Chapter 135: Foot-Long Streak of Qi
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Western Chu ridge of Yunyang country.
Chu royal city.
“In the blink of an eye, we have returned for a whole month… this Buddhist essence, till now, has really been fully utilized by us.” In the biggest master bedroom in the second guesthouse of Chuxiu inn, a young man dressed in a s.h.i.+rt as white as the snow was seated cross-legged on the mattress. He opened his eyes and muttered to himself.
Around him radiated a faint golden glow that not only filled the whole room, but even extended outside and surrounded the whole second guesthouse and the neighboring third guesthouse. From a distance, the ten bedrooms in these two guesthouse, as well as the rear courtyard of the third guest house, were all basking in this golden glow.
“Little Gold, how is your progress? I am about the reach the final bottleneck of Great Consummation of the Qi-Gathering, with just a little more, I will be not far from achieving the Connate stage and becoming a Connate demon.” In the backyard of the third guesthouse, a ma.s.sive black eagle with a fiery golden crown called out to another slightly smaller black eagle not far away from it. Its eyes shone with unmistakable emotion, and its voice was agitated.
“Black Gold, within such an environment, just give me another half a month and I will be able to catch up to where you are now!” the black eagle in the back said unhappily.
“If you give me another half a month, I may already be able to reach the final bottleneck of Great Consummation of the Qi-Gathering… You will always be less powerful than me.” The huge black eagle in front raised its head proudly, its eyes filled with glee.
As it spoke, it seemed to suddenly remember something, and its eyes suddenly shone as it said, “Then again… I never thought that Young Master would not only able to take the Buddhist essence that even the late Connate stage red goshawk could not obtain, but even swallow it into his stomach! Young Master not only understands the Buddhist essence, but even understands how to control it…. based on the current situation, after he swallowed the Buddhist essence, he was able to perfectly control the power within the Buddhist essence and aid us in our practice.”
The eyes of the other black eagle also seemed to s.h.i.+ne with genuine respect and admiration. “Young Master is definitely no ordinary person… it is truly our fortune to be able to follow him. In the past, we were thinking of leaving him and regaining our freedom once we entered the Connate stage and became Connate demons… but now, I do not really want to leave him. I feel that we will be able to see more of this vast world if we stay by his side.”
“I agree.”
…
These two black eagles were none other than the two golden-crowned eagles that Zhou Donghuang had taken with him from the depths of the Lost Forest.
When the two golden-crowned eagles had first left the Lost Forest, they had only been Petty Consummate demons, and they were a great distance away from achieving Great Consummation of the Qi-Gathering… But now, after following Zhou Donghuang for this period of time, both of them had not only achieved Great Consummation of the Qi-Gathering, but they were even close to the Connate stage.
They had achieved this within just a month.
Now, with the help of the Buddhist essence that had already been integrated with Zhou Donghuang’s body, not only were the two golden-crowned eagles able to progress rapidly, but their rate of practice of Donghuang’s entourage was also ridiculously fast.
The most amazing improvement was in Yun Lu, that little la.s.s. Yun Lu had always had the most natural talent among the people around Zhou Donghuang. Furthermore, she had mastered the premier technique, “Thousand-Star Sword Technique,” which allowed her to achieve level-six of the Qi-Gathering in just a short month’s time, all under the influence of the golden glow that emanated from the Buddhist essence that was controlled by Zhou Donghuang.
A month ago, Yun Lu was just a level-three adept. She had surpa.s.sed three levels in just a month.
“Xiao Lu’s progress is really incredible… but it is partly because I did all I could to move the energy within the Buddhist essence in order to aid their practice. If they were to stay on that cliff on the mountaintop and train within the golden glow of the Buddhist essence that bathed the mountaintop, they would not be able to make so much progress in such a short time with just the natural release of energy from the Buddhist essence.”
A month ago, after obtaining that Buddhist essence, Zhou Donghuang had then used his own inner Qi to set up some spells that suppressed the energy that the Buddhist essence radiated out of itself. After that, after fully bringing the Buddhist essence under his control, he was able to control the release of its energy and swallowed it to make it a part of his body.
Now, with just a thought, he would be able to fully stop the flow of energy out of the Buddhist essence. In the same away, he could fully control the energy released and the boundaries where it stretched up till… just like now, he was controlling its release of energy in order to aid the practice of the two golden-crowned eagles and the other people around him. Of course, when he was controlling the flow of energy, it was depleted much faster than if it slowly diminished naturally.
“If we continue to exhaust it like this… even if this Buddhist essence is of the same power as that left behind by a late Primal Core stage Buddhist monk, within one or two years, its energy within will be completely depleted, and it will disappear!” Zhou Donghuang was very clear about this fact.
