Chapter 311
Over the past month, the Southern Mountain’s City had regained part of its
vigor, but the casualties were still in everyone’s mind. Not long before,
this had after all been the location of a devastating battle.
Currently, the defenses of Southern Mountain’s City were obviously
astonishing, after all, many elites were residing inside the city. In total,
there were the Saint Knight Regiment from the Knight Temple, three Emperor
grade Demon Hunt Squads, and four King grade Demon Hunt Squads, as well as
hundreds of powerhouses of the Six Great Temples, all guarding the borders
of the Southern Mountain’s City.
Over the past month, the second batch of reinforcements had already arrived
in the Southern Mountain’s City. Even if the demons attacked once more, they
were prepared to respond in kind. Half of the destroyed Magic Cannons had
already been repaired whereas the heavily damaged ones would be directly
replaced with new ones. But of course, this required time.
The auxiliary master of the Priest Temple, Ling Xiao, and the auxiliary
master of the Knight Temple, Han Qian, were standing in the middle of the
ranks, scrutinizing the horizon. At their backs were ten youths clad in
martial attire, and among them, Long Haochen and Cai’er.
The competition had already ended, and Long Haochen and Cai’er both obtained
the right to enter the Illusory Paradise with the performances they showed.
Now that the awaited day had arrived, they were about to explore that
mysterious place.
“They are here,” Han Qian said in low voice.
From afar, a formless oppressive feeling slowly emerged. Upon closing the
distance, everyone saw a heap of black clouds rapidly heading in their
direction.
Gazing into the distance, Long Haochen couldn’t help but shiver. This wasn’t
any kind of black clouds! Those were Black Dragons, personal guard of the
Demon God Emperor!? And they weren’t low in quantity!
The black dragons approached gradually, descending slowly before reaching
the ground, at a distance of a thousand meters from the forces of the Temple
Alliance.
Long Haochen counted them, learning to his surprise that there were three
Black Dragons, among which the tallest reached a size of forty meters. On
their backs they carried dozens of other demons. To be qualified to ride on
the Black Dragons, they could obviously not be ordinary demons.
After the three Black Dragons landed on the ground, a strong aura of
darkness assaulted everyone’s senses. The black haze hiding them from view
rapidly shrank as they shrank to the shape of robust humans, heading in the
direction of the Temple Alliance’s forces.
Approaching the vanguard was a tall, charming and imposing middle- aged man.
Before transforming, he had also been the the most imposing Black Dragon of
the three.
The most extraordinary thing was that the two by his side weren’t part of
the Black Dragon’s imperial guard, but two purple-haired and purple-eyed
extremely handsome middle-aged men.
Against all expectations, Long Haochen had already seen these two before. It
shocked him even more to find out that they were two of the four most
imposing demons he saw back then in the Moon Palace. They were the
right-arms of the Moon Demon God, that could be said to be like one among
ten thousand in the Moon Demon Clan.
Behind these three came the other two members of the imperial Black Dragon
guard, and Moon Demon Clan powerhouses, as well as a dozen
orange-haired and orange-eyed people, who looked like humans on the outside,
but radiated an ephemeral feeling.
These were people from the Star Demon Clan, and looking at them, Long
Haochen could guess what their identities were. The Star Demon God was the
great prophet of the Demons, and his clansmen were also the best mages among
demons. They were among the rarely-seen kind of dual-types; being both,
magician and warrior, but because of this, their magic was even more
powerful.
No one had expected that for the exploration of the Illusory Paradise, the
top three demon races would all dispatch powerhouses. And seeing such an
army, it could easily be said that they would certainly have a good chance
to besiege the Southern Mountain’s Gate.
Among these demon powerhouses were ten youthful demons, that belonged to
diverse races. Because they were still far away, and blocked from view by
the demons in front of them, they were still unidentifiable.
Very quickly, these demon powerhouses arrived in front of the Temple
Alliance’s troops. The sturdy man that looked to be the leader of the Black
Dragon forces declared, “I am the leader of the imperial Black Dragon guard
controlled by the Demon God Emperor, Huang Shuo. Leader of your group, come
out to talk.”
With a snort, Ling Xiao was the one to reply, “Auxiliary Hall Master of the
Priest Temple Ling Xiao. Wow, none of your Demon Gods came today, but only
their lackeys?” Despite the formidable power of the enemy force, how could
he put himself in a disadvantageous position in his function as a
representative of the Six Great Temples.
That’s right, this time, not a single Demon God came, however, these demon
powerhouses’ strength was mostly comparable with that of Demon Gods in the
second half of the rankings. In fact, more than a tenth of the Demon God
Emperor’s imperial Black Dragon guard had come today! That was the absolute
power of the Demon God Emperor.
The leader of the imperial Black Dragon guard calmly replied, “There’s no
meaning in trying to overwhelm your side with an overkill of strength only
to show off. According to the agreement, let’s do things properly. His
Majesty, being so magnanimous, has agreed to your offer. Now it should be
your turn to comply.”
Ling Xiao didn’t stop being on alert just because of his counterparts
frankness. On the opposite, he felt shivers run down his spine. With the
leader of the imperial Black Dragon forces being so calm and steady, he will
definitely not be easy to handle.
“Come with us.” Right after saying that, Ling Xiao waved his hand.
Immediately, a few enormous green creatures approached unhurriedly from the
side, stamping the ground with their massive weight.
These were Green Pengs, magical beasts of the seventh rank. Although their
defensive and offensive abilities were not that strong, they had a
formidable build, even exceeding those Black Dragons of the imperial army in
size. They were experts in long-distance flight and carrying weight, and
only the Priest Temple raised them, since after all, priests were rather
weak physically, and unable to travel on mounts for long distances.
A total of ten Green Pengs approached, crawling on the ground. Led by Ling
Xiao, the human powerhouses mounted the Green Pengs, and headed north.
The imperial Black Dragon guards changed back to their dragon form. After
their powerhouses mounted them, they followed closely behind, maintaining a
distance of approximately one kilometer from the Green Pengs.
Among the ten people dispatched by the Alliance there was, aside from
Cai’er, yet another acquaintance of Long Haochen. The captain of the 8th
general grade Demon Hunt Squad, Zhang Fangfang, had also managed to win an
entry permission to the Illusionary Paradise. He was surprisingly at the
peak of the sixth step and had managed to come out victorious after his past
hardships.
At that moment, Long Haochen wasn’t calm at all. While Ling Xiao and Huang
Shuo were conversing, he had spotted two familiar faces, and was sure that
the other party had also seen him. Those were Yue Ye and Leng Xiao.
The two of them actually participated in this time’s operation, and from
what Long Haochen knew about them, he was absolutely sure that they were
going to enter the Illusory Palace with him.
Long Haochen knew about Yue Ye’s identity, and also had some guesses about
Leng Xiao. He was just surprised because he didn’t expect that Leng Xiao too
would have such a high position among the demons.
Leng Xiao was without a doubt an enemy, so her life or death wouldn’t matter
in any way, but Yue Ye was their collaborator. It could be said that if not
for Yue Ye’s help, they would have suffered great hardships back in the
Desolate Hissing Cavern, and very possibly, most of their squad would have
been wiped out. Especially during their return trip, it was because of Yue
Ye’s help that everything had gone smoothly and that they had returned
alive. Having such a collaborator among the demons was undoubtedly a good
thing for the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad, and they would have many
more opportunities to benefit from it in the future.
The insides of the Illusory Paradise weren’t as wonderful as its name
inferred.
The day before, Ling Xiao had extremely seriously shared very detailed
information regarding the Illusory Paradise to all the participants of the
operation. This key information had been gained by the loss of countless
human lives.
Cai’er said in a low voice, “Haochen, don’t worry. We will give her some
help when the time comes and she will be fine.”
“Hmh?” Long Haochen gave Cai’er a surprised look.
Cai’er calmly continued, “She carries the seal from the Dagger of Samsara
unleashed by my Spiritual Stove of Samsara inside of her body,
so her life or death is within my grasp. There’s no need to fear any of her
tricks. To our future course of actions, this woman will be important, so we
cannot let her die here.”
Cai’er’s words helped Long Haochen to strengthen his resolve. In response,
he nodded to her.
The Illusory Shrine was located sixty kilometers to the north of the
Southern Mountain’s City, inside of a forest. Be it the Green Pengs or the
Black Dragons, this was a distance that only took a few blinks of an eye to
cover.
From a distance, a large area of dense forest could entirely be seen in
their line of sight. Looking down at the vegetation of the forest from the
sky, they could all sense the large scale that this forest had reached. This
could have only been accomplished through several thousand years of growth.
Under Ling Xiao’s indications, the Green Pengs slowly landed outside of the
forest. As everyone successively dismounted the Green Pengs, the demons did
the same. Accompanied by the two Devil Kings from the Moon Demon Clan, Huang
Shuo asked in a low voice, “Why are we not directly entering by flight?”
Leng Xiao replied with a snort, “You can try if you want. This land belongs
to the scope of the Illusory Shrine, which is the shrine the goddess of
nature left. And this forest is sheltered by this same goddess of nature.
You want to directly enter by flight? It’s too early for you, but your Demon
God Emperor should be able to.”
Huang Shuo calmly replied, “Let’s just go then.”
The two of them led their respective groups, advancing inside the forest.
When they entered the forest, the atmosphere instantly changed, but it was
not the impression of feeling fresh and clean air. A sweet insipid scent
penetrated into their hearts, as if cleaning their spirit, and this hard to
describe feeling of serenity caused everyone to feel exceptionally cozy.
The sounds of the birds and insects was extremely distinct, and the water,
earth and light elemental fluctuations were extremely strong.
Long Haochen had the strongest impression from that. When he took his first
step into the forest, he immediately had a feeling of warmth, as if heading
back home. It was as if everything there was beautiful, and had a feeling of
intimacy for him. Every blade of grass and every tree was smiling to him,
and the light element surrounded him softly. Water and earth elemental
particles were also spiralling around him, moistening his body.
With such a splendid feeling, Long Haochen felt that his spirit was cleansed
over and over again, as all his negative feelings and worries faded away
peacefully. Indistinctly, a layer of mildly transparent light covered his
skin. It was as if the call of nature made him feel as light as feather.
Chapter 312
Being near him, Cai’er immediately felt the changes on Long Haochen’s body.
She also had a similar reaction, but it was nowhere as intense as Long
Haochen’s.
After all, he was the Scion of Light, and since the growth of vegetation was
intricately linked to light, the call of nature didn’t manifest only through
sensation for him, but through real magic effects. It was one of the
gentlest forms of existing magic, and able to provide an enormous
amplification to his elemental affinity, while also weakening him to some
extent.
The current Long Haochen was just like Cai’er at the time she had first
entered the Tower of Eternity. Right at this moment, his soul was not only
filled with insights of understanding, but just flooded with warmth. This
was a total submersion. It was as if his body and even his spiritual energy
were purified by the call of nature. And all the impurities were cleansed
from within, completely disappearing.
In comparison, the demons’ condition wasn’t good. All of their brows were
furrowed, and their bodies were emitting a black gas from while they were
trying to resist the natural energy from their surroundings. If not for
Huang Shuo’s instructions, they would already have lashed out, trying to
destroy the surrounding vegetation.
The nature was full of the world’s vitality, whereas darkness was full of
shadows and coldness, so an incompatibility between these two entities was
unavoidable.
Huang Shuo said to Ling Xiao, “Walk a bit faster if you can. My clansmen and
me don’t like this place. If it takes too long, I won’t be able to guarantee
that I can control them long enough.”
Ling Xiao gave the calm reply, “Just give it a try then. Although our
cooperation is only temporary, we won’t resort to any tricks since you
fulfilled your promise. I will just repeat once again that this is the
residence of the goddess of nature. It won’t be a breach of our agreement if
you damage the environment here, and the Illusory Shrine forbids you entry.”
Huang Shuo wrinkled his brows, but quickly returned to normal.
Nodding calmly, he didn’t say anything more.
In the forest, the road was rugged and hard to pass, but this didn’t affect
the progress of these powerhouses. Before departing, Ling Xiao had
repeatedly warned the forces of the Alliance that they mustn’t damage the
plants here no matter what, or it would be regarded as hostility against the
Illusory Forest.
