Chapter 65: Demon Lord
Ning'Er sat cross-legged in the room with a frown on her face as she felt the vigorous energy from the blood crystals being absorbed and refined in her soul realm. She could feel the strain as the soul force continually pushed out and expanded her soul realm, and she was feeling it stretching and swelling her internal capacity.
However, she did not immediately attempt to break through to Legend Rank because she wanted to make sure that she had enough energy accumulated. Instead, she compressed the soul force into a small, condensed ball and pushed it to one side of her soul realm. Then she continued to absorb even more soul force from the blood crystals.
One fold of soul force, two folds of soul force, three folds of soul force...
Over the last three weeks, she had absorbed the energy from over a hundred blood crystals until her soul realm accommodated a total of seven folds of soul force! It had finally reached the limit.
Releasing the restraints that she had used to seal the many folds of powerful energy, she suddenly felt the force within her soul realm begin to surge wildly and rush towards the hundreds of meridian points in her body with the momentum of a waterfall.
BOOM!!
The soul force was overflowing like an uncontrollable tide from an open dam. The aura on Ning'Er's body abruptly grew many times stronger as she finally reached one star Legend Rank! She felt the strength surge through her body and her eyes opened in happiness.
Legend Rank at fifteen years of age! This was far faster than she had hoped when compared to her previous life under Nie Li's instruction, mainly because of the numerous fortuitous encounters she had been able to experience. It was almost time to confront the Dark Guild!
With complete shock, she suddenly realised that there had been a transformation in the vine that lay in her body. The three coloured buds on the vine related to the Law of Wind, Time and Space had grown more vibrant and were gently glowing. She could tell from the way they slightly swayed that they were hungry for pure energy and the right encounters to allow them to bloom later on, which would also mean that she had comprehended these unique laws for herself.
This was particularly important to her because it was an essential step required for her to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm in future.
At the same time, she could see that the vine was wrapped around her Panterran demon spirit and nourishing it to grow even stronger. The feral demon spirit in her soul realm growled and roared as it sensed its strength growing at an incredible speed, not slowing down until it reached two star Legend Rank! It seemed that the vine would be able to help her keep a demon spirit in check within her even if it were a little stronger than her.
She stepped outside the room to find Duan Jian still standing guard outside her door. She wondered if he had moved at all to get food or sleep. He turned his head and looked at her in shock, and a bit of nervousness in his eyes.
"I felt that just now...was that you? The breakthrough seemed extremely powerful. What level have you reached?" he asked tentatively.
"Legend Rank." she replied matter-of-factly. There was no reason to hide anything from him at this point.
"Le-Le...Legend Rank!!! What kind of monster are you?" he stammered out. "Not that there's anything wrong in being a monster. I was called one my whole life..."
"What do you mean? Your physical body is so strong that it would take me a long time to bring you down even if your cultivation is only at peak Gold Rank. You're definitely the monster. Once you reach Legend Rank, I may not even be able to cause a scratch on you!" she half-joked with a dramatic serious expression.
He let out a rare smile as he recalled that he too had just gone through a metamorphosis which had made him stronger than he had thought possible.
"Come, let's check on the progress of our friends." She walked ahead and motioned for him to follow her.
In the main training room, she found those who had completed this round of tedious cultivation in the midst of sparring. The other half of her friends were in separate rooms so that they could focus on their various cultivation techniques.
"Ning'Er! We haven't seen you for almost a month. How did your practice go?" Ziyun stopped in the middle of her spar and smiled at at her best friend.
"It went all right. I've just reached Legend Rank." Ning'Er replied nonchalantly. "How's everyone here doing?"
Everyone in the room's mouths dropped open as they heard her words and they looked at each other, unsure how they should respond.
Lu Piao was the first to break the awkward silence and winked as he said, "We were worried for you when we heard Duan Jian's roar a week ago, wondering if he had gone wild on you."
She slapped him across the back of his head. "Very funny, Lu Piao. Why don't you try out a spar with him right now? You guys should be around the same cultivation right now, right?"
Lu Piao suddenly had a panicked look on his face as he looked at Duan Jian's body which seemed like it was rippling with powerful muscle under the fitting training clothes. Why did it look like he was twice the size from when they had met him in the Abyss Prison Realm? And why did the aura that he give off make Lu Piao feel like peeing in his pants?
