Chương 335: Becoming an Imperial

"Lord Ao?! D-do you mean, that Lord Ao?" He asked in a quivering voice, but this time, it wasn't quivering due to rage but slight fear. The head warden noticed the sudden change in emotions and he wasn't surprised one bit.

"That's right. The only Lord Ao Zhentian in the sect. He brought the person himself and expressly asked me to watch over him." Bai Zijun's head rapidly cleared up as he became sober. One second he was boiling with rage and killing intent, and the next, he was so calm it was shocking.

"H-how? When did he return? How is this possible?"

"He returned about two months ago, and as for how he brought someone again, I don't know. What I do know is that you need to forget all thoughts of revenge. There's nothing you can do." Bai Zijun's face twitched as his gaze moved to the coffin and extreme grief began to fill his heart once again. He stayed silent for a few minutes before he stared at the head warden with slightly red eyes.

"I can't do anything… but you can, uncle. Lixi is your nephew! How could you let him die and not do anything about it? Now you're telling me to forget about it as well?" The head warden's gaze softened a bit.

"Zijun, I understand your pain. But we both know who were talking about. We can't do anything at all. Even I am helpless here." Bai Zijun's rage began to resurface as he snapped.

"Lie! You are the head of the entire outer peak! No matter what, you can find a way to avenge Lixi!"

"You don't understand."

"No you don't understand! You liar! Our father helped you to become who you are now! You said you would do everything in your power to keep us safe… what happened to that promise? You let Lixi die!" The head warden stared at Bai Zijun for a brief moment then he sighed softly.

"Zijun…" he called out softly.

"I am extremely hurt as well. I failed to fulfill my promise. If I could do something, I would. You need to calm down and see the bigger picture." Bai Zijun's breathing became ragged as he glared at the head warden.

"Forget it. I don't care anymore. Tell me who it is! Even if the Sect master himself stands behind him, I will still kill him! You can go ahead and continue looking at the bigger picture!"

"You need to listen to me! If you try anything foolish, I'll be forced to personally stop you! Lord Ao himself ordered me to do so!" The head warden frowned slightly and stated. Bai Zijun began to laugh mockingly.

"Father shouldn't have saved your life all those years back. You're a coward! That's all you are. Someone ordered you to protect the very same person who killed your nephew, and you didn't even have the guts to say something. What a great uncle you are!" He snapped.

"Father would regret everything he had done for you if he was here!" The head warden's pupils shivered as he stared at Bai Zijun speechlessly for a few minutes. Bai Zijun glared back at him in silence, expressing his determination. After a while, the head warden finally sighed helplessly. Some hesitation appeared in his eyes for a second before it vanished.

"His name is Long Feng, a peak spirit realm warrior." Bai Zijun was startled. He had expected the head warden to chide him continuously and even try to restrict him to prevent him from acting recklessly. He stared at the head warden with a confused frown as the man continued speaking.

"He left the sect recently on a mission. He should return in a while." Bai Zijun's confusion faded and he narrowed his eyes.

"What of Lord Ao and his order? You won't interfere and stop me from killing him?" The head warden closed his eyes for a few breaths before he replied.

"I am unable to do anything myself. But you… you can challenge him just as he did your brother. In the ring, life and death is decided by the strong. Not even Lord Ao can interfere too much in some rules that have been deeply ingrained into the sect. You can kill him and exert your revenge within the rules." This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Bai Zijun frowned.

"And if he refuses my challenge? I can't force him!" He questioned.

"If he doesn't accept the challenge, then it doesn't matter. You will have a better opportunity. A trial realm will be opened before the Inner disciple test. He will be going in, and so will you. If he dies in there, then there's nothing anyone can do." Bai Zijun's eyes gleamed coldly.

"I like that plan more. I can ensure he faces the most agonizing torture. Death will be a luxury for him." He raised his head to stare at the head warden.

"Thank you, uncle." He added softly. The head warden nodded calmly.

"I owe your father too much. Control your rage and killing intent to avoid forming a knot in your heart. When the kid returns, I will let you know." Bai Zijun's rage was mostly suppressed now. Although he was still terrified when he thought of Lord Ao, his hatred outweighed his fear. With the cooperation of the head warden, nothing could possibly go wrong. Even the mighty Lord Ao would be unable to do much against them if he would stick to the rules.

That was the thought in Bai Zijun's head as he turned and left the palace. The head warden watched him leave with coincidentally the exact same thought in his head. Nothing should go wrong. The rules were supreme in the sect; Lord Ao had become different after returning. Not even he would want to break the rules again right? And if by some chance he didn't care about the rules and got enraged… the head warden didn't dare to imagine what would happen.

It was likely that something similar to the events of the past decade would repeat themselves again, and that was a memory not even he wanted to relive. If he had a sentence to describe those event that shook the sect and the whole region, he could only say that was Lord Ao Zhentian at his prime. Right now, Lord Ao seemed to have become indifferent to everything concerning the sect, and that was a good thing as far as everyone who has been in the sect for at least two decades was concerned.

