After the high-grade Earth rank cultivation technique was auctioned, the auctioneer put up a high-grade Earth rank battle skill.
This high-grade Earth rank battle skill was called Noble Rebel Swordplay, and Huang Xiaolong used five million to bid on it for Huang Min. The little girl had always leaned towards swords and sword skills.
Soon, the auction ended.
Huang Xiaolong and his group left the auction house and returned to Tianxuan Mansion directly.
Although it was no secret that the Geocentric Esne was bought by Huang Xiaolong, no one dared to block their path in a robbery attempt.
After all, at Huang Xiaolong's sides were Marshal Haotian and Fei Hou−two Xiantian experts.
Stepping into Tianxuan Mansion, Huang Xiaolong hurried off to his room, initiated the God Binding Ring, and entered the ancient battlefield to start his closed-door practice.
In the ancient battlefield, Huang Xiaolong sat down in a meditative position and took the green jade heart bottle out from the Asura Ring. Uncorking the bottle, an ambrosia-like fragrance instantly wafted out from it.
This fragrance was similar to an aged wine that had been fermenting deep in the ground for many years, and just a whiff was enough to make people drunk, opening the pores.
Huang Xiaolong peeped into the green jade heart bottle and saw that inside there was a few drops of milky white liquid that had a thick viscosity. As he continued to look, there seemed to be a magical allure to this white liquid that made people unable to shift their eyes away. It was a hypnotic effect on the mind that made people want to drown in that feeling.
A while later, Huang Xiaolong managed to pull himself out from the hallucinatory state while feeling shocked in his heart.
Steeling his mind, Huang Xiaolong gulped all the Geocentric Esne into his mouth, swallowing everything in one go. Even though taking everything in one go was a little too much, a treasure with such medicinal energy like that which was within the Geocentric Esne did not act violently; thus, it wouldn't bring negative side effects from overconsumption.
As six drops of Geocentric Esne slid down his throat, the fragrant scent filled his mouth, flooding into every corner of Huang Xiaolong's body. Huang Xiaolong had never tasted anything so fragrant and delicious.
The effect was instantaneous. Warm strands of energy spread throughout his body and Huang Xiaolong quickly ran Asura Tactics to refine these warm energies. While Huang Xiaolong was refining them, the battle qi in his meridians and Qi Sea was roaring as it condensed, and the area of his Qi Sea expanded.
At the same time, the netherworld battle qi in Huang Xiaolong's Qi Sea began a liquefaction process, transforming from a gaseous state to a liquid one.
When this process started, more and more gas from the battle qi condensed, turning into liquid form.
The twin dragon martial spirits behind Huang Xiaolong devoured the spiritual energy greedily, and black and blue lights were scintillating as their primordial divine dragon scales fell off one by one! As these scales fell, newly thicker, shinier scales rapidly grew and replaced the old.
Huang Xiaolong ran Asura Tactics one full cycle after another, continuously refining the warm energies that came from the Geocentric Esne!
In the ancient battlefield, there was a distinction between night and day.
Light came and went, and so it repeated many times over until at one point, a brilliant light broke out of Huang Xiaolong's body and he suddenly shuddered.
The peak late-Tenth Order, he finally broke through!
Joy wrapped around Huang Xiaolong's heart, but he persisted in refining the energy coming from the Geocentric Esne while the battle qi in his meridians and Qi Sea had nearly all liquefied into liquid form.
Huang Xiaolong only stopped when he had refined every shred of medicinal energy coming from the Geocentric Esne.
Opening his eyes, Huang Xiaolong let out a roar facing the sky, something akin to a primordial dragon's growl, echoing in the ancient battlefield for a long time.
Peak late-Tenth Order!
Though he did not manage to step into the Xiantian realm, he had the confidence to fight someone that had just entered the Xiantian realm if he soul transformed with the twin dragons. Even killing them was not a problem!
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Huang Xiaolong exited the ancient battlefield.
Walking out, he passed by his little sister Huang Min's yard and heard sounds of sword practice that made him halt his steps. He walked in and saw that Huang Min was practicing her swordplay in the yard.
