Chapter 56

Lu Ming opened his eyes and a radiant gleam flashed in his eyes.

‘Fourth Grade Master Realm! The devouring speed of the blood essence is terrifying indeed. It only took a day for me to go from the beginner stage of the Third Grade Master Realm to the Fourth Grade Master Realm!

‘However, this isn’t enough. Ning Feng’s a top Sixth Grade Master, and no one knows if he’ll break through this time. I’ve gotta improve further.’

Lu Ming made his way to the Contribution Hall once again.

This time, he exchanged the 80,000 taels of silver he got from Duanmu Jue into sect contribution points.

80,000 taels of silver were equivalent to 800 sect contribution points.

With his own 700 points, and the 3,000 points Lu Ming borrowed from Mu Lan, he had a total of 4,500 points, and he exchanged everything with demonic beasts’ blood essence.

Lu Ming got fifteen portions of Fifth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essence (100 sect contribution points each) and another fifteen portions of Sixth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essence (200 sect contribution points each).

In the blink of an eye, he finished all his sect contribution points.

“Poor, I’m simply too poor!” Lu Ming sighed.

He continued with his cultivation when he got back to his room.

Two days later, Lu Ming had devoured a total of 19 Fifth Grade Second Level demonic beast’ blood essence, including the four portions he previously purchased.

His cultivation reached the top of the Fourth Grade Master Realm, so he was just a sliver more to the peak of the top of the Fourth Grade Master Realm.

After the Fifth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essences, Lu Ming continued devouring Sixth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essences.

With merely three portions, Lu Ming’s cultivation reached peak top Fourth Grade Master Realm.

As he continued devouring three more Sixth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essence, there were no signs of improvement in his cultivation, which meant that he had no hope of reaching the Fifth Grade Master Realm any time soon.

“My cultivation was raised too quickly. My Essential Qi’s tainted and my foundation’s shaky. I’ve gotta stop to consolidate and reinforce my cultivation!” Lu Ming laughed bitterly.

Lu Ming focused fully on reinforcing his cultivation, temporarily putting devouring blood essence aside.

He also practiced his martial arts techniques in his spare time.

Ten days had passed, and it was barely two days away from the agreement with Ning Feng a month ago.

In the span of these ten days, Lu Ming’s Flame Dragon Fist had reached the Sixth Stage – One with the Martial Arts.

However, no matter how much Lu Ming practiced, his Lustrous Sword Technique remained stagnant at the Fifth Stage.

Besides that, he was almost done reinforcing his cultivation.

‘I’ll start breaking through now!’

Lu Ming started attempting cultivation breakthroughs after devouring more Sixth Grade Second Level demonic beasts’ blood essences.

Roar! Roar!

The demonic beasts’ blood essence transformed into streams of dragon-like Essential Qi that grew larger as they soared in Lu Ming’s meridians. Eventually, all the dragon-like Essential Qi gathered at the Qi Cyclone in the Dantian.

Whoosh, whoosh…

After one and a half days, Lu Ming’s Qi Cyclone spun quickly, and with a shudder, it expanded to two times its original size.

‘I’ve finally broken through to Fifth Grade Master Realm!’

Lu Ming opened his eyes happily.

Buzz!

He felt a numbing sensation on his spine and in a burst of red light, a finger-sized Spirit-devouring Worm appeared, tumbling about in the air.

The Spirit-devouring Worm began to lengthen and thicken. In two hours, it became like a small snake that was as thick as a thumb and about 50 centimeters long.

Yes, it did look like a little black, scaly snake hovering in the air.

There were four bright red meridian focal points on that little snake.

In terms of advancement, Lu Ming’s blood meridians had finally advanced, but they needed more blood essence than expected.

This advancement also came with a change in appearance for Lu Ming’s blood meridian.

‘I don’t think I can call this a worm anymore, right? Should I change its name to ‘snake’?’

Lu Ming was confused.

This was unheard of – a blood meridian that could advance in levels and evolve.

‘I’m not sure if it’ll continue evolving in the future. You know what? I’ll just call it the Spirit Devourer then!’ Lu Ming thought enthusiastically.

….

In one of the more spacious courtyards in the Vermillion Bird Hall stood two figures. It was Ning Feng, and the other one was Ning Kong, his father.

“Feng’er, how confident are you in defeating Lu Ming?” Ning Kong asked.

“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll surely kill Lu Ming on the Vermillion Bird Stage,” Ning Feng replied confidently.

“Don’t undervalue your enemy, Feng’er. This Lu Ming’s the Apprentice Champion, and he initiated the challenge, so he must have something up his sleeve. Don’t underestimate him,” Ning Kong advised.

Ning Feng laughed and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure before this, Dad, but my cultivation broke through to another level yesterday.”

“You broke through? Feng’er, did you just say you broke through?” Ning Kong was overjoyed.

“Yes, Dad!” Ning Feng chuckled, an aura stronger than a top Sixth Grade Master radiated from within him.

“Hahaha, good, I’m more at ease now. The Duanmu family has placed a lot of emphasis on this matter, so as long as you kill Lu Ming, our position in the Duanmu family will rise to greater heights.”

“The Duanmu family is gradually growing in power and influence, which means we’ll be in a better place if we continue serving them faithfully.”

Ning Kong laughed as he passed a jade bottle to Ning Feng. “Feng’er, here’s a Spirit-exploding Pill I’ve requested from the Duanmu family. It was meant for you to kill Lu Ming, but since you have broken through in your cultivation, you probably won’t need it. Still, bring it with you, just in case.”

“Thanks, Dad!” Ning Feng took the jade bottle.

“Alright, time’s almost up. Let’s head over to the Vermillion Bird Stage” said Ning Kong.

…..

On the other side, Lu Ming packed up and walked out of his room only to see Hua Chi and Pang Shi waiting for him.

“Senior Brother Lu, we’ll go with you,” Pang Shi said.

“Don’t you dare lose, Lu Ming. You can only lose to me, Apprentice Champion,” Hua Chi said coldly.

“Let’s go!” Lu Ming smiled and walked out of the doorway.

The Vermillion Bird Stage was located on the east side of the foot of the Vermillion Bird Peak. It was very spacious since it was specially designed for hall apprentices to duel against each other.

At that moment, there were already thousands of people crowding around the Vermillion Bird Hall. Some were new apprentices, but there were mostly senior apprentices and elders were present.

It was unheard of to have the newly emerged Apprentice Champion challenging a senior apprentice who was four to five years older to a duel.

Many were there because they were intrigued. Where did Lu Ming get that confidence and courage from?

Suddenly, a voice rang out. “Chief Elder Ning Kong’s here.”

“Ning Feng’s here too!”

Ning Feng and Ning Kong walked in together with a troop of people by their side.

The same bunch walked toward the upper area and headed towards one of the viewing platforms.

“Elder Mu Lan’s here too!”

“Really?! Where?”

An even larger commotion erupted.

Mu Lan walked in daintily with her group which included Feng Wu and Yuan Hui.

They too made their way to the viewing platform in the upper area.