Chapter 37: Potential
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The return of the top four freshmen did not spark an intense fervor amongst the first year students. Rather, the events that occurred during the competition became the main focus of the gossips among the younger peers, particularly Huang Xue’s action of giving up the champion position to Yang Chen!
There were various excited talks on the items that the four freshmen had obtained as well. For example, Mei Hua was said to have retrieved a rare ten thousand years old Cloud Ginseng, which was extremely beneficial for tempering one’s Dantian. There was also Du Qianxin who was said to have selected a lower Earth-grade sword, and Yang Chen was seen walking around, bragging to others about a bottle of rank three pills he had obtained - the Liquid Heart Pill. Supposedly, it was an elixir that could cut down on the violent energy that surfaces during a break through, allowing a smoother and safer transition.
As for Luo Ke, no one really knew what the former had obtained; since not many people were acquainted with him. Many surmised that it was either a martial arts manual or precious weapon, given Luo Ke’s poor background.
Huang Xue naturally did not pay any attention to these talks, returning directly back to his mountain peak after the competition.
Sitting down on his bed, Huang Xue had immediately took out and placed the Star Decree Stone on his forehead. At the same time, pouring a bit of his Earthly Qi energy into the stone, Huang Xue concentrated recalling the image of Yang Chen.
Soon, a dark domain appeared within his mind. White eerie mist could be seen rolling about the floor, while two blurry figures stood there. A faint phantom structure of the Six Ocean Sect’s gate could be seen looming behind the twin figures.
Off to the right, a single blurry figure could be seen while a dead forest was situated behind the person. And all the way to the left, another hazy figure stood alone with a field of green grass glowing behind them.
Huang Xue continued to concentrate on Yang Chen’s image for the entire time, but nothing happened.
After a while, a frown appeared on his face.
“This is odd...the star decree stone clearly reacted to that Yang Chen, however, none of the blurry avatars actually became visible!” Huang Xue thought in his mind.
When using the Star Decree Stone to find someone, one would have to place the stone on their forehead and think of the person who one believes to be the destined one. If it is the correct person, the blurry image within one’s mind will become visible, revealing the true appearance of the destined one. If it is incorrect, the figure would remain blurry.
Huang Xue pondered for a while before he opened his eyes.
“I made sure to swept my divine sense across the surrounding area, and I am certain there was no one else near Yang Chen. The stone had clearly pointed towards his direction! Since that’s the case, could it be that this Yang Chen’s potential had not awakened yet?”
Even though Huang Xue could use the Star Decree Stone, he was unclear on all of its uses and situational meanings. Not because he had not mastered the Dao of Fortune, but because it was his first time using the stone itself. He had only heard a few methods of its usage and what certain outcomes meant, but that was it.
However, he had heard from another fortune deity before about the Star Decree Stone, in that sometimes a destined one may not be revealed even after being pointed out by the stone. That was because that person’s potential may not have been awakened yet, thus they would not have fulfilled the searcher’s requirement!
“If that’s the case, then I shall observe this Yang Chen until he awakens his potential! Once I confirm it, then I will put in every effort to raise him. He does not have to become my disciple, with our current interactions, I could even provide him help as a fellow ‘brother’. Mmn, this way we may not end up that close in the future and that’ll...make things easier.” Huang Xue thought as a cold smile spread across his face.
With the plan organized in his mind, Huang Xue once again closed his eyes as he went into the mediation. But because he was not actually training, he soon fell into a peaceful slumber while still in his lotus sitting position…
Since the latter’s residence was only about five miles north of Huang Xue’s place, Huang Xue began to visit Yang Chen’s mountain almost three times a week. Like this, for the next several tens of days, Huang Xue spent most of his conversing and giving minor pointers to Yang Chen.
He even brought small gifts to the other party, as a sign of ‘friendship’, but obviously it was because Huang Xue wanted to help improve Yang Chen’s strength a bit more so the latter could ‘unlock his potential.’
