Bab 14: A Mysterious Black Tile
Soon, the blinding light stopped. The smoke slowly departed and the outcome of the match could be seen.
Who won?
No one! They both laid on the ground, unconscious. The referee declared the match a tie, disappointing the crowd. Most of them left after the outcome was decided.
Wu Zhen woke up a couple of minutes later and heard that the match was a tie. He cursed out loud, he thought he had won!
He was used to winning all the time, but he had finally met an opponent that he couldn't beat. While he felt disappointed, he also felt excited. Finally, he had someone he could fight against at full power.
Wu Zhen went to the practice stage as soon as possible and began trying to unlock more martial intents.
Yu Qiling returned to the Azure Blade sect. He traveled to the mountain he lived on, the Sky Swallowing peak. Disciples lived in caves carved into the side of the mountain. His master, Jin Yang, lived in a mansion constructed on the peak of the mountain.
There was a teleportation array at the bottom of the mountain that allowed him to teleport to his master's abode.
Yu Qiling took out a green jade from his pocket and showed it to the guards in front of the teleportation array, who immediately let him through.
Soon, he had arrived at the peak. He walked out of the array and walked towards his master's abode. As he approached the entrance, he saw his master sitting in front of the door.
"Yu Qiling, I heard you went to the Martial Star Arena today?"
His master's face seemed gentle and kind on the outside, but the aura emanating from him seemed to be full of killing intent.
"Forgive me, master!", Yu Qiling yelled before sliding into a kneeling position.
"3 sect missions. You have to complete 3 sect missions in 3 months or else don't call me master anymore."
Yu Qiling's face immediately darkened.
"Master, please! At least only 2 sect missions? You know that 3 in three months is impossible!"
Jin Yang looked back at Yu Qiling with a glare that screamed 'Get lost!'
Yu Qiling scooted off to the teleportation array and returned to the bottom of an array. 3 missions in 3 months, or a mission per month. Sect missions were notoriously difficult and each disciple had to complete at least 1 per year to stay in the sect. The traveling alone took weeks and the objectives usually took months to be completed which is why most only take the bare minimum.
In other words, his master had given him an impossible task! Still, Yu Qiling didn't give up just yet. What was the point of wasting his time fretting about how impossible it was? He wanted to at least try and complete the task.
He walked to the Sect Mission Pavilion. At the front of the pavilion, there was a board with notes stuck onto it detailing each mission. He immediately grabbed the 3 easiest missions he could find and left the sect.
"Well, let's do this."
Wu Zhen was finally finished practicing more martial intents. Tomorrow was the day of the Immortal Treasure Auction.
The Immortal Treasure Auction was an auction that took place annually in Jinwu City. It was looked forward to by all the cultivators living there. In it, you could find everything. Pills, herbs, techniques, weapons, even strange magical treasures.
The night passed quickly, and the morning sun arose once again. Today was the day of the auction. Wu Zhen enthusiastically headed to the site of the auction. The building hosting the auction was almost as big as the Martial Star Arena, being decorated with tons of gold.
The entry cost him 10 gold, which was pocket change for him as he made ludicrous amounts of money fighting in the Martial Star Arena.
"Please enter and take a seat."
Wu Zhen did as he was told and took a seat near the top row. This was by far the fanciest interior of a building he had seen, ornamented with gold and valuable gems. The red carpet was all over the floor, making it look even fancier.
Lights lit up all around them, illuminating the room. The red curtains covering the stage slowly lifted to reveal a man standing on the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let us begin this year's Immortal Treasure Auction! Now, let me reveal the first item to be sold in the Immortal Treasure Auction."
The host snatched a piece of cloth off a glass display case, revealing what was inside.
"This, here, is the demon core of a Qi Ocean 7 demon! It can help one below Qi Ocean 5 instantly rise one level! The starting price for this item is 5000 gold."
