Chapter 118: Breaking through the Dawn State
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
A man in black with a cloak walked out from the back of the rockery and laughed in a hoarse voice, "It's sinister of you, Lord of the Western Yard. Did you deliberately draw us out with Zhang Ruochen?"
The Lord of the Western Yard replied, "It's a pity that I didn't draw all of you out. But you are one of the leaders, if you are caught, it won't be difficult to catch the others."
Since Elder Situ had been recognized, he decided not to hide his identity. He took off the cloak to show his skinny, old face. Then, he stared at the Lord of the Western Yard with sharp rays of light in his deep eyes.
"Lord, I haven't seen you fight with others for over a decade. I just wonder about the level of your present cultivation." Elder Situ took out two crimson spears from his robe. Then he operated inscriptions to combine them, forming a 266-centimeter-long Blood Dripping Spear.
The spear was as crimson as blood.
When the long spear was waved, it looked like a blood waterfall pouring down.
The flaming Genuine Qi poured out from Elder Situ's palm and fully covered the long spear.
Hot air came from the spear and heated up the surroundings to a high temperature.
When all thought that there would be a duel between Elder Situ and the Lord of the Western Yard, Elder Situ suddenly stared at Zhang Ruochen coldly, with his left palm beating on the end of the long spear.
"Whew!"
The 266-centimeter-long Blood Dripping Spear looked like a flaming arrow as it came off of the bowstring, and it gave out a harsh sound when it broke through the air and flew rapidly towards Zhang Ruochen.
Crackling sounds emanated in the air.
At that moment, Elder Situ moved a step to the right, stood on his tiptoes, and jumped into the air. He was like a giant bird and flew several dozens of meters away. Then he jumped out of Dragon Martial Temple and escaped in the distance.
He knew that he could never defeat the Lord of the Western Yard. However, Zhang Ruochen was the Achilles' heel. So long as the Lord of the Western Yard attempted to save Zhang Ruochen, he would have the opportunity to escape.
Zhang Ruochen stepped back quickly with his eyes fixed on the crimson spear which was heading straight towards him.
The Lord of the Western Yard caught the spear immediately when the Long Blazing Spear flew in front of Zhang Ruochen. Then the Lord swung his arm and threw out the long spear in a stronger power to make it faster.
"Boom!"
The crimson spear flew out like a fire dragon and broke the enclosing wall of the Dragon Palace.
A terrible screech came from the outside of the wall.
Built with bricks, the enclosing wall of Dragon Martial Temple was seven meters high and one meter thick. However, the Long Blazing Spear had broken the wall and caused a big hole two meters in diameter, making the thick wall topple down.
Through the hole, it could be seen that Elder Situ had been pierced through and fell down in a pool of blood.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Lord of the Western Yard and was amazed by his powerful martial cultivation that had killed Elder Situ in one attack, which was a drop in the bucket of his real strength.
Having seen the dark-purple poisonous wound on Zhang Ruochen's neck, the Lord of the Western Yard took out a medicine bottle and said, "You have the hypertoxic poison 'Netherworld Water' from Hades Department. Fortunately, it is not enough to kill you. Here is the tailored Detoxification Pill. Take it right now."
Zhang Ruochen removed the Detoxification Pill from the bottle and took it. Immediately, the dark purple in the neck began to fade and the wound soon healed completely.
The Lord of the Western Yard stared at Zhang Ruochen, nodded with satisfaction and laughed, "Yue Jingchan told me that your Spiritual Power had reached to the twenty-ninth level, which makes you the unprecedented top genius of Spiritual Power in the School of the Martial Market. Aha! Good boy. I feel quite satisfied with your achievements. And I will show off in front of my peers the next time I go to the School of the Martial Market."
The Lord of the Western Yard stopped for a while and said in a serious voice, "But I have to ask you seriously. Do you want to be a Saint of Spiritual Power?"
Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruochen answered, "No, I won't give up Martial Arts."
The Lord of the Western Yard stared at Zhang Ruochen and said, "Zhang Ruochen, do you know how brilliant your talents are in Spiritual Power? You can probably be in the top 10 even throughout the history of the whole Terran in Kunlun's Field. Based on your talents and cultivation from the School of the Martial Market, the possibility for you to become a Saint of Spiritual Power is at least 50 percent."
Zhang Ruochen refused, "Lord, I will never give up Martial Arts no matter how hard you try to persuade me."
The Lord of the Western Yard said, "Well! Actually, you also have brilliant talents in Martial Arts and you will make great achievements in the future. Deputy Headmaster Qing Hua promised to help you apply for 10 drops of Half-Saint's Essence. You will be able to apply within three days.
"If you have any questions about Martial Arts, feel free to ask me at any time. The quarterly assessment will be held in two months. Thus, you need to spare no efforts to practice. I am looking forward to your success in the competition among freshmen from four campuses to win honors for the Western Campus."
Zhang Ruochen replied, "I will try my best."
The Lord of the Western Yard stared at the body of Elder Situ, thought for a while and said, "Although Elder Situ died, there must be other killers from Hades Department lurking in the Western Campus. However, they have little cultivation. Little Duanmu, you will be responsible for his safety in the next two months. Is that ok?"
"Of course, Lord. I promise you." Duanmu Xingling smiled.
The Lord of the Western Yard nodded and commanded others to clean up the bodies of the three killers from Hades Department and hang them on a 30-meter-high bloody wall on the Western Campus.
