Chapter 80 – Shi Jian, Lu Yun
Since Liu Ming was already a Late Spirit Apostle with a totem and the bone scorpion, as long as a Spirit Master did not personally come and look for trouble, there were naturally no big fears.
As for his marriage with Mu Ming Zhu, Liu Ming decided to take it step by step. As for really marrying the girl, he could not care less.
After all, three years of time may be very short to others, but for him, it was enough to change many things.
However for him, after hearing Mu Ming Zhu talk about the great rewards and received by the previous core disciples from the Large Compet.i.tion and the Life and Death Trials, he could not help but feel extremely tempted.
Ignoring the other benefits, just by becoming one of the top ten, a core disciple, a minimum of one or two thousand Spirit Stones could be received depending on ranking with an upper limit of four to five thousand. Just this was enough to make Liu Ming feel extremely tempted.
Even more needless to say, if disciples survived the Life and Death Trials and came back alive, the Barbarian Ghost Sect would also give every disciple a set of Pure Fiendish Qi, which was a crucial component in ascending to the stage of Spirit Master. Also, many of the forbidden grounds in the sect would be open for the disciples that had returned. Many of these grounds had energies that were a dozen or more times denser than the outside world and would be open for a number for days depending on the contributions a disciple was able to make during the trials.
However, these were only the rewards from the Barbarian Ghost Sect itself. If a disciple could receive a high ranking in the Life and Death Trials overall, there was also a great reward from all of the sects which would be naturally be several times greater than the reward of the Barbarian Ghost Sect alone.
To Liu Ming, who urgently needed large amounts of resources, he naturally could not allow such astonishing rewards to easily slip by.
But after calculating the time, there was only half a year before the Large Compet.i.tion, and the Life and Death Trials would only be held a year after the Large Compet.i.tion.
Although Liu Ming’s confidence in his strength was not weak, he was not entirely sure whether he could really become one of the top ten disciples, a core disciple, when the time came.
After all, all Spirit Apostles in the sect below the age of thirty could partic.i.p.ate in the Large Compet.i.tion. This included young disciples who had astonishing strength and talent, as well as the older disciples who were stuck in the realm of Spirit Apostle. The ones unable to advance, and had already cultivated their Fa Li to an extremely high level.
As for his current situation, it was rather impossible to greatly increase his Fa Li again in a short amount of time. What he lacked was the experience and strategies gained from battling people. Although he had fought with numerous people on Savage Island in the past, those battles were battles between mortal people and the experience that could transfer over to battles between cultivators was very little. In addition, he had not fought other Spirit Apostles too many times.
Although there were specially provided arenas in the sect for disciples to use to battle, who would reveal his real techniques and spells there? Also, if someone really fought seriously in the arenas and seriously injured another disciple, he would be severely punished. Therefore, the arena was really not very useful to the stronger Spirit Apostles.
Therefore, Liu Ming only thought about it once, before giving up on the decision to go to the arenas to gain combat experience.
After thinking quickly a few more times, he suddenly remembered something. With a smirk, he said to himself, “Oh that’s right, although that place is a little dangerous, it is a good place to gain combat experience. Also, if I did go there, even if there were people seeking trouble, it would not be easy for them. However, before this, I will need to go the the Scripture Pavilion to go and find a suitable defensive secret technique.
Although the Spirit Spell Pavilion of Nine Infants Mountain had a few defensive techniques available to all disciples, these techniques either had a certain condition in order to practice it or were not very effective, so Liu Ming did not pay attention to any one of them.
As for the amount of Contribution Points Liu Ming possessed, he had already spent a large half on the Fa Li increasing pills a while ago, so he probably could only exchange for one defensive technique with his remaining amount of a few hundred Contribution Points.
However, when he thought of the Martial Uncle Yuan who forcefully gave him the Dark Bone Method, he felt slightly uneasy. The reason why he did not return to the Scripture Pavilion a second time before was because he had a feeling that Martial Uncle Yuan might do something with him again.
However, as this technique was something that would affect the Large Compet.i.tion and the Life and Death Trials, he could only force himself to go there again. At the same time, he could also ask about and possibly receive an answer for the mysteries of the Dark Bone Method he did not yet understand.
Liu Ming thought carefully again and after feeling that it was not inappropriate in any way, he immediately left his dwelling. After leaving Nine Infants Mountain, he used the Soaring Sky Technique and flew toward the main peak.
However, a little while after he left Nine Infants Mountain, two gray clouds rose up from the foot of the mountain and quickly caught up with Liu Ming in a short amount of time.
“Is it Junior Bai that is in front? Could you stop for a while, we would like to chat a bit with you.”
Liu Ming had already realized that there were people behind him long ago. He originally did not want to pay attention to them, but after hearing the two people speak to him, he hesitated a little before stopping his gray cloud and turning around to look at them.
Two clouds came rushing up to Liu Ming’s gray cloud with a thirty year old male and female standing on them.
The male was of a dark tan with thick, large arms. In addition, he wore a tightly bound piece of clothing with a purple spear on his back. The female had high cheek bones, an average appearance with a white leather whip on her waist.
