Chapter 224: Chapter 223: Dao Marks and Time Reversal!
Translator: 549690339
After turning into dust, Du Gang swiftly traveled and eventually landed on the fat Taoist’s shoulder.
“Huh?”
In the void, the divine spirit level powerhouses guarding Du Gang were at this moment all quite startled.
They hadn’t noticed before, but once Du Gang landed on the fat Taoist, they suddenly realized that this fat Taoist was a bit strange.
“He is clearly a Sector Lord-level character, how can he have the scent of a god?”
“Yes, it’s very strange, it’s like he is both a Sector Lord-level and a god spirit level possessing a god…”
The fat Taoist was constantly looking back uneasily. At this moment, a hundred meters away from him was the previously well-dressed young man, also mimicking his actions by continually looking back.
“What the heck, why is this day so strange, I always feel like something is watching me?!”
As the fat Taoist ran, he murmured to himself.
Despite his size, his movements were very agile, like a nimble monkey. He swayed left and right in the crowd, and within a short time, he had left the place.
“This feeling of being watched… it still exists…”
The fat Taoist couldn’t bear it anymore. Not knowing how to communicate, the well-dressed young man not far from him suddenly turned into a light and rapidly approached him.
The two soon merged into one, transforming into a single person.
“I knew it!”
Du Gang watched this scene and sneered in his heart.
These two guys were actually the same person. The damn bastard had deceived him!
If he couldn’t recognize this fat guy’s one-man show now, he would be too naive.
Not only him, but the divine spirit guards who were with him were also flabbergasted.
“How can a Sector Lord-level cultivation and body possess a god?”
“I’ve lived this long and this is the first time I’ve seen such a situation!”
In front of them, the fat Taoist after merging into one rapidly deployed a technique, immediately sensing several divine spirit-level powerhouses hidden in the void behind him.
This discovery shocked him so much that he hurriedly asked, “I wonder what business the seniors have following me? I am the direct disciple of Ghost-Hand Old Li…”
“He actually detected us…”
“It’s strange, he only detected us, but didn’t detect Du Gang…”
“This shows that his ‘god’ is not complete!”
As those who could achieve the status of divine spirit, none of them were simple. The guards quickly inferred a lot about the fat Taoist’s situation.
Seeing the divine spirit level powerhouses behind him remaining silent, the fat Taoist felt a bit insecure.
Could it be the relatives of that black-faced kid?
Did they see me scamming him of fifty thousand saint crystals, so they came after me?
But that is too much, isn’t it? What kind of person can have several divine spirit-level protectors?
Could it be the son of some Great Power?!
On thinking about that, the fat Taoist jumped in fright. The more he thought about it, the more afraid he got.
“Gulp!”
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and couldn’t bear it anymore. He somehow pulled out a lotus stand from somewhere, and without a word, sat on it.
“I have some business to attend to and will have to leave first!”
“What is that?”
The several divine spirit level powerhouses were all very curious; it was their first time seeing such a thing.
“Could it be some kind of escape method?”
They didn’t hurry. As a divine spirit-level being, practicing space laws is fundamental, hence they are sensitive to spatial fluctuations, so…
“Boom!”
The Lotus stand beneath the fat Taoist suddenly exploded and at the same time, a wave different from space laws was released.
“Whoosh!”
The next second, something happened that shocked the divine spirit-level guards.
“Where is the person?!”
The several of them instantly came out of the void, looking at the empty sky in front of them, they were completely dumbfounded.
“Damn, Du Gang was taken away by this guy!”
“Damn it, report it to the family quickly…”
Their expressions suddenly changed, they were all panicked. They didn’t know what the fat Taoist’s Lotus stand was, but once it was activated, it disappeared without even a spatial fluctuation.
Soon, Qingyu got the message and pondered over it quietly.
“Lotus stand, no spatial fluctuations?”
Suddenly, as if he had remembered something, he exclaimed, “Could it be that he used transport Dao marks?”
“How is that possible? Transport Dao marks have been a lost technique for a long time!”
“Swish, swish, swish!”
Eighty thousand miles away, a piece of space seemed to be propped open forcefully, and a lotus stand was spat out like bubbles.
“Humph, dare to track Dao. When I was wandering, you guys didn’t even know where you were!”
The fat Taoist was quite pleased with himself, quickly putting away the Lotus platform and walking forward with exaggerated swagger.
Du Gang didn’t think much of it, assuming it to be some sort of transportation tool.
