Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi did not share the name of the person who took first place that year and Huang Xiaolong chose not to pursue the topic further.
Still, there were three years left until the next Black Warrior Institute enrolment selection, giving Huang Xiaolong ample time, hence he decided to stay and cultivate in the Martial Spirit World for the time being. He aimed to break through to peak late-Tenth Order Sain realm before the time arrived for the Institute’s disciple selection.
In this time’s selection process, his aim was not the top three spots, but the first place!
First place!
The rewards for the first place, second place, and third place were of a different magnitude altogether. Furthermore, the first place would provide Huang Xiaolong with certain prerogatives in the institute.
This was an additional reward given by the Black Warrior Institute to the first place holder in every disciple selection.
Since he had already turned the Ghost Domain upside down, for his next training, Huang Xiaolong chose the Origin Forest. He had subjugated the Poison Corpse Scarabs inside the Origin Forest, and the Ancient Dragon Clan ruins were also found in the Origin Forest. A place that existed since the ancient times, he believed there would surely be half-step God Realm demonic beasts lurking in the deeper parts of the forest.
Three months later, deep inside the Origin Forest.
An enormous crocodile approximately six hundred meters in length, and several meters thick plummeted to the ground from high altitude. There was a large gaping hole in the middle of its skull, nary a sign of life could be detected from it.
Huang Xiaolong floated down from midair, his feet touching the ground in front of the lifeless giant crocodile. A light flick from the Blades of Asura in his hand, digging a beast core out with ease.
This was a giant crocodile covered in thick golden scales, hence its name, Golden Scaled Croc, a demonic beast that retained its ancestral bloodline with the strength of a peak half-step God Realm.
After taking out its beast core, Huang Xiaolong sat down cross-legged to refine the beast core on the spot.
One hour later, he stood up, having completely refined the energy inside the beast core.
During these three months spent inside the Origin Forest, he killed seven half-step God Realm as well as two peak half-step God Realm demonic beasts. At this point, Huang Xiaolong was too lazy to be bothered with those peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm beasts. Only beast cores from half-step God Realm and above could bring some small amount of benefit to him.
In these several months of cultivating the Treasure Dragon Protective Shield Art, his True Dragon Physique was visibly strengthened, speeding up his demonic energy absorption rate. His rate of purifying the demonic energy through the Dragon Pearl also saw drastic improvements.
In the past, refining a half-step God Realm beast core would take him three to four hours, but now he could do it within one hour.
Looking at the Golden Scaled Croc corpse lying in front of him, Huang Xiaolong released the Poison Corpse Scarabs from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda. These little critters had been continuously transforming and evolving at rapid speed in recent days due to the abundant supply of half-step God Realm demonic beast corpses. Each small Poison Corpse Scarab’s strength was now on par with a Tenth Order Saint realm warrior.
Several tens of thousands of Tenth Order Saint realm level warriors could easily kill a peak half-step God Realm master.
Days passed and now it was Huang Xiaolong’s fourth month in the Origin Forest, stopping above a waterfall in a certain deep area of the forest.
By now, it was safe to say that nearly all half-step God Realm and above demonic beasts had been killed by Huang Xiaolong, refined and absorbed, turning into part of his strength. Therefore, staying any longer here would be meaningless.
With that thought in mind, his silhouette flickered into a blur, making his way out from the Origin Forest.
Just as he appeared back in the Southern Hill Estate, Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu came to report about the completion of the Huang Clan Manor’s reconstruction.
“The Huang Clan Manor is ready?” Huang Xiaolong was pleasantly surprised.
When he gave the task to rebuild the Huang Clan Manor to Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu, the deadline was one year, but merely ten months had passed since then.
Huang Peng and Su Yan were overwhelmed with joy when the news reached their ears and they were ready to move back to the Huang Clan Manor on that very day. Watching his parents’ jubilant and enthusiastic expressions, Huang Xiaolong was utterly powerless, hence, gathering his parents and siblings, they departed to the new Huang Clan Manor on the same day.
