only do this today, because we will immediately have to leave the Alliance to head for the borders of the demon territory to carry out a mission.”
He had no choice but to do so. Long Haochen came here with the original goal to get the approval of the Warrior Temple for letting him have the Aria of the Goddess of Light, while reporting back to the Warrior Temple. After all, if he didn’t give a justification to the Warrior Temple why this divine sword stayed in his hands for a long time, it would be bound to be a lot more complicated for him to leave its sword intent in the Warrior Temple, for the sake of proving his own qualifications to control this divine sword.
Qiu Yonghao nodded and replied, “Since things are like that, we can only do so. However, Haochen, I have a bold favor. You should know that the Aria of the Goddess of Light is really a divine sword of high importance to my Warrior Temple. If it is possible, we still wish for the divine sword to remain in the Warrior Temple. You may give whichever conditions you want: as long as we can, we will satisfy them in exchange for the divine sword.”
Qiu Yonghao could see that if he didn’t address the topic directly, Long Haochen would definitely not leave the divine sword here. Nonetheless, this was not surprising. Anyone would do the same, since this was after all a powerful divine sword! Although Qiu Yonghao could see that in the divine sword in Long Hoachen’s hands had yet to completely regain its bearing of those years, that was still a powerful weapon of the legendary tier. Anyone possessing this kind of divine sword wouldn’t easily be convinced to let go of it.
Giving a look to Qiu Yonghao, Long Haochen shook his head, “Temple Head, I cannot. The Aria of the Goddess of Light recognized me as its master and I am the only one who can use it. I think that Ancestor Ye wouldn’t hope to see his divine sword buried in a dark room. I will let it run free in the demon territory and kill powerful enemies to let it drink its fill of demon blood. I will permit this sword to let its true brilliance reappear and then reconstruct its sword soul. Thus, I can only decline your request.”
Qiu Yonghao declared deeply, “What if I would exchange it for a weapon of the Epic Tier? Also of the light element?”
Long Haochen was shaken deep inside. He obviously knew the meaning a piece of Epic Tier equipment held. In fact, the powerhouses possessing a piece of Epic Tier equipment in the word could all be described as blessed with an incomparable privilege. The reason why the Knight Temple could remain as the head of the Six Great Temples for so long was because they had divine tools such as the Divine Thrones. But the Warrior Temple actually didn’t even have a divine tool, and weapons at the Epic Tier would already be the most powerful weapons they could take out. According to Long Haochen’s knowledge, the Warrior Temple had in total less than five pieces of Epic Tier equipment. Without a doubt, any piece of equipment at the Epic Tier would cause his strength to go up by leaps and bounds. The enticement was undoubtedly huge.
However, Long Haochen still shook his head, “Apologies, Temple Head. To me, this divine sword is even more important than a divine tool. When using it in battle, I can sense the bearing of the Ancestor Ye of those times. No matter whether it is to increase my strength or a boost to my will, it is too precious to me. And as I have just said, while holding on to this divine sword, I will definitely let its glory of those years reappear.”
“Young man, you are too arrogant.” The elder who was addressed as auxiliary head stepped forward and arrived at Qiu Yonghao’s side, letting a massive pressure envelop Long Haochen.
The people present were all powerhouses from the Warrior Temple, and although they couldn’t really act against Long Haochen, giving him some pressure was still possible.
In front of such a strong pressure, Long Haochen’s face still remained unaffected. Standing perfectly straight, he declared respectfully, “Senior, I am not arrogant. I am only speaking the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be appearing in the Warrior Temple so brazenly. If I simply had used the Aria of the Goddess of Light to battle against the demons, I’m afraid that the Warrior Temple would have difficulty to identify me at all as the holder of this divine sword. Today, it was entirely out of sincerity that I came.”
Chapter 379
Qiu Yonghao waved his hand, blocking the pressure coming from that elder. Deep inside, he was secretly stunned. In fact, although Long Haochen had the strength to be the captain of a Demon Hunt Squad at the commander grade, he was still only at the sixth step of cultivation. Confronted with the pressure of a powerhouse at the ninth step, he still spoke frankly and with assurance. This wasn’t something an average person would be able to do.
“Haochen, how about this? You just said that you would be willing to accept our Warrior Temple’s trial. Warriors and knights are a family, so we naturally won’t send someone to compare notes with you. Let’s do as you said: if you can leave the sword intent of Commander Ye in a stone, as you promised before, this will be the proof that you are qualified to wield this divine sword. On the other hand, if you fail, you will leave the divine sword at our Temple, but I will still give you a weapon at the Epic Tier.”
