Three months ago, Duan Ling Tian had deliberately asked Fang Hui, theCity Governor of Mound Hill City, about the Martial and Dao Cultivators on the Saint Rudiment Stage.
According to Fang Hui, only True Energy alone would improve in the Early and Intermediate Stages of the Saint Rudiment Stage. The actual transformation would only take place when one had reached the Mastery Stage.
A person on the Mastery Saint Rudiment Stage would be able to cast the True Energy Consolidated Weapon technique and when he was battling other people, he would be able to consolidate the Relic Phenomenon using part of his True Energy to attack the other party just like Zhou Qi, the inner court disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect, who had come to the City Governor's Estate of Mound Hill City six months ago.
At that time, he had used solidified his True Energy into a giant hammer which was a Relic Phenomenon.
If he had not used his Relic Phenomenon, Fang Hui, who was at the Saint Rudiment Stage Intermediate Stage, would most likely still have been able to hold it out for a while.
The moment the Relic Phenomenon was unleashed, Fang Hui became completely powerless right away!
That scene was still deeply etched in Duan Ling Tian's mind.
When that Relic Gigantic Hammer Phenomenon slammed downwards, it was like a huge mountain that crushed down and could suppress everything.
The True Energy Consolidated Weapon was a technique from the Mastery Saint Rudiment Stage.
Once one had entered the Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage, one would be able to master another new technique, the True Energy Consolidated Beast!
When a person had merged with the blood essence of a fierce beast or a Saint Beast, one would be able to consolidate the phenomenon of the ferocity of the Saint Beast using his True Energy after he had broken through to the Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage.
That Phenomenon was known as the Variant Beast Phenomenon.
If one managed to merge with the blood essence of a powerful fierce beast or a Saint Beast, the Variant Beast Phenomenon that one merged would be just as mighty.
Only a live fierce beast or Saint Beast would have blood essence. If it was already dead, the blood essence would evaporate and vanish without a trace.
That time, when Duan Ling Tian had killed the Five-clawed Devil Dragon, he did not know that there was such a thing pertaining to the Saint Rudiment Stage, so he did not think of getting its blood essence at all.
Of course, it did not mean that he would definitely be able to get it even if he wanted to.
After all, it was all thanks to the Devilseal Tablet that he was able to kill the Five-clawed Devil Dragon at that very critical moment. He did not have the chance to take the blood essence from the Five-clawed Devil Dragon at all.
"Fortunately, Elder Huo has a method of refining the regular blood in the Five-clawed Devil Dragon into blood essence. Otherwise, I'd have missed this opportunity already." Duan Ling Tian secretly felt grateful.
Even though Elder Huo was a Three-legged Golden Crow, the divine sunbird of the ancient mythology from Duan Ling Tian's past life, he did not know about this True Energy Consolidated Beast technique in this world since every mundane planet had their own cultivation methods.
Once he knew about this, he informed Duan Ling Tian that he would refine the ordinary blood of the Five-clawed Devil Dragon into the blood essence.
In fact, after Duan Ling Tian learned that the technique of a Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage powerhouse was related to the blood essence of a fierce beast or a Saint Beast, he felt a little depressed.
This was because although he had the Five-clawed Devil Dragon's body in his possession, he did not have its blood essence at all.
If he merged with the blood essence of the Five-clawed Devil Dragon, he would be able to consolidate the Divine Dragon Phenomenon to battle with his enemy when he entered the Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage. On top of that, it was a Five-clawed Divine Dragon for goodness' sake! He could not help but get excited just thinking about it.
It was a good thing that Elder Huo had a way of salvaging the situation. Otherwise, Duan Ling Tian did not know how discouraged he would get.
Right now, the moment he heard that Elder Huo had successfully refined it, he could not help but feel overwhelmed with excitement. This was, no doubt, thrilling news. It would affect how far his strength would reach in the future.
It was as though he could already see how he was going to consolidate the Five-clawed Divine Dragon Phenomenon to battle with his enemy.
"According to Teacher, in addition to having a shape and spirit, the Variant Beast Phenomenon that's consolidated by a Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage powerhouse would even have force! If I can consolidate a Five-Clawed Divine Dragon Phenomenon, wouldn't the other ordinary Variant Beasts scatter the moment they see the prowess of the dragon?" The second Duan Ling Tian thought of this, he practically trembled with excitement.
"Elder Huo, please keep the blood essence of the Five-clawed Devil Dragon first. I'll only take it from you after I've landed in the Moon Illumination Sect." Although he was itching to merge with the Five-clawed Devil Dragon's blood essence immediately, he still suppressed the desire in his heart since there was no use for him to be that desperate for now.
He was still far away from accessing the Perfection Saint Rudiment Stage.
When he snapped back to reality, he noticed that he was already in the proximity of the monastery gate of the Moon Illumination Sect. He could see that the scene behind the gate was completely painted by mist and fog which allowed them to see nothing at all.
After reaching the front of the monastery gate of the Moon Illumination Sect, Fang Hui motioned to Duan Ling Tian and the two others solemnly before descending. "We'll have to walk through the monastery gate."
Duan Ling Tian and the two others followed suit and descended as well.
Under Fang Hui's guidance, the three of them reached the monastery gate of the Moon Illumination Sect but were blocked by the two Moon Illumination Sect disciples who were guarding the gate.
Taking out an Order Token and waving it around in front of the two Moon Illumination Sect disciples, Fang Hui announced, "I, the City Governor of Mound Hill City, am here with these young talents from Mound Hill City to join the entrance assessment that the sect will hold tomorrow."
Other than the words "City Governor of Mound Hill City" and "outer court deacon" written on the Order Token, Fang Hui's name was printed on it too.
"Oh, it's Deacon Fang!" When the two Moon Illumination Sect disciples saw the Order Token, they smiled and welcomed Fang Hui right away.
