Watching the strong reaction coming from Zhao Shu and Yu Ming, Huang Xiaolong was sure they had heard about the God Binding Ring.
And sure enough, Zhao Shu spoke up, "Sovereign, the God Binding Ring is one of the top ten Heavenly Treasures and is placed at number six."
"Number six!" Huang Xiaolong's eye slit up and was delighted within.
Prior to this, he had guessed the God Binding Ring was higher than the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, but he did not expect it would be number six on the Heavenly Treasures List.
There was a vast chasm separating the strengths and power provided by each Heavenly Treasure on the list. The higher the rank, the larger the gap, which in turn meant that it would increase the owner's power exponentially the higher ranked the treasure was.
And the God Binding Ring was actually three ranks higher than the Linglong Treasure Pagoda!
"Left Custodian Zhao Shu is right." Yu Ming took over the explanation at this point, "Sovereign, the Heavenly Treasure, God Binding Ring, once appeared in Martial Spirit World somewhere around three thousand years ago, triggering a period of terror. At that time, the master of the God Binding Ring was someone named Lin Shengjie. He was the Lord of an evil sect, favoring slaughter and massacre by nature, which invoked the wrath of numerous forces of Martial Spirit World who decided to join hands and besiege Lin Shengjie. Although Lin Shengjie was very powerful, under the continuous attacks of so many forces, he was still killed in the end. Even the evil sect that he built was annihilated overnight!"
"Lord of an evil sect, Lin Shengjie?!" Huang Xiaolong was taken aback. The previous master of the God Binding Ring being the Lord of an evil sect truly came as a surprise to him.
"Yes." Zhao Shu said, "At that time, Lin Shengjie was at the peak of the Ninth Order Saint realm with one foot into the God Realm. The number of Xiantian and Saint realm experts under him at that time were innumerable. In that joint attack of Martial Spirits there were many forces. Although they successfully killed him, they also lost half of their experts in that battle!"
"A peak Ninth Order Saint realm master!"
"Half of their experts!"
Huang Xiaolong's understanding was once again jarred.
And there was that realm−God Realm!
Above the Saint realm was God Realm?!
This was his first time hearing about this. So, the realm above the Saint realm was called the God Realm!
Zhao Shu continued, "The battle that year was truly full of blood flowing like a river." Then, Zhao Shu suddenly smiled at Huang Xiaolong at this time, saying "That year, Lin Shengjie died under the Old Sovereign's hand."
"Master?" This piece of information was outside the bounds of Huang Xiaolong's expectation.
Zhao Shu nodded, "Old Sovereign was a peak late-Eighth Order Saint realm master at that time and joined in the siege on Lin Shengjie." As he was saying this, Zhao Shu's tone suddenly mellowed down as if remembering something, "Lin Shengjie died on the Snowless Mountain if I'm not mistaken."
Huang Xiaolong looked at Zhao Shu.
"At that time, Duanren Empire had yet to come into existence, but now, that Snowless Mountains is located within Duanren Empire's territory. However, it has been more than three thousand years, and the exact location of the Snowless Mountains would be hard to determine." Zhao Shu went on, "After Lin Shengjie died that year, the God Binding Ring became a masterless item, and many forces coveted it. Man and resources were spent in search of it, yet until today there was no news about anyone finding it."
Huang Xiaolong's emotions were surging.
Snowless Mountains… Could that be the mountain range that surrounds the Enlightenment Lake of Yuwai Kingdom?
It must be!
Otherwise, it would be exceedingly difficult to explain how the God Binding Ring had appeared at the Enlightenment Lake.
Another issue that caught Huang Xiaolong's attention was his Master, Ren Wokuang. Three thousand years ago, his Master was a peak late-Eighth Order Saint realm master. Then, before Master disappeared, which was around sixty years ago, how high had his strength reached?
Could Master have reached the God Realm?!
If indeed he advanced into God Realm, then how did he die?
Someone killed him?
Who could possibly have the power to do so?
Wait! There is a possibility that Master did not die! Suddenly, this thought flashed across Huang Xiaolong's mind. All this time, he had presumed his Master Ren Wokuang was dead, what if it wasn't so? He just went somewhere? Just like the people from Asura's Gate had been saying all along, he was just missing.
"Sovereign, why did you suddenly ask about the God Binding Ring?" At this time, Yu Ming suddenly asked.
Everyone in the hall turned to look at Huang Xiaolong.