As they advanced towards the heart of the forest, the aura of nature grew
stronger. If these were ordinary demons, they would perhaps not have been
able to resist acting against the vegetation, but since there were
powerhouses of the ninth step among them, they naturally had their own ways
to deal with the situation. At least for the time being, no problem had
emerged on this aspect.
Ling Xiao didn’t plan on doing anything inside the Illusory Forest, honoring
the deal between the two parties. Although demons and humans were sworn
enemies, during their long history, there had been some particular
circumstances when they came to make deals or transactions, and at least
until now, there hadn’t been yet a day when either of the sides did not
abide by their commitments, or else these kinds of deals would probably stop
being accepted. Thus, both the human and the demon side had a minimum set of
rules they had to adhere to.
More importantly, the situation in the Illusory Paradise wasn’t so peaceful
either, and Ling Xiao didn’t believe that they could handle the
demons assigned to this operation. Therefore, there was no problem about
letting them enter?
More than one hour after they entered the forest, the landscape suddenly
became open and clear, and the dense part of woods turned into a large area
of shrubs. The instant their line of sight became so wide, even the demons
couldn’t help but let out repeated gasps.
That’s right, this place was just too beautiful.
This was an ocean of vegetations, which may even be called an ocean of
flowers. As far as the eye could see, only shrubs, roughly one meter high,
seem to occupy the area in a radius of a hundred square kilometers. On top
of these shrubs grew various kind of flowers, each one more beautiful than
the one next to it, while each of them was exceptionally enchanting.
At every step they took, a different kind of smell could be perceived. In
addition, some mist had formed in the air, making the sunshine of this day
look a lot less dazzling. Hazy and soft lusters undulated in this world of
flowers. It was truly worthy of being described as Illusory.
Inside of this ocean of flowers extended a small lake. It wasn’t large in
size, however over the approximative two hundred meters diameter it
extended, the water essence was even richer and the aura of life gently
spread outwards, from it.
Ling Xiao stopped walking, looking at the nearby lake, “We have arrived,
this is precisely the place.”
Huang Shuo looked at him with some hesitation, “Where is the Illusory
Shrine?”
Ling Xiao replied, “It’s right inside the lake.”
“What?” Huang Shuo replied, “Don’t tell me that we’ll have to dive
underwater?” Contrarily to what one may expect, their Black Dragon race
didn’t have any reluctance toward water, and could even drago-form inside of
water.
Ling Xiao replied with some disdain, “Diving underwater is indeed a way to
access the Illusory Shrine. You can try it if you want, but do you think it
would be so simple to access a place that only opens once every hundred
years? If this was only about diving underwater, why would we even have to
wait hundred years?”
Huang Shuo asked with some doubt, “What’s there in this water? Is it a
seal?”
Ling Xiao responded, “Why should I tell you without compensation?”
As he said this, he extended his right hand towards Huang Shuo.
Some changes appeared on Huang Shuo’s unresigned face, but still, he took
something out of a storage and placed it in Ling Xiao’s hand.
Looking at the object, Ling Xiao’s ordinarily strict face immediately
revealed a rare smile, followed with the calm words, “All good, let me tell
you. In the water of this lake exists an almighty antique entity. From the
records we have, this was the guardian of the goddess of nature back in the
past. It lived here for at least several thousands of years. If you are not
afraid of death, you can dive underwater and look for yourself at the
strength of this almighty entity over here.”
Huang Shuo revealed surprise, “A magical beast from the antique times? Do
you know to what race it belongs to?”
Ling Xiao extended his hand yet another time, and although the nearby Han
Qian raised his head, the former didn’t manage to conceal the smile on his
face.
Huang Shuo declared in anger, “Don’t be excessive.”
Ling Xiao revealed an unexpectedly innocent look, “You can also stop asking,
you know?”
Resisting the urge to show his fury, Huang Shuo took out another piece of
the same thing as before, placing it nn Ling Xiao’s hand, “Speak.”
Ling Xiao’s facial expression changed slowly, muttering silently but
resolutely, “Telling you isn’t much; in this lake resides a Fairy Dragon.”
Huang Shuo let out a ragged breath, his originally furious face returning to
normal. With a nod he said, “Thank you.”
Right at that moment Ling Xiao felt something abnormal, How could this
fellow so easily hand over two pieces of Dragon Ointment, just to exchange
it for these two pieces of information? From his appearance, it seems as if
he didn’t suffer any loss. Could there be a problem about the fact that I
gave him that information? He couldn’t help but feel some regret deep
inside, but since everything was already said and done, it is already too
late for regret.
Huang Shuo said, “Since a Fairy Dragon resides in the lake, how should we
enter?”
Ling Xiao replied, “In at most one day, the Illusory Shrine will open anew.
At that time, a passage to the shore will be formed. We will just have to
pass through it to enter the Illusory Paradise.”
With a thoughtful look, Huang Shuo responded, “Let’s just wait and see.”
Saying that, he led the group of demon powerhouses to sit nearby. When they
arrived together at this lakeside housing the Illusory Shrine, the aura of
nature had started to corrode them gradually. Hundreds of buildings started
to surround the place, giving rise to a very peaceful scene.
The Temple Alliance’s forces did the same: everyone sat in succession,
waiting for the opening of the Illusory Shrine.
Long Haochen inadvertently looked in the direction of the demons, happening
to meet with the charismatic Yue Ye’s eyes. He also met Leng Xiao’s gaze.
However, the two of these girls gave him completely different looks.
Yue Ye was beaming with a smile, filled with gentleness and warmth, just as
if she was looking at her lover. But Leng Xiao had a very fierce look, as if
her eyes were going to pierce Long Haochen.
Yue Ye’s expression suddenly changed. She turned her head instantly, because
she felt Cai’er’s gaze on her. Leng Xiao however was looking at Long Haochen
and Cai’er without any fear, even showing her own clenched fist.
Seated in front of Yue Ye and Ling Xiao was a youth, who looked to be the
leader of the demon group heading into the Illusory Paradise. With a tall
build, he looked about twenty in appearance, and the most peculiar thing
about him was that he not only had black hair but also black eyes. He calmly
sat there, cross-legged and very serene, as if the aura surrounding his body
was nonexistent.
Long Haochen’s look was very naturally attracted by this black-haired
black-eyed youth, feeling an intense threat from the counterpart’s tranquil
state.
That youth seemed to have felt Long Haochen’s attentive watch, because he
slowly turned his head. At the split second their gazes met, all Long
Haochen saw was nothingness, while the black-haired youth saw only purity.
However, at the first time they looked at each other, they unexpectedly
didn’t have any hostility towards each other, as if they weren’t natural
enemies.
This black-haired black-eyed youth looked extremely handsome, and seeing
him, Long Haochen seemed to have a familiar feeling of déjà vu, just as if
he had seen him before in some place.
The look of that youth suddenly became cold, and he emitted a sharp
murderous intent. However, Long Haochen could feel that this killing intent
was forcefully set free, and didn’t contain any actual desire to kill.
What’s the matter with him? Could it be that I have seen him before?
However, Long Haochen felt very confident toward his own memory, and didn’t
remember having seen this youth ever before.
Turning his head away, and not looking at his counterpart anymore, Long
Haochen slowly closed his eyes, and let himself be immersed in this place
filled with nature. While the others felt the aura of nature weaken here, it
was exactly the opposite for Long Haochen. He discovered that although the
aura of nature seemed weaker close to the lake, it was extremely pure. Thus
it gave one the feeling of being weakened by it. This was because the pure
aura of nature rejected humans in general. As if fearing to be soiled by
their impurity, it was unwilling to approach them.
The purest aura of nature flowed through Long Haochen’s body, purifying it
while providing moisture. A fantastic feeling of understanding started to
emerge from this, and indistinctly, Long Haochen felt himself grabbing on to
something. Gradually, his heart became more and more tranquil.
Chapter 313
Waiting without doing anything was unlike Long Haochen. In his state of
realization, his body seemed to have become one with nature, just like one
of the plants here, and like a piece of dirt or an expanse of clear water.
Seated near him, Cai’er felt that if she didn’t have eyes to look at him, it
would feel just as if he was disappearing.
Time passed minute after minute and hour after hour, the two parties
consisting of powerhouses didn’t fear the wait. The sky was gradually
becoming dimmer, until nightfall came. With night’s descent, the air cooled
down while the natural humidity went up.
A day and a night passed like that.
When the sky started to go white, Huang Shuo started to stand up, looking at
Ling Xiao. It had already been a day and a night, but the Illusory Shrine
didn’t show any signs of appearing.
Right at that moment, a marvellous sensation passed over everyone’s head.
Originally immersed in cultivating, everyone simultaneously reacted in the
same way. They all looked in the direction from where the change occurred.
The surrounding space distorted slightly, and the smell of nature suddenly
became thicker. Everyone felt a great amount of vitality being absorbed
through their mouths. Even the demons finally started to have a cozy feeling
from this.
Above the lake, tiny ripples started to appear, growing larger and larger,
and in the middle of the lake, a gush of water started to sprout. At this
time, the omnipresent essence of life began to converge from all directions.
With the arrival of dawn, the Illusory Shrine slowly rose above the lake.
Gradually, a dark green palace emerged from the lake, and the clear water
from the lake ran off in rivulets. Its transparence reflected the green
color of the palace. Under the brilliance of dawn, it seemed to radiate all
around, and as it gradually rose, the vital essence in the surrounding
reached its peak. All the surrounding plants reacted to it, growing at a
monstrous speed. Gradually, the shrubs that didn’t even exceed a meter in
height, grew up until exceeding the humans and demons in size, and the
fragrance of flowers also became heavier.
Finally, this dark green colored palace sat on top of the water’s surface,
the instant the sun finally rose into view. The orange glow of the sun
illuminated the Illusory Palace and gilded this shrine of nature.
A faint steam revolved around the shrine, slowly dissolving under the
radiance of the sun. After being reflected by the emerald shrine, the haze
amplified the dreamy character of this fantastic scene.
Light and water themselves were the symbols of life.
This was a scene that stunned everyone, and that no one dared to budge,
because it was truly too beautiful. When seeing such a beautiful scenery,
everyone seemed to have forgotten the danger they were going to face.
The Illusory Shrine had an extraordinary appearance, differing from every
existing building on the continent. It didn’t have walls in the common sense
of the word. The outside was covered by layers of green crystals, that
became bigger and bigger towards the bottom. All around the base, they
stretched out in all directions, just like the eaves of a cathedral.
Supported by a bunch of thick and solid pillars, the immense roof sat at
more than thirty meters height. Each of the pillars would at least need
three people to encompass them, and it seemed that the whole palace was
surrounded by a vague and soft green radiance. This hazy brilliance released
from it made it impossible to see the interior of the Illusory Shrine.
From what could be seen, this shrine didn’t have any door. A total number of
thirty-two pillars enclosed it, and concealed the inside of the shrine. It
radiated an immense concentration of vitality, providing the surrounding
with an extremely tranquil feeling.
Long Haochen felt a slight heat from his chest, and the Light Elemental
Fairy Yating came out of her volition. Looking at this huge shrine, she
slowly sank to her knees on a huge shrub, and bowed from afar. Her beautiful
eyes were filled with tears, and she muttered words in an unintelligible
fairy language. Her body seemed to glow transparently in the presence of the
shrine.
Although Light Elemental Fairies focused their worship on the God of Light,
the elements of light, water and earth were all extremely close to the
Goddess of nature. Therefore, the Goddess of nature could be said to be a
partial master to them. Returning to this place filled with natural energy
and feeling the embrace of nature, how could Yating remain calm? She could
clearly feel her own vital energy rising, while the golden radiance in her
body circulated like tidal waves. Although it became calmer with time, her
originally partially transparent body was becoming opaque, looking very
close to a human’s.
Compared to the time Long Haochen had just made a contract with her, the
vital energy flowing through Yating was tremendous. She had even evolved
twice by relying on Long Haochen’s physique as the Scion of Light.
However, the origin for her weak state was the mortal wound she had suffered
back then. All this time, she had had to rely on the Saint Spiritual Stove
to appease it. But at this very moment, in front of the Illusory Shrine of
the Goddess of nature, her body gained an extreme nourishment, and the
internal injuries in her body were healed in no time through the intense
vital energy. It also laid a firm foundation for her next evolution.
