“What?!” Lian Kun’s expression took an ugly turn. He could no longer maintain his composure. “You had the upper hand and the advantage. Still, he managed to defeat you with just a single blow! Are you certain that he is only an early Dharma adept? Are you sure that he was a Golden Essence adept just a month ago?” Lian Kun demanded, glaring at Lian Can.
“Just one month ago, I saw him descend from the sky enveloped in a golden glow from his inner Yuan. Even today, his Dharma was only ten meters tall,” replied Lian Can. A Dharma that was ten meters tall was the hallmark of an early Dharma adept.
“Then, how is it possible?” Lian Kun’s face was filled with disbelief. “He is an early Dharma adept, just like you, and he just reached the Dharma stage not long ago. How could he possibly have defeated you with just a single blow under such circumstances?”
“Master,” said Lian Can, with a bitter smile on his face, “I am not sure either. But it must have something to do with the Dharma he produced. His massive tiger Dharma pounced on my palm print Dharma at the last moment. Even though he could not have possibly utilized its full power, my palm print was like a piece of paper in front of his giant tiger—that’s how easily it was shredded.” With that, a hint of fear crossed Lian Can’s eyes. “I once sparred with a senior who was in the middle Dharma stage, and even that senior’s thirty-meter-tall Dharma was not as powerful as his ten-meter-tall Dharma.” Middle Dharma adepts produced Dharmas that were thirty meters tall. The strength of their Dharmas was often far greater than that of the ten-meter Dharmas produced by early Dharma adepts.
Now Lian Can was claiming that even the thirty-meter-tall Dharma of a Summer Valley disciple in the middle Dharma stage could not compare with Zhou Donghuang’s ten-meter-tall Dharma.
“His Dharma was trained to a frightening level of perfection. Even though its inner Yuan was not as strong as mine, there was no chance of breaking through it—it was so perfect. On the other hand, my own giant palm print Dharma suddenly had so many problems and imperfections, and his Dharma managed to attack them all. Although my Dharma itself had few imperfections before, during that short battle with the huge tiger Dharma, it became so weak, and defects kept appearing. It was as if it went crazy because of the attack. Even the Dharma of an ultimate Dharma adept may not be so perfectly trained.” As he spoke, Lian Can’s eyes were filled with a complicated expression. “Who knows how he trained his Dharma so well. Within one month of entering the Dharma stage, he’s already produced such an unnatural Dharma!”
Unnatural. In Lian Can’s eyes, Zhou Donghuang had produced a Dharma so powerful that it could be considered unnatural. A Dharma that was ten meters tall and so perfect that, even though its inner Yuan was less powerful than a similar ten-meter-tall Dharma, the power it demonstrated was stronger than most thirty-meter-tall Dharmas. The strength of the inner Yuan in a middle Dharma adept’s Dharma was twice as strong than that of an early Dharma adept!
“A ten-meter-tall Dharma! Is it really untouchable?” Lian Kun’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Even an ultimate Dharma adept cannot safely say that his Dharma is untouchable. Even though an ultimate adept’s Dharma has gone through a whole series of training, there are still a few imperfections, however rare. Typically, once an ultimate Dharma adept strikes out with a blow, he is perfectly capable of concealing the imperfection.”
Lian Kun did not believe Lian Can. He did not think that Zhou Donghuang’s Dharma was untouchable. However, he did not question that the strength of Zhou Donghuang’s Dharma and its training were on a par with that of an ultimate Dharma adept. Otherwise, Zhou Donghuang would definitely not have been able to defeat his son so quickly and effortlessly.
Lian Can was not just any bum. He was considered superior among the disciples under Lian Kun, and it was no accident that he would likely become a core disciple of the Lightning Sword Sect.
“That lass from the He family—where did they find a monster like that?” In Lian Kun’s eyes, this monster should not have appeared in the Lightning Sword Sect. In fact, neither of those two forces should have appeared in the Hengliu galaxy at all.
…
After returning to the Autumn Valley with He Mengxi, Zhou Donghuang took her straight to Da Zhuang then gave him an elixir. “Da Zhuang, after you take this elixir, you will reach the Dharma stage within a month!”
Zhou Donghuang then helped Da Zhuang set up a huge Qi-gathering position. To save some trouble, he used twenty thousand mid-level spirit stones—enough to cover every corner of Da Zhuang’s room. He had used them to set up the position in one go was so that he would not have to set up another one in the future.
“Twenty thousand spirit stones for the Qi-gathering position should be roughly enough for Da Zhuang to enter the Dharma stage,” said Zhou Donghuang to himself.
