Chapter 45: Mistaken
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When Huang Xue first discovered the attack on Yang Chen, it had already been too late.
During the entire time, he had been on guard in case something happened to Yang Chen while the latter was sealing the black box. But never did he expect that out of nowhere, someone had actually gotten so close to Yang Chen that the other party could even strike out before Huang Xue could react! And that attack had been made...with the clear intent to kill!
In fact, not even Huang Xue could ascertain when the other person appeared. He could not even sense that black clothed person’s aura with his divine sense before the latter’s appearance!
In a normal situation, a 5th staged Jie Hai practitioner like Yang Chen could have never died under the hands of Luo Ke. However, given the former’s greatly weakened state, lack of caution in the moment of excitement and Luo Ke’s ruthless sneak attack; a fledging like Yang Chen simply had no way to survive!
This had greatly alarmed and shocked Huang Xue into momentary silence. When he came to his senses, his entire body shook with fury and killing intent!
After all, the person who was killed...had been his destined one! How could he not be angry in such a scenario?
Even as a previous deity, Huang Xue’s emotions had never been locked away. Because the various Daos he practiced, human emotions are necessary to continue advancing in such aspect. Like such, while Huang Xue could control many of his emotions, he would not purposefully hold them back should the situation require him to act.
With a burst of powerful energy, Huang Xue’s aura instantly rose to the 9th stage of Jie Hai as he attacked the culprit!
And as expected, the person was sent flying away while blood spewed from his mouth. But Huang Xue was not done yet. To dare kill a person of his...the only path was absolute death!
But just as Huang Xue was nearing Luo Ke at a rapid rate, he suddenly felt an undulation from the Star Decree stone. This had caused him to abruptly pause his advance.
Even though he was furious, Huang Xue did not lose sense of his surrounding. He could easily tell that there were no one else around him, besides Luo Ke and the deceased Yang Chen. However, the star decree stone had once again been moved.
With the span of a moment previously, Huang Xue had long ascertain that Luo Ke’s cultivation was at the 2nd stage of Jie Hai realm. This was not enough to hide from his divine sense, even if Huang Xue’s soul was injured and was currently being consumed. Thus, he had quickly came to conclude that it was due to a magical treasure. And Huang Xue doubted that such a treasure would appear on more than a single person!
So for the Star Decree stone to resonate in such a situation…
Huang Xue immediately took out the Star Decree stone and took a look at it. On its smooth surface, a clear golden arrow was pointing...towards Luo Ke’s direction!
A golden strand was now clearly swirling around Luo Ke, in fact, the strand this time around was much brighter and “solid”. It was also moving much closer around Luo Ke’s body. This did not occur before when it came to Yang Chen.
By now, a complicated expression surfaced on Huang Xue’s face.
“If a destined one kills another destined one...this is a bit…” Huang Xue was at loss what to do.
But after a while, Huang Xue’s eyes lit up as shrewdness glowed within them. From Huang Xue’s attack, a large piece of Yang Chen’s black cloak had been shredded into pieces, revealing the blue uniform of Six Ocean Sect disciples. A crest of a ocean wave could be seen on Luo Ke’s right chest area.
Upon seeing that, a thoughtful look appeared on Huang Xue’s face.
“This person is from the Six Ocean Sect, so he must know about Yang Chen’s identity; yet he still dared to kill him. And that invisible ability that even I could not detect…”
After all, Huang Xue had previously lived for countless years as a god. Even though he was unsure of his conclusions, he was still able to piece together various pieces of vague hints.
At this time, Luo Ke had already retrieved himself off the ground. Although the bagua mirror had fended off a large portion of Huang Xue’s attack, it still could not prevent Luo Ke from getting fatally injured. It was, after all is said and done, an attack from a upset 9th staged Jie Hai practitioner…
A feeling of dread and determination filed Luo Ke’s being as he tried to figure out a way to escape this dangerous situation.
Several hours before, Luo Ke had been stalking Huang Xue and Yang Chen using the stealth ability of the bagua mirror. Like this, Luo Ke naturally came to discover the mysterious black box along with Yang Chen.
After hearing Yang Chen narrate the strength of the supposed sword that was in black box, Luo Ke knew he had to obtain it for himself! He was short of a powerful weapon anyhow. If he could retrieve that mysterious sword inside that black box, his overall battle prowess would no doubt surge once again.
