For the next half month, Ye Chen trained in the Nine Star White Jade Restaurant.
The couple hundred top rank soul stones that he had gotten from the leader of the foggy island had been almost all used up, but his cultivation had also reached the next level, and his zhen yuan had become richer and richer.
The small gap between the Late Astral Reaching Realm and its peak level should not be underestimated, because the required acc.u.mulated zhen yuan needed to reach a surprisingly high quant.i.ty. No matter how talented or how powerful one were, the warrior needed to train step by step. Of course, there were always shortcuts, but the one for this was just too hard to obtain, and was almost not worth it. It would at least require the rarest great medicinal plants or priceless top pellets which allowed the warrior to jump from Late Astral Reaching Realm straight to the peak level. Or, it could be possible if a Seas of Souls Realm powerful warrior was willing to burn his power to boost the other"s.
"No need to hurry… My attacking power made me basically unbeatable within the Astral Reaching Realm, so I can take my time on the cultivation part. Even if I reach the peak level, it will take me a long process to reach Seas of Souls Realm, three to five years at the minimum and even decades or more. The breakthrough from the Astral Reaching Realm to Seas of Souls Realm was regarded as jumping beyond the immortal realm for a reason, after all."
Reaching beyond the immortal realm meant the evolution of one"s body beyond the limitation of humans indeed. The warriors would then be able to influence even the climate. Therefore, the warriors who had made the breakthrough were referred to as competent warriors.
The sky was brightening up, as the oil light with a cover of gla.s.s still shone a dim light.
Opening his eyes, Ye Chen reached out his fingers and made a gesture.
Pooh!
The gla.s.s stood still, while the light was put out.
After a gentle wash, Ye Chen opened the door and walked towards the hall on the seventh floor.
The Astral Reaching Realm warriors there were twice as many as half a month ago. One of the reasons was that Ye Chen was living here, and a lot of the warriors wanted to come and make friends with him. The other reason was that the new Hidden Dragon Rank compet.i.tion had just finished, and all of the people that were in the Hidden Dragon Ancient City had just come back.
"Although this year was not as good as the last one, there were still a lot of top level martial geniuses… The number one warrior was from the Floating Mountain Martial School, the descendant of the Stone Emperor, Gu Youyun, and the second one was Qian Yun from the Suns.h.i.+ne Martial School. As for the martial school that Ye Chen was in, there had been quite a lot of martial geniuses appearing because of the luck Ye Chen had brought. Three of them made it into the top seventy-two, the top among whom was Zhang Haoran. I heard that he was the same generation of martial geniuses and been caught up by Ye Chen before. There had been a lot of core disciples from Sky Cloud Martial School who had almost made it as well, which made all the other leaders jealous."
"Under the leaders.h.i.+p of a martial genius like Ye Chen, it would be hard for the disciples to not be someone significant."
"I heard that Ye Chen was living in the Nine Star White Jade Restaurant right now. I wonder if it is true."
"Of course it is. We had been drinking together these days and talking about martial experiences. You would think that he would be rather new to this because of his age, but he actually had quite a deep understanding of martial arts. I have gotten a lot of tips, and I actually managed to make some breakthrough. Before, you and I were at the same level, but now, I am a bit more powerful."
"Hehe, everyone can say stuff like that. We should compete when we have a chance."
"Of course."
As everyone was chatting, Ye Chen arrived in the hall.
"Warrior Ye has arrived."
"Warrior Ye! You are actually here! I guess I made the right decision."
The newly-arrived Astral Reaching Realm warriors all greeted him.
Ye Chen had heard their conversation and gotten to understand the current situation in the Sky Cloud Martial School. He had already expected Zhang Haoran"s growth, since he was actually worth competing back in the day. It had been five to six years now, and Zhang Haoran"s cultivation should be expectedly at peak level Clasping Yuan Realm, really close to Astral Reaching Realm.
As for Xu Jing, who was still not twenty-four yet and not in the compet.i.tion, Ye Chen had the suspicion that she had already reached the Astral Reaching Realm.
Xu Jing"s path was not like most of the warriors, as she trained mainly qi and physical strength which was stored completely different from zhen yuan. Zhen yuan was stored in the dantian and traveled through the whole body"s meridians, while the qi power was stored in the blood, flesh, and bones. All parts of the human body were routes of qi power, without any limitation.
Training qi power was the next level for body training.
For normal people, training body could increase the condition of the body and physical power. Once one reached the later stages, the power could be formed physically from the actual body, which would indeed be qi power. It did not have as many effects as zhen yuan, but judging on power, it would be way stronger than the latter. It was unstoppable and unbreakable. While competing with warriors who trained qi power, it was necessary for the opponents to not get too close, because the consequences would be fatal. Even the most powerful protective layer would be decoration in front of qi power.
There was another huge difference between qi power and training the physical body, which was that training qi power would not be noticeable from the outside. For example, Xu Jing was the physically the most powerful warrior in the whole South Rudra Region, but from the outside, she was still a skinny looking girl. But, with her skinny arms, she would be able to kill a same-level beast within seconds.
Of course, people who trained qi power were rather easy to recognize since their power was too powerful and it normally leaked out of their bodies.
Although Ye Chen"s qi power was not as powerful as Xu Jing"s, but his soul power was so unique that it made him very sensitive to others" power. He was sure that he would be able to tell of her true power when he saw her again.
While he was drinking with the others, Ye Chen asked what happened during the Hidden Dragon Rank compet.i.tion that was worth noticing.
