Chapter 272: Big Harvest!
The fifth brother approached at a very fast speed, and his back shone with a green luster. Violently shooting up, the intense confluence of green light behind him took the shape of a violent tiger, accompanying the swings of his axes, and bombarding the golden sun that appeared in the sky. He knew that this was his last chance.
However, many things don’t go as one wishes. With a flash, the golden light unexpectedly spread to all directions, causing the glistening sun’s radiance to vanish in an instant. The brightness was replaced by a deep blue color which concentrated immediately in the sword chopping right in front of the fifth brother. A loud bang resounded. With an incomparably powerful explosion, even with his cultivation level, the fifth brother was utterly incapable of contending against this domineering holy elemental spiritual energy that sent him flying over ten meters.
The golden and blue light vanished, revealing Long Haochen’s true colors. When he appeared, he was a bit out of breath, his face visibly a little pale. But with the help of Yating’s recovery magic, he rapidly recovered.
After the period of probing, Long Haochen had discovered that this warrior wasn’t really a match for him. The fifth brother’s ability was purely based on the use of the wind element combined with his axes. Even after using Madness, his internal and external spiritual energy couldn’t possibly go above the sixth step.
Long Haochen never shrank back even when confronting a demon at the sixth step, let alone the fifth brother that had yet to reach the sixth step. Without particularly powerful equipment, when confronting Long Haochen who had a Light Elemental Fairy’s support, he didn’t have the slightest chance. Though he had that metallic puppet, it was after all a mere puppet and not a real human. Unable to accommodate to changing circumstances, it was primarily reliant on physical attacks, and against the blazing sunlight fire in conjunction with Ascending Dragon Strike, it was unable to unleash its full strength and melted.
Long Haochen’s last blow was the Asura Strike that consumed an amount of thousand units of spiritual energy. Although he didn’t use Storing Power in combination, Asura Strike’s terrifying offensive power was still really destructive. If not for the fact Long Haochen started off lenient, the body of the fifth brother would already have been split in two.
With dang dang dang dang sounds, two split axes fell to the ground. When added to Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light’s sharpness, how could a piece of magical equipment resist against Asura Strike?
Long Haochen didn’t keep fighting, only looking at the fifth brother crawling on the ground slowly.
The fifth brother’s current appearance was truly pitiable. His armor was completely ravaged and destroyed from the power of Magic Wiping Flash and Asura Strike, and he lost his weapons. However, still in a state of Madness, his eyes still gleamed with a blood red color. With a mad cry, he directly rushed at Long Haochen.
His third brother and sixth sister were standing at the rest area with pale faces. Their brains had even lost all ability to think.
Withdrawing Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, and taking out his Holy Spirit Shield, Long Haochen took a step forward, readying the Holy Spirit Shield to confront him. Blocking him and causing a backlash, he pushed the approaching fifth brother three steps back, before also retreating a step backwards. Even in a state of Madness, where the fifth brother was unable to use any abilities, his strength was still quite formidable.
He didn’t lose in regard to his combat experience, but in regard of the control of his spiritual energy as well as its technical aspects.
Long Haochen’s self-created ability and Asura Strike could be called first-rate secret techniques of their rank. Further adding his benefits as the Scion of Light, and the support of the Light Elemental Fairy Yating, even though the two sides were almost at an equal level of cultivation, how could the fifth brother even stand a chance?
The current fifth brother was already close to going mad. Loudly, he yelled, “I cannot lose, I cannot lose!” When pushed back, he immediately rushed towards Haochen again, without showing the slightest trace of faltering.
In his current deranged state of mind, Long Haochen didn’t need to waste any strength. He immediately rushed at him, directly pointing the Holy Spirit Sword at his neck. With a dull sound, the fifth brother simply fell to the ground.
The whole stadium was in total silence. From beginning to end, this battle didn’t last long, and the whole process was rather simple. Suppressing his opponent completely, Long Haochen managed a one-sided victory, giving no chance to his opponent at all.
There were almost only soldier and general grade Demon Hunt Squads that came to watch this match. As a novice Demon Hunter, Long Haochen managed to defeat another Demon Hunter of the previous generation, completely disregarding a gap of five whole years.
Aside from contribution points, in this battle Long Haochen gained the acknowledgement of all those general and soldier grade Demon Hunters.