For any other piece of equipment, Qiu Yonghao would definitely not have done this. He was already forcing the other side with overbearing power. But the Aria of the Goddess of Light was really too important to the Warrior Temple. Even keeping it at the Temple, with no one able to use it, was okay.
Long Haochen gave Qiu Yonghao an ardent look, and took a deep breath, “Okay, I am promising you. However, if I don’t succeed, I will just leave the divine sword here, but won’t demand a piece of equipment of the Epic Tier from your noble temple. Please bring a stone.”
He could understand the eagerness of these powerhouses from the Warrior Temple, but under the pressure of these elders, Long Haochen’s pride was finally set to flame. I will prove to you that I am qualified to have this divine sword.
Hearing him, Qiu Yonghao appeared to have an apologetic look. Turning around, he gave some instructions, and naturally someone went to do the task. It was that elder, the auxiliary head, who left hurriedly.
Long Haochen didn’t talk with Qiu Yonghao anymore, but sat cross legged where he just stood before, and entered a meditative state in front of all those people. The whole process went as natural as the flow of a stream of water. Seemingly only by sitting down, he became like an old monk in an instant, a solid boulder.
How full of prospects! Qiu Yonghao secretly couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration and actually felt jealous of the Knight Temple. To show such qualities at this age, this Long Haochen was bound to become a cornerstone for the Knight Temple in the future. If his growth went smoothly, the Knight Temple would gain another unrivalled genius, that should actually even surpass his own father. If Long Xingyu attained the rank of Divine Knight merely in his forties, what about him? At what age would he get to harmonize with a Divine Throne? Forty? Or even before reaching this age?
A short time later, a dozen powerhouses from the Warrior Temple brought a huge rock to the hall.
Seeing this huge rock, Qiu Yonghao couldn’t help but show a change of expression, giving that auxiliary head an inquiring look.
The auxiliary head earnestly nodded to him, his lips doing some movements as if to say something.
Qiu Yonghao felt hesitant, but still nodded. Looking at Long Haochen’s current state, the apologetic feeling he had increased even further.
This huge rock was oval-shaped, and entirely dark. However, it let out an extraordinary aura of steadiness and depth. Looking at it, one wouldn’t
think of seeing aof piece of stone, but rather a deep cavern.
Reportedly, this was a heavenly meteorite recovered by the Warrior Temple. Incomparably tough, it would be extremely difficult even for a piece of equipment of Glorious Tier to leave a trace on it, and for a piece of equipment at the Legendary Tier, an extremely large amount of spiritual energy would need to be poured inside to inflict the slightest cut.
And furthermore, this piece of heavenly meteorite was actually comparable to refined gold in adhesion of spiritual energy, while surpassing the latter in terms of toughness by a large amount. It was just because there never appeared a refiner confident in being able to make a piece of equipment out of it, that it was left in the treasury of the Warrior Temple for so long. Today, it was obviously with the purpose of making things hard for Long Haochen that they actually brought this piece of heavenly meteorite out. Even if he had the ability to leave the sword intent, inflicting a cut on this piece of heavenly meteorite wasn’t something that could be done with a half-assed amount of spiritual energy.
Seemingly sensing that the huge stone was in place, Long Haochen slowly opened his eyes, immediately revealing an amazed look when staring at this three meters high heavenly meteorite.
Qiu Yonghao coughed, “Leaving the sword intent of Ancestor Ye is a wish we obviously had for all eternity. For this reason, we brought the best material for you. Haochen, how do you view this huge heavenly meteorite? If it won’t do, we can change it for another one.” He indeed felt apologetic. For one who lived for more than a hundred years, to try to scheme against a ten and a few years old child was an act that would make him lose all face when the higher-ups of the Knight Temple would get to know about this in the future. Thus, he finally still backed down and inquired Long Haochen about whether he would want to change it for another stone.
However, Qiu Yonghao didn’t expect Long Haochen to shake his head to his proposal and reply, “No need to change it. Let’s just go with this one. However, I have a little request. Since we are using a heavenly meteorite
instead of the sculpture, could the parts I’d cut in the process be given to me?”
“It’s okay. However, that’s with the premise that you manage to leave the sword intent.” That old auxiliary head rushed to give that reply, for fear that Long Haochen would go back on his decision.
