Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: - -
‘Kiddo, you’re still too young and simple’
Lin Feng chuckled, as he watched the ongoing duel between Gengjin Tiger Demon and Hong Ye, and pondered if he should grab a stool. Or perhaps, a packet of sunflower seeds to nibble on.
As expected, Hong Ye was loaded with precious treasures and weapons. Multiple Aurous Core stage equipment combined and complemented, creating extraordinary capabilities.
After all, he majored in the Agile Flesh Theurgy. With nimble movements, he dodged Gengjin Tiger Demon’s multiple attempts to close quarter attacks.
There was once when Taoist Tiemu and company attempted to scam Hong Ye, but play quickly went out of control and escalated to a real duel, where Hong Ye’s abilities were shown. Despite Taoist Tiemu taking up the duel personally, he still succumbed to the Hong Ye, in the process losing his treasures and swords.
Hence, it would not be surprising if Hong Ye, with his powerful equipment, could defeat the Aurous Core stage Initiate Cultivator of a higher level.
Facing the Gengjin Tiger Demon, however, he clearly showed he was facing a greater challenge.
Gengjin Tiger Demon was covered with highly reflective metal pieces from top to bottom, as though wearing a crack-less armour, surprisingly glaring under the moonlight. The armour took the shape of his exoskeleton, and beautifully sculpted to his curves. It was skintight and did not ensure his movements a single bit. The joint sections of the armour were full of metallic spikes, that looked ferocious and lethal.
Most importantly, it drastically increased his defence stats. Apart from Dragon Slaying Sabre, none of the Hong Ye's weapons worries him.
Hong Ye, with his high-quality weapons, though might not deal lethal damage to Gengjin Tiger Demon, could at least protect himself from great harm.
During the duel, metallic blades spontaneous formed in the air and shot at Hong Ye from unexpected angles, quite similar to that of a sword disciple. There were no ways to trace the source of these blades at all. In fact, they appeared in groups of ten and closed in towards the target from all angles, similar to a fisherman drawing his fishnet, albeit a deadly one.
Lin Feng observed and gently smiled, ‘‘Seems like the Tiger Demon’s skills are equaled to that of a human cultivator in the middle phase of the Aurous Core stage hmm…’’
When a cultivator achieves mastery to evolve into a Qi disciple, he transcends the boundaries of life and death, to gain the eternal life. Apart from unwavering spirit, the cultivator must remove all fears and converts it into courage. This courage will not be bounded by the flesh and bones, and only this, will allow the cultivator to reach the realm of qi.
From here, the master would have full control of even the slightest organs in the body, from skeletons, organs, to the thinnest veins and nerves. A master would still be injured like any other mortal, but with this ability, he would be able to accurately detect it and self-heal.
Some micro-injuries might not be obvious and taken seriously, but they are the key to the human body aging and ultimately decomposing. The disciples who have yet to reach the Aurora Core Stage would not be able to detect these, and as time passes, they build up and ultimately cause irreversible damages.
Initially, Lin Feng too took this long and arduous journey. Looking back, the gains he made has been incredible.
The devil is in the detail.
If Lin’s body was viewed as a dyke stretching thousands of miles, the micro-injuries would be the numerous ant-nests within; no matter how solid the dyke is, one day it will be destroyed by these hidden imperfections.
Identifying details, and longevity would be achieved upon reaching the Aurora Core Initial Stage.
A Qi disciple could further his level to the Aurora Core Mid-Stage, characterized by the ‘Tao of Knowing’.
The ‘Tao of Knowing’ allowed one to understand the mystery of the infinitely vast universe, the heavens and hell, and communicate through the realms. The disciple would be able to warp the spiritual energy through the realms, to absorb them to be at his own disposal, and re-release them to his advantage.
Gengjin Tiger Demon exactly was able to extract the metallic spiritual elements from the air, crystallizing them into razor blades that could be freely used to strike at Hong Ye.
When the essence of the universe is unravelled, the disciple achieved the Aurora Core Mid-Stage.
With this advantage in mind, in a duel between a mid-stage disciple and initial stage disciple, the mid-stage disciple would have an absolute advantage, purely due to the greater energy able to be harnessed from the environment. The initial stage disciple would be at a huge disadvantage.
Achieving both an eye for details and the 'Tao of knowing’ would spur the disciple to attempt to cut through the negative ‘Yin’ energy to reach the Aurous Core Final Stage.
Hong Ye’s ability definitely overpowers initial stage disciples like Taoist Tiemu, but against mid-stage disciples, he had much to be wary of. After all, Gengjin Tiger Demon was one of the most formidable disciples in the mid-stage tier.
