NOVPUBChapter 129: Chapter 128: The Torch of Honor Rank
Sun Hao was a very ordinary university student; aside from his love for reading novels, he had no other hobbies.
Not long ago, the university suspended classes, and he planned to return to his hometown, but somehow, he ended up here in a daze.
He almost thought he had wandered into a pyramid scheme den, but after seeing that enormous beast in the mist and learning the truth about the world from other ‘senior predecessors,’ he was utterly shocked and exclaimed that his opportunity had arrived.
So now, he has taken on the task of patrolling and standing guard, performing his duty alongside other auxiliary personnel.
He was very clear that there was no danger.
This placeuld be regarded as one of the safest places in the world; the purpose of standing guard was simply to prevent people from wandering in… The training base was definitely inaccessible, but it was unnecessary to frighten anyone, ahem.
“Standing guard on our shift, aside from the salary, we can earn 0.05 organizationalntribution points per day, ah, it’s just that thentribution points are a bit too few.”
“Think it’s too few?” Luo Feiyu, an older and more experienced brother, chuckled and shook his head, “Rookie, don’t belittle thesentribution points just because you lucked out once.”
“In just two months, you can save up enoughntribution points to exchange for a dose of the Physical Fitness Elixir, and once you drink that, our strength and speed will greatly increase, giving us a much better chance of standing out in the selection of new members and skyrocketing to success.”
“It’s just a pity; this guard duty changes every week, and next week we won’t get this cushy job.”
“Oh, right.” Luo Feiyu added, “Another benefit of this guard duty is that we can use the work time for training… eh, what’s with that look? It’s all tacitly approved, as long as you don’t leave your post.”
Luo Feiyu was busy strapping weights onto himself, trying to stretch his arms, and thenntinued, “We say it’s standing guard, keeping out the idlers, but actually, who wouldme to this place? Who dares to venture into desolate areas these days?”
Sun Hao thought so too.
Yet heuldn’t quite be as slick as Brother Luo; he still thought that if you’re on duty, you should be serious about it. They were, after all, guardians in the dark, and it was their duty to be diligent.
Even if, he himself was just a reserve among reserves.
“Instructor?!”
Suddenly, Sun Hao’s eyes widened.
He was ampletely new member, having been here for only two days. When he arrived, Instructor Black Blade wasn’t at the training base, so he hadn’t seen him.
He had only seen a photo of the instructor.
Dressed all in black with a maskvering his face, thereuldn’t be a snd person with such an outfit.
While he was still stunned, the older brother Luo Feiyu had already briskly stepped forward, extending his hand, fist close to his chest, and reported, “Instructor, recruit number 0286 Luo Feiyu reporting, there has been no intrusion by any outsiders in this area up to now.”
Sun Hao was dumbfounded.
It took him a while before he hurriedly walked forward, nervously saying, “Instructor, instructor.”
He lowered his head and then sneaked another glance.
Having been here for two days, apart from euntering a huge mist beast during the mountain climbing assessment, he hadn’t witnessed any superhuman abilities.
It was rumored that the older members from the Sparkfire, who had joined before him, had already left on missions.
Heuld only imagine through the descriptions of the ‘semi-nemers’ what it was like, and ofurse, the most talked about was Instructor Black Blade.
The semi-nemers hadn’t seen the instructor truly make a move either, but it was said that with just a look from him, they felt as though a mountain was pressing down on them, as if falling straight from the sky.
Just a stare was enough to make them all faint.
There were many legends about the instructor, and Sun Haouldn’t help but sneak a glance, only to see that following behind the instructor was a big man wrapped in bandages, sweating profusely.
While the new recruit was quietly assessing him, Xing Jing Lei was observing the environment in front of him.
A faint mist lingered around, creating a scene that seemed right out of a land of immortals.
This was indeed deserving of being the headquarters of Sparkfire; it was very immortal-like.
Moreover,
It was said that this mist was emanating from a powerful Strange Implement, and with the Implement’s power enveloping the entire mountain, ituld prevent outsiders from entering and possessed formidable defensive and lethal abilities.