But at the same time, he knew could not steal the black box right under the nose of two Jie Hai practitioners who were of higher level than himself; in particular the Shen youth was someone to watch out for.
Thus, Luo Ke decided to finish off the weakest of the two, Yang Chen!
Even though Luo Ke knew the mammoth of a backer Yang Chen had, he was confident that with his current disguise, Huang Xue would not recognize him. Adding on that with the stealth ability of the bagua mirror, Luo Ke could still safely escape while reaping the benefits!
But who could have known that Huang Xue’s aura would suddenly surge to new heights and utterly suppress him in moments? The sudden increase in cultivation had completely caught Luo Ke off guard. If not for the assistance given by the bagua mirror, Luo Ke had no doubt he would have died right there and then!
At first, Luo Ke could still sense Huang Xue’s cultivation being at the 7th Jie Hai stage; similar to what he had felt back then during the Six Ocean Sect’s freshmen competition. But in the next instant, he could not feel the latter’s level anymore.
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Only the newfound pressure told Luo Ke that Huang Xue had actually suddenly became much, much more terrifying….
In that moment, Luo Ke realized that he had truly underestimated the white robed youth from the Shen clan…
Fortunately, Luo Ke’s face was still covered by a black cloth and his aura was obscured by the bagua mirror. His identity should still be safe.
As Luo Ke cautiously watched Huang Xue who had become still, he slowly backed up. The spot where he had landed was right before the other end of the cave opening.
Seizing the moment of inactivity, Luo Ke quickly activated the bagua mirror’s ability and retreated into the dark tunnel behind him.
The moment Luo Ke’s aura completely vanished, Huang Xue frowned.
However, he did not pursue Luo Ke. Instead, Huang Xue lifted the Star Decree stone that was in his right hand and placed it on his forehead. Closing his eyes, he began to focus his attention on the stone.
After a while. Huang Xue slowly opened his eyes as a light of amusement and excitement shone brightly within them.
A faint feeling of coldness and self-regret also welled up within his heart.
After all, he...had actually almost killed someone who was supposed to be connected to him by destiny! If Huang Xue was not sober as he was, he could have very well made a mistake that he may probably regret for a long time…
“To think I would find my second destined person here…” Huang Xue murmured after collecting his thoughts. Then, as if he had thought of something, he turned to look back at Yang Chen’s corpse. “Or perhaps I should say my first destined person.”
In his oracle vision, Huang Xue did not see one of the three blurry figures fade away, even after Yang Chen died.
Now what did that mean? It meant that Yang Chen had never been the one Huang Xue was looking for!
Instead, among the three indistinct figures, the one in the center had materialised instead...in the image of Luo Ke!
“But how could I have mistaken Yang Chen as a chosen one? There was definitely no one around when I scanned with my divine sense.” Huang Xue pondered. “Then...it must have really been the doing of a mysterious treasure on that youth’s body? Or could it be that he possess a Holy Physique Or Cursed Physique? No, that’s not it...he doesn’t have the unique aura of beings who have such body.”
Previously, Huang Xue had also tried to verify if Yang Chen was truly his destined one through this method, but to no avail. While he had his suspicions, Huang Xue had clearly seen that the golden arrow from the Star Decree Stone was pointing at Yang Chen! There was no mistake about it.
Therefore, Huang Xue had came to another conclusion. That Yang Chen’s talent had not truly manifest itself yet; it was still dormant.This was also why Huang Xue had not hurriedly tried to take Yang Chen in as his disciple like what he had originally intended to do. He needed to ensure that Yang Chen was truly his destined one after the latter’s latent talent emerges; hence, he gave some help and respect to the child, but did not personally provide any insightful guidance or treatment.
But this type of scenario was rare…
In fact, there was one thing Huang Xue had overlooked - and that was the Star Decree Stone he made was actually incomplete! The ingredients used had indeed created a “whole” Star Decree Stone, however some of the material used were low-level substitutes. In his rush to quickly divine destiny, Huang Xue thought that as long as the ingredients did not create a problem with one another, the stone’s effect would still be the same.
In the end, this had created a laughable incident for him.
Halfway through his thoughts, Huang Xue’s eyes suddenly lit up again as he changed his thought back to the brief exchange. “That kid had managed to block my attack backed by a strength that could even heavily injure Tian realm practitioners...for a brief moment, I thought I felt a peculiar aura coming from him at that time. Could that aura...be from the magical treasure he has on him?”