"To be honest, I have the God Binding Ring!" Facing everyone's puzzled expression, Huang Xiaolong spoke frankly. Since he asked Zhao Shu and Yu Ming, he did not plan to conceal the matter from them.
With regards to the matter about him acquiring and refining the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, he was one hundred percent certain that Yu Ming mentioned it to Zhao Shu. Since Zhao Shu knew he had the number nine Linglong Treasure Pagoda, adding one more treasure to the list wouldn't make much of a difference.
"What?!" The four people were shocked and they all immediately shot up from their seats, which of course included Fei Hou and Haotian. Both of them were in the dark and had no idea that Huang Xiaolong also successfully acquired and refined the God Binding Ring.
Before the four pairs of shocked eyes, Huang Xiaolong summoned the God Binding Ring.
Watching the golden ring that exuded an aureate glow hovering silently above Huang Xiaolong, all eyes fell on the God Binding Ring that was floating in the air.
It was as if there was an inexplicable allure coming from the aureate glow, captivating their minds.
Zhao Shu was hit with waves of emotions. A year before, when Yu Ming returned to the headquarters and reported to him regarding Huang Xiaolong, describing in detail about Huang Xiaolong's superb talent twin martial spirits and the fact that he refined the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, both he and Zhang Fu were astounded. Now, he was seeing it with his own eyes: another Heavenly Treasure, the number six God Binding Ring was owned by Huang Xiaolong!
The excitement in Zhao Shu's heart was hard to contain.
The two Heavenly Treasures on the list, number nine and number six were refined by Huang Xiaolong. On top of that, Huang Xiaolong had superb talent twin martial spirits, so his achievements in the future were hard to imagine!
"Sovereign invincible throughout!" After a long time, Zhao Shu repressed his excitement and suddenly knelt down in salute towards Huang Xiaolong.
"Sovereign invincible throughout!" Yu Ming, Fei Hou, and Haotian reacted, and followed suit, kneeling down in salute towards Huang Xiaolong, lauding the long unheard phrase.
Invincible throughout!
Huang Xiaolong looked helplessly at the four people that suddenly knelt down in salute.
"The four of you, stand up." Huang Xiaolong could only tell them to stand after the fact.
"Thanks to Sovereign!" Zhao Shu was the first one to rise, followed by Yu Ming, Fei Hou, and Haotian.
After that, Huang Xiaolong asked Zhao Shu and Yu Ming what they knew about the God Binding Ring, as well as matters related to Asura's Gate.
Zhao Shu and Yu Ming hid nothing and spoke everything they knew about what was asked.
Gaining an understanding of the information regarding the God Binding Ring and Asura's Gate, Huang Xiaolong said to Zhao Shu and Yu Ming, "Ten days later, we're setting off to Duanren Empire."
"Sovereign wants to go to the Imperial City?" Zhao Shu and Yu Ming were surprised.
At this point, Haotian interjected, "Left Custodian Zhao Shu, Master, Sovereign won the Cosmic Star Academy overall championship, so he will be heading to Duanren Empire to participate in the Imperial City Battle!"
"Participating in the Imperial City Battle?!" Both Zhao Shu and Yu Ming's eyes widened in disbelief.
Imperial City Battle of the Duanren Empire, both Zhao Shu and Yu Ming had heard a little about it. In the Star Cloud Continent where they came from, the empires also held something like a battle or competition amongst its geniuses.
But, wasn't Sovereign only seventeen this year? At seventeen, he could snatch the Academy champion title and represent the Academy in the Imperial City Battle of Duanren Empire?
"Sovereign, you already broke into the Tenth Order?" Yu Ming ventured cautiously.
In Yu Ming's opinion, for Huang Xiaolong to be the Academy's overall champion, he must at least be a Tenth Order warrior.
How old is Huang Xiaolong at the moment? This young man was practically still a boy, which made it hard for Yu Ming to believe. Even Zhao Shu was looking at Huang Xiaolong suspiciously.
Huang Xiaolong nodded, "Two months ago, I advanced to peak late-Tenth Order; now, just half a step more, and I will be able to break through into the Xiantian realm."
Two months ago, peak late-Tenth Order!
Only half a foot and he could break through into the Xiantian realm!
Zhao Shu and Yu Ming's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets before a sharp intake of air could be heard coming from them. A seventeen-year-old peak late-Tenth Order warrior? No, wait! Two months ago, that means Sovereign was still sixteen, right?!