Chapter 519.3: One and a Half Years
Bei Bei was overjoyed. “Great! That’s just great. However, somehow, I feel like Xiao Ya doesn’t need an entire pill’s effects. Little junior brother, you and Tang Wutong should consume the rest of the pills. The two of you are the Tang Sect’s strongest fighting force now, and only the two of you can fight like Titled Douluo with your martial soul fusion. The academy has high hopes for the two of you. I suggest that the two of you take one more pill each, so that the you can become Titled Douluo as quickly as possible.”
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and said, “Eldest senior brother, increasing our soul power by relying on our own cultivation is best. Using medicine to boost our cultivation, even if they’re natural treasures, is not as consolidated or solid compared to doing so through our own cultivation. We have already drawn upon a lot of medicinal effects this time, and we still have to rely on our own cultivation to stabilize and consolidate. We will be spoiling things by undue haste if we take any more. With our current cultivation speed, we can still increase our cultivation relatively quickly even without pills and medicine.”
Bei Bei nodded and answered, “Then do it your way.”
Huo Yuhao continued, “As for the remaining six pills, can I ask that you give one of them to Elder Xuan, eldest senior brother? Tell him the effects these pills had on us, and I hope that he can use one to raise his cultivation rank to become an Ultimate Douluo. One of the remaining five will be given to teacher Xiao Ya to treat her, and the last four will be dealt with according to the plan that we originally discussed. However, we have to push back the date that we plan to consume another one. We have to wait for at least three months before we consume another one, and then another three months before we do so again. That way, we can maximize the pill’s effects, and we can also give everyone sufficient time to stabilize and consolidate their cultivation.”
Bei Bei answered, “Alright, let’s do it your way. But you should give the pill to Elder Xuan yourself.”
Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “Eldest senior brother, you and Teacher Xiao Ya are the Tang Sect’s leaders! This is the Tang Sect’s gift to the academy, not just my own.”
Bei Bei immediately understood what he was trying to say, and stared deeply into Huo Yuhao’s eyes before he patted his shoulder.
Huo Yuhao continued, “Eldest senior brother, after this, I plan to use my time mainly for studying soul tools and closed-door cultivation. I am afraid I won’t be able to help you with the sect’s affairs.”
Bei Bei nodded and said, “You don’t have to worry about the Tang Sect’s affairs. Everyone else and I will deal with them. The most important thing for you is to work hard to increase your cultivation along with Tang Wutong.”
“Yes.”
The Tang Sect passed an order to keep the episode with the Qiankun Fortune Pill quiet, and nobody was allowed to spread news of it to the outside world. The truth was, only the Tang Sect’s core members knew exactly how strong the Qiankun Fortune Pill’s effects were.
A single pill was sent to the Sea God’s Pavilion, and Elder Xuan went into closed-door cultivation afterwards, but he wasn’t the only one. The Martial Soul Department’s Dean Yan Shaozhe, and the Soul Tool Department’s Dean Xian Lin’er accompanied him.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong also entered a state of semi closed-door cultivation. Huo Yuhao would take out six hours everyday to learn about forging soul tools from Xuan Ziwen, and he would spend the remainder of his day cultivating with Tang Wutong.
The Tang Sect became busier than before, and everything was going according to plan.
The Sun Moon Empire grew quiet, seemingly because the detonation of Huo Yuhao’s Annihilation Storm had dealt an overwhelmingly heavy blow to them. The frontlines were also very peaceful. The Sun Moon Empire seemed to do nothing else besides consolidating the territory that they had conquered from the Heavenly Soul Empire.
The soul master legions that the Star Luo Empire had sent into the Sun Moon Empire’s territory to do battle were also gradually withdrawn, as the Sun Moon Empire had mustered their relatively stronger soul engineer legions to exterminate them. The Star Luo Empire’s soul masters experienced heavy losses after several skirmishes, and they had no choice but to retreat back through the Ming Dou Mountain Range to rest and readjust.
However, with the Ming Dou Mountain Range as a barrier and their experience from before, the Star Luo Empire had temporarily stabilized their defensive perimeter along their borders. The White Tiger Duke was still personally holding down the fort as they maintained their standoff against the Sun Moon Empire.
The war seemed to have come to a temporary pause. But there was still one thing that made the Star Luo Empire, the Heavenly Soul Empire, and the Dou Ling Empire very concerned.
Even though the war seemed to have paused temporarily, the Sun Moon Empire had strengthened their lockdown on surveillance and intelligence. They continuously transported aerial and ground-based surveillance soul tools toward the border so that they could shut down all information as tightly as possible.
It became overwhelmingly difficult for the Douluo Continent’s three native empires to conduct any reconnaissance within the Sun Moon Empire’s territories.
The Sun Moon Empire’s territory was already the largest within the Douluo Continent, and in addition to two-thirds of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory, the surface area of their territory was now considerably larger. Everyone knew that the war wouldn’t just end here, and when it erupted once more, it would likely be a thunderous and possibly final and all-out invasion that the Sun Moon Empire would bring.
Everyone was just accumulating their strength and waiting. What they were competing about was how quickly they could accumulate strength.