The third brother and sixth sister from the eighth general grade Demon Hunt Squad walked into the stadium, lending an arm to support their fifth brother. In the end, they didn’t feel resentment but were filled with frustration. Hundred thousand… They lost hundred thousand contribution points! And those did not only belong to them since they had to borrow some to make the bet. Surely, this incident would affect their whole team, and cost them at least one more year to reach the commander grade. And this was only caused by the decision of the three of them, without involving the other members of their team.
The Temple Knight went over to Long Haochen’s side, passing the awarded contribution points to him, “Well done! You are quite good younger brother, from which Demon Hunt Squad do you come?”
Long Haochen replied, “The 21st general grade squad. Many thanks to you, senior referee.” 110,000 minus 500 contribution points were handed over, transferring into Long Haochen’s contribution point tile.
Frankly speaking, when seeing the expressions on the faces of the third brother and sixth sister, he felt empathy, and even thought of giving back the contribution points he gained. But in the end, he resisted. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to return those 100,000 contribution points, but because he couldn’t encourage the eighth Demon Hunt Squad in their greedy behaviour.
What would have happened if his squad didn’t even manage to gain back their own contribution points? There needed to be a pitiful and a hated side, and how could they have given them a lesson if they lost? In addition, if he returned those contribution points, how would those Demon Hunters that laid a bet feel? Wouldn’t they just believe that this was nothing but an attempt to deceive them all…?
“Long live, captain Long!” The members of the 21st general grade and the 4th soldier grade flocked in, rushing into the stadium, and surrounding him from all sides. Long Haochen was tossed up in the air by the group of excited youths.
The third brother and the sixth sister, silently carried their fifth brother to the exit. 21st general grade, they all heard this. At the general grade… They were actually already at the general grade! And this young knight was actually their captain.
Lin Xin and Luc Xi quickly calculated their earnings this time, giving the Demon Hunters that gambled on Long Haochen their earnings. Of course, they were a minority.
Duan Yi’s and Yang Wenzhao’s expressions looked ugly. They received the 3,000 contribution points they gained from the bet on Hoachen, but still lost 7,000 contribution points in the final count. The original certain favorites had suffered a crushing defeat, and didn’t have much left, leaving in a dejected state.
Quickly, Lin Xin and Luc Xi’s counted the profit.
This time, a total of 230,000 contribution was bet, and after handing over 30,000 of it to the winners, they made a total profit of 200,000 contribution points.
The profit Luc Xi and Lin Xin made went beyond their team’s total capital, and their amount of earnings were even greater than Long Haochen’s himself, who was the one directly involved in this. Luc Xi only got 20% of it, but even so, he gained 40,000 contribution points out of the change, whereas Long Haochen provided the members of his 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad with very rich earnings, making the total amount of contribution points of their team surpass 300,000 contribution points.
Let alone general grade Demon Hunt Squads, even commander grade Demon Hunt Squads wouldn’t necessarily have so many contribution points gathered at the same time if they weren’t veterans.
“Rich, we have gotten rich for real this time! Wahah! Wahahahaha!!!” Lin Xin excitedly danced and gesticulated in joy. His dark green hair was flung from one side of his head to the other.
“Let’s go. We should head back. Today won’t do if we want to go to the Transaction Center.” Long Haochen waved his hand, picking up Cai’er and leading the group back to the villa. Having won so many contribution points belonging to another Demon Hunt Squad, this was obviously not a good time for them to go to the Transaction Center.
Luc Xi’s group left in great delight, feeling even more resolute to keep a good relationship with the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad from now on.
After Long Haochen’s group returned to the villa, seeing the excited Lin Xin, Long Haochen’s next words were, “From today onwards, everyone is forbidden to leave the villa. It’s self-training for the next ten days.”
Lin Xin started, “Boss, why so serious?”
Long Haochen coldly swept a glance at him, “If not for your betting stands, we wouldn’t have to get this serious.”
Han Yu reacted, “It was the general grade and soldier grade Demon Hunt Squads that participated in the bets that were laid. It seemed as if we cheated everyone else, and to them, a thousand contribution points is quite a huge number. Demon Hunt Squads should treat each other as friends, not enemies. The offense we committed was too heavy, I’m really afraid that we are going to get isolated for that.”
Chen Ying’er seemed unsatisfied, “So it means it’s okay if they win, but not if we are the ones to win?”
Long Haochen replied, “Although it won’t be as severe between the new Demon Hunt Squads like us, we should still stay low-key for now. Otherwise, being isolated won’t feel good to us. To put it simply, if all Demon Hunters stopped selling things to us, don’t you think we would get affected?”
