A batch of grade one spirit stones! The three middle-aged men exchanged glances between themselves.
"Sovereign, what do you need so many grade one spirit stones for?" Zhao Shu tried asking.
Huang Xiaolong shook his head, "I have a use for them, just pay attention and have them ready for me."
"Yes Sovereign!" Seeing this, Zhao Shu, Zhang Fu, and Fei Hou dared not inquire into the matter.
Huang Xiaolong further asked for information about Chen Tianqi from the three of them. A short while later, the three figures left Huang Xiaolong's courtyard.
After they had left, Huang Xiaolong entered the Godly Mt. Xumi's temple at the belly of the mountain. Coming to the Xumi Temple's side hall, Huang Xiaolong swallowed a drop of Geocentric Buddha Elixir and entered the center of the Ten Buddha Formation to practice the Godly Xumi Art.
While Huang Xiaolong was practicing the Godly Xumi Art, internally, the Asura Tactics and Body Metamorphose Scripture would start running on their own. All of this happened while Huang Xiaolong's twin dragon martial spirits hovered in the void above him, long bodies coiled, devouring and absorbing three different energies gushing down―the ancient Buddhism energy, true dragon qi, and the netherworld spiritual energy.
Above the space in Huang Xiaolong's Qi Sea, a golden Buddha, a golden dragon, and an Archdemon silhouette brightly glimmered.
The night passed in practice.
Opening his eyes, Huang Xiaolong breathed out foul qi from his mouth, "At this rate, within three months I can advance into the Sixth Order!" Sensing the power coursing inside his body, Huang Xiaolong was secretly delighted.
Xiantian Sixth Order!
No more than three years passed since Huang Xiaolong stepped into the Xiantian realm! Before, this was something Huang Xiaolong himself dared not believe.
Coming out from the Xumi Temple, Huang Xiaolong's sight caught a glimpse of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. A thought suddenly struck him. He already reached Xiantian Fifth Order, so he wondered if he would be able to open the third layer on the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. What would be kept there on the third layer of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda?
Not dawdling, Huang Xiaolong initiated his battle qi and tried to open the third layer of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. A glaring light flashed before Huang Xiaolong's eyes, and after opening them again, he was in a different space.
The four sides of this space were golden walls in four directions, similar to the first and second layer space in the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. Only, this third layer was much bigger. Huang Xiaolong's eyes scanned the space slowly, instantly enthralled by the grand altar in the middle of the space!
An enormous sacrificial altar! All over the sacrificial altar were dense carvings of ancient runes, combining into a large mysterious array. Up on the sacrificial altar were nineteen giant puppets that gave off a crystal-like resplendent radiance.
All nineteen giant puppets exuded whelming pressure.
There was nothing else in the third layer space other than the altar and the nineteen puppets on it.
"These are… puppets?" Huang Xiaolong blanked for a moment looking at the nineteen giant puppets. He had heard about puppets from Zhao Shu. Puppets were something that certain people refined using some secret method, from dead thingsㅡpuppets were undoubtedly loyal! However, there were distinctions between low and high-grade puppets.
Low-grade puppets had no intelligence and wore a sluggish expression, following the orders of their master, but some high-grade puppets were said to possess simple thoughts. Although lacking compared the average living beings, high-grade puppets could have independent thoughts and actions to a certain extent.
Huang Xiaolong's silhouette blurred in a flicker, arriving on the sacrificial altar at the center.
From a close distance, Huang Xiaolong noticed on these giant puppets' foreheads, there were tiny runic patterns, looking like a type of special letters of some ancient tribes.
"How do I control these puppets?" Huang Xiaolong wondered as he flew the perimeter of the sacrificial altar before landing on the left hand corner.
In that corner, there was a string of the same ancient runic patterns that Huang Xiaolong couldn't understand. Wrinkling his brows, Huang Xiaolong assumed these ancient writings explained the methods of controlling these puppets, but he had no idea what most of it was.
