[V5C160 – A Distance Within Reach]
Bai Aotu’s unfathomable methods as she came and went struck a chill in the hearts of the Zhao clan spectators. But their eyes burned fiercely when they glanced toward Zhao Jundu.
The danger during that short confrontation just now was no less than a life and death situation. A single inappropriate response would’ve led to a mortal showdown between the two. In truth, Bai Aotu’s domineering great dao of solitude and Zhao Jundu’s indomitable regal dao had already confronted one another. How could it be a mere battle of empty words?
As for Bai Huiyu’s head, it was now half submerged in the mud, and no one was even paying it any attention.
The soldiers from the cave had rushed over at this moment, and their champion-rank leader asked, “Fourth Young Master, the dark races have probably completed the encirclement. What do we do now?”
“We break through and return to the Zhao clan.” Zhao Jundu’s words were extremely simple, but it surprised everyone quite a bit.
“Return to the Zhao clan?” That champion couldn’t help but repeat.
With Zhao Jundu’s temperament, he likely wouldn’t return to reorganize his forces until he had gained enough contributions. Moreover, the withdrawal this time was to the Zhao clan’s frontline base outside of the Iron Curtain. But their clan had encountered a misfortune this time around—three of the Zhao clan’s direct line combat squads had been surrounded and almost wiped out by the numerous families led by the Bai clan. In the end, it was Zhao Jundu who received the news and broke through the siege on his own to rescue the dozen or so stragglers.
“Bring news to the Zhao clan after breaking through the siege, and have them prepare the Marrow Cleansing Pool. I’m advancing to the champion realm,” Zhao Jundu said indifferently. “Oh and by the way, don’t forget to spread news of the Bai clan obtaining the void crystal.”
“Champion?!” Everyone from the Zhao clan was astonished. Zhao Jundu had been delaying his advancement for several years. In the end, he had unexpectedly made up his mind to go ahead—but, was this an appropriate time?
A layer of frost appeared in Zhao Jundu’s eyes as he said, “ It won’t take long. I must see if there’s anyone I can’t kill under the Iron Curtain afterward!”
The Zhao clan warriors glanced at each other, knowing that their fourth young master was truly furious and prepared to slaughter.
The Bai clan and the alliance of several aristocratic families couldn’t hold Zhao Jundu, and neither could the dark races outside. The characteristic hue of the Blue Firmament lit up the leaden Iron Curtain with the brilliant colors of death. Half a day later, Zhao Jundu led the Zhao clan warriors through the heavy siege and swaggered off, leaving the ground in his wake littered with corpses.
Once out of the Iron Curtain, he immediately boarded the awaiting high-speed battleship back to the Western Continent. This scene, spread far and wide by people with malicious intentions, invited various discussions. Many rumors spoke of how Zhao Jundu had abandoned the bloody battle and returned to the Western Continent because he couldn’t bear the losses. This led many to believe that Zhao Jundu was nothing out of the ordinary and that he couldn’t live up to his fame in the face of actual difficulties.
But Zhao Jundu didn’t care about these baseless words at all. The only thing he did on his way back—apart from reading the bloody battle reports—was cultivate.
Zhao Jundu’s potential ascension to the champion rank was a major event for the entire Zhao clan. The news shook the entire residence; both Duke You and Yan postponed all their current matters to oversee the preparations. One day later, Zhao Weihuang also rushed all the way back from the Fire Beacon headquarters, and the first thing he did after returning was to test whether the Marrow Cleansing Pool was well prepared.
Zhao Jundu had already suppressed and consolidated his cultivation for six years. Whether or not it was worth it would be made clear once he broke out of the cocoon and became a butterfly.
Everything from top to bottom had already been prepared by the time Zhao Jundu returned to West Pole City. His mother, Princess Gaoyi, spared no expense to invite four inner-court specialists in order to set up a major array, lest the heaven and earth grow agitated and the overly powerful darkness origin power affects his advancement.
Apart from this, one of the Zhao clan’s divine champions, Duke You, Zhao Xuanji, would personally oversee the Marrow Cleansing Pool and protect him during the entire process. Such a lineup wasn’t at all inferior to when Zhao Xuanji broke through to divine champion back in the day.
Zhao Jundu rested for three days after returning to the residence. He would enter the Marrow Cleansing Pond only when his mental state was at its best.
At dawn on the third day, Zhao Jundu was reading as usual when the study doors were pushed open and in walked a windswept Zhao Junhong.
“Second Brother, how come you’ve returned?”
Zhao Junhong said with a rueful smile, “How can I not rush back after hearing of your ascension?”
Zhao Jundu said with a frown, “But didn’t you just enter the Dark Nation hinterlands? Charging out like this should be quite dangerous.”
Zhao Junhong said with an unconcerned laugh, “Your second brother’s talents are limited and can’t fight any famous battles, but not making any mistakes is something I can do.”
Zhao Jundu shook his head with a sigh but didn’t say anything.
Zhao Junhong’s temperament had grown more proper and earnest after the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt that year, and this change was also reflected in his military strategies. Although he wasn’t capable of extreme flexibility and unpredictable changes like Song Zining, he was steadfast, composed, and as imposing as a mountain peak, leaving little if any openings to exploit.
The only way to take down such an enemy was to devour him head-on with military superiority. However, Zhao Junhong’s Silver Sword Finger was one of the top three most powerful techniques in the Zhao clan. It certainly wasn’t that easy to deal with.
Zhao Junhong asked directly, “Didn’t you say you’ll need one more year for your origin power purity to reach perfection? How come you’ve changed your mind?”
“There’s no need to be hidebound by convention. The heavenly dao shifts with time, and so has the current political situation. That small gap can be made up for later on. I’ll be able to rampage through the Iron Curtain as long as I advance to the champion rank! This bloody battle is an important matter involving our Zhao clan’s fame and fortune.”
Zhao Junhong didn’t know how to dissuade his brother after hearing this.
Zhao Jundu remained silent for a while before saying, “I wonder how Qianye’s doing? Why is it Song Zining defending Blackflow City alone all this time? That slut Bai Kongzhao has clearly arrived on the western side. Could it be that Qianye hasn’t gone back, or…”
Zhao Junhong said, “Speaking of this, there’s some good news to be shared. The siege of Blackflow City has been broken. Song Zining utterly defeated the dark race coalition, and even the Nangong family private army has withdrawn from the Iron Curtain. According to my information, the expert who pushed back the Nangong together with him should be Qianye.”
Zhao Jundu’s brows rose then knitted together slightly. “If Qianye is going to ascend to the champion rank, it’s best he also returns to the Marrow Cleansing Pond.”
Zhao Junhong laughed wryly and patted Zhao Jundu’s shoulder. “Don’t think about that for now. Your ascension is much more important. With your contributions and mine, it’s not difficult to secure him a quota in the pond.”
Zhao Jundu nodded. Since the time had arrived, he stopped chatting and followed his attendants toward the Marrow Cleansing Pond.
That afternoon, leaden clouds covered the Western Continent as heavy rains poured everywhere—only the skies above the Zhao clan residence were clear and windless.
The Zhao clan’s Marrow Cleansing Pond was similar to the Song clan’s cultivation chambers. It was just that their methods were different. The Song clan cultivation chambers used kinetic towers and origin aggregation arrays to provide the user with intense origin power, while the Zhao clan’s Marrow Cleansing Pond was filled with origin distillate. The latter could be viewed as liquid daybreak origin power with many rare medicines to aid the absorption process—its value could easily be imagined.
Even a direct descendant like Zhao Junhong would need to be sufficiently talented and accumulate enough points to gain one to three opportunities. Without sufficient talent, even lineal descendants weren’t qualified. Only those who had contributed greatly to the clan might be granted one opportunity.
All the major characters were gathered in the courtyard outside as Zhao Jundu entered the Marrow Cleansing Pond, submerged himself, and began cultivating. They were all waiting silently for the moment of his advancement.
Those with outstanding talents would produce various phenomena during advancement once communication was established between the origin power of the heaven and earth. One could estimate the ascending champion’s quality and potential by the scale and shape of the phenomena.
In the so-called aggregating qi to form a vortex, the origin vortex was also differentiated into different levels—the purer one’s origin power, the more outstanding it would be. The lowest grade origin vortex was as thin as mist, and after that was dew, then all the way to a rain of origin power. One would be considered a top genius if he could produce drops of liquid origin power after forming a vortex.
At this moment, all three of the Zhao clan’s dukes were present within the Immortal Manor in the Fortune Courtyard. They were all waiting for the magnificent scene that would soon follow. It could be said that the Zhao clan’s future for the next century was largely pinned on Zhao Jundu alone.