Wu Zhen looked at the core with excitement, until he realized that Freedom God-Emperor had told him not to cultivate and especially not to take any pills or supplements that would boost his cultivation. He sat and watched as everyone bid on it, wishing he could too.
The final price of the core ended up reaching 10000 gold.
Then, the host unveiled the second item. It was called the Hellfire Tempering pill. It was a pill used for body refining, which was exactly what Wu Zhen needed. Its minimum price was 6500 gold, and he bid 7000 gold without hesitation. Only a few seconds after he bid, another bidder bid for 7500 gold.
Wu Zhen felt a bit annoyed, but he still had more money so he bid 8000 gold. However, the other bidder bid 8500 gold!
Wu Zhen bid 9000 gold in retaliation, and the other bidder stayed silent.
"Going for 1, going for 2, going for-"
The other bidder held up a sign, on which it said 15000 gold.
Wu Zhen wanted to continue, but the pill wasn't worth more than 10000 gold.
Just like that, his opportunity to get a body refining pill had come and gone!
He waited and waited, and eventually, they were auctioning another body refining pill. Once again, he bid, and once again, he lost to that bidder again.
As soon as Wu Zhen saw a body refining pill being auctioned, he would bid and the other bidder would outbid him, time and time again.
It was now nearing the end of the auction, and Wu Zhen still hadn't gotten anything. He saw an item being auctioned. It was a tile made of dark metal. The tile was very durable, even Qi Ocean 9 cultivators didn't manage to damage it, but that was about its only use. Blacksmiths had tried to smelt it, but its melting point was too high.
In other words, it was just an unusually strong piece of useless black tile.
Its starting price was much lower than all the others, being only 1000 gold coins. Wu Zhen didn't want to return empty-handed, so he bid on it and won. All the other bidders pitied him so they didn't bid on it.
The mysterious figure who had outbid him walked out of the auction house. He wore an Azure Blade sect robe with a sheathed sword on his waist.
After exiting the auction, he speeded off into the distance.
Wu Zhen came out with his tile in hand, returning to his room in the Martial Star Arena. Frustrated, he kicked the black tile as strong as he could, using the power of the soul and martial intent. The moment he touched the tile, he felt some inscriptions on the tile. He immediately stopped and checked if the tile had any writing on it, but it didn't. It was purely a black tile.
"Check with your soul, idiot. Your soul can perceive things your eyes can't.", Freedom God-Emperor advised.
Wu Zhen once again closed his eyes and probed the black tile.
Suddenly, he couldn't move his body. It was as if he was frozen. Suddenly, he could see through his closed eyelids. There he was, in a grassy field. In front of him stood a man emanating the aura of a true master.
"This is my self-created technique, the Endless Void Fists. Watch closely, this is the only time I'll show you."
The expert then demonstrated the various forms of the Endless Void Fists, which numbered 99 in total. Each one of them felt strong enough to wipe away all of Jinwu City in one strike. As he attacked, a dark that was darker than dark followed all his attacks. He felt almost sucked towards the expert's move, but fortunately, he was frozen in place.
The expert's moves contained a profundity not seen in Divine Lightning Strikes. Wu Zhen attentively watched every single move the expert performed, before everything suddenly disappeared again. He was once again staring at the black of his eyelids. He opened his eyes and looked at the tile, which had turned into ash.
So the tile was valuable after all! Now he didn't regret wasting that 1000 gold at all!
He ran over to the practice stage as fast as possible.
It was the middle of the night, darkness covered every inch of the stage. He was the only one here. Wu Zhen began trying to execute Endless Void fists, but he failed hilariously every time. Something was stopping him, so he focused only on the first form.
He slowly began to improve, becoming less and less clumsy. It had been more than 2000 tries when he finally achieved it.
"Fist of Darkness!"
The wind shook intensely, and everything was eclipsed by a wave of darkness that covered the stage.
If someone were to see it, they would be shocked. It would seem as if an abyss had opened up on the practice stage.
It was Absolute Black.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone