Lord Xue Ying

Chapter 2 – Ten Years

It was extremely quiet within the small courtyard. Xue Ying entered the bamboo house. It had two floors, with the first being empty – no pieces of furniture at all.

‘It seems that I’ll have to get my own chairs and tables.’ Xue Ying smiled while shaking his head. He followed along the bamboo stairs upwards to the upper level.

On the upper level, it was similarly empty. There were windows on all four sides, with the only piece of furniture located on the floor – a table! On top of this table was placed a book and a plate. On that plate were a small vase, two red fruits, and a flask of wine.

‘Master Gong Yu said that there will be a book with a brief introductions of the place. I reckon it should be this book?’ Xue Ying sat cross-legged in front of the table before browsing through the book. Indeed, written within the book was some general knowledge related to cultivation in the ‘Scarlet Cloud Mountain World’.

Everyone who could enter the list of Substitute Elders would be groomed heavily.

The vase, two red fruits, and the spiritual liquid within the wine flask were each a kind of Transcendent treasure that one could enjoy once every ten days! These treasures would be a huge help towards the development of one’s physical body and spirit.

‘Zezeze, they are still quite willing to part with it.’ Xue Ying recognised these three Transcendent treasures, ‘A vase of Dragon Blood, two Amber Mist Fruits, and a flask of Nine-Fruits Spiritual Liquid. I’ll get one set of these every ten days. According to my calculations… every year, the value of these items would add up to about 100 kilograms of Origin Stones. A hundred years down the road, it would be 10,000 kilograms of Origin Stones!’

Browsing through the introduction in the book.

Those who were selected to become a Substitute Elder were all Sky realm Transcendents! After attaining the ‘Saint realm’, one would have to leave.

That was because when one broke through to the Saint realm, one’s spirit would have a qualitative change. Transcendent Treasures like the Dragon’s Blood, Amber Mist Fruit, and the Nine-Fruits Spiritual Liquid would still have some aid towards one’s physical body and spirit, though the effect would be drastically reduced! After all, the stronger a Transcendent, the less help external treasures would be for them. Thus, it would not be worth the value for so many Transcendent treasures to be used without having a respective return in effect on these Saint realm Transcendents!

‘One can stay in the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World for at most 500 years! Also, one has to leave when one becomes a Saint.’ Xue Ying thought to himself, ‘Right now, I’m ranked number five. Within these 500 years, the total value of the treasures would add up to 50,000 kilograms of Origin Stones. What if I’m ranked number one? Furthermore, I haven’t take into account the investment done in other areas.’

Fifty thousand kilograms of Origin Stones?

Most peak stage Saint realm experts would not even be able to obtain that much!

But first, he drank down the Dragon’s Blood! A lump of coldness entered his abdomen. Following that was a burning sensation that spread towards every part of his body. He could not help but sweat. His spirit had received similar nourishment as well.

“Ka cha ka cha!” After experiencing the results of the Dragon’s Blood, he slowly ate the Amber Mist Fruit before drinking the Nine-Fruits Spiritual Liquid. It felt refreshing.

‘Cultivating in this Scarlet Cloud Mountain World is indeed excellent.’ Xue Ying smiled, ‘Putting in the utmost effort during the Transcendent Battle of Life and Death was indeed the right decision.’

The majority of Transcendents would have a tough cultivation route ahead of them.

Want to acquire treasure? Want to obtain secret techniques? They would have to pick up some life-death missions and kill those Transcendent natives who would not surrender!

Comprehension of the Realms?

They would have to accept nature as their teacher – cultivating by themselves endlessly.

Usually, there would not be any teacher-student relationship in the world of Transcendents. After all, even the best teachers would not be able to compare with the ‘nature of the World’! Like Gong Yu and Si Kong Yang, they could only give some occasional pointers to Xue Ying and the rest, merely pointing out the direction to solve some of their problems.

　　……

In the Scarlet Cloud Mountain, the resources provided were great, but at the same time, the missions they undertook were extremely dangerous! The life-death missions taken by ordinary Transcendents in the external world would only be considered as a ‘Fundamental mission’! They would still have to pick up more dangerous missions. It was fortunate that all their combat abilities were extremely powerful, and that the mysteries they comprehended out were all extraordinary, thus giving them a huge boost in terms of survivability compared to the other Transcendents.

Amongst them, the ‘Profound Mystery of Water and Fire’ Xue Ying had was the weakest comprehension.

　　******

Time passed.

To the Transcendents who had the ‘nature of the World as their master’, they would usually feel that time passed quite quickly! After all, their occasional pondering of insight would mean a few hours passing by.

