Chapter 490 - Gold Essence Foundation Knight Trial (I)
Chapter 490: Gold Essence Foundation Knight Trial (I)
Translator: GravityTales
Seeing Long Haochen’s determined look, Yang Haohan nodded slowly, “Then I will arrange that. But you have to remember one thing. If you cannot pass through this test, you will not be able to take the lower ranked trials in the future. You can only remain in the Temple and train, until you can pass through it, and gain the Epic Tier Gold Essence Foundation Armor. Only then can your task for the ten million contribution points start.”
Long Haochen had a start, feeling faintly as if having fallen in a trap. But as a matter of fact, could he cower before that? This would just cause his fighting spirit to collapse.
“Yes.”
Yang Haohan secretly laughed inside, <em>Little punk, I shall let you act as haughty as you can. In a moment, you will be put in order.<em>
His goal was very simple: to do his utmost to drag Long Haochen’s stay in the Knight Temple for as long as possible, for him to reform his team to undertake missions as late as possible. And in this process, Long Haochen could only increase his strength to resolve the issue. This move aimed to kill two birds with one stone, naturally putting him in a good mood.
Yang Haohan called another knight over, and had him take Long Haochen in a training field inside the Knight Temple’s headquarters.
This training field was a lot smaller compared to the Alliance’s underground training grounds established back in Holy City. The circular field’s diameter reached only fifty meters. But Long Haochen absolutely didn’t look down on the training field, because on its roof, its bottom and all the surroundings were strong fluctuations of spiritual energy. In terms of firmness, the training grounds back in Holy City were no match for this place.
After Long Haochen was brought here, that knight left, and only he was left in these training fields.
Clad in the Glorious Holy Armor, Long Haochen directly sat on a side of the training fields, focusing his attention on adjusting his breath and on controlling the fluctuations of spiritual energy inside his body.
Soft thin golden fog was faintly discernible on the surface of his body, appearing dazzling under the reflection of the Glorious Holy Armor. His sparkling and translucent skin seemed to be transporting charges of light. Sitting there, he immediately had the feeling of being assimilated into the surrounding environment. Without looking for him with one’s eyes, one would hardly perceive his existence.
His long eyelashes flashing above his eyes, his handsome face gave off a feeling of extreme peacefulness.
Long Haochen’s wait lasted for close to half an hour, but while sitting here, he didn’t make the slightest movement, and didn’t have the slightest impatience.
The door opened, and a tall knight entered.
This knight was clad in an ordinary full body armor. Clad in a helmet, his face was also hidden, and in his left hand was a very thick tower shield. In his right hand was a two meter long battle hammer. This hammer had a reflective surface, letting out a golden luster. Be it his shield or his weapon, both were at the Glorious Tier, making it an item of the highest quality.
The instant this tall knight stepped inside the training ground, the space closed between Long Haochen’s eyelids opened all of a sudden.
The instant he opened his eyes, that tall knight stopped his feet. Secretly, he was startled, because the instant he entered the training ground, he unexpectedly didn’t sense the slightest trace of Long Haochen’s presence. But the instant his eyes opened, it gave off the feeling of a sharp blade being unsheathed.
Standing up, Long Haochen used his right fist to beat his chest, paying his respects to the knight in front of him, “Hello. Paying my respects to Sir Gold Essence Foundation Knight.”
The tall knight had a sonorous voice, but somewhat rough sounding, “Hello.”
Long Haochen took a look at the counterpart’s weapon and equipment, “Senior, my equipment seems better than yours. Should I change it?”
The tall knight indifferently replied, “No need. What you will have to do is use everything you can to defeat me. In the time of this trial, one will not be allowed to use his mount. This aside, there are no other restrictions. I won’t start off leniently. Let us start!”
After he finished speaking, this tall knight abruptly took large strides without the slightest pause, charging towards Long Haochen. His steps were large, and when each of them was heard, strong rumbles spread in the whole training field. Intense golden flames abruptly ascended in his body, letting out a torrential oppressive force.
Long Haochen’s expression changed greatly. He originally had great expectations for the strength of a Gold Essence Foundation Knight, but the massive threat this tall knight caused him to feel went far beyond his expectations.
The enemy didn’t use any technique and didn’t even use his spiritual wings, but his imposing manner reached a supreme level, and his attacks seemed to carry a crushing oppressive force. He could surely go even faster, but painstakingly maintained a certain rhythm, aiming to optimize his imposing manner to its peak starting from the beginning.
Long Haochen obviously wouldn’t let the enemy reach his goals so easily. His powerful senses told him that if the enemy was left to make such preparations, he would definitely be unable to block his attack.
The extremity of his foot tapped onto the ground, as similar golden flames suddenly ascended around him. But the difference compared to that tall knight was that the golden flames abruptly released by Long Haochen were shot toward his back.
It appeared as though a golden lightning bolt had appeared abruptly in the training fields, covering the shortest path, with the most direct and straight trajectory, aiming forward.
Lightspeed Flash. Secret Retribution Knight technique of the seventh step, raising one’s speed instantly, and strengthening one’s imposing manner to the peak all at once.
This technique was not easy to control, to the extent that some Retribution Knights of the eighth step wouldn’t necessarily have a full grasp on it. But Long Haochen almost had no preparations nor time to store energy, and directly used this ability to its fullest.
This golden lightning bolt transformed into a golden light ray, and the instant Long Haochen charged, he was already parallel to the ground, becoming one with his sword.
But bizarrely, in his state of being one with the sword, except for the intense flames released on his back, there unexpectedly appeared to be no sword intent released from his body in the slightest.
The instant the tall knight that was advancing in big strides was about to clash with Long Haochen he abruptly came to a stop, as if having a premonition of danger. His massive tower shield directly blocked his front.
<em>Ding>/em> A crisp, melodious sound rang out in an instant.
Although Lightspeed Flash couldn’t possibly really reach the speed of light, it was the greatest speed Long Haochen ever reached, enough to match instant teleportation.
Clashing at such speed, and in a straight line, an incomparably sharp sword intent burst out at the same time this crisp sound was produced. It seemed to tear open the powerful, imposing manner unleashed by that tall knight the instant before.
Long Haochen’s attack looked devoid of preparations, but in truth, the instant his attack burst out, the spiritual energy surrounding his whole body was already congealed. And more frighteningly, all his sword intent seemed to be held inside the Aria of the Goddess of Light, its formidable power exceeding even the most powerful of the attack he could use before the time of his secluded training.
But the strength displayed by that tall knight startled Long Haochen entirely. The instant the Aria of the Goddess of Light entered in contact with his Glorious Tier tower shield, on its surface a golden speck of light appeared. That golden speck was even more resplendent than the sharp end of Long Haochen’s sword. With an ear-piercing ringing, Long Haochen felt that he was trying to pierce a mountain and not a shield.
Even more terrifying, all the colliding force seemed to have been suppressed, and Long Haochen’s Aria of the Goddess of Light seemed stuck onto the tower shield.
This was… Spiritual Highland, a powerful ability specific to powerhouses of the eighth step.
A demon’s strong points mostly manifest on their body, but in utilization of spiritual energy, demons of the same rank would surely not be inferior to humans.
Spiritual Highland is an ability specific to the three close-quarters vocations of the Temple Alliance, and one of the most basic abilities of human powerhouses of the eighth step.
After one’s spiritual energy breaks through 30,000 units, he requires four spiritual cavities, to break through the eighth step and continue his cultivation. Apparently, not every human at the eighth step has his fourth spiritual cavity at the same location, making everyone’s cultivations have different characteristics. For instance, Long Haochen’s fourth spiritual cavity was established in his right shoulder.
After the spiritual energy breaks through 30,000 units, the liquid spiritual energy in a human’s body reaches a terrifying density. Although some spiritual cavities will restrain this phenomenon, after spiritual energy condenses to a certain extent, an effect of solidification will be produced.
Spiritual Highland enables one’s solidified spiritual energy to burst out instantly, producing a powerful strength. Even for a powerhouse of the eighth step a massive consumption of spiritual energy would occur from using this powerful ability, and wouldn’t be able to project the effect. In other words, Spiritual Highland is only useable in an area in contact of one’s skin.
Long Haochen already broke through the eighth step officially, but he was, after all, a newcomer to the eighth step. He had some comprehension regarding Spiritual Highland, but was still not very familiar with its use. It would require him to continuously strengthen his spiritual energy to display the real might of Spiritual Highland. And by the time he breaks through the ninth step, he will be able to use an external Spiritual Highland.
Originally, at the time Long Haochen and his father were in Odin Town, when Long Xingyu relied on his domineering strength to instantly kill a large amount of demon powerhouses, he actually used the external Spiritual Highland. Of course, through the great amplification of his Divine Throne he reinforced the power of his Spiritual Highland, otherwise it wouldn’t have reached such a level.
This was the first time Long Haochen was faced with Spiritual Highland. That’s because although he had faced powerhouses of the eighth step before, they were all demons of the eighth step. And it was the first time for him to face a human powerhouse of the eighth step.
Only after learning by experience can one understand the truly terrible might of Spiritual Highland. And furthermore, to Long Haochen’s shock, the control of this tall knight over Spiritual Highland already reached the level of perfection.
He was using Lightspeed Flash with the strike of his sword and body becoming one, matched with the ultra-divine sword Aria of the Goddess of Light, producing an incredible might. If he faced another knight of the eighth step, simply using Spiritual Highland wouldn’t have stopped him.
However, it was after this tall knight managed to predict his attack that he prepared Spiritual Highland to block the attack from the Aria of the Goddess of Light. It went so far that the sharp end of Long Haochen’s sword didn’t even manage to shake that tower shield.
This stagnation only lasted for a split second. The next instant, Spiritual Highland spread out from that tower shield just like a tsunami.