A gentle green radiance spread in the air, giving rise to this fantastic
scene. Perhaps because of the influence of the massive energy of life spread
by the Illusory Shrine, the vegetation on the shore grew suddenly at a great
speed, especially the shrubs located nearest to the lake. In the midst of
their frantic growth, the Illusory Shrine rose from the lake. The lake was
now completely surrounded by thick and solid shrubs, that looked extremely
tough and durable.
It was indeed strange, but these shrubs kept growing until they reached the
height of the Illusory Shrine. Stopping at this point, it was as if they
didn’t dare keep growing further.
Ling Xiao gave a glance to the leader of the imperial Black Dragon guard
Huang Shuo, instructing in a low voice, “It is now possible to enter.
Numerous chances are awaiting inside.”
Huang Shuo nodded, turning back before directing a look at the black- clad
youth who had shared eye contact with Long Haochen just before. The latter
then walked up in front of him, before giving a calm nod.
“Ahbao, be careful. ”
“Yeah.” The black-clad youth gave a simple reply. A light tap on ground with
his toes sent him flying high in the air. Yue Ye, Leng Xiao, as well as the
other participating demons followed him one after another.
On the other side, the humans followed in their tracks. Long Haochen, and
Cai’er were comparatively at the end of their own group, while the two
groups of ten entered the Illusory Shrine.
The shrubs growing around the lake were extremely tough, giving their feet a
firm and steady foothold as they walked on top of them. Both parties crossed
the shore like that.
Ahbao? So this guy is called Ahbao. Long Haochen had heard Huang Shuo’s
voice very clearly. He hadn’t seen this black-clad youth clearly, but as the
leader of the demon group, his actual strength and ability couldn’t be low.
The ten of the side of the Temple Alliance didn’t have a specific leader.
After entering the Illusory Shrine, everyone would do things their own way.
The two groups which were designed entirely differently, now moved at a
distance of about ten meters, walking over towards the small gap between the
massive pillars.
When they arrived in front of the shrine, the previous dense life energy
became weaker. This shrine in front of their eyes gave them a surreal
feeling, as their senses were assaulted by the surrounding aura. It didn’t
contain the slightest impurity, but didn’t have the same vegetative
sweetness from before either. This vaguely gave off a presentiment of the
particularity of this place.
Pulling Cai’er’s hand, Long Haochen followed the others towards the shrine
from behind, telling her in a low voice, “Cai’er, our main task will be to
reunite after entering. If you face any danger, don’t try to be brave no
matter what. Just activate the Illusory Gem and leave the Illusory
Paradise.”
Seeing his deep concern, her lips formed into a beautiful arc, followed by
her low voice, “Don’t worry. Because I have you, I won’t act rashly.”
Long Haochen held her by the waist, as the two of them entered the Illusory
Shrine in the proper sense. They were also the last ones to enter.
Right after they entered the Illusory Shrine, their view was filled with a
boundless green color.
An illusory coloration of green was reflected in their eyes. It was totally
devoid of anything else than green. The soft green radiance appeared the
same as the most primitive form of life, undulations rising up and down in
the rhythm of their breath.
Just as Ling Xiao had told them, only after walking through this green
brilliance they would truly be entering the Illusory Paradise.
With a step forward into the glint of light, Long Haochen and Cai’er both
disappeared into this green brilliance.
Having just gone into that radiance, Long Haochen immediately felt a soft
current of spiritual energy wrapping him in its embrace, and Cai’er whose
hand was originally held by him disappeared.
The surrounding green grew even more intense, but everything seemed to be
happening far behind him.
It was exactly the same as when travelling by flight on the back of a
magical beast.
Long Haochen shut his eyes, surrounded by a bunch of changes. He noticed
that his mental energy was unable to force the soft energy protecting him
apart.
A short time later, everything suddenly became clear again. After taking a
sudden step forward, he was already in another world.
The chirps of the birds and insects refreshed his mind with a tranquil
feeling.
Meanwhile, outside of the Illusory Shrine…
Remaining in the midst of the Temple Knights’ formation, Han Qian walked at
the side of a tall Temple Knight, saying in low voice, “Haochen is now
inside. Given his intelligence plus the protection from the Illusory Gem, he
shouldn’t be in any danger. Are you here to wait for him to return, or is it
about some other matter?” If Ying Suifeng and Leng Xiao had heard his
current respectful way of speaking, they would absolutely be greatly
surprised.
Because the Temple Knights were all clad in Mythril Foundation Armor, their
appearance couldn’t be easily seen. In a deliberate low voice, the other
knight replied, “It doesn’t matter, I will be waiting here for him to
return. This time, the powerhouses from the demon side are not low in
number, but with me here, I believe that they won’t dare to act rashly
without thinking. Huang Shuo has already noticed my presence. Given his
extremely high position in the Black Dragons’ imperial guard, and
furthermore his status as the trusted confident of the Demon God
Emperor, his strength is comparable to the top ten of the demon gods. Aside
from the Demon God Emperor himself, and the Star and the Moon Demon God, no
one would dare to be confident in being able to win against him. Without me
here, this guy would surely do something fishy.”
Chapter 314
If not for the fact that twenty rays of light instantly scattered in all the
directions, Long Haochen would have believed himself to be still in the
Illusory Forest.
The surrounding green light slowly disappeared, transforming into a mild
green colored ball of light floating over his shoulder. Ling Xiao had told
him before that if he wanted to return from the Illusory Shrine, he would
need to pour at least 5,000 units of spiritual energy into this ball of
light. Only after this would he be able to go through the last trial of the
Illusory Paradise, and after passing, he would be able to return smoothly.
But if instead, he used the Illusory Gem, he would however be able to return
immediately.
High in the sky, the twenty scattering lights immediately attracted Long
Haochen’s attention. Of course, he knew what these were. Ling Xiao had
warned them carefully that these colored lights were the spiritual stoves
that had appeared in the sky as soon as they entered the Illusory Paradise,
before scattering all over the Illusory Paradise.
However, Long Haochen didn’t immediately get into motion, but only watched
attentively. After memorizing the rough location of these lights, he stirred
the internal spiritual energy in his chest.
Honestly speaking, Long Haochen was enormously nervous at that time. He was
uncertain on whether he would be able to connect with the Tower of Eternity.
After all, this was a place controlled by the goddess of nature, and the
Tower of Eternity was made by a necromancer. Even if it went as he expected,
the Tower of Eternity in itself was a weapon, and as such it was
certainly incompatible with the power of the goddess of nature. Under these
circumstances, it was hard to predict whether they would be able to connect
with the Tower of Eternity. In case he failed, all their previous plans
would have been for naught.
This was also the reason why Long Haochen and Cai’er entered together, and
the important reason why Long Haochen didn’t tell Cai’er to concede in the
competition. Cai’er entered the Illusory Paradise together with him, so even
if he didn’t manage to connect with the Tower of Eternity, there would at
least be two people from their team able to fight for a few spiritual
stoves. If conversely, it was only him, he would certainly not be able to
grab more than one. After all, Ling Xiao had informed them already about the
severity of the last trial.
With a faint twinkle of brilliant light, Long Haochen’s eyes wore an ice-
cold expression, and a golden brilliance started to be released from the
area around his chest, precisely from the Eternal Melody.
This Illusory Paradise was rich of the four main elements, light, water,
earth, and the rare and unseen wood element, exclusive to the nature! This
made a great variety of elements.
The wood element was especially powerful in places with a great amount of
vegetation, but would become greatly weakened in places without it. Because
of its tight connection with nature, it also got called the energy of life.
The spiritual stoves that had just spread into the air were for the greater
part related to these four elements.
As he was currently immersed in connecting with the Eternal Melody, a dense
light essence surged out from Long Haochen’s chest, causing the burning
feeling coming from within to become increasingly intense, and all the
surroundings to blur.
Long Haochen sensed every little change on his body despite, or perhaps
rather because, he was inside of the Illusory Paradise. This time, against
all expectations, he felt against the destructive process of the spatial
laws of the
universe. From the Eternal Melody a dense light essence was released from
which a gate emerged without a sound. In the process of the gate’s opening,
everything was completely under the control of the fluctuating light essence
inside the Illusory Paradise, giving the impression that this gate was part
of the Illusory Paradise itself.
The spatial gate opened slowly, but Long Haochen’s spiritual energy was also
consumed at a monstrous speed. In fact, he didn’t need to consume any
spiritual energy to open the Tower of Eternity in the past, but this time,
in just an instant, half of his spiritual energy was exhausted, and the
consumption still continued.
Under a sensation of having lost all control, Long Haochen’s forehead was
already starting to drip with sweat. The situation he was the most unwilling
to see was in fact, to have the entirety of his spiritual energy depleted
without even managing to connect with the Tower of Eternity.
But by chance, he had considerable luck this time. Right when he had only
about a thousand units of spiritual energy left, his figure suddenly started
to distort, and disappeared with a flash of golden light.
Following next, a familiar death energy filled the air, crowding around his
body, and the Eternal Melody started to absorb the light element exclusive
to the Tower of Eternity to help him regain his spiritual energy.
Success!
Greatly overjoyed, Long Haochen rushed in the Tower of Eternity. His
comrades had entered the tower at their top condition, but after waiting for
him for a long time in this place filled with death energy, each of them was
itching to go out. Seeing Long Haochen appear there, they were immediately
excited.
“Boss, did it work?” Sima Xian asked in a hurry.
Long Haochen nodded in response, “There shouldn’t be any problems. It’s just
that in the process of transporting myself here, I spent quite an amount of
spiritual energy. Bringing you back there with me will very
possibly even increase this consumption, so I will first cultivate to
recover, and then, we’ll immediately leave.”
Time wouldn’t stop for them, thus in all likelihood, those in the Illusory
Palace surely had already started to move. If they didn’t hurry back, the
benefits would likely fall into others’ hands. After all, there were only
that many spiritual stoves, and no one would be satisfied with just one.
Sitting cross-legged, Long Haochen let his mental force loose, rapidly
recovering his spiritual energy. However, even given his cultivation rate,
he would need no less than half an hour to regain his previously consumed
spiritual energy without Yating’s help.
“Lin Xin, give me some Great Recovery Pills. I still don’t know how much
spiritual energy will be necessary to transport you back.”
After receiving the Great Recovery Pills from Lin Xin, Long Haochen led his
comrades outside of the Tower of Eternity, immediately launching the
teleportation.
As he justly expected, transporting them back was very challenging and came
with an immense consumption. Only after taking six Great Recovery Pills
consecutively and with almost nothing left of the spiritual energy in his
body, they were finally transported surrounded by a golden glow.
With a radiant flash, a rich and fresh air immediately assaulted their
faces, giving everyone a great shock.
“Is this the Illusory Paradise? It’s really beautiful!” Chen Ying’er said in
high praise.
Long Haochen replied, “Follow me closely. We have to immediately look for
the spiritual stoves. We are already quite late, so let’s hope that we’ll
have good look. Let’s go!” Saying that, he didn’t even take the time to
recover his spiritual energy, immediately leading his comrades by giving
them directives about the directions. Meanwhile, he also called out the
Light Element Fairy Yating to help him recover his spiritual energy.
In an environment such as the Illusory Paradise, his recovery of spiritual
energy was a lot faster than in the Tower of Eternity. With the overactivity
of both the Eternal Melody and Yating, and the further addition of his
spiritual cavities, he didn’t have to rest. After all, he only had consumed
spiritual energy, and was mentally completely unfaced.
The direction Long Haochen decided on was meticulously chosen, because he
hadn’t been able to instantly memorize the attributes of so many spiritual
stoves in such a short time. However, he remembered the general directions
in which the spiritual stoves had been flying, and thus chose the direction
with the highest density of spiritual stoves. In addition, it wasn’t so far
from their location either, which gave them the most optimal setup to find
the most spiritual stoves possible.
Long Haochen discovered that after his comrades followed him there, every
one of them had a green ball of light hovering beside them. Very clearly, it
would be impossible to use the Tower of Eternity to leave after getting
spiritual stoves here.
Ling Xiao had told him that he could, in times of danger, rely on the
Illusory Gem, but after getting any spiritual stoves here, the gem would
lose all effectiveness. This was because getting a spiritual stove would be
equivalent to achieving a connection with the Illusory Shrine, which would
make the trial of the Illusory Shrine necessary to leave this place.