After analyzing the situations, Huang Xue began to piece everything together as a smile lifted across his face.
“Haha, good! Good brat! I am ninety percent certain that this person definitely has an extraordinary magical treasure on him! It was possible that it even may have several functions! Although I am not completely sure the ability of the magical treasure or if the one that the Star Decree stone detected that day was this same person, it is of no concern now! I have at least truly found my first destined person this time!”
During his Godly Years, Huang Xue had seen various monstrous treasures. Many had extremely peculiar abilities, and often they served more than one function --especially the stronger the magical treasure was!
From stealthy concealing of one’s entire being to helping one’s cultivation to even absorption and reflection of incoming attacks; Huang Xue had seen all of those before.Even legendary treasures with the ability of Time or the ability to revive the dead existed in Huang Xue’s plethora of experiences and memories.
“Haii...how unfortunate. And I was just starting to get use to this Yang brat too.” Huang Xue gave a light sigh as he looked once more at Yang Chen’s motionless body, before turning away and staring into the dark tunnel ahead.
A strange smile danced on Huang Xue’s face.
“That brat seems to be more of a bold and stubborn character. Even after taking my strike he did not give up in to death. His personal qualities are much better than Yang Chen. Showering him with a bunch of flattery and gifts probably won’t help me get close to him or improve his cultivation, rather they may even implicate his progress! Since he has already killed Yang Chen, the Yang clan will definitely not let him off.
And then there’s those other major factions here in the Duolo Province aiming for him...hehe, this could serve as a good training opportunity for him! This may be the best way to help him improve on his cultivation quickly...as long as I prevent him from truly dying, everything should be fine.”
As Huang Xue was pondering on how he should approach or secretly train Luo Ke, he suddenly detected something with his divine sense that caused his skin to crawl.
A frowned appeared on his face. “This level of presence…”
Closing his eyes, Huang Xue focused on sending out his divine sense further and observing the energy around him. In his mind, a large black field appeared. Within it were depictions of outlines of various mountains, forests, beasts, and even cultivators!
The entire layout of the Grand Valley Tomb was laid out before his soul’s godly vision.
Even with his broken soul, Huang Xue’s divine sense was still extremely formidable, possessing a near absolute detection diameter of a five kilometers as of now!
From his divine sense, Huang Xue could easily see a weak blue aura outline of Luo Ke’s figure as the latter retreated deeper into the Grand Valley Tomb. Huang Xue immediately knew that this must have been the youth he had previously attacked. No other auras around were greatly weakened as it was; and there was even a faint trace of Huang Xue’s residual aura left on the person’s body,..
It seemed the youth did not have enough energy left to maintain his stealth ability.
However, Huang Xue noticed another person following closely behind the injured youth.
On the tunnel that Luo Ke was traveling in, there seemed to be several other entrances to it. This newcomer may have entered through one of those openings that Huang Xue may have missed.
This person’s aura outline was completely black, filled with a touch of sinister to it. From Huang Xue’s superior divine sense, he could tell that it was a male cultivator; one who was quite powerful considering the density of the aura that outlined his figure.
However, this person seemed to be specifically tailing Luo Ke. And it seemed that the other party had only recently appeared, since Huang Xue would have long discovered him with his divine sense before if that were not the case.
With his level of divine sense, Huang Xue was certain that the other party would be unable to detect him. However, his face fell when he noticed the faint murderous aura that was also attached to this person’s aura.
“This person’s aura is somewhat decent, indicating a high level of achievement in cultivation. Since I am a bit far away now to fully ascertain this, his cultivation should have entered the Dao Ascent realm...for him to be here, could it be because of the treasure on that child’s body?”
From Huang Xue’s point of view, if this mysterious person was targeting Luo Ke, then the only reason would be for the magical item. Though, if that was the case, why didn’t the other party make their move already? Was the person waiting for something?
As Huang Xue was still in thought about the new person who came into play, he suddenly felt three more powerful auras rapidly approaching from the distance.
Judging from their deep blue aura outlines, Huang Xue could faintly tell that each of those auras were equal, if not greater, than the person with the black aura outline.
A dark shadow casted over Huang Xue’s face as he cursed: “Don’t tell me they’re here for the magical treasure too?! Damn, what the hell did the brat even pick up??”