Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Capital of the Shenguang Empire.
Yuntai Inn.
“The third Primal Core has finally been successfully amassed… However, the Buddha’s lifeblood, has now already been completely exhausted.”
Zhou Donghuang sat on the bed inside his room. His eyes seemed to flash when he opened them, and at the same time, three misty white shapes of Primal Core energy seemed to form and float within the very core of his body.
Three Primal Cores.
Now, Zhou Donghuang was yet another step closer to entering the Primal Core stage required to achieve the Lord of the Four Supremes technique.
If he were just able to amass and concentrate the fourth core, he would then have formally entered the early Primal Core level of practice that would allow him to master the Lord of the Four Supremes and also have complete control of the power of the four cores.
And when that happened, with just the essential core alone, he would be able to easily crush his fellow adepts.
He would even be able to crush a mid Primal Core adept.
The core amassed by a mid Primal Core adept was usually twice as strong as that of the power that could be amassed by the everyday early Primal Core adept.
However, the power of the four cores that Zhou Donghuang could amass from the essential core within was, in fact, three whole times stronger compared to that of a regular early Primal Core adept!
So, of course, it went without saying that the three cores that Zhou Donghuang could currently amass, could quite easily crush all of his peers of the same level of practice.
Even if he had to depend on his essential core alone, he could very well be on par with that of a mid Primal Core adept.
Ziyun Era, the third month of the Year 1231.
A 20-year-old Zhou Donghuang could now readily amass the power of three cores and advance into another level of practice.
“With the strength I now possess, coupled with the superior spirit weapon… I can stop any Golden Essence adept of this age, in all of Ziyun!”
An overwhelming sense of self-confidence seemed to exude from Zhou Donghuang.
“Out of a thousand spirit stones, only a third of them have been consumed.”
Zhou Donghuang’s gaze quickly fell to the thousand spirit stones arranged in an energy-amassing formation and found that the stones were about a third dimmer than they were before.
Despite this, it meant that about two-thirds of spirit energy still resided in each of these spirit stones.
“If I were to continue practicing without the Buddha’s lifeblood… I would have no way of amassing the fourth primal core, even if I did consume the thousand spirit stones entirely.”
Shaking his head, Zhou Donghuang put away the thousand spirit stones that were on his bed and immediately got up and out of his room.
“Still, not bad… I’ve reached the late Connate stage.”
After leaving the room, Zhou Donghuang went to the other corner of the yard and looked at the golden-crowned eagle, Big Gold, and found that Big Gold seemed to have grown a little bigger from two months ago.
“This is thanks to your spirit stones and the Connate core, young master.”
With the help of the Connate core refined by Zhou Donghuang and the spirit stone that his master had given time ago, Big Gold’s progress during this time improved tremendously, even surpassing Su Mo.
There was more to be said of Big Gold’s training, whose beast training methods were taken from Zhou Donghuang himself. Although these training techniques were not, in Zhou Donghuang’s recollection, the finest, compared to the Thousand-Star Sword Technique, Fiery Thunder Training Regimen or Manual of Unruffled Sage—the top three methods of human cultivation in the universe—they did not fare much worse.
“At present, even Little Gold has just entered the Connate stage… in fact, he might not have even reached that level yet.”
Zhou Donghuang laughed as he shook his head, saying, “If Little Gold were to know about this, that you have already reached achieved the Connate stage… I’m afraid he would be driven mad with jealousy.”
“Haha…!”
At Zhou Donghuang’s words, Big Gold could almost imagine the look of defeat on Little Gold’s face, and to a certain extent, he really hoped to see it. “Young master, two months ago, you said that you had plans to return. When then, will we return?”
“After a few more days, maybe.”
There was a glint in Zhou Donghuang’s eye. “These few days, I am hoping to gather another batch of herbs and spirit stones from the capital of Shenguang Empire… We have so many people with us, and everyone needs a spirit stone to practice.”
As for the herbs, these were for Zhou Donghuang and needed to be used for the refinement of the core drugs.
Of course, the core drugs that Zhou Donghuang were able to refine up to this point were of no particular use to him; they were to be set aside for his family’s use.
“It won’t be long before we have to leave Ziyun.
“But before we leave… I want to do my best to help create the best environment for them to cultivate their powers.”
This was what Zhou Donghuang had decided to do.
Of course, it was clear to Zhou Donghuang that if he were to return this time, it would not be his last time.
He would not leave until he has solved every issue in Ziyun and until he could push Ziyun to the point of invincibility.
“Master.”
As Su Mo’s voice traveled across to him, Zhou Donghuang seemed to suddenly return to his senses and looked towards Su Mo. “What stage are you at now? Are you close to attaining mid Primal Core?”
“Not by a mile.”
Su Mo was a little embarrassed. “I feel that… after entering the Primal Core stage, that even with the spirit stone and the Buddha’s lifeblood that you have bestowed upon me to help, the speed of my cultivation has still been very slow.”
“That is a matter of talent and technique.”
Zhou Donghuang shook his head as he raised his hands, and out of nowhere, a space ring, wrapped in a faint white mist, seemed to shoot out from one of his fingers and fly in front of Su Mo.