Looking around, he found that they had landed in a forest, with lush trees all around and no signs of human activity.
“What’s going on? What’s this guy doing here?”
Du Gang was puzzled. He had planned to confront him in a deserted place about his deceit, but now he was struck with curiosity and wanted to see what this fat Taoist was up to.
“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”
The fat Taoist was walking on the ground, but not fast. It was as if he had a technique to shrink space into inch-sized units with each step. Each step appeared to be slow, but he covered vast distances. In no time, the surroundings had taken on a whole new look.
In the distance, smoke was curling up, indicating a small mountain village, and closer was a low hill. The many graves made of brick and soil on this hill indicated that this was a graveyard.
The fat Taoist seemed very familiar with this area, making his way with ease to a dug-up tomb.
“Could it be… Is this his family’s grave?”
Du Gang speculated quietly to himself.
However, he dismissed this thought in the next second.
Upon arrival, the fat Taoist looked around sneakily and then jumped right into the open grave.
Du Gang was taken aback. His impression of graves, which he had formed during his time on Earth, was filled with strange emotions.
“What is this guy up to? Is he planning to sleep in a coffin?”
As soon as the fat Taoist got in, he swiftly lay down in an open coffin, remaining still as though asleep.
“This…”
Watching this, Du Gang involuntarily left the Taoist’s shoulder, hovering mid-air with a frown.
Just as he was wondering what this guy was trying to do, suddenly, the fat Taoist’s face started to change.
Like molting, an old wrinkled skin fell from his face and quickly turned into a wisp of blue smoke, disappearing.
Looking again, while the Taoist’s body size hadn’t changed much, his face had dramatically transformed into that of a fat young man with bean-sized eyes and a sleazy expression.
“This… Could it be a disguise technique?”
Du Gang was dumbstruck by this transformation, suspecting that the fat man had done something extraordinary.
As he had guessed, once the fat man had shed his skin, he swiftly got up, left the coffin, and out of nowhere lit three incense sticks. Bowing to the coffin, he muttered to himself,
“Brother, I got to see your world for you, and it was not in vain that I used your face. We owe each other nothing, see you again…”
“Ah, no, we won’t meet again!”
After paying his respects, the fat Taoist resumed his sleazy appearance, swaggered out of the coffin, and jumped out of the grave. Instead of irresponsibility leaving it open, he moved his hand, and instantly, the ground filled itself in as though time had reversed.
“What kind of ability is this?”
Du Gang was somewhat astonished. This action wasn’t an Earth-type superpower, he didn’t sense any Laws’ power, but he had controlled the soil nonetheless.
After completing all of this, the fat Taoist set off again, following the same route as before.
Soon, he arrived at a new village. He didn’t enter, instead observing from the outside before leaving.
After a while, Du Gang realized they were at another graveyard.
“This guy… could he be a grave robber?”
He couldn’t help but marvel. It was astounding how this man could go to a village, not even enter, simply take a look and find a direction, and that direction would inevitably lead to a burial site.
The problem was, he didn’t see the fat Taoist release any Mental Power. This meant he was simply using his eyes to determine the location of the graveyard in the village.
This time, Du Gang finally got a clear picture of how the fat Taoist was able to perform the same technique as before.
He saw the Taoist stand in front of what appeared to be a slightly bigger grave, wave his hand and suddenly the dirt started to move as if being shoveled away bit by bit, flying off in arches to the sides.
“What kind of technique is this?”
Du Gang was amazed. He had never seen this kind of technique before and thought it was even more magical than the words of a True God.
Soon, the mound was cleared as if it hadn’t been buried yet, exposing the well-preserved coffin inside.
The fat Taoist was silent and swiftly floated down, following the same routine he did before. He took out three incense sticks from his trousers which self-lit, and while bowing, murmured:
“Brother, without any intention to offend, I am here to borrow your face, so you can see the world again…”
As if there was a living person in the coffin, only after he finished speaking, did the fat Taoist start operating.
Du Gang, however, had quietly sensed that there was no soul in the coffin.
Seeing this, he found the situation increasingly bizarre.
If the fat man possessed ordinary power and was an average person, then his speech could be chalked up to superstitious beliefs.
But that was not the case. Not only was he a Sector Lord, but he also had the strength of a deity, which was terrifying.
“Perhaps, he practices some strange technique!”
