Jiang Yi did not want to let everyone down either.
However, there was not enough time. Almost two months had passed. He had been training for two months, and yet there was no sign of change in his seventh star sphere. This star sphere was getting increasingly hard to train.
What’s more, the Xuan Thearch had already destroyed Xing Mo’s spiritual imprint in the divine artifact shield a month ago. Jiang Yi tried for a full month to refine it to no avail. The Saint Emperor had not rested a single day in these two months. He kept trying to capture saint beasts, but some saint beasts were just too far away. It was too difficult to catch them. Up till now, Jiang Yi had only absorbed the essence of eight saint beasts. He had no idea when the last two would be caught.
Buzz!
At that moment, he was seated cross-legged inside the Mystic Divine Palace. He was in the State of the Union of Heaven and Man, training his essence force and trying to refine the Thousand Thearch Shield at the same time. This Thousand Thearch Shield was easy to refine; he only had to cause essence force to revolve around it non-stop. However, it had to be refined very slowly. Now, it was only halfway done. Jiang Yi guessed that it would be another ten days at least before it would be completely refined.
The situation outside was not great as well.
The Yin Thearch, the Night Empress, the Xuan Thearch, the Buddha Emperor, and company were all finding it increasingly difficult to suppress the effects of the talisman poison. It had already been two months, and yet they only managed to recover a bit of their battle powers. It took a long time for them to force out even a bit of talisman poison. If they depended on their essence force to get the poison out of their bodies, they might not succeed even if they were given a few years.
The Buddha Thearch was working on the Higher Domain’s mystical ability that Yi Piaopiao left behind to the Xuan Thearch, but he had not realized it either. It was not that he was not good at figuring things out, but this Higher Domain mystical ability was far too profound. Back then, the Xuan Thearch himself took more than half a year to realize the mystical ability. The Buddha Thearch had only been working on it for two months; it was only natural that he was not done.
Bang, bang, bang!
Once again, heavy footsteps were heard throughout Saint Emperor City. The footsteps were coming from outside the city, but with each step, the city seemed to vibrate. Only the Saint Emperor would have that much power. Many Chieftains rushed out and indeed saw the Saint Emperor City walking toward them, carrying a small saint beast.
This was a beautiful beast. Its body was smooth as jade, and it looked like a goat. Yet, it had green eyes that resembled jewels. Its fur was green as well, and two wings were sprouting from its back. All four limbs were like emeralds. One look, and they could tell that this was no ordinary beast.
Boom!
One of the Chieftains knocked on the door of the Mystic Divine Palace, causing Jiang Yi to be startled. He teleported out of the palace and caught sight of the Saint Emperor carrying the saint beast. Curiously, he asked, “What saint beast is this? It’s beautiful!”
“This is a Qiong Qi Beast[1].”
The Saint Emperor’s mouth was wide-open as he panted. Both his eyes were slightly dazed. He looked thoroughly exhausted. Spitting as he responded, he said, “Don’t belittle this beast. It moves fast and attacks ferociously. If it kicks you with one of its feet, your bones will break for sure. Young Lord, absorb its essence. There’s still one more saint beast above the sea. I think I will take at least half a month to catch it.”
“Half a month!”
Jiang Yi’s head was beginning to hurt. The longer they delayed, the worse the situation outside would become. However, Jiang Yi was very sure that his body would not be able to withstand the meteorite-killing formation in its current state. What’s more, he was not finished refining the Thousand Thearch Shield. The Saint Emperor was trying his best. Saint beasts were not easy to catch. If the Buddha Thearch and company were out catching the saint beasts instead, they would likely take much longer.
Without spouting any more nonsense, he absorbed the saint beast’s essence immediately. Once he was done, the Saint Emperor dragged his tired body out once again. Jiang Yi had already been using his Nameless Divine Art to refine the shield for more than half a day. He was prepared to return and continue working.
“Eh?”
Just as he entered the Mystic Divine Palace, he felt the wind outside shift. Three star sphere forces flew down from the Nine Heavens and into the Mystic Divine Palace. Through the restrictions around the palace, he sensed something and rejoiced. These three star sphere forces were headed for Yi Chan’s body!
“En?”
The Buddha Thearch and others were shocked as well. All of them emerged from the secret room. Jiang Yi teleported out and reported this piece of good news. “Little Chan’er is a Demigod!’
“Haha!”
The Buddha Thearch laughed happily as he turned to the Yin Thearch. “Old Yin, I told you my Little Chan’er is no worse than your lass, hehe!”
