Invincible

!!! Chapter 232: Weren’t You a Xiantian Third Order?!

Looking at the improved version of Godly Mt. Xumi, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t help imagining, if all the heavenly treasures on the list were to combine with the Godly Mt. Xumi, to what extent would it strengthen this little golden mountain’s magical powers?!

Then, Huang Xiaolong shook his head, this was highly unlikely, even for him.

Thirty-two heavenly treasures were scattered all over, the chances of gathering them all was almost nil. Some of these heavenly treasures might not even be in the Martial Spirit World. Furthermore, there were possibilities some of these heavenly treasures were already reined in by others. If he could find them so could others.

Focusing his thoughts, Huang Xiaolong absorbed the ‘new’ Godly Mt. Xumi into his body and left the forest area with a flicker.

Just moments after Huang Xiaolong disappeared, two silhouettes arrived, piercing through the wind at alarming speed.

“Strange, I’m sure I sensed the fluctuations of a treasure from here!”

“Could someone else have gotten to it before us?”

“Go, keep looking!”

After leaving the dense forest area, Huang Xiaolong flew southwards. One hour later, he stopped. Arriving at Northside Merchant City, he recalled the incident when he was receiving the sanctification ritual from the Blessed Buddha Altar’s Buddhism energy, the single poisonous needle Chen Dingyuan ambushed him with. A chilling glint flitted across his eyes as he stepped towards Northside Merchant City and inquired around for the Chen Mansion’s location.

…

In one of the small yards on the north side of Chen Mansion.

Chen Dingyuan was resting leisurely in the main hall of the yard as he listened to his subordinate, Han Fei, report about the family’s annual Peak Summit.  

Every year, the younger generation of the Chen Family would battle for ranking in an attempt to snatch the title of ‘Family Peak’ into their hands.

“Young Master, with your talent and ability, this year’s Family Peak title could only be yours.” Han Fei flattered.

Chen Dingyuan laughing assuredly, “Of course I will win the first place in this year’s family Peak Summit, following that, I will also win the first place in the Four Families Summit!”

Han Fei laughed, “It is as Young Master said, that Luo Wuyi would definitely be defeated by Young Master!”

Chen Dingyuan nodded obligingly at Han Fei’s remark, and as if he remembered something, “Is that kid still inside the Buddha Cavern?”

“Yes, that is so, Young Master. Five months have passed but he hasn’t come out!” Han Fei answered. “I’ve sent people to keep a watch at the entrance, as long as that kid comes out and shows his face, I will immediately inform Young Master!”

Chen Dingyuan nodded satisfactorily, “Once that kid comes out, I will ‘present’ him with an unforgettable memory!”

“Oh~, really?” A cold voice sounded at Chen Dingyuan’s statement.

“Who?!” The cold voice sounded too suddenly, both Chen Dingyuan and Han Fei were caught off guard.

Before the two surprised faces, a silhouette slowly emerged from the void above.

“You!” The face of their guest made Chen Dingyuan and Han Fei exclaim in unison.

The uninvited guest was none other than Huang Xiaolong.

Huang Xiaolong’s eyes were icy as they fell on Chen Dingyuan: “That’s right, it’s me.”

After a momentary shock, Chen Dingyuan laughed raucously, “Punk, you dared to trespass into my Chen Mansion’s yards! The last time a late-Xiantian Tenth Order tried to do so, do you want to know what his ending was? He died without a corpse to be buried! Frankly, I really admire your courage and stupidity!” As his speech came to an end, Chen Dingyuan slowly rose from his seat, approaching Huang Xiaolong. At the same time, Chen Dingyuan looked at Han Fei, who nodded in understanding, and in a blur, blocked Huang Xiaolong’s escape route.

Even so, Huang Xiaolong was as calm as day.

Chen Dingyuan stopped five meters away from Huang Xiaolong, issuing a condescending cold sneer before saying, “Based on the fact that you dared to trespass into my Chen Mansion, I will give you a chance. If you can take three palm strikes from me, I will let you leave, if not, hehe…!”

“One palm!” Huang Xiaolong stated.

“One palm?” Chen Dingyuan broke out in another bout of laughter after a brief paused, “True, one or three palm strikes is the same result for you for one strike from me is enough to deal with you. Punk, are you ready?”

Huang Xiaolong shook his head in clarification, “I said I only need one palm to deal with you!”

“What?!” Chen Dingyuan’s face distorted in anger in the blink of an eye, a cruel glint burning in his eyes, “Little punk, I was kind enough to be merciful, giving you a way out, but since you have made your choice, then go die!” Chen Dingyuan leaped into the air, punching out with a fist full of killing intent at Huang Xiaolong.

An enormous fist imprint pierced through the air with a trail of lavender flame, the space around it issuing crackling noises. Before the fist imprint arrived, a scorching heat wave blasted in Huang Xiaolong direction. Chen Dingyuan was a peak late-Xiantian Third Order, the destruction force from one punch was no joke.

According to Chen Dingyuan’s understanding, though Huang Xiaolong went through the sanctification ritual on the Blessed Buddha Altar and managed to break through to Xiantian Third Order, a punk like him was still far from qualified to be his opponent. Which was why Chen Dingyuan did not call out his martial spirit, nor soul transformed.

Huang Xiaolong watched indifferently as Chen Dingyuan’s attack came at him, then with a raise of his hand, a finger pointed out. Just a simple finger stab, a forceful finger print shot through space, enveloping the earth like an angry rolling tsunami.

Within the dark gray billowing fog hid strange black creatures, wailing miserably, shaking one’s mind.

“Absolute Soul Finger!”

Watching the great momentum of the incoming dark gray fog, accompanied by the strange black creatures’ shrill shrieks, Chen Dingyuan’s face tightened. Swiftly jumping back, he bellowed: “Devil Extinguishing Vajra Vigor!”

Chen Dingyuan was wholly shrouded in a golden membrane that formed a protective layer of vigor qi.

However, the Absolute Soul Finger attack pierced through the Devil Extinguishing Vajra Vigor protective layer like it was nothing at all, penetrating through the person’s chest and coming out from the back. It went on to make a hole through the wall of the structure.

Poof!

Chen Dingyuan body was thrown back from the impact, crashing down hard, blood spurting out uncontrollably from his mouth.

“Young Master!” Han Fei, who was signaled to block Huang Xiaolong’s escape route, watched the scene happen in the blink of an eye. When Chen Dingyuan was sent flying, he blurted out in shock and rushed to his Young Master’s side.

On Chen Dingyuan chest wound, a dark gray air circulated, issuing shrill screams, bloodied flesh and a face paler than a white sheet.

“You, you are not a Xiantian Third Order!” The voice coming from Chen Dingyuan throat was hoarse as he stared wide-eyed in shock at Huang Xiaolong. He couldn’t understand at all, he remembered correctly that when Huang Xiaolong was undergoing the sanctification ritual on the Thousand Blessings Square, he had just broken through to Xiantian Third Order. How did he turn out to be a Xiantian Fourth Order now!

“Who told you that I’m a Xiantian Third Order?” Huang Xiaolong retorted with a cold sneer. Without waiting, the Blades of Asura appeared in his hands, and with a swing, an ominous flower bloomed in the air, which disappeared in the next moment in the same ghostly manner.

Chen Dingyuan screamed. From the center of his forehead, blood spurted out like a fountain from the flower mark left on his forehead.

Chen Dingyuan slid down to the floor stiffly, eyes opened with unwillingness.

“Young Master, Young Master!” Han Fei cried out in fear, shaking Chen Dingyuan’s body with trembling hands. But, no matter how hard Han Fei shook, no response came from Chen Dingyuan.

At this time, Huang Xiaolong approached.

Han Fei twirled around in fright, watching Huang Xiaolong. In the next instant, he screamed: “Someone, there’s an assassin!”

Still, it did not save him. Just as his words ended, Huang Xiaolong pointed a finger, penetrating his temple.

After dealing with Han Fei, Huang Xiaolong leaped up, disappearing from the spot with space concealment.

Chapter 233: Back In Duanren Imperial City

Just as the edge of Huang Xiaolong’s robe disappeared into the void and Han Fei’s body tumbled to the floor, a figure rushed over, piercing through the wind.

“Who dares to make trouble in my Chen Mansion!!”

This person was an old man in his eighties, with bright green irises, clad in a mulberry robe. This old man was the Chen Mansion’s Chief Steward, Jiang Rong.

Jiang Rong floated down to the floor. Watching Chen Dingyuan and Han Fei laying in a pool of blood, he paled noticeably.

“Young Master Dingyuan!” He reached Chen Dingyuan’s body in a few strides, crying out almost hysterically.

Before long, the news shook the entire Chen Mansion, assembling Chen Mansion’s over a thousand experts to search for the murderer while Huang Xiaolong was already on his way to Northside Merchant City’s gates. However, when he arrived at the city, it was on lockdown.

Seeing the city gates tightly shut, Huang Xiaolong sneered coldly. Walking to a deserted alley, Huang Xiaolong’s silhouette disappeared into thin air, emerging again inside the Xumi Temple hall. Activating the Ten Buddha Formation, the golden mountain shrunk to the size of a sand grain as Huang Xiaolong controlled its flight, flying out of Northside Merchant City high up in the troposphere.

Of course, Huang Xiaolong had other methods of leaving the city such as using Archduke Ma Bo’s token or the Blessed Buddha Token Shi Fantian gave him. However, either one of these actions would attract too much attention. Since he had decided to leave, he didn’t want to lead troubles his way.

Out from the Northside Merchant City, Huang Xiaolong continued to travel via the Godly Mt. Xumi, flying southward. Two hours had passed by the time he decided to stop.

In those two hours, Huang Xiaolong activated the Ten Buddha Formation to control the Godly Mt. Xumi’s flight, exhausting his battle qi supply. Huang Xiaolong’s battle qi and internal force were comparable to a Xiantian Fifth Order’s battle qi, yet it was only enough for him to supply the Godly Mt. Xumi with two hours of energy. One can imagine the taxing and terrifying amount of energy needed to activate the Godly Mt. Xumi.

Descending to the ground, Huang Xiaolong went to the side hall, swallowed a drop of Geocentric Buddha Elixir and started the recovery of his battle qi and internal force.

One day later, Huang Xiaolong stopped cultivating, both his battle qi and internal force were brimming full. ‘I wonder how long the Godly Mt. Xumi can fly if I used grade one spirit stones to activate the Ten Buddha Formation.’ Just as he was thinking to himself, Huang Xiaolong’s hand already moved, taking out a grade one spirit stone from the Asura Ring.

With a flick, Huang Xiaolong sent the grade one spirit stone to the center of the Ten Buddha Formation. The sacred ancient formation reacted instantly! The energy contained within the grade one spirit stone whirled out in a hurricane of energy as the formation shone brightly, activating and tearing the space by itself.

The grade one spirit stone lasted two days at the core of the Ten Buddha Formation before it cracked and crumbled into dust, dissipating in the air.

Huang Xiaolong, who was practicing the Godly Xumi Art, furrowed his brows slightly; a piece of grade one spirit stone lasted only two days. Grade one spirit stones were extremely rare, even if he offered ten thousand gold coins in the auction houses, he might not be able to buy one. The cost was too high.

On the bright side, after the four treasures merged into one, Huang Xiaolong noticed when he was practicing the Godly Xumi Art in the Ten Buddha Formation that the Fire Dragon qi from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, the ancient God Tribe’s energy from the God Binding Ring and the soul qi from the Absolute Soul Pearl were tempering his physique just like the Buddhism energy from Godly Mt. Xumi’s Ten Buddha Formation.

Four different types of energy tempering his body as he cultivated greatly enhanced Huang Xiaolong’s progress speed, so much that he could feel the improvement in strength every single day. The continuous tempering by these four great energies elevated Huang Xiaolong’s physical defense to higher than that of a Xiantian Fifth Order, both in defense and power aspects.