The long sword in Huang Min's hand was the very same one Huang Xiaolong bought for her from the Thousand Treasures Auction: the South Parting long sword.
The sword skill that Huang Min was practicing had very strange movements. Whilst the sword was attacking, the front of her body would suddenly spin, allowing her to thrust the long sword in the opposite direction. Just as the tip of the sword stabbed to the back, her wrist would turn the attack once again to concentrate to the front.
"This is Noble Rebel Swordplay?" Huang Xiaolong spoke.
Hearing Huang Xiaolong's voice, Huang Min stopped her practice and turned around. Her eyes sparkled as she ran over to Huang Xiaolong's side: "Big brother, you've finally come out from closed-door practice."
Huang Xiaolong smiled: "How long was I in practice this time?"
"Almost three months." Huang Min answered.
Three months!
This greatly surprised Huang Xiaolong– he did not expect that three months had already passed! Fortunately, he did not miss the timing for the Academy's annual competition.
"Oh right, Big brother, Senior Fei Hou looked for you a few times, saying that he has something to report to you." Huang Min said.
Huang Xiaolong nodded to indicate he understood. Then, he guided his little sister on her sword practice before he left her courtyard and headed to the main hall. He sent someone to call for Fei Hou as he waited.
"Sovereign, you're finally out!" Seeing Huang Xiaolong, Fei Hou had a happy expression on his face as he quickly added, "Sovereign, there's good news! There's a message from Master!"
"What, there's news from Yu Ming?!" Huang Xiaolong blanked for a moment before delight set in. This was indeed great news!
"Where's your Master now?" Huang Xiaolong asked.
"Several days ago, I and Senior Brother Haotian received Master's message. Master said he would arrive in Luo Tong Kingdom in two months' time, and this time, he would be coming together with the Left Custodian!" Fei Hou said with clear respect in his voice.
Left Custodian Zhao Shu!
Huang Xiaolong beamed.
Ever since Yu Ming left and there had been no news of him, Huang Xiaolong worried that his Senior Brother Chen Tianqi somehow found out about him and would bring about a disaster on the Huang Family. But now, as long as Left Custodian was there, he would have a Saint realm expert beside him. This had now risen the guaranteed safety of the Tianxuan Mansion to another level.
Two more months.
That meant their arrival would be close to the end of the year; Yu Ming and Zhao Shu would finally arrive in Luo Tong Royal City.
"Are there any movements from Big Sword Sect, Martial Ning Family, or Clear Cloud Pavilion recently?" Huang Xiaolong gathered his thoughts and asked Fei Hou.
"Half a month ago, Big Sword Sect's Lin Zhiren advanced into the Xiantian realm and a grand celebration was held. They invited many forces in the Baolong Kingdom for the banquet. The Martial Ning Family and Clear Cloud Pavilion seemed to be hatching something secretly, and during these past few months, Ning Wang and Clear Cloud Pavilion's Vice-Pavilion Master Ke Yu have become very close." Fei Hou reported the events that took place one by one.
"Ke Yu?" Huang Xiaolong puzzled.
"Yes, this Ke Yu is a Xiantian Second Order warrior and a big beauty as well." Fei Hou replied: "Ning Wang probably has some goodwill towards this Ke Yu."
Huang Xiaolong nodded.
At first, Huang Xiaolong did not have full confidence in destroying the Big Sword Sect, Martial Ning Family, and the Clear Cloud Pavilion after breaking through to the Xiantian realm in the coming days. However, in two months' time, when Yu Ming and Zhao Shu arrived, Big Sword Sect, Martial Ning Family, and the Clear Cloud Pavilion wouldn't be able to escape annihilation!
Huang Xiaolong made a decision that once these two people arrived, he would make a trip to the Baolong Kingdom with them.
"Sovereign, there is another matter. Recently, there have been many clashes between our Tianxuan Mansion guards and the Prime Minister's Manor." Fei Hou hesitated as he brought the issue up.
"Prime Minister's Manor?" Cold light glinted in Huang Xiaolong's eyes, "What is the matter?"
[1] Custodian – person who has responsibility for or looks after something. i.e the custodian of a relic.