This was a matter Long Haochen had thought deeply about before: if in the
end, everyone obtained a spiritual stove and passed through the trial, he
would then transport them back to the Tower of Eternity right before leaving
the Illusory Shrine. Given that the demons would be under the watch of the
powerhouses from the Alliance, they wouldn’t dare to approach the Illusory
Shrine rashly either. According to everything Ling Xiao had said, this
Illusory Shrine was very strict regarding the limitation of spiritual energy
being fixed at ten thousand units. Long ago, a powerhouse of the ninth step
had almost died here, but luckily had retreated in time.
Although Cai’er wasn’t present, the six of them still maintained their
habitual battle formation. In the front was Long Haochen, Sima Xian and
Wang Yuanyuan covered the two flanks and Lin Xian as well as Chen Ying’er
were in the middle, with Han Yu protecting the back.
The Illusory Paradise could be really called a heavenly paradise. Everywhere
they passed, various rare and precious plants could be seen, and Lin Xin
frequently told everyone to stop to pick up some of the precious plants he
recognized. Seeing his eyes beam with smiles, anyone could tell out that
they had a considerable value.
Long Haochen didn’t press him. Regarding his comrades, the most important
thing during this trip for him would be their safe return. Under these
circumstances, the major premise was to find a way to accomplish that while
getting some benefits. These herbal treasures could directly be harvested,
and would thus be naturally given priority. As for the spiritual stoves, it
would require them to test their luck.
Everyone walked and stopped successively like that. Since they were
following a precise direction anyway, they just kept advancing forward.
It was indeed impossible to fly in the Illusory Paradise. Even Yating who
fit into this environment perfectly, could at most fly around five meters
high before being drawn to the ground.
However, having her around was a great help to Long Haochen. After their
arrival here, Yating’s ability seemed to have strengthened to a great extent
Her Condensing Spiritual Halo was nearly twice as effective as in the past.
In no more than a quarter of an hour, Long Haochen’s consumption of
spiritual energy was completely replenished.
And through Yating, Long Haochen’s senses seemed to have grown sharper. He
could now perceive the undulation of spiritual energy within the scope of a
thousand meters.
Around them were many fantastic precious plants, and a very clear stream
flowed through the forest, from which occasionally a faint fog arose, that
would give a feeling of hazy beauty to everyone. But that fog wasn’t a
mixture of dirt and condensed water, but formed from pure liquid elements.
The faintly golden colored light element, the faintly green colored wood
element, the faintly blue colored water element, and the faintly yellow
colored earth element. Occasionally, the colors corresponding to the other
elements could also be seen. This scene was exceptionally beautiful, just
like in a dream.
Chapter 315
Walking through the fog of one’s own element, one would immediately gain a
sensation of awareness, accompanied by an increase of the fluctuations of
the spiritual energy in his body. It also produced faint boosting effects,
and caused everyone to feel an urge to sit down and cultivate.
But unfortunately, this bright fog was floating, thus absorbing it in a
seated position would be quite hard.
Long Haochen was the only exception to that, because he didn’t need to
absorb it by himself. Yating could directly absorb the light essence
contained in the faintly golden fog. In a short amount of time, she had
absorbed three shrouds of golden fog, which provided the skin of her already
real-looking body with an attractive golden shimmer. The pure light element
then passed through her connection with Long Haochen, and was transmitted
into Long Haochen’s body. In this situation, his spiritual energy was
incessantly increasing. Although it couldn’t be called a phenomenal speed,
it was still a lot faster than normal cultivation speed.
Unfortunately, the Illusory Paradise opened only once every hundred years,
and would only stay open for three days every time. Otherwise, if they could
cultivate in such an environment, they wouldn’t even need one year to hit
the bottleneck of the seventh step.
Continuing forward, everyone gradually calmed down. This place was really
beautiful, to the extent that even the tomboyish Wang Yuanyuan couldn’t help
but sigh in high praise: if I could stay in such an environment everyday, I
wouldn’t even need to rest.
Colored in all kinds of beautifully lights, the rare plants growing
everywhere attracted everyone’s attention. The cozy and relaxed feeling gave
everyone a desire to stay there forever.
But Long Haochen clearly didn’t have this intention. Not because he didn’t
appreciate this environment, but because of his current worries about
Cai’er. Now that Cai’er wasn’t by his side, he felt somewhat empty and
restless.
Suddenly, Long Haochen stopped in his tracks, making a gesture in the
direction of his teammates. Closing his eyes, he concentrated his attention
on sensing something.
“There are intense fluctuations of spiritual energy to the left. It seems
that some people are fighting there, let’s take a look. Take care to conceal
your presence everyone, and listen to my orders.” Arriving at this point,
Long Haochen couldn’t help but flash with killing intent in his eyes.
The demons had no idea at all that his comrades came through the Tower of
Eternity, and this was something he couldn’t let them know, no matter what.
Otherwise, it would perhaps lead to another conflict between the Alliance
and the demons.
Thus, before leaving, he had a talk with his comrades: in case they would be
discovered by some demon, they would have to kill him immediately, and this
came even before collecting any spiritual stove.
Wang Yuanyuan silently sent a surge of spatial spiritual energy forward,
softening the turbulences caused from their breath in the air, and Han Yu
also silently summoned his Demonic Eye.
Long Haochen could perceive weak surges of spiritual energy within a
thousand meters, but as for those violent fluctuations coming from a battle,
he could perceive them over a range of at least two thousand meters.
As they advanced forward, the shrubs and the forest became denser, and
little by little, the sounds of battle reached the group’s ears.
At this time, Long Hoachen however chose to stop in his tracks, giving his
comrades the order to hide and wait for his orders, before taking out Blue
Rain, Hibiscus of Light, as well as Bright Discipline, wielding the two
swords in his hands and secretly diving in the direction of the sounds.
Although he wasn’t an assassin, he had precise control over his spiritual
energy, and could conceal his own presence.
As he closed the distance, the scene became clearer to Long Haochen. It now
unfolded right in front of him.
With a flash, Long Haochen rapidly climbed over a large tree, but in the
midst of his climbing, he discovered that even if he only climbed over the
trees, when going above five meters height, a pressure would manifest in the
air, causing a condensation of spiritual energy constricting him, and
consuming his spiritual energy.
However, this wasn’t an amount he felt a need to take in consideration. From
the small chinks between the trees, he finally discerned who the two parties
were.
On one side was a young fierce-looking demon who could be called the ugliest
of the ten demons that entered this time, but also the tallest one.
His height exceeded three meters, his face looked totally ferocious, and he
had a pair of gigantic black wings on his back. In his hand was a heavy
sword glinting in a blue fire. Needless to ask, this had to be a major
figure among the Fiends, which implied they were also involved in this
time’s ordeal.
And his opponent was clearly not a human powerhouse of the Alliance, but a
bizarre magical beast.
This magical beast was similarly huge and sturdy. It was surprisingly a
gorilla, with a sleek black skin. Surprisingly, his build was even more
imposing that that Fiend’s, and intense yellow energy spread from his entire
body, launching severe attacks. The fluctuations of spiritual energy Long
Haochen felt before mostly belonged to the earth element, and were clearly
directed in killing that young Fiend.
It looked as if the two parties were rather slow, but the battle was
exceptionally fierce, the two opponents going completely all out against
each other. That gorilla used its two arms as a weapon, and fight recklessly
against that young Fiend. Every time they collided, metallic chirping sounds
were produced.
However, that was after all its body and not a real weapon. Relying on his
Sword of Blue Flames, the young fiend had the upper-hand to a certain
degree. Each attack of his left a mark on the hand of the gorilla.
Looking once again at their surroundings, Long Haochen immediately
understood the reason for their battle. At their side, nearby, was a mild
white radiance floating in the air. That radiance was approximately the size
of a human head, just as if it had been hung here. Around it, four little
legs could be seen, and a dense white light was emitted from inside.
That was a spiritual spiritual stove, and it was a very rare non-elemental
spiritual stove.
What is an non-elemental spiritual stove? There is a simple example for
that: Long Haochen’s Saint Spiritual Stove. This type of non-elemental
spiritual stoves are among all spiritual stoves the most versatile ones. In
other words, it can be absorbed by powerhouses of any element. Obviously,
that demon was attracted by the sight of this spiritual stove. And the
gorilla protecting it was a Spiritual Stove Guardian like those Ling Xiao
mentioned. Every spiritual stove would have a guardian, and killing the
guardian or obtaining his approval were the only ways to get it. Obviously,
this young Fiend was pretty lucky, for encountering a spiritual stove that
he could absorb so quickly. But of course, it could also be said that his
luck was very bad, because he encountered Long Haochen here.
Not intervening immediately, Long Haochen instead quietly went back,
returning to the location where he had left his comrades before. After a few
words of explanation, he returned once again to the top of this large tree.
Without need to say anything, he transmitted his intention to Yating, who
lightly chanted continuously, spreading soft golden ripples over Long
Haochen’s body.
This was a skill that Long Haochen wasn’t capable of using: the Great
Recovery technique, a pure healing spell. And being able to use it wasn’t
required since as long as Yating had this capability, he would also gain it.
Giving her a thumbs up, Long Haochen’s body flashed as he finally jumped
from the tree.
With the sudden appearance of another party, that sturdy gorilla and the
young Fiend both stopped their attacks.
And right at that time, a glint of gold arrived on the body of the gorilla.
That was precisely the Great Recovery which was cast with Yating’s help.
Often, actions would be a lot more important than words. Long Haochen didn’t
know whether that gorilla understood his language, but he could use actions
to easily let it know his status as ally or enemy.
A Great Recovery was launched on the Gorilla, immediately healing the cuts
on its arms at fast speed. The warm and pure light element immediately eased
up the aggressive look the gorilla had towards Long Haochen by a great
extent, which immediately appeared a lot gentler.
Meanwhile, Long Haochen launched a rapid charge toward that young Fiend,
leaving his back open to the gorilla.
Through body language, his confidence towards that gorilla was expressed. He
believed that a magical beast acting as a Spiritual Stove Guardian of the
Eternal Paradise will be blessed with some intelligence. At least, it would
understand that he was giving it his assistance.
With a low roar, the young fiend unleashed the Sword of Blue Flames in his
hand, aiming to sweep at Long Haochen.
Corrugation was produced in the glowing airstream, but Long Haochen didn’t
retreat in the slightest, crossing his swords and using Divine Obstruction.
Dang— With a crunchy sound and a glint of gold, Long Haochen against the
expectations was pushed back, but from this, he got to sense the opponent’s
strength: peak of the sixth step. This attack was already close to the power
of 10,000 units of spiritual energy.
However, this didn’t mean much to Long Haochen. The gap of spiritual energy
could be made up with his dexterity as well as his other strengths.
Bright Vengeance was unleashed with a bright glow, and Long Haochen rapidly
tread on the ground with his left foot. Suddenly sending out force from his
leg, he was propelled towards the direction of that young Fiend like an
arrow. In his right hand Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light took the shape of a
myriad of bright lights aiming at the opponent. It was Demon Wiping Flash.
However, the young Fiend didn’t retreat in the slightest, sweeping the Sword
of Blue Flames vertically. A wide expanse of blue rays immediately clashed
against Demon Wiping Flash, unexpectedly nimbly blocking all the attacks
arriving at him.
That’s… Glorious equipment!? That Sword of Blue Flames was at least a piece
of equipment at the Glorious Tier.
The young Fiend’s battle experience was clearly plentiful: at the same time
he blocked Long Haochen’s attack, the wings on his back spread out and a
thick spiritual energy instantly burst out from his back. Immediately, an
identical copy of his own body came out as a brilliance, directly rushing at
Long Haochen.
This brilliance flashed with strong blue flames, and in the instant of its
launch, the temperature in the surroundings increased abruptly, and the
nearby plants all burnt.
With a cold snort, Long Haochen kept going forward, but recovered Blue Rain,
Hibiscus of Light, his two arms drawing a vertical arc while grasping Bright
Discipline.
Chapter 316
A gaudy bright light was accumulating around Bright Discipline, covering it
completely with a flash of gold. It met that blue-green luster and it took
only an instant to divide it in two, streaming past the two sides of his
body. Immediately, Long Haochen erupted with golden radiance, and the golden
wings on either side of his body abruptly flapped, propelling him forward.
Due to the explosive speed, he seemed to appear illusory in the air.
