Chapter 185: Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood (II)
Sheng Yue turned around, and said, “I’d say that we should take his contribution points and let it be. A slap would be too much. If I didn’t guess wrongly, Lingxin should have wanted him to get some experience by stepping on the battlefield; there was a really low probability for an event such as encountering these demon gods. And considering his cultivation level, Lingxin should have been more than enough to protect him. It’s fortunate that Haochen is okay. Let’s settle this matter this way. If in the future, he violates the military rules once again, it will not be late to punish him severely at that moment.”
Gao Yingjie was as before full of anger, but Sheng Yue was not only the Head of the Assassin Temple, he was at the same time an Auxiliary Chief of the Temple Alliance. As such, Gao Yingjie could only obey his instructions, and give his promise calmly. But now, the look he gave to Long Haochen was not as kind as in the past anymore.
After looking at him apologetically, Long Haochen immediately turned around to look at Sheng Yue, asking him, “Great-grandfather, how is Uncle Sheng doing? Has he been wounded seriously?”
Sheng Yue sighed and replied, “He wasn’t wounded.”
“Eh?” Long Haochen looked at him with a puzzled face.
Sheng Yue said, “Lingxin suffered the backlash effect of the Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood. Heh, that kid… But at that moment, if he hadn’t used this kind of power, I’m afraid you would hardly have made it back alive.”
Long Haochen declared with an ashamed face, “I have to be blamed, for having been a burden to Uncle Sheng.”
Gao Yingjie finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore, “So you realized it? If not for you, considering younger brother Sheng’s power, who would possibly have been able to stop him if he wanted to leave? It really makes me wonder what is good in you.”
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Sheng Yue gave Long Haochen a deep glance, and declared, “Stop; don’t keep blaming him. It was also for the sake of killing the enemy that he did this. More importantly, he’s so young. Do you think it is so simple as he said just now? From my understanding of Lingxin, the fact he used the Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood means that he had the resolution to die, that he wanted to let Haochen come back no matter what. And in the end, he and Haochen survived this predicament; this is real proof of the positive impact Haochen had in this battle.”
“I can ascertain for this bit.”, said an important officer with a sturdy build, clad in a black armor, which was precisely a Brilliant Angel Knight’s uniform. The only difference was that at this moment, there wasn’t the pair of enormous golden wings that was previously present.
“Elder brother Gao, please don’t blame this little youngster. Actually, if not for this younger brother, this time, our army would have ended up completely wiped out. To me, he shouldn’t be deprived from all his contribution points. Because I recognize that to this Demon Hunt Squad member, even a reward of ten thousand contribution points is not enough.”
“Eh?” Hearing him say so, Gao Yingjie’s wrath somewhat vanished. The one who said so was the captain of the Brilliant Angel Knight Regiment, a Temple Knight of the seventh step as well. But the difference was that he didn’t have a Mythril Foundation Armor.
“Originally, we didn’t understand why this younger brother followed Mister General to the battlefield. But afterwards, when we confronted the Dyke Invisible Demons, this younger brother’s mount proved to have crucial utility. If possible, I really wish for him to integrate into our Brilliant Angel Knight Regiment.”
Immediately, this commander described Long Haochen’s feat in the battlefield, especially about Little Light’s continuous release of the Eyes of Truth to get them out of this desperate situation at once.
“If not for everything this younger brother has done to help us in dealing with these Dyke Invisible Demons, that were arranged to deal with our group rapidly, and have waited for us to receive some damage before launching their attack, we wouldn’t have made it back for real, especially against the simultaneous destructive attacks of these thousands Invisible Demons. And he broke their original plans, leaving these three grand demon gods without choice but to appear in an unprepared state, shifting their appearance to an earlier date to launch their attack. This act gave us the opportunity of making it back alive. And for having enabled us to make it back alive, besides General and his enormous sacrifice, the second one who holds this credit is this younger brother.”
Hearing these words of their commander, Gao Yingjie turned over with a transformed face, giving Haochen a look, without saying anything.
Long Haochen hastened to declare, “How could I dare accept these contribution points? I violated the rules. I just wish for you to let me have another chance, to let me and my comrades keep our status of Demon Hunt Squad in training. And I don’t need any reward. Great-grandfather, what was this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood you just spoke about? When will Uncle Sheng awake?”
He was now anxious about Sheng Lingxin’s current situation. The words Sheng Lingxin said in the last moment rang continuously in his mind. Now, he wished to help this father and his daughter to improve their relationship.
Sheng Yue said with a sigh, “The Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood is known as the sixth ranked spiritual stove that can be used by an assassin, and a spiritual stove exclusive to us. Its only use is to attack, and in terms of offensive power, this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood is among the three first ranked without hesitation. The ranking it holds is due to its side effect that is just too big.”
Looking at Sheng Lingxin, in a state of deep sleep, Sheng Yue kept speaking, “The backlash is as strong as the power of this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood. Upon activation, the Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood can enable one to make all his strength erupt, mixing the spiritual energy in his body with his vital force using a peculiar explosive method, giving rise to a firepower far exceeding his own cultivation level. The Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood’s evolution is also very particular; it will evolve together with its user’s cultivation level and his age. But the greater one’s age is, the more significant the produced power is, and the more serious the aftermath will be.”
