Book 7: Chapter 60 – I Disagree
The Temporal Temple is inviting me to join them?
Xue Ying laughed. The Temporal Temple truly had too large of a reputation. Whether it was through the information passed down by the Xia Clan’s ancestors, the Bloodshed Tavern or the Temple.
Like how the Temporal Temple took advantage of their control over time and space to investigate any past events amongst the millions of worlds.
Of course, as there were so many worlds, and because the Deity World and the Dark Abyss were so large, the Temporal Temple would have to search each specific region to find out what happened there. Otherwise, not even they could know what had occurred.
Still!
The Temporal Temple remained the best at learning the combat powers of the various Transcendents. They could look through the millions upon millions of worlds and pick out the truly talented ones! As such, had they been given the chance to just forcibly grab all of them away, the Temporal Temple would have become the sole most powerful organisation long ago. Therefore, as the superpowers of the Deity World and the Dark Abyss were not willing to let such a thing happen, they reached an agreement with the Temporal Temple.
They set a limit to the number of Transcendents they could grab every year!
How many mortals and Transcendents could they grab?
Even the number of Transcendents with lower and middle grade True Meanings they could grab was limited! Those with high grade True Meanings… they could be taken away, but the maximum number was extremely low!
As for the ones with grade two True Meanings or with the rarest grade one True Meanings—the Temporal Temple could not take them away by force! They had to receive their agreement first!
Invite me? Xue Ying snickered in his heart.
The Temporal Temple wasn’t that polite. Rather, the rules made it so that they had to invite him! Had they been able to simply grab him, they would have already done so. What a joke. Even with how poor and destitute the Xia Clan World was, he had managed to grasp hold of three different grade two True Meanings, and at such a young age too! Under the all out grooming and training of the Temporal Temple, he would even have a chance of fusing them into a grade one True Meaning.
The grade one True Meanings represented the core essences of the Laws of Profound Mysteries. Given how terrifying Xue Ying’s current combat power already was, it would become truly heaven shaking if he could acquire a grade one True Meaning!
“I apologize, but I decline your offer!” Xue Ying replied.
“Decline? Are you afraid that the missions assigned to you by my Temporal Temple will be too dangerous?” the apathetic voice calmly said. “You can rest easy. My Temporal Temple would not let people with a potential as great as yours die so easily. I can instantly promote you to a Silver Order Deity Emissary, giving you plenty of power! Your chances of death would also be reduced to a very low percent!”
Xue Ying laughed.
He had long understood this—the Temporal Temple had a vastly different treatment towards the Transcendents they would take away forcibly and those they had they had to personally invite.
“My decision to decline still stands,” continued Xue Ying. “I have no reason to join the Temporal Temple.”
“In that case, I can immediately promote you to a Gold Order Deity Emissary! That is the highest level of grooming which is granted only to Transcendents who have grasped hold of a grade one True Meaning!” The apathetic voice continued, “My Temporal Temple has plenty of experts and unlimited treasures and resources. Since you’ve grasped hold of three different grade two True Meanings at such a young age, we could help you fuse them into a grade one True Meaning.”
“Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about dying. Not only will my Temporal Temple protect you to the best of our abilities, even if you die, your soul will be under our care while it returns and your body will be reconstructed.”
Gold Order Deity Emissary.
That represented… the highest level treatment!
If one’s physical body perished, their soul would be protected, and they would eventually reincarnate! They had no choice but to do so. All of the superpowers at the apex of the Deity World would protect the exceptional Transcendents with grade one True Meanings, and the Temporal Temple was no exception. How could they take the initiative to just send them to their deaths? If Xue Ying
Even though Xue Ying did not grasp hold of a grade one True Meaning!
