Chapter 1 – Entering the Water Daoist Faction
Enveloped in flames, Xue Ying flew north at top speed. Every now and then, he would look at the scenery below.
As he flew further north, the temperature started to drop rapidly. There were gradually fewer cities and villages left to be seen.
“Hu~~~”
It was white everywhere.
The vast Northern Snowy Plains appeared in his sight. In truth, the five northern provinces held these snowy plains as their border. This snowy expanse in front of him… was humongous. Spanning over fifty thousand kilometers, its inaccessibility was one reason why it was rare to find anyone within. Though, another reason might be the beasts scouring this snow-laden area.
Hong long long~~~ A herd of gigantic beasts that resembled a hill darted around in the air.
“Snowy Plains White-Haired Elephants?” Xue Ying was flying high above them. Looking downwards, that herd of gigantic beasts was over ten meters high, with four thick limbs. Their entire body was covered in thick, long fur. Even if a Silver Moon knight desperately attacked it, he would have a hard time penetrating through the thick layer of outer fur covering! Much less pierce through the thick layers of fat and skin underneath. That was why to a Silver Moon Knight, it was almost an impossibility for them to kill a Snowy Plains White-Haired Elephant.
Furthermore, these elephants loved moving in a herd! Once a huge herd of Snowy Plains White-Haired elephants charged forth as one… even a Legend-ranking knight would not dare to face it head-on. Should any human mortal army come, they would all be trampled over.
“A noteworthy feature about these Snowy Plains White-Haired Elephants is that they are docile.” Xue Ying smiled. Due to this, they could be domesticated easily.
Within the snowy plains, those beasts who were aggressive had long been exterminated by humans.
……
The further north he flew, the colder the wind bit like a dagger.
“Water Daoist Faction!” Xue Ying brightened up.
After flying for six thousand kilometers, he had finally reached his destination.
The Great Snow Plains had its own mountain range. Along these 500-kilometers long of continuous mountain range, there sat a daoist temple on one of its peaks.
Sou. Xue Ying flew like a streamer towards it, descending from the skies onto the entrance of the temple.
“Protector Dong Bo.” A heavy voice sounded.
Xue Ying looked around perplexedly.
The entire daoist temple was made from a single piece of dark gray metal. On top of the wall lay a serpentine carving. The left part depicted a bizarre flying beast, whilst the right was of a huge dragon. Right now, the origin of that voice came from the dragon sculpture, which could be seen from its moving mouth.
“Uh…” Xue Ying was stunned momentarily. This was clearly not a refiner organism. It was simply a carving.
“Haha, Protector Dong Bo.” A streamer flew out from within the temple. An unruly yet handsome man, carrying a magic sword on his back, appeared at the entrance. “Our entire Water Daoist Temple is actually a Demigod-Grade treasure! As for Ancestor Dragon and Ancestor Sparrow, they are actually the spirit residing within it. They have been around ever since the start of Water Daoist Faction.”
“Greetings Ancestor Dragon, Ancestor Sparrow.” Xue Ying saluted.
At the same time, he was internally shocked.
From his own understanding, under ordinary circumstances, only Deity treasures would have Deity spirits! Usually, there would be no spirits within a Demigod treasure.
As for Deity treasures, they were extremely important to the entire Xia Clan, much more than the emergence of a Deity!
That was because a newly-born Deity would not know how to refine a Deity treasure. Every single piece of Deity treasure the Xia Clan possessed had been passed down from the Deity World or from the Dark Abyss.
“Little brat, focus on cultivating. I’ll gamble with this old Dragon here that you will enter Saint Realm within 50 years.” Ancestor Sparrow said.
“Don’t give so much pressure to this young man. As long as you achieve a breakthrough within 100 years, you will be someone capable already.” Ancestor Dragon said.
“These two Ancestors, I’ll have to first bring Protector Dong Bo around. Farewell.” The handsome man butted in before bringing Xue Ying inside of the temple.
It was relatively quiet within the temple. The mountain roads were winding and snow had accumulated on the surface. Occasionally, one could see a small courtyard on the side of the road where Legend mages and knights would stay at. They would salute respectfully whenever they saw Xue Ying.
“You can call me Gong Liang Yuan. I’ve just entered the Saint Realm.” That handsome man laughed, “This Daoist Temple is a quiet and peaceful location for cultivating. The majority of people over here are Legend-rank mortals. At any one time, it would be normal for a few hundred of these Legend rankers to stay here and cultivate. Only when one feel that he could no longer improve any further would he head home.”
“As for Transcendents, those at the Saint Realm and Demigod Realm will usually stay hidden in the temple to cultivate.”
“And as for Sky Realm Transcendents, you will not see them very often. They would either be within the mortal world or at the Infernal World. It is normal for Transcendents younger than 500 to have attachments to the mortal world. The older one gets, the less they will participate in matters within the mortal world.”
