Chapter 2
B6C2: Nine Swords’ secret
In the Blood-red Cave’s main hall, the 9 guardians and 50 squad leaders are still amazed by Qin Yu’s first order. It is equivalent to weakening his own authority as cave master, no less! In general, even a cave master’s brothers can only become vice masters.
“Well, my guardians, could any of you have an objection?” Qin Yu says coldly.
Only now do the 9 guardians below him wake up from their amazement.
“I’ve got no objection. Of course I’ve got no objection. Cave master is really broad-minded. I’m very happy to serve such a cave master like you. Why should I have any objection?” Ba Ming, the eldest of the 3 black turtle brothers, flatters him smilingly.
The other guardians all say that they also have no objection.
To them, this question is bullshit and should not even have been asked. Changing from a system with a chief master and vice masters to a system with a 1st master, a 2nd master and a 3rd master only weakens the cave master’s authority. As guardians, they are not affected by this at all.
“There are 3 cave masters. We know that brother Hou Fei is 2nd master, but who is 3rd master?” asks Teng Bi.
Qin Yu, however, basically does not give a direct answer: “For the moment all of you don’t need to care about 3rd master’s identity. You will naturally know who 3rd master is when the time comes. My guardians, do I have to obtain your approval when I appoint someone as 3rd master?”
Noticing the coldness in Qin Yu’s words, the guardians all shake their heads hurriedly.
“Very well, then I’ll give my second order.” Qin Yu looks down at the 9 guardians and says.
The 9 guardians and the 50 squad leaders all begin to guess in their minds. When the 1st order is already so astonishing, what can the 2nd order be?
“From now on, we stop hunting for the black eagle and the Xiuxianist. Humph, Sang Mo’s and Cha Hong’s feuds have nothing to do with me. Are you clear about this, my guardians?” Qin Yu expresses very clearly his lack of respect for the previous cave master.
Hearing this, the guardians do not mind in the least.
It does not matter how formidable Cha Hong was, he is already dead, so why should they care about him anymore?
Sang Mo and Cha Hong are dead so it is only natural that the order to arrest the black eagle and Xiuxianist is invalidated.
“I’ll follow your order closely, cave master. That Xiuxianist and black eagle should also thank you for your generosity.” The eldest of the 3 black turtle brothers Ba Ming flatters him again.
Qin Yu does not care about this either.
“The 3rd order,” his voice rises again.
The guardians and the squad leaders all focus their attention to listen to him. This is the 1st time Qin Yu has sat in the throne in the main hall and exercised his power as cave master so these guardians naturally attach great importance to their behavior towards him.
“When I fought the black eagle last time, I felt that it wasn’t weaker than guardian Teng Bi. We should invite such an expert over here to strengthen the Blood-red Cave. Spread this order, my guardians, and if anyone discovers traces of the black eagle, let me know about this.”
This is Qin Yu taking precautions.
He has shown his intention of pulling the black eagle to his side in front of the 9 guardians so, when Xiao Hei comes here later, they will not be very surprised by this.
“Yes, we will follow cave master’s order.”
The guardians immediately bow. In fact, they are very happy. Previously, they still had to hunt for the black eagle, but now that the reigning cave master has given this order, it is very likely that the black eagle will become a member of the Blood-red Cave. There are really strange things in this world.
However, the 9 guardians are not too surprised. After all, in the Xiuyao world, it is possible for enemies to become friends in the blink of an eye.
“That’s very good. The last thing, you shouldn’t make wild guesses outside. Liu Xing is only my nickname. My surname is Qin. I’ll undergo closed-door training for some time from today on. So, if something happens during this period, you can report to 2nd master. Alright, everyone can leave now.” Right after saying, Qin Yu stands up, turns around and leaves the hall. Following him, Hou Fei also leaves.
“Farewell, cave master.”
The 9 guardians bow and say. Only when Qin Yu has left do these guardians begin to discuss with each other in a relaxed manner.
“It turns out cave master’s family name is Qin. He’s really mysterious. Even now I still can’t see clearly how powerful he is. After all, it’s hard to tell if he was using his full power or not when he fought boss Teng. What do you think, boss Teng?” Zhuang Zhong looks smilingly at Teng Bi.
Teng Bi says curtly: “He shouldn’t have been!”
“Oh my, boss Teng, what does shouldn’t mean? Could it be you didn’t feel anything?” Yan Qing says discontentedly.
Teng Bi says with a nod: “When I fought cave master, his speed was too fast, far exceeding my expectation. I was knocked away even before I could block his attack. Also, I felt that his energy was very fierce and concentrated. It seemed he wasn’t wasting any energy.”
