CH 117

Chapter 117 – Old Man

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/4). Thanks for your support, Exalted!

At the plaza in the very center of Lightning Cloud Stone Island, there were ten gigantic stone rooms, towering at a majestic height.

“Senior Martial Brother Yu, Junior Martial Brother Yan and I just did another clean sweep of the island. Aside from the people here, there are no other disciples,” Li Cangyun said respectfully, cupping his hands in salute.

Yu Yangyao, the handsome youth standing before the stone rooms, nodded his head and gazed towards the eastern horizon.

Jian Liangbi flew over first and landed among the group, followed shortly after by He Junyu and Xu Disheng.

“Now that all 16 of us are here, we will all show how many points we have,” Yu Yangyao said in an indifferent tone.

The disciples didn’t really have much hesitation about it and each activated their point tokens, showing how many points they had.

As soon as Xu Disheng showed his points, revealing a grand total of over 4.8 million points, many of the geniuses’ gazes were drawn to him.

“Huh? This disciple somehow has more points than Ke Yue?” Yu Yangyao said quietly, glancing at Xu Disheng.

Ke Yue’s expression, however, was indifferent as he remained silent.

“Zuo Yanran and Zhao Yueban made an unwise move and were killed by this junior martial brother of mine,” He Junyu said briefly, shaking his head.

Yu Yangyao had a perceptive mind. Seeing He Junyu speak for him, he simply nodded and didn’t pursue it any further. He pointed at several people and said, “Li Cangyun, Yan Cheng, and you three, stay. The rest of you, starting from the one with the lowest points, go in order and crush your survival tokens.”

Yu Yangyao didn’t care as much about the order of the top 10 places. After all, this wasn’t the final ranking for the Sea of Qi division of the tournament. Once all of this was finished, there was still one more round for the top 10 to contend for their final spots.

The disciples who didn’t have enough points to make the top 10 and received the directive to leave the stage had expressions full of reluctance and unwillingness.

However, none of them spoke up in opposition, and they silently crushed their point tokens in order, returning to the Green Lotus Domain.

Yu Yangyao took the lead and walked into one of the massive stone rooms, his voice left floating on the wind. “One person to each room,” he said.

Ke Yue and Jian Liangbi also picked their respective stone rooms and walked in.

He Junyu patted Xu Disheng on the back and said, “These mirage demons are the good stuff. Take your time to absorb it; there’s no need to rush.”

After that, he turned and also similarly went into one of the stone rooms.

After those disciples who were eliminated returned to the Green Lotus Domain, their rankings on the huge screen of light in the sky became set in stone!

The top 10 had now been thoroughly decided. These 10 disciples would be contending against each other in the final round of the Sea of Qi division of the tournament!

In the third round of the tournament, Xu Disheng earned 4th place!

Yuan Qi and the other ordinary disciples of Morning Dew Peak had long since been overwhelmed with shock. They were all staring up at the ranking on the screen of light, struck speechless.

Li Dan had returned to the Green Lotus Domain at some unknown point in time. Right now, he was standing among all the other disciples of Morning Dew Peak. As he looked up at the ranking on the huge screen of light, an indescribable light flickered in his eyes. It wasn’t clear what he was thinking about.

Back in the massive stone room, Xu Disheng was examining the pure cluster of mirage qi, emitting a Divine Core stage aura. It was in a constant state of flux, changing nonstop between some humanoid form, to some birds or flowers made of stone.

“Those who earn a spot in the top 10 may each completely absorb the mirage qi of a Divine Core stage mirage demon to raise their cultivation of the mind and their resistance against illusions,” the cold mechanical voice from the point token at Xu Disheng’s waist declared.

These ten Divine Core stage mirage demons were completely devoid of any spiritual awareness, and they were placed here to serve as an added bonus to reward the top 10 disciples.

The aura coming from the mirage demons was undoubtedly at the Divine Core stage, but a clone of the realm spirit of the Mirage Sea Realm had already wiped these 10 mirage demons of any will to attack or resist.

Xu Disheng placed his hand on the mirage demon and started trying to absorb it.

A strand of pure mirage qi began to flow in through his palm, circulating through the 36 meridians and acupoints throughout his body. At that very moment, a light, euphoric sensation flooded his body.

After a while, when Xu Disheng opened his eyes once more, the glow of the cluster of mirage qi in front of him had already receded by half. A dazzling multi-colored light scintillated in his eyes in a captivating manner.

He extended a palm and a multi-colored orb of light condensed into being above it. It was the formation of a simple illusion technique.

Xu Disheng could now use these kinds of simple illusion techniques. It was just like intuition to him, and he could casually summon them like it was second nature.

Xu Disheng stored the remaining half of the cluster of mirage qi into the Yin Yang Diagram, then stood up and left the stone room.

A multi-colored Mirage Qi Spell Orb had coalesced in his sea of consciousness. At the moment, it was already almost completely saturated with mirage qi. There wouldn’t be any benefit to continuing to absorb any further, so he stored the remaining portion for now.

On the ground in the very center of the central plaza, the array lines of a small-scale transfer array had appeared, emanating a dull glow. There were several people already standing on it. This transfer array was very clearly their means to return to the Green Lotus Domain.

The top 10 didn’t need to crush their survival tokens. After they finished absorbing their mirage qi, they could return to the Domain with the other members of the top 10 via this small-scale transfer array.

Seeing Xu Disheng approach the transfer array, the people already standing on it each turned to look at him.

“Junior Martial Brother Xu, now that you finished absorbing the mirage qi, can you tell that this place was actually an illusion array?” Li Cangyun stepped forward and asked with a smile.

Xu Disheng lightly cupped his hands in salute and replied, “I couldn’t see through it. This island is an illusion array?”

