Shaking his head, Fei Hou said: "No one knows what Duan Wuhen's martial spirit is; it was said that he never shows his martial spirit in public."
Huang Xiaolong contemplated the matter; no one knows about Duan Wuhen's martial spirit, or he should say the people who knew are already dead, silenced by Duan Wuhen. Thus, no one in the outside world has any clue about his martial spirit.
However, this Duan Wuhen could cultivate till Xiantian Ninth Order in a short span of two hundred years, so no doubt his martial spirit grade is not low.
Grade twelve, or?!
Seeing Huang Xiaolong in deep thoughts, Fei Hou dared not make a sound to interrupt.
"Sovereign, how should we proceed now?" Sometime later, Fei Hou cautiously asked in a low voice.
Huang Xiaolong was pulled out of his pensiveness: "Prepare, we'll head out to the Enlightenment Lake tomorrow!"
Although Duanren Empire's intervention added an undesirable variable to the situation, Huang Xiaolong was determined to get his hands on the Heavenly Treasure that appeared in the Enlightenment Lake!
This was an opportunity for him!
Only with the addition of this Heavenly Treasure could he break through into the Xiantian realm at the fastest speed, and it was another trump card against his Senior Brother Chen Tianqi!
Fei Hou acknowledged Huang Xiaolong's order respectfully and retreated from the yard.
After Fei Hou left, Huang Xiaolong entered the Linglong Treasure Pagoda's space, swallowed a Fire Dragon Pearl, and continued practicing.
Arxan Mountain, near the Enlightenment Lake.
The mountains embraced the Enlightenment Lake in their bosom, and the Arxan Mountain was the tallest and biggest mountain in the vicinity. On the peak of Arxan Mountain stood someone– someone who wore a deep golden yellow robe and looked like a middle-aged man in his thirties. There were eight lifelike potent dragons embroidered on his dark yellow robes. The middle-aged man stood there quietly with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of the Enlightenment Lake before him.
Standing at the top of Arxan Mountain, one could take in the entire lake in a glance.
Even though the middle-aged man just stood there quietly, an amazing momentum came from his body, exuding an invisible noble aura of someone above others as if he was the sky above and everything else was at his feet.
At this time, a group of people reached the Peak of Arxan Mountain from the foot of the mountain, and they stopped their steps ten meters away from the yellow-robed middle-aged man. Each had a respectful expression on their faces as they saluted, "We humble Ministers pay respect to His Imperial Highness Second Prince!"
In the midst of this group of people, the Yuwai Kingdom's King, Fan Zhe, was one of them!
These people were from the Yuwai Kingdom as well as envoys from the neighboring kingdoms.
The Yuwai Kingdom, Baolong Kingdom, and the rest that had sworn fealty to the Duanren Empire. That was why even though Fan Zhe is the King of a kingdom, they were also subjects of Duanren Empire.
When this group of people got wind of Duan Wuhen's arrival in the Enlightenment Lake, everyone dashed there to pay their respects.
Duan Wuhen simply stood with his hands clasped behind him; an apathetic voice floated with the soft breeze: "Rise."
"Much obliged, His Imperial Highness Second Prince!" Fan Zhe and everyone thanked respectfully and slowly got up.
"Although I'm here at the Enlightenment Lake, all of you have no reason to worry; when the great treasure appears in the coming few days, I will allow all of you to join in the fray!" Duan Wuhen announced.
Hearing these words, everyone in the group was secretly happy in their hearts; this was the question they were most worried about.
"Much obliged His Imperial Highness Second Prince!"
Duan Wuhen waved his hand: "All of you can go now."
Acknowledging the command to leave, the group of people retreated out of sight and left the mountain.
When all were gone, the expert that followed Duan Wuhen from the Empire, Sun Liang, walked up to him saying "Imperial Highness, you allowed them to fight for the treasure– at that time, won't it be…?"
Duan Wuhen stoic face was calm, "So what if I allow them to try their luck at it? Do you think a Heavenly Treasure is something these clowns can subdue? Letting them have a sliver of hope is nothing bad; there is still ten years' time until the Deities Templar's disciple selection. This Enlightenment Lake's Heavenly Treasure can only be mine!"