Du Gang felt that this fat Taoist was even more strange than the coffin-bearing teenager from the You Family he had met before. At least, the teenager was still a person and could explain his situation with the burial cloth.
But this fat Taoist seemed to be talking to nonexistent people, muttering nonsense!
Shortly after, the coffin was opened, revealing a dried-up skeleton inside. The owner’s appearance was no longer discernible.
“I want to see how you borrow a face!”
Du Gang moved closer, hovering in mid-air and watched quietly.
Without any hesitation, the fat Taoist jumped right in. With his portly body, he could barely squeeze into the coffin.
But as he lay flat, letting the weight of his body spread out, there was a succession of creaking sounds.
These were noises of him crushing the brittle bones inside.
Du Gang was taken aback by what he just witnessed.
“Although the strength of the tomb owner cannot be seen, the fact that the bones are silver in appearance indicates that he had at least a Meteorite Level of cultivation prior to his death. Yet, this fat man, using only his physical body, unconsciously applies pressure and manages to crush the bones into dust! This implies his body must be extremely heavy and incredibly strong!”
This was a fat man with extreme physical strength!
Du Gang was still in his musings when the face of the fat Taoist lying in the coffin underwent some changes.
“Whoosh!”
Just as naturally as anything grows, a layer of flesh-colored skin began to sprout from the neck of the fat Taoist.
“Bang!”
Before long, the entire face had completely regenerated, and he looked like a completely different person. Not just the face, his entire set of facial features seemed to have reformed, no longer appearing base and vulgar.
Moreover, Du Gang noticed that the Taoist’s formerly vulgar eyes now appeared to belong to another person altogether, being both bright and shrewd-looking.
“Damn, is he that powerful?!”
Du Gang was utterly shocked. His disguise technique paled in comparison to this man’s, as his required a collection of props.
However, instead of feeling envious, he was rather disgusted, given that the Taoist was lying in someone else’s coffin, stealing their appearance.
“Zing!”
The fat Taoist suddenly opened his eyes, emitting a golden light and hopping energetically out of the coffin.
He did not bother to close the coffin lid or to put the remains back, simply flying out of the mausoleum just like that.
“Next, how am I going to proceed?”
The Taoist murmured while flying and simultaneously began to fish something out from inside his body.
Soon, he pulled out a handful of treasures – treasures Du Gang had seen pictures of online before but had never been willing to purchase.
“Rune stones?”
Du Gang watched in amazement as the fat Taoist retrieved these items, full of curiosity.
Where did this fat man get all these valuable items?!
However, he soon discovered the answer.
“Swift!”
The fat Taoist uttered a prayer, and a surge of mental power abruptly shot out from the center of his mind, continuously pouring into the Rune Stone in his hand.
About the time it would take to brew a pot of tea later, he murmured, “Should be about right now…”
“No one would be able to tell, right?”
Upon witnessing this scene, Du Gang was dumbstruck.
This fat man was actually forging a fake!
He had actually made a fake Rune Stone, using his own mental power and some counterfeit Rune Stones prepared beforehand with materials unknown to Du Gang.
In that case, the Source Stone he initially had me carve must also have been a fake!
Damn it!
At this moment, Du Gang’s teeth were itching in irritation.
This was the first time he had been fooled this way in his life. Had he not possessed the ability to shrink to the size of dust, his fifty thousand Saint Crystals would have been swindled away without a fight.
Fifty thousand Saint Crystals… if he had spent them, Du Gang wouldn’t have been heartbroken; but to have them swindled away, that would be maddening!
What to do?!
Give this guy a taste of his own medicine!
Instead of impulsively taking matters into his own hands, Du Gang instructed Barlala to quickly contact the Spirit Level powerhouse who had protected him before.
Meanwhile, the fat Taoist, after finishing the fabrication of the first Rune Stone, did not rest, but began working on the second one.
Just then, he paused abruptly and began vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
Around him, four or five spatial fissures suddenly appeared, and then four or five Spirit Level powerhouses materialized one after another.
Simultaneously, Du Gang also revealed his human form.
“Black Charcoal?”
The fat Taoist blurted out a name, then quickly realized that he had changed his face, and hastily added, “Sorry, I mistook you for someone else. You guys carry on…”
With that, he tried to casually bypass them as if he were a mere passerby.
Before he could step away, a Spirit Level powerhouse blocked his path.
It was then that Du Gang laughed and said, “Your feats of disguise, truly impressive!”
