Chapter 411: Eighth Level Spirit Realm

Thousandleaf nodded with appreciation. “I’ll give you three days. Fei Xuan, you’re more familiar with the secular world, so accompany Tang Hong.”

Thousandleaf looked around in a circle when he was finished. “Remember, Jiang Chen is a member of the Precious Tree Sect regardless of whether or not he is alive or dead. His family and friends are people that we must protect as well. If anyone dares move against them, that is the same as fighting against our own. If I find out someone had done so, I will not let them off easily!”

Jiang Chen was now the Precious Tree Sect’s treasure, and its most precious one at that.

How could forefather Thousandleaf possibly allow the Iron family to harass Jiang Chen’s people? If they irritated Jiang Chen, then all would be for naught in the end!

Therefore, forefather Thousandleaf actually had personally given a warning.

When the Iron father and son duo heard this, they were both privately dejected. They knew that this meant the Iron family would be stomped underfoot by Jiang Chen in the future!

They only had one thought in their minds right now, and that was hoping that Jiang Chen never walked out of the Eternal Spirit Mountain. He better die in there!

In the Skylaurel Kingdom, everyone in the Jiang manor knew that the selection was over, but was greatly astonished that Jiang Chen hadn’t walked out from the mountain.

Jiang Feng had long since left the manor, and there were only Jiang Chen’s third uncle Jiang Tong and his cousin Jiang Yu left at home.

Neither of these two had the power to make the decisions in the Jiang manor, so the final word was left up to Gouyu.

“Jiang Chen is the boss of me, Tang Hong. I will not leave his family to fend for themselves. You can go to the Precious Tree Sect if you need protection. I will guarantee your safety.”

“We appreciate your good intentions, but we have decided to stay here and wait for the young master’s return.” Gouyu’s attitude was also firm.

She didn’t believe that Jiang Chen would fall and resolutely believed that he would return safely.

With Xue Tong has their leader, all the other personal guards expressed determined attitudes as well. They did not want to move to the Precious Tree Sect and wanted to stay in the capital instead.

Their attitudes were clearly defined. If the young master had yet to enter the Precious Tree Sect, then neither would they as followers. Otherwise, it would be an improper act.

Although they were all secular disciples, they had spent a great deal of time with Jiang Chen and had inherited a similar self pride.

Tang Hong also sighed with admiration when he saw this. “You guys follow my boss alright! You guys are the spitting image of my boss. Alright, wait here if you’d like instead. If anyone comes make trouble for you, just mention my name or go to the sect to find forefather Thousandleaf. In fact, the forefather himself has even given instructions about this!”

Forefather Thousandleaf, a venerated origin realm cultivator was paying personal attention to this! This made Gouyu and the others feel pride swelling from within their hearts.

What did this mean?

This meant that the young master had indeed soared to astounding heights this time. Even an origin realm cultivator valued his existence. Even if his current status was unknown, the origin realm cultivator still didn’t dare let any of his people suffer.

This obliquely reflected on the young master’s current position.

When Tang Hong left, Crown Prince Ye Rong and Tian Zhao of the Dragonteeth Guard all came to visit and inquire how everyone was doing. They didn’t give the Jiang family the cold shoulder just because Jiang Chen had yet to return.

……

Time flew as if on the back of an arrow; the days and months flashed by like a weaver’s shuttle.

Half a year passed by unconsciously just like this.

After half a year of hard work, Jiang Chen had solidified his control in the seventh level spirit realm and was showing slight signs of breaking through.

The concentration of spirit power in the sky quadrant was ten times that of the outside world’s. Cultivating here for half a year was the equivalent of three to five years in the outside world, or possibly even more.

Jiang Chen had faced no distractions in the half year here. He hadn’t needed to consider the exams, opponents, farm points, or his ranking.

Therefore, apart from occasional conversations with Elder Shu and Huang’er in this half year, he’d spent almost all his efforts in cultivation.

The unconscious Chu Xinghan awoke after spending three months in a coma. A complex interplay of emotions flowed in his heart when he discovered that the person who’d saved him was Jiang Chen.

However, he was an open minded person after all. When Long Juxue hit him with that blow, he knew that his relationship with the Purple Sun Sect was over.

Jiang Chen didn’t speak words of encouragement to him. Since he had woken up, it was up to Chu Xinghan’s heart and soul if he could regain his faith and set foot on the path of martial dao again.

Chu Xinghan truly did feel his heart was dead inside in the beginning. But as time went on and he witnessed how furiously Jiang Chen cultivated everyday, he was rather touched.

He’d heard that Long Juxue had been cleaved into two by Jiang Chen in the ring.

When he heard this, a knot in Chu Xinghan’s heart was undone immediately. It seemed like all his lost vitality and belief had been found again.

“Even Long Juxue of the innate constitution had been cleaved into two with one blow. It can be seen that on the path of martial dao, so-called geniuses and domineering auras are all nothing. I am a man, my master has abandoned me, my peers tried to harm me—when none of these have destroyed me, what reason do I have to wallow in self pity? What else do I have to lose?”

Chu Xinghan suddenly understood all that Jiang Chen had done for him when his thoughts traveled here, and he understood Jiang Chen’s hard efforts as well.