“You two are…”
Liu Ming immediately recognized that the two were not disciples of Nine Infants Mountain. He spoke with a squint.
“So it really is Junior Bai! Great, I am Shi Jian, and this is my partner Lu Yun, we are the disciples of the Blood Control Faction.” After looking at Liu Ming with a few glances, the dark-faced man spoke with a smile.
“So it is Senior Shi and Senior Lu, is there anything you two need with me?” After hearing that the two were from the Blood Control faction, Liu Ming immediately understood a few things. Therefore, he asked his question without revealing any strange expressions.
“Junior, this is not a place to speak, is it possible for us to go down?” The dark-faced man and his wife made eye contact, and spoke.
“No problem.”
Liu Ming agreed without even thinking and immediately descended downward. This slightly startled the couple, who also quickly followed behind.
A while later, the three of them arrived in a small forest below.
“What do the two of you require? You can state them now.” Liu Ming asked plainly.
“Junior Bai, we have heard of your nickname of “Mission Madman”. If it was not absolutely necessary, we would not come and look for you.” The dark-faced man talked slowly while the smile on his face had already disappeared.
“Oh, looking at Senior’s att.i.tude, you are looking for trouble. You were either sent by Gao Chong, or sent by Mu Ming Zhu.” Liu Ming’s brow moved but he still talked with a calm tone.
“Junior is indeed a smart man, it seems that we do not need to speak a lot. This matter is something that doesn’t require Junior Gao’s attention. We just want to ask, are you willing to cancel your engagement with Mu Ming Zhu? If you agree, we will immediately turn around and leave.” Lu Yun opened her mouth with no expression, and spoke with a slightly hoa.r.s.e voice.
“If I do not agree, are you two going to fight me here? As soon as there is the slightest Fa Li fluctuation, the Enforcement Deacons will immediately come.” Liu Ming replied with a light smile.
“The sect strictly forbids fights between disciples; how could we do such a stupid thing? However, if Junior Liu ever leaves for Sect Ch.o.r.es or leaves the sect in the future, perhaps some problems may appear.” Shi Jian grinned and spoke, revealing a set of snow-white teeth, but in his words, threats could be heard.
“Problems? Recently, I have coincidentally decided not to leave the sect for a while, if Senior Shi is really patient, you can go and wait around the surrounding areas of the sect for me.” Liu Ming replied with a yawn.
This reply made the couple’s expression slight change.
“Junior Bai, even though that Mu Ming Zhu is as pretty as a flower, are you really willing to offend Junior Gao for a girl that is not even a Spirit Apostle? Do not forget, with the qualifications of Junior Gao, advancing to the stage of Spirit Master is a matter that is almost certainly going to happen.” Lu Yun spoke with a gloomy expression.
“Then let us wait for Gao Chong to really advance to Spirit Master before the two of you come and find me. As for now, do not speculate. I am very busy and really don’t have time to waste speaking with the two of you.” Liu Ming replied with a laugh.
Afterward, he did not pay any more attention to the two. With a one-handed sign, he began to soar in the sky, and flew toward the main peak of the the Barbarian Ghost Sect.
“What do we do, who thought this brat would be so difficult at such a young age?” After seeing this reply, the lady turned toward the dark-faced man and asked. Her eyebrows were pinched, and she seemed extremely angry.
“This Junior Bai is not old, but to be able to create a reputation in such a short time, he naturally has areas that are outstanding. To scare him away with just a few threats is impossible. However, that is not important. According to what I have heard, it has been a very long time since he last accepted a Sect Ch.o.r.e, I do not believe he can really stay inside the sect and not go out. When I return, I will discuss with Senior Wu, and split the people into groups, which will alternate to keep watch outside the sect. I don’t believe we won’t get a chance to teach him a lesson. For such a young disciple, what he has said is very pretty but when he actually feels our power, he will understand what the words: ‘The weak get eaten by the strong and what is not worth offending others over’.” The dark-faced man replied with a cold laugh.
“Okay, then that is what we will do. By the way, Mu Xian Yun seems to have gotten involved with this how about we we teach her a lesson!” Lu Yun nodded with satisfaction, and then spoke as if she had just thought of something.
“Mu Xian Yun is Mu Ming Zhu’s aunt, it is best to not mess with her right now. You have not seen the people who were originally against her, such as Ou Yang Xin. In the past year, they have not been looking for trouble with her. That could be mainly due to her relationship with Junior Gao and them unwilling to make trouble in fear of disturbing the hornet’s nest.” Shi Jian spoke while shaking his head.
“That is true! However, looking at Mu Ming Zhu, she is a person of pity. Even we can see why reason why the Sect Leader is letting her interact with Junior Gao, but she is still in the dark, believing that she is able to fly together with Junior Gao in the future. Perhaps once Junior becomes a Spirit Master, she will just become a Human Cauldron!” Lu Yun spoke with a sigh.
“What are you saying, we can talk about this matter between us but once it spreads to the ears of the Sect Leader, we are both dead!” After hearing this, the expression of the dark-faced man immediately changed dramatically. At the same time, he looked around in a flurry.