“Your Master didn’t say why she was leaving with He Feifan?” Huang Xiaolong asked in a solemn voice.
s.h.i.+ Xiaofei shook her head, “She did not, Master only said she’ll return in two months.”
Huang Xiaolong’s eyebrows raised.
More than three months had pa.s.sed now. If there was no unexpected incident, it was impossible for Yang Yi not to know what happened in the land of new moon. Then, the biggest possibility was that Yang Yi had yet to return to the land of new moon.
But, Yang Yi did say that she would return two months later, could something have happened to her?!
“Xiaofei, with your Master’s strength, she’s probably fine.” Huang Xiaolong comforted, “I’ll send someone to inquire about news of your Master, once there’s any news, I will let you know.”
Thinking of her Master’s strength, s.h.i.+ Xiaofei’s worry eased slightly and nodded at Huang Xiaolong.
That was the best they could do at the moment. As Huang Xiaolong said, with her Master’s strength, there shouldn’t be any accidents.
Liu Yun and Qi Wen came to visit Huang Xiaolong on the Golden Dragon Peak the next day. His senior Apprentice-brother Liu Yun came bearing wine, and when he saw Huang Xiaolong, he smiled brightly. “We’ve just returned from outside and have already heard that you brought sister-in-law back, so we came over to visit. This is an excellent wine that I’ve kept for several thousand years, let’s drink our fill.”
Third Apprentice-sister Qi Wen smiled, “Your Eldest Apprentie-brother ran here with this wine after hearing the news that you’ve been promoted to an Elder, wanting to celebrate with you. But, who knew that you"d run off to the land of new moon right after that, your Senior Apprentice-brother could only return with the wine.”
Huang Xiaolong showed an embarra.s.sed smile. Beside him, s.h.i.+ Xiaofei’s cheeks were red as apple hearing Liu Yun referring to her as sister-in-law.
Huang Xiaolong invited Liu Yun and Qi Wen inside, where the four of them took a seat.
Huang Xiaolong drank with Liu Yun while Qi Wen chatted with s.h.i.+ Xiaofei.
Both Liu Yun and Qi Wen were happy for s.h.i.+ Xiaofei when they heard that not only she had reached the mid-third stage of the Moon Summoning Rhyme, she even broke through to mid-First Order G.o.d Realm.
After a while, Liu Yun spoke, “I heard that in this trip to the land of new moon you killed the Zhang Family Patriarch’s son, Zhang Han.”
Huang Xiaolong did not conceal the matter, briefly recounting what happened to Liu Yun and Qi Wen.
Liu Yun nodded, “That Zhang Han deserved what he got, but you still need to be vigilant against the Zhang Family. Recently, they’ve been getting very close to the Jiang, w.a.n.g, and Gudu Families.”
“Understood, I will pay attention.” Huang Xiaolong nodded, “Where’s Master? How is he these days?”
Qi Wen interjected, “Master has entered death seclusion three months ago to prepare for the upcoming G.o.d Ranking List Battle.”
“G.o.d Ranking List Battle?” Huang Xiaolong dazed for a second, turning to Liu Yun with a puzzled expression.
Liu Yun explained, “It’s no secret, but the G.o.d Ranking List Battle only involves HighG.o.d Realm masters, it is unrelated to us.’
“A battle between HighG.o.d Realm masters?” Huang Xiaolong repeated.
Qi Wen nodded her head, “Only HighG.o.d Realm masters are qualified to partic.i.p.ate in this G.o.d Ranking List Battle, and is held once every ten thousand years. The next G.o.d List Ranking Battle starts after the HighG.o.d Advancement Tournament. In the last G.o.d List Ranking Battle, the Azure Dragon Inst.i.tute Princ.i.p.al won the first place, whereas our Master was in the second place. However, the rankings on the list do not represent everything. Senior Ascending Moon for example, if he partic.i.p.ated, would definitely win the first place.”
Huang Xiaolong nodded. Since this G.o.d Ranking List Battle only allowed HighG.o.d Realm masters to partic.i.p.ate, he didn’t ask further questions.
Subsequently, Huang Xiaolong brought up the matter about s.h.i.+ Xiaofei’s Master Yang Yi with Liu Yun, asking if he could help investigate if Yang Yi returned to the land of new moon.
For such a small matter, Liu Yun agreed to help without hesitation. Being one of Black Warrior Inst.i.tute’s Grand Elders for so many years, he still had this much influence. Finding news about Yang Yi wouldn"t be too difficult.