The instant Long Haochen broke through his doppelganger-attack, the young
Fiend finally looked somewhat frenetic. However, he wouldn’t be so easy to
deal with. With a furious roar, the Sword of Blue Flames was also raised,
aiming to welcome Long Haochen’s Bright Discipline.
However, this thrusting motion didn’t aim to block the attack of Bright
Discipline, but rather aimed directly at killing the opponent.
The Sword of Blue Flames was close to two meters long, whereas Long
Haochen’s Bright Discipline didn’t even reach a meter and a third. Executing
the same thrusting motion, it was obvious that Long Haochen would lose. This
young Fiend understood this perfectly, and choose wisely even in a situation
where he was under a lot of pressure.
Actually, he had no choice but to do so, because he clearly felt the great
danger in the sharp Asura Strike Long Haochen released just now. And on top
of that, Long Haochen’s combination of speed, Asura Strike and Asura Thrust
was so fast that he couldn’t act otherwise.
If Long Haochen evaded, his attack would weaken, but if he didn’t do so, the
Sword of Blue Flames would be bound to pierce his body. Considering
this young Fiend’s cultivation and his weapon from the Glorious Tier, this
wasn’t anything his Glorious Holy Armor could block.
However, the resolution to kill the enemy in Long Haochen’s eyes didn’t
weaken at all. As he was rushing forward, the toes of his left foot suddenly
treaded on the ground, and his whole body suddenly changed direction, just
as if it lost control over its center of gravity. It turned his original
front charge into an attack from the side.
This simple change enabled him to pass the thrust of the Sword of Blue
Flames. What looked like a simple motion was done at the most crucial
timing. Thanks to it, the Sword of Blue Flames only brushed against the
Glorious Holy Armor, causing frictions on it while producing a series of
ear-piercing sounds.
Puff. Because of the deviation of his trajectory, the target of the attack,
which was originally aimed at the enemy’s chest, changed. The left shoulder
of the young Fiend was pierced, and the intense light essence turned into an
extremely sharp energy, instantly drilling into the opponent’s body.
Hou. The young Fiend let out a violent cry, and immediately afterwards, a
series of loud explosions erupted in his left shoulder, creating a bloody
hole the size of a human head. The fiend took his chance to stumble back,
flapping the wings on his back to escape while sticking close to the ground.
The explosions in his shoulder weren’t triggered by Long Haochen himself,
but a reaction of the fire and darkness elemental spiritual energy in his
body.
The reason for this was simple. When Long Haochen’s Asura Thrust pierced his
body, it produced an intense burst of spiritual energy that his energy
channels were unable to resist. Although it was just aiming at the middle of
his shoulder, if kept unchecked to devastate him, he wouldn’t even be able
to escape.
Thus, this young Fiend took swift action, causing the explosion of his own
spiritual energy at the crucial time, triggered by the sharp spiritual
energy released from Asura Thrust. This produced an enormous wound which
bled profusely, but for the time being, he still had the ability to respond,
or at least escape. Even if spiritual stoves were precious, they were
useless to a dead person.
Long Haochen didn’t pursue him, not because he didn’t want to, but because
he wasn’t able to.
His Asura strike and thrust, looked at first glance like a combination of
the simplest kind, but it produced the most powerful attack he was currently
capable of. Asura Strike and Asura Thrust were enough to consume half of his
spiritual energy! Regardless of how good his talent was, he would need some
time to recover after the use. At least to stabilize the remaining spiritual
energy in his body. By relying on Brilliant World Yating transmitted some of
her pure light elemental spiritual energy into his body. It could be seen
that this pretty little fairy was floating behind him, spreading her arms
forward, and producing a lustrous radiance shining upon Long Haochen’s back.
The reason why Long Haochen decided to meet him head on was that after
looking meticulously at the prior exchange, he came to determine that this
young Fiend possessed a considerable strength, reaching the top of the sixth
step. If this had been a normal battle, Long Haochen wouldn’t be able to win
so easily, because the opponent wasn’t simply at the peak of the sixth step.
To be the representative of the Fiend Clan in the Illusory Paradise, his
position within the Fiend Clan was clearly high. He could definitely not be
regarded as an ordinary Fiend. In case he confronted the opponent face to
face, Long Haochen didn’t have the assurance to win.
However, it was completely different with the consecutive use of Asura
Strike and Asura Thrust. With the abrupt appearance of Long Haochen, in
combination with the contiguous use of his most powerful attacks without any
time of pause, the opponent was sure to be taken by surprise. And sure
enough, the fight was resolved in a single blow that immediately wounded the
opponent seriously.
At this moment, that young Fiend felt quite depressed. He didn’t even
understand how Long Haochen had achieved that. His Shadow Strike could
be considered a powerful ability, combining offense and defense at once, but
it was immediately broken by Asura Strike. And right afterwards, Asura
Thrust had almost prevented even his escape. With the addition of Long
Haochen’s fast reaction speed, it took just a bit to wound him to such an
extent.
He was already at his limits mentally, but still stayed cool-headed. After
such a serious wound, the priority was to escape. As long as he stayed
alive, he would have a chance to pay him back.
The young Fiend was about to conceal himself in the forest, when he suddenly
felt intense killing focusing on him, just before an immense ball of
brilliant light crashed into him.
This attack came very suddenly, and was extremely powerful.
Since this was a matter of life and death, the young Fiend erupted with all
his potential, and the pair of wings on his back stretched to their limits.
Relying on the aerial propelling force to rush forward, his right feet
tapped onto that ball of light, borrowing its force to leap to the side.
With a loud bang, the ball of light fell to the ground, but that young
Fiend’s body that was flying obliquely shivered violently, and instantly
lost all sensation in his right leg. Was the Crush of the Energetic Ball of
Light combined with Ripples of Light so easy to resist? And more
importantly, by a demon already being seriously wounded?
An intense silver light came crashing into him with a loud bang, and this
time, he didn’t have any chance to escape. Clenching his teeth tightly, he
brazenly waved the Sword of Blue Flames, while spouting a mouthful of black
blood onto the sword. Tblue flames surrounding the sword immediately burnt
lustrously, and forcibly broke through that silvery radiance, but his body
was already compelled to fall to the ground.
I cannot stop now, or else I’m sure to die. The young Fiend at this time
only had this one thought completely filling his mind. He struggled to
straighten up again, hitting the ground at full force with his left foot and
pushing his own body in another direction. His figure nearly drew a curve,
while the wings on his back flapped at full power. The spiritual energy in
his body gathered frantically at the tip of his wings. Because of the
excessive force he used, blood gushed madly from the massive wound on his
shoulder.
However, at this time, he wasn’t able to deal with this much pressure.
“Puff”
Flying up in the air, the young Fiend spouted another mouthful of black
blood, and a change happened on his body. His muscles swelled instantly, and
the wound on his shoulder unexpectedly healed at an astonishing speed. His
active and aggressive self came back rejuvenated even further, and his speed
suddenly shot up.
This was the Great Demon God Reconstitution Spell, a blood-bound demon
spell.
An immense flame skull brazenly shot up at this time. This strike had been
stored for a long time accumulating nearly four thousand units of spiritual
energy. And its target was the young Fiend.
An ear-piercing boom shook the whole Illusory Paradise, and even all the
members of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad were shocked to a great
extent by the following scene. That young Fiend unexpectedly forcibly broke
through Lin Xin’s Fire Curse using Storing Power, without losing any speed,
and flew in a specific direction.
The Great Demon God Reconstitution Spell could instantly mobilize all the
hidden capability of the user, but one had to pay a with life vitality and
soul force as a price to temporarily possess a formidable power.
In this seriously wounded state and while facing so many strong enemies, the
young Fiend couldn’t show any more reservation. To survive, he would prefer
to suffer the terrible aftereffects of the Great Demon God Reconstitution
Spell. In fact, every time this ability was used, at least three years would
be needed for the user to recover his vitality. And this Great Demon God
Reconstitution Spell could only be used by the seventy-two
demon gods and their direct lineage. This was a clear revelation of this
young Fiend’s status.
A glint was produced by a golden figure standing in his only escaping path,
full of honor, launching Holy Filter Shield and Divine Obstruction.
In the meanwhile, two resonant dragon cries resounded at the back of the
young Fiend. His Sword of Blue Flames was raised upwards, but an
extraordinary force seemed to force him to turn around. His massive body
crashed against Han Yu’s Shield, Bright Reflection.
Bang.
Although he used Divine Obstruction, Han Yu was still sent flying by the
collision. Meanwhile, two mini dragons of blue and gold formed of energy
violently hit the young Fiend.
Accompanied by a wretched sipping sound, the young Fiend’s eyes were filled
with despair, and right at this time, his spiritual energy burst out at an
astonishing speed. Unexpectedly it broke through the threshold of 10,000
units right at this crucial time. Visibly, his original cultivation wasn’t
so simple as having merely reached the peak of the sixth step. In truth, he
had meticulously suppressed his own spiritual energy to come here.
However, right at the time when he wanted to break free of the dual dragons’
binding, and his spiritual energy rose past the 10,000, an extremely
imposing force was suddenly set free in the Illusory Paradise. Immediately
afterwards, a massive figure abruptly appeared from the sky, smashing
violently against his body.
Rumbles.
The body of the young Fiend was smashed to the ground, and a frantic series
of attacks hit his body. The smashing sounds of his bones were accompanied
by the gush of his blood splashing everywhere.
That figure that appeared abruptly was exactly the gorilla that had fought
with the young Fiend before, only that an astonishing change had appeared
with him. It could be clearly seen that among those luminous clouds floating
in the air, a great quantity of yellow colored clouds were being sucked into
his body. His originally extremely robust self grew at an astonishing rate,
in the blink of an eye reaching a height of ten meters. Soon, all sounds
that could be heard from the young Fiend underneath disappeared gradually.
Chapter 317
Long Haochen and his comrades found themselves in a situation that didn’t
need their intervention anymore. Before, the young Fiend had been caught by
the Pull ability of Long Haochen’s Saint Spiritual Stove, and as he couldn’t
directly attack Han Yu, he fell victim of Dual Dragon of Light and Rain.
And as that young Fiend looked unable to struggle free, the seal that was
placed on his body was broken, and the sudden increase of his spiritual
energy had caused the sudden rage of that gorilla.
Among the others surrounding Long Haochen, Lin Xin gave Long Haochen a
meaningful glance, looking at the white spiritual stove floating nearby.
Long Haochen lightly shook his head, hinting to the others not to act
blindly without thinking. Killing that young Fiend was one thing but
obtaining the spiritual stove was another. With the gorilla having just
grown to such a level, they couldn’t possibly resist him, so going for the
spiritual stove was clearly not a good idea.
Han Yu said lowly, “It looks as if this demon has suppressed his own
cultivation before coming here. It was because he challenged the rules of
the Illusory Paradise that this change was produced. The gorilla has at
least broken through to the eighth step. ”
Long Haochen replied, “It was the Great Demon God Reconstitution Spell! I’m
afraid that this Fiend was actually one of the successors of the
fourth demon god, the Fiend Monarch Saminaga. I didn’t expect us to end up
disposing of such a big shot so easily.”
Lin Xin revealed a regretful expression, “It’s a pity that we weren’t the
ones to execute the last blow. If I’m not mistaken, killing a successor of a
demon god should grant a reward of at least 100,000 contribution points!”
Wang Yuanyuan reacted fast, “Be contend with the situation. If we can obtain
even one spiritual stove, 100,000 contribution points won’t even be able to
compare. Captain, that gorilla will not be easy to handle. Should we
withdraw?”
Long Haochen shook his head, “There’s no need. Let’s wait and see. As long
as we don’t act recklessly, it should at least not harm us.” His perception
being so acute, and considering the addition of Yating’s and his own boost,
obtained by being in the Illusory Paradise, he had actually all along sensed
a change on the gorilla since back when he was attacking the Young Fiend.
After being healed by his Great Recovery Technique, the gorilla’s attitude
towards him became a lot gentler, and didn’t contain any signs of hostility.
The gorilla kept beating the demon over several seconds, before finally
stopping. At the time he moved forth, the body of that young Fiend was
entirely unrecognizable.
The gorilla’s thick hands had pounded the mass of mincemeat, and only after
seemingly finding something in the remains, he turned back towards Long
Haochen’s group.
