Chapter 532: Chapter 531: The Eighth Level of Dragon Gate Realm
Within a gambling den in the City of Death, a fierce battle was unfolding.
The fighters, one a middle-aged man with triangular eyes wielding twin short staffs, and the other, a young man in blue utilizing a spear.
"Twin staffs split the heavens!"
At a certain moment, the middle-aged man with triangular eyes raised both hands high. The two pieces of short staffs descended heavily, like two bolts of yellow lightning from the sky, twisting towards the young man in blue.
A light smile formed on the corner of the young man’s lips. He maintained the pose of thrusting with his spear, but his right elbow moved ever so slightly.
Something strange occurred.
The strikes from the middle-aged man’s staffs, uncontrollably, spun towards the tip of the spear. With two clashing noises, the middle-aged man screamed as the staffs flew out of his hands.
"Truly impressive, Tang Jingtian of Tang Family Fortress, I, the Double Stick Lord, concede defeat."
The Double Stick Lord picked up the short staffs on the ground, and without a second thought, quickly made his escape.
Being one of the top ten elders of the Heavenly Inquiry Sect, he considered himself a longstanding lower-ranking lord among the Xuanwu State. Yet today, he was unexpectedly defeated by a young man.
No wonder when the Divine Strategy Academy listed the top fifty talents in Shuntian Capital, they specifically noted they didn’t include disciples of top-tier sects. Otherwise, there would be no opportunities for others.
Probably the top ten seats would completely change.
At the very least, one Tang Jingtian far surpasses the first-ranked Shi Xiaole.
"After perfecting the Third-Transition Spear Technique, my power should exceed most lower-ranking lords of Xuanwu State, right?"
Checking the weight of his silver spear, Tang Jingtian let out a hum of satisfaction.
Despite achieving such strength at the age of twenty-eight, he displayed no sign of pride. As the young master of the Tang Family Fortress, no one understood more than him about the intense competition within the Tang Sect.
Forget about the terrifying Tian State, just within his knowledge, each and every one of the strong states under the Flying Horse Dynasty harbored numerous freakish talents, all more terrifying than the last.
So what use is it to be the top of his generation in Xuanwu State?
"I will experience life and death situations time and time again, seizing opportunities, and changing fate. Tian State is my true stage."
Casting a glance at a certain direction, Tang Jingtian took the secret manual from the gambling table and left.
"He is indeed the top genius of Tang Family Fortress, simply terrifying."
Not long after, two beautiful ladies, one purple and one white, emerged from the corner. Speaking was the white-clothed woman with a look of astonishment on her face.
She was a high-ranking lord, and her older sister was an even higher-ranking lord. Despite their cautious concealment, they were still discovered by him. The strength of his spiritual power was almost unparalleled among those of the same generation in Xuanwu State.
"The foundations of top-tier sects are unfathomable. He must be cultivating some profound spiritual secret techniques. Let’s go."
Zi Xiangbo retracted her gaze and spoke indifferently.
Tang Jingtian’s strength was naturally far inferior to hers, but his talent was one she had rarely seen in her life. Moreover, backed by the Tang Family Fortress, it was not worth it for them to go after his possessions.
After all, the City of Death is large; there’s no shortage of goods to be found.
From the streets, to the taverns, to the inns, sounds of Array System and Vigorous Air clashing echoed from time to time.
Some array systems were weak, easily broken open by people. Some were strong, unable to be budged even with the combined efforts of several people. Gradually, many highly skilled individuals scattered throughout the City of Death congregated in three locations.
One of them was all top-ranking lords, and the two others were high-ranking lords.
The array systems in these places were extraordinarily robust, and after analysis by the grandmasters of various sects, these were identified as the strongest array systems created by Illusion Lord in his lifetime.
The sounds of bombardment became even more terrifying, almost incessant. Under the full force of the lords and high lords, it was a truly terrifying sight.
Inside a broken temple in the City of Death.
Shi Xiaole sat alone.
He certainly heard the commotion outside, but he was not concerned.
Breaking the illusions of the Illusion Lord was far from easy. He decided to use this time to fully absorb the Dragon Strength Grass, to prevent any potential issues from forming.
Regarding those simple array systems, on one hand, many had already been broken by other people. On the other hand, it was easy to encounter others. Given how the rewards were not that desirable, Shi Xiaole chose to strategically abandon them.
He held out his palm, revealing a forked blood-red little grass. Its essence permeated his skin and flowed into his body, causing a sensation of heat to arise within him.
He cleared his mind and silently circulated his internal energy.
In a instant, an overwhelming, potent and extremely hot energy gushed into Shi Xiaole’s body like a tide, seeping into his muscles, bones, and blood.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Muffled sounds of explosions came from Shi Xiaole’s body, accompanied by barely audible deep roars. His robe blew apart, revealing a muscular and firm body.
Shi Xiaole’s originally pale and jade-like skin turned completely red, quickly shifting to crimson. Blood vessels bulged out, expanding and contracting like nimble little snakes.
White mist emanated from Shi Xiaole’s pores, occasionally passing through the haystack behind the broken temple, burning it into ashes!
If one word were to describe Shi Xiaole’s feeling at this moment, that word would be "numb".
The numbness after reaching the extreme point of heat and pain.
He had no idea where he was, only knowing his blood and bones felt as if they had been melted under the force of the Dragon Strength Grass’s energy. His body felt like it no longer existed.
It had been nearly half an hour.