Zhou Donghuang had used fifty thousand mid-level spirit stones to go from the ultimate Primal Core stage to the Dharma stage within two weeks, and all four of his inner cores had attained Dharma. In his opinion, considering that he was more talented than Da Zhuang, twenty thousand mid-level spirit stones should be enough for Da Zhuang to enter the early Dharma stage within a month. After all, Da Zhuang was currently training using the premier “Fiery Thunder Training Regime,” not the old technique he’d used in the past!
“Little Brother, where did you get so many spirit stones?” As Da Zhuang shut the door and practiced faithfully, in the courtyard outside, He Mengxi revealed her surprise. She looked at Zhou Donghuang as she muttered, “Here are twenty thousand mid-level spirit stones. All five of the inferior-level spirit stone quarries on your home planet, Ziyun, can only produce ten thousand inferior spirit stones in a single year.” Twenty thousand mid-level spirit stones were equivalent to two hundred thousand inferior spirit stones. All the spirit stone quarries on Ziyun would take twenty years to produce that many, assuming not one spirit stone was used during that time. Therefore, He Mengxi could not imagine how Zhou Donghuang had obtained so many spirit stones.
“Third Sister, in that dream where I was able to see the future, I saw the final resting place of many ultimate Dharma adepts. In the dream, many people had already taken advantage of these places, and I could only sigh in envy. But now, using my memory of the future from my dream, I can take all those precious things that were left behind before anyone else gets to them.” Zhou Donghuang smiled. He understood his Third Sister better than anyone and knew that if he did not tell her how he had found the spirit stones, she would not rest easy. Now, his explanation was perfect.
“Is that possible?” He Mengxi was shocked, but when she regained composure, she felt that there was no other explanation. Otherwise, given how much power her Little Brother had, after leaving the poor galaxy where Ziyun was located, he would not have been able to produce so many spirit stones in such a short time.
“Hm?” Suddenly, He Mengxi seemed to notice something. Her eyes narrowed. The next instant, she looked at the door to Da Zhuang’s room and saw threads of smoke entering through the cracks in the door. At the same time, she could sense immense concentrated spirit energy rolling in waves toward Da Zhuang’s room.
This peculiarity in Da Zhuang’s room was also noticed by the Autumn Valley’s chief, He Jin. Instantly, He Jin appeared beside Zhou Donghuang and He Mengxi and looked at Da Zhuang’s door. His expression changed as he asked, “Spirit energy turning into smoke? What is going on here?”
He Jin looked quizzically at Zhou Donghuang. In his opinion, this was not be his daughter’s doing, for he was well aware of her capabilities.
“Little Brother gave Da Zhuang an ancient elixir then used twenty thousand mid-level spirit stones to set up a Qi-gathering formation for him.” Seeing Zhou Donghuang glance over, He Mengxi quickly answered for him. “Originally, Little Brother said that Da Zhuang would be able to attain the Dharma stage within a month. I did not believe him, but now it looks like I will have no choice but to accept it.”
“Elixir? Ancient recipe?” He Jin was not surprised about the energy-gathering formation. He also knew how to set one up. However, this was the first time that he had heard of the ancient elixir.
He also understood that what had been going on outside Zhou Donghuang’s room for the past two weeks was now happening in Da Zhuang’s room.
“Little Brother said that once a Golden Essence adept swallows this ancient elixir, he will be able to attain the Dharma stage within a short period,” He Mengxi explained. “Just like Little Brother, who reached the Dharma stage a few days ago.”
Hearing He Mengxi’s words, He Jin’s eyes narrowed, and his face revealed his shock. He Mengxi continued, saying, “He said that Da Zhuang will attain the Dharma stage within a month.”
“How is that possible?!” He Jin could not help but scream. “Da Zhuang only reached the ultimate Primal Core stage not too long ago, so how can he attain Dharma within a month?” He Jin did not believe that it was possible.
But, twenty-six days later, Da Zhuang opened his door and gave He Jin an unprecedented shock. Da Zhuang had entered the Dharma stage!
“Little Brother, thank you.” Da Zhuang bowed deeply to Zhou Donghuang. His face was sincere and genuine. Deep in his eyes, his resolve was clear. He had made a decision. It was at this moment that, in Da Zhuang’s eyes, Zhou Donghuang had reached the same level of admiration as He Mengxi.
“Da Zhuang, you must take good care of Third Sister in the future. Your current strength is no weaker than hers, so you have enough power to protect her well.” Zhou Donghuang smiled as he looked at Da Zhuang.
Before Da Zhuang could reply, He Mengxi responded unhappily, “Little Brother, I know that you just entered the Dharma stage and already have unnatural powers sufficient for defeating Lian Can of the Summer Valley with a single blow. But I am well aware of Da Zhuang’s abilities. He’s just attained Dharma, so there is no way that he is my match!”
He Jin had long since heard the story of how Zhou Donghuang had defeated Lian Can with a single blow. Hearing his daughter bring it up again now, He Jin studied Zhou Donghuang with a complicated gaze.