The fat Taoist continued to feign ignorance, acting dumbfounded, “What disguise technique? I have to get home, my wife is waiting for me to bring her soy sauce…”
“Hehe!”
Du Gang chuckled lightly, “You dug up someone’s grave, even slept in their coffin, and yet you deny knowing any disguise technique?”
Hearing this, the fat Taoist’s face changed, “How do you know?!”
He appeared a little surprised. He had a special treasure that allowed him to sense whether anyone was hidden in the surrounding space. When he was changing his appearance earlier, he had been certain that there was no one around.
“Humph!”
Du Gang sneered, “You, the dead fat man, dared to swindle me of fifty thousand Saint Crystals! And also, what’s the deal with the deity in your body? How is it that you possess a deity while still at the Realm Lord level?”
The fat Taoist immediately put on a pleading look, “Black Master, let me go, I had no choice. I have a seven-thousand-year-old mother at home, as well as a child waiting to be fed…”
“Nonsense, do you even look like someone with a family?”
Du Gang sneered, “With that ugly face of yours, who would want you?!”
The Fat Taoist looked taken aback, “You’ve seen what I look like?”
But he quickly continued pleading, “Brother, I was wrong, your fifty thousand saint crystals, I will return to you…”
Having said that, he quickly pulled out a transparent bottle, the very one Du Gang had previously given him.
Seeing this, Du Gang nodded, “First, throw me the bottle!”
“Alright!”
The Fat Taoist seemed to have completely resigned himself as he threw the bottle over.
But just at this moment, he suddenly broke into a laugh.
“Everyone, goodbye!”
“Swoosh!”
At this moment, a stunning scene occurred. The Fat Taoist began to rewind like a projection, continuously moving back.
Seeing this bizarre spectacle, everyone was horrified, they did not dare to act and instead watched the events unfold.
But the speed at which the Fat Taoist was rewinding was incredibly fast, like it had been sped up by dozens of times. In a short while, he had moved back to the previous scene where he was crafting the rune stones, then his entire figure turned into an even faster silhouette, sprinting backward into the distance.
“Chase him!”
Without Du Gang needing to say it, several God Spirit Level individuals promptly stood up and pursued the Fat Taoist.
At this moment, they temporarily forgot about their duty to protect Du Gang, all of them were chasing after the Fat Taoist.
But, it was too late.
The Fat Taoist and his rewind speed, which had been accelerated by dozens of times, made his figure move rapidly and he disappeared in a blink.
Upon pursuing him, they discovered that the Fat Taoist was already sitting on the previously spotted lotus platform, waiting for them.
Seeing them arrive, the Fat Taoist cursed angrily, “Shame on you backstabber, for having the audacity to rob me. You wait, I’ll definitely dig up your ancestors’ graves!”
“Lock the space!”
A couple of God Spirit Level guards swiftly released their powers and the Laws of Space were deployed instantly, locking down the entire space.
“Hehe!”
However, the Fat Taoist coldly laughed and taunted, “I come and go as I please. We’ll meet again!”
After finishing his sentence, the lotus platform shivered again and then the Fat Taoist and lotus platform disappeared in an instant, seemingly unaffected by the spatial lockdown.
“He escaped again!”
One of the God Spirit Level powerhouses watched as the Fat Taoist and lotus platform disappeared, murmuring to himself.
“This guy, he actually has control over the Dao Marks!”
“If the Dao Marks have resurfaced, could it be that a great catastrophe is upon us again?!”
“Wait…”
A God Spirit Level powerhouse frowned deeply, “Did you notice his rewind motion?!”
“That feeling, it’s as if he…”
At this moment, everyone exclaimed in unison, “Time Reversal?!”
Once they said it, everyone was shocked by their own conjectures.
Time Force!
It’s really the Time Force!
Stunned, Du Gang quickly asked, “What level is generally required to practice the Laws of Time?!”
For the Eight Lower Laws, one could gain insight into them at the Planet Level or Stellar Level.
As for the Two Upper Laws, they come with restrictions.
Like the Laws of Space, they require a God Spirit Level cultivation level to be practiced.
As for the Laws of Time, Du Gang has not encountered anyone practicing them and thus was unaware.
A couple of God Spirit Level powerhouses had fear in their eyes.
One of them nervously said, “Supreme, only a Supreme Level powerhouse can master the Laws of Time!”
“Quick, quick, report this!”
One of the God Spirits, completely panicked, shouted loudly, immediately contacting Qingyu.
