"An hour?"Lu Li was rendered speechless. On second thought, he understood. The Demon-slaying Grounds was not a place for fun. Powerful warriors of the four races and the Great Land were fighting at the risk of their lives at all times.
The ones from the Great Land who could join the Demon-slaying Hall were basically of the Earth Immortal Realm. The ones from the four races must be of the same level. Even Human Sovereign Realm warriors could kill Lu Li right away, let alone one from the Earth Immortal Realm.
Lu Li was discouraged again. Jiang Qiling pointed him towards a direction where he thought he could see the light, ut he was faced with a dead end.
"Earth Immortals?"
Could he reach that realm in 100 years? Even the n.o.ble Lord Realm would be difficult to reach, let alone the Human Sovereign Realm and the Earth Immortal Realm. The latter two could not be reached with some Mystical Material or the families would already have a lot of them.
Lu Li felt his future bliss. He was not afraid of the suffering or the pain. What scared him most was not finding a direction or a way out.
Jiang Qiling felt sorry for him. After a pause, she asked, "That friend of yours, is he or she important? Is your friend a boy? Or a girl?"
"Of course she is important!"
Lu Li"s face showed pa.s.sion and yearning. He answered with certainty, "Her life is more important than mine. She is my love. She is going through this…to save me. If it weren"t for her, you wouldn"t be seeing me now."
"Ah?"
Jiang Qiling"s face dropped. Panicked, she said, "Lu Li, you have a sweetheart? How can this happen?"
Lu Li threw her a casual glance and asked her back, "Why? Can"t I have a lover? Is it such a surprise?"
Jiang Qiling didn"t know how to answer. She dodged his looks. After a moment, she said, "I just thought you are still too young to be talking about marriage and taking a wife. You are a talented young man. You should focus on cultivation, not on girls…"
Jiang Qiling could not finish her answers. Lu Li was not comfortable listening to this. He pouted and said, "You are only a bit older than me yet you started a relations.h.i.+p years ago. Now, you are talking about me…"
Jiang Qiling didn"t know what to do. Lu Li asked again, "Apart from the Demon-slaying Hall, are there any other ways? That abbot cannot be reached?"
Lu Li couldn"t even convince himself about the Great Buddha Temple, one of the 12 major forces of the Central Plains. That abbot must be as esteemed as the Great Patriarch of the Lu Family. How could any random guy ask the Great Patriarch of the Lu Family a favor?
Also, the Great Buddha Temple was one of the forces set to destroy the Cyan Phoenix Race and the Mammoth Race. Even if he could ask the abbot to come, could Lu Li let him into the Deserted World?
Jiang Qiling shook her head and said, "For now, no. After all, it is voodoo. Apart from the Demon-slaying Hall, n.o.body else can do it."
Lu Li sighed.
He sat down disappointedly. Then he lowered his head, stuck his fingers into his hair, trying not to let Jiang Qiling see his pain.
This was even sadder for Jiang Qiling than to look at his face directly. To her, Lu Li was a strong man. He never showed his suffering or pain no matter what. His actions now suggested how painful and how helpless he was.
Jiang Qiling"s eyes flickered as she struggled inside. Then she sighed and said, "Lu Li, actually… I hid something from you. I just really don"t want you to go to the Demon-slaying Grounds as you might die there. But since we are friends, we must treat each other honestly. I don"t want any ill feelings."
Lu Li looked up to Jiang Qiling who bit her lips and said, "In the Demon-slaying Grounds, there is a small battlefield. A master of the Demon-slaying Hall built it with some impressive skills to train powerful warriors of future generations more than 100,000 years ago. Only warriors younger than 30 years old can go to the small battlefield. For more than hundreds of thousands of years, not even one family or force has ever had a warrior younger than 30 reach the Earth Immortal Realm. Human Sovereign Realm warriors younger than 30 are few and far between."
Lu Li"s eyes glowed. He stood up at once and asked, "You mean, I can go to the small battlefield, then kill the young talented disciples of the four races to get points."
"Yes…"
Jiang Qiling nodded and replied, "Actually, all the major families of the Great Land would send their talented disciples to the small battlefield. Not only humans but the other four races as well. Only the ones who can survive can become powerful warriors. It has always been the only way for a warrior to grow strong—engaging in a life-or-death battle. You can cultivate very quickly to a very high realm and still be useless with no practical fighting experience."
"Jiang Wuwo, your father Lu Renhuang, your grandpa Lu Zhengyang, and Jiang Yi out there…" Jiang Qiling continued, "All went to the Demon-slaying Grounds when they were young. I haven"t because I am the only child of Jiang Wuwo and he is afraid that I might die in there. Lu Suan and Lu Ni from your Lu Family went there a while ago and killed many enemies. One of them will be the future Family Patriarch of the Lu Family if everything goes well."
Lu Li was intrigued. This would not only help Bai Qiuxue, but fighting against the talents of the four races was appealing to his urge to be a warrior in the battlefield.
If he could make it back alive, he could get countless Mystical Materials and pellets.
Also, he would be killing the alien races who were trying to get into the Great Land. He would be fighting for the humankind. Such battles made one"s heart afire.
Warriors had a natural yearning for fights!
The path along Wu Dao was to change destiny.
To do that, a warrior must advance by stomping on the bodies. Everyone wanted to change destiny and everyone aspired to ascend to the peak. But only so much could be allowed at the top.
The top, like that of a pyramid, does not have enough s.p.a.ce for many. If one wanted to be at the top, one must fight viciously and climb atop the bodies of others.
No warrior had reached the Earth Immortal Realm younger than the age of 30 and those who could reach the Human Sovereign Realm were few and far between!
Lu Li believed that he could at least protect himself, if not kill his opponent, as long as he didn"t run into any Human Sovereign Realm warriors. So, getting into the small battlefield would be basically getting points for nothing.
If he had enough points, he could save Bai Qiuxue. He could even use those from the Demon-slaying Hall to find Lu Ling and save Lu Renhuang!
"Okay!"
The more he thought about it, the more excited Lu Li got. He looked at Jiang Qiling and asked, "Where is the Demon-slaying Grounds? How do I get in?"
"What"s the rush?"
Jiang Qiling rolled her eyes and said, "You think it is open all the time? The small battlefield is only available every three years. Only one year and a half has pa.s.sed since it last opened. You have to wait for another year and a half."
"Lu Li!"
Jiang Qiling hated to throw a wet blanket over Lu Li when his eyes glowed and he was so excited. Nonetheless, she said, "Don"t think you can have your way in the small battlefield because you have some abilities. Those in there are the talents of the four races. There are quite a number of Human Sovereign Realm warriors and all the races have their unique skills, like our Bloodline Skills. You must work hard to improve your realm during the remaining time. At the least, you must reach the Eternal Realm or else you will mostly likely die in there."
"One year and a half?"
Lu Li nodded and said, "Okay, we will go there in a year and a half. If everything goes well, I will be able to reach the Eternal Realm. Don"t worry, when I am at the Eternal Realm, even Human Sovereign Realm warriors… will have a hard time killing me."