54 Chapter 54: Advent of the True Demon! PART I
'There's no point engaging in wishful thinking.' Xiao Hong shook her head, 'I should be thinking of ways to strengthen myself as much as possible…
'Since my strengths lie in the way of Physical Cultivation, I should focus on it!'
So, she directly summoned her walking Scripture Depository - Gu Ran!
***
"Physical Battle Techniques, you say?" Gu Ran carefully eyed the expectant Xiao Hong, his thoughts unfathomable. She had rushed over to find Gu Ran, who she had labelled a reincarnated old fogie by now, to get herself some Physical Battle Techniques.
Gu Ran rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What do you want to exchange it with? Do you have any more Mysterious Black Stones?" Gu Ran would not really be surprised if she did. These things seemed to have a lot of fate with her - there wasn't a single piece that he had that did not come through her!
"Supreme Quality Pills." Xiao Hong immediately replied.
Gu Ran shook his head. "I have no need for Supreme Quality Pills right now. Later on, I might need Supreme Quality Pills at Grade 4 and above, but not Grade 3 and below.
"You are very talented, Junior Sister, but the difficulty of Grade 4 Alchemy is in a league of its own. I cannot be sure if you can keep your proficiency in Alchemy at the same level."
Xiao Hong nodded. Spirit Pills were indeed much more difficult to refine than ordinary Pills since they involved Spirituality. Even she was not entirely sure that the system could train it enough to reach the Supreme Quality - it was entirely possible that she would not be able to refine Supreme Grade Pills. So she considered the possibility no matter how unlikely it was.
Before she could speak, Gu Ran continued, "How about this?
"I'll give you some Physical Battle Techniques for now and you can just repay me with a few discounts on Pills later on?"
"But-" Xiao Hong began, but Gu Ran interrupted her.
"Just think of it as me trying to build a relationship with a powerful genius with a Spiritual Constitution." He said straightforwardly, his handsome face stretching in a wide smile. "You can consider this my show of goodwill."
Xiao Hong raised an eyebrow sceptically, which Gu Ran noticed.
"Forgive my straightforwardness, but I'm not very good at building relationships like this… Haha…" Gu Ran looked away and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He looked like the embodiment of a simple youth!
Xiao Hong pursed her lips, trying her best to contain the myriad curses and seas of spittle that threatened to spill!
Act! Keep acting! Let's see how long you can keep your 'simple but reliable Senior Brother' act, you damned sinister old fogie! See if I don't take advantage of your 'simpleness'!
After a few moments of cursing Gu Ran inwardly, she squeezed out a smile, "Thank you, Senior Brother. Junior Sister will take your words to heart!"
Gu Ran simply nodded and took out several jade slips.
***
In just a few hours, Bai Hao gathered a total of 8 jade slips from the Formation Masters and handed them over to Xiao Hong.
Xiao Hong had, by then, dug herself a small 'apartment' under the ground.
"These are the only ones that I could collect. There may be a lot of overlap between the information contained in these because most of them are given by their Masters." Bai Hao explained to her, "And most of them contain the foundational ideas of Grade 3 Array Formations."
She nodded thoughtfully as she took the Jade Slips from Bai Hao. She then scanned them one by one, skimming through the information contained within.
"Phew…" she let out a long breath before looking up at Bai Hao, who was staring at her.
"How is Junior Sister?" he queried 'calmly' while trying his best to hide his nervousness. She could understand it, though - she wasn't any less nervous.
"I might not be able to reach Grade 3 Formation Mastery, " Bai Hao's expression immediately darkened, "- but pseudo-Grade 3 should be achievable!"
"Pseudo-Grade 3, huh…?" Bai Hao fell into his thoughts for a while, before frowning slightly, "Pseudo-Grade 3 is probably not enough to completely defend against a Nirvana Stage True Demon - it can, at best, buy us some time."
Xiao Hong's eyes widened in shock.
"I-Is the Nirvana Stage so strong?!" Xiao Hong exclaimed in disbelief, "A pseudo-Grade 3 Formation is at least seven to eight times stronger than this Formation that I have set up!
"And you're saying a Nirvana Stage being can break through it?"
"Yes!" Bai Hao nodded firmly before continuing, "Don't underestimate Nirvana Stage beings, Junior Sister. Their battle prowess is in a completely different league! Even if a pseudo Grade 3 Formation is extremely powerful, it can only stall a Nirvana Stage being for some time."
Xiao Hong shut her mouth upon hearing the absolute surety in Bai Hao's tone. She could only choose to believe in him, as she had never seen a Nirvana Stage being's true strength.
After a few moments, she asked, her voice filled with trepidation "Then what do we do?"
Bai Hao took a deep breath and released it before he gazed at her with an intensity that almost made her want to look away. "Refine me pills enough for me to reach Nirvana. I will try to reach Nirvana as soon as possible!
"After that, get ready to set up the Formation - increase your proficiency as much as possible.
"I will have the rest of the Array Formation Masters set up Reconnaissance Formations to give us an early warning. I'll also instruct them to follow you when you start laying the Formation.
"I'll also inform the rest of the disciples."
Saying so, he directly shot away.
Xiao Hong sighed to herself, 'Let's hope the True Demon takes their time getting here...'
***
She used two days to cook up enough drugs for Bai Hao's ascension to the Nirvana Stage, before directly closing up.