Seeing the situation, Du Gang didn’t rush to leave and instead stood beside them waiting to hear what the Kong Family’s higher ups would say.
Shortly after, Qingyu appeared.
“What’s the matter?”
“General, the Laws of Time…”
“That Fat Taoist just now, he used a time-reversal spell!”
“What?!”
Qingyu was extremely shocked and quickly requested to see the recordings of the incident.
However, to everyone’s astonishment, none of their light computers captured the figure of the Fat Taoist, as if he was a ghost.
Under broad daylight, they all experienced a chill run up their spine, as if suddenly dumped with a bucket of ice water.
In this graveyard, they could only feel dread!
“Rip!”
Finally, a God Spirit level powerhouse couldn’t stand it any longer, quickly tore a hole in the space, took Du Gang, and left in a rush.
Back at their base, Qingyu individually checked everyone, making sure that no one had been affected. Only then did he frown and ask in succession, “Are you sure that this guy looked like he was rewinding and began to retreat?”
“Confirmed!”
Hearing this, Qingyu began to mutter to himself.
“Dao Marks… Time Reversal…”
“Could it be that one of the Supremes has awakened?!”
At this statement, the entire area was left dumbfounded, every person uncontrollably opening their mouths wide, as if they could stuff a whole egg inside.
“Impossible!”
Qingyu shook his head swiftly, “If a Supreme was to awaken, it couldn’t possibly be so silent. It’s more likely that the guy possesses a Supreme artifact!”
“A Supreme artifact?!”
Hearing this, the crowd felt somewhat relieved.
Compared to a Supreme artifact, they were more petrified by the prospect of a Supreme awakening.
Qingyu speculated: “It’s not necessarily the case, a Supreme artifact is not something a person of this level could use…”
“Du Gang, did you say he’s always grave robbing?”
“If that’s the case, this kid could be a professional tomb raider and might have even robbed a Supreme’s tomb…”
Upon voicing these suspicions, Qingyu was stupefied, “This kid… It’s possible he has an extraordinary lineage, otherwise how could he rob a Supreme’s tomb?”
He continued: “There’s only this possibility, this kid might have stolen some treasures and gained plentiful good things, like the Lotus Platform you guys mentioned, it must be a product of ancient times…”
“And the time reversal, it might be a formidable treasure he’s stolen!”
This matter was left unresolved. Du Gang didn’t know if the higher-ups in the Kong family had sent people to investigate.
He had already returned to South Mountain and a jaw-dropping scene unfolded before him.
An empty glass bottle in his hand was originally full of Saint Crystals, but in this moment, it was filled with dirt.
“That shameless fat daoist must have sneakily performed a spell in his inner world, pretending to beg for mercy and switched it!”
“That fat bastard, next time I see him, I’m going to kill him!”
Du Gang was itching with anger, he had been fooled, being tricked by the fat man twice now.
He had been around for so long, yet this was the first time he had suffered such a loss, and it all happened twice from the same person!
“Hmph~!”
Du Gang angrily walked around the crowd for a while, eyeing the stall vendors.
Unfortunately, he found no sign of the person who had transformed from the fat daoist.
As for returning to the tomb, he had no plans to do so. Knowing that his opponent possesses at least a time-bending artifact as well as a space-bending one, it wouldn’t be of any use even if he went now.
Compared to this peculiar fat daoist, his methods were far too ordinary, more like conventional techniques.
After making a round, Du Gang gave up.
Because there were simply too many people here, along with too many stall vendors.
Trying to find a fat man who could even change his eyes was too difficult!
“Forget it, let’s head up. I haven’t achieved my initial goal yet!”
He felt like swallowing his frustrations, filled with a stomach of fire.
He’d come here to earn Saint Crystals. In the end, he had earned a hundred Saint Crystals, but loss fifty-thousand.
A hundred Saint Crystals…
Du Gang suspiciously took out the bag that contained the one hundred Saint Crystals he had previously earned, upon opening…
“Goddamn!”
A hundred glass beads the size of Saint Crystals were extravagantly displayed in the small bag.
Du Gang was left silent.
Today was his day of sorrow.
He decided to remember this day forever.
Because on this day, he was fooled three times!
Being tricked by that fat man was one thing, but to be deceived by a rural scarred man was too much…
Humiliating!
At this moment, Du Gang deeply reflected on himself.
The pride he had accumulated from capturing and profiting off talented individuals was cast away in that moment.
