Lu Ming's performance overshadowed every single participant within the competition. Although there were some good performances, none even came closer to Lu Ming's. Teng Huan remained the topper of the remaining participants with 16 lanterns to his name. Lu Ming scored rank 1 for the 2nd time. The competition was going to mark participants according to their performance in the rounds. Lu Ming remained the reigning champion consecutively. Only two rounds remained.
"We appreciate the huge following which gathered here to take part in the disciple acceptance competition. We congratulate those who made it as the inner disciples of the valley and even those who are exempt from the competition as outer disciples shouldn't lose hope. You can perform well within the inner hall competition at the end of the year to get promoted to the ranks of inner disciples."
"The second round is called the test of souls. We would like for the participants to rest for today and arrive within the grounds at the earliest hour of tomorrow. Only the top 2 of each test are allowed to sit for the test of souls. The test of the soul will be commencing once the elders arrive. Have a good rest through the night."
The first day of the Pill-brew competition came to an end.
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Crimson Lord World-
"I guess you did get a huge harvest from the twenty lanterns?"
Long Tao who was beside the Keeper smiled. "These lanterns were left by the founder of the Pill Valley. Can you imagine the level of power he had achieved at his peak?"
"If you are referring to him as the founder of pill valley, I guess the current rumor about the ten core families is false."
"It's not false if you consider the fact that the ten original family heads were disciples of the founder."
Even the Keeper was surprised to hear this. The information Long Tao had managed to gather stated that the Original Ten family heads were all peak level, 6 alchemists. It meant that they must have been a martial arts Monarch at the very least. Just what kind of person was their teacher then?"
"I guess he was a practitioner of Qi Dominator level. You are quite fortunate to have gained the legacy of someone so powerful."
Long Tao laughed while staring at the Keeper." The remanent aura said that he was referred to as the Pill-sword saint during his peak stage."
Even the Keeper was spellbound. A saint level practitioner was the founder of this valley.
"Are you saying that a Qi saint founded Pill-Valley?" Long Tao nodded his head. This was a huge blessing for him.
...........................
"What did you gain from the tests?"
Long Tao listed out all the information he got from the founder along with the arts he now possessed. He began demonstrating the circulation arts to the Keeper who was thoroughly impressed by it.
"This could certainly lead to a whole new set of research regarding the opening of acupoints. We should start testing the breathing method with the help of elemental, Hell-heaven, and even weapon Qi. Who knows what we may be able to find?"
"If his information is correct and there are five parts of body cultivation, I guess you should be able to reach the channel tempering easily. Your body has the most perfect foundations due to the opening of every single meridian. We will suppress your cultivation and start concentrating on opening all the meridians before entering the QI King realm."
"Are his words true?"
"Which words are you referring to?"
"The fact that there are a set of laws above heavenly laws"
The Keeper was silent for a moment, but then he decided to tell Long Tao the truth. "The words of the founder are true. The tier above Heavenly laws is held by a set of laws that existed before the heavens themselves. These were born out of pure chaos and nothingness and hence correspond to the purest power of the universe."
"The ancient crimson ancestors refer to these laws as Chaos Laws. Every single Heavenly law has a chaotic counterpart from which it was derived. The energy contained within these laws is boundless. Do you remember the segregation I referred to when describing the human, earth, and Heavenly laws? Well, the same trend continues for chaotic laws."
"Have there ever been a Crimson lord who managed to contact with the Chaotic laws"
"Of course there were many Crimson Lords who managed to do that, but the difficult part was the preparation required. DO you know how much energy is required to break the chain of Heavens and contact the Chaotic laws of the universe? A single chaotic law would require the preparation of around 4-5 Heavenly laws. Are you prepared for such a massive usage of energy? Where will you obtain such energy from?"
"The founder said that the secret behind connecting to the chaotic laws lied with the body. He experienced a major shackle due to his body when breaking through the Qi King level. He asked me to first open all the acupoints and go through the fourth metamorphosis before breaking through the Qi King level."
The Keeper fell silent for some time. Body cultivation wasn't one of the strengths of Crimson lords. Long Tao could be said to be the one who has walked the farthest in it. The body might have a certain secret regarding the situation.
"I guess we should give it a try then. Who knows if we might even be able to succeed?"
"I guess you need to start helping me in suppressing the cultivation. I am currently at the seventh level of QI in general. Only two levels remained until I rose to the peak and each opening of acupoints is sure to promote some of my Qi cultivation too."
"The suppression is not going to be easy. We need to apply some sealing formation during your eight and ninth levels. The seal would also be helpful to you during a break-through since they would work as an energy deposit for your body to draw power from."
"What do we need to create such a formation."
The Keeper gave Long Tao the details regarding the formation seal and the materials required to create a form like that. Fortunately, Long Tao possessed most of the material except for the high-grade Blood of a level 5 beast, which he decided to compensate with the blood pool which was present in the sword pavilion heritage he obtained. Some herbs were required to create the blend to be applied.
"I will be collecting many herbs from the market which are not present within the herb garden. Make sure to notice if you gain some good materials."
"You need to take care of another situation as of now. I can sense a bunch of people following you. Most of them seem to be just trying to verify your background. There seems to be a group from which I can sense a certain amount of bloodlust."
"Can you verify their cultivation level?"
"They seem to be in having a Peak initial Qi King amongst them."
Long Tao wanted to laugh. It seems that the groups in the dark became quite wary of his achievement. They decided to send someone at the peak of the initial stage Qi king.
"Let's concentrate on collecting materials for the competition and the seal. I will take care of these groups later."