The faces of the other guardians change color.
When experts execute a powerful attack, generally they will cause turbulence in their vicinity and give off a massive aura. The existence of this great aura also means that a large amount of the attack’s energy is being used ineffectively instead of being directed at the opponent’s body.
“Cave master didn’t waste any energy when he fought boss Teng?” Wu Feng says in shock.
Wu Tong says with a nod: “Cave master is really unfathomable.”
These guardians marvel at Qin Yu’s power but they simply do not know about the characteristics of the Stellar Transformations technique. At the Meteor stage, Qin Yu’s energy has been condensed into thin lines. Therefore, when he attacks, his energy is highly concentrated and does not seem to be wasted in the least.
“Everybody, just now cave master said he’d undergo closed-door training. Oh dear, the previous cave master Cha Hong often underwent closed-door training, and the current cave master also often undergoes closed-door training. Really, could it be a cave master has to do closed-door training frequently?” Xi Yan says in a lazy manner.
The other guardians nod.
Qin Yu became cave master yesterday but he is about to start doing closed-door training again.
“Humph, all of you still can’t figure out something from this?” Teng Bi says coldly.
The other 8 guardians all look at him.
“To maintain his position, cave master must have enough power to control everybody. So, naturally he wants to keep his power in peak condition and often does closed-door training to achieve this. You all can only see that he is overwhelmingly powerful but don’t understand how he has become so powerful. If you keep being so lazy, when can you catch up with him? I’ll also prepare to do closed-door training. I take my leave.”
After saying, Teng Bi turns around and leaves the main hall immediately.
The other guardians are startled by his words. But what Teng Bi said indeed has some truth in it. And these guardians have also been moved a bit by it.
……
Qin Yu and Hou Fei are going side by side on a road leading to the northern part.
“Fei Fei, I’ll leave the entire Blood-red Cave in your hands when I start my closed-door training. Now the most important thing to us is to stabilize it internally. If the inside is unstable, once members of the Nine Demons Hall come, we’ll be in some trouble.”
Qin Yu says through his holy sense.
Hou Fei agrees with him: “Don’t worry about this, big brother. The Blood-red Ridge is only that big so it won’t be difficult to stabilize it at all. But you already killed Di Tong, and his 8 brothers definitely won’t let this matter pass. Facing them, those ordinary fellas will be useless. We need experts.”
Qin Yu knows very well that Purple Demon aquatic dragons are so gifted that at the late Dongxu stage they can even rival Kongming stage Xiuxianists! He really has no confidence that he can handle that kind of super expert without relying on the Meteoric Tear to go all out.
But he will not necessarily be able to go all out. If the opponent quickly destroys his head, shattering his soul, even if the Meteoric Tear was more formidable, it would still be useless. Or if the opponent destroys his dantian, this will be disastrous for him as well.
Therefore, he must not fight unless he is forced into a tight corner.
“Late Dongxu stage Purple Demon aquatic dragons, well, according to the assessments in my hereditary memories, they are very tough.” Hou Fei is also frustrated. “Even if I ignore the serious consequences to go into berserk mode and fight desperately, I’ll only have a 50-50 chance of winning against one of them.”
Qin Yu and Hou Fei discuss for a long time. In the end, they both feel that the Nine Demons Hall is too powerful.
But they know that they now have enough power to wipe out the other 7 big caves under the Nine Demons Hall. After all, at the moment the Blood-red Cave has Qin Yu, Hou Fei and Hei Yu, who have all become much more powerful than they were.
“1st master, 2nd master.”
Seeing Qin Yu and Hou Fei, some guards who are on patrol immediately bow and say.
“Ha-ha, this order has spread really fast. I gave it in the main hall just now, but these guards already know to call you 2nd master.” Qin Yu praises. Actually, after leaving the main hall, those squad leaders immediately told their subordinates about this order through holy sense communication.
Hou Fei’s eyes glitter with excitement: “Kaka, now I got subordinates too. Well, when there’s nothing to do, it won’t be bad to train these brats a bit.”
When those patrolling guards hear what he says, their hearts cannot help but skip a beat. 2nd master will train them? How will this look like? They all know that this 2nd master is terrifyingly powerful.
……
On the secret floor under the northern part of the Blood-red Cave,
Nearly half of the secret rooms were destroyed in the fight between Cha Hong and Di Tong but quite a few of them are still good. Qin Yu tells his subordinates to take the rubble out while he himself goes into a secret room to start practicing once more.
This secret room has a round roof and a square floor. There is a rectangular soft mat made of oceanic soft grass in the center of the room. He sits down on it.
