Chapter 1093: Heroes Gathering at Bright Moon City
With three major auspicious stars present, the Holy Spirit Vein in this dragon cave could be of good quality. However, it would only count as above average among the many Holy Spirit Veins.
The reason was that while the three major auspicious stars were all present, they were not too excellent.
The mountain representing the Tanlang Star needed to be straight, narrow, rounded, and flat—like a bamboo shoot sticking out of the ground, rounded on all sides, and flat at the top.
The mountain representing the Tanlang Star was not flat at the top and rounded on its sides. Its only saving grace was that it was rather straight and not crooked, like a sword stabbed into the water.
The mountains representing the other two auspicious stars both manifested various merits and drawbacks, which did not need to be described in too much detail.
With Xiao Chen’s current skills at his Dragon Seeking Art, he could figure out the various mountains representing the stars with one glance and instantly assess their quality.
With continuous practical experience for over nine months, Xiao Chen’s skill at his Dragon Seeking Art had improved at a rapid pace. He was now much better than when he was at the Northern Sea Alliance.
If Jiang Tian saw him now, he would definitely be greatly astonished and restrain some of his arrogance.
No matter what, Jiang Tian would not expect Xiao Chen to embrace such inhumane practice, staying at the bottom of the ocean for nine consecutive months without coming out.
Not to mention the vile environment, Jiang Tian himself might not be able to endure just the loneliness and solitude.
Aside from the three major auspicious stars, Xiao Chen also discovered the Pojun Star—an ominous star.
The mountain representing the Pojun Star here was tall and large, its aura much stronger than that of the mountains representing the three major auspicious stars.
However, a lone man could not be an army. No matter how powerful it was, it would lose to the combined power of the three major auspicious stars when fighting alone. It would not create a mutated evil dragon.
This just resulted in this dragon cave being more dangerous, adding an element of uncertainty.
Xiao Chen closed his Heavenly Eye and did not worry. For the past nearly three hundred days, he had faced situations that were more dangerous than this could be.
He drifted over and stopped above the mountain representing the Tanlang Star. Now that he had verified that this was a dragon cave, the Dragon Revealing Mirror flew out of his body.
Hundreds of patterns were carved on the sides of the ancient-looking mirror. Xiao Chen formed hand seals with both hands, and the patterns on the edges spun like the teeth of a gear.
The formations carved on the inside of the Dragon Revealing Mirror started a precise and complicated operation, and after a moment, it shot out a beam of purple light.
Xiao Chen opened the dragon cave in one step. The geography changed rapidly as the mountains around crumbled amid rumbling.
Soon, the mountain under his feet also crumbled in a few breaths.
This development did not startle Xiao Chen. He simply sank with the mountain, maintaining a calm demeanor.
“Rumble…!”
The hundreds of protective mountains to the north shot over like cannonballs in the roiling seawater. They hurtled towards Xiao Chen with a power equal to that of a Great Perfection quasi-Emperor’s attack.
Xiao Chen stretched his right arm back slightly, and a spear appeared. He grasped it tight, and a purple thunderflame burned on the spear.
The flame burned in the water. This was a miraculous sight, looking extremely strange.
Heaven Burning Spear Technique!
Xiao Chen shouted in his heart. Then, he pushed off the ground and stepped forward, thrusting the spear.
He released the might of a Profound Martial Technique without holding back. Suddenly, time seemed to stand still at that moment.
In the next moment, the seawater everywhere flowed in reverse. More than fifty kilometers of seawater surged in the direction that Xiao Chen thrust his spear.
A large patch of seawater curled and moved forward like a humongous piece of cloth. The hundreds of mountains flying towards him could not advance before such might.
If seen from the sky, the sea surged three kilometers high without any winds or waves; it looked like the Armageddon.
As the seawater swelled, Xiao Chen encountered air starting with his feet, then his torso, and finally his head. When he looked around, the seabed was empty with the water above.
This was a rare opportunity, so Xiao Chen took in a deep breath. After a while, he closed his eyes and quietly waited for the seawater to return.
“Boom!”
The seawater suddenly crashed down with immense force, shattering all the huge rocks and mountains into powder within an instant.
Xiao Chen turned around to check. Eight ferocious beasts from the mountains in the south had all leaped out already.
A smile hung on Xiao Chen’s face. He put away the spear and tossed the many Dragon Fixing Needles in his hand behind him without even looking, forming an enormous dragon-sealing formation and trapping the Spirit Vein underground trying to flee.
At the same time, an intense battle began for Xiao Chen. The weapon in his hand changed so fast, it looked like an illusion—saber, spear, sword, halberd, staff—he even fought with bare hands and legs. He quickly executed various Profound Martial Techniques in rapid succession.
He weaved around the ferocious beasts that were as strong as Small Perfection quasi-Emperors. As he fought fiercely, he practiced the various Profound Martial Techniques that he learned using the Changing Character Formula.
After nine months of practice, Xiao Chen showed clear signs of improvement. Not only could he familiarly execute all the Profound Martial Techniques, but he had also gained comprehensions that he could call his own.
Infused with his own comprehension, the Profound Martial Techniques that he executed looked very natural. If one did not take Xiao Chen’s appearance into account, one could not be able to figure out that he was essentially a bladesman.
After four hours, he had killed all the ferocious beasts. He spat out some turbid Qi in a long, drawn-out exhalation. This Qi was sharp like a sword, piercing forward for five kilometers.
This was the advantage that Xiao Chen possessed. Another Geomaster might be capable of seeking dragons and fixing veins to discover the Spirit Veins of various grades, but they did not have his combat prowess. They would not be able to deal with the ferocious beasts alone. Hence, monopolizing the Spirit Veins would be impossible for them.
