Chapter 332: You Dare Claim to Be the Fastest?
The speed of the flying shuttle was reduced to a fraction of what it had been on the way there, slowed by more than several hundred times. According to the Fifth Elder, this was to give Lu Yang and the others a chance to enjoy the scenery in the sky.
Even so, the shuttle still overtook flying boat after flying boat, moving so fast that Lu Yang and his three companions were terrified, with no courage to look at the scenery outside.
“Maybe we should just focus on cultivating. After all, cultivation is a cultivator’s duty,” Li Haoran suggested shakily, raising his hand.
The Fifth Elder thought about it and appreciated the diligence of these young ones. “Alright, do you want me to activate the Spirit Gathering Array?”
Lu Yang confidently waved his hand, “No need, I just learned an ancient divine ability that can gather all the spiritual energy around us, replacing the Spirit Gathering Array.”
The Fifth Elder was quite surprised; he didn’t expect such a divine ability. Was this something taught by Yun Zhi?
Lu Yang proudly lifted his head, opened his mouth, and used the Taotie clan’s original great divine ability—Swallowing Heaven. Immediately, endless spiritual energy began to converge around them.
The concentration of spiritual energy around them skyrocketed instantly.
“Such a miraculous divine ability!” The Fifth Elder, with his vast experience, immediately recognized the extraordinary nature of this ability. It consumed almost no spiritual power, was far cheaper than a Spirit Gathering Array, and the effect was nearly identical. Moreover, it wasn’t limited by terrain and could be used anytime and anywhere for cultivation!
Though the posture was somewhat ungraceful, with the head tilted back and mouth open like a divine dog howling at the moon.But as a cultivator, making cultivation the first priority, elegance or lack thereof was secondary.
Meng Jingzhou also noticed the power of this divine ability and leaned in to ask, “How do you cultivate this divine ability? Can you teach me?”
Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan also looked at Lu Yang eagerly; it was clear they both wanted to learn this technique as well.
“Sure, no problem.” Lu Yang generously agreed. After getting Everlasting Fairy’s approval, he taught them the method and key points of this ability.
“Practice it when we get back; for now, let’s just cultivate.” Lu Yang said, then opened his mouth to gather more spiritual energy.
…
“Stop! Don’t even think about running!”
“Daring to act lawlessly within the territory of The Great Xia, do you still think this is your Great Yu Dynasty?”
“Damn Great Xia, just a bunch of usurpers, and yet you dare to be so arrogant!”
Three streaks of light were chasing each other in the sky. One streak of light was in front, desperately trying to shake off the two behind.
He was a Unity Stage Cultivator from the Great Yu Dynasty, who had chosen to sleep during his peak state to prepare for the great world conflict in the future.
He wasn’t supposed to wake up now; according to the plan, the National Preceptor was supposed to awaken them one by one.
Unfortunately, his place of slumber was discovered by a few ignorant cultivators who thought they had found a great fortune and excitedly dug him up, ultimately breaking his slumber.
In his fury, he killed those cultivators.
Unexpectedly, this action alerted the local constable. The constable, seeing his overwhelming power, immediately contacted higher authorities, and two Unity Stage cultivators were dispatched from the capital to capture him.
The reason for the arrest was laughable—intentional murder.
He, a Unity Stage cultivator, killing a few minor cultivators was nothing, just an excuse to capture him.
In his view, the Great Yu Dynasty was at its zenith, dominating the central continent with no rivals, its fortunes flourishing endlessly, as if eternal.
However, the so-called Great Xia Dynasty must have been a bunch of usurpers, shamelessly proclaiming themselves as the legitimate rulers.
Fortunately, he had a backup plan to restore his peak state in a short time.
Moreover, he was skilled in escape techniques, easily capable of shaking off his pursuers.
“Once I shake you off, I’ll secretly control a small family, investigate the situation of this Great Xia Dynasty, and pave the way for the National Preceptor!”
He believed it was worthy of the National Preceptor’s efforts.
During the peak of the Great Yu Dynasty’s former glory, it had unified the central continent and had no enemies, with an overwhelming momentum, its fortunes stretched unceasingly, almost eternal.