With the frequent visits, gifts, and cultivation advices, Yang Chen naturally began to view Huang Xue with a lot more respect and goodwill. Not to mention, Huang Xue had often treated him with great courtesy and help which made Yang Chen extremely happy. He would have never expected that someone as powerful and talented as the mysterious third young master of the Shen clan would treat him with such good feelings!
Initially, Yang Chen had viewed Huang Xue with a bit of hostility due to the latter’s arrogant action during the start of the Freshmen Competition. But seeing how the other party almost seems as if he’s fawning over him, made Yang Chen feel a comfortable and superior position.
He even believe that Huang Xue was doing all this either because of the TianZhu clan behind him or because of his powerful elder brother who’s also at the Six Ocean Sect.
His elder brother, the second young master of the Yang Clan, was also a core disciple. He possessed a rather high aptitude for cultivation and was someone who had been within the top ten disciples on the Sea Disciple Ranking board for nearly three years!
But what Yang Chen didn’t know was that Huang Xue naturally did not worry about the powers backing the former. As a person with certain experiences, Huang Xue had some ideas on how to deal with people like Yang Chen, who was arrogant and had a superior-complex. The best method to get close to such people was to fawn over them and bribe them with lavish gifts.
And this was exactly what Huang Xue chose to do. To achieve his goal, Huang Xue was indifferent about his previous godly status and still chose to ‘fawn over a mere junior’. This was his resolution and the level of his stubbornness.
And it worked.
On the twentieth day, Yang Chen had personally visited Huang Xue’s mountain peak to pay his visit.
“Haha, brother Shen, how have you been?” Yang Chen laughed as he sat down on a table inside Huang Xue’s room.
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“I’ve been quite well.” Huang Xue smiled and took a seat across from the other youth. “May I ask what wind brought brother Yang here today?”
“To be honest, I am lacking a fellow brother to travel with me to Gongho city.” Yang Chen said. “I am certain brother Shen had already received news about the event taking place there from your clan.”
“Gongho city...are you referring to the opening of the Grand Valley Tomb?”
“That is precisely so.”
Three days ago, Huang Xue received a distant transmission from Shen Lin about a widespread event was soon to take place in the Duolo Province. That was the annual opening of the Grand Valley Tomb!
Legend has it that this tomb was once the resting place of a fallen Profound He practitioner.
Profound He!
In the Long Dynasty, Profound He eccentrics could be considered the absolute top existences. After all, in the dynasty’s entire history, the number of Dao Ascents who had appeared within its borders numbered less than twelve in total!
However, since such exalted practitioners are scarce, therefore, after Profound He, the second most revered cultivators were those of the Tian realm!
Thus, a Profound He’s tomb was practically priceless, given the large amount of treasures and resources within it! Any discovery of such tomb naturally drew intense battles from the surrounding powers.
But, when the peak experts from the Long Dynasty investigated the complex structures and incredibly abundance of treasures, they came to a shocking new conclusion. They believed that the tomb was not the resting place of a single Profound He practitioner...but rather multiple ones!
It was noted that the formations laid within and outside the tomb was inexplicably powerful, to the point that many famous figures initially thought that the Grand Valley Tomb was possibly constructed by a peak Profound He.
However, as those strong experts entered deeper inside the tomb, they discovered several statues depicting the same people.
With so many statues featuring those identical persons, the experts surmised that those people must have been important, and could possibly even be the ones buried within this tomb! This was how those powerful experts from the Long Dynasty came to conclude that there was a possibility of there being more than one Profound He expert’s corpses.
Inside the massive tomb were several intricate paths, each leading to different endings. But even amidst these possible dangers, it is widely known that there likewise contained various treasures and cultivation resources!
However, at the very end of the tomb, there laid an enormous boulder that completely covered what was supposed to be an entrance to another room. There, a great sealing formation was laid; and it possessed such power that none of those Long dynasty experts were able to break through it all, regardless of the method they used!