But, even then, I will be able to use its strength to achieve the early stages of the Primal Core! Thinking of this, Zhou Donghuang’s eyes revealed his immense confidence.
The Buddhist essence in his body was left behind by a Buddhist monk of the early Dharma laws stage, so even though just a small portion of its strength was remaining, it was still similar to the Buddhist essence left behind by a monk of the late Primal Core stage.
The red goshawk was only a lowly species among the eagle demons and had little natural talent and poor technique, but it was able to achieve the late Connate stage using just its practice under the help of this Buddhist essence. With Zhou Donghuang’s natural talent and the help of medicine that he produced, he would be able to make use of the Buddhist essence to the greatest extent.
Today, not only can I control the energy of the Buddhist essence to reach out to aid others in their practice, but I can even use its power to attack. Although I have not achieved the Connate stage and am not able to fully utilize its energy to produce power similar to that of a Primal Core adept. But… Before he could finish the thought, he seemed to hear something as his eyes turned dead serious.
Instantly, he cut off the energy that was released from the Buddhist essence. After a few breaths, the golden glow that covered the two guesthouses slowly dissipated, and eventually disappeared, as if it had never appeared before.
“What is going on?”
“Young Master cut off the energy from the Buddhist essence?”
…
Not just the two golden-crowned eagles, but also Fu, Freezing Wind and Lu Qinghu, or Lin Lan, Yun Lu or Yang Zixi all noticed at the same time that their rate of practice had returned to its original speed. Of course, they were well aware that this was the result of Zhou Donghuang cutting off the flow of outward energy of the Buddhist essence.
Just as the two golden-crowned eagles and the rest of the people stopped their practice, Zhou Donghuang had already opened the door of his room and stepped out. He stood in the middle of the courtyard, his eyes staring at the skies.
Flap! Flap!!
…
Just as Zhou Donghuang stood in the center of the courtyard and stared into the skies, a large shadow appeared in the sky above. It was a ma.s.sive white crane that descended rapidly, appearing in the skies above Zhou Donghuang, circling at a low height.
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Before the white crane landed, the two golden-crowned eagles had already shot out of the third guesthouse, they circled the nearby skies. As they stared at the white crane with caution, they told Zhou Donghuang:
“Young Master, this crane is a Connate demon!”
“Young Master, this Connate demon is probably not as powerful as the red goshawk.”
Big Gold and Little Gold took turns to remind Zhou Donghuang about the danger.
By now, Zhou Donghuang had taken a good look at the white crane that descended from the skies. Its wingspan was more than ten meters, and there was a silver crown on its head. Its eyes did not look as gentle as that of most other white cranes. They were fearsome.
“Silver-crowned eagle?” Zhou Donghuang’s brows furrowed. From his millennia of experience and knowledge from traversing the universe, it was easy to tell that this white crane was a silver-crowned crane, a species that had rather superior blood among the flying demons. Among the cranes, it was only lesser to the golden-crowned crane and some other species. Zhou Donghuang only glanced at the silver-crowned eagle, then his gaze landed on the two figures on its back.
One of the two men was in a dragon robe embroidered with nine five-clawed golden dragons. His face was serious with thick arching brows that seemed to add an intense coldness to his whole figure, like the eyes of a dragon.
“Emperor of Yunyang country?” Seeing the clothing of the man, Zhou Donghuang could easily guess his ident.i.ty. This man was most likely the emperor of Yunyang country.
But Zhou Donghuang then looked at the man who was standing in front. To be able to have the emperor stand humbly behind him, it was obvious who this man was. This man was in a humble gray dress, his brows sharp and his features defined. He stood with his hands behind his back as he stood upright on the back of the silver-crowned crane, looking down upon him with a cold gaze.
“You must be Zhou Donghuang?” The man in gray stared at him as he asked calmly.
But Zhou Donghuang’s response was simply to transform the small metal ball that he spun in his hands into a little spear s.h.i.+mmering with a cold radiance. The spear sped out of his hands with a whistle, flying straight towards the silver-crowned crane.
Whoos.h.!.+
The little spear was so fast that the silver-crowned crane in the early Connate stage was too slow and had no time to react, its eyes filled with defeat.
“It is indeed a spear sphere!” Seeing the little spear fly towards the silver-crowned crane, and about to slaughter the crane, the man in gray muttered in an agitated tone as he pointed with his finger.
In that instant, a burst of green Qi appeared and crystallized into a green streak that was as thick as his finger, which easily hit the flying little spear.
The green streak that appeared was a foot long and then returned into his fingertip after it had hit the little spear.
“Late Connate stage?” Zhou Donghuang reached out to catch the metal sphere that had returned to him. His gaze hardened as he stared at the man. “Chief of the Valley of Medicine Masters?”