"Li Qingchan, Rank 3 Chosen of the Cangxuan Sect."
Qingchan was not an idiot and knew he was mocking their presence.
"How was it you were able to find us?"
"It was rather simple really. Blackmail really does wonders. Especially when the Sect Masters Disciple is being tracked with a Genesis Tablet, searching for what we want."
Xiao Dai frowned at such words. If it was the Sacred Palace, who knew what kind of atrocities they threatened?
"Now what was this about a person called Wan Julong? You must excuse me if I got the name wrong, we were only just able to hear it through the conversation about the remains of a Dragon."
This Ling Kei really knew how to push people's buttons.
"Besides I really must pay you back for what you did Senior Brother Zhao Pan."
Julong began to ignore their comments, pulling the attention of Xiao Dai and Qingchan.
"I'm sorry about lying to you two before, however, we have to kill all three of them. If they are able to report anything about that conversation with Xiao Ming, it could mean a lot of trouble."
"You have a lot to do to make up for this, Wan Julong."
Li Qingchan gave him a stern gaze in response.
Xiao Dai similarly narrowed her eyes on his figure.
"Okay."
Ling Kei rolled his eyes as they went off in their own world.
"Can we stop with this sentimental attitude?"
With a swipe of his hand, 79,000 Genesis Qi Stars came to life around him. Along with this, an incredibly sharp Qi blade blew toward the three of them.
Li Qingchan blocked it without much effort before revealing her own foundation, which had grown a decent amount in the time they had been away. What used to be 80,000 Genesis Qi Stars was now 84,000.
Ling Kei seemed to freeze up a little seeing that. His attitude slowly returned though. It would be fine if the other two were defeated.
"If that's how it is, I think it's about time we also introduce ourselves."
One of the two people behind Ling Kei spoke for the first time with a small smile.
"Tu Hong, Rank 8 Chosen of the Sacred Palace."
This also prompted the one beside him to speak.
"Chief Disciple Chai Chu, Golden Sacred Hall of the Sacred Palace."
Assessing their strengths, Tu Hong had 52,000 Genesis Qi Stars and Chai Chu around 15,000.
While it seemed as though Qingchan would be alright, Xiao Dai and Julong might have found themselves in a rough spot. That was the source of Ling Kei's calm attitude. Because if Tu Hong and Chai Chu won their fights, they could all gang up on Qingchan.
However, luckily, Julong had found himself in the possession of some Ancestral Dragon Scales, the same ones that had temporarily boosted Xiao Ming's foundation by a whopping 20,000 Genesis Qi Stars.
"Xiao Dai, Disciple of Won Feng, Swirling Poison Corrupting Sect."
"Wan Julong, as I'm sure you know."
Everything went silent as they all stared at their opponents.
All of a sudden three collisions of power exploded. They had clashed at the same time!
While the battles around Julong had been rather even, he had completely lost his clash with Chai Chu. That was understandable though, the deficit between their Genesis Qi was currently too large.
He noticed Xiao Dai and Li Qingchan look back in worry, making the latter nearly take a hit from Ling Kei.
He had to win his fight for the sake of Qingchan and Xiao Dai. If he made them worry anymore things could get pretty bad.
Scowling from on the ground, he looked up at Chai Chu who was hovering with his 15,000 Genesis Qi Stars on display.
He needed at least 10,000 Genesis Qi Stars himself if he wanted a remotely doable fight.
He looked down at the Scales in his hand. They rattled and then did something completely unexpected. They absorbed into his body in less than a second. They appeared in his dwelling and began channelling power into them. He could immediately feel them taxing his body, to the point he would only be able to channel their power for around five minutes, but that was all he needed.
His foundation rocketed to nearly 13,000 in an instant. Chai Chu gave him a look of shock. While it wasn't the same as Xiao Ming, it was likely since Julong's foundation wasn't as large as Xiao Ming's, meaning they scaled proportionally to the power of who was harnessing them. The fact he gained just over 10,000 Genesis Qi Stars showed that his affinity for them was incredibly high. Not that that was any surprise. However, Julong did notice something strange happening to the actual Scales.
"What did you do?"
"None of your concern, Chai Chu. Just know, you will die today."
"Keep dreaming, you are merely a Third-Layer Alpha Origin Practitioner, while I am nearing the Divine Dwelling Stage! Even if you have such a foundation, my mastery of Genesis Qi far surpasses yours."
Julong grinned.
