Gu Lang wanted to use the Flood Cage to protect himself against the Fiery Sky Hou’s Strange Fire Eight Refinement.
Now that the Strange Eight Fire Refinement was gone, Gu Lang needed to instruct the Cuttlefish of Days Past to use its spiritual power to remove the heavy water.
Worst of all, Gu Lang had used his sacred source lifeform after he saw Zong Ze using his.
Once Gu Lang’s sacred source lifeform used its power, it could not be retracted. Even if Gu Lang did not unleash his sacred source lifeform’s power now, the sacred source lifeform would fall into a state of slumber within an hour and needed to accumulate enough energy to be able to unleash its power again.
The Arts Stage and Martial Stage couldn’t be completed within an hour.
Gu Lang felt that he had been doomed by Zong Ze.
If he participated in the Martial Arts Stage now, he was still confident of beating the disciples of the veteran and top factions, but he did not know the strength of the Moon Empress and Chief Guard Ye’s disciples. He could not say with confidence that he would be able to gain victory over them.
Although he had heard from the Bamboo Monarch that the Moon Empress had not had her disciple for more than a year and that her disciple was a young man, and that Chief Guard Ye had only accepted her disciple two months ago, Gu Lang could no longer use his sacred source lifeform, which was his biggest secret weapon, at the Guard Ye Banquet.
Regardless of the Moon Empress and Chief Guard Ye’s disciples’ powers, Zong Ze was now the most likely victor of the Martial Arts Stage.
If he did not know Zong Ze as well as he did and that Zong Ze would go all out while sparring, Gu Lang might have wondered if Zong Ze had been luring him into a trap.
When he saw Zong Ze’s apologetic expression, Gu Lang fought the urge to hit Zong Ze and instructed the Cuttlefish of Days Past to remove the Flood Cage.
Gu Lang sighed and said, “I’ll participate in the Arts Stage later on. Let’s go. After the 12 chimes, the Arts Stage and Martial Arts Stage should be starting soon. When the Martial Arts Stage begins, you better not jump onto the stage immediately. Although your spiritual power is replenished after every fight, your Fiery Sky Hou’s strange flames cannot be replenished according to the rules of the Martial Arts Stage.”
Combat-class spirit qi professionals contracted more feys as their power increased, and the process of evolution for their feys became increasingly complicated as well.
Although fey battles used spiritual power, some elements needed time to be replenished after each use.
Gu Lang was such an example.
Thus, Gu Lang could not help but issue this warning to Zong Ze, the combat fanatic.
Zong Ze felt guilty when he heard Gu Lang say that he was going to participate in the Arts Stage instead.
He knew that Gu Lang had to give up on the chance to participate in the Martial Arts Stage because of him. Hence, Zong Ze said, “Big Brother Gu Lang, if I win the Martial Arts Stage, I’ll give you the sacred source lifeform and Order of Radiant Light.”
Gu Lang’s mouth twitched. Zong Ze’s words meant that he had only heard the first half of what Gu Lang had said while the latter half had flown clean over his head.
Gu Lang was slightly older than Zong Ze, but the latter did not usually address him as Big Brother.
When he heard Zong Ze call him Big Brother, Gu Lang felt that having such a simple-minded younger brother was not so bad.
Gu Lang walked ahead and said, “Let’s go. I don’t want the sacred source lifeform or the Order of Radiant Light even if you win. You can just make me 360 plates of food using Kitchen Fragrance Palace’s secret recipes.”
Zong Ze looked slightly put off, but he soon gnashed his teeth and said, “Sure, no problem. However, there are some dishes amongst the 360 that I’m not very familiar with yet. I’ll go and learn from Master before I make them for you.”
The Kitchen Fragrance Palace’s 360 dishes were the essence of their cooking techniques. They consisted of 120 snacks, 120 vegetable dishes, and 120 banquet-style dishes.
Naturally, Zong Ze had learned how to make the dishes as Chef Supreme’s youngest disciple. In fact, Chef Supreme’s Creation Master techniques lay in the 360 dishes.
However, Zong Ze had always focused on his spirit qi professional skills and was not familiar with over ten of the 120 banquet-style dishes.
He needed Chef Supreme’s coaching to be able to produce those dishes.
A strange look came over Gu Lang’s face, and he felt that Zong Ze was rather magnanimous.
The Martial Arts Stage would have more than just the disciples of the veteran and top factions participating. A slight lapse in concentration could result in a downfall.
However, Gu Lang did not give any more advice to Zong Ze.
If Zong Ze truly met his downfall, it would be considered a milestone in his life.
Moreover, if Zong Ze’s life remained smooth-sailing, Gu Lang’s advice would be for nothing.
…
After the Arts Stage, Martial Stage, and Martial Arts Stage began, the disciples outside the Midnight Palace started to build up their concentration.
The truly nervous people were the leaders of the veteran and top factions who had just met with 12 members of royalty.
At that moment, there were 13 seats positioned in an arc in the inner area of the Midnight Palace.
12 of those seats had an extremely distinct figure sitting on them.
The seat in the middle was empty, but there was a mobile phone on it.
The mobile phone was in video call mode and was placed in the center of the seat.
The person on the other end of the video call would clearly see what was happening outside the Midnight Palace through the radyx crystal wall.
This scene seemed slightly comical to the people watching.
However, none of the veteran and top faction leaders dared to look at the mobile phone directly.
At that moment, a calm voice said from the phone, “Xiyue, Leaning Moon, I haven’t had the chance to meet your disciples yet. How powerful are they?”
Night Leaning Moon replied, “He’s strong, but the stages are not appropriate for my disciple to display his true power.”
The voice from the phone sounded hopeful and said, “Then I’ll have to pay close attention.”
A tone of doubt entered the voice on the phone who said, “Xiyue, I remember that you accepted your disciple six months earlier than Leaning Moon did. You’ve been hiding him away all this time, but you should be letting him go public for the competition, right?”
The Moon Empress’s face was calm and haughty, but she felt troubled.
The question posed to her put her in a dilemma because she did not know how to go about describing Lin Yuan’s power.