Huang Xiaolong journeyed back to Duanren Empire while practicing in the Xumi Temple, leaving behind Blessed Buddha Empire’s territory quickly. However, due to the unbearable price of activating the Godly Mt. Xumi for flight, most of the time Huang Xiaolong preferred not to use it. Calculating the journey’s time span, he would use a grade one spirit stone every four days on the Ten Buddha Formation.

Although grade one spirit stones were valuable, this way, Huang Xiaolong wouldn’t delay his journey nor his cultivation. He had just enough grade one spirit stones for him to reach Duanren Empire, he would think of a way to procure more in the future.

Four months came and went.

Huang Xiaolong rushed and finally made it back to Duanren Empire.

In cultivation, the higher the realm, the harder it was to progress and Huang Xiaolong was no exception. After breaking through into Xiantian Fourth Order, his cultivation speed was slower compared to prior. Still, he managed to reach peak late-Xiantian Fourth Order in four months’ time, half a step more and he could advance into Xiantian Fifth Order.

Just as Huang Xiaolong calculated, his twenty pieces of grade one spirit stones were spot on. The last one crumbled to dust as he arrived in Duanren Empire’s territory and he spent another ten days to reach Duanren Imperial City. Staring at the familiar city gates before him, an inexplicable emotion washed over Huang Xiaolong’s heart, just like what he felt after returning to the Huang Clan Manor from Luo Tong Royal City the first time he left home, more than a decade ago.

Inhaling deeply, Huang Xiaolong lifted his foot and walked towards the city gates.

There weren’t many changes to Duanren Imperial City, scenes filled his eyes that weren’t that much different a year and a half ago, still as bustling and lively, the endless lines of carriages and prosperous buildings on the streets.

“In a few days, it is the Guo and Huang Family’s big wedding celebration. I heard that this time, all of the over one thousand kingdoms under Duanren Empire sent either their emissary or Prince to congratulate the event!”

“Not only that! The news I heard is that even Emperor Duanren himself would be appearing at the wedding ceremony!”

“What is that Huang Xiaolong’s real identity? Also, what is the relationship between out Emperor Duanren and his guard Zhao Shu?”

“Who knows, but I heard Huang Xiaolong is not in the Imperial City at the moment.”

Huang Xiaolong listened to the grapevine around him as he strolled along the streets.

His younger sister Huang Min and Guo Tai’s wedding was in three days, a union between the Guo and Huang Families, and the Imperial City was in a festive atmosphere with colorful lanterns hung high in the streets.

Catching the young men in front saying Huang Xiaolong wasn’t in the Imperial City as the moment, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t resist laughing, “Little brother, where did you hear it from that Huang Xiaolong is not in the Imperial City at this time?”

The young man who heard Huang Xiaolong calling out to him turned around, scrutinized Huang Xiaolong up and down a few times before laughing,  “Little brother? You don’t seem to be that much older than me. I have a close brother that is working as a guard in the Huang Estate, of course I would know. From your appearance, you must have followed your family’s elders over to the Imperial City to congratulate the Huang Estate right?”

Huang Xiaolong was stunned for a moment at the young man’s words. He laughed it off and did not say anything. However, this young man seemed to be someone from the lower kingdoms, thus he did not recognize Huang Xiaolong’s face.

Seeing that Huang Xiaolong did not deny, the young man thought he had guessed correctly, “This must be your first time in Duanren Imperial City right?”

At this time, an abrupt ruckus swept the bustling streets, a series of surprise and shock exclamations rang in the air.

Huang Xiaolong and the two young men looked over and saw a group of people sprinting down the busy streets on horsebacks.

One of the young men paled: “It’s the Tie Family’s people!”

“Tie Family?” Huang Xiaolong was puzzled.

“The Tie Family is also the Guo Family’s in-laws. The current Patriarch of Guo Family, Guo Shiwen’s younger sister, Guo Xiaoqing, is married to the Tie Family’s Patriarch, Tie Fang!” The same young man explained.