Chapter 35: Arrival of Sheng Yue, Long Xingyu's Confrontation, Cai'er's Reason
Upon hearing Ye Ling's words, a smile flashed across Long Haochen's young face. The pill Long Xingyu had given him had swept away all his fatigue.
What a good thing!
"That's great," Long Haochen nodded. "As long as I passed, it's fine."
"I hope next time I can successfully forge a metal with over ninety percent purity. Then, based on what you said, Brother Ye, would I be able to begin the next step—Thousand Refinement—to start transforming the metal?" he asked curiously.
"That's roughly right," Ye Ling replied. "But if you want to achieve Thousand Refinement, relying solely on ninety percent purified metal is far from enough. Or rather, at the level of a knight attendant or even a quasi-knight, it's impossible to succeed. You'll need to become a true knight and fully master your innate spiritual power before you have a chance."
"Forging is indeed heavily tied to strength—that is, external spiritual power—but the further you go, the more it depends on your internal spiritual power. So in the future, focus on cultivating internal spiritual power. Don't devote yourself only to external power for the sake of forging."
Ye Ling explained all this seriously.
Though, it seemed he had misjudged a few things.
"Brother Ye, I haven't even awakened my innate internal spiritual power to become a knight yet. I asked Teacher Xingyu before, and he told me to wait until I become a quasi-knight before attempting it. Right now, I should still be quite far from that," said Long Haochen.
Well, since there hadn't been a formal test, all he could do was feel himself growing stronger bit by bit. But he had no idea he'd already reached the threshold of a quasi-knight.
Still, it wasn't a big deal. Holding off for now wouldn't hurt.
For a genius like Long Haochen, waiting until two hundred external spiritual energy points before awakening internal power would yield twice the results with half the effort.
Strictly speaking, the range of one hundred to one hundred fifty points was the best window for awakening innate spiritual power.
By Ye Ling's estimation, in another five months—when they returned—Haochen would likely be at that one hundred fifty mark. So it was fine to wait.
And in the meantime, Haochen could focus on stabilizing his forging fundamentals. That was more important right now.
With that in mind, Ye Ling brought out more pig iron and handed it to Long Haochen, letting him continue practicing.
Forging could also improve external spiritual energy.
So it fit perfectly into his current foundational training.
Seeing this, Long Haochen didn't question it. He accepted the pig iron, chatted briefly with Long Xingyu, then went straight back to forging.
Ye Ling, meanwhile, meditated for a short while, then left and began walking down the mountain.
He had trained nonstop for six months now.
Even an iron man couldn't keep that up without moving around, right?
So, just like that, he descended the mountain.
Long Xingyu saw this but had no objections. He didn't try to stop him.
For a genius like Ye Ling, if he wished, he could go directly to Holy City—the headquarters of the Knight Temple.
Show off his talent, and Yang Haohan would surely give him special treatment, maybe even more than his own grandson, Yang Wenzhao.
And if Ye Ling revealed his unique forging method...
What a joke—forget the Knight Temple, even the other five major Temples would fight to recruit him.
To put it plainly, if Ye Ling leaked even a fraction of his secrets, countless factions—and all six Temples—would try to pull him in. Even Temples with conflicting attributes, like the Assassin Temple, would go as far as altering his element just to make him join.
But Long Xingyu wasn't worried.
Because of what Ye Ling had asked him earlier—about belonging and staying—it left a deep impression on him.
So Long Xingyu wasn't concerned.
And for now, only a handful of people even knew the extent of Ye Ling's talent. There was no way it would just leak out like that.
But just as he was thinking this, his eyes suddenly narrowed, gazing into the distance.
He saw it.
A white-haired old man in a purple assassin's robe was wandering below, his expression anxious, as if waiting for something.
And Long Xingyu recognized him immediately.
"The Assassin Temple's Hall Master? Sheng Yue?"
"Why is he here? And right when Ye Ling happened to leave?"
"Could it be… he already knew about Ye Ling's talent and deliberately waited for him to leave, betting I wouldn't sense it in time, and planned to take him away?" Long Xingyu muttered under his breath.
Sheng Yue—Long Xingyu hadn't interacted much with him, but they did know of each other. Sheng Yue was a leading assassin of his father Long Tianyin's generation.
Even if he didn't know him well, Long Xingyu knew Sheng Yue was not the type to forcibly abduct someone.
Still, he decided to go see for himself.
"Haochen, I'm stepping out for a few minutes. I'll be back soon," he said.
"Okay, Teacher Xingyu," Long Haochen nodded.
Meanwhile, Sheng Yue appeared before Ye Ling. His anxious expression quickly gave way to delight.
"So the boy really is here." He smiled internally and, without explanation, raised his hand to take Ye Ling away directly.
Yeah…
It really did look a bit like a human trafficker snatching a child.
Ye Ling, although he knew Sheng Yue wouldn't harm him, wasn't going to be dragged off without warning. He quickly prepared to activate his second spirit—Time-Space Dragon—intending to use space travel to escape long enough to call Long Xingyu.
But that wasn't necessary.
Long Xingyu had already sensed what was happening.
"Senior Sheng Yue," Long Xingyu's voice boomed like thunder, "if I recall, the Assassin Temple and Knight Temple have always maintained good relations. Even if a genius appears in the Knight Temple, the Assassin Temple shouldn't be trying to steal him away behind our backs, right?"
A powerful epic-tier sword dropped from above and pierced the ground between them, halting Sheng Yue's advance.
Long Xingyu walked forward, face cold and expressionless.
"Senior Sheng Yue, are you not worried that this will cause friction between our two temples?" he said sharply, gripping the hilt of the sword. "Ye Ling is one of our future hopes!"
"If he wants to leave, I won't stop him. In the end, he's still fighting for humanity."
"But if he doesn't want to, I will protect him!"
Sheng Yue froze, stunned for a moment.
Then he seemed to realize something. "Xingyu, you've misunderstood. I didn't come to poach him from the Knight Temple!"
But even as the words left his mouth, he realized how shady it had looked.
"Then how do you explain yourself?" Long Xingyu's tone was still cold. He clearly believed Sheng Yue was only stalling for time before making a move.
If necessary, Long Xingyu would invoke his Judgment Throne to end this quickly, even against a fellow ninth-rank expert.
"There's a very important matter that requires Ye Ling," Sheng Yue replied.
"Recruiting him counts as important, sure," Long Xingyu answered dryly, not believing a word.
Sheng Yue was speechless. 'What kind of brain does this guy have?!'
Then Ye Ling seemed to catch on. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Is it because of Cai'er?"
Sheng Yue immediately nodded. "Yes! It's because of Cai'er!"
(End of Chapter)
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