Those who could enter the Fortune Courtyard at such an important time were important characters at the elder level, while the juniors and less important members could only wait outside. Those who were qualified to come have already arrived since witnessing an advancement phenomenon was also a rare opportunity for cultivators to comprehend the origin power of the heaven and earth.
An ordinary champion wasn’t worth a mention, but it was said that a talent like Zhao Jundu possessed a high chance of inciting the innate origin powers of the world. If one could take this opportunity to comprehend them, it was possible to raise their lifetime cultivation by two to three ranks.
It was just that some were delighted, while certain others were worried—the expression on Zhao Fenglei’s face was somewhat forced.
Ascension within the Marrow Cleansing Pond would normally take seven to ten days or even more. The three Zhao clan dukes and all the elders were waiting with great patience.
However, Zhao Jundu had just entered for one hour when thunderbolts suddenly crackled through the clear skies. An indescribably boundless aura swept out like ripples and soon filled the entire Fortune Courtyard.
The three dukes immediately turned silent within the Immortal Manor. Their eyes shone as they stared fixedly at the distant Marrow Cleansing Pond, knowing that the phenomena were about to arrive. Being much younger than the other two dukes, Zhao Weihuang’s heart was filled with concern. He couldn’t help but mumble with an anxious expression, “How can it be so fast?”
It was at this time that a giant explosion erupted and seemingly robbed the world of all sound. Eight streams of violet qi shot into the air and positioned themselves in eight directions—an impressive sign of greater success in the West Pole Violet Qi’s domain, the Omniscient Seal.
The eight streams of violet qi were extremely rich and almost seemed like eight pillars cast from violet plasma. There was a rosy light flowing inside accompanied by various propitious visions—auspicious beasts and treasured avians were born and destroyed one after another. The scene could only be described as a myriad of phenomena.
Seeing the intense, lustrous, and almost translucent violet hue, Duke You, Zhao Xuanji, couldn’t help but sing praises while slapping the table. “How wonderful! The maturity of Jundu’s West Pole Violet Qi might be lacking just a little, but its purity has already reached great heights. Even this duke was no better back in the day. Weihuang, this accomplishment has already surpassed you.”
Duke Yan also nodded repeatedly with a delighted expression. The eight streams of violet qi meant that Zhao Jundu’s future ascension to the divine champion rank was already a certainty.
Zhao Weihuang’s face was suffused with joy. He didn’t even mind Duke You’s faint ridicule and only gazed fiercely at the eight violet pillars.
At this moment, the phenomena on the Marrow Cleansing Pond transformed yet again. The clear skies suddenly turned dark as the void emerged, pouring down torrents of origin power onto the Marrow Cleansing Pond. These origin powers were stained by the eight streams of violet qi and quickly took on a dense purple hue as they spread toward the eight directions. A sea of violet rippled out from above the pond, but the eight towering pillars, like Ocean Suppressing Needles, remained unmoving amidst the great waves. [1]
Even the experienced Zhao Xuanji couldn’t help but lose his composure. “This phenomenon is no small matter…”
However, the visions didn’t end with this—the origin power pouring down from the void was unending like a waterfall while the violet qi beneath grew more and more vigorous. The violet hue, in the end, was so intense that it turned black. It was as though the void were hanging upside down.
The entire Fortune Courtyard trembled thrice as the violet chroma reached its extreme, and a thin beam of azure qi emerged and shot several dozen meters into the air!
The moment this azure qi appeared, the entire Fortune Courtyard was awash with a faint sense of emptiness and spirituality which relaxed everyone’s hearts. Everyone previously dazed by the might of heaven and earth sobered up quite a bit.
“Extreme Violet Yields Azure!”
The three Zhao clan dukes all stood up reflexively, and the faces of several reclusive supreme elders were filled with shock. There were even some who rubbed their eyes.
Even in the entire empire, the West Pole Violet Qi was a top-grade secret art. However, the violet qi it produced was still somewhat different from the ultimate source of daybreak origin power. But records described how one’s origin power would return to the origins after cultivating this art to the extremes and give birth to a strand of azure qi. The legendary Venus Dawn was a different means to achieve this same outcome and was also incomparably close to the ultimate source of origin power!
Zhao Jundu’s formation of this azure qi meant that he had a chance to touch upon the ultimate source of daybreak origin power during his lifetime, thereby advancing to the rank of heavenly monarch.
[1] This is a rarely used name for the Sun Wukong’s weapon, the Ruyi Jingu Bang. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang
