HSSB231: Coming over to apologise
Cultivating from the late Xiantian stage to the Heavenly Connection stage as well as the supreme bottleneck that lay after, that between the Martial Scholar and Martial Grandmaster realms, the main thing that was required was comprehension, rather than being simply about grinding, slowly accumulating one’s foundation.
Of course, some accumulation was still required, but it was definitely not something that could be achieved through pure bitter perseverance alone.
Especially for the breakthrough from the Heavenly Connection stage to the early Spirit Vessel Martial Grandmaster realm, whose difficulty surpassed that of any single breakthrough in the Martial Scholar realm before this.
The distance between the two realms truly lived up to its name of a heavenly gulf. Ever since ancient times, the number of martial practitioners who had been stuck at this bottleneck, wasting away the rest of their lives was far too many to count.
Let alone other powers, even many martial practitioners from Broad Creed Mountain and the other five Sacred Grounds remained stuck at this bottleneck, unable to improve any further.
In this current world, this bottleneck between the two realms was an important benchmark for judging an outstanding genius of the younger generation who possessed great potential.
It was hard to ascend to become a Martial Saint, but as long as one became a Martial Grandmaster, this was at least already enough to say that this young hero and genius was most likely not wasting his or her innate potential as well as talent.
People often said that only those geniuses who were able to convert their potential into true strength could truly be considered geniuses.
The benchmark here was actually usually agreed through tacit agreement as stepping into the Martial Grandmaster realm, or more accurately, breaking through the heavenly gulf and reaching the Martial Grandmaster realm whilst still young and fit.
And generally speaking, when a young genius became a Martial Grandmaster, the way they were looked at would also change, with them no longer seen by the world as younger generation disciples.
Someone like Yan Zhaoge who was already viewed like this before having reached the Heavenly Connection stage was someone that you could search for but never find, an exception amongst exceptions.
After all, the Martial Grandmaster experts outside of the six great Sacred Grounds could already more or less occupy a spot of their own.
With Ah Hu able to become a Martial Grandmaster, Yan Zhaoge was naturally happy for him.
As for Yan Zhaoge himself, he still had to perform a little more accumulation before breaking through from the late Xiantian stage to the Heavenly Connection stage.
To Yan Zhaoge, refining the pillar of the Divine Palace was not simply about viewing the images sealed within, or shrinking it as he liked.
Yan Zhaoge did not find the patterns on the pillar foreign, but it was rich in spirituality as well as mysteries, having a unique use of its own as he remained in actual possession of it.
As the one refining the pillar, he was the one benefiting the most from it.
As compared to Ah Hu, much, much more.
If he wanted to reach the Martial Grandmaster realm within a short period of time, Yan Zhaoge would have to use some special methods.
The crux of the matter was some things that he would have to prepare, which were currently rather rare and hard to seek out.
Yan Zhaoge was similarly confident of grasping it slowly himself, but it was just the current changes in the global situation were just too quick, with him having to increase his strength as soon as he could.
Especially after viewing the remnant memories of the pillar of the divine palace, whereupon many thoughts had surfaced in Yan Zhaoge’s mind.
The reason he was interested in that half a jade coin was that the jade coin was an object of before the Great Calamity.
The information contained within its spirit formation might possibly lead him to some hidden realm.
Following the Great Calamity, many precious natural treasures had dwindled or even become extinct. If he could find a store of them in a hidden realm of before the Great Calamity, perhaps it might still contain something that he wanted.
That way, gathering them would be much more convenient, and he would also not have to wrack his brains on possible substitute materials.
Of course, this hidden realm could have been destroyed along with the Great Calamity, or might have been beat to the draw by others.
However, as compared to searching for virtually extinct things all around, this path was still rather more reliable.
In his spare time, Yan Zhaoge also remained up to date on things in Suzhou City and the entire Sand Region.
The new appointed Acting Elder of Suzhou arrived much later than Yan Zhaoge had thought he would, but when he learnt of whom the other party was, he too was a little surprised.