"Looks like I need to make a trip to Duanren Institute to investigate these ancient writings." Huang Xiaolong muttered to himself. However, he had a feeling that what these writings explained was not the method of controlling the puppets.
"Hmm, I wonder if my current strength allows me to open the fourth layer as well?" Huang Xiaolong immediately acted on the thought, running his battle qi, trying to open the fourth layer of the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. Unfortunately, there was no reaction, even after the second time, everything remained still and calm. Thus, he gave up.
Huang Xiaolong was feeling somewhat depressed at the failure, meaning he would need to break through the high-level Xiantian realm before trying again. Coming out from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, Huang Xiaolong left the Southern Hill Estate in Duanren Institute's direction.
Just as he arrived at Duanren Institute, he ran into Xie Puti at the front entrance.
Xie Puti was surprised running into Huang Xiaolong in this manner, then a huge smile bloomed on his face as one hand clasped over Huang Xiaolong's shoulder, "I say, this time you were missing for almost two years, a pity for me that I can't even find someone to drink with me. Do you know how much suffering I went through this period?!"
Huang Xiaolong laughed wryly, "Then, shall we head to the wine house now?"
"Do you need to ask, you can't escape today!" Xie Puti exclaimed with glee. Both of them headed straight towards the Sapidity Wine House in the amusement area.
While passing by the red house, Xie Puti grinned sheepishly, "How about it? Shall we spend a night here after drinking?"
Huang Xiaolong was stumped at the idea, smiling bitterly he shook his head: "Forget it."
Xie Puti chuckled, "Ever since Yao Fei fled in shame, Zhao Wuji, that tramp, rarely shows her face in Duanren Institute anymore. This red house is mostly handled by Cui Li, that tramp, now."
"Cui Li…" This piece of news was unexpected for Huang Xiaolong. Inexplicably, he couldn't remember the time during the Imperial City Battle, of Cui Li clinging onto him, the attempts of 'seduction.' Thinking about it, it was close to two years since he hadn't seen Cui Li.
"What? Missing that tramp?" Detecting the myriad of changes flashing passed Huang Xiaolong's face, Xie Puti taunted good-naturedly.
Huang Xiaolong shook his head in silence. A few moments later, both of them walked into the Sapidity Wine House. Like all those times before, like it was a tradition, Huang Xiaolong took all of the remaining jugs of Sapidity Wine for the day. Cups clinked continuously as Huang Xiaolong and Xie Puti enjoyed their wine.
"I heard you were in Blessed Buddha Empire?" Xie Puti asked.
Huang Xiaolong nodded, not denying his whereabouts.
Xie Puti continued, "I heard Blessed Buddha Empire's Holy Buddhism Maiden, Shi Xiaofei is our Snow Wind Continent's number one beauty. So, did you get the chance to meet her when you were there?"
Shi Xiaofei? Snow Wind Continent's number one beauty?
Huang Xiaolong was baffled at the multitude of questions and then laughed wryly. He found this Xie Puti overlapping with Luo Tong Kingdom's Prince Lu Kai with each passing day. Thinking of Lu Kai, he wondered, how was he now? He would probably ascend to the Luo Tong Kingdom's throne in a few years' time.
Huang Xiaolong had no chance to meet that fella ever since he came to Duanren Imperial City, and truth be told, he missed that guy a little.
Huang Xiaolong didn't have many friends, there was one Lu Kai, and now a Xie Puti.
"That Shi Xiaofei is Blessed Buddha Emperor Shi Fantian's daughter." Xie Puti continued his topic, "There were rumors coming from the Blessed Buddha Empire saying that if Shi Fantian leaves the Martial Spirit World to ascend to the Buddha World, this Shi Xiaofei would be the most likely person to take over his position as the Empress of Blessed Buddha Empire."
"Oh!" Huang Xiaolong was surprised.