The duel was such a commotion, Hundred Herbs Grandmaster took notice. The grandmaster didn’t pay much attention. After all, he was already in his Nascent Soul Stage. But as his Mortal Spiritual Elixir was on the verge of being brewed, he couldn’t help but take care.
At this moment, from the summit of Changchun Peak, emerged a streak of white smoke. In the darkness, visibility was low, but everyone could feel an evil energy enveloping the valley below. It lashed at Gengjin Tiger Demon like a whip.
The smoke came with a delicate, floral scent with a note of Chinese herbs. But upon inhaling the smoke, it caused confusion and intense headaches.
Gengjin Tiger Demon was horrified. Hundred Herbs Grandmaster may not be powerful in duels among the Nascent Soul stage cultivators, but with such a huge power difference, he was no match. While the Gengjin Tiger Tribe had an advantage over the Hundred Herb Sect, only the Tiger King was a match for the grandmaster.
Watching the white smoke streaked down the peak, Hong Ye frowned. Clearly, he disapproved anyone else interrupting duel. The frown didn’t last long. "Since it’s the territory of the Hundred Herb Sect, I should be courteous and save them some face", he thought.
He retracted his equipment, as he observed the capture of the Tiger Demon by the Grandmaster.
Against the looming attack, Gengjin Tiger Demon dared not lose any concentration. He withdrew a bone-like pole and injected it with a dose of demonic energy. The bone-pole instantly lit up with a golden light.
The golden light rose to the sky and lifted the Tiger demon together as it flew into the distance.
“You Tiger demon, how dare you stir up trouble on my turf. Don’t think you can get away with it.” From the Changchun peak came a gentle, soothing voice of an elder. The elder was the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster.
The streak of white smoke spun in the air and went into pursuit. With a tremor, it gained tens of miles in the air and appeared right behind the Gengjin Tiger Demon. A blow was dealt, aimed straight into his face. The passengers on Hong Ye’s Thunder Chariot exclaimed.
"Impressive," nodded Hong Ye, "but not out of the world. Once I craft my elixir, I would be able to discover my own spell to teleport through space-time without much difficulty."
As he spoke, the streak of smoke trembled again without reason and vanished in front of the demon. Next moment, another streak appeared in the air. Gengjin Tiger Demon seized this opportunity and flew away into the horizon.
Lan Ying, the lady of Hong Ye, exclaimed, ‘Honey what is going on?’
Hong Ye had no answer. He too, could not understand what happened to him.
With the white smoke lagging too far away, and Hundred Herbs Grandmaster unwilling to give chase personally to protect his brewing Mortal Spiritual Elixir, the Gengjin Tiger Demon was in luck to slip through.
The Tiger Demon was gone. Hong Ye, unable to fulfil the promise to his lady, was feeling an intense frustration.
"Where is that guy?" He suddenly recalled being chosen as Lin Feng’s backup chariot rider. He searched around but realized Lin Feng was gone.
‘Damnit, everyone is going against me.’
In the grand court on the Changchun Peak, Hundred Herbs Grandmaster felt melancholic, ‘Who could possibly disrupt my teleportation spell to capture that demon?’
By his side, Qu Bin cautiously asked, ‘Could there be another Nascent Soul Stage disciple spying and affecting your spell?’
‘I do not know, but what he did was no mean feat. Command of time was exceptional and decisive. I almost thought my Mana was unstable, and lead to the demon’s escape, ‘ frowned the Grandmaster.
‘The key now is to find out, how much did the Gengjin Tiger Demon discover? Did he discover signs of our Mortal Spiritual Elixir?’ Hundred Herbs Grandmaster gently spoke. ‘If he reports any such information to the Tiger King, we will be in trouble.’
Qu Bin knew deep down, even with the Mountain Defence Spell Formation, Hundred Herbs Sect was no match for the Gengjin Tiger Demon race.
"My master is currently away, and unable to rush here in time. If we notify other grandmasters, the news of the Elixir is bound to be leaked," Qu Bin uttered apprehensively.
"No worries, I recall your master has an equipment by the name of Nine Thunder Screen. With the aid of this equipment, I will easily finish off that Tiger. Please return to your mountain immediately, and bring the Screen to me."
Qu Bin nodded and made his leave from Changchun Peak towards Great Barren Sword Sect.
Far from Changchun Peak, on the summit of another barren mountain, Lin Feng watched closely and pondered, ‘Incoming reinforcement…?’
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