Chapter 77: The Surging Undercurrents
With just a thought, The Azure Dragon in Xiao Chen’s Dantian swam up to the water’s surface, spitting out a golden colored Dragon Qi. The Dragon Qi travelled via the meridians and flowed out of his body, appearing on Xiao Chen’s right hand.
The energy contained in this Dragon Qi was very strong. This was the true Dragon Qi that had been passed down for thousands of years in the Great Qin Nation. Xiao Chen was surprised that Yue Ying was willing to give him a strand of it.
If this Dragon Qi was completely used, even a Martial Saint would be severely injured. It was not an exaggeration for her to say that it would be able to protect Xiao Chen’s life.
“Hu!”
Xiao Chen carefully infused the Dragon Qi into the wooden sculpture. A stream of golden light appeared at the feet of the wooden sculpture, and when the last bit of Dragon Qi was infused within, the entire wooden sculpture gave off a resplendent golden light.
Xiao Chen took a deep breath. With a slight thought from him, the clear water around his Martial Spirit began to gradually surge up. A thick Essence flowed slowly to his right hand. He raised it and tapped on the forehead of the wooden sculpture with one finger.
“Hu Chi!”
The boundless Essence streamed into the wooden sculpture through that finger; it gave off a faint radiance. Xiao Chen’s Essence was continually exhausted, as though incapable of being completely filled up. After 15 minutes, the clear water in his Dantian had already reduced by half.
Xiao Chen was surprised in his heart, To think that this Life Bestowal Spell would exhaust so much Essence. No wonder it was impossible to succeed before becoming a Martial Master.
With the amount, purity, and strength of the Essence of a Martial Disciple, it was impossible to meet the requirements of this spell. Furthermore, the sculpture he made was not up to par. This naturally resulted in him failing.
“Shua!”
When the amount of Essence in Xiao Chen’s body was reduced to a quarter, the wooden sculpture suddenly turned large with a ‘shua’ sound. The Yue Ying that was only wearing a bra and holding a long spear came to life in front of Xiao Chen.
She gently swung the golden spear in her hands, and nine golden dragon shadows appeared behind her back. With a ‘boom’, the dragon shadows flew all around in a chaotic manner before finally entering into her long spear.
Xiao Chen was full of joy. With just a thought, Yue Ying turned into a beam of light and shot towards his hand, turning into a wooden sculpture once again.
Success!
“After trying for countless times, I finally succeeded once. In the future, if I run into any Martial Saint expert, I will be able to hold my ground,” Xiao Chen muttered joyfully to himself as he grasped the wooden sculpture tightly.
...
It was less than half a month to the Promise of Ten Years. There were surging undercurrents within Mohe City.
Mohe City, in a Secret Room of the Tang Clan:
The Tang Clan Head, Zhang Clan Head, the mysterious old man in blue clothes, and a few consecrates of the two clans were there.
The Zhang Clan Head’s face was full of anxiety as he said, “Elder Leng, when can you pass the Returning Essence Pill to me? For the great undertaking of the Leng Clan, I have already risked everything. Now that my eldest son has been crippled, you must do something to help him.”
The blue clothed Martial Saint smiled gently, “Elder Zhang, there is no need to be anxious. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how precious the Returning Essence Pill is, as it can help to recondense the Martial Spirit. Yesterday, I received news that my clan head has specially requested one from the Misty Sword Sect. It will probably arrive tonight.
The Zhang Clan Head revealed an expression of joy as he said, “In that case, many thanks to Elder Leng. I am eternally grateful.”
The blue clothed man waved his hands, “There is no need to stand on ceremony. We still need to rely on your son, as well as the son of the Tang Clan Head. Helping you is equivalent to helping myself.”
When Tang Tian, who was standing beside him, heard that the Zhang Clan head had managed to obtain a Returning Essence Pill, he felt some dissatisfaction in his heart and he said, “Elder Leng, my eldest son died at such a young age. Why do I not see you making compensation for that?”
The expression on the blue clothed man’s face changed slightly, “Elder Tang, it’s not right that you say such a thing. With regards to the matter with the Six-Tailed Spirit Fox, I have held up my end of the bargain; I have done everything I should have. The one who killed your son was Xiao Chen.”