“This space ring once belonged to the Divine Light Sect’s seventeenth elder, Liu Xuanyu… I have since re-cultivated it again, and the space it holds is now two square meters, up from just one square meter before.
“Now, I have stored a manual within this space ring… from today onward, you will practice this method.
“This manual consists of a mix of methods, it is a part Primal Core and part Dharma technique, you will be able to read a record of it here. Once you have memorized everything on it, it is best that you destroy it.”
“As for the Primordial Soul practice methods, I will hand that to you after you have achieved these,” Zhou Donghuang said.
“Liu Xuanyu, the Divine Light Sect’s seventeenth elder?”
Su Mo narrowed his eyes. “Master, just a month and a half ago, while I was collecting medicine at the Yang’s, I had heard the Liu Xuanyu had been killed by someone…. Was it you that killed him?”
“Mhm.”
Zhou Donghuang nodded his head lightly. “I was at the black market the last time, and on the road home, he had intentionally gone in my way and threatened to kill me. It was then that I decided to kill him.”
The corner of Su Mo’s mouth twitched fiercely, and the shock overcame him.
His master had said before that he wasn’t afraid of Liu Xuanyu.
And he believed it.
However, having that faith was simple enough, and knowing that Liu Xuanyu had actually died at the hands of his master was still a fact that shook him to the very core.
With a deep breath, and struggling to calm the terror in his heart, Su Mo retrieved the space ring that was still floating in the air before him. Within it, he unfolded two pieces of parchment that were filled with words.
Just as he did this, Su Mo’s eyes seemed to brighten, and the color returned to his face. “Could there… be such a wondrous technique in this world?
“Heavens! The techniques that I used to cultivate in the past are complete and utter rubbish compared to these methods!”
Su Mo was now extremely excited.
He would never have known about this if he did not see it, and it only took one look to floor him completely.
After just casually browsing through the manual that his young master had just given him, he had discovered all sorts of wondrous things within it. He decided that all in all, he would leave every technique he had once practiced far behind him.
Even though he had not even started practicing these new methods, he knew for sure that they would be immensely helpful to him!
“Master, what methods are these?”
Su Mo excitedly asked Zhou Donghuang.
“The Thousand-Star Sword Technique,” Zhou Donghuang answered plainly. “It is considered to be the universe’s most superior technique… on top of that, it is a swordplay technique, purposefully designed to kill.”
“The universe’s best and unsurpassable technique?”
Su Mo was completely dumbfounded and met Zhou Donghuang’s gaze once more, this time expressing in a completely different tone, “Master, I have a question… I… I’m not sure if it would be appropriate to ask.”
“Ask.”
Zhou Donghuang looked at Su Mo with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
“You… Are you the reincarnation of some old mythical creature? Or perhaps, your current body might have been possessed by some magnificent adept with powers far beyond that of the Primordial Soul stage,” Su Mo blurted out, expressing the perplexity he had been feeling all this time.
“It is true that adepts of the Primordial Soul stage and above can claim a body by possession, however, this is always done at a considerable price… 90 percent of the time, without the possibility of surpassing their abilities prior to the possession, they can only grow old in their new bodies and wait for death in their sleep, or continue to let their bodies live, without the hope of re-possessing another again.”
Zhou Donghuang looked straight at Su Mo as he explained, “And what’s more, after possessing another man’s body, the essence of the Primordial Soul is maintained, and it would only take a bit of additional cultivation for one to reach the early Primordial Soul stage again.
“There would be absolutely no need to start the qi-gathering afresh and go through the whole process of achieving Connate, then Dharma stages,” Zhou Donghuang said.
Zhou Donghuang’s explanation undoubtedly opened a new world of understanding for Su Mo, as if he suddenly saw the light.
These things were totally beyond Su Mo’s realm of experience before, and also something that he never would have been able to come close to seeing.
In actual fact, he seemed to cut it quite close with his deductions.
However, Zhou Donghuang was never some “old mythical creature” in his previous life.
In all the peoples of the universe, a thousand-year-old adept who has entered the Immortal stage could hardly be compared on the same page as that of some mythical creature.
Because an Immortal could live up to 10,000 years!
And in the face of a lifespan of 10,000 years, a person that was a thousand years old would be considered a teenager.
“If there is nothing else, come with me for a trip to the black market,” Zhou Donghuang said to Su Mo.
“Master, you… Do you plan on selling the remedies at the black market?” Su Mo asked offhandedly.
“No.”
Zhou Donghuang shook his head, and there was a glint in his eye as he said, “This time, we will openly seek the owner of the black market, the third elder of the Divine Light Sect.”
“Openly, you said?”
Su Mo’s eyes narrowed.
Every trip they had made to the black market before was in secret or in disguise.
And now, his master was suddenly saying that he wanted to openly see the third elder of the Divine Light Sect. It was tantamount to completely removing their cover and exposing themselves to the third elder of the Divine Light Sect.
“After I killed Liu Xuanyu over two months ago, he has pretty much known all along that I had everything to do with his death.”
“The only reason why he has not made a move against me yet, is only because he is jealous of me,” said Zhou Donghuang plainly.
“Unless he, or the Divine Light Sect, can be entirely sure and confirm that I pose no threat to him or the Sect… they would not dare to make a move on me that easily,” Zhou Donghuang said with utmost confidence.
