Chapter 305 - True Spirit Magnate
“Better than the material that crafts the Divine Wing Saber?”
Zhong Yue was stunned, it was too unbelievable; the Divine Wing Saber was the saint weapon of the Kun Peng Race. Ordinary divine weapons couldn't even compete with this saint weapon. This mirror was only the soul weapon of a magnate, Xiao Yuan, it was supposed to be inferior to even the Ten Malefic Weapons, but now he was told that the material it was made from was superior to the Divine Wing Saber's!
All of a sudden, he lunged out the Golden Peng Sword and slashed down on the Bright Moon Mirror —Zheng— a shrill metallic ring rang in his ears as they clashed, he took a look at the mirror and found it perfectly unscathed by the Golden Peng Sword.
"What an incredible material! The Xiao Mang Celestial Race ancestor has stolen the moon's core. Surely the Xiao Mang Celestial Race can take out such high-grade materials."
Zhong Yue was excited, he held the Bright Moon Mirror in his hands and thought, I suppose only the Xiao Mang Celestial Race can do such things ... crafting ordinary soul weapons with materials that were baptized with the innate god's innate godly aura.
Rays flashed across his eyes, he suddenly thought of the moon's core and the slumbering moon god in it below the Xiao Mang Celestial Temple. He thought in his heart, If only I can steal that moon's core….
“Lucky for us, this moon’s core is still useable.”
Xin Huo inspected the Bright Moon Mirror through Zhong Yue's eyes. It was only the size of a plate; however, the mirror was already refined to the incorporeal state, something that was extremely rare among soul weapons.
The higher the grade of the materials, the harder it was for it to reach the incorporeal state, and vice versa.
The moon's core was an incredibly high-grade material. It could only be imagined how much time and energy was needed for Xiao Yuan to refine it to such a stage.
Zhong Yue inspected it carefully, and the more he looked at it, the happier he got. Only the moon spirit totem patterns were best suited for materials that came from the moon's core. Clearly, Xiao Yuan knew this very well and in order not to waste the precious moon's core, she had been refining this Bright Moon Mirror purely with the moon spirit totem patterns. There wasn't a single trace of any other kind of totem patterns!
This was also why Xin Huo said that the moon's core was still usable. If there were the other totem patterns, not only would the Bright Moon Mirror's power not be enhanced, its potential would be limited.
The Xiao Mang Celestial Race was indeed way beyond any other races in the study of the moon spirits, unbeatable by the any other. The moon spirit totem patterns in the Bright Moon Mirror were complex and innumerous – many of such them were ones that Zhong Yue had never even seen before!
His moon spirit, the six-eyed Star Toad, was only one of the myriad moon spirits. It didn't contain all of the moon spirit totem patterns, but with this Bright Moon Mirror, he could attain more insights from it and heighten his cultivation base to the next level. It could significantly strengthen his Star Toad Yuan Shen.
All of a sudden, Zhong Yue sensed something, and he flew up to the sky to hover above the clouds. He looked toward the direction of Swords Gate. Qiu Jin'er also sensed him, and she came to his side to join him.
Tens of thousands of miles away, the summit of Swords Gate Mountain could be seen above clouds, shrouded by a thick and heavy mist.
All of a sudden, a sudden burst of aura emanated out from Swords Gate. An expert's air pierced through the firmament, and when looked at from afar, the faint figure of a god appeared above the clouds, swirling them and blasting the winds.
Zhong Yue cast out his divine third eye and looked over; that god was gigantic. There were two dragons beneath its feet while two white serpents dangled on its ears. Then, a huge golden beam rose up from the mountains like an aureate sword. As it fully rose to the sky, the godly figure then clenched it in its hands.
The godly figure was, in fact, a Yuan Shen phantom; however, in contrast to other ones, this Yuan Shen was so life-like that it seemed like it was truly a god itself that had cultivated to an extreme state whereby it could manifest a corporeal form!
A True Spirit!
Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat, "Someone in Swords Gate had successfully cultivated a True Spirit and had broken through the cultivation barrier. Whoever this is, he or she can now be considered as a magnate cultivator!"
Qiu Jin'er was also looking at it. However, should couldn't see it as clearly as Zhong Yue could. She asked curiously, "But who is it? Who is this new magnate?"
“Fang Jiange.” Zhong Yue heaved a breath and spurted out a name.
Qiu Jin'er's eyes brightened up, she smiled and said, "A new magnate within our Swords Gate, his ascension will surely further help in staving away the danger that we face."
Zhong Yue shook his head and said nothing. It was crystal clear in his heart that the danger of Swords Gate wasn't something that could be neutralized by the ascension of one or two magnates, especially considering the inevitable death of the old Sword Gate headmaster!
The peace in Swords Gate was only an illusory bubble that existed due to the existence of the old headmaster. His cultivation base stood at the peak of the Imminent Deity; and although he wasn't truly a god, his strength had garnered him the appellation of Sword God. He was the embodiment of fear and terror in the hearts of his enemies.
Fang Jiange had only just ascended to the True Spirit level. He was only at the lowest boundary of the grade of magnates. He would have to at least reach to the level of Imminent Deity and be on par with the old headmaster, or otherwise, he wouldn't be able to neutralize the threat even if he did become the next headmaster.
Furthermore, other than the external threats, there were still the celestial messenger and the traitor hiding among themselves, waiting for the right time to strike the final blow!
All of a sudden, when the myriad thoughts streamed through Zhong Yue's mind, another aura flooded his senses. If Fang Jiange's aura was sharp like a sword, then this aura was like an elegant mistress, it was ethereal and ever-changing. Oftentimes, it felt like a stream of flowing water, then it felt like a torrential wave in the ocean. At times, it even felt like an ocean itself!
Zhong Yue looked over with his divine third eye — clouds were billowing like waves of water as if the sky was the ocean. In the midst of the cloud ocean, there was the image of a god who appeared to have the head of a snake and the body of a human. A dark serpent coiled around its arm while it stood on the head of a black dragon, unleashing its prowess to the world as it stood tall in the clouds.
This godly figure was gently plucking the strings of a zither that it held in its arms; however, they were too far to hear any voices.
This was in fact, another True Spirit!
The Qi Practitioner's spirits came from the spirits of the world; once the Qi Practitioner had acquired the spirit's recognition, the spirit would merge with the Qi Practitioner. It would be of the same kind, but it could only be said as a forged spirit, a mere imitation of the true spirits of nature. Not only that, but it was also fragile and small upon initially merging with the Qi Practitioner.
As the cultivation base of the Qi Practitioner increased, the Qi Practitioner's spirit would also be refined along the way, slowly turning itself into a true and authentic spirit. And finally, when the Qi Practitioner ascended to the True Spirit level, the spirit would finally make the leap to a genuine spirit, materializing into existence as if it were a godly spirit. Even if the True Spirit Qi Practitioner died, the spirit would not dissipate so easily, and it would still be able to live independently in the world.
As of now, a second True Spirit had emerged in Swords Gate, echoing with Fang Jiange's Gold God Spirit from the other side of Swords Gate. It was strong and not inferior to the Gold God Spirit, clearly announcing to the world that there was a second cultivator who had successfully cultivated a True Spirit, ascending to the grade of magnates alongside Fang Jiange!
"Senior martial brother, is this Feng Wuji or Senior Martial Sister Jun?" Qiu Jin'er couldn't see the changes of Swords Gate, and she asked curiously.
“It’s Senior Martial Sister Jun Sixie.”
Zhong Yue locked his brows, and he mumbled lowly, "Strange, what special day is today? Why have two magnates suddenly appeared in Swords Gate on the same day?"
“A good day!”
Qiu Jin’er answered happily, “With these two new magnates, headmaster need not worry so much anymore!”