“Furthermore, as far as I know, the talent of your eldest son is merely average. Normally, you wouldn't even care about him.”
Tang Tian’s face turned dark. The words of the blue clothed man were indeed true. He was not able to find any words or retort to that, and could only snort coldly without saying anything else.
When the blue clothed man saw the situation, the expression on his face turned warmer, smiling, “Elder Tang, you don’t have to be too anxious. After the Promise of Ten Years, when we obtain the Seven Horn Mountain, our Leng Clan will start up a new sect. By that time, the position of Supreme Elder will definitely be yours.”
When Tang Tian heard this, his expression became warmer, “However, the three participants from the Xiao Clan are extremely strong. Not to mention the terrifying Xiao Chen, there is still Xiao Jian, and Xiao Yulan. The two of them are Martial Masters. I’m afraid that even if Zhang He recovers his strength, we will still be unable to beat them.”
The blue clothed man smiled coldly, “Is Xiao Chen very strong? I’m not so sure. He was just lucky, and managed to kill one injured Martial Grand Master. He is not even a Martial Master, so how strong can he be?”
“Furthermore, even if he is very strong, he would first require the opportunity to even attend the competition. Otherwise, no matter how strong he is, it will be useless.”
Tang Tian and the Zhang Clan Head exchanged a look with each other, “Could it be that Elder Leng is planning to take action personally, and cripple that fellow? However, doesn’t the Xiao Clan have a Martial Saint expert as well?”
The blue clothed man said indifferently, “In another two days, the Leng Clan Head will bring three Martial Saint elders to Mohe City personally. This Promise of Ten Years is something that was established by the Mohe City Lord. It is not appropriate to sabotage this in the open, but it is still possible to play some tricks behind their backs.”
“As for that Martial Saint from the Xiao Clan… Haha… He is just an Inferior Grade Martial Saint. My Clan Head could destroy him with just the wave of his hand.”
The clan heads of the Zhang Clan and Tang Clan were both shocked in their hearts. This meant that, including the blue clothed man, all five Martial Saint experts of the Leng Clan would be coming. With their strength, they would be able to sweep away the Xiao Clan simply by relying on these five people.
...
Now that Xiao Chen had succeeded at the Life Bestowal Spell, he focused his remaining time on consolidating his cultivation as an Inferior Grade Martial Master and drawing Talismans.
A Martial Master had an abundant amount of Essence, so Xiao Chen attempted to create Grade 3 Talismans a few times and found that the success rates were higher than before. If his Purple Thunder Divine Incantation could advance to the third layer, then he could guarantee a 90% success rate.
The days passed just like that, and in the blink of an eye, another week had passed.
“Cousin Xiao Chen, are you there?”
Xiao Chen was currently in his room drawing a Grade 3 dual attributed attack Talisman. He immediately put down what he was doing when he heard Xiao Yulan’s voice.
The instant Xiao Chen put down the brush, the Spiritual Energy in the Talisman completely faded away. Then it rose up into the air and burnt up, turning into ashes. This was normal for drawing talismans; if one was unable to finish it in a breath, then all the work put in was wasted.
Xiao Chen felt that it was a pit in his heart. This was a Grade 3 Icefire Talisman, and it was just hair’s breadth away from completion. If he was lucky, it could have succeeded.
Xiao Chen was mildly surprised when he opened the doors. Aside from Xiao Yulan, there was also Xiao Jian, Xiao Ling`er, Ye Lan, and the other people from the Trial of Gloomy Forest with her.
“What’s going on? Why did you all come here?” Xiao Chen said with some surprise.
Xiao Ling`er had a big smile on her face as she said, “Elder Brother Xiao Chen, do you still not know? The First Elder gave us a one day holiday today, allowing all of us to go out. We all decided to take a walk around Mohe City, but we were missing you.”
Xiao Chen suddenly understood something. This move of the First Elder was correct. After all, this was a bunch of young people. If they were locked up in the house, they would be stifled and something might go wrong.
However, some suspicions appeared in his heart. With so many people going out, what if something happened?
Xiao Ling`er could tell that he was worrying about something. She raised her lily-white hands and pointed towards a certain direction, “Take a look in that direction; there is a consecrate or something over there protecting us. We will be fine.”