The Buddha Emperor rejoiced and nudged Jiang Yi’s arm with his shoulder as well. He sent Jiang Yi a voice transmission: “Jiang Yi, Little Chan’er is going to come out of seclusion. Hurry up and do what you have to. What do you say about throwing a simple wedding when we get back?”
“Well… we’ll see about that. Let me check on Little Chan’er first.” Jiang Yi sent a voice transmission back awkwardly. This Buddha Emperor seemed to be afraid that his own daughter would never get married. This was the first time Jiang Yi was meeting a father-in-law like that.
Jiang Yi entered the Mystic Divine Palace once again. Jiang Xiaonu and Yin Ruobing both noticed the star sphere forces as well. Both of them were out of their rooms, walking toward him. Jiang Yi patted Jiang Xiaonu’s head and asked her about her well-being. After that, he brought her with him into a side hall.
“Jiang Yi!”
Yin Ruobing walked over in small steps, grabbing Jiang Yi’s arm. Happily, she said, “Older Sister Chan has broken through!”
Jiang Xiaonu looked at the genuine joy and sweetness in Yin Ruobing’s eyes, and her own eyes dimmed. Jiang Yi had been deep in conversation with Yin Ruobing so he did not notice. However, Yin Ruobing saw it. A thought flickered in her mind, but she said nothing. The three of them continued their conversation. An hour later, Yi Chan finally opened her eyes.
“Not bad, Little Chan’er!”
Jiang Yi gave her a thumbs-up. Yin Ruobing, too, smiled sweetly. “Congratulations, Older Sister Chan.”
Jiang Xiaonu was naturally melancholic so she said nothing and only nodded at Yi Chan. Yi Chan smiled and said, “I was lucky to break through. The Mystic Thearch’s Heaven Painting contained an extremely strong dao pattern; it was a supreme dao pattern at that.”
They exchanged a couple of words, and then, Jiang Yi teleported all three of them out. Yin Ruobing was told to bring Jiang Xiaonu out for some fun so that she would not be too bored in the castle. He also woke the little fox up and asked her to go around Saint Emperor City with the two ladies. Yin Ruobing had stayed in seclusion for some time, but she still had not much of a breakthrough. Jiang Yi thought it would be good for her to go out and fix her relationship with the Yin Emperor.
Time was tight. Jiang Yi went back into seclusion. The Thousand Thearch Shield was still not refined, and he still needed to work on transforming his seventh star sphere. He had no time to chat with the others.
Ten days later, the black-gold shield in Jiang Yi’s hands finally emanated bright light. At that moment, he felt a spiritual connection with the divine artifact. A message appeared in his mind.
“Great item!”
Jiang Yi opened his eyes and digested the message in his mind. Then, he became more excited. This shield was formidable. Ordinary attacks would have nothing against it. What’s more, it could defend Jiang Yi against attacks within a three-hundred-meter radius—spiritual attacks included. With this shield and the Mystic Divine Armor, Jiang Yi was confident that even the Battle Thearch’s Overlord-Destroying Spear would not hurt him.
“Very good!”
Jiang Yi played around with the shield for a while and then kept the Thousand Thearch Shield in his body. He could retrieve it again with just one thought. He calmed himself down and focused entirely on training his essence force. While the Saint Emperor was still out, he wanted to try his best to transform his seventh star sphere.
Unfortunately…
Six days later, the Saint Emperor returned, but the seventh star sphere still lacked some essence force. From the looks of it, Jiang Yi still had to train for ten more days at least.
He walked out of the palace, frustrated. This time, the Saint Emperor came back with a round-looking, black beast. It had short and thick limbs, and it looked evil. Black liquid was coming out from its mouth. Even its blood essence was black.
Jiang Yi suppressed the disgust he felt, entered the State of the Union of Heaven and Man, and absorbed the beast’s blood essence. It took him two whole hours and refining it took more than half a day, too.
Once he was done, he opened his eyes and saw red cloth hanging all around the castle. There were red candles lit around the place as well. The Buddha Emperor and Yin Emperor were seated on the host seats. When they saw that Jiang Yi had regained consciousness, the Buddha Emperor said seriously, “Jiang Yi, after some discussion, we decided to allow you to marry both Yin Ruobing and Little Chan’er today. You will consummate your marriages immediately. Tomorrow, we will set off to the Void Ancient Path and return to the East Imperial Continent.”
[1] Qiong Qi is a Chinese legendary creature.
