Chapter 34: Luo Ke

If the thirteenth elder was here to see this youth, he would recognise this person to be that same boy he tested at the end of the Sect examination a month ago: Luo Ke!

However, the boy right now did not have the original innocent look that was displayed before the thirteenth elder. A cold look gleamed in his eyes as Luo Ke looked in the direction where Yang Chen and Huang Xue had left.

“What a bunch of scums...if not for the fact that my strength is lacking, I would’ve came out and taken care of you both!” Luo Ke spat as he glanced down the bagua mirror in his hand. “Fortunately I was able to hide using this bagua mirror. Otherwise, this Ember Blood fruit that I found would have been taken as well. This thing is truly mystical! Not only could it hide my complete presence, it could even hide the fruit’s fragrance and aura. I must not let anyone find out about this at all cost. With this, I just might be able to ascend into the high ranks of this world!”

Earlier, even when Huang Xue had swept through the area with his divine sense, he had still been unable to detect Luo Ke’s hidden presence! And it was all due to the mysterious bagua mirror...

After arriving late to the freshmen competition site, Luo Ke had immediately head towards the other end of the forest. Even after hearing news that the there were strong beasts guarding the portal, he did not relent in his speed. Along the way, he had killed several Temporal Di evil beasts and found various precious herbs.

Besides the fact that his aura was now at the ninth stage of Temporal Di, Luo Ke had relied on the mysterious bagua mirror that he had found a few years ago in an empty cave. He found the mirror placed on top of an altar made of stone and upon removing it, the cave had begun to shake violently.

Fortunately, he was able to escape just as the cave imploded.

At first, Luo Ke did not place much importance on the bagua mirror, except that it might fetch a decent amount of Qi stones to sustain his starving stomach. But as time went on, he found that whenever he practiced cultivation with the bagua mirror around, his body became more in tune with the surrounding. This in turn helped increase his cultivation speed by several times!

Even when he was sleeping, as long as he kept the bagua mirror near him, his body would be mysteriously toned by magical item overnight. In other words, his body would continuously strengthen, allowing him to break through to the next stage of Temporal Di!

Thus, in just one year, he had went from being a mere 4th stage Temporal Di practitioner to that of the eighth stage! This was a speed that was barely comparable to that of geniuses from major families.

By average calculations, for normal cultivators of the Long Dynasty, to improve by four levels in a year was abnormal. At least, it would have taken three to four years for a normal cultivator to achieve such level!

Moreover, Luo Ke had discovered that besides helping with his cultivation, the mirror had another shocking function: it could pinpoint the location of nearby treasures!

While Luo Ke did not know what method the mirror was using to locate the treasures, he did know that it had never failed in finding one. Be it precious herbs, artifacts, or any unusual items of value, the bagua mirror would be able to find it. A thin line, like an arrow, would appear on the surface of the mirror, indicating the direction of the treasure!

This was another reason why Luo Ke was able to level up four stages in a year. He had discovered many precious herbs for bodily functions, and had continuously consumed them over the months.

Looking back up in the direction where the groups of cultivator left, Luo Ke coldly stared for a moment before he turned and disappeared into the forest.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

After Luo Ke left, a black shadow slithered out from beneath a dense bush. Upon closer look, it was a snake that had its entire body covered in a pure black scales. In place of its sockets, were two sapphire eyes that glittered like gem. A glint of intelligence could vaguely be seen within its eyes.

The snake’s body barely gave off an aura, making it no different than a normal animal. As such, none of the cultivator had paid noticed it.

Lifting up its head towards the direction where Luo Ke had left to, the blue eyed snake let out a sinister hiss before slid into the grassy ground. A lengthy dark shadow darted soundlessly across the floor into the thicket that Luo Ke had entered…

***

As Huang Xue continued to follow Yang Chen’s group, they finally reached the end of the forest.

Looking over at where the portal stood, Huang Xue could see three evil beasts standing in front of it. At this time, they were battling against several cultivators.

“A Four-tailed Lion, Fire Back Toad, and a Demon Eyed Eagle...with this line up even a normal early Tian practitioner may have a bit trouble. To have a bunch of children playing with these...haha, the Six Ocean Sect sure is mean.” Huang Xue thought as he stared at the three 9th staged Jie Hai evil beasts in front of him.