Half a year passed, and everything was still very quiet and peaceful. The Sun Moon Empire seemed like they had ceased their belligerence, and they even reduced the troops that they had stationed along the Heavenly Soul Empire’s borders.
However, the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territories that the Sun Moon Empire had conquered appeared far too tranquil. Half a year had gone by, but there were rarely any uprisings and whatnot, and even the reclusive sects seemed like they had given up on resisting and fighting back.
Six months flew by one after another, and a year and a half had gone by since Huo Yuhao forged the Qiankun Fortune Pills. He had already been cultivating within Shrek City for almost two years.
Within these two years, the Tang Sect’s disciples were almost about to forget that there was such an elite individual inside the Tang Sect, not to mention outsiders.
“Whew,” Huo Yuhao gradually opened his eyes as he exhaled deeply, but his eyes were filled with exasperation.
Tang Wutong was sitting opposite him, and she patted his hands as she said, “Don’t worry, we can do it.”
Huo Yuhao tilted his head slightly and said, “I had already guessed that this would be difficult, but I didn’t expect it to be difficult to this extent.”
Tang Wutong smiled faintly and said, “But everything will be different once you succeed.”
Huo Yuhao smiled and answered, “Don’t worry, as long as I have you by my side, I will never give up. Furthermore, I am more confident.”
They had remained inside the Tang Sect’s underground base to cultivate after consuming the Qiankun Fortune Pill. This place was the quietest, and it was conducive and convenient for Huo Yuhao to learn from Xuan Ziwen.
Tang Wutong returned to her own room to cultivate after eating lunch, while Huo Yuhao arrived at Xuan Ziwen’s laboratory as usual.
“Teacher Xuan,” Huo Yuhao had just stepped into the door when he saw Xuan Ziwen sitting there with a blank look on his face.
Xuan Ziwen appeared younger than he was one-and-a-half years ago. Even though he was deep in thought, his eyes were still incredibly sharp.
The Tang Sect’s members had consumed three of the remaining Qiankun Fortune Pills as a group, and everyone received unexpected benefits. Shrek’s Seven Monsters had all obtained eight soul rings, and Ji Juechen had reached Rank 89. He was just one step away from becoming a Titled Douluo.
But Ji Juechen wasn’t considered the strongest within the Tang Sect, and neither was Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao was just like him, still stuck at Rank 89.
Huo Yuhao should have broken through a long time ago in theory, but he had reached a tremendous bottleneck. This bottleneck stemmed from the soul core that he had formed.
He had already guessed that he would have a lot of trouble forming his second soul core because he already possessed his first one, but the difficulty far exceeded his expectations.
The medicinal fluids that came from dissolving three Qiankun Fortune Pills had already raised his cultivation to 89 a year ago, but he was still at Rank 89 even after one year. This was so even though he was cultivating with Haodong power. Furthermore, he was in closed-door cultivation, and he toiled day and night to cultivate without a single second of idleness. Yet, he still remained at Rank 89.
Therefore, he wasn’t the strongest individual within the Tang Sect. Now, the Tang Sect truly possessed a homebred Titled Douluo besides Xuan Ziwen, who was a Class 9 soul engineer. That person was Tang Wutong.
Tang Wutong had broken through seven months ago, and finally earned her title. She gave herself the title of Winter Butterfly.
The Winter Butterfly Douluo, Tang Wutong.
“Winter” was so that she could commemorate that she was once Wang Dong’er, and “Butterfly” was naturally because of her martial soul.
Tang Wutong had already formed her soul core successfully, and was now a Titled Douluo. How could Huo Yuhao not be worried? But forming his second soul core wasn’t something that he could just accomplish hastily.
He wouldn’t have reached Rank 89 so quickly without his first soul core, but forming his second soul core was just far too difficult.
But his mentality was still positive. Even though he was eager to improve, he wasn’t impatient because he had Tang Wutong by his side. Soul masters could accumulate their cultivation. Just as Tang Wutong had said, even though forming his second soul core was difficult, his cultivation would increase rapidly once that was successful, and he would swiftly reach another level.
“You’re here,” Xuan Ziwen waved to Huo Yuhao and gestured for him to sit down.
Huo Yuhao sat down on a chair next to Xuan Ziwen and asked, “How is it? Have you made any headway?”
Xuan Ziwen sighed and shook his head.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly attempted to console him. “Don’t worry, Teacher Xuan. We have already taken ninety-nine out of a hundred steps, we just have this final hiccup. We’ll take it slow, and we will continue only after we have found the best way to move forward. You’re tiring yourself out too much nowadays. Why don’t you take a break?”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Xuan Ziwen’s mouth. “Who says I haven’t? I have hiccupped something out.”
Even though his expression appeared a little indecent when he was saying those words, Huo Yuhao still widened his eyes as he said with a shaky voice, “You… you’ve succeeded?”
Xuan Ziwen nodded gently and said, “At least, in theory.”
Huo Yuhao’s jaw hung open as his eyes were open wide. “Then why did you shake your head?”
Xuan Ziwen answered, “I shook my head because it cannot be replicated. Even though forging it is extremely difficult, we can still complete it between the two of us. But the conditions for using it are too demanding, and I can’t think of anybody else in the world who can use it besides you.”
Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh of relief. “You’re not very nice, Teacher Xuan.”