Obviously, in his current state, he was really enormous, and Long Haochen’s
group seemed very tiny in front of him.
That was at least a powerhouse of the eighth step! And very possibly, he had
already reached the peak of the eighth step. It was only the fact the young
Fiend broke the rules that made this large gorilla become so powerful.
Confronting such a magical beast, it was impossible to claim that they were
calm. However, Long Haochen walked towards the gorilla without drawing back
in the slightest, the Light Elemental Fairy Yating spreading her wings on
his back, landing as lightly as a feather on Long Haochen’s shoulder. Inside
the Illusory Paradise, she was visibly like a fish in the water; as a matter
of fact, Long Haochen’s previously consumed spiritual energy was already
totally recovered after such a short timespan. What kind of astonishing
recovery speed was that?
The gorilla bent his arms, his two thick and powerful forearms touching the
ground as the fierce look in his eyes gradually eased up. At this very
moment, Yating suddenly flew out from Long Haochen’s shoulder, soared up to
the gorilla’s nose and landed on it. This was a pretty funny scene, because
as soon as the gorilla saw her, his two enormous eyes immediately converged
in her direction, giving him a comical look.
Yating let out a series of melodious sounds, corresponding to the fairy
language.
The gorilla clearly looked somewhat indisposed because of her. He lightly
flung his head back, and sent Yating flying. Right at that time, the
gorilla’s immense build started to shrink down to its original size, and the
pressure he caused to Long Haochen’s group reduced accordingly.
Slowly coming in front of Long Haochen, its arm shot up, throwing a black
thing towards Long Haochen.
Long Haochen unconsciously raised his hand and caught the object, before
noticing to his surprise that this was an almost fist-sized magical crystal.
This magical crystal had a very specific appearance, or more precisely, it
was crown-shaped. Entirely black in size, it emitted blue flames. Clearly,
it was what the gorilla had been taking from the corpse of the young Fiend.
“This is…” Long Haochen gave the magical crystal in his hand an astonished
look.
Lin Xin quickly ran to his side. He was a lot more knowledgeable than Long
Haochen regarding this sort of fantastic items.
“A Crown of Heritage! There’s no doubt that this guy had been the successor
of the Fiend Monarch Saminaga, and he was very likely ranked among the
strongest. Only upon the death of a demon god would this specific
crown-shaped magical crystal appear, and it can also appear for some
successors of demon gods. It’s a real treasure that we have gotten. This
thing alone is worth more than 100,000 contribution points! And reportedly,
demons using a Crown of Heritage by setting it on a weapon, have been able
to use its power to raise their strength by a whole level. However, you are
unfortunately unable to use it, boss. The demons’ Crowns of Heritage can
only be used by talented people of elements other than light. Else, the
combination of light and darkness would produce terrible aftereffects.”
After pondering for a little, Long Haochen declared, “Let’s use this thing
on your Fire Cloud Staff. After heading back, we’ll look for someone to set
it on.”
“What?” Lin Xin looked startled, “But, this is no good, we’d better exchange
it for some contribution points!”
Long Haochen was unable to help laughing at that, “How can’t you compare the
benefits? What do you think the contribution points are used for, as our
team’s god of wealth? What else is more important than increasing our
strength? Since this thing is actually such a rare treasure, do you believe
we should immediately use it to increase our power, or exchange it for some
contribution points? We will give the good treasures to those in the team
who are suited to use it. This is just common sense.”
Finishing his sentence, he bowed to the gorilla, “Thank you, friend of the
forest.”
The gorilla let out a low roar, suddenly pointing a finger towards Long
Haochen.
Staring a bit blankly, Long Haochen didn’t know what to do, but Yating came
flying and pulled Long Haochen’s hand with both of her hands, placing it on
the finger of that gorilla
Immediately then, bizarre fluctuations of spiritual energy were spread from
the finger of this robust gorilla to Long Haochen’s body.
Long Haochen’s body in response glowed in a drizzling luster, and around the
gorilla’s body appeared an undulating yellow radiance.
A moment later, a look of surprise gradually appeared in the gorilla’s eyes.
Slowly lifting up his hand, he took two steps back before suddenly standing
straight, his fists thumping on his chest, before letting out a strong howl.
Giving a reluctant look to the nearby milky white spiritual stove hanging on
the tree, he opened up his mouth, spouting a yellow brilliance illuminating
the spiritual stove.
The spiritual stove floated in the air, flying in Long Haochen’s direction,
but stopped right in front of him.
The gorilla suddenly turned around, and ran away. His consecutive low roars
seemed to be filled with a reluctance to part as he kept howling over and
over.
“He gave us this spiritual stove?” Sima Xian looked astonished.
Long Haochen nodded silently, “It should be so. Grandpa Ling said that one
would need to pass through two trials to obtain the spiritual stoves
contained in the Illusory Paradise. One way to obtain them is what we just
did. By influencing the magical beast guardian to willingly hand over the
spiritual stove. But when using the other method, killing the guardian beast
to get the spiritual stove, the trials get a lot harder. And this applies
for the final trial as well.”
Sima Xian nodded in response, “Boss, hurry up to fuse with it. We’ll see
afterwards if there are others for ourselves.”
The others thought of this as a matter of course. Long Haochen was the core
and leader of the team, and with this spiritual stove in addition being a
non-elemental one, it was the natural choice to them to have him immediately
use it to increase his strength.
Long Haochen shook his head, “I said just before that the decent treasures
would go to the fitting person. Sure, I can use this spiritual stove, but
I’m not it’s most fitting user. Come on, Ying’er, and assimilate it.”
“Me?” Chen Ying’er pointed to her own nose, giving Long Haochen a puzzled
look saying that she didn’t understand why she unexpectedly should be the
one to get the first spiritual stove.
Chen Ying’er was not only didn’t rejoice at his decision, but instead looked
unconvinced, “Captain, aren’t you thinking that I am the most useless in the
team, thus wanting to increase my strength as a priority? ”
Long Haochen laughed in spite of himself, “What nonsense are you blabbering?
Hurry up and absorb it, it’s an order. How could you still call yourself
weak? Just wait for McDull to evolve! Afterwards, this guy will evolve from
a magical beast at sixth rank to a magical beast at the seventh rank. At
that time, as long as we have the suitable magical crystals, he should be
able to display a strength of magical beasts at the eighth rank. And this is
still weak? This spiritual stove is the most fitting to you so hurry up and
absorb it right now. As you absorb it, I’ll explain to everyone why you are
the most suitable choice. ”
Only then did Chen Ying’er look happy over his decision, running to Long
Haochen’s side in high spirits, before taking out her spherical Crystal
Ball.
Specks of white light floated out from both of her hands. The instant she
poured them into the Crystall Ball, it released a radiance and Chen
Ying’er’s whole body was surrounded by soft undulations of spiritual energy.
The Crystal Ball flashed, emitting white light which enveloped the spiritual
stove, pulling it before Chen Ying’er.
Chen Ying’er’s pretty face immediately sobered up. Biting the forefinger of
her right hand, she let a drop of her blood fall onto the spiritual stove.
Immediately, a rich white radiance burst out, completely enveloping Chen
Ying’er.
Chapter 318
This white radiance was not intense but extremely dense and viscous, just
like a huge glowing halo that enveloped Chen Ying’er.
Sima Xian asked, puzzled, “Boss, what does the spiritual stove do! Tell me.”
Everyone had general knowledge about spiritual stoves, but this didn’t mean
that everyone knew everything concerning spiritual stoves. Generally, one
would only know about the types of spiritual stoves his own vocation was
able to assimilate.
However, Long Haochen was not anyone. Having followed his father to train
since a young age, Long Haochen had learned a lot about spiritual stoves
from him. It could be said that Long Haochen had knowledge about every known
spiritual stove, and Long Xingyu had even drawn for him a detailed diagram
for him to recognize all those known to him.
The reason why he had taught Long Haochen so much about spiritual stoves was
part of Long Xingyu’s long-term planning.
From his point of view, even to his son, it would definitely not be easy to
obtain several spiritual stoves, but he would sooner or later have to fuse
with some. Really powerful spiritual stoves weren’t only individual ones,
but could be those created through fusing several spiritual stoves together.
However, completing such fusions would prove to be very challenging, but in
case of success, it would become an exclusive new spiritual stove, whose
potential would be boundless and unpredictable.
As a simple example, among the known spiritual stoves, the most powerful was
naturally Cai’er’s Spiritual Stove of Samsara. However, this was just a
single spiritual stove. If someone would succeed in fusing two or more
spiritual stoves, the result could possibly even exceed the Spiritual Stove
of Samsara in power.
Of course, this was a mere hypothesis. Even among fused spiritual stoves, up
to this day, none had ever managed to surpass the attack power of the
Spiritual Stove of Samsara. Otherwise, the legend of the former Scion of
Samsara wouldn’t still be that prominent.
However from this, it could be seen how superior fused spiritual stoves were
compared to ordinary spiritual stoves.
When fusing with a spiritual stove, the matter wasn’t only about choosing
the spiritual stoves associated to one’s vocation: over the incessant tests
over some dozens of thousands years of human history, some testimonies of
experiences of fusion of spiritual stoves were available. Their key point
was about their compatibility and their formidable strength, but a part of
luck was also involved in the process.
No one would dare be certain to succeed in fusing spiritual stoves, but no
matter to whom, as long as he possessed at least two spiritual stoves, he
would have odds of achieving a fusion.
It was to let Long Haochen be prepared better for the future, when he would
be more powerful and have the opportunity to fuse spiritual stoves, that
Long Xingyu taught his own son about spiritual stoves in such depth.
Long Haochen declared, “This spiritual stove is called Scapegoat Spiritual
Stove, and is ranked a bit higher than my Saint Spiritual Stove, but not by
much. Any vocation can assimilate it, and after releasing its power, the
user can upon being attacked resist the attack completely. The upper limit
to achieve that is that the spiritual energy of the attack has to be below
three times the user’s, and the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove can evolve at most
twice. After evolving, it becomes a limit of four, then five times. Since
Chen Ying’er is a summoner, her defensive power is the weakest among all of
us, and she doesn’t even have any defensive magic
spell. In addition, she can temporarily not use any powerful summoning spell
for the moment, and this is why I believe this spiritual stove will fit her
the best, enabling to increase her survivability in the battlefield.”
“In addition, the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove is of rather gentle nature, so
when we will leave from here, its trial will not be too hard. More
importantly, the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove has another use, it can duplicate
an ability the user has just used, but after doing that, the Scapegoat
Spiritual Stove will lose efficiency for a whole day. Chen Ying’er’s
Creature Summoning Gate is random, but after obtaining the Scapegoat
Spiritual Stove, she will be able to make it a double summoning spell. This
will greatly increase the odds of a powerful magical beast appearing, and in
the future when she will be able to control the Creature Summoning Gate, we
will then be able to use two Creature Summoning Gates at once in times of
battle.”
Han Yu reacted, “But if this spiritual stove is given to you, its efficiency
would be just as great! No matter whether it is about its Scapegoat or its
Duplication ability, both would strengthen your fighting ability greatly.
And these abilities can both play a decisive role in times of battle.”
With a laugh, Long Haochen replied, “That’s right, it can also be of use to
me. However, I’m not done speaking. This Scapegoat Spiritual Stove is of
good utility, but why do you think it’s rather ranked low? The reason is
simple; the time required to activate this spiritual stove is rather long.
Launching the Scapegoat ability requires at least ten seconds, and using the
Duplication ability takes up 15% more time than the original ability. If I
am the one to use it, my opponent would never give me this time. But Ying’er
is placed in the middle of our team, so we don’t need to worry about the
time needed for activating the spiritual stove, which is why I made the
choice of letting her assimilate it. ”
Hearing Long Haochen’s explanation, everyone felt satisfied. That was right,
this spiritual stove was indeed most suitable for Chen Ying’er.
Sima Xian said with a laugh, “Boss, when we encounter a spiritual stove
focused on raw power, you definitely have to leave it to me. I like raw
power the most.”
Long Haochen said with a laugh, “This will depend on our luck. I believe
that the majority of the spiritual stoves have already been found by those
who came here, but the fact we found one already made the trip worthwhile.
Getting some more could be regarded as a bonus.”
Long Haochen had a very good attitude; he already possessed two spiritual
stoves, so this time, it was mostly to raise the strength of his companions
that he led them in the Illusory Paradise in this trip. Even if the
activation time of the Scapegoat Spiritual Stove wasn’t so long, he would
still prioritize giving it to his comrades. But this was just something he
didn’t say out loud.
The white light enveloping Chen Ying’er’s body gradually vanished, and when
she appeared again in everyone’s lines of sight, her face carried a startled
look.
“Did the fusion succeed?” Wang Yuanyuan asked out of deep concern.
Chen Ying’er shook her head, before nodding, “I seem to have succeeded in
assimilating it, but how is it that I cannot sense the power of that
spiritual stove!?”
Long Haochen smiled to her, “Don’t worry, this is just the initial stage of
the assimilation. How could that be so fast?! You still have to pass through
the second and the third trial before you can consider this spiritual stove
as having truly become a part of your own. At least for the time we are in
the Illusory Paradise, you will be unable to use it.”
Chen Ying’er stuck out her tongue, “It’s rather annoying.”
Lin Xin unhappily replied to her, “Then how about exchanging your situation
with mine? I won’t find that annoying!”
Chen Ying’er replied with a smile, “Okay! Then let’s make this a deal. If
you can, just make my spiritual stoves walk up to you and absorb it.
I heard everything you just said before, this Scapegoat Spiritual Stove is
really great! Thank’ya Captain.”
With a laugh, Long Haochen said, “Don’t thank me. This is something we
obtained together. Let’s go, we have to keep searching. Lin Xin, how much of
your spiritual energy has been replenished?”
The full power of Fire Curse had nearly exhausted Lin Xin’s spiritual
energy.
Lin Xin declared, “I’ll just need to recover a bit. I am just not
specialized in offense. Let’s just wait a bit before moving out Captain.”
Saying that, he took out a leather bag from some unknown place, animatedly
running up to the mincemeat left of that young Fiend, picking up selected
parts. And it went so far that he didn’t appear the slightest bit disgusted
from such an ugly show.
Chen Ying’er immediately pouted out, “Has-drug-bro, how is it that you are
so disgusting?”
Lin Xin replied without even turning back his head, “How is that disgusting?
The medicine we use is mainly coming from the bodies of magical beasts and
demons, and have you never taken any? From my estimate, this one is at the
very least at the seventh step in strength, or has perhaps even reached the
eighth step. Even after he suppressed his own strength, it still took so
much effort from us to kill him. Although the corpse is broken into pieces,
it’s still full of good things. And furthermore, there’s his weapon too. We
have to take it back. It is made of pure fire element. Boss, let me take out
my own money to buy it, I’ll offer it to Xin’er afterwards. Hehe, blue
flames and Glorious Tier. What a good thing!”
Chen Ying’er twitched her mouth, “It looks that I’ll have to call you the
rotten-collector has-drug bro in the future. ”
With Lin Xin picking up materials, the group wasted some more time before
setting out. According to Long Haochen’s memory, some more spiritual stoves
were pretty close from there.
Having experienced the previous battle, Long Haochen became visibly even
more cautious. The young Fiend they had just killed greatly surpassed their
expectations in terms of strength, and more importantly, among the demon
powerhouses that entered in the Illusory Palace this time, this one was the
last in row.
The demon hierarchy was very clear, one’s status would define his position.
The black haired youth that gave him a gloomy feeling of nothingness was the
most in the front, so that meant he was probably the highest ranked among
all them. Even Yue Ye and Leng Xiao were only placed at the third and fourth
position and not even the second.
Yue Ye was however the most doted daughter of the Moon Demon God, and as for
Leng Xiao, Long Haochen didn’t guess wrong: she would have some relationship
of kin with the Demon God Emperor, or at least belong to the Devil Dragon
Clan. The only aspect unclear to Long Haochen was Leng Xiao’s strength.
Being a member of the Devil Dragon Clan how could she not even have reached
the sixth step of cultivation back then? However, it would be more accurate
to say that she had clearly already broken through the sixth step now.
Although it could be said that the ten of the Temple Alliance that came here
were members of Demon Hunt Squad, all not lacking in strength, the demons
were even more meticulously chosen, and all those who came were the finest
of their heroes. If they really met them in individual battle, those Demon
Hunters from the Alliance would most likely meet with a terrible end. This
caused Long Haochen to feel even more worried about Cai’er.
This scene very easily relaxed everyone, but Long Haochen maintained a state
of great vigilance from beginning to end. Yating was seated right on his
shoulder and his own perception was linked to hers. This way, Long Haochen’s
originally extraordinary mental capacity was in addition spread onto the
surroundings with an efficiency that only became all the better.
In fact, inside the Illusory Paradise, except from Eyes of Truth, any
scouting ability was ineffective. Everything had to be investigated
personally.
After roughly half an hour, they discovered a badly mutilated corpse of
magical beast, its crystal having been already digged out, without any trace
of nearby spiritual stove. With the basis of their previous encounter, this
visibly meant that a spiritual stove had been snatched away, and by the
means of sheer violence.
Long Haochen stopped his steps, and after pondering for a bit, instructed in
a low voice, “Sima, dig a hole on the ground. We will bury this magical
beast here, letting it return to the embrace of nature.”
Chapter 319
“Yes!” At this time, everyone’s absolute trust was visible; no one
questioned Long Haochen’s decision, and the Energetic Ball of Light smashed
onto the ground immediately next, digging a deep hole. Without any fear of
getting dirty, Long Haochen carried the magical beast over and buried it
with the help of his comrades.
In this whole process, Yating didn’t make any sound, only silently watching
Long Haochen’s act, until the end of the burial. One could see in her eyes
her emotional state: she was moved to tears while filled with praise.
“Let’s go.” After burying the corpse, Long Haochen led the others and kept
advancing. It was not only out of goodwill that he buried the magical beast,
but also because of his comprehension of the Illusory Paradise.
This world was the residence of the goddess of nature, thus everything was
expected to go in accordance with her amiable way of thinking. Slaughtering
one’s way to get a spiritual stove was a choice, but who knew about the
difficulty of the following trials? Even if some using the latter method
managed to pass through, the cost they would have to pay for that would
likely not be low.
Since there was a way to reduce this degree of troubles, why not do so?
Right before that gorilla handed him the spiritual stove, Long Haochen came
to the decision that he would act as the protector of the Illusory Paradise.
This would not only give him a deep self-satisfaction, and conform with his
character, but also very possibly grant him more benefit.
Long Haochen’s train of thinking was rapidly verified. Not far from where
they buried the magical beast’s corpse, he suddenly discovered with surprise
that his ability of perception and awareness seemed to have become even
stronger. His perception of the surroundings was increased by more than a
third, and in the Illusory Paradise, this was a considerable boost.
Since things were like this, Long Haochen immediately came to an
understanding, whispering some instructions to his comrades. Everyone
followed in succession, hinting that they were giving him their entire and
absolute support.
To the current Long Haochen, there were two very important matters. The
first was to find Cai’er and the second was to keep acting with accordance
to this way of thinking until the end of this trip.
Though he was very strong as an individual, how could he compare to the
great nature? This was an unchanging truth, at least as long as he wouldn’t
be an entity as strong as the Demon God Emperor.
The increase of his perception was a great help, and as Long Haochen kept
going forward, he very quickly had another reaction, this time sensing
intense influx of spiritual energies colliding against each other, appearing
even more limpid and fierce than during the previous time they encountered
the young Fiend.
After pondering slightly, Long Haochen stopped in his tracks, telling his
comrades, “There seems to be a violent group battle not far ahead. Don’t
follow me; just stay concealed while waiting for my orders.”
After saying this, he drew out both of his swords once again, swiftly
dashing ahead. Since this was a group battle, both his allies and his
enemies were bound to be present. Under such circumstances, he naturally
couldn’t rashly expose the fact that he brought everyone along to the
Illusory Paradise. This was something he not only had to keep concealed from
the
enemies, but even from the Demon Hunters of the Alliance, or else there
would be some complications.
The further he advanced ahead, the clearer he perceived his aim. The group
battle up there was extremely violent; such violent fluctuations of
spiritual energy were after all hard to keep hidden. Rapidly, Long Haochen
approached the battlefield, and when he came to see the battle, he couldn’t
help but feel his breath ease up, because among the two sides of this group
battle, he saw Cai’er in a single glance.
The two parties consisted of a total of seven people, and four of them were
powerhouses from the Temple Alliance that he recognized. Cai’er aside, Long
Haochen also recognized Zhang Fangfang, a mage as well as a warrior. And on
the other side, the three enemies were Yue Ye, Leng Xiao and a
haughty-looking young man whose entire body gave off a yellow glistening
luster.
This was a four against three battle, and the two sides were in a state of
fierce battle, about equally matched in strength.
These seven aside, there were three corpses on the ground, all belonging to
magical beasts. And nearby, three different colored spiritual stoves floated
in the air, emitting faint radiances.
Since these were actually three spiritual stoves, it was no wonder that it
caused such a frantic group battle. While Long Haochen was secretly
startled, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited. He didn’t need to call
his mates here, since with his addition, their side was definitely able to
suppress the opponents, and moreover, they would receive Yue Ye’s help at
the critical moment. As long as these three spiritual stoves ended up in the
hands of the Temple Alliance, even if Cai’er and Long Haochen only ended up
getting one, it would still be a good thing.
Arriving there, Long Haochen transferred his own spiritual energy, planning
to force his way inside. However, right at this time, he suddenly sensed a
hard to describe fierce danger appear from behind. With a screech from
Yating’s mouth, a golden light was released from her body, enveloping Long
Haochen.
The danger came really too fast, to the extent that Long Haochen only felt
the hairs on his own body setting upright, but it was often in such
situations that he was able to display the best of his fighting capability.
Already unable to dodge in time, Long Haochen abruptly let loose his whole
weight right at the time the opponent’s attack reached him, instantly
transferring the spiritual energy in his body to his back. In the meantime,
his whole body shot upwards, filled with vibrations.
Ripples of Light was used, and this time, not only light was rippling, but
the same happened to his whole body. In the midst of his indiscernible
vibrations, Long Haochen reached his peak condition.
With a bang, the mantle of light was smashed to pieces, immediately followed
by the Glorious Holy Armor getting smashed to pieces, before a punch hit
Long Haochen’s back, producing an effect similar to hitting an immovable
mountain.
Long Haochen’s entire body was close to totally empty, just like a kite that
was sent flying, and immediately, his body released a burst of golden light.
However, right after the opponent punch smashed him, he managed to turn
around in midair, and learn the identity of the one who hit his back with
such violence.
A handsome face appeared in his line of sight, and an aura of gloom and
nothingness, spread upwards just like a net, meeting him head-on.
Even in a place so full of vitality, because of the diffusion of this gloom
and nothingness, Long Haochen clearly felt the energy surrounding his own
body fade away.
No mistake, the one who attacked him from behind was the leader of the ten
demons.
At the same time Long Haochen was exposed, a miserable scream could be heard
from the other side of the battlefield.
Long Haochen’s perception still encompassed all the surroundings, so he
immediately sensed an extremely powerful presence that appeared on the other
side of the battlefield. Along with its appearance, that mage from the
Temple Alliance died, after being ambushed.
The fist of the black haired youth had shooed Long Haochen away, but he
found out to his astonishment that Long Haochen seemed to have not suffered
any injury, as his face showed a totally puzzled look. How could he know
that Long Haochen wasn’t just strong in defense, but also that by relying on
Ripples of Light, he managed to dispel the great majority of the impact?
Resisting the darkness elemental attack, he managed at the same time to make
the wounds he received pretty light, although existing, with the great item
called Soul Linking Chains.
“So demons are only good at attacking by surprise?” Long Haochen landed on
the ground, as the spiritual wings on his black blossomed triumphantly,
giving off a glaring radiance. Without need for him to do anything, the
energy contained in the golden fog of the forest seemed to be amassing
inside his body.
This was the benefit of this field. Relying on his constitution as the Scion
of Light as well as the amiable relationship he built before with the
Illusory Paradise, Long Haochen gained the maximal backing of the
environment. More importantly, he had Yating’s support, and conversely,
although this black clad youth called Ah’Bao by Huang Shuo was strong, he
clearly didn’t get any support from the Illusory Paradise. He was instead
rejected by the surrounding environment.
“In this world, only results count. The methods used are unimportant.”
