Chapter 343: Ten Dragon Crystals (II)
This cost was really too high. In fact, those ten magical crystals had been acquired from the deceased members of the Black Dragon Guard, who had died over the course of several past wars. The reason why Huang Shuo had them on him was that the Demon God Emperor would very likely be attacked by the most powerful human Demon Hunt Squads every time he set out. As his closest subordinate, he carried these magical crystals so that he could immediately deliver them to his emperor should a need arise.
With a flash of black before their eyes, Huang Shuo replied in extreme anger, “What, is it just as simple as that?”
Long Haochen pretended to remember about something, before declaring openly, “Oh, there’s still more. I remember that an orange-clad demon was ordered to do something, after which a special orange spell was cast that confined the guardian of the Illusory Paradise for some time. But the user of this orange spell self-exploded, and his Crown of Heritage was recovered by Ah’Bao.”
“What?” This time, two orange-clad mages approached. Their long orange hair classified them as powerhouses from the Star Demon Clan. At this point, those two who had had stagnant faces until then immediately revealed their shock.
“The Technique of Great Prophecy! Ah’Bao actually ordered him to use the Technique of Great Prophecy!”
Very clearly, Long Haochen’s declaration wasn’t wrong. They could tell because his description of the Technique of Great Prophecy wasn’t the least bit wrong. More importantly, only the Technique of Great Prophecy could show such formidable utility, like to actually confine the guardian from this place!
“Huang Shuo, you owe us an explanation on this matter. Otherwise, you will have to justify yourself before the Star Demon God.” Two Star Demon clan powerhouses approached him in rage.
Huang Shuo’s expression grew all the more unsightly. Only he knew what kind of mission the Demon God Emperor had given to Ah’Bao. He also understood that the reason why Long Haochen chose this timing to cite this detail was that he wanted to sow discord among their ranks. Still, he had no way to refute his words. At once, changes appeared in the atmosphere on the demons’ side.
This time, although the main force consisted of guards from the Black Dragon Army, the powerhouses from other races weren’t few. And they were all elites from their own clans, among which some lesser lords also had joined. Since Ah’Bao had allegedly ordered the man from the Star Clan to use a forbidden self-destructive spell such as the Technique of Great Prophecy, how would he deal with his clansmen?
At once, the demon group started to lose its unity.
Huang Shuo’s face changed color, before giving a fierce glare to Long Haochen, deeply printing the appearance of this young man in his own mind, before turning his head towards the two powerhouses from the Star Demon Clan, “This matter isn’t totally clear for now, but if our young master has been saved by His Highness, I will definitely give an account to the senior Star Demon God. However, we are currently still unable to ascertain whether this human is saying the truth.”
And right at this time, the Illusory Shrine slowly sank, submerging back into the lake. Even if they wanted to go inspect and verify, this couldn’t be done anymore, to say nothing of the fact that they were unable to even enter the Illusory Shrine.
Screened behind Ling Xiao and Han Qian, Long Haochen slowly retreated, and moved in the midst of the powerhouses from the Temple Alliance. Huang Shuo gave these humans an unreconciled glance, furiously ordering, “Let’s go.” After saying that, he led the demon powerhouses away.
Ling Xiao didn’t immediately leave the Illusory Forest, but called Long Haochen, Cai’er and Zhang Fangfang to ask them carefully about everything that had happened in the Illusory Paradise.
Except from concealing the fact that he brought his comrades along in the Tower of Eternity, Long Haochen gave a detailed account of their time in the Illusory Paradise. After finally telling them that Ah’Bao’s group didn’t manage to capture Ye Xiaolei, he simply spoke about the powerful magical beasts in the Illusory Paradise, without any excessive praise.
Hearing Long Haochen’s words, Ling Xiao’s look became unsightly. Indeed, the damage sustained by the demons this time was quite considerable, but the Alliance still ended up as the duped party.
“A Godhead?” Long Haochen didn’t understand everything about godheads, but as a powerhouse of the ninth step and the auxiliary master of the Priest Temple, Ling Xiao had some knowledge about that. He vaguely guessed that the Demon God Emperor had reached a certain level of cultivation, and now needed a godhead to raise his own strength even further. Furthermore, in case he would attain a godhead, the destruction of humanity would perhaps truly arrive. At that time, perhaps no existing human would be able to stop him. And this godhead was actually located in the Illusory Paradise.
Just like Huang Shuo wasn’t certain of the chance the Demon God Emperor had to win against that Fairy Dragon, Ling Xiao couldn’t make sure either about whether that Fairy Dragon could really protect the Illusory Paradise.
Reaching this point of thought, Ling Xiao’s face clearly looked pale. After some time of hesitation, he instructed some of the powerhouses from the Southern Mountain’s City to stay behind to protect the Illusory Forest, and after giving some orders to report any news to him, they finally brought everyone back to the Southern Mountain’s City.
Although Han Qian was surprised over the fact that the Demon God Emperor could tear through the space of the Illusory Paradise, he currently was still in a pretty good mood.
Ten! These were a total of ten Devil Dragon Crystals! As magical crystals from Devil Dragons of the ninth step, these things were rare treasures. It could be said that each Devil Dragon crystal could be valued the same as a piece of equipment at the Epic Tier. From this could be seen how precious they were.
Although they were of the darkness element, the energy they contained was extremely pure, and in the hand of a grandmaster, their uses would be incomparable.
Long Haochen originally expressed the will to offer these magical crystals as a pure gift to the Southern Mountain’s City, but how could Ling Xiao accept such a great gift? Only when Long Haochen claimed that they were a payback for the Illusory Gems had Ling Xiao finally agreed to take two.
Han Qian directly accepted three of them without reservation. He was after all Long Haochen’s grand-teacher, and these things would certainly be more useful to him than to Long Haochen. The remaining five were given to Long Haochen, and even those three crystals weren’t taken by the Knight Temple for free. They would be exchanged for contribution points. As for the specific amount, Long Haochen didn’t ask, but anyway, after getting back to Holy City where the Demon Hunt Squad Mission Tower was, he would get to know the amount anyway when he accepted their next mission.
This time’s operation was a failure to the demons, but it was far from being considered a success for the humans, and they would probably have a lot to handle from the aftermath.
On their way back, Long Haochen had Ling Xiao treat Cai’er’s wounds. After he had just obtained the magical crystals from two Devil Dragons, Ling Xiao would naturally not spare anything, and actually used a healing spell of the ninth step. Before returning to the Southern Mountain’s City, Cai’er was treated with that powerful healing spell, which even increased her spiritual energy.
After returning to the Priest Temple, Han Qian and Ling Xiao were unable to pay more attention to Long Haochen, because they were all busy with meetings. Long Haochen and Cai’er temporarily parted with Zhang Fangfang, and returned to their private room on the first underground floor.
“Haochen, what is with you? Why do you look so uneasy?” Cai’er gave a doubtful look to the pale-looking Long Haochen.
Long Haochen replied in a grave voice, “It’s Haoyue, he’s calling for me. I’m afraid that he’s meeting some trouble with his evolution. Cai’er, I have to join him immediately.”
“Bring me along then. Since the regulations of the Illusory Paradise could be broken, the world from where Haoyue comes must definitely be the same. The only problem is that it hasn’t been six hours yet since your last use of the tower.”
Long Haochen shook his head, “There’s no more need for six hours.” He didn’t have the time for more explanations and pulled Cai’er’s hand, returning to the Tower of Eternity in a flash under the golden glint of the Eternal Melody.
After his awakening as a god’s chosen one, a certain change happened in the connection between Long Haochen and the Eternal Melody. There was no more need for a wait of six hours, and he faintly sensed that if he wanted to be transported only by himself, he would be able to return to the Tower of Eternity at any time. If he brought his comrades, although the gap of time needed would be longer, it would not be so long as six hours.
Among his squad, Cai’er was actually the only one with full battle strength. Wang Yuanyuan had some dazed feeling, thus Long Haochen believed she was wounded. For this reason, after returning to the Tower of Eternity, Long Haochen didn’t plan on telling the others about the matter regarding Haoyue, but wanted instead to bring them back to the Priest Temple directly as soon as he would be able to.
Afterwards, a purple radiance lit up his whole body, and the blood contract between Long Haochen and Haoyue released its might, immediately transporting him to another world.
Long Haochen still clearly remembered about the danger Haoyue had confronted the last time. At that time, Long Haochen had merely been a knight of the fourth step, whose strength was a far cry from one at the sixth step. That time was indeed very dangerous, but fortunately his luck had been good and he had managed to save Haoyue in the very end.
Long Haochen was now a knight of the sixth step, and after the battle in the Eternal Paradise, he awakened his physique as a god’s chosen one, and his spiritual energy even increased marginally. It wasn’t only that his internal spiritual energy had now reached 7,000 units, but his external spiritual energy also grew tremendously, reaching a level unknown to Long Haochen. However, he wasn’t even close to his prior self, and thus felt extremely confident in being able to save Haoyue.
Now, he was looking forward to Haoyue’s evolved look. Just how much more powerful would he become after this evolution?
During his last evolution, Haoyue had grown a third head, before eating a lot of magical crystals for a long amount of time. The specific quantity wasn’t known to Long Haochen, but during every battle, Haoyue was the one gaining the most profit in this regard. This was the reason why he had so fast entered the state of deep sleep entailing evolution once again.
As his time with Haoyue increased, Long Haochen felt all the more curious about Haoyue’s origin. At the time he had just appeared, he seemed to be just a weak-looking magical beast. But as time passed the strength Haoyue showed was growing greater and greater. But the most impressive feat was his ability to evolve. A mere two years later, this evolution would definitely let him break through the sixth step. This was an evolution speed Long Haochen had never even heard of before.