"Forget it, let's not talk about that Shi Xiaofei." Xie Puti chuckled, "The day after tomorrow is your sister's big wedding day, when's your turn coming? Do you need this brother to introduce a few girls to you?"
Huang Xiaolong shook his head and laughed hearing Xue Puti's generous offer, "No need". Li Lu's shadow appeared in his mind.
Xie Puti chuckled at Huang Xiaolong's reaction, "I've heard about your story. Is it because of that girl that the Deities Templar took away, Li Lu?"
Huang Xiaolong didn't want to talk about it, so, changing the topic, he asked, "Do you know which auction house keeps grade one spirit stones?" The Xie Family had a broad intelligence network and Xie Puti could have some information about this.
"You want to buy grade one spirit stones?" Xie Puti was surprised. He continued, "Grade one spirit stones are very scarce and the three top companies in our Duanren Empire rarely auction them, but I know of a place that has them."
"Oh, where is it?" Huang Xiaolong's interest rose.
"Sin City, the Bedlam Lands!" Xie Puti lowered his voice as he said the name of the place.
Huang Xiaolong's brows creased into a furrow.
Zhao Shu had mentioned about this place to him. Bedlam Lands was the most violent, chaotic, complicated, bloodthirsty, and heinous place in the Martial Spirit World. Everywhere, every day was complete balagan filled with killing, thievery, and vile, corrupted morals.
There are three main continents in the Martial Spirit WorldㅡSnow Wind Continent, Star Cloud Continent, and Ten Directions Continent. 1 Other than these three continents, there were also many dangerous and forbidden lands.
And this Bedlam Lands sat in between the Snow Wind Continent and Ten Directions Continent, also an ancient battlefield ruin of the primordial God Tribes. Its land area was filled with thick dead air and demonic air. The climate was of polar extremes, from frozen ice lands that stretched as far as a thousand li to scorching plumes of magma, hotter than a furnace, and there were wide barren plains that bore no living beings.
Because of these unique characteristics of the Bedlam Lands, none of the three continents or neighboring empires bothered themselves with it. In short, all three continents washed their hands off the Bedlam Lands.
Amongst all the wicked chaos, Sin City prevailed and stood above others as the largest domain in the Bedlam Lands.
Huang Xiaolong and Xie Puti drank as they talked, three hours passed by the time they left the wine house. Outside the entrance, Xie Puti suddenly said, "It's been a long time since the two of us sparred, how about a match?"
Huang Xiaolong was stumped with the sudden request, but he refused, "Next time, I have something to do." He feared Xie Puti would receive too big a blow if his current strength was revealed.
However, Xie Puti insisted vehemently, "No way, I had just broken through to Xiantian Third Order a few days ago, today I absolutely must spar with you as revenge for the Imperial City Battle three years ago!"
Huang Xiaolong looked at Xie Puti seriously, "Must we really spar?"
Xie Puti nodded solemnly: "We definitely must!"
It didn't take them long to get to a secret battle chamber in Duanren Institute. The Duanren Institute constructed two types battle stages within its grounds; the open battle stage and the secret battle chamber. Students were allowed to use these stages to spar with other students; for those who wished to keep things low profile, the secret battle chamber was an option.
Both of them entered the secret battle chamber together, yet barely ten minutes later, both were seen walking back out again. Xie Puti was swollen in the face with black and green bruises and a slight limp in his gait. All the while, a strange expression hung on his face as he glanced at Huang Xiaolong from time to time. He was depressed, frustrated, and many complex emotions all rolled into one.
Huang Xiaolong looked at Xie Puti saying, "I've said next time, you were the one who insisted to spar."
Xie Puti cursed wryly, "Damn, you freak actually broke through to the Fourth Order?! It seems hardly possible anymore to avenge myself in the future!"
After entering the secret battle chamber earlier, Huang Xiaolong merely exposed a Xiantian Fourth Order's strength. Even so, Xie Puti was beaten up to the point he was crying for mercy within ten minutes. His situation could only be described as miserable, he couldn't put even an inch of resistance in front of Huang Xiaolong.
