Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Although Su Mo knew in his heart that kneeling before this young man would ruin his reputation as ruler of the Valley of the Medicine Masters in the eyes of the people, what did that matter?
Now that he had tried the Mid-Connate elixir concocted by the young man in the past and experienced its sweet effects, Su Mo no longer wanted to consume the mid Connate elixir that he made for himself. This was because, after consuming the mid Connate elixir by the young man, Su Mo had greatly increased his chances of entering the Primal Core stage and become a Primal Core adept before he died! Once he became a Primal Core adept, Su Mo would be able to increase his lifespan and live up to two hundred years! With this idea of being somewhat immortal, Su Mo did not care at all about things like honor and face.
Furthermore, what did it matter if he risked his reputation today? As long as he was still well-trained personally and as long as he was still the strongest man standing in the Valley of the Medicine Masters, everyone in the valley, including the elders, would still continue to respect him even if it was out of fear. To Su Mo, currying favor with the young man before him was thus the most urgent task at hand. Other things did not really matter at this moment.
“You may rise.”
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Zhou Donghuang glanced briefly at Su Mo and allowed him to get back up. He then stepped forward and walked up to Chen Dandan in an unhurried manner.
“Chen Dandan.”
Zhou Donghuang glanced at Chen Dandan, who had collapsed into a heap on the floor and had on an expression akin to that of a ghost. Chen Dandan’s mouth was pale and quivering. “Now, how do you feel?”
Chen Dandan acted as if she had not heard Zhou Donghuang speak at all; she continued to lie on the floor with a numb and lost expression on her face.
“Do you feel regretful?”
Zhou Donghuang asked again.
This time, some color returned to Chen Dandan’s cheeks, and she seemed to regain some composure. She glanced at Zhou Donghuang and smiled coldly. “Zhou Donghuang, you are simply lucky enough to gain the miracles left behind by the Primal Core adept. That is the only reason why you can be who you are today…
“Nevertheless, in this life you were still destined to be crushed by me, Chen Dandan!”
As Chen Dandan spoke, her eyes shone fiercely with an expression of repulsion and stubbornness.
“Presumptuous!”
Su Mo, who had just stood up, yelled out murderously as he heard Chen Dandan speak rudely to this young man. “Chen Dandan, if you continue to be rude to my master, I will kill you!”
“Ah…”
Chen Dandan smiled. This was a mocking and resentful smile. “Our great highness… how could you call this ordinary man a ‘Master…?’ Is this a joke?”
“You…”
Just as Su Mo was about to explode with rage and take action against Chen Dandan, he was stopped in his tracks by Zhou Donghuang’s stern gaze.
Next, Zhou Donghuang glanced at Chen Dandan with a hint of playfulness and spoke up. “Chen Dandan, as long as you are willing to kneel down before me and admit your mistakes, mentioning your regret… I won’t kill you. How does that sound?”
“Ah?”
The young man’s words caused Chen Dandan to blurt out some sounds of confusion, and she glanced suspiciously at the former. “Are you being legitimate?”
“You only have three breaths of time to consider my offer,” Zhou Donghuang replied lightly.
Even before Zhou Donghuang had finished his sentence, Chen Dandan had already dragged her weary body forward and knelt before the young man. With her head bowed, Chen Dandan spoke up in a low voice. “Brother Donghuang, I… I’m sorry. I was wrong. I should not have betrayed Mother. I should not have betrayed you and the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce.”
At this point, Chen Dandan did indeed feel a sliver of regret. If she had not betrayed Lin Lan, if she had not turned her back on Zhou Donghuang and the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce, even if she could not take over the chance encounters left behind by the Primal Core adept, Zhou Donghuang would probably have shared it with her given his nature. If she had stayed by Zhou Donghuang’s side, it was possible that she could have progressed at a similar rate as to when she had recognized the Valley of the Medicine Masters’s second elder, Chen Tianhe, as her father and grew within the Valley.
Now, however, although she spoke of regret, as Chen Dandan knelt on the floor before Zhou Donghuang, who had humiliated her greatly, all she truly felt was a deep shred of hatred. All she was doing was getting her life back by uttering useless words of apology…
It suddenly felt like Chen Dandan was only destined to be a normal, ordinary person in this life.
In any case, knowing Zhou Donghuang’s character from before, Chen Dandan knew that even if he did not kill her, he would not be able to stay by her side anymore either…
“Well, you really can be rather flexible when you want to be.”
Seeing as Chen Dandan had seemingly admitted defeat, Zhou Donghuang laughed coldy, and his eyes filled with disgust and revulsion. “If I killed you personally, I would really be dirtying my hands!”
Just as he had spoken, Zhou Donghuang turned and Su Mo and said lightly, “I simply promised that I would not kill her myself. I didn’t say that anyone else couldn’t.
“Do you understand my meaning?”
After he spoke, Zhou Donghuang glanced severely at Chen Dandan.
“Master. I understand.”
Just as Su Mo had responded, he glanced sharply at Chen Dandan with a hint of animosity.
“Zhou Donghuang, you shameless bastard!”
Once Chen Dandan had heard the young man speak, her face changed and she raised her head once again. Chen Dandan’s eyes were red with rage. “You’re going against your word, breaking your promise!”
“Well, what does it matter to a brute like you? You’re just someone who betrayed a woman cruelly even though she treated you like her own and raised you for over ten years…”
Zhou Donghuang cast a light gaze upon Chen Dandan before glancing into the distance with a guarded expression. “Normally, to people, I won’t break my promises. However, to brutes like you, especially those who are ungrateful, why should I stick to my words?”
