Chapter 155: You Are Not Eligible!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The black-robed man floated in the air like a G.o.d. He cast a sweeping glance over the ground and those who were looking up at him.
Towards the question posed by the Valley Head, Su Mo, the expression in his eyes changed from dull to bright like a lightbulb had lit up within him. It was similar to that of two bright stars that lit up the entire night sky!
He lifted his gaze slightly and lightly cast a glance upon the young man, standing a short distance away from Su Mo.
This young man was wearing pure white and was staring at this black-robed man with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“Over the past few days, I have been traveling around. In one instance, I saw this young man ride a flying beast that had much youthful energy, the golden-crowned eagle, flying across the sky… At that point, I became curious. Since this tiny little place has no Primal Core adepts, how could there be someone who was able to ride and conquer a beast at such a young age!? This was a flying beast at that!
“That was the first time I saw this man,” the old man said lightly.
Zhou Donghuang had originally a.s.sumed that the old man had arrived for the sake of Chen Dandan. He had not realized that the old man was here for him. His furrowed brows relaxed slightly as this realization dawned upon him.
After hearing the old man’s words, Chen Dandan’s face turned pale once again. This Primal Core adept, who had appeared like a lucky deity, was here for Zhou Donghuang!? Perhaps he had been amazed by Zhou Donghuang’s strength at his tender age and wanted to take Zhou Donghuang under his wing as a disciple…
“Senior!”
Chen Dandan glanced at the old man anxiously and said, “This Zhou Donghuang is only able to achieve all he has now at this age because he was lucky enough to receive the opportune encounter by a Primal Core adept.
“I would not be far from his level or below his level if I was the one who had received that gift from the Primal Core adept instead!
“He is not of pure blood. He is simply a random villager from the country of Yunyang, one of the Sixteen Countries that belong to the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
“As for me, I am the daughter of the Valley of the Medicine Masters’ second elder… My father, Chen Tianhe, was only around 50 years old when he became a mid Connate adept. He is a martial arts prodigy, which is rare in the Valley of the Medicine Masters!”
“I have inherited the bloodline of my father, my martial arts skills definitely surpa.s.s him by a lot!”
At this moment, Chen Dandan frantically spouted words and tried her best to undermine the young man’s talents. She was truly afraid that the old man was legitimately interested in the young man’s talents, and that he was about to recruit the young man as his disciple. if that truly happened, she was doomed to die!
However, despite Chen Dandan’s frantic shouts, the black-robed man, who was floating in the air and shrouded with a faint golden mist, ignored her and did not even spare her a glance.
The old man glanced at Zhou Donghuang and continued to speak. “Of course, although I was surprised that such a talented youth could appear in a place like this, I did not stay here because of him alone.
“In any case, in the Xuanyin sect where I’m from, although there aren’t many, there are indeed a sizeable number of younger disciples about his age who have trained to higher levels.”
Once the old man had uttered his words, be it the Valley Head, Su Mo, or the Valley of the Medicine Masters’ head elder, Yu Meiqin, left and right guardians w.a.n.g Tao or Yu Wei… Everyone’s facial expression immediately changed.
“Xuanyin sect!?”
The general populace may not have been familiar with the Xuanyin sect. However, for these four characters, as they were the elites of the Valley of the Medicine Masters as well as elder folk who had much experience, they definitely had heard of this term before.
The Xuanyin sect was one of the biggest elite sects among the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun, and the most ancient one at that.
“Senior, could I ask if you are the Xuanyin sect’s Elder Qi Ming or Elder Zhong Ya?” Su Mo asked courteously, bowing once again.
According to his knowledge, in the Xuanyin sect, there were two figures who had entered the ultimate Primal Core stage.
One of them was Qi Ming, and was about 200 odd years old.
The other was Zhong Ya and was nearly 300 years old.
“Ah, I’m surprised that in this tiny little place, someone could really recognize me, I’m Zhong Ya… Hahahahaha… hahahahaha…”
The old man laughed out loud heartily. His laughter echoed in all the valleys of the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
“Greetings, Elder Zhong Ya!”
Once the old man had uttered his name and acknowledged his ident.i.ty, Su Mo, Yu Meiqin, w.a.n.g Tao and Yu Wei immediately bowed fervently, and their eyes had on an expression of admiration. Zhong Ya could be said to be the oldest and most experienced of the Primal Core adepts in the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun. For the past few hundred years, the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun had not yet produced any other adept that came close to Zhong Ya.
“Xuanyin sect? Zhong Ya?”
The crowd of elders and disciples from the Valley of the Medicine Masters were vaguely familiar with the background of the Primal Core adept before them, but they were not really clear on his actual ident.i.ty and powers. Nevertheless, they were still welcoming towards this powerful man who had clearly crossed into the ultimate Primal Core stage.
This was only natural as in the history of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, they had not once yet produced an adept.
Of course, Zhou Donghuang had not heard of Zhong Ya either.
In his previous life, after living on Earth for a hundred years, although he had returned to the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun, he had returned directly to the country of Yunyang, which was one of the Sixteen Countries in the East Valley. All he knew was that there was a sect t.i.tled “Valley of the Medicine Masters” in the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun which led all the Sixteen Countries of East Valley. Towards other sects, he had little knowledge of them.
“After meeting him that one time, not long after, I coincidentally received some.”
After saying these words, Zhong Ya’s gaze returned to the young man. “After receiving the returning-heaven gra.s.s, I was prepared to leave this tiny little place… I had not expected that I would sense this man’s aura once again while cruising above this valley.
“At that moment, I began to think that we had a shared destiny.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Dandan’s face changed. It became paler by the minute, and her body began to shake slightly as her mood changed to become more desolate.