The Four-tailed lion was nearly two and a half meters tall with a large gray build and four sharp, scaly tails behind it. The Fire Back toad looked to be an overgrown toad with several small red caters on its back. Small wisps of fire would occasionally shoot out from those caters. The Demon Eyed eagle was currently flying in the air, its entire body colored black with a single giant red eye at the center of where its forehead should be.

All of the beasts had two chains, decorated with array symbols, binding their legs and preventing them from moving out more than ten meters.

“It seems the Sect is not willing to give any chances to the Temporal Di disciples at all...almost as if this competition was set up as a test just for the inner disciple freshmen. Ah, I guess that’s why the other disciples are allowed to pick the herbs here and harvest beast cores...could that be the way the Sect is ‘compensating’ them?”

Huang Xue had long knew that the world of cultivation is unfair. No matter how fair a Sect appears to be, there are always some parts of it that are simply biased towards those talented students. The freshmen competition was one of such example.

But that did not matter much for Huang Xue. Those who are strong, will eventually become strong. A small competition like this is simply nothing for the lot of cultivators here.

At the moment, there were three groups of ten cultivators each fighting against the three evil beasts separately.

In one group, Du Qianxin was leading a group up against the Four-tailed lion while Mei Hua held her ground against the Fire Backed Toad with her group. As for the Demon Eyed Eagle, the people from the Lost Guild were struggling against it.

However, even with Zhang Bifan leading the group and Ji Xiong assisting them, they were eventually sent flying by the demon eagle! This was the gap between powers!

Huang Xue stared at the Demon Eyed Eagle before he began to walk towards it. Yang Chen looked at Huang Xue as he hesitated for a while. Then, he stepped forward and said: “Brother Huang Xue, let me give you a hand!”

After chatting with Huang Xue during the time walking through the forest, Yang Chen had come to appreciate the former. Not only did he receive various tips on cultivation, he had even received a few martial items from Huang Xue as gifts!

Leading his group, Yang Chen followed after Huang Xue as they came to confront the Demon Eyed Eagle.

Staring at the demon eagle, Yang Chen could feel a terrifying pressure coming from the monster. He was, after all, merely at the fifth stage of Jie Hai realm. To him, such a beast was still posed as a great challenge.

Gritting his teeth, Yang Chen shouted as he charged towards the beast: “Surround it and attack! Do not hold anything back!”

Even though this was the freshmen competition, death was still a very real thing here. If they were not careful, they would end up like some of the earlier freshmen who had died at the hands of these evil beasts!

*Shriek!*

The Demon Eyed Eagle cried angrily as it flew up into the air and  charged towards its

Immediately, Yang Chen’s group braced themselves and clashed against the demon eagle! Without hesitation, they took out several magical treasures from their clans and used it towards the beast. This was the only way they would be able to match up against the demon eagle, even if for a few moments!

Huang Xue stood there for a while observing the situation before he suddenly took off towards the eagle. Spreading his fan, Huang Xue leaped up into the air.

“I dislike things behaving too arrogantly in front of me. Especially if they’re right above me. And if you’ve been doing just that for some time already...” Huang Xue murmured to himself as his fan descended upon the Demon Eyed Eagle’s head. “Now go down.”

*Boom!*

Upon receiving Huang Xue’s attack, the demon eagle’s body instantly smashed down into the ground, head first!

Yang Chen and his goons stared wide-eyed in shock at Huang Xue’s sudden display of might. The evil beast had actually been struck down in one hit!

They, who had personally tasted the demon eagle’s prowess first hand, knew that it was not easy to deal with the beast. Even if Huang Xue was at the seventh stage of Jie Hai realm, it should not have been possible to deal such a blow to a 9th staged Jie Hai beast.

Naturally, Huang Xue’s previous body owner had been able to reach the peak of the  Immortal Sovereign, which already signified that his cultivation base would be extraordinary.

Even with Huang Xue splitting up his cultivation with his clones and dropping down to the 7th stage of Jie Hai realm, with his special dantian sea, his battle prowess and Qi density was no less than those of the 9th Jie Hai stage...or perhaps even a bit higher!.