“It is a miracle that Lingxin made it back alive. Among all the assassins who used this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood, he is the only one who made it back alive from the battlefield.”
“Whatever happens, this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood can only be used once, making the user’s body sink into an exceedingly feeble condition.
Without any fighting strength left, he fell in a coma after a short span of time. This coma will last for seven days. And seven days later, at the time he will regain consciousness, he will remain in a feeble state, for as long as he is currently aged. The use of spiritual energy will be completely forbidden to him, and everyday, he will regain a year of memories, and a year of cultivating experience. Based on Lingxin’s current age, he will need more than thirty days for his spiritual energy to be completely restored. Further adding the seven days of coma, it will take him a little more than forty days.”
Hearing Sheng Yue’s words, Long Haochen couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The spiritual stove with the biggest side effect he knew of was Cai’er’s Spiritual Stove of Samsara, but it seemed that the side effect of this Spiritual Stove of Return to Childhood belonging to Lingxin was in no way small! His consciousness as well as his memories had both been affected by its influence. For an entire duration of forty days, he wouldn’t be able to come back to normal. This was really a move that would need its user to be ready to stake everything to use it.
Sheng Yue declared, “Alright, go back to your own business now everyone. Haochen, you too, go to rest. Seeing that Lingxin actually handed you this book Raise Flowers Into Trees, I must tell you to train well with it after going back. Raise Flowers Into Trees is a technique, and it will improve along with your cultivation level, strengthening over time. And even in my Sheng Family, this technique isn’t passed on. After you learn it, teach it to Cai’er. In the past, she has never been willing to learn our Sheng Family’s self created ability from me. You are the only one who can make her accept to learn it.”
“Yes, great-grandfather.” Long Haochen respectfully replied to him.
Entering a state of deep thought, he went to find Haoyue. This savior of Sheng Lingxin’s and himself was now crawling on the side. Only, the current Haoyue didn’t have a weak appearance at all, instead looking in perfect shape. Looking at him, it seemed as if his strength was inexhaustible.
Long Haochen naturally didn’t know that before Sheng Lingxin and him were carried back after falling in a coma, Haoyue had swept through the battlefield at his maximal speed; Dark Green Dual Bladed Demons, Dual Headed Demonic Eagles or Blazing Devils were all magical beasts possessing magical crystals, so Haoyue had gotten to feast on them. At that moment, at least a hundred magical crystals were being digested in his stomach, and this digestion would take some time. And only him could dare eat so much. If it was instead another magical beast that had devoured so many different kinds of magical crystals, it would just have been full to the point of bursting.
Leading Haoyue to the door, Long Haochen had a very burdened look; at last, the situation could be considered to be settled.
How could he have told the truth at that moment!? This would have totally destroyed the relationship between these two great Temples. Long Haochen knew his own position within the Knight Temple, so looking at Gao Yingjie as well as the other few Mythril Foundation Knights’ face, he understood that even a powerhouse of the ninth step like Sheng Yue wouldn’t have had any way to protect Sheng Lingxin and Lan Yanyu’s couple from punishment, criticism, etc.
Even if they weren’t Cai’er’s parents, Long Haochen wouldn’t have told the truth in such situation, because the most important thing was to preserve the two great Temples relationship.
After leaving, Long Haochen discovered that next to the place they had been defending, in the Exorcist Mountain Pass, high ranked specialized healers were taking care of the injured.
“Which section do you belong to? No one shall pass without permission; violators will be punished by the law.”
“Out of the way.” An exceedingly cold voice burst forth.
Hearing this voice, Long Haochen was instantly shaken, hurrying to shout loudly, “Cai’er, I am here.”
At that time, he had already seen that in the direction of this noise, their comrades from the 1st Demon Hunt Squad were being stopped by a group of soldiers on patrol.
Hearing Long Haochen’s voice, Cai’er, who was originally full of murderous spirit, turned around, tapping the ground with the blue cane in his hand, and arrived in front of Long Haochen with a few steps.
“Haochen, are you alright?” Cai’er immediately grabbed Long Haochen’s hand and rapidly touched his body at various parts.
The others had gathered together and gone up, and looking at Long Haochen and Haoyue, their faces appeared at ease.
Back then, after Long Haochen didn’t come back for a long time after being called by military order, Cai’er felt that something was amiss when thinking of the situation that happened during the day with her mother. In the end, she couldn’t bear it, the others naturally didn’t let her go by herself, and followed her.
“I’m okay, I’m okay. I feel very good.” Long Haochen chuckled.
Cai’er felt that although Long Haochen appeared to be in a weak state, he hadn’t been wounded. Then, the ice-cold atmosphere surrounding her body finally alleviated as she held Long Haochen’s hand firmly, unwilling to let go of it, and said in a low voice, “Let’s head back then.”
Long Haochen calmly nodded, turning his body towards Gao Yingjie.