Killing Chen Dandan was only partially fuelled by his own hatred for her. More importantly, it was to avenge his mother, Lin Lan!
“You…”
Chen Dandan was extremely angered. Even before she could utter more than one word, however, she suddenly cried out, and blood flew from her mouth.
“Hng!”
At the same moment, Su Mo had muttered under his breath, took a few strides forward like a floating spirit and appeared within two meters of Chen Dandan. He pointed his finger at Chen Dandan and a green mist flowed from it towards her.
One foot.
Two feet.
…
Seeing as the mist was about to extend to about seven feet, it pierced through Chen Dandan’s chest and killed her.
Png!
Suddenly, a loud noise sounded out and echoed around the entire area. Su Mo’s body shook violently, and the mist, which had been seven feet long, dissipated and his entire body was forced to take a few steps back heavily.
At the same time, Su Mo spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His face turned extremely pale like paper, and it was clear that he was badly injured.
“Who’s there!”
Zhou Donghuang’s face also changed in that instant, and he glanced up at the sky. The sword pill in his right suddenly shone like his eyes, glowing under the winter light.
“Ah?”
Seeing as Su Mo had taken action, Chen Dandan had thought that she was to die today. Upon realizing that she was not dead, she first paused before following Zhou Donghuang’s gaze and similarly looking up at the sky.
There, an old man stood before them in long black robes. He was extremely frail and skinny and looked aged. The old man had wrinkles all over his face and looked even older than the right guardian of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Yu Wei. However, as he was suspended in the air, his black robes swayed with the wind. This whole scene shocked the entire crowd into silence once again.
“Yuan… Primal Core adept!” Many of the Valley disciples cried out shrilly. Everyone present was aware that for martial adepts, only those who had crossed into the Primal Core stage were able to float in the air using their full concentration of freezing their bodies.
Furthermore, if one observed the situation clearly, one could see a light shroud of golden light surrounding the old man’s floating body, enabling him to stay suspended in mid-air.
“A Golden Essence adept!” Seeing as the old man’s body was entirely surrounded by golden light, Zhou Donghuang flinched, and he could immediately use his foresight to tell that this black-robed old man before them was one of the Golden Essence adepts.
“Golden Essence adept” was another name for the martial arts disciples who had managed to enter the Primal Core stage.
The Primal Core stage, like the Elixir stage, was divided into four main levels: the early Primal Core, mid Primal Core, late Primal Core and ultimate Primal Core.
When an Elixir adept stepped into the Primal Core stage, the first step would be to consolidate one’s Xu Essence. Once Xu Essence was successfully consolidated, one would be considered to have entered early Primal Core.
Afterwards, the next step would be to consolidate one’s Shi Essence. Once one had done that, one would enter mid Primal Core.
After Shi Essence, one needed Silver Essence to enter the late Primal Core. Those who managed to enter this stage were all typically labeled as Silver Essence adepts.
Afterwards, they would proceed on to Golden Essence.
For a Primal Core adept to float in the air, one required full control of inner yuan.
In the early Primal Core stage, an adept’s inner yuan’s source was their Xu Essence, and it was pale white in color.
In the mid Primal Core stage, an adept’s inner yuan’s source was their Shi Essence and it was milky white in color.
In the late Primal Core stage, an adept’s inner yuan’s source was their Silver Essence and it was silver in color. Lastly, in the ultimate Primal Core stage, an adept’s inner yuan’s source was their Shi Essence and it was gold in color.
At this present moment, Zhou Donghuang could see that the black-robed man standing before him was a Golden Essence adept.
Of course, in general, for all practicing monks, even those who were new to training, there would be a hint of gold in their inner yuan even at the early Primal Core stage. However, that kind of trace of gold would include some kind of Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit. That was a completely different type of gold as compared to the gold surrounding the black-robed man right now.
The gold of the inner yuan surrounding this black-robed man was priceless, unique and extremely valuable!
“Thank you for saving my life!”
After that harrowing moment, it dawned on Chen Dandan that the black-robed man was the one who had saved her life. She frantically turned around and knelt to the ground, thanking him with a joyful gaze in her sparkling eyes.
Of course, her facial expression remained slightly uneasy and confused. This was to be expected as she did not recognize nor identify the black-robed man before him. She knew that his one save did not guarantee that he would continue to protect her if need be.
“Sir.”
Once Su Mo had regained his composure, he courteously delivered a full, 90-degree bow to the black-robed man and spoke with a voice that shook with both admiration and fear. “Could I ask… Why have you come to the Valley of the Medicine Masters?”
A Primal Core adept was someone that could not be messed with.
Even for new adepts who were only in the early Primal Core phase, if they used all their strength and power, their inner yuan would be able to cover 100 meters and trap everyone who was standing in that range easily!
If an adept in the mid Primal Core phase went all out, his inner yuan could envelop a land 300-meters wide and destroy a small village.
If an adept in the late Primal Core phase went all out, his inner yuan could envelop a land 1000-meters wide and destroy a big village.
If an adept in the ultimate Primal Core phase went all out, his inner yuan could envelop a land 3000-meters wide and destroy an entire small town.
As for the black-robed man before them, the gold in his inner yuan was indeed extremely unique and special. It was clear that he was an ultimate Primal Core adept. Should he decide to utilize all his powers, he could easily destroy their entire Valley of the Medicine Masters.