That year, during the Imperial City Battle, Huang Xiaolong defeated Xie Puti with the strength an order lower, at Xiantian First Order. Now that Huang Xiaolong's strength exceeded his, all his dreams of revenge were pulverized into powdered dust.
Hearing Xie Puti claiming his strength to be Xiantian Fourth Order, Huang Xiaolong did not clarify the misunderstanding, it would only rise more unnecessary issues if Xie Puti knew the truth: not only had he broken through Xiantian Fifth Order, his strength was actually closer to a peak late-Xiantian Fifth Order, Xie Puti might start knocking his head against walls.
"I have some injury healing pellets, do you want some?" Huang Xiaolong grinned as he took out a small jade bottle from the Asura Ring.
Xie Puti grumbled as his hand reached out to take the bottle, "Couldn't you be a little gentler."
Huang Xiaolong laughed: "Then I'll be gentler next time."
A cold shiver ran down Xie Puti's back hearing this. He quickly shook his head and waved his hands vigorously, "Forget it, no matter who I find to spar with, I won't be looking for you!"
Both broke out in laughter.
Moments later, Xie Puti left the Duanren Institute, while Huang Xiaolong made his way to the Institute's library.
At the library entrance, just as Huang Xiaolong wanted to step in, he was stopped by one of the students on guard. The student librarian looked at Huang Xiaolong up and down as he stated, "Are you a new student? Don't you know the Institute's rules? To enter the library, all students must display their student badge and wear the Institute's robe."
Huang Xiaolong's brows scrunched slightly.
Indeed, there was such a rule in Duanren Institute, however, under normal circumstances, the student librarians wouldn't really request every student that enters the library to be in robes and have the Institute's badge on display. Because no one dared to disguise as a Duanren Institute's student unless they felt they had lived enough.
'But… this student librarian doesn't recognize me? It has only been two years since I have left the Institute,' Huang Xiaolong touched his chin as this thought crossed his mind.
"I don't have the Institute's student badge on me right now." Huang Xiaolong said, and he was telling the truth.
However, though he may not have the Institute's student badge with him, he did have Duan Ren's Golden Token and was pondering if he should take that out instead. Unfortunately, the student librarian's actions were quicker. Sneering, he said: "Don't have your student badge on you? Little rascal, I think you aren't our Duanren Institute's student at all! How dare you disguise yourself as one of our Duanren Institute's students!"
Huang Xiaolong was struck dumb at the accusation, a wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Yet the student librarian was emboldened and continued, "Little rascal, you're really looking for death daring to disguise as our Duanren Institute's student! Come, you're coming with me to the Penalty Hall!" His hands reached out, wanting to capture Huang Xiaolong.
This student librarian didn't seem weak, a strong gust of wind formed as his fingers bent into a claw shape, reaching out. Huang Xiaolong stood calmly, waiting. When the student librarian's hand drew close before him, Huang Xiaolong raised his palm and gently pressed forward, instantly shattering the claw attack.
The student librarian felt an overwhelming force surging towards him, pushing him back again and again until he reached the corner. Being repelled so easily by Huang Xiaolong, the student librarian was surprised and angry at the same time. He made a second attempt to detain Huang Xiaolong, a glaring light burst out from his body, going out at full force.
"Wait!" Huang Xiaolong shouted.
It was ignored by the student librarian, his palm continued to aim at Huang Xiaolong, stronger than before, laced with a trace of killing intent.
Detecting this, Huang Xiaolong's eyes grew cold as his patience wore thin. When the student librarian got close enough, Huang Xiaolong's body swayed to the side, his palm snaked out and landed a palm strike on his chest.
The student librarian screamed, his body thrown far back. His scream attracted the attention of others, thundering footsteps rushed in from all directions towards the library's entrance.
1. Used to be Shifang Continent
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