With a thought, the Dragon Revealing Mirror activated again and sent out a red light filled with surging killing Qi, which smashed straight down on the Roaming Dragon sealed by the Dragon Fixing Needles.
Miserable shrieks came from underground. When the sounds stopped, Xiao Chen returned the Dragon Revealing Mirror to his body. After he formed some hand seals and raised his hand, the flat ground opened up, and a golden Spirit Vein’s origin floated out.
In an instant, the seawater became dyed golden. Before the golden clump of spiritual light spread too far, Xiao Chen quickly placed the Spirit Vein’s origin into the Universe Ring.
“Ao Jiao, how many does this make?”
“This would be the twentieth.”
That was right. Xiao Chen already had twenty Holy Spirit Veins in store. Two months ago, his cultivation had reached peak Small Perfection quasi-Emperor, only one step away from Great Perfection quasi-Emperor.
Consuming Holy Spirit Veins was no longer of much help to him. He needed even stronger Spirit Veins in order to break through the bottleneck of Small Perfection quasi-Emperor and become a Great Perfection quasi-Emperor, completely forming his dragon-shaped Heavenly Seal.
These Holy Spirit Veins were not for himself but for that group of brothers and friends who remained on Heavenly Star Island.
Ao Jiao smiled as she put away the Holy Spirit Vein. She said, Don’t you dare act dumb. Half of these Holy Spirit Veins should be mine. I’ll help you to make all the Spirit Trees in the Immortal Spirit Ring reach maturity.
Lunar Cassia Tree, Dragon Mark Fruit, thousand-year-old Snow Ginseng, and Netherworld Flower, these are all things that will take a long time to grow.
Xiao Chen smiled helplessly and said, “Whatever you want. It’s time to go.”
We are going out already? Are you going to retrieve the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet now? I have been counting the days for you. Ao Jiao nodded in satisfaction.
“Splash!”
Xiao Chen pushed off with his feet, moved like a roaming dragon, and broke out of the sea. As the blazing sun shone down, he rinsed off all the mud from himself and circulated his energy to dry himself off, causing steam to rise from his body. Now, he gave off a glow, appearing newborn.
The sharpness that Xiao Chen exuded seemed even more dazzling than the brightness of the sun.
As he floated above the water, he took in a deep breath. This was his first time to feel that being able to breathe so deeply that way was very comfortable.
For the first time, Xiao Chen found the sunlight quite enchanting. He looked up at the sky and squinted, appearing to be in a daze.
Stop looking around. Bright Moon City is still far from here. If you still don’t make a move, you might be late, Ao Jiao reminded.
Xiao Chen withdrew his gaze and smiled faintly. “Right, I do have to go now. I cannot let any accidents prevent me from taking back the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet.”
He did not care about the other purposes of the Four Seas Hero Gathering. He had only one objective in mind: the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet.
That was the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet that the Azure Emperor personally made. Xiao Chen needed to obtain it at all costs. No accident could happen.
Xiao Chen unfurled the Freedom Wings, and his figure flashed. His Magic Energy burned as he took a step forward, traveling fifty kilometers.
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Bright Moon City, the most bustling, prosperous, majestic, and imposing city of the entire Heavenly Starry Ocean:
This was the most crowded Bright Moon City had been in the past twenty years. Every single place was densely packed with people moving about endlessly.
Fortunately, Bright Moon City was normally extraordinarily bustling. In addition, they had plenty of experience from organizing many Four Seas Hero Gatherings. So the Lunar Palace had already anticipated the throngs.
One month ago, Bright Moon City started to raise the requirements for entering the city. Without being at least a Martial Monarch, one could not enter without an invitation.
This requirement would remain until the Four Seas Hero Gathering was over. Only then would the city be opened up again.
Aside from this, many eye-catching measures were taken. Palaces floated above the vast majestic city, providing accommodations and easing the pressure from the large volume of traffic.
The location of the Four Seas Hero Gathering would be at the Bright Moon Plaza in the city.
Before the gathering formally began, there would be cultivators exchanging moves with each other in the numerous arenas at Bright Moon Plaza every day.
The gathering of the outstanding young talents of the four seas was a rare opportunity.
Naturally, avoiding competition between them after they met was hard. Excellent battles were forever the thing that cultivators enjoyed watching the most.
Sometimes, when famous cultivators exchanged moves, the fight fired up the crowd.
Aside from these dueling arenas, the Lunar Palace’s people also designed special challenges to boost the excitement.
For example, some of the special arenas in the air tested how long one could remain in there. After that, a corresponding prize would be given.
In other cases, the Lunar Palace sent out their own young cultivators to function as guardians of the arena. As long as one defeated them, they would receive a prize. Even if one failed the challenge, there would not be any loss.
The entire city fell into a martial fever. However, with the strict management of the Lunar Palace, everything was well organized. There were no signs of chaos at all.
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Seven days later, after traveling quickly by relying on the Freedom Wings’ Magic Skill—So Close Yet Worlds Apart—Xiao Chen managed to appear outside Bright Moon City before the Four Seas Hero Gathering started.
Initially, he had been somewhat worried about being recognized and inviting trouble.
However, he discovered that in the bustling, crowded place, no one noticed who he was. There were plenty of people dressed in white like him, so he looked rather ordinary.
Furthermore, the focus of discussion was the Holy Scions of the various Immortal Holy Lands. After walking around for a long time, Xiao Chen found that no one spoke about him at all.