Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048

by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k

  Long Chen was feeling more and more loathing toward that group. He couldn’t understand what kind of mental illness they had. He supposed they were just lucky. If the Xuantian Dao Sect was in the Southern Xuan Region, he’d have long since helped cure them of their illness.

  Long Chen sighed inside. The Eastern Xuan Region had been mostly cured. Did he have to be a traveling doctor in the other regions now?

  Once she left, the Elder made an apology to everyone. She said that everyone should just calmly wait to register. As long as they met the standards, they would definitely be able to attend the Jade Lake Pageant. She calmed the emotions of the crowd.

  “Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I…” The woman who had almost been whipped finally had a chance to thank Long Chen. If it weren’t for him, she’d have been struck in the face. That scar would have followed her for a lifetime.

  “There’s no need to be courteous. Actually, I’m not that good of a person. I just felt angry seeing certain people’s actions, so I wanted to vent,” said Long Chen.

  “I should tell you this… you shouldn’t attend the Jade Lake Pageant. Although there are many opportunities during it, that Han Feifei isn’t so easy to provoke. Furthermore, a genius from the Central Xuan Region is attending too, Di Xin. Di Xin is the son of the first wife of the master of the full ancient family alliance, Di Long. Not only does he have that special status, but he’s also extremely terrifying. There has never been anyone who has managed to last longer than three exchanges against him. He’s an unimaginably terrifying Empyrean. Here are a few travel expenses for you for coming this far, but please leave now so you aren’t implicated,” said the woman sincerely. She handed Long Chen a spatial ring. When he looked inside, he saw over a thousand spirit crystals in it.

  For a rank seven Celestial like her, that was probably all her savings. Long Chen couldn’t help smiling slightly, his heart warming. He never asked for others to pay him back for helping them, but he did rather care more about whether they appreciated it or not.

  If on the other hand, after he had saved her, she had stealthily slipped away, acting like she didn’t know about how she had implicated him, that would make him feel uncomfortable.

  “Di Long? Why does that name sound familiar?” Long Chen suddenly felt that this name was familiar. It seemed that it had been brought up before, but he hadn’t been paying much attention at that time.

  Now that he heard this name again and learned of his status, it seemed his position and cultivation base were not any inferior to Qu Jianying.

  “Thank you, but I have to attend the Jade Lake Pageant. I can’t leave. As for Di Xin or Han Feifei, I’m very curious about just how much ability they have to be so arrogant. There’s no need for you to worry about me. My life is quite tough.” Long Chen smiled. Of course his life was very tough. He had even charged out of Purgatory. As for a little Jade Lake Pageant? Insignificant.

  The woman couldn’t help but sigh sadly. She didn’t bother trying to advise Long Chen any longer. The crowd continued onward.

  After half a day, they arrived in front of a huge gate. Some people were busy registering the participants and allowing them to enter. Long Chen saw that everyone needed to show their identity plate and also get their spiritual fluctuations tested. They were confirming whether the participants met the standards of soul cultivators to enter the Pageant.

  When it was Long Chen’s turn, the female disciple who received his identity plate only stared blankly. She looked up at him. “Sorry, you aren’t from the Southern Xuan Region…”

  “What? Can’t people from other regions also attend?” asked Long Chen.

  This was different from what he had expected. If people from other regions weren’t allowed to attend, then what had he rushed over here for?

  “Wait, no, that Di Xin isn’t from the Southern Xuan Region either. Why can he attend?” raged Long Chen.

  “Don’t panic just yet. Geniuses from other regions can attend, but in order to show consideration to the people of this region, the test standards for them are increased by a hundred times. I hope you can understand,” said the disciple politely.

  “A hundred times? Alright, then test away.” Long Chen was confident he could pass.

  Quite a few people were shocked that Long Chen came from a different region. There were very few disciples from other regions that had the power to attend the Jade Lake Pageant. The test was something only a few strong soul cultivators could pass, and to have its difficulty increased by a hundred times made it almost impossible.

  “For natives, their soul value must reach ten thousand points to enter. As for you, you’ll need to reach one million points at least. Di Xin also had to take this test to enter, so we aren’t being biased. Of this, you can be sure,” said the disciple.

  “If he can pass, then I can too. Just test me.” Long Chen shrugged.

  As soon as he said this, someone laughed. “How shameless. Does he think he can compare to Di Xin? Laughable.”

  “Di Xin is a peerless heavenly genius. A little puppy can’t compare to him. Little people shouldn’t say such big words,” added another.

  Clearly, Di Xin’s fame was quite great, and there were quite a few supporters of his in the crowd. For Long Chen to say that he could also pass had immediately caused quite a few disdainful snorts to ring out.

  Long Chen ignored them. “How do I do the test?”

  “Normally, we just need to use the spirit testing stone, but it caps out at twenty thousand points. You’ll need to use the spirit testing tablet.” The disciple waved her hand, and a thirty-meter tablet appeared behind her. There was a red line carved onto it with red liquid flowing within. Along the line were several clear lines marked with numerical values written in immortal characters.

  When that tablet appeared, startled cries rang out. “The very first mark is a hundred thousand, while its maximum is one million five hundred thousand! Is there really such an existence in this world?”

  “Didn’t they already say that Di Xin passed?”

  “Hehe, Di Xin practically isn’t human. Hopefully, this guy won’t fail to even reach the first marker, or it would be too embarrassing.”

  “Is he covering his face because he’s afraid of embarrassing himself? At least he made his preparations first.”

  Long Chen had a hood on, blocking the upper half of his face. As for his identity plate, only the female disciple had seen his name there. The others had no idea who he was. They thought he was wearing a cloak to act mysterious.

  “Yao-er, are you sure that Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength can compare to Di Xin’s? If he embarrasses himself, it’ll be difficult to let him in,” said the Skywood Divine Palace’s master within the main palace.

  “Palace master, don’t worry. I understand Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength the most. Di Xin had a soul value of 1,200,000. Long Chen will definitely score higher,” said Meng Qi confidently.

  Meng Qi, Chu Yao, and Tang Wan-er had great confidence in Long Chen. They knew just how monstrous his Spiritual Strength was.

  “To start the test, place your hand on the spirit testing spot. You can unleash your Spiritual Strength there,” said the disciple.

  Long Chen nodded and placed his hand on a red-colored square sensor stone. The countless mocking voices made him smile coldly. The Spiritual Strength in his mind-sea surged out.

  Chapter 1620 Soul Value Off the Charts

  As Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength surged, the red liquid in the tablet began to fluctuate. However, even after several seconds, it didn’t climb at all.

  “Hahaha, he probably can’t even reach a hundred thousand, and he acted so big. How laughable.”

  “Didn’t he compare himself to Di Xin? I’ve never seen someone with such a thick skin. If I were him, I’d kill myself right now.”

  Seeing that the red liquid didn’t move, the sharp-tongued people immediately began to add on insults.

  Long Chen didn’t say anything, but the disciple
testing him coldly said, “The spirit testing tablet is different from the spirit testing stones. It doesn’t finish the test instantly, which is why we don’t use it normally. He needs to use his Spiritual Strength to make the soul blood liquid inside reach a boiling point before it can start rising. That usually requires half an incense stick’s worth of time, so if you don’t understand, don’t randomly speak. You only reveal how ignorant you are.”

  Those mocking people’s expressions immediately became ugly. The surrounding people were all looking at them disdainfully.

  “Hmph, so what? I don’t believe such a person has a soul value of a million. He’s clearly just wasting time,” quibbled a man.

  “It’s moving!”

  Just at this moment, the red liquid representing his soul value began to rise.

  The disciple standing beside it was shocked. In just five breath’s time, Long Chen had made the soul blood liquid inside reach its boiling point. That was absolutely shocking. Even Di Xin had used over ten breath’s time to reach this point.

  This not only represented that his soul value was double Di Xin’s, but it also represented his terrifyingly powerful Spiritual Strength.

  Just at this moment, within the main palace, the palace master became shocked. “Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength, is it even greater than yours, Meng Qi?”

  Meng Qi was a pure soul cultivator. In truth, her Spiritual Strength had mutated strangely and could no longer be classified according to normal standards.

  As for Chu Yao, she was the disciple that the palace master was fondest of, to such a point that the latter had been willing to sacrifice her longevity and beautiful appearance to make up for the fact that Chu Yao had missed her golden cultivation time.

  As a wood cultivator, Chu Yao had both plentiful spiritual yuan and Spiritual Strength that wouldn’t lose out to her master’s. When Meng Qi had arrived, the palace master had been shocked to find that Meng Qi’s Spiritual Strength was even greater than Chu Yao’s. That had already filled her with disbelief.

  As for Di Xin, his Spiritual Strength hadn’t surpassed Meng Qi’s. He had only reached the same level as Chu Yao.

  In truth, Meng Qi’s Spiritual Strength was the result of Long Chen cutting off a portion of his own Spiritual Strength, creating a spiritual seed for her. That was what had resulted in the mutation.

  Chu Yao’s soul value had been measured at 1,370,000 points, while Di Xin had reached 1,350,000 points. It could be said that he was equal with Chu Yao in this regard. However, Di Xin had been holding back at that time, but in the same vein, Chu Yao had only measured her soul value a few months ago, and it had now increased by quite a bit. It was just that she hadn’t tested it again. In any case, their Spiritual Strength should be on the same level.

  However, Meng Qi’s soul value had reached 1,490,000 points. She was at the top of all of them.

  On the other hand, Tang Wan-er was left out. Her soul value was only 57,000 points. In the outside world, this was incredible, but compared to these monsters, she was clearly much inferior.

  When they had tested themselves, even Meng Qi hadn’t expected Tang Wan-er’s soul value to be so low. However, she was a very brute-force kind of fighter, so it was understandable.

  Nevertheless, Tang Wan-er couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Her emotions were always written all over her face. She felt inferior.

  Hence, they had called Long Chen over mainly for Tang Wan-er. They had to fight for one of the many opportunities in the Jade Lake Pageant that would increase Tang Wan-er’s Spiritual Strength. This was also why Tang Wan-er was so anxious when Long Chen arrived so late. She wanted to get back at him for it.

  Hearing the palace master’s shocked cry, Meng Qi merely smiled. She looked at the scene on the wall. The red liquid was still rising.

  “200,000.”

  “300,000.”

  “400,000.”

  As Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength circulated, it continued to rise. The surrounding experts all stared in stunned silence.

  It had to be known that a normal cultivator at their level had a soul value under three thousand. After all, Spiritual Strength wasn’t the only kind of energy used by a cultivator.

  In truth, when fighting, cultivators had to merge the essence, qi, and soul together. Those three things represented their physical strength, spiritual yuan, and Spiritual Strength respectively. Those three types of energy had to merge together to unleash magical arts.

  Different magical arts required different proportions of energy. For the majority of Battle Skills, unleashed with weapons or fists, the proportion was normally 4:5:1. In other words, forty percent came from the physical body, fifty percent came from spiritual yuan, and ten percent came from Spiritual Strength.

  There was also another aspect known as the body, mouth, and will. When unleashing one’s greatest power, the body moved, the mouth made an incantation or shouted, and the will guided everything. The three worked simultaneously.

  When experts fought, they would often shout loudly what move they were using. In truth, that wasn’t used to show off or frighten their opponents, but the result of this body, mouth, and will aspect.

  When they weren’t united, it would reduce the power of the attack. In fact, if things went awry, the energy might simply explode in their bodies. There were plenty of cases of people crippling themselves due to the body, mouth, and will not working in unison.

  Shouting the move had a mental effect, and it allowed the essence, qi, and soul to flow through the requirements of the move naturally. This was one of the iron rules of the cultivation world that no one could change.

  Some moves had different proportions of energy. For example, Long Chen’s Double Dragon Destruction, Star Fall, and other magical arts usually had a proportion of 1:4:5. Ten percent physical energy, forty percent spiritual yuan, and fifty percent Spiritual Strength. In addition, he had to summon Lei Long and Huo Long’s energy.

  Such a magical art required much more Spiritual Strength. Without Spiritual Strength, there was no way to keep the magical art stable. It would just explode in the body.

  People, whose Spiritual Strength was lacking, couldn’t unleash such techniques. They were all normally close-range fighters, while those with powerful Spiritual Strength had no problem fighting at long range or short range.

  All attacks with a huge range, especially ones with shocking areas of destruction, required a massive amount of Spiritual Strength. That was why a genius’s soul value was a very important decider of their talent.

  The Skywood Divine Palace’s Jade Lake Pageant required participants to be at the Soul Transformation realm and have a soul value of ten thousand points. That made countless geniuses cry in private.

  Even Empyreans wouldn’t necessarily have such powerful Spiritual Strength, and if they didn’t, then not even Empyreans would be allowed to attend the Jade Lake Pageant.

  Seeing that Long Chen’s soul value had reached 400,000 already gobsmacked countless people. On average, the people here had a soul value between 10,000 and 30,000. A very small portion might be able to reach 50,000. Those who could reach 100,000 were as rare as a phoenix feather or qilin horn. They had the power to look down arrogantly on all the others.

  They had heard of people possessing a soul value in the hundreds of thousands, but they had never personally seen one. So all their hearts were pounding as they watched the red liquid slowly rise.

  Those people who had mocked Long Chen before were the most shocked ones. They felt a burning sensation on their faces. Worst of all, they had even been criticized by one of the disciples of the Skywood Divine Palace for being ignorant about the testing process, making them now look both stupid and laughable.

  As Long Chen’s soul value continued to rise, their faces burned hotter and hotter. It was like each increase was a slap in the face.

  “500,000.”

  “600,000.”

  “700,000.”

  …

  As Long Chen’s
soul value continued to rise, everyone was deathly silent, staring at the tablet as well as that mysterious figure.

  Eventually, Long Chen’s soul value reached 950,000. However, there, it suddenly came to a stop, as if it couldn’t progress any further. That made countless people sigh in disappointment. It had actually been a failure in the end, and it was just a little bit off. That was regretful.

  “Hahaha, didn’t I say that he wouldn’t be able to do it? Now, do you see it? Isn’t he still a failure in the end?”

  “How could he compare to Di Xin? Hmph, he’s a far cry from him. Does the light of a firefly dare to compare with the light of the full moon?”

  The people who had mocked Long Chen immediately sighed with relief and began with their insults once again. It was like Long Chen’s failure was the result that they wanted to see the most. Their wish was finally fulfilled.

  The disciple testing him couldn’t help feeling that it was regretful that he was just a bit off. She encouraged him by saying, “Sometimes people’s Spiritual Strength fluctuates when they’re panicked or in a rush. You can try again after steadying your heart.”

  “Thank you.” Long Chen smiled.

  “There’s no need to waste the time. We’re not amateurs. We know the test requires unleashing all his Spiritual Strength. Doing so is exhausting, and to do it right after it will multiply the difficulty. There’s no chance for him!” laughed a disciple.

  “You…!” The testing disciple glared at that person irritably. However, what he said was true. If one couldn’t make it, then after tiring themselves out, it would be even more difficult to pass the second try. There was really no hope. However, for him to say such a thing before Long Chen had even tried again was irritating.

  “What do you understand? Hmph, what if I actually manage to pass? Will you eat the stone tablet?” said Long Chen disdainfully.

  “Haha, if you succeed, we’ll eat the entire stone tablet! But if you fail, you have to kneel and lick our shoes. Do you dare?” Over ten people immediately raised a bet with Long Chen.

  “Alright, then I’ll bet with you.”