But the three different True Meanings of Extreme Piercing, Star, and Mirage he had could supplement each other! An expert who had grasped hold of three different True Meanings of the
Xue Ying grasped hold of True Meanings from three different categories. The True Meaning of Mirage was especially difficult to comprehend, but experts who grasped hold of it became natural assassins… albeit their offensive ability was weaker. But Xue Ying had the ultra offensive Extreme Piercing to match with it, while the True Meaning of Star provided him with formidable survivability. All of these considered, Xue Ying could be considered a lesser paragon comparable to an expert with a grade one True Meaning!
Even if he wouldn’t grasp hold of a grade one True Meaning in the future, he would still be qualified to be a Gold Order Deity Emissary.
Most importantly!
He had yet to undergo a lot of training under life or death conditions! And he not been groomed maniacally! On top of that, he was still quite young! All of these led to Xue Ying’s potential being regarded very highly.
The handsome teenager who had died previously, Lie Huo, for example, had merely grasped hold of a single grade three True Meaning when he was taken away! Only after experiencing large amounts of grooming and training did he finally grasp hold of the four different grade three True Meanings which he fused into the grade two True Meaning of Space Ripple! In other words, the potential of Lie Huo had been nearly squeezed dry. He had become numb to life or death situations!
That was right, numb!
The terror brought along by life or death situations would allow the fundamental life within the Transcendents to surge! However, upon being exposed to too much of these situations, one would become numb. At that point, the effect of these life or death training sessions would decrease drastically—the potential of the Transcended would have now been squeezed dry. Although the Xia Clan would view a Transcendent with a grade two True Meaning of Space Ripple as extremely precious, a superpower sitting at the apex of the Deity World like the Temporal Temple would rather continue squeezing their potential and look to improve them.
Even a large number of helpers would be of limited help if they were all weak.
Only with the emergence of a powerful expert would the overall power of the Temporal Temple increase!
“Gold Order Deity Emissary?” Xue Ying shaked his head and laughed. “According to my knowledge, there are some powerful existences in the Deity World that could kill me even if I’m under your protection.”
“Right,” the apathetic voice calmly replied. “After all, I’m just a Deity treasure, although powerful. I can protect you only in the void layers in-between space! Thus, I am unable to block attacks from the powerful existences of the Deity World, and I can at best try to prevent such things from happening.”
“Still, I must decline,” replied Xue Ying.
“Are you afraid of death?” asked the apathetic voice.
“No,” replied Xue Ying.
“Freedom, then?” the apathetic voice continued questioning. “I can even give you the chance to select certain missions. You may head to the world you wish to visit and experience so many different things you would have never thought of. Your combat power would also rise as your broaden your horizons! You are destined not to stay in this tiny mortal world, but to visit the vast, endless world out there!”
“What I need is not only freedom, but also time!” answered Xue Ying.
“Time?” the apathetic voice questioned back.
“If, for instance, I would want to not take on any missions for the next 1,000 years and remain in my hometown… would you allow me to do so without forcing me?”
“That’s impossible! You are still young right now, only a few dozens of years old. This is the most crucial point of your development, and the best chance for you to evolve your True Meanings into a grade one True Meaning!” denied the apathetic voice. “The earlier you are in your cultivation, the more important it is to spend your time on cultivation, without wasting any moment! The moment you become an important existence in the Deity World, spending a million years leisurely will no longer be a big deal. But at this moment, you must treasure every single year! My Tempoal Temple has these rules set down for the grooming of our members. Even the special privileges of being a Gold Order Deity Emissary would not allow you to bypass these most fundamental rules!”
Xue Ying shook his head. “In that case, my decision does not change.”
……
After cleaning up the battlefield of the treasures left by the dead Reincarnators and demons, he finally tore apart the layer of space membrane.
Hua—
Xue Ying stepped out. Soon, several figures came flying over from different directions—Faction Head Si Kong Yang, City Lord By, Mountain Lord He, Chi Qiu Bai, a scarlet gowned Xi Yun and the Vice Lord of Cloud City, a fat person who looked like a merchant, called Chun Yuan.
“Solved the issue?” Chi Qiu Bai asked.
“It’s solved. None remain alive,” replied Xue Ying.
