Chapter 3 CHAPTER 2: The Pagoda's Guardian

" The test is completed. Welcome to the heavenly corruption pagoda, congratulations !" the archaic voice reached Joey's ears. This time, the voice gave a feeling of warmth and security to his heart.

Joey sees a figure appearing abruptly before him. He thought in his mind, "Amazing, this guy appears out of thin air. It seems like some form of space teleportation technique ." The figure turned out to be a twenty-eight years old lady. She looked like a fairy, so beautiful that everyone who sees her would lose their soul. Her body was a perfect embodiment of the female goddess of beauty.

He looked at her and, his eyes twinkled, and he even started drooling saliva from his mouth.

"Ahem ahem ahem," cough the beauty.

" Oh, sorry, big sister " Joey scratched his head embarrassingly.

" No need. I have experienced these things enough ."

" Sorry big sister but, you are too beautiful for me to handle. " Joey apologized honestly.

" Hello, little brother, I am Long Ai. I am the current guardian of the Heavenly Corruption Pagoda. I have been waiting for your arrival for five thousand years ."

Joey never thought that the owner of the archaic voice would turn out to be such a beautiful lady. On further observation, he came to realize that she had a pair of horns on her forehead.

" Oh my god! What are you? You .you you ....don't look like a human ." he stuttered with fright. She looked like a human, but the pair of horns in her head gave away her identity.

" Afraid not, little brother. Yes, I am indeed not a human. My clan belongs to a lineage of the Azure dragon family. I am a pure-blooded azure dragon .", she explained with some pride in her heart.

" No offense. So, you are the dragon that forms the human body. But, is it possible."

"My cute little brother, all the beasts will eventually form the human body if we cultivate. So, it is not a big deal to have a human appearance", she explained.

" Are there any other beast-like dragons in this world ? ". He further asked curiously.

"Yes, there are many beasts. More than ten thousand species are even here in this poor, backwater world," she replied.

" Big sister, can you explain further? I have little knowledge of these magical beasts in this world."

"Naturally, no doubt you don't even know such basic things."

She further explained, " In this world, the magical beasts are categorized within the thousand ranking systems. Dragon, white lion, vermillion bird, phoenix, taotie, black tortoise, etc., are in the top ten list. But, nobody knows their actual ranking within the top ten list. " She explained shortly. Then she yawned.

"So, your dragon clan remains in the top ten rank list. But, why would a mighty noble dragon like you become a guardian of this mere pagoda? Do you fall into some accident ?"

She became furious, thinking that this stupid brat belittled the purple pagoda. She cursed in her mind," Hmm! I voluntarily become this pagoda's guardian. Your luck and fortune were so good that you don't even know its miraculous values. You don't even know the power of this pagoda. I am feeling so jealous of you."

Unable to control her emotion, she again retorted, " Boy, you don't know that your fortune is so good. Let me tell you that the purple pagoda was not a man-made treasure but a naturally formed heavenly treasure. In its prime, it can even destroy a galaxy with a single hit from it ."

" So powerful."

" Enough with the chit-chat. Go and start  cultivating the heavenly corruption manual and form your own foundational corruption blood vessel ."

Then Joey happily sat back cross leg on the cultivation mat. He started closing his eyes. Then his mind wandered toward his soul as according to the manual. There he saw the purple, golden ball of the soul; besides this ball, the word heavenly corruption manual stood like a harmless newborn baby.

" Boy, move your soul toward those weird words, comprehend it, and form your foundation slowly ." The beauty instructed him through his mind.

He moved his purple, golden soul toward the words. The moment it touched the words, they were absorbed into it, and a similar black aura appeared again. But, this time, it started destroying all his blood vessels. Then he started experiencing that pain again. The pain was horrifying, but now he managed to control the urge to growl this time.

After two hours, all his blood vessels were destroyed, and the purple, golden soul force followed the paths of black aura and started healing all his blood vessels. Several hours later, the healing was completed. Then, his blood vessel became so wide and appeared as a purple golden color.

Then, he slowly opened his eyes. Long Ai greeted him with a smile.

" Your cultivation speed is not bad. Try harder next time. "

" Big sister, can you explain the cultivation level system in this world? Cultivation is really a completely new thing to me," he said.

" Sure no problem," She explained further.

" In this world, cultivation starts with strengthening the power of the body. We call this realm the foundational realm, body cultivation realm or mortal cultivation ."

She grabbed something in the air and brought out a pot of wine. Then, she started drinking wine and continued her explanation.

" The body realm is further divided as vessel strengthening, blood purification, hardening of muscle, then organ purification ."

" After this mortal cultivation realm, the next step is to form our totem soul print. This realm is the first step to opening a new door to immortality. This realm is universally known as THE HOUTIAN REALM. " Then, she sipped a mouthful of wine in her mouth.

" Drinking without meat is so bland. Next time you come here, bring some meat. I haven't tasted any meat for such a long time. Otherwise, I will forget about giving something good to you next time. "

" For other cultivation realms, I will explain to you when you complete your body cultivation realm. Also, when you are ready to break the blood purification stage, I have a big gift for you. "

Joey nodded his head seriously. Then, the purple pagoda started shaking.

" Time up, boy, work hard, and also don't forget my meat. " She pointed her fist toward him. Then, she waved her hand and he was kicked out.