Days passed quietly and the outer peak returned to it's calm. Many people forgot about the powerful aura accompanied by a huge pressure that rushed to the mountain top within a few days. But those who recalled were all getting ready to witness the storm that would descend soon. Few people could imagine Bai Zijun actually controlling his emotions and not doing anything. The most likely event was that he would immediately attack Long Feng without hesitating once they met and kill him in the blink of an eye.

A week passed and the Inner disciple test drew closer. The top ten outer peak disciples began to prepare to become Inner peak disciples while some of the top hundred who were confident in their abilities went into seclusion and began to push for the deity realm. Reaching the Deity Realm didn't mean one could become an Inner peak disciple. It only increased their chances greatly, but they could still fail. But that was extremely rare.

The wardens also announced the opening of one of the minor trial realms of the outer peak. A trial realm was really just a mystic realm. Many good treasures and inheritances could be found in a trial realm, and although they weren't anywhere comparable to the true Supreme Heaven Mystic Realm, many disciples would still lust for the opportunity to enter. A few times, some disciples came out of the trial realm with much higher cultivations.

In the past, there had been rumors of some peak Imperials becoming deities and even reaching the mid Deity Realm. It was rare but not impossible. Some disciples had emerged with earth grade treasures that drastically boosted their strength, others got higher comprehension of their Daos, others found some top tier cultivation manuals that would be hard to obtain outside. The different opportunities were numerous and obtaining them depended entirely on luck and strength.

The announcement excited many disciples, but the wardens soon announced that only fifty disciples would be allowed into the realm. Fourty nine of those spots belonged to the fourty nine strongest disciples on the mortal ranking, which naturally included the top ten. And shockingly, the last spot was reserved for Long Feng, a youth who recently rose to fame after killing Bai Lixi. Many people were not resigned after hearing that announcement, especially the top hundred and two hundred disciples.

They were all top tier among peak Imperials. Killing Bai Lixi in a single move was a piece of cake to all of them, but the spot was actually going to Long Feng? Some of them didn't even know who he was, but they were filled with anger and dislike. In fact, many disciples went to challenge him to a duel at his pavilion but learned that he was out of the Sect on a mission. It was easy to imagine that Long Feng would become a target once he returned.

Bai Zijun couldn't wait for his return to kill him and many of the peak Imperials were awaiting his return so as to defeat him and prove that they deserved the spot more than he did. Overall, the storm that was building up became even bigger as time passed.

Long Feng was still in a comatose state inside the hidden cave for the past week. His breathing, heartbeat and all other signs of life might as well be non existent at this point. Not even he himself would believe that he was still alive. But his aura was much stronger than it was a week ago. He had clearly reached the very limit of the spirit realm and was at the juncture of breaking into the Imperial realm. Inside his body, his energy was still circulating on its own at nearly ten times the normal speed.

Extremely pure and dense energy was deposited into his Dantian and refined by the spirit cyclone as his cultivation. The cyclone had grown significantly in size compared to a week ago. The energy contained within it was so dense that even a normal rank eight Imperial would be astounded to find out their energy was merely equal to this. Due to the extreme energy it contained, the spirit cyclone was no longer rotating quickly.

It's revolving speed had nearly slowed to a halt, and as more energy surged into it, it completely stopped revolving. More and more energy flooded into the cyclone, forcing it to expand slightly. Then all of a sudden, the cyclone began to rotate in reverse. This was done completely naturally without Long Feng's interference at all. He didn't even know what was going on. The reverse rotation of the spirit cyclone caused the huge amount of energy inside it to suddenly collide at once.

The dense spirit energy slowly began to condense together as the cyclone revolved. It was noticeably shrinking as it revolved and forcefully condensed the spirit energy together. When the cyclone had shrunk to just half it's size, a burst of Imperial aura spread out from the center of the cyclone. The extremely condensed spirit energy was beginning to evolve into a stronger energy, Imperial spirit energy. That was the final transformation of spirit energy before it transformed into true essence.

No one could skip the Imperial energy stage, which meant no one could skip the Imperial realm entirely. As more spirit energy transformed into Imperial energy, the spirit cyclone rapidly shrank in size even further till it was just a palm sized cyclone spinning at a great speed. The final strands of Long Feng's spirit energy transformed into Imperial energy and his entire Dantian surged with pure imperial energy with an astonishing purity and density that would shock anyone.

His aura soared, breaking past the spirit realm stage and entering the Imperial realm. Rank one Imperial realm at last! Most importantly, he was merely a rank one Imperial but his Imperial energy could easily compete with a peak Imperial realm master in terms of density. This was the sole advantage Long Feng had accumulated after purifying his energy several times to the extreme.