Lu Piao gave a choked laugh, "I would love to spar with him but I've had a very tiring practice today and I think I'm feeling a cramp...in my leg...and my arm...and my neck." He tentatively touched these body parts and gingerly winced three times.
Ning'Er looked at him knowingly and quietly laughed to herself, "Very well, next time then."
Catching up with those in the hall, she found out the current strength and progress of those in the team after all their hard work.
Yang Xin had reached two star Black Gold Rank using the cultivation method that Ning'Er imparted to her along with the blood crystals. Linjian, Ziyun and Du Ze had all managed to break through the Gold Rank bottleneck to reach one star Black Gold. Nie Li, Wei Nan and Xiangjun had reached the peak of Gold Rank, and Lu Piao and Zhang Ming were both at four star Gold Rank.
Ning'Er was extremely satisfied with their progress!
"Keep training. There's a strange tension in the air that lets me know that trouble is brewing so we need to be as strong as possible when the storm eventually hits!" Ning'Er left instructions to the team to continue their practice before heading off with Duan Jian for another task that she had in mind.
As she unfurled the Heavenly Cicada Wings and took to the skies with Duan Jian soaring beside her with his majestic dark golden wings, a set of eyes stared up at them from the courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion. There was a concerned frown on his face and he didn't stop looking at them until they were two tiny dots in the distance.
.....
A handsome youth with an extremely cold aura sat on a throne as two men knelt before him. He had very pale skin and bloodshot eyes, and his fingers silently thrummed against the armrest where his hand lay.
"Welcome back from your cultivation retreat, Lord." Long Sha and Gui Sha greeted their master with absolute reverence. "Congratulations!"
The Demon Lord stared at his appointed law enforcers of the Dark Guild with ruthless eyes. "I have read the reports about your decisions while I was in my private training."
Long Sha and Gui Sha's breaths caught in their throats as they anticipated what would follow. Their master was an enigmatic, unpredictable man, whose moods could not be anticipated. Since they themselves understood the endless torment that burned in their souls from the Spirit Constellation Technique, they knew that since their master had used it the longest, he was prone to momentary fits of rage and cruelty to vent the agony within.
Fortunately, their master broke into a smile. "You have done well to secure the shipments from Hell Mountains and Devil's Drop, and even better to secure the alchemy recipes of those high tier elixirs. Well done! Our alchemists have been able to develop entry grade elixirs, and given enough time, the quality will only increase to boost our development and strength. However..."
The two enforcers' bodies tensed up again as they heard the word being dragged out. They had initially relaxed when they were being praised but now it looked like there was more to it.
"However...while our alchemists are still figuring out the elixirs, Glory City already has the finished product. Over time, they may develop faster than the Dark Guild in the time lag we need to improve our elixirs. Now that I have exited from my training retreat and have grown stronger, this will be the best time to attack them and weaken them before they can threaten us!"
The eyes of the two men listening brightened in excitement as they heard their master's words.
The Demon Lord continued, "Additionally...there are some things developing which do not make sense. The sudden progress in inscriptions and alchemy. The strange protective array at the City Lord's Mansion that is rumoured to be able to hold fast against the City Lord's strongest attacks. That strange group of the younger generation who have grown more powerful at unprecedented speeds. The sudden establishment of sects. All these puzzling factors have led to the Sacred Family being completely suppressed and unable to continue the plans that we've been building with them for the last decade!"
Gui Sha eagerly responded, "Yes, master! It's definitely time to crush them! After all, who in that entire city can stand against two Legend Ranked experts like you and brother Long Sha? Even if Lord Ye Mo came back from his travels, he couldn't possibly fight against two at the same time!"
Long Sha also seemed relieved that his master was finally around to provide clear direction, "I am ready to do your bidding, Lord."
"Don't underestimate Glory City. The fact that they have been able to stay standing so long and countered so many of our strategies over the years demonstrates that they have deep foundations and hidden power that we need to be ready to face!" The Demon Lord thoughtfully reflected.
"We're going to have to prepare a few trump cards so that they have no chance to react properly to our attack!!!"
His maniacal laugh echoed through the room.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AerynSun
AerynSun It's been awhile since I've involved the Dark Guild. I'm still wondering the extent of the involvement. Most fan-fics would just rush to a conclusion where the antagonists are completely destroyed in a brutal face-slapping event...
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