A few hours later, after Liu Yun and Qi Wen bid their farewells, s.h.i.+ Xiaofei followed Huang Xiaolong to his yard.
“Actually, the G.o.d Ranking List Battle is not restricted to only HighG.o.d Realm masters,” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi said.
Huang Xiaolong was surprised, “Not restricted to HighG.o.d Realm masters?”
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi nodded, “That’s right, it only requires one to have the strength comparable to a HighG.o.d Realm master. Based on your talent, when you’ll reach peak late-Tenth Order G.o.d Realm, your strength would not be any weaker than some early First Order HighG.o.d Realm masters. However, I need to warn you, the G.o.d Ranking List Battle is extremely dangerous, even a HighG.o.d Realm master could lose their life. Therefore, if you must partic.i.p.ate, it is better to have broken through to HighG.o.d Realm.”
“If even a HighG.o.d Realm could fall, why do so many HighG.o.d Realm masters compete? Is a ranking that important?” Huang Xiaolong was baffled.
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi shook his head, “A ranking is nothing to a HighG.o.d Realm master. What attracts them to compete is not the ranking, as for the real reason, we’ll talk again when you have reached peak late-Tenth Order G.o.d Realm, you’ll naturally know at that time.”
Huang Xiaolong was speechless. This old dragon, there was no difference whether he spoke or not. But Huang Xiaolong was very curious what attracted these HighG.o.d Realm masters for them to be willing to risk their lives for it.
“It would be better for you to improve your alchemy refining skills more.” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi suggested, “In the Alchemist Grandmaster Compet.i.tion five years later, getting the first place is not as easy as you think. With a rank six G.o.dhead as a prize, some thousand year old monsters that have hidden away will compete as well. These alchemy old monsters’ skills are in no way worse than your Master Ascending Moon Old Man.”
Huang Xiaolong took a deep breath: “I understand!”
He absolutely had to win the first place in this term’s Alchemist Grandmaster Compet.i.tion!
If he had that rank six G.o.dhead, he’d be able to breakthrough to Eighth Order G.o.d Realm in thirty years. If he missed this chance, it would take at least a hundred years and above before he could reach Eighth Order G.o.d Realm.
And the HighG.o.d Advancement Tournament was in less than two hundred years. Time was too tight, therefore he had to use every method possible to advance to Tenth Order G.o.d Realm as soon as possible.
Soon, another two months pa.s.sed by.
In these two months, Huang Xiaolong still practiced his alchemy refining skills during the day, but now, he fully focused his time on improving his alchemy skills, no longer dividing his attention with practicing battle skills. At night, he continued to swallow the Three Revolutions Golden Pills, cultivating to increase his strength.
When Huang Xiaolong was refining pills, s.h.i.+ Xiaofei and the Huang Family watched quietly at the side while he explained to them as he demonstrated.
Hence, in the last few months, s.h.i.+ Xiaofei and the Huang Family’s alchemy skills had greatly improved.
There was news regarding the matter Huang Xiaolong asked Liu Yun to investigate. As expected, Yang Yi did not return to the land of new moon. Liu Yun also found out that after Yang Yi departed with the Vermillion Bird Inst.i.tute’s He Feifan to the Vermillion Bird Galaxy, she had yet to return.
As for what happened after Yang Yi went to the Vermillion Bird Galaxy, Liu Yun was unable to find out.
Huang Xiaolong frowned at this result. Most likely something happened to Yang Yi after going to the Vermillion Bird Galaxy, but he needed to prepare for the Alchemist Grandmaster Compet.i.tion, he was unable to make a trip to the Vermillion Bird Galaxy to investigate this himself. Not forgetting the fact that, at his current level of strength, he’d be unable to meddle in matters of HighG.o.d Realm masters. In the end, he could only request his Eldest Apprentice-brother Liu Yun to keep an eye out for news about Yang Yi.
When s.h.i.+ Xiaofei came to know about this, although she was anxious, there was nothing she could do but stay on the Golden Dragon Peak with Huang Xiaolong and wait for news from Liu Yun.
Just like this, Huang Xiaolong stayed inside the Golden Dragon Peak, practicing his alchemy refining skills everyday, day after day. Days turned into months, and in the blink of an eye, four years and three months had pa.s.sed.
Only three months remained until the Alchemist Grandmaster Compet.i.tion.