“I’m not smart, those talents were just too dumb…”
“Hence, compared to these real hermetic practitioners, I’m still green. I didn’t even think of inspecting and accepting…”
“In my view, that scar-faced man cared so much about his face, he definitely wouldn’t fake it, who knew, he was playing a role from the start…”
“Tough guy, life is full of drama, and it all depends on acting skills, huh?!”
Du Gang admitted, these people gave him a profound lesson.
“Learn and apply…”
“Learn and apply!”
After repeating this many times, only then did Du Gang let out a sigh, heading towards the foot of South Mountain.
He couldn’t stay here any longer, as it was now his place of sorrow.
He was going to climb the mountain and make those arrogant youngsters feel the pain!
Soon, Du Gang arrived at the entrance of the mountain.
To his surprise, he froze.
Because the man guarding the entrance had a striking resemblance to him, with the same black charcoal face, the same style of axe, and the same long beard!
What are the odds?!
Du Gang was only surprised for a moment before he shrugged it off.
No big deal. The world is so big, it’s inevitable to run into people who look alike.
After all, he was a fake black and the man in front of him was a real black…
Soon, the man taking the test in front was defeated, failing to make Old Black move within a minute.
“Hahaha!”
Old Black laughed heartily and said, “Next!”
Upon hearing this, Du Gang didn’t hesitate and immediately flew forward.
“Hey hey, queue up!”
Someone shouted.
But somebody else soon pointed out, “Why are you shouting? Can’t you see he looks just like Old Black, the gatekeeper? He must be from their family…”
The initially dissatisfied crowd was, at this point, speechless.
Seeing Du Gang fly towards him, even Old Black was taken aback.
Sensing his cultivation level, he questioned, “Who are you? Why haven’t I seen you before?”
Du Gang found this strange and responded, “Isn’t that obvious? I haven’t seen you before either!”
Old Black’s mouth twitched. He secretly guessed if it was something planned by some fellow of his clan to humiliate him.
“What are you up to?!” he ventured a probing question.
Du Gang frowned and said, “What else can I do? Of course, it is to climb the mountain…”
“Climb the mountain?”
Old Black’s eyes glinted as he quickly grasped the situation.
Perhaps they wanted to use this excuse to publicly humiliate him?
Could it be Li Gui, who’s always looking to usurp him…?
It was quite possible!
At that moment, Old Black thought it all through and couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
“You, come!”
This time, he braced himself, watching Du Gang without blinking.
While Du Gang didn’t care about this and simply asked, “The rule is to make you move, right?!”
“Yes…”
Before Old Black could finish his sentence, the figure in front of him disappeared. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head.
“Hiss!”
“Boom!”
“Bang!”
With a huge sound, Old Black was heavily smashed to the ground, creating a deep pit.
Du Gang stood behind him, casually saying, “You moved, so I’ll go up!”
“F*ck, Li Gui, you’ll pay for this…” Old Black immediately got up.
If he still couldn’t figure out who this person was, then he didn’t deserve his reputation.
Who else besides Li Gui, who had similar strength to him and four Sector Lords, could possess such power in the Li Family?
However, the only puzzling thing was that Li Gui had unexpectedly come up with a strategy.
“Damn, how dare you play me dirty, wait for our next encounter!”
He hadn’t expected that Li Gui could be so cunning…it was as if he had suddenly grown smarter…
Li Kui watched Du Gang’s fading figure while cursing quietly, thinking that he should do the same to Li Gui next time.
“Oh my gosh, Old Black has actually been hammered…”
“That black charcoal, from what Old Black said, seems to be from their family, his name seems to be Li Gui!”
“Wow, this black charcoal is really surprising. He’s even more powerful than Old Black. If that’s the case, the Li Family isn’t simple at all, having produced two powerful young talents at the same time…”
At this moment, in the Li Family living on Penglai Island, Li Gui was begging desperately in the family’s main hall.
“Please let me go. If Li Kui goes and I don’t, doesn’t that make me look weak? Like I’m not qualified enough to attend the meeting?”
He was pleading with a middle-aged man who looked very similar to him. Judging by their extremely similar appearance, one could tell that they were father and son.
“True, if only Kui Kui goes, people will think you are weak…”
The middle-aged man thought for a moment before saying, “In that case, Gui Gui, you should go as well!”
“Great!”
Although Li Gui seemed rough, he was like a child now, cheering excitedly.
