บท 153: Dao-Heart

Cross and Long Chen looked over at a man dressed in white with a jade belt around his waist. Cross was holding onto a disciple's collar, he punched him in the face again for good measure and knocked him out completely. The old man missed a sweep and turned to the side, trembling slightly.

Someone said "It's the Seven Star Elder!" Cross looked over and sighed, the man turned to dust. The sickness had followed him here too!

The man bowed to the old man and said "Disciple Ziyu has seen predecessor." The old man waved and said "I'm just the sweeper." Cross suddenly said "Who's this guy?" Long Chen shrugged and said "A big shot, I guess." Cross sighed and said "Beat the young and the old ones come out?"

The man dressed in white felt his eyes twitch and he waved. Cross and Long Chen disappeared.

They found themselves in a room with a statue, candles, and fruits. Cross and Long Chen took a few fruits and ate them, Long Chen felt that the fruits were better than pills! He took the seeds and they disappeared. Cross ate the fruits and threw the seeds in his space as well.

Long Chen looked at the statue and the fruit in his hand fell to the ground as he looked at the flower in shock. Cross munched on the fruit and looked behind him at the Seven Stars Elder, he didn't stop and kept eating the fruits, looking at the Elder in the eyes as he did so.

The Elder felt his eyes twitch looking at Cross, then he turned his attention to Long Chen saying "You recognize this flower?" Long Chen said "I've seen one similar." The Seven Stars Elder took the uneaten fruit from Cross' hands and put them back in the bowl before saying "You ate the offering to the Pill Goddess. In other sects you would be killed immediately." as he knelt and kowtowed 9 times to the statue.

Cross ate the fruit and took another one as Long Chen said "I was sent here, I saw food, I was hungry, so I ate." Cross nodded and made muffled noises in agreement. The Elder shook his head saying "Kneeling down to an Elder is actually to kneel down to ones self."

Long Chen gave him a thumbs up saying "Master, your words are very deep. If everyone else was like this, I wouldn't want to kill them all." The Seven Star Elder said "Do you have awe and gratitude in your heart?"

Long Chen nodded and said "Of course. How many ancestors have survived and died so I can live? I know how to be grateful, in addition I'm very afraid of death so I won't provoke others. But if others provoke me and crush my dignity with their feet, I will not let it go. I want to live, in the premise that I have dignity. The so-called 'Bear Humiliation and muddle along with life, I can't accept it."

The Seven Star Elder shook his head and said "Useful body does useless actions?" Cross added his opinion while eating the fruits. He was actually sitting on the table next to the fruit bowl as he said "Nono, this Elder, who's not as handsome as me, you must understand. If you take a step back then others will keep pushing back until they push you off a cliff. There's a saying where I come from 'For a gentleman to take revenge, it's overnight.' If someone respects me, I will respect them. If they don't respect me, I will send them to hell."

He munched on the fruits as he added "The so-called kneeling in respect. Hehe~ I'd rather die than kneel to anyone. I haven't knelt in my life and I don't plan on starting now. Not to an Elder, Not to the Heavens, and definitely not to a statue or some dead guy. Even if I did... Do they dare to accept it?"

Long Chen gave him a big thumbs up and the Seven Stars Elder stood up saying "You're too arrogant." Cross hopped of the table and said "If I'm not arrogant then I wouldn't be alive. If I don't have confidence in myself to be the best, how will I dominate the world in the future? This is self-confidence. Even if the King of Heaven comes down I will still talk to him as if he was a normal person, because I know in time I will reach far above him."

Cross looked up and clenched his fist over his head as he said confidently "Bend to someone else's will, even slightly, and you'll never become great! Even if I die, I will die standing!" An unyielding and invincible aura came from Cross' body.

Seven Stars Elder and Long Chen were stunned, this guy... Did he just form a Dao-Heart? Cross punched out and said "The heavens!? Heh! I'll tear it to pieces!" his Dao-Heart solidified and Cross felt extremely comfortable.

He blinked and looked at Long Chen and the Seven Stars Elder with a grin before saying "Can we go now?" Long Chen burst out laughing and patted Cross' back, extremely happy. The Seven Stars Elder said "Your rewards have been confiscated." Cross waved and said "Who cares?" Long Chen asked "Can I borrow some money, Elder?"

The Seven Stars Elder said "You can't buy a Pill Furnace anyways, that's your punishment." Long Chen shook his head and said "It's not to buy a furnace, it's to become a Teacher." The Seven Star Elder was stunned but still gave him the crystals.

Long Chen and Cross left the building, Cross took out a gourd and drank Xiao Lei's wine, licking his lips before passing the gourd to Long Chen, who said "Wine?" Cross said "The best Wine I've ever had!" Long Chen chuckled and drank from the gourd before passing it back and smacking his lips saying "Tasty!"

Cross pouted "You don't like it?" Long Chen laughed and said "The Wine God palace has the best wines, that's good but not as good as theirs." Cross drank his wine and said "Wine God palace? What's that?"