Grade-6 Genesis Qi shot toward Julong in an instant. With the new foundation adjustments, Wan Julong's Peak Grade-7 Genesis Qi would have no issue obliterating the attack.
Julong merely clicked his fingers, clashing with Chai Chu's attack and considerably overpowering it.
Chai Chu's features erupted in rage.
"Grade-7 Genesis Qi, how is that even real? I hate to say it, but you're more impressive than you look. If you are allowed to get any stronger you might start to pose issues. You should have no trouble if I stop looking down on you then!"
The dark clouds overhead began to split as a blinding light ray beam down onto the ground. it charred the ground wherever it went, killing all in its path.
"My Light of the Heavens will annihilate you where you stand!"
Julong narrowed his eyes as the Heavenly Saint Edge appeared in his hand. Julong could definitely kill Chai Chu if he was to use his Spears of Divine Light, however, he also acknowledged that he relied on them far too heavily, and without them, he currently had no way of contending with said Genesis Technique. If he wanted to keep his identity a secret, he needed to improve his all-round capabilities so as not to have to use them. As such, he decided that he would begin with Chai Chu.
The Heavenly Saint Edge was a weapon that could attack the Spirit. If he could charge it with his own Spirit Power, and so much as touch Chai Chu, Julong would be able to kill him, since he could tell Chai Chu's Spirit was only in the Illusory Realm. Since Julong's Spirit was at the Corporeal Realm it would be no contest as to who would win.
To Chai Chu's surprise, Julong charged toward the attack. Or that was at least how it appeared. That was when Chai Chu saw Julong heading straight toward him with the Heavenly Saint Edge. He had no knowledge of the weapon and therefore had no clue what it did.
He grinned as he prepared a barrier in front of him. If he couldn't block the Ray of Heaven, then there was no way Julong could break his barrier with his Genesis Qi.
That along with the Ray of Heaven still following the poor boy, would undoubtedly be his death.
In the next instant, the Spear collided with the barrier. Thanks to the defensive Technique, Julong was unable to completely penetrate the barrier. However, the tip of his spear made it through, and that was all he needed.
Spirit Power flowed through the Heavenly Saint Edge and burst onto Chai Chu's body, stunning him briefly. His barrier fell, and Julong stabbed him through the chest and discharged the rest of the Spirit Power he had accumulated into the body of Chai Chu.
He screamed as he felt his Spirit being torn apart.
"I-Impossible!"
Chai Chu's Ray of Heaven disappeared as his Spirit appeared on his head and exploded, killing him in an instant.
The other two battles stopped as they watched Chai Chu's dead body fall from the sky.
"What..?"
Ling Kei was the most shocked as he saw Chai Chu die. Wan Julong only had just under 3,000 Genesis Qi Stars, but now he had 13,000 and had killed a Chief Disciple of his Sect!
It made him worried. What if Li Qingchan and Xiao Dai could do something similar? It was his faltering in such a way that gave Qingchan the opening she had been looking for. Two spiralling lotus flowers struck his chest before she also punched him through the gut.
Her hand pierced him like a blade. She ripped it out a second later, killing Ling Kei.
Seeing this Tu Hong, trembled in fear. He took one last look at Xiao Dai before turning tail and beginning to run. Qingchan didn't allow this however and appeared in front of him a moment later. He slammed into the ground leaving a hundred-foot crater.
Xiao Dai in the next instant used the sword on her hip and sunk the blade into Tu Hong's forehead.
Julong grinned as the power of the Scales wore off. He had to sit down due to the exhaustion of it all. When he looked inside his Dwelling, what was 11 Scales was now 10. He had a feeling there would be a trade-off of some kind. The issue with this trade-off was that he could feel his body attempting to absorb them, only stopped by Julong's clear thinking. A normal person could not absorb them, or even attempt to comprehend them, however, due to Julong's special conditions he had no trouble with that. The issue was if he absorbed them, it was likely that he would break into the Fourth-Layer, and Mid-Corporeal Realm, which still left him with fewer Genesis Qi Stars than if he were to temporarily harness their power. He was lucky that there weren't fewer of them due to Xiao Mings' potential extensive use of them.
As he pondered this, he was approached by Qingchan and Xiao Dai, who were both relieved and upset with Julong due to his prior lying.
"So what else have you kept from us?"
Sweat ran down Julong's neck.
He was about to pray to God and then remembered said God was inside his own head.
It left him cursing himself.