Chapter 151 – Reward
Everything was completely exposed in regard to the Life and Death Trial that happened in the secret realm.
Liu Ming, as a newcomer among the ten disciples, had obtained much in the secret realm, actually achieving more than the veteran disciple, Yang Qian. This naturally attracted the envious gaze of many.
However, Liu Ming, who came back with the Sect Leader of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, went to the Nine Infants Mountain. Other than going to visit Gui Ru Yuan and company once, he immediately returned to his residence and enclosed himself inside.
This naturally and greatly disappointed those who wished to establish a relationship with him.
Today, Liu Ming was sitting cross-legged inside the house. Both his hands were continuously making incantation gestures, quickly refining the coiled silver chain on his arm. At the same time, the black gas around him tumbled, as if there were black-colored tentacles dancing madly.
After an unknown period of time, he exhaled deeply. Dispelling the hand sign, the black gas surrounding him was inhaled back into his body. Following that, he tapped the silver chain with one hand, and layers of inscriptions immediately appeared out of nowhere. Surprisingly, there were seventeen layers.
Seeing this, a hint of a smile could not help but surface on Liu Ming’s face.
Although this Demon Subduing Chain was only a Middle Tier Totem, the inscriptions were obviously different from other Totems he had seen before. They seemed to be more complex and mysterious while the whole chain was extremely tough. Even if the Cyan Moon Sword were to cut it from above, it would be unable to leave any sword marks on it. There even seemed to be a hint of a strange chill emitted from it.
It seemed the chaim was not simply just a Middle Tier Totem, if not, how would it control the Flying Head.
When Liu Ming thought about the incident with the Demon, his expression slightly faltered.
After he returned to the Sect, he went to the Spirit Spell Pavilion on that mountain and specifically looked for a few books regarding Demons, researching them anew.
Once he finished reading, he understood how lucky he was that day for defeating the Flying Head.
In the history of the Nine Infants, there were people that attempted to tame the Flying Head while they were Spirit Apostles. However, the outcome was always the same; all of them died from having their blood sucked dry.
The reason why Shi Chuan was initially able to control that Demon was in fact due to Gui Ru Yuan and his fellows help in suppressing it. Plus the Demon Subduing Chain which was specifically created with restraining abilities for Demonic Beings. In essence, Shi Chuan did not truly defeat the Flying Head.
Based on the records, a so-called Demon was a being of extreme evil that came into emergence from the negative energy originating from the likes of Miasma and other energy similar to that. Originally, it would not have a physical form. It would resemble Demonic Souls before subsequently changing through the means of swallowing one another and other methods. They would slowly be able to become powerful enough to manifest a physical form.
Due to the fact that a Demon’s growth was unstable, it was only natural that its appearance was strange, taking any shape and size. However, there were certain types of Demons that were more common, even frequently appearing in the Human Realm. Therefore, they were given names and based on the relative strength of the Cultivators, they would also be divided into Nine Tiers.
First Tier Demons had the strength similar to that of an Beginning Spirit Apostle.
Second Tier Demons possessed the strength of an Middle Spirit Apostle.
Third Tier Demons possessed the perfect strength of an Late Spirit Apostle.
Fourth Tier Demons had the strength of a Liquid Level Beginning Spirit Master.
Fifth Tier Demons had the strength similar to that of a Liquid Level Middle Spirit Master.
And so on. The Ninth Tier Demons could fight on par with peak Crystal Level existences and would not end up in a disadvantaged situation at all.
When the strength of these Demons immensely increased, it could be further advanced to a higher tier but when that time came, its name and form would naturally be different.
Based on the descriptions in the Book, the Flying Head was among the Fourth Tier Demons. Rumor had it that in the Barbarian Ghost Sect, the Nine Infants was a Seventh Tier Demon evolving from the evolved form of the Flying Head.
When Liu Ming saw the records in the books, he naturally felt aghast and confused.
Even though the Flying Head’s performance in the secret realm was extremely impressive, no matter how well it performed, it did not possess the strength of a Liquid Level Spirit Master.
There was a huge disparity of two tiers between the Flying Head and the Nine Infants. However, the former could actually evolve into an existence as terrifying as the latter.
However, before he was able to refine the necessary Secret Techniques to be able to completely communicate with the Flying Heads, he was unable to make sense of all of this.
Liu Ming naturally would not idiotically ask these type of questions directly to Gui Ru Quan and company.
Otherwise, once they knew that the Flying Head and Demon Subduing Chain had fallen into his hands, they would most likely want them back.
To him, these two objects could greatly enhance his strength. Great strength was life’s fundamental guarantee. Naturally, he would not think to return it.
Once Liu Ming’s thoughts reached this point, his mind unconsciously recapped the situation where he was summoned by Gui Ru Yuan and his two juniors.
When these three people learned that Shi Chuan failed to leave the secret realm, yet found out that Liu Ming was able to shine in the Life and Death Trial, with his last harvest even beating Yang Qian by a mile, their expressions could be said to have been abnormally complex. However, on the whole, it was natural that their joy dominated a large part of their expressions.
After all, with Liu Ming’s performance this time, it was more than enough to let the Nine Infants faction emerge from the depths of the Sect.
The three of them rewarded Liu Ming with a few encouraging words. In addition, they gave Medicinal Pills for his extremely encouraging performance. They also implied that they would help him ask the Sect for a tenth of the harvest that he was rightfully supposed to receive and that Liu Ming wouldn’t need to worry about such matters.