As hentemplated, a task suddenly “ding-donged” into Xing Jing Lei’s mind.
“Test the self-defense capabilities of the Mist Realm?”
“This kind of task… I like it!”
…
Black Blade had gone up the mountain first, while Xing Jing Lei waited at the bottom for a while, chatting and boasting with the two new recruits.
Wait, that’s wrong, everything he said was the real deal.
“That time, ah, Mysterious Evil were swarming all over the hills, surging like a tidal wave, and I, undaunted, forged a bloody path with my Iron Fists, causing them to howl like ghosts and wolves.”
“It’s no exaggeration to say that I, Black Blade, Miss An, and the three of us wiped out at least half of the powerful Mysterious Evil, making outstandingntributions.”
“Soon, you will witness for yourselves my brave figure!”
The man wrapped in bandages, drenched in sweat, slowly made his way up the winding path.
The mist thickened.
Soon enough, mist beasts appeared, and Xing Jing Lei laughed heartily, his fists exploding like cannonballs.
In a flash, the mist beasts shattered, and the thick mist was blasted open to form a wide passage; it took a while to graduallynverge again.
This left Sun Hao and the other new recruits with eyes wide open in utter shock.
They watched the dust explosions on the mountain road and the splintering trees, listening to the booms that sounded like cannon fire, and swallowed hard, “Could it be that what big brother said just now was all true? We seem to have blamed the wrong person, we’ve lost a great opportunity!”
The booming explosions and flying dust gradually receded from their view.
The burly man dashed along the cement-paved road.
The white fog became thicker and thicker, and more and more fog beasts appeared before him, but Xing Jing Lei was fearless, erupting into hearty laughter.
Come on, to battle again!
The explosions, one after another,ntinued intermittently for almost half an hour.
At the entrance of the holiday resort, thick white fog tumbled.
Suddenly, a figure shot out like a cannonball, hit the ground hard, and the stone slabs cracked open with a spider web of fissures.
Xing Jing Lei looked bedraggled at this moment, but his posture was still dashing.
Looking back at the white fog that no longer appeared, he burst into loud laughter.
In his mind, the mechanical prompt sound also rang out at the same time.
“Ding!”
“Congratulations to Angel Envoy Xing Jing Lei formpleting the test mission. Themprehensive evaluation of this mission is as follows…”
“Basic missionntribution points are 12, butnsidering that Angel Envoy Xing Jing Lei destroyed 15 sections of the road, demolished 39 ornamental trees, and inflicted ruinous damage on multiple crash barriers during the mission, themprehensive assessment, as well as the deduction ofntribution points, result in a total mission earnings of 3.9 Sparkfirentribution points.”
Xing Jing Lei staggered.
Cough, there might have been some mistakes, but overall, it was still profit. Making a profitunts.
Finally, he had arrived at the headquarters of Sparkfire.
This time, he intended to catch up with Black Blade and suppress him!
Ga ga ga ga—
“Let’s go, the mentor is waiting for you at the Secret Realm base.”
“Oh, okay.”
Xing Jing Lei followed Black Blade into the depths of the holiday resort.
After walking for a moment, he hesitated.
Wait, what Secret Realm, what base?
He looked at the door that was slowly opening in front of him, radiating a soft golden light, and was dumbfounded.
…
The incense smoke filled the air, and the ground was dotted with burning incense sticks.
The candlelight illuminated the surroundings, giving a bit of an underworld vibe.
Chen Qing felt no fear.
This was his territory, yet so many evil ghosts had nested here.
Since he was already here, he might as well tidy things up thoroughly, preventing them from causing trouble in his domain.
Sensing Chen Qing’s presence, the evil ghosts in the entire market began to wail, especially one with blurred bloody facial features, whose crying sent a shiver down Chen Qing’s spine.
Listening to the wailing sound by his ear, Chen Qing shouted angrily, “Quiet!”