However, the National Preceptor believed that no dynasty is eternal. Even the most powerful of ancient times eventually reached their end. No matter how strong the Great Yu Dynasty was, it could never surpass the ancients who had The Four Ancient Immortals. The Great Yu Dynasty would not last forever.
The only way to continue the legacy of the Great Yu Dynasty was to revive it in a new era, leveraging the Ancient Great Era to re-establish the Great Yu Dynasty and prolong its fortune!
He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on these matters for now. The most important thing at the moment was to shake off his two pursuers.
The two cultivators from The Great Xia frowned; their target was incredibly fast—fast enough to rank among the top ten in Unity Stage speed. Even with their speed-boosting talismans, they were still lagging behind.
One of the cultivators happened to spot a flying shuttle and found it quite familiar.
“Old Chu, you keep chasing him; I’m going to get some help.”
Old Chu was puzzled, thinking that it might be too late to look for help now. However, he trusted his companion’s judgment and nodded, “Alright.”
…
The Great Xia cultivator knocked on the flying shuttle, and the Fifth Elder opened the hatch to let him in.
As soon as the cultivator entered, he saw Lu Yang with his head tilted back and mouth open, while Meng Jingzhou and the other two sat around him in a triangular formation. The four of them were meditating, creating a rather eerie atmosphere.
Was this the latest cultivation method of the Dao Seeking Sect?
Never mind, now wasn’t the time to think about that. The Great Xia cultivator noticed the Fifth Elder standing with his hands behind his back and immediately brightened up.
A savior indeed.
“Haha, Zhou Xin! I knew this flying shuttle was yours!”
The Fifth Elder turned his head to look at him, his expression cautious. “Yu Qian, my flying shuttle wasn’t speeding. What do you want?”
(TL Note: The Yu in Yu Qian (余) is different from the Yu in Great Yu (虞).)
Seeing a cultivator he didn’t recognize but who seemed familiar to the Fifth Elder, Lu Yang and his three companions slowly opened their eyes to see what was going on.
The Fifth Elder casually introduced him, “This is Yu Qian, a constable of The Great Xia Dynasty. When I used to speed with my flying shuttle, he was always chasing me down to give me tickets. Later, when I stopped speeding, he stopped chasing me.”
Lu Yang twitched his eyelids. Back when the Fifth Elder was speeding with his flying shuttle, his cultivation level was at least at the Spirit Transformation Stage. Since this Yu Qian was from the same era, his cultivation level must be quite high as well. Even as a constable, he must be a significant figure, probably a chief constable in the imperial capital.
Yu Qian’s veins bulged as he listened, “You’re talking nonsense! You didn’t stop speeding; it was just that no one could catch up to you anymore!”
“Just over half a month ago, I heard someone complaining that you were speeding again!”
When the Fifth Elder was younger, his speeding antics caused no small amount of trouble for Yu Qian and his colleagues. Yu Qian’s current speed was all thanks to the training he got from chasing after the Fifth Elder.
“You can’t just throw around accusations like that. When did I speed after that? Do you have any evidence?”
Yu Qian was so frustrated he wanted to hit someone. “You were going so fast that even a recording sphere couldn’t catch your shuttle’s shadow! Where would I get the evidence?”
(TL Note: Recording sphere in chinese is 留影球 which is sort of like ball that leaves behind shadows as 留 (liú) means “to stay” or “to remain.”, 影 (yǐng) means “shadow” or “image.” and 球 (qiú) means “ball.”)
“Alright, let’s stop arguing. There’s something urgent right now. Did you see that guy up ahead who was speeding? He’s a Great Yu cultivator. We need to catch up to him!”
Yu Qian was so angry at the Fifth Elder that he almost forgot the main task.
“He claims to be the fastest in Unity Stage from the Great Yu era, and we haven’t been able to catch him.”
The Fifth Elder glanced at the rapidly fleeing Great Yu cultivator and scoffed, “And he dares to call himself the fastest?”
“Everyone, sit tight!”
The Fifth Elder was about to get serious. No one had ever dared to challenge him in the domain of aerial speed.
Yu Qian breathed a sigh of relief. The Fifth Elder was a tough opponent when they were on opposite sides, but when he was an ally, it was a stroke of luck.