All of a sudden, Zhong Ya’s gaze suddenly moved from Zhou Donghuang to Chen Dandan. “At that time, he had just removed you of your meridians. He was fearlessly waiting for your father to appear… A mid Connate adept was easily killed by this man through the use of a sword made from a sword sphere.
“Afterwards, he was in total control of the situation.
“Until… he wanted to kill you.”
As he said these words, Zhong Ya’s eyes slightly narrowed as he smiled. “Returning-heaven gra.s.s, which is nicknamed as Back to Heaven, can train and refine the “returning-heaven elixir”. Anyone who is at least alive and consumes it can heal any extent of injury, be it light or severe.”
“Even the task of reshaping the meridian is a simple matter to the returning-heaven elixir.”
At this point, Zhong Ya gave a deep glance to Chen Dandan again. As for Chen Dandan, upon hearing the words uttered by Zhong Ya, the desolation in her eyes was immediately replaced by an intense fire.
“Senior!”
Chen Dandan knelt and hit her head repeatedly on the ground towards Zhong Ya. She was so consumed in this action that she did not care if her forehead started to bleed. “If Senior is willing to offer me the returning-heaven elixir, I’m willing to dedicate my meager life to you!”
Zhong Ya did not respond to Chen Dandan’s pleas and instead continued to speak. “I, Zhong Ya, entered the ultimate Primal Core stage and became a Golden Essence adept more than 80 years ago. However, I have remained stagnant since then and have been unable to improve myself to enter the Dharma stage.
“In 10 years’ time, if I don’t enter the Dharma stage, my life will end in vain.
“I left the Xuanyin sect and explored the entire powerful supreme sect of Ziyun in order to find some hope and method of entering the Dharma stage… There is a legend that if one wants to enter the Dharma stage but is innately not yet ready, one needs to actively seek out one’s own fate instead.
“If not, it would be hard for one to ever enter the Dharma stage…”
The Dharma stage was one level higher than the Primal Core’s practice stage.
Once Connate adepts entered the Primal Core stage, their lives could be extended until they were 300 years old. As for Primal Core adepts, once they entered the Dharma stage, their lives could yet again be extended another 400 years.
Dharma adepts could live 600 years, double that of a Primal Core adept!
Zhong Ya, one of Xuanyin sect’s two Golden Essence adepts, was now 290 years old. If he did not manage to cross over to the Dharma stage within the next 10 years, his life would end there and then.
At this moment, all he could dream about was entering the Dharma stage to add 300 more years to his life.
Of course, regarding such matters, mere panicking was not going to solve the problem. Zhong Ya thus decided to leave the Xuanyin sect, travel the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun and coincidentally met Zhou Donghuang while he was traveling at an area near the boundary of the Sixteen Countries.
That was how everything had led to this very moment now.
“I first met this young man before I gained some returning-heaven gra.s.s. Afterwards, I met this young man again… At the second encounter, I witnessed him removing this lady of all her meridians.
“At that point, I was still merely a bystander watching the spectacle.
“That is until this young man hinted to the other to kill this lady… An idea occurred to me and flashed across my brain… That is, I felt that this young lady is probably linked to how I managed to find the returning-heaven gra.s.s and that I was destined to know her.
“I reached out my hand to stop you from killing this lady as I wanted to bring her away with me.
“If she dies, my idea will be in vain, and I’ll lose all hope of crossing into the Dharma stage!”
Once Zhong Ya had uttered these words, his gaze moved from Su Mo to the young lady, Chen Dandan, whose face was now full of surprise and joy. “Are you willing to follow me back to the Xuanyin sect and be my disciple?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m willing to do so!”
This change of events had happened too quickly for Chen Dandan to fully process, and her entire face was flushed red with joy as she knelt three times shakily. “Chen Dandan acknowledges Senior as my teacher!”
Whoos.h.!.+
With a gust of wind that whooshed across the entire field, Zhong Ya’s body, within an instant, disappeared from the skies. When he reappeared, he did so right next to where Chen Dandan was on the ground.
Of course, it was not that Zhong Ya had really disappeared. It was just that he had moved at an extremely fast speed, in which no one on the ground could see his actual movement. Even Su Mo, who was a late Connate adept, could not clearly see the traces of Zhong Ya’s shockingly fast movements.
“Here’s to some mental enlightenment!”
Just as Zhong Ya had grabbed one of Chen Dandan’s hand and was planning to fly up to the skies with her to leave for the Xuanyin sect, Zhou Donghuang cast a light glance upon him.
“It’s your right to try for the path of the Dharma stage… However, this Chen Dandan is someone that I had planned to kill.
“Today, if you bring her away, it will be akin to starting a grudge against me, Zhou Donghuang… Even if you have the Xuanyin sect behind you, you will still have to bear the consequences of this grudge.
“Are you prepared to accept that?”
Zhou Donghuang’s gaze pierced Zhong Ya’s retreating, but his tone remained calm and devoid of any emotion.
“Consequences?”
Zhong Ya turned to glance at Zhong Donghuang, and a look of disdain appeared in his eyes. “Do you think that a mere individual like you could win against someone like me, Zhong Ya from the Xuanyin sect?
“You should wait till you are able to enter the ultimate Primal Core stage at the very least before you utter such words to me. Maybe then, it would sound a bit more convincing.
“The you now… is not eligible to say such things!”
Once Zhong Ya had finished speaking, he brought Chen Dandan away, and they disappeared from the martial arts field in front of all the Valley of the Medicine Masters people present.
In Zhong Ya’s mind, Zhou Donghuang was merely someone who was lucky enough to receive something that a Primal Core adept had left behind. He could also tell that the sword pill that Zhou Donghuang wielded was at most only inherited from a Mid Primal Core adept.