Sun Liang said, "When the Heavenly Treasure is born, only Imperial Highness has the ability to subdue it, and ten years later, Imperial Highness absolutely will be selected as a Deities Templar disciple!"
Duan Wuhen nodded, eyes staring at the faraway horizon.
The sky gradually darkened as night descended and receded again when morning came.
When the first light dawned, Huang Xiaolong ended his practice and exited the Linglong Treasure Pagoda's space.
One month of focused training had increased Huang Xiaolong strength exponentially once again, whereas the State of Abundant Lightning move was now much more lethal compared to the time it was used to defeat Yang An.
Exiting the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, Huang Xiaolong saw that Fei Hou was already waiting for him.
Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou left Fei Mansion and headed straight in the direction of the Enlightenment Lake.
Other than Fei Hou, Huang Xiaolong did not bring a single extra person; the more people they have on this trip, the more unnecessary attention they would attract. The military ban on the Enlightenment Lake was rescinded and the martial law in the Yuwai Royal City was also lifted. The two left the city smoothly.
Two hours later, they arrived at the Enlightenment Lake.
Standing before the crystal clear aquamarine lake, Huang Xiaolong felt somewhat rueful. Once the Heavenly Treasure is born, how many people's blood would color this pure and clear lake a dark crimson red?
"Sovereign, let's look for a place to rest for the time being?" Fei Hou asked moments later.
Huang Xiaolong nodded.
Just when they turned around wanting to leave, weird, sorrowful cries came from inside the lake – sometimes sharp and other times it sounded like someone sighing with lament, laced with a sorrow filled anger that was waiting to break out, making people uncomfortable hearing it.
"Ever since the vision manifestation happened one month ago, this kind of weird noise started to echo from the Enlightenment Lake, and the frequency grew increasingly more frequent, almost once every hour." Fei Hou explained.
Huang Xiaolong turned back, looking at the center of the Enlightenment Lake where the weird cries originated; the initially calm lake surface started to ripple and surge in chaos, akin to a monumental, menacing beast that was about to free itself from the bottom of the lake.
And at this point, the Linglong Treasure Pagoda inside Huang Xiaolong's body shook and showed signs of flying out.
Huang Xiaolong was stunned; he swiftly utilized the Golden Linglong Body, only then did the Linglong Treasure Pagoda grow silent.
The surface of the lake also returned to its previous calm after the weird cries stopped.
"Let's go." Huang Xiaolong said to Fei Hou.
He had a feeling that the Heavenly Treasure would appear in the next two days. The high frequency of the weird cries coming from the lake was one indication of his hunch.
Leaving, they found a peak in close proximity to the lake. Finding a spot, both sat down cross-legged as they waited patiently for the Heavenly Treasure's birth.
Scouting down from the mountain peak they were on, they could see most of the Enlightenment Lake's area clearly. It was a good spot.
However, almost immediately after Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou sat down, a group made up of young men and women, roughly twenty people in total that were dressed in soft black robes with a mystical bird totem embroidered on their chests, came up to them.
When this group of young men and women stopped in front of Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou, one of the young men walked out from the group and said to Huang Xiaolong, "This little brother, we took a fancy to this location first before you, we'd trouble you to leave this place now."
"Fancy first?" Huang Xiaolong's expression remained aloof: "What if we refuse to leave?"
"Little rascal, don't push your luck!" Another young man walked out from the group, "Our Senior Brother Wu tells you to leave, so you should have gratefully kowtowed and left obediently. If you don't scram this very moment, don't blame us for being blunt!"
"What is the use of talking so much with them, go up and just kill them; wouldn't the matter settle faster and easier that way?" At this point, another young woman from the group interjected.
The first young man who spoke stared at Huang Xiaolong and said, "Little brother, you also heard what they said; my Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters' temper are not as good as mine. In my opinion, you better leave quickly. It's not worth it to lose your life just for a spot."
Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou exchanged a glance and stood up.