Li Ming wailed in pain as his body shot out several li after suffering another kick from Huang Xiaolong. Following that, his body rolled all the way down to the Golden Dragon Peak’s foothills.
Huang Xiaolong issued a cold snort as he watched Li Ming rolling all the way down to the bottom of the mountain before turning around and returning to the palace, no longer sparing the ‘guest’ another thought. Inside, he once again brought up the subject of his trip to the Wintry North World to his parents.
Before leaving, Huang Xiaolong reminded the Huang Family not to leave the Golden Dragon Peak while he was away, and wait for his return to deal with the troubles.
With the Ten Killing Swords Formation, the Palace of Nine Halls Bagua Trigrams Formation, as well as the pack of demonic beasts, the Golden Dragon Peak was an impregnable fortress. Even without him there, he needn’t worry about their safety.
Huang Xiaolong also tasked Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu with some matters before departing under the Huang Family members’ gazes. Leaving the Golden Dragon Peak, Huang Xiaolong headed straight to the transmission array on the North Star Square.
Not long after Huang Xiaolong departed from the Golden Dragon Peak, Li Ming, who fainted from rolling all the way down from mid-mountain height, gradually regained his conscious. Acute pain coursed through his body as if every bone in his body was broken by Huang Xiaolong.
“Huang Xiaolong! I swear I’ll definitely kill you!” Recalling the previous humiliating scenes, Li Ming’s eyes suffused with an icy killing intent, animosity hollered like a violent storm in his heart. Enduring the severe pain, it was an enormous effort for Li Ming to stand on his feet, wobbling and stumbling as he flew back to the Pan’s Tiger Peak. Several times on the journey, he nearly plummeted to the ground from midair.
Inside the Pan’s Tiger Peak great hall, Pan Haicheng’s expression was especially gloomy looking at the person standing before him in a torn dirty robe, with a mud-stained face and a glaring red palm print on his chest. Smeared bloodstains were still obvious on Li Ming’s face.
Li Ming spoke through gritted teeth, “Chief, that Huang Xiaolong is preposterous! He’s flaunting his Institute Principal’s personal disciple identity, not putting us in his eyes. I invited him with proper courtesy, yet that Huang Xiaolong dared to say that if Chief wants to see him, you are to go over there personally. Moreover, it would depend on his mood whether he would see you or not. I was enraged hearing him disrespect Chief, and uttered a sentence to reprimand him, but who knew he’d be so shameless as to make a sneak attack on me, wounding me to this extent!”
A dark cruel light gleamed in Pan Haicheng’s pupils, “That Huang Xiaolong really said that?!”
“It is so.” Hatred shone in Li Ming’s eyes, adding, “If it wasn’t because I managed to escape in time, my Qi Sea would have been shattered, and my meridians crippled, maybe even killed. He also said, what Great Five elite disciples, in his eyes, they amount to nothing!”
A murderous light seeped into Pan Haicheng’s eyes, his hands slowly clenched into fists with green veins popping up underneath the skin, “Is that Huang Xiaolong still on the Golden Dragon Peak?”
Li Ming replied, “No, on the way back here, I heard other Pan Tiger Society disciples mention that Huang Xiaolong has left the Golden Dragon Peak and is heading toward the North Star Square’s transmission array, seemingly leaving the Black Warrior Institute.”
A scheming little grin emerged on Pan Haicheng’s face, “If it’s like that, we’ll send him a big gift!”
Li Ming was baffled, “Big gift?”
Pan Haicheng sneered coldly, “The Jiang Family, Vice-Principal Wang Na, and those people from the Azure Dragon Institute are just waiting for him to leave the Black Warrior Institute. Let’s go, come with me to Vice-Principal Wang Na’s manor, I believe she’ll be delighted receiving this piece of news, she won’t skimp out on our benefits!” He stood up as he was saying that.
“It’s just a pity that we’re unable to kill him personally!” Li Ming muttered, not concealing the hate whirling in his eyes.
Walking out of the great hall, Pan Haicheng said offhandedly, “Once that Huang Xiaolong is dead, the Huang Family’s fate will be up to you to decide. At that time, you can play to your heart’s content.”
Li Ming’s pupils darkened, “Yes, Chief is right. Today’s humiliation will be returned a thousand fold on the Huang Family!”
Both men left the Pan’s Tiger Peak, speeding off toward Vice-Principal Wang Na’s manor.
Wang Na’s eyes shone brightly when she heard the news, generously praising, “Both of you have done very well.” Two spatial rings hovered in front of Pan Haicheng and Li Ming with a casual wave of her hand: “This is to reward you two.”
Seeing the inside of the spatial rings, which were filled with numerous elixirs and Xuanwu coins, both Pan Haicheng and Li Ming were delighted, thanking Wang Na profusely.