It was said that not even a powerful Profound He expert who had went to assist them, could shake that boulder! And soon, the experts began to suspect that behind the restrictive boulder...was most likely the resting area of the Profound Hes!
What was more bizarre was that after a certain period of time, a strange force would bring them out of the Grand Valley Tomb. The resting area would then be sealed off with another powerful formation for a whole year before once again opening again. And here comes the strangest part: every year, those experts discovered that the number of treasures change inside the time, as if they had been restocked! The pathways would also once again change, including the tunnel that led to the end of restrictive boulder, and new traps would activate as well!
This cycle continued on for several years, with the tomb changing each time. As such, after some time, those experts began to send their younger generation to the Grand Valley Tomb to reap for rewards and gain a few experiences.
Without sufficient strength to budge that restrictive boulder, even after discovering it again and again, those experts could only give up in the end,
Moreover, given that there were countless traps and tunnel paths in the Grand Valley Tomb, it was impossible for even a large mass of cultivators to clean the place out. Not to mention, the structure and even the treasures change each time, seemingly as if they were endless.
Previously, when Huang Xue received news about this tomb, he did not have much interest in it. After all, it was merely a Profound He’s sepchuler. Even if it was the tomb of three or more Profound He, it was not enough to catch the interests of the God of Dao…
However, now that Yang Chen chose to go, it would be a different story.
Huang Xue thought for a while before he looked at Yang Chen. “Since brother Yang has personally come to my mountain peak to invite, how could I refuse your good will? Of course I am willing to take a trip with you down to that Grand Valley Tomb!”
Yang Chen had a satisfied smile on his face, though it closely resembled a smug smile.
“Alright, brother Shen! I knew it was the right choice to invite you along. The Grand Valley Tomb should be opening in three days. We will first make a stop at Gongho city tomorrow and rest for a day. Then, we’ll head over towards the Grand Valley Tomb on the third day. I will wait for brother Shen tomorrow at the stone ground below the Sect’s gate!”
Huang Xue nodded in agreement. “Then, I will see you at our convening point tomorrow then!”
After chatting a few more pleasantries, Yang Chen departed for his own peak.
Huang Xue, still sitting on the table, closed his eyes. “This trip to the Grand Valley Tomb...I wonder, could it be an opportunity for this Yang Chen’s potential to awaken?” He murmured softly to himself.
***
Duoluo Province.
A bright round moon hung in the night sky. At a certain secluded cave deep in a dark forest, a young man could be seen mediating.
The youth wore a plain light blue robe and had a rather handsome feature. However, at this moment, his eyebrows were creased. A serious expression spread across his face while his closed eyes flickered with anticipation.
Laying in front of him, was a worn out Bagua mirror. Several strands of Earthly Qi were slithering out of the mirror and entering the young man’s body at a steady rate. This youth was none other than Luo Ke!
At this moment, he was at a critical conjunction for his breakthrough into the Jie Hai realm!
“I have already tuned my body to its peak, and my body already have a dense traces of Earthly Qi! It should be time for me to open my Dantian and form my own ‘sea’!” Luo Ke thought solemnly as he rotated the energy inside his body.
Since the Temporal Di realm was mainly focused on bodily tempering, only a few people would actually care about absorbing Earthly Qi. That is because at this early stage, absorbing Earthly Qi was still too difficult. The particles inside such Qi energy contained a bit of impurities and even berserk elements; making it hard to absorb. And Temporal Di practitioners would only be able to take a small quantity of such energy after a long period of meditation and refining away the bad elements!
Thus, it was not worth it; and most would wait until they entered Jie Hai realm where it would be easier to absorb Earthly Qi then.
However, with the Bagua mirror, Luo Ke had long deviated from the normal path of cultivation. The youth had long discovered that the mirror was actually able to help him refine and absorb the Earthly Qi energy!