“Jiang Chen…”

A light of deep contemplation sparkled in Chu Xinghan’s eyes as he looked in the direction of Jiang Chen’s residence. He knew that Jiang Chen had been the one to save him, and he’d only lived until now because of Jiang Chen’s pills.

Having taken a walk in front of death’s doors, Chu Xinghan had gained great comprehension and understood true human nature.

“To think that the one who’d want to kill me would be the master that I have served with great loyalty all along, and the one who saved me would be the very enemy that I wanted to kill with all my strength. How ironic! I am so laughable to have been fenced in by foolish thoughts of filial piety all my life, ones that almost condemned my own life in the end.”

Chu Xinghan thought clearly and felt that he was still the lucky one.

When thinking of the others beneath Master Shuiyue and how she lacked talent now, even his former eldest senior brother had defected to the Flowing Wind Sect.

“I must live, and keep on living!” A strong desire to live grew in Chu Xinghan’s heart. “My life was given to me from Jiang Chen. I clearly delineate my grudges and favors. I must repay this debt of gratitude even if I die.”

Once Chu Xinghan’s desire to live was formed, his strong dao heart immediately gave him boundless motivation to train.

On this day, Jiang Chen suddenly felt a surging momentum in his spirit ocean that abruptly brought him to the edge of breaking through.

Jiang Chen was delighted by this. He’d thought that breaking through to the eighth level spirit realm would require a bit more time. He hadn’t thought that it’d arrive so soon.

Since the timing to break through had arrived, how would Jiang Chen let it pass him by?

He gathered up his strength for one go as the spirit energy in his spirit ocean became increasingly lively, continuously assailing a higher level.

Finally, when a current of spirit qi had completed a full circulation, he advanced another step forward in the spirit realm and set foot into eighth level spirit realm.

“Hoo! I hadn’t thought that the eighth level would arrive so quickly, much faster than I’d anticipated!”

Jiang Chen didn’t dare tarry as he hastily solidified his foundations after breaking through to another level.

……

In a yard not too far away, Elder Shun stood with his hands behind his back, looking leisurely at the residence that Jiang Chen was in. He sighed lightly. “This Jiang Chen is truly a perverse genius. Just how many secrets are present on him? Or has he truly been possessed by a god?”

When Jiang Chen had suddenly gone from useless fop to genius in the Eastern Kingdom, general sentiment had been that he’d been possessed by a divine being.

Elder Shun had heard of it in the Hall of Healing, but had dismissed it with a sniff, utterly contemptuous of these words.

But now, he had to truly wonder, had Jiang Chen really received a divine visitation?

In this world, those with stronger cultivation and strength would have deeper understanding of the matters of the gods.

Elder Shun had never doubted the existence of the gods. It was because he believed they existed that he didn’t believe Jiang Chen had been possessed by one.

Now that he looked back on Jiang Chen’s life, there really had been divine touches all over the place. Jiang Chen was someone he paid particular attention to, so he knew quite a few more details than the forefathers.

However, Elder Shun was a gentleman after all. He didn’t start prying into Jiang Chen’s affairs just because of the latter’s performance.

He knew that if he became nosy and started posing quite a few questions, it would surely give rise to Jiang Chen’s wariness and even result in his aversion and antipathy.

In this way, this would go against Elder Shun’s desires and affect the chances of healing Huang’er’s ailment.

Elder Shun knew that the geniuses of the world all had their own fortunes. No one had the right to ask anything, unless they had nefarious designs.

Elder Shun didn’t have any conspiracies towards Jiang Chen, so he was only grateful towards Jiang Chen’s diagnosis and Huang’er’s treatment. He didn’t ask further about Jiang Chen’s various heaven defying performances.

Jiang Chen also showed a great accord and never mentioned where these things came from.

“Huang’er, how have you felt in this half year?” Elder Shun sighed lightly and turned his head to ask.

“Huang’er has felt much better this half year in accordance with Sir Jiang’s instructions. Even when the symptoms seemed that they would flare up a few times, they could all be suppressed by the ‘Ethereal Soothing Melody’. Sir Jiang is a man of great talent.”

Huang’er was filled with great admiration and gratitude whenever she mentioned Jiang Chen.

“Mm, Jiang Chen must have an uncommon heritage that no one else knows about. Huang’er, who would’ve thought that old man Qian Ji’s divination would be thus miraculous? I am rather curious now how far will Jiang Chen go? I have even higher expectations for him now.” Elder Shun didn’t conceal his good feelings towards Jiang Chen at all.

“If Elder Shun admires Sir Jiang so much, why not take him as your disciple so you can carefully mentor him?” Huang’er’s tone held a few joking traces.

Elder Shun chuckled. “I have to say, I really did think about this. However, I’ve observed Jiang Chen and let go of this notion afterwards to prevent myself from undertaking a fruitless endeavor.”

“Why do you say this?” Huang’er started.

“Jiang Chen is exceedingly opinionated. His every step on his path has been laid out according to his plans. This is the true mind of a genius. In addition, although he knows that my strength is far in excess of the four forefathers, he’s never revealed any traces of wanting to cozy up to me. He has his self pride and his own mind. This kind of genius will naturally have his own path in rising. I originally wanted to take him away from this, but now I feel that he should walk his own path. I should not overly intervene in his path!”

There was a tantalizing hint of something mysterious in Elder Shun’s voice.