“How were you discovered this time? Did any unforeseen circumstances crop up?” Si Kong Yang still remained suspicious.
“It was the Temporal Temple.” Xue Ying felt helpless. “I truly wouldn’t have thought during this attack on the demon base, the Temporal Temple would send some of their members over for training.”
“Haha, I’d heard of the Temporal Temple’s reputation long ago, but even after living for a thousand years, I have yet to meet any of their members.” Chun Yuan was beaming.
City Lord Bu also gave Xue Ying a smile.
Although her domineering temperament was unusual, she truly was beautiful! Currently, the corners of her lips quirked upwards as she was giving Xue Ying a big smile.
Everyone currently at the scene was feeling pleasant. They all sent Xue Ying different looks.
“Dong Bo, you must know that your actions have saved half of our Xia Clan’s Transcendents!” Xi Yun said.
“The meritorious service you have done this time was extremely important,” Mountain Lord He praised him as well.
“News of this have already started circulating around. I trust that in a short while, every Transcendent of my Xia Clan will know what you have accomplished,” commented Chi Qiu Bai. “Soon, every single Transcendent will be grateful to you! Haha, your communication wristband will surely overflow with messages.”
“What happened to the other two demon bases?” asked Xue Ying.
“We had sent Demigods over to try surrounding them. However, when the demons retreated, they all took on different routes of escape. Whether fortunate of unfortunate, we managed to kill only two of the escaping demons, without even getting to see the rest,” explained Chi Qiu Bai.
Xue Ying did not feel shocked. This was entirely within his expectations.
……
After bidding farewell to the Demigods, Xue Ying rushed back to his hometown.
“Disciple brother Xue Ying, you have comprehended a grade two True Meaning? So formidable, haha, truly admirable!”
“Disciple brother Xue Ying, I am Zhuo Yi! To have managed to comprehend a grade two True Meaning, you are truly too formidable! You even saved so many of the Transcendents of our Xia Clan. Those who I admire number few, yet you are currently the frontrunner among them. Truly amazing.”
“Little brother Xue Ying, you have eradicated three demon bases? Truly amazing! One of these days, I’ll visit your Snowrock mountain to drink. You mustn’t turn your back on this big sister.”
Xue Ying had already started receiving chains of messages from the Transcendents.
Hu.
He appeared in the space above Snowrock Mountain. With a gaze, he spotted a woman standing atop the roof of the main building of Snowrock Castle, her green robe fluttering in the wind.
Why did he reject the Temporal Temple?
That was because what he chased after was quite different from the others.
Maybe the other Transcendents sought to improve their combat power in hope of one day becoming a Deity.
But he was different. He only wanted to protect the dear people he loved. The woman in front of him, his little brother, his father, his mother… he would give his life to protect any of them if needed!
Cultivation was important to him, but in front of his loved ones, it held no worth! The cultivation he had done was merely for the sake of getting the strength needed to protect everything he loved.
If he wasted a long time risking his life to train in the millions upon millions of worlds while chasing after this supposed increase in combat power, while at the same time leaving his family behind… at that point his values would have totally inverted! Even if he were to become a very powerful existence after a few tens of thousand of years, without his family around, he would then simply be a lone ranger. So what if he was powerful?
Even with such great combat power, he would still be just a lonely person.
Also!
Did it matter that he had to spend his time with his family in the mortal world? He could strengthen himself just the same. Had that not been the case also when he grasped hold of the three different grade two True Meanings?
“Jing Qiu.” Xue Ying descended.
Jing Qiu’s eyes were covered in sparkling, translucent tears. The news had been spreading among the Transcendents, so she understood what had happened. Although Xue Ying looked well to her eyes, a burst of lingering fear still filled her when she thought of how Xue Ying had risked his life to attack the demon bases.
She leapt into Xue Ying’s embrace and hugged him tightly, stunning him momentarily. He could sense the feelings inside Jing Qiu, and he smiled, a warm feeling inside him.
This, this was truly what he would sacrifice his life for!