Upon hearing Chen Qing speak, hundreds of evil ghosts fell silent, not daring to make any unnecessary noise, fearing they might be obliterated by this Lord Yinsi in a fit of anger.
Chen Qing looked around; ghostly figures dared not howl in the wind and were all quietly kneeling on the ground.
Chen Qing looked at Xu Ye beside him and instructed, “Go, summon all the ghosts within a thousand miles around here, they must arrive within twenty days, or else their divine souls will be annihilated!”
Xu Ye said, “The evil ghosts within a thousand miles are numerous, my lord. I need to take fifty ghost souls to summon them.”
Chen Qing nodded, “Hmm, go ahead.”
Chen Qing walked through the market, found the most majestic building, went inside, and sat by himself in the hall, then said, “Prepare to openurt. Yin Shu Niang, go summon a ghost!”
Chen Qing sat before the desk, casually picked a jade inkstone as a gavel, and saw a headless ghost brought in.
He immediately slapped the jade inkstone, shouting, “Who is below theurt?”
The headless ghost knelt and said, “The little ghost is He Yiyi.”
“Why did you turn into a ghost?”
“I was originally a scholar, but a classmate forcibly took over my family business and insulted my wife, daughter, and old mother, causing me to harbor resentment and transform into a ghost.”
“Did you ever harm anyone’s life?”
“Only harmed that classmate, and no one else since.”
“Why is that?”
“Cultivators are strong, and the Xuan Bird unitnducts raids once a year; I did not dare to cause chaos.”
“Since you did not harm others, let it be.”
“Let me ask you, what do you see me as?”
“Lord Yinsi governs the netherworld, and there is divine protection behind you, oh no, it’s because of your immense strength, my lord.” 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝖚𝖇.𝔠𝔬𝖒
“Mm, be a good ghost, I will hold nightly trials of a hundred ghosts every year, do notmmit evil deeds, go!”
Waving for He Yiyi to step back, Chen Qing suddenly felt he had a deeper understanding of his own Light Butterfly.
Hisntrol over his Light Butterfly increased a notch.
Turns out, this is part of the Dao too.
Chen Qing gained new insights.
After judging for sevennsecutive days, those whommitted too many evil deeds and had heinous crimes were obliterated by Chen Qing.
Those whommitted minor offenses received punishment of hard labor, with lengths of time decided based on the severity of their sins.
Ofurse, he judged based on his feelings without specific rules.
Many who knew their crimes were heinous tried to escape, but howuld they escape Chen Qing’s perception?
He was acquainted with all the evil ghosts in this market as if a map was etched in his heart.
He knew the movements of all the ghost souls.
When three evil ghosts who had just left the market turned to smoke, no one dared to flee casually.
November 15th.
At midnight, Chen Qing ended a day ofurt sessions and put on the bronze ghost mask on the high seat.
Ji Ru had been waiting for a long time; upon seeing Chen Qing appear, he was the first to speak, “Fu Luo, pay respects to Senior Taichu.”
After others greeted him, Chen Qing softly said, “Fu Luo, Red Lotus, scholar, Feng, good evening.”
“Now, let’s begin the gathering.”
He placed his right index finger on the table, tapping to the eerie tune of Mr. Yin Yang.
As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Luo respectfully said, “Senior Taichu, I have acquired a brand new Gu insect and hope for your guidance.”
Fu Luo opened her clasped hands, clearly holding a cicada within them.
Upon seeing it, Chen Qing’s heart was startled.
Contracting a Gu insect requires reporting to the Spring and Autumn Cicada and Floating Butterfly.
The Floating Butterfly signifies heaven and earth, being the foundation of the world.
It is said the entire world is a giant butterfly, which is the Floating Butterfly.
The Spring and Autumn Cicada represents time,ntrolling its flow.
Among the three thousand paths, only the Spring and Autumn Cicada and Floating Butterfly, whichmmand the rivers of history and heaven and earth, surpass all.
There are many butterfly-type Gu insects, given the Floating Butterfly nurtures all things, hence most Gu insects are in butterfly form.
