Chapter 865: Influence
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Kid, you successfully comprehended it? Do a transformation for this Great One to see the effect.” Back at Xuanwu Palace, Ao Lu immediately asked Jiang Yi to activate the Mirage Divine Ability after as soon as they returned.
Jiang Yi’s body flashed with white light as he activated his Mirage Divine Ability. His muscles and bones squirmed as he transformed into an ordinary middle-aged man while his soul spirit presence had turned unfamiliar. Jiang Xiaonu, Qianqian, and Black Deity were totally unable to recognize them.
“Not bad!”
Ao Lu took a few glances and nodded. “This Mirage Divine Ability is truly a blessing of nature. You have comprehended it by yourself, and so there isn’t a hint of demonic aura. You can go to the East Imperial Continent without hesitation. As long as you don’t encounter the Nine Thearchs, not even regular DemiG.o.ds can see through you!”
Buzz!
Jiang Yi’s body flourished with white light as he regained his appearance and asked curiously, “Can the Nine Thearchs see through this?”
“You better don’t belittle the Nine Thearchs!”
Ao Lu spoke solemnly, “They are the nine individuals who have reached the pinnacle of the Stellarsky Domain. How could they not have any special methods? I don’t know about the others, but if the Buddha Thearch is to take a single glance at you, everything will be exposed. Also… if possible, do not make enemies with the Buddha, Battle, and North Thearchs’ clans. These three clans are the most horrific.”
“North Thearch?”
Jiang Yi’s eyes turned cold as he let out a bitter smile and said, “I will definitely not go provoke the two other clans, but I will definitely clash with this North Thearch’s Wu Clan. That’s right… Senior Ao Lu, can you ask Shadow Emperor to help me check on two individuals. One of them is Su Ruoxue, and she came from Stellarsky Continent. The other is Ji Tingyu: she is also from Stellarsky Continent, and she is also the Martial Arts Hall’s branch hall’s Saint Lady. Six years ago, they teleported to the Martial Arts Main Hall from Stellarsky Continent. I need both of their detailed information!”
Ao Lu waved his hand said, “Black Deity, ask Shadow Emperor to come in!”
Black Deity walked out while Jiang Yi took out his brush and paper to start painting. He had painted both Su Ruoxue and Ji Tingyu’s portraits. When he was painting Su Ruoxue, his heart had a deep ache as he revealed a yearning expression. While he was painting Ji Tingyu, he had an unconcealable killing aura; and his eyes were glowing with a red light.
He had hardly abused any woman in his life unless they were his enemies, and he wouldn’t kill women for no reason. However, Ji Tingyu was the only woman that he desired to kill the most. If Ji Tingyu was to fall into his hands, he would definitely crush her into thousands of pieces.
After Shadow Emperor walked in silently, Jiang Yi handed the portraits and also the information of Su Ruoxue and Ji Tingyu to him. Shadow Emperor gave Jiang Yi a special red pearl which wasn’t the demon race’s treasure and didn’t have any demonic aura. It was a kind of treasure naturally formed by heaven and earth in the Endless Deep Sea. Through this pearl, the demon race’s scouts would be able to find Jiang Yi and hand over any information and news that Jiang Yi required.
Jiang Yi didn’t know how many demon race spies had infiltrated the East Imperial Continent, but the investigation would require time. This time, they even had to investigate the internal department of the Martial Arts Hall. Jiang Yi wasn’t in a hurry anyway. He looked at Jiang Xiaonu and said, “Xiaonu, go and play with Qianqian. I have something to discuss with Senior.”
Jiang Xiaonu left with Qianqian obediently while Black Deity and Shadow Emperor dismissed themselves automatically. After obtaining Ao Lu’s confirmation, Jiang Yi then spoke in a soft voice, “Senior Ao, I have something I do not understand. I have comprehended a special dao pattern that can borrow the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder to strike at the enemy. From the power of this dao pattern, it should be beyond a five-star dao pattern. Why am I not bestowed with any Nine Heavens’ Star power this time? Also… my dantian has nine star spheres, and when my essence force reaches a certain realm, the star sphere would transform. The Nine Heavens Stars would then bestow me with power after the transformation. What kind of situation is this?”
Ao Lu pondered and shook his head after a moment. “This Great One doesn’t really understand human cultivation. Since your dao pattern can directly borrow the power of heaven and earth to attack, then it should be a supreme dao pattern. This type of dao pattern is beyond the elemental dao patterns and heaven and earth dao patterns and is extremely hard to comprehend. If you can borrow the power of heaven and earth, why would heaven and earth bestow you with the power of stars? As for your bizarre dantian… this Great One doesn’t understand either. After all, this Great One is of the demon race.”