Di Tong’s yuanying then flies out and floats in front of Qin Yu. Because part of its energy was absorbed by him before, it is now one size smaller than it was. He enfolds the yuanying in an internal flame and begins to refine it again.
Various golden rays of light radiate from his body, making him look like a sun.
The golden rays of light cover him completely, forming a nebula that rotates nonstop. Meanwhile, the purple yuanying sends out many purple streams of liquid, which rotate along with the nebula then get absorbed into Qin Yu’s dantian continuously.
In his dantian,
The 3 golden grains are revolving unceasingly in the center of the huge inner nebula. If the orbits of these grains are put together, they will form a perfect sphere. Those purple streams of liquid are continuously burnt by the Stellar Flame until all of their impurities are removed.
As time passes,
The 3 golden grains gradually become bigger and bigger. The spherical silvery grains in the huge nebula also keep increasing in size, looking like countless stars …
Qin Yu is quietly practicing without being disturbed by anyone.
3 days later,
“Clack!” A very crisp noise is heard. In his dantian, the 3 golden grains, which have become as large as quail eggs, now split in three each again. Immediately, they have turned into 9 golden grains, which also revolve around in orbits that form a sphere together.
Once more, the countless silvery grains split in half as well, doubling their number.
The late Meteor stage!
Qin Yu has finally reached the late phase of the Meteor stage. But nearly half of Di Tong’s yuanying remains unrefined. Qin Yu of course will not waste it so he keeps refining and absorbing its energy. Time goes by. After about one and a half days, he eventually finishes absorbing Di Tong’s yuanying completely.
However, he is still at the late phase of the Meteor stage.
It indeed takes a lot of energy to reach the early Core stage from the late Meteor stage.
Si si ~~~
In his dantian, the 9 golden grains are revolving around nonstop. Because of their fantastic orbits, a mysterious induction has been created between them. Various brilliant electric sparks have unexpectedly been generated in the center of the 9 golden grains’ orbital sphere.
Those electric sparks are connecting the golden grains with each other but the grains’ revolving orbits have remained unchanged.
“When the 9 meteors are united, the core will be formed. But I’m still some distance away from the unification of the 9 meteors.” Qin Yu opens his eyes and says to himself smilingly.
After he reached the late Meteor stage, an attractive force has been created in the center of the 9 meteors’ orbital sphere. When this force reaches its peak, it will pull the 9 meteors towards their orbital center and unify them. At that time it will be possible for Qin Yu to reach the Core stage.
However, before he can, he will have to overcome the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation.
“Since I’ve killed one of the Nine Demons Hall’s aquatic dragons, the other eight will definitely come here to investigate. The Blood-red Cave is very close to the Qian Long continent. That Nine Demons Hall is 80 million li from here in the south. So, even with their Dongxu stage power, those Purple Demon aquatic dragons will possibly need a year to arrive.”
There is a year left but Qin Yu still feels that he has too little time.
He is confident that he would be able to reach the early Core stage if he had 10 years. Once he has reached the Core stage, he would be able to face the Nine Demons Hall head-on without worries. However, at the moment, he does not have enough power for a head-on conflict with the Nine Demons Hall.
“There’s no point in thinking too much. I’ll come up with solutions as problems arise. Once Fei Fei, Xiao Hei and I join forces, what’s there for us to fear?” Qin Yu stops thinking about the menace of the Nine Demons Hall then takes out from his spatial ring some things.
They are a top-grade holy class spear, one of the 9 Swords and a black jade case.
After opening the jade case, he sees a jade slip. He makes a sweep with his holy sense.
“Oh, there are 9 keys to the 9 Swords Immortal Mansion. According to what this jade slip says, this 9 Swords Immortal Mansion is really extraordinary. Looks like the jade sword I got is the 8th key. However …” Qin Yu bursts out laughing. “Even if they can gather the other 8 jade swords, without mine, they won’t be able to open that immortal mansion.”
He has quickly figured this out accurately.
His camp’s power is weak for the moment but it will be okay if he does not bring the jade sword out. Even if other Xiuzhenists can gather the other 8 jade swords, they will still be unable to open the immortal mansion. And Qin Yu will lie low and wait until the Blood-red Cave has enough power to confront the Blue Water Mansion, the Azure Dragon Palace and the Nine Demons Hall to show the jade sword.
However, he still does not know that the Nine Demons Hall’s brothers care very deeply about each other. How can they possibly give him time to lie low? How can they possibly give him time to improve his side’s power? At the moment, 3 of them are coming to his place with Di Jian being the leader. Even Hou Fei will have difficulty fighting a late Dongxu stage Di Jian!
End of b6c2.