Wang Na nodded, accepting the two disciples’ gratitude without qualms, and excused them away before turning to Grand Elder Liu Yu at her side, saying, “Inform the Azure Dragon Institute about Huang Xiaolong leaving the Black Warrior Institute. Remember to tell them we want half of the Hailstone Treasure, and also the ancient treasures on Huang Xiaolong, such as the Innumerable Fortune Kasaya, we want fifteen items!”
Liu Yung complied, getting to his feet, then he flew away at rapid speed.
On another side, after arriving at the North Star Square, Huang Xiaolong was transported to the Black Warrior City via the transmission array. Once out, he did not dally around, taking several consecutive transmission arrays until he reached northern side of the galaxy in a place called Tanggu World.
Due to the lack of transmission arrays in the Wintry North World, Huang Xiaolong could only be transported to the closest transmission array in the Tanggu World. From thereon, he needed to rely on himself to reach the Wintry North World—by flying.
Despite the so-called close distance between the Tanggu World and Wintry North World, based on Huang Xiaolong’s current flying speed, it would take him at least a month to reach his destination.
The vast, boundless, and empty space, where anything seemed remote from everything else, gave a sense of tranquility from its deep silence.
Huang Xiaolong’s silhouette glided through the dark boundless space like a flickering bright star.
Spreading out his spiritual sense to the limit, he continuously absorbed the scarce lightning force hidden within the deep void.
“This lightning force is really good stuff.” Feeling the effect after a while, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t resist commenting, “If it weren’t for the Highgod Advancement Tournament two hundred years later, I would really consider cultivating in this vast space for several hundred years, absorbing this lightning force.”
This lightning force could purify and strengthen his soul, but his most pressing concern was to improve his strength and cultivation.
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi spoke, “The stronger your soul is, the smoother your breakthrough to Highgod Realm will be. By putting all your effort and focus on increasing your strength and cultivation like you do now, it indirectly becomes a hindrance to your future breakthrough, greatly increasing its difficulty.”
Huang Xiaolong was taken aback, “Advancing to Highgod Realm is connected to one’s soul?”
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi nodded, explaining, “Yes, the stronger your soul is, the easier it is for you to form your Godhead. The stronger and purer your soul is, the stronger the Godhead you’ll be able to form would be. A Godhead is the fundamental existence of a God, the better your foundation is, the higher you can reach. I’ve never told you this in the past because your realm was still too low, there was no point in letting you know too much. But now, you’re already a peak late-Fifth Order God Realm, it’s time you pay attention to these points.”
Huang Xiaolong was shocked by this revelation. It had never crossed his mind that the soul’s clarity would play such a crucial part in advancing to the Highgod Realm.
But, why didn’t his Master Feng Yang mention anything about this to him either? Perhaps, like Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi, he also thought that his realm was too low and that he temporarily needn’t know this? Huang Xiaolong’s mood turned sulky thinking about this.
“Old Dragon, then how is the strength and clarity of my soul?” Huang Xiaolong urged.
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi hesitated slightly, “Because you cultivated in the Ancient Puppetry Art and Soul Mandate, your soul is far stronger than most same order masters, but it is a million miles away from reaching the level of a Highgod Realm master. As for the clarity of your soul, that’s even further away from being ideal.”
The more Huang Xiaolong heard, the deeper the furrows on his brows became.
Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi continued, “Still, you need not dwell too much on this, wait until you’re a Tenth Order God Realm and won the first place in the Highgod Advancement Tournament.”
Huang Xiaolong nodded.
He continued to fly in space for another two days.
“These gentlemen had been following me for so long, are you planning to keep following?” Huang Xiaolong’s gaze swept around him, yawning as he spoke.
The atmosphere around him seemed to have grown heavier for a few breaths’ time, then a bright light flashed as three people appeared in front of Huang Xiaolong.
“People of Azure Dragon Institute.” Seeing the three newcomers, Huang Xiaolong’s eyes narrowed. Among the three people, two of them were clad in the Azure Dragon Institute’s Elder robes, while the third one, standing in front of the two, was wearing the Azure Dragon Institute’s Grand Elder robe. Huang Xiaolong recognized this person, he was one of the six people he met inside the Hailstone Treasure space.
Li Qingming scrutinized Huang Xiaolong with a devious smile, “Not bad, brat, to be able to tell that we’re tailing behind you, no wonder even Xiang Mingzhi lost to you. You managed to escape the last time in the Hailstone Treasure space, let’s see if you still can run away this time. I have no time to dribble nonsense with you, immediately hand over the Hailstone Treasure, the Innumerable Fortune Kasaya, and all those treasures you cheated off Xiang Mingzhi and I can leave you a full corpse. Of course, as the Black Warrior Institute Principal’s personal disciple, I can let you die more comfortably.”