The middle-aged black charcoal man smiled and said, “You should hurry, the tea meeting is about to end soon…”
“Oh!”
Upon hearing this, Li Gui was thrilled. He didn’t look back, and hastily rushed toward the outside.
After entering the gate of the mountain, the steps inside were more open. He had been climbing for a long time until he finally reached the first platform.
“Ah, someone else has arrived!”
Just as he showed a hint of his shadow, laughter was heard from above.
Du Gang looked up. On the platform above, four or five young talents were holding their wine cups and looking at him. Seeing him look back, they raised their cups to salute him.
“This person…”
When Du Gang’s upper half and his face were exposed, the five young talents were stunned.
“Is that Old Black?”
“No, he’s not Old Black, Old Black’s skin is rougher!”
“He’ll probably be from Old Black’s family, then!”
Seeing this, those present flashed friendly smiles at Du Gang.
After all, Old Black was very strong, having already reached the level of four law sector Lords. They, being only two law sector Lords themselves, could not afford to offend him.
Du Gang, having learned from past experiences of being friendly but ultimately unable to fight, made no response and maintained a cold demeanor.
The group of people brushed their noses in dismay. They were a bit unhappy, but did not show it, merely making room for him while ignoring Du Gang.
Upon reaching the platform, Du Gang finally realized that this first-level platform was huge, filled almost to capacity. Those four or five people weren’t deliberately blocking the steps, it was just that there was no room to stand.
He glanced around nonchalantly and looked disappointed.
The people here were about the same as those he had seen at the entrance. They were basically all ordinary prodigies, with no direct heirs among them.
Du Gang whispered, “Senior, does anyone in this platform possess a God Spirit level Road Protector?”
He was speaking to the God Spirit level powerhouse who was guarding him.
Sure enough, a voice entered his ear.
“No!”
Du Gang sighed.
As expected, all of these prodigies were those without any God Spirit level bodyguards. They were all ordinary, both in terms of talent and background.
This meant that they had no money on them. Despite their grand appearances, just as Little Hawk King had said, while the outer semblance could be reimbursed by the family, when it came to producing cash, they had none!
Not wanting to linger, Du Gang quickly headed toward the second level platform.
“Brother, if you want to go up, you need to battle me…”
The guard of the first pass quickly recognized Du Gang’s resemblance to Old Black. Assuming they were from the same family, he didn’t make it difficult for him, instead tactfully making an offer.
“No problem, what are the rules for passing the level?!”
The guard laughed, “Actually, it’s pretty simple. We just compare our sight…”
“In addition, we need to bet something…”
“To challenge, you have to give me one Saint Crystal. If you successfully pass the level, I will return one Saint Crystal to you. If you fail, the Saint Crystal will not be refunded!”
Knowing he couldn’t achieve the fame that Old Black had, he dropped the thought and decided to profit materially instead.
Soon, the guard brought out some dice, as well as ten dice cups.
He explained, “We’ll compare sight, and see who can see clearly…”
“If you guess all ten correctly, then I lose. If you don’t guess as many as me, then you lose…”
He smiled, “It doesn’t matter if you lose. I can remove one dice cup, and we continue…”
“So that means you have nine chances. If you still haven’t guessed correctly by the ninth try, there’s nothing we can do. You can just stay here…”
This man was indeed cunning. Each person had ten tries. That meant he could earn a maximum of ten Saint Crystals from one person, while all he would have to pay off if he lost was one Saint Crystal.
Du Gang had only heard of this game, this was his first time playing.
These dice cups were special, they couldn’t be penetrated by mental power. Also, the moment they fell, they would stop the spinning dice in an instant.
The competitor would have to rely on exceptional visual acuity to see through the dice in an instant and identify the corresponding numbers.
“Fine, let’s start!”
The guard smiled, and then ten dice cup bases were randomly floated in the air with a set of dice placed on them.
“You apply force to let them spin!”
Upon hearing this, Du Gang, without any hesitation, stimulated the dice with his mental power, causing all ten dice to spin at high speed.
“Alright, let’s begin!!”
The other people around instantly came over, their eyes wide open and unblinkingly fixed.
They were all losers who wanted to see if they could see through it this time.
The ten dice cups floating in mid-air slowly descended, maintaining a certain speed, until it reached the cup base.
“Click!”
Without any hesitation, the cups instantly closed with the bases, and in that instant, the dice stopped.
The guard laughed, “Brother Black, what do you say?”
Du Gang smiled faintly, said, “1124214524”
“Great eye strength!”