However, he didn’t expect that this wasn’t the first time Long Haochen got to see a glimpse of that heavenly meteorite. His father Long Xingyu also had one, thus he knew clearly about the toughness of a heavenly meteorite.
In those years, Long Xingyu had told Long Haochen that the Warrior Temple had a treasure amongst all treasures, and that was this piece of heavenly meteorite. If it were refined into a piece of equipment or used to refine another one, even a little piece of it would make it rise in rank. Especially for weapons, the results would be very clear.
Long Haochen slowly straightened up his posture, and walked over to this heavenly meteorite. Never had he carved anything before, but he did some research on carving. However, what he had to do today wasn’t carving, but to leave some sword intent behind. This was an entirely different concept.
Walking five meters away from that heavenly meteorite, Long Haochen stopped moving and stood there, concentrating on the deep aura released by this piece of heavenly meteorite.
No one disturbed him, only watching silently. Qiu Yonghao was feeling very complex emotions. He actually didn’t know whether Long Haochen would succeed or fail, but neither of the two results would be bad to the Warrior Temple.
“I request the right to have the assistance from my mount and spiritual stove.” Long Haochen asked calmly, without even turning back.
Qiu Yonghao replied, “Of course you can.”
Long Haochen nodded, and pointed a finger on his left hand to his side. Immediately, a purple glow of light occurred and then, a massive creature appeared in the view of everyone present.
The shock brought by Haoyue was truly great. His ten meters long immense body stood like a small mountain, but more extraordinarily, he had four different large heads. Appearing behind Long Haochen, he immediately looked around. His neck straight, Little Light, Little Flame, Little Green and Little Blue swept their eyes over everyone in the Warrior Temple, actually standing proudly.
What mount is that? Qiu Yonghao and the auxiliary heads looked at each other, in total shock. Never did they see this kind of magical beast before! Although the fluctuations of spiritual energy spread out from it weren’t something they noticed, its body seemed to be full of unique qualities, especially from how proudly he stood, giving a sentiment of transcending reality.
Right at that time, a low chant was initiated by Haoyue’s four huge heads, and they assumed a very peculiar stance. Only the mouth of Little Light stood straight, while the other three heads were crawling downwards, attaching themselves to the neck of Little Light, and looking up at him while chanting. Immediately, intense surges of breath of the four elements wind, fire, water and light were spread in the shape of violent fluctuations from Haoyue’s body.
“Four elemental magical beast?” Xu Zhongliang couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
Qiu Yonghao’s look became a lot more concentrated, now suddenly feeling some regret about the fact he made things hard for this child. Long Haochen was right; if he didn’t come today, the Warrior Temple wouldn’t even have gotten to see the Aria of the Goddess of Light. This child came out of goodwill, and yet this was how he was treated by them. However, on the other side was the Aria of the Goddess of Light. This may be the first time Qiu Yonghao felt embarrassed to such an extent.
And right at this time, Long Haochen set in movement. On his back, brilliant light radiated and four spiritual wings unfolded, absorbing the light essence in the air valiantly. Meanwhile, Long Haochen held his right hand high, letting the Aria of the Goddess of Light reappear in his hand.
A more extraordinary scene followed, and a golden figure seemed to have appeared on the back of Long Haochen. At the same time his four wings unfolded, this golden figure appeared in the eyes of everyone present.
Clad in a golden battle skirt, with a golden staff in hand, beautiful golden hair and six transparent wings, she appeared as tall as a human; only her pair of slightly pointed ears exposed her origins.
“The fairy race from the ancient times?” That old auxiliary head couldn’t help but show an alarmed look. Dozens of years ago, he had been studying the power and prestige from ancient fairies. However, he never saw the real appearance of a fairy from the old times. Yet Yating appeared in everyone’s view, with exactly the same appearance as he imagined the ancient fairies to have. How could that not astonish him?
“No, this is a light fairy.”
Qiu Yonghao was after all the head of the Warrior Temple, and had a powerful perception.
Nonetheless, even when retorting his old friend, the elder still felt shock. Even though he sensed that this was an elemental fairy, who would have seen an element fairy looking just like ancient fairies?
Long Haochen, just how much shock are you going to bring us before leaving the matter to that?
This time, Qiu Yonghao wasn’t the only regretful one, and even those other auxiliary heads that stayed silent all along felt remorseful.
Chapter 380
Yating actually didn’t care about letting others see her, and just like Haoyue, right after appearing, she immediately started the chant of an incantation. A dense golden radiance instantly spread out from her, directed in Long Haochen’s direction.
Long Haochen raised his head, gazing at the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his hand. However, he didn’t chant any incantations and concentrated all his attention on the divine sword.
The massive sword intent radiated by the Aria of the Goddess of Light was slowly withdrawn under their gazes, vanishing into the sword. But with each portion that vanished, the look of the Aria of the Goddess of Light changed, shifting from a brilliant golden color to dark gold.
Long Haochen’s eyes gleamed electrified, and he seemed to be forming a single entity with the divine sword. It appeared as if the Aria of the Goddess of Light gained sharpness, and he felt as if the blade was a part of himself.
The tyrannical sword intent kept increasing without pause, and the golden color from Long Haochen’s body looked more and more rich and powerful. In this state, he seemed to have returned to those hills in the Illusory Paradise, but this time, he was not only filled with comprehension, but also with a disdainful pride. Even in front of a powerhouse of the ninth step, he wouldn’t cower.
Haoyue and Yating poured spiritual energy into Long Haochen. Haoyue was using his well-mastered light elemental Spiritual Boosting, but this time, Little Light wasn’t the only one using it. The other three heads
converted their own elements entirely into light, and assisted Long Haochen with their full strength.
Yating was using the spell Brilliant World in its simplest form, but her Brilliant World was already over three times more effective than ordinary ones. And all this light elemental spiritual energy went through her purification.
Without exaggeration, the fact Long Haochen couldn’t increase his total spiritual energy in battle aside, his battle strength right now matched at least powerhouses totalling 20,000 units of spiritual energy. Yating and Haoyue’s supportive abilities could only be described as extraordinary. Finally, the Aria of the Goddess of Light completely turned dark golden, and even his body changed color. This feeling wasn’t strange, but incomparably great. His overflowing sword intent was even felt outside the Warrior Temple. It was as if this strike could split heaven and earth.
Right at that time, Long Haochen moved. Launching his left foot forward, he brazenly struck with the heavy sword in his hand.
It was simple and direct, and didn’t have any embellishment. Holyfied Asura Strike.
Although Long Haochen didn’t use Storing Power at the time of launching that blow, his sword intent, close to a condensed shape, was frantically exerted in the air, without producing any sound nor leaking any spiritual energy.
Only seeing this dark golden flash of light, everyone felt the incomparably sharp sword intent causing cracking sounds in the very decorated Warrior Temple hall. The powerhouses of the Warrior Temple had no choice but to urge their spiritual energy into a body armor. And all it took to armor themselves instinctively was the mere sensing of this sword intent. What if they would really face this attack?
Qiu Yonghao’s expression changed this time for real, because he unexpectedly found out that if the one facing this blow was himself, even
though he could defeat Long Haochen, he didn’t have the certainty to stay unscathed.
This child’s cultivation was not yet at the seventh step! And Qiu Yonghao was a veteran powerhouse at the ninth step.
However, to everyone’s surprise, that heavenly meteorite remained unaffected, and after launching this strike, Long Haochen stumbled heavily. Yating was the one supporting him from behind, to prevent him from falling down.
A soft golden radiance kept being released from Yating’s body to heal Long Haochen, and Haoyue’s four heads slowly rose, their eyes turning purple.
On Long Haochen’s forehead, nine lines of a purple pattern appeared. The only difference from the past was that after his awakening as a god’s chosen one, the color became purple-gold.
Long Haochen was lightly shaken, and slowly stood up straight. The Aria of the Goddess of Light that returned to its usual golden color was absorbed back into his right hand.
After executing the strike right before, he actually temporarily fainted, and recovered with the help of the healing from Haoyue and Yating.
However, all of this was worth it. The strike right before clearly fused the comprehension he gained from watching the sculpture of Ye Wushang with his own level of sword intent into one. Without exaggeration, his current comprehension on sword intent now reached a very deep level, at least matching Ye Wushang at the time he was thirty.
None of the powerhouses from the Warrior Temple said anything, because they didn’t know what to say. Although they had just seen Long Haochen fail, the terrible sword intent they saw right before was just too powerful. The ones with the deepest feeling were Qiu Yonghao and that auxiliary head who had seen Ye Wushang in battle before. Right at that instant, they felt as if they were seeing Ye Wushang’s resurrection.
Just from feeling this sword intent, they all understood that Long Haochen was indeed qualified to wield the Aria of the Goddess of Light! They wouldn’t find another person of such kind even in the whole Warrior Temple.
“Haochen.” Qiu Yonghao stepped forward a bit, wanting to give a few words of consolation to this child. He was already thinking of whether it would be possible to convince the other higher-ups of the Warrior Temple to let this child become the master of this divine sword.
Long Haochen turned his head with a weak look, smiling with difficulty at Qiu Yonghao. He now felt weak to the extent of being unable to speak, and if not for the help from Haoyue and Yating, he would have fallen in a state of deep unconsciousness.
His consumption of spiritual energy from before was just too big. It wasn’t only about spiritual energy, but even included his own mental and physical power. By now, he felt too weak to even lift a single finger.
Of course, his condition kept improving by the minute with the coordinated help from Haoyue and Yating. A layer of deep purple light continued being released from Haoyue’s body. While Long Haochen absorbed this purple light, his physical power returned bit by bit, while Yating was offering him her purest light essence.
Qiu Yonghao let out a sigh, “Child, I have a suggestion. Although you failed, you still did more than enough. I understand that at least at the present time, you are the only one who can wield this divine sword. The Aria of the Goddess of Light really found a very good owner.
You are the son of Long Xingyu and the sole successor of the Knight Temple. This is something I shouldn’t be saying, but you should also understand that the Aria of the Goddess of Light is of too great importance to our Warrior Temple.
I cannot take out anything as precious as bargaining chip, except for my own position. If you are willing, you can become the head of the Warrior Temple. I will readily renounce my position and assist you with all my
strength. You won’t need to keep doing missions with your Demon Hunt Squad, and as the head of the Warrior Temple, your cultivation will get the full backing of the Warrior Temple. I believe that in the near future, you will become a second Commander Ye.
While speaking these words, Qiu Yonghao felt quite enthusiastic. This decision wasn’t difficult to make, and was actually done in a split second, without discussing it with anyone. He believed that he had the ability to convince the others. His words weren’t praise, but came from the depths of his heart. That was indeed how excellent Long Haochen was.
As a powerhouse at the ninth step, Qiu Yonghao clearly saw that both his mount and his light fairy were beings out of reach to any ordinary person, and his dual pair of wings proved his boundless potential of strength in the future. Perhaps the current Long Haochen was only at the sixth step of cultivation, but Qiu Yonghao was absolutely sure that even a powerhouse of the seventh step couldn’t necessarily contend against him. Seeing that a young powerhouse with such prowess appear before him, he was entirely unable to suppress his own feelings of yearning.
However, Long Haochen had just too many unique and unmatched things. What more could he give him? What could be appealing enough for him to convince him to quit the Knight Temple and join the Warrior Temple instead? This way the Aria of the Goddess of Light would forever remain in the hands of the Warrior Temple.
In such a short time, all he could think of was his own position as the head of the Warrior Temple.
The Temple Alliance was formed of the Six Great Temples, and becoming head of one of them was akin to becoming one of the six great heads of the Temple Alliance.
This was already the ultimate honor and position for a human, that only the members of titled grade Demon Hunt Squads could match.
These words shocked everyone present.
Cries of alarm were heard from the mouths of every powerhouse of the Warrior Temple present. They absolutely didn’t expect such words to come from their Temple Head right now. And furthermore, given Qiu Yonghao’s position, and since he already spoke these words, he wouldn’t withdraw them, and in the whole Alliance, no one could possibly stop him. Of course, whether Long Haochen would really be able to sit in the position of the Warrior Temple’s head would still be decided by the unanimous agreement from the higher-ups. But Qiu Yonghao right now was at the absolute peak of the Warrior Temple. With his promise, Long Haochen would already be almost half-seated on the throne of the head of the Warrior Temple.
“Senior, you…” Long Haochen said in a weak voice.
Qiu Yonghao earnestly continued, “The words I just said won’t be changed, neither will they be cause for regret. As long as you are willing to sit in the position of the Warrior Temple’s head, it will be the start of a glorious period for my Warrior Temple. Although you are young now, you are bound make the Warrior Temple very proud in the future, even surpassing Commander Ye! Child, come, the door to the Warrior Temple is opened wide for you. In the future, you will get to fully control the Warrior Temple.”
Qiu Yonghao’s words were undoubtedly full of appeal. It could be said that over the thousand years of history of the Temple Alliance, it was the first time such a situation appeared. And Qiu Yonghao still didn’t know the real age of Long Haochen. A sixteen years old youth sitting at an important position such as Temple Head was simply an unprecedented event.