This time, each of them rode on a peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm level demonic beast, reducing the traveling time they needed to reach the Huang Clan Manor in the Luo Tong Kingdom.
Everyone wore stupefied expressions as they jumped off the backs of their mounts to the ground staring at the new Huang Clan Manor that looked more like an imperial palace with its layers upon layer of buildings, blossoming flowers and sounds of singing birds....
It took a moment for them to recover from the shocking sight before proceeding to enter through the main doors.
The Huang Clan Manor’s main entrance was over fifty meters tall, wide enough to accommodate two horse carriages passing through them at the same time, resembling the imperial city gates in splendor.
The group continued to walk in along the corridors.
Along the way, lush shrubs and trees adorned the structures, fragrant flowers danced in the gentle breeze, gurgling water flowed endlessly from the rock mountain. The garden pavilion pillars were decorated with life-like carvings inlaid with precious gemstones, yet it still exuded a trace of warmth amidst the magnificence.
The old parts of the Huang Clan Manor weren’t demolished, instead, they were repaired and re-decorated to look as good as new.
Huang Xiaolong nodded his head, very satisfied with the results. Of course, Huang Peng, Su Yan, and the others liked the new environment very much too.
“You have done well.” Huang Xiaolong turned over, praising Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu who were following at the back.
Both Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu were finally able to breathe in relief after hearing Huang Xiaolong’s compliment. In these ten months, they had literally squeezed out every idea and effort possible to rebuild this Huang Clan Manor. Even upon completion, they were still worried that the Sovereign or the Huang Family might find it less than satisfactory.
With the manor readied, the next order of things would be selecting the guards and maids. Other than the few guards and maids who followed the Huang Family from way back, the newly selected ones were all Martial Spirit World’s Tenth Order Saint realm experts and above, placed in every corner to ensure the safety of the Huang Clan Manor. All in all, Huang Xiaolong picked three hundred Tenth Order Saint realm experts, not too much, and not too little.
He would leave the Martial Spirit World in the coming days, therefore the Huang Clan Manor’s defense needed to be up to par.
Lastly, Huang Xiaolong placed the Ghosts and Devils Flag above the Huang Clan Manor’s airspace, enveloping the entire Huang Clan Manor and the mountain behind it into the array formation, releasing the numerous peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm ghost creatures that he subjugated in the Ghost Domain to guard the formation flag in the center.
Later, with these many peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm ghost creatures and the three hundred experts of Tenth Order and above guarding the place, they had the chance of holding the fort even if the enemy was a God Realm master.
Although the Ghost and Devils Flag was placed in the airspace above the Huang Clan Manor, it integrated into the surrounding space, and thus, if not triggered by any ghostly energy, everything in he Huang Clan Manor as well as the back mountain appeared just like any other place. Not even a God Realm master could tell any difference.
With everything in place, Huang Xiaolong held a grand banquet, inviting experts from all four corners of the Martial Spirit World.
The two months following that were mostly spent with his family, passing peaceful days in cheer and laughter.
...
The bright moon hung brilliantly in the dark sky.
Huang Xiaolong stood on a mountain peak at the back of the Huang Clan Manor, seemingly looking at the rolling waves in the distance. Shi Xiaofei stood beside him, quietly watching him.
She already knew that the man in front of her had decided to leave the Martial Spirit World in the morning. She too spent the last two months in the Huang Clan Manor, and it was the happiest two months of her life.
“Big brother Huang, have you really decided to participate in the Black Warrior Institute disciple selection?” More time passed before Shi Xiaofei finally spoke.
Huang Xiaolong nodded, his hand reached out to hold Shi Xiaofei’s petite hand, grasping it firmly.
Although there were still two years left before the Black Warrior Institute was open for registration, he felt that continuing to stay in Martial Spirit World had no way of helping him advance to peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm before then.
According to his rough estimation, for him to break through to peak late-Tenth Order Saint realm, he would need to refine at least one hundred half-step God Realm beast cores.
No doubt, he Martial Spirit World did not have that many half-step God Realm demonic beasts.
Consequently, he could only bring forth the day of departure.