Chapter 362: Two Portions of Beast Blood
In terms of strength, Chu Xinghan was currently below Ceng s.h.i.+. In terms of potential, Chu Xinghan could not match up to Long Juxue.
But in terms of shrewdness and strength of heart, neither of the two measured up to Chu Xinghan. He saw things more clearly than even Master Shuiyue.
Senior brother Ceng s.h.i.+ and junior sister Long Juxue was destined to be unable to coexist together.
His honored master had never handled this problem well.
However, Chu Xinghan was a smart person. He naturally wouldn’t give Master Shuiyue any pointers for he knew her well, and offering her any suggestions would be asking for trouble.
His honored master might even think that he was purposely running his mouth out of jealousy of those two people.
Therefore, the wisest decision was to avoid being involved, refrain from speaking too much and stay out of this matter entirely.
Jiang Chen? Chu Xinghan wasn’t interested. He was different from Ceng s.h.i.+. Although he respected Master Shuiyue, he didn’t respect her to the point of being willing to die for her.
Since Long Juxue and Ceng s.h.i.+ were that enthusiastic, there was no reason for him to become involved. At any rate, he wasn’t as strong as either of them, so they could go have their fun.
Chu Xinghan was well aware that Long Juxue was not a peer that he could become friends with. She certainly wasn"t the least bit grateful towards him for saving her in the Eastern Kingdom.
Who knew, she might even resent him. After all, he had the chance to kill Jiang Chen back then but had not taken it, opting to bring Jiang Chen back to the sect for his master’s judgement instead.
Chu Xinghan had rather admired Jiang Chen then, and hadn’t wanted to kill a genius for no reason other than Long Juxue.
But now it looked like his actions then had likely already caused Long Juxue’s to hold a private grudge against him, particularly since she’d been quite bedraggled in that match, even making a fool of herself.
He was one of the three who had seen her in those laughable circ.u.mstances. There had also been Yu Jie and Xu Zhen. And now, both of them were dead.
A proud person like Long Juxue would definitely be unwilling for others to remember her embarra.s.sment. Therefore, it was likely that not only was she not grateful that Chu Xinghan had saved her life, but she actually bore him a death wish.
People’s hearts were hard to predict.
Chu Xinghan’s observation of Long Juxue was that she was the sort to employ all sorts of methods in order to reach her goal.
Whoever who was at odds with her was her stumbling block.
Therefore, he knew full well that his wisest decision was to not become embroiled in all this.
His master’s favour was important but Master s.h.i.+uyue’s care of Chu Xinghan had not reached the point that he must sacrifice his own life in response.
There was a scale in Chu Xinghan’s heart, and he knew what position he occupied in his master’s heart.
Ceng s.h.i.+ chuckled upon hearing Chu Xinghan’s words. “This means that someone is supporting Jiang Chen. However, no matter who this supporter is, everything is but a fleeting cloud in the face of our junior sister’s innate const.i.tution. Junior sister, the third cycle is about to be begin. I’m going to head back now. Let’s stay in touch if anything happens.”
Long Juxue’s forehead creased slightly. She’d invited the two here to listen to any plans they had or to invite them to offer plans of their own.
Chu Xinghan stood up and smiled, “Since the eldest senior brother has said thus, then I will be taking my leave as well. Junior sister, you shouldn’t think too much about this. Even if that Jiang Chen has three heads and six arms, he’s destined to be a mere stepping stone in the path of your rise!”
Words of goodwill were free, so it didn’t cost him anything to voice them.
Long Juxue was dejected, but maintained a noncommittal expression as she watched her two senior brothers walk out of her yard and vanish into the distance.
“Hmph, it looks like both of them are unwilling to submit to me. Ceng s.h.i.+, I know you don’t accept me because you feel that I’ve stolen your status as the eldest senior brother. If you possess enough self awareness, you will submit to me. If not, don’t blame me for not valuing us our relations.h.i.+p as fellow disciples if you force me to action!”
Long Juxue had never been a kind person. Although Ceng s.h.i.+ hadn’t had the slightest bit of malevolent intention just now, she could hear his obvious intentions in the way he spoke.
What b.l.o.o.d.y fated rival or talk of a backer.
This all had obvious connotations to it.
…...
It was Jiang Chen’s last day in the earth quadrant.
The scores of the earth quadrant had been announced a lot earlier. Jiang Chen was the champion without any doubt.
However, neither Liu Wencai nor Fatty Lu had made it into the top ten and received the right to move up to the sky quadrant.
Liu Wencai however, was quite satisfied. Before he arrived in the earth quadrant, he had been worried about the prospect of demotion, feeling quite sure that he’d be sent back to the spirit quadrant.
However, thanks to his friends.h.i.+p with Jiang Chen, his strength had suddenly increased over these three months. His scores had placed him in the top 100 out of the five hundred earth quadrant candidates.
Fatty Lu had also improved a hundred places over the last cycle. He’d improved from three hundred to a ranking in the two hundreds.
Their rates of improvement had all been exceedingly swift.
