The president was not in a hurry to open the room. He asked Higan instead, “Higan, it’s the Wood Punishment Room. Are you sure about this?”
Given Higan’s status and position in the Stardust Council, she should know what the Wood Punishment Room was.
The Wood Punishment Room was filled with a type of small unusual seed. Once any living being got close to it, the seeds would embed themselves under the living being’s skin and start to suck blood from the host.
It would then root itself, grow, bloom, bear fruit and wither. Every single process was nothing shy of tormenting. With countless of tiny seeds leeching off the body, pain was an understatement. It was not exaggerating to consider it as living hell.
The seed was considered unusual because from the moment it leeched off the host to it withering away, all it needed was three minutes. Higan had to stay inside for 20 minutes, so she would basically have to go through seven rounds. After seven rounds of hellish torment, she would lose a great amount of blood!
On top of that, due to how small the seed was, it could get into the human body through skin contact, but when it withered away, a small stream of energy would burst out of the skin, leaving a tiny cut behind. Nevertheless, she was not afraid of the cuts because her special powers could heal them quickly as long as she paid the price.
Without answering the president’s question, she walked straight ahead into the Wood Punishment Room. Compared to the torment of not being close to him, the physical pain on her body would be nothing.
Higan’s belief was strong.
“If Tang Long knows about this, he’ll be sad. Higan, you still can walk away from this.” The president’s voice came from behind her.
Higan did not even pause in her steps.
“Your godfather will also be sad, Higan. You still can turn around.” Again, the president tried to dissuade her from going in.
“Godfather…” Higan stopped for a while.
In fact, she and Tang Long shared the same godfather, the man with a mysterious identity and position in the council.
Right after Higan returned to the council, she thought of meeting her godfather first. She did not hope for him to help her in this, but other than Tang Long, her godfather was the only person in the council that cared about her.
Even though she had a feeling that her godfather’s care was not that straightforward, she did not care.
However, to her surprise, her godfather had avoided her ever since she came back.
“Why? Are you thinking about your godfather? Are you coming back? If you are, the gates of the council will always be open for you.” The president was a little surprised. Would Higan turn around?
In fact, he had no idea who Tang Long and Higan’s godfather was, but the lord had told him not to ask questions. Their godfather was simply someone important to the council.
“No, I just wanted to pass a message to my godfather. President, can you do me a favor? I’ve paid the price and walked out of the Stardust Council,” said Higan.
Stunned for a moment, he did not understand what she said, but to Higan herself, it was a reminder.
The president of the council might have planted a seed of fear in her to make her scared, but her godfather had done nothing at all. Still, Higan was somehow afraid of him and could not see through his thoughts.
After leaving the council, the one that she had to worry about was her mysterious godfather.
Higan did not care about what her godfather might do to her since the worst that could happen was just death. Instead, she was afraid of her godfather angering Tang Ling, so her reminder to him was necessary.
“Very well. It seems like you’ve thought this over.” The president agreed to pass the message.
Higan was already standing in front of the Wood Punishment Room.
“Once the door opens, there’s no going back,” said the president as he somehow felt heavy to part with her.
Higan did not say anything and waited patiently.
The president also skipped the chatter and opened the door with a wave of his hand.
She then walked into the Wood Punishment Room without looking back.
At that very moment, all the light seemed to be consumed by darkness and the iron door behind her slammed shut mercilessly.
Countless terrifying seeds jumped at Higan.
…
In the resting lounge, Tang Ling had just gotten to his feet when the voice echoed in his ears, ‘Gray Mist Street cleared successfully. You have acquired an SSS rating. The reward is 50 Black Sea coins, 100 Darkness values and three rounds of Darkness energy. Do you want to absorb the energy now or save it up for the end of the challenge?’
The other contestants would probably decide to keep the energy until the challenge was over, but Tang Ling was curious about how the Darkness energy would benefit the little seed. Boss Huang had purposely mentioned this, so it was difficult for him not to pay attention to it.
On top of that, how much energy did three rounds equate to? Would it be a surge to the little seed?
With all that in mind, Tang Ling sat down on his thighs and decided to get the energy immediately.
After his choice was made, a certain piece of the ceiling turned over, revealing a dark hole above him. Two seconds later, a stream of purple energy gushed out from the dark hole. This purple energy was purer than the purple energy of the Universal Source Rock. It even felt a little richer than the reserved energy in the Tower of Safety Sector No. 17.
However, Tang Ling was not given the time to carefully examine how special the energy was because he should not waste a single second of the process.