Underground, in her makeshift 'apartment', Xiao Hong took out several jade slips and scanned them one by one without stopping, ignoring the stress it put on her Spirit. It was only when the headache became truly unbearable did she stop to take a rest. Previously, she had only skimmed through the given information to give Bai Hao an estimate.
She continued until she had finished all of them. Her recent advancement in Soul Cultivation helped her immensely in parsing the huge amounts of information contained in them. The complexity of Grade 3 Formation Mastery was truly staggering. Without the information processing capabilities of a Disaster Stage Spirit, it was basically impossible to learn.
Even if she had met the requirements for it, forcefully imprinting so much information into her Mind took quite a toll on her.
"Urghh…" She massaged the sides of her temples before wiping away the nosebleed. "This is really taking a toll on my Spirit…
"Thank Heavens for the Spirit God's Soul Cultivation Method." Xiao Hong felt truly grateful for it. "Without it, I would have to do it like the other plebs and Cultivate my Spirit indirectly."
The 'indirect cultivation' here was essentially learning - i.e. the more you learn the stronger and firmer your Spirit becomes making it easier for Essence to nourish it to a higher state. Learning here included everything - be it Array Formations, Spells, Intent, Alchemy, yourself and your relationships, your emotions, or even Human Nature and abstract concepts like Good and Evil. This was one of the reasons some powerful Cultivators hid themselves to 'experience the Mortal World' - they wanted to understand themselves and others.
Xiao Hong got rid of her stray thoughts and intoned, "Status: Automatic Cultivation - Grade 3 Formation Mastery.
[
Automatic Cultivation
Slot 4: Formation Mastery [Grade 3] (11 Days)
]
"11 Days…" Xiao Hong pondered silently, before releasing a dejected sigh, "It's not enough. Let's hope the True Demon takes their time to give Bai Hao enough time to break through."
Then she focused on another set of Jade Slips that she pulled out from her Storage Bag. These were the Physical Cultivation Battle Techniques that she got from Gu Ran.
Suppressing her anticipation, she sent her Divine Sense into the jade slip and almost instantly several veins popped up on her forehead and temples!
"... Golden Ape King Kong Fist?" Xiao Hong clenched her teeth, "What the fuck do you mean Golden Ape King Kong Fist?!
"Am I supposed to beat my chest, roar to the skies and pounce on my enemies?!
"Dammit! Does this thing look like something an elegant Jade Beauty would ever practise?! FUCK!"
She almost threw the jade slip onto the ground and went ape shit on it!
"Damned old fogie…" After several minutes of cursing Gu Ran to eternal celibacy, she obediently sat down and continued to browse the jade slip.
***
In the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.
Xiao Hong floated in the air, a faint veil of starlight obscuring her form as she breathed in and out, causing the surrounding Spiritual Energy to move in odd ways - it seemed to rush towards her at tremendous speed before it bounced off without being drawn into her body. This was the result of her using the Yuan Essence unique to the Demon Beast Haven Realm to cultivate.
Xiao Hong suddenly frowned before she slowed down her pace of breathing and floated down to the ground, landing on her feet.
She took out her Communication Jade.
"{Junior Sister Xiao, I'm afraid we've run out of time. The first Reconnaissance Formation has been triggered; the enemy will arrive in half a day at most!}" Jun Meiling's urgent voice came through the Communication Jade, causing Xiao Hong's expression to sink.
'Dammit, this fucker really came fast huh?' Xiao Hong cursed the damned True Demon as she cut off the Qi supply to the Communication Jade and put it inside her Storage Bag. 'He's already so powerful, what's the hurry? It's not like we can escape.'
Before she got ready to set up the Array Formation, she assessed her Cultivation Base. Her Essence Cultivation remained stagnated at the initial stage of the Divine Sea since she had not cultivated her Essence at all. Her Body Cultivation had improved slightly but the extra cultivation she did by herself was basically useless.
She smiled bitterly. Her talent was really too shit.
Shaking her head to get rid of her depressing thoughts, she closed her eyes and recalled all the insights about Formation Mastery she had gained, 'As expected, I haven't reached Grade 3 in Formation Mastery… However, I can be considered a pseudo-Grade 3 Formation Master. This should be enough to set up a pseudo-Grade 3 Formation.'
She frowned slightly. 'I just don't know if it will be enough to buy us time…'
A few moments later, Xiao Hong sighed in resignation.'Haa… All I can do is try my best.'
'Well at least, my progress in Physical Battle Techniques is truly unexpected." Xiao Hong smiled brightly as she looked at her status screen.
[
Skills:
Golden Ape King Kong Fist (Profound) - Great Accomplishment
Curved Hand Blade (Black) - Perfection
Wind Leopard's Dance (Black) - Perfection
Thunder Fist (Black) - Perfection
Wind-Soaring Kick (Black) - Perfection
]
'Am I actually a Physical Battle Technique genius?!' Xiao Hong's eyes glowed with a brilliant light. She could not help but let slip more than a few chuckles despite trying her best to suppress them. "Hehe~"
Finally, there was something that did not remind her how utterly shitty her talent was in everything!
She was so euphoric, her initial dissatisfaction with the rather violent Golden Ape King Kong Fist disappeared!
Even the impending sense of doom due to the True Demon took a backseat!
'Unfortunately, my talent in Body Cultivation is not as impressive, otherwise, I would not have to worry about reaching Nirvana by 30.'
Despite thinking so, her smile did not go away. After all, there was something she was truly good at!
"Hehe, hehehe~" and her giggles did not stop at all!
***