The guard praised as ten dice cups flung open, revealing the dice inside. Everyone saw that the numbers on the dice were exactly as Du Gang had said!
“It’s no surprise that he’s from the Old Black family, his eyesight is really good!”
Everyone present was left in awe.
Meanwhile, the gatekeeper smiled and pulled out a Saint Crystal, handing it to Du Gang. “Congratulations on making it through, you can move on to the second platform now!” he stated.
Du Gang nodded, took the Saint Crystal, inconspicuously scanned it to confirm its authenticity, and then continued walking upwards.
His action might have been subtle, but everyone present, at least possessing the power level of two Sector Lords, saw it clearly.
“This… a Saint Crystal, he…”
The gatekeeper looked a bit twitchy, “Does he think I’d give him a fake one?!”
“People from the Du family, really have their nerve…”
Looking at Du Gang’s departing figure, he felt a bit upset, “I should talk to Du’s head about their ill-mannered clan member sometime.”
Du Gang soon reached the second platform and, like before, he quietly asked the same question.
He got the same reply, “There are no god spirits guarding here!”
Immediately, disappointment showed on his face, and he continued walking upwards.
It was clear from this instance that the gatekeepers weren’t all that great either.
Before this, at the bottom, that Old Black had the protection of a God Spirit level Tao protector, yet these gatekeepers were inferior to Old Black.
That was normal. Old Black’s spot was where most of the young talents interacted with him, creating numerous chances to display his face.
So, if he didn’t have enough backing, he might have been replaced by others on the spot.
But these thirty-six steps were different. No top-level young talents would actually want to fill these positions, so these thirty-six were assigned here.
After making it through several platforms with the same answer, Du Gang felt somewhat helpless.
He thought he could earn a huge fortune, but who’d have thought these guys were so poor.
However, he also knew that the richest ones should probably be on the Heaven, Earth, and Human platforms.
Those platforms could hold nearly a thousand individuals. The top young talents and the richest fellows should all be there!
With this thought in mind, Du Gang continued his endeavor to overcome the challenges.
“Li Gui?”
Li Kui furrowed his brows looking at the black charcoal-like figure in front of him. “When did you come down unexpectedly?!”
Li Gui assumed Li Kui was asking about when he came to the Pangu Continent, and replied confidently, “If you can descent, why can’t I? Hehe!”
Li Kui frowned, “What on earth are you up to?”
Li Gui shrugged, “Nothing much, just passing the trial…”
At this moment, the surrounding people were also looking curiously at the two in the center.
“They look so alike!”
“Yeah, this guy looks even more like Li Kui than the one before!”
“Could they be brothers?!”
“Maybe, but the Li family seems to have a lot of people…”
Then, Li Kui suddenly asked a question that seemed totally nonsensical to Li Gui.
“Did you find an axe when you came out this time?”
“Huh?”
Li Gui was stunned, “Axe…”
Before he had finished speaking, Li Kui disappeared from his sight, reappearing behind him a second later.
“I’ll show you for your sneak attack!”
Li Kui gritted his teeth, using the back of the axe to ferociously strike the back of Li Gui’s head.
“Bang!”
“Boom!”
“Thump!”
Li Gui didn’t expect to be attacked, and he tumbled headfirst into the ground.
“Phew!”
Watching this scene, Li Kui suddenly felt like all of his resentment had been vented.
“Old Black!!”
Just then, someone at the gate shouted.
Li Kui turned to look. It was the first-layer gatekeeper.
His resentment had just been released, so he was in a good mood and laughingly said, “What brings you down here?!”
The gatekeeper quickly approached and reported all of Du Gang’s actions.
“Oh, is that so?!”
Li Kui nodded, glanced at Li Gui who was struggling to pull his head out of the ground, and without a word, he stomped at him, making him sink even deeper.
“Damn it, Li Gui, you almost made our Li Family lose face…”
At this moment, Li Gui could only think about going back and complaining to his father…
ps: I’m in tears. The temperature here is -26℃, the same as the Arctic. The heating froze last night and the boiler is completely broken. I rushed to buy an electric heater and a small sun during the day, and was fined 200 yuan and 6 points for inadvertently running a red light. Misfortune never comes alone. I’m frozen and shaking. I have to warm my hands in my armpits before I can write. I feel like I could freeze to death before succumbing to sudden death.
I only managed to write 20,000 words today, I’ll make up for it later.