Chrysos didn’t hesitate anymore and acted quickly, using his power to raise a barrier that sealed the area around Darian. At the sa ti, his mind searched for ways to take him out of the Lake without disturbing him.
However, before his energy could even be released to take Darian away, he suddenly stopped.
The intensity and level of the fire elent surrounding him were reaching an incomprehensible level. But although the energy circulation was extrely fast, it was not disordered at all.
Chrysos’s hand froze in place and remained motionless for a long ti, the look of shock on his face refusing to fade. ’What the hell was happening to this kid?’
Only Chrysos, who was the closest to him, perceived Darian’s unusual state more deeply. As for the others, they quickly looked away from him after the initial shock. They sensed his level rising and, rembering that Darian was an alchemist, assud it was the effect of so pill in his body.
From Chrysos’s posture, it was obvious he was protecting him as well. With him personally guarding Darian, there shouldn’t be any problems.
As for Darian, his senses were observing every corner of his body that was changing.
’Did I really manage to fuse with this elent?’ he thought, stunned.
Soon, he understood that his Celestial Bloodline had acted to make it possible. Of course, if he hadn’t lived those lives and understood what it was like to be that, it wouldn’t have been possible to do this before becoming an immortal and fully using his bloodline. But right now, doing this made perfect sense.
Achieving this while still mortal would give him an unprecedented boost.
’My natural physique is going to rise to an incomprehensible level... and when I activate the Primordial Physique, my power will be several tis higher...’
Darian concluded, sowhat shaken. He already thought his physique couldn’t get any stronger than it already was; now, he had opened a new path. And even better...
’Can I repeat this with the other four elents? There must be places in this universe with them. Maybe there’s pure Yin and Yang too... besides improving my physique I...!’
His eyes shifted. Only now did he realize he had already broken through several tis without noticing and had reached the eighth level.
Before, Darian thought he might reach the fifth or sixth level of the Celestial Tribulation Realm with the help of this lake. Doing that in less than a day was already incredible. But thanks to this discovery, his absorption speed improved drastically.
He grew excited internally. ’Excellent. This is a new major discovery to help cultivate faster. I’ll use pills, indigo jades, and absorb elents.’
...
The lake was completely silent.
Everyone’s attention was focused on Herion and Lazaro, and as ti passed, the contest between them beca even more intense. Both had attracted the sa number of fire elentals, and there had been no disparity between them since the beginning.
Four hours passed, and both had attracted twenty-four fire elentals. Thirty minutes later, at the exact sa mont, that number rose to twenty-six... and then to twenty-seven again, fifteen minutes later.
It was as if ti had stopped. Both the disciples at the lake’s edge and those inside the lake watched intently, eyes wide and breaths held, waiting for the final result.
If there had been any difference between them, the atmosphere wouldn’t have been so suffocating. However, not only was the number of fire elentals identical from the start, but the differences between them were practically nonexistent.
"I never imagined these two would be so evenly matched," said a Palace Master.
Another murmured with a nod, "It’s a great honor for two such exceptional disciples to appear in this generation at the sa ti."
"Oh!"
And it was exactly at that mont that everyone’s expressions and gazes changed abruptly. That was because, in the last fifteen minutes, both Herion’s and Lazaro’s power and focus had locked onto the exact sa fire elental.
The two also realized this at the sa ti, but neither of them shifted their focus, because that was the closest fire elental.
The fact that they were in a deadlock with almost no difference between them ant it was practically certain they would lose if they chose another target at this critical mont that would decide their fate.
This situation made the already incredibly tense atmosphere suddenly turn scorching.
This ti, even the big shots of the sect held their breath. The ti limit had reached the final fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes were only enough for them to attract one fire elental... which ant that since both had chosen this particular entity, it would directly decide the outco of the day.
The instincts of that fire elental were stirred by the two blazing auras calling to it. After a brief mont of hesitation, it flew toward the two of them.
The speed at which it flew was clearly faster than that of the other fire elentals. However, its trajectory wasn’t exactly straight, as it wavered unstably, drifting left and right from ti to ti.
Finally, it stopped...
Right between Herion and Lazaro.
And it stayed there for quite a while... obviously unable to decide who to choose.
Seconds passed.
All eyes were fixed on the fire elental between the two of them. It was as if it had frozen; even as the tir reached its final countdown, it remained motionless.
Minutes passed in silence. The ti reached the final one hundred seconds.
Ninety seconds...
Eighty seconds...
Seventy seconds...
Herion’s and Lazaro’s eyes had been firmly closed from the start, but a blazing haze emanated from their bodies as they released, without reservation, the knowledge they had accumulated over their lives about the power of fire.
Before this day, both possessed nearly identical and absolute confidence in themselves, but they hadn’t expected their opponent to be far more powerful than they had imagined.
Although both were publicly recognized as the top disciples of the Golden Crow Sect of this generation, they normally held back their power... until today, when neither restrained himself.
Fifty seconds...
Forty seconds...
Thirty seconds...
The seconds crawled by in slow motion, but the fire elental that would decide the final result still remained stubbornly motionless. Across the entire Golden Celestial Lake, the only person whose heart wasn’t on edge was...
Obviously, Darian. He was imrsed in his own world. It was also at this mont that his teoric rise reached a perfect end, after just two hours.
The fire power around Darian’s body had already stopped spinning and silently returned into him. His natural physique had reached its maximum limit, completely transford.
’I’ll call it Heavenly Elental Body; it’s now level 1,’ he thought excitedly.
Twenty-five seconds...
Twenty seconds...
Fifteen seconds...
At that mont, the fire elental that had remained still for so long suddenly jumped before everyone’s eyes. Finally, it began to move!
After hesitating a bit, it shifted... and, surprisingly, turned toward Herion. Then, as if it had made its final decision, it began flying toward Herion.
Ten seconds...
"Herion wins!!"
The final result beca clear in those last fifteen seconds. Everything was finally decided after the fire elental made its choice.
"Hahahahaha!" The Grand Supervisor of the Palaces, Ruan, laughed excitedly. Even with thousands of years of cultivation, he couldn’t contain the wild joy he felt. He was Herion’s biggest backer, and it was he who discovered him in the Mortal Plane.
Even with his eyes still closed, a smile had already appeared at the corner of Herion’s lips, and his body visibly trembled with excitent.
And it was at that mont that...
A new muffled sound echoed from inside Darian. He smiled excitedly. This was the ninth level of the Celestial Tribulation Realm!
He was so excited that his Heavenly Elental Body released a subtle aura without him noticing.
"!"
Suddenly, an unknown energy abruptly appeared at the lake’s edge.
"What?"
The instant it appeared, the fire elental flying toward Herion...
...suddenly stopped.
Then it let out a clear, ethereal cry never heard before, as its flying speed suddenly surged, faster than any fire elental had ever moved.
However, its flight path changed; it was no longer flying toward Herion. Instead, it suddenly shot toward the distant edge of the lake... that was Darian’s direction!
At the sa ti, the Dragoness high above felt her heart race. Her eyes were locked onto Darian, and an indescribable feeling rose within her. It was like... like she was facing the purest manifestation of the power of Heaven’s Will.
In one second, she had no doubts. That was not sothing a mortal could possess.
*BUZZ*
Before the crowd could even process what had happened, the calm lake suddenly vibrated and humd in all directions.
The fire elentals playing in the distance let out strange sounds of excitent. Then, all of them began flying in pursuit of the last fire elental; the speed at which they moved made them look like blazing sparks...
It was also at that instant that the other fire elentals dancing around Herion and Lazaro, entities they had spent six whole hours and all their power to attract, left them without the slightest hesitation.
They too joined the others and flew straight toward Darian.
They were extrely fast, all flying to Darian’s side. The fire elentals that flew toward the disciples were always cautious and slow with hesitation. However, all of them danced around Darian with incomparable excitent. Each tried to outdo the others as they approached him, as if so kind of fatal attraction force existed in his body.
In a matter of seconds, all three thousand fire elentals in the lake gathered around Darian, not a single one missing.
Everyone held their breath.
At that very second, the six-hour ti limit ended.
It was at that sa instant that Darian opened his eyes.
"Oh?"
He was instantly surprised when he saw the fire elentals around him flying in excitent... and also the stunned and dumbfounded faces focused on him.
Looking at himself, he felt an extrely pure and clean fire-elent aura. To these Fire Elentals, it was as if they had sensed the scent of the primordial source of blazing energy that only appeared at the beginning of a universe. That made them instinctively swarm around him.
He quickly realized the serious atmosphere around him didn’t seem friendly. The dancing Fire Elentals circled him like stars orbiting the moon, making him, one of the weakest in that place, beco the center of attention... and everyone’s frustration.
"I-is this..."
There was no trace left of the usual solemnity and dignity on the sect’s big shots. Their expressions twisted as if they had seen ghosts in broad daylight. Even if they combined all their age and experience, they still wouldn’t understand the scene before them.
Herion and Lazaro also stood up in the lake. They stared fixedly at the three thousand Fire Elentals circling Darian and couldn’t recover their senses for a long ti.
Chrysos was visibly stunned, while Pyreus, behind him, was completely stupefied. His mouth was so wide open that his own fist could fit inside.
Another thing also shocked them...
Darian had gone from the elental level to the ninth level in just two hours.
As for the result of the contest... it had undergone a drastic change in the final monts. That left everyone present completely confused.
The lips of the Grand Supervisor of the Palaces, Ruan, who was already prepared to make the announcent, trembled a few tis before he finally spoke:
"W-what is this? What exactly happened to this kid’s body?"
The only thing on everyone’s mind was: Who the hell knows what happened?! How were all the Fire Elentals suddenly attracted?
Such a feat was impossible even for the Palace Masters, much less for a disciple.
And yet, it had happened right before their eyes... coming from a new disciple who had just arrived at the sect, whose cultivation level was so low they wouldn’t even spare him a second glance.
As for Darian...
He felt many gazes there change abruptly.
Toward hatred and killing intent.
He snorted, then smiled faintly.
Looks like fate was always dragging him into chaos. Well... what can you do, right?
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