Zhong Yue slowly shook his head; all of a sudden, there was another burst of aura along with the emergence of the third True Spirit; it had a human's body, a snake's tail, and two faces. One of the faces was facing the front with two arms on its shoulders, and another face was facing the back with another six arms on its shoulders — it was utterly bizarre.
In its hands was a snow-white umbrella, fully opened while it placed it against its shoulder.
“This is Swords Gate third new True Spirit expert, our third new magnate !”
Qiu Jin’er was overjoyed, “This must be Senior Martial Brother Feng Wuji! The last time he was going for the True Spirit level, he was interrupted by Lei Hong, who knew he could give his second shot in such a short time. Senior martial brother, today is really a good day, isn’t? Three new magnates of Swords Gate, all of them are young and promising; with them, our Swords Gate will surely be kept safe.”
“One of them is the celestial messenger from the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, how is this a good thing?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, "No, no, this doesn't feel right. The celestial messenger must have been the one that ordered the Croc Dragon to throw me down to the Devil Soul Forbidden Land; but Feng, Fang, Lei, and Jun were in pursuit of the island lords. They weren't in Swords Gate, how could it be possible for them to give the order to the Crocodile Dragon? Furthermore, the celestial messenger must be in close contact with Tian Myriad Mother during all of this. Not only that, but Fang Jiange had clashed directly against the celestial messenger in the Demon Ruins, and the celestial messenger's cultivation technique was clearly of the demon race's, could the celestial messenger not be one of them?"
All of a sudden, his body shivered as he thought of a possibility!
“One fissioned into three, the【Mystic Duplication Technique】!”
"The same【Mystic Duplication Technique】Xiao Mang's Xiao Chushan has cultivated, the celestial messenger must also have it. Moreover, his must be even stronger than Xiao Chushan's! As he must have cultivated it to the state where he could duplicate his Yuan Shen to form two false Yuan Shen to combine them with two mortal bodies!"
A chill went down his spine, "Three different identities, his first identity must be either one of Feng, Fang, or Jun! One of the other two must be a demon! For now, as he has broken through to the level of True Spirit, who can stop him now…."
"Old man, who of the three will you be giving the position of headmaster to?"
Zhong Yue mumbled, "The old headmaster must have known who this celestial messenger is, he will surely not pass the position of the headmaster to the celestial messenger … but will the celestial messenger collude with the other traitor to usurp the new headmaster by force?"
His heart grew heavier as he mumbled, After the old headmaster passes down his position, he would definitely enter the Devil Soul Forbidden Land to fight for another 500 years of peace for Swords Gate. The day he goes into the Devil Soul Forbidden Land will be the day that the conspiracy brewing behind the scenes in the Swords Gate reveals itself!
By then, the celestial messenger and the traitor will undoubtedly have taken the headmaster position as their own!
It would also be time where the external threats invade the Seal Suppression Hall and release the evils that were suppressed in it!
This was a predicament that related directly to the fate of Swords Gate and the future of humanity. And that day was drawing near!
Zhong Yue turned his head, and he looked over to the north of Great Wilderness. There was a city called Gu Xia, and in it was a man who was also waiting for that day to come.
Gu Xia City, Gu Hongzi was looking at the Great Wilderness, the dusk pulled his shadow into a long and narrow silhouette that extended all the way down to the city wall while the cloak behind him fluttered in the winds.
"I was born without a father, and you have been the father that I was missing in my life. I lived for you, and if you die, I'll give my life to fulfill your last wish." The city lord mumbled lowly in a voice only he could hear.
Whether or not it was a coincidence, the ascension of Fang Jiange, Feng Wuji and Jun Sixie into the level of True Spirit would be heaven-shaking news that shook the whole continent!
Xiao Mang Celestial Temple, the high priest's white brows raised as he received the news, he smiled and said, "Feng Shang is unwilling to just die, stubbornly trying to squeeze another day out of his life ... it must have all been for this day huh...? Three young magnates of Swords Gate ... he can now leave in peace to enter the Devil Soul Forbidden Land to carry out his final duty as headmaster. This may be his end, but it is only now that my plan begins…."