The news relayed over was that the new appointed Acting Elder of Suzhou City, was actually someone whom Yan Zhaoge could not possibly be more familiar with-Xu Fei!
The ‘Heavenly Roc’ Xu Fei, a disciple of Shi Tie, a leading figure of Broad Creed Mountain’s younger generation, just past the age of thirty, having stepped into the Martial Grandmaster realm following the Heavenly Connection Meet.
Hearing the news, Yan Zhaoge’s first thought was, “Has senior apprentice-brother Xu committed any error?”
Acting Elder positions were generally taken up by Martial Scholars. A Martial Grandmaster like Xu Fei who possessed an incalculable future being thrown into Suzhou City by the edge of the Sand Region as an Acting Elder-however he looked at it, it seemed like a waste of his talents, not befitting of them at all.
Xu Fei was still young. Also, just having become a Martial Grandmaster, his potential was still limitless, and it was precisely the time for him to be working hard in his cultivation.
Even for tempering, if they wanted to place him outside, they should have waited for his cultivation to have improved a bit more before directly giving him the position of a Principal Elder. Being an Acting Elder was just an impossible thing.
Yan Zhaoge was momentarily sent into a daze upon hearing the news, but he very quickly recovered.
“Is it because of the matter of the Decimating Abyss and Black Nightmare Mountain that I reported earlier?” Yan Zhaoge narrowed his eyes slightly, “Back at the clan, Grand Master, father, eldest apprentice-uncle and them all believe that the Decimating Abyss will be acting in the Wind Domain soon?”
Ah Hu scratched his head, “I fear it must be so.”
Yan Zhaoge nodded- it could be explained this way then. Xu Fei’s arrival was only to temporarily take up the position of Suzhou’s Acting Elder, as special times called for special measures.
Having just tried to assassinate Yan Zhaoge by the border of the Sand Region earlier, if the Decimating Abyss and Black Nightmare Mountain still wanted to create trouble, Suzhou would be the frontline of their actions.
Other than in some extreme few unique circumstances, like that with Yan Zhaoge, if a Martial Scholar were to take up the position of Suzhou’s Acting Elder, it would seem a little flimsy.
Viewed in that light, sending over a powerful figure was an understandable decision.
Yan Zhaoge was also here, but his situation was too special, his authority shockingly at the level of a First Seat Elder. Placing him in Suzhou would make things a little awkward for the Principal Elder of the Howling Wind Sword Sect.
Therefore, the clan had decided to let Yan Zhaoge continue moving freely.
Coming over to Suzhou, Xu Fei had deep ties with Yan Zhaoge, also having good coordination with him.
Sitting on a chair, Yan Zhaoge gently tapped on its armrest, “The Decimating Abyss had been keeping extremely low key before this, only gradually becoming more and more active following that incident in the Sealing Dragon Abyss. Now, the frequency of its activities has been getting higher and higher.”
“The situation over at the Earth Domain still cannot be said to have been completely resolved, and following the incident at Clear Concealed Lake, they have made plans to act in the Wind Domain once more.”
Yan Zhaoge’s fingers suddenly ceased their tapping, “Are there any special reasons for this? Could it be related to the Nine Underworlds over on the other side?”
Getting up, Yan Zhaoge gradually began frowning, “Causing wave after wave of trouble like this, whilst creating trouble for us, they have also been unceasingly depleting their own strength. Before, we were in the open while they were in the dark, with them therefore possessive shocking destructive power. Currently, gradually coming out on the surface, their greatest advantage is actually gradually disappearing.”
As Yan Zhaoge pondered, Ah Hu said from the side, “Right, Young Master. Someone wants to see you.”
“Oh, who is it?” Yan Zhaoge asked, as Ah Hu replied with a smacking of his lips, “It’s the head of the Lian Family of that Lian Cheng and Lian Ying of earlier, come here to express his apologies.”