The Next Day
"So, tell me what happened?" Elder Ren asked Yang Zhai.
"Elder, according to what Hong Mi told me, it appears that both brother Ming and sister Fu are missing for two days. Even their parents don't know where they went." Yang Zhai said casually. There was not even a single expression on his face. Nobody would be able to tell what Yang Zhai was thinking.
"Hmm…" Elder Ren narrowed his eyes. It was unknown what he was thinking, but Yang Zhai could tell that Elder Ren was definitely trying to figure out what happened to the two disciples who went missing.
"Something is strange…, two days ago, a loud explosion was also heard from outside the village and both the disciples went missing on the same day. Could it be… that the explosion had something to do with them? If it is, then there is something wrong going on here. I should probably tell the academy leader about this." Elder Ren muttered to himself. He had an intuition that something big was going to happen. If his intuition was right, then he could not take this matter lightly.
"Yang Zhai,"
"Yes, Elder Ren,"
"Did the parents of the disciples say something else?"
"No, elder,"
"Very well, then, you should try to find more about the two disciples from their families and the surrounding areas. I am sure we will be able to find something." Elder Ren looked at Yang Zhai and said seriously.
"Don't worry, elder Ren. This time, I will investigate myself from the families of both of the disciples and the surrounding areas."
Yang Zhai was a cautious person. Even though he was confident that he had destroyed all of the evidence, he would still not take a chance by letting someone else investigate this.
"Ok, I am counting on you." Elder Ren said. His time was over, so he left.
"Yang Zhai," Yang Zhai heard someone calling his name, so he looked behind and saw Ci An.
"What is it?"
"My father said that he is willing to meet you. He will be waiting for you at the Moon Bull Inn. So, you shouldn't make my father wait longer. That's all, I will be going." After Ci An conveyed her father's message, she left with a pout on her face. She could not bear to stand in front of Yang Zhai for even a minute.
When Yang Zhai heard this, he smiled. It seemed that he was going to get his hands on the Blue Gem after all. He had already expected that Elder Cu would not listen to her daughter and give Yang Zhai the Blue Gem, he already knew that Ci An would be rejected right away. That is why he told her to arrange a meeting between her father and him.
But Yang Zhai had not expected that Ci An's father would be ready to meet him so soon. He had thought that he would have to punish Ci An about three to four times before Cu Gil finally agreed.
"Whatever, as long as I can meet him, that is good."
Yang Zhai went home without doing anything else. He could feel that he was ready to advance to the Rank 1 Mid-stage. He only wanted to focus on advancing to the mid-stage today. That is why he did not go anywhere else.
Yang Zhai sat on his bed and started to cultivate. He pulled out the Strength Ka and activated it and a gentle glow shone over Yang Zhai's entire body from Strength Ka. He then pulled out two essence stones. After that, he closed his eyes and began to let his aperture wall absorb the Essence water.
After Six hours, Yang Zhai's aperture began to shake. A white light began to permeate his aperture. Then his aperture wall shook a little before getting normal again. All the process was happening in Yang Zhai's aperture. In the real world, nothing happened and everything was normal. Not even a little bit of the light was emitted from his aperture into the room. Everything took effect in the aperture.
After the light dissipated, everything in his aperture returned to normal. The aperture and the Essence Water looked the same, but it could be felt that the essence water and the aperture were more powerful than before. However, two red lines had appeared in his Essence Water, which meant that he was a Rank 1 Mid-stage cultivator now. And as his essence water was already strong enough to match a Rank 1 mid-stage cultivator's essence water, the two lines that appeared in his essence water were more lively and dark red.
When a cultivator advances sub ranks in Rank 1, red lines appear. Two red lines meant a cultivator with mid-stage cultivation. Three red lines mean that a person was a Rank 1 third stage, and a cultivator with four red lines meant that a person was a Rank 1 peak stage cultivator. And the darker the color, the stronger a cultivator's foundation and Essence Water was, which of course meant that the cultivator would be able to summon stronger techniques and their attacks would be stronger. Then, the Essence water consumed to activate a Ka and a treasure would be less compared to the person with the light red color of the lines.
Yang Zhai's red lines were darker because he had used stronger Essence water to cultivate his aperture. It was like he used Mid-stage essence water to cultivate an early-stage aperture, of course, the lines would be darker and stronger. Then, these lines were able to swim in the Essence Water. The darker and the stronger the line was, the faster it could swim. It had many benefits:such as the activation of a Ka would be faster, and these lines would be able to hide from the eyes of the other, and then after Rank 5, it was said that there was a chance of the livelier lines becoming alive. But this was only a legend because, after rank 5, a cultivator would become a false immortal. However, Yang Zhai knew that this legend was not false.
But his body did not become stronger after advancing because a cultivator's body would only become stronger physically after advancing a major rank:Meaning, advancing from Rank 1 to Rank 2. Of course, he was still stronger physically even without advancing to Rank 2 because he was using Strength Ka every day to make his body stronger. His body was far stronger than the other kids. His Essence Water limit was still 59 percent though.
"I finally advanced. Now, I am a Rank 1 Mid-Stage cultivator. And the two Red lines in my aperture are also darker. In my previous life, these lines were light, but this time, it is the exact opposite. But I can see that the Aurora did not benefit me this time. Sigh… whatever, at least, I advanced."
Yang Zhai was feeling happy that he managed to advance in only around two weeks. Yet, his expression did not change. This was only a small happiness. His goal was to reach the Over-stage for now. And his real goal was to free himself from every prison he was a prisoner of. Such as the prison of life(age), the prison of power, as power is needed for everything, the prison of being controlled, the prison of feigning to achieve goals, many more prisons, and even the prison of himself. He wanted to free himself from everything.
To him, even life and death were prisons.
After he advanced, he began to cultivate again. He cultivated for a little more time before he went to the dining table.
His uncle Wei and aunt Wei were sitting across the table from each other. He sat at one side of the table, and opposite him were sitting his two cousins.
"Yang Zhai, how is your cultivation going?" Uncle Wei asked Yang Zhai.
"Fine, there is no problem for the time being."
"That's good. If you encounter any problems, you can ask your uncle and aunt Wei." Uncle Wei said.
"Do you know that Hyun Hae has already advanced to Rank 1 Mid-Stage and will soon be able to advance to the third stage?" Aunt Wei said.
"Huh… for real. A physique is no joke after all. I am truly impressed." When Yang Zhai heard aunt Wei, he pretended to be shocked and his eyes widened. After all, he was a kid in the eyes of the world, so he could not act maturely. How could a kid be able to remain calm after finding the power of a physique? Thus, Yang Zhai pretended to be shocked, making others feel like he was truly impressed by the news. But in actuality, he knew the power of a physique more clearly than the others.
"What would happen if they knew that I also advanced to the mid-stage with just fifty nine percent essence water? Wouldn't they die of shock": Yang Zhai thought.
"Of course, she is impressive. She has a Water Physique after all. And even I will be able to advance in a week or so." Lie Yi said proudly.
Yang Zhai was curious. After all, a person with ninety percent essence water takes around three weeks to advance from the Rank 1 early stage to the mid stage. But, Lie Yi on the other hand took only around two weeks to advance in his previous life. And Lie Yi was about to advance in this life as well. Could it be that he was using some method to help himself?
"You three kids need to be ready. We have a chance to become nobles in our clan. Therefore, I don't want any mistakes." Uncle Wei said all of a sudden.
"We are already five and therefore, I don't want you three to risk your lives."
Yang Zhai only listened and did not say anything. He already knew what his uncle was saying.
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