Chapter 104 – Firebug Jade
Xiang Tianku was burning with jealousy, but he kept his thoughts to himself, “I won’t stop until I kill him. I can surely improve myself if I kill a potential Xian.”
Biyue smirked, “We’re not the only ones who want him dead. Most true disciples also want to snuff out a future threat. Even if he is promoted to a true disciple, his fate is death.”
Huotao squinted his eyes, remembering the day he first met Xuanyuan.
“He’s not an ordinary disciple, but one that was chosen directly by Fung Lie. All of the many great talents that attracted Fung Lie’s attention were killed within the sect. He won’t be any different. Just like what Biyue said, we’re not the only one who want him dead. Nu Long and Lie Sha are on the List of Merits. They are in the mine already. Xuanyuan killed the young masters of their families. They should want revenge.” He said.
Biyue and Kuiya both grinned. Nu Long and Lie Sha were ranked thirtieth and twenty-ninth on the List of Merits. They’ve already refined all of their five organs, they were almost as strong as Xiang Tianku.
“If they help, Xuanyuan won’t be able to escape.” Kuiya laughed venomously. His teeth had regrown after Xuanyuan’s assault. As a man who refined his marrows, he had a perfect set of teeth and any if any of them were knocked out, the teeth would grow again. Unlike normal people who only had a single set of teeth.
“It’s not that simple. Fung Lie was chosen by the Xian of Wind as a closed disciple. Xuanyuan will also have Xians observing him as a potential disciple.” Xiang Tianku had a much more cautious mind.
“Then what should we do?” Biyue asked.
“Don’t worry. The Xian’s cannot follow him inside the mine. He will have to endure the test alone. If he cannot pass the test, he isn’t worthy of becoming their disciple.” Huotao smiled inexplicably.
“Nu Long and Lie Sha are not stupid. They know what they must do.”
Biyue smiled at Huotao’s comment. Between her and Xuanyuan, only one could live, “If he comes out alive, I still have one last backup plan.”
Everyone turned to Biyue with shocked faces.
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“Do you think this kid can pass the test?”
“He should be able to. He has the potential to become a Xian, it’s only reasonable for him to have a more difficult task than others.”
“That’s right. He can only grow through hardship.”
“Ordinary disciples only need one elixir, five jin of jade and a jin of crystals to pass the test. But he’s not an ordinary disciple.”
“I hope he’ll be able to survive. I’d like to go inside and watch his test.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. When a more powerful person enters the mine, the more dangerous areas in the mine will become active. It wouldn’t be any danger to you, but you would cause all the other disciples to die.”
“I was only joking.”
Xuanyuan had no idea that he was given a much more challenging task by the Xian’s.
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Inside the mine.
Next to Xuanyuan, there were eighteen demon corpses. The demons had at least sixty dragons of strength. The only reason that the disciples could survive against the demons was because the lower level Mo did not study any techniques to enhance their power.
Xuanyuan didn’t find any elixir from the eighteen demons he killed, but he expected as much. He killed the demons with no difficulties, now that he had a hundred and eight dragons of strength. He could quickly deal with the demons in his way using his Wind Spirit spear.
“Ahahaha, the egg is slowly waking from its slumber. I gave him half the crystals you gave me and it has already finished them all!” Greed said. His voice had a hint of sarcastic tone. Xuanyuan peered into his ring, the crystals next to the egg were all shattered and had formed a dull grey powder, but the egg had only increased a fraction in size.
“Boy, you will need to get more crystals for us. We’re almost finished with the last ones!”
Xuanyuan could not describe his heartache. The great wealth he had in his ring was gone and it only took a few days. The crystals for Greed and the egg were all top class. If Xuanyuan would absorb all of that power without resting, it would take him three months to go through all those crystals. However, he was very curious as to what beast was inside the giant egg.
Xuanyuan was speechless. He held his Wind Spirit spear and started to clear a path by striking the two demons in front of him.
“Take out the dagger. No one is watching us. They wouldn’t interfere during the test.”
Without the Wind Spirit spear, his speed would naturally slow down, but using the dagger would give him and endless source of Qi to support his instruments.
Once he began to wield the dagger, the demons in his way fell like rice being reaped.
“Nice! Nice! I need more life essence! These guys are too weak!”
Xuanyuan finally found an elixir after killing the three hundredth demon. It was not his lucky day.
“Looks like I will have to go deeper into the mine if I want to have better luck.”
“Be careful. There will be Yaksha and other powerful Mo creatures deeper in the mine.” Greed reminded.
As Xuanyuan continued forward, he noticed a stone the size of a human head. The stone was filled with small holes which made Xuanyuan recall a passage from the first chapter.
“Bugstone. Many people would ignore such an item because the holes made it seem like damaged goods. Stones with a large number of holes or cracks cannot store Qi.”
He sliced the stone open with his dagger. The stone instantly exploded, revealing multiple tiny red jades which were hidden inside. Each piece of jade contained a little red bug in its core. The jade was extremely bright and glistening.
“A firebug jade! It’s one of the best quality jades available for practitioners. It is very suitable for those who study fire based techniques. You could exchange them for ninety-six jin of top class fighting jades. You are quite lucky after all, brat.”
These little pieces of firebug jade were not even a jin in weight, yet they could be exchanged into more than ninety jin of jade, because they were extremely rare and condensed jades. He learned this information from the Book of Acquisition.
When he moved to put the jades inside his ring, he noticed a dozen hostile figures rushing towards him.
“If you don’t want to die, hand over those jades.” Demanded a commanding voice.