The numbness faded, only to be replaced by warmth. It felt like his body was soaking in a hot spring, every cell gently nourished. After the fatigue, he felt incredibly light and satisfied.
"Did it succeed?"
Opening his eyes, Shi Xiaole looked at himself, feeling somewhat mesmerized.
What kind of body was this? It seemed as if cast from jade, without any excess flesh; every inch of muscle was just right, and the surface of his skin shimmered with a crystalline gloss.
Humans consume a variety of grains, inevitably leaving impurities in their bodies. But that Dragon Strength Grass he just consumed had removed most of the impurities from Shi Xiaole’s body, making him appear rejuvenated, untouched by the world’s impurities.
The more significant changes were internal, however.
Shi Xiaole clenched his hand and sent a casual punch forward, creating a transparent print in the air, even compressing the air slightly.
"I have strength in my body that can lift up to thousands of pounds."
Thousands of pounds of physical strength may seem insignificant compared to Vigorous Air, but apart from his great increase in strength, Shi Xiaole clearly felt that his agility, balance, and explosiveness had all greatly improved.
Even more importantly, he no longer felt saturated with energy in his meridians.
That meant his body’s capabilities had increased, allowing him to continue swiftly improving his cultivation!
"If I had known this, I wouldn’t have killed the two Lords, Shadow and Spirit Mist, so early."
Shi Xiaole felt some regret. If he had absorbed the powers of the Shadow and Spirit Mist Lords, his cultivation could have increased to the eighth level of the Dragon Gate Realm, affording him more strength to protect himself.
But it wasn’t too late.
Dressing in the robe from his system space, Shi Xiaole exited the decrepit temple, immediately releasing his aura, eager to see if anyone would approach him.
Indeed, he wasn’t disappointed, as just a quarter of an hour later, someone approached from afar.
"Level seven of the Dragon Gate Realm, kid, how did you sneak in here?"
When the newcomer landed in front of Shi Xiaole and recognized his face, he exclaimed, "It’s you, Shi Xiaole!"
"You know me?"
"Heh heh, many people in the Blood Emperor’s lair are curious about you, kid. Confess the secrets you’re hiding, or else, don’t blame me for being impolite."
"So, you want to kill me too? Perfect."
The low-ranking Lord from the Xiahou Clan didn’t even have time to react before a sudden pain alerted him that his acupuncture points had been hit and he was pinned down, unable to move.
He couldn’t show any expression, but his heart was tumultuous; he could hardly believe what he was experiencing.
The Dragon Strength Grass might not have noticeably improved Shi Xiaole’s abilities up front, but it undoubtedly gave him an edge in actual combat, slightly increasing his fighting abilities. Coupled with the negligence of the low-ranking Lord from the Xiahou Clan, Shi Xiaole had captured him with a single move.
Taking his captive back to the temple, Shi Xiaole felt his meridians swelling. He quickly fetched the red alien stone he had acquired at Kuangyun City to cleanse the impurities in his Vigorous Air.
He filtered it over and over again.
Half an hour later.
A gale suddenly rose in the temple, stirring up clouds of dust.
Shi Xiaole’s cultivation level had incredibly broken through from the late phase of the Dragon Gate Realm Level Seven to the mid-phase of Level Eight.
His standards for the quality of Vigorous Air were so high that most of it was wasted in the absorption process. Yet this allowed Shi Xiaole’s foundation to be steadier, reaffirming his fighting strength.
"With my current strength, I wonder how I would fare against an intermediate Lord?"
Shi Xiaole was quite eager to test his abilities.
He was not like others.
If other Dragon Gate Realm masters gained strength boosts of one unit each time they advanced a minor level, his would be three, or even four units. He couldn’t estimate his own strength without testing it.
Using the technique to dissolve corpses and turn them into air, Shi Xiaole reduced the Xiahou Clan master to nothingness. He returned to the street to try his luck again. This time, however, he was out of luck; he wasn’t attracting anyone for a long time.
"Well, the City of Death is so huge, and there aren’t many masters entering; it could take a while to encounter any, given the dispersion."
He chuckled to himself and retracted his aura.
Masters usually appeared in places with strong Array Systems, so he decided to focus on finding those systems instead.
After about several 2-hour periods, Shi Xiaole saw a stone arch bridge.
The bridge was over thirty meters long and more than ten meters wide, lying over a jade green brook. Willow trees lined both banks of the stream entrance, and several masters were fighting fiercely.
"Something’s not right."
Shi Xiaole stopped abruptly, his eyes flashing. Suddenly, the scene in front of him changed. The fighting masters disappeared, and a figure appeared on the bridge.
"It’s an illusion array."
Illusion Lord, as his name suggested, was best at creating illusion arrays. But Shi Xiaole could tell that the illusion array on the stone arch bridge was even stronger than many others he’d seen in the city.
The figure on the bridge looked pale, trembling as if suffering a monumental torture.
Just then, a finger made of Vigorous air pierced through the air from afar, aiming for the person on the bridge.
"Sunset Lord, bastard of the Xiahou Clan, you dare?"
Another surge of Sword Qi struck first, severing the gigantic finger made of Vigorous Air.
"Why wouldn’t I dare? Whenever I see someone from the Ai family, I kill them! We, from the Tianyan Sect, are here to help you, friend from the Tianyuan Association!"
Someone laughed heartily in the distance. In the midst of the loud thumping sounds, the Ai family sword master was facing two opponents at once and was yelling angrily at the sky.