"There seems to be one… The first son of the Black Dragon Empire who ranked third in the Hidden Dragon Rank compet.i.tion along with warrior Ye was there in this year"s compet.i.tion."
"The first son of the Black Dragon Empire!.."
Ye Chen nodded, he knew who that was. Sikong Sheng had been in three Hidden Dragon Rank compet.i.tions. He was ranked first in the second one he was in while Yan Chihuo was the second, and the third was indeed the first son of the Black Dragon Emperor. Right then, he was already twenty three years old, and now, he would be twenty-nine, which was way older than the other ones in the generation.
"No one had expected that once the eldest son of the Black Dragon Empire appeared, he would be a peak level Late Astral Reaching Realm, which shocked everyone."
"Yeah, I was shocked as well."
Ye Chen did not care much about it as he asked: "Why was he there?"
"Recruiting martial geniuses… I heard he had already gotten a lot of them to join in, which included a couple of high ranked warriors, such as the Gu Youyun and Qian Yun. They were ranked the top two this year, and had already been recruited. I heard that Zhang Haoran from your martial school was among the ones being recruited. I wonder if he had said yes."
"Recruiting warriors… How smart!"
Ye Chen knew that the top seventy-two warriors who were in the Hidden Dragon Rank carried a certain level of luck. Being able to recruit them would allow one to acc.u.mulate more luck. Even in the worst case scenario, they would be able to become guards of the royal family. Of course, there were only top three nations that had the means to do it, since the top three royal family were much more powerful than even the rank 6 martial inst.i.tutions. And, the Black Dragon Empire royal family was the number one royal family.
Without noticing, it was already afternoon.
On the street, there were a group of six people slowly walking down the street.
"Prince, we are here."
Among the six, five of them were elders wearing long black s.h.i.+rts with gold strings embedded within. One of them had a golden flower on his chest, who walked half a step forward and said.
The young man was more than one hundred and ninety centimeters tall. He had a black dragon on his s.h.i.+rt, the eyes of which were both golden, which increased his aura as well. He said lightly, "Without any surprise, he should be in the Nine Star White Jade Restaurant. I wonder if he would accept my invitation."
"Huh! If he doesn"t appreciate it, then we will teach him a lesson."
It came from the husky, evil-looking elder.
The leading elder in black touched his chin, "Don"t underestimate him. He was able to escape from the top four Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warriors, he must be powerful. But of course, there is no need to be afraid. Yan Beidao, later when the prince is talking, don"t be reckless and ruin the prince"s plan." Yan Beidao was just slightly powerful than him, as his blade art was extremely powerful. Unfortunately, it was too evil and killed too many people.
"Don"t worry! I know what I am doing."
As they arrived at the main door of the restaurant, the waiters who saw them was shocked after recognizing their ident.i.ty. They bent to greet them and led them inside immediately to the owner of the restaurant, who was, of course, full of smiles.
"Is Ye Chen in the Nine Star White Jade Restaurant?" The leading elder asked.
The owner hesitated and then nodded, "Warrior Ye has lived here for half a month, right on the seventh floor."
"Alright now. You can go back to your work. We will go up ourselves."
On the seventh floor, Ye Chen and the people were just drinking. But after seeing the six of them walking up, he frowned and sensed that they were here for him.
Although the prince had never seen Ye Chen before, he had seen a painting of him, so he revealed a smile, "Warrior Ye is so cool… I heard people say that you had made it out of the forbidden area. Before, I did not believe it, but now I do."
Ye Chen said, "I am flattered, but why the prince is here today?" Someone had already informed him of the latter"s ident.i.ty.
The prince waved the others to make room for him so he could sit right in front of Ye Chen, and said without hesitation, "I come here this time hoping that warrior Ye could become my personal guard. I can offer you a captain"s position. Plus, I will dissolve the problem between you and the Floating Mountain Martial School for you. What do you think?"
With his speech over, the prince looked right at Ye Chen.
Ye Chen raised up one of his brows. He was surprised to find out that three of the elders were Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warriors. One of the leading ones in black was a bulky, strong elder. The prince was also an Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warrior, which was not too surprising judging based on his talent and comprehensive ability at the age of twenty-eight. It was common knowledge that the period time between twenty-five and thirty-five was the peak condition for normal human beings. Right then, warriors would be able to make huge breakthroughs. For example, the Mysterious Queen had reached the Seas of Souls Realm when she was twenty-five years old, and Life and Death Realm when she was thirty-five. Therefore, the prince"s cultivation right now was not that impressive. Martial geniuses in his generation would not be weaker when they were at the age of the prince. Plus, with the leaders.h.i.+p of Ye Chen, the warriors would have more pressure, which might result in them becoming more powerful by the time they were at this age.
"Apologies, but I cannot take the offer." Ye Chen looked very calm as he spoke while taking a sip of the wine.
The prince chuckled a little, and Ye Chen could sense a light level of pressure being pushed onto him, "Ye pal, why don"t you consider it again? There will only be benefits for you if you become a guard of mine."
"Wrong. Being your personal guard would give me anything but a benefit."
Ye Chen did not feel any necessity to restrain himself as he said what was on his head without thinking further.
"Rude! I was being respectful to you, so don"t rub it in. If you say no, then you will have to say it to my sword." Yan Beidao could not resist but to talk back to Ye Chen, defending his prince. He was not worried that the prince would be mad at him, since there was a second plan in case Ye Chen decided to say no.