The Spring and Autumn Cicada, on par with the Floating Butterfly, is extremely mysterious, rarely seen in cicada form.
Suddenly witnessing a cicada-form Gu insect surprised Chen Qing, but after seeing specific information, he relaxed.
[Spiritual Grade Cicada·Three Years]
Quality: Gu First Transformation
Life Span: 62/300
Effect: Uponntracting, one enters triple timespan acceleration.
Before Ninth Transformation Harmonization, once triple timespan acceleration is activated, it cannot be turned off.
Trait:
[Unique]: It will have only one master in its lifetime; once the host perishes, it will return to the river of history. Time is irreversible.
[Heartless]: As a spirit of the river of history, it has no interest in worldly matters and does not actively eat.
Growth Requirements: Gold
Growth Progress: 0/100
Promotion Requirements: Gu Ninth Transformation, one Hundred-Year Life Gu.
Undeniably, this was the strangest Gu insect Chen Qing had ever seen.
The effect was immensely powerful, almost terrifying!
Triple timespan acceleration, what does that mean? Triple cultivation speed, triple spiritual energy rvery speed, inmbat, naturally three times faster than others!
This was amplished through time alterations, naturally three times ahead of others!
When executing a quick sword, perhaps before the enemy realized, they were already decapitated with one strike.
The two traits carried heavy negative undertones.
Having only one master per life meant the cicadauld not obtain a Promotion Map!
In other words, its promotion path must be explored over a long period, and figuring out its promotion needs, akin to Fu Luo’s Luck Gu, required substantial resources.
Fu Luo, as the Ninth Princess of Da Yan, howuld she lack the resources to promote a single spirit Gu? Yet she was born with the Luck Gu and blessed with fortune, and when she met Chen Qing, the Luck Gu was only in Ninth Transformation!
Investing large resources to cultivate a Gu insect demanding enormous resources seemed impracticalmpared to nurturing other Gu insects.
[Heartless] thwarted any plans to raise a wild cicada beforentracting it.
In the wild, it would always be in First Transformation, with growth progress perpetually zero.
In simple terms, these restrictions meant that uponntracting the Three-year Cicada, the irreversible triple timespan acceleration was activated.
Using it for cultivation ormbat would be excellent, but during peaceful times?
Even sleeping involved triple timespan acceleration!
A person’s lifeuld not bentinuously filled with battles, and even for Chen Qing, it only happened a few times a year.
Which was quite frequent.
Additionally,ntracting such a Gu insect meant being forced into an awkward situation.
Constantly needing tompete, fight, and seize cultivation resources.
Being victorious was fine, but how often is one always victorious?
One defeatuld lead to utter devastation.
The Three-year Cicada’s effect was overwhelmingly powerful, crushing all spiritual Gu.
To put it bluntly, if Fu Luontracted this Gu insect, what would Li Chonghuan amount to before her?
But the negative effects were equally overwhelming.
No wonder Emperor Donghua of Da Yan died young;ntracting such a domineering Gu insect, it’s no wonder they didn’t die early.
It’s no wonder Da Yanuld stand in this world for so long; possessing such powerful Gu insects is indeed extraordinary!
Chen Qing even suspected that the Three-year Cicada might not undergo any change upon promotion.
The Three-year Cicada’s effect wasn’t more useful than a Two-year Cicada; with the same opponent a Three-year Cicadauld defeat, a Two-year Cicadauld also defeat.
But the Two-year Cicada’s timespan acceleration would be much slower, more advantageous.
Thus, viewed this way, the triple timespan acceleration was perhaps a negative effect as well.
However, Chen Qing divered the most absurd part.
The negative effects of this cicada weren’t significant to him.
He realized heuld see themplete Promotion Map of the Three-year Cicada!
The only issue was that his eyes felt slightly sore now.
He stared at something he shouldn’t have looked directly at.
As for the specific naming of the titles, he was still unsure.
The temporary idea was:
Sparkfire, Fire Holder, Torchbearer, Lantern Keeper.