Although the outer court deacon did not have much power within the sect, they were still only two outer court disciples, so they did not dare to act recklessly in front of an outer court deacon.
"The entrance assessment will only take place tomorrow, so take a good rest today and have a good night's sleep to recuperate and build up your energy so that you'll be able to perform in the entrance assessment tomorrow." Leading Duan Ling Tian and the two others as they walked inside, Fang Hui told them, "Given the strength within the three of you, it's not difficult for you to pass the entrance assessment and become the outer court disciples of the sect."
Soon, Fang Hui brought them to the peripheral area of the Moon Illumination Sect estate. There were simple, shabby houses that were built specifically for those who came to join the entrance assessment to stay in.
There was another row of houses that appeared to be more spacious and luxurious, but these houses were much fewer compared to those shabby houses. There were only eighteen of them.
After Fang Hui managed to find the person-in-charge and registered with him, he obtained four occupancy placards for four houses.
The occupancy placard was to be hung on the door. The word "inhabited" was written on it, indicating that that particular house was occupied so that other people would not enter it by mistake.
As a flash glimpsed across Xiong Hu's eyes, he asked in a deep voice, "Master, will Su Qi join the entrance assessment tomorrow?"
"Since he has already become Liu Huan's disciple, he doesn't need to join any assessment anymore. Besides that, he'll even be able to enter the inner court sect and become an inner court disciple under Liu Huan's recommendation." Even though it had already been six months since the incident of Su Qi's betrayal took place, some peculiar emotions could still be seen on Fang Hui's face.
"Traitor!" Xiong Hu spat angrily.
"Xiong Hu!" Fang Hui frowned. "It's okay if you say these to yourself once you've entered the Moon Illumination Sect, but remember, if you say it out loud, Liu Huan's people will never let you go that easily."
"The sect doesn't allow us to kill each other, so why would I, Xiong Hu, have to be scared of them?" Xiong Hu snapped with his eyes as huge as saucers.
"All in all, make sure to keep a low profile as much as possible after the three of you have entered the sect… If Liu Huan's people find you three to be unperturbed, or if they feel you guys are boring, they'd then leave you alone," Fang Hui told them solemnly, "I don't wish to create a huge problem for you because of my sake. "
"Temporary tolerance is best for the sake of a better tomorrow. If we want to take revenge for our Master, we'll first need to be more powerful. Otherwise, we'll just be bullied by the others," Ling Yun chimed in.
"That's right," Fang Hui expressed full agreement with Ling Yun's words.
Standing by the side, Duan Ling Tian did not comment. The brilliance shining in his eyes were difficult to be interpreted.
Tolerance?
A sneer slowly crept upon the corner of his mouth.
Duan Ling Tian placed the "inhabited" occupancy placard outside the room.
Being the earliest to arrive, all of the houses were still vacant, so he chose a house that had the best position and the best air flow.
"The house that Teacher stays in is different from ours… Eighteen houses… Could they actually correspond to the eighteen City Governors under the command of the Moon Illumination Sect?" After sweeping a glance across the eighteen spacious houses, Duan Ling Tian's heart gave a jolt as he speculated to himself.
At that moment, be it Fang Hui, Ling Yun, or Xiong Hu, all of them had entered their respective houses one by one and closed their doors. With the "inhabited" placard hung on their doors, they made it clear that the houses that they were in were already occupied.
Duan Ling Tian also opened his door and entered his house.
The house was simple and worn. Other than a small bed that could barely fit him, there was nothing else in the room.
It was apparent that this house was even shabbier that the wooden houses that the 13 Gangsters of the Latent Dragon Camp had stayed in in the City Governor's Estate of Mound Hill City.
However, Duan Ling Tian was not concerned by it at all.
Compared to the extremely vile condition that he had stayed before in his past life, this was already like heaven.
After closing the door, Duan Ling Tian carefully inspected the house and noticed that the house was not completely airtight. Wind could blow in anytime in every corner of the house.
"In this case, it'd be hard for me to set the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda up," Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
As long as there was wind, the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda would be affected and he would be expelled from it.
"Fine then. Since it's only for a day, I might as well cultivate outside," Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
As long as he passed the entrance assessment of the Moon Illumination Sect the next day, he would then become the outer court disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect. If he was capable, he would be able to stay in the standalone small yard in the outer court.
The reason "if he was capable" was used in that context was because the living conditions of the outer court disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect was divided into various grades and ranks.
Fang Hui had told them about it during the journey before.
If one's ability was strong enough, then one would be able to stay in better conditions.
"Although I've yet to make a breakthrough to the Mortal Shedding Stage Perfection Stage, the True Energy stored in my Qi Sea is already more or less full now. With the help of my 52 Saint Veins, I can instantly mobilize all of my True Energy." Duan Ling Tian's heart skipped a beat. "Even someone at the Mortal Shedding Stage Paramount Stage wouldn't necessarily be able to surpass me when it comes to this. On top of that, I've also cultivated my defense technique, the Silver Shirt, to the highest level — the Impeccable Level… With my strength now, although I've yet to enter the Mortal Shedding Stage Perfection Stage, I can already overpower many Mortal Shedding Stage Paramount Stage Martial and Dao Cultivators."
Duan Ling Tian was confident about this.
Bang!
A loud explosion resonated and took him by surprise.
At the same time, a gust of wind blew past and snapped him back to reality. His face turned grave right away.
The loud bang came from somebody kicking the door while the wind was set off by the door being kicked open.
Somebody had just kicked open the door of Duan Ling Tian's house.
At the same time, an insolent voice boomed from outside. It was a particularly ear-jabbing voice. "Boy, I've taken a fancy on this house, so you'd better scram now!"