Chapter 13: Farewell and Journey to the Spirit Hall

Chapter 13: Farewell, Journey to the Spirit Hall

Six Years Later

Barak Kingdom, Soto City.

The Heavenly斗 Empire is composed of four great kingdoms, each possessing its own military forces. Among them, the Barak Kingdom stands as the mightiest.

Within the Barak Kingdom, besides the capital city of Barak itself, another city is equally renowned.

That city is Soto, situated at the heart of the fertile Lima Plain within Barak Kingdom, famously known as the granary of Barak!

At this moment, within the bustling Soto City, inside the luxurious Rose Hotel.

Two figures were engaged in combat, their movements intertwining in midair like a dense web, making the very air heavy and chilling.

“Come on, Third Brother!”

By the counter, a girl dressed in a pink outfit shouted encouragement loudly.

“That’s enough! Don’t you know Third Brother’s strength? As long as Dai Mubai doesn’t unleash his third spirit skill, victory is assured,” said a handsome, upright boy standing beside her.

His hair displayed a distinct gradient from black-brown at the roots to a fiery orange at the tips.

Golden eyes with faint diamond-shaped pupils gave the impression of a bottomless abyss drawing you in, yet they also pierced like a sword into your heart. A subtle orange eyeshadow softened the fierce sharpness of his dragon-like gaze, lending him a gentler air.

He wore a somewhat extravagant black and brown-yellow suit, exuding nobility and grandeur. The intricate pattern of interlocking spirals blended strength and grace perfectly. The tail of his long coat featured dragon tail motifs and scales. (The emperor’s attire is hard to describe; I recommend checking out videos on Bilibili for detailed explanations, which are quite good.)

Soon, the battle seemed to have ended. One of the men was tightly bound by countless resilient, dark green blades of Blue Silver Grass, wrapped like a rice dumpling, unable to move.

This man was tall with dazzling golden hair and deep blue pupils. Though restrained and immobile, he still wore a faint smile: “A twenty-ninth level Spirit Master using Blue Silver Grass managed to push me this far, Dai Mubai. I must admit, you are formidable. Unfortunately, if I were on your level, I would have lost today.”

“So you lost, didn’t you?” Zhong Yan interjected at that moment. Since Dai Mubai had not used his third spirit skill, he would not have won without hidden weapons. Zhong Yan stepped forward to offer both parties a way to save face.

Tang San naturally understood Zhong Yan’s meaning and released Dai Mubai. Dai Mubai, sensing that refusing to concede might lead to a three-on-one fight, accepted the outcome.

As soon as Dai Mubai landed, he retracted his spirit. Looking at Zhong Yan, he said solemnly, “I, Dai Mubai, am not one to shy away from defeat. But this room was booked by me in the first place. Manager Wang, just give it to them. I have no use for it. I’ll compensate for any damages to the hall.”

Dai Mubai then took the twin girls under his arm and headed toward the door. Turning back with a faint smile, he said, “Don’t worry, we will meet again. I’ll be waiting for you at Shrek.” With that, he left and soon disappeared from sight.

Zhong Yan stepped forward and patted Tang San on the shoulder. “There, he clearly seems to be your classmate.”

“Ah Yan, are you really not coming with us? Look at that guy—he must be a genius if he’s at the Spirit Hall, which means Shrek can’t be bad either.”

“Don’t you know me by now?”

Tang San fell silent. Ever since the arrogant noble scions he met on the first day of school six years ago, Zhong Yan had harbored a deep resentment for the aristocracy. Over the years, they had witnessed many wealthy and powerful people in Nodding City who treated human life as trivial. To them, commoners were mere tools for labor and toys to amuse themselves in boredom.

Zhong Yan always told him that the root of all this was the nobles, the royal authority, and the class system. He vowed one day to overthrow it all and create a world where everyone was equal. He often said the power of the common people was limitless; after all, the Spirit Hall annually recruits talents from among commoners...

“I understand,” Tang San said, knowing Zhong Yan’s thoughts and that he could not stop him. He understood Zhong Yan wanted to see the Spirit Hall for himself, to witness the place that was so welcoming to the common folk.

“Don’t worry, I’m stronger than you now. If I go to the Spirit Hall, I’ll be a unique existence. No matter where I am, I’ll be the brightest star.” With that, Zhong Yan waved his hand and strode toward the Spirit Hall in Soto City.

Tang San and Xiao Wu stood at the door, watching him go.

Three years ago, Tang San was no match for him. Two years ago, even using hidden weapons without poison, Tang San couldn’t beat him.

The reason was his second spirit skill:

Rock Master, The Six Directions as Bones.

This is Zhong Li’s first constellation, though its effect differs greatly from the game version. The “Six Directions” refers to the four corners of heaven and earth, meaning that the entire world is founded upon rock as its bone. Rock as an element bears, embraces, and nurtures all things.

Simply put, it controls the rock element.

After deep development, this spirit skill had become capable of storing, accumulating, surging, exploding, resonating, crystallizing, and even reading the memories of stones—enabling communication and treasure hunting.

For example, with storage and accumulation, he could use his first spirit skill to unleash Rock Lord’s ultimate move. Unlike before, Zhong Yan could continuously accumulate rock element into the construct. Originally intended to trap enemies, once enough rock element gathered, he could trigger an explosion causing massive damage.

He could also create a crystallized shield. However, Zhong Li’s Jade Scepter Shield was still beyond his reach, so Zhong Yan planned to try obtaining it from the God’s Heart. Yet, to his alarm, the light of the God’s Heart had dimmed somewhat, which frightened him.

Through careful study, he found that during his daily training, the God’s Heart released part of its power, which he absorbed. Some of this power merged into his spirit energy, making it thicker and larger than that of ordinary Spirit Masters. Some fused into his body, strengthening his physique. Combined with daily workouts and gravity training, even without using spirit skills, he could pin Tang San to the ground and overpower him.

Most of this power fused into his bones. Zhong Yan felt he might no longer need spirit bones, as the God’s Heart resisted the idea whenever he thought about them. Spirit bones only strengthen certain bones, while the God’s Heart enhances every bone in his body. Perhaps the only thing missing would be the skills brought by spirit bones—but once the God’s Heart grants him the Jade Scepter Shield, no matter what spirit bone skills come, he’ll be invincible.

Haha, writing “shield” but reading it as “invincible.”

Most importantly, he developed an ultimate move. Zhong Yan wanted to name it Heavenly Star, but fearing he might someday truly obtain the Heavenly Star, he abandoned that name and instead called it Earth Core, after Zhong Li’s skill.

Its effect was to channel vast amounts of rock element into the Rainbow Piercing Spear and then hurl it. Although a rock spear could achieve a similar effect, the elemental power the rock construct could bear was limited, whereas the Rainbow Piercing Spear, at least with his current ability, seemed limitless. Moreover, rock spear techniques usually focus on hardness and sharpness combined with rock rain spear methods.

He once tried a Power Strike that destroyed half a mountain. It was his strongest blow so far—and he was only level 29. He would grow even stronger. If not for daily physical training and spear practice, he might have reached level 30 already.

It was truly worth it, even a great gain, because his second spirit ring was a rare, near-millennium-level spirit ring of 999 years. This gave the master a lesson. At that time, the master spent all day in the library like a madman, muttering “impossible, impossible” over and over.

Tang San also realized something: the master was not always right.

(End of Chapter)