Chapter 789 - 784: Agreement to Ascend to the Ascension Plane
Miasma Spring.
Bai Pu met the Furnace Squad and the Heig Team of the Silver Wind Clan.
Leia’s face was tear-streaked, Rein looked gloomy, and Muro was expressionless.
There was a subtle tension between the Furnace Squad and the Heig Team.
"So... Leia’s mission still failed?" Bai Pu asked with a frown after understanding the situation.
"Yes... During Leia’s mission completion, she received a prompt. She lost the race."
Rein spoke in a muffled voice, "This time’s First Refinement task in the Heart Demon World, takes the top three Trial Takers to promote to Major General! Leia was ranked fourth..."
"What a pity." Bai Pu genuinely felt a bit regretful.
If Leia succeeded in being promoted to Major General, it would mean Bai Pu could gain a stronger ally, and his collaboration with the Furnace Squad would become more solid, increasing the ally’s trust.
But now... it can only be said that the competition is too fierce.
No wonder the Furnace Squad wanted to eliminate Julian at first sight, and Julian sent the Heig Team to sabotage Leia’s mission...
"This time the world difficulty increased, taking the top three to promote to Major General is already a rare quantity."
Leia’s emotions were low, tears flowing down, "But my task was really too difficult! To break the barrier left by Emperor Qing, how many Awakeneds can do it? I don’t believe the top three can!"
"Who are the top three?" Bai Pu asked curiously.
Leia showed Bai Pu the First Refinement task race leaderboard, which listed the codenames of the top three who completed the trial.
Rein explained in a deep voice:
"The first place is the genius from the Holy Covenant Camp, ’Judgement’ Alvarez, which doesn’t surprise me."
"The second place is from the Boto Cave-dweller Race, ’Reef’ Tito, who is quite famous in the Awakener circle, a Quasi-Ascension Awakened."
"But the third place... is really hard to convince people."
The third place, codename "Silver Rose."
Bai Pu was still unclear about who Silver Rose was, but Salacia on the side already sneered and said, "Silver Rose is that bitch Julian!"
"Julian actually succeeded?"
Bai Pu was somewhat surprised.
"It must be her luck... If she encountered my task, she would have one hundred percent failed the race!"
Leia was unconvinced.
Bai Pu wisely kept silent.
Was Leia’s task difficult?
To be fair, it was indeed very difficult, primarily because after the Emperor Qing Barrier activated, it was almost unsolvable head-on!
Aside from Bai Pu, who possesses Pure Blood and Sea Heart Flame Mystical Arts, capable of breaking the Emperor Qing Barrier head-on, scarcely any other Awakeneds could do it.
However, Bai Pu had reasons to speculate that the Emperor Qing Barrier was not passively triggered!
If it were passively triggered, the difficulty would be too high.
Considering the Emperor Qing Phantom appeared in the Palace of Roots, then activated the Emperor Qing Barrier, Bai Pu thought that this barrier should be actively activated by the Emperor Qing Phantom. Usually, the barrier is not in a working state.
In other words...
If the Furnace Squad had initially drawn away the real body of the Demon Throat, allowing Leia to complete the work of calculating the earth veins and laying bombs without alarming the Emperor Qing Phantom, it was likely that they could directly destroy the spring of the Miasma Spring.
But the Demon Throat was too cunning, and the Furnace Squad was initially too careless, missing the most perfect first wave timing to complete the task.
Later, the battle at the Palace of Roots, the appearance of the Emperor Qing Phantom, meant the situation escalated—even though Emperor Qing couldn’t come here in person, he activated the Emperor Qing Barrier’s defense! At this point, Leia’s task almost entered a dead-end.
If it weren’t for Bai Pu, Leia could not even complete the task.
Of course, Bai Pu’s mind wandered, and he thought of many possibilities—for example, if there was a secret door in the Emperor Qing Barrier, or if the Natives had keys or similar existence that could cleverly temporarily disable the barrier near the Miasma Spring?
If this were true, it means the Furnace Squad overlooked some apparent hint information when accepting the task. Ultimately, they were too impatient.
"What qualifications does Julian from the Silver Wind Clan have to be promoted to Major General?" Leia was indignant, "How dare she send people to sabotage my Major General trial!"
Bai Pu finally understood where the tension came from.
Apparently, the Heig Team, too, was targeted by the Furnace Squad.
"Calm down, Leia."
Rein said soberly, "The Heig Team, although ordered to come, did not sabotage your task... Heig’s team was helping us with the Golden Side Task; the Saxon Squad that was dispatched, although with ill intentions, actually allowed you to escape the lock of the Demon Throat. From the actual result, the Heig Team did not affect you at all."
"That’s right... the race failure is indeed regrettable, but as Awakeneds, we must look forward."
Bai Pu came out to mediate, "Everyone, why don’t we first claim the rewards for the Golden Side Task?"
Rein and the others finally cheered up a bit, each seeking Dongbo Cheng to claim their rewards.
Their choice was the same as Bai Pu’s; all hoping to gain Dongbo Cheng’s insights into swordsmanship.
This was considered within the "sphere of what they could do," but the three contributed relatively little to the Golden Side Task and were rated lowly. With the same requests, Dongbo Cheng’s guidance could not be as conscientious as it was with Bai Pu.
After thinking briefly, Dongbo Cheng said seriously, "You are not disciples of the Wind Sword Style, nor are you even considered Martial Artists of the Cyan Dragon Oath. I shouldn’t teach you cultivation insights in theory. However, seeing that you established certain merits in helping me retrieve the White Dragon Fang, I’ll make an exception and teach each of you a move of the Secret Sword Technique."
Dongbo Cheng then took out three small scrolls recording the Secret Sword Technique and handed them to the three, one for each.
The three took the scrolls and, after checking the prompt message, smiles immediately appeared on their faces.
Evidently, these three small scrolls, after being "enlightened" by the task reward of the Spirit Realm Will, had transformed into genuine Mystical Arts books, allowing the three to make progress.
Even Leia shook off the gloom of task failure, and Muro was smiling with joy.
Thinking about it makes sense; the Furnace Squad doing Leia’s promotion task was to strengthen ally strength, accumulating chips for the Ascension Plane?
Now each of the three got a move of the Enlightened Secret Sword Technique, their strength must have improved, and their better grasp of the Ascension Plane increased.
This can be considered as losing one thing but gaining another.
Rein suddenly looked at Bai Pu and transmitted voice, "Brother Bai, your strength is so formidable, unfathomable... You should have been a Major General Gaia long ago, perhaps of a higher grade."
Bai Pu slightly nodded.
"For this Golden Side Task, we three unanimously acknowledge your strength. Brother, when will you step into the Ascension Plane? Would you like to team up with us in the Furnace Squad? We still have a position for a temporary member..."
"I also have a team."
Bai Pu declined Rein’s invitation with a single comment.
"Having a team is no problem... Why don’t we set a time? Try to ascend to the Ascension Plane at the same period... That way, the possibility of being matched in the same World is higher."
After traveling together these past days, Rein had vaguely sensed that this person, going by the alias Bai Yujing, was stronger than him! The best part was that he was still unrecognized in the Awakener circles in the Silver Heart Great World, not having been roped in by others, the best hitmen.
"Sure, if you are willing to wait for a while... once I’ve honed my Mystical Arts, we’ll head to the Ascension Plane together." Bai Pu didn’t entirely refuse this time.
"Good!" Rein and the other two were uplifted, the former tension and gloom wholly dissipated.