“Ai, human connections are fleeting. Brother Boulder, I truly don’t wish to be parted from you just like this.” A trace of sadness marked Liu Wencai’s eyes, before he laughed a little self-deprecatingly. “However, Brother Boulder’s future will be bright after going to the sky quadrant. I should be happy for you.”
“Come, I raise this toast to Brother Boulder! May your momentum remain just as strong in the sky quadrant. May you obtain the qualification to fight for the final sixteen after making it into the list of sixty-four!”
The second selection would ultimately select sixty-four candidates to take part in a final match and compete for a spot in the final sixteen.
The final sixteen would then become the personal disciples of the four forefathers and learn from the four venerated origin realm cultivators.
This was undoubtedly a dream-like goal for the cultivators of the sixteen kingdoms.
“I too raise a toast to Brother Boulder.” Fatty Lu’s emotions were also slightly uncertain today as well. Normally, he was different from Liu Wencai who was usually in high spirits and wore his heart on a sleeve. Fatty Lu fancied himself as the calm type.
However, today his calm facade seemed to have been infected by the melancholy of parting. He’d been a bit depressed all day.
Indeed, he’d been in the earth quadrant for so long, but not that many people showed him any respect. The two in front of him counted as his rare friends in the earth quadrant.
Particularly Jiang Chen, Fatty Lu felt greatly indebted towards him.
Jiang Chen’s every word and gesture had deeply impacted the fatty’s very being, tempering his confidence.
Moreover, this secular genius was different from other sect geniuses. His eyes were not at the top of his head, and he did not form connections based on the other’s potential, background, or looks.
He used a true heart of sincerity to make friends.
A true heart for a true heart. Only friends like these would be true bosom friends.
Although Fatty Lu had his street-smartness and his craftiness, that was just a way of survival that he had developed out of resignation. It did not mean that he was really a heartless fellow.
A heart was made of flesh. Jiang Chen truly had brought no small amount of change to Fatty Lu and Lu Wencai during this time.
He’d changed their strength, their mental state and their destinies.
Jiang Chen also felt similarly as he looked at the two.
Although he had lived two lifetimes, his heart of devotion had never changed. He had never been the sort to abstain from human feelings.
He had always been especially generous towards friends.
“You two count as friends I’ve made in the earth quadrant. You value me and treat me as a big brother. Since I’m a big brother, I should act like one. I’m going to the sky quadrant tomorrow, but I should give you guys something.”
Gifts?
Liu Wencai and Fatty Lu started. They hadn’t thought about this at all.
In their eyes, to be able to spend time with Brother Boulder everyday, listen to his teachings and spar with him was the greatest gift of all.
He still wanted to give them gifts?
When it came to gifts, they were sect disciples after all and theoretically had more resources than secular cultivators. If one were to give presents, they were the ones who should be doling them out.
Jiang Chen made a grasping motion with his right hand and took out two flasks the size of fists.
“These two flasks of beast blood may be of some use to you. Both of you are from the Myriad Spirit Sect and usually rely on beast blood to cultivate, right? Particularly you, Wencai, I feel that your foundational potential is quite extraordinary and seems yet untapped. There should be bigger secrets in your body, but I’m not quite sure at the moment. Take these two flasks and refine them. Remember, you must refine them yourselves and can’t gift them to anyone else. Don’t ask what beast they came from or what rank it was. Just remember that this blood is exceedingly precious. If you lose it, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
This blood had been collected from the body of the Redscaled Firelizard. While Jiang Chen had given the flesh and blood to the Goldbiter Rats, he’d also collected quite a bit for himself.
He’d collected dozens of little flasks like these. However, for something as enormous as the Firelizard, the amount in those flasks was less than even one-one thousandth of its blood.
The Firelizard was a saint rank creature that was on par with a human origin realm cultivator.
It was likely hard for even forefather Ninelion of the Myriad Spirit sect to obtain blood from a beast of this level, not to mention the two of them.
Of course, just these two little flasks were insufficient to thoroughly remake someone.
But even a little bit of this heaven-defying blood was enough to change one’s potential. That in itself was astonis.h.i.+ng enough.
The slightest hint of a bloodline from a saint rank creature was enough for a cultivator to use for the rest of his life.
When the two saw Jiang Chen warn them like this, they did not dare tarry. The moment they took the flasks and grasped it in their hand, they could immediately feel a strong sense of spirit power, as if it wanted to burrow straight into their bodies.
“What a strong life force!” Fatty Lu could not help but exclaim.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and thought, how could the blood of a saint rank beast not be strong?
It was then that the two understood this was not ordinary blood, and carefully stowed the flasks away like they were putting away a treasure.
“Remember, don’t speak of this matter to anyone, or it might bring destruction upon you.”
“Yes, I won’t even speak of it in my dreams.” Fatty Lu hastened to express.
Liu Wencai nodded lightly, but his att.i.tude had already explained all.
“Wencai, this is the reflections of beast taming that you gave me last time. I took a read and thought it was quite good. I’ve mastered it all now so I’m returning it to you. I’ve also made some additions that may be of use to you. You can peruse them when you’re bored.”
Jiang Chen handed a scroll back over to Liu Wencai.