After being killed, all the spies from the Black Market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect were hung on the bloody wall for three days. This was used as a warning to other spies.
"Senior Sister Apprentice Hua Lian! I didn't imagine that she is a killer from Hades Department. She once gave some guidance on my archery."
"Elder Situ was in the Western Campus for decades. I had never imagined that he was a heretic from the Black Market. Fortunately, he has been killed by the Lord. Otherwise, countless genius students would have been assassinated by him."
...
The death of the three killers caused a great sensation in the Western Campus and attracted many students to the bloody wall.
Zi Qian stood in the crowd and stared at the three bodies on the wall, with unspeakable solemnity in her heart. Perhaps one day she would be killed as well, and her body would be hung on that bloody wall.
Since she chose to be a killer, she made full mental preparation to be killed someday.
Not only Zi Qian, but also two other students in the crowd were frightened. They left silently.
.
In Dragon Martial Temple, Duanmu Xingling laughed with her arms folded across her chest. "Spies from Hades Department have been struck heavily. Even the Elder Situ has been killed. I suppose that no one would dare to assassinate you in the short run."
Zhang Ruochen stared at the debris and collapsed wall on the ground and said, "Now Black No.1 has been ruined. It may take a month to repair it. Where can we live?"
Duanmu Xingling stopped, touched her chin and laughed. "Let's move to Sister Chen's room."
"You just fought with her and have a bad relationship with her now. Will she let you live in Earth No.1?" asked Zhang Ruochen.
"Don't worry! Since I already had a fight with Sister Chen, she should be calmed down now. Let's go! Trust me, she will accept us," said Duanmu Xingling.
The gate of Earth No.1 was open when Duanmu Xingling and Zhang Ruochen arrived. They went straight into it.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen stopped.
"Chew!" A blue sword flew out of the window and passed by Zhang Ruochen's nose.
Huang Yanchen walked out of the room and stood above with arrogance. She stared at Duanmu Xingling and Zhang Ruochen and said in a grim voice, "What are you doing here? Get away right now if you don't want to die."
Duanmu Xingling chuckled and jumped towards Huang Yanchen. She held Huang Yanchen's arms, acting like a spoiled child, and said in a delicate voice, "Now Yellow No.1 and Black No.1 are both destroyed. We have nowhere to go. Sister Chen, I beg you to let us live here for the sake of our helpless situation. I beg you!"
Zhang Ruochen stood below and said in an unflappable voice, "If Senior Sister Apprentice Huang is still angry at me, I will go to my fourth brother's room to live with him. Farewell!"
"Who told you that I was still angry? When was I angry at you?"
The solemn expression on Huang Yanchen's face disappeared and she giggled with a smile. "Now that you are here for my protection, how can I refuse to take you in? Follow me!"
Huang Yanchen stretched her arms with Genuine Qi bursting out from her palm and forming a twisted wind power.
Driven by the wind power, the blue sword that was stuck in the stone wall beside Zhang Ruochen returned to her palm with a swish.
"Telekinesis."Zhang Ruochen squinted and thought more highly of Huang Yanchen.
With her perfect control of Genuine Qi, she would spend little time to reach the Advanced Stage Realm of Sword Following the Mind.
"From now on, Xingling will live with me on the second floor and you in the lobby downstairs. And you can never come to the second floor without my permission. Do you have any questions?" Huang Yanchen stared at Zhang Ruochen through her beautiful eyes with warped eyelashes.
The lobby was really capacious, containing not only a single room but also a study room, an instrument room, and a Martial Arts practice hall. There was a public bathhouse outside the instrument room, beside which grew a line of maple trees. The environment was quite elegant.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Well! From now on, I will live in the Martial Arts practice hall and never disturb you."
After finishing his words, Zhang Ruochen walked into the Martial Arts practice hall with Blackie.
The Martial Arts practice hall was very spacious at eight meters long and six meters wide. Except for the entrance, the room was all surrounded by stone walls with the Inscription of Array carving to protect them from being broken through by the Sword Breath.
"Zhang Ruochen, I'm going to read in the study room!" Then, Blackie left the Martial Arts practice hall like a flash.
Over the following three days, Zhang Ruochen practiced the Sacred Sword Skill in the Martial Arts practice hall in the daytime and entered into the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel to take in pills and practice Genuine Qi when the night fell.
Zhang Ruochen carried a great number of pills that he obtained them by searching the students in the first exam of the Martial School.
The total amount of pills was more than 300 bottles, including pills to increase Genuine Qi, pills to increase his power, pills to heal wounds, antidotes, and pills to strengthen Spiritual Blood.
After a rough estimation, Zhang Ruochen was sure that so many pills were enough for him to practice to the Completion of the Black Realm.
Three days later, Deputy Yard Master Qing Hua carried 10 drops of Half-Saint's Essence to Earth No.1 and handed them over to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen could not wait to refine the 10 drops of Half-Saint's Essence the moment he got them.
"Blackie, guard me when I practice. If Senior Sister Apprentice Huang and Duanmu come here, tell them that I am secluding myself for refining."
Zhang Ruochen told this to Blackie and he entered the internal space of Time and Space Spinel. Then he took out the first drop of Half-Saint's Essence, swallowed it, and started to refine the body.
Zhang Ruochen spent eight days in the Time and Space Spinel refining two drops of Half-Saint's Essence and his cultivation eventually broke through the Dawn State of the Black Realm.