Within the blink of an eye, Xue Ying had spent ten years in the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World.

Midsummer.

The Scarlet Cloud Mountain World was relatively hot.

Hu, hu.

Two figures flew amidst the ranges of mountains. The aura emitted by them were extraordinary and unpredictable. These two were precisely powerful Demigod existences! And they were the two Demigods in charge of the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World – Gong Yu and Faction Head Si Kong Yang.

“Were there any breakthroughs the past year amongst those brats?” Faction Head Si Kong Yang asked.

“No breakthroughs. It was relatively quiet,” Gong Yu replied.

“No breakthroughs?” Si Kong Yang looked at him.

“Haha, Faction Head Si Kong. You can’t expect these little brats to have a continuous chain of surprises like the previous year,” Gong Yu laughed. The previous year was indeed the year when the nine Sky realm Transcendents had consecutive chains of breakthroughs, especially ‘Du Rou Rou’ who had reached the second level in terms of her understanding of Profound Mystery of Time! As a result, she became first in the rankings!

Profound Mysteries related to Time, even if it was a side-branch, would still be something amazing. At the very least, when one comprehended a True Meaning, it would be a grade two True Meaning! That would be a True Meaning spoken only of in legends!

But in reality, the Demigods of Infernal Palace would always have some sort of expectations without much confidence in wishing that they would have an expert comprehending a second grade True Meaning. But that was too difficult! Previously, Du Rou Rou was merely at the first level of understanding in Realms of Myriad of Existences, and she already was ranked number two. That clearly showed how much the Xia Clan regarded her. After all, such comprehension of a Profound Mystery related to Time… if it did not succeed, then fine. But if it succeeded, the final result would be amazing!

Right now, she comprehended the second level of the Realms of Myriad Existences, causing the elders of Xia Clan to be excited as they held greater hopes for her.

“Right. That Dong Bo Xue Ying encountered some problems,” Gong Yu suddenly said.

“Dong Bo Xue Ying met some problems?” Si Kong Yang frowned, “Didn’t he fuse the Profound Mysteries of Water and Fire perfectly to reach the second level last year, and he has completed the ‘Underground Magma River’ life-death mission?”

He was still quite pleased with Xue Ying.

He was young, and cultivated quite quickly.

This year, he was just 39 years old, and was much younger than the other Transcendents, yet he could depend on his spear to sweep through the Underground Magma River! This Underground Magma River was actually a unique Transcendent mission that was extremely dangerous and difficult to complete. Other Transcendents who were being groomed… even though they cultivated for a long period of time, they could not complete this frightening Transcendent mission.

This proved that Xue Ying’s combat power was ranked in the middle amongst the nine Transcendents.

Because the fusion between Profound Mysteries of Water and Fire was perfect, Si Kong Yang immediately promoted him to second in rankings! It was only after Du Rou Rou had a breakthrough did Xue Ying drop to the third rank.

Today, the top three rankers were none other than Du Rou Rou, Wen Yong An and Dong Bo Xue Ying.

“It’s just a minor problem,” Gong Yu added, “Though that made me feel worried.”

“What problem?” Si Kong Yang immediately asked.

“He is indeed miles ahead in his comprehension of Profound Mystery of Water and Fire. I even think that he will be able to comprehend the True Meaning of Water and Fire within the next hundred years. He will certainly have a bright future! However, within the past half year, he actually comprehended the Profound Mystery of Wind of Myriad Existences!” Gong Yu said.

“Profound Mystery of Wind?” Si Kong Yang’s expression changed slightly.

“Right, Profound Mystery of Wind.” Gong Yu nodded, “He reached the first level of Myriad Existences in the Profound Mystery of Wind. It is weaker, after all, it was just comprehended recently.”

“What is this Dong Bo Xue Ying doing?” Si Kong Yang became angry, “He is actually distracted into investigating other Profound Mysteries? Does he think that his cultivation speed is too fast?”

The smallest of the smallest comprehensions during cultivation was something to be greatly jealous of!

“I’ve also said that he’s just started comprehending it, thus it will not influence him much. I’ve asked him to temporarily give up on the Profound Mystery of Wind, and asked him to focus on the Profound Mystery of Water and Fire,” Gong Yu said.

“Mn, his innate talent is indeed very high. Hopefully, he will not walk down another path. Come, let’s go and see what improvement these nine brats have had,” Si Kong Yang said. He would visit once every one and a half years to give some pointers to these Transcendents.

Hu, hu.

The two of them flew towards the mountain hosting the bamboo houses.