Gong Liang Yuan explained.
“Since this is your first time in our Daoist Temple, the matter of utmost importance for you right now is to choose a suitable Qi cultivation method, and a secret technique! There’s also the matter of your Transcendent weapon and Origin Stones.”
……
As they walked through the peaceful temple, Xue Ying was first led by Gong Liang Yuan to collect his 300 kilograms of Origin Stones! Soon, he would be choosing a Qi cultivation method.
“Brother Dong Bo, in order to obtain Origin Stones, cultivation methods, secret techniques or weapons… a Transcendent would usually have to exchange them with Transcendent contribution points!” Gong Liang Yuan spoke in amazement, “I could still remember those times where I had to fight desperately in completing the Transcendent missions, and at times, I had to tread carefully between life and death in order to obtain enough Transcendent contribution points. After that, I still had to calculate carefully and exchange the most optimal combinations of cultivation methods and secret techniques. As compared to many other Transcendents, Brother Dong Bo, the resources given to you at the start is a lot more than them.”
“I feel ashamed.” Xue Ying answered.
“There’s no reason for you to feel ashamed. These resources were actually obtained by some Saint and Demigod Realm experts. It’s impossible for any ordinary Transcendents to get a large pile of resources freely. Want some? Then put in effort to exchange them with contribution points! Only a rare few of absolute geniuses like you, brother Dong Bo, will directly obtain a large amount of resources.” Gong Liang Yuan replied.
Xue Ying understood.
Origin Stones could only be obtained within the Transcendent worlds! And those who were willing to risk their lives within the Transcendent worlds were minimally someone with combat power equivalent to a Saint. Only the strongest Saint experts would be able to obtain a huge amount of Origin Stones.
……
The Qi Technique Pavilion.
Within an ordinary wooden three storey building, Xue Ying entered by himself in search of the most appropriate cultivation method.
A good and appropriate cultivation method was really important as it enabled one to efficiently cultivate oneself all the way to the Demigod realm!
Even if it might not be that important in some cases… every Transcendent would still definitely choose the best cultivation method. Under the situation where one lacked enough contribution points, it would be better to switch as one progressed. For example, first, obtain a Sky Realm cultivation method. After reaching the Saint Realm, one could then switch to a cultivation method more suitable for a Saint.
“A Deity-Grade Flame Qi cultivation method comprises of two different categories, Stellar Flame Qi and Fire Dragon Qi.” Xue Ying contemplated as he flipped through the methods.
He could ignore the restriction behind choosing one for his current cultivation realm and just looked for the best one for himself.
“Which should I choose?”
“Fire Dragon Qi is more ferocious while the Stellar Flame Qi is more balanced in all aspects.” Xue Ying was deep in thought, before finalizing his decision, “Let’s go with the Stellar Flame Qi.”
Choosing a Qi cultivation was relatively easy.
After all, a cultivation method was solely used for cultivating oneself.
As for the deciding factors behind a battle? One’s experience in techniques, one’s realm, weapon and secret technique were all factors that could not be neglected.
Experience in techniques and one’s realm of comprehension were internal and had to be accumulated over time.
As for weapons and secret techniques, they could be chosen.
The reason why so many people joined the Temple of Earth God and Bloodshed Tavern, despite its strict rules and regulations, was because of the numerous Deity-Grade secret techniques they had!
“Brother Dong Bo, it is important to think carefully when choosing a weapon and secret technique.” Gong Liang Yuan advised, “You can only freely select one secret technique for yourself. In the future, any secret techniques you need will depend on yourself completing Transcendent Tasks for contribution points to exchange with! Thus, you must really think through this thoroughly, else you might really regret it in the future.”
“I understand.” Xue Ying was prudent in his selection.
“Weapon or special technique first?” Gong Liang Yuan asked.
“Let’s go select the weapon first. Selecting the appropriate weapon is easier. Following that, I’ll select the secret technique! After all, there are numerous secret techniques, and finding the right technique is more important.” Xue Ying answered. The decision of choosing the right secret technique had the greatest impact on one’s combat power, much greater than choosing the right weapon! A Deity-Grade secret technique would result in ten times the difference between two Transcendents of similar abilities in all other areas when compared to an ordinary secret technique!
One could even be killed in a single move!
Thus, one could understand how precious a secret technique was. Even though Xue Ying could not obtain a Deity-Grade secret technique, he would still want to choose the one that stood closest to it, allowing himself to stand on a closer footing in terms of secret techniques with those from Temple of Earth God, Bloodshed Tavern and the Demonic Faction.
Of course, a secret technique still had to be studied. Compared to someone who had just ascended and obtained a Deity-Grade secret technique, a person who had comprehended a weaker secret technique to the stage of grand completion could certainly suppress the other party who just obtained the Deity-Grade secret technique.
But of course, regardless of that, the stronger the secret technique, the better it would be.