Li Cangyun nodded. “That’s right. The entire Lightning Cloud Stone Island, from every blade of grass to every tree is all illusory. Only the mirage qi here is real.”

Yan Cheng also joined in the conversation. Xu Disheng had no reason to deliberately refrain from a friendly conversation with them, so he chatted with the two of them for a while, and they all traded message jade slips.

However, Xu Disheng could acutely sense that after the other people had absorbed their mirage qi, only their ability to resist illusion techniques and break illusions had improved. None of them became able to use illusion techniques like him.

Then what explanation was there for his sudden, newfound ability to casually use illusion techniques based on pure instinct?

As for the improvement in the cultivation of the mind, its effect was far too subtle to be noticed at the Sea of Qi stage. It could hardly be perceived at this point. At most, one would find their thoughts clearer than before, and perhaps they would be a bit more quick-witted.

Absorbing Divine Core stage mirage qi was normally considered by disciples as something that would increase one’s cultivation base.

Cultivation base wasn’t something that could be built overnight; it had to be slowly accumulated. There were many aspects that formed the idea of cultivation base as a whole, and improving those individual aspects would yield a comprehensive result. For example, your background, who your master was, the inheritances you might have, the quality of your meridians, your cultivation methods, Spirit Tools, spiritual pets, Magic Treasures, and so on.

Why could Yu Yangyao order around the Sea of Qi stage disciples, and even command such strict obedience from them?

First and foremost was the highborn quality of his meridians. In addition to his identity as the great-great-grandson of Yu Xingchao, the Killing Heart Spirit Master, he had the bloodline of the Primordial Spirit stage powerhouse, Primordial Lord Qiye.

Although it was unclear how many generations there were between them, Yu Yangyao still had a trace of a Primordial Lord’s bloodline in his meridians. No one dared to look down upon this!

With his Rank 4 Spiritual Root and the bloodline of a Primordial Lord, he was truly a rare talent. If he didn’t meet an unfortunate early end, it wouldn’t be surprising in the least for him to reach the Primordial Spirit stage.

Yu Yangyao’s cultivation base was deep, and with the complex network of connections supporting him, he was an overwhelming presence to be reckoned with.

Why was Yu Xingchao, the Killing Heart Spirit Master, able to wield a colossal amount of power in the vast Mingxin Mountain Range that was only second to the Severing Meridian Spirit Master?

It was simply because back in the day, Primordial Lord Qiye, who was assiduously cultivating in the Shangqing Sect, uttered a casual remark about him, saying, ‘this brat from my family is quite good; he has a great eye for things’.

The First Mountain Range of the Shangqing Sacred Sect, the Shangqing Mountain Range, was extremely mysterious. It was just as vast as the other seven Mountain Ranges, and had the fanciful moniker ‘the number 1 land of paradise in the Shan Mountains’. With the passing of countless years, it was unknown how many Primordial Lords were in there, assiduously cultivating away.

In fact, the Mountain Masters of the other seven Mountain Ranges would rotate out every 10,000 years and return to the Shangqing Mountain. A dozen or so Primordial Lords would then come out from Shangqing Mountain and take their places, serving as the new Mountain Masters of the other seven Mountain Ranges.

“Senior Martial Brother Yu is out.”

“Senior Martial Brother Yu.”

“Respectful greetings to Senior Martial Brother Yu.”

Yu Yangyao came out from his stone room and made his way directly towards the transfer array. Seeing that all ten people were present now, he looked at Jian Liangbi and gave him a nod.

Jian Liangbi took out a special dark green jade slip. He activated it and spoke into it in a respectful tone. “Reporting to Killing Heart Spirit Master. Our work here is done, and the top 10 disciples are all standing on the transfer array.”

“Noted,” Killing Heart Spirit Master’s flat but dignified voice came through the jade slip. Moments later, the transfer array was initiated. An invisible ripple swept through the air with a loud rumbling sound as the array lines began to trace with light.

A short moment later, the ten people vanished from Lightning Cloud Stone Island.

Strangely enough, the entire scene from the heavens to the earth suddenly went still in the instant they left. Even the rumbling of thunder from the lightning clouds in the sky stopped, falling completely silent. Everything came to a halt.

An enormous hand that spanned the sky appeared from the void and grabbed at Lightning Cloud Stone Island, causing the entire island to transform into a boundlessly vast mass of mirage qi. Everything, from the stone rooms and the central plaza down to every tree and blade of grass transformed into pure mirage qi, returning to the Mirage Sea Realm.

The realm spirit of the Mirage Sea Realm summoned several enormous hands, which began to carefully tidy up this corner of the Mirage Sea Realm. As it straightened out the chaotic mass of mirage qi, it let out a sigh and said, “Master, this trip of yours to the Heavenly Court took over 100,000 years, and you didn’t even get in touch. What would I be able to do even if I did find that Sahā Bodhisattva you wanted me to look for?”

(TL: Brahmic Heaven → Sahā Heaven. This is quite important to the plot/foreshadowing, but I can’t say further due to spoilers. This term appeared several times in Chapter 65, where it was mentioned that it’s one of the Three Heavens: Brahmic Heaven→Sahā Heaven, the Heavenly Court, and the Three Realms of the Golden Crow. If you don’t remember, it might be worth going back to read it, since that chapter gives insight into the wider world of Floating Immortal Order.)

If there was anyone here, they would have cried out in shock.

That was because while this realm spirit had the appearance of a white-robed elder, there were seven primordial spirit avatars floating above his head!

This signified his identity as an almighty being at the Clone Avatar stage with the ability to move the power of creation. The fact that he had as many as seven avatars meant that he was no more than three steps away from the Divine Sea stage, where his clones would become like the stars in the sky, proliferating throughout the world and bringing him omnisciency.

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