Because of this, not only is Luo Ke’s cultivation base much more powerful than normal people’s, his Temporal Di body actually contained thick concentration of Earthly Qi!
With his eyes closed, Luo Ke began to condense his Earthly Qi together. All of his muscles tensed at once.
After a quarter to an hour, Luo Ke felt a sharp pain inside his abdomen; as if something had been cut open there. Immediately, getting his teeth, Luo Ke directed all the Earthly Qi inside his body into that opening. That was his Dantian.
A sense of weakness began to dawn on Luo Ke as the Earthly Qi that was stored throughout his body sweeped into his Dantian area.
As the Earthly Qi entered his Dantian and began to condense, a phenomenon took place. As each strands of Earthly Qi fused and condensed together, they transformed into liquids and only continued to expand.
After a volume of liquefied Earthy Qi, with the equivalent size of a compressed small pond, was condensed at the bottom of his Dantian, a formidable aura exploded out of Luo Ke’s body. A refreshing and vigorous feeling pervaded through Luo Ke’s body, making him feel as if he was floating above the clouds.
Black liquids began to exude from Luo Ke’s pores. These were the impurities inside his body.
And this...was the first stage of Jie Hai realm!
But, it was not over!
Because Luo Ke had not immediately broken through into the Jie Hai realm and chose to continued solidifying his cultivation base, he had a dense quantity of Earthly Qi inside his body. More Earthly Qi continued to pour into his Dantian.
Even as Luo Ke continued to fill up his dantian even more, he could feel the Bagua mirror in front of him constantly absorbing the energies in the air, transforming it, and sending it into his body in its purest form!
Before long, Luo Ke’s dantian expanded once again. The small pond inside his dantian was now had the density of one-fourth the size of a mid-area lake; the originally clear ‘sea’ became a bit blue in color. This was obviously not the actual size of the dantian sea, but rather a figurative quantification. If the condensed dantian sea was allowed to unfurl, it would indeed be as large as one fourth of a mid-sized lake.
Moreover, the increased potent energy contained within the dantian sea was testament to its boost of strength!
A powerful aura that was even greater than the previous one surged out from Luo Ke. Dusts blew away from him as a faint windy howl surrounded him.
This, was the second stage of Jie Hai realm!
Luo Ke’s aura continued to rise as more Earthly Qi was slowly being cleansed away from his body and absorbed into his dantian. It was only until his aura stopped at the peak of the Jie Hai 2nd stage that Luo Ke found that he would not be breaking through again, even with the current help from the Bagua mirror.
Upon entering the Jie Hai realm, he had actually reached the peak of the second stage in one go!
Even outside of the Long Dynasty, having double breakthroughs were exceedingly rare. Only those who possessed an incomparably solid base would have such luck. These kind of phenomenons usually occurred in the early realms of cultivation. After that, it was much, much harder to even break through a stage, much less two stages at once!
After everything once again quieted down, did Luo Ke finally open his eyes. A bright glow could be seen within his clear eyes as he examined his own body.
His lip curled up in a smile as he looked towards the opening of the cave.
“To think I could advance two stages at once...after stabilizing my foundation, with my strength now, I should be able to deal with some of the people from those two despicable factions! Hmph, want to kill me? It’s not that easy!”
A murderous glint appeared in Luo Ke’s eyes, as he glared out at the night. For the past twenty days, he had been training within the Duolo Province. At some point, he had gotten into conflicts with two factions at once, and due to the other party's strength being higher than his own, he was forced to flee in when they revealed killing intents.
This was how he ended up in a sorry state, hiding in an unknown cavern.
Although Luo Ke could have easily revealed his identity as a Six Ocean Sect disciple through the crest hidden under his robe, he knew he could not fully rely on it.
If he was killed, what use was displaying his background?
Moreover, Luo Ke knew this was a test for him, an opportunity for him to truly develop himself in this cruel world...