He quickly used the Thousand Satin Skill to absorb all the energy, but when the energy entered his body, he fought off the huge temptation to use it for himself and diverted all the energy to his heart.
As expected, the little seed’s consciousness spoke from his heart, ‘Daddy, no, Little Seed is sleeping…’
The little seed had been living a rich life in Boss Huang’s place recently. The energy it had absorbed over the past weeks were so rich that every day after it consumed enough energy, it would go to sleep. It was a little annoyed when Tang Ling woke it up.
Tang Ling had gotten used to the discomfort of being a daddy, so he used his mind to coax the little seed, ‘There’s something nice to eat here. Do you want some?’
‘Little Seed is full, Little Seed is bloated.’
Bloated, my *ss! Tang Ling rolled his eyes at the answer, but he continued coaxing with his own mind, ‘Come on, Little Seed. It’s just a bite and it’s delicious.’
‘No, I don’t want to. Little Seed is full.’
‘Eat it or I’ll beat you up or even throw you away!’
Tang Ling lost his patience.
Damn it! He was not a three-year-old anymore, so coaxing the little seed with such disgusting words was already going beyond his patience.
The little seed did not answer, but Tang Ling somehow had a feeling that the little seed was sulking and pouting.
Damn you!
Tang Ling did not care anymore as he diverted a strand of energy into the little seed.
The little seed took a tiny bite at the energy with a sulky attitude, but when it tasted the energy, it got excited. ‘Delicious! Delicious! Daddy, Little Seed wants more! It’s delicious!’
What?
Tang Ling did not expect the energy to be as pure as Boss Huang claimed. The little seed could simply absorb it without any trouble!
If that’s the case…
Tang Ling suddenly had the urge of robbing Darkness Port. He started to wonder how much the little seed could grow if he got all the so-called Darkness energy from Darkness Port.
How much energy was there in three rounds?
Messy thoughts ran around in Tang Ling’s mind while he continued absorbing the energy and diverted all the energy towards his heart. The little seed did not reject the energy at all. As long as the energy kept coming, even if it was full, it would absorb everything instantly.
Tang Ling clearly felt that not only was the little seed absorbing every bit of the energy, but the energy also stimulated the reserved energy that it was going to digest.
The little seed’s body obviously grew bigger, and at its tip, a small sprout started to bulge.
The series of changes made Tang Ling a proud father.
He received feedback about the changes the moment it happened. Tang Ling had a feeling that the little seed rooted itself deeper in his heart, and because of the increase in size, his heart grew bigger and stronger. The vigorous heartbeats sounded like a powerful drummer beating a war drum.
It was a bizarre feeling as though the so-called energy, talent and everything else had left him, and only his body was growing stronger.
“This is great.” Huge excitement rumbled in Tang Ling’s heart, but just when he was about to savor the good part, the energy stopped.
That’s it?
Tang Ling was not satisfied. It had only been half a minute since he started absorbing the energy.
‘Daddy, is the delicious food gone?’ The little seed’s consciousness entered Tang Ling’s mind.
Tang Ling said angrily, ‘Yeah, there’s no more left. I’ll go make more for you.’
‘Daddy is the best! Little Seed will continue sleeping and wait for Daddy.’ The little seed throbbed happily in Tang Ling’s heart as it shifted its bloated body a little and went back to sleep.
Damn it…
Tang Ling suddenly had the thought of asking himself to be his own father. He was simply too kind.
While such strange thoughts ran through his mind, the sudden loud cheers from the audience shocked him.
When Tang Ling looked up, he realized that 10 big screens had appeared in the resting lounge and were broadcasting every contestant’s challenges.
One of them was showing Tang Long.
Tang Long once again cleared the challenge without any problem. It was another Hell difficulty scenario, but he cleared it with an SSS rating and broke another record.
Since Tang Long’s challenge was over, the screen was showing the audience cheering for him.
Tang Ling quickly calmed down, and through that particular screen, he saw the giant ranking monolith. His name was currently ranked at 30th place while Tang Long ranked 1st.
Even though Tang Ling had also cleared his level with an SSS rating, most of the young geniuses had passed with the same result and they were already starting round two. Of course, they were ahead of him.
As for those who did not get an SSS rating, they chose to repeat the scenario without a second thought.
The competition among the young geniuses started with a climax and the rivalry got more intense as the competition progressed.
However, Tang Ling was not moved. Regardless of the ranking, he would only clear three rounds today.
Men should not walk at others’ pace.
Tang Ling knew it very well. Aside from his other skills and personality, he was just a person with the strength of nine bulls and in front of a group of young geniuses. Such strength was nothing stellar, and he still had a long way to go