Chen Ying’er pouted but stayed calm.
Long Haochen replied, “Our contribution points reached a total amount of 300,000, so that’s to say, we even possess enough contribution points to promote ourselves to the commander grade. You know about Cai’er’s condition. Until she gets better, I’d prefer to avoid taking missions, and wish that everyone would strengthen themselves during the next six months, striving for the sixth step. If we succeed, the next mission we will take will directly be at the level of a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad.”
“Sixth step?” Except for the deaf Cai’er, the other five suddenly looked fixedly at Long Haochen.
Lin Xin murmured to him, “Boss, that is impossible. We are only at the second or third rank of the fifth step. Even if we aimed for the sixth step, I’m afraid only vice-captain and you would have a chance of success. Let alone the time of passing the bottleneck before breaking through, half a year cannot possibly be enough for us to acquire the 4,000 units of spiritual energy we are lacking.”
Although Long Haochen was sufficiently acknowledged in the team, it was just too hard for the others to be convinced by his words. The leap from the fifth to the sixth step was after all a process of qualitative change.
Long Haochen looked at the whole group, declaring, “And what if we add up the Holy Spirit Pills? Now that we are in possession of 300,000 contribution points, considering that those Holy Spirit Pills cost 10,000 each, all of us should have the chance to take one. And the earlier it is taken, the more effective it will be. It’s perfectly suited to our current situation.”
Lin Xin smiled bitterly, “Boss, I know what you mean. But my previous statement already took the Holy Spirit Pills into account. Each Holy Spirit Pill will enable our spiritual energy to rise over 3,000 units, but I’m afraid that aiming for 4,000 units during the span of half a year will be very challenging. Moreover, I heard that the bottleneck between the fifth and the sixth step is a lot more challenging to pass than the previous ones. There are many people who stay at this bottleneck for several years without being able to break through it. How could we do it so easily?”
Long Haochen went silent, seemingly pondering over something.
Everyone was struck by Lin Xin’s words, and Sima Xian hurried to declare, “Boss, there’s no problem for us to train for a period of six months, and we’d progress as much as we can. Anyway, with so many contribution points in our possession, there won’t be any problem for us to wait for vice-captain to recover before going on the next mission.”
Long Haochen shook his head, “I have over 70% certainty that we can break through to the sixth step within a period of half a year. I’ve been thinking about it, and finally decided to share this information with you. However, I hope everyone will keep this secret. Otherwise, in case this gets out, it will give rise to great complications, and probably cause a public panic. If this happens, our Demon Hunt Squad won’t be able to keep existing.”
Everyone’s face immediately lost color at hearing this. Although Long Haochen’s words were always reasonable, since he took such a serious tone, this could only be a very serious matter.
Sima Xian looked pressed, and couldn’t help but ask, “Boss, what is it about, in the end?”
Wang Yuanyuan who didn’t mutter a single word until then suddenly raised her head, and asked, “Could it be related to the Desolate Hissing Cavern… That tower?”
Long Haochen silently nodded.
Han Yu took a deep breath, “Boss, I heard grandfather say that this tower was…” At this point, his words suddenly came to a stop, but with a resolute voice, he kept going, “I swear that I won’t leak out whatever secret Master tells us on this day. May heavenly punishment fall upon me, forbidding me eternally from reincarnating if i break this oath.”
The others also understood the gravity of the situation, and all of them aside from Cai’er swore an oath. They all realized the seriousness of this matter, while feeling the possibilities Long Haochen’s words promised.
Looking at everyone around him, Long Haochen said in a stern tone, “Like Yuanyuan guessed, I’m speaking about that tower. In fact, I had to tell a lie to Luc Xi as well as the Alliance. With Haoyue’s help, I made it into this tower, and discovered in it a great secret. This tower is called Tower of Eternal Rest.”
As he said so, he untied the front piece of his jacket, revealing the Pendant of Eternal Melody on his chest.
“The Tower of Eternal Rest, known as Tower of Eternity, is something left ten thousand years ago by a necromancer called Elux. This necromancer claims the title of Holy Necromancer and Slumbering Calamity. And this Tower of Eternity is filled with a powerful aura of death.”
Just like the Saint Knight Head Han Qian said, their team could be called a complete team of princes and princesses, thus their knowledge was naturally a lot better than that of other people.
Hearing the word ‘necromancer’ from Long Haochen’s own mouth, everyone couldn’t help but stare blankly. In the depths of their brains, a legend covered in dust seemed to instantly be recalled…