Long Chen was stunned and said "You don't know about the Wine God's palace!?" Cross shook his head and took big gulps from his Wine Gourd. Long Chen hooked his arm around Cross' shoulder saying "My good brother! You haven't seen the world! Let me tell you, this Wine God's Palace is Heaven for people who like wine! They believe in the Wine God and make the best wine I've ever had in my life! It's their Dao!"

Cross had stars in his eyes and said "Their cultivation is making wine!?" Long Chen grinned and nodded, Cross got excited and said "Where is this place!?" Long Chen sighed and said "I don't know where it is in the Immortal World. But! I will find it!" Cross sighed and said "What a pity..." as he drank from the gourd.

The duo walked to the Teacher's assessment hall.

Cross thought Long Chen was going to apply for the Alchemy Teacher but he chose the Combat Teacher instead! What a hero! Cross applied for the same as it was the only way to stay. He didn't know anything about Alchemy and if he didn't become a teacher, he was going right back to the workers with the fatty. He might actually slaughter everyone there if he went back, so without a choice, he decided to become a teacher.

Plus he liked teaching so it worked out pretty good!

Long Chen and Cross got into the assessment and there were 34 other big guys with muscles all over them. They looked like balls of muscle. How did they walk around normally? Isn't this very uncomfortable? Cross raised his doubts to Long Chen, who burst out laughing.

The 34 muscle meatballs glared at the 2 with unfriendly expressions.

Suddenly a black spear appeared in the room. The task was easy, just lift the Spear over your head and you pass. A few people went and looked to be struggling but still passed, one man sneered at Cross and Long Chen and said "Go back home and drink your mother's milk."

Cross was stunned and said with a frown "Oi... Meat man... Have you finally figured out you've lived long enough? I can send you to your next life right away." the man glared at Cross and said "What did you say to me, little skinny punk!" Cross got up in his face and shouted "I'm giving reincarnation tickets for free, meatball! Make my fucking day!" the man clenched his fist and Cross slapped him.

The man flew across the testing area and Cross sneered "Moron, just because you have excess water in your body doesn't mean your strong." he turned around and lifted the spear over his head with one hand, shocking the entire group. The assessment guy was stunned and said "Y-You pass!" Cross threw the spear behind him.

The men jumped out of the way and Ling Chen caught it with a chuckle "You know, throwing sharp objects is dangerous." Cross grinned and said "If you couldn't do it then wouldn't I be embarrassed to have a brother like you?" Long Chen laughed and stabbed the Spear in the ground before walking off with Cross to the second testing area.

They walked down a long tunnel and bullets shot out the sides. Cross made minimal movements as he kept walking, using his Mantra to dodge all the bullets. It was too easy, he could already see the future and feel movement around him. The walls even made a sound, he could literally do this blindfolded.

He reached the end of the tunnel and a man appeared in front of him. Cross shot out a fist, but the man jumped out of the way saying "I say! Are you trying to kill me?!" Cross was confused and said "Wait, you're not part of the assessment?" the man slapped his forehead and said "Of course not!" Cross grinned and said "Oops. You kinda just came out of nowhere. How was I supposed to know?"

The man sighed and said "No marks? You pass with full points!" Cross nodded and came into a room, he was given a wooden stick and a bunch of puppets appeared. If you touch the puppet with the stick, it'll stop moving.

Cross ignored this and smashed the stick around, destroying all the puppets before throwing the stick away and moving on. The assessment guy appeared and saw the destruction, his heart was bleeding as he said "Aiya! Did you have to be so heavy? These are expensive you know!"

Cross scratched his neck and avoided the man's eyes as he said "I only hit each one once..." the man's eyeballs popped out of their sockets and flew to a lower Realm as he said "What!?" Cross nodded and the man sighed "You passed..." Cross smiled and left, he came into a big room and found Long Chen.

Cross said "Was it easy for you too?" Long Chen sighed and nodded, Cross frowned and drank from his gourd in thought. 8 people actually passed, stunning Long Chen and Cross. The examiner divided up the groups and announced the rules.

Cross was given a wooden sword and lifted it up asking "Do we have to use the swords?" the examiner said "Yes." Cross sighed and went out to fight, the opponent admitted defeat, one after the other and Long Chen, Cross, some guy, and the guy Cross slapped were left.

The guy who got slapped was against Cross and sneered as he charged forward, swinging his sword. Cross slowly stepped to the side and an overwhelming aura appeared, his face was shadowed over and only his glowing red eyes were seen as he swiped the sword up extremely fast.

The sword made an arc, chopped the guy's arm off at the elbow and smashed his chin, destroying his lower jaw. The man flew out of the arena and smashed into the wall, slumping to the ground. He was still breathing weakly.

The Examiner was stunned and said "Y-You! How could you use such a heavy hand!" Cross went back to normal and said "Ah? I didn't even use 5%..." the room was dead silent and Cross muttered "Why was he acting so strong for? He was obviously a chicken but he's acting like a dragon..." he stepped off the stage in regret.