Ah’bao said indifferently, not letting any of Long Haochen’s words sway him
At that time, although Long Haochen was extremely worried about Cai’er’s
condition, he couldn’t dare to be distracted in the slightest. The pressure
the black haired youth called Ah’Bao caused him to feel was enormous, far
incomparable with the young Fiend from before. It seemed to him that if he
showed the slightest hint of getting distracted, the formidable demon before
his eyes would undoubtedly launch a destructive attack.
“This is the difference between demons and humans. You don’t have any notion
of virtue or ethics, nor any sense of honor. You are mere beasts living only
based on your instincts. In my eyes, you are no different from magical
beasts, the only difference being that you’re merely stronger than ordinary
magical beasts.” Long Haochen declared coldly.
Finally some reaction was seen in the eyes of that black-clad youth, but it
quickly returned to normal, his face portraying some traces of a faint
smile, “Trying to infuriate me? You are still too soft. Although I don’t
look quite older than you, I am already thirty. How could my determination
be weak enough to let myself be swayed by your words? Pay allegiance to me
or die, pick either of these options. You are one of the rare humans that I
have taken enough interest in to offer submission. I will give you this
chance.”
Long Haochen smiled back, “Are you waiting for your comrades to surround me
after killing my people? However, that won’t be so easy.”
The enemies’ ambush was indeed sudden, but Long Haochen was actually not in
that much of a disadvantage from the situation happening right now. First of
all, the sudden activation of the Soul Linking Chains was bound to have
attracted his teammates’ attention, and considering their intelligence, they
wouldn’t have any difficulties to tell that he ran into trouble. They would
be sure to come here with haste, taking action right after seeing the
situation.
On the other hand, Cai’er’s group was sure to be at a disadvantage, but
never forget that Yue Ye was still a collaborateur in their group. With
Cai’er’s control over Yue Ye’s body, she would naturally act at the crucial
time, thus Long Haochen didn’t feel worried for the moment.
Ah’Bao reacted with a laugh, “Young man, aren’t you viewing yourself too
highly? According to you, I would need help from others to deal with you?”
Long Haochen replied, “Thinking highly of myself? That may not necessarily
be the case. I have obtained a Crown of Heritage magical crystal from
killing one of yours right before.”
Chapter 320
Hearing the words Crown of Heritage, some change finally appeared on the
face of the black-clad youth, showing a gloomy reaction, “Who was the one
you killed?”
Seeing his changed expression, Long Haochen revealed a stoic smile, “It’s
the tallest among yours. If I am not mistaken, he should be one of the
successors of the Fiend Monarch Saminaga, right? How about you? To have
become the leader of this expedition, you are surely above that guy in
status right? Saminaga is already the fourth demon god, so then, your
identity is pretty obvious. You’re a successor of the Demon God Emperor,
shouldn’t I give you this appellation? However, your name is quite young and
tender sounding, Ah’Bao.”
“You are very intelligent. However, intelligent people tend to die young.”
As he took a step forward, the ripples surrounding Ah’Bao’s body created a
layer of nothingness. Although his movements looked incomparably slow, Long
Haochen only saw a twist in the air before Ah’Bao appeared in front of him.
He still hadn’t drawn any weapon but merely attacked directly with his fist,
only striking him with the simplest of punches.
This time, Long Haochen had made ample preparations. Facing Ah’Bao’s attack,
his expression abruptly became sharper, and while slightly drawing back, his
body did a crouching motion. In the meantime, his left hand picked Bright
Discipline from which a Shining Sunlight Strike broke out almost instantly,
the skill being completely condensed on the sword.
At the same time, from his right hand, a Demon Wiping Flash burst out from
Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light with a dazzling light.
Facing Long Haochen’s counterattack, Ah’Bao seemed to show no reaction, not
even showing any intent of blocking it. His fist only slightly changed
direction but still aimed at Long Haochen.
“Dang.” This first sound was emitted from the encounter of Bright Discipline
with the black-clad youth’s arm, but to Long Haochen’s shock, Bright
Discipline was easily repelled. Immediately afterwards, the Demon Wiping
Flash from Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light shot out towards Ah’Bao’s body with
a series of cracks. However, that was also nowhere enough to stop the
opponent before him.
Being directly hit by the Demon Wiping Flash, Ah’Bao only furrowed his brows
but didn’t suffer any damage.
Seeing his fist ram forward, Long Haochen’s right foot softly tapped onto
the ground, and his whole upper body borrowed force from that movement to
forcefully get out of the way of his opponent’s attack. Meanwhile, his Blue
Rain, Hibiscus of Light flourished with white light from the activation of
Holy Sword.
From the beginning of the battle, Yating kept chanting from behind Long
Haochen, and right now, Long Haochen stabbed out using the might of this
Holy Sword.
However, Ah’Bao still didn’t even avoid the attack, letting Long Haochen’s
Holy Sword hit his own leg with a piercing blow. But this time, the backlash
was even more terrible. At that time, Long Haochen clearly saw his Blue
Rain, Hibiscus of Light bend because of the formidable pressure, before
violently bouncing back with his own right arm.
Stamping on Ah’Bao’s waist with his left foot, Long Haochen seized the
opportunity to bounce back, landing ten meters away, his face still filled
with shock.
Looking at that Ah’Bao, it seemed that he didn’t carry a single piece of
defensive equipment. All he was wearing was a simple black gown. However,
his own attacks boosted with Ripples of Light didn’t have any effect when
launched against him. It was the first time Long Haochen encountered such an
opponent.
Regardless of your strength or your dexterity, if your attacks cannot deal
any damage to the opponent, then everything becomes futile.
Ah’Bao indifferently declared, “So you are saying you were able to kill Shen
Pian 申篇 with only this bit of strength? Even if his spiritual energy was
suppressed, you are still far from being his opponent. Your strength is just
a little above all the trashy knights that go all out at the price of their
lives against our kind all the time, and no more. However, that’s still not
enough.”
Long Haochen took a deep breath. He knew that this Ah’Bao before his eyes
turned out to be a lot more powerful than he expected. Only, even if this
demon possessed over ten thousand units of spiritual energy, he shouldn’t be
able to take on the attack of Holy Sword combined with Ripples of Light with
his bare body! How could he block his attacks so easily with his physical
body?
External spiritual energy!
These three words seemed to resound instantly in Long Haochen’s mind, and he
immediately understood how Ah’Bao’s defensive power could be so terrifying.
That was right, the upper limit of spiritual energy was set at ten thousand
units, but that was only valid regarding internal spiritual energy. Although
external spiritual energy was also a kind of spiritual energy, it would only
display the strength of one’s body. As long as Ah’Bao didn’t use any of his
external spiritual energy to launch attacks, and only defended with it, even
considering his powerful external spiritual energy, he wouldn’t be removed
by the rules of the Eternal Paradise.
However, which level did his external spiritual energy reach? It had to be
over ten thousand units strong. Otherwise, how could he block a piece of
equipment of the Glorious Tier launching an ability of the fifth step?
Looking at Long Haochen’s bewildered gaze, Ah’Bao revealed a cold smile, “No
need to try to guess, my external spiritual energy is over twenty thousand
units strong, so even without using my internal spiritual energy, I’m still
equivalent to a powerhouse of the eighth step. How could little shrimps like
you stand a chance against me? This is mere pipe dream. If not for this
loathing place restricting my attacks, my first attack would have been just
enough to send you to heaven.”
Twenty thousand units of external spiritual energy? To Long Haochen, that
was simply incomparable. How terrible could a level of external spiritual
energy reaching 20,000 units be? He couldn’t even imagine that, since the
combination of both his internal and his external spiritual energy did not
even reach 7,000 units yet.
However, at this moment, he couldn’t possibly shrink back. In case he
retreated, Cai’er and his comrades would be the ones forced to face this
powerful existence before his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Long Haochen calmly declared, “Since you are so
strong, why aren’t you coming to kill me directly? If this was the external
world, perhaps you would have the ability to do that, but at the time you
entered the Illusory Paradise, your internal spiritual energy was bound by
the limit of 10,000 units. As for your external spiritual energy, do you
dare use it to attack me? Even if I cannot defeat you, it won’t be easy for
you to defeat me either.”
Saying that, contrary to everyone’s’ expectations, Long Haochen retrieved
Bright Discipline. He undoubtedly felt very hesitant, since this thirty
years-old Ah’Bao had at least reached the eighth step of cultivation, and
was even possibly at the ninth step. But so what? This was the Illusory
Paradise.
Long Haochen made his move in the next instant, rushing forward to attack.
In a split second, his speed reached its peak and the spiritual wings
on his back vanished as his eyes locked on the opponent with an ardent look.
Snorting with disdain, Ah’Bao didn’t seemed moved in the slightest by Long
Haochen’s words, but this time, his response wasn’t a simple punch. His
figure flickered forward, attacking Long Haochen sideways. A large net,
consisting of intense darkness energy instantly formed in the air, shrouding
Long Haochen in its range.
Long Haochen’s eyes shined with a glint, and an instant later, Blue Rain,
Hibiscus of Light was lifted up high over his own head. A majestic glance
shoot forth from his eyes. The strong golden light instantly transformed
into a sharp slashing attack as Asura Strike erupted.
Accompanied by ear-piercing hissing sounds, Long Haochen didn’t only use a
mere Asura Strike. After having gone through constant training, he relied on
Holy Sword combined with Ripples of Light to reinforce Asura Strike.
However, the circumstances didn’t give him the time to use Storing Power.
Even so, the power of this Asura Strike could already be described as
frightening.
Asura Strike’s greatest feature didn’t lie in its destructive power, but in
its sharpness. With its offensive power concentrating on the sharp edge of a
blade, it bound all the surrounding energy at the same time. A loud sound
disrupted the air, and although Long Haochen was put against a great
resistance, the offensive power of Asura Strike still produced sufficient
results. The darkness spiritual energy entangled into the shape of a large
net, was instantaneously split in half, and in the meantime, Long Haochen’s
golden wings instantly flapped on his back, propelling him forward at
maximum speed. Following, his Asura Strike was then instantly linked with an
Asura Thrust.
This combo sounds simple, but it was the refined result of having practiced
for an uncountable number of times. Especially since he had reached the
sixth step of cultivation, he had managed to strengthen this blow to its
natural limits by relying on the acceleration provided by his spiritual
wings.
Even if one possessed an external spiritual energy of 20,000, would he be
able to resist the bursting Asura Thrust containing all of Long Haochen’s
concentrated offensive power?
“Hmh?” Seeing the intensive eruption of power from Asura Strike, Ah’Bao was
slightly startled. His originally apathetic assessment of a merely somewhat
clever opponent was suddenly roused.
However, this was far from being enough to worry him. Facing Long Haochen’s
Asura Thrust, his eyes shone with a drizzling purple brilliance, and his two
black eyes suddenly turned purple. He used a way to greet the Asura Thrust
that Long Haochen didn’t expect at all.
As he merely raised his right hand and pointed upwards with his forefinger,
his forefinger already completely took on a sparkling and translucent purple
color. It could be clearly seen that around his forefinger, purple lines of
light were drawing circles in the air. The power originating from his finger
actually filled the air with purple ripples, showing a series of fine
cracks.
Puff.
Asura Strike struck against Ah’Bao’s forefinger, and the collision of light
against darkness, two entirely opposite entities, produced an abrupt
explosion.
Long Haochen only felt his own Asura Thrust being completely stopped by a
protective layer, and the immense reverse power against all expectations
swallowed all the offensive power of his attack. Even after that, that
terrifying energy of darkness kept wrecking havoc, engulfing his body.
However, on the other end, Ah’Bao didn’t stay unfaced. Obviously, he had a
certain understanding of Long Haochen’s attack. Asura Thrust could be called
Long Haochen’s current most powerful mono-target technique, even exceeding
the Dual Dragons of Light and Rain in strength. How could such an attack be
resisted so easily?
More importantly, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light was in itself a weapon filled
with many mysteries, that could unceasingly evolve until reaching the
Legendary Tier. Its sharp power in combination with Asura Thrust caused the
eruption of a top grade offensive power.
An ear-piercing exploding sound filled the air, and with a snap, his right
hand bent in response. The sharp spiritual energy contained in Asura Thrust
caused even a change to his expression. His whole body erupted with a deep
purple light, that forced the sharp spiritual energy out of his body.