Originally, in the cave at the secret realm’s entrance, the disciples handed over their resources along with the Sumeru Handkerchief initially granted to them. Everything was kept by the Sect Leader of the Barbarian Ghost Sect. The agreement to share the rewards equally by a tenth was naturally uniformly imparted after a round of discussion back at the Sect.
Liu Ming heard this and naturally thanked them endlessly.
However, with regards to the Secret Technique of communicating with the hearts of Demonic beings, he certainly discovered many techniques but most of them required Gui Ru Quan and the others to personally impart their knowledge for him to learn.
As a result, he could only focus his attention on the Secret Technique called “Demonic Heart Method”.
This Secret Technique was considered a method to communicate with Demons but it could also be considered as a type of Mental Strength Secret Technique. Once used, not only does it enable one to communicate with Demonic Beings but also enables one to protect their conscious to a certain degree, allowing one to withstand mental attacks to a level.
A normal person was naturally not eligible to study this kind of Secret Technique, one that perfectly encompassed these two areas. They had to spend a set amount of Contribution Points in the Scripture Pavilion in order to receive the technique.
Liu Ming current Contribution Points were at zero and as such, this matter was naturally hidden.
These few days, Liu Ming could only wait for the Sect’s reward to be sent down. At the same time, he busied himself with refining the Demon Subduing Chain.
Normal Spirit Apostles, since they were not Spirit Masters, were unable to condense their Perception. As such, they could only operate one Totem at a time.
TL: Think of Perception as ESP with more uses
However, due to Liu Ming’s talent in multitasking, he could operate two Totems effortlessly at the same time.
As a result, when he was facing opponents, he could operate both the Cyan Moon Sword and Demon Subduing Chain at the same time. Presumably, with these two Totems, those below the level of Spirit Master, who could be considered his opponent, would be extremely rare.
As for the Jade Shadow Needle, due to the fact that its restriction layer count was so low, in normal circumstances, it could only be used as a killer ace. When facing an enemy head on, the effects it would have were not great.
While Liu Ming was contemplating, a delightful sweet female voice came from outside of the house,
“Is Disciple Bai here? Master Gui is summoning you to the mountain. It seems that the reward from the Sect has arrived.”
Liu Ming noticed that the voice sounded familiar. After a moment of consideration, realization dawned on him and he quickly replied, “Is that Senior Gu outside? I’ll come immediately.”
His tone dropped, and with a flick of his arm, the silver chain wrapped around him unraveled like a Spirit Snake, disappearing into his sleeves.
At this moment, he got up and pushed the door open to walk outside.
Liu Ming saw a beautiful and voluptuous woman standing in the outer courtyard. It was Gu Mei Shan, the woman of the Nine Infants Faction who attracted people’s attention.
“Junior Bai, I have yet to congratulate you. Hoho, Junior, this time it can be considered that you have established a great achievement for both the Sect and us, the Nine Infants. Your future is undoubtedly promising.”
“Perhaps, Master Gui will immediately promote you to the position of the top Senior.” Once the lady saw Liu Ming walk out, she immediately chuckled and spoke with praise. Her expression was still one of endearment.
Liu Ming was at first slightly startled, but he immediately recovered and smiled, politely replying.
“Senior is joking now. I am only lucky this time to be able to provide some contribution. How can I dare to be on par with the esteemed Senior Brothers and Sisters?”
“Junior Bai, the words that you have spoken are not truthful. You are young, yet when dealing with people, you are like a seventy or eighty year old man. Would you not say that this is too boring?” Gui Mei Shan replied, blinking with a look of some disapproval on her face.
Liu Ming smiled and didn’t continue saying anything.
Gu Mei Shan couldn’t do anything about his silence. Under such circumstances, she shot Liu Ming a glance before she took off first, flying toward the peak of the mountain.
Liu Ming made a hand sign and followed close behind.
A tea’s worth of time later, he appeared in the large temple on the peak of Nine Infants Mountain.
There, besides Gui Ruquan, Spirit Master Zhong, and Zhu Chi, Spirit Master Zhang from Poisonous Spirit Faction was also seated there.
“Master and Martial Uncles!” Liu Ming first directed his bow toward Spirit Master Zhong and followed through with paying his respects to the others.
“Cong Tian, get up. This time I’ve summoned you because the rewards that the few of you received have arrived. What more is that Martial Uncle Zhang has personally delivered them.” Spirit Master Zhong looked at Liu Ming with a kind glance.
It was no wonder since it was not long ago that Liu Ming had been accepted as her Personal Disciple. Yet, he had already accomplished such a great achievement for the Sect and the Nine Infants, greatly raising her reputation.
Spirit Master Zhong was immensely pleased, causing her to unconsciously be a little more warm-hearted toward Liu Ming.
“This time, the disciples from our Sect that participated in the Secret Realm trial increased the face of our Barbarian Ghost Sect. Presumably, the Sect Leader will not be too stingy with his reward, right?” Gui Ru Yuan said with a smile, directing his words at the middle-aged Spirit Master.
“Senior Gui is joking now. Disciple Bai was nominated by Martial Uncle Yan as the disciple that should be greatly rewarded. How could the Sect Leader not add to the reward? Do not worry. As far as I know, Disciple Bai’s reward is plentiful. I am afraid that it is in no way inferior to Martial Nephew Yang’s.” The middle-aged Spirit Master replied in a positive manner.
“If it is like this, let me first extend my gratitude to the Sect Leader on behalf of Cong Tian.” When Spirit Master Zhong heard this, her face lit up.
“Hehe! Nevertheless, words of thanks still should be said after Martial Nephew Bai has seen the reward. To say it after is not too late either.” The middle-aged Spirit Master responded with a chuckle.