“Supreme dao pattern?”
Jiang Yi’s heart moved as he asked curiously, “There are supreme dao patterns that surpa.s.s heaven and earth dao patterns? How can it be differentiated? As long as heaven and earth power can be borrowed, are they considered supreme dao pattern?”
“Yes, they are!”
Ao Lu nodded and said, “Formidable DemiG.o.ds would all be borrowing the power of heaven and earth to attack. Like Lei Banxian’s Reverse Time Flow, which can barely be considered as a supreme dao pattern, as he is borrowing the power of time. When we demon races reach the peak of Demon Sovereign, we can also borrow the power of heaven and earth. The simplest one… would be for this Great One to live for a million years, which is already a blessing of nature.
“Kid, you are very fortunate, and you should continue to comprehend your dao pattern and strive to borrow even more power of heaven and earth. Your strength is now barely at Three-Star martial artist while this Great One and five of the East Imperial Nine Thearchs are experts at the Nine-Star. It means that you still have a very long way to go!”
“Three-Star martial artist? Nine-Star expert?”
Jiang Yi was confused. He had heard of three-star dao patterns—four-star dao patterns. He had never heard about martial artists’ realm which was graded with star ranks.
He looked at Ao Lu with a puzzled expression while the latter explained patiently, “For true experts… we don’t look at the cultivation realm. Take a peak-stage Heaven Monarch for example. If he was to comprehend a pile of mid-grade dao patterns, would his combat strength truly be at the peak stage of the Heaven Monarch? Even powerful middle-stage Heaven Monarchs would be able to kill him, right? Hence, there is no meaning to look at the cultivation realm.”
“It is the same for us of the demon race. Like the Golden Crow Race Chief who is a Demon Sovereign. Apart from his Mirage Divine Ability, his strength was incomparable to a peak-stage Demon Sovereign. For true experts, we judge our overall strength by star ranks. G.o.ds Bestow City’s Lei Gu is at best Six-Star while Lei Banxian… can barely reach the Eight-Star. The Buddha, North, and Battle Emperors are all Nine-Star experts! Hence, the reason why this Great One asks you to not provoke those three clans!”
“So that’s how it is!”
Jiang Yi finally understood. There was indeed no meaning to look at the cultivation realm.
Qing Long was a peak-stage Heaven Monarch, but Huangfu Taotian could kill him effortlessly when he was only at the middle-stage of Heaven Monarch. Cultivation realms were only meant for weaker martial artists as the overall combat strength was the most important.
Since Ao Lu had the mood to give him pointers today, how could Jiang Yi miss such a good opportunity? Jiang Yi quickly asked, “Then Senior, how do we differentiate the star ranks of experts? It is impossible to judge by appearance and by aura presence.”
“Very simple!”
Ao Lu pointed at the sky and said, “Whenever an expert releases an attack, the power of heaven and earth would be produced and would form an influence. The reason why experts could emit pressure and form certain aura presences, instilling fear into the enemies’ hearts, was also because of the influence. The more heaven and earth power you can produce, the stronger your influence and the stronger your combat strength. If you want to judge what star rank an expert is, you will have to see the power of his influence. A Three-Star martial artist would produce an influence which has a radius of one mile. A Four-Star would have twice the influence of a Three-Star. A Five-Star will be double of a Four-Star… a Nine-Star will have two times more influence than an Eight-Star!”
Jiang Yi continued to seek guidance. “Then how do we sense this influence?”
Ao Lu shook his head and laughed lightly. “This Great One can impart you a method to sense the influence, but this is a demon race’s method. You must not learn it; otherwise, your body will emit demonic aura. Hence, you have to rely on yourself to comprehend it. Similarly, this Great One has plenty of cardinal treasures, but I cannot give them to you as these treasures are all infected with this Great One’s aura presence. Of course… it will be good to obtain these treasures, but you don’t have to bother too much. Strengthening one’s own body is the proper path. Overly relying on treasures will have an impact on your cultivation.”
Jiang Yi humbly accepted the teachings. He originally wanted to ask on how to spiritually connect with pseudo-divine artifacts, but he decided not to ask. He stayed silent for a moment and said, “Senior, I am preparing to make a trip to visit Xiao Fei at the Heaven Fox Continent before sneaking into the G.o.ds Bestow Tribe. I will then head to East Imperial Continent afterward. There are no other problems, except Xiaonu…”
“Ke-Ke!”
Ao Lu shook his hand and said, “You don’t have to worry. Leave that la.s.s to this Great One. I will get Qianqian to speak with her, and I guarantee that she will not follow you!”