Xiao Chen looked in the direction she pointed and discovered that Liu Fengyin was standing outside the courtyard resting with his eyes closed. Behind him, there were also a few of the Xiao Clan’s Martial Grand Masters following him.
Xiao Chen laughed involuntarily in his heart. The First Elder was actually willing to send a big portion of the Xiao Clan’s elite forces just for the group of them.
“Let’s go then,” Xiao Chen stopped hesitating and followed the group of them to Mohe City.
In Mohe City, there were crowds moving around everywhere. It was as bustling as it had been in the past.
The group of them followed the crowd and wandered around the streets, shopping everywhere. Xiao Chen suddenly discovered, regardless of the world, the girls all had a strong desire for shopping.
Aside from Xiao Chen and Xiao Jian, out of the ten of them, the other males had bags of varied sizes hanging all over them. Ye Lan was the most miserable out of the lot; he was responsible for the things that Xiao Ling`er purchased. In every possible place where something could be hung, there was something hanging on him.
“Let’s go to Cultivator's Plaza to take a look!” Ye Lan finally could no longer take it, and made the suggestion in the hopes that it would distract Xiao Ling`er from shopping further.
Cultivator's Plaza… Xiao Chen thought in his heart, The Promise of Ten Years that was taking place seven days later would be held in Cultivator's Plaza. If they go there to check out the situation first, it would definitely be beneficial for them when the duels start.
“Cousin Yulan, how about we go take a look? The duels are in seven days, and it might be good to check out the location in advance.”
Xiao Yulan smiled faintly, “We will follow what Cousin Xiao Chen says.”
Ye Lan and his other male brethren all looked at Xiao Yulan with gratitude and released their breath in relief. Only Xiao Ling`er seemed dissatisfied, as she was grumbling that she had not purchased enough things yet. When Ye Lan heard this, he felt very down, and he could not even muster up the mood to cry.
Cultivator's Plaza was the center of Mohe City. In the center of the plaza, there was a hundred meters tall statue. This was a statue of the emperor of the Tianwu Dynasty from ten thousand years ago.
Every city in the continent would have a Cultivator's Plaza; each of those Cultivator's Plazas would have a huge statue in the middle. The likenesses of the people carved into the statues at each location were basically all of the famous Martial Emperors of the past.
Around the statue, there were 16 arenas made of Heavenly Mountain Stones. One of the arenas was particularly eye catching; its size and height were much larger than the surrounding ones.
These arenas were all operated by the City Lord. This was a norm in the Tianwu Continent, and there would normally be plenty of people here. However, it currently was a prohibited zone, not allowing anyone to go in or out.
Every year, there was a large scale competition that was held in Mohe City’s Cultivator's Plaza. It was organized by the City Lord personally. Aside from winning generous prizes, one could also raise their reputation, and possibly be seen in a good light by the major Clans or the City Lord.
This was the most bustling period in Mohe City. Furthermore, this competition coincided with the Promise of Ten Years of Mohe City’s three major clans. Imagining the kind of bustling scene... It would be horrifyingly crowded.
Thus, the City Lord’s manor had sealed up the Cultivator's Plaza half a month ago and begun rehearsals, as well as conducting repairs in order to guarantee that nothing adverse would happen.
However, this restriction was for the outsiders. For the Xiao Clan group, it was not a problem. All they had to do was report their identities, and the City Lord Manor’s people would not stop them.
The group walked towards the statue of the Tianwu Emperor in the center of the plaza. In front of the emperor of ten thousand years ago even the restless people in the crowd all quieted down.
Just at this moment, Xiao Chen suddenly felt two gazes filled with killing intent staring at him. He turned his head and saw Tang Feng and Zhang He at an arena not far away, staring at him with a cold gaze. Apparently they were dueling with each other earlier.
Zhang He was still actually able to use Martial Techniques? Xiao Chen was sure that he did not see wrongly. The two of them were indeed dueling earlier, and Zhang He had even used a Martial technique.
What’s going on? Xiao Chen’s heart was filled with doubt. As